I’m feeling compelled to go back to my old blog, and leave this one for rants I want to keep more personal. Not sure why this is. I created this blog to be more sure I could blog anonymously. Why is the other blog calling me back?

I had yesterday off, and it was a weird sort of day. So depressed about the weather, I didn’t really enjoy myself fully. I did end up disposing of about 5 supermarket bags of magazines and tidied up the spare room. I also finished Jane Eyre. I didn’t have the patience to read it “properly” as in understanding every last sentence but I did enjoy it. I haven’t yet started on the Wide Sargasso Sea.

Today was just as depressing heading off to work – although by some miracle it has stopped raining this evening. I am wagging bellydancing - I don’t want to endure the endless rehearsals of our choreo plus I feel on the verge of a headache. Instead I came home and lay down and did a relaxation exercise. S is still doing the same – I hope it helps him. He has been driving me nuts with his constant whining about a couple of health problems at the moment, and I am not being very sympathetic - perhaps outwardly I am but inwardly its been driving me crazy. Anyway courtesy of music (Goddess by Troika) and aromatherapy (clary sage, lavender, melissa) I am feeling saner just now than I have in days. Not sure how long it will last.

A friend I haven’t heard from in ages emailed today and started his message off with “summer greetings” and “Don’t you feel that the wind and rain get just that little bit warmer when summer descends? The flooding in the garden certainly has a more mediterranean feel…… ” It gave me a good laugh. We don’t do very well at keeping in touch with R+S through the year, will try and do better I think.

Made another nice red thai chicken curry last night – I think adding grated ginger to it really adds an extra dimension of flavour. Very pleased with the Trident light coconut milk. Other light coconut milks I’ve tried haven’t tasted very good, this one is fine.

Its been a week of racing around a bit. Yesterday went to a graduation ceremony and after that I managed to a) put some shoes on layby b) get some cosmetics I needed from Farmers and c) get secret santa presents courtesy of Trade Aid.

The weather is still shite. Very windy last night and a bit cool. Blustery and trying to pee down today. I have already been out – rushed out to Mitre 10 to make use of their coupons. I got a 3 piece small table and chair set, 15% off. Lets hope there is some fine weather to use it. I have spent too much money lately and need to reign in a bit. At least the WOF was only about $60, so guess that is why I am thinking I have a few extra $$ to spend.

Well now I think I have to catch up on the washing and tidy up the place. Also need to continue the bread making experiments. Failures last weekend, will see if it is definitely the yeast today.

I went to another belly dancing class that my teacher takes tonight as I missed the regular class last night. (I nearly didnt go due to some minor anxiety issues but got over those). Well that has decided it for me. There is no fucking way I am going to take part in the Christmas parade. For starters this class was in a dance studio, yes with mirrors, very off putting. And secondly there is no way in the world I am going to get this choreo. By the time we had done it the 4th time tonight I was over it, I got muddled up, my leg was starting to feel fragile, and I can’t get the timing right. Not too mention how disgusting I look. So at least I don’t have to worry about whether I am going to do it or not. I am quite happy doing the dancing, but I don’t want the pressure of making a spectacle of myself.

Got to listen to Jeffrey Masson tonight. What a great speaker. No hardcore shock tactics, he talked about his background, his writing on animal emotions, why he doesn’t believe it is ethical for us to eat meat. Too much info to blog about. S and I were discussing why we aren’t vegetarians, comes down to habits and difficulty of dealing with change. This should be on the agenda for further investigation.

Saw several people I knew at the talk and avoided them all, couldn’t remember any of their names to start with. Did remember one guys name later in the car. Oh dear!

… I pointed out to S that the kitchen wall above the sink was looking so much better, and errr … he couldn’t tell the difference. He he, oh well at least I know its clean So most of the kitchen has had a good wipe down and I am now a convert to baking soda and white vinegar. White vinegar has gone well as window cleaner too. I did battle with the garden hose and got the kitchen/dining room windows washed outside, but I was so pis$ed off with the leaky hose I didn’t plan to do any other windows.

In getting up close and personal with the kitchen I have decided it really needs repainting. I have been planning to paint the dining room white for a while (from the current light butter yellow) and it has occurred to me if I had all the furniture in there (with exception of table and chairs) painted white, they might blend into the walls a bit and it might not look so cluttered. Will continue contemplating this.

Need to de-clutter the spare room. I have started decorating a xmas tree, might as well as the boxes of the new decs are on the spare bed, so the new decorations might as well start earning their keep.

Listening to: Seven worlds collide: the sun came out

In the aromatherapy burner: lavender, bergamont

Been up town to post off most of the overseas christmas mail. Just some more cards to Aussie to go, and you don’t get to send those at the discount rate, mind you books of $1.80 stamps are going for $1.50 at the moment so that’s a saving.

I’m feeling kind of spacey today – think its a cycle thing. Definetly glad I haven’t got a day of bellydancing tomorrow as I would be so unco-ordinated.

Am tidying and cleaning today. Crap day outside really but no rain as yet. I am giving the kitchen a bit of a clean. Looking at the open homes on K’s blog is not a good thing in terms of feeling adequate about one’s own abode – of course those houses are all spruced up and clutter free! Still the surfaces in this old house do get a bit grimy and there can be a bit of dust. And my clutter of course!!

Things I am over:

- working with middle aged women of a certain class, bores me to death at times
- Facebook, especially when I see comments from people I can’t stand (friends of friends that I am not friends with)
- the god awful weather
- anyone who doesn’t agree with me
- people who think work dos are a good excuse to entertain children. Hello its not for them, its our xmas party so they can f@!@# off
- people you might consider friends but who poke fun at you at any opportunity (almost always male friends)
- men who mumble. I work with two of these and its drives me freaking mad
- women who bring their children to our bellydancing class, hello! its not a firking creche!!

That’s probably enough. I am not in a bad mood, just annoyed at a few things

I’m so glad I went to hear Diana Gabaldon at the City Library today. It’s been years since I read one of her books – I couldn’t get into The Fiery Cross and ended up selling it I think. I remember how hooked I was on the earlier ones, waiting years for the next one in the series. To say she was a great speaker was a bit of an understatement, she really was quite a star. She mentioned  her academic background, how she got into writing and got published. You’d have to say luck was on her side in many respects but good on her. It was interesting to hear her say she doesn’t write in chapters, she seemed to be saying she writes “scenes” (my word not hers) and then brings them together. She certainly doesn’t divide the work into chapters until she is ready to send the book off to the publishers. Also she does most of her writing between midnight and 4am in the morning! She ended her talk with a reading from her book – a brief sex scene, descriptive without being lurid. That was somewhat unexpected, but quite funny in many respects because I think it took the audience a bit by surprise.

Hearing her talk did remind me of how much I enjoyed the earlier books as I’ve already said, so I think I might try and pick up the series again.

 

 

This weekend was mostly gardening again as I try and get things tidied up to a level where for most of summer I can just potter around and maintain things, without having to do really full on weeding. The grass weeds are really well established at the moment – I spent today sorting out one of the gardens along our front fence. Its a real bugger trying to get the grass out from amongst the lavender.

The other lavender along the house is looking great so I took some snaps to remind me of how nice it is this time of year.

 

Unfortunately its not like this right through summer

It’s been fine again this weekend which has just been wonderful. I’ve only been marginally grumpy. I simply can’t comprehend the whole Halloween thing – well at least the trick or treat part of it. I don’t quite get the whole sending your kids out to beg sugar off strangers thing. Then I saw a photo of a kiwi actress in the paper today and it just looked like an excuse for people to show off their kids. We had one knock on the door – some young boys who had all made an effort with masks so I was happy enough to give them some of the chocolate I had got. I’m not into it but I don’t want anyone chucking a brick through my window if I don’t play ball! I saw a tweet from someone who had had about 30 callers  – WTF!!

I finished The Lost Symbol this morning. Nowhere near as good as The Da Vinci Code or Angels and Demons. Maybe the Masons and Washington DC are not as compelling to me as Paris and Rome and the dodginess of the catholic church. It just wasn’t as good a read (and hey I was only expecting a great trashy read, not great literature). Decided this one really was the book equivalent of a big mac combo, you think you are enjoying it at the time, but afterwards …

Last week was hectic with one thing and another so hopefully this week I can really make some headway on some stuff I have to do at work.