Wednesday? already??..

Later I will draw a picture of what I've been doing.  For now I'd like to mention that today, as of about 2 hours ago, marks fourteen years of blissful wedded bliss for us.  Which means in three month's time, it's been fifteen years since we met!  And HASN'T the time flown!

No I'm not being ironic. Sometimes life goooeess veeerrry sloooowwwly for sad or mad reasons.  I've had times like that - I look back and wonder how each day ever passed.  Like oh for example, the non-sleeping, non-eating baby who was (not surprisingly) a bit grumpy for quite a long time til he worked out how to eat.  Then he had to work out how to raise his parents.  Poor lil chap.

Time moves faster when things are going well or very very badly.  And I'm not fishing for sympathy when I say we've had a bit of both lately.  I'm GLAD I can't really remember what it was like for the first few months, when M was in Intensive Care and life was so far beyond upside-down .. I'm glad HE can't really remember either.  Like the early days with a baby, the repetition and intensity make memory blurry when you look back.  And what a relief to be able to forget some of it!  These days we still surprise ourselves with the trivial things that make us tetchy.  I hold back from being really Pollyanna and saying 'well isn't it a BLESSING that we are so CALM and GOOD now that we can swear at the WEATHER, or pout if the bloody RED face washer makes the WHITE wash go pink again'.. but I think I'm enjoying the lack of Big Scary Things Which Must Be Attended To.

Just don't ask me about my to-do list..

We're celebrating in two perhaps slightly odd ways - M got his first major assignment in. Yes, !!!!!!!!!! This essay has taken quite a toll, given he was back in hospital with pneumonia; then not long after that feeling grim and on bed rest.  And then trying to convalesce while being nagged by physios, dodging the exploding wife, and coping without a cat in the house. But he has pushed and pushed and studied and offered dire predictions about only getting a scant pass mark (yeah right) and dithered and gloomed.. and refused to let me read it (no doubt cos I'd be annoying positive and encouraging and HELPFUL and sometimes you need to d and g to keep yourself focussed).. BUT today while I was wrangling a computer at Real Home (while Miss Wendy tried to sit on my back) he texted me to say it was submitted.  My shoulders felt a great weight fall, then a little prickle of claws..

My odd celebration was a call from the bank from a bloooke caaaallleed Peeeettteeerr whooo taaaalllkeed reeealllyy slllooooowwwwlly but eventually got to the point which is that our loan to cover the house mods is APPROVED.  I will refrain from putting another twenty exclamation marks in, but you get it don't you????

So..

We are delaying an official celebration until tomorrow, when it might have stopped raining and being a bit too cold to go out.  I fancy taking the bus (stop that laughing) into town and having something immoderate for lunch and then finding a cd shop.  Possibly a bit of hand-holding.  Certainly not any more of the work I've been trying to do all week.  A day off, ferfu.. er .. I mean, please.

I looked at some perfume today.  Big-boned Molly's mum will be horrified to hear that I gave into temptation and bought a version of Cabotine - Cabotine "Rose".  Forgive me BBM'sM; I will at least not send it to you! (it's very nice but)...

Could it REALLY be true...?

We were told on Friday that it's about time for us to go home. For M to go to our local hospital to continue general rehab, for me to resume life in our home with our cat and the garden... and for all of us, to get on with the next stage of adjusting to a very changed life.

Mad packing and swinging emotions as we get ready to leave, because what we have here is so known now... tonight, as we sat together in his half-stripped hospital room, reflecting on the last nearly 14 months, we suddenly started to think of things we WON'T mind not knowing! Some of the routines, the smells, certain behaviours by certain people... the endlessness of long-term rehab, with the teeny-tiny advances. And the utter, utter boredom of contemplating either the hospital food trolley OR any of the many local food outlets. Been there, DONE THAT!

So here we come, housie, cattie, friends and old familiarities, we want to get blase about you all over again.

News like this can only be brought to you by Gucci, or Prada. So I've worn too much of both of them, one yesterday, one today. If I could find Essence de Home, I'd never wear another...

Calming down, sorting out, digging deep...

Hello blog,

Somehow since last week and the depths of abstract anxiety-coping mechanisms, I have found the middle ... sort of. I blame Cath, she made me get up on Saturday and go to Bungendore for a cooking class with native limes. It's hard to be deep when you're whisking lime sabayon and making your first successful shortcrust pastry for 12 years. I won, I won the whisking! Everyone else had to swap with other ppl, but I being ambidextrous as to whisks, was able to make it all the way through about 15 minutes of sabayon creation without a pause. Even Mr Cook was impressed. AND the lime tart was delicious. I enjoyed the vinaigrette in that the ingredients were quite fancy, but I can't say I'll use it again - I don't really like salad dressing. And the third option - native lime and gin icecream - moves me not at all. I can't taste icecream, for one, because it's too cold. It seemed a waste of lime, cream and gin to me. I thought, as I watched the icecream machine whirring, that it would be much nicer if it was all being whirred in a blender with a bit of sugar syrup and turned into a cocktail. But that's my sad preference!

Then, abuzz with achievement, I reviewed myself. After the cooking class (and the rather fine lunch it led to), Cath and I took to wandering the other shops. We passed by the Woodworks, because of serial cafe offences earlier in the year. I went straight to the Secondhand and Antique Emporium on the corner ... where ... I ... bought a hall stand. You know how you do? I HAVE been looking for some time for such a thing, finding it difficult to locate a stand which was narrow in width and depth, for a particular not very spacious place in my house. And there it was - on sale! You just can't argue with the gods when they provide so spectacularly as this. I will need to work out how to get it back here, but I think my sainted father (hi dad!) will lend a hand with a trailer and some lifting muscles.

My next satisfaction is to announce that all the mats have been hosed. What with contributions from cats, winter feet, and less-frequent cleaner activity, they were kind of furry. So I've been giving the geraniums under the washing line a real bonanza of furry water - they seem to like it, and the mats are immatulate!

Sorry.

All this led to a determination to finish unpacking the posted boxes of stuff from Over There. It took ages to get into the extremely well-packed breakable items - clearly I have no faith whatsoever in post-handlers, because some of my things had three layers of bubblewrap, over tissue, then bound all about with wide sticky tape, and then stuffed into socks, jumpers, hats and the like. Then again, this obsessive packing meant that nothing got broken, cracked, chipped, not a skerrick. Wonderful!

This (are you still with me?) meant that I could then make up the spare bed, cos it wasn't loaded with boxes any more. THIS means that if a marital partner needs to bail in the middle of the night cos the cat is snoring too loudly, there's somewhere else to sleep. Cos, like, the arse fell out of the sofa while we were away...

To complete this list of virtuosities, I have made a huge leap forward in study (the room, not the process) management. I have seen the top of my desk, and it is dusty. I have inspected the contents of storage tubs, shuddered, hastily closed them again, and put labels on them. I have established that my mobile phone is far too missing to expect it to ever be seen again. I even found the Lego (WHAT was it doing in my study? The last time an offspring of mine used it was about 15 years ago!). Oh well. I guess if I get really bored when I'm losing my Curse of the Pharaohs game, I can build another squared-off dinosaur or something.

Today I did even more useful things. Tomorrow I will be mobile-phone enabled at last. All I'll have to do is re-establish my address book, which is a pain. I bet, I just bet, that after the last 9 digit number of the eleventy-three ppl I know is entered, my old mobile leaps up from its hiding place and gives me back my old SIM card.

Life, always, is like that.

I have to go to Adelaide on Thursday to see the uber-doc. Again. He will inspectigate me, sigh, and write me prescriptions for uber-drugs which will have to be applied in unladylike ways to work properly. They will only be available from special compounding chemists, and it will be a PAIN. He will tell me that ... I have a tricky problem. Yeah? BUT in breaking and super-wonderful news, my darling dorter is coming with me. She's never been to Adelaide before, so the rellos are lined up ready to meet the princess-goddess-wondergirl. I've given them the protocol, signed off on the security system, and ordered the caviar. I just hope my brothers remember the colour-coordinated Holdens...

Today brought to you with optimism, a cat full of bloody burrs, and a good dose of Toni. You should all try this, except she's my special mate and I don't know if I'm generous enough to share her with everyone. But you can try the Trussardi "Inside" perfume, that's open slather. It's potent, smooth and long-lasting. Hmm... sounds like a good drink. I'm off, then!

Whoopee soon we flyyyy!!!

Writing very hastily, having just added to this blog a lot of stuff from as far back as Helsinki (and sorry for any doubling-up).. and putting in the notes I scribble when I don't have time for full entries, just so you can see what delights of detail await. Very soon now we'll put our luggage in the hotel's temporary holding room, so we can spend our last two hours here at the National Gallery.

We posted (yeah, again) yesterday, from the most incredible efficient Helsinki post office (oh, did I tell you that already? sorry), and had a fabulous feed at our favourite Helsinki cafe, Leonardos. I spent the evening going through every corner and bag and rubber band in my luggage, uber-efficiently packing for the flight to Seoul. We have 30kg luggage limit each, as we are lucky enough to have Business (or is it Economy Plus, where you have Economy service but a lovely big Business chair??? - something like that). But from Seoul to Oz, back to 20kg each, so one must be economical. I knows not whats this words means but M said something about less stuff.

Huh??

Yesterday I was rounded up, sprayed, flattered and beguiled by a purrfume-wielding Finnish charmer at the Sokos shopping centre. Ahem. One must always take advantage of these moments, so I did. Apart from the great pleasure of finding an actual whole box of tissues, some superglue hairspray (I got fringe issues), and a wee sauna-scenting essential oil diffuser thingie, well, ahem, I don't really feel guilty but ya know.. there is this new Escada purrfume and how embarrassing to admit I bought it but I can't recall the name!!! Oh well, I am beyond redemption on the purrfume subject anyway. I do smell rather Magnifique but that is because THAT bottle is open.

Must go. Bags to ditch, galleries to walk, taxis to catch to airports and duty to reclaim on purple suede boots bought for birthday girls oh so many weeks ago. And then some vital fluids to assist our flight relaxation program, followed by snoozin'. We arrive at something like 7am Seoul time, but it will be 1am our body clock time. Could be ugly!

Let's hope for SILK. Go on, cross yer fingers and HOPEHOPEHOPE. That's the way.

Yes I am bloody cheerful, I'm on the downhill run to a pusscat, my own bed, our spring garden and all familiar things. Yippee!!silk