Updates January 2009

1. Day Three (well really 2 because not much happened yesterday) of landscaping. The slab for our new mega-10,000L water tank has been finished. I love that 2 seconds after concrete was laid it poured down for exactly five minutes and then fined up. Joel insists that he brings the rain with him... I suggested he should not be doing the concreting jobs and he totally agreed :)


Before dirt for garden


After some dirt has been added for garden





Before slab laid for water tank



After slab laid for water tank


2. My new toys.......





the bike is part of my new fitness craze - trying to get some physical activity into my life and find some calm 'me' time to ensure 2009 and is not a repeat performance of 2008. The bike is in conjunction with Yoga (starting today) and yes, the aforementioned pole dancing.... which for all of you who are wondering is NOT to spice up my sex life. I can barely move for 2 days after training, I have bruises on my shins which are not pretty and I look anything but sexy doing the dance... more like "how the fuck am I meant to get my leg up there?" sort of look on my face. But it's clearly a workout as I've lost weight already and can feel that slow burn in muscles that I didn't even know I had!!! And no, none of you are invited to the end of semester concert... that means you Geoffrey ;)

The pool table? Okay so not really an exercise strategy - more one of 'learning to wind down at the end of the day'.

ciao
xo

Happy Anniversary - oh and now I don't feel guilty about the hair......

So today is our sixth wedding anniversary and this morning we discussed...albeit briefly.... how we feel like we are very very different people to those that met each other for the first time 17 years ago - I have now known Dave for 50% of my life.... whoa. Happy Anniversary honey. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I no longer feel guilty about my hair dresser bill of last week.... today we went to see a gold class movie as part of our annual child-free anniversary day... and afterwards we went to buy Dave some more work/business/going out shirts - because apparently having 10 work shirts for a 5 day week is not enough ;) (and they say women are bad with clothes)..... as part of my new 'life is short' philosophy I was picking out a) shirts that Dave would like as opposed to shirts that I would like him to wear (aka gay shirts appparently) and b) shirts for which I have not looked at the price tag..... and for this new little lease on life rule I got to be part of a $450 dollar bill for 3 (yes that's right THREE) new shirts..... OMG. anyway - I think we're even now :)

Love you sweetheart.

xoxo

Even my days relaxing are a bit Type A

So yesterday I head for Chermbleside (as my 3 year old calls it) and treat myself to a haircut and colour at a fancy schmancy hairdresser that I've never been to before. I already knew that they cut was going to cost me in the vicinity of $80 but I sucked it up and decided not to worry about it - after all, it has been 6 weeks since my 'incident' (that is how we refer to it now) and I've done nothing but watched movies and cleaned the house - hardly a cent has been spent on recuperating in style. So I get my hair cut by the 'stylist' and then I am introduced to the 'colorist' (Oh lord, this is starting to sound expensive. We gab for awhile (not surprisingly he's gay) and then we discuss my colour options and he goes away and gets me a quote and comes back with the magic number of 275...... dollars people!! not yen!!! Now a sensible person not wishing to give themselves another cardiac arrest would have left uncoloured at that point but I still have a lot of work to do on my assertiveness skills and quite frankly I was struck dumb by the figure. I nodded and work began on the hair masterpiece. I settled in for the ride and started on my new Maeve Binchy book. After 2 hours of them fussing over foils and toners etc etc I was starting to get antsy - I had places to be!! But then I realised "where did I have to be really?".... my type-A personality was just going nuts at the thought of taking an entire day out to do nothing ........nothing..... don't you see. That's just wasting time. I could have been cleaning, or cooking, or buying new clothes for the kids, or paying bills or filing all the crap on my desk!! but here I was taking time for myself..... deep breaths.... I talked myself down into a more Type-B/Zen state and sat back and enjoyed the neck massage they were currently giving me. All in all the colour was ok, the cut was ok. It wasn't bad - I haven't had better but I've certainly had comparable hair experiences and most of them a quarter of the price....... by the time I got to the counter to pay, I took the hair care products they were offering me because hell, how much more expensive could this outing get........ let me tell you..... the final price for a fucking hairdresser appointment was $400!!!!!! Of course, that included the lovely shampoo and conditioner that cost $80 - I mean who freaking pays $80 bucks for shampoo? I zen-ned myself out to lunch (complete with a wine to calm my nerves) and sat thinking how glad I was that my husband never pays any attention to our credit card bills, never reads my blog (hi honey :) ) and trusting that his best friend who does read this blog will take pity on me and not breath a word of this to hubby. (thanks geoff)....

Just goes to show - even when I'm meant to be relaxing I can get myself into situations that would invoke a cardiac arrest in even the most mild-mannered person. What hope is there for me when I return to work???

About the day I used up the previous 24 hours of rain

Well at least dear readers, that is how it felt in my moment of guilt lying there under my vichy shower, enjoying my 90 minutes of pampering at Mummabubba. Mummabubba is a day spa for mummies - "makes proud mothers into beautiful mothers" is their motto - and while I don't think I came out any more beautiful - my god did I come out feeling rejuvenated. I had the mineral wrap body rejuvenator. Start off with someone giving your tired winter skin a good rubbing over with a sea salt scrub. Then this is washed off with a vichy shower - a shower head that is so aerated it feels like silk being poured over your skin...... then a mineral mud pack was lathered over my entire body and the lid of the 'bed' I was lying on was closed. this bed had multiple water jets both under my body and above and suddenly my entire being was being massaged with these jets of water. While I will admit that the jets of water to my feet was reminiscent of some form of WWII water torture (okay so I'm not keen on foot massages either) - the rest of it was heavenly (and I learnt later that I could have asked for the foot bit to be turned off so I know that for next time!!). Meanwhile, while being massaged with warm water jets, the inside of this vichy shower bed was also filling with steam - in essence it was like being in a sauna and spa at the same time. Oh and did I mention that during this 24 minutes of water heaven, my lovely consultant was giving me a scalp massage? Really, wine and steak on Monday, Vichy shower rejuvenation on Thursday... I'm not sure I've had a week like this in ......oh I don't know - since about pre-July 2004 when i first got myself knocked up and all this fun of parenthood began ;)

My goal for the rest of the year? To visit this divine kingdom of mother pampering at least once a month. Stay tuned to see if it happens.....

Why today was a good day.

1. I went to work on my own - without the girls - solo..... to discuss some handover issues with the person who has been doing my job.

2. Mackenzie's first time without me went exceptionally well, she drank from a cup, she fed from a spoon, she slept well. the only downside? I discovered just how much milk I'm going to have to milk from myself to keep her fed for one entire work day. Lord!!!

3. On my return home, both girls have fallen fast asleep allowing me to get on with writing a job application for a postdoctoral position I want to apply for (oh and to update my blog ;)

4. Super A-mart called to let me know that our couch - which was an expected 3-6 weeks away - can be delivered tomorrow. I'm not going to tell Dave this, I'm going to let it be a surprise for when he gets home. Of course, if he reads this it won't be a surprise but I think he bored of my blog weeks ago......

5. And last but not least, while doing handover we decided to go to lunch (after my phone call to my mother-in-law confirmed that all was well with the small people) - and I got to eat a steak, on my own, solo - without a baby at my boob or a toddler poking her fingers in my food to check whether or not it was hot. And I drank a glass of red wine. Steak and wine and no kids. I swear it doesn't get better than this. Having kids has made me - if nothing else - appreciate the small things in life - you know, like being able to pee without a running commentary from a 2-year old ;)