Emojitastic (PM)

Oh no, I am going to seem like such a killjoy because I don't really use emojis very much. It's because I dislike text speak and at first emojis seemed like an extension of that. These days, they seem totally different and much more enjoyable and spazz. But I've already cast myself as a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to the way the kids communicate via text so I feel like I can't go back now.  I have to maintain my anti emoji stance. 

But I'd be lying if I said I didn't update to the new operating system as soon as I could because the new emojis meant nothing to me. That would be a lie. 

I may not use them, but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy looking at them. 

Also, the women in my mothers group are all on the young side and communicate to one another through whatsapp. It is wall to wall emoji, like "baby o has a rash...any suggestions? 🤒😩", then about 5 responses which look like this: 🤔😰🙏🏾🍼

I have no idea what they mean but I figure I need to expose myself to them so I can stay relevant. 

Emojitastic (AM)

I know that the latest update for iPhone's  operating system came out a week ago or something but I was on holidays, OK, with nothing but a 3G internet connection. I couldn't update until I got home on Monday night. And even then there were issues, mainly that my phone was too flat to install it and I couldn't find a charger for, like, an hour but eventually I got that new iOS on my phone and I couldn't be happier! I was pretty much gagging for it by that time. I'd seen the new taco and burrito emojis on Instagram and then Chickpea texted me asking if I'd done the update. She added a bunch of cheese emojis but without the update they just came through as weird little arrows. 

I'm a pretty heavy emoji user and not a week goes by that I don't lament the absence of a certain emoji. Usually facial expressions or hand gestures or cheese, but there are other foodstuffs that I couldn't believe were missing too. Like pancakes and chillies. But this update, you guys!!! This update!! Sure there is still no pancakes but the cheese! The taco! And the chilli!!

But then there are the emojis you didn't even know you wanted! A crab! Scorpion! A patch of grey rainy sky! There's even a Chickpea emoji! But sadly no chickpea emoji. 

After I updated my phone Chickpea and I spent about half an hour texting about the new emojis. The range is so good you guys! You must update immediately! As Chickers and I concluded:

Holiday day 12 Final Day (PM)

Coincidentally I am starting a holiday today, and this post is coming to you from the baggage claim area at Hobart International Airport. It's a bit unpleasant, and perhaps its things like this that make us dead keen to get home at the end of a holiday. But the lack of regular chores and the fact that we are staying at a pal's place which is really really nice, plus the high likelihood of eating oysters and cheese most days...these things make me pretty happy. 

Holiday Day 12 - final day (AM)

Holidays are great aren't they?! All kinds, but I'm at the end of enjoying the kind of holiday where you basically do nothing. Oh we went to Wet 'n' Wild one day and we've driven about 900km, but most days were characterised by a morning at the beach and an afternoon in the pool. Or sometimes vice versa. There has been a lot of ice cream eaten, lots of fruit and some chips. It's been really great and super relaxing. On holidays I think you probably enjoy being away from work but the highlight is being away from the rest of the drudgery. Cleaning the house, grocery shopping, tending to whatever boring shit you have to do in real life which I can't identify here because I don't know exactly what it is, but I know there is heaps of it. 

Although you still have to tidy and eat on holiday the impermanence of it makes all chores far less overwhelming. If you eff it up or skip it one day you can sort it out the next. And even if you don't sort it out you'll be leaving soon enough. That has really been the joy of this holiday. Just enjoying the things I'm doing and the adorable people in with without those boring-ass distractions. 

The weather has been great too, sunny, warm but not too hot. We've seen heaps of greenery, you know in nature, plus a couple of whales, a pod of dolphins,a wallaby, both black and white cockatoos, kookaburras, lizards galore and one morning we had a buffet breakfast.

Holidays really are great. Funny then that I cannot wait to get home tonight. I really can't wait. 

 

Memory lane (PM)

I love a paper trail walk down memory lane. Especially when it takes you to a time in your life when your were overseas or newly returned from overseas or just found out you were pregnant or you had a baby or some other exciting time. I like a hard copy paper trail trip too, which is why my wallet is usually full of old tickets and receipts. 

We went to Disneyland two years ago when Newbie was just a tiny bean in my belly and the signs at Disneyland's doors, necessary by California law, declaring that the park had things containing carcinogenic products that could cause harm to people and unborn babies were pretty disconcerting. Anyway we're all fine and had a great day. 

I've been taking my own trip down memory lane lately because I left my face wash in a hotel in Byron Bay and had to buy a replacement in the local IGA near where we are now staying which is a town of some hundreds people and has a shop with one face wash, Johnson's gentle exfoliating wash, which, although I've never used it, smells just like something I used as a teenager, according to the power of olfactory memory. 

Memories, like the corners of my nose. 

Memory Lane (AM)

The last few days I've been trying to get the paperwork together for my 2014-15 tax return. This is particularly challenging when you are someone without a proper filing system and a newborn baby. But I like to think of myself as a semi can-do kind of girl, and so in the five-minute windows of opportunity that present themselves when KB is sleeping, I've been going over electronic bank-statements to gather some of the information I need.

Reading through these statements is like being transported back in time through your purchases. And it really tells a story about my habits and my state of mind at certain times. On 1 October last year I bought a bunch of stuff at Barkly Square and spent a bunch of money at the Union Hotel in Brunswick. That's pretty normal and therefore pretty boring, but going over it I realised it was the day I got back from overseas and I remember how excited I was to be back in Brunswick and doing those everyday Brunswick things. Six weeks or so later I can see I went to see the GP, which was the visit that confirmed I was pregnant with KB. The following day I spent some money at Aesop, which is something I often do when I feel overwhelmed and want to get some calmness in my life. 

Maybe it's because I spend a lot of time at home alone these days, but doing this has made me extremely nostalgic and quite happy. And all for the cost of an internet connection which we all already have anyway. 

Go take a trip down memory lane today!

Ugh (PM)

When Baby was little K and I did this thing called The Australia on Collins Challenge. Basically it was just doing laps of Australia on Collins until Baby went to sleep. But with him the payoff was worth it, because once asleep he'd stay that way for hours. In fact that day of the Australia on Collins Challenge I'm pretty sure K and I went on to have a very long lunch at The Press Club while Baby slept in a pusher beside our food-and-wine-laden table. That would never happen with Newbie though and I really understand how lucky I was back then. 

Let's hope K can resist the lure of Katie's!

I wouldn't say my holiday is more exciting exactly, but it's probably considerably better looking and pleasanter. 

Ugh (AM)

I'm doing laps of Northland to keep KB asleep. After a few laps, every shop has potential. Let's hope J's holiday is a little more exciting. 

Holiday day 1 (PM)

I'm flying Jetstar to Tassie in a couple of weeks. Boo hiss. 

But I'm flying Qantas to London in November and have booked a seat with a basinette for KB. I'm not paying for it, but boy do I want to get it. And I hope they give me extra snacks to make the milk to feed KB. Again, I'm not paying for it, but the passengers of QF10 are going to want to make sure we have it, believe you me.

But have a great holiday J and co. 

Here's a photo of my new runners.

Holiday Day 1 (AM)

Guys I'm in Queensland! 

Since I left home yesterday afternoon I really have learned a lot! 

Like, just stop flying jets at even though it's much cheaper. Or because of that I guess. 

Look everything I've learned is about getting what you paid for. Now I'm going to go pay for a buffet breakfast. And eat it. 

I love clothes (PM)

I'm not sure if it's what J intended, but I read the title of this post as though Goldmember was saying it, like "I love clooooooooooooooooooooooothes". 

Ha!

But seriously, I love clothes too in a way that is healthy and normal and because they don't cry all afternoon despite you doing everything you can think of to make them happy. Ha!

But seriously. I also love the shot in the arm one's wardrobe gets after hand washing after months of avoiding it.

 

This little number has been in the dirty clothes for months but today's post inspired me. 

I love clooooooooooooothes!

I love clothes (AM)

You guys, I love clothes!

You may think if you've read this blog or if ever had a conversation with me that you already know this and I should too. And you'd be right in a way. It's obvious in the things that I write and things that I say and on a good day in the way that I dress. But loving clothes is something a person sometimes has to deny. Not outright of course but just in the way you are. You have pretend you love other things more than clothes, like your children or boyfriend. 

Just jokes, I love my children and boyfriend more than clothes. No pretends. But guys beautiful clothes are beautiful and I want to wear them. 

I think partly this seasonal mess of weather always helps because every day you're dressing for a new season which really helps keep the love alive. Just yesterday I was fully loving myself sick in a QEII-worthy monochrome ensemble of pale pink shorts with a dark pink linen sweater. Monochrome for life! It really got me excited about spring dressing. Them today I had to totally shift gears into winter dressing. Whaaat?! 

That's when I spotted a great woolen Gorman dress that I bought years ago. It was the last thing I bought before Gorman became my mortal enemy. I spotted this dress in my wardrobe and thought "You're beautiful!" And that's when I just thought "I LOVE CLOTHES!" Why a fight it any longer. Oh sure, I'm wearing monochrome again* (why wouldn't I?!) but that's what's so great about clothes! Colour! Cuts! Combos! They have so much to offer. And I for one love them. Unashamedly and eternally. 

*see above. 

Sick day (PM)

I'm sorry to hear you have that fancy sounding sore hand, but frankly it couldn't have come at a better time for me. I'm sick too! I have some tummy complaint that makes me feel like I'm going to spew and had me forcing LB to hold my hand at 5 o'clock this morning and listen to me cry about how sick I felt. I am basically bed ridden too. Couch ridden really and I'm certainly neglecting my motherly duties, particularly those that involve feeding my children because the sight of most foods exacerbates the spew feeling. Despite this I haven't even spewed which I feel thankful for, but do wonder if it would just get rid of this devil inside.

Lucky Ewan is always good for what ails ya.

Anyway mate, I hope you get over your Cuervo Gold disease soon. 

Sick day (AM)

I'm calling in sick today. Or rather, injured.

I have De Quervain's Tenosynovitis.

I KNOW! Just my luck. It makes using my thumbs quite hard, and now that KB is here and I haven't sat in front of a computer for three months, thumbs are essential for MSC. 

I suggest you guys spend the time you would have spent on MSC thinking about Ewan McGregor.

Brother is looking soulful today! 

Recent purchase (PM)

So I kind of love that boys t-shirt from target and when I saw it I thought “I want it.” And then I thought. “Maybe I should just buy it Baby.” HE loves sharks. And hammerheads?! Forget about it. But it is daylight savings day 2. And Newbie is teething which means much of my sleep is disrupted. And I was on a train to Clayton when I read K’s morning post. So what I’m trying to say is that I have no idea what is real and what is caused by the strange circumstances of life. Also, I love a white t-shirt. Even with stuff on it. You know, if it is cool stuff. Like sharks.

Also I kind of want to buy stuff all the time and last night I nearly bought a bunch of stuff from UniQlo via the internet but then stopped myself at the last minute but now can’t stop thinking about the stuff and how I should just buy it. God! I wish I had a recent purchase to share, but all I’ve got is the $10 Myki top up I did this morning.

Recent purchase (AM)

KB is currently enjoying feeding every couple of hours during the night, while refusing to breastfeed during the day, which is to say that fair is foul and foul is motherflipping fair at our house at the moment. (Who has seen Macbeth?! We saw it the other night. Fassbender rules! Literally!)

Anyway, the upshot of all this is that I am very tired and I inevitably go to Northland every day in an effort to keep KB occupied during those long afternoons. 

These factors combined led to me buying this tshirt from the teenage boys section of Target. 

It was only a tenner! 

I've worn it a couple of times too and because I am quite tired all the time, I love it. 

What baby said (PM)

Due to the fact that all my baby has said today is WAAAAA WAAAA WAAAA I'm just going to write what I told J earlier today in response to her post. 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. 

What Baby said (AM)

Sometimes I have to tell Baby I can't do a thing for him because I'm writing Miss Soft Crab. I don't think he quite gets it (who the hell does?) I explained to him about it once and I think he thought it seemed pretty cool (little does he know). He asked if he could write a story for it. I said "Of course not kid, you can't write!" Just jokes. I said sure and then he told me some stories. Am I exploiting a 5-year-old by using publishing it? Maybe! 

Please welcome Baby for his first guess post:  

I was pretty scared of that dream but now I’m not scared of it but it was a nightmare, but before the scary part all the stuff was nice. I can’t remember all of it but ok: There were people coming into the lair and they saw these pictures like in Beast Quest and Sea Quest, they were really small red line drawings. Everybody came in different ways, down stairs into a lair. There was a bat showing the pictures and it was turning and turning and one person rolled down a stair case and fell flat 'cause he was dead. There was a girl who was a lady holding a baby. Then the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were running down the hill with a man.

The girl one: Once I was at kinder, it was a really large kinder I was in the OG room there was a girl my age but she didn’t notice me but I thought she was quite pretty. She was carrying something like a doona and it closed around us and so we were inside it and then she noticed me. And we were talking. Then we got out. She was four but she grew into a lady first. It took days and days but I wa still 4 and she was a teenager or a grown up. Then I said to her come and see this. I was showing her a hole in the ground. It was a bit weird. Then I woke up in the morning.