Mrs McPherson

2007-12-13T18:29:00.000+10:00

Well, last post for the year! Because I am absolutely certain that I won't get to this again before January.

Tomorrow is our big move north! Very exciting. Very tiring, all the running around and organising, etc. But it's nearly over with. And, thankfully, so is our time in Happy Rock.

Don't get me wrong, there are people that I will miss a whole lot, but it's very nice to be outta here :) We'll be back in six months for a wedding though, so we'll get to catch up with our friends and family.

Anyway, things to do, places to be. Have a merry Christmas!!!

2007-11-19T20:43:00.000+10:00

So funny I think I broke something laughing :)

Warning: Naughtiness Ahead!!!

2007-11-12T20:03:00.000+10:00

I got a hair cut today.

This might not be a big deal to you, but I have insane hair, and it's a huge drama to go to the hairdresser. Curly hair is snooty. It's picky and pretentious. It only likes being washed a certain way, or brushed a certain way, or placated with certain products. It doesn't like certain kinds of weather - don't even SPEAK to me about humidity. If you do something curly hair doesn't like, it punishes you by going into a beatch fit and exploding into pure frizz that is shapeless at best - at worst, it's the dreaded 'triangle head'.

This has happened to me many, many times. Which is why I can count on one hand the number of times I've been to the salon in my adult life. It's hard enough looking after curly hair when it's your own - it's a freaking nightmare finding a hairdresser who knows how to handle it.

It's not like normal hair. You can't cut it wet. You can't layer it. Thinning is dodgy. Short = frizz bomb, long = headaches and mass amounts of conditioner. Dyeing? Forget it.

So today, with a very specific list of what I wanted and what I did not, I went to the hairdresser. My reason? I'm about to move to the tropics, I can't be walking around with a woolly blanket on my head in summer! I wanted short hair. Not boy hair, not butch hair. Feminine and girly, yes, but still - SHORT. Layered - absolutely not. A fringe? Why yes, thanks!

So, the first thing the hairdresser decides when I tell her all this? I obviously want a trim, not short hair, and she knows best because she dropped out at grade 10 to do her apprenticeship, thank you. And then she attacks my hair with thinning scissors!!! And then, after wetting my hair to cut it, is confused when everything goes different lengths!!! And I had to explain to her that curly hair doesn't curl all uniform and predictable!!! And then she goes on about how a fringe would be useless! And WHAT THE HECK cause she said she was EXPERIENCED with curly hair!?!?!?!

Half an hour later I walked out of there fuming mad with a thinned out puffball - slash - triangle on my head. I was annoyed. My curly hair was frizzing like crazy - a blatant screaming fit about being violated. It was not a good start to the day.

In the end, I went home and re-cut it myself. I have a playful fringe and nice curls and basically I look like a shagamuffin :) It's nice. I can look cute or rock-chick wannabe or I can even do that sexy bed head thing. It will curl to look messy, shaggy, fun, whatever I want. Or I can use (selective) products to relax it a bit and go a bit straighter and neater. It can still be pinned back. There's enough length for a little ponytail but not enough to make me sweat like a pig in summer. I may yet cut it shorter, but I'm happy for now.

Lesson to all this?

Don't trust your curls with some peroxide-inhaling shampoo addict who mixes chemicals but never finished high school.

2007-11-07T09:46:00.000+10:00

I love the global community that is the internet.

To be specific, I *heart* my online writer friends!

I posted new fic yesterday (no, you can't read it, I post under a mysterious pen name which I'm not telling) and within five minutes, I had reviews popping into my inbox. Within an hour the story itself had 108 hits. I went to bed feeling happy. I woke up and when I checked my mail, there were 16 reviews and my story was clocking over 700 hits.

I really love my writer friends :)

There is just something nice about a massive community of people who are in contact, enjoy the same things, and are willing to participate in each other's efforts.

There's another group I belong to (a forum for writers where we trade stories, gossip, feedback, advice, all that sort of stuff). These people are so freaking awesome, I just adore them. We have so much fun with our 'hobby' (though there are among us some professional authors) because of that community sense again. We talk, we tease, we even have the occasional actual get together (though the Aussie contingent are all in Brissy, except me... sigh). I love it.

I like writing stories for lots of reasons - it's a chance to use my atrophying brain, a chance to play make believe for a while, gives me opportunity to use my bizarre imagination. Mostly I just like connecting with people who get it.

2007-10-25T21:21:00.001+10:00

Your Brain is Purple

Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic.

You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense.

Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries.

You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What Color Is Your Brain?

2007-10-08T13:02:00.000+10:00

Hehehe...

2007-10-03T09:29:00.000+10:00

My little girl turned four yesterday. It's so weird, remembering her as a tiny baby and now watching her get all tall and clever and stuff.

2007-08-17T09:00:00.000+10:00

Yesterday we got kicked out of our house at 7am so five airconditioners, a bunch of smoke alarms and safety switches could be installed. Which, normally, hurrah for us. But Robyn, Paige and I are all smack bang in the middle of a nasty flu. While we should have been in bed, we instead had to amuse ourselves in GLADSTONE until late afternoon.

We had breakfast at Macca's then walked around the park for fifteen minutes, but were too blerch for it to be pleasant. We drove to Calliope. Had a look around. Drove to the river, got out and had a walk, got nostalgic over the camping grounds. Drove to Awoonga Dam and let Paige go nuts on the swings. It was a quiet nuts; she was pretty wasted with all the coughing and runny nose and sick-sleepiness.

SO bored after all that, we went shopping. Paige was ratty. Drove by the house; it was 11am-ish, they were still in full swing. Sigh. Bought lunch, went to the waterfront to eat. Robyn fell asleep on the grass. Paige chased seagulls. Eventually we went for a walk and we sat to watch the dolphins. Very exciting. Got sunburn.

We were going pretty crazy by this stage; tired, hot, needing showers and beds... we got drinks and went to Callemondah Dam to sit. Having had enough of that we decided bugger it, we're going home! The fact that Paige was asleep meant our day of waiting around was DONE. Thankfully, when we turned up, the boys were just finishing. About half an hour later they left and we turned into comatose-type vegetables.

Should it happen again, here's the plan.

Find hotel with pay tv and 24 hour check in. Sit Paige in front of telly with box munchies and cartoon network. Sleep lots.

2007-08-10T19:38:00.000+10:00

Am v. tired; had a busy day of girliness. First, went to bridal shop to try on dress for Tina's wedding. Is lovely. Got to see Tina in her dress (squee!) and she's just stunning.

Later I went out with Tina, Karen and Anita (the other bridesmaids) to check out shoes, then some jewellery, then back to the bridal shop so Karen could try on her dress.

Also checked out two halls with Tina, looking for one suitable for her engagement party.

Am all jelly :)

2007-08-06T11:27:00.000+10:00

Quick update...

Michelle is in hospital again, so I'm looking after Cordelia. Two small blonde girls = hyperactivity, a lot of noise, and much trouble.

Micheal is engaged! Yeay for him! And Emma, his finacee! Congrats, dears!

Tina is engaged! Yeay for her, and Rob, her finace! Woot!

And YEAY FOR ME cause I get to be her Matron of Honour! SQUEE! And Paige is a flower girl!

Must get back to the girls; one of them can't seem to grasp the concept of chewing her food and is making a mess with the coughing/hacking/spitting.

2007-07-08T17:26:00.000+10:00

Kids are funny.

At the beach the other day with Robyn, Paige, Tina, Chris and their lovely dog Lachie...Paige got all upset because of all the sand on her feet (the beach is a new thing for her) and was winging and carrying on, hopping around... hehehe... anwyay, we told her she had a bad case of sand infested foot and that it was gonna have to come off at the ankle. She freaked out! I had to give her a hug and a kiss to calm her down, then promise I wouldn't chop her foot off. Hehehe. Silly baby.

I have a new job at church - in charge of the children (YIKES) and their malleable little brains. Very frightening.

Ooo I want cheesecake...

2007-06-21T09:27:00.001+10:00

Brrr, it's cold, and wet and rainy and dark and I am FREEZING but I love it!

2007-06-14T08:17:00.000+10:00

I have never enjoyed a football game quite so much as I did last night's State of Origin. We had a brilliant night over at the Parker's; early for dinner (in which I got a bit homesick because it was so NICE to have a table so full of people to eat/talk/laugh with that we spilled into the next room) then plonked in front of the telly while Queensland did what's been impossible for them for something like 25 years and won the second game in Sydney, on NSW home turf at Telstra Stadium.

We cheered like mad people (and scared Paige rather badly a few times!) Bill was hilarious; I've never heard him make so much noise in all the years I've known him. Robyn kept laughing at me because I was making comments like 'did you see him elbow that guy in the nose? That is so RUDE!' (meaning that it was unsportsmanlike). Ugh, there was cavemanning too - the camera caught two guys snotting it out over the night. Oh and there were a few scuffs and near-miss-punchups, but the camera quickly scooted away.

Tate was freaking AWESOME, leaping into the air like a frog on crack to snatch the ball so many times I lost count. And as always, Lockyer was gorgeous. My sister thinks all kinds of...unsportsmanlike things about him. Teehee.

All in all, a brilliant night that was really only brilliant because we were in the company of friends. Looking forward to game three in two weeks - we've won the series, but I wanna see if we can't pull of a hat trick :D

2007-05-30T11:15:00.000+10:00

Hehehe...

61% GeekMingle²

2007-05-30T10:12:00.000+10:00

My sister is coming here today :) She's driving down the coast in her little car, and she will be here in Gladstone tonight. I've made up the spare room for her and during the course of the day I really must make sure I have clean towels. And clean out the fridge. Neither of which I am inclined to do because I feel awful and sick and headachey. I did yesterday too, and last night I slept for a good twelve hours. Got out of the shower, into my room, sat on the bed and poof, out I went. Woke up this morning, stumbled into the shower, got out and realised what the time was. Quite shocking.

Chris visited on Saturday night! It was so good to see him :) Feels like it's been ages. And, as always, he had perfect timing too. Roy was out at the movies, Paige had gone to sleep, and I was all blerch and sad and stressed out. We flicked through the 'Great Australian Song Book' and had a good giggle, and he let me complain for a bit, then told me about the hippie he rents his house off.

Roy has to be at the Ecofest on Sunday. Joy of joys, he's setting up an aquaponics display for the school. He'll be gone all day, playing with fish and plants and water pumps. He's happy about it; right up his alley, this stuff. Alas, Paige and I will not be joining him.

As an aside, I think there are possums in my roof. It's definately something with claws, and something much heavier than a rat (thank goodness, because heaven knows how much I loathe rodents). It/they are scratching around in there all the time, and it freaks me out. While I was making up Robyn's bed this morning, I stopped to hear this awful scratch-roll-splat fest going on above my head. Paige looked up as if to say 'the roof is making noises'... ugh I really really hope it's not rats. I don't think it is. We've not seen any evidence of them in the house. Ick Ick Ick.

Well this filthy house isn't going to tidy itself. Sadly that means I have to do it. So off I go, into the crud-strewn-yonder. Think of me, my dear ones, and pray for my safe return... if I don't make it, you can be sure that the pile of dastardly putrid socks has got me, and it's best for all at that point if you run and never look back. Save yourselves! I die with housewifely honour...

2007-05-06T16:11:00.000+10:00

Please, please listen to this:

(Comedian Tim Minchin on "The Sideshow", Saturdays @ 7:30pm on ABC)

I watched this on "The Sideshow" last night and fell in love :)

2007-04-29T11:36:00.000+10:00

ZOMGOSH I'm being stalked by a chicken. No really; it's fat and orange and scratching around my font door, looking for whatever it is chickens look for, sampling my plants and generally freaking me out.

It's. A. Chicken.

Where the hell did it come from? The neighbours. They have chickens. Must be one of theirs. Which is fine and all, I don't mind that it got out and into my garden, but it scares me. Because it's a chicken. And chickens, as we all know, are inherently evil.

Roy is home now, and he is going to save me from the chicken. He's hunting it, crocodile man style, with faithful Paige in tow. He's not afraid of anything. Not mice, not spiders, not chickens. He'll find it and take it back to its owners and then come give me a big hug after my traumatising brush with actual, live poultry.

And then, he'll mock me incessantly for the next hour or two. Which is fine. Because while I might make for a crappy, ridiculous farm girl, he looks silly hunting a chicken in a white shirt and tie. Hehehe.

2007-04-27T09:16:00.000+10:00

Last night we went out for the proverbial coffee with John; the rest of the Parkers we under the weather so it was just us and him and McDonalds fries. Paige was funny; Roy had dressed her in jeans to go out but forgot the belt (little girls don't have hips to hold their pants up like big girls). In consequence, she spent most of the night running around, clutching herself like she really had to pee when she was only trying to keep her pants up :) Hehehehe.

2007-04-13T09:14:00.000+10:00

We're home and safe. I can't believe the month has gone by so quickly! I didn't want to come back to Gladstone at all. It was difficult leaving my family after being with them for such a long stay, but now that I'm here it's okay. I've got a few things to do to get ready for our (hopeful) move north at the end of the year, so focusing on that is keeping me from moping. Hurrah for optimism, right?

* * *

And a couple of pictures:

Paige got gumboots.

Obviously, she was happy about this. As was I; you don't go tramping about barefoot in the grass in the north. There's Weil's disease in the soil, and it's more dangerous after rain. And there are ticks, too. But never mind all that.

Paige also got into my makeup.

(Mum thinks she looks like tard-esque in this picture.)

There's a few fantastic pictures of her in the backyard, dressed like Astro-boy in knickers and boots, but it looks a bit dodgy so I'll not post them.

When I find the rest of the good photos, I'll post them. In the meantime I am off to go dig up a couple of garden beds. Have fun :)

2007-03-30T11:01:00.000+10:00

So here I am in beautiful Cairns, basking in the perfect weather that 'autumn' brings in these parts and thinking maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I just got a job and stayed here...

But then, I'd miss Roy :)

We're having a fantastic time. Not doing much, but we're with family, and it's lovely and green and gorgeous and SIGH. I've missed it here.

For those that are interested, Mum's operation went very well and she is recovering nicely.

I have also eaten far too much celebratory junk food since arriving, and with two birthdays coming up, it's only going to get worse! Oh no! More chocolate! Teehee :) How terrible.

Will post more when I get a chance :)

2007-02-21T11:08:00.000+10:00

I had an interesting conversation with my husband the other day. Driving around, late at night, Paige was asleep in the back... and I'm not really sure how, but we got to talking about my childhood.

It was a bit weird, really. It's not like we've never talked about it before but certainly not like this. I had a nice childhood. There were events and people that were ...unpleasant, but we all have those. I love my family very much so obviously nothing that happened was terrible enough to cause problems there! But as we talked, I made some very sudden connections between things that happened when I was a kid and certain personality traits that have lingered as a result. And I remembered some of those unpleasant things that I would much rather not and I was surprised that even after many years, just thinking about them could make me upset.

I truly believe that your upringing is no excuse for adult behaviour (or misbehaviour, as it may be). Sorry, but to me the idea that you were abused as a child and therefore have some diminished responsibility for being an abuser as an adult does not fly with me. Adults are not powerless like children are. We do not lack the capability to inform ourselves, to learn, to make decisions. There comes a point where we have to stop being perpetually dependent on whatever circumstances got us to adulthood. We have to step up and take sole responsibility for who we are and who we become. Of course the events of the past contribute to who we are - but we have complete power over how we let it change us. The alternative is to remain perpetual, whining children and really...no thanks.

So, here I am, with a sudden insight into some of the quirkier aspects of my personality, and I'm wondering if I'm too chicken to face up and change them. (Hello, pot? This is kettle, calling!)

Okay, so even I find it difficult to live up to my stifling character sometimes. At least I've stopped inflicting that on other people. I hope. Mellie and I had a conversation in high school that I hope I will never forget - it's been very important to me. She asked me once, "What would you do if you found out one of your friends was a prostitute? Would your opinion of them change?"

Being the good, sheltered, ignorant and naive Mormon girl that I was and believeing that sort of thing to be Very Bad, I immediately snorted and replied "Heck yeah!"

Melanie was immediately disappointed, and though I'm not sure what words she used to reply to that, I can still remember her face. I went home and thought about that little conversation, and you know what? She was right to be disappointed.

I thought a lot about this whole 'judge not' business and forgiveness and the difference between a person and their behavior. And that night was when I made my decision that someone else's life is someone else's life, and I have no business approving or disapproving of any decision they make. My postition and my right is only to love people for who they are, regardless of what they do. I don't always get it right, (especially when someone ticks me off) and I need to remind myself of that little conversation from time to time, (especially when someone ticks me RIGHT off) but hey, I try.

And now I'm thinking about this introspective kind of self evaluation, and I wonder how many people out there really care about changing and improving themselves? Do we all just blunder around incecessantly and it's just a few people who stop and consider the alternatives? I sure do a lot of blundering, and not much stopping to think. (Probably so I don't have to evaluate the fact that I mightn't like what I discover, hehe)

But there you go, there's my inflated two cents for the day.

2007-01-27T08:12:00.000+10:00

A list of things that I like:

Rain
T-bone steak
The smell of my daughter's shampoo
Sunshine, when it's not too hot :)
Cuddles and hugs
A good book combined with a hot bath.
Grown up things that I'll tell you about when you're older, teehee
Roy's stubble turning into a beard (it's fun to scratch!)
Ribbon
The way Paige sounds when she's laughing too hard to breathe properly
A productive kind of sweat
The breeze
Sleep (and nice dreams)
Music
Buttons

Not that it's terribly important to know, but these are all things that make me happy. And today, because I have to say goodbye to a dear friend who is moving away (even though we'll see him again, lots) I want to remember some things that make me cheerful. Because I hate saying goodbye for any substantial period of time. Makes me all sniffly and teary and sad, which is entirely selfish, because I know what wonderful things he's got to look forward to elsewhere.

Lucky for me it looks like rain :)

2006-10-15T13:16:00.000+10:00

Today, I came out of my room in a plain old slip (looking for a dress to go over it) and Paige saw me; her eyes went wide and she pointed at me, and very awed, she said "Princess!"

I think that's the best self esteem pick me up I've ever had :)

2006-10-02T10:54:00.000+10:00

Happy Third Birthday, Paige!
Love from Mummy and Daddy

2006-09-26T14:53:00.000+10:00

School holidays!

We're camping in the backyard :) There's a big, 70's era tent set up, a big blue thing that's just comfortable for the three of us, and it's full of air matresses and pillows. We slept out there last night and it was SO much fun! Munching popcorn, watching a movie on the laptop (because you can't appreciate nature in suburbia) and just hanging out. I don't think we'll sleep in there tonight, Roy is driving up to Rocky with Chris and he'll want to know that Paige and I are locked in the house nice and secure. Strange man.

Anyway, must dash, going out with Chris - the other Chris, the girl one - so I have to go and find my shoes now.