No Show

Friday:

I continue very tired, and now rather achy all over, and Aiden was also home sick today. This morning his voice was so hoarse he sounded like a heavy smoker. He’s much better this evening, but I’ve got worse as the day has gone on.

Unfortunately Tim and I were supposed to go out tonight, some time ago he bought tickets to see Guy Sebastian (he won Australian Idol about ten years ago, I think the first series) who we both like. We had some obstacles; difficulty finding someone who could babysit, my resistance when I found out I had to get to the venue by myself at night in the city and meet Tim there - Tim managed to solve all problems. But he couldn’t work around sickness. I'm never that keen on going out in the evening anyway, but I feel sorry for Tim who planned it all.

And now I’m worried about the exam I did yesterday. I thought it went ok at the time, but I did notice that I wasn’t one of the first to finish when I usually am. Today I feel so slow and foggy. I hope yesterday was just the slow part. I do know I added some extra information that wasn't strictly necessary, and also being puzzled over one bit for a while before I worked it out - talking to Lauren afterwards she didn't add the extra stuff and she thought the exam was easy... she finished way before me... and I don't actually remember checking over my work maybe I did... dammit I hate being sick!

I seem to be catching up on my sleep. Solid sleep at night, another nap this afternoon. can't keep my eyes open. This post has been written over several sessions.

That last job interview I went to, some weeks ago, I realised how shabby my “good” shoes had become. My usual footwear are sneakers, or a couple of variants of sneaker-like shoes. I have winter boots, and one good pair of black shoes which I keep in their box between occasional good-shoes-required events. But they had become rather scuffed and peeling, time for a new pair! Last week I went shoe shopping, a very rare occasion (I get new sneakers about once a year, anything else approximately never), and bought two pairs of shoes; comfy black almost-sneakers and fancier (and expensive) black shoes for work, should I ever get a job. When I got home I looked at the fancy ones again. What the hell was I thinking? Long and pointy with little black bows on the front? I was never going to wear those. So not “me”. I’ll be taking those back - I was planning to today except for being sick. Instead, I ordered online ankle boots that I’d liked in the shop except they only had brown ones and I wanted black. They arrived today and I love them. Now they are “me”. Here is the comparison me/not me.

I burned dinner tonight. Luckily salvageable. Just not thinking very well. But apologies if this post doesn't make sense.

Broken oven

Saturday:

My oven seemed to be working ok, a bit hotter than usual maybe, since the repair man came and did nothing. Until this morning, when Tim noticed the oven clock wasn't lit up. So we tried the oven, the grill, checked the powerboard outside, checked other appliances -- just the oven unit (including grill) not working. Completely dead. With Easter dinner for 14 (not including babies) to cook tomorrow and no chance of getting a repair man before then.

My menu included roast lamb with roast vegetables, garlic bread cooked in the oven, roast tomato soup, lemon tart (cooked in the oven)... I went into a bit of a panic. I knew the shops were open today so I could buy all new stuff, but catering for 14 isn't easy with just frying pans. Luckily Tim remembered we have an outdoor BBQ! We only use it a couple of times a year, but tomorrow will be one of those days! It's not one I can do a lamb roast on, unfortunately.

So I'll be off to the shops soon to stock up on meat and a pre-made dessert.

We decided not to go to the Royal Easter Show this year. It started life as an agricultural show but it's huge now; show animals, rides, sideshows, showbags, show jumping, pig races, best fruitcake, best quilt, dress made entirely of rose petals, petting zoo, alpaca wool fashion show, motorbike trick riding, giant robot dinosaur that eats cars, fireworks, more rides, food pavilion with lots of tastings, cooking demonstrations, shearing demonstrations... it's fun but exhausting. I now understand why my mum would only take us every second year - and it was a lot smaller then! Anyway, instead last weekend we went to a little "family show" with my brother-in-law's family, it's in competition with the Easter Show and apparently isn't allowed to use "Easter" in the title after a fight with the big Show; it was tiny and mostly sideshows unfortunately but there was a petting zoo and a Lego exhibition and a little circus so it was an ok day. I'm kind of wavering a bit about still going to the real Show, no one else cares but I still have happy memories of it.

It is school holidays, I took the kids to see Beauty and the Beast last week, it was pretty good. We've been having lots of treats, I think I've put on a kilogram and it's not even Easter yet. The Easter bunny is usually pretty generous in this house!

Royal Easter Show

Friday:

First day of the long weekend, we went to the Royal Easter Show. Country comes to the city!

It was the usual kind of stuff; animals, rides (we didn't go on any, but they were there), showbags, woodchopping, and displays of various foods and arts and crafts. We were all rather taken with the skill of this wood carving. 

Not something I would want in my house, but very realistic!

Walked over 11,000 steps and my feet are a bit sore! I've decided I actually prefer a smaller "show", the Sydney Show is so big you spend half your time walking from one thing to the next, trying to get through the crowds. And because it is over several weeks, the more interesting events are spread out and diluted. In Canberra we could see trick motorbike jumps and jousting and pig races and dog obedience all in one day. Today we sat in the stands and got to see some women being judged on how well they sat a horse, and in another arena poodles were being floofed. Not much on, really. And we kept being blocked from going into animal pavilions because they were about to be taken to the main arena or something. I didn't get to see my favourite cows at all! Overall it was a good day but a bit disappointing in comparison to other Show days I've experienced.

Cupcake

Tuesday:

Jasmine got an A for her cake decorating! I think practicing at home helped. She also got 89% in a maths test this week so she is doing very well. Maths isn't usually her strongest subject. But she is very diligent with homework and I think her Primary School gave her a very good grounding. They have started writing essays in English and they are completely new to a lot of the class, but Jas has done them before in Primary - called "information reports" but basically the same thing. She has settled into High School (Yr 7-12) without a hitch.

She brought home most of the lolly cake decorating toppings, and the cupcakes. I had a cake (the pawprint one) and quite a lot of m&ms. Urg.

I really need to get back on track with my eating, I know I do, but in the next two weeks I have three birthday celebrations and EASTER and the Royal Easter Show which I love. So I should eat healthy at least on the in between days but there don't seem to be any in between days with no good excuse to eat junk.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show is ten times the size of the little Canberra one. My mum used to take us every second year, she said that was all she could stand. I made a special trip to Sydney a few years ago to go to this one, stayed at an old school friend's house and went with her. We got there and I said "Let's go see the animals!" and she said "Actually I seem to be allergic so I can't go near the animals. Let's go on some rides." and I said "Actually I'm scared of heights and hate going fast." We ended up stuck with the displays of fruit and quilting! It was still a fun day. At least we both liked the woodchopping. We did go on one ride in the kid's area that I remembered enjoying as a child, you sit in a thing like a swing or a chair lift, lots of them all hanging off a big ring, you get lifted up and spun around and up and down. I was terrified. All these 8-14 year olds were loving it, and I had my eyes closed the whole time. Every so often I would open them for a second, squeal in fear at the nightmare combination of height AND speed, and squeeze them closed again.

Daddy can take the kids on rides this year. I'll pat the cute lambs.

Comicon or Strictly Ballroom?

Sunday:

On Friday I was feeling defeated and frustrated, and I'll admit I spend the weekend eating whatever I wanted. But I'm ready to give myself a shake and trudge onwards now.

We drove up to Sydney on Friday night. Tim and the kids were going to Comicon along with a lot of Tim's family. I had no interest in that and had originally planned to stay home. But without a dog it was suddenly a lot easier for me to go along and do my own thing and then visit mum the next day. We stayed at my brother-in-law's, which was great except for the horrible guest bed which feels like you're lying on an unpadded concrete slab (their own bed is the same). I didn't sleep well.

Saturday morning they all got dressed up. Pirate husband, superman son and unidentified cute animal (from pokemon maybe?) daughter.

Doing my brother-in-law's Green Arrow make-up. My SIL was Anna from Frozen, her 18 month old daughter (not pictured) was Elsa.

We drove into the city, in two cars, after deciding it was too hard taking the pram on public transport. When we were nearly there Tim realised he'd left his ticket back at the house! He couldn't even turn around for the long drive back because he didn't have a key to his brother's house. He'd have to meet up with them first. The plan was to see if he could buy another ticket, but we didn't know if there would be any left for sale. The kids didn't need tickets, they could get in free. At this stressful point we got to my drop-off spot and after some dithering I got out of the car. Then felt so guilty for leaving him to cope! The worry coloured my next hour or so until I heard that Tim's cousin had had a spare and they eventually got in ok, after a long search for parking.

It was a cold a grey day with some rain, so after wandering through Hyde Park ...

I went into the Natural History Museum. It had skeletons,

And rocks,

And stuffed animals like this seven meter salt water crocodile,

And of course dinosaurs.

I have fond memories of walking through with Aiden holding tightly to my hands. Not scared of the dinosaurs, not really...

Then I went and had lunch at Darling Harbour. Gnocchi with duck ragu. As you can see, the place wasn't busy. It really wasn't very nice weather for strolling along the harbour front.

Ever since I decided to come to Sydney, I had planned that as a special treat I would get an éclair from a favourite chocolate shop - but I couldn't find the place. I was quite disappointed. But then as I headed over to the theatre I found an Adriano Zumbo café right next door. Zumbo is a celebrity dessert chef who has set some particularly fiendish challenges on MasterChef. I bought a slice of chocolate cake there. And then, (I call it a "café" but there were no tables, just a long counter full of pastries) I tried to eat it outside the theatre. A bit messy. I only had a few bites of the actual cake, saving it for later. But I ate the fancy bits off the top - the little passionfruit/honeycomb macaron and the meringue swirl.

Finally it was time for the big event, "Strictly Ballroom". My mum had given me money for my birthday and I hadn't spent it yet so I bought myself a ticket. This show was made into a movie quite a few years ago but I don't know if it was seen outside Australia. It's about defying the strict rules of federation ballroom dancing to do your own steps and follow your heart, and a romance (of course). It was a lot of fun. In a word, exuberant. Even the seats were sparkly.

By the time it was finished, everyone had left Comicon and were nearly home, so I caught the train as we'd planned. Only problem was my phone died! It's weird how helpless I felt without a phone. I wasn't even sure if they still had payphones at the station! Luckily they did, so I was able to call to be picked up from there.

My SIL had planned to go out to dinner with her mother's group (child free) and invited me along. It was a big leap for me, I'm a bit shy with new people and I was tired. But I thought it might be nice, and also meant I could avoid my father-in-law's favourite pastime of arguing about politics. So I went, and had a great time. The other women were lovely, and very welcoming. The food was good too, but the service quite slow so we didn't get home until after 10. The kids were peacefully asleep, the adults had finished discussing politics. I went to bed content after a good day, trying to make the best of the horrible "mattress".

And woke in the dark hours feeling sick and ended up vomiting into a laundry bucket. Urg. I don't think there was anything wrong with the food. Either my recurrent stomach bug, or an inability to cope with two days of rich food.

Felt tired and a bit unwell all today. We went to visit my mother for lunch. The kids built a tent structure out of sticks and giant leaves.

Long drive home. Dinner at a Thai restaurant on the way, which I felt ok at the beginning of and terrible at the end of. And here I am.

Party weekend

Monday:

Big weekend. My daughter had her birthday party - she turned 10 several weeks ago but this year we decided to wait until school started so all her friends would be back from holidays as we've had problems with that before. The party was a huge success. Exhausting for the adults, as we spent the whole morning cleaning. I ate party food, and now have a ulcer on my tongue. I always get them if I have a lot of sugar. That chocolate frosting was yummy though (I make it myself, so at least I know what is in it. Um, quite a bit of sugar).

One thing that annoyed me was the lateness of one child's parents picking her up. The party was advertised from 2 until 4 pm. One child was picked up at 5.30! Does that seem really rude, or is it just me? I was getting worried, but the girl indicated her mother was often late. There's late and then there is late. What if we'd had other plans? They just played quietly in Jasmine's room so I guess it didn't matter, but it did to me. I couldn't really relax.

My brother-in-law stayed over the weekend. On Sunday we went to the local annual Agricultural Show. Saw sheep and alpacas and the kids had a pony ride (first time, very exciting) and watched the dog sporting events and people doing tricks on motorbikes. For the first time in my entire life I didn't get a Show Bag for myself! Only for the kids. Usually it's my favourite thing. Like it is a license to eat as much junk as you want, just because it comes in a Show Bag. Faulty thinking. But not this year. Not that I can claim any virtue in my current eating habits. Still terrible. Only the mouth ulcer is stopping me. A bit.

Uni is going really well. I passed the Biology assessment test which means I don't have to do the extra bridging classes - Year Ten Biology 27 years ago plus brains got me through! Yay. Go me. And I got 100% on the first Chemistry quiz for week 1. I've also worked my way through all the Maths modules and I feel ready to do that test (have to get 80% to be allowed to continue Chemistry). However I have withdrawn from Anatomy as I've decided four subjects is too much, and I couldn't get to the lecture for that one so it was the logical one to drop. I will do it in winter term, which is a short teaching period sandwiched between the two semesters. A bit intense, but I'll only be doing that one subject so it should be ok.

Royal Easter Show

Saturday:

We drove to Sydney on Thursday after school/work (McDonald's on the way, yuck) and stayed at my mum's house. She greeted us at the door by pointing to a sticker on her shirt that read "I have laryngitis"! She'd come down sick since I last spoke to her. We stayed anyway because we weren't planning to be much trouble.

In the morning we went to the Royal Easter Show and ended up being there for ten hours, which was tiring but fun. It included rides (a kid-sized roller coaster and a little plane that you could make go up and down as it went round); then seeing various animals and feeding the baby ones (I loved the fawn best); fairy floss for the children; the flower arrangement, pumpkin and bonzai exhibition; trick horse-riding, motorcar driving, and motorbike jumps; woodchopping (the World Treefelling final); flyball (a dog sport involving a tennis ball and hurdles); a jazz band; and lots of free food tasting. Got the tired little kidlets back to mum's house in time for bed.

The only problem really with staying at my mum's is that Tim & I have to share a narrow hard fold-down futon couch. It is so uncomfortable! And I'm always worried about rolling off when I turn over. Two nights in a row of not enough sleep.

Then today we went to my sister-in-law's house to see the new baby -- we'd seen her still in hospital but now she was two weeks old. So cute. Jasmine was very excited to hold her. I got to talk to the new mum about lots of baby stuff.

I refused to go to McD again on the long drive home so we went to a proper restaurant before we left Sydney. Much better choice.

Tonight the Easter Bunny will visit and leave numerous little gifts of chocolate all over the house. Excellent.

Or not

Wednesday:

I can't get a refund on that race without a medical certificate and going back in time a week. So now I don't know. I could just walk it. I like walking. But if I'm going to be in a race with people running all around me, I am going to want to run a bit. And if I'm going to run (on and off) then I should probably train for that.

It's only two and a half weeks away. Maybe six training sessions. I guess I'd rather do six unpleasant training sessions so that I can run a little better in the actual race, and not be disappointed in myself like I was last weekend. So I'm taking back the quit until after the 5K.

My thinking was also influenced by Biggest Loser (Australia) last night. We're only two weeks in and they had to do a half-marathon! Well, in relay. Tied together in their parent/child pairs, everyone had to run one 3K lap and then the team could decide who did the extras -- some pairs ended up doing 9K. Generally there was one person in each pair (sometimes the parent, sometimes the child [over 15 yrs old]) who was a lot fitter and/or more determined, and one who lagged back on the tether. One young man got really frustrated with his dad who wouldn't jog much. It made me think about how much I would like to be able to run. To start and be able to just keep going.

Week 2 of the C25K training involves running for 90 seconds. I can barely do 60. I've already done week 1 twice. Do I just keep doing week 1 over and over? Push myself into week 2 and do what I can? Forget the C25K and just do my own long walks with a few bits of jogging thrown in?

We are going to the Royal Easter Show this weekend. Yes that will involve fast food and maybe one showbag (the kids are allowed one each) but also lots and lots of walking. And watching burley men chop down trees. And seeing dogs herding sheep. And petting baby chickens. And seeing giant murals made out of fruit and vegetables. And cheering on the girl trick-riding. And criticizing the judges for not picking the prettiest goat. And maybe the kids getting to milk a cow. I love the Show!

I hate my scales

Sunday:

Yes I know I have only been on this diet for two days. But generally I drop a lot of weight in the first two days (I've been on a few diets these past three years, since just before I turned 40), it's when I lose all the water weight. So to lose only a few hundred grams in the first 24 hours and then PUT HALF BACK ON in the second 24 hours was really really discouraging. If I can't drop some weight at the very start of a diet then can I at all? I did so much exercise and ate so little!

Nevertheless I restrained myself from throwing the scales out the window, had a healthy breakfast and did half an hour of dance. My sore legs had disturbed my sleep again, waking me every time I moved (all that work in the past two days!) but dancing limbered them up a bit.

Then we tried to go to Canberra Show. But after trudging through the huge car park it started pouring rain when we were in the queue to go in and we all got totally soaked and cold. The sky was completely grey and very low so we gave up and went home again. Bit sad to miss seeing all the animals and the woodchopping and stuff, but we'll see it next year and might even go to the Sydney Royal Easter Show in a couple of weeks.

We got a rotisserie chicken on the way home, not a very healthy choice but at least I didn't have any chips. And it was delicious and warming. But I guess I shouldn't expect any weight loss tomorrow either.