New Year, new me!  Hmm, where have I heard that before?!

Monday:

After last night’s solo drinking sesh, I wasted most of the day lying in bed feeling seedy.  Perfect start to the year!😬On the plus side, I needed a rest and got one!  (Scraping the barrel for silver linings!)

In my hungover state, I happened to check the bank account and then my e-mail from Uber and nearly had a coronary when I saw that the ride last night had cost $74!!!!!😱I know it was NYE but that’s an Uber rip off!😵

Was forced to dress as Ian needed me to drive him to the shops to get bread.  The 8th cannot come quick enough so he can get this bloody driving licence back!😒

Then I took Mia to the park to ride on the tracks.  My “to do” for this summer holiday has been to get Mia riding her bike without stabilisers, but since she bust her lip open when she went flying off when she was 3, she has shown no interest and it is starting to bug me now!  Anyway, I wanted this to be Ian’s thing with her, but it has turned out to be yet another thing I have to nag him to do, so I might as well bloody take her and save my voice!🙄

Well, she pelted around the tracks today really confidently. I was walking as I can usually keep up with her, she’s that slow, but I totally underestimated her today.  In fact, it was a little scary as I didn’t want her going out of my sight!  I might even be able to run while she rides next time!  No excuse for me not to get rid of the Christmas flab then!

Tuesday:

Woke up really groggy (I assume from the melatonin I’ve been taking in a bid to reverse my premature menopause, or maybe just a two day hangover!) to this sight shouting “BOO!”😳 Maybe morning supervision needs to be more stringent…

Ian was back at work which was good, as I felt I could relax a bit without him making me feel like I should be doing something! It’s nice to have some chilled days with Mia, as they’re going to be few and far between once school starts.  We did some of the jigsaws she got for Christmas, sticker books, dress up and face paint (more!).  A chilled morning – hooray!🎉

Then we went to Grand  Central so I could spend my Christmas gift voucher which was my main present from Ian.  I have had the same Chanel sunglasses for a decade!🙈 I spent a big portion of my first teaching pay packet on them and, although they were very expensive at the time, I definitely got my money’s worth out of them for price per wear!  However they are now scratched to death and hard to see out of, so probably a bit of a hazard! Time for an upgrade!

Went to Sunglass Hut and the lady was so helpful.  Mia decided she wanted to try all of the adult sunglasses on, but wasn’t interested in the kids ones! (Of course!) She actually picked out a pair of Versace sunglasses and I fell in love at first sight!  Unfortunately Mia thought she was getting them and had a full on strop in the shop when she realised they were for me, which was pretty embarrassing, but there have been a lot worse so I just rolled with it and then threatened her, which worked much better!😬  I bought the sunglasses for myself and Mia cried, which took the shine off my new purchase a little!!! (Mummy can have nice things too!!!). I am hoping these ones last 11 years!😅

I had promised Mia we would get her some elbow and knee pads in preparation for taking the stabilisers off her bike, so we traipsed round the major department stores and I have to say, the customer service in all of them was shocking!  The girl at the front of Target said they had them in the back right corner, so scoured the shelves for a while, before asking another member of staff who said they didn’t stock them and to try Big W or Kmart!  Told the girl through gritted teeth on the way out that they didn’t stock them, just so maybe she won’t waste anybody else’s time!😒

Saw one of my students so stopped for a chat next to a café.  Mia flung her arms around her, despite never having seen her in her life before and then proceeded to sit at a café table and start eating packets of sugar! Gave her a death stare so that I didn’t have to shout in public…again!😳

Next up: Kmart.  The girl at the front here told me where to find them…I couldn’t find them…I went and asked at Customer Service…the guy called someone to come and help me…nobody came…he called again…apparently they have just moved them😑, so I got verbal instructions (as clearly it was too hard for someone to come to show me!), went to the specified location….couldn’t find them…gave up and went to Big W!

Big W had some!  Unfortunately they had Spider-Man or black which didn’t suit Mia’s taste so I told her we would look online.

On our way back we popped into Rebel Sport.  They had more colours but they were $20 more expensive than the Big W ones so repeated that I would look online.

Mia chucked a fit and totally embarrassed me by shouting in the middle of the shop that she wanted knee pads NOW!!!  After a failed attempt at quietening her and assuring her I wasn’t breaking my promise, I gave up and we went home.

Made a quiche for dinner but didn’t have time to eat it as had to get to Pilates.  I was hoping back-to-normal GH would appreciate the effort anyway.  Not convinced.  Pilates felt so hard after the Christmas break and I doubt I will be able to walk tomorrow!

Still having issues with the water-logged buzzer for the garage door and Ian had helpfully gone for a shower as I arrived home and locked the front door!🙄 Rang, texted, beeped and yelled and he finally came out, asking what all the fuss was about!  He knows what time I get home so could have waited an extra 5 minutes!

Wednesday:

This was my wake-up today and was probably scarier than yesterday! This kid is taking years off my life!😱

Received a Christmas parcel from my friend, Louisa, in the UK containing silver bejewelled shoes (Mia named them my glass slippers!) and pork scratchings!  She knows me too well!  What a combination!🤣Scoffed them straight away and thankfully Mia thought they were too salty so I got to eat them all myself!

Popped into work as I’m not back until the 15th officially but there were no students until next week and only two staff members, plus, as I was trying to talk to one colleague, another came through and said she had just had to stop Mia from poking a pen into a power socket!😵So we got out of there while we were all still in one piece!

Still on the hunt for knee pads so went to Big W at Clifford gardens today.  The lady was really helpful and found us some Barbie ones so Mia was extra chuffed!  This might be my first port of call in the future!  Also got sticky back plastic to embark on Mia’s school book covers which come with very strict instructions from the school and are giving me anxiety!  She picked My Little Pony, Frozen and Num Nums.  Now I’ve just got to try not to stuff it up!😬

I made gnocchi for dinner.  I wasn’t sure how long the pesto had been open in the fridge for so bunged it in and hoped for the best!  It tasted nice but it was playing on my mind, so I asked Google and then couldn’t sleep thinking that I had given everyone botulism!😳

Ian and I are bickering again.  I think it’s when we throw work into the mix that things get more tense.  Personally I think he’s annoyed that he’s had to go back to work before me and is still having to bike to work and back in the sweltering heat!  Ah well, less than a week until his license is back and believe me, we are all counting down the days!🙏🏻

Thursday:

Stomachs are all intact.  Felt even more sluggish this morning!  I just can’t get my body clock in sync with normal daytime hours at the minute and end up wide awake at night and desperate for sleep during the day!😾

Had a day at home doing chores as I have invited some friends over for a play date tomorrow and the house needed major TLC!

Realised that the Mums will have nothing to sit on as the dog has shredded all of our outdoor seat cushions (that bloody dog!) so nipped to Kmart to get some cheap and cheerful ones and then thought I would make a start on Mia’s book covers.

Ian got in a huff because he was making the garden presentable for the play date and didn’t deem what I was doing helpful.  Anyway, for the record, I vacuumed and mopped all the floors so at least it is clean and messy!  When Mia starts school I will have to have a toy cull!  They are everywhere!

I wanted to try to write another blog tonight but I’m having more technical issues!  It’s driving me crazy!  When I actually have time to write, “computer says no!”😤

Friday:

I actually did food prep for the play date like a real hostess!  I inflated the water slide, tidied the house and, as I said, had even mopped the floor…just so five kids could traipse dirty wet feet in and out of the house (and later Cass helpfully added his paw prints to the mix!).  Maybe I should have just waited and cleaned up afterwards!😆

Mia was so excited to have her friends over to her house for a change though, it was all worth it.  Unfortunately, the inflatable slide and pool got holes all down one side after about an hour and kept deflating!🙄  That’s Kmart for you!  “I’ve only had it a week!” I thought.  “I’ll just take it back.”  But Ian had thrown the packaging out and we couldn’t find the receipt anywhere (typical!), so just put it down to a bad experience.  I suppose you get what you pay for.☹️

We had a lovely, chilled family Friday night (I know, I was pleasantly surprised too!).  Ian was sorting his ute out for our impending holiday, I was drinking wine (cheers!) and Mia was playing football with a bike helmet on!  Standard behaviour all around!

Saturday:

Jett’s 7th birthday party!  We had a great time (I love catching up with the parents just as much as Mia loves catching up with the kids!) apart from wearing the entirely wrong outfit for a water balloon fight!  It was supposed to be adults vs kids, but then some very annoying adults went rogue and turned on us!  A drowned rat in a soaking wet maxi dress was not the look I was intending on!

Sunday:

Today was mostly spent packing for our long-awaited week away!  However I did get my first hater on the blog! It was too long apparently (Well I do love to waffle!) and she didn’t like reading (which did beg the question why was READING it in the first place?!?!) Was torn between being offended and pondering if I was starting to get somewhere because you can’t please everyone and everyone successful has some haters, right?!

Anyway, thanks for reading lovers or haters, because if you’ve taken the time to get this far, you’re either enjoying it, or so incensed that you can’t look away!  Shamelessly, I’ll take either!😀