A few months ago, driving along the F3, I suddenly realised that I had meant for Ian to be the passenger instead of me so that he could blue tooth my phone through the stereo. I said this to him, commenting that I’d meant to ask him to do it for about six months. And he asked me a perfectly legitimate question. ‘Did it ever occur to you to try and do it yourself’? And you know what, it simply hadn’t.
Then a couple of weeks ago, after observing my friend Melly interact with her bestie Grace, I felt sad that one of my best friends now lives in Melbourne. And when I mentioned this to Donna a couple of days later she asked, ‘Well why don’t you just book a flight down to Melbourne and visit?’. Hmmm. Why hadn’t I thought of that?
Last week I was cleaning up the kitchen and I made a comment to Ian about how the only thing I don’t like about my cupcake cookie jar is that it’s really hard to get it dry after you’ve washed it out. It has this lip on the inside where the water sits and after I wash it I have to keep turning it for the next week in all sorts of weird positions so it dries out. And Ian watched me do this for awhile and then asked me ‘Have you ever dried it with a tea towel?’ We never actually dry dishes in our house so I just looked at him. And then thought to myself – after all the years I’ve had this, not once has it occurred to me that I could dry it in five seconds and be done with it.
There is absolutely no moral to this story whatsoever. But am I a happier person because my phone is bluetoothed, I’m flying to Melbourne in a couple of weeks and I now have a dry cookie jar? Why yes, I most certainly am.
I love the ache you get in your stomach after you’ve had a big belly laugh. Never experienced it? Then you’ve never laughed hard enough.
Ian says the darnedest things and even though he doesn’t actually try to be funny, at least once or twice a week he’ll still have me collapsed in a heap, laughing till my cheeks ache, my eyes are watering and I almost can’t breathe. Call me crazy but I’m addicted to that feeling!
There’s been a number of times where I’ve started laughing about something at a kind of inappropriate time and haven’t been able to get myself under control. Usually it’s with Leigh or my cousin Roz. They’re those ‘you had to be there’ moments.
Sometimes being there isn’t even enough. Once at work, I was in a really tense meeting and someone said to someone else in a really bitchy, highly sarcastic tone, ‘So if I flew in from Mars, you’d just expect me to understand this?’ Which wasn’t a funny comment at all. But into my head popped a vision of Mr Squiggle coming down from the moon and I totally lost it. And I mean lost it. I just could not stop laughing. Everyone was looking at me as though I was completely mad (which I possibly am). I ended up having to excuse myself and leave the room. I couldn’t even say ‘I guess you had to be there’…because they were there…in the room…just not in my head where it was a much more amusing place.
I am also totally incapable of watching or hearing other people laugh without joining in. Sometimes I’ll hear someone in the office giggling about something and I feel my shoulders start to shake even though I don’t actually know what it is they are laughing about.
Once I’ve got the giggles it really is almost impossible for me to pull myself together. Which is why I love this clip I found today.
Apparently this woman is Hungarian and she is trying to tell a story about some guy named Csobi who fell off a stool. I can’t understand a word she is saying but I can totally relate to the way she just can’t stop laughing!
“I love to laugh
Loud and long and clear
I love to laugh
It’s getting worse ev’ry year
The more I laugh
The more I fill with glee
And the more the glee
The more I’m a merrier me
It’s embarrassing!
The more I’m a merrier me!”
It’s a good thing I love rainy days because we’ve had quite a lot of them lately.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always found rain comforting.
It’s quite lucky that I married someone who loves the rain too and not one of those people who think that being wet will make you sick. I’m not sure how many times I’ve had to remind my grandfather that germs are what make you ill, not going out without a coat!
Sometimes on rainy nights, Ian and I grab our umbrellas, huddle together and go out for walks. The air feels so clean and the world so refreshed.
Here’s a few of my favourite rainy day memories.
-When I was little, my parents took Leigh and I out of school one day, just so that we could go to Sydney to buy teddy bears. It was raining really heavily the whole drive down and I felt snug and safe in the car with my family and excited that we got to miss class to buy soft toys! Anytime I drive on the F3 now when it’s raining, I always think back to that happy day.
-In High School I always loved rainy days because it meant that the boys wouldn’t go and play sport at lunch time. Instead we’d all huddle together in a classroom or somewhere outside that was under cover. I remember one wet day I’d forgotten my jumper and Shannon Turner leant me his. It smelt delightfully like fabric softener!
-Ian and I have had lots of rainy day happies but I remember two in particular. Once was when we’d just finished school and had to go to Tighes Hill TAFE so that Ian could enrol in a course. Neither of us had cars back then so we had to catch public transport and it was pouring! I loved it because we got to dash, screaming (well, I was screaming) through the down pour and we were slipping and sliding everywhere. It was hilarious! It was mid afternoon and the only place open that we could dry off afterwards was Hogs Breath on Beaumont St. We had pumpkin soup and hot chocolate. It felt romantic.
-We had a similar kind of downpour dash when I was thinking of moving to Coogee, way back when I first started working. We’d caught a bus out to the Eastern Suburbs and were trying to walk around and get a feel for the area but ended up soaked instead. There’s just something fun about skidding across the streets trying to find somewhere dry to hide out and then getting to watch the rain from the dry spot while you catch your breath.
-When Leigh and I were in Berlin we were trying to check out some supposedly awesome flea markets. There were completely feral though and sold stuff like old dentistry equipment and stinky fur coats. While we were there it started pouring and the people behind the market stalls just sat there as though nothing was happening. All of the fur coats and hats they were selling just got drenched and they didn’t bat an eyelid.
-When Roslyn and I were in London together, walking through Notting Hill on our way to Kensington Palace it started raining cats and dogs. We had the most piss weak umbrellas ever and they blew inside out and we couldn’t get them right. I can just imagine all the people driving past laughing at the two of us getting drenched while we tried to turn out umbrellas the right way. After a while we just gave up, chucked them in the bin and made a run for it.
– And lastly, when I went to visit Donna in Melbourne a few months ago there was about three days worth of storms to deal with. The first one started while we were in DFO which has a tin roof. The sound was almost deafening. The car park was flooded, there were black outs through the city and it took us almost two hours to drive less than 20 km. It felt like we were living in a natural disaster movie and we loved it. Until we got home late that night to find that her house was the only one on the street that had no electricity, we didn’t know who the energy supplier was and every person Donna knew in Melbourne was hours away for a long weekend at some place with no phone reception. Donna tried to do something or other in the electricity box and that didn’t work so we lit candles, slept out in the lounge together and tried not to get scared. The next morning we had quick showers so the hot water wouldn’t run out and then went out for the day hoping it would all have sorted itself out by the time we got back. Which of course it hadn’t. But it was fine in the end…and after the ordeal was over, Gavin reminded us that the hot water is on gas so we could have had long hot showers after all.
A few years ago, it felt like everyone in my world was getting married. I spent many a Saturday morning at the Myer Bridal Registry.
Now of course it’s all about babies and my shopping trips to Myer have shifted to the children’s department.
My family and friends have seriously good looking children! And I am besotted with each and every one of them. The main reason that Ian and I check facebook these days is because we want to see all the new photos of the kiddies in our world.
I thought I’d do a bit of an ode to the munchkins here in blog land where it’s much more private than professing my love on facebook (and then getting branded as a clucky wanna be Mum which I really, really hate).
So, in order of age:
My wonderful nephews and nieces
Keldon, Ethan & Sage
David and Leigh’s three extremely well behaved children are Keldon, Ethan and Sage. In this photo from David and Leigh’s wedding they look highly cute and just a tad crazy! I love these kids because they are the epitome of good manners, they’re really smart and absolute book worms!
When Ian and I have children one day we are sending them to Uncle David and Aunty Leigh for lessons in good behaviour.
Keldon, Ethan and Sage
Thane and Drew
These two are Ian’s sister’s boys and we love them to bits. They call us the N00b and N00bess and we call them our N00blets.
I don’t think I’ve ever met two more rambunctious children in all my life. After time with Thane and Drew, Ian and I usually feel exhausted, highly amused and slightly deaf! If I need a hearing aid later in life I will insist that the boys pay for it!
Uncle E & Thaney
Drewby
My cousin’s children
Elliot
Clinton has an adorable little munchkin named Elliot and he cracks me up. He talks non stop but makes no sense at all. He’s animated, cheerful and best of all – tidy! His Mother Kelly always tells me about how he neatens up his toys and tries to help her clean the house. This is my kind of boy! He’s also fallen asleep in my lap a few times and has cried when I’ve tried to leave. I think this means we have a special bond and I like that!
Clint & Elliot
Lucas George
The youngest Shamley man and he who shall carry our family name forward into the next generation! Lucas has the skinniest little legs and the most gorgeous eyes! I love watching Amanda and Dom get right up in his face to tell him that they love him. He cracks the biggest smiles in town. I love him!
Lucas George
The babies of our besties
Lucas Sporle
This is Donna and Gavin’s little boy Lucas who loves planes and dogs. He does the cutest little thing when he sees a dog – he crouches down almost to the ground and runs towards it trying to get down their level. He doesn’t realise yet that they are usually taller than him. Lucas also like squishy balls that light up and to chase Donna around the garden!
Lucas
Jesse Dean
Jesse man has gorgeous chubby cheeks and such a happy face! Geoff and Amber have certainly produced a snug bug. Even though I don’t see him that often, Jesse will still snuggle into my shoulder when I pick him up and it makes my heart melt.
Jesse
Amabel
It was about time that someone had a girl. This photo of Tim, Juanita and their daughter Mabel makes me cry every time I look at it. It’s such a beautiful photo, they look so besotted with their child and so at peace and I just love it! Mabel is about 5 months now and still has the most beautiful bald head. Everytime I ask Juaneets how Miss Mabel is she says ‘Beautiful. I’m in love with her’. And it warms the cockerels of my heart to hear it.
Tim, Juaneets & Amabel
Cooper K
This little man should be a child model. He is so very, very gorgeous, just like his Mummy! Ian is particularly besotted with Cooper and I think it’s because it’s one of his best friend’s sons. He still can’t quite seem to believe that Josh and Kelly are parents. Every now and again he’ll bust out with a random ‘OH MY GOSH, Kinghorn is a Dad!’ Cooper is about 4 months now so I’m not sure how much longer it will take for him to accept this. I think it’s cute. And I think Cooper is SUPER cute.
Cooper
And the new kid on the block, Amelia Grace.
Lisa and Scott had Amelia Grace just a couple of weeks ago. She is the tiniest baby! Lisa is already a chilled out, comfortable parent and as a result, Amelia is an easy, happy baby. Lisa is one of my most precious friends and I loved that she shared all the details of her pregnancy with me. It was quite special. For some reason, seeing her with a baby made me highly emotional. I think it’s because I know how very much she wanted her.
The random musings of Neen 