The reason I am organised.

See, most people think that I am organised to the extent to which I must be insane. 'Whyyy???' and 'Howwww??' are two questions I get asked quite a bit.

How? Not something I can answer in 100 words or less.

Why? Well.

We leave for Queensland (leave here) at about 7am. I worked today, was flat out yesterday, so figured I'd need to be on the ball (heck, in front of the 8 ball) in order to pull this together. Not only did my back go today, so I needed to fit the Osteo in; but when I walked in the door from work at 4.3o today, I was greeted with this.

His ear was sticking right out of his head.

We think it was an ant; or maybe a spider. Claratyne and ice have fixed it; but at first I wondered if he hadn't stuck something in his ear. An emergency trip to the Doctor (and the Osteo for me) and all is sorted.

And that my friends, is why I am organised. I shall be back in 10 days.

Packing

Hate it. I hate trying to fit everything I want to into the smallest bag/suitcase I can find. I especially hate the thought that I've forgotten something.

It'll be all good when we get there; but getting there appears to be a great deal of work. 2 more days.....

I'm getting a bit ridiculous...

I used to update this blog with mundane crap constantly. Whilst I have things running through my head, I've not had a whole lot to say lately; I've been very 'meh' about life in general. I'm sure it's all the crap I have been eating, as I'm feeling nearly permanently hungover.

Easter was lovely - quiet, as is normal at the farm; but lovely nonetheless. I have finished my first short course at school and am now ready to start a more industry specific course when I get back.

Get back from where you ask? Yes, it has come that quickly - Thursday is QLD. 10 days of themeparking it. Ace.

I'm looking forward to the holiday, and the looks on the kids faces when we get to each and every freaking theme park - but I am just not that sort of holiday person. Give me a beautiful camping ground any day of the week. Still, I'm not complaining.

When G got back from working away this last time, it was harder than it has ever been on the kids. R was just at that age where he needs his dad. And, we saved a packet whilst he was working away. So, we thought we'd do something that they would love. Riley has always wanted to go to Australia zoo, so we thought what the hell. And, Kevin would be very pleased with us - paying CASH for an Australian holiday. So, that's what we did. All booked and paid for; now we just have to turn up and spend.

Riley started Auskick yesterday. Overnight, he's turned into a football junkie. Dragging G out every 5 minutes to kick the ball. I love that he loves it; Riley is generally not a ball type person. His brother (devastated about his inability to attend due to his age) has always been far more co-ordinated. So, to see Riley put himself out there, and want to have a go - is priceless.

In other news; his appointment with the ENT on Thursday went well. He's lost one grommet and still has another. Sounds like awful news - but in actual fact, it's pretty good. Last set, it was like a switch had turned off; he withdrew straight away. This time, the only real indication was a few 'what's' - which is (according to Dr Bernie) more than likely the fact that the grommet is still in his ear. It will fall out very shortly; but it is officially useless.

What will happen now? Well. We need to wait for the other grommet to fall out and see how we go. Then, once that has fallen out, we have another audiology report done; and then reassess from there. Dr Bernie thinks one tube has dropped sufficiently for his hearing to be more than adequate; but we can't see the other one whilst the grommet is still there. And, there is very little point having a hearing test with one grommet.

But for me to not really notice is HUGE. Mind bendingly so. Like I said, I could just about pick the hour he lost them last time, so whatever has happened, the tubes are definately improving. Which, should he need the grommets again, should only mean one more set of temporary and not even having to travel down the road of permanents.

We're nearly finished painting the outside of the house - why WE did it, I'll never know. But the colour looks 100% better with the roof - the old colour turned into a foul shade of pink when we turned the roof red. Funny how colours change once they are put next to others! Once we get back, we'll head back into full savings mode again and start the bathrooms. We want out of here; but figure the more we own, the better we'll be - and the nicer the house at selling time, the more $ we'll get! So, it'll just be a pretty up - I'm not moving things around or anything. Just new everything stuck in exactly the same places. And getting rid of those pain in the backside-show-every-single-bloody-thing tiles in the bathroom / toilets will be my favorite part.

Out for yum cha today to celebrate a friends birthday. These 4 girls are my blessing in disguise; we all have 'triangle' kids (not square enough to fit into the pre-ordained holes, but not completely off the charts either) and it is so nice to have people IRL who get it. Who understand the self blame, the needing to be normal. Then, we're off to the home show.

Should be a lovely day!

Perth

Perth was a really good experience. It's a very pretty place; and this weekend, the place where a very long term friendship was mended.

Let me backtrack a little.

M. M, who I have known since I was 8, when we met at the caravan park we both used to go to every weekend (Back when there was such a thing as water in a lake). We used to write letters to our friends who lived over the other side of Melbourne and combined our first names, last names and addresses and found it funny (we read a couple we had received over the weekend, M is far more sentimental than I who never kept anything). M, whose world fell apart when she was 8 - her father was bashed over $10, had a stroke and passed away.

M and G are beautiful people. But they are at the opposite end of the spectrum to us these days. They have no children, are career focused; and they have some really beautiful stuff that they don't have to worry about getting broken by chubby little fingers. But, despite this massive difference in our lives, we remained close. M is the sort of person I never had to speak to every day; but would know she was around if I needed her. And vice versa. She was there for the birth of my kids; for my wedding; for my own world falling apart and coming together.

Over the last couple of years, M had started to get quite....distant. At first, I put it down to having very little in common anymore; but that label didn't quite fit what was happening to us. I, eventually, being so secure and all, put it down to our time running out and that any contact was more 'for old times sake'.

I'm not big on friendships for 'old times sake'. I don't like feeling that I am spoken to because it'd be too rude to not talk to me IYKWIM. So, I sent M a big email telling her that I loved her, that I would always love her; but she was free to go IYKWIM. The email I got back told me not to be silly, we were as close as ever, yada yada yada. 'OK' I thought; and we continued on.

A year to the day Saturday; M left. For Perth. No phone calls, no goodbyes, no kiss your butt; nothing. Just gone. It made no sense to me; in fact, I was positive something else was up. M couldn't go through term 1 of year 12 without having colour coded all her textbooks into subject (seriously, even her calculator had blue contact on it because it was for Maths); yet had gone to the other side of Australia without a job, house or anything else organised in 3 weeks.

I told her how hurt I was that she couldn't even say goodbye. And that I thought something big was going on with her; because this was just so...unlike her. She told me I was wrong. I knew I wasn't; but figured she didn't want to tell me. With all the unanswered emails and then the leaving; I was very much 'fuck it'. Fuck it, and fuck you.

Christmas eve came around last year with Rileys stitches, and all the other chaos that the day before Christmas brings for our family. M called; she was coming over at x time; we needed to talk. I didn't much care what she did by this point; she had hurt me immeasurably, had let me down countless times before; so I wasn't holding my breath for her to show.

2 hours after x time passed; no M. I made myself not live around what she was doing and continued to do whatever I was going to do; if she showed up now, then it was tough bikkies if I wasn't home.

She turned up. We had a light hearted banter and a couple of drinks; then she asked if we could talk. We went to the park next door with our glasses and had a chat.

Turns out, M has had a whole lot of stuff go on. Stuff that is not mine to broadcast; but suffice to say, I understood. I listened to her apologise for not feeling as though she could talk to me about it; but understood exactly why she didn't. She told me far more than was necessary and then left me to decide what I wanted to do.

So, decide I did.

And, I went to Perth to visit.

Even though it was 2 days, it was the best thing that could've happened. When I finally got in on Friday night, we stayed up all night talking. Laughing, crying; questioning and deciding. Saturday was a whole new start of our friendship; on a whole other level.

I am so glad I went. I had a ball; and I found my best friend again.