....tied up with string

It is Christmas, and to be honest there are a lot of things about this season I do not enjoy.. Wrapping presents though is something that I love to do. The presents under our tree are all in matching paper with a different coloured curling ribbon combination for each person. This is an excellent thing as I do not need to write names on the presents and no one can do any real sneakery (except for me of course*)

I learnt to wrap gifts when I worked at a lingerie store after finishing high school, I would recycle the bra boxes into gift boxes for the customers. Each Christmas, Valentine's and Mother's day I would wrap hundreds of boxes and line then with tissue paper for the usually male wrapping challenged customers.

I got very fast and very neat very quickly, and tooting my own horn just a little its pretty impressive to watch! I was buying a last minute birthday. Gift a couple of weeks ago on the way to the birthday dinner with a girlfriend,we bought the present & the wrap at a store and I wrapped it on the counter in front of the store lady, she was mucho impressed.

I have read of the Present Wrapping room at the Spelling mansion or seen wrapping stations on crafty type blogs...I do not necessarily dream of owning these things, I don't even have proper cupboards or wardrobes, but if anyone wants to let me come visit their station/room I promise I'd leave it nice and tidy for you. I wouldn't even remove the scissors or leave the sticky-tape without a little folded over bit to help you find the end!**

have a wonderful Christmas guys personally I am praying for sun so I can make use of the beach and my parents pool... Oh and no traffic heading north on Christmas Eve....

xxpt

*I always know which presents are mines they are not wrapped (dare I say) as well as the rest, they are however usually covered in sticky tape , my family do know me rather well... Unwrapping and re-wrapping presents is my very mild superpower...

** let's be honest if you have a wrapping room/station you'll have you scissors on a string and the tape in a colour co-ordinated tape dispenser, right?

A few short letters of correspondence from this morning...

Dear lady Police Officer and male Ambulance Officers in the Coffee Shop,

You three are aceballs! Thanks for doing hard jobs and it was really nice to see you all smiling and chatty. Also Ambo guys, I love your coveralls any chance you could swing me a pair? Size small?
xxpt



Dear Coffee dudes at Alchemy Coffee,

Thank you for the coffee from heaven, I’m sorry I left my Keep-Cup at work yesterday and I do feel bad that because I have a long black coffee you need to give me 2 cups so I don’t burn my hand, next time I’ll show you that I have a cozy to go around my cup and you can keep your extra one!
xxpt



Dear Seat-mate on the L23,

I saw how much space was on the other side of you, you did not need all bar 7 inches of the chair. I think it was pretty rude but honestly you could, most likely smell my coffee of heaven so perhaps envy overrode your good humour. Next time though smile and wiggle over so that maybe I could have read my book too.
Thanks! pt



Dear French Campos Man I normally get my coffee from,

Sorry dude but I had very little sleep and I couldn’t wait. Please don’t think that it is over between us, you will still be my regular coffee guy, your accent is just as sweet as your coffee!
xxpt



Dear Laughing Workmen at the Uni

The fact that one of you nearly rolled around on the grass laughing really was nice to see. I hope your joke was of the savoury kind, but if not then I am glad that it tickled you so much. You brightened up my day!
xxpt



Dear Co-worker

Go home you are obviously ill and coughing everywhere in the office will make me sick too. Not sure if you know but I have a wedding to go to on Friday and even more importantly Thursday is MY BIRTHDAY - DO NOT MAKE ME SICK ON MY BIRTHDAY!!!
xxpt
PS. For fucks sake cover your mouth when you cough, its gross.
PPS. tights still not pants, I know you are trying to make them into pants but you are failing



Dear Panel Beaters across the road from my house

You have a very conscientious employee, did you know? He (and I say he as I have never seen a female in your shop) started work at 5:15am this morning!! I know that starting work at the allotted and legal time does not enable you to witness this so I am only too happy to help out. Banging on metal pipes and using and axle grinders are ALMOST as restful to wake up to as a songbird.
Please pass on my appreciation to your valued employee
xxpt



Dear Curry from last night I made up as I went along

You Rocked last night! Looking forward to meeting you for lunch again soon.
yours in anticipation
pt



Dear pillow

Lets hang out this afternoon yeah? I bet we could have a sneaky hour or so without anyone noticing.
xxpt

MrPt is away and there are some things I like about it

For most of this week TC and I are young hip and single ladies in our For most of this week TC and I are young hip and single ladies in our cool pad* MrPt is in Melbourne for a work thing. Last night I thought about some of the things that I like about him being away. Please don’t get me wrong there is a list just as long of things I miss about him when he is away too, but let’s focus on the positive yeah?

We did the groceries yesterday and the first thing we did was front up to the florist and ask for a bunch of the most fragrant flowers they had. You see my man is the most allergic to flowers & scents of anyone ever. I love flowers and really smelly ones the most. I large bunch of Fresias coming right up! They are so pretty and the lounge room smells so so good J

We love Vietnamese food!! There is really very little that MrPt will not eat in fact he has introduced both TC and I to a tonne of foods that we did not eat 10 years ago. However, he really dislikes mint, rice noodles and bean sprouts... all of my favourite things about Vietnamese cuisine. We shall be eating this at least once this week.

Girly music and tv.. Kylie, Amanda Palmer, Amy Winehouse and shows like the Voice and X Factor.... and I can re-watch this season of True Blood uninterrupted.

I get all of the bed and I get the car and I can sleep in or get up and get my yoga on if I want to...

Stay tuned for the things I do miss...

xxpt

*translation – she’s young, I have hips and whilst the house is really nice its rather messy.. It is next to a frozen food factory so kinda cool – right?

Things I love Thursday...

I started this post with a list of things that I love today (including in the number 1 spot lists!) and then I realised that tomorrow will be the last day I get to work with my best and oldest friend.

So the rest of this blog for today will be things I love about Ren.

She makes me feel brave.

I have known her since primary school, even though I am two years older we met at vacation care and she listened to me tell her the most drawn out retelling of a film in the history of recaps! It was called The Crawling Hand I don’t think I ever told her how it ended either... It was really bad b&w 60’s schlock horror. We tie dyed shirts that week too and years later when we were in our late teens and hanging out again (partying with all these uni people but not actually going to uni) the two things I most remember about her were her waist length hair and tie dyed slips she had a billion of them.

Then she moved to Sydney and later to SE Asia and we lost contact. When she returned I had a toddler TC and was working part time, we spent a summer sitting on her mum’s balcony having pots of tea and making beaded jewellery and watching Pixar films at her parents place. Heading to the beach in her kombi for fish and chips and swimming in the ocean.

It was that summer she introduced me to MrPt a mate of hers from her time in Sydney who was up on holidays and then with the following very drunken discussion in the ladies at the local pub sealed the deal...

Ren: Hey what do you reckon about MrPt? (Real name used obviously as he was not yet MrPt)

Pt: Hmmm yeah alright I’ll have a turn...

Both of us: Bwahahahahahahahaha!

It is almost 10 years ago and I can never ever let her know how much love she has brought into my world. Then she went to Europe and met her man, they moved back and stayed with us we fell in love with M as much as she had. And they both love TC like blood.

She went away on her honeymoon and started here at my work as a temp. That was several years ago everyone here loved her just as much as I do.

As she leaves on the weekend to follow M to NZ so he can live his dream I will miss small things about her. Like all day msn chats about co-workers not wearing pants and others who wear unitards and others who just cannot get the most basic things about their jobs.

I will miss our discussions of walking to work that invariably turn into a decision on which of us is driving in. Waiting for coffees at the cafe downstairs and walking out to her desk to see what’s for lunch. Waiting for Oscar or Emmy day and msn-ing pics and snark to each other all day and not really working. Reading recaps of terrible shows and wishing we could have our own site like the Fug Girls.

She and I have excellent taste. Even though I am blonde (sometimes pink) & small in both height and size and she raven haired & tall and buxom. I love shopping with this woman. She is the one that I msg pictures to about shoes I found and are unsure of. We send links of hair styles and dresses and shoes and lounges and God only knows what else to each other and know that in an instant the other’s gut feeling will very often be the right one. And I am so very glad that she has FINALLY embraced denim jeans. I knew and told her they’d look great!

She is funny and a sunscreen/hat nazi. She loves trashy things like True Blood and Rock of Love and Neighbours. We go to Kylie concerts together and Grease Sing-a-Longs, bushwalking in summer and worlds greatest dumplings and play Euchre and Bananagrams and Rummikub granted we can play these online but it’s not really the same (and we cannot play Oma’s rules!).

I know that this is not the end we will still work together and there is Skype and msn and cheap flights to NZ where it will be great to have holidays exploring her new land. And it is so very exciting that she and her husband have the chance to make a go of this new venture.

So thanks Ren for all of the love and glitter and tea and dancing and snark and tears and poolside and the Christmases and hen’s parties and weddings and Blue Mountain weekends that you have brought into my world.

There is no way to tell you in words how grateful I am to know you & call you my friend.

xxpt

So then I cried... twice

I was never much of a crier, I spent years not shedding a tear at all. I staunchly refused to shed tears over boys who had done me wrong, or girls at school who took delight in deception and petty backstabbing. I did not cry when I left my daughter's father nor when I found out a couple of months later I was pregnant.

Just like so many other parents have admitted though I became a cliche once TC was on the outside of my body. I cried at commercials, I spent weeks in tears after September 11, I cried when I saw something beautiful, when I had a fight with my mum, when I burnt dinner, when the washing got on top of me & especially when I looked at my baby/toddler/smallchild/and now pre-teen daughter and realised that *I* made and was completely responsible for this person!

Er so before we get even more sidetracked as the title suggests I cried twice, in public and at the footy no less.... And it’s not even the finals!

Before the Swans vs St Kilda game on Sunday there was the GF of the International Games (or something I don't know we missed the game). There were male, female and mixed teams from nations around the world here to all play AFL. They had the teams come out and do a lap of the ground they all got introduced and it was like the Olympics (but on a much smaller scale obviously). This is when I found myself tearing up twice in the space of 2 minutes.

The first time was for the team from Japan. Happy guys and girls waving and jumping and smiling, two of them were carrying their flag, on it was written a heartfelt message thanking everyone for their support and donations during the recent earthquakes. I cannot remember the exact words nor did I take a pic as I was blubbering much to TC’s embarrassment. But it was such a lovely gesture and a testament to the beauty of the Japanese people.

A few teams later out came the Peace Team, men and women (there were also a couple of kids on shoulders not sure about their playing status) from both Israel and Palestine who had joined together to play AFL and foster friendship between the Muslim and Jewish communities in their region. They were jubilant holding hands and smiling and waving to the crowd. So happy to be together as a team, reminding us there is more to their part of the world than just the mortar shelling and deaths. It is them in the pic above hugging the Swans mascot Siggy.

Now the end of the story is obviously I was totally hormonal and that night I also cried several times during the Block – it was a proposal I am a sucker for that shit!

xxpt

Hump day Happiness

I’ve had to dig really deep this week to find anything to smile about. Aside from one massive high most of the week has been pretty shitful to be honest so here goes....

TC performed at the Opera House as part of the Combined School Recorder Ensemble, all 700 of them. My mum (the Nana) came down to Sydney for it and we had seats in the 4^th row from the front. MrPt, the Nana and I are all so damn proud of her, it was the 1^st time TC and the Nana had been inside the Opera House too so that was extra super cool.

Prior to the concert the Nana and I had a glass of wine and a mezze plate at one of the Harbourside restaurants, it was really nice to just have time for the 2 of us and while we stressed at a short timeframe to get the food in case we missed the concert. We both calmed down enough to enjoy the wine and the view just the two of us.

Circular knitting needles and the magic loop, I had a go at making a couple of beanies over the weekend and due to the available chucky wool and the 9mm needles I had they came together in under a couple of hours. It is a shame I didn’t try this at the START of winter however if I keep doing this I will have a stockpile of little gifty type things (in theory of course) for the relo’s and mates at Christmas.

And some quick ones - new episodes of TrueBlood with my girlfriends on Monday nights, turkish toast with butter and vegemite, stripey pyjamas,birthday dinner invites & possible tweetups this weekend if kiddo arrangements can be made.

Oh and finally I’m wearing my ugg boots under my desk today and I do not care!

xxpt

ps. If you click on the photo I have circled TC's head...

10 Things I Love

Taking a leaf out of Sass’s book (blog?) here is my list (for today anyway)

1. My little nuclear family, me, MrPt and TC. We aren’t a poster for perfection by any standards there are spats, attitude, yelling and we all from time to time take each other for granted but there is genuine love between us and a feeling of safetyness (which is so now a real word)

2. Girly colours – pink, yellow, red and green clothes of these colours or tea cups or furniture or rooms or ice creams and cupcake icing.... or hair!

3. Twitter, I cannot tell you enough how lovely it is to be able to have conversations all day with friends I have met on there. So many beautiful/funny/touching stories and people are found each day.

4. TV I am unapologetically a fan. The car crash reality TV the well scripted & produced shows the low budget community shows that populate TVS (& Bris 31) and old TV shows from the 70’s & 80’s

5. Modcloth.com just looking at this website fills me with happiness, I do not even have to buy anything although 9 times out of 10 I do (shh!)

6. Weddings, maybe one day I’ll have one but for now I will live vicariously thought those celebrated by my mates and those shown on Four Weddings & My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding (car crash TV) Oh and I'm a total crier at these events too I even have a special wedding hanky!(don't judge me)

7. T-shirts I have far too many in fact my whole family has far too many. They’re just so damn practical and comfy and easy to launder!

8. Nail polish I have ugly but strong nails so anything to disguise them is welcome. I am a sucker for the really bright crème colours in the $2.95 bin out the front of the chemist!

9. Vintage fabric and sewing patterns, I have many, I may not marry the 2 very often as I fear screwing up the gorgeous fabrics but I do love them!

10. My mum (who arrives for a lightning visit today!) a strong woman who takes on more that she should and loves as fiercely as a mama bear. She's also at times overbearing and over sensitive and I don't think she will ever forgive me for moving away from the hometown and taking her beloved TC with me but she's my mum and I don't know what I'd do without her!

xxpt