The joy of shopping with your spouse

It started when Karl got a heat transfer system. I like the idea so much that I wanted one too. This is because the living room is so hot with the fire on that you just about faint when you stand up and get your head in the hot air zone under the roof. But when you open the door to let some of this extra heat head down the hallway to the rest of the house peculiar drafts start niggling at your feet.

So feeling slightly more alive on Sunday I went with husband to Bunnings. Bunnings is always an interesting place to go and you tend to get sidetracked before you get anywhere near what you were looking for. This time it was the outdoor pizza oven and smoker that distracted me first. Very trendy and not that expensive for what it was. Not that we ever cook pizza outdoors or smoke anything but it looked cool (didn't buy it though). Then husband remembered a piece of wood he needed to make his life complete so we looked at that. Eventually we found the aisle with the heat transfer systems. So husband opened the box, sat down on the floor and read all the enclosed info while examining the contents of the box. Then he got a thermostat and had a close look at that. This took some time and I disassociated myself from the man on the floor unpacking the merchandise by scanning the goods on the shelves opposite. I was quite tempted by the remote security camera setup, that wasn't that expensive either, though the colour one would be better... and the mirror demister was hardly any money "can we have one of those?" I asked husband. He looked it over "yes but we need a new fuse on the fusebox and another wire down the length of the house before there is enough power down that end to run it. Though if we do that we could get another heated towel rail as well. Isn't the powerbill high enough though?" Okay, sounds complicated, and more expensive than I thought, it was just an idea, so I won't get one of those right now...

Some time later he is completely conversant with the workings and wiring of the heat transfer system. He packs it all back up and puts it back on the shelf.
"What's wrong with it?" I ask.
"Nothing. I think we should have a look at Mitre 10."
"Oh okay"

For some reason we go to a pet shop on the way to Mitre 10. The cats need new collars but we don't get any. We look at the overpriced puppies and express shock to the hard selling assistant that an unpapered puppy could be so expensive. Assistant wisely makes herself scarce before we launch into the sins of impulse buying animals. From there it is just across the road to the electrical appliance shop to check out DVD recorders. We don't buy any of those either, but we comparison shop round the corner in two more electrical shops.

After that there is a handy cafe so we get something to eat. It was a somewhat expensive cafe and lunch was almost the price of a DVD player (but not as expensive as a DVD recorder or a puppy). We ponder this over the meal - which was very good.

Have now lost all interest in heat transfer systems but go to Mitre 10 who doesn't have the cheap one anyway. Instead we buy a piece of timber.

So five hours away from home, and we have a nice piece of wood.

Blah

I'm dying I tell you - but the doctor says it is a perfectly normal, maybe slightly more severe than usual, dose of gastroenteritis. I'm not sure I believe him but he assures me I will be fine again by Tuesday at the latest. (If not I may return to see him then, which was generous of him I thought). Drink a couple of litres of water at least a day he said. Yes I'm doing that - just none of it gets past my stomach before it leaves again.

Things are actually on the moderate improve today, so I guess I might admit he could be right and it really isn't something more sinister. My father died of pancreatitis which was caused by a gallstone that he was on a waiting list to have dealt to. (just something I throw at the hospital occasionally - along the lines of "well for the sake of day surgery my father got 54 days in intensive care at whatever that cost and then he died"). I also have a friend who had the same thing (but survived). So I tend to imagine the worst. I actually have no idea how a gallstone feels, or pancreatitis, but I can't imagine it is much more painful than the constant stomach cramps I've had.

The starvation diet has done well though...

I suppose

The scales are at least heading in the right direction.

Now carsalespersons

have cleaned up their act (well sort of) and about 50% of Real Estate salespeople are probably okay I have found a new industry with a tendency towards incompetence - travel agents.

Last time I dealt with one (or it was two in the end, both not much good) I swore I would book any trip in the South Pacific online in future (and I have). But the UK and Europe seemed to have better deals with a travel agent. So I got hold of a few - four in fact. Four weeks later I still don't have an itinery that in any way resembles what I asked for. Actually from half them I don't have anything at all...

It's a bit immaterial though cos I told my boss I thought I might take August off and she made funny panicky noises. She recovered and said yes of course I should go and that would be fine... but now I feel guilty. (husbands boss is a prat and if he doesn't give him time off a resignation will be tendered - which would probably be a good thing - but my boss is great and I don't want to upset her)

Maybe we'll go in November instead. Will probably need thermals but the touristy spots should be quieter.

A weighty matter

I've been mucking round with it for too long making excuses.  But
at the beginning of May I decided the least I need to do is get rid of
the 14kg of  weight I gained while I was having chemo.  
So here it is - a ticker to show you how much I have lost since 1
May.   After that there is the weight I gained when I had the
chemo in 2001.... 

One of the sad things about taking weight loss seriously was that I really did need to get new scales. The old ones were digital but they had some interesting behaviours. Some days I weighed 37kg. That was really quite inspiring, but when I stepped back on them two minutes later I would find I suddenly weighed 112kg which wasn't quite as exciting. Some days they did come up with numbers that looked logical but due to this shifty behaviour I decided to get some new ones. As can be expected I was two kg heavier than I thought (grrr it's worse than I imagined!) But not to worry - that's gone.

Hopefully my determination lasts.
I'll keep you updated.

I just don't get it

I am completely bewildered.

Someone I know has been living with a no hoper of a man for 7 years. She is an attractive intelligent woman in her thirties with a lovely personality. She used to go out with lawyers and investment advisers. Now she has this man. There is only one thing you can say about this guy - he is pretty. That is the only thing about him though that is in any way attractive. He has an IQ below average. A normal conversation often goes completely over his head, he has trouble understanding the plots of movies, the guy is just darn stupid! He works intermittantly, most of the 7 years she has supported him. When he does work he only does labouring type jobs (as he is just not capable of anything else) so his income is limited.

So I could probably understand that if he was a pretty but sweet natured idiot. But he's not. He's violent when angry, though he has never hit her he throws things at her (including large potplants and bits of furniture) when they have an argument. He has been caught being unfaithful to her several times (once with a 15 year old girl which really just makes my skin crawl...) He has systematically alienated her from her friends and family over the last 7 years - most are now waiting for her to kick him out before they contact her again. I have seen her in tears several times over things this man has done (mostly the infidelity), she knows he is a bastard. He has written off her car - and since he didn't have a drivers licence there was no insurance.

I can only assume it was her biological clock ticking.

So help me, she is having his baby. And they planned it...

A quick note

The cattle now residing in our freezer(s) are absolutely delicious. Just as well as there is a heck of a lot of it....

The left over cow is having an identity crisis though. She has decided she is a horse. So she joins the lineup and wants carrots and you can see her thinking "where's my cover". She was meant to get a friend of the bovine variety but we're still looking for the right type sex and age at the right price. Could be we are getting a little fussy...

Now if the bloody rain would stop...