Loved it!

Need I say more?

Sometimes it is Hard to go Back...

We have had a lovely break, and are now on our return journey back to the mountain. We are sitting back at Tinonee, home of my heart, staying an extra night as Boy 1 is not well with a virus.

And now I come to the crux of this post. I do not want to go home. I do not want to return to the petty bitching nastiness I have faced since July last year. I do not want to have to deny lies, justify innocent comments, or explain myself and my family anymore. In all honesty, if I had a choice ( and I do not), I would move everyone back here. To this little town where my childhood friends are. To the place where people have known me for decades and KNOW ME. Where they are not swayed by utter crap, or conned by professional victims. Where liars are exposed, ridiculed and made to back off.

My children are excited to be on their way home. I am not.

*Sigh*. Back to the bullshit.

Blogging With a View

*Sigh*

Hard life... not. Off for meetings this morning, then family fun this afternoon.

Think I could get used to this.

Maybe.

No Words Necessary...

View from Sydney suite:

Have Sleep Deprivation, Will Travel...

Yes, it is a man, but I couldn't find anything else to suitably sum up how I am feeling this morning, lol. Truly, add boobs and voila - ME!

Not going to grumble too much, suffice to say that travelling with the Boy 1 Aspie is a little challenging. Change is *ahem*, difficult for him, and so sleep is disturbed unless he climbs into my bed. Then sleep is difficult for me.

And the one night he managed to sleep in his own bed was the night of Trivia, and wine and sleep are not how it works with me. I usually doze on and off, waking with a start every hour until eventually waking wondering who decided to vaccuum my mouth sandpaper dry and then place the dead mouse at the back of my throat?

Don't think I'll drive this leg, could be lethal...

On The Road Again... Sorry Mel.

Apologies my friend, but it was running in my head all day yesterday too...

On the road again

Just can't wait to get on the road again

The life I love is making music with my friends

And I can't wait to get on the road again

Thanks Willie! Sooo, yes we are on the road. A lovely friend is housesitting/pet minding for us and our zoo for the next ten days and we have run away. Well, not really. I have to fulfill some business committments for the Wise Woman (for those who are new to the Madmother scene, WW is my wonderfully sprite yet frail 90-year-old mother, her brain is in top gear, I operate as her eyes and legs at times) and we decided to make a family holiday of it.

Eight hours drive later (thanks to Boy 1 panicking on the plane to the funeral a few weeks ago), we are here:

"The Manor" - Tinonee Cottages

Not a bad view to wake up to:

*Sigh*. We are only here for three nights, then off to the big smoke: SYDNEY! But the bonus in all of this is we are meandering our way slowly down the coast and catching up with some old friends we have not seen for a while.

The life I love is making music with my friends

This weekend we will see quite a few from my hometown, Monday we see Boy 1's Godmother and family on the way through Newcastle, then in Sydney we catch up with Boy 2's Godfather,

These two are not alike at all, are they? NOOOOOOO!

and then go to one of my oldest and dearest friend's house as well. The one who led me astray HERE. Please note: I have vowed not to do any bug impersonations with the kids present...

Then back up the coast to see Boy 2's Godmother and family, back here for 1 night, then we return to sunny Queensland just in time for the last week of school (Mwahahahahaha...). In a way Boy 1 has done us a favour by his freak out mid-flight, it has become far more of a family holiday and less of a business trip by becoming a road trip.

Will be taking photos as we roll...

Oh, and WELCOME to my new followers. You'll find I am a rather random and fickle blogger and topics can be serious, fun, insane and well, sometimes dull. But I will come back later and post a thank you bad poem. Maybe.

Oh No!

I am trying desperately to fight off some sort of virus at the moment. Sunday, was feeling downright off... aches in jaw (tetanus), incredibly painful stiff neck (meningococcul), shooting pains across chest and down arms (heart attack). Yes, Big Boy says I am a walking hyperchondriac, not that I am NOT ill, just that all my little symptoms seem to be major illnesses in my head. Oh, and then of course I refuse to see a doctor. Big Boy also says I should have been a man (make of that what you will...). Me, I think I just err on the side of caution and one day you shall see on my epitaph: "See, I told you I was sick!"

But I digress. Yesterday I felt much better, thank goodness. And so off I toddled to work and the gadzillion other things I had to do. You see, I am off on a business trip on Thursday. And I cannot afford to be sick. No. And before then I have to have this whole house organised or else the wheels will fall off whilst I am away. I have no time to be sick.

So, damnit, why did I wake up this morning feeling like death warmed over? Really, really bad timing.

Maybe I should have started taking those super multi-vitamins I bought last week, oh and the magnesium too. Some zinc like I am forcing Wise Woman to take along with vitamin C, probably wouldn't go astray either. Oh, and fish oil. Jeez, always have good intentions but am rushing so much I just forget. Hope it isn't too little too late.

Will run off to pop pills right now!

Just one thing to add before swallowing the equivilant of a cup of capsules... I have a new phone. A flash whatsi with all sorts of doo-dads. Now if I can just work out how to answer the bloody thing...

The Joys of Holidays

...When you return to a house full of fleas and mould after a ten hour drive! Just fantastic.

And I somehow managed to lose my Nimbobula story on my other blog.

Can I cry now? Oh, that's right... Have to drive an hour with Boy 1 and Boy 2, pick up two dogs, two cats and crazy cockatiel from kennel, and drive back whilst maintaining some sanity in the pet wagon.

Then I can cry. Can't I?

December 19: Car Ride #best09 Gwen Bell

What did you see? How did it smell? Did you eat anything as you drove there?

Who were you with?

Gwen Bell Best of 2009

I looked at my best friend. We had been through so much together on this trip, what was meant to be a girls timeout had become so much more. We were closer than we have ever been and as I looked behind us to the hoards of police cars blocking our escape, I knew there was no choice...

Oops, sorry. Channeling Thelma & Louise for a moment there.

Best car ride? I think I'll have to pick the trip home from school camp with Boy 1 and Boy 2 with me. Tired, no, make that exhausted, relieved to be in the air-conditioned comfort of our vehicle after the intense heat, a proud and happy Madmother. Boy 1 had pushed himself beyond his tightly bound limits, and then stretched those boundaries even a little further, Boy 2 was his usual out-there self, happy to be with his bestie. I had sat back and watched the dynamics of those who teach my children, closely observing but on the fringes. Learnt a lot those two days. We meandered through the green hills, looking at the quaint farmhouses, gorgeous gardens and cute villages. Stopped in a couple of places, found some great little galleries, slowly made our way home.

And as we drove up the mountain that overwhelming feeling of coming home to serenity filled us all. As Boy 1 put it "I so love coming home to our house in the clouds..."

#best09 Do I Really Want to Do This? December 1. What was your best trip in 2009?

Mum and I 1985

For some this would be a simple task, but for us 2009 was the year of Nanna. My mother was deathly ill in the first quarter of this year. Dying. Bleeding slowly, painfully, inch by horrific inch, to death. Inoperable bladder tumour. Unsuitable for surgery due to her age: 89; her health: chronic osteoporosis, atrial fibrilation, history of TIA; and the discriminatory attitude of doctors. All that changed on February 13th when she was rushed to hospital haemorrhaging. New specialist, new attitude, new life. Or maybe just the gift of her old one back. Slowly she regained strength, and claimed back her world.

So I guess the best trip for me was driving her home from the hospital, knowing she was cancer-free (yes, one massive 5cm tumour gone, completely). We even stopped at Maccas on the way. She turned 90 in October and is still living by herself, managing her financial affairs on her computer spreadsheets, laughing at life once more. Love you Mum, you are my strength.

Oh, and no holidays yet, but we are going away just after Christmas. I can leave her again now, she is so very well.