i am being selfish

Yep. This weekend is all MINE.

I'm not taking grooming appointments. I'm not socialising. I'm just being. I'm doing whatever I want, when I want. 

I might watch Dexter (series 6) which I just got... or I might paint. Or I might create... I don't have to decide! I can do what I want! 

I have a couple of dogs to do on Monday morning but I won't take any other appointments. I have an appointment of my own to get my tits squashed.

I figure I deserve to be selfish and indulge myself over the weekend since I'm going to be put through the wringer (literally) on Monday.

Being a woman sure is fun at times, huh? Once we hit puberty we have a lifetime of fun things to look forward to: 

- wearing padded surfboards in our undies

- inserting cotton plugs where no plug has been before

- stirrups... need I say more?

- cold, metal, duck bill-shaped medical instruments

- thrush

- childbirth (one I've managed to avoid!)

Then, as if that lot wasn't enough, we have to get our mammary glands squashed on a regular basis.

"Tell me when it hurts", the radiographer says.

"IT HURTS", you gasp. And he/she squishes it just a bit more for good luck.

If you didn't have saggy breasts before that, you surely will afterwards.

Personally, I always worry about them popping. I mean, that's a lot of pressure. What if they explode? Like a balloon... or...  more like... a melon!

Yeech. 

Don't think about it.

It'll only upset you.

So... what other fun stuff have I got to share?

Romeo threw up last night. 

They all ate their food and then Romeo and Montana started playing in the living room. I knew it would end in tears, so I kept yelling at them to "stop it!" and "settle down!" but did they listen? No. They kept playing till eventually up it came.

There's nothing quite like the sound of a dog hacking up his meal to get a person moving. Fast. I was up off that chair and running before it hit the ground.

It wasn't too bad. It was only part of his dinner. Like I measured it, to evaluate whether I needed to re-feed him. 

I was so angry I hurled accusations at them, pointed fingers and swore as I mopped it up. Our carpet is way beyond repair...

Amazingly they settled right down. Wayne came in and they looked so guilty and chastised he could tell they were in trouble right away.

Now, that was a way better subject than mammograms, wasn't it?

z

do i look like my dog?

We all know how dogs and owners look like eachother, right? Well, so they SAY.

For instance, everyone thinks Winston Churchill had a british bulldog cause he looks like a british bulldog - but in fact he had a poodle!

So, its obviously not true... But there are plenty of people who look like, or have similar characteristics as their dogs.

I always thought it was bull when it came to me and my poodles. We couldn't be more different! They're gorgeous, graceful, elegant, sleek, slim, fit, athletic creatures.

I'm not.

They're high maintenance with their trims. I put off getting my hair done even though I've found a bargain basement hairdresser who will cut my hair sitting outside her caravan.

But apparently I've been approaching this similarity thing the wrong way entirely.

This morning the subject of dogs and owners came up. Wayne believes its true. He said he could see it with his dogs. Barney is a doofus. Ok. He's not the prettiest dog around, yeah, he'd accept that too. Mischa has big stomach bones... yep. And both will bowl you over for hugs and affection. (When you scratch Wayne behind his ear he'll even kick his back leg!)

My dogs? Well... they're creatures of their own comfort, they listen to no one, they want things their own way and they rule the place. Plus they bark at everything, even when its clearly none of their business.

Hm.

I'm not sure I'm liking where this is going...

z

kangarat has gone to a new home!

Kangarat sold at the exhibition/competition! Apparenlty he's gone to a good home, which is good, and I get $55 which is great!

Elmer the Emu is coming back home. He feels a bit down at the moment but apparently people did like him.

Other than that, nothing much new to report. Its been cold. Its been wet. The yard feels like a soggy sponge when you walk on it. We have muddy rivulets running through our paddocks in places. I'm sure the dam is leaking.

We desperately need a drainage expert to come and fix our problem. Know anyone willing to work for food?

Anyway, we took Ben up to a friend's house in Westerway yesterday. We hired a float from Dumb and Dumber (yep. It was a real experience) and took it home. You should have seen Wally's face. He was so excited. The last two times a float pulled up at our house a new playmate stepped out.

He was disappointed this time. Not only was there no new playmate, but we actually took one away!

So we loaded up Ben. He walked in beautifully. Then promptly turned around to hang his  head out the back!

I blame the others. Wally and Dancer were thumping around the paddock flat out, whinnying in distress "BEN! Come back! Don't leave us! We didn't mean it!"

Which only set Ben off into a lather. We were worried he'd jump out! We had to holding him back, open the ramp and jump out of the way as he lept out.

So, I ran up and shut the gate so Dancer and Wally couldn't run down the paddock along side the driveway. I then drove the ute and float down to our gate and Wayne led Ben down, further from the pitiful crying of his paddock-mates. We walked him back in, did the gate up in record time and drove off before Ben could try anything stupid.

He travelled well and I did well too considering I've never towed a float before.

A few locals would disagree with that as they got stuck behind me on the narrow winding road doing 60klm per hour...

Ben is now staying with Sharon and she and her son Christian will be working with him on a daily basis. They have a brand new round yard which they made so they could work with Ben (and other horses in the future). I'm so excited.

I've been so wanting to start riding again. Just walking around on our own land or up the dirt road. Just enjoying the fresh air and being outside on a horse.

I've been so down about Wayne's fall that I didn't think we'd ever ride. I asked him, "Will we ever ride again?"

Wayne said, "Sure we will. Elevators. Escalators...."

Grrrr.

z

its just how it is

Its been a really busy weekend. And a tiring week before that where I found myself falling asleep by 9pm rather than work on anything. That's partly why I haven't blogged for a few days. And I've started to feel guilty about not blogging regularly! I've put this added pressure on myself to blog about my day, the small (or big) things I've done or made. That in turn leads to pressure to actually DO or MAKE things to blog about. Its a vicious circle.

And its not like I haven't got enough on my plate as it is.

Another reason I haven't blogged much is that sometimes I just don't feel like it. I mean, I generally love talking about myself, my life and the stuff I do. Its just that sometimes I'm tired or not in a good mood, and what I write isn't interesting or amusing, just flat and boring. So I apologize for the boring blogs I've written when I've forced myself to write out of a feeling of obligation to 'blog'.

Blog: a versatile word for the 21st century. It can be a verb (I blog, do you blog?) or a noun (I read his blog.)

See, I've been reading lots of blogs over the last few months and I let myself become infected with the 'grow your blog' bug. There are some incredibly talented women out there doing amazing stuff with furniture, paint and all kinds of things and blogging about it. They have busy blogs with lots of followers and host link parties and, and, and...

I started to think "hey, I could be like that." After all, I make stuff and play with furniture and paint. I've rennovated. Am constantly rennovating as a matter of fact.

So I started to push myself to do more, blog more, share more of my adventures. With everything else I do in my day to day life, another load of  'gotta do' wasn't putting me in my happy place. I realised that I blog cause I like to talk about myself and my life in a fun, upbeat way. Plus I like to show off, an added bonus.

Make blogging into a job though, and the fun's gone. I've never been good at doing things over and over again and maintaining enthusiasm for them. Which is why I make one or two of anything and move on.

It was the same with everything I've done in my life. I learned to ride, got good. Moved on. I learned to dance, got good, won some competitions, moved on. I learned to roller blade, conquered that, moved on.  I never quit, I get good, then I go onto other things.

Get the picture? I'll do anything that interests me. I'll learn and work on it till I do it well, then I'll find something else to work on. Maybe its why I can't seem to make mega bucks selling a product. At least with paintings, even if I'm doing 5 poodles or 6 dobermans in a row, each painting is new and different. Each painting is an original.


I guess that's why I've been planning to open an esty shop for my recycled/re-used items. Every time I make something it will be different cause I work with things I find.

I sure can ramble can't I? I think my point is that I'm not going to worry about growing my blog and keeping up with the blog superstars. I'll blog when I want, about what I want (and I don't care if that's not grammatically correct!) and I won't worry about how many people read it.

Anyway, this last week I had a moment where I could not help myself. I've been thinking about how I could use an old metal object I found in a tip shop a while ago. I think its from old fashioned weight scales but I'm not sure. Whatever it is was originally, I thought it would work as a kitchen tool hanging rack.

I'd been thinking of moving the spice cabinet and putting the hanging rack near the stove, but I hadn't had time to do it over last weekend. I thought I'd do it this weekend but during the week I was overcome by that feeling where I just have to do it now.

Do you ever get that feeling? Where you look at something and sensible you says "do it on the weekend" but the impulsive you starts pushing couches around the living room at 10pm at night?

Maybe its only me...

I fixed the rack thingy to the bottom of the top cabinets and used wire hooks Wayne had made to hang a few older utensils. It looked quite nice.

Yep. It looked nice. But this is my kitchen and I need to cook in it. I don't have enough space to just hang items on display. So, although it looked nice with all the old green and metal utensils, this is what it really looks like.

I hung the oven mitts back where they usually live, on the hook beside the stove. I moved the slice of timber chopping block I made under the hanging rack. I put all our wooden spoons in an old dripping pot I found at a 2nd hand store a few weeks ago. And I hung our plastic utensils from the rack.

We have too many utensils. I think I need to go through my cupboards and drawers and get rid of things we no longer want or never use. We have too much STUFF.

So, there's another spot in the kitchen that's had a 'Zefi' touch. I need to rip the whole kitchen out and redo it.

z