TUESDAY RAMBLINGS

Time seems to be flying by at the moment with Christmas steadily creeping up and only 6 weeks until we fly off to Australia. Aaaah the preparations! I have told you about my disastrous bikini shopping experience, the bikini was perfect, I should have looked fabulous however (and I am firmly sticking with this) the lighting was very unflattering. So I have been attempting to get myself a six pack by doing exercises. Painful! I just do not get fitness nuts – surely there are more entertaining things out there??? Mind you I am rather lacking in dedication; I can just imagine Americo vigorously nodding his head at this, whilst babbling on about “NO PAIN NO GAIN!” .. whatever!

Unfortunately the proof is, literally, in the pudding and I am sad to say there shall be no more pudding for me! A dire turn of events I am sure you will agree.

The neighbours are beginning to think I have lost the plot as they see me outside (in the bitter cold) with my skipping rope - attempting to work up a sweat. If I am honest I can only muster about 10 minutes of enthusiasm before I begin to wonder .. when was this EVER fun? Kids love skipping, I loved skipping, what on earth changed?

So to make the world resemble a better place I have booked myself a haircut. New style, new colour – new me!

LOST & FOUND

How early is 7am? I mean we all know how EARLY it is but for me to get into work for 7 it requires waking up at 5. That’s right folks, I have been up since the crack of dawn. Obviously I do not make a habit of torturing myself (and others) with this extreme start, however today I had incentive… tomorrow Americo and I head Stateside for our American honeymoon (roadtrip). And, as I am so unorganised, I need the extra time this afternoon to get things sorted. In conclusion, I am getting the hell out of here in approximately 30 minutes. WOOOHOOO bring on Friday!

As you can see today I am feeling pretty cheery, I am letting the general annoyances of office life wash over me, safe in the knowledge that, for two blissful weeks, I do not have to deal with anyone else’s crap. Heaven! Yesterday was sadly a different story.

To begin, The Head Man (my boss) left last week for his holiday. Generally this would be perfect; I should have had a week to catch up on all those little things that get put to one side in the overall rush of timelines and deadlines. Someone out there has a wicked sense of humour though, as, on the day of his departure, we received notice of a major project requiring completion just after my return. I watched in horror as my week of pre-holiday, workload clear up, plummeted, replaced by mad, requiring urgent attention, everything has to be done NOW, stress. Ergo my frustration with those that have the sense of urgency of a sloth. Harsh but fair.
Anyway, this blog is not about them.. it is about ME, and Americo! Before the above came to light I had booked for my hair to be cut, in fact I had booked all kinds of things and have re-jigged my working hours to suit. Off track again! Yesterday I dashed off to get my hair cut, amid more anxious calls from my boss’s father requesting assistance. SERIOUSLY!

After my frenzied rush to get to the appointment it was wonderful to sit back and relax in the hair salon. There I sat for the next 3 luxurious hours getting my tresses chopped and highlighted whilst sipping hot chocolate. Ahh bliss, holiday mode was finally settling in, until…

… I reached into my bag to pay the nice lady and LO! Hapana (no) purse. A number of thoughts rushed through my mind, predominantly Oh Shit! But alongside this was the chorus of my bank cards, my credit card, my driver’s licence, my yellow card for when Americo behaves badly. (I will explain that one later!)

First to deal with the situation at hand, phone the wonderful man I married and he can pay – how fabulous are mobile phones? A cunning plan I am sure you will agree, until I realised that the wretched man was not answering. Luckily Pearl leapt to the rescue providing her card details.

My general motto is don’t panic, these things always have a way of turning up yadda, yadda, yadda. As I made my way home my chest started to feel tight and I began to panic with the realisation that.. We are leaving in 2 days with NO CREDIT CARD. Bollocks! I phoned the bank and cancelled my debit cards, just to be safe, whilst Americo called our credit card company to suspend our account advising them never to marry a blond.

You will all be happy to know that I have since found my wallet. It was playing hide and seek under one of notepads.

The Yellow Card. I will make it quick as this entry is taking on epic proportions. When we were in Thailand our bus ticket turned out to be a little yellow sticker with a smiley face drawn on in black marker. We found this highly amusing and thus the ‘Yellow Card’ came to life. It has since taken on a character of it’s own, being produced whenever Americo harasses me!

And now people I am off on holiday, I shall try to provide updates in between swanning about having a fabulous time and doing nothing.

MEN

Not often is Americo out of favour with me but on Friday night I lost all humour.

It started like this, Americo called at about 7 to say that he would be home a little late as he was ‘getting a quick pint in with the boys’. Not a problem. 10 pm came and went and at about 12 he wonders through the door………… with a work colleague. I have to admit that I was feeling vaguely irritated that he was home so late, mostly because we were getting a take out and I had agreed to wait.

My slight irritation accelerated to major when he walked in with his friend. Not because his friend was unwelcome but because the house looked like a hurricane had gone through with devastating effects. Add to that, the fact I looked the epitome of a frumpy housewife dressed in Americo’s tracksuit pants and scrubby old jumper - with my hair perched dubiously at the top of my head. All that was missing was a face mask and teddy bear slippers!

In typical male fashion Americo could not understand the issue? I guess the up side of this is that any future dealings with his work colleagues can only be an improvement on the first. Hopefully.

On Saturday I got my hair cut. I love it and as such was very excited to show Americo. When I got home, after a marathon 3 hours at the salon, Americo was upstairs in the bath. I wondered through to say hi and almost gave him a heart attack as he didn’t immediately recognise me! I have since been assured that he REALLY does like my new blonder self.