That’s me. I am completely ravenous, haven’t eaten since breakfast, it’s now 8pm.
I have food in the fridge I can cook. Delicious food, my favourite: Bacon.
I cannot bring myself to rise my arse off the chair, take it to the kitchen and cook the stuff. Even the thought of driving for takeaway is not appealing.
Laziness personified. See? I told you!
So, the hubster and I are about to begin building a home for the second time. The first time around we were newbies, we hadn’t lived out of home for very long, we were a little clueless. This time around, we know what we want, where we should spend the cashola and where we should cut-back and do things ourselves once the home is complete.
Last time, we told ourselves that we would get someone to install downlights (I have included an image for your viewing pleasure) for us once the home was complete. Building companies charge through the nose for this, I think because it’s a fiddley job and well, because they can. Anyway, we told ourselves with the first house we would do it when we moved in, then when it came to the crunch we didn’t. To expensive, too many other things to spend the money on. But I really love the look of them. So for this house, we decided we would go ahead and get the Builder to install. We can afford it this time around.
I also want this house to be more energy efficient. I’m not looking for a carbon neutral place straight away - baby steps, people. I just wanted a few bits and pieces, like a Solar Hot Water system and lights that are energy efficient. Do you know how difficult this is?! It seems builders are pretty slow on the whole ‘global warming’ thing and have done sweet fuck all to prepare themselves for questions from more environmentally-minded customers. Even Joe Schmoe ones like me. I’m no greenie - if I’m completely honest I’m probably more out to save myself a few bucks than cool the globe. More efficient = cheap to keep!
They directed us to use 12v halogen downlights (now, halogen = bad, mmmkay?) throughout the house. I’m asking them, “are these compatible with those fluroscent downlight globes?” - blank stares. So then we look at 240v downlights (only because I’m wondering… why does that one look different to the others?), “and what bulbs do these hold? Halogens or standard? Are they compatible with fluros?” - again, blank stares. I can get fluroscents for either, it turns out. But I’ve only worked this out myself once I’ve gotten home and done a tonne of research online. I just think it’s kind of disappointing. Builders have certain environmental standard they have to adhere to by law, but I do think they should be able to advise customers on further energy-saving selections for new homes if people are trying to do the right thing.
In the end, I think we’re going to go for 240v downlights, and then use CFL (compact fluroscent fluroscent) light globes in them. You can get a huge variety of CFL lights now for all sorts of fittings. They’re more expensive per bulb, but last around 10 times longer and use only 20% of the power. Cheaper in the long run. There’s also less to go wrong, because they require no transformers in the ceiling space (12v downlights require this to transfer the 240v power running through the home to a 12v level in the light itself). Although, it’s going to be fucking painful forking out over $600 for light bulbs for the first fit-out!
I’ve been sitting and stewing for a couple of days now about the recent Apology to the indigenous Australian population by the new Australian Government. Apologising for the past acts of removing Aboriginal children from their families. These children were then placed either in foster care with white families, or in missions. Many of these children were not in danger. They were simply born into the ‘wrong’ family, that was the opinion of the government of the time.
The apology isn’t the part that has gotten me stewing. It was the right thing to do. The reactions of some parts of non-Indigenous Australia has disgusted & disappointed me. I couldn’t put my feelings eloquently enough to do the subject justice. Luckily, Steph has written the best post of her blogging career and has said all I wanted to say.
Thank you, Steph. You’re a star!
There’s an advertisement that’s recently started playing on TV, promoting Melbourne. It is one of the most gorgeous advertisements I’ve ever seen! I love everything about it, the feel of it, the colours and hues, the music. It all works so well together. It has such a romantic vibe, but it’s also a little bit Alice in Wonderland, without the crazy. I love, love, LOVE her outfit, too. I’ve only had a mild interest in visiting Melbourne in the past, but now I am really eager to go and ‘Lose Myself’ there!
My relationship is pretty low-frills. Always has been, and with my husband, I suspect it always will be. Recent events have made me realise I’ve become suspicious of romantics.
In my last post I spoke about my friend who suspects her husband is cheating on her. He has not declared a full admission, but I think both of them know that something not quite above-board occurred, and both of them are attempting to move on. No tears, few arguments, let’s just gloss over this and carry on. Everything’s peachy!
Valentine’s Day recently passed us by. As is the usual theme in our seven-year relationship, we did not give gifts. In previous years, I sometimes gave a card or a letter to the hubster, which he promptly read and stuffed in a drawer somewhere. Didn’t bother this year. Looking around my workplace, it appears flashy displays of affection on V’Day is out of fashion. The new Receptionist had a couple of secret admirers (I’ve got to admit, she is cute), but nobody in a relationship got anything from their partners. Except one. Yep, the friend with the cheating husband. Irony, anyone? Big bunch of flowers sat right there on her desk. Just goes to show, it isn’t really the thought that counts, is it? If he was my husband, if he was lucky enough that I was still letting him hang around, I would still be making him pay. The flowers would’ve been straight in the fucking bin. Flowers are not the way to win back my trust. Keeping your dick in your pants (or mine… noone else’s!) is the way to go about it.
Similarly, I have the same distrust for men who come prepared with elaborate proposals of marriage. I seem to believe that men who have to try that hard to get the woman to say ‘yes’ must be trying to distract her from the reality of their personality or their relationship. Bombard her with helicopters, limousines & romance and she’ll feel too guilty to say no!
It’s actually something I’ve always loved about our relationship, the simplicity of it. It really doesn’t bother me that I don’t get showered with romance. As long as he tells me I’m cute, sexy, beautiful or hot on a regular basis and continues to be there for me whenever I need him, I can do without the romantic gestures!
A friend of mine (yes, a real friend, not just a hypothetical “friend”) has recently begun experiencing trouble in her very fresh marriage. Married for less than a year, she had already begun suspecting her husband was having an affair with a friend of theirs. It’s more than a suspicion really.. the evidence she has gathered, whilst not completely conclusive, is pretty bloody strong. She has confronted both the husband and the friend, and whilst she hasn’t had a full-blown confession, neither is denying it as vehemently as she may have liked. This disturbs me!
I feel so, so sorry for her. She brushes it off, talks big… “I told him he is not allowed to associate with her at all unless it is in my company, or I will tell the right people and they will fuck him up!”. She’s angry, but I don’t think she’s hurting the way most would expect her to be hurting. I don’t think the hurt is about the possible ‘falling out of love’ part. It seems to be more about the injustice. The fact that he’s decided he’d prefer to spend time with this other woman over her. That he feels more attracted to, more drawn to this other woman than to my friend - because if he didn’t feel that way why would he risk his marriage for her? It seems to have bruised her ego more than it’s bruised her heart. She seems more angry at him for ruining the appearance of a good relationship rather than ruining their relationship.
I ask her how things are going, and she tells me that things are well. I don’t get the impression that they’ve sat down and had an honest conversation about the situation, even after the confrontations. As long as he promises not to see her anymore unless my friend’s in the room too, then she’s content with that. No long talks, no counselling, just threaten him with violence & pretend it never happened, go back to keeping up that appearance of a relationship.
I could possibly get over a cheating spouse, but not without alot of crying, discussion, forgiveness and probably moving to another time zone! How could someone go on with their relationship as if nothing suspicious had even entered their radar? I would be consumed by it.
D’ffrent stokes for d’ffrent folks, I guess. Baffling!
Officially, I have a new favourite movie. And a confirmed weird crush.
New movie: Juno. Weird crush: Michael Cera.
The crush is wrong, on so many levels. First, Michael Cera is a teenager. A really goofy teenager. When I see still pictures of him, there is no crush. But I really like the characters he plays, those shy, nervous, clueless, dweeby characters who are cooler than you realise. Plus, they always have hearts of gold. Because he always plays these characters, you get the vibe that he playing a large part of himself, most of the time. I think the crush started in the Arrested Development episodes where he became a nervous mess when he was having dirty thoughts about his cousin (the daughter of Portia De Rossi’s character), grew a little more when I watched Superbad, and became bona fide when I watched the awesomeness of Juno.
Juno is one of those movies you watch with an inane grin on your face, enjoying every moment. The only time you stop inanely grinning is to laugh out loud. The story itself doesn’t sound too unusual - a teenage girl (Juno) falls pregnant to her best friend (Paulie, Michael Cera’s character) after a spontaneous ‘make-out’ session and decides to adopt the baby out to the ‘perfect’ couple. What makes it so interesting is the relationships and dynamics of the movie. Especially the subtle ones, like how Paulie’s Mum seems to instinctively know that Juno is going to have a massive influence on her son, and isn’t comfortable with their friendship. This is portrayed in such a realistic way - his Mum isn’t a bitch to her face, it’s all through body language and the way she says things… my favourite scene of the movie is a very pregnant Juno and Paulie’s Mum jostling up the stairs to try and get to his bedroom before the other.
I loved the movie for it’s subtlty and it’s ability to steer clear of the obvious yet still bring such a realism and humour.
Oh, and for it’s Michael Cera.
20Something Bloggers. I have found so many awesome new blogs! I think I’m going to revisit my Blogroll and add a heap of new ones. Plus, their blogs are so gorgeous to look at, I don’t want to add them to my GoogleReader subscription - that means I miss out on the pretty layouts!
