WEEK THIRTY-SIX

And so, another week on my own, and the routine was still going well. Kind of. My new plan to go to the gym that night went out the window pretty damned quickly – absolutely no motivation! Thank god I didn’t pay for a membership – that wouldn’t have been the best use of money. I did convince myself it was the money that was stopping me, and not my inherent laziness, which almost worked! I did however convince myself to do some more hula hooping, in the vain effort I might actually get good at it, and maybe even be able to do tricks, but instead I spent half an hour desperately attempting to keep the thing going! I don’t remember it being this tricky when I was a kid. The rest of the day was spent in front of my computer, doing the various crap little things I normally do! However, I did look at the dates Circus Oz is in Melbourne, and figured out I am going to miss it all, which is incredibly annoying! They are even travelling up the east coast, but I still miss all of their dates! Bad planning on my part! I did manage to break the mould with the dinner thing, and didn’t have any pumpkin and feta quiche, which is a good thing, I suppose. I had sausages, mash, and beans instead! Not exactly healthy, but at least it was different! For the rest of the night I just watched bad TV, and avoided doing the boring job of tidying my room.  Nnnn    

The next day, after my slight waiver from ‘the routine’, all forms of motivation left me. I was meant to go swimming, but the closest pool I could get to on public transport with North Melbourne, and it was raining. This was enough for me to give up on the idea entirely, and instead just bugger about the house. Our flat mate was going to Bunnings in the afternoon, so I spent some time trying to figure out how I could build a hexagonal fence – to go around Will and Toni’s herb garden. I had been saying for ages that it needed a proper fence like the rest of the garden, so I took the opportunity whilst they were both away. So, off we went to Bunnings, and I headed to the wood section. I still didn’t have much of a clue how I was going to construct this thing, but after looking at the selection of wood (and the prices!) I chose a few select bits, still not entirely certain of the design. It’ll be fine in the end. I also had to stock up on more masking tape, so I could do more painting of the house. So we paid, and we were off again. When we got home I was actually pretty excited about making a fence, so got to work. I drew a little picture, and then discarded it, and set to work. I sanded, I sawed, and I drilled. For a while, at least. It wasn’t long till I gave up, and left the rest for the next day. I had at least sorted out how I was going to make it – that was half the challenge. Or so I told myself anyway. I once again defected back to a quiche for dinner, but this time it was fancier – potatoes and peppers were added. Oooh fancy pants! Ha ha! In the evening I just sat and watched bad TV, and decorated my recipe book which had been forgotton about for a while. It’s starting to look pretty good (and it’s filling up fast!). Anyway, that way pretty much my day.

I actually woke up quite excited about trying to work out the fence, and once I was in my manky clothes, had set up the ipod dock in the garage, and had a cup of tea in hand, I was ready to go. So, still with little idea how it was all going to work, and having not measured anything at all, I just decided to replicate the little bit I already had done. Seems easy. So, I chopped the wood, and then set to work trying to figure out how to do the angles of it all. Easy enough – Will has a cupboard full of power tools. Sadly, the only thing I could find that might help me was the jigsaw – but the blade wasn’t attached, and I didn’t know where they were, or how to attach them. So, with my limited knowledge, I decided a sander would have to do the trick. It may take longer, but I was pretty certain I wasn’t going to chop my fingers off. After a good few hours of work, and a great deal of mess later, I was frustrated. It didn’t help that I had alaso managed to drill my finger in the course of the day, so at about 5pm, I gave up. Not permanently, but definitely for the day! When our flatmate came home from work, we both went to Coles to pick up some much needed food. And a couple of treats for myself because my finger hurt and I thought I deserved them! Everyone was either out, or in bed by 9pm, which did a fantastic job of messing with my body clock, but, I Skyped to Mum for a while, and had a nice long chat, then went to bed, with the intention of finishing the fence the next day.

As I was so slack on Tuesday, I had decided that I was going to go swimming today, but, once again, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. The routine had slipped, and it didn’t look like I was going to be getting it back any time soon – maybe if I wrote another list? It just seemed like a lot of effort, money and time going into the City for a swim. I thought everyone in Australia had pools in their back yards! Apparently this is a lie perpetuated by Neighbours! Bastards! Anyway, I placated the little voice in the back of my head with a bike ride – at least it was some kind of exercise! I’m still too scared to take the dogs with me on the bike, so they got left behind, much to Joey’s annoyance. I just went along the river for a while, nothing too exciting, but at least I felt better! Once I got back, I took the dogs down to the creek, to let them have a run around. And, true to form, Joey came back revolting! I swear she waits until you can see her until she rolls in the muddiest puddle she can find! She was so gross I didn’t even want to let her in the house, so she got an old fashioned hose-shower. She didn’t like me much after that, but she was fluffy, and not muddy, which was my main aim. Once again, in the evening I had the house to myself, and I had a couple of things I had to talk to Mum about – things which I meant to ask her about the day before, but ah well. Somehow we got onto the subject of holidays, and after a few ideas, we decided that in September 2012 we were going to go to Morocco. Random – yes, but why the hell not! Naturally then, once we had finished our chat, I jumped online and started looking at whatever Morocco has to offer. By the end of it, I had sent Mum multiple links to websites for hotels, currency exchange, and some random Bedouin tours I had managed to find. Exciting! I did attempt to do some writing, but it really didn’t work, and instead I over-planned a holiday which Is 18 months away! Much more fun.

On Friday I started the day with a bit of hula-hooping, and I’m still pretty terrible. I have no idea how people manage to do tricks with the bloody things – I can barely manage to keep it going! But, I had slightly more success than before, and there was a couple of times I was actually succeeding in the task. I’m not sure if everyone else has the same problems that I have? I was also still pretty obsessed with the whole Morocco idea, so actually sat down to see if it was possible to do it with the money I’ll have, and luckily it’s a cheap country, and it all seems like it will be feasible. I’m not going to be booking any flights just yet though…for the rest of the day I did very little that was actually noteworthy – most of it was spent watching House on my computer!

The next day I had jobs to do. I cleaned the house, and emptied the fire, and filled up the log baskets, and then realised I had done it all in the wrong order, and now my beautiful clean carpet had bits of bark, and ash all over it. So I hovered again, and then cleaned the bathroom. The only thing I didn’t do was my bedroom, which needed doing, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, so instead I went to the park. I had suitably wound-up Joey with the vacuum, so I took her to run around with the rest of the dogs, and decided Turnip really should come too! I didn’t realise how cold it now was, and didn’t wear enough layers After about an hour in the park, I looked down and noticed that my hands were a rather beautiful shade of purple, with orange blotches. Always a sign of being healthy! So, I collected the dogs, and headed back home, warmed up my wheat bag and promptly lit the fire. After getting so cold, I decided to avoid doing any of the fence, and instead Skyped Liz. I had to tell her my plans for when I am coming down, and try and organise something.  By the end of the phone call we had a couple of tickets booked for the Wizard of Oz at the West End. It’ll be so much fun! I was slightly shocked at the terrible ticketing system, but in the end, managed to get a couple of seats I was happy with, and bit the bullet - £120 for two tickets. Insane! Just as I was coming to terms with the price, Liz said that my ticket was going to be my birthday pressie – amazing! It’ll be so much fun! Me and one of our flat mates had planned to go to the cinema, but when we went to buy tickets, it was almost sold out – damn Saturday nights! Boring. So, with the evening all of a sudden to myself, I just wasted it in front of the TV, and did very little.

My Sunday morning was spent as Sunday mornings should be – a complete lie in! When I woke up I made myself a cup of tea, got a packet of biscuits, and went back to bed to watch a couple of episodes of the Apprentice! Sad? Possibly, but I bloody enjoyed it! By the time I dragged myself out of bed I was feeling pretty guilty, so quickly did the dishes, and made some pancakes. Yes, I did have biscuits and pancakes for my breakfast – not exactly what I was planning with my new healthy living! But, I took the dogs out to the creek in the afternoon, and just let them run wild for a while! By the time I got back, our flat mate was home from work, and desperate to go to the cinema. So, we booked our tickets online, and then realised we still had 4 hours to wait. So, I filled my time with bad American TV, had some dinner, and then attempted to do some writing until it was time to go. Our film of choice was Hangover Part 2 – and I was looking forward to it. We had both sat down and watched the first one about a week ago, and it had got me in the mood for some more stupid comedy. So, stacked up with snacks, we headed into the movie – all I can say is that it didn’t disappoint! It sure as hell isn’t going to go down in history, but it was hilarious, and that’s all I wanted! I did eat a revolting amount of crap whilst I was watching it – I can’t resist it! It doesn’t feel the seem if you don’t get all the trimmings when you go to the cinema! When we got home I watched 4 weddings and a funeral for the first time in about 10 years. I forgot how great that film is! An oldie, but a goodie as far as I’m concerned. Sadly it was before Hugh Grant got hot though! I eventually went to bed at some stupid time in the morning, not really tired, but bored of being awake!

And that was my week. I thought I had been more productive than I actually was, but I did make a start on the fence - I now just have to finish the damned thing!  SO, I have one more week on my own, and still so many things I had planned to do in this time – it looks like next week is going to be a busy one…first job is to finish the fence.