esmerelda in residence

Falsely accused

The past few weeks the local papers have been full of "scandal" - accusations of sexual harassment and misuse of credit cards (not by the same guy) have been paraded across the newspaper headlines, talked about ad nauseum by the radio pundits and pontificated upon by tv journos. 

This tendancy for presumption of guilt until a fair trial spilled over into the Hamwich household this morning when I went to make my Sunday morning treat of two soft boiled eggs with a slice of toast. I made another cup of coffee, put the water on to boil for the eggs and reached for the bread I had left on the counter. 

No bread. 

I glared at the dogs accusingly, and searched around the kitchen some more. 

Bread still m.i.a. 

I opened the pantry (nope), the refrigerator (nada), looked in the oven (hey, you never know), spied and rescued one of my slippers from the back garden (gee, I wonder how this got here) and searched for telltale signs of shredded plastic and doggy indulgence, the entire time muttering at the dogs "WTF did you do with it?". Finally I gave up and grudgingly, made my everyday breakfast of porridge. The Mr finally decided to heave himself out of bed at a leisurely 8:30 am and wander into the kitchen. I asked him - have you done something with the bread? His response? "I was a bit peckish last night, so I et it" 

Sorry dogs. Hope the politicians are as lucky as you, but I don't hold out much hope.

not dead yet

Two months since my last post - when questioned by the Mr about the lack of posting I had to admit there was nothing much to post about. What has contributed to this lack? I shall try to explain.

1. Lack of material - I have jumped off the public transport wagon and have been driving to work every day. While not so good for the planet, it has been enormously successful in restoring my good temper. The downside is that material for good posts has declined dramatically. 
2. Lack of drama @ work - My workplace is remarkably unremarkable. People are nice. The workplace has good benefits. My boss is a funny, hardworking guy who gives credit where credit is due. He is the antithesis of previous boss, who shall probably roast in hell for her/his heartless treatment of all who they came in contact with. All this makes for a better workplace, but again the downside is a dearth of postworthy happenings. 
3. Lack of doggie drama - Scarlet continues tottering along in her slightly smelly, balding way. She can no longer jump up on the sofa. She has good days and bad days. On good days she breaks up the doggie wrestling matches between Frankie  & Lucy that seem to start at 5 am. On bad days she lays on the floor and sighs a doggie "whatever" when the other two start their bickering. 
4.  Lack of renovation drama - the renovation of the study continues at a snail pace - in actuality the study is nearly complete, with only the skirting boards left to paint and fix to the walls, some touch up painting to do and the making of the wardrobe doors and drawers. Oh and furnishings to buy. But really, it's almost finished.

So there you have it - no news is good news I suppose, but jesusmaryandjoseph it makes for a boring blog. 

still quiet

Not much has changed since the last post. It has rained almost every day this summer, the forecast for the month of March is rain every day. The dogs will need to develop webbed feet.

In August Scarlet was diagnosed with a terminal illness. The vet basically sent her home to die. We panicked and went out and got another dog right away so Frank wouldn't be alone. Well, it is 6 months later and Scarlet is still plugging along, although the most recent development is that she is losing clumps of fur so she now has little bald patches on her chest and back. 

The renovations progress slowly, as does the weight loss - have lost 16kgs so far. I did throw away the granny panties today - hurrah!

 

 

quiet

Nothing much going on here - quiet @ work, quiet @ home. The Mr started renovating the study over christmas break - gyprock is up and we are supposed to paint today but who knows if it will happen. The weight-loss journey continues, I am down 13kg since starting WW on 31 Aug - feel so much better for having lost that weight, but still have a way to go. 

Track work on my train line means I have been driving to work instead of taking the train - I was one lost mofo the first day but I think I am almost ready to give up using the "driving nanny" (GPS) - at least for the trip home. Seriously, it took me 1.5 hrs to make a .5 hr trip my first day. 

Since the news at Chez Hamwich is less then riviting, check out these little time wasters:

dogs

chickens

and something to make you think:

 

Everything is a Remix Part 1 from Kirby Ferguson on Vimeo.

 

Procrastination

As I come to the end of my holiday break, I think of all the things I should be doing/should have done while on holiday, but instead  - well, it's obvious, isn't it?

I do feel very good about having given the kitchen a proper "inspector general" type clean, cupboards scrubbed top to bottom, stove cleaned and shined, drawers & pantry cleared out of old spices and things well past their use by date tossed out (really, is there any reason to keep a packet of candied ginger with a use by date of Apr "05? and what does that say about my housekeeping skills? ) Redundant kitchen items packed up and ready to be delivered to the op shop and a general decluttering of benchtops - I like my kitchen again. 

There are other things percolating in the background, some good, some not so good. Watch this space.