... is packing for my trip to Adelaide. We're leaving this afternoon and I haven't even packed the bags yet. At least I've packed our wedding finery though, I guess.
After I pick up the boys from school we've got to come straight home, find the cat (how does he know that he's going to the cattery today??), on the way home again pick up partner's suit from the dry-cleaners and hopefully find a pair of shoes for me (everyone else has got some). Then we come home to meet partner and take him out to collect the Tarago that we're hiring for the week. Then we come home again, pack our bags and by this stage we will hopefully have some parking in the street for our regular cars, otherwise we will have to leave them in the 4P parking side of the street and possibly acquire numerous parking tickets.
So yes, plenty to be done before we leave. So why am I sitting here doing nothing?
Here are my likes and loathes for this week:
LOATHES
* this stupid sore throat and cough that has been sneaking around for the past few days, only to reach it's full glory yesterday when I finally had the chance to relax and now is refusing to budge
* the fact that I finally bought a dress for my nephew's wedding only to bring it home and try it on and realise that it was truly ugly and needs to be exchanged
* the huge number of things I have to do tomorrow besides exchanging the ugly dress
LIKES
* getting out of Sydney for a few days, even if it is for an exhausting and fleeting trip to Adelaide
* hearing my daughter ask for "tuddles with mum."
* Target, for solving the problem of a suitable dress for a one-year-old to wear to a wedding that didn't cost $100.
For the benefit of those not in my timezone, as I write this it's 10 pm on a Friday night.
What did I do today?
Firstly, I slept in. Then I realised that owing to the drama of yesterday (when I was late picking up the kids from school because I got stuck in the carpark of my local shopping centre), which meant that I was unable to take eldest son on his trip to the supermarket that he has to do for his weekly homework, we did not have either bread or milk. So I pulled on a jumper and some runners and went up to supermarket before I'd even gone to the toilet. I have *no* idea what I looked like, but figure that the people there working at that time of the morning are used to mothers and fathers turning up looking like they just rolled out of bed.
Owing to the oversleeping and the jaunt to the supermarket, I didn't have enough time to shower before taking the kids to school, and while I usually rock up to help with readers and the like, couldn't even do that this morning because - eep! - mother-in-law was coming! So drove the short distance to school, threw the boys out, drove home, put the girlie in front of In The Night Garden (I thank the universe daily for that show, because she loves it), had a shower and set about making the house presentable in the 20 minutes I had left till MILs arrival, which is no mean feat, let me tell you! But I managed it.
Left MIL and the girlie to it (since MIL had come to watch her while I had some Time To Myself, a very rare commodity!) and went out to find a dress for the wedding I'm attending next weekend, a dress for the girlie, also for the wedding, and something vaguely formal for the boys. Failed on all three counts. Tried on eleventy million dresses and looked like a mule in each and every one. Was utterly appalled by the frou-frou offerings for little girls. I just want something plain and sweet, people!
Came home, picked up the boys, entertained all three whilst MIL took a mental break. She had offered to watch the kids for dinner whilst partner and I had a dinner date all to ourselves, but partner didn't feel like going out. So we ordered Indian from one of our many local restaurants, and all had dinner at home.
And now I'm just enjoying the peace and quiet of a house with three sleeping children.
Should I or shouldn't I?
I recently purchased this skirt:
But ... I just don't know. Are leggings passe now? If not, are they only for the young? In which case, am I too old, at 37, to be considered young? I mean, it's not like my knees or ankles are wrinkly or anything.
Decisions, decisions ...
Already I'm doing so well with the whole blogging thing.
Actually, I've been rather busy with the show I'm currently in. It's with the amateur theatre group I'm in - a revue. I'm in eleventy hundred numbers so have been sorting costumes and practicing my singing and dancing for that.
The rest of the time I have been searching for a dress to wear to my nephew's wedding on November 1. And I have to confess I've been feeling very discouraged. Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm an AU size 16, so therefore "plus sized". This means I can't just walk into any shop and buy something. Most shops stop and size 14, and I totally understand that it is their prerogative to do so. Unfortunately in Australia we have a bit of a dearth of good designs for the 14+ market. I shopped a bit online and saw some nice things from the US and UK, but by the time you add in the shipping charges and factor in the exchange rate a $120 dress is costing you at least $200. Which, you know, is do-able, it's just that I'm a little leery of spending that much on something I haven't even seen, let alone tried on.
Of the Australian labels (that is to say, labels that are accessible here in Australia) that I think I can fit into, I've found the following that are options:
The one I tried was green all over, in a sort of soft shade somewhere between lime and olive. And obviously I didn't try it on with a huge swathe of material on my head. It looked quite nice, in my humble opinion. The only problem is that neckline. As you can see the model pictured above does not have DD cups, whereas I do. So that neckline actually comes down beneath the bustline, requiring one of these:
Other dresses I have looked at include a couple by Diana Ferrari:
This one looks quite pretty on the hanger. There are some little shrug/bolero things in a matching blue that would look quite cute with it as well, and hide my arms :p
Also checked out Ojay (I'm pretty sure it was Ojay) and they had some nice things in their current stock, none of which appear on the website, worse luck. They seem to only have their beige collection showing at the moment.
And finally, I saw this dress on the David Lawrence site:
Needless to say, however, that my search for this dress either in a David Lawrence shop or DJs and Myers has proved fruitless. I did however find a simple navy silk shift dress with a bit of a gold detail around the neckline that might be suitable.
Anyway. The above details my current options. Tomorrow, my MIL (hooray for MILs!) is coming to watch my 18-month-old whilst I go out shopping. So by tomorrow evening I may have something to report ...
I could make a grandiose statement about this being my inaugural post, but in fact it isn't.
Once upon a time I had a blog on Vox (like, up until about 2 months ago). I ran out of things to say. Well, I didn't really run out - I just really, really had nothing to say. For the longest time. So one day in a hissy fit I cancelled my account. Actually, it wasn't really a hissy fit, it was just accumulated embarrassment from such a long time of having nothing to say.And you know, I still have nothing to say, but I figured I'd just run with it.
Here's some things about me:
1. I'm 37.
2. I really need to re-colour my hair.
3. I am currently a plus-sized person. I'm an AU size 16. I tell myself that I'm not comfortable at this size and would be happier if I was smaller but to be honest, I don't mind. I'm healthy and reasonably fit, so suck eggs.
4. I like to sing. Actually, I sing a lot, and at Christmas-time, I am paid for it. Paid quite well, actually.
5. I have 3 children - two boys and a girl and they are all brilliant.
6. I currently have an ebay addiction. And I love op-shopping.
7. I will be starting counselling in mid-November for ... shall we say lifelong issues. Believe it or not I can't fit it into my schedule before then.
8. I am attempting to revamp my style. I've had enough of jeans/cargoes and tshirts.
9. I have a phobia about revealing my legs which has a serious affect on no. 8, above.
10. I have green eyes and it really irritates me when people insist that they are brown. Because they are NOT, damn you!
Well, that's a start.