How's work?

I have come to the end of a job that was meant to last two or three months and in fact, lasted a year. The job itself has been been fabulous and I've really enjoyed it but I won't lie - I'm tired - very tired. My analogy would be expecting to run a sprint and then said sprint unexpectedly evolved into a marathon - and not really adjusting my pace.

It's been such a totally crazy time in Melbourne - now officially the most locked down city in the entire universe - and we've finally been told we're being let out on Friday. Yippee! 

During the long lockdowns of last year, I didn't have a lot of work on so I did a course on Governance and Risk (yes, please don't judge - and worse, I really enjoyed it), started learning Spanish (hola!) and my house was very clean and tidy.

There's a lot to be said for keeping busy in a lockdown and for many, work - or a lack of it - has had a defining impact on their experience. That's because our world's have shrunk - to our houses and a 5km radius. The novelty of House Party and Zoom catch ups wore off long, long ago and even mustering up the bother to organise a walk with one other person has deteriorated. 

Other than COVID numbers, complaining about the government and what you've been streaming, there's really not much to say even when you do catch up. No-one has been anywhere or done anything - so there's no FOMO I guess.

For some, work has been a saving grace - a reason to get up in the morning and get going. I can only imagine how difficult that has been for single people who live alone. But I also spare a thought for those who have been locked down with small kids and a big job - home-schooling and zooming - just not sure that's anyone's idea of living their best life. I'm also slightly concerned about the impact of a generation of kids who've been homeschooled for almost two years by parent/s who are struggling to remember what an improper fraction is. 

At the other extreme, there are people who lost their job and had nothing to do. I can only imagine that motivation in that camp, especially for those living alone, was a daily struggle. And while the internet has been full of self-care and awareness of mental health issues, if you've lost the will to get up or shower, a meme with a sunburst and some snappy words is unlikely to provide it.

As someone who's had too little work in lock down and too much, I'm seeing the Goldielocks analysis here and am now hoping for 'just right'!!

Happy New Year!

For many today (or yesterday depending on when I get this out!) will have been your first day back in the office. Another reason I'm loving working at home - although best I start focusing more of the kind of work that pays, as opposed to trying to get this house sorted!

It's been a busy break - Christmas day, roast pork and the excitement of Santa, turkey dinner on Boxing Day because my brother couldn't make it for the actual day and then Geoff's birthday on the 27th. We headed home from South Australia on the 30th for a night of rest before heading up to Ruffy to a friend's farm for New Year - and what a party! We kicked on until 2am - including Sass - which was loads of fun until about 5.30am the next morning when the sun hit the tent we'd pitched in their garden. Within about 30 minutes, it must have been 40 degrees. Geoff had bailed at about 30 degrees but at six, I dragged my sleeping bag and pillow out of the tent and into the shade of a hedge for a little more shut-eye. Sass appeared shortly there after and I suggested she check on her sister and her friend Charlotte, who were both in 'onsies' (those silly in all one sleeping outfits usually reserved for the under two's as anyone older is in grave danger of a huge wedgie), in sleeping bags, under a 'mink' (ie 100% polyester and very heavy and hot) blanket in a tent reaching sauna-esque temperatures - just to see that hadn't expired and perhaps, at least drag the blanket off them.

Back in town, the 'gathering of gear' for the year away at boarding school for Eleanor began. Like many women I know, I quite enjoy a shop, but after two days of buying hiking gear, underwear, a sleeping bag liner (that's what we needed on NYE to absorb the sweat!!), toiletries, linen, trail shoes, water bottles, a compass, blah blah blah.... even I had had enough! Now I need to sew name tags on about 8,000 items and she'll be ready to go. She and my adopted daughter Frankie have sewn on quite a few but Frankie's gone back to Sydney and Eleanor is doing Surf Life Saving Cadets down the coast, so it'll be up to me. My gorgeous friend Penny B has offered to help - bless!

And interjected into this period of 'relaxation' was Elle's 14th and Sass's 7th birthdays. Geoff bought Sass a laptop - yes - that's right, a full fledged, Windows 7 laptop. She was straight onto eBay - ahhhhh!!

And we've also had time to have a go at dipping the girls' nails in vodka and then pressing newsprint onto them - it really does work! It'd be better with foreign language print - but we only had The Age. You need to press quite hard and then add a clear top coat. Check them out.

Elle's 

Frankie's