Usually Thursday is my favorite day of the week. Usually I’ve got my creative groove on. I’m dancing with my very own stars and baking puttery pretty messy cupcakes in a pinny. Usually I’m a happy little chicken and all seems well with the world. Only last night I read a little grown up fairy story that confirmed that yes, Thursday should very definitely be re-named as Happy-Day and so bouyed up was I by this very idea that I fell asleep smiling, and woke up to an empty day full of promise. And PMT. And a computer that has just eaten the rather wonderful review ofKate Chopin’s The Awakeningthat I have just written for you. And I’m very, very sorry but though I would like to say otherwise I can’t work up the energy to write it all over again, because I rather feel that I would be forever in mourning for the words that went before. So never mind (it was angsty and feminist in tone and painful and life affirming, kinda. You should read it. I recommend it. I enjoyed it. It made me sad. I like feeling sad). It is Thursday. It is Happy Day. I feel a bit miserable. Sad I can do, misery I resent. So I am going to carry this bowlful of white hydrangeas to the bathroom for the merry sweet scented hell of it, though the darn things have given me just as much trauma as they gave our dear old Provincial lady. And take lots of photographs and make things pretty enough to pretty up my growling heart all over again. I am going to make my bed with tight hospital corners and chip the wax that has run down my candlesticks away and dab lavender on to my temples to sooth my banging head, and overdose on Rescue Remedy, so help me God. Then I’m going to bake a cake. A sweet, sticky, store cupboard throw it all kind of fridge cakethat won’t have me doing battle with the bolshy little madam that is my oven and then (don’t tell anyone will you?) when I have licked the bowl clean of melted chocolate, I might just take a teeny tiny nap. With orange scented pillow spray for citrus flavoured juicy dreams and the alarm set just in case I get carried away and find myself somewhere I shouldn’t be when I am supposed to be standing at the school gates picking up my child. Hedonistic grumpy lushes are never well recieved at the school gates, that I know for sure. What I didn’t know is that I would have to give my life over to the school gates. And lunchboxes (I hate lunchboxes). And no one ever told me that one day I would wake up and Happy-Day would throw a strop quite as big as this one. No one ever warned me that this is how being all growed up feels. Let me see now what else do I have to whinge about? You don’t mind if I get it off my chest do you? I have a cold. And a sore throat. I am worried about Eygpt and the terrible weather in lands far away and how the washing machine eats so many socks and whether the fact that my periods are getting shorter means I’m perimenopausal. See? I am awash with worry. And all this because WordPress ate my post about another women awash with worry. Don’t worry your little head though. This too will pass. Not all of us who wander are lost… Some of us are just throwing something of an on-line wobbler.
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Oh Alison! Yes! Yes! Take lots of pictures! Hydrangeas, the cake, your little oven, the orange-scented pillow spray, the lunchbox, the school gates, the other mummies waiting for their little munchkins, I want to see it all! And I agree with what another fan of yours said in response to yesterday's post, about having to look up some of the lovely words you use! I'm always delighted to find a new word! Just today, I found bolshy (which I took to mean 'temperamental' when all was said and done!), strop (temper tantrum?), whinge (well, the term I found rhymes with 'witch'!) and wobbler (in my words, I think it meansa tantrum-thrower?). So all of this basically means you're have quite the day, aren't you? Bless your heart, I'm having a good one. I hope yours gets better before you head off for bed! Meanwhile, I'm off to clear the way for a new bed coming tomorrow, whilst I decide which of your words to add to my vocabulary today!
Leslie Anne you do make me giggle!! For the record "wobbler" is the best of that little lot methinks… As for the photographs one day I'll produce photo's worth showing off won't I? at the moment everything looks dark and rubbishy so I'm working on Richard lending me his fancy schmancy camera…
Even ordinarily good days can be imperfect sometimes. The thunder started when I went to bed last night, and when I woke it was pouring rain (still is). I considered that God was perhaps trying to tell me something, especially when my knee then went out on top of that, but I went out anyway. I plan to Do My Duty until five o'clock (fortified with extra long lunch and tea breaks), whereupon I will quit and read something fluffy and drink cocoa and make cherry pie and stick my tongue out at the weather, my aching knee, my broken appliances, the burned out lights, paperwork, bills, and life in general. Amen.
My daughter has been trying to get me to read The Awakening. Perhaps I should. I understand the Thursday Blahs. We had a snow day on Tuesday and then yesterday late in to work and lots of ice and snow and very cold. I'd rather be in bed sleeping, eating, drinking tea and reading. I suppose in the past week I've had more than my fair share of snow days, but a few more would be nice.
I hate snow Karla but I treasure each and every stuck at home snowy halycon day. As for The Awakening it isn't the jolliest of books by any stretch of the imagination, but it's well worth reading if you have a spare hour or two and feel like giving yourself over to another womans's sorrow…
Well, your Thursday is probably just about over, but I hope it ended well! 😉 That cake–I will have to try it, especially since I came across golden syrup at the store the other day, along with "bourbon cremes"–didn't I heard about those over here?! ♥
Just had to say I LOVE your writing and have been reading your blog for years. For someone who has an English cottage and cottage garden at the top of the Blue Mountains in Australia, you are a breath of fresh air x
Oh my word, girl! Do I know how you feel or what?! Yesterday was my (un)happy day. I usually love Fridays. Tying up the week with a neat little bow, finishing up school and projects so that Saturday we can sleep in and sip coffee and play outside and waste time. But, Friday did not tie up my week with a neat little bow. Friday beat me senseless. I went to an appointment which was supposed to last an hour or two. It lasted six. I had to sit next to a guy who was high. But through the whole bloody ordeal I was saying, "Oh, when I get home I will make hot chocolate and watch a movie with the kids. We'll have a nice dinner and everything will be OK." But then I got home. And discovered that no one had done anything I had asked them to do while I was gone. They didn't get ANYTHING done. What all seven of them did while I was gone for SIX HOURS I will never know. I know it was the breakfast or lunch dishes or the laundry or their school work. Mother came unglued. I. The Mother of this house. I had an enormous meltdown in the kitchen and cried like a toddler. It was a lovely sight I'm sure. So……today. My Saturday has been spent in chores and schoolwork, doing what didn't get done yesterday. BUT, at least I'm not weeping today. Feeling more optimistic then I did last night. Amazing what a little sleep can do. May our next Thursdays and Fridays be truly our HAPPY DAYS!
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Oh Alison! Yes! Yes! Take lots of pictures! Hydrangeas, the cake, your little oven, the orange-scented pillow spray, the lunchbox, the school gates, the other mummies waiting for their little munchkins, I want to see it all!
And I agree with what another fan of yours said in response to yesterday's post, about having to look up some of the lovely words you use! I'm always delighted to find a new word! Just today, I found bolshy (which I took to mean 'temperamental' when all was said and done!), strop (temper tantrum?), whinge (well, the term I found rhymes with 'witch'!) and wobbler (in my words, I think it meansa tantrum-thrower?). So all of this basically means you're have quite the day, aren't you? Bless your heart, I'm having a good one. I hope yours gets better before you head off for bed! Meanwhile, I'm off to clear the way for a new bed coming tomorrow, whilst I decide which of your words to add to my vocabulary today!
Leslie Anne you do make me giggle!! For the record "wobbler" is the best of that little lot methinks…
As for the photographs one day I'll produce photo's worth showing off won't I? at the moment everything looks dark and rubbishy so I'm working on Richard lending me his fancy schmancy camera…
Even ordinarily good days can be imperfect sometimes. The thunder started when I went to bed last night, and when I woke it was pouring rain (still is). I considered that God was perhaps trying to tell me something, especially when my knee then went out on top of that, but I went out anyway. I plan to Do My Duty until five o'clock (fortified with extra long lunch and tea breaks), whereupon I will quit and read something fluffy and drink cocoa and make cherry pie and stick my tongue out at the weather, my aching knee, my broken appliances, the burned out lights, paperwork, bills, and life in general. Amen.
Oooh Beth cherry pie sounds good! Hope your day got better…x
My daughter has been trying to get me to read The Awakening. Perhaps I should. I understand the Thursday Blahs. We had a snow day on Tuesday and then yesterday late in to work and lots of ice and snow and very cold. I'd rather be in bed sleeping, eating, drinking tea and reading. I suppose in the past week I've had more than my fair share of snow days, but a few more would be nice.
I hate snow Karla but I treasure each and every stuck at home snowy halycon day. As for The Awakening it isn't the jolliest of books by any stretch of the imagination, but it's well worth reading if you have a spare hour or two and feel like giving yourself over to another womans's sorrow…
Your periods are getting shorter?! If that were me, I'd be praising the heavens above! Stop worrying and start rejoicing 🙂
Heather you know that if I can find something to whinge about I will… I'm feeling old today…
Well, your Thursday is probably just about over, but I hope it ended well! 😉 That cake–I will have to try it, especially since I came across golden syrup at the store the other day, along with "bourbon cremes"–didn't I heard about those over here?! ♥
Just had to say I LOVE your writing and have been reading your blog for years. For someone who has an English cottage and cottage garden at the top of the Blue Mountains in Australia, you are a breath of fresh air x
Oh my word, girl! Do I know how you feel or what?! Yesterday was my (un)happy day. I usually love Fridays. Tying up the week with a neat little bow, finishing up school and projects so that Saturday we can sleep in and sip coffee and play outside and waste time.
But, Friday did not tie up my week with a neat little bow. Friday beat me senseless. I went to an appointment which was supposed to last an hour or two. It lasted six. I had to sit next to a guy who was high. But through the whole bloody ordeal I was saying, "Oh, when I get home I will make hot chocolate and watch a movie with the kids. We'll have a nice dinner and everything will be OK."
But then I got home. And discovered that no one had done anything I had asked them to do while I was gone. They didn't get ANYTHING done. What all seven of them did while I was gone for SIX HOURS I will never know. I know it was the breakfast or lunch dishes or the laundry or their school work.
Mother came unglued. I. The Mother of this house. I had an enormous meltdown in the kitchen and cried like a toddler. It was a lovely sight I'm sure.
So……today. My Saturday has been spent in chores and schoolwork, doing what didn't get done yesterday. BUT, at least I'm not weeping today. Feeling more optimistic then I did last night. Amazing what a little sleep can do.
May our next Thursdays and Fridays be truly our HAPPY DAYS!