Since our last Trip to QLD in Days of My Destiny

Things have been busier than usual since we went to QLD to meet Matt and Liv's baby. We drove back on the Sunday afternoon and didn't get home until around 2 in the morning. On that Monday afternoon, I had a meeting to go to in the next town, with 2 other ladies from the Drovers Campfire committee.

The DCF Committee Experience So Far We car pooled in there. Jenny drives a nice car. It's a Mazda6 and is in mint condition, with leather seats. The meeting itself was great. Basically, us 3 ladies (Jenny, Anita and I) are new to the committee and we have been taking care of the tours and program side of things. From what we've heard, the fact that we are on board is a great relief because we are actually getting things done in an organized fashion. Up until now, the committee has been mainly made up of men and women in their 70's, except for a few others. One of the "few others" who is in his 40's or so was telling me that in previous years, they usually sit around at every meeting, going over what was said at the last meeting but not actually getting anything done! (The meetings are monthly!) LOL. How they pull off the DCF (as we abbreviate it to) we have no idea, lol. So anyway, us 3 ladies met up with the Tourism lady in the next town, Penny. Penny's been specifically doing tourism in that town for the last 8 years, and she was ALL over it. They were REALLY happy with what I've done with the program. Basically it's always been in small font and too much information. I've turned it into a timetable and added colour, also colour coding the same tours etc. It was a time-consuming but fun and simple job to do. At the meeting we also discussed ordering polo shirts with the DCF logo embroidered on them, and perhaps even our names. Up until now, all that's been used is a ;low quality, hi-vis vest over whatever clothes the volunteers wear. While this may have been okay for the first few years of the DCF, the fact is, it has grown exponentially and thus a more professional look needs to be put forward. This is something that the Committee Old Timers don't really understand. Turns out, Penny travels all over the country for tourism related work, and EVERYONE knows about the DCF in this tiny town! People in Adelaide, Melbourne and Newcastle ask about the DCF and if they're still going to do this or that this year. It's pretty awesome, and even more awesome is the fact that I get to be a part of it!

In the meantime I've also been chasing up the mines and finalising tour details. I've needed to find out what time suits them best for a bus of people to turn up and have a look around; what their preference is for maximum number of people; how long the tour will take and what will be involved; and if there are any OHS requirements in terms of clothing. So for example at the underground mine, they will be seeing the control room, the ventilation area, the coal processing area - but they will not go underground. All this stuff needs to be typed up onto the booking forms, which is Anita's department, so that they can be sent out to the people who have already booked a spot at the actual DCF. That way, they can ore-book their spot on the tours they want to go on, and it also maximises our opportunity to actually get these tours on the road! So that's pretty exciting.

The Old Timers are interesting. Just yesterday I had to go into town and do a stocktake on all the DCF souvenirs left over from last year (mugs, car stickers, badges, etc). I met with the DCF President (I think that's what he is) so he could let me in to the building. Turns out we were both going to do the stocktake. My approach to stocktaking is very business-focused, seeing as I've done stocktakes for many of my jobs before, and as far as I know, you need to be thorough with this stuff. Not for this Old Timer. He guestimated how many rolls of paper towels were in a box, then timed it by two since there were two boxes. Then for the third box which was open, he simply said, "Oh.... so there are two box fulls and one part thereof," and that's what he wanted me to write! LMAO. Anyway then he pulled out some silver mugs with the DCF logo on them. He asked me what my opinion was about the sale of these. He said that they are purchased at $5 per mug and were being sold for $9 a mug. His opinion is that they should be selling them for $6 a mug, because at $9 each, they didn't sell them all, which means they're left sitting there in the shed for a year, whereas if they sold them at $6 each, they'd probably have sold them all and in the meantime, made some money for the funds. The way I see it is that, at $9 a mug, that's obviously a $4 profit as opposed to a $1 profit at $6 a mug.... and so what if they're left for a year? The DCF is an annual event, which means the following year, you can continue making $4 off each mug. That's business, right? He didn't like my opinion, I could tell he was annoyed that I didn't see it the way he did. His point is that the mugs aren't for profit, they are simply there to promote the DCF. What he doesn't realise is that he could be maximising opportunities for both marketing AND profits by seeling them at $9 each, lol!!!!! So that was interesting :)

Then on Wednesday morning after QLD, L and I had to go to the doctors. L had a funny looking ulcer thing on his mouth. Turns out it's a cold sore, and what we didn't know is that cold sores are a part of the Herpes virus. Because we didn't already know this, we kind of worried but tried not to show it when the doctor said he'd send blood samples off to be tested for the Herpes virus. We quickly googled and realised that there was no way on earth he'd have Herpes (none of us have cheated on each other in the last 3 weeks!), but I kept calling him Herpes Face, lol. It was pretty funny, hahahahaha. I still do occasionally, even after finding out he was in the all clear, and that there is no Herpes to freak out about and that it's just a cold sore - which is part of the Herpes virus. (Still, to us they are two different things, thank you very much!!!!!) While there we also talked about L getting a vasectomy. We got a referral letter for this last year but at the last minute I decided against it due to my age. I figured, well technically I can still have children for another few years, and WHAT IF I change my mind about not having anymore? But seriously, a year on and I'm done. I know with certainty that I am. The doctor was trying to talk us out of it and trying to give us other options, but the thing is, we've made our decision a long time ago. I'm not willing to put my body through all these hormonal changes just because I don't want anymore children. Quite frankly, the whole condom thing does not bother me at all, it would not ever bother me if that's what we used for the rest of our lives. Using contraceptives changes my body's normal way of doing things and I don't like that. However, L really wants to get the vasectomy done. I would never cut my body open just to close up my tubes, but the fact is, it's his body, and he's been patient enough with me for 3 years while I get my head around the fact that he DOES want to put his body through this just for that. So.... we got the referral letter.

Then on the Thursday evening after returning from QLD, I attended the first ever Parents Teachers Friends meeting at school. It was also the AGM that night, and so positions from last year were considered vacant for those who wanted to relinquish their roles, and votes were made for new people to fill in those positions. I put my hand up to become the liaison between the school and the local newspapers. Basically my job is to attend all school events, take photos (yes!), write up a short, interesting article on the event and contact the newspapers for them to include in their newspaper! So that sounds pretty cool :) Afterwards there was food and drink for all (we all took something) and I was surprised to see that beer and wine was also a part of this, lololol. I LOVE the casual approach to things out here!

On the Friday, M had a Mini Relay for Life event at school. It cost $5 and included lunch and a swim after running around a huge oval twice. I didn't realise that parents were allowed to go aswell (I don't know why they didn't add this in the newsletter, why would we just assume?), and turns out that both schools did the Mini Relay for Life together, and so my "friend" H was there to watch her own daughter participate. She rang me that afternoon for a "chat" and ended up telling me that the real reason for her call was that M was with her best friend at the pool and had snubbed her daughter. The whole thing was hurtful, to be honest, because I already know that she doesn't like M. She's compared my daughter to Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, because M is supposedly different. Yes, she is a little different in the sense that she lacks empathy for others and doesn't understand some of the social cues and norms that come naturally to other kids. These traits of hers aren't all that obvious to people really, they are just things that I myself know about her and have told H about. M hasn't been diagnosed with anything because she doesn't need to be. But anyway, H rang me to tell me about this and used the excuse, "I know it's important to you to get on top of it," as if I don't get onto M about these things enough times already. The fact is, H has NO IDEA what my journey with M has been. My readers from OD will have a clue, because they've been reading me since M was 2. Hell, they'll know M better than any of my face-to-face friends! So anyway......... it was a huge thing for me and I didn't really know how to handle it. When she called me that day, she'd already compared M to Sheldon once already by text message and I had replied that if M did turn out anything like him, then that wouldn't be a bad thing at all because it would mean she WOULD question society and live her life according to her own values. But no, she had to bring it up again on the phone that day, saying that she hopes M will learn the social norms (in so many words anyway) because "that's the whole Sheldon thing. You know, with Sheldon, people like him - but do they REALLY like him, you know what I mean?"

I mean seriously now, how BITCHY is that?!?!?!?!? If my daughter was in fact that bad, don't you think the teachers themselves would've brought it up by now? What the teachers HAVE said to me is how stubborn M can be, but guess what - she's not the first kid they come across like that, neither is she the last, which means - they're dealing with it! It's not like M pushed H's daughter into the pool or physically hurt her in any way! I totally GET that H is offended and hurt for her daughter's sake, I would be too if I witnessed my daughter being left out. But by the same token, they are FIVE and SIX years old. This is the appropriate age for all of this stuff - it's the time when they do develop these social skills and learn how to play fair and whatnot - and believe me (and I know you do), I AM TEACHING MY DAUGHTER THIS STUFF. And personally, NO it doesn't feel nice to know that it was MY daughter hurting somebody else's feelings - but it is BOUND to happen from time to time.

The other thing about H is that....... she is constantly bragging about how good her kids are and criticising mine. It's like, do you mind? I'm glad she's 1 of A THOUSAND people who act like this, because in fact, out of the hundreds of people I've ever met, I've ALWAYS had great feedback about my kids. She's the only one that criticises them and feels a need to point out where they're going wrong or whatever (and she does this about other people's kids too). And you know why she does it? Because she's a single mum. I have come to the conclusion that she has low self-esteem because of her marital status and so to make HERSELF feel better, she has to constantly point out how great her kids are in other words, what a great job she is doing as a single mum. The thing is, I don't disagree with her, hell we ALL take our hats off to her BECAUSE of how good her kids are - we just don't praise her outwardly all the time because we're too busy raising our own kids, single or not!!! It's not our job to make her feel good - in part, as friends, yes it is - but not if she's not making herself feel her own worth internally! You know? And I know for a FACT that she crushes on L, she has not made that subtle AT ALL. So it's high time that I take a break from her and see her when I have to see her (at our kids' swimming lessons). It's hard to avoid someone in a town as small as this, but at the end of the day, I live OUT of town anyway, so it's not all bad.

Going on with what I've been up to since Queensland.

On the Saturday night there was an Annual Ball at a tiny weeny town that is about 20mins away from here. This town has a population of about 200, lol. Someone bought a house there about six years ago for as much as you got with the Home Owners Buyer's Grant (or whatever it was called - that seven grand that people get - if they still do - when they buy their first home), so her virtually got this house for free, and since then has renovated. This house is now worth more than $200,000 in this tiny town because of the mining boom, and also because he has made it that much bigger, lol!!!! So anyway, they have an annual ball and this year the theme was Scottish/Formal. So you could dress up Scottish or Formal, lol. We went formal, and it was a nice enough nice out. For some people it's THE EVENT of the year - but for us, it was just a night out in nice clothing, lol. The meal was nice - we all sat under a marquee outside in the night - you got champagne on arrival and there was a disco in the old town hall. Other than the champagne it was BYO, and I was ready to let my hair down as it had been a while! My body showed it, as I only had about 4 drinks (though L served them for me, so they would've been stronger than usual) and after a short dance, my tummy went all funny and I pretty much spent the rest of the night outside, behind a big black brick monument, CHUNDERING. Classy. I'm so lucky to have the hubby I have, he looked after me so well, even though I knew he was getting annoyed towards the end of it because he was in party mode, but he ran around getting me jugs of water after jugs of water, lol. We crashed at Kate's house, where our children and her children were being babysat by my girls' babysitter. The way home was HILARIOUS. Kate's husband had had enough drinks and he didn't put his seatbelt on. We were driving on some back roads where there would never be any other cars, let alone cops, and so he didn't bother. He was rambling on about who knows what, and when Kate told him to put his seatbelt on, he drunkedly replied, "Ah fuck it, it's my car, I can do whatever I want. Besides, I've got Life Insurance," as if that is any reason to not wear a seatbelt, lolololol!!! It was funny though, and then he was trying to make a point (about whatever he was rambling on about), and to doubly make his point that he was passionate about, he turned around in his seat and leaned the top half of his body over his seat towards us, waving his arms about passionately as he spoke. L and I were in STITCHES, because he just looked like this big grizzly bear, leaning over his seat like that, lolololol!!! And he thought we were laughing at what he was saying, which whatever it was, it was a serious topic, so he kept trying to make us see his point all the more, which made us laugh even more!!! LOL. So funny. The thing is, we don't even know this guy all that well, so the next day when he woke up all hungover, that confidence level wasn't there to just pay him out about it, LOLOLOLOL. Pretty funny. The next night when we were home, all L and I had to do was pretend to be a big fat grizzly bear flailing our arms about wildly and we'd be in stitches all over again, hahahahahaha!!!

And that was the first week. I'll have to do another entry for the week after that, lol.