Snippets from my Rollercoaster Week...

Life really is like a Rollercoaster - it has all the ups and downs, thrills, laughs and terror of a theme park ride. I'm not one for theme park rides, generally speaking, and I'll take peace and tranquillity over thrills, anyday.

Here are a few of the ups and downs from my week, to tickle your funny bone, make you gag and let you know you're not the only one on this crazy rollercoaster ride.

The stuff my quirky kids say and do is always good at making me smile. Just this morning we had...

• the first day of August (eek) and a race with Dash to be the first one to blurt out "a pinch and a punch for the first of the month". As I sidle into the bathroom, he sees me coming and knows what I'm about. We both pinch and punch each other (with love and affection) and fall about laughing while retorting: "a slap and a kick for being so quick..!"  It's the little things that make your day, isn't it? The hallowed family traditions that give life meaning (ha). One of these days I'll beat him to it!
• a developmental milestone on the road to puberty. The "Embarrassed of Your Parents" milestone. That moment when your almost-12-year-old son asks to be dropped around the corner from the bus stop  because he doesn't want to be embarrassed. "Why because I'm dropping you off in my jammies?" I ask, pretending to be wounded. "You're embarrassed to have people see me? Well you can take your embarrassment and walk it to the bus stop next time!" Ha ha. He laughs. He knows I'm not really offended. And he exits the car (around the corner as requested) calling out, "Bye mum, I love you, have a great day...!" *SIGH*
• a too-big-jeans backhanded compliment. I'm getting dressed and Miss fab is lurking nearby. She asks, "Mum are those meant to be skinny jeans?" They are. My size 14s, the ones I had to buy when the size 16s became too big. "Well I think you need new ones cos those ones are too baggy. They look too big and they're wrinkling under your bum. You need some smaller ones..." Made me smile, really nice and big and wide. I need smaller jeans. *WOOP*

I popped two slices of bread in the toaster this morning, and within seconds my nose was wrinkling with a curious smell. A faint sizzling sound was coming from the toaster, now there's a whiff of smoke, the smell is getting worse... WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?

I look into the toaster and nearly gag. THERE IS A SLUG INSIDE MY TOASTER, sizzling against the element, stinking up my kitchen as it cooks.

A bloody SLUG.

There's no way I can get it out, no way I even want to look inside the toaster, let alone scrape slug guts from its walls... the gag reflex is strong.

I unplug the toaster - my good and faithful wedding-present toaster - and walk it sadly outside to the bin. It's long years of service are over. Rest in Peace, dear friend (not you, you creepy slug! Ugh! Gag!)

After 14 years of faithful toasting, our old Breville toaster is laid to rest and a shiny new four-slice toaster now sits in its box on my bench. Thing is, how do I prevent another bloody slug from crawling into this one?

The courier dropped off a new box of Nespresso capsules... I have coffee again!

Also on the upside I enjoyed coffee today with my dear friend Sammy after WAY TOO LONG. She's the best, and I plan to make her a fancy brunch soooooon.

Another bonus, while having coffee together we did a spot of shopping and I found another tin sign for my collection...

I have to admit to feeling a little bit invisible lately. A bit Lonely and forgotten.    I've been having a bit of a Pity Party and wishing with all my heart for The Village. 

Did you stumble across this post that was doing the rounds of Facebook? It made me get all yearny.

I shared it on my profile and had this conversation with a couple of members of the Village in my heart...

I can have a pity party and feel sorry for myself cos my phone hardly ever rings and I sometimes feel like I'm always doing the inviting... or I can put on my Big Girl Pants and realise that the Village is what you make it. (On the upside, once I'd gotten to grips with this, I've begun to find opportunities to connect with others; the Pity Party is over). 

My girlie's 10th birthday was on Monday; there was nothing exciting left in the cupboards, and since it's against The Rules to have a boring lunch on your birthday I whizzed up to the dairy after work, picked up some treats and dropped back into school to surprise her. 

What do I see? My birthday girl, sitting ALONE, head down, reading. Where are her friends? Why is she alone? (It's her birthday, being left alone is against The Rules). 

She sees me, bursts into tears and throws herself into my arms. "I'm having the worst day ever, mum. THE WORST."

Well, that is completely against The Rules! The Birthday Rules state clearly that having a bad day on your birthday is SIMPLY NOT ALLOWED. 

So I sign her out out school and we head to Little and Friday. Her birthday improves from there. MUCH.

[This is actually Bluebells Cakery, from a different day, but you get the idea]

That's been a few ups and downs from my week. So much more I could say, more ups, more downs, but this post is long enough. And the main thing as I've taken the time to write it all down here, I've realised that the ups outweigh the downs. And where there were downs, we turned them into ups. Or at least bought a new toaster.

Have a great weekend!

(What have your ups and downs been this week?)