OrganiSed Chaos

Not exactly sure who looks the happiest here, Poppy or Zoe.
It’s hard to tell I think.
There is nothing quite like the bond between grandfather and granddaughter is there?
I must give credit to Kelly for the pic, which was taken at Christmas.
There were many more she took, but this is my favourite, if for nothing other than the happiness that is evident in both of them.

Wanted to welcome the two of you home.
I’m hoping that Christmas was fabulous for the both of you and all the family.
We so enjoyed the Skype call on Christmas Eve!
Crazy though, huh? 

Miss you both and praying you make it home safe.
*Moe, your plugins are up to date as is the new 2.9 version of Wordpress.
Didn’t want you working too hard when you came home.
btw- check your plugins. I uploaded a little surprise for you.
If I had admin on Oz, I would have done the same.
Malarky Monday can wait until next week!
Welcome home, folks, welcome home . . .
Later gators

~m

A little song while you’re unpacking

After being in America for 2 weeks, Mark and I both came back carrying a few extra kilos {read more than is good for us}
The food was so damned good, and plentiful, it was bloody hard to say no.
So we just said yes!!!
What can I say??
Anyhow, Mel and Steve started this diet, which is not dissimilar to the Atkins diet, but not as rigid.
As it’s working well for them, I told Mark about the basics and he was more than agreeable, which was quite surprising actually, because he’s never been big on anything I’ve suggested before.
I’ve always struggled to get him to agree on a diet because most of them are based on eating very little and have quite rigid guidelines.
Plus he loves his bread and beer, which has always been a stumbling block.
Trying to get him to give up these things would be like finding rocking horse shit.
Impossible!
I prefer to think of this as a life style change as opposed to a diet anyway.
Diet is one of those 4 lettered words that don’t sit well with me if the truth be known.
You hear the word diet and automatically think of lettuce leaves and carrots I find.
The one I refer to is based on few carbs, little sugar, and lots of protein.
Now, with the influx of low carb, low sugar boutique beers on the market these days, beer has turned out to not be the problem it has in the past.
Taste is not compromised as is generally the way with these things, so we’ve managed to find one that follows the guidelines, and he normally has one with dinner of a night.
He’s happy with that.
We get one day off a week when we can eat or drink anything we want to, however that means nothing but protein the next day.
Meat, bacon, eggs, chicken, fish, whatever, so long as it’s protein.
Limited portions yes, but more than enough to keep us satisfied.
Even if we have a little more than we should, it doesn’t hurt because it’s protein.
A normal day consists of protein portions and snacks, plus unlimited salad and vegies.
Given you need to have 2 protein snacks a day, some days it seems like all you do is eat.
Breakfast was my biggest worry.
I just don’t do the food thing until I’ve been up for at least 2 hours, so that was quite the challenge for me.
Now that I’m used it though, it’s no chore at all, and I quite enjoy it.
The delicatessen people see me coming and draw straws to determine who is going to serve me however.
Whoever gets the short one cops me and my requests.
You see, I have all cold meat portions done at that point to save me having to do them at home!
Given I need, some weeks, 10 servings for lunches, by the time I leave, they’re ready to throw a party!
Tuna, salmon and crab meat have become firm friends, as have steak, fresh fish and chicken.
I’m amazed at the ways vegies can be mixed and matched, and zucchini, capsicum, onion, tomatoes, garlic and chili are things that go so well together, I could eat them every night.
Salads also are unlimited, and we love salad as well, so it’s all good.
We even get to have a piece of bread in the morning, or a piece of fruit, pus our protein of course.
Mark is doing well because he can still have the odd beer, knows he can have bread, plus lots of meat.
Being a butchers son, he was bought up eating lots of meat, so he’s loving it!
In fact his determination has surprised even me, and last week he cleaned out the fridge and freezer of all the “naughty” things because he is so determined.
The results thus far?
Mark approx 8 kgs {18 lbs before you head to the conversion chart}
Me, around 5.5 kgs {12lbs}
Well worth the time and effort let me say.
Hope your weekend is treating you well, and don’t be forgetting Malarky Monday tomorrow.
I have one of Youtubes latest sensations for you, and it’s a blinder!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there has been much happening in our lives, and I can assure you, most of it has been pretty shitful.
I won’t go into details, suffice to say the past 6 weeks have not been a happy time, nor has it been easy.
There have been a few times when it was close to falling apart, but as I said not too long ago, we do what we must.
Yesterday, things changed, with a dismissal.
Today it just got better, because Mark got exactly what he’s worked so hard for in the last year.
That one word {yes} will change many things for us, and for others.
The pride I feel tonight is quite extraordinary.
I wouldn’t even know where to start telling this man how proud I am of him, or how much I love him.
Sweetheart, your ethics, integrity, and the things I know you’re going to do from here on in make me smile broadly, and merely reinforce all the reasons I fell in love with you 14 years ago.
I just know how well you’re going to do this, and I look forward to seeing you bounce out of bed in the morning, ready to tackle the day that awaits with the passion I know you have.
Congratulations sweetie.
You earned this one the hard way.
Now I come to think about, I earned it too!!!
Honey, as proud as I am, know this.
You might be a big wig at work, but here at home you’re still just my husband, so you’d best be leaving the big boy boots at the front door my precious!

I love you more than you will ever know, and I’m so proud I’m almost bursting.
Enjoy.
Lord knows you’ve earned it!

Finally they say!
At long last, she speaks!!
Please know I’ve started, and deleted, 15 posts before this came to being.
I shit you not my friends.
15!
There is so much my mind is trying to process still, and I’m struggling badly to instill some semblance of normality to life since we’ve been home, that I’m all over the place!
Eventually, I thought the beginning would be the best starting point.
I can hear you all now.
Well DUH Maureen!!!
So.
We got to Sydney fine {even though it cost us 160.00 in excess luggage} had dinner with Kelly {best lasagna you could ask for} and spent the night at blondie’s place, where we had a brilliant time, and I might add, a brilliant brekky.
Our long suffering husbands spent most of their time shaking their heads, and her kids will never be the same again, but we had a good time didn’t we honey??

So far so good.
Got to the airport fine {for which I thank the aforementioned blondie enormously} had a coffee, managed to check in, found duty free shopping {yes Tasha, I know how jealous you are my sweet!} traversed customs without any drama, and into the boarding lounge.
Mark did have an interesting experience with a coffee that had a badly fitting lid, and he had a white shirt on, so we should probably gloss over that do you think?
Onto the plane, which was our first pleasant surprise of the trip.
Roomy, comfortable, and wonderfully bright, cheerful on board staff.
Take off was smooth {not without butterflies, given my aversion to flying} and we were away.
After what seemed like hours I asked Mark the time, to be told it was only 30 mins after take off.
Hmmm. Who gets the idea here that it was going to be a looooooooooong flight for yours truly???
Our next surprise was the in flight food.
Talk about gourmet meals.
Damn they were good {yes Tasha, again I know just how jealous you are!}
I’m not normally big on airline food, but this was great.
Managed to get around 5 or 6 hours sleep, so that was a good thing, and I did it without drugs, of which I am enormously proud let me add.
Not one pill and not one drink.
A nicotine patch, yes, but that was it.
Fast forward to 4.30pm Friday July 17th when we touched down in LA.
Quite off putting knowing we arrived 3 1/2 hours before we left I must say.
Bizarre to say the least.
Our next surprise was immigration.
Quick, efficient and friendly. Not one of the horror stories we’d been told came to pass, for which we are eternally grateful btw!
Fingerprints done, retina scan done, passports stamped, and onto the next step, collecting our luggage.
Waiting an hour and a half for our luggage was a bit if a shit, but we were in high spirits, so there wasn’t a lot of bitching.
Well, maybe a little.
Eventually got our hands on all of our luggage, so it was onto customs.
This is the part I was dreading the most.
The horror stories we’d been peppered with before departure had me somewhat antsy, and I had extracted from Mark 1000 promises he would behave.
I can tell you after he saw the way these people are armed, there was little chance of him being anything less than straight faced.
They had more fire power in that airport than I’ve ever seen in one place.
Americans take homeland security very seriously it seems, and I guess with good reason, given history.
So, up we rock to the desk.
Customs, with a smile {indicating the didg} “Strangest looking pillow I’ve ever seen”
Me “Yeah, it’s bloody hard too!!”
Cursory glance at our declaration cards and passports.
Customs “You’re right, welcome to the United States. Enjoy your holiday”
Me {looking like a stunned mullet} “That’s it?”
Customs “Yep! Have a great time!”
Not needing to be told twice we headed off, quite buoyed by the thought we were actually IN America.
LAX isn’t really as bad as people say.
We had no trouble finding our way through to the outside world, where we promptly removed the patches, lit a smoke and made our first phone call.
First one was to Annie.
I got the impression she’d been waiting with bated breathe when she answered with “Is it you????”
After confirming it was indeed me and that we had our feet firmly planted on American soil, I then promptly had my eardrum pierced.
Well, close to it anyway.
The scream that came through the ear piece was rather loud and excited.
It’s fine hon, we have great ear, nose and throat people here in Oz.
I’m sure they can find the hearing in my right ear for me.

Our next call was to ~m’s place, where the phone was answered by Pam.
Her excitement was also evident, but fortunately she didn’t take my eardrum out.
Michael was out working but she promised to let him know we had arrived safely and on time.
Having said that, she had been checking on the net to make sure we landed ok, so the Murphy house was pretty much keeping up with where we were at.
I’ll leave it here for now, but be assured, this was not the end of the beginning.
Stay tuned for posts about the meet and greets where you will find some fascinating stuff, such as Maureen being lifted {literally} off the ground by something other than a plane, many, many tears and some quite unexpected, unsettling events.
All will be revealed in time people.
I promise.

We’re all but done.
The burnmaster has done his bit here.
He was reasonably well behaved, for which I am eternally grateful I can tell you!
**phew**
I’ve added his bit to the rest of it, as I have with all the others on it’s very own page.

Our drama is almost done! MOST exciting!

Now to decide how to finish it off. I’m in 2 minds, but the decison will be made within 24 hours at the most, so wander bck tomorrow night to see whats going to happen.

On another note, I’ve managed to catch up my comments at your blogs {at last..YAY!!} Only a couple of days later than I would have liked, but it’s done all the same.

I hope life is treating you well, and is full of sunhsine and smiles