ya think?

today's little rant...

I'm hormonal. Whatcha gonna do...

First off - seems like I hit a chord with my clothing post! I have one thing to add today - cute tops at Best & Less. Pity they didn't have my size... but definitley cute! Will be hunting those down I tell you!

So, to the rant. Taxis. Yep, damn taxis. Brisbane has to have the WORST taxi service ever, or maybe its just the suburb I live in, they can't be bothered to come here. Or maybe my bookings just get lost in a big ole dark hole. Or MAYBE (and more likely) they have my named marked with 'crazy woman' and they just avoid me at all costs. Anyhoo, I can't tell you how many times I have been let down by the taxi service in this town. I have now lost count. There was the (first) time I missed a Drs appointment cause they never turned up (I waited an hour). The time that I sprained my ankles in the dark cause we had been waiting over an hour for the damn thing to arrive and the kids were going nuts. The multiple times that I have been late to pick up kids, meet people, or just get on with my day because they simply didn't turn up. And it sucks, cause I have to rely on them because I don't drive. And when the bus service doesn't suit my needs, then the taxi is my lifeline.

So, to today's story... remember a few weeks back I saw the nightmare Dr? Well, I decided to go to see the Dr that I knew would be good, but was damn hard to get into and is a couple hours away on the bus (cause of the weird route you have to take via the city). BUT I was determined to get a good Dr, and so I booked an appointment. Now, she is really hard to get into. REALLY HARD, so the appointment was really early in the morning. Not easy to get all kids ready, two to daycare and then get there by 8.40am, so taxi it was.

I preplanned. I KNEW that first thing in the morning I could end up waiting for a cab for ages and I would run the risk of being late. So I BOOKED!!! Yep, last night around 5pm I booked a cab for today. But did it work??? NO!!! The timeline went a little like this...

5pm Thursday - book taxi to arrive at 7.50am Friday morning, knowing I would be early, but allowing for the taxi to be a little late.
7.55am - call to confirm that taxi was dispatched and on its way - assurred that all was fine and would be there shortly.
8.10am - call to find out that first taxi lost (geez, buy a freaking directory!!!!) and another taxi is on its way.
8.28am - call to be told that I have been collected by the taxi. OH REALLY!?!?!?! Hmmm, and that would be why I am waiting by the side of the road, rather than at the Drs surgery like I should be by now.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously. What IS IT about me that brings such evil bad luck vibes when it comes to cabs??? If this were the first time I would find it mildly amusing. But this has happened so many times it is ridiculous. And again, you become a very small voice when you call to complain and are told time and again that they are sorry. Does it fix the problem? Nope, they don't care. They lose your business? They have another few thousand passengers lined up to take that cab anyway.

So my day started EVER so beautifully, with many swear words and the promise of a coke first chance I could get. And did I see the Dr? Nope. Can't get another appointment until I get back from France. Humph. Will try again. See if I have any more luck THAT time. Lucky its not life threatening...

K

i want cute stuff too!!!!

Hmph. Went shopping for new clothes today. Two years ago that would have been my dream. As a svelt size 12, going out with a large wad of cash and the plan of creating a mulitude of outfits, with shoes and jewellery included. But instead, I came home almost empty handed and so terribly depressed.

Why is it that they only make cute clothes for skinny chicks? Why is it that fat chicks have to pick their way through rack after rack of ill-fitting, boring, and downright ugly clothes? Yep, you heard right. For those who haven't seen me in a while, I'm a fat chick again. Yep, all that hard work, hours at the gym, starving myself for weeks on end, has all gone to the dogs for a few (million) bars of self gratifying chocolate.

So here I am, a skinny chick in a fat chick's body, deperately wanting to wear SOMETHING that could be half consired cute, to go with the hair and the attitude. And what do I find? Rack after rack of sweet little tops in fresh colours, stunning fabrics, with gorgeous trims and even cuter pants to match. Long flowing dresses in beautiful spring colours, great funky tops with trims to die for. And ALL OF THEM in ridiculously small sizes. So then I go to the fat chicks' area and what do I find? Boring, boring, vomit, and a little more boring.

Let me describe just a few of the things I found today. There was the oversized, frumpy green top that came down almost to my knees and was more see-through than you can believe. Hmmm... that would look nice over bulges, NOT! There was the white muslin top that had those wonderful buttons closures that lets you peek into the person's top to see flesh - mmm, nice over bulges, NOT! Then of course there was rack after rack, after rack of tops in black, or some hideous colour that NO-ONE in their right mind would EVER wear unless they were five. Not only in such divine colours, but ALL in that ever so lovely t-shirt material that seems to cling to everything that moves. You know that stuff? Supposedly light and airy, but really a fat chicks nightmare. Ohhhh, don't let me forget the jeans!!! Do the designers not realise that skinny jeans are for SKINNY PEOPLE????? Why on earth would you make a pair of tight legged jeans in a size 24? I mean, really.

Can it be that hard to make large sized clothing that isn't boring, ugly or ill-fitting? Are the designers so lazy that they can't go that extra mile and create a line that makes a woman feel good about herself? Why don't we deserve the cute trims and stunning fabrics? Is it because they have to use more fabric, so they use the cheapest stuff they can find? Or are they simply telling us that if we just lost the weight, we could wear the cute clothes too? I hate to tell you, that psychology doesn't work, it is just depressing and makes you eat even MORE chocolate!

If we are a nation of overweight people (and I'm not advocating that, really I'm not, I know I should lose the weight and KEEP IT OFF!), but if we ARE this nation, why can't I go and buy SOMETHING that I feel good to wear and that will prompt someone else to say - hey, I love that top! Surely that is what womens' fashion is all about, making us feel good about ourselves and giving us the self confidence to do what ever we want to do with our lives.

I will confess that I didn't come home empty handed though. I did find SOME cute stuff. OK, so they were shoes, three pairs to be exact. But they were cute! And no designer can discriminate with foot size!

If you are a designer out there and just happen to stumble across this post for some bizarre reason, please take note. Fat chicks like to wear cute clothes too...

K

what do you see?

What do you see when you look at this photo?

I realised today that my perspective was all screwed up. You see, I saw fear, flight, running away, escape. Another woman with me saw strength, endurance and power.

This got me thinking. What has happened to my positivity? What happened to my ability to see the good side of things? When was it that I forgot to be happy and saw sadness and despair in everything?

I have a big challenge ahead of me. To change my perspective. To have a major attitude adjustment. To appreciate the little things, smile a little more and look for my good place.

And if you saw the same things that I did in that photo, then know that you are not alone. Maybe take the next step towards positivity, like I am trying so desperately to do.

K

laughing out loud...

If you are a nightowl like me, then you have probably seen more than one episode of The Late Show over time. My favourite segment of the the show is Great Moments in Presidential Speeches - hilarious stuff. I could actually sit and watch an hour long DVD of all of these put together and still be rolling on the floor laughing at the end. Seriously, could that man SAY anything more stupid??

OK, so why this post? Well tonight was the best one of all. Not only did we see Bush saying something totally stupid, he was with our good ole PM, the Right Honourable Git John Howard. And JH sounded JUST as stupid as Bush, if not more so. Could it GET any better?!?!?!?!

Man I love that show...

K

mess...

Was reading my new favourite blog today it and got me thinking about embarrassing messes. You know, the ones where you kid yourself into thinking that as long as no one drops over, you will simply clean it up on the weekend, and if they DO drop over, you will just casually talk to them at the door until they go away. You know that mess, the one where even if you did actually invite them IN the door, they could see the drifts of stuff the second they hit the entryway. Not to mention the unwashed dnner dishes from the night before, the unswept floor with sultanas squashed from who knows when, the crusty weetbix in dried milk puddles on the coffee table, the unfolded mass of washing on the lounge and the mile high pile of crafting items all over the dining table (OK, lets not kid ourselves here, it is no longer the dining table, no dining happening here!) - all of course in a lovely open plan living area where you can't even shut a door to the offending area/s.

OK, so now that we have that picture painted, I can tell you about my most embarrassing mess. Imagine ALL of the above, as if it were YOUR house, now add a few kids on holidays, subtract one parent, double the amount of mess, and you have me on a Friday when Mik has been away for about 5 weeks. Of course, it wasn't any ordinary Friday. It was the day that I was out ALL day, hadn't done ANY of my chores for the day, including forgetting to empty the kitty litter (six cats... noice!!!), and then right at the end of the day, I sprained BOTH of my ankles. Remember that? Yep, for those of you who haven't read back that far in my archives, I sprained BOTH of my ankles at the same time. GREAT!!!!

So, I have to call a friend to come and pick me up with the kids and get me home (bless her dear soul!). So in she comes to the house of total caos. I couldn't even walk in a straight line through the house to the lounge to sit down, had to do the slalom around the toys, the clothes and the rest of the rubble! And all I could do was apologise at the mess, the smell, and all the rest. Argh!!!!! And what could I do about it??? NOTHING!!!!! I couldn't walk!!! Could I tidy it up the next day when she came over to help cook dinner and put the kids to bed? NOPE!! All still in the same places except for the path I had forged to get the computer chair through (my homemade wheelchair). Ohhhh.... I don't know what is worse, someone seeing THAT mess, or having your feet in stirrups with a cast of nursing staff watching for a baby to arrive!

My poor kids were the ones who had to clean that mess up, directed by me, with a rather large plastic box that we simply put to one side until I could be bothered to sort it out again. So, the lesson learned? NEVER let your house get into such a state that you feel like you are going to die of embarrassment even though it IS an emergency situation. ESPECIALLY when you are on your own and you have to rely on others in said emergency.

If you haven't yet checked out Dawn's blog, its a fun read! I suspect that it will be prompting me to write more about the daily going ons of the Quall household in future. Sorry 'bout that...

new piece...

To be honest I haven't been doing a lot of sewing and art recently. Taking it easy. But a couple of weeks ago I couldn't get this out of my head and needed to do it - what else is there to do on a Friday night when there is nothing other than footy on the TV?

Mik asked me what the black and white squares represented. To be honest - the cats tail. Yep, was looking at one of my cats tails, the black and grey stripes, and new I wanted to do something stripey/blocky. Love what people are doing with the black and white squares at the moment, so there you go, I ended up with this...

This is up for sale on Etsy.

Hope you are all having a lovely Monday!

K