While driving around with Luke we came to a T-Section and there before us was quite a lovely house.  The following conversation took place:

Luke: Will you look at that!

Me: Yeah it’s not bad, it’s got a little courtyard for Lil.

Luke: Not that, lower your sights sweetheart.

Sure enough there in the front yard was a caravan,  which goes to show… you can take the boy out of the caravan but you can’t take the caravan out of the boy!

Our Christmas tree is up and my youngest has done the decorating but I can assure you it wasn’t without drama.  We strung the fairy lights and plugged them it only to discover that half the bulbs were not lighting up.  Wasn’t it enough that they were in one giant tangled ball that took ages to unravel? Now I had to take them off the tree and check every bulb… all 250! I delegated the task to my kids, showing them how to test the bulbs and how to replace them but there was confusion so I had to recheck them anyway. After missing most of my T.V. show the lights were fixed and back on the tree, the kids were happy so I guess it turned out fine in the end.  However, next year I’m going to hide the fairy lights and it’s going to be tinsel and hanging decorations only!

I have mentioned before that I may very well be a comfort eater but now I know for sure… I am! Currently Luke and I are in a stressful situation and last Saturday while at the shops we took a detour down the sweets isle, that was a mistake.  We bought a jumbo bag of jelly babies, a bag of choc honeycomb, a bag of dark chocolate licorice bullets, a bag of soft licorice pieces a bag of chico babies and I had to tell Luke to put the packet of Tim Tams back. The kids seemed happy with our spontaneous purchase and I was thankful God gave me a great metabolism… it was time to find comfort in the joy of sweets!

Saturday night is family night in our home and we usually watch four episodes of the old black and white “Robin Hood” from the 1950’s.  This past Saturday however we only watched two episodes and spent the rest of the night entertaining ourselves in front of Luke’s Mac taking silly family photos. The above two minute movie is the result of another great night in with The Houghton Family.

trailer trash tea

While shopping last week I picked up some herbal tea for Luke and right next to it was trailer trash tea… Twinings Russian Caravan!  I like to have a bit of fun with Luke regarding his childhood caravan days so I seized the opportunity and bought some of that tea as well. While unpacking the shopping I informed Luke (with a smirk on my face) that there was a new tea made especially for him and …ta da… my punchline was delivered.  It was met with the usual grunts and groans and rolled eyes but I thought it was a classic! After tasting the tea he informed me that it was actually really good, in his own words “it’s like a kick to the balls” which I assume is trailer trash talk for ‘invigorating’.

This year  instead of going to the Riverfire fireworks we were planning on going to my mother-in-laws place for a dinner party, but once we found out it was to be the last year the F-111 were doing a dump and burn we blew off the dinner party and headed to Southbank.  It was fantastic, we got a great spot and the kids had a blast… 30 minutes of fireworks seems to go by in just a few minutes when you are right there in the heat of the action. The Airforce planes were spectacular and SO loud but simply breathtaking amongst the backdrop of colour from the fireworks.  In my photo above you can see the F-111’s fuel burn as the giant ball of fire and sad to say the very last for Brisbane’s Riverfire festival… I’m so glad we got to farewell it.

It’s good to have a partner who you can be honest with instead of having to lie or tip toe around things.  For example that famous question: “Does my bum look big?”  would be met in this household as a “Sure does, as big as a whales arse”,  IF that was the case of course.  Just the other day Luke came home with the crappiest haircut I have ever seen and he didn’t even have to ask what I thought, I jumped in as soon as that door opened… “wow, what a CRAP haircut!!!” and I strongly suggested that his mother (a former hairdresser) should try to fix it.  He didn’t get offended though because it was the truth and he knew it.  It goes both ways though because not so long ago Luke said to me “It’s when your mouth opens that problems begin”… ahhh… got to love honesty!

Last weekend we treated the kids to a ‘Hungry Jacks Stunner Meal’ and with my thrifty nature I discovered how to make a good deal great.  At $4.95 each the kids got a cheeseburger, chips, drink and sundae… that’s a good deal.  However since the store had free drink refills I filled the cups up with raspberry fanta and took them home to make ice blocks… now that’s a great deal!

The other morning as Luke was heading off to work he went to get the car key…oh no… the keys were not on the key rack.  We looked around the house on the tables, bookshelves, computer desk, kitchen benches but no keys could be found.  Perhaps they were in the car, we sure hoped the car was still in the driveway.  As Luke opened the front door to check on the car… jingle jingle… the keys were in the front door.  They were dangling there all night!

I think it’s so cute to see elderly couples walking hand in hand, it’s great to see that love can continue on through decades of marriage. Of course on the flip side there are elderly couples like my neighbours, they demonstrate why divorce can be a good thing! Just this morning  I was hanging out my clothes and I heard yelling:

Wife: If you keep going this way…

Husband: Oh you old drunk!

Wife: (something mumbled)

husband: That’s it, you’re on the curb!

Ah… the bliss of decades of marriage and built up hate… I’m just waiting for the day the knives come out to play!