She had a Q. Look

1. YAY FOR CASSIE AND ANT!

My second lot of friends this week announced engagements. Must be a romantic time of year! I think we all saw this one coming for a while :) Nice to see happy people.

2. A Plum Idea

I helped my dad build a plum-catching net. Time will tell what its tragic flaws are.... Judges are not good at building things. We are good at eating. And doing Sudoku. And entertaining babies. But building, not so much. We cleverly used existing structures (the house and swing-set) to mount our netting, using hooks and lycra-string. Eat your heart out, MacGyver!

Lynne just walked past and said it had caught TWO PLUMS. Success! There will be much jam-making this year.

3. Wanna see my engagement ring?

I partook in the traditional female reaction of saying, 'Ooooh, let me see the ring!' to my friend Lulu. I'd already seen the ring hung on a necklace around her neck waiting to be resized by the jeweler. I'm not sure why I felt the need to exclaim and examine it on her finger. I don't really like rings. It must be a genetically inbuilt response.

I looked for a few seconds and then said, 'Oh - lovely!'

By the way, if any of you are thinking 'I'd like to propose to Kate, but can't afford to buy a ring good enough for her!' stop your worrying. My Grandma has a family one and she assures me it's mine as soon as I need it or when she dies (whichever comes first). I said, 'Thanks, Grandma! That's a selling point for me!'

Kate, 29, tall, dark hair, professional. Has own engagement ring.

4. Now this is summer as it should be....

I watched some cricket. Go that young Ross boy! He did good against the chucker. I don't like cricket.

Oh no. I love it.

5. The Family Media Empire Extends

I forced my dad into making a blog site. Ok - so I made it for him and did the first (and likely only) entry. It has selected shots of our family christmases. He said, 'So when do I start getting quoted by The Listener for my political views?' and I said, 'Patience - just start getting a fan-base and it'll happen......'

6. Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (except only for 20 minutes at a time, because her back hurts too much after that and she has to move around some)

Bugger living with chronic pain. Poor Lynne. And when they get you an 'urgent' appointment with the orthopaedic surgeon and it ends up being for March 14th..... that sucks! I understand that chronic pain isn't life-threatening but it's torturous. It filters your life in an awful kind of way.

7. Two Bodies - One Brain

It was amusing to discover that while in Levin Ange and I had both gone to Farmers. We had both gone there because we'd run out of clean underwear. We both figured it was easier to buy some than do washing. We both picked exactly the same two-pack of undies, out of an entire section full of them. Even the same colour. And we did this totally independently of each other.

Males I have explained this to do not understand. Females do. Buy new undies, and you can throw some of the old ones out..... And contrary to popular male myth, you don't have to wait until they literally are falling apart until you stop wearing them.....

[Note: undies in photo are unworn, as evidenced by tags!]