a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit

can't lose.

Hubs and I have just finished watching the TV series Friday Night Lights. If you haven't heard of it, look it up. If you haven't watched it, start immediately. It may change your life.

Or, it may not. But it probably will, even just a little bit. I know my existential crisis began while we were watching season 3, but that's another story entirely.

We watched all 5 seasons over the last 4 or 5 months, so as you can see, we really punched through the episodes. We were always ALWAYS left wanting more, which resulted in a few very late nights of "just one more (42 minute) episode!!" Not so good when your 2 year old is bright eyed and bushy tailed at 6:15am the next morning, I can tell you.

The show is full of teenage angst, love of all things Texas, making the tough decisions, Tim Riggins (the quintessential bad boy) and of course, football. Hubs and I knew very little about American Football before we started watching the show, and I can't say we know much more about it now, but damn we loved love the show.

One of the best things about the show is that it keeps you guessing. It's like, you're about 80% sure about what is going to happen, but every now and then they throw a curve ball (so to speak!) (oh wait, that's baseball...) just to keep it interesting, and unpredictable.

When Hubs was trying to get me to watch the show, it was very reminiscent of when he was trying to sell Firefly to me...

Wifey: "What kind of show is it?"
Hubs: "Ummmmm... a sci-fi western."
Wifey: "No way!!"
The verdict on Firefly? One of the best shows EVER.

And for Friday Night Lights...

Wifey: "This show is about American Football?? No WAY!"
Hubs: "It's supposed to be really good. Let's just watch 1 episode."
Wifey: "Fiiiiine."

If I remember correctly, it was a Friday night around 9pm. We ended up watching 2 or 3 episodes straight up. We were immediately hooked. I gotta trust Hubs when it comes to choosing new shows.

I can't seem to bring myself to end this blog post, just as I can't believe we have finished watching FNL. I know I'm making a bit deal about it, but it has been such a big part of our lives these last few months, and even though we feel that we have closure, it's hard to move on, you know?

Go watch it, and you too will be chanting
Clear eyes! Full hearts! Can't lose!

Posted by Renae at 9:48 PM Comments

It's funny how you say things to your kids, and you don't realise how you sound. Chanbe calls Quinn "baby Quinn" and I say "hello baby Quinn" in a fast, husky voice quite a lot. And Chanbe has started mimicking this. Except when he says it, it sounds more like "hello bacon."

Quinn's new nickname between Hubs and me? Bacon. I don't think it will last long. Poor kid will get a complex!

Posted by Renae at 8:55 PM Comments

I've been pretty slack with my fruit and vege intake lately, and I've been reading a lot about these "green smoothies" the world is into at the moment. So I thought I'd give it a go. I chose a fairly inoffensive-sounding one to start with; spinach, apple, honey, cinnamon and almond milk.

Oooooh. It wasn't great. It was quite bland, but at the same time, very sickly sweet. I really had to force myself to finish it, and it gurgled away in my tummy for the rest of the afternoon.

I think I'll just stick to my salads and stir frys for my vege intake, and make sure I eat fruit when I give it to Chanbe twice a day. Though, in the interest of not judging too quickly, I may try another combination, so if you have a favourite, send it my way!! Please!?

Posted by Renae at 8:51 PM Comments

I can't believe I haven't blogged about this yet. It's one of those things that happened and it is so exciting that I just assume everyone has heard about it (even thought I don't have facebook, twitter, instagram etc.)

Get on with it Wifey!!

Hubs' PhD thesis has been accepted. So apart from printing and binding the final copy, it's done. No corrections needed. I cannot tell you how excited I was for Hubs (and us!) when he told me. I was still in Brisbane and he was back in Townsville when he called with the news. It's one of those moments that I desperately wanted (needed) to be with him so I could hug him and look him in the eye and tell him how proud I am of him. But alas, that had to wait.

We still haven't properly celebrated, as he has been working long hours since I returned home, but there is a bottle of bubbly in the fridge earmarked for such an auspicious occasion, and I for one can't wait to crack it.

As Hubs' Mum pointed out to me, a PhD is an achievement in itself (she should know!) but the fact that he quite literally wrote the majority of his thesis whilst he was studying medicine, as well as getting married, moving twice, having a baby, moving 3 more times, having another baby, and starting his intern year, is simply outstanding and a credit to this man I am lucky enough to have by my side.

I don't think it has sunk in as yet. Perhaps when he attends his graduation next year (I insisted) it might hit home. But more likely, when we go on holidays, or spend a day together as a family, he won't be thinking "I really should be working on my PhD." That's when he will realise he is free to enjoy his down time wholeheartedly.

I love you, Hubs, and we are all so damn proud of you.

Posted by Renae at 8:45 PM Comments

I'm currently booking flights for another visit to Brisbane next month. I regret not signing Chanbe up to the same flights reward program as me as soon as he took his first flight. He's been on over 20 flights in almost 3 years. I also regret not always booking with the same airline, to build up more points.

These are small, somewhat insignificant things, but for some reason they, and a few other things, are weighing heavily on me. Maybe I'm trying to focus on small, meaningless things so I don't have to concentrate on the big things in life at the moment. Like moving house. Again. I said I wouldn't do it again. Who was I kidding? But it can't be as bad as the last move, right? I mean, I'm not over 30 weeks pregnant. And we have a plan in the pipeline to make things easier for us. So it won't be as bad. I'm sure of it.

Getting over it. I've just signed the kids up to the flights rewards program. Better late than never, right? I guess that's one way to deal with regret. Do what you can do, learn from it and move on.


Update: I just realised, a week after writing this post, that it wouldn't have mattered if I'd signed Chanbe up from the start. I never had to pay for his flights while he was under 2 years old, so none of those early flights (around 20!) would have earned him any points anyway. So there you go. I'm over it :-)

Posted by Renae at 8:25 PM Comments

There's no place like home. We have had such an amazing time in Brisbane; staying with Gran and Grumpy, catching up with family and friends, and spending amazing quality time with people. But it's time to go home. I miss Hubs (he went home 11 days ago to get back to work) and I miss our little routine we had going on up in Townsville. I need to feel settled again.

But things won't stay settled for long. Hubs' final rotation is in Ingham (chicken, love'm) so we will be packing up in the next 2 months, putting our belongings in storage, and moving in to a 2 bedroom unit for the 10 week rotation. And after that? Well, the jury is still out, but we will hopefully find out in the next month or so. 

This has probably been one of the best Brisbane visits I've had in years. I really wanted to have one-on-one time with people, as I find when we have lots of people over at once, it's just too hard to have an in-depth conversation, and I leave feeling exhausted, but not really knowing what anyone is up to. Not this time. I can leave tomorrow, feeling closer to my family and friends than I've felt in years.

A few more highlights:

Posted by Renae at 5:30 PM Comments

In the lead up to my first 5km run, I also signed up for the Bridge to Brisbane and recruited another one of my wonderfully supportive friends to run it with me. Unfortunately, my pulled hip muscle prevented me from running this event, so we walked it instead. And since we weren't running, we decided to have a nice relaxing brekky at Restaurant Manx at Portside beforehand. The eggs Benedict I had was so delicious, and the coffee (2 coffees, actually) were Melbourne-standard delicious! A great yummy start to a fantastic walk filled with some always-needed girl time with my friend. It also meant we could chat the whole time instead of me huffing and puffing my way through. I've lost a bit of fitness in my recovery, but I know how quickly I can get that back once I start jogging again, so I'm confident I can get back into it once my hip feels better.

Being so far from my close girlfriends is sometimes really hard, and this year I really have had some great quality time with quite a few of them, which always recharges my soul.

Posted by Renae at 6:28 PM Comments

There's something about Grug that brings the crankies out in Quinn. It's pretty hilarious, and rather loud!!

Posted by Renae at 12:18 PM Comments