I foolishly believed ....

.... that finalising the windup of Mr Brown's Mum's estate, the distributing of the moolah, would end the drama with Sinister & Dexter.
It's rather sweet, how naive I am, isn't it? Almost cute really.

Dear Siniser & Dexter ...

... tonight was the last straw. The camel's back is broken, I've taken it outside and put it out of its misery.
Here are the new telephone rules, please commit them to memory.
1. You don't call Mr Brown at work. When he's at work, he's working, he hasn't the time to deal with your shit.
2. You don't call our home, land line or mobile, between 7:00 & 8:30. That is our down time & dinner time. Mr Brown will no longer be getting up from a meal to answer a phone to deal with your shit.
3. No phone calls, land line or mobile, after 10:30. Unless it is an emergency, someone is dying AND Mr Brown can actually DO something about it, don't call with your shit.
Mr Brown is not a professional negotiator, or mediator. You are adults, if you have a disagreement, deal with it between yourselves.

Am I being too harsh?

So ...

... thanks for all the kind words and virtual hugs, Mr Brown basks in international, as well as local, love.
The funeral is Friday. The sisters argue, constantly, they call Mr Brown to referee, constantly. It's exhausting just witnessing it.
We are driving back to Canberra tomorrow afternoon to, I don't know, do ... stuff.
I've booked accommodation but can't remember if there will be intertubes. This may be it until the weekend.

Sinister & Dexter ...

... only Mr Brown's twin sisters are nowhere nearly as cute!

Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

From next door I can hear ...

... an electric drill going brrrrrrrrrr - followed by a small boy-child shouting AAAAAOOOOWWWWWWW at the top of his voice.
Yes, it sounds like the woman next door is drilling her boys' (the twins, sinister & dexter) feet to the floor.

Set for summer ...

... in 2 week I'll be on leave, 3 weeks leave. I don't normally do the holiday thing while the school holidays are on but we were "encouraged" to by work and I thought what the hell. It's not as if I intend to go into town or one of the big cinema complexes, so it's unlikely I'll have to suffer the company of revolting teen types anyway.Nope, I'm going to be at home, reading, perhaps undertaking a little project (won't say what, that way it doesn't matter if I don't), cooking, and pottering about (probably in my PJs). Bliss.
Mr Brown & I will travel to visit family for a few days, 24th my parents, 25th him mum (& the twin sisters, Sinister & Dexter). We will be staying at the Hyatt on the 25th, it's booked, as is the cat man who will feed the girls, water the plants, bring in the papers, etc.
I'm quite impressed with my planning and booking, now all I have to do is survive the next 2 weeks and then ... sigh.
Oh, I've just finished reading Jewels - A Secret History, by Victoria Finlay (she also wrote Colour, Travels through the Paintbox). Excellent little book, entertaining and educational. Who'd have thought such pretty things were the cause of so much unhappiness and suffering? (Actually, I guess I did know, but the extent was an eye opener.)

Sinister and Dexter ...

... Twin boys live next door, they are about 3. We call them Sinister and Dexter for obvious reasons - one is good & the other is evil. At this moment I am sitting in our end room, the "office" listening to Sinister SCREAM. He does this a lot. It's not just an "I'm upset and need a cuddle crying", this is full on"I've been thwarted and I'm going to scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream and scream".
It's that really raw, violent, angry, rage-full scream you don't actually hear that often (unless you live in our house, or their house), and it goes on for HOURS (I'm not kidding, literally hours).
When they first moved in I thought perhaps were were aurally witnessing some form of child abuse but no, it's Sinister not getting his way. You can track his progress up and down the house, you can hear his screams fade to nothing when she drives them somewhere. It's incredible the energy he puts into it. I think he only stops when he faints with fatigue. His mother calls him "the devil". How she has kept herself from killing the monster is beyond me, I'd cheerfully strangle the little bastard. The other one, Dexter, is a sweet kid - it just goes to show, it's not just a plot device, there really is always one good & one evil twin!
(Yes, I do also call my twin sisters-in-law Sinister & Dexter, again for obvious reasons and yes, screaming is sometimes involved).

What shall I post about on the last day of the calendar year? ...

... books! This xmas was a bit of a bummer on the book-haul front. I depend on the generosity of others for my summer reading. I put out an annual book wish-list and everything. And for the first time ever, this year, I got one! Just one book!! (thanks to the sister-in-law Dexter). Which, of course, I'd read by Thursday (jolly good read with a MOST satisfactory all-loose-ends-tied-up ending).
So I had to take things in hand - and off I went to Kinokuniya (where I have a 10% discount card) and I bought most of the rest on the list.
This one for dipping into while crap (aka sport) is on TV.This one for a little light giggling.This one weights more than my pathetically-inadequate kitchen scales (hint hint Mr Brown) can handle. I may have to do some wrist-strengthening exercises before I embark this reading odyssey.This one wasn't on the list but it filled in for one I couldn't find (and I read it yesterday, lovely).And this one I have to keep hidden from Mr Brown who wants to read it.I will share, I'm a generous mouse, but I think it's only fair I get to read it first, I rather like virgin books.

So, we're home ...

... after our little adventure in freezing (actual real-life freezing - bright & sunny but with a wind straight off the Snowy Mountains that cut through to the marrow of your inner-most bones) Canberra.
We had STEAK at the Canberra Club for Mr Brown's Mum's birthday dinner - (the Canberra Club, Canberra's first licensed club which only let women be members in the last 20 or so years - I can remember there being a fuss about that when growing up). Mr Brown & his sisters, Sinister & Dexter, used to lunch there once a month (on Sundays) with their Mum & Dad (whom all suspect voted against letting those pesky women become members) - quite the family tradition.
I didn't manage to get a bath in, bugger it. There's no tub at the Brown-Mouse House, visits home & hotels are the only way I get my watery fixes now - that puddle at the bottome of the garden is looking quite tempting. I did get to take lots of nice photies of the ancestral home. (that orange house is not it. That's one across the road, but it's our front garden).

That's it below.

I'll have to go back when Spring makes it way back home, it looks lovely in the Spring. AND I've brought back my doll house & a wad of old school reports (boy, will I blog about THOSE later) and pictures drawn by bebe mouse!
And on the way home(ish) we stopped at the Bison shop where I bought a rather lovely acid yellow stoneware vase. In which I've displayed the last of the flars from the garden.

Oh, and it's STILL RAINING.

A long drive just for lunch

Mr Brown & I drove to Canberra & back on Sunday, for lunch, with his mum & the good twin sister, Dexter. That's over two hours driving there and then the same back again - don't anybody tell me I'm not a good wife!
We stopped at one of my favourite garden nurseries on the way home - I always do that when we go to Canberra, go to one or two of the nurseries. I've searched high and low, driven over the bridge and into the mountains and have yet to find a really good nursery, the kind that makes you want to come back weekend after weekend! Canberra, on the other hand, has heaps, dozens and I miss them terribly.
I bought myself a Buddha head, finished in my favourite pottery glaze, crystal or something, a better example of the glaze is my blue plate.Anyhoo, Buddha is sitting outside right now, in the rain. Oh, yes, it rained all night last night and goes on as I type. I'd like to do some washing but I'd rather it rained.

New cat furniture ...

For Ping, to keep her entertained while we are not at home.
Mr Brown drove down to Canberra yesterday to lunch with his twin sisters, Sinister & Dexter, for their birthday, and his Mum (I was MUCH too sick to attend said festivities). On the way he popped in to see my Mum who had scooped up a bargain cat gym thingy when a pet shop closed down. When he got home last night he built it right away - Ping, naturally, played with the box it came in first,
and then the thing itself.I think she likes it Mumkins! purry ta! (more Ping & her new toy at Flickr, and some rather nice toad lily photies too)

Oh, Pruned is at it again. I think, when we finally get around to putting stained glass in the front door, I want it to look like this. I wonder if that will be possible?

Picture thanks to ...

And because america is a day behind, I didn't get to see this until today.

Picture thanks to ...