Welcome to the Melbourne Community Daily Discussion Thread.
WARNING: SELF PITYING DEPRESSIVE RAMBLING
Thankyou to those who’ve asked after me, I truly appreciate it! Life’s been a bit meh for me lately. I’m still trying to exercise but this last couple of weeks I seem to be skipping every second day. After my birthday I got a bit depressed and annoyed with life. Every year, ever birthday reminds me of how I’ve got less and less time left with my kids, and worrying if I’m giving them all the life skills they’ll need. I’m working so hard and trying to be frugal without being stingy and lecturing everyone in the house about wasting things. I’ve been a real killjoy lately. I’m tired a lot of the time, and apart from commenting on the odd post here and there I’ve refrained from posting daily because mood, menopause, money, and disappointment at myself for failing to exercise daily as I intended. I figured everyone’s going through similar stuff (except maybe the menopause!) so what I’m feeling isn’t special so I haven’t talked about it. It’s been hard to find joy in life at times. I also need to seriously declutter the flat, which I’ve attempted a few times over the last couple of weeks but when I get home it all seems to be still there, plus some more. It just seems to be such an effort to be positive in my life and inspiring for my kids. Christmas is coming, I have an unpaid fortnight off over Christmas & New Year (yay casual work), Elder Minipeeler is attending high school for the first time next year and there are expenses with that… I just don’t know how I’m going to manage it all, everything is getting so expensive. I’m really worried and burying myself in work and getting sick of saying “No we can’t do X on the weekend because I’m worried that if I spend $ on that I won’t have money for the other things.” Mr Peeler is focused on trying to get his disability pension and little else. I guess I have to make more of an effort to appreciate the good things, even though the good things in life don’t seem to outweigh the negatives right now. I occasionally just get sick of having to make the effort and having to force myself to be positive; when it doesn’t come naturally and everything gets me down it’s just a pain in the arse, and so am I. Why does it take so much effort? Keep trying woman! 💪 Thankyou for bearing with me, grumpy old grizzly bear that I am.
That’s completely understandable. From what it sounds like you’re the breadwinner (or bringing in a substantial portion of the income) while also having to be in charge of the budget and act as the bad guy in denying non-essentials. Plus doing the lions share of the housework and childcare, and caring for your husband.
With what time and energy are you supposed to exercise daily into a bikini body? You’re carrying your entire family on your back.
Whenever you feel guilt or think you’re being grumpy Google ‘the mental load’ and ‘the second shift’
Edit: also ‘the triple burden’. Though it’s more even than that
Thankyou for this… I read your insightful reply earlier this morning and got stuck into the preview of ‘the second shift’ before I got up. It is a hugely relatable text! Also ‘the mental load,’ so many “OMG yessss!” moments.
Not much I can say to make you feel better but I will say, from what you’ve written in the past, you are raising some incredible mini peelers.
Thankyou 🤗 They do me proud and keep me picking myself back up and trying.
so many hugs
Thankyou 🤗
Just got back from the IGA…
7 dollars for a 10g pack of kaffir lime leaves.
Suffice it to say the green thai curry tonight will be a bit more bland than usual.
I popped into Iga last week and was shocked by the prices….
I’ve been going to the butcher after I got disenchanted with the quality of colesworth meat for the prices they charge, so I thought initially “the butcher might be pricier, but there’ll be better quality and less reason for (former chef of 40 years) Mr Peeler to whinge.” Today I got 2 generous kg of beef mince, 2kg of good sized chicken wings, 2kg of good sized drumsticks, 4 large chicken breasts and a couple of enormous and beautiful looking thick rump steaks (one steak will almost feed the 4 of us) for a little over $70. This will feed us for almost a fortnight. I’m glad the kids love chicken! The flavour of meat from a butcher is beyond compare; I hadn’t done it for ages, since the last butcher in my area closed (there used to be 3!) and the first time I did it again recently the family unanimously agreed that this is the way forward from now on, it is noticeably different. The Minipeelers wanted to come along. I said seriously? To the butcher? I hated all the bits of bodies and the weird smell when I was a kid, but I loved the fake grass the shop had in the window and the paintings on the window of a smiling cow. They weren’t phased by it at all, and of course influenced the purchasing!
I also decided to order a Funky Food fruit and veg box (thanks to Melbaboutown for posting about it). I got a $50 box which is approximately enough to feed 4-5 people for a week, and I’m looking forward to my Wednesday delivery!
My pie is too hot and I’ve burnt my lip. Boo.
Cheese for dinner.
Sounds gouda to me.
We’re overdue for a cheese dinner, it’s been DAYS!
Unpopular and controversial opinion, I love watching the horse racing. Such majestic, intelligent, powerful creatures that love to run. The downside to that is the whipping. The quicker that is outlawed, the better.
Yup. They do love to run. And jump. Rant incoming.
spoiler
I have no quarrel with horse racing even jumps racing when done properly, and I used to work in the industry so have some qualifications to speak. I don’t actually object to the whipping - it’s largely done at the insistence of the punters so they feel that “their” horse & jockey is not being lazy when they lose. If you banned whips at the races, the punters would rise up and slay you. Most decent trainers would happily dispense with the whips as not being necessary. A lot of jocks will wave the whip around but not actually touch the horse. Mind you, there are horses that will hang back and slouch along until the jockey tells them to smarten up and get cracking. Usually using the whip. Depends on the individual horse.
What I really really object to is 2 year old racing. Horse child abuse for profit. But horse racing is a game for those with short attention spans, so the sooner those nags start earning back their sale price as yearlings, the better. Pun intended.
To me, it’s like watching 10 year old kids competing at the Olympics. No chance of having a childhood or much in the way of education, and very little chance of a happy adult life due to crippling overuse injuries and mental disfunction due to a thoroughly unnatural lifestyle during their growing years. A horse is roughly 5-7 years old before they are fully adult depending on breed. A 2 year old thoroughbred still has very flexible and easily damaged or distorted bones, and racing sets them up for a lifetime of pain. Lifetime being up to 25-30 years.
Most will go for dogfood after not winning. The really tough ones that had the luck to get a decent trainer may continue on as racers in subsequent years. So many wasted horses that could have been good but got trashed by human greed.Rant over - but this topic punched a few buttons.
I hate it. People in the industry defend the welfare of the horses, but money changes everything for the worse. And the racing of undeveloped baby horses is awful, like you’ve said. But there’s no reason for the stakeholders to want to extend the horses longevity - it’s purely about money.
I have had horses for 20+ years, I cannot get behind the racing industry. There should just be virtual horse racing (just like virtual poker machines) - still get the money and no horses suffer. Same with greyhounds.
I like looking at the horses themselves, so magnificently shiny and powerful. Even though I’m actually pretty scared of horses (anything that can kill you with a kick or by falling on you I tend to stay well clear of!).
I like to tune in around Melbourne cup, like today I’m watching it
I like seeing stupidly drunk people on the news afterwards.
I love the camera shot of the horses bums when they come out of the barriers.
I like when the horsies are all chill and cruising up until the end and then one of em just goes zooooom
I like it when a horse is at the back of the pack, comes from the outside and romps it home.
Putting this shit on garlic bread is completely unnecessary (I’d taken it off and put it aside before the photo)
I agree! I especially objected to the trend from a few years ago when they would put a gigantic handful of rocket on top of a cooked pizza. Why?
Last night I must have slept in a funny position, woke up with a numb arm. The prickly feeling when the feeling came back was intense. Ouch. Then was awake for an hour after that because couldn’t get back to sleep. Yay for long weekend!
6.5k run with the doggo on the beach this morning - no incidents. Very worth the effort coming down last night after work and school etc
I admire people who can “go for a run.” I run like someone wearing an oversized inflatable dinosaur costume.
… I’ve been running every few days for the last three months. My knees have only stopped aching in the last 3 weeks I think. I’m starting to see some changes to my weight, so that’s motivating me when I’m lying in bed in the morning trying to get myself to go for a run. Running with the doggo has helped a lot, it’s good to have a buddy to talk to as I struggle and say things like, I’m gonna have to walk for 5 minutes alright… I catch myself in a reflection occasionally, I run like someone who looks like their back is really stiff, and someone whose body temperature is maxing out…
Updating my profile on LinkedIn from when I was transitioning from one career to another and in and out of roles.
Never has the saying about “My resume is basically a list of things I hate to do” been so apt. Ugh.
Mmmm
Toastie
Three cheeses, pickled zucchini & capsicum, semi-dried cherry tomatoes and salami.
That’ll be $18 thanks
For one slice?
Yeh, that’s per half. Image depicts $36 of toastie
“Melbourne Woman Saves $35 a Day by Making Her Own Lunch”
Another disliked chore off the to-do list: I got out with the pole saw and cut back the overhanging branches from the neighbours’ yards. Chomp and I will deal with the offcuts once they have dried off a bit.
Hopefully I’ve cleared enough to get sufficient sun through to the garden bed I will be planting the citrus in.
Had a great sleep, woke up to blue skies, now looking at this magnificent beast while I have my eggs benny & iced coffee in this cafe’s alfresco 😎👌
I am getting into the swing of being carless. Today I had to nick into a local cafe to see someone, nick into the local op shop who were doing a carpark clearance sale, nick down to the parcel lockers and grab a pakidge. All in the neighbourhood but all different directions. Jumped on a bus to start and then walked a big circle. I would definitely have used my car previously.
And it’s a nice slow way to go about a Saturday.
It would be nice to get another car but I think this is better in many ways…(also helped by having actual PT options as backup)
I have now mixed and packed up a batch of dog food, so Mr Woof is sorted for the next couple of months. It’s a tedious job and I’m glad I don’t need to do it more often.
I used to mix up the cat kibble. Cats would sort it out with their tongue and only eat their favourite.
This is mostly mushy stuff, but if any kidney beans make it through whole he will pick those out. I have to make sure I squash any before serving.