When you're geeking around the primary school playground with your 11-year-old mates, pretending to be aliens ... probably because you'd don't quite fit in with humans ... its beyond your comprehension that you will meet for lunch as 50-year-olds and wonder how the years flew by so damn fast. But we did and they did.... Continue Reading →

Four years ago I met DD and sex started featuring prominently in my ... blog stats. I had my first date with DD around the same time as HouseGoesHome went sort of viral with a series of blog posts about the “triceratops position”. Unless you've been living under a rock you'll have heard me tell... Continue Reading →

How was your Chrissie? Mine was a whirl: happy, sad, hectic, exhausting and exhilarating in equal turns. My ex's family has gathered at a massive house south of Nowra for 10 days of festive bonding. The youngest is in heaven - despite having a virus - hanging out with her cousins. They spend their days... Continue Reading →

The last few days before Christmas are always a little fraught. All the last-minute shopping, the crowds, the parties, the preparations ... But the elves had a few extra surprises in store for me. The curve balls started flying on Friday. I was heading out the door when Bilbo started skittering around, all hunched and... Continue Reading →

My Christmas wish is that separated and divorced parents try to remember the love they once shared. If nothing else, it was a love that gave them a precious gift - their kids. I received a birthday card from my ex when I turned 50, with a message inside that thanked me for a “life... Continue Reading →

DD's sister did the most remarkable thing earlier this year: she decided to work as a school teacher in Wilcannia. It has been quite the trip, in all senses of the word. Wilcannia provides many challenges - drought, dust storms, kangaroos, social inequality and distance to name a few. She also turned 50 earlier this... Continue Reading →

I said the weather gods smiled on us during our Queensland mini-break, but it was more of a sly grin. The clouds were constantly ominous, showers were never too far away ... and that was actually perfect for a pale redhead unsuited to dazzling sunlight. However, while it was great for snorkelling on Lady Elliot... Continue Reading →

Fate works in mysterious ways. It delivered a wonderful book to me at Sydney Airport, purchased by DD to read on Lady Elliot Island. I snitched the book and devoured it, finishing the last few pages as we waited to fly home again. Tears welled as I closed it for the last time. “Less” won... Continue Reading →

Pray for me ... DD and I are flying to Lady Elliot Island today as our Christmas present to each other ... on a tiny plane ... as Cyclone Owen rages ... I am terrified ... Here's a little something DD wrote about our trip: Ms HouseGoesHome has a passion to see live coral while... Continue Reading →

Current affairs tore at my heart yesterday. I wept when I read that Olga Edwards, aged just 36, had been found dead in her Sydney home. The news came five months after her estranged husband executed their two children in the house and later turned the gun on himself. Police went to Olga’s home in... Continue Reading →