I don’t trust myself

How did life in lockdown get so damn busy?

I’ve had three virtual job interviews in the past week; I’m doing the communications for a local business launch; I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a WW2 website I created for a client; and I’ve written 18 stories for Drinks Digest in the past four days.

I’ve also cooked a vast amount of food for the kids and the local family that I feed – cheeseburgers; a Middle Eastern of lamb koftas, hummus, tabbouleh, marinated quail breasts and grilled haloumi; butter chicken; plus homemade meat pies. I did five loads in the dishwasher on Tuesday alone.

I’m also running out of time to fill out some sole trader paperwork for Centrelink that I don’t understand AT ALL. Maths isn’t my strong point. I had to be coached by my friend Megz’s dad for the HSC and then it didn’t even end up being counted because I scored better in Art with a dodgy collage than I did with algebra.

I’ve also been feeling a bit down and off kilter.

It’s tempting to lash out when I feel this way. However, I’ve learned at age 53 not to trust the irrational thoughts that spin in my head.

I mull things over and try to work out what’s really bothering me before I give an innocent party a serve.

In this case is it menopause, weariness, lack of sleep or stress that’s been getting to me?

My money is on all of the above.

I decided to drive up to DD’s yesterday for some fresh air and was feeling pretty grim when I got there. But I didn’t lash out at my boyfriend for neglecting me or any other imagined slights.

I’m so glad I listened to my inner voice of reason.

We decided to get green tea noodle salad bowls and eat them at the beach. Check out that stunning view!

By the time I’d slurped the last mouthful I was already feeling so much better. Then we had a swim, grabbed a couple of coffees and admired the beach a little more before driving past a house for sale in the “Golden Triangle” to satisfy my curiosity after seeing it in a Domain ad and thinking it was “the one”. It did NOT live up to expectations, so I don’t need to win the lottery just yet.

Oh, did I tell you I applied for a job at Domain and didn’t even get an interview, despite noting in my cover letter that I love the website so much that I was once locked out of it for a few hours because it thought I was a malicious bot.

Their loss on both counts because I’m damn good for traffic either way.

Speaking of traffic, there’s still a crazy amount of it on the road during the lockdown, but I was feeling very zen as I made my way home from the beach in the midst of it.

When I got home it looked like I was organising a party, there were deliveries of France’s most popular bubbles – Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte – which have just become more widely available in Australia; some Bacardi canned Mojitos; and some UDL canned Blue Lagoons, blimey they’re quite the step back in time …

Thank you to the eldest for hand modeling … souvenir glass by Royal Caribbean.

The PR company also sent me some canned Pina Coladas, which were my favourite. All that coconut and pineapple made me feel like I was on holiday … who knows when I’ll be on one of those again?

I sipped one while having lovely virtual drinks with my sister in law. Then I went to bed and …. ARGH!!!!!!!!!! Drama!!!!!!!!!

I felt something sore at the back of my head. I touched it and pain started fanning inside my head. At first I thought it was a pimple or something, but the pain didn’t ease, it just kept weirdly throbbing.

I lay there trying to convince myself I was imagining it, but the ache continued. Suddenly I had the weirdest thought: was it a tick?

I have no idea why I thought that, but once I did I started to freak out. I Googled ticks and tried to take a photo of the back of my head, but I couldn’t manage it.

I texted the eldest to see if he was awake and asked for help.

Yep. It was a tick. An enormous mofo of a tick. The eldest got it out and bagged it for me. Gross! We both danced around a bit in horror as it squirmed.

I reckon I got it while I was having lunch on the grassy verge. Waaaaaah!

I didn’t have the best night’s sleep after that, worrying there were more secretly sucking my blood, and I have another massive day ahead.

I’m contemplating filming another Tik Tok video, the virtual launch of that business starts at 10am, then I need to speed write 2000 words in three hours for another client, drop the youngest to work at 2pm, pop a couple of Nurofen and ease into the weekend.

Fortunately, the youngest is making homemade pizza for dinner. I’ll be matching mine with a well-earned canned mojito.

Have a good, tick-free weekend. I’ll try to post a few recipes tomorrow, then I’ll catch you Monday.

Song of the day: Rupert Holmes “The Pina Colada Song”