winter loves

To get me through this particularly cold Melbourne day, and let’s be honest, to get me posting on a semi-regular basis again, I thought each week – or probably more accurately, each month – I’d start posting a list of stuff that is keeping my sanity while glandular fever still rains supreme. Here are a few small graces that I am thankful for while the weather is dreary and my bones are aching;

The Bugaboo “Chameleon” stroller

Now single babyless people, do not scoff! I impart wisdom that you may one day need. Love or hate the yuppie mothers, you cannot deny that the stylings of this pram are Dutch design genius and it steers like a dream while weighing next to nothing. One handed 360 turns on the spot while I drink my yuppie beverage, countless seat adjustments and folding positions, it is akin to pushing a marble over the top of silk; smooth, flawless, a joy. I had almost stopped appreciating my darling set of wheels until I left my beloved in the back of my mother’s car and had to use my old, stuck-wheeled Valco Baby umbrella stroller. Never in my life have I sworn so much. I don’t care that it’s ludicrous to pay $1700 dollars (AU) for a pram, when you walk as much as I do (I don’t own a car) it’s worth every penny.

~

The fan-dub of the Animal Crossing Movie

How many countless hours of tears over this thing, I cannot tell you. And that’s just from Bea, nevermind me! We’re slightly obsessed with the Nintendo Wii version of Animal Crossing in this house, and when I discovered that the Japanese had made it into a film, I pounced. Subtitles are okay for me, but poor Bea can’t read and was completely devastated that she couldn’t understand it. That is until I found that a whole subculture of forum nerds had lent their voices to a pretty darn professional fan-dubbing of the 1st half of the movie. The movie is of course, complete boring bollocks, as you would expect from something based on a video game about picking apples and buying furniture. But it saved a large chunk of my sanity a few afternoons ago when Bea was in a particularly foul mood, so for that, thank you, geeks of YouTube!

~

Prince’s “Controversy”

Indiana and I (home-bound buddies that we are while Bea is at Kinder) cannot clean, eat, type, shit or do anything without this and countless other Prince albums as our soundtrack. She has learned to dance standing before walking as a result! Our favourites that our neighbours are surely sick of by now are Private Joy, Uptown, Adore, I Feel For You, Computer Blue, Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? and of course, my dirty dirty namesake, Darling Nikki, all of which are probably highly child-inappropriate, but I figure as long as it’s not about “smacking your ho up”, what’s wrong with my girls subconsciously wanting to find a man that satisfies them? Nuffin. So next time you’re feeling blue about emptying the dishwasher, chuck on Scarlet Pussy and see how you feel about it.

~

Spoonin’ (with varying G to R ratings)

There’s nothin’ better when you feel Up-Shit-Creek than a good old snuggle from your little girls, or freezing your arse off when you go to pee at 4 A.M to come back to a bed full of big-spoon man-heat.

~

The Complete Series of Seinfeld

I shit you not, through the course of my last few weeks of illness I have watched almost every episode of Seinfeld at least twice to keep me in a happy (albeit sarcastic and neurotic) mood. The only exception to this is the god-damn 4th disc of Season 7 that has gone completely AWOL and will be shot on sight when found.

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(Last, but not least) My family

And thankfully, I have the funniest, sweetest, most gorgeous family and friends that I know of, and without their constant quirks, love, support and cuddles, I would have been a basket case 6 weeks ago. So thank you to Little Miss Indi, for being your rolly-polly hilarious self – to Miss Bea, for being the funniest girlfriend that I ever could have asked for – to Ross for giving me these two beautiful girls and for continuing to be the gorgeous, sweet boy from high school that I hold so dear – and finally to my Mum, without whom I would have been committed to the asylum long ago! Thankyou for your constant love and belief in me in good times and bad. I love you all!