Welcome to Mamamia’s weekly Wednesday tradition, Open Post.
If you’re new to this thing, here’s how Open Post works: One person (that’d be me this week) shares what’s been going on in their world. Everyone else in the Mamamia community shares in return.
Advice-giving and advice-seeking are welcome, as are complaining, rejoicing, debating, praising, photo-sharing… you get the picture.
Basically, jump into the conversation in the comments section below and tell us what’s on your mind.
I’ll start:
I did a fancy thing this week.
I don’t usually do fancy things because I am prone to spilling sauce down my top, failing to recognise celebrities when I bump into them, and vocalising my dislike of high heels midway through said fancy thing.
But when I was invited to Diner en Blanc on Saturday night, I couldn’t resist. Each year, the 4000 attendees wear strictly only white, and learn of the event’s secret location (this year, Centennial Park) just two hours before it begins.
They also bring their own tiny white table, white folding chairs and a white tablecloth, and set up their own gourmet picnic under the stars while hipsters play dance tunes on some sort of electronic harp (no, I didn’t know that was a thing that existed, either.)
In short, the whole thing is quite the spectacle. And — once the thousands of revellers are gathered in the one place — it’s hard to take a bad photo.
Here’s proof. The hipster on the harp can be spotted in slide #8:
What’s going on in your world?
Top Comments
Officially finished all Christmas shopping in record time! 10 siblings (his and mine), parents, parents in law, step-parents, siblings partners, KK aunt and uncle. Boom. Now i have to schlep them back to Aus (still cheaper than shipping)! One little faux-complaint; because everyone knows it's SO much cheaper over here, i am a present-mule for approximately 10 other people. Everyday am getting a new email "can you just get this?" "How much is that?" "Just bring it over with everything else" "Can you wrap it for me too?" I should start charging a handling fee! But, in the spirit of Christmas, i can be charitable :-)
So Im basically just gonna get on with a whinge. I've had a hideous few weeks. I suffer from a condition called fibromyalgia which basically means all of my brain signals are fucked up to the point that basically all I feel all day every day is pain. It sucks. So Im on morphine 15mg twice a day among many many other drugs and I'm just always sore. I met a lovely woman on the support page on facebook who told me her TENS machine wasn't working for her and she offered it to me for nothing just to help because I cant afford one of my own. Total faith in humanity restored and I was touched. She sent it express post with tracking and it somehow got lost. Over a month later Aus Post just decides that it hasnt turned up and they wont look any further so that's that case closed. She gets her $15 outlay for the post refunded and despite the fact that she spent over $100 on the machine it's just tough luck. She's screwed over and I'm screwed and in agony. SO pissed off.
Then There's the fact that I'm so incredibly broke at christmas and freaking out about paying for my son's presents. I have double daycare fees coming out the week of christmas because they take the last fortnight of the year and the first fortnight of next year out at once and I'm just fucked.
My son has ADHD and Autism, and in the last week we've been experimenting with the right way to medicate and treat him so he stops running on roads and trying to climb out windows and it's been an extremely difficult time trying to manage it when things go wrong and it's a failure of an experiment. It sucks.
Topping this little (Ha little!) rant off, my grandma who was my second parent died 3 weeks ago after a hideously long and drawn out illness and trying to keep moving day by day when all I want to do is collapse into the fetal position and scream my lungs out and actually GRIEVE is impossible. It hurts more than anything I've ever felt in my whole life and living each day without her makes me feel more like I'm dying inside than moving on.
Oh and my 21st birthday is on NYE and despite every plan I ever had for an epic 21st, it seems like it's gonna be a shit one. For years when I was in my early teens I complained because my friends would always go away on my birthday and I'd have no one to celebrate with. My sister is 4 years older and always went out partying and I stayed home with my granny and mum went to work as a barmaid. Then at 17 I had my son and 2 months later my 18th birthday arrived and I stayed home with my son and granny and mum.
This year grandma is gone and no longer here to celebrate it with me. My son is in bed by 6.30 drugged to sleep with his ADHD medication which is the only way he can function as a normal child. And Here I am, looking at a 21st with no friends, no celebration and no present (I know, petty but after years of being an afterthought to my mother as the middle child it kinda hurts) of any kind from my mother who cant afford to do anything for me except her "maybe in the new year I can slip you a bit of money" that will never ever happen and I feel guilty for even thinking about it. I pay a heap of money in rent and board to her a week and it just hurts that despite everything I do to try and help her, I'm just another of her screw up children with something wrong with her and she'll get to me eventually. *My older sister has chronic fatigue syndrome, my younger sister is a docs baby from my schizophrenic aunt who we took in 10 years ago at birth and is a horror now and i'm the screw up single mum who got knocked up at 17 and then got fibromyalgia*.
So yeah December is a shitty shitty month for me. I'm trying to live as best I can but here I am losing my shit again.
Sorry to destroy Open Post day :)
Jesus. If anyone deserves to whinge it's you. I'm so sorry it's so crappy for you. I hope something turns around for you quickly. X
I don't quite know what to say to you except I am sorry you are going through this. I really hope things get better for you. X
Sounds like you've hit a rough patch! So sorry to hear about your grandma! Hopefully I can help a little
-tens machine: I used one for a few weeks on an ankle injury, depends how bad your budgetary issues are but I was able to 'loan' mine from my Physio - can't remember if I actually paid for it or not, but maybe call a few local ones and see if they offer something similar.
- NYE : I'm guessing you wouldn't be able to get a babysitter for your son, would it be possible to have a few friends over for dinner/drinks for NYE? Or plan some birthday fun during the day and have a nice night it - watch at favorite movie, make/order something yummy that you wouldn't usually have?
Sorry if my suggestions are totally impractical - hopefully someone else will be able to come up with the right solution :)
I wrote a reply last night but as usual it was deleted by the moderators (what IS with the random deleting?!). Anyway, I wanted to say that I'm sorry you are going through so much and I hope that something turns around for you soon. It's definitely more than your fair share of crappiness. Hugs to you. X