A Work In Progress

Dear John, I sincerely apologise for making you sad last week. I am sorry that I won your scissors from you in our battle of "paper, rock, scissors" (although you must admit it was ironic that I won the match with "scissors" over "paper"). Lets do soy lattes sometime. Catherine

This morning I walked into work and came across the aftermath of what must have been a fierce battle. On the floor in front of the lifts were two large puddles of coffee. The splatter showed that each puddle resulting from cups thrown away from each other, as if two people had collided and thrown their respective coffee cups over their shoulders. I would have given anything to be there and seen that happen.

There is a key on my keyboard that is not working. I can't tell you what it is but I can tell you what it isn't. abcdefghijklmno-qrstuvwxyz Sigh.

I had never experienced true hot weather until I moved to Melbourne. It has been 6 years now, and while I have managed to cope better with temperatures in the low 30s I absolutlely crumble when it gets above 37 and am a basket case when it hits 40. Yesterday and today it has been in the mid 30s. I was supposed to do gardening but did not survive outside for very long. So what to do - too hot to do any work outside, nothing to do inside except mope and my favourite cafe closes in 30min so too late to go out for a coffee and a read of the paper. I hate those days when you have a plan but it is foiled by the weather. Maybe in six more years I will be able to get out and do stuff on a hot day, but for now I am afraid I will continue to be parked in front of the air con hoping for a cool change.

The mouse has been caught. Quick multichoice. Who caught the mouse? a) My humane mouse trap valued at $25.95 b) Penne (the cat who bought it in) c) Twinkle (the vegetarian) d) Catherine (with her bare hands!!) The answer will astound you!! It was Twinkle. Yep, at 10.34 last night, Twinkle ran out of my bedroom into the lounge, with the mouse in his mouth. Penne and I almost fell off the couch. Talk about stepping up! Previously Twinkle has only bought me leaves, but he saw his Mum in distress and put aside his principles to help me out. Hooray for Twinkle. Now the mouse was still alive when Twinkle put it at my feet, in fact it was unharmed (Twinkle agreed to catch the mouse, but did not actually want to hurt it). So I picked it up and release it. Now I know that some cynics amongst you will say I should have killed it but I had a talk to the mouse and I think we have reached an accord. On foot note to this report. The mouse looked significantly smaller than the ...

Today is casual Friday. That means you can wear less formal outfits to work. This is an area that can be fraught with problems. How casual is too casual for the workplace? Many an HR department has debated long and hard about this. At one place I worked at, they decided to issue a policy that clearly outlined what was not allowed on Fridays. The list was as follows: • No denim • No t-shirts • No Lycra • No shorts Does anyone else see an issue with this list? There is the obvious concern that they felt we would have an uncontrollable urge to wear lyrca at work. But more importantly than that, once you have eliminated denim, t-shirts and shorts, you have pretty much eliminated most people's wardrobe options. The result was that there were a lot of khaki pants and polo shirts and floral dresses – pretty much we all looked like we were going on a cruise.

Last week my cat Penzance bought in a mouse and released it in my house. I thought it had escaped outside, but saw it on Monday night. So I bought a mouse trap – one of the humane ones. Cost $25.95 and can catch up to 10 mice at one time. I hope I don’t have 10 mice. No sightings last night. Suspect mouse heard that I got the trap and is hiding. Cats still blissfully ignorant of the fact that I am in such an agitated state that I jump at every noise and am terrified to lift anything in case it reveals the mouse hidden underneath. My sister told me I need to either release the mouse miles away or kill it as it will just come back in. I said I plan to have a long chat with the mouse when I catch him and explain that I would prefer him not to come back in and am happy to leave snacks out for him outside if he agrees to his part of the deal. Picked up some cat food at the vet last night and saw they had kittens for sale. Asked if they would be prepared to trade two kittens for two 10 ye...

My stomach hurts. I think it was something I ate. Or it could be that I had to do my taxes last night. Not sure. Anyway, turns out I will get some money back from the government which is good. However they have received a lot of money from me, so I do think it is only fair that they give some back when it is discovered that they have overcharged me. I think I will spend my tax refund on a new microwave. I have been without a microwave for 4 months now and it has really impacted what I eat. Gone are the Lean Cuisine's and other assorted frozen meal goodness. Now I am limited to things I can cook on the stove top or (gasp) the oven. I have been in my house for three years now, and only turned the oven on twice, so you can see how the achievement of living without a microwave for 4 months is quite significant. Mostly I have been eating cereal. And ice cream. Hmm, I wonder if that is why I have a stomach ache?

I have two ways of handling stress. Both of them have served me well over the years. The first is chipping off my nail polish. The second is eating chocolate. While I am the first to admit there are some downsides to these habits (leaving a trail chips of nail polish and the inevitable weight gain that comes from chocolate consumption to name two), there are some positives. Firstly I am keeping the economy going. Regular of purchases of both nail polish and chocolate are no doubt part of the reason that Australia is coming out of a recession. I am keeping Australia working. Secondly the chocolate can be shared with other stressed people, thereby creating a fellowship of stressed, increasingly overweight, people. And finally, repainting my nails each night so they look reasonable for the next day keeps me busy and distracts me from the days stresses. So good things can come from bad habits!!

Today I went on a training course at work. It was to make me better at coaching my team. The day started with meditation so that we could all be "present". We then went on to talk about the "corridor of empowerment" and how to plant "seeds of growth" as well as remembering to "press the pause button" and make sure that we "activate our anchors" when things get stressful Priceless.

I really do like public transport. I catch the train everyday. I have gotten used the weird smells and the at times claustrophobic feeling when you are jammed in. The best trips are the ones in the morning when I get to people watch. There is a regular crowd that takes the 7.11am train and you get used to the faces. The woman who puts on her make up everyday in the train, the school kids talking loudly and texting their friends in the next car, the business men balancing lap tops on knees, and me, hair dripping wet because I still have not replaced my hair dryer, drinking a Red Bull and listening to SClub7 to wake me up. I really do like public transport

Cats are annoying, and I should know, I have two of them. This morning I DID NOT feel like getting up. Penzance and Twinkle sensed this and took the appropriate action. Which, for those of you not well versed in the etiquette of cats, is to run over my head until I get up. To be fair, I put up a good fight. Three pillows were thrown and harsh words spoken. But the odds were stacked against me from the start. To add insult to injury, shortly after rising, my bed was taken over by two peacefully sleeping cats. It was all I could do not to tip a glass of water over them.

Watching "The Biggest Loser". Eating a Creme Egg. Irony.