A 'Write Off' Kind Of Day

The house is dark in the middle of the day, lit only by the flashes of lightning from outside.I love it!

Autumn weather has arrived in force today. Perhaps my front lawn might actually turn green with all this rain!

I really enjoy thunderstorms, but the furry members of our family not so much! The dog has just slunk into the room with me, unsure about those loud booms and rolls outside. And our cat was found hiding in the pantry just now, his place escape in the most dire situation. Which clearly this is to him.

The less furry members of the family are relishing the freshness of the storm, the cool breeze through the window, the cosy, snug feeling that the dark grey sky gives.

But I must give some consideration to my husband who is out working in this weather, so I'm sure he's not enjoying it much as me. Any moment I expect to hear the garage door go up and to find my soaked husband home, in dire need of a hot cup of tea.

And unfortunately, Charlie is still not well. Sniffles are abating but being replaced with a chesty cough. The recovery process is not helped by a sleepless night. 4.30am is a ridiculous time to wake up for the day, if you ask my opinion. Which I would happily give once I've finished my fourth cup of coffee (and it's only midday!) and if I'm still awake.

Why is it that these sleepless nights occur just when I really need to be awake and alert to deal with things? Not that there is ever a good time for such an early wake up, but still. I have so much to do and deal with at the moment. Why today?

And by mid afternoon, when I start to wilt from tiredness, I will vow to myself to have an early night and catch up on the sleep I so desperately need. Only to get to 8pm and get a second wind (all those cups of coffee finally kicking in perhaps?) and not be able to sleep till midnight - again.

Am I the only one who is like this? Please tell me that this is normal for busy mamas.

So today, I've decided is a write off day. A day where I will accomplish what I can and not feel too bad about what I didn't get done. Dishes piling up in the sink, floor unvacuumed, minimum amount of work done that I can get away with though I will have to play catchup over the weekend, and I'm ok with that - sort of. Overcoming my perfectionist nature isn't easy, you know.

Today therefore will consist of lots of sitting on the couch watching the rain and cuddles with my sick boy.

I guess life isn't so bad after all.

A Years Worth of Rain.... in The Space of Two Hours

Today the drought broke. Finally.

After almost 5 months of no rain, the skies opened wide. And wider. And wider.

We had a storm of epic proportions with huge fat rain drops, hail the size of golf balls, flash flooding and gale force winds complete with trees down in the park across from us.

All while it was 33 degrees C and humid.

The older two boys are upset that ten of the local schools will be closed tomorrow due to storm damage.

They're upset because they attend none of those schools.

We were lucky. We suffered no damage but there are currently 100,000 homes without power, most of the city's hospitals were damaged, lightning strikes were frequent, hail damage extensive, flooding is still a problem in places and a mud slide hit an apartment building and one man is missing. Luckily no-one died in this storm. It was the worst storm to hit Perth in a very long time.

But two hours after it started, it was all over and there was sunshine again. With that beautiful clarity of light that you can only get after a thunderstorm has washed the world clean again.
Unfortunately, the camera battery needed recharging so I didn't get any photos. And it was such a great photo opportunity too.

But Charlie was happy to have seen a rather large rainbow arcing across the sky after the storm cleared, and insisted that we sing 'I Can Sing a Rainbow'. Multiple times.

And now I can't get that annoyingly catchy tune out of my head.

"I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too........."