Have you heard? Our garden is heaven! One of these days I will share some before and after photos of this tiny garden, which was a miserable, grubby, slimy courtyard until August, after which it became… heaven.

I am sitting in the garden as I type this, leaning up against the cubby house with my legs stretched out before me and noticing I’m somewhat overdue for a pedicure. Scout and Ralph have declared themselves to be the “chef-police,” which profession apparently involves something along the lines of being restaurant-owners who get to be extremely bossy. Also they keep throwing toy food out of the window and onto my head.

On Saturday I finally got a new phone, which was very exciting and then necessitated the expenditure of the entire afternoon in figuring out how to set it all up. The best part was avoiding the whole contacts syncing thing by typing each person in by hand, which took aggggges but I passed the time watching Freaks & Geeks for free on youtube. It felt phenomenally good to clear my phone at last of the numbers of people I might have interviewed once or twice in about 2006, which had resided in my phone ever since thanks to the syncing thingy I couldn't figure out how to turn off, therefore remaining a constant undercurrent of anxiety in case one of my children would accidentally call them one day...

We switched contracts from Telstra to Vodafone, giving me triple the data plus the iPhone 6S for a couple of dollars less than I was previously paying. I foresee some Instagram spam action in my future. Sorry Testra, it’s been real.

Also included for that price was the world’s ugliest iPhone case, made out of rubber and semi-opaque, in a kind of pale acid green which, when fitted over my gold phone, looks the precise colour of booger. Ergo I am now in the market for a new iPhone case. Any suggestions as to where to look for some nice ones? I do love the gold of these phones and kind of like the idea of a clear case so for once I can see my pretty phone, but then there are so many fabulous designs around. I saw some on Etsy that were clear but also had real flowers or leaves pressed inside them. Your thoughts on this? Lovely, or tacky? I can’t decide!

My dad has to have an operation on his back. It's not life-and-death but it's kind of a major deal and I'm a bit worried about him. Also, he and my mum have a big holiday booked for April, to which they've been looking forward for more than a year, and he's cutting it fine with the recovery time. This has been on my mind all weekend.

I finished painting and posted 10 more snail-mail parcels last week, which are now (hopefully, if I put on enough stamps - because I literally COVERED the backs withs stamps) winging their way to folks around the world. Photos coming up in the next couple of days. If I get my act together quickly, the next round of mail parcels will be all about love (oh hello, Valentine's Day).

And in other news, it turns out I need reading glasses. Which is not overly surprising given that a) I stare at books and computers all day, b) lately things have been a bit on the blurry side and I’ve been getting sleepy when I read, and c) let’s be honest, I am getting old.

Yesterday I went in to the shops to choose some frames and it is SO STRANGE to see yourself in glasses when you’ve never worn them before. They all gave me extreme monobrows and made me look severely cross-eyed. Why is it that the rest of the world looks smart and sexy in glasses, and I look like a Picasso? The only glasses I even marginally liked were $460 for just the frames, and I wasn’t willing to spend $460 on something I only marginally liked. Also, as Mr B pointed out, “You work by yourself all day, who’s going to see you?” Which is logical but I guess I’m still vain, because I really wanted to look “marginally ok” while alone in my office, rather than “marginally not a Picasso,” which is what I settled for in the end.

The bubble machine is out of mixture and the children are now watering the garden with their Minions / Frozen drink bottles. Time to head inside and make their dinner. We are out of fish fingers. I need to hunt for another lazy-Sunday-don’t-feel-like-actual-cooking meal to make.

What’s up with you, doc?

Update: it was tinned tuna with broccoli, beans and pasta for the win!