Otherwise engaged

IF I told you I’d spent the last week steaming and stripping in a chemical-induced haze, don’t get the wrong idea.
Being the DIY diva that I like to think I am, I was first in line to help my mum move, and transform her dull new dwelling into chez chic. It was more DIY SOS than 60 minute makeover in the end, but we’re getting there.
I spent most of the time on a step ladder, with no two legs the same length, and running up and down two sets of stairs with heavy boxes.
I really was glad to get back to work this morning for a rest!
Painting the skirting boards of five large rooms, twice, certainly does give you time to mull over whatever is on your mind, as it is literally as exciting as watching paint dry.
My favourite ex is still single (and still my favourite) and has realised that he is so much better off without his most recent ex. Something, I hasten to add that everyone told him quite a while ago — sometimes you just have to let people get there themselves.
Every time he leaves the house his mum’s parting words are: “Don’t fall in love”.
We’re still talking about the ‘bachelor break’ we’ve been planning, as a send off for our soon-to-be teacher friend, for the last few months. As yet there are no firm plans, and I suppose it will all hinge on girlfriend status, so nothing is certain.
I’ve been invited to Spain again in September with his family, but I’ll hold off on packing my sunglasses and bikini just yet — my place was taken by his ex last year.
We’ve been getting on a lot better again recently, because there isn’t the tension of asking how he is without sounding like I have an ulterior motive.
So, we’re both single again. I hate it when it’s like this as it’s just a matter of time before one of us finds someone else who is not the other one.
I was having a chat with my best friend the other night, talking about love, life and everything. She just wants someone to come home to (who isn’t her moody flatmate), someone to hug her when she needs one (who isn’t just a friend) and someone “to wipe away the insecurities of life”.
But the problem facing her, and I would think all other singletons, is where to find this person, and when to find time for them. Her social life is more hectic than mine!
We both agreed that the place we’d like to find them was at home waiting with a romantic meal for two, ready with a hug and an insecurity blanket.
At the moment, I’m thinking that my attitude to men is that of my attitude to babies. I love them dearly, and would love one of my own, but until then it’s good to hand them back when you get fed up with them.
I can’t wait to see the Wedding Date, where Debra Messing (Will’s Grace) hires the gorgeous Dermot Mulroney to go to her sister’s wedding with her. As far as I know they fall in love and live happily ever after.
I’m thinking my next date won’t end up the same. I’ve ‘hired’ someone to be my plus one at a forthcoming wedding. Life does imitate art, but I’m not holding out for the ‘just like the movies’ ending in this case — his fiancée is currently planning place settings and bridesmaid bouquets for their own nuptials.
I’ve also made a new friend in my brother’s ‘is she, isn’t she’ girlfriend. For the record she isn’t — they’re ‘just good friends’.
It scares me to say we are so similar, especially when I know that she is likes my brother, and worse that he likes her. The very fact that my little brother is romantically inclined to anyone scares me but then I remember it could be worse — I’d already met and fallen in love with my favourite ex by that point and look where that’s got me!
At the moment I’m taking one day at a time, trying to spend as much time with the people I love, and have loved, and basically just have as much fun as possible without worrying about ‘what ifs’ and ‘whens’.
I have a busy social calendar lined up, which is half full rather than half empty and things are looking good.
It just shows: “If only we’d stop trying to be happy, we could have a pretty good time”.