Well here we are another week down the track and I don't have a lot to report but really just wanted to touch base with everyone. As much as I love only working part time it seems to me the days are starting to blur a little. It really does make the weeks go faster and the days I have off I usually have a big list of things I want to achieve and I think I have been doing an okay job of that. Finally getting the hang of my sewing but now I am finding it hard to make the time to leave the house to post off my goodies! Plus I have been speninding one day a week with mum where we go window shopping and do coffee then go home and sit together working through the family tree. I am trying to get my mum out and about more as she is finally over the hump since dad passed and already its been 2 years! She still has a cry every now and then but now she can talk about him without breaking down so thats a good sign.
Her sister and brother-in-law own heaps of vintage cars and they do vintage car rallys so they have been taking mum out on those with them. They are all people her own age so hopefully she will make friends out there! She hates leaving her two little dogs behind but she really needs to get out more and socialise which she is doing.
Anyway in the words of one of my favourite bloggers...Onwards and Upwards!
MONDAY
Another start to the work week. Mondays are generally a wasted day for me as all our Managers have to come into the office on Mondays for the staff meeting. They are generally out on the road so Mondays are usually noisy with everyone catching up on gossip, and I get passed a heap of work request forms from them asking me to do stuff for them. So whatever work I had planned for that day I can kiss goodbye until I have given the Managers everything they need. Staff meetings can be a little tedious as well especially for admin staff but it can be an insight to what is going on as well so some days are okay. These meetings will last right up until lunch time. However on this Monday we had organised a surprise morning tea for one of our young accounts girls who is pregnant and about to finish up work and go on maternity leave. She is a lovely young girl around 22 years of age so we threw her a surprise baby shower and morning tea so work stopped completely on our floor for about 2 hours! We did the usual baby shower games and even the blokes were surprised to be allowed to play. They had never been to a baby shower before and I am pretty sure they will never want to again lol...they all got an insight as to what REALLY happens when lots of giggly women get together and how naughty we can all get!!
TUESDAY
Tuesday morning became a nightmare. I drove to the train station and actually got a good parking space for a change which I thought was strange but I cheered thinking I must have just gotten there earlier than everyone else for a change. I climbed the stairs to get to the platform I usually wait only to hear on the loud speaker that there was a major police incident at Geebung station so all train commuters would be put on buses and driven past Geebung Stattion to catch the trains at the station after it. Great! That meant waiting for a couple of hours as my station is packed to the rafters with people and the buses only take so many people at a time. I debated waiting and catching a bus or actually driving myself to work in the city. I chose to drive which I think most people did hence the empty car parks!
I generally hate having to drive to the city simply because we now have toll roads everywhere and inner city bypass and overpasses and all kinds of road works going on everywhere so I went the back way because I know it best and there is minimal road works going on out that way. It is also the longest way...always quicker to drive in through the city but driving through the outer suburbs is much more scenic! It was actually a good drive because I got to work in an hour by driving whereas a normal train trip takes me 45 minutes so I did good! One of the ladies I work with had opted to be bussed so she got to work at 10:30am whereas I was only 15 minutes late for work by getting to work at 8:30am.
It turned out the incident at the train station was some poor guy who chose to ignore the train signals and ducked through a boom gate to beat the train, narrowly missed the south bound train but then got hit by a north bound train! All because he was running late. It's not the first time that has happened...these things happen all the time. Usually its cars or trucks who try to cheat the boom gates and last week we had a jumper at Roma Street and on a regular basis Roma Street gets bomb scaress and all trains have to be stopped or diverted until bomb squads arrive. I am lucky that work are okay with as a lot of us catch the same trains and if we are late they know it is to do with the trains.
Driving home was another story. I left early to try and beat the traffic and I guess the rest of Brisbane did the same! I did however finally get to go through the Clem7 tunnel. I have wanted to for ages but always missed the exit. This time I made it and to be honest I don't know why they bothered with the tunnel! Just another way to steal money from motorists is what I see. It took me about an hour and a half to get home and I had to drive home through the city bcause I missed a new exit that would have taken me home the way I came in. Boy has all that changed since I last came into the city! If you have ever driven in Sydney there are overpasses and underpasses and bridges etc and if you get in the wrong lane you end up god knows where with no chance of turning around until you get out to an outer suburb. Well Brisbane is going to end up being the same! I was feeling stressed trying to find the right exit to head me towards the Sunshine Coast and home! And I had to be sure to be in the right lane otherwise I would have ended up at the exit to the Gold Coast/Sydney! I also now know why you need to be an aggressive driver in the city as well. I actually had to literally nose my car into the next lane so I could make my exit. You really do have to barge in lol! None of this "excuse me but do you mind if I just jump in here?" It's more a case of "Hey you, I want this spot...move it or lose it bucko!" Finally I was on a familiar stretch of city road and I just cruised on home albeit bumper to bumper the whole time because the traffic was horrendous. Thankfully I have good music in the car so I was able to sing away to my little hearts content ignoring all the other drivers around me!
So there you have it. My Monday and Tuesday and today is my day off so I am still sitting in my big fluffy dressing down and my lil ugg boots. I will have to move shortly because I am dying for a coffee and I have run right out of slave boys! Plus Wednesday is my major cleaning day so I need to get up off my butt for a bit and make a start!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Monday, July 4, 2011
Some More Bags
Well as you can see I think I am getting the hang of sewing and making my bags! Still not 100% perfect but it is getting easier.
Here is the last 4 I made in the last couple of weekends. I made 3 in one day and the black one I made for my mother-in-law took me a while longer because the fabric was a bitch to work with until I got it figured out so I had to walk away at one stage as it was getting me frustrated! Once I understood how to handle the fabric it was a breeze and actually turned out the best! The aqua coloured bag was made for my daughter for her birthday, another is for my friend Shaz as a late birthday present and the brownish/grey one is the one my mum chose. I have one more bag to make for Miss Froggy as she asked ever so nicely and then I want to move on to another type of bag that I found a pattern for.
The black bag is made out of a snake skin look fabric and my mother-in-law loves it as she bought snake skin look shoes and this bag is a perfect match! And I chose a burgundy satin lining just because I liked it with the black.
At the moment I am really enjoying it and another sewing friend suggested getting myself an Etsy account and try selling but I'm not sure I am ready for that yet. I don't want to sell inferior products so when I am certain it all looks great then I will think about it!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
My Sewing Weekend
Well I decided to finally dust off my sewing machine which my parents bought me 4 or 5 years ago and I have never really used! I have been given a few bag patterns over the past couple of years and I finally decided to spend the weekend attempting one! I have never really sewn before except for a really nice patchwork quilt I made for my niece when she was a baby and it came out beautifully but having said that sewing a heap of squares together isn't really that hard!
So I took my mum and sister to Spotlight on Friday while I searched for some cute material to make my first bag. I found this really nice, snake skin look purple material. It's really glossy so it looks exactly like a skin of some kind but it is in fact a stretchy kind of material and I made the lining a black satin. The pattern said to use any kind of material but this one seemed to be just right. The button for the catch and ribbon also were just right so I was happy with the whole purchase.
The pattern was rather ambiguous in places, well for me anyway as I am a newbie at this and had to try and figure out what the pattern was trying to say. But a little bit of loginc and ignoring parts of the pattern to suit me seemed to work and I think, for my first attemps, it came up pretty good. There are a couple of bits that are a bit wonky (my dodgy sewing!) but hardly noticeable to anyone but me. Even MM declared it to be fabulous. He loves the material! Now I have made one everyone wants one so I will work my way through my list starting with my mum lol. She has even picked out her material! It should be easy now I have the pattern figured and I have my sewing machine set up perfect for me. MM is already trying to work out how much profit I can make selling them lol but I think I will leave that until waaaaay down the track when I can actually make the perfect item.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Nothing Much...
…Has happened since I last blogged. I could just blog crap or make my mundane happenings sound more exciting than they are but lately I have been feeling rather *bleah* as in “I couldn’t care less about anything right now”. I hate this kind of mood and when I get into this sort of funk it takes ages to get out of it again. I think a lot of it is because I have finally come to a point in my life where I am at a crossroads and I have no idea what I want out of life right now. It’s so weird because right now I should be on top of the world. The house is paid for and the legalities of it is all sorted, I am now semi-retired and enjoying finally having free time to enjoy life and finally we have the security to what the things we always wanted to do but never had the time or money to do.
The financial thing is still the hardest. Even though we have no mortgage now you would think the money should be rolling in but because it took every cent we own we now have to wait for the bank balance to build which it is…slowly. I guess I am just impatient! MM and I are currently making a list of all the things we want to do to the house and planning somewhere to go for a holiday. Right now I would be happy just for a weekend away! Both of us are in a bit of a rut and I think we just both need to get away for a couple of days and re-focus on our future.
Another thing I guess I am down about is all the weddings happening in the next year or 2. MM and I have been engaged for 13 years now and still haven’t had our “Big Day” but that was for financial reasons and really, neither of us was in that much of a hurry. But now this year we have 2 sets of friends who are marrying this year, both of them very short engagements. These are 2 separate couples who are in the older bride and groom category, both lots are second marriages so they will be small and simple affairs. Then in the new year MM’s oldest daughter will marry in Tasmania (of course we haven’t been invited to that one and are apparently not supposed to know about it but of course everyone already told us about it and I have since spoken to this daughter about it) and MM’s niece who is 22 years old marrying her really nice boy. And all four of these weddings will be beach weddings which has kind of annoyed me a little as I have been planning a beach wedding for 13 years and now “everyone” is having a beach wedding so ours will just be “the same as everyone else’s”. MM thinks I am crazy and says there is no reason why we still can’t have one as every wedding is different. And I know he is right but I am just being a petulant little child at the moment! *pout*
So I think I will go back to the drawing board and start again. Actually I have made enquiries about weddings in the Whitsundays as they do weddings from start to finish and we will pay for my family and MM’s family to attend and have a simple and special wedding at one of the resorts. Will depend on how much we can save. MM’s mother is not getting any better and I don’t want to make the same mistake as I did with my dad and not having it while he was still here for it.
I have however, planned to take mum to Canberra next Anzac Day and be part of the ANZAC service at the Australian War Memorial. It is supposed to be fantastic and apparently there are now photos there of dad and his Korean battalion on show there now in the new exhibit so mum is really excited about going. She really needs a trip away and my cousin lives right in Canberra and has a big house so she often tells us to come visit so accommodation will be a breeze.
October I am hoping to visit my old home town, Gladstone. Miss Froggy will be there then too so I have told MM that’s where I will be come October so long as everyone there stays put and don’t make other plans!
Dad’s 2nd Anniversary came and went. I made a really beautiful powerpoint display of photos set to one of my favourite songs to present to everyone on the day and everyone loved it! I put it on mum’s desktop of her computer so now she plays it every night before she goes to bed! Miss 17 was absolutely thrilled with it as she misses her grandad more than she lets on. I have yet to put it on a CD for her as she been having trouble playing it on her laptop. We had a small morning tea together and it wasn’t as sombre as I thought it would be. We are all moved on I think although we still miss him a lot especially at special times but the good thing too is mum is finally settled and starting to look to the future. She is taking better care of herself health wise although she is now under more stress since my sister and her kid moved in with her which is probably the other thing I am annoyed at right now!
Most of you will know my sister and also know how little I think of her. I do however adore her daughter, Miss 17, my gorgeous niece who was raised by my mum and dad. Thankfully she is nothing like her mother and even tells us all the time that she never wants to be like her mother and does everything she can not to do the things she did. Anyway my sister and her son were kicked out of yet another unit and is now “apparently” on the priority list for housing commission which I doubt considering how Brisbanites are still waiting for homes since the January floods and I am pretty sure they will get first preference.
Anyway she tells mum she will only be there for a month at the most until they place her. Three months later she is still at mum’s not paying any money towards anything. She will occasionally vacuum or wash dishes to make up for it but other than that she and her 13 year old bum off mum. My nephew, “Gremlin” I shall call him eats like a horse and spends all his days, when not wagging school, watching TV or on the playstation and refuses to get off his rear to help. He also hates his mother with a passion and it is not unknown for him to thump, kick or bite his mother and call her very rude names. My sister is covered in bruises from where he does these things but she laughs it off and as a result he continues the behaviour. He detests women. He calls my mother foul names and I have told her that she is to kick them out if it continues but of course she doesn’t want to see them on the street. Perhaps I am being a little harsh? He is yet to call me anything and I am just waiting for it because I can tell you now I won’t be laughing it off and he will be lucky to speak to me at all with his teeth on the floor. The people he listens to are my brother and my MM as both have actually put him on his butt when he has been cheeky to them so he knows not to push their buttons.
The sad thing in all of this is Miss 17 has moved out of her home for 17 years because she can’t stand having her mother and brother around. She is embarrassed by them when she has her boyfriend over so she now lives with him and his parents until such time as her mother moves out which could be never. I do think though that since she is almost 18 they will decide to find a place together. He is 20 now and working full time and his parents are rather well off and have been feeding them and letting them stay in the granny flat rent free. She has had to grow up quite quickly but as I said before is very determined to make her own way in the world and not be a leech like her mother.
Gosh I did ramble didn’t I!! Sorry!! Tomorrow is another day off and I am going to try and make my very first bag so I will be making a trip to Spotlight first thing to find my material! Hopefully I will have something to show off next blog!
The financial thing is still the hardest. Even though we have no mortgage now you would think the money should be rolling in but because it took every cent we own we now have to wait for the bank balance to build which it is…slowly. I guess I am just impatient! MM and I are currently making a list of all the things we want to do to the house and planning somewhere to go for a holiday. Right now I would be happy just for a weekend away! Both of us are in a bit of a rut and I think we just both need to get away for a couple of days and re-focus on our future.
Another thing I guess I am down about is all the weddings happening in the next year or 2. MM and I have been engaged for 13 years now and still haven’t had our “Big Day” but that was for financial reasons and really, neither of us was in that much of a hurry. But now this year we have 2 sets of friends who are marrying this year, both of them very short engagements. These are 2 separate couples who are in the older bride and groom category, both lots are second marriages so they will be small and simple affairs. Then in the new year MM’s oldest daughter will marry in Tasmania (of course we haven’t been invited to that one and are apparently not supposed to know about it but of course everyone already told us about it and I have since spoken to this daughter about it) and MM’s niece who is 22 years old marrying her really nice boy. And all four of these weddings will be beach weddings which has kind of annoyed me a little as I have been planning a beach wedding for 13 years and now “everyone” is having a beach wedding so ours will just be “the same as everyone else’s”. MM thinks I am crazy and says there is no reason why we still can’t have one as every wedding is different. And I know he is right but I am just being a petulant little child at the moment! *pout*
So I think I will go back to the drawing board and start again. Actually I have made enquiries about weddings in the Whitsundays as they do weddings from start to finish and we will pay for my family and MM’s family to attend and have a simple and special wedding at one of the resorts. Will depend on how much we can save. MM’s mother is not getting any better and I don’t want to make the same mistake as I did with my dad and not having it while he was still here for it.
I have however, planned to take mum to Canberra next Anzac Day and be part of the ANZAC service at the Australian War Memorial. It is supposed to be fantastic and apparently there are now photos there of dad and his Korean battalion on show there now in the new exhibit so mum is really excited about going. She really needs a trip away and my cousin lives right in Canberra and has a big house so she often tells us to come visit so accommodation will be a breeze.
October I am hoping to visit my old home town, Gladstone. Miss Froggy will be there then too so I have told MM that’s where I will be come October so long as everyone there stays put and don’t make other plans!
Dad’s 2nd Anniversary came and went. I made a really beautiful powerpoint display of photos set to one of my favourite songs to present to everyone on the day and everyone loved it! I put it on mum’s desktop of her computer so now she plays it every night before she goes to bed! Miss 17 was absolutely thrilled with it as she misses her grandad more than she lets on. I have yet to put it on a CD for her as she been having trouble playing it on her laptop. We had a small morning tea together and it wasn’t as sombre as I thought it would be. We are all moved on I think although we still miss him a lot especially at special times but the good thing too is mum is finally settled and starting to look to the future. She is taking better care of herself health wise although she is now under more stress since my sister and her kid moved in with her which is probably the other thing I am annoyed at right now!
Most of you will know my sister and also know how little I think of her. I do however adore her daughter, Miss 17, my gorgeous niece who was raised by my mum and dad. Thankfully she is nothing like her mother and even tells us all the time that she never wants to be like her mother and does everything she can not to do the things she did. Anyway my sister and her son were kicked out of yet another unit and is now “apparently” on the priority list for housing commission which I doubt considering how Brisbanites are still waiting for homes since the January floods and I am pretty sure they will get first preference.
Anyway she tells mum she will only be there for a month at the most until they place her. Three months later she is still at mum’s not paying any money towards anything. She will occasionally vacuum or wash dishes to make up for it but other than that she and her 13 year old bum off mum. My nephew, “Gremlin” I shall call him eats like a horse and spends all his days, when not wagging school, watching TV or on the playstation and refuses to get off his rear to help. He also hates his mother with a passion and it is not unknown for him to thump, kick or bite his mother and call her very rude names. My sister is covered in bruises from where he does these things but she laughs it off and as a result he continues the behaviour. He detests women. He calls my mother foul names and I have told her that she is to kick them out if it continues but of course she doesn’t want to see them on the street. Perhaps I am being a little harsh? He is yet to call me anything and I am just waiting for it because I can tell you now I won’t be laughing it off and he will be lucky to speak to me at all with his teeth on the floor. The people he listens to are my brother and my MM as both have actually put him on his butt when he has been cheeky to them so he knows not to push their buttons.
The sad thing in all of this is Miss 17 has moved out of her home for 17 years because she can’t stand having her mother and brother around. She is embarrassed by them when she has her boyfriend over so she now lives with him and his parents until such time as her mother moves out which could be never. I do think though that since she is almost 18 they will decide to find a place together. He is 20 now and working full time and his parents are rather well off and have been feeding them and letting them stay in the granny flat rent free. She has had to grow up quite quickly but as I said before is very determined to make her own way in the world and not be a leech like her mother.
Gosh I did ramble didn’t I!! Sorry!! Tomorrow is another day off and I am going to try and make my very first bag so I will be making a trip to Spotlight first thing to find my material! Hopefully I will have something to show off next blog!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Terrible Tuesday...
Tuesday...another work day for me. You are probably wondering why I am suddenly in the blogging mood? Because work is soooo quiet and I am soooo bored! So I resort to blogging just to fill in the hours between coming to work and going home again.
This morning's train trip was a lesson in patience. The train was broken...again...the third time this last week or so. Today it was the train door in the carriage I was on. It just didn't want to close so we had to sit at each station for five minutes waiting for the door to automatically shut. About half an hour in, some bright spark at Queensland Rail decided to lock the door, rendering it useless and thus we were happily sailing off to the city again. BUT because the train was now considered broken it would finish it's journey one stop before mine...AGAIN! So at Roma Street station our train terminated and those of us wanting to get the one station beyond that were forced to wait on an icy, wind blown platform waiting for the next train which *Surprise Surprise* was going to be delayed a further 20 minutes because one of the signals decided it was too cold to come to work today and closed itself down bringing all the trains into and leaving Roma Street station to a dead stop. *sigh* So this meant I was an hour late to work...AGAIN! There is a few of us in our office who catch the same train so at least the boss knows it is just not me! The lady who had been sitting next to me on the train was in a highly distressed state. She had never caught the train before and was going to be severely late for a very important appointment. I felt so sorry for the poor thing. We chatted for a bit and I reassured her this happened at least 2 or 3 times a week and she was shocked! It's a way of life in Brisbane really. And really any boss in Brisbane who fires an employee because they got stuck on a train is a "bum" to paraphrase Bob Hawke!
Anyway I got to finish my book while waiting to get to work. This got the lady beside me fascinating over my Kindle so we talked about that for a bit and I told her where I got mine and how cheap they are currently so I think I convinced her she needed one especially if she was going to be a regular train traveller!
I have been reading all of Charlaine Harris's books which I downloaded for the KIndle. She wrote the True Blood series about the vampires which became a TV show. The books are better than the series but its kind of weird because I saw the first 3 seasons of the series first before reading the book and the books are rather different. The main characters are the same but the TV show took a lot of poetic licence with the book and the story lines are really different. Frankly the book's storylines were so much better than the TV show.
Her new book series is called the "Real Murders Series" and is the one I am reading now. The main character is named Aurora Teagarden and it's kind of one of those corny kind of mystery stories where the main character lives in a small southern US state, she's a boring librarian with no life, no man and a member of the "Real Murders" club where they all sit around trying to solve old unsolved murder mysteries and read murder books etc. Suddenly all the members of this club start getting murdered and the main character gets caught up in it. I am now up to Book 6 and for such a small town, there are an awful lot of murders and all of them just happen to take place in the character's back yard so to speak! Very corny but entertaining reading especially on a long train trip!
Well time for me to head off and catch a train. Got to head to the shops on the way and get some supplies. Thinking about making my very own soup for dinner...what sort I haven't decided yet. It's the night for comfort food!
This morning's train trip was a lesson in patience. The train was broken...again...the third time this last week or so. Today it was the train door in the carriage I was on. It just didn't want to close so we had to sit at each station for five minutes waiting for the door to automatically shut. About half an hour in, some bright spark at Queensland Rail decided to lock the door, rendering it useless and thus we were happily sailing off to the city again. BUT because the train was now considered broken it would finish it's journey one stop before mine...AGAIN! So at Roma Street station our train terminated and those of us wanting to get the one station beyond that were forced to wait on an icy, wind blown platform waiting for the next train which *Surprise Surprise* was going to be delayed a further 20 minutes because one of the signals decided it was too cold to come to work today and closed itself down bringing all the trains into and leaving Roma Street station to a dead stop. *sigh* So this meant I was an hour late to work...AGAIN! There is a few of us in our office who catch the same train so at least the boss knows it is just not me! The lady who had been sitting next to me on the train was in a highly distressed state. She had never caught the train before and was going to be severely late for a very important appointment. I felt so sorry for the poor thing. We chatted for a bit and I reassured her this happened at least 2 or 3 times a week and she was shocked! It's a way of life in Brisbane really. And really any boss in Brisbane who fires an employee because they got stuck on a train is a "bum" to paraphrase Bob Hawke!
Anyway I got to finish my book while waiting to get to work. This got the lady beside me fascinating over my Kindle so we talked about that for a bit and I told her where I got mine and how cheap they are currently so I think I convinced her she needed one especially if she was going to be a regular train traveller!
I have been reading all of Charlaine Harris's books which I downloaded for the KIndle. She wrote the True Blood series about the vampires which became a TV show. The books are better than the series but its kind of weird because I saw the first 3 seasons of the series first before reading the book and the books are rather different. The main characters are the same but the TV show took a lot of poetic licence with the book and the story lines are really different. Frankly the book's storylines were so much better than the TV show.
Her new book series is called the "Real Murders Series" and is the one I am reading now. The main character is named Aurora Teagarden and it's kind of one of those corny kind of mystery stories where the main character lives in a small southern US state, she's a boring librarian with no life, no man and a member of the "Real Murders" club where they all sit around trying to solve old unsolved murder mysteries and read murder books etc. Suddenly all the members of this club start getting murdered and the main character gets caught up in it. I am now up to Book 6 and for such a small town, there are an awful lot of murders and all of them just happen to take place in the character's back yard so to speak! Very corny but entertaining reading especially on a long train trip!
Well time for me to head off and catch a train. Got to head to the shops on the way and get some supplies. Thinking about making my very own soup for dinner...what sort I haven't decided yet. It's the night for comfort food!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Rainy Days and Mondays...
Well actually this morning was bright and sunny although extremely cold and when the alarm went off at 5:30am this morning all I wanted to do was curl into a tighter ball and stay warm! But no...today is a work day for me and after spending about 15 minutes thinking of excuses NOT to get up I crawled out of bed. One stupid thing I do is shower in the mornings before I go anywhere. Madness in winter I tell you! When we refit the bathroom I am DEFINATELY getting one of those room heaters for in there. Getting out of a warm shower into the cold air in all your naked glory is definately no fun at all!! Today was no better.
I actually dove out of the shower, dried myself in record time then leapt back into my still warm bed for a couple of minutes just to get some feeling back into my body! Brrrrrr...and I can tell it's not getting better any time soon! By the time I dressed and had breakfast though I was feeling good again and even though I wore my heavy jacket to work (because those train platforms are icy pits of hell in winter!!) by the time I bought my daily coffee and got into the office I was very warm for the rest of the day and so the jacket came off until it was time to go home again in the afternoon.
Work was quiet today. No staff meeting which was good as our Monday mornings are a snooze fest and our time could be more productive without them in my opinion. Today I had a lunch date with a dear friend who I told you about last blog. It was awesome to catch up with her and we had so much to talk about...an hour for lunch just wasn't enough but we are now committed to lunching more regularly and hopefully now we are practically neighbours, we can visit a bit more. I have really missed our talks and we have always been very supportive of each other. She has also been through a tumultuous couple of years so it was nice to talk about our problems with each other and offer each other advice which I have really missed.
Now it is almost home time and of course, after the nice sunny day we have had all day it has started to rain which means going home tonight on the train is going to cold, wet and miserable! *Sigh*
Building Bridges....
...is my theme for this week. I don't know if it is because I am getting older or what but I have suddenly decided that life is too short for petty grievances and all the silly things that people get their knickers in a twist over. Of course there are some not-so-silly things that upset people and I have a couple of those but I am willing to live and let live and it's time some people get off their high horse and learn to forgive.
I guess I got to thinking about it all last week when I was feeling very down and thinking way too much. It's always a bad thing when I think too much. I am a very sensitive type person and I tend to think about regrets, and trust me I have had a few! The majority of the regrets are things that were my fault. I am big enough a person to own these things and to acknowledge that I brought some things on myself. I have spent my life trying to be a good person, or at least the best person I can be. Sometimes situations arise where I am not a nice person but that is something I have learnt to live with. It's not a deliberate thing and hey...who's perfect eh? Anyone who says they are is a liar in my book.
Anyway...Bridge No. 1. Last week I made contact with a dear friend who I haven't had much contact with in close to 6 years. We worked together in our last job and became very close friends. When Andrea and her boyfriend moved into a house near ours, MM and I made up a huge grocery basket of goodies for them and the kids because they were struggling and doing it pretty tough. We all got on great. Her kids were the greatest and well Andrea and I were like soul mates. We both had to endure the office bitches at our old job who were making life hell for a lot of the staff and Andrea and I were the only two who stood up to them and well, they made our life even more hell until both Andrea and I quit our jobs and got the jobs we have now. Needless to say those two old OB's are still miserable where they are and Andrea and I have moved on from strength to strength. Andrea was there for me knowing how much I wanted to have kids but couldn't and just helped me through a lot of personal stuff.
Then one day we just stopped talking to each other. For no real reason except our lives both went for a turn in a different direction. Andrea and her boyfriend split. Then one day out of the blue she announced she found someone new and was pregnant. It shocked me beacuase she always swore she would never have more kids and it was one of the reasons she and the old boyfriend split because he wanted kids (he had none) and she didn't want more. So I think, if I was honest with myself, I distanced myself from her because she was having the very thing I really wanted at the time. A baby. Definately not her fault but not something I could deal with at the time. So I kept making excuses and we just eventually went our separate ways. She found me on Facebook eventually and we started chatting again until last week I decided enough was enough. I had to make amends and it turned out that for the last 6 years we have been working in the same street and never knew it! How we never ran into each other I'll never know. But tomorrow (Monday), I have arranged for us to have lunch together and finally catch up. A few weeks ago she and her now husband moved 2 streets away from us as well which I never knew but it explains the car that always beeped when it drove past! So hopefully we can get this friendship back on track. I'm not proud of myself for being that way with her and I even admitted to her that was the reason I stopped seeing her. But the loyal friend that she is actually blamed herself! She said she had a feeling when she told me she was pregnant that she could have done it in a better way because she realised it would hurt me. And she never held it against me. She always knew when I was ready we would talk again. And I am glad that I did it! So the lesson here is that a true friend will take the good with the bad and they never give up on each other.
Bridge No. 2 - Eldest stepdaughter. Now I know I have told you about how MM had cut daughter No.1 from his life and we just found out she just got engaged to the Dick from Hell who is currently working in Darwin for the next 6 months leaving Daughter 1 at home by herself. I haven't told my MM yet but I decided to message her on Facebook just to congratulate her on her engagement because to be honest I am tired of the two of them being so stubborn. There is a lot of anger and hate there still although MM occasionally will reminisce about this daughter as she was always daddy's girl and he will pop up with a story about the two of them when she was smaller. I thought she would ignore me because I removed her from my friends list 2 years ago after Dad's funeral because she got drunk just after it and was sprouting all kinds of rubbish on Facebook and I had to remove her from mum's Facebook account as well because poor mum definately didn't need to hear the crap she was going on with. At the time I wrote her a nasty message in her inbox telling her to get over herself and to leave us alone etc. And that was the last we heard from her.
To my surprise I got a nice message back a couple of days ago and we chatted again about the last two years. She refuses to talk about her father and when ever I try to bring him into a conversation she changes the subject. She is aware I cannot stand Freak Boy. In fact none of MM's family like him at all because he is sullen and just won't speak. She can do so much better than him. But that's her problem. I'm hoping, once I tell MM, that I can organise a coffee date or something like we used to in the old days. She is so much like her mother...she loves playing the part of the victim and I wish she could see past all that and realise what she would miss if her dad was to be no longer around.
Anyway that's my week thus far in a nutshell. The weekend I spent cleaning out the office and filing (yuk!) and I have a desk again! Yay! Now the accountant will have some spare space to work on when she comes in this week to do the BAS for MM. She wants to retire some time soon and she will be teaching me how to use MYOB and do the BAS each quarter. It's not hard as I have done it before but it's been a while!
Anyway everyone have a great week! Sorry for the yawn fest but there is just not much excitement in this here neck of the woods!
I guess I got to thinking about it all last week when I was feeling very down and thinking way too much. It's always a bad thing when I think too much. I am a very sensitive type person and I tend to think about regrets, and trust me I have had a few! The majority of the regrets are things that were my fault. I am big enough a person to own these things and to acknowledge that I brought some things on myself. I have spent my life trying to be a good person, or at least the best person I can be. Sometimes situations arise where I am not a nice person but that is something I have learnt to live with. It's not a deliberate thing and hey...who's perfect eh? Anyone who says they are is a liar in my book.
Anyway...Bridge No. 1. Last week I made contact with a dear friend who I haven't had much contact with in close to 6 years. We worked together in our last job and became very close friends. When Andrea and her boyfriend moved into a house near ours, MM and I made up a huge grocery basket of goodies for them and the kids because they were struggling and doing it pretty tough. We all got on great. Her kids were the greatest and well Andrea and I were like soul mates. We both had to endure the office bitches at our old job who were making life hell for a lot of the staff and Andrea and I were the only two who stood up to them and well, they made our life even more hell until both Andrea and I quit our jobs and got the jobs we have now. Needless to say those two old OB's are still miserable where they are and Andrea and I have moved on from strength to strength. Andrea was there for me knowing how much I wanted to have kids but couldn't and just helped me through a lot of personal stuff.
Then one day we just stopped talking to each other. For no real reason except our lives both went for a turn in a different direction. Andrea and her boyfriend split. Then one day out of the blue she announced she found someone new and was pregnant. It shocked me beacuase she always swore she would never have more kids and it was one of the reasons she and the old boyfriend split because he wanted kids (he had none) and she didn't want more. So I think, if I was honest with myself, I distanced myself from her because she was having the very thing I really wanted at the time. A baby. Definately not her fault but not something I could deal with at the time. So I kept making excuses and we just eventually went our separate ways. She found me on Facebook eventually and we started chatting again until last week I decided enough was enough. I had to make amends and it turned out that for the last 6 years we have been working in the same street and never knew it! How we never ran into each other I'll never know. But tomorrow (Monday), I have arranged for us to have lunch together and finally catch up. A few weeks ago she and her now husband moved 2 streets away from us as well which I never knew but it explains the car that always beeped when it drove past! So hopefully we can get this friendship back on track. I'm not proud of myself for being that way with her and I even admitted to her that was the reason I stopped seeing her. But the loyal friend that she is actually blamed herself! She said she had a feeling when she told me she was pregnant that she could have done it in a better way because she realised it would hurt me. And she never held it against me. She always knew when I was ready we would talk again. And I am glad that I did it! So the lesson here is that a true friend will take the good with the bad and they never give up on each other.
Bridge No. 2 - Eldest stepdaughter. Now I know I have told you about how MM had cut daughter No.1 from his life and we just found out she just got engaged to the Dick from Hell who is currently working in Darwin for the next 6 months leaving Daughter 1 at home by herself. I haven't told my MM yet but I decided to message her on Facebook just to congratulate her on her engagement because to be honest I am tired of the two of them being so stubborn. There is a lot of anger and hate there still although MM occasionally will reminisce about this daughter as she was always daddy's girl and he will pop up with a story about the two of them when she was smaller. I thought she would ignore me because I removed her from my friends list 2 years ago after Dad's funeral because she got drunk just after it and was sprouting all kinds of rubbish on Facebook and I had to remove her from mum's Facebook account as well because poor mum definately didn't need to hear the crap she was going on with. At the time I wrote her a nasty message in her inbox telling her to get over herself and to leave us alone etc. And that was the last we heard from her.
To my surprise I got a nice message back a couple of days ago and we chatted again about the last two years. She refuses to talk about her father and when ever I try to bring him into a conversation she changes the subject. She is aware I cannot stand Freak Boy. In fact none of MM's family like him at all because he is sullen and just won't speak. She can do so much better than him. But that's her problem. I'm hoping, once I tell MM, that I can organise a coffee date or something like we used to in the old days. She is so much like her mother...she loves playing the part of the victim and I wish she could see past all that and realise what she would miss if her dad was to be no longer around.
Anyway that's my week thus far in a nutshell. The weekend I spent cleaning out the office and filing (yuk!) and I have a desk again! Yay! Now the accountant will have some spare space to work on when she comes in this week to do the BAS for MM. She wants to retire some time soon and she will be teaching me how to use MYOB and do the BAS each quarter. It's not hard as I have done it before but it's been a while!
Anyway everyone have a great week! Sorry for the yawn fest but there is just not much excitement in this here neck of the woods!
Happy Birthday Shaz!!
Happy Birthday to a Dear Friend who had a birthday yesterday (Sunday). I know she reads this page so I just wanted to let her know I was thinking of her. Good friends are hard to find and we have been friends now for 30 years! Yes the time has sure flown by!
Happy Birthday Shaz! Hope you had the best day ever!!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Another Slow Week...
You would think, wouldn't you, that now I have all this spare time on my hands, my days should be action packed and filled to the brim with lots of lovely, exciting things that I have done! Right? But no...it's been slow. But don't get me wrong. I am absolutely LOVING having days off. I am in a happier frame of mind these days and not feeling quite so stressed about all the things I had planned to do but not done yet.
Although this week was different. I wasn't happy...at all...and I have no idea why. I was in an argumentative mood with MM all week so because I was being snippy with him, he was being snippy with me, which made me feel unloved and unappreciated and feeling even more angry with everyone and wondering what the heck was going on. And it wasn't even THAT time of the month! I figure it might be a weather change thing because I know of a couple other girl friends who have been feeling exactly the same so maybe that's it. My mood swings went from being extremely pissed off to being really down in the dumps and crying at the drop of a hat to just giggling at random silly things. I'm sure MM was secretly planning to having me committed at one stage!
Anyway, Tuesday night was the turning point. We both seemed to mellow. We cooked dinner together (which is something we normally do anyway) but I had decided to do Dad's chicken chow mein which has been a long time favourite of mine since childhood and was my dad's specialty. So as we chopped and stirred and tasted together we talked about Dad, we talked abouth the future now the house is paid off and we had just such a nioe time. Once Mr 21 got home from work we served it up and being a cold night it was the perfect meal. This meal has always been a comfort meal for me and because it warms you from the inside it makes you feel good. So the three of us chatted happily around dinner, MM teasing Mr 21 as per usual and just generally having some good laughs.
After dinner we cleaned up then MM and I veged out to watch some of the TV shows MM downloads. We don't watch TV at all much because there is usually nothing on we like. MM downloads a lot of new TV shows from the States that generally don't get aired here or don't air until about a year after the States! We have always both enjoyed watching Survivor and Amazing Race because well, they are funny and we pick our favourites, cheer the ones we love and boo the ones we hate lol. Then we will both try and pick holes out of the strategies of the teams who play. It's pretty much as much a game for us as it is for the contestants! There's a few other shows that have yet to air in Australia that we enjoy watching.
After we got tired of TV we both sat on the computer watching old video clips of our favourite artists on You Tube. Wow talk about going down memory lane! MM and I share the same taste in music so we found our favourites and sang along and even slow danced at one point to our favourite Dr Hook song "Years from now" which MM had played for me when we first met. So yeah we shared some more nice memories until it was time for bed and then...well some things need to stay sacred!
So that was my week and my weird mood was over! Just like that...
Mother's Day was the only other event this week worth mentioning. We did the Mother's Day breakfast at our local sports club with my mum and MM's Mum and all the family. It's a buffet breakfast for $11 and really good value and so much to eat! It usually does all of us until dinner time! My kids bought me the flannellette PJ's I wanted...purple with pink and blue butterflies, and a soft fluffy purple dressing gown, and so nice to wear! The nights are cooler here now so I can now lounge around and be warm! I love it!
Tomorrow (Friday) is my day off and no plans as yet although I do want to catch up on some craft stuff. I'll let you know next blog what I end up doing! Ciao for now!
Although this week was different. I wasn't happy...at all...and I have no idea why. I was in an argumentative mood with MM all week so because I was being snippy with him, he was being snippy with me, which made me feel unloved and unappreciated and feeling even more angry with everyone and wondering what the heck was going on. And it wasn't even THAT time of the month! I figure it might be a weather change thing because I know of a couple other girl friends who have been feeling exactly the same so maybe that's it. My mood swings went from being extremely pissed off to being really down in the dumps and crying at the drop of a hat to just giggling at random silly things. I'm sure MM was secretly planning to having me committed at one stage!
Anyway, Tuesday night was the turning point. We both seemed to mellow. We cooked dinner together (which is something we normally do anyway) but I had decided to do Dad's chicken chow mein which has been a long time favourite of mine since childhood and was my dad's specialty. So as we chopped and stirred and tasted together we talked about Dad, we talked abouth the future now the house is paid off and we had just such a nioe time. Once Mr 21 got home from work we served it up and being a cold night it was the perfect meal. This meal has always been a comfort meal for me and because it warms you from the inside it makes you feel good. So the three of us chatted happily around dinner, MM teasing Mr 21 as per usual and just generally having some good laughs.
After dinner we cleaned up then MM and I veged out to watch some of the TV shows MM downloads. We don't watch TV at all much because there is usually nothing on we like. MM downloads a lot of new TV shows from the States that generally don't get aired here or don't air until about a year after the States! We have always both enjoyed watching Survivor and Amazing Race because well, they are funny and we pick our favourites, cheer the ones we love and boo the ones we hate lol. Then we will both try and pick holes out of the strategies of the teams who play. It's pretty much as much a game for us as it is for the contestants! There's a few other shows that have yet to air in Australia that we enjoy watching.
After we got tired of TV we both sat on the computer watching old video clips of our favourite artists on You Tube. Wow talk about going down memory lane! MM and I share the same taste in music so we found our favourites and sang along and even slow danced at one point to our favourite Dr Hook song "Years from now" which MM had played for me when we first met. So yeah we shared some more nice memories until it was time for bed and then...well some things need to stay sacred!
So that was my week and my weird mood was over! Just like that...
Mother's Day was the only other event this week worth mentioning. We did the Mother's Day breakfast at our local sports club with my mum and MM's Mum and all the family. It's a buffet breakfast for $11 and really good value and so much to eat! It usually does all of us until dinner time! My kids bought me the flannellette PJ's I wanted...purple with pink and blue butterflies, and a soft fluffy purple dressing gown, and so nice to wear! The nights are cooler here now so I can now lounge around and be warm! I love it!
Tomorrow (Friday) is my day off and no plans as yet although I do want to catch up on some craft stuff. I'll let you know next blog what I end up doing! Ciao for now!
Monday, May 2, 2011
Another quiet week...
It seems I have hardly been at work for the past two weeks! I finally went back today. The days I am meant to be working have all fallen on public holidays so I seemed to have worked that out well! Last week I only had one day in the office and this week I only have today and Thursday! Almost feels like being on permanent holiday! Plus I get paid for them!
At home I have really just been spending all my time cleaning through the house and gathering up unwanted items to put on our garage sale which is going to have to happen real soon as I have great piles of stuff and MM is starting to get a bit cranky about it all. Never mind that a lot of it is old computers and parts and other things he couldn't sell in the shop so it will all go cheap on the garage sale. Will be nice to see it all go! We're still trying to toss up which room in the house will be the first to be remodelled. At the moment the consensus is that the upstairs bathroom needs to be totally ripped out and started again. Being a house of the 70's the decor in there is horrendous and all we did when we first moved in 12 or so years ago was rip down the horrid brown paisley wallpaper and my dad painted it a nice lemon colour for me which looked nice considering the horrendous brown timber cupboard and ugly sink top. The shower is a bathtub/shower combo which is horrible especially as we get older and will eventually have problems being able to step up and over the tub to get into the shower! We are planning to rip out the current tub/shower cubicle and get the shower placed under the window at the opposite end of the room and this will make it a bigger shower as well. We want the shower to run along the entire end wall like the one we encountered in a hotel we stayed at once...it was really nice and actually had two shower heads...one at each end! That's the dream anyway along with more modern tiles and something to lighten the whole room up...it is always so dark and dismal in there! It's not a huge room but for what we want it will suit fine. It currently has a huge sink and cupboard, most of which we don't use (just the two of us now) plus a huge mirror right across and really we don't need it now. It was perfect though for when the 2 girls lived with us as all three of us girls do be in there doing make up and be out of each other's way but way too big now. MM reckons he doesn't need a mirror to do his hair as he knows where his head is! Funny boy!
This week MM and I are re-doing our wills especially now the house is paid for. He wants to cut Daughter Number 1 out of it as she is now a non-entity and we haven't seen her since my dad's funeral. We just found out from our son that she is now engaged to marry the freak who is the reason she is no longer part of the family so that has caused a bit of anguish. There is a long story connected to the whole thing and probably best explained in person. Not something I really want to discuss here but needless to say MM now only has two kids not three. Friday we will visit the Solicitor to deal with the final paperwork for Registering the Title Deeds for the house with the Lands Dept. The bank wants us to keep it with them for an annual cost but it was suggested by friends we seek legal advice which we now have and they will do all the running around for us and hold the Deeds for no cost with them in a secure box so we are doing that. They will also update our wills for no extra cost. All up it will cost around $250 which wil be paid to the Lands Dept and also pay the Solicitors fee which we thought was pretty good and we decided it would make it easier as we have no clue what we are supposed to do now and the bank keeps confusing us so we figure leave it to the experts! I always figured you paid for your house and all was good but there are papers to be signed and documents to be lodged with different places...no-one really explained to us exactly what needs to happen! We are thinking now of buying a block of land with a view to build a little down the track so we will wait and see...the house is too big for us now and we want something low set especially as we get older and now is probably the time to do it but first I want to enjoy being debt free for a bit!
My niece, Miss 17 got her test results back regarding her panic attacks and her heart problems. She now has to go to the Cardiologist at the Royal Brisbane Hospital for further tests as they have spotted some abnormalities. She is scared out of her wits poor kid but they are saying this is also the cause of her panic attacks...her heart stops, she can't breathe and because she can't breathe her body seizes up and she panics which then places more pressure on her heart! They were going to put her on anti-depressants but we talked her out of those as I don't think kids her age should be on those and now the doctor thinks she doesn't need them now anyway which is good.
Things with her and mum have settled down a great deal. They are actually being civil to each other and their relationship is back to the loving one they had before dad passed away. Mum has become more accepting of Miss 17's boyfriend and that has helped. He keeps her calm and makes her a much more relaxed person. He still spends way too much time at mum's house. Mum reckons he should be paying board because he eats, sleeps and showers there about 3 or 4 days out of every week! The other half of the week Miss 17 sleeps at his house! It's a good arrangement for them but not too sure about the parents!
Anyway I guess that's all the goss from me for the moment. Oh yeah I spent Friday afternoon/night watching the lead up and then THE Wedding of the Century! I am a romantic and I love that sort of thing but it meant MM spent the night downstairs on the computer because he had no interest in it at all poor love! I didn't care...I had my champers and my nibblies to myself and I chilled out and watched and marvelled at how beautiful she looked. It didn't seem that long ago when we were watching Princess Di's wedding. Was it really 30 years ago??? *Ouch*!!
Wow...just about to post this and a flash storm has just hit here...the lights flickered and then a big *boom* of thunder...hope it clears up before this afternoon...don't fancy trying to get a train home in stormy weather especially since the trains don't like to get wet! Thank goodness tomorrow (Wednesday) is a day off for me.
At home I have really just been spending all my time cleaning through the house and gathering up unwanted items to put on our garage sale which is going to have to happen real soon as I have great piles of stuff and MM is starting to get a bit cranky about it all. Never mind that a lot of it is old computers and parts and other things he couldn't sell in the shop so it will all go cheap on the garage sale. Will be nice to see it all go! We're still trying to toss up which room in the house will be the first to be remodelled. At the moment the consensus is that the upstairs bathroom needs to be totally ripped out and started again. Being a house of the 70's the decor in there is horrendous and all we did when we first moved in 12 or so years ago was rip down the horrid brown paisley wallpaper and my dad painted it a nice lemon colour for me which looked nice considering the horrendous brown timber cupboard and ugly sink top. The shower is a bathtub/shower combo which is horrible especially as we get older and will eventually have problems being able to step up and over the tub to get into the shower! We are planning to rip out the current tub/shower cubicle and get the shower placed under the window at the opposite end of the room and this will make it a bigger shower as well. We want the shower to run along the entire end wall like the one we encountered in a hotel we stayed at once...it was really nice and actually had two shower heads...one at each end! That's the dream anyway along with more modern tiles and something to lighten the whole room up...it is always so dark and dismal in there! It's not a huge room but for what we want it will suit fine. It currently has a huge sink and cupboard, most of which we don't use (just the two of us now) plus a huge mirror right across and really we don't need it now. It was perfect though for when the 2 girls lived with us as all three of us girls do be in there doing make up and be out of each other's way but way too big now. MM reckons he doesn't need a mirror to do his hair as he knows where his head is! Funny boy!
This week MM and I are re-doing our wills especially now the house is paid for. He wants to cut Daughter Number 1 out of it as she is now a non-entity and we haven't seen her since my dad's funeral. We just found out from our son that she is now engaged to marry the freak who is the reason she is no longer part of the family so that has caused a bit of anguish. There is a long story connected to the whole thing and probably best explained in person. Not something I really want to discuss here but needless to say MM now only has two kids not three. Friday we will visit the Solicitor to deal with the final paperwork for Registering the Title Deeds for the house with the Lands Dept. The bank wants us to keep it with them for an annual cost but it was suggested by friends we seek legal advice which we now have and they will do all the running around for us and hold the Deeds for no cost with them in a secure box so we are doing that. They will also update our wills for no extra cost. All up it will cost around $250 which wil be paid to the Lands Dept and also pay the Solicitors fee which we thought was pretty good and we decided it would make it easier as we have no clue what we are supposed to do now and the bank keeps confusing us so we figure leave it to the experts! I always figured you paid for your house and all was good but there are papers to be signed and documents to be lodged with different places...no-one really explained to us exactly what needs to happen! We are thinking now of buying a block of land with a view to build a little down the track so we will wait and see...the house is too big for us now and we want something low set especially as we get older and now is probably the time to do it but first I want to enjoy being debt free for a bit!
My niece, Miss 17 got her test results back regarding her panic attacks and her heart problems. She now has to go to the Cardiologist at the Royal Brisbane Hospital for further tests as they have spotted some abnormalities. She is scared out of her wits poor kid but they are saying this is also the cause of her panic attacks...her heart stops, she can't breathe and because she can't breathe her body seizes up and she panics which then places more pressure on her heart! They were going to put her on anti-depressants but we talked her out of those as I don't think kids her age should be on those and now the doctor thinks she doesn't need them now anyway which is good.
Things with her and mum have settled down a great deal. They are actually being civil to each other and their relationship is back to the loving one they had before dad passed away. Mum has become more accepting of Miss 17's boyfriend and that has helped. He keeps her calm and makes her a much more relaxed person. He still spends way too much time at mum's house. Mum reckons he should be paying board because he eats, sleeps and showers there about 3 or 4 days out of every week! The other half of the week Miss 17 sleeps at his house! It's a good arrangement for them but not too sure about the parents!
Anyway I guess that's all the goss from me for the moment. Oh yeah I spent Friday afternoon/night watching the lead up and then THE Wedding of the Century! I am a romantic and I love that sort of thing but it meant MM spent the night downstairs on the computer because he had no interest in it at all poor love! I didn't care...I had my champers and my nibblies to myself and I chilled out and watched and marvelled at how beautiful she looked. It didn't seem that long ago when we were watching Princess Di's wedding. Was it really 30 years ago??? *Ouch*!!
Wow...just about to post this and a flash storm has just hit here...the lights flickered and then a big *boom* of thunder...hope it clears up before this afternoon...don't fancy trying to get a train home in stormy weather especially since the trains don't like to get wet! Thank goodness tomorrow (Wednesday) is a day off for me.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
By Request...
Here is a couple of photos which were originally just on slides. I scanned them into a jpeg file and now they are ready to be printed.
These are probably my favourite pictures of me as a little one! This was when we lived in a one room shack at Tannum Sands...its amazing to see how different it was in the days we lived there compared to now! These haven't been fixed yet...if you open the photo right up you can see what I am dealing with age wise but with Photoshop I can erase all the age marks and negative wear and tear and make them look like new again!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Short & Sweet...
Blog for this week is very short as it was a really quiet Easter and long weekend. Feeling the pains of having no money until next pay day! I know...it was all for a good cause as all our money just paid off our mortgage but its sad having 5 days off and nowhere to go! Still I made the most of it.
I got caught up on decluttering the house. I now have a beautiful clean craft room again and I have cleaned out a whole heap of cupboards in MM's office ready to rip out the old wardrobe that used to hold all our stationery supplies and other odds and sods. MM has someone coming in to build some proper cupboards and benches so the room will look like an actual office instead of a bedroom which is what it was when we first bought the house and never could afford to renovate it! We are planning a garage sale very soon as I now have boxes and boxes of stuff to sell so hopefully we will make enough to be able to afford to tile the floor which will make the room look awesome!
MM also bought me a new scanner as the old one died suddenly. I was so disappointed to see the old one go as it was one of those that turns slides and negatives into photos. Over the past couple of years mum gave me boxes of her old slides to do and it was quite tedious as it only did one slide or negative at a time. But this new scanner is brilliant! Now I can do 5 slides at a time and a whole roll of negatives in one go. So in one day I actually scanned 2 big boxes of slides (about 275 to be exact) into jpeg files ready for printing out. Mum was so excited as a lot of the slides were from 1965 and had never been printed to photos. Now mum has a CD of photos ready for her to print out and do whatever she wants with them. Was really nice to see all my old baby photos and photos of my first birthday with mum and dad...was a real walk down memory lane!
My next task now is to scan 2 huge folders of negatives from MM's photography days when he was a professional photographer. As he used to develop his own photos there are hundreds of negatives he never bothered doing and I found 3 or 4 that he actually won awards for and there is one which actually used to hang in the Brisbane City Hall. Not sure if it is still there but I now have the photo!
I also did a bit more work on Dad's book. He left a couple of reams of handwritten notes for me to decipher so I am working my way through them in the hope of one day putting them all into a book for family and friends. I am envisaging it taking a couple of years! Along with the notes is his old journal which is full so it might be a while!
Easter Sunday was quiet. The kids went to their mother's for breakfast so it was just MM and myself. After the kids got back we went on a drive to visit my mum and MM's parents which pretty much took up the rest of the day. Got loaded up with choclate so came home, watched a few more episodes of "Cold Case" and pigged out on choclate for a bit. Still have heaps left over and I am already over choclate! I have never been that much of a choclate lover. If it is there I will eat it but it's not something I go out of my way to buy. Occasionally MM will buy me a nice block of choclate if he is schmoozing up to me for whatever reason but other than that I can take it or leave it.
Anyway today (Thursday) is my only day of work this week. I should have just had the whole week off instead of coming in one day but at least there is no choclate here!
I got caught up on decluttering the house. I now have a beautiful clean craft room again and I have cleaned out a whole heap of cupboards in MM's office ready to rip out the old wardrobe that used to hold all our stationery supplies and other odds and sods. MM has someone coming in to build some proper cupboards and benches so the room will look like an actual office instead of a bedroom which is what it was when we first bought the house and never could afford to renovate it! We are planning a garage sale very soon as I now have boxes and boxes of stuff to sell so hopefully we will make enough to be able to afford to tile the floor which will make the room look awesome!
MM also bought me a new scanner as the old one died suddenly. I was so disappointed to see the old one go as it was one of those that turns slides and negatives into photos. Over the past couple of years mum gave me boxes of her old slides to do and it was quite tedious as it only did one slide or negative at a time. But this new scanner is brilliant! Now I can do 5 slides at a time and a whole roll of negatives in one go. So in one day I actually scanned 2 big boxes of slides (about 275 to be exact) into jpeg files ready for printing out. Mum was so excited as a lot of the slides were from 1965 and had never been printed to photos. Now mum has a CD of photos ready for her to print out and do whatever she wants with them. Was really nice to see all my old baby photos and photos of my first birthday with mum and dad...was a real walk down memory lane!
My next task now is to scan 2 huge folders of negatives from MM's photography days when he was a professional photographer. As he used to develop his own photos there are hundreds of negatives he never bothered doing and I found 3 or 4 that he actually won awards for and there is one which actually used to hang in the Brisbane City Hall. Not sure if it is still there but I now have the photo!
I also did a bit more work on Dad's book. He left a couple of reams of handwritten notes for me to decipher so I am working my way through them in the hope of one day putting them all into a book for family and friends. I am envisaging it taking a couple of years! Along with the notes is his old journal which is full so it might be a while!
Easter Sunday was quiet. The kids went to their mother's for breakfast so it was just MM and myself. After the kids got back we went on a drive to visit my mum and MM's parents which pretty much took up the rest of the day. Got loaded up with choclate so came home, watched a few more episodes of "Cold Case" and pigged out on choclate for a bit. Still have heaps left over and I am already over choclate! I have never been that much of a choclate lover. If it is there I will eat it but it's not something I go out of my way to buy. Occasionally MM will buy me a nice block of choclate if he is schmoozing up to me for whatever reason but other than that I can take it or leave it.
Anyway today (Thursday) is my only day of work this week. I should have just had the whole week off instead of coming in one day but at least there is no choclate here!
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Freedom at Long Last!!
Wow...Seems the last time I blogged was back in January around the time of Great Brisbane Flood 2011! I was off work for 3 weeks over that time as our building had flooded and the office re-located to the south side of Brisbane which made it hard for those of us wh live north side to get to work considering a lot of the roads were out and the bridge out near where I live was broken. (Still is nearly 4 months later but more on that later!). So I was given the option of coming to work and having to catch 2 trains and one bus each way every day or to take leave for 2 weeks. The first week was given to us fully paid up to compensate for our pain and suffering! Nice :) So I chose to take leave which I had accrued bucket loads of anyway.
By the end of January we were back in our slightly smelly and damp building but now near the end of April all the renovations are nearly complete and its like there was never any water anywhere! Mum's house was saved...no water came up to the back thank goodness as we were a little worried as there was so much water! But now life goes on, Brisbane is rebuilding and we are back to normal. It's still very annoying near where I live though as the Petrie Mill bridge is a 2 lane each way thoroughfare for those of us who live on the northside to get to the city. It was completely closed for a few weeks after the flooding which meant peak hour traffic in the mornings and afternoon was horrendous as everyone had to divert to the highway which even out of peak hour time is bumper to bumper. It was taking people 2 - 3 hours longer to get to the city which was at a crawl. Eventually they opened up one lane each way on our bridge and it is still chaos. I run the risk everyday of missing my train as with the one lane closed there are hundreds of peak hour commuters trying to merge into one single lane. Needless to say road rage is a wonderful start to everyone's morning!
There was one day because the traffic was so bad, cars started to come down my street where I live because it leads to the bridge as well and people assumed it would be quicker. Hah! It was even worse! And what made it worse for me was I could not get out of my own driveway and sat for an hour just up the street from my house before finally getting out. No-one could move and no-one could to get out. Finally after nearly 2 hours I got to the roundabout at the end of my street turned around and worked my way back home having decided I wasn't going to bother to go to work! What a day! But now nearly 4 months later the Council have not even touched the bridge and traffic snarls continue. There is plenty of equipment sitting there and has sat there since January, but not a Council worker is in attendance anywhere. What is ironic is that after the huge earthquake in Japan, their major highways were ripped apart and it apparently took them only 48 hours to repair them to a useable level and yet here we are, 4 months later and one little bridge, which doesn't even really look damaged too badly, is still sitting and waiting. *Sigh*
Anyway enough of the doom and gloom for now.
My good news is last Wednesday I made my FINAL MORTGAGE PAYMENT!! So exciting! It has taken 12 and half brutal years of no spending, no holidays, no nothing but I'm thinking now it is worth it. Of course we have absoloutely NO MONEY right now as everything we had went into paying it all off but give it a month or two and we will have some savings. What a relief. Plus at the end of February I went part-time with work so I am now semi-retired. I can't see myself giving up work completely as we still have general living expenses to pay and neither of us is old enough to claim a pension but working three days a week is heaven. I work Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays and have Wednesday and Fridays off. MM makes enough money with his business to pay the general household bills associated with his business from home so all in all I think we will do just fine. I do want to work closer to home though so at the moment I am using my time off to find closer work because the 45 min travel each day to work is really tiring now.
With the time off I am finding my days are busier than before! We are now going to start renovating and my project at the moment is going through each room and de-cluttering. Its amazing how much junk we have accumulated over the nearly 13 years we have lived here. So I am being really brutal and getting rid of everything. I am going to organise a garage sale on the next clear and fine weekend we have as mum has also been decluttering her house so between us we should have heaps to sell! Mum is hoping to sell enough to get herself a new garden shed as her old one is falling apart and all dad's old tools are getting damaged and weather worn. My share is going towards the holiday MM and I will eventually go on although we now have to start saving again as our holiday fund went into the mortgage! So wish us luck!
I forgot to mention that during the January troubles, my niece, Miss 17 ended up moving in with MM and myself. She and my mum were going through some very serious issues with each other. Neither could bear the sight of the other and the fighting had reached a head to a point where I had Miss 17 on the phone to me sobbing about how much she hated it there and then when MM and I went over to see what was going on, Miss 17 was in her room sobbing and my mum was sobbing her heart out in the lounge room. So I went to talk to Miss 17 while MM calmed down my mum and had a talk with her to find out what was going on. In the end nothing was solved, neither would look or even talk to the other without screaming at each other so I told Miss 17 to pack up some things and she was coming to stay with us for a while to give her grandmother a break. Neither of them fought that idea so Miss 17 moved in with us. I think the biggest trouble is Miss 17 is a teenager and doing what teenagers do best by being disrespectful, treating mum like her personal slave and bank, being demanding, not helping out around the house, wanting to have her boyfriend around all the time and then being shitty because mum was annoyed about not having any notice the boyfriend was coming and so no meals were organised. All this while mum was upset about the house, worried about paying the bills and feeling angry and sad that dad wasn't around to help her out with these issues. Mum was just feeling very much alone and on her own and really Miss 17 is not her daughter and should not be mum's responsibility. Mum agreed she just needed some space and some alone time and just time to do what SHE wanted to do and not have to run around after a 17 year old. MM and I talked quite a bit to Miss 17 over the course of her stay and it was good for her too and for us to know she misses her granddad badly and she knows she is being a bitch to her grandmother but she carries a lot of anger and we worked through that with her.
After 2 weeks with us she began to miss her grandmother and I took her and mum out to coffee one day, the first time they had spoken in 2 weeks and they hugged and genuinely missed each other so we let Miss 17 go home and she has been there ever since. Things have gotten better although they quarrel from time to time but now Miss 17 always apologises and tries to make it up to mum. She does a little more around the house, not much but a little, is looking for full time work now she has decided not to study and spends a lot of time with her boyfriend.
Her weekends are devoted to her photography and she gets a lot of paid jobs now. Mum got her a heap of business cards so she does work for people as well as getting paid jobs modelling herself. A couple of weeks ago she was offered a job modelling in New York all expenses paid! She was allowed to bring 4 people with her although they had to pay for their own air fares but accommodation was paid for. She wanted to take me and Ray lol. Unfortunately she had to turn it down as they only gave her 10 days notice and none of us has passports but they told her to get a passport and they may find more work for her. So you never know!
So I think roughly that's my life since Christmas. I have more to tell but it's home time for me so I'm off to catch a train. Catch you all later!
By the end of January we were back in our slightly smelly and damp building but now near the end of April all the renovations are nearly complete and its like there was never any water anywhere! Mum's house was saved...no water came up to the back thank goodness as we were a little worried as there was so much water! But now life goes on, Brisbane is rebuilding and we are back to normal. It's still very annoying near where I live though as the Petrie Mill bridge is a 2 lane each way thoroughfare for those of us who live on the northside to get to the city. It was completely closed for a few weeks after the flooding which meant peak hour traffic in the mornings and afternoon was horrendous as everyone had to divert to the highway which even out of peak hour time is bumper to bumper. It was taking people 2 - 3 hours longer to get to the city which was at a crawl. Eventually they opened up one lane each way on our bridge and it is still chaos. I run the risk everyday of missing my train as with the one lane closed there are hundreds of peak hour commuters trying to merge into one single lane. Needless to say road rage is a wonderful start to everyone's morning!
There was one day because the traffic was so bad, cars started to come down my street where I live because it leads to the bridge as well and people assumed it would be quicker. Hah! It was even worse! And what made it worse for me was I could not get out of my own driveway and sat for an hour just up the street from my house before finally getting out. No-one could move and no-one could to get out. Finally after nearly 2 hours I got to the roundabout at the end of my street turned around and worked my way back home having decided I wasn't going to bother to go to work! What a day! But now nearly 4 months later the Council have not even touched the bridge and traffic snarls continue. There is plenty of equipment sitting there and has sat there since January, but not a Council worker is in attendance anywhere. What is ironic is that after the huge earthquake in Japan, their major highways were ripped apart and it apparently took them only 48 hours to repair them to a useable level and yet here we are, 4 months later and one little bridge, which doesn't even really look damaged too badly, is still sitting and waiting. *Sigh*
Anyway enough of the doom and gloom for now.
My good news is last Wednesday I made my FINAL MORTGAGE PAYMENT!! So exciting! It has taken 12 and half brutal years of no spending, no holidays, no nothing but I'm thinking now it is worth it. Of course we have absoloutely NO MONEY right now as everything we had went into paying it all off but give it a month or two and we will have some savings. What a relief. Plus at the end of February I went part-time with work so I am now semi-retired. I can't see myself giving up work completely as we still have general living expenses to pay and neither of us is old enough to claim a pension but working three days a week is heaven. I work Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays and have Wednesday and Fridays off. MM makes enough money with his business to pay the general household bills associated with his business from home so all in all I think we will do just fine. I do want to work closer to home though so at the moment I am using my time off to find closer work because the 45 min travel each day to work is really tiring now.
With the time off I am finding my days are busier than before! We are now going to start renovating and my project at the moment is going through each room and de-cluttering. Its amazing how much junk we have accumulated over the nearly 13 years we have lived here. So I am being really brutal and getting rid of everything. I am going to organise a garage sale on the next clear and fine weekend we have as mum has also been decluttering her house so between us we should have heaps to sell! Mum is hoping to sell enough to get herself a new garden shed as her old one is falling apart and all dad's old tools are getting damaged and weather worn. My share is going towards the holiday MM and I will eventually go on although we now have to start saving again as our holiday fund went into the mortgage! So wish us luck!
I forgot to mention that during the January troubles, my niece, Miss 17 ended up moving in with MM and myself. She and my mum were going through some very serious issues with each other. Neither could bear the sight of the other and the fighting had reached a head to a point where I had Miss 17 on the phone to me sobbing about how much she hated it there and then when MM and I went over to see what was going on, Miss 17 was in her room sobbing and my mum was sobbing her heart out in the lounge room. So I went to talk to Miss 17 while MM calmed down my mum and had a talk with her to find out what was going on. In the end nothing was solved, neither would look or even talk to the other without screaming at each other so I told Miss 17 to pack up some things and she was coming to stay with us for a while to give her grandmother a break. Neither of them fought that idea so Miss 17 moved in with us. I think the biggest trouble is Miss 17 is a teenager and doing what teenagers do best by being disrespectful, treating mum like her personal slave and bank, being demanding, not helping out around the house, wanting to have her boyfriend around all the time and then being shitty because mum was annoyed about not having any notice the boyfriend was coming and so no meals were organised. All this while mum was upset about the house, worried about paying the bills and feeling angry and sad that dad wasn't around to help her out with these issues. Mum was just feeling very much alone and on her own and really Miss 17 is not her daughter and should not be mum's responsibility. Mum agreed she just needed some space and some alone time and just time to do what SHE wanted to do and not have to run around after a 17 year old. MM and I talked quite a bit to Miss 17 over the course of her stay and it was good for her too and for us to know she misses her granddad badly and she knows she is being a bitch to her grandmother but she carries a lot of anger and we worked through that with her.
After 2 weeks with us she began to miss her grandmother and I took her and mum out to coffee one day, the first time they had spoken in 2 weeks and they hugged and genuinely missed each other so we let Miss 17 go home and she has been there ever since. Things have gotten better although they quarrel from time to time but now Miss 17 always apologises and tries to make it up to mum. She does a little more around the house, not much but a little, is looking for full time work now she has decided not to study and spends a lot of time with her boyfriend.
Her weekends are devoted to her photography and she gets a lot of paid jobs now. Mum got her a heap of business cards so she does work for people as well as getting paid jobs modelling herself. A couple of weeks ago she was offered a job modelling in New York all expenses paid! She was allowed to bring 4 people with her although they had to pay for their own air fares but accommodation was paid for. She wanted to take me and Ray lol. Unfortunately she had to turn it down as they only gave her 10 days notice and none of us has passports but they told her to get a passport and they may find more work for her. So you never know!
So I think roughly that's my life since Christmas. I have more to tell but it's home time for me so I'm off to catch a train. Catch you all later!
Friday, January 14, 2011
Row, row, row, your boat....
Photos taken behind mum's house. The property behind her house is generally a nice green paddack that has horses and cows grazing on it and the farmer who owns it also has a small race track, now under water, which he uses to break in his horses. The creek generally can't be seen from mum's house as a rule.
These are pictures of my office at Milton.
It is times like this I wish we had a boat! As most people would be aware this wonderful city of Brisbane in which I live, is one third under water although today, as I am writing this, it is the third day of no rain and the sun is out although looking out the door it is getting overcast here again and I am really hoping we have no more rain! It seems like it has rained for months!
For the first time in years we have had the TV on and watching the news reports 24/7 in an effort to find out more. The devastation has been heartbreaking and reading in the news of people's last moments before being washed away by flood and seeing people talk on the news about their devastating losses, it feels like I will never stop crying. So many stories of heroism and sadness and loss. The frightening images seen all over the world, even by my cousins in America, of the "flash flood" in Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley. Ordinary people in the town doing their day to day chores suddenly being washed away by a 7 - 8 foot wall of water with many drowned, babies being ripped from the arms of their mothers, children with their parents being washed away and drowned. A family actually sitting in their house and being washed away to their deaths. Words cannot describe how heartbreaking it all is.
What is even more remarkable though is the caring everyone is experiencing. I have had family and friends all over the world trying to call and email and message me via Facebook to make sure we are safe and ok. And I love them all for it. All of Brisbane is trying hard to help each other out. MM and I spent a day ringing around different agencies offering up temporary accommodation at our house as we have two spare bedrooms and three beds plus about 4 or 5 spare mattresses and we are willing to share space with any who need. Eventually the Salvation Army said they would register our home and would call us if needed.
My home is beside Lake Kurwongbah which gets water from the North Pine dam and it flooded up and over the road but because we are up high it would never have a chance to get to our house thankfully. We were however stranded from the rest of Brisbane as the Petrie Mill Bridge was extremely flooded and closed. Youngs Crossing Road in the opposite direction was also closed. It floods every time someone spits out the window so no surprises there. And then the third exit, the Bruce Highway was also blocked so we had no way out any way we looked.
Mum we were worried about and no matter how hard we tried to convince her to evacuate, she wouldn't go. She has my brother and niece living there though as well so we hoped they would be okay. The lake behind her house was a huge dam! The property it sits on belongs to a farmer and his house went under. The paddock is generally full of cows and horses and a small racetrack where he trains his horses. Mum worried the whole time about the horses and cows bless her heart! The old farmer once told dad the last time it flooded was in the 1950's and the tree is still there with the water line marked on the tree. This time the water got all the way up to mum's back fence and they worried with the king tide that it would go right up to the house and underneath. Thankfully it didn't.
The funniest thing though was mum took her girls outside for a toilet break and Sasha took one look at all the water out the back and started barking hysterically. Mum said she had to laugh as Sasha was probably wondering what happened to her back yard and probably worrying about whether or not this was her home! They had never seen so much water in one place!
Anyway I have attached some pictures of the scenes behind mum's house and also photos of my office in Milton. Looks like another week before we can get in there. The office is setting up a temporary office at one of our kindergartens but we have the option also of taking leave which I think I will do as the kindy is much farther out for me than Milton and not really worth it for me to travel all that way.
But once again thanks to all who phoned and wrote asking if we were ok. We are still waiting to hear from dad's family in Ipswich as we haven't been able to get through and we are hoping they are safe and sound and one of MM's family has also got family in Ipswich and she hasn't heard from them either so hopefully they too will be ok. Now with the severe weather conditions heading to other parts of Australia we pray everyone stays safe and sound.
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