Home & Family TO BE FIXED – Page 16

Before I do anything else, let me post a piccie of Tannia, Mum, Fraze and Jason (and me) from our pub night out – for some reason WP won’t let me edit my last post whatsoever, so the formatting is totally screwed up, and a couple of piccies missing ho-hum …

Rightio, back to the story we go …

My final day at work in Melbourne was very very sad – I was mortified that the my fellow Hotliners had done a small collection for me (which never happens for a secondment as technically you’re not ‘leaving’) … so I was very unprepared when a sign went up saying the presentation for Anne was about to start … yikes!! I was so overcome emotionally I could hardly say anything, and got all teary-eyed. Their gift for me was perfect – I got given a book of Sydney street maps for driving (which was christened on my way into the city on Saturday night) and a $50 gift voucher from Visa so I can use it anywhere … to say I was stunned and touched is a definite understatement!!

Anyway, we didn’t do too badly by getting on the road by 1pm (I finished work around 12 noon, although I only answered about 4 phone calls all day – I brought mini chocolate bars in for everyone in the building and spent 2 hours walking round handing them out and saying farewells to everybody … gotta love that! haha). As we’d been up since just after 4am, we decided not to push things on the first day of the journey, and drove as far as Sale before stopping for a leg stretch and drink (I also paid my RACV membership which had expired and got printouts of a driving map for the next day). After that we just drove to Lakes Entrance, arriving around 6pm, where we paid for a cabin with ensuite at one of the Big4 Holiday Parks. We unpacked the car which was basically the entire back seat jam-packed right up to the top of the seat head rests haha, and then wandered over for a walk up the river inlet and over to the beach to see what “90 mile beach” looked like. It was nice and invigorating having that walk, as we’d been feeling like death warmed up just moments before being over-tired. We finished the day with a chicken salad and bottle of wine while watching So You Think You Can Dance on TV … and so endeth our first day travelling. One highlight of the day for me was seeing an echidna on the side of the road (alive).

Day 2 saw us driving up the coast with a bit of a side trip. I’d been advised Mallacoota was a nice spot to visit, and I have to say they weren’t wrong, but before we got there we took a side trip to Marlo … a very small and peaceful hamlet, we were thrilled to see our first pelicans in the wild when we drove down to the water’s edge. I got a bit camera happy there, but loved every minute of it. I have to say, too, I wish I’d had the guts to also take a photo of some of the local fisherman as they looked like they’d just walked off the set of Deliverance!! Picture the long flowing beards and look of Z-Z-Top, and you’d have the image perfectly created!!

After Marlo we drove on to Mallacoota – it was a fair detour off the main highway, but it was just lovely. It’s definitely somewhere I could have stayed a night or two and enjoyed the peace and tranquility of the area. Here I found another stuffed duck to add to my collection (actually the dog here, Dusty, can obviously sniff out a ‘toy’ at 1000 paces ‘cos I caught him with his snout in the bag last night, with jaws around my poor duck – it’s now residing on a top shelf in the wardrobe away from his drooling jaws LOL), and I grabbed a cappuccino to take away so we could sit and have lunch and refreshments down on the lakefront watching yet more pelicans and their antics. They made me laugh when at one stage there were four of them lined up at the fishing station begging to be fed fish scraps – it was too funny!!

From Mallacoota we took one more quick detour before returning to the highway, to Gypsy Point – mentioned in the tourist info it’s supposed to be a great haven for bird lovers, and it was lovely and secluded with a small like in the bush setting … definitely a place to ‘get away from it all’ and relax. Here we managed to see some Galah’s up close (although they’re really common in Victoria too, Mum hadn’t seen them that close I don’t think).

After that we continued on hugging the coastline via Eden, Merrimbula, Perrimbula, and Tathra, before finally settling in at Bermagui for the night … but I’ll leave the tale there for another night, as it’s way past my bedtime before my alarm goes off at 5.50am tomorrow!

Arrived in one piece!

14 November, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Here we are in Sydney … 1190 km after leaving Melbourne, we’re really here!! In fact we arrived on Saturday night, but I haven’t had time to post until now. It was a great trip, with some exquisite scenery and wildlife that we encountered along the way. Parts of the trip were a bit boring, but you’ve gotta expect that driving across such a vast land mass. I’ll share a few photos of the journey just to give you a tiny taste of what we saw etc in another post (in fact, I think I’ll do a few separate posts to make uploads easier).

Firstly, though, I want to share some words of belated thanks to Jenna, my northern twin … weeks and weeks ago she sent me the most awesome card in the technique of quilling, and I just love it to death. I was parading it around the office showing it to anyone who would stand still long enough, then had it sitting on my desk all day. Unfortunately it arrived on the day when I was moving housesitting jobs and it got packed away – and I couldn’t blog about it immediately as I didn’t have internet access at the time. I did take a photo that night, but in no way does it do it justice (I really should take another photo in daylight!). I can finally share it, though … isn’t it the most perfect thing for a duck lover like myself? I just adore it to bits!! I’m going to get a wee frame for it to keep it protected – thanks so much again Jenna, I totally adore it! 😀

Rightio, now back to the travelling news etc … in fact, I think I’ll do a separate post for each day, and I’ll start off with snippets from our final week in Melbourne.

As I’ve already mentioned, we managed to get to see Tannia and Bill performing the week before we left – it was a wonderful listening experience, and the time flew past. I have to say the food was also great – and the company just as great. Thanks again Tannia for your friendship – while we only start meeting each other recently, I hope the friendship continues, and I look forward to the day when we can catch up once again 😀

On the Sunday before we left, I took one more day of annual leave so Mum and I could have a “free day” to go back out to the Mornington Peninsula and Arthur’s Seat to see how the gardens have changed, and see the roses in bloom. It was absolutely pelting down with rain, and I found out later there were flood warnings out past the area where we were … but we decided to brace ourselves and get out in the abysmal weather and still have an enjoyable day out. The winds were quite blustery so Mum’s umbrella ended up inside out a couple of times – and she was holding two umbrellas over me while I tried to take some photos of the roses – we didn’t let the weather get us down, and we had a really lovely time together as always. I’m very lucky to have a really close relationship with my Mum! Here are some photos I took that day … including a funny one of Mum!

Ashcombe Lavender Gardens & Maze
Of course we couldn’t go and not sample the rose petal scones – which were divine! (plus some plain ones)

I think this one is from the Myrtle family?

Of course I got all excited when I saw a row of ducks waddling in formation across the lawn – I finally managed to get a quick photo when they stopped for a bit of preening!

Enchanted Maze Garden
It was nice to see the cottage garden all filled in with flowers, and leaves on the trees 🙂

And the piece de resistance:

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On the way home we called in to see our good friend Sharon, along with Pete and Erin – as always it’s a pleasure to spend time with them … Sharon was the first stitching friend I made in Melbourne, and it was sad to say goodbye – but it’s not for good as Sharon is hoping to come visit me in Sydney, which will be wonderful! Both Mum and I adore her, and even though we didn’t see each other that often, I will miss being able to pop over and say “hi”. Sharon spoilt me rotten with some farewell gifts, which I forgot to take a photo of, and everything is now packed up – as soon as I unpack everything again, I’ll take a piccie – I especially adore the birdie ornament, it took my breath away – but everything was very thoughtful and touching … Erin kindly took a photo of the three of us ladies together – I’ll check that Sharon is OK to add the photo to the blog and hopefully I’ll be able to post that later as well 🙂

OK, that’ll do for today – there’s so much more to write, but I have to run to get ready as we’re heading out to catch a train to Katoomba today. Dragonfly Dreams, here we come!! 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Bye-bye to Melbourne

7 November, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Sorry, no time to write … am frantically trying to pack up the boot of the car etc ready for a 4am wake-up call to finish off the final packing and heading off to work for a 6am shift (the final one!). Then tomorrow lunchtime we take the journey up north … will try to write more either on the road or in Sydney – just haven’t had time to sit at the computer this week at all. I promise photos etc very very soon!!!

Now I’m off to pack up the laptop for the journey as well … hooroo!! 🙂

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

A little bit AWOL

2 November, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Sorry I’ve been absent for a while – things are pretty hectic around here, and to top things off my modem has been playing up and not working … tonight is the first time in a week I’ve managed to get the darned thing connecting hmmm.

Anyway, this is just a really quick post to let you know I haven’t fallen off the planet just yet – I’ve been spending my spare time catching up with wonderful friends in Melbourne … last Sunday we had a ladies day out at Tannia’s home, with Mum, Sharon, Tannia and myself, and had a fantastic day out – as always, Tannia was the perfect hostess, and it was a great day in great company 🙂

Yesterday we hiked all the way over from Airport West to Lilydale to catch up with Frazier’s folks, which was another great visit. We also caught up with Phil & Dawn, friends I made through Frazier a few years ago – they’re always great company, and the favourite of all of Frazier’s friends that I’ve met to date.

Tonight we spent a couple of hours in the storage unit in Highett before treating myself to a new duvet cover set in the sales at Myer at Southland shopping centre, then trekking out for almost 2 hours doing 15km/hour in peak hour traffic back to Airport West to feed the menagerie before heading straight out the door again to head back into the city. We met Frazier and Jason for dinner at a pub where Tannia and her DH play – it was wonderful to finally see and hear them performing together … Tannia has a magical voice, and it was truly a pleasure to spend the night out there. I hope it won’t be too long before we can catch up again 🙂 It’s been one of life’s treasures getting to know Tannia over the last year … and I hope there will be many more to come with our friendship 🙂

Tomorrow it’s back to work time, then I’ve been given Sunday off as annual leave, so we’re heading to the other side of the city again to Arthur’s Seat and the Mornington Peninsula to revisit the Enchanted Maze Gardens and Ashcombe Lavender Garden. I’m really looking forward to seeing how different the gardens look now the flowers are in bloom (especially the roses etc). Alas, then it’s back to work again right up until leaving on Thursday … ho-hum …

I have a few photos to share, but it’s now almost 1am and the alarm is going off at 7am, so I’d better call it a night – I’ll upload some piccies during the week hopefully and post again before we hit the road, as I have some lovely gifties to share – and one especially is very out-of-date as I received it weeks ago and didn’t get chance to blog about it immediately. When you see it, you’ll understand why it gets shown off to everyone that will stand still long enough, though 😉

Rightio, off to sleep I go … fingers crossed the modem connection returns later … hope you’re having a good week – my apologies for not blog reading at the moment, but things are a bit frantic around here of late …

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Not much happening …

26 October, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

I’ve actually been struggling with a head cold the last few days, and ended up taking Wednesday night off work as I could hardly talk on Wednesday morning – spending the day in my PJ’s curled up on the sofa with Muffy seemed to do the trick, though, as by later Wednesday evening I felt loads better. My voice is still a little croaky and weird, but I’m not as bunged up anymore. I was supposed to have two hours overtime before work yesterday and today but I cancelled it, not wanting to push myself and make myself even more sick. There’s waaaay too much to do to be sick while trying to do it! 😉

I chatted to Mum on Wednesday evening, and the outcome is that she’s flying over on Sunday to come spend the final week and a half in Melbourne with me. The next two weeks will be spent frantically trying to catch up with people inbetween my crappy shifts before the big moving day. The big boss can’t let me cash in all my Luv Ya Work awards in one day, as that would set a precedent (fair enough, I thought I was pushing it … still think they could have covered me to have two extra days off though so I wouldn’t have to cash them in hmmm) – so Mum and I will be hitting the highway up to Sydney on Thursday 8 November at 12 noon. I’m on a 6am shift that day, and I have a carpark spot under the building at work so the car will be packed to the gunnels in the morning – poor Mum will just have to come into work for a while then wander round the shops to keep busy … it’s a good thing she reads and that she cross-stitches now, so she will have something to keep her amused 😉

So far the only ‘free’ days I have are this weekend, Sat and Sun – Sat I’m possibly driving back from Seaford back over to Airport West (I have to wait for a phone call to see if they need me a day early), and Sun I’m off to pick Mum up from the airport (so fingers crossed I’ll be at Airport West by then!) in the early morning. We’ll then be heading over to Tannia’s around lunchtime for my final stitchy catch-up. Then I’m back to 3pm-11pm shifts for 3 days, but having Mum here means we can spend the mornings seeing a couple of things locally that we haven’t managed to do yet, and just chill out or a couple of days.

Then I’m off again on Thu 1 and Fri 2 Nov – back over to the other side of the world on Thu to visit Len & Carole (Frazier’s folks) during the afternoon, then Phil & Dawn in the evening (one in Lilydale and one in Croydon). Fri will be spent in the storage unit going through whatever boxes and suitcases I can reach and loading up the car, before heading back into the city to have dinner with Fraze and Jason while we’re listening to Tannia and her band sing.

Alas, then it’s back to work again on Sat – although I’m invited to a party at a work colleague’s place not far from work that I “must” attend (they’re having a race day party seeing as we’re coming into racing carnival stride here in Melbourne when cup fever hits!) – it’ll be a nice way to say cheerio to a few friendly faces. At this stage I’ve requested Sun 4 Nov off as annual leave, which I think they’ve actually approved (shock, horror) although it’s not confirmed in the register yet – if that’s the case Mum and I are driving over to Arthur’s Seat to see the gardens I went to a couple of months back now the flowers will be in bloom – it will be wonderful to see how different they both will be. We’re also hoping to catch up with Sharon during this time as well, if it can be organised.

Of course Mon 5-Thu 8 Nov I’m at work every day – I may having a quick drink at the local pub on Mon 5 Nov for my farewell, as that’s the only chance I’ll get, but I’m undecided whether to or not. I’d probably prefer to go somewhere to dinner with my favourite pals from work, but it’s much harder to organise. Tue 6 Nov is Melbourne Cup Day, and I move to 6am shifts on Wed, so no chance of doing much on that Tuesday. Wed will be spent packing up the car pretty much – my house owners aren’t sure if they will getting back on Wed or Thu … seeing as I can’t get the Thu off now, that causes a bit of a problem – it means we may have to get a cabin or something on Wed night, but I’ll cross that bridge closer to the time. Hey, you never know work may feel sorry for me and come to the party and give me the day off … yeah, I know, there’s more chance of me becoming President of the United States!!! 😀

My apologies to anyone I won’t have chance to catch up with – as you can see, it’s a pretty rushed itinerary over the next two weeks, and only so much I can cram into it.

Anyway, enough waffling on … there’s housework to be done … I’m waiting for a text message from the house owners from this house to see if they got on the flight out of Hong Kong today – if not, I’m here for another night, but if so I’ll have to pack up my car before work so I can drive to Seaford after midnight tonight … ah, the fun and games of housesitting for airline staff travellers 😉

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

There will be no hope for me in Sydney!

24 October, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Oops, I just realised I’d started this post days ago, and I haven’t finished it off!!! … So I’ll start off with my original post ..

Check out what I’m going to have to contend with when I move … how am I going to keep myself amused? Check out all these lovely stores I’ll have on my doorstep in Sydney:

Tapestry Craft (this place looks massive!!!)
Dragonfly Dreams (I can see a weekend getaway to the Blue Mountains happening!!)
Crewel Gobelin (the only place I’ve been to so far)
Mosman Needlecraft
Craft Depot (for patchwork fabrics – they claim to have 8000 patchwork fabrics!!!)

And I already have a few offers of people that are going to come visit me while I’m up there – I’m really looking forward to having visits from my good pal Sharon, who was my first real stitching pal in Melbourne (I’m gonna miss you heaps!). Also one of the girls at work who is no longer talking to me ‘cos I’m leaving haha, is already planning a girls weekend away so we can see the sights during the day, go to the theatre, then party the weekend away – I’m excited already at all these upcoming social occasions, and I haven’t even moved yet! Of course, I’m sure I’ll be visiting Melbourne occasionally at the weekends as well … it’s only 11/2 hours by plane, which is great 🙂

Now I must say today I also spent more money that I shouldn’t be spending (yeah, so what’s new lately? haha) … and it’s all the fault of Rebecca (that friend from work who’s coming partying in Sydney) and Mel – I went on a buying spree to buy some Bud Ducks for them, as Highpoint Shopping Centre have an awesome selection … well, I walked in the door and found they’d just received shipment yesterday of some brand new designs … whaaaaa!!!!!!!!!! Yes, I have to admit, two of them came home with me … well, what’s a duck-mad girl to do??? The two that I bought for myself are these ones – International Duck and Angel Duck … how could I resist them?? The International “Mile High Duck” I just thought was so appropriate for me and my new job – travelling interstate, but also working in the travel industry … just wish my passport had all those visa stamps haha. And I also bought some teeny weeny little ones to come travelling with me – well, I gotta have at least ONE duck in my new room right? But then it’s not fair to let one duck make the journey all on it’s own, and it just HAD to have company! I really LOVE the blue Angel Duck – the colour is gorgeous. Check out these new little additions to my travelling kit:

And there are sooooooo many more that I really really want!! I guess you could call me the Imelda Marcos of ducks!!! 😀

As you can tell, there’s also no stitching happening at the moment … I just can’t stop yapping on here instead – plus spending 2 entire hours yapping to Mum on the phone today haha. Now I’m sat in front of the TV watching So You Think You Can Dance … perhaps I might find a needle to pick up … perhaps … 😉

Rightio, going by the TV reference to So You Think You Can Dance, I guess I started typing this on Thursday night last week … Now it’s time to update with the latest news!

As a matter of fact there has been a little bit of needlework happening out here in Pascoe Vale South – I’ve managed to finish off another block of Snapperville, and almost managed to complete the border around as well … a couple more hours and I’ll knock that off pretty easily. I must say after not having much stitching mojo for a while, I’m absolutely LOVING stitching Snapperville … I just don’t want to put it down! I think the Winter Snappers will be jumping on the Q-snaps quite quickly after I make the big move up north as well – I just love these little charts! 🙂

As for what else is news … I’ve spoken to someone from work who moved to Sydney a while ago, to see what his flatting arrangements are now (he used to flat with the girl whose job I’m taking over), and it seems he’s just bought an apartment and prefers to live on his own for now as his partner may be joining him in the future … but he’s said it’s OK if I get desperate that he’ll never see me go without a roof over my head and has offered ’emergency housing’ if I need to while I’m searching (Brenda has family coming over in the middle of December, so I have a maximum of 4 weeks to find somewhere).

BUT, I just had a phone message out of the blue today from someone else who worked with me 3 years ago – he’d just had lunch with a friend from my office who told him my news, and apparently he’s moving to Sydney as well and wanted to know what my planned living arrangements were going to be … I’ll have a chat to him over the next few days about it, as that could be another option – but that would probably mean having to freight my belongings up north … probably … Herc should also find out about his interview results by the end of tomorrow as well, which might be another living option (probably my preferred one overall, as Matt is quite young and a bit of a party animal, and I’m that much older and just looking for a simple quiet life) – anyway, time will tell, and at least there are a few more friendly faces in Sydney that I know from work … yippee!! 🙂

As for work itself, they haven’t approved my leave that I wanted, because it’s Melbourne Cup week and they can’t afford more people off the phones. They’ve given me Fri 9 Nov only, which is cr*p … let’s just say I’m a bit disappointed to say the least – it just depends who you are, I think, whether they want to make an effort to help out or not … and all I’ll say is that “I’m not Greek” … one of the Managers has a bad reputation for that – she’s Greek, and has a few family and friends that work there, and let’s just say they can get away with murder … that’s one thing I’m not going to miss – the office politics! I don’t usually let it get to me and turn a blind eye, but everyone thinks their decision is appalling due to the circumstances, especially after doing so much for the company during my time there – but there’s no point getting cranky about it, it just gives you ulcers and doesn’t change anything. Anyway, I’ve sent an email to the “big boss” in our office stating that if I can’t be given the extra two days leave, could I please use my 8 Luv Ya Work Awards in one day (the maximum is supposed to be 4, ie 2 hours off work) … that would let me leave 2 hours early which means on a 6am shift I could be hitting the road at midday. Now all we have to do is work out if it’s still worthwhile having Mum fly over and driving up the coast, seeing as we’re two travelling days short. Oh decisions, decisions …

As for Muffy here, I have to admit over the last few days she hasn’t exactly been endearing herself, and while I think she’s a beautiful dog on the whole, I have had the urge to turn her into a winter coat a few times … usually at 1am and 3am when I’m answering her pleas to be let outside. The occasional night isn’t too bad, but I had a moment there when it was 4 nights in a row, and I was feeling severely deathly because of it. Luckily the late night shifts have been perfect, because she goes outside as soon as I get home, and today I even got a sleep-in until just after 8am … 6 1/2 hours straight sleep … sheer bliss!! The fleas still seem to be a problem, but not quite as bad … I have managed to track down and drown 3 of the little b*ggers over the last couple of days though hmmm. Mind you, today she woke me up again at 7am, after 5 hours sleep, and I feel dreadful … I started losing my voice at work last night and getting bunged up, so I fear I have picked up a head cold … Muffy just decided it was time I should be up, and didn’t want to go outside at all … I nearly strung her up from the nearest fence!

I went to meet the menagerie of pets at the next housesitting job on Sunday night, and it’s going to be ‘interesting’ to say the least haha. Two dogs, two cats, two birds, and an aquarium of fish, all of which have various eating routines etc – but afterwards I can relax in the spa with a glass of wine, and watch Foxtel movies … I’ve told them I may change the locks and never leave! LOL.

Anyway, I’ll finish with a photo of a gift I received at work yesterday from groups organiser (this was for customer service over and above the call of duty for some VIP customers returning home … you can make up your own mind as to who) – I laughed at the card that came with it … that I’m allowed to hide it away when the Bledisloe Cup is on … but personally I think I’m going to pop an All Blacks beanie and scarf on old Wally and sit him on my desk – a perfect blending of my ‘two down under cultures’ 😛

Cross Stitch, Home & Family TO BE FIXED

The countdown is on …

20 October, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

All going well, and I get some annual leave approved by work (assuming I can get 3 shifts swapped from 6am starts to 9am or 10am ones, that is), I’ll be hitting the road to Sydney two weeks on Wednesday (straight after Melbourne Cup day). That is also assuming that Gail is still OK to come home and relieve me from housesitting duties early as well, of course …

I’m really struggling to find the time to catch up with everyone that I know in Melbourne in the short time I have left – even though I know only a handful of people, I only have a handful of days where I’m not working 4pm or 3pm shifts, meaning only a few days left to catch up. If I had my own home, I’d offer an ‘open day’ at home for a day where anyone can come visit, but the only weekend I have free is when I’m moving between housesitting jobs, and it’s just not an option – so instead I’ll be driving to and fro to the opposite ends of the city on a regular basis until I leave.

I was hoping to catch Tannia singing last night, but ended up chatting on the phone for ages to Brenda in Sydney – but the great thing is that Brenda and Nigel are happy to put me up for a couple of weeks while I’m looking for new, and more permanent, lodgings. There’s probably not much point organising anything else before I arrive – although I’ll be scouring the local papers for flats in the Mascot area pretty quickly on arrival 🙂

My threads finally arrived today from Dragonfly Dreams, although they were sent some time ago – Australia Post can be quite spectacularly slow for local deliveries, which is annoying. Anyway, it means I can now probably finish off It’s Halloween this week – yay! Yesterday, during the day, I started – and finished – one more block of Snapperville, and started another block. I guess that means I’m approximately half-way through the stitching of that one now … double yay!! 😀

This coming week is probably the last chance I’ll get to put some stitches in before hitting the road … it’ll be interesting to see how regular working hours will affect my stitching time – the good thing about shift work sometimes is the plentitude of peace and quiet for stitching … hmmm.

Anyway, no piccies tonight ‘cos I’m too lazy to take one of Snapperville – and I’m supposed to be heading out to a ‘wedding reception’ party of one of our gay guys at work. Kevin and Peter got married in Vancouver a few months ago, but only a few people were able to attend the ceremony, so they’ve organised a local shin-dig for us all tonight instead … to be absolutely honest I’d rather be curling up in bed early thanks to the Muffster giving me wake-up calls every night for the last 4 nights (twice in one night!) – thanks to having very broken sleep … it’s soooo hard to get back to sleep properly after being woken up at 1am or 3am! … I’m pretty shattered and so “not” in party mode. Anyway, I’m going to jump in the shower and see if I can wake myself up a bit – it’s also awkward using public transport out in this part of town, as I don’t really know where I am, but I suppose I should at least make an effort … after all, this is probably the final shin-dig with work colleagues in Melbourne! …

I’ll close by saying it was fun seeing my Photo Hunt today … I loaded all those posts up so long ago now, even I get a surprise each week with the choices LOL 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Desktop meme & more Sydney thoughts

18 October, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Wow, I’m absolutely blown away by all the comments I’ve received about my move to Sydney – thanks everyone, it felt really good to read all those positive vibes. It’s funny, but one of the girls at work the other day started saying how this could be “the big plan” for me … it does seem strange that everything that has happened recently has lead me to this opportunity, ie that my Elwood flat became dangerous so I started looking for a new place, then got put off flatting with Sheree and decided to put my stuff into storage to go housesitting … if I hadn’t got my personal belongings in storage I never would have looked at this job twice!

A few of the people at work think I’ll never return to Melbourne again … and that my career will skyrocket haha. All I can say is that I have no plans beyond the next 12 months – and I’m not taking my personal belongings with me until I know where I want to be after that 12 months is up. If I find I’m loving it in Sydney at that time, then I’ll look at moving up ‘formally’, but until that time I’m just going to enjoy the challenges the next 12 months will be bringing me, and so far anticipate moving back here again at the end of it all.

Another great thing is that this time I have some friendly stitching faces already in Sydney – thanks so much for your offers Tash and Gail … I’d love to catch up when I move up there. It look me a couple of years after moving to Melbourne before I started blogging and meeting some lovely local ladies (starting with Sharon and Gina, then later on Tannia, Mel, and Junette) – so having some like-minded people already in contact is a wonderful feeling.

I must say I’m really really looking forward to having ‘all’ my stash accessible in one room again – it also means I can get back to stitching on my rotation again, and working on those BAP’s I’ve had to put in storage temporarily. I won’t say my entire stash will be coming with me, but definitely every single one of my kitted up projects, along with one ringbinder of extra unkitted charts, and all my fabrics and threads.

Of course the other great thing is that I’ll have Brenda and Nigel in the same city – Nigel is my best friend Vicki’s brother, and I’ve known him for just over 30 years now, and his wife Brenda for many years too. It will be amazing having people within driving distance that know me and all my history … that’s the one thing I’ve missed here at times, and it’s easy to take that sort of friendship for granted. Of course the other great thing is that there’s a huge kiwi contingent in Sydney, which means I’ll be able to satisfy my yearnings for L&P and Griffins gingernuts etc more easily haha.

I’ll miss shift work to a certain degree, but it will also be nice to have regular sleeping patterns again – the latest roster I’ve been working over the last 6 months has been exceptionally tiring, I’ve really hated parts of it with a passion. As much as it will be a right royal pain driving in peak hour traffic regularly again, it will be nice to be able to watch my fave TV shows regularly, catch up with people for dinner without having to block a night in your diary 3-4 months in advance, and I could even join in some more SAL’s now. Not to mention I could join the local Guild and have a regular stitching session each month … crikey, that would be something! 😀

I think I’ve decided what my celebratory treat to myself will be – I’ve decided to stick to my 50 project challenge until finished (‘cos after all, there’s not much left to go now), and I’m going to treat myself to a French book I saw at Crewel Gobelin when I visited in April this year. I didn’t buy it then as it was over $50, but I really loved it, and what better treat than something that will reside beautifully on my bookshelves for years to come (unless of course it’s sold out now)? The other thing I really want to do is to get my Friendship Quaker RR framed for my new room so I can sit it on an easel (if I don’t have a wall hook) – that would be a wonderful testament to my online friendships, and give me the warm fuzzies in my new surroundings.

I have to admit, I’m really quite excited about it all – there are so many positives, they sure outweigh the negatives at the moment. For those of you wanting to know how far away I’m moving to … I’ve been checking a few websites, and if I take the Hume Highway route (which is very direct, and very boring driving from memory the last and only time I did it), it’s approx 9-10 hours driving time, and just under 1000 km (I’ve seen a couple of maps showing between 870-960 km). Personally I’d love to be able to take the coastal route, and drive up with two overnight stopovers to have a sort of ‘mini holiday’ on the way … but I’ll have to see if that’s feasible. It would also be really good to have two full days off when I arrive in Sydney to relax and chill out and get my work clothes unpacked etc as well.

Here’s a link to two driving maps … the first one up the Hume Highway and the 2nd one following the coast … I’d dearly love to do that second one. There is a bit of tourist info about the coastal drive here as well. Here’s a map of where I’ll be driving (approx):

I’ve also tried making a Google map, but I don’t know if it will copy across OK (my first attempt definitely didn’t …):

View Larger Map

This is all Rissa’s fault … I thought it would be fun – the idea is to do a screen dump of your desktop and post for all the world to see. Well, I’m sure you’ll not be surprised that I’ve chosen a wee duckling as my current desktop piccie … isn’t it cute?!! I also have a piccie of a grown-up duck that I swap around and use from time to time as well, but this one remains my all-time favourite one … perhaps because of the blue background as well as the duck 🙂

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Freaking out BIG time!!! …

17 October, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

… ‘cos … I’M OFF TO SYDNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG, my head is spinning off my shoulders big time!! I got the call this afternoon offering me the promotion, and I accepted, and now it’s sinking in what I’m actually doing … OMG!!! 😛

My starting date is Wednesday 14 November, and my last day at work at this stage is Friday 9 November – and I have to pack up my car and take the looooong drive up to Sydney after work (where I would break the journey in say Albury or somewhere – or I could get a motel or something overnight in Melbourne and head up the next day). And I have to do all the important things like get the forms to forward my mail etc (I’ll open a PO Box somewhere in Sydney for the year, and leave my PO Box in Melbourne open, I guess).

Anyway, I just thought I’d let everyone know the news – now I just have to work out how the heck to catch up with everyone that I want to before I leave Melbourne … when I have very limited time available to me compliments of some crappy shifts (such as 4pm-midnight all next week!).

I have the next two days off, so I think I’ll start making up some lists of things I need to take with me, and things I need to organise changes of address for etc – and I’ll need to find somewhere to live, which is the next critical stage, so I’ll be phoning my friends Brenda & Nigel to see if I can bunk in their spare room until I can find something closer to work (I think they’re about a 2-hour commute from the airport hmmm). The fun thing about my new office is that it is based out by the airport, and you can see the planes coming and going out the window … it’s definitely more in the ‘hands-on’ area of the airline, it’s going to be a major challenge, and perhaps the biggest work challenge I’ve ever had to date … time will tell anyway.

Well, enough rambling, as I know that’s exactly what I’m doing … I’m going to sit now and break my rotation and work on Snapperville for an hour. Muffy has finally settled down on the sofa next to me after going mental and jumping up and down and trying to french kiss me when I first arrived, she was so excited to see me come home haha. Time to kick back and try not to think for an hour or so 😉

Just think, though, of all the exciting new LNS’es I will get to explore … Karen at Dragonfly Dreams, here I come!!!! 😀

In fact, I think a bit of stash enhancing just might be in order by way of celebration teehee … 50 project challenge, I hear you say … um, what’s that??? LOL 😀

Cross Stitch, Finishes, Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Round Robins

Such sweet, sweet stitching!

6 October, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Oh boy, it’s sooooo good to be stitching on linen again (insert heavy sigh of pleasure here!). Yesterday and today I spent my stitching time on Nicki’s Quaker RR piece – unfortunately it’s at night, and I haven’t been able to take a decent photo of it, but here’s a photo none-the-less – I’ll try and take another one later during day-time. This piece is much prettier in real life – the colours are softer and quite beautiful … lovely dusky pink and deep wine colours 🙂

(7 Oct – Updated to change the photo to a slightly clearer one.)

Last night I had a shocking night’s sleep … compliments of a hairy old pooch! It seems she doesn’t like stormy weather, and I got to bed at 9pm (which is bad in itself, and I usually need to be in bed by 7.30pm on 5am shifts), only to have her whining and scratching at the door at 9.30pm. Considering my alarm was going off at 3.45am, that didn’t bode well. I thought Muffy was pining for Jan and the family, and tried to coax her back to her bedroom, but then she bolted under the bed with her tail between her legs and wouldn’t come back out hmmm. I ended up leaving her there, but after an hour of listening to her tap-tapping on the floor and licking herself, I managed to talk her out from under the bed and back into her room (thankfully the thunder had stopped by then). But then I got yet another wake-up call at 1.05am, this time for a toilet walk outside ho-hum … to say I felt like death warmed up this morning would be a MAJOR underexaggeration 😦

The other disappointment today was that I was supposed to be driving a lady around who arrived from the USA today (she’s a member of the EGA), as soon as I finished work, but they had an unexpected meeting with their tour leader at 4pm, which put paid to our plans. Instead I just caught the train into the city and left my gifts at reception for them (2 stitchers, and 1 quilter) – I didn’t have time to stitch anything, so I put together gift bags of Tim-Tams, Cadbury chocolates, potato chips, little koalas and an Australia key-ring for each of them. I figured if I couldn’t give a gift of stitching, I’d go with the second stitcher’s passion … chocolate LOL.

Rightio, time to head off to bed for the night – fingers crossed I get more sleep tonight! Muffy has had a toilet stop already, and we went for a walk in the park earlier, so hopefully she’s been tuckered out enough to sleep heavily until the morning … well, I can hope, right? 😉

Katrina’s Quaker RR (the final part) is on its way in the mail to me, so I’ll start stitching that as soon as it arrives – but in the meantime the next project up for stitching is “Snapperville” by Bent Creek … I can’t wait!!! 😀

And I’m finally almost 100% caught up on Season 1 of NCIS … I can’t believe I haven’t seen any of these episodes before – I love it! 😀