Home & Family TO BE FIXED

RAK Registry and technology

5 July, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a really quick post to say I think I’ve finally fixed the display issues on the blog. I finally reached the WP support guys again, and I’ve had to change the template to allow all the pages to display on the screen (this was only a recent problem I noticed) – I’ve also had to combine pairs of letters so I can allow the I and M pages to display. Anyway, hopefully everything is now ticking along nicely again, and I can get back to keeping it updated more regularly. I almost thought I was going to have to revert to Blogger again yikes …

Technology at home is slooooowly getting sorted. I’ve had email woes ever since I’ve bought the new laptop (still haven’t managed to copy over my old emails yet, but I haven’t quite given up hope … I’m making one more attempt this weekend before I throw in the towel). Yesterday I went out and bought a Microsoft Office 2007 package … and bless their hearts at Dick Smith Electronics, I was able to buy the Academic upgrade version – a saving of almost $400 woohoo!! 😀

Anyway, at 3am I got home from work and loaded everything up, but Outlook still wouldn’t load up (my trial version I got with the laptop wouldn’t either, but I thought the full bought version would fix all my ills) … well finally I’ve just sat for almost 2 hours fixing up the settings, and I’ve managed to get to get it up and running and the accounts set up etc … that’s a HUGE achievement and cause for celebration, ‘cos I have to admit I’ve been giving the PC a wide berth overall as I’ve been sick of it not working. The Windows Calendar would never work for me either (none of the reminders ever worked, and I got an error message every time I opened up the program) … but today I worked out how to import my calendar over into Outlook, so fingers crossed that will resolve itself shortly as well 😀

The one thing that didn’t copy across as well was all my contacts – after taking all the time to set them all up again into Windows Mail, it hasn’t quite come through with all the info intact, so that’s another day in the future re-setting up the missing ‘bits’ (thankfully it’s not too much that’s missing), and I can set up my email group again for the RAK Registry (that way I can send any admin emails to everyone in one hit without having to select every single member from my contacts list … soooo much easier, and oh boy did I miss that in Windows Mail).

Work has been really really busy – thanks to security threats at Heathrow, I got in 4 hours overtime from 11pm-3am on Tuesday, and I’ve been thriving on the curly issues that have been thrown at me in the wee small hours of my shift. I’ve been enjoying chatting to Moscow and Frankfurt airport managers trying to resolve an issue (geez, I wish I could tell you all THAT story, it’s a doozie … and it kept us highly entertained for the last two nights haha). The flow-on effects of Heathrow are still keeping us on our toes days later … it’s making the shift going very very fast, although it’s meant not a single stitch has been put into my stitching. Fingers crossed tonight is a bit quieter, and I get chance to put a few stitches in – that’s the only benefit in my eyes of the 6pm or 9pm shifts, they’re the only ones I can pull my stitching out occasionally.

I’ll leave you with a teaser … I received some incredible mail today but I’ve been laying in bed all morning trying to fix my technical problems, and I’ve just remembered it (that’s what happens when you get in at 3am!) … I don’t have time to take a photo, as I need to get cracking for work (I think I may be running a bit late now too, oops) – and I didn’t get chance to email the senders last night at work, so once I’ve done that, I’ll try to remember to post a piccie tomorrow some time. But I have to say “it’s awesome!!” 😀

(Also, sorry if there are any spelling/grammatical errors, as I don’t have time to check it … gotta run sorry!)

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Short post about ‘nothing’

25 June, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

This really is just a very very short post … I just felt like sharing how wonderful I’ve been feeling this week 🙂 On the whole I feel as though I’ve got more energy than I’ve had for quite some time (possibly to do with the fun I’ve been having kitting up stitching projects, but probably more to do with the fact I’ve been living in a stable home environment without stress for a couple of weeks now!) 😀

At work I’ve been very pro-active with a few projects and initiating some improvements and workgroups, and I’ve been getting great feedback from both my colleagues and supervisors alike for it … that always makes you feel good too. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the mental energy to go out of my way to take on extra projects etc at work, and it feels wonderful to have the motivation for it right now.

While it’s still a bit unsettling to a certain extent not having a full-time living situation, it feels wonderful so far to be out of that dreary flat in Elwood, and for now I’m basking in the warmth of feeling ‘safe and secure’. This payday will be the first one I have ‘free’ from rent (every other payday will still be spent on credit card bills as usual), and I have 5 hours overtime this week to help fill the coffers a bit more. I have two biggish expenses coming up … both very selfish ones … a new Microsoft Office software package (I’m seriously “over” my current issues regarding that and figure a new up-to-date version will solve all my ills), and a Tom-Tom GPS for when I’m housesitting all over Melbourne. After that my plans are to gradually whittle down my credit card debts and have less monthly outgoings on a regular basis … beyond that who knows, but I have to admit a new car would be deliriously wonderful ;P (that won’t be for quite some time, though!)

Anyway, I just wanted to post while I’m feeling very positive tonight … now it’s time to head back into the lounge and pick up my stitching for an hour or so (I picked up 2 hours overtime tonight, so I’m home late) … no kitting up for me tonight, it’s time for Karen’s RR to take centre stage again 😀

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

Sing-along … “Vanilla Ice Ice Baby…”

25 June, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

I don’t know about the Vanilla part, but there was plenty of the “ice ice, baby” this morning when I got up … I woke up totally cocooned in my duvet this morning, and had to get the hosepipe out to blast the ice from my windscreen before I could drive to work … bloomin’ heck it’s freezing!!! Thank goodness I’m outta that flat, or you might have been chipping the ice off my body for a week! 😉

I’ve been a big neglectful of my computer over the last few days, as I’ve been ready to throw it out the window … not so much the laptop itself, but the associated problems of transferring files and doing jobs that are normally plain and simple on my old PC, but for some reason now require the braincells of a rocket scientist 😦 Hence last Wednesday I walked away from it and refused to do any more transferring until I was in a better frame of mind …

Thanks Ally for the link to the Vista tip site – I’m still having problems transferring my emails across, but I haven’t given up hope just yet … I am also having problems, though, with my old version of Outlook running on this machine (basically it won’t work) – and it won’t let me re-download all the security patches etc … I thought I’d be clever and download the 60 day trial of Office 2007, but even that version won’t play ball with Outlook, so for now I’m waving the white flag and conceding defeat until I’m ready to start tackling it again in a week or so’s time.

Now, where’s my draft email that I started drafting up a blog post last week …?? Aha, here we go … off to do a job of cut and paste, and a bit of editing, then I’ll finish up with the latest update of the week’s events (which are pretty few and far between) …

It’s been a while since I blogged (because the Photo Hunt was created an entire month ago now, I can’t claim the fame for blogging about that recently), and it’s been an interesting week overall. I’ve been on some mixed shifts, and it tired me out somewhat last week … I did have a huge highlight of the week when I received some wonderful squishy mail 🙂

Nicki sent me a RAK that totally blew me away! I received one of the charts on my wishlist, “Blessed with Happiness box” by The Cat’s Whiskers … Nicki thought the wording on the box were perfectly suited to my recent life dramas, and I’d have to agree I love the sentiments behind it 🙂 But not only that, Nicki also sent me the fabric, Dinky Dyes silks, Kreinik Blending Filament and Mill Hill beads to kit it up … WOW!!! My jaw was seriously sitting on the floor for quite a while … thank you Nicki from the bottom of my heart 😀 My apologies it’s taken me so long to blog about it (I’ll explain why soon).

In fact it was Nicki’s generosity that finally geared me up me get my A into G and have a ‘stitchy weekend’ … I have to admit no stitches were actually done, but I dragged out the boxes of stitching goodies that I’d brought with me that all needed to be sorted out before going back into storage, and I’ve spent the entire weekend (well, my version of a weekend anyway – it was actually Thu/Fri) cutting up fabrics for dozens and dozens of projects. Each project is in it’s own sealed plastic bag with the chart and fabric, and all I have to do now is to kit up with the threads (which is what I’ve been doing for the last 2 nights). Then they’ll all sit in 2-3 boxes in storage ready for me to dip my hands in when I need something new to stitch.

Unfortunately with housesitting I don’t have the space and flexibility to travel with my full rotation, so I’m going to become a one-at-a-time stitcher. I plan to have one project with me that’s a larger/more complex project (such as Bordeaux Sampler and Winter Queen etc), with a couple of smaller projects such as a needlebook or needleroll to break it up a bit. That way I should only have to travel with one set of scrollbars and one of Q-snaps. I’m lucky at the moment in that I’m only a short drive away from my storage unit (it’s literally within 10 minutes drive from home) … but with future housesitting jobs I won’t have that luxury (for those who know Melbourne well, my upcoming jobs vary from Ringwood, to Airport West, to Seaford, to a ‘mystery location’). If nothing else, it’ll show me different parts of Melbourne I haven’t seen before! 😉

Rightio, back to my scheduled yapping, now I’ve edited that draft …

The only stitching I’ve been doing has been a few stitches into KarenV’s Quaker RR – this is due to be mailed in less than a week’s time so I thought I’d better get cracking on it. I just have one large motif plus one tiny one and my initials, so it shouldn’t take much longer to finish whatsoever 🙂 Unfortunately my very bad photo doesn’t do this beauty justice at all!

Unfortunately my car woes have continued to my new place (mutter mutter mutter) … the dashboard light stopped working the night I drove Mum home after the big ‘move’, but I promptly forgot about it until I had to start driving in the dark again about two weeks ago. I called Ace mobile mechanics (and yes, I’m giving their name for a reason) who did the original job, and asked if I could organise for Nick to come out to fix it during my days off. He ended up cancelling on the scheduled day due to being stuck on a job, but eventually came round on Friday. You may remember I got seriously duped and taken for a ride when I got my clutch replaced, well this time I stuck up for myself big time! When he turned up he said he’d brought the dimmer switch, and it’d be just over $53 to install it. Um, since when did we discuss installing a dimmer switch?? Apparently I was told if the job didn’t work with the normal switch he installed, then I would need to get the dimmer switch … Um, actually Nick no that’s not correct – the conversation we actually had was that you gave me a choice on the night – if I preferred to have the dimmer switch (which the car is usually installed with as factory standard), then he’d have to order it in … but I could use a normal switch which could be installed immediately, the problem being that you couldn’t then dim the light and the dashboard would be brightly lit all the time the lights were on. No problem, I say, as I never use the dimmer switch anyway, so please feel free to use what you have to hand …

On completion of the job he tells me that if I change my mind and would rather have the dimmer switch, all I had to do was to call up and tell them, and they’d come round and install it – the only thing I’d have to pay for would be the parts themselves as the labour would be covered under the current job. Now THAT is not a conversation I had in my mind or with an imaginary party during a dreaming session … admittedly I was under stress at the time, but I remember that conversation very lucidly and clearly, and it certainly isn’t something I could have made up.

So, going back to Friday’s conversation … Nick says I’ll just work out what the final cost will be for you – rightio, that’ll be $120-something. Picture me turning purple, and just managing to mutter “I beg your pardon??” – where the hell does the extra money come from?? Oh, he says, that’s the cost of the labour … Yep, you got it, Mt St Annie erupted in the middle of the driveway – I repeated the conversation we had, but he declared he never would have said that blah blah blah. Let’s just say I politely told him to take his dimmer switch away and remove himself from the property because he wasn’t getting another red cent from me! I said I’d rather pay for someone else to come and do the job properly and he was a disgusting fraud … (phew!!)

Then I took the keys, locked up my car, and walked inside … and phoned Ace up to make a formal complaint about him, and tell them how downright angry and ropeable I was. I’m sorry to say it, but as a female I’m sick to death of being taken for granted by bl**dy mechanics and thieves. I may be female, but I no longer have “stupid” tattooed on my forehead … mutter mutter mutter. Anyway, let’s just say the matter has yet to be resolved, as it turns out Nick hasn’t handed in his invoice for the old job yet, and apparently he would have remarked it with comments (I wish I knew where my copy was, as it’s now buried in storage somewhere hmmm) – hopefully I should hear back tomorrow from the General Manager. Mt St Annie is still simmering under the surface depending on the outcome … I have to admit, though, when Nick was playing around with the wires when he first arrived and was looking at the car, I think it might just have been a loose wire, as it’s been working fine ever since (for the last two nights anyway) – so with any luck it won’t be necessary to see his ugly mug on my doorstep again 😦 Karma is gonna get you one day, you big fraud!!

Wow, that was one HUGE vent off my chest … it’s amazing what a good moan does for you 😉 Now it’s time to settle in for bedtime – my hotwater bottle is sitting at my feet so hopefully that’ll make it easier to doze off to sleep. It’s dreadful that the only place I can find a good connection for the internet modem is here in the bedroom – bless my laptop, it’s wonderful sitting up in bed doing my computing, it’s so much warmer 😉

Actually, the other reason I’ve been lax in posting is that I’ve refused to post until I could post my piccies of both Nicki’s RAK and Karen’s RR, and for some reason every way I’ve tried to download from my CompactFlash card I’ve had to give up. Every time I tried to load up a card reader (I bought a new one 1 1/2 weeks ago as my laptop doesn’t support that card type – the one thing I miss from my PC), and the system froze up and didn’t acknowledge the drive. Then Mum sent my old one from home, and that wasn’t working either … I finally gave up and started up my old PC and tried to download my ‘old way’, but it wouldn’t acknowledge it either. Well, tonight I finally fixed it … I ended up formatting the drive, and wiping everything off my card (losing all the photos in the process, but them’s the breaks), but I can FINALLY upload photos either from my camera directly or from the card reader … it seems the problem all along with the flash card itself 😦 I think it got corrupted during the data transfer cabling, as I’d forgotten and left it sitting in the PC cardreader at the time … but “it’s all good” now yippee!!

Rightio, I really MUST get off to bed, or I’ll be a cranky camper tomorrow 😉 Hope you are all having a good week – I look forward to reading your blogs soon! 😀

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

I’m Baaaack … !!!

17 June, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

[Please note this was actually written up 3 whole days ago, but I’m not going to edit it any further … my connection died after just over an hour or so, and I’ve only just managed to get a connection back again hmmm. With any luck I’ll be able to upload the photos this time round before it dies yet again …]

And I have to say I’m a LOT chirpier than I was the last time I wrote a week ago! 😀 What I didn’t tell you in my last looong post is that I had a small melt-down at work the day after I finished moving. I had to pick up a few extra items that I just couldn’t cram into the car on the last night, and just put them on the back seat for the day, and when I got to work I managed 2 whole hours before my whole body started reacting … the only way I can describe it is that it’s as if it went into shock … I started getting the shakes, and my mind just couldn’t concentrate on anything – I think it was finally reacting to the fact that it was “all over”, and a release from all the immense tension and stress I’d been under. I think it’s amazing how much your body can cope with when it has to, but I guess it all has to give way at some time or another, and that day was mine!

Today, though, I’m much much brighter. I’m settled nicely into housesitting and today is my 3rd day of a 3-day break. The first day was spent doing exciting things like doing the laundry ‘cos I’d run out of clothes already (underclothes anyway), and doing a few chores that I needed to do like getting a few more boxes for parcelling the final bundles of storage stuff into (which is still not sorted out, but I’ve got 5 weeks left to get it done by LOL). I also got my new cordless mouse replaced, and picked up a cheap card reader that fits into the USB port, so hopefully I should be able to get photos uploaded soon (I have a couple to add to this post, so we’ll soon see if it works! …) [edited to add that the card reader just keeps freezing my PC up, so it’s getting returned for a refund – luckily I still have my old PC set up on the table, so I’ve uploaded my photos to disk while I can] … as well as spending more money!

I’ve been struggling with one pair of jeans ever since I’ve had them, as it’s too tight in the waist, and I have to leave the top button open (it’s got a button fly), but I always end up with tummy pains by the end of the day. Anyway, I finally decided ‘enough was enough’ and I splurged on some new jeans from Target, plus two new (blue haha) long-sleeve T-shirts that are more ‘trendy’. Yes, there are a few new changes on the Shacks homefront, all for the better. Next month will see new lingerie being bought as well … crikey, will there be no stopping me now? LOL. I won’t know myself soon!! 😉

Yesterday the entire day (and I mean the ENTIRE day to 2am!!) was spent transferring files from my old PC to my laptop – the contacts folders didn’t copy across at all properly, so I had to update those which took hours, plus for some reason Outlook won’t run at all on this PC, and the Help section doesn’t help much at all, as it says Outlook is now phased out with Windows Mail taking over from Outlook Express hmmm – for love nor money I can’t copy across any of my emails at all from my old PC … not one single one of the 4000+ emails sitting in there (yes, you’re right, that’s ridiculous … and a good chance to “cull”). So, if I’m missing sending anyone an email reply from before I moved I’m really sorry, but it’s likely you might have to re-email me again, as it’s a bit overwhelming ploughing through the files hmmm (especially as I have no way of printing them or re-emailing them to myself as both modem/printer are now in storage).

Last night was the most bitterly freezing night I think I’ve ever endured sleeping in Melbourne … I do have to say I miss my electric blanket dearly, and even with two duvets on the bed last night I still couldn’t get warm – tonight if it’s the same I’m going to be sleeping in my trackpant bottoms with my long-sleeved thermals on … and I really do have to find that hot water bottle I brought with me somewhere! 😉 I did have another rather large splurge, though, which is a winter weight duvet that has half of it made of wool, which is a lot warmer but thinner so it’ll take much less room in the car when travelling … I should be able to find room for the old one by throwing it on top of the storage boxes 😉

Today I’ve finally succumbed to signing up to the Unwired network, so I can access my emails and internet at home. I’ve managed to find a position sat at the breakfast bench in the granny flat that gets an OK reception, so here I am online again 😀 I don’t have an ‘unlimited’ account, so I probably won’t be spending as much time online as I used to, but it’s wonderful to know that I can jump online and do my internet banking etc without having to trek halfway around Melbourne to an internet cafe (although admittedly I think the closest one to here is in Carnegie, about 15 mins drive away). The weather’s been dreadful over the last couple of days, so it’s hasn’t inspired me to leave home at all, never mind to go internet cafe shopping.

As to what else I’ve been up to … not much in the stitching department, that’s for sure! I’ve managed to get a bit of Bordeaux done, and I’m concentrating on that now until it’s finished – after that’s done, I’m not sure which project to work on next. I have to say that Snapperville is screaming quite loudly to me right now as a new start (followed by Winter Snapperland once I work out which fabric to use) – then I should be concentrating on one of my WIP’s again, and that’s likely to be either Stitching Leporello or the Pyramid Etui … but I reserve the right to change my mind on a whim 😉 I’ve been spending my time reading more than stitching this last week, and managed to finally finish reading Warlock by Wilbur Smith … not as good as some of his books, but I really enjoy the historical content of his Egyptian series … and I have Quest, the 4th in the series, on Audible ready to listen to at my leisure (another pain is that I’ve had to save all my Audible books to disk to be able to play them on the new laptop – for some reason the files didn’t copy across too well).

I haven’t unrolled the scrollbars on Bordeaux since I worked on it the other night, so you’ll just have to imagine the previous band – the light in here isn’t fantastically conducive to over-one stitching, so I gave band #6 a rest, and I’ve been working on band #7 instead to have a break. Only a couple more weeks will see this finished, me thinks 🙂

While I was packing up the spare bedroom to go into storage, I have to say I was quite disgusted with myself for the state of the following UFO’s … I started going to quilting classes quite a number of years ago (at least 7 anyway), and did an applique quilt class – I wasn’t thrilled with the project we did, but I figured it would teach me the basics of applique quilting. Anyway, it was all machine appliqued using Vliesofix, and I couldn’t believe how close I’d come to finishing this off before putting it to one side! Needless to say I’ve brought it with me, along with my new sewing machine (that cheapo one that I managed to pick up before we did the big move), so I can finally get it finished – all it has to have done is the binding finished, and even that’s almost 3/4 stitched on!!! {hanging head in shame …}

Next up is the first patchwork project I attempted after trying the applique class – this was from a craft magazine and was supposed to be for a cot quilt … well, I thought it had turned out to be too big, so Mum kindly unpicked the sides for me to make it smaller, then it’s sat there ever since as I thought I might as well just leave it bigger so it will get more use as the child recipient gets older (don’t even go there and ask which child this was for as a baby, and what age he is now!! LOL) … so now I need to unpick the borders again and restitch it all together, then it’s ready for the backing and to be quilted (let’s just say the backing fabric I originally had ordered got stuck with the cancelled freight services after September 11 … yup, you get the idea about how old this is!!).

Lucky last for the quilting UFO’s, here’s a bag I started from yet another class project … I panicked when I saw the diagram of how it’s all got to go together, as I’ve lost my confidence with machine sewing, then I was thrilled and disgusted at the same time when I opened all the pieces out and realised I’d already stitched the pockets etc into the bag pieces, and yet again it just pretty much as to be stitched together and have the seams bound … yep, my head is almost on my knees now from hanging in shame … yikes! 😉 This bag is designed to be a “quilting bag” where you keep your cutting board and rotary cutter etc in … I have to admit I’m quite proud of myself that I managed to get all the little pockets etc on so nicely … but I wonder how on earth I ever managed it! (I’m such a finishing wuss these days, it’s not funny!!) Goodness knows where all the gung-ho confidence has disappeared to where finishing is concerned!! Eventually, though, this bag will be an actual bag, complete with two big outside pockets (not pictured), and it’s supposed to have dowling rods as handles (although I may substitute something else for handles, I’m not too sure yet).

So, my challenge once I’ve sorted out my PC issues (which is now pretty much just the email issue) is to sit down one day on my days off and become friends with my sewing machine and get some of these items actually finished!

I also have something else to share as well, from a recent visit to a beautiful stitching pal’s home … but I’ll do a separate post so it doesn’t get lost in this one (and I’ve been waffling on for ages as it is!! – can’t you tell I’ve been without a chatting outlet for a while? LOL).

In the meantime, I’ll close this post in saying it feels fantastic to be out of my old flat – things are hopefully on the up and up on the homefront … I’ve just heard I’ve got the OK for another 4 weeks housesitting from 4 August, which means I’ll just have a one-week stay out in Seaford between the two housesitting jobs, and I may have another 4 weeks straight after that, which is in Seaford itself … and both these later two jobs have furbabies … I’m going to be in 7th heaven – Daniel has one kitty who is really smoochy apparently, and Ali has two kitties that are admittedly not smoochy, but it’ll still be great to be around kitties again yippee!! 😀 [Plus I also now may have another short stint for a lady at work with a dog … woohoo!!]

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Just touching base briefly …

7 June, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Just thought I’d write a quick line to let you know I’m alive 😉

The move ended up being a bit more stressful than planned, and we had to extend our stay by 24 hours at the flat. As at yesterday morning, though, I’m 100% moved out, and returned the keys to the real estate agent yesterday afternoon. I’m absolutely adamant that I will never ever live in a 3rd floor apartment again, unless there’s a lift!!! LOL. I’ve now found muscles I’ve forgotten existed … and I don’t want to see stairs for another 6 months!!

The removalists ended up costing $945, which hurt BIG time – Mum and I were both absolutely floored by the cost … and I still had to make 3 separate car load trips since then to shift the remaining items. The 2nd hiccup is that the storage space ended up being too small hmmm … so I have a number of boxes now sitting at where I’m housesitting while I work out what the heck to do with them. Might have to rent an extra wee storage area as well as my main one, or I’ll have to be more ruthless in chucking things out. As it is I had to throw out my ironing board, office chair, laundry baskets, lamps, electric jug, big heater and numerous other items … I’m trying hard not to throw out my stitching recliner, but I may have to consider that further down the track depending on how much a small storage
space will cost … hmmm.

I invited both my opposite and below neighbours in to see the state of the cracks etc, and heard that the below flat is even worse than mine … I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes – we went downstairs to see theirs, and they have an inch-wide diagonal crack all the way across their ‘inside’ wall between the lounge and bedroom … you can see into the next room!! Unfortunately they’re owners, not renters, so
they’re stuck with it the poor things, but I’d be worried silly if it was me … and apparently the below (bottom) unit is worse still.

You’ll never believe it, but on the last day we had painters turn up on the doorstep to come to assess the place – obviously the landlord is going to ‘bodge up’ the place with plaster and re-lease it or try to sell it before the works are completed … I think that’s appalling, and as soon as I get my bond money back, I think I may report them to the local Council or somewhere – just shocking!! Don’t know how they’re going to hide the ski slope floor in the lounge, though hmmm – it’ll take a bit more than some plaster of paris! ;P

Other than that, I’m happy to be out 😀 I actually ended up getting a laptop last week through salary sacrifice, with a modem for ‘Unwired’, but I think I’ll wait for a short while before I sign up for the monthly access and getting online … I’m just going to enjoy doing nothing for at least a week except for stitching and reading. After that I’ll get back into a routine again and might look into setting up the internet. I’m meeting Fraze for dinner tonight, so came into town a bit early so I can check my emails and make a quick report at an internet cafe. Unfortunately just a flying visit, so no chance to catch up on any blog reading 😦

I put out an email at work today advertising for house-sitting jobs, and fingers crossed I’ll have another month’s worth from 4 August. I have to admit, it’s going to take me a week to get over the move, so I really don’t want to think about it too hard for the next couple of days … it ended up a lot more stressful and time-consuming than we thought. Having to lug everything up and down 4 flights of stairs was, I have to say, “knackering” … no other word describes it better! It didn’t help that I tripped over one box because I was so tired, and went flying, only to land full force on my knees! Mum thought I might have broken my ankle, and I have to admit to being very wary when I moved my leg again … my left knee is sporting some spectacular bruising, but the swelling has gone down, although my right ankle has started playing up overnight – hopefully it’s just a sprain and will ease off soon 🙂

Aside from that not much to report really – I had a frightening wake-up call at 5am today in the new place … I woke up to the sound of what I thought was furniture being dragged over the wooden deck – then I got worried that it could have been the ranch slider doors being opened … but an hour later after laying awake wetting myself, I heard the noise again, and assume it was possums on the roof … scared the hell out of me though!

As well as Fraze tonight, I’m catching up with a guy I used to work with in Auckland – he’s actually in Aussie who’s originally from Melbourne, and now works with Fraze, so he’s been to catch up since finding out Fraze knows me well. It will be fun to see him again 😀

I unpacked my stitching last night and sat and put a few stitches into Bordeaux … no piccies to show for it yet, though, as I don’t have internet at home, and don’t have my old computer set up yet to transfer files across. The new laptop doesn’t have a card reader that’s compatible with my camera, so I’ll have to buy a cheap USB card reader, then I can upload piccies again.

Not sure how long it’ll be before I’m back online again … I’d rather not outlay any more expenses for the next couple of weeks, so I’m putting off signing up for Unwired until then. Internet cafes aren’t too handy to where I’m living (I learnt that in the first 8 months I lived in Melbourne, as I’m now only 5 minutes drive away from where I first lived in East Bentleigh).

Sorry this is so disjointed … I’m rushing to get all this out, and it probably doesn’t make much sense … I was very sad to see Mum go on Monday night, especially as we didn’t have much down-time together this visit … especially during the last week or so, it was just frantic and exhausting, both mentally and physically. Next time it might have to be me going home to NZ for a visit, seeing as I don’t have a permanent home where she can stay. Mind you, time will tell whether I enjoy housesitting or not – I might be ready to jack it in after 3 months 😉

Rightio, back to doing a few more things online … sorry for the rambling, disjoined waffle … but the important thing is that I survived the moving ordeal … just 😉 Time to move onto the next phase of life … tomorrow is my day off for the week and I intend to sit stitching most of the day while watching the Amazing Race All Stars DVD’s (someone has a copy of the full series currently on TV).

Hope this finds you all fit, healthy and well, not to mention as happy as pigs in mud 😀 Huge hugs xxx

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

Sod Murphy and his bl**dy Law!! ;)

29 May, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

After being so incredibly positive yesterday to Mum, saying we were going to have a marathon packing effort today because it was my last early shift and we could stay up later packing as I could sleep in, my plans were of course foiled. I should’ve known Murphy and his sodding Law would come and interfere with our perfect plans!!

The last couple of days my car has been playing up … yet again … I do have to admit that I even used the dreaded “F” word in front of Mum tonight in my sheer frustration with it – but she was feeling magnanimous and didn’t offer to wash my mouth out with soap for a change LOL. Anyway, those of you who’ve been reading my drivel for a while now may remember I had some ‘electrical’ problems before Christmas, when I had to buy a new battery, continued to have problems, and had a ‘supposed’ auto electrician look at my car, who couldn’t find anything wrong. Since then I’ve been leaving my car alarm off overnight, so just the disabler was operating, and my battery has been OK since then and remaining charged up. Well, a couple of days ago it started playing up again by making ‘chirping’ noises from the alarm when switching the ignition off …

Today it finally fell into a heap when I got home, and the central locking died, with a really sad noise emitting from the alarm. Seeing as my car is pretty critical this week, I had no choice but to call up a mobile auto electrician who came out to look at it within the hour (bless him!) … it turns out I was right the entire time, and the problem was that the alarm was ‘taking over’ my electrical system – so we agreed to just disable the entire thing. Of course, today Melbourne decided to break the huge drought we’ve been having, and we got stuck in such a deluge of rain that my trousers with literally squelching wet – because of the laneway access still closed, we couldn’t put the car under shelter to be fixed … in the end we opted to drive down to St Kilda to the Coles carpark, which is undercover, and the mechanic spent an hour ripping disassembling the wiring of my car alarm – he also fixed another wiring problem with the dashboard light not operating as well. Anyway, $200 later (didn’t really need that this week, but c’est la vie – at least there are no other big bills yet to come this payday), and my car is behaving perfectly for a change. I’m not even going to guess how long it will stay that way, but for now I’m going to enjoy that bit of bliss 😉

I do have to say, though, that if you haven’t heard it before, I soooooooo HATE my car!! Even Mum suggested while I’m off housesitting that I should save up and get a new one … which is something I’ve been considering myself over the last couple of days!

Anyway, the day wasn’t entirely all bad … we got evacuated from our work building today while we had the Police, fire trucks and an ambulance in active attendance – it turned out to be an air conditioning motor burning out and polluting the entire building with fumes, so we had 1 1/2 hours off work … and because it was so cold out there today (we’ve had gale force winds across parts of Victoria) they even let us head off to the shops for a coffee to warm up … we pushed the boundaries and sat and had a cooked breakfast (it was 9am by this time, and time for my lunchtime anyway, so it was perfect for me!).

After we’d eaten, I managed to quickly duck across the road to clear the PO Box before heading back to work, and I had a wonderful parcel of goodies waiting for me (actually there were a couple that arrived today, but I still have two thank you emails to send yet, so I’ll post those tomorrow and keep you in suspense LOL).

I have to share with you today a most wonderful bag that KarenV stitched for me – isn’t this the most gorgeous fabric ever?!! I just ADORE it!! As soon as I opened the envelope, it put a huge grin on my face 😀 I told Mum I’m going to take it with me housesitting to add some cheer to my day every day – it’s just lovely. Thanks so much Karen for a gorgeous gift – it’s absolutely perfect for me! 😀

To finish today’s post/drivel I’ll end with what will be my final progress piccie of Bordeaux for a wee while – I’ve managed to put a few grapes into it, and as you can I’ve finally decided to just stitch the grapes in each ‘gap’ rather than the date. I think, instead, I may add a very small backstitched initials and year in the bottom left and right corners of the sampler at the end. The next time I get access to posting piccies it’s likely this will be finished (at least I hope so!) 🙂

And now it’s time to hit the hay for the night. There’ll be precious little packing happening tomorrow thanks to my shifts, and only two nights left … but I’m trying not to think about it 😉 In the meantime I’m going to enjoy a good night’s sleep, as I’ve had two real shockers the last two nights, and enjoy the last few days of our week 🙂 It will be nice to cuddle under the duvet tonight, as our lounge room is back to being like the Arctic Circle (I have my work clothes on still, complete with dressing gown over the top, it’s so cold!). Mum and I are counting down the sleeps to the official handing back of the keys … poor Mum was quite scared in the flat today, as the wind was quite strong and making the walls creak and groan more than normal … I have to say, too, the cracks are definitely worse in here now as well, if that was possible! Oh well, only 6 more sleeps … 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED, Works in Progress

Happy Birthday to the Dragon!!

25 May, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Just a quick post to wish Mum (aka the Dragon) a wonderful birthday … not sure yet what we’re going to do to celebrate, but we may go out to dinner somewhere nice over the weekend. It’s a bit boring as I gave her birthday gifts to her when she was here visiting last time, so I picked up a couple of deli treats from the Camberwell markets for her before work yesterday.

As I mentioned earlier, my stitching time has pretty much finished now as the packing is taking shape more and more (this weekend will be the most frantic as we try to get the bulk of it totally finished) … here is what may be the final progress piccie of Bordeaux for a while (depending whether I manage a couple of stitches over the coming week or not, when most of the packing is finished). In the centre row the the middle four blank ‘squares’ are supposed to have the year stitched, with one numeral in each square, but I don’t think I like how large the date will then be. I’m thinking of stitching A on the left, and S on the far right, with 20 and 07 sharing the centre two blocks. I might wait until everything else is finished before I totally decide … the alternative is to ignore the date altogether, and just fill the gaps with yet more over-one grapes as the original chart thumbnail shows (you can just barely see that in my sidebar).

I can’t believe that in exactly one week I lose my computer access – I don’t know how I’m going to survive!! There are no internet cafes near to where I’m moving to for housesitting, so it’ll take a while before I get an internet fix. If nothing else, though, it’ll give me more chance to get some extra stitching time in as I’ll have no other distractions (other than Foxtel yippee!).

A quick reminder about the RAK Registry – I’ve sent my work email to everyone that is a current member of the Registry … if you didn’t receive that email, please let me know and I’ll re-send it to you. Also you can continue to send to my original email address, as it is still active, but there will be a delay in my responding to you depending on how often I can get to an internet cafe.

Fingers crossed I’ll have a laptop sooner than later, especially as I’ll be saving a load of money from house-sitting … the one I’ve pretty much decided on (HP Pavilion dv6304TX) will cost me about $1800-$1900, though, so it will still be a wee while away before I do manage to get it. My 2nd choice is the HP Pavilion dv6302TU … the only difference is the 6304 has 160GB of memory, as opposed to 120GB of the 6302, and the graphics card is better. Not entirely sure whether I really need the higher capacity or not, though … if anyone has any recommendations I’d really love to hear it, as I’ve never owned a laptop before 🙂

I also want to apologise as I’ve been reading blogs only for an hour each day when I first come in from work, but I haven’t been commenting much – I’m trying to read as much as I can before I lose my access, but next week it will be more of a struggle to even keep up with reading. Please don’t be offended if I don’t make a final comment on your blog before I head off into the big blue yonder.

Which brings me to my next point … I want to thank each and every one of you that continues to visit and read my drivel, even when it’s been negative as I’ve been going through an emotional turmoil – an extra special thanks go to those of you who take the time to comment, especially when I’m not commenting much in return. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again many many times I’m sure, that blogging has sure changed my life – it’s made it a much warmer and friendly place, and I’ve made some incredible friendships over the last 18 months or so … I appreciate each and every one of you very very much, it’s been an honour to get to know you!

Rightio, time to get back into packing mode for a couple more hours before I have to get ready for work. It’s my last 4pm shift start today, and I’m soooooo happy! But I’ll close with piccies of our ‘imaginary’ road works (it’s OK, Mr C, I no longer have desires to boil your bunny, so you’re safe! LOL).

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Game … set … and match!!! :D

25 May, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

No ticket on my car when I surfaced out of bed today … but also no word from Mr C by the time I was getting dressed to go to work – that guy will be just loving the fact that I have his personal mobile number! Yes, I got to chat to him again today, for an update … he said he’d been speaking to the works manager and apparently we can access the lane from the other end so you really have no problem with access – um, actually you probably can, Mr C, if your apartment block is at the other end of the lane, but I can most definitely assure you that you can’t at OUR end … in fact, if you’d like I can pop down to your office and show you photos, as I’ve just been down to take some – there’s no disputing physical evidence! 😉

I can just picture Mr C starting to quiver in his boots at that point (actually, I’m just being cruel now, ‘cos he was actually very helpful and pleasant today in the end LOL) … he then asked about how I went with my parking last night, and I said parking in the median strip was fine, and it was very helpful being able to park right outside the building, thank you very much. He then asked how much longer I’d like to park there for … my answer, if it’s OK to get approval to park there the entire time the works are being done, that would be great, which would take the last day to next Friday. Mr C then shocked me senseless by saying he’d draft a letter up for me on Council letterhead and he’d pop it over to my letterbox personally so it would be sitting there for when I got home, then I could pop it on my dashboard for the week and I wouldn’t get hassled by anyone … why, thank you, Mr C, I’m very grateful that you’re coming to the party, and I appreciate the lengths you’ve taken to rectify the situation. And to top it off, Mum called me at work to tell me he even hand-delivered it to our front door on the 3rd floor of the building to make sure it was received … hehehe, must’ve really scared him! I think he was worried I’d continue to stalk him for life on his mobile phone if he didn’t appease me LOLOL.

Regardless, I’m now a very happy camper … you see, every now and then the “little man” wins … even if it sometimes takes a bit of determination, drive, and a lot of bloody-mindedness! 😉

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Bring it on … part 2!!

23 May, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water … oh sorry, that was a different story …

Today I had an early wake-up call from a council worker knocking on the door asking me to move my car out of the carpark so they can do some works … “oh sorry, the Council was supposed to let you know it was happening” … hmmm. An Annie without sleep is a deathly combination, I can wither a grown man at 20 paces with one look … luckily for the council worker I was too half-asleep to conjure up just the right expression, so I grumbled and scowled instead as I wandered downstairs with my tracky pants on and a thick cardigan on over my PJ top (‘cos I was too lazy to get dressed!). Anyway, as it turns out they’re kindly digging up the entire access lane to the property … and to about another half dozen apartment properties on the block. We will have no carpark facilities whatsoever until at least the end of next week … great!!

Street parking around here is at a major premium anyway, and the roads are always full of cars without having an entire block of buildings (especially of apartments where each one has approx 10-12 cars each block!!) now trying to find parking space. I’m particularly unimpressed that I’m on late shifts and will now have to start walking the streets in the wee small hours of the morning on my own after parking lord-knows-where. The bad side of this is that I may get raped or murdered on my way home … of course, there’s always a good side … and that is that I will no longer be parking under a possum-infested tree, so from now on my car will be forever poo-free 😀

You see, there’s always a silver lining!!! (Can you tell I’m starting to feel a bit like my old self again? LOL).

My morning has since been spent chewing the ear off of a chap at the Council … I’m asking for authority to park on the medium strip in the centre of the road (it’s concreted, and wide enough to take loads of cars parked diagonally) … I’m still awaiting the verdict, as he’s got to check some things out before calling me back. He’d better come back with something good, ‘cos I’m now more awake … even though I can’t give “the look” over the phone, I’m sure I could somehow express the look just as easily, and if not I can always drive down for a visit 😉

So now we have more construction works going on – the next door neighbour has had building works going for over a week now, which has been increasing the sales of Nurofen in this household 10-fold over the last week … they’re currently using the circular saw over there, which is a change from the pneumatic drill from yesterday. Now we have bl**dy great diggers out the back of us … if nothing else it’s starting to make me really look forward to moving. I was still quite sad to be leaving the area, as I truly do adore the location of where I am … but right now I’m starting to count down the days with glee …

But there is already that one bright light … if you missed it earlier … NO MORE POSSUM POO!!!!!!!! 😀

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Bring it on … !!!

23 May, 200725 February, 2012 Anne S

Today the day started quite auspiciously … the Dragon (aka Mum) was kind enough to offer to stitch some calico strips to some ornies etc I have kitted up, so they’re ready for stitching while I’m housesitting (that way they fit in my Q-snaps, ‘cos I can’t stitch in hand). While I’m snoozing away in the bedroom due to my awful shifts, it gives her something to do until I finally surface again … she’d been overlocking the fabric edges when she decided to change the thread colour but then killed the overlocker – the threads now keep breaking, and she can’t get into the thing properly to fix it … anyway, we figure that’s no biggie, we’ll just use the sewing machine to zigzag the edges and then stitch the calico on … no problem …

Yeah, right … it died … kaput! Nothing will get the darned thing to operate again … it was a bit dicky when Mum was using it during the last visit, and apparently wouldn’t wind thread onto a bobbin etc. Well, nothing worked today – winding on, stitch selection buttons, or anything … as the Toyota adverts says, it was definitely a “B*gger!” moment!!

Personally, it didn’t surprise me in the slightest … if there’s nothing else that I’ve learnt over the last 6-7 months, it’s the fact that when you think nothing more can go wrong, something inevitably will! The good news is that today for the first time I’ve got a smidgen of my old fighting spirit and good humour back again … mainly, I guess, because I made a big decision today – and conquered a difficult and potentially conflictual situation.

Today I finally decided that I am going to go housesitting for perhaps 6-12 months if I can last that long! I’m so disappointed in the fact that Sheree has had no regard for my feelings, or any shred of common decency, by not telling me she had possible intentions to leave me in the lurch and stay where she is currently instead of going flatting together. I actually don’t blame her at all, but it would have been nice to have been told to my face. I brought it up with her today at work and said how disappointed I was, and that I’ve pretty much decided while driving into work to go housesitting instead, because I have no idea how long I can trust her to hang around for … apparently she was not looking at going flatting again because her car had been ‘keyed’ twice in the last week, costing her over $1,000, so she can’t stay where she is staying as her car needs to be in a more secure living arrangement. She’d already mentioned previously that she may not stay in Melbourne longer than another 12-18 months, so I may have been up for another move for finding another flatmate then too. I have to admit, I feel as though a weight has been lifted off my shoulders after making that decision, and discussing it with Sheree … whether or not it will turn out to be a good decision, only time will tell, but for now it feels good!!

Mum and I spent a short time this morning checking out mobile wireless broadband options, and eventually I think I’ll pick up a connection with Unwired … although if I’m going to be housesitting permanently I’m also going to need a laptop, which will take me a while to be able to afford – but it’s a good option for further down the track 🙂

Aside from that, Mum and I popped out to Spotlight at lunchtime, before I went to work, to price up cheap sewing machines … we figure my machine is nearly 20 years old, and how much it’s going to cost to fix may not warrant the money … so we’ve unexpectedly got a machine on hold – yikes!! We were originally only going to price them up, to work out whether it would be worth getting my old one fixed. The pleasant surprise we got was a Brother BM-2600 and it’s dirt cheap at only $199 (left over specials from Mother’s Day, it was originally retailing for $279) – admittedly it’s only a very basic model, but I no longer do stitching with fancy stitches, so for now this will suit me very well. It’s also extremely light and portable, so I could even take it with me housesitting (my old Janome 6000 is like lifting a ton of bricks!!)! Mum and I were very excited to find something so cheap … and Mum’s being very good at helping me spend that first pay cheque that’s coming soon when I don’t have rent to pay – it’s the last thing I expected to be buying, but I use my old one all the time, even if it’s just to attach those calico strips! It’s not going to be great for machine quilting a queen size quilt (the actual quilting of the batting etc), but it’ll be a long time before I get to that stage, so for now I think this will be just perfect! And the salesperson was really really helpful, and very knowledgeable about the machines … she’s even told me she’s happy to give me a 1/2-3/4 hr lesson if I need it after I’ve moved out! So yes, Mum and I are definitely sold on it I guess 😉

As for everything else, I haven’t touched a needle since last week, although tomorrow I’ll post a piccie of my Bordeaux progress I did earlier. We picked up some smaller book boxes from the storage place today, as the ones we’d got basically could barely be lifted – and this way all the boxes will be a uniform shape … tomorrow we’ll attempt to take the dining table apart to give us more packing space both in the dining area and in the storage area when we move. This weekend is going to be full-on packing-wise. Next week I’ve managed to get some shift swaps to 5am starts on Mon/Tue which will give me the afternoons free for packing. I can’t believe the official moving date is now only 1 1/2 weeks away … yikes!!

I have to say I’m looking forward to a non-ventilated home – it was a sultry 12C in our lounge last night (56F for those of you ‘up north’) … Mum had on about 5 layers of clothing, and I’m now sat at the PC with my outdoor coat on. Mum has been spoiling me, though – this week I’m on 4pm shift starts, so I don’t get home until 12.30am-ish, and get to bed about 1.30am … last night I staggered into the bedroom freezing cold only to find my electric blanket already on, with the bed toasty warm, and my PJ’s under the duvet so they were toasty warm to jump into … my Dragon rocks!!! 😀

Talking of which, I suppose it’s time to go jump into that toasty bed again … it’s so nice to have a bit of pampering right now! Such a small thoughtful gesture has such a huge impact … I love my Mum!! 😀