Category: Home & Family TO BE FIXED

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

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! 😉

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!!!!!!!! 😀

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!! 😀

Probably because I’ve spent much of the last 48 hours sleeping my head off!  I actually fell asleep in an exhausted heap on Friday night and slept solidly for 13 hours!!  Worried that I was wasting half the day when I should be up packing things, I set my alarm clock for 8.30am this morning … but I woke up twice and went back to sleep each time, and ended up sleeping for nearly 11 hours yet again … crikey!!  As Mum said, my body obviously needed it, as it’s very unusual for me to do that!  I actually woke up really bunged up, but I think it’s partly to do with the fact that it’s like an icebox in my flat at the moment.  Mum thought I was winding her up when I told her how cold it was before she flew over … last night, though, she was bundled up in her clothes, with her dressing gown on, and then put some leggings on up over her knees – it was so funny!  My hands are like blocks of ice, and I’m very tempted to walk around with gloves on, if I didn’t need them free for packing 😉  It would be so wonderful to be able to close that darned lounge window!!

No stitching has been done over the last couple of days.  I did some more on Bordeaux a couple of nights ago, and finished all the gold stitches on band 6 … I probably won’t get much chance to stitch now until I move out, but I’ll hold out showing a progress piccie until the official SAL night this week (which might be the final progress piccie for a while).

Mum and I spent an hour this afternoon choosing photos for the upcoming three months of the Photo Scavenger Hunt – and my posts are all loaded up for that whole period seeing as I won’t have access to my computer or photo files … so if you see me posting regularly over the next couple of months, it’s not that I’m physically sitting at the PC, just that I’m being super-organised with trivial stuff 😉

Talking of which, time to go back to my packing again – I’m going through my XS charts etc and packing all my ringbinders into archive boxes and emptying the bookcases … the perfect job while catching up on TV viewing and clearing all those videos that have been piling up for ages. 

I should get loads of stitching done while I’m housesitting as I’ll have no PC, and they have Foxtel … how awful! At least it means I’ll have plenty of viewing to keep me busy, seeing as my DVD’s will all be in storage (although I have downloaded some audiobooks to my iPod as well) 😉

Rightio, no more yapping … time to move into the refrigerator lounge and do a bit more …

Haven’t been posting at all, ‘cos there hasn’t really been much to say … I’ve been struggling with the night shifts the last three nights – the shifts themselves have been OK, but I’ve had broken sleep every single day due to ringing phones, bursting bladders, and an awful lot of outside noise, sometimes only getting 4-5 hours sleep. I got so over-tired by the end of today I felt quite queasy, and ended up laying down for a couple of hours before heading to work again. I’m very very tempted to take a sleeping tablet before I go to bed this morning (which is any minute, seeing as it’s now 6am and I’m just recently in from work).

No real stitching is being done, apart from one whole length of thread in Bordeaux, before I succumbed to exhaustion and went to bed yesterday afternoon, and a few stitches into my purple/turquoise biscornu while at work.

It’s been an interesting couple of days – I picked up some more boxes and furniture covers from the storage company I’m going to be using, as well as some free wine boxes from Dan Murphy’s, so packing can continue … that’s a good thing. 

Then we called into Autobarn to pick up a new fuse because my dashboard light isn’t working … only to find out it wasn’t the fuse at fault, and I now need to take the car in to an auto-electrician, meaning the wiring is stuffed somewhere – if you thought I hated my car before, you can only begin to imagine my feelings towards it right now!!  Let’s just say I’ll be driving without speedometer for the next few weeks, ‘cos I sure as heck am not about to send it in for more work to be done right now! … that’s a bad thing.

After that news Mum and I went to David Jones to finally cash in my gift voucher from my customer service award, and I used the recent overtime money to top up the difference (it was the best pay I’ve ever had this payday thank goodness) … and I came home with my beloved blue iPod I’ve been coveting for months – which means I can still listen to my audiobooks while my PC is in storage, as that’s something I’d really miss, especially as all my DVD’s and normal books will be in storage as well … that’s another good thing.

Then I just found out at work tonight that the girl I’m supposed to be moving in with once we find somewhere suitable is possibly backing out and leaving me in the lurch – meaning I’ll be out of a home, deciding yet again what the hell to do.  I know I have the housesitting job for now, but it was still planned that Sheree and I would be flatting together to cut the costs down … so that was another bad thing … and one I don’t want to think about right now.  I guess I may have to make some decisions while I’m away housesitting whether I may have to leave everything in storage and just go housesitting ‘professionally’ for a while … I don’t know what to do, really … it may not come to that, and I suppose I’ll have to face it when it happens … but I can tell you something, I’m really sick of having to deal with these sorts of decisions by now – as soon as one thing gets sorted out, something else throws itself into the mix!

I’ve always been able to see something positive in life and circumstances, but I have to admit to feeling pretty jaded right now, and ever so slightly ‘over it’ … I’m still battling on, but it would be so nice for life to run smoothly just for a while … 😦

Oh well, time to hit the hay and hope for a good night’s sleep …

Only 7 weeks after she left, she’s back again … it’s amazing how calming it is just having your Mum around – I think as ‘kids’ that will never change no matter how many years go by!  We went straight from the airport to St Kilda for brunch for Mother’s Day, then had about 2 hours chatting time before I had to head to work.  She made me laugh … an hour after arriving home she was decked out in her casual gear with her ‘pinnie’ on (her apron).  When I got home from work around midnight I walked in to the flat to see the vacuuming and dishes done, as well as the load of washing I had sitting ready in the washing machine … yep, “she’s baaaaack”!  She’s a trojan and can’t sit still … and she’s just what the doctor ordered for me this week!  Here she is in action this morning when I got up … in my least favourite position in the world … standing at the ironing board! She just can’t stop herself! 😉

Just for interest’s sake Mum and I put the little baby spirit level from my tool kit onto the floor in the corner where I feel the ‘slope’ is … sure enough, if you look carefully you can see the little bubble in the centre sitting far off to the left, so it’s definitely not me imagining things.  Mum was quite amazed at the difference in some of the cracks in the short time since she’s been gone … both of us can’t wait to see the bookcase moved so we can see the cracks behind it, and we’re going to take photos of the room once all the furniture is removed just for ‘interest’s sake’.

No more stitching has been done apart from about two lengths of thread in my turquoise and purple biscornu, so not worth showing (I did that at work to keep me awake).  I’m moving to night shifts tonight, and have to admit to being a bit worried about them for a change – I’m going to try to get two hours sleep later today before I leave, as I didn’t sleep too well last night.  We have a visitor coming in a few hours time, which is a new real estate agent doing a valuation for the owner, as the landlord is thinking of selling up … good luck to him!

I do have to admit to feeling slightly brighter already – having Mum here is going to be the best cure possible, and I’m so glad she was able to come over to help.  Normally I have great difficulty accepting help, but I have to say I’m very very happy with this one! 😀