Feather Stitching

Today I got my ‘big boss’ to sign off on my application form, and I faxed it along with my CV and cover letter and applied for the job in Sydney … OMG, now I’m starting to freak out!!  If I have to interview for the job I’d better start applying for more housesitting jobs in Melbourne, ‘cos I’m useless at them … but if by any freak event they just decide I’m the best candidate and offer it to me outright, I’m all set haha.  Apparently they had two other applications received by the deadline, but they were considering extending the timeframe a bit longer – which to me means they weren’t too thrilled with the candidates concerned for whatever reason.  Also, apparently, the boss in Sydney was speaking to one of our Supervisors asking why no-one from Melbourne had applied for the job, which is quite interesting – it seems that Melbourne Hotline have got the best reputation across all three call centres for knowledge and expertise etc (and some staff members will actually call us directly because they don’t want to speak to the other sites hmmm).  Anyway, all-in-all, the boss in Sydney is going to try to let me know an update by the end of this week, or on Monday next week – whether that means an interview time, or something else, I’ll just have to wait and see.

The awful thing is that this has all been so rushed, and with the hours I’m working and the time difference, I haven’t even had chance to discuss any of this with Mum – she’s read all about this new adventure at the same time as everyone else!  Sorry Mum!!

Of course, all I could think of on the drive home tonight was that I’d have to start making a list of all the things I’d need to take with me in the car, if I moved to Sydney for the year … forget about bedding, and all those important and critical things, the list that was being created in my mind was all the stitching goodies haha.  Even though I’m not stitching much at the moment, it’s still at the forefront of my mind! LOL.  I’ll only be taking with me pretty much what I’ve been housesitting with -the storage unit is too well packed to get much of it out, although my computer printer and stitching stash, along with sewing machine, are nicely accessible and definitely compulsory packing items.  I think I’ll also be trying hard to reach back into the unit to get my hands on my floor model Ott-Lite.  Anyway, I might be counting my chickens before they’re hatched, so I shouldn’t start getting my hopes up …

On to a totally different story … here are some of the photos I took yesterday at the Australian Garden display – there are a couple of ‘overall garden’ photos, as well as some close-ups of some of the Australian native plants that Iliked. 

Abbey, from NCIS, would love these plants – lovely black flowers!! 😉

“Matted bush-pea”

“Tiny Thomasia”

Native orchids

I love this display, it’s quite artistic and funky … I DON’T like those webby things, though! 😛

And it’s amazing what you can find among the flowers when you have your head down

And on that note, I’ll call it a night … 🙂

Thanks for the positive feedback about my rotation – in fact it looks more complex than it actually is … essentially it’s just a rotation with 6 projects on the go at any one time, and rather than having a measured period of time per slot (ie 10 hours or one week per slot), I’ve given myself project deadlines to complete before I move on to the next project in the rotation.  Basically the slots will be:

1. Commitment stitching (until all 3 item are completed)
2. Snapperville – Bent Creek; then Stitching Leporello (Chatelaine)
3. The Drawn Thread – It’s Halloween, then Autumn Arbor, then Garden Recipe – then Victoria Sampler’s Crimson Fire Sampler
4. CA Wells – Sailor’s Valentine, then Cottage Etui, then Pyramid Etui
5. Lanarte – Sea Life
6. Free choice

The next few projects that will be added as time goes by are – Blessed with Happiness box (The Cat’s Whiskers), Blueberries (LHN/CC thread pack), My Treasures Workstation (Judy Odell), plus a myriad of others, all vying for attention.  There are many ‘smaller’ projects that will slot in very nicely into the “free choice” spot, as they’ll only take a couple of nights of stitching to get each one finished (such as Xmas ornies etc).

As for right now, I put one whole hour’s stitching into the dratted Winnie the Pooh bookmark tonight – it’s the first time I’ve actually brought my stitching out while staying at Ali’s, and I can’t say I was particularly productive, but it was nice to get the frame out and give it a go!

I actually had a pretty rough night’s sleep last night and didn’t feel too perky when I finally emerged from the bedcovers.  I was cheered up pretty quickly, though, by a visit out to see Lisa to take her house keys back … and I was spoilt to death by being taken out to lunch to an awesome beach-side cafe at Parkdale (I would definitely recommend that to anyone in Melbourne!), as well as being given a really sweet tote bag from Harrod’s, and another wee black bag from Hong Kong – wow!  Gifts are always lovely purely because of the sentiments behind them, but these are super useful! 😀

After we had lunch I decided to head out to the Cranbourne Botanical Gardens, and walked around the Australian Garden, which is full of Australian native plants.  There isn’t as much to see and do as there was at the other gardens I’ve recently been to at Arthur’s Seat etc, but it was lovely to spend an hour walking around and seeing some native species I hadn’t seen before.  It was also lovely to see loads of Superb Fairy Wren birds flitting around among the ground cover – I just adore the colourings of the male bird, the bright blue is, indeed, “superb”! 😉

After wandering around the gardens, I headed back to Seaford and picked up a healthy dinner option – fresh Mediterranean salad (mixed lettuce leaves, with crumbled feta and sundried tomato dressing), a bunch of fresh asparagus spears (yummo!), and a piece of fresh salmon fillet.  All I had to do when I got home was to crack open the bottle of Chardonnay I also picked up, nuke the salmon and asparagus spears for 3 minutes in the microwave, and pile everything on a plate … it was absolutely divine!  Of course, the added company of Ali chatting to me during getting everything ready was an added bonus! 😀

I’ve been chatting to a few people at work about the option of applying for the job in Sydney, and the consensus is that I should go for it!  I wanted to chat to Ali especially to get her feedback – even though I’m only just starting to find my feet socially here in Melbourne after being here for 4 years, it’s a damned good opportunity to give it a try.  The salary is about $7,000-$10,000 more than my base salary here, although with the shift allowances it would even up a bit overall.  I’m currently on a level 5 salary band, and the training salary is level 8 for the first 3 months, then it goes up to a level 9 (which is basically above our Supervisors in Reservations).  Anyway, it’s only for 12 months, and it would be fantastic experience – and it seems there’s no time like the present, since all my things are in storage!  So, basically, I’m going to “go for it” … that’s not to say I’ll actually get the job, but I won’t get it if I don’t officially apply!

Crikey, I’ve just seen the time … I’d better hurry up and call it a night, as I’m on earlier shifts this week, and the traffic is horrendous so I’ll need to leave early and allow about 1 1/2 hours driving time ho-hum.  I have 2 hours overtime after work tomorrow, so that will at least see me leaving to come home outside peak time, which is great! 🙂

I’m going to call the boss in Sydney tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll have an update by the next time I jump online … I’ll also try to remember to post some piccies of the Australian Garden too 🙂