Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Short post about ‘nothing’

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…”

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).

rak from nicki jun07

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!

karen's quaker rr

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! 😀

PhotoHunt

PhotoHunt – Shiny

Anne S


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This week’s theme is “Shiny” … I couldn’t come up with much this week, so I’m using a photo I used for the theme of Silver – here are spools of shiny Kreinik metallic threads.

Then I thought I’d share a piccie of my heap of cr*p car that I detest with a passion – here it’s looking very shiny, as the photo was taken before I moved to Elwood, and before it was parked beneath a tree housing a nocturnal poo-ing possum … I’ll be sharing a photo in September of what it normally looks like after a few weeks of being ‘possumed’ …

Blogging Memes, Cross Stitch, Gifts TO BE FIXED

A great visit and a tagging

Anne S

First of all, I have to say a huge “Hi” and thank you to Tannia for being such a wonderful hostess with the mostest last Sunday (crikey, I can’t believe it was a whole week ago today as well – time flies when you’re having fun!) … it was lovely to finally put a face to the name and meet for the first time!  It was also really lovely to put faces to the other guests as well – it was great to meet Mel and Junette also for the first time (thanks Mel for mentioning the link on Tannia’s blog, as I now have another great blog to read!), and of course Tannia’s other half – it was great to spend time with wonderful ladies (and gents) and wonderful company, and I certainly hope this will be the first of many visits 😀

I got spoilt rotten by both Mel and Tannia – Mel kindly brought some unloved stash along, and we got to choose any items from the piles that we’d like to give a good home … I came home with two items from my wishlist – a Beyond XS chart by The Victoria Sampler (level 3, number 4 – blackwork … and yes, Mum, I know you’re going to want that one too ‘cos it’s a Christmas one!! haha), and Hummingbird by Elizabeth’s Designs … woohoo!  Thanks again Mel for sharing with us – I’d actually meant to do the same thing myself, and forgot to take the bag into work with me … hopefully next time we meet again I’ll remember, and I can return the favour!!

Tannia spoilt me by giving me an absolutely gorgeous fob she’d stitched … I’d actually been drooling over it as it was sitting on display on the set of drawers in the lounge, as it is stitched in one of my all-time favourite threads (an Anchor variegated one) … I was absolutely stunned when Tannia handed it over to me saying it was for me – thanks again Tannia, I really adore it, and it was on a pair of scissors within hours the next day.  Here are photos of the front and back so you too can now drool, if you haven’t already seen it on Tannia’s blog 😀

fob-from-tannia

fob-from-tannia-back

I went to the get-together straight from work after a 5am shift, which I normally don’t do because I’m not usually the perkiest person to be around – but I really didn’t want to pass up the opportunity of meeting this great bunch of ladies, so I’m glad I made the effort.  All-in-all Melbourne is becoming an even friendlier place all the time – I’ve truly met some wonderful ladies through the blogs from within my own city, and it brings an extra glimmer of warmth to living here 😀

Onto other things … I got a shock when I logged into WordPress today and saw the “hair” photo for the Photo Hunt … I’d forgotten that I’d already set up a couple of months worth of Photo Hunt photos in case I couldn’t get to an internet connection in advance.  I can’t remember which themes are coming up, or what photos I selected, so it’s as much of a surprise for me as it is for you at the moment LOL.

Now, before I forget, I have to apologise to Georgie for not posting about this earlier – unfortunately I got tagged while I was in the middle of packing up etc, and the timing wasn’t great, but I still like to complete the tags when I get them, so here’s my response albeit a month late!!

Here’s how to play:
1. Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves
2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules
3. At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. In my teen years I used to have dozens of penpals, after advertising for one in a UK magazine (but unfortunately don’t keep in touch with any of them now)
2. I dislike babies and have absolutely no urge to pick one up and cuddle … but once they turn into little terrors (or ‘real people’ as I call it) at the age of 2, I’m happy to spend time with them (I definitely don’t take after Mum, who will happily cuddle any baby regardless of who it belongs to)
3. I love walking around in bare feet – which is probably why I now have very wide, hard-to-buy-shoes-for feet!
4. I used to be the Editor of a Car Club magazine for post-war vintage cars (the Armstrong-Siddeley Car Club)
5. I love trying new foods – and love almost every cuisine … just don’t serve me up boiled limp cabbage or octopus tentacles, and we’ll all be happy (they’re pretty much the only things that leave me cold … although with the exception of kidneys and liver, I can’t say I’m too keen to eat offal such as tripe etc … gag …)
6. I sponsored a child in Sri Lanka before they closed the project down, then sponsored a child in South America for a few years – the only reason I stopped is because I moved here and couldn’t afford to keep it up … I still have regrets and wonder how Aline is doing now …
7. I love nothing better than curling up in front of a DVD (or preferably more than one) with my stitching … and have a DVD player that has slots for 5 DVD’s at once … it’s not unusual for me to work my way through all 5 in one marathon stitching session 😉
8. I used to work behind the Bar of the Marist Brothers Old Boys Rugby Football Club in Auckland, and met a few of the All Blacks because of … including a memorable session of dancing behind the bar with ZinZan Brooke after an all-nighter when our senior team won the championship

Rightio, I think that’ll do it for now … I may have already said a few of those things, I can’t remember … and I won’t bother tagging anyone as I think I’m the last person on the planet not to have completed it (especially as I got tagged back on 11 May!!).

I’m also super behind with the SBQ’s again, with I think about 4 questions outstanding, but I’ll save those for another day, as I think I’ve waffled on enough again 😀  Now I might pop over and do some internet banking while I still have a connection, then with luck I may get chance to check out a couple of blogs … I apologise though that I may not be commenting, as I notice there are currently 911 unread feeds yikes!!

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

I’m Baaaack … !!!

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!!]

PhotoHunt

PhotoHunt – Shoes

Anne S


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This one was even tougher than last week’s theme – “Shoes” just don’t ‘do it’ for me, as I have difficulty finding shoes that fit my broad feet … I have a heap of ideas in my head for taking new shots, but this shot is just going to have to do … this is the main shopping haul from our trip to Hong Kong last year – I was stunned to find shoes that actually fit me feet, so I went a bit crazy!! 🙂

Home & Family TO BE FIXED

Just touching base briefly …

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

PhotoHunt

PhotoHunt – Art

Anne S


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I struggled with this week’s theme of “Art” – I just don’t have time to go out and take anything new, so here’s a photo of “art” on the banks of the Yarra here in Melbourne that I took last year.

I also pushed the envelope a bit by tweaking a photo of the Sydney Opera House using my Photoshop Elements software … it makes it look more like a piece of “art” by turning it into a watercolour/line drawing.

Melbourne

Two sleeps left …

Anne S

… and tonight Mum and I are having ‘time out’ 🙂  I knew today would be a write-off anyway due to my shift times, so we’ve reheated a couple of ‘mystery meals’ from the freezer LOL, and we’re finishing off by drinking red wine, and polishing off her birthday chocolate mud cake while watching House … such simple and enjoyable decadence! 😉  Mind you, it’s so cold in here tonight I’m personally sitting here in my work clothes, with my full-length dressing gown on, topped off with a warm scarf round my neck … I’m also getting very very tempted to go and drag out a winter hat as well, seeing as they haven’t been packed yet LOL.

I was chatting to Mum this morning about everything that has happened over the last six months or so … and that it’s lucky I’m such a strong person.  We both agreed that really for anyone who had a less robust personality, it really could have different results.  We commented that this sort of stuff is the sort that could send people suicidal – perhaps it sounds extreme, but the continued pile of negative issues that have happened really could have a lot worse effect on someone else and enough to send them ‘over the edge’.  Mum reckons I take after her, being a tough cookie and battler herself … I’d have to agree! 😉

I noticed today that I’m still the only car parking in our street median strip … the 2nd night after the road works behind the building I noticed a few more cars parked alongside me – but when we returned to the car later in the day their windscreens had little additions on them … parking tickets under the wipers – all the cars except mine, of course, as I have that little piece of paper power sitting on my dashboard … bless you, Mr C! 😉

I’ve managed to get tomorrow off work, which is sooooo awesome, I’m really and truly thrilled, after last night’s fiasco with the car.  It means we should be able to finish off everything planned, and even might get chance to pop out shopping in the late afternoon.  I’ve found out through work I can get a salary sacrifice option for a laptop from Harvey Norman stores, which means I could spread the payments out over 3-6 months instead of having to save up the cash in advance … which means I have the potential to get an Unwired internet connection sooner rather than later … the sales guy I spoke to on the phone yesterday is suggesting I look at the Toshiba A200/K00 instead of the HP I wanted, so it will be interesting to see them both and work out what the repayments will be to see if it will be viable.  No guarantees it will happen, but it’s worth checking out the options just in case …  I might have to check out salary sacrifice options with cars as well, thanks Tannia – hadn’t thought about that! 😀

Rightio, time to get off here … I’m struggling to keep my eyes open, so time to call it a night me thinks!