Puppy (who weighed in yesterday at 28.6kg's ... Australian Cattle Dog [otherwise known as Blue Heeler (or red)] males are supposed to be 18 - 21kg's fully grown. And he's not fat. He's just HUGE - but very cute - even though he was in disgrace this morning. He managed to barge his way through the gate to the backyard and chase a ute down the road ... it was made VERY clear to him that I, the Alpha Female (ie the Queen Bit*h) of the house, was underwhelmed by this behaviour, and he was deposited very firmly back in his yard. He also learned that if you are a 30'ish kg dog and you're pulling against a somewhat heavier :) female .... you don't win.
Lesson learnt, he was a very good boy on our walk later in the afternoon.
I also pruned EVERYTHING ... and the pile of stuff to burn is enormous .. and wet, so it will be a while before it gets done. Hopefully in the next week or two.
I also made my first apple cake ... a layer of batter, apple mixture in the middle, layer of batter. Very very nice, Mr Tasmania enjoyed it immensely. It's one of his favourites.
I've enjoyed my two flex days .. and now have to go back and ask for some time off next Monday ... remember that job I applied for just because it was there? I've got an interview at 4pm next week. Interesting.
we didn't get up until 9:30, oh yyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sorry, it's just very very exciting when you usually get up at 5:30am to walk the dog!!!!!
Anyhoo, the day started well with a sleep in then a call from my youngest brother to tell me that he'd sold his very very beautifully restored twin cab white Kombi ute (which he was very happy about) and that he was starting his new job in August - yay! This is great as, since they've moved back to the Highlands, he's had 4 different jobs, and one abortive attempt at Uni, which all for various reasons have not worked out. This job sounds GREAT, it's very him, he's very excited, he gets a car :) (useful when you've just sold one) ... and he sounded SO chipper on the phone, very very cheerful, upbeat, positive - SO GOOD.
Unfortunately (and I'm sure it applies no matter what place in the sibling order you are) I find that you don't stop worrying about your little brothers even when said little brothers are both married (both for quite some time longer than me I might add!), fathers of two, and turning, respectively, 34 and 36 this year ... I will ALWAYS be the big sister, even when we're 98,96, and 94 (and you know I fully intend getting to that age ... unless we're raptured of course, in which case it's been taken out of my hands and I think at that stage I'll be pretty sure they'll be alright!).
So anyway, after finally getting up, breakfasting, and getting out of the house, we drove to Mr Tasmania's school and picked up the door for the toilet room in the shed at the Block. We then went back to the Block and installed the door. It looks very cool, the toilet room has been painted bright sunny yellow and the door is bright red :)
We then went and picked up 1m of bark mulch to continue with the mulching of the grevilleas down the driveway - we're halfway now and it's looking great. Some of the grevilleas are in flower at the moment too so it's all very lovely.
flex time from work that is, not flexing the body ... though I could do with some of that too, because my body is feeling old today. .. I have somehow managed to pull a muscle down my left side, from under the rib cage to my hip ... do not ask me how I managed to do that SITTING IN A CHAIR ALL DAY at work .... I plead aliens .. it must be their fault ... it was certainly nothing to do with me!
Anyhoo ... back to flexing off work ... this is what I will be doing Monday and Tuesday so YAY, I have a four day weekend. And I'd really appreciate it God, if you don't think it too facetious or disrespectful to ask by way of blog, that on at least one of those days we get some sunshine? And that you could send all the rain up to my mum and dad, who are now hand watering their trees again? And maybe some to the Murray Darling river system which is turning into dust and / or nasty acidic billabongs as we speak (type)? And maybe some to inland Tasmania which, contrary to it's drippy muddy cold climate rainforest bright dark green image in all the tourist brochures, is rapidly dryng up and turning to dust in the middle.
I'm about done with rain for the moment here ... it can go somewhere where there's someone who actually wants and needs it. Thanks God.
I've just spent nearly an hour fooling about on www.wherethehellismatt.com - he's the dancing man! too funny, too cool, if you check it out make sure you go and check out the other videos ... especially the one 'where the hell is Afunakwa' ... it's a about the singer in the music used over his dancing vids, she was from the Solomon Islands - very very interesting! Ian, I predict you'll find it fascinating :) .... or possibly wondrous ;)
I got a payrise today ... and last pay as well ... one was a tax cut (last pay) and this one was my one year anniversary (at work) ... it's only 7 weeks late but hey, enforced savings = backpay - yay!!!!
And the chook is in the oven as I write .... will let you know how it goes .....
I am fully employed ... yet I put a job application in the mail today. I guess I kinda figured why not? It's the job I talked about back on 02/07 ...
anyway, guess we'll see ... if it's the job for me we'll find out soon enough, if not I'm good where I am ... for now.
I'm going through one of my periodic desk clear felling episodes ... ie no more piles, no more 'toaster rack' full of things 'to get to', no more things in drawers, it's all getting done, finished, moved on, put away, or thrown out. I'm finalising procedures and writing up my job calendar .... so if I leave it's all done, if I don't leave I'll be SUPER organised and probably won't actually have to think for the rest of the year.
I found the taps I'd like for our house yesterday .... and also some sinks (and got prices on those). You have to hunt hard to find the sinks ... I like sinks with a draining board on both sides, and the majority of sinks you see these days only have a draining board on one side ... I guess that's because most people have dishwashers and do little washing up? WE will have a dishwasher ... but we'll also be on tank water, and things will be air drying ... and it's a good place for messy prep work when cooking as well .... anyway, smaller houses as well I guess, and ours is going to be large ... not full of rooms but very spacious.
well, technically omnivorous I suppose ... but definitely a meat eater.
and a happy one today, as I won the meat raffle at work. I don't know if this is a peculiarly Australian thing? Most RSL Clubs (REtired Servicemans League), and footy clubs etc have them ... school trivia nights, all that sort of thing ... my work runs a fortnightly raffle, drawn at the full staff meeting.
There were two today, not quite sure why, but anyway, the cheese and bikkie raffle went to another Admin person, and I won a lovely bottle of Hardy's Nottage HIll Chardonnay 2006 + 1kg of nice thin beef sausages + 1x apricot chicken + a 4.2kg slab of beef rump.
veeerrrry verrrryy nice!
ANyway ... never cooked a roast chicken (not a fan really, will eat if really well cooked, have had three bouts of food poisoning in my life, all caused by chicken - and chicken that others ate and did not get sick!!! Too annoying- anyway, last bout lost 8kg's overnight and couldn't walk for 3 days ... so you can see why I'm wary). Anyhoo ... any suggestions? I can look it up, but if anyone has any foolproof methods ..... please spill!
and now, after I saved the second post, the first one reappears! Ah well, at least now, as I roll my eyes at the vagaries of computers, I've looked up long enough to see the lovely pink sunset - silver linings in everything eh :)
I did a really long and I think very interesting entry - and the computer timed out and lost it!
Bugger!!!!!!!
So, here it is in short.
Slept in, walked dog in daylight (no sun), pruned trees (still no sun), walked dog again (still grey day), went to movies (now dark) (Prince Caspian, very good!), slept in, husband walked dog in daylight (still no sun!), went to block to discuss earthworks, (in the almost rain), lunch at Jolly Rogers (looking over beach which looks much better with sun - though Salt and Pepper Squid was AWESOME), home to read papers in front of gas heater (too grey and cold to be outside), husband now walking dog in daylight (but no sun).
Man ... that post was REALLY good! Rotten computers!
We had a good long walk with the puppy in the morning, and another in the evening - and Mr Tasmania has just taken him out for this afternoon's walk - it is SO nice to be able to walk him in daylight! Weekends are very precious at the moment, not just for the rejuvenation time, and the time spent with each other, but because we don't have to get up early and walk puppy in the dark before we leave for work (and walk him in the dark after we get home) ... though, as the shortest day has now passed (hallelujah) I can see the daylight hours getting longer ... I know it's only minutes a day, if that, but I get myself through the dark days of winter by believing that, after shortest day, it's practically Summer!
You can see that I've obviously not inherited the ability to live in the dark during Winter from my Irish and Isle of Man ancestors ... the Croatians must get a bit more sun over Winter and are making their presence felt :) ... I'm not sure about the darkness situation in Germany ... ?? anyone?? (from this you can see that I'm a classic Aussie girl - the melting pot! ... and it's all within the last three generations - Croatian grandparents, and a German great-grandfather) (As are my niece and nephews ... two nephews have, in addition to the above, French, Spanish, and Chilean all within the last three generations - I think that's pretty darn cool!).
Anyhoo, we had the chainsaw out yesterday, removing trees which are blocking the path of the winter sun - not that we have had any sun AT ALL for the last two days - the idea being that they will bush up again in time for summer but will not prevent the beautiful solar rays from warming up our little abode during winter. Sun being warmer somehow than the gas heater ... not to mention a whole heck of a lot cheaper!! WE are, unfortunately, unable to have natural gas connected (it's only recently coming to parts of Tasmania outside Hobart and it will be many many many years before there is the type of network generally accepted in Sydney and Melbourne, let alone other cities) so we have a very large gas bottle outside the house. These are not cheap, though they do last quite a while, but I am more than happy to supplement with free solar at any time.
I love the thought of putting solar panels on the roof and having storage batteries and gradually converting the whole shack to fully solar - but unfortunately it's really not going to happen unless the government really gets behind the renewable energy sector and starts supporting it in a big way - just way too pricy at present. We have vaguely thought of putting the new house on solar, as the Federal Government provided a substantial rebate to those who did - however they have decided, in their 'wisdom' to means test the subsidy - households with incomes over a certain amount are now not eligible. Unfortunately those who are under that amount do not have income to take the large amount of money necessary out of their net income, so the number of households putting in solar energy has plummeted dramatically since the announcement of the means test.
There is an online petition put up by one of the morning shows which is going to be presented to the government in the hopes that they will reverse their decision to impose the means test - I've signed it, as has Mr Tasmania, as the had good results with another of their online petitions last year, changing the government's mind on another environmentally unfriendly decision.
We can only hope!
We went and saw Prince Caspian last night, so nice to actually go to the movies! It's a great film too, the books are some of my absolute favourites, and I have VERY well worn copies in the bookshelf. Mr Tasmania has never read them, nor seen the first movie, so I had to fill him in, and he enjoyed it very much - hopefully I can get him to read the books now :) There was some artistic licence taken, but none that bothered me (much like the artistic licence taken with Lord of the Rings), as they enhanced rather than detracted - and I don't honestly think that C.S.Lewis wrote any of his books with possible screen plays at the back of his mind! :)
Today has been church, a trip to the block to discuss digging out of a vast bank of dirt with one of Mr Tasmania's brothers, and then lunch at Jolly Rogers - Salt and Pepper Squid - YUUUUMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!! Now home with the papers, and Mr TAsmania walking the doggy while I put on the washing and that's it, and almost perfect weekend (would have been perfect if we'd seen the sun even once!)
And no, I’m not being rude about homeless people, I’m talking about the naked derriere (and a mighty unattractive one at that!) that was flashing itself about in the Burnie CBD today.
Poor man, obviously some sort of mental problem going on, as he was abusing people outside the bank whilst I was inside. Thankfully, by the time I came out, ready to run the gauntlet, some kind person had phoned the police to come and escort him home. They talked to him as if they knew him so I imagine it’s a fairly regular occurrence – taking him home I mean, not flashing his behind to the general populace.
Guess I should be thankful for small mercies .. at least I wasn’t presented with a full frontal – that would have been a bit much to take on a Friday!
I'm trying to be sensible about the fact that my husband went out for a 15 minute walk, after telling me there was an hour's work he HAD to get done on the computer. He's gone to take the dog for a walk, drop of a camera manual and pick up some milk from friends. It's also freezing.
I imagine he's stopped for a drink, as they've been away for a fortnight.
However there better be no whinging about being tired and not getting his work done. Interest level of the wife is approaching NIL.
You know it’s going to be a good session when the first bra you try on fits!
Now, those of you who are C cup or below … and maybe the guys (unless they need the education) … can dip out now. You really don’t need to know about the annoyances of the D cup and above bra shopper.
Firstly – anything over a C cup costs more – a LOT more. You’d think there were ACRES more fabric in there instead of maybe 3 centimetres!
Secondly – As a general rule, not one single bra that you like will be on sale.
Thirdly – As another general rule, not one of the 19 bras you have taken with you to the changing room on your first turn around the racks will fit in any way. For the guys, consider that this means that you have stripped off everything from the waist up, tried on 19 items, found them all wanting, dressed again, and are now heading out to collect the next lot.
That’s assuming you don’t give it up as a bad job right there (‘cause you’ve been in this position before!).
Fourthly – All the cute bras and patterns are for the C cup and below … anything over a D cup might pretend to be cute, it may have lace, it might be black, it might be silky … but the strips are not shoestrings, and there’s usually some pretty serious buttressing going on … and don’t even think about not getting an underwire bra – just not worth it really, now or in 30 years time when your poor unsupported boobs are bouncing off your kneecaps.
Fifthly – you’re shopping in your lunch hour (or half hour!), your feet hurt, and you’d rather be anywhere else
Sixthly (is that a word?) – the bra that you bought last time, and love, and should have bought 6 of, is no longer manufactured … and the one that looks similar … isn’t.
HOWEVER ….. today was the day that all the bra buying rules went out the window.
The first bra fit – a VERY good sign.
4 of the 8 bras fit – getting better by the second!
3 of those bras were on sale!
I had taken a whole EXTRA hour + my lunch half hour, just so I didn’t have to rush – but got it all done in half an hour!
I LIKE the bras I picked
I got 3 bras for the price of 4
I actually got bras that are the same as bras I already have …. Not all that normal an occurrence in the fast moving world of lingerie fashion, as mentioned above!
I came, I bought, I left with a smile on my face … it’s a miracle!
I’m working on a job application. There’s nothing really wrong with where I’m working – in fact the flex days, relative lack of pressure of work, and salary sacrifice benefits of working for a non-profit are not to be sneezed at – but I’m bored and getting restless. I may well feel the same in the job I’m applying for (assuming I get it, which is not a given!) but it does have a few advantages.
It’s in the town we will be building on the outskirts of (yes, I know, FABULOUS grammar!, I'd hire me in a minute!) – 3 minutes drive from ‘imminent home’.
It will save me (at today’s petrol prices) approximately $1400 a year in petrol alone, let alone wear and tear, as it will knock 40km’s off my round trip daily (I do 80km’s a day driving, at least - and that's just to get to work and back, not part of the job).
It will save me 40+ minutes a day driving.
The hours are better (8:20 – 5 with 45 min lunch, rather than 8:30 – 5:30 with half hour lunch) but I lose my flex time. However I’ve only had that in this job, and I would get 1 RDO a month.
It’s in local government so there is potentially an internal application already slated for the position, so it may well just be a wasted effort. But then again, I haven’t applied for a job in a year, so it’s probably good to update the resume and keep my hand in, if nothing else. I said, after my three week effort last year, that I'd never work in government slash politics again - but I think local government in the area I'm living in could be good. Or at least something I haven't done before :)
I LOOOOOVVVVVEEEEEEEE flex days! I (obviously) had a day off today, just lovely. Pootled about, walked dog, did houseworking stuff, knitted, watched telly, read paper, caught up on paperwork, really enjoyed it - especially because I'm healthy :) and could just enjoy it as a day off - lovely!
Now going to go and defrost lovely beef stroganoff to eat with lovely husband - yay for cooking in advance!!!!!
I've got toothache though. Hopefuly nothing Nur*fen can't fix though :), it's a periodic type I get every now and again - almost like the root swells up and can't fit inside the tooth... I don't know what sets it off, but it does tend to go away eventually.
At least I have tomorrow off work, yay for flex days! The forecast is rain however, and all I want is a little sunshine ...but it's a paid day off so who am I to whinge eh :) Hopefully I'll get some time between showers to get a little bit of pruning and planting done.
The weather is still so warm, for winter, that spring buds are appearing on some trees, early jonquils and daffodils are not just up but FLOWERING (two months early at least!), and there were two big trucks and 10 pickers out in a field of cauliflowers nearby today, picking for all they were worth - apparently they're coming in 6 weeks early due to the unseasonal warm weather.
Warm yes, sunny no - still, it is winter, and I could live somewhere where we had snowfalls of 3 metres - so not too bad really eh!
I read an article today that said that this Northern Summer may well bring NO SNOW at the North Pole - open earth - how bizarre is that! There was a radio interview locally with farmer who said he knows farmers in South Australia who are buying land in Tasmania and Chile as backups because they think global warming is going to have such a huge impact so quickly that it will be impossible to continue farming in SA in the not too distant future. It all bears thinking about ... though I must admit my thinking veers between heading for complete off the grid self sufficiency to being selfishly excited at the thought that the local sea temperature might go up 2 - 3 degs C and we'll be able to swim all summer rather than a couple of times over summer.
it's all very interesting.
On another note, we watched Night at the Museum last night (DVD finally came down to a sensible price to buy!) - still hilarious!
and boy are we having one! It's been flat strap since early this morning - but I loved it actually, it only got up to 14C in town today but that's still okay, I quite like that temperature! And the grey old sea, which I usually don't like (when it's grey I mean) was wild and tempestuous all the way along the coast - lovely!
My husband, showing his excellent timing, has taken the dog for a walk and it's just started to rain. That should just about finish him off I reckon, he's been fighting off the lurgy I had, relatively successfully actually, but is pretty much ready for bed at 8:20pm ... I think he'll come home, put the dog in his yard, and that'll be him for the night :)
Anyway, I digress, wild and tempestuous, lovely lovely lovely! PROPER Winter weather. There's snow further south, roads closed, trees down, electricity out (which isn't as bad as it sounds, as so many Tasmanians still have wood fires of one sort or another, so will at least remain warm!), THAT"s proper winter .. none of this Sydney effort of breaking out the duffle coat and ski boots on a 18C day that's a little overcast - it used to make me laugh so much! And because I grew up at a higher elevation it just doesn't get quite as cold here as it does back home so I'm enjoying a real blast of cold (because I've got a hot gas fire and a hot husband [in more ways than one!] to keep me warm, of course!) for a change. Mind you, that's not to say that I'm anxious to go back to frosts every morning from April to September! I like it ... but in short doses these days!
I've been ill, again ... stomach lurgy, again - obviously this is my weak point! Anyhoo, boring boring
Mr Tasmania has been sterling looking after me, he is a lovely lovely boy. He worked very hard on the weekend while I 'lolled' about.
The reason why the above is so annoying is that it can cause havoc with the iron deficiency issue, which I generally have no real problem managing, don't think about it that much really - except when I have stomach lurgies! I can recover from them okay but regaining correct levels of iron and, in tandem, energy, takes a bit longer. Bummer.
lurgy and no iron means no exercise, which is not helping my vague attempts towards leaving the 'goddess' range and heading downwards to being merely 'rubenesque' ... aiming, ultimately, for voluptuous ... at this point it's nowhere in sight!
I've also been over on F*acebook .. must say, except for catching up with people easily, and checking out some photos etc, I can't really see the point. I think I'm pretty much going to use it to stay in touch with those people and that's about it.
I"ve only had to ignore one person ...
The weather is filthy, storm force winds building up apparently - and snow down to 700m is forecast - which doesn't mean we'll get snow (I live at the BEACH) but it does mean it's nasty cold outside (where the gorgeous husband is, taking the smelly dog for a walk, and feeding the Hairdresser's cat [they're in Fiji - I don't think I'm talking to them at the moment!]).
I've started knitting a square again. I think this time I might make it an actual small square, instead of just knitting the whole ball, and unravel a few random bits of knitting I have lying around and knit them into squares, and make a really good solid rug, instead of the wafty things I have lying around.
I"ve cleared out two more bags of clothes .. I really do have too many. I've been confronted by a 'declutterer' on the radio, who said that most people operate on the 20/80 rule .. we wear 20% of our clothes 80% of the time ... I was wearing a shirt I've had since 1986 while I listened to that, so I think I work more on the 10/90 rule ... sadly. Anyway, many good and worthy clothes have gone on to charity and hopefully better lives than living in my wardrobe/drawers/storage bags - to my great satisfaction.
My gorgeous husband, who humours me endlessly (he really is a lovely man, who puts up with a heck of a lot sometime!), has let us stay at home tonight, instead of going to our church Connect group (read, fellowship group, Bible study, you get the picture).
We have had a fairly full on day at work in terms of phone running hot and people ie workmates being just plain stupid and annoying, so I decided it was probably better to get Chinese and stay in, rather than run the risk of me being incredibly honest at the least provocation and telling someone the truth about themselves.
Generally, it's all hot air, but if I'm pushed I will be honest ... and the members of the group do not deserve to have my yucky day inflicted upon them.
So, after Chinese food, and walking the dog, I'm feeling fairly human now :) ... human enough to write some civil, even friendly, emails, put the weekends washing away, and write some birthday cards :)
'cause there's no point, we still don't have any at work .. except the portaloo.
in other news ... I've started a collection of wooden words ... or more correctly, I've restarted a collection of wooden words.
We had two as part of our 'bridal corner' in the marquee - Love and Dreams .. a friend gave me four letters making up the word LOVE as a bridal shower gift ... and I've just picked up Laugh .... (which I will have to paint white or black, not sure which ... or I may lash out if I can find a really vibrant bright dark green)
We still have no loos, and look like not having loos for the rest of the week. We do, however, have a portaloo – which only I and the 1 man in the office (8 chicks, 1 guy) can lock.
I’m not quite sure what it says about me, but I’m learning towards ‘capable’ rather than ‘butch’ … seriously, they can’t work a latch ‘cause it’s a little bit hard to move and they’re worried they’ll pinch their fingers. I’d rather pinch my fingers than have a plumber pull open a door I’m holding onto with one hand whilst trying to pull my pants up with the other!
Well, back to work, and no loos. The plumbers didn’t manage to sort anything out over the weekend – and as at 9:24am we still do not have a portaloo .. the manager is chasing that one up, but we’ll see how we go ….
Yes, I know, it sounds as if I'm fixated ... and yes, we have to go to work tomorrow - apparently they're getting us a Portaloo ... doesn't that just sound LOVELY!!!!
And the other loo? Mr Tasmania has spent quite some time this week lining the toilet room he built into the large shed on our block, lining it, putting in pipes, etc .. just a bit of beading, painting, a toilet!, and a septic tank, and we're good to go ... which has two benefits at least.
Number 1 (sorry, couldn't resist) - I get to stay the whole day at the block when we're doing things, instead of having to make little trips down to the local public loos!
Number 2 - we don't have to pay the $45 a week cost of a portaloo when we finally get builders - that may not sound like much, but if the build goes three months that starts to really add up!!
We went to a Bollywood themed 40th last night, and it was great!! Beautiful weather (it was cold, but still good) and everyone looked so good! Lots of jewels and sari's etc ... my beautiful wrap skirt made of antique sari's worked really well - it was going to be wrapped as per the instructional video but I decided it was just too cold. And I wore the silver sandals that were part of my going away outfit again, which was nice too!
High Heels and Hardware 
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