In short

FAT...
I've decided my eating has gotten out of control (It's only taken me 2 years to figure that out - no speed records have been set using this brain). My clothes have been getting tighter n tighter (even in my new fat clothes) and funnily enough the scales have been going up n up.
So I'm giving 'Weight Watchers online' a whirl -to try and get my head around portion sizes again. I was eating more than husband and shovelling so much crap into my mouth without thinking, so i figured this might help me think about how much i should be eating in a day and to find a balance again.
Fingers crossed, I'm over feeling porky.
(Oink)

MOUSE...
I just looked up and saw a mouse staring at me from the kitchen bench above the stove. I quickly pulled all the spice jars off the bench, grabbed a plastic bowl and planned to corner it & catch it under the bowl. That was a great idea ... until the bloody thing lurched and jumped from the bench straight at me!! I squealed...ducked... (cursed myself for being so pathetic) and it went straight over my head, plopped on the floor behind me and scurried under the stove.
I didn't want to kill him - he was kinda cute, i was planning on 'relocating' him (like to the neighbours... ). Hmmm, now I'll have to come up with another plan.
He's a tough mouse... he survived a 6ft leap! Impressive.

MARATHON...
Since I'm on a health kick, I've been thinking about exercise and ways to get motivated.
I've decided (drumroll please...) I'm going to try and do a half marathon.
Haaarrr.
Cough, choke **splutter**
I'm serious. I'm going to train up slowly and aim for the City to Surf 1/2 Marathon in August (2009 is the first year they'll be adding that distance) so I have 9 months to train!

A girls gotta have a goal. (even if it is far-fetched)

Cleaner - mugshot

I have a second job - cleaning the Police Station.

Sounds boring, but I love it.... it gives me a bit of extra play-money and it really is quite simple.... I spend a few hours a week cleaning, with my iPod blaring through my headphones, singing my favourite tunes in time with my dusting-motions, and I get PAID for it. Bonus.

The Police station here is old...very old. It hadn't been cleaned for a long while before I started doing it. I've been dusting cupboards, organising shelves, sneezing from the dust, throwing out junk, sneezing more from the dust and discovering fun things! Check this out... one of those crim-name-board thingy's! I saw it and just couldn't help myself.

Hee hee hee. Love it!

I would've liked to do the side profile shot too.... but it was a bit tricky on self timer.

(PS: not really born in 00 - just trickin y'all)

Goodbye Senior

Its been a strange and emotional month. In summary...

Diesel died.

He got so sick and eventually we opted to euthanase him. It was the hardest decision ever, my heart still breaks thinking about not having him here.

The picture above is in the car park at the vet, kind of weird to take a photo, but I'm glad I did now. We both cuddled him in the car, he was so quiet and peaceful - like he knew what was happening, even when he was on the table in the vet, he just lay down and didn't even flinch when the vet inserted the needle. We cuddled him till the end. It was strange, that morning husband woke me up, he was upset and said 'I think it's time to take Diez'. Secretly I had pondered that thought many times in the previous 2 weeks, wondering if we were being selfish keeping him around, wondering how it would end - if he'd improve or get better. In the days after he died I was a complete wreck. I cried solidly for 2 days... I had no idea it would leave such a horrible empty feeling of heart-break. I felt weird too because I've recently had close friends lose their parents for goodness sake, and I was in a mess because of my dog.

It was a ridiculous comparison, and in a way it made me hide my emotions (misery) unless I was around the one other person who truly understood (and would've been feeling worse than me) - and that was Wayne.

Ho Humm...so unfortunately we were a miserable pair for a few weeks, which - mixed with a new town, new jobs and both missing our friends in Leo, made it very difficult to feel settled and happy in our new home. Only now am I starting to feel positive about our move here.

I've wanted to blog for ages - but this attempt to write about Diez has always left me in tears and unable to finish, and I felt I needed to write about him because it had such a big impact on me.

I Love you and miss you Diez.

xx

Anyone there??

Yeehaar, we're in our new home, we've unpacked (except for my art room) and if I never see another bloody box again in my life-time I'll be ecstatic.

We arrived to our new little town just over a week ago, it rained on and off for the first 4 days... and it was cold. We soon sourced ourselves a good stash of fire wood and learnt how to light a mighty fine fire to keep our butts warm... made me feel like a real country bum'kin.

So how do I like it so far?? One word to describe it at the moment ... Q U I E T ! It just seems so darn peaceful it's almost eerie. It's not like Leo was particulalry noisy or anything, but here you never seem to hear anyone else, rarely a car goes by, no one walks past, even the streets are really quiet when you you go into town. Does anyone else live here?? Coooo- eeeeee. The noisiest thing is the birds, they go mad every morning at 6am, and the 'wow listen to the beatiful birds cheeping' novelty wore off in about 3 minutes. Now it's more like 'The birds suck ... I'm trying to sleeeep'.

Our little pink-brick (stylish) house is actually great. We've somehow squeezed all our belongings into it and apart from not having a dining table (will need to get a cubby-house sized one in the near future) we're all settled and organised. My sis came to visit and waved her domestic wand over my shambles of a pantry... its amazing, I can actually find what I'm looking for now.... go figure. Next I'll have her wave that wand over my wardrobe and linen closet. hee hee.

I have my first day at work tomorrow, so I'm praying it's not crap - since everything else seems to have gone smoothly so far. Maybe that will be the glitch? Hopefully not, I'm trying to think positive. It'll be fine... it'll be fine... it'll be fiiiiinnne..... just fiiiine.

* * * * * *

My new car is AWESOME. When we picked it up they had put a huge ribbon on it! I was so excited I just wanted to go for a drive, but no.... I had to sit through 90 freakin minutes of paperwork, demonstrations, introductions to the service department (who cares bout them?) and more paperwork before I finally got to drive her! I was almost started to twitch in anticipation. Anyway it was all worth it in the end, it is an amazing car to drive and I love her.

Deez and I went on a road trip in the mini to the Vet last week (2 hour round trip). I put sheets and blankets in the back seat for him to lay on - we had a great time!

Moving officially sucks

Wow, a heap has happened since I last blogged.

Diez is still sick, but after further tests and visits to the big Perth Vet hospital he seems better and like he will slowly continue to improve (fingers crossed). Silly old sucker has cost us a fortune, he's a gold-plated dog.

Husband and I have officially moved from Leo. The packing up and cleaning sucked BIG TIME, it was a relief to finally walk out the door of the house knowing it was all done. Now we have to unpack everything at the other end...ugh.

It was very sad to leave good friends behind, but I have had a great past four years and have made some life long friends from my days in Leo.
I had a fantastic going away party with all my favourite Leo girls, it was a blast! JB was the hostess (with the mostest) and I could not have had more fun. We sang (badly) danced (badly), chatted and yahoo'd till 4am! My gawd... I'm far too old for that now, it nearly killed me. It rendered the next day a complete and utter write off for me. Despite my best attempts, every time I got up to try and achieve something my head pounded until i was forced to crawl back into bed. I was pathetic. It was kinda worth it though, I haven't had such a fun drunk-night for ages. However I do 'sketchily' recall getting pushed to the ground & sprayed with Champagne at one stage, and I also have vague memories of losing my pants and hiding in bushes while the girls searched for me to take photos of my large white behind in my undies. That was nasty. The pics were nastier, lucky the camera didn't seize (wish it had tho).

Husband & I are in Perth now for a few days before moving to Q'ding. Its been a great time to relax and chill after the last few hectic weeks.

Guess what happens tomorrow???
I get my NEW CAR! Yeehaar. We drove there today and saw her in the showroom... I know its mine because it has my custom number plates on it! I was so excited I was bouncing around like a complete tosser, she had a sign on the windscreen saying 'Sorry, I'm spoken for - please consider this when browsing'.
Ha! Get your dirty mitts off - she's MINE.
I can't wait.... eeeekkkk!

Over n out x

Dear old Diez...

Poor old Diez is still not so great.

After my last post he got a lot worse and I was driving to Kal to pick husband up from the airport so took him back to the vet. This time I saw a different vet who was very thorough, she started an assessment from scratch and gave me quite a poor prognosis. I knew in my heart anyway that he was looking pretty awful, I really thought he would die that day. He was having difficulty breathing, he had a really high temperature and was really quiet. I left him at the vet for a barrage of tests and went to collect Wayne from the airport - As soon as I saw Wayne I burst into tears .... it seemed so much to deal with on my own and the few days before hand had been awful... I was a mess!

Anyway, the tests basically showed he had a raging infection but they weren't really sure of the exact focus, so we took him home on industrial strength doses of antibiotics, with the plan of returning in a few days if he hadn't improved. I left for Bali two days later and husband took over while I was away. I felt incredibly guilty leaving them - both husband and Diez.

Diez wound up having surgery to explore what was causing the swelling and infection in his throat. Post op Wayne said he looked a bit better for a few days, but now seems to be on a bit of a patchy down hill slide, although sometimes he has times where he wags his tail and will even get up and wander around sniffing things like he used to. Most of the time he lays on his bed looking quite sad and thats the heart breaking bit.

The vets are baffled and think its perhaps a combination of problems - a bad infection which has now progressed to Kidney failure - he's no spring chicken so his Kidney function was already a bit marginal and the infection has most likely exacerbated this.

The Vets in Kal (Robyn and Lauren) have been awesome.
They sound like they genuinely care and have been so understanding through our tears and questions. Today I spoke to Robyn at length about being stressed over the decision to Euthanize Diez. Are we being selfish by keeping him alive?? I want to do things for his best interest - not ours. She was fantastic and said we would just 'know' if and when the time was right, not to stress about it, but to spend our time with him loving him and continuing to give him the best care we can.

I know it's probably hard for most people to understand how upset and emotional I am about this, and to be honest I'm a bit confused myself at my reaction, but to Wayne and I our dogs have never just been 'dogs'... they are our family, our furry slobbering children, we are a team of four and I want it to stay that way.

Diesel update

I don't want to count my chickens... but I think Diez is a wee bit better.
He actually wagged his tail a couple of times today (not at me tho...but at JB and KDF when they visited him on his death-bed. He's sick of the sight of me smothering him so I get no tail-wagging) He's also been walking (limping) around a bit more tonight. I had to pretty much hand feed him dinner but he looks better than he did this time last night.
Hang in there old buddy.

Dieza

I think my beautiful old Diesel-dog might be dying.
He’s so sick, he can hardly walk and it’s breaking my heart.
I don’t know what to do.
I drove him to the vet yesterday in Kal and she said it was ‘an infection’ and his arthritis playing up, she prescribed him some antibiotics and anti inflammatories.
Today he has gotten worse, tonight worse again. I’m sleeping on the mattress on the floor next to him but I can’t stop crying and cuddling him.
I just want to take his pain away and make him all better.

Hang in there Diez because I love you.

Whats it called?

Okay so this is probably only funny to me, but I'm in a video sharing mood and tonight i have been clearing the video recorder in preparation for Bali and came across this clip from our Canada holiday.

My pronounciation has never been great and this proves it.

ACME brand Treadmill

Treadmill Falls Apart

This takes a while to load but it cracks me up - I've always been one to laugh at others being clutzy... can't help myself!

Its nice that his mate just sits there and watches, no assistance rendered whatsoever.

Classic.

Peter Andre - He Da Man!

This completely cracks me up - such a blast from the past.
Good old Pete... why does he always have his shirt flying open in the breeze, and his pants pulled up under his armpits? And whats with the bouncing red car?
JB was searching for this song and we were having no luck finding it on iTunes, so after Googling it to make sure we had the spelling and song name correct we found it on youtube. We then spent the next hour in hysterics playing it over and over, imitating the dance moves and singing our hearts out.

After our Pete-session we watched the movie Music and Lyrics with Drew Barrymore & Hugh Grant. I'd seen it before but I don't remember loving it as much as I did second time round. KDF and I giggled the entire movie (JB fell asleep - she's a hopeless movie watcher). I'm not a huge Hugh Grant fan, but he is hilarious in this movie. The 80's references are classic - I'm not sure how KDF appreciates the humour tho since she wasn't even alive in the 80's and proved it with this conversation:

Me: That movie was awesome, kind of reminded me of WHAM! with George Michael and Andy whats-his-face, the famous one and the one no one remembered.
KDF: Who are Wham?
Me: You DON'T know WHAM????? George Michael??
KDF: *looking blank* No...never heard of them.
Me: Oh my God... you make me feel so oooold!

If you haven't seen that movie and you were alive in the 80's (although clearly that is not a pre-requisite to enjoy the pic) you MUST go rent it and watch it!

Hot Rod

This is my new car!!

Well it's not the actual car - but it's pretty much exactly the same. After pondering over new cars for what seems like forever (I changed my mind a hundred times), husband went to test drive some Mini's in Perth today (I was worried about getting one if they were ridiculously small inside) and he said it was great - and ordered me one! Yeehaar. It's Red with a white roof just like this one. Do you know the glove compartment has a chiller option??? W.T.F? Perfect for Iced coffee storage! This car was MADE for me.

Yesterday I sold my motorbike and I was feeling a bit sad and sentimental about it.

NOT ANYMORE!! Talk about an upgrade! Vrroooommmm.

Pretty in pink

The last two weeks at work have been so ordinary, i think if I didn't know I was leaving I'd be ready to roll over, crawl under a rock and die.... just so I could have some hope of relief.

By the end of tomorrow I will have done 40 hours overtime in a week. That is just freaking ridiculous - no wonder I feel fuzzy and confused, and my house is a mess, and I have no clean clothes, and haven't cooked healthy food forever. Well okay, none of that stuff is directly related to my overtime but it makes me feel better if i console myself with the fact it might be and that it's not really because I'm a slob waiting for the fairies to come do it.

* * * * *
I have frostbite.

Well I'm sure it's not real frostbite, but it feels like frostbite. My toes have been blue and numb a reasonable amount of time lately because we seem to be having an extended COLD-SNAP here and my circulation is shite, and it's not acceptable to wear ugg-boots to work (damn-it).

Now three of my toes are the complete opposite of numb (how does that work?)... they are bloody sore! Tingly and sensitive... and... well ... frost-bitten.

* * * * * *

Wanna see our new house? It'll make you laugh.






It made me cry.

But only for a moment, because it doesn't look that bad inside. Its tiny... but okay. We've lived in worse.... far worse.

My fave feature would have to be the 'pink' brick... and the fact that it looks like the Jetsons house (Meet George Jetson...).

Maybe it was the Police Station once upon a time... which by the way is right next door, like on the same block (see the bottom pic, our house is on the left, the station is the building on the right) Crikey, husband won't exactly stress himself getting to work on time!!

The garden needs some T.L.C.
That should keep me amused for a while (while I'm waiting for my job search allowance to arrive - I still don't have a job to go to).

* * * * * *

I love audio books.

I used to hate driving long distances (for me thats more than 25km) alone because being in a car makes me sleeepy, and I just yawn and yawn and go glassy-eyed and want to curl up into a neat little ball and snooze. Zzzzzz.
Which is just plain unsafe when you are behind the damn wheel.
Anyway, someone left an audio book in my work car. So out of sheer desperation one day I tried it - and, (once I got over the cheesy introduction and elevator music that they unnecessarily played between the chapters) I found the kilometers would zoom by and I'd actually be hoping my destination was further away so i could squeeze in one last chapter.
They are a miracle I tell you!
The one I'm listening to at the moment is a tad odd i must admit (futuristic war), however it doesn't seem to bother me that the content is not something I'd usually read myself... because when someone else is blabbing it out, it just seems so much easier to tune in and follow along.
I am a nerd, I am not ashamed.

Over n out x

position wanted

Husbands folks' sent us a card today. It was addressed to both of us and when I opened it (because it had my name on the front too and I couldn't help myself) and saw that it was a Congratulations card i thought 'weird' because the congrats is for husbands promotion - it's nothing to do with me. (Although, at this point I'd like to take some of the glory for all that wretched interview practice that nearly saw us divorced)

Inside the card Mum-in-law had written a novel of warm fuzzies* about both of us and what we have achieved... together. It was nice, really really nice.

Leonora has certainly made us both grow, we've had plenty of challenges both personally, in our relationship and in our careers. My favourite saying/motto is 'what doesn't kill us makes us stronger' and it sure is true. We grow from experiences and at the other end when you realise how much you've learnt from that experience, it doesn't matter if it was good or bad it seems to be worthwhile in some way.

* * * * * *
At the moment I don't have a job to go to when we move.

Shit.

What was I just sprouting on about life experiences... and growing?? Please remind me of that when I'm unemployed and broke and in an unfamiliar town.

I'm sure something will come up, but it's kind of stressful, especially since I handed in my resignation today. It may have been wiser to W A I T until i got another position. (nothing like counting ya chickens before they hat....yeah yeah, blah blah)

* * * * * *
Husband and I took the dogs for a walk tonight, then I went for a 6km jog with Tania. It was awesome! I felt like I was flying and loved every minute of it. Maybe it was because the dog-walk had warmed my legs up? Who knows but if I felt that good jogging all the time I'd do it every day and twice on Sundays.

* * * * * *
Isn't this an great pic?
JB up the hill, IC in hand (she probably has a ciggie in the other) waiting for the sun to set.
Nice.


Over n out.

* Warm fuzzies - friendly compliments that make you feel warm 'n fuzzy inside.

Thats what you get for moaning...

Well the day after moaning about my job, husband finds out he is being transferred to Quairading as the Sergeant, so in 6 - 8 weeks I'll be looking for a new job. Holy crap.
Suddenly my old job doesn't seem so bad now... better the devil you know than the one you don't. Yikes... new town, new people, new house, new hospital ...new everything.

It was always on the cards for husbands promotion, but its so final and real now that its a big shock. I'm actually going to take a big backward step with my career because at this stage I don't even know if there is a position available for a full-time level one nurse. However I'm sure it'll all work out (it might actually be nice to go back to basics for a while and let someone else do all the decision making and paperwork).

At the moment all I can think about is my creature comforts that I'll miss - the creatures being JB and KDF (!!) and comforts being all the familiar things I know, the locals, the area, the Rec centre and running tracks etc etc. In the back of my mind also is Tiff who moved to Onslow last year (with her Policeman husband) and has been miserable ever since. What if I end up like that???

However to grow in life we must all place ourselves OUT of our comfort zones and experience other jobs, environments, people... otherwise life really would grow monotonous and boring. Well thats how I'm consoling myself at the moment :o)

Florence

I've just come home from work for the second time today. Somehow (and i don't remember this ever being mentioned in my Job description) i got roped into covering as the Manager for the neighbouring hospital (120km away) when their boss goes on leave. And she's on 3 weeks leave. Three W H O L E weeks..... noooo. It's got knobs on it. Big hairy ugly gnarly knobs. Like my job isn't shite enough, now I've got two shite jobs. Halle-fuckin-lujah.

I was in a zone of feeling completely utterly overwhelmed this afternoon - i had my resignation letter written in my head, i was feeling defeated.... so I went to the gym to de-stress. In the middle of my workout i decided i'd go back to work and tackle the piles of unfinished crap spread all over my desk - so that i can atleast start tomorrow off on a more positive note.
So three hours later I'm home feeling a whole heap better and ready to tackle tomorrow.

Bring it on i say... come on throw it at me... i can do two jobs at once. I might be a twitchy cooky raving lunatic by the end of it, but i shall soldier on and do my almighty best. Florence freakin Nightingale eat your heart out.

Over-n-out (twitch, snort, twitch)

A weekend tale

Well the weekend is just about over. It's zoomed by considering I gave myself a long weekend by wagging work Friday to go to Kal. Husband and I stayed at the Broadwater Hotel and enjoyed a night of sipping champagne (with Hibiscus flowers - thanks Jo!) in the spa, a yummy restaurant meal and some lovin'!! (too much information?)

We spent Saturday grocery shopping (with the rest of Kalgoorlie) and bought the dogs a new snuggly bed and fifteen thousand squeaky toys for Murphy from the 2-buck shop.

We drove home listening to a static-ridden broadcast of a live AFL game which was music to husbands ears (no to mine - although it did help to lull me to sleep Zzzzz)

Saturday evening I washed my work car and washed the work car floor mats. Then i washed both the dogs. Then I washed all their dog blankets. Clearly I was in a 'washing mood'.

Today I baby-sat Finn so his Dad could work and his Mum could sleep after nightshift (they're Nurses at the hospital). He has to be the most easy going 2-year old on this planet, we had so much F U N! We baked choccy muffins (packet of course Finn told me he prefers packet mixes) then we ate half the mixture. We played Leggo and danced to the Wiggles, and we went to see Aunty JB up the road to see if we could have another go at finding Miss Tubby - who hid under the loungeroom coffee table this time instead of the bed. Small steps Miss Tubby - small steps!

Thats a BIG spoon for a little mouth.

Our finished mini-muffins. Yum.

No pictures here

My post feels naked without a photo - but I'm trying to resist the urge. I CAN post without a pic... I can i can i can.

Murphy (shit-dog) ate my iPod earphones (could insert a pic of the damage done - but i won't be tempted).
Then my Polar heart rate monitor watch froze and refused to work. Is this a conspiracy by secret unknown forces to stop me exercising?.... no music, no HR monitor. I was also supposed to go for a run with Tania tonight, but she text'd me last minute & piked (see it is a conspiracy!) but I Soldiered on -SOLO! I will not let this arse get bigger... noooo, I stole husbands earphones and plodded off for a 30 minute jog. puff puff.
(Could possibly insert picture here of beetroot faced 35 year-old!)

* * * * * *
Husband used to cook lots. He's the cook in our house. Lately his enthusiasm for cooking has been on a steep decline. Tonight it was HIS turn to cook.
He put the (shop bought) Salmon Patties in the oven, then played on the computer.
He asked if I could 'do vegies' - so I peeled and chopped carrots and cooked them, along with some Peas n Corn. I took the patties out the oven and served up.
I don't think putting 4 patties in the oven and turning it on warrants as an act of 'cooking'.
In my books it's still his turn to cook.

* * * * * *

Hey guess what??
I just Googled 'Polar F6 frozen' and within 30 seconds I had fixed my HR monitor! Ha! All I needed to do was hold in all buttons (which I had tried) - EXCEPT the light button (must have been the only combination I didn't try) and... ka-boom... a master reset is performed.
Too easy!
I LOVE Google. love love love Google.
If only I'd done my research before my run.

A purple Van

Guess what came to our sleepy town yesterday??

An ICECREAM VAN!!!!

I was busy sorting washing out (yeehaar..thanks for sharing) when I heard a very dodgy version of Greensleeves blaring from a speaker... I thought 'that sounds like kiddies icecream van music' so I ran to the window and sure enough-a bright purple van was crawling up the road in our direction! I squealed in excitement to husband (who hastily put his order in and shoved $20 in my direction - how much did he seriously think it was gonna cost??) and ran outside to patiently wait in the freezing cold for the goods. I purchased one LARGE choc-nut-sundae - which husband demolished in record timing.

I'm not really into icecream (gives me brain-freeze) but I was so excited about the fact there was an icecream van in our little town!! That never happens.

It had travelled all the way from Kal just for the day. Isn't that cool?

I'm so easily pleased sometimes.

Road trip

I am officially the worlds most pathetic blogger.

My last post was May 4th. Holy crap... since then I've grown a whole year older, I've been on a fun road trip with my sis to visit my (our) folks in downtown Walpole, I've danced to Abba, run away from home, returned home (feeling like a big dork), had my sis and her hubby up here to stay, enrolled to do my Cert III in fitness and spent a week pretending to be a Vegetarian in sympathy for all the cute fluffy cows out there.

My how time flies when you're doing mundane every-day things.

My holiday down to see Mum and Dad was FUN! It's the first time my sister and I have done a trip to Mum and Dads together (just the two of us) and by the end of the week I had sore cheeks from laughing so much.

This is my favourite place in the whole world... laying reading mags on my Mums lounge. There is something so comfortable and cosy about it... I'm not sure why it gives me such warm fuzzy feelings - maybe it's a state of complete relaxation which is difficult to find these days. I had to forcefully try and remove my sister from the lounge at times when I didn't feel like sharing it - which was most of the time. I spent an impressive amount of time laying horizontal in that exact position for the five days we were in Walpole.

Big Sis Jo in the Pilot seat. She wouldn't let me sleep so I annoyed her by taking silly photographs and singing out loud to her Beatles soundtrack.

Dad and I went fishing, Mum and Jo preferred to stay on dry firm ground, but met us down the river at a Jetty with coffee - deluxe! We wanted to go fishing again but it rained for the next 3 days! boo.

I'm definitely going to plan another Walpole journey in the next 6 months. This time I hope the weather is clearer so I can spend more time in the boat and less time on the lounge... not that I'm complaining - the lounge was a fine substitute for fishing.

Flutter-by's

Today I spent the majority of the day in the garden . I bought some new plants in Kal yesterday, which today (coupled with the beautiful sunshine) gave me a splurge of motivation to attack the weeds and rearrange my pots. It looks like I've got a new garden now! Amazing.. Don Burke eat your heart out.
There were plenty of butterflies keeping me company...darn hard to photograph though, because they just keep flapping.

Our Bali holiday dates have changed because JB was having a panic attack about leaving work at the end of July... so to avoid her

a) having an out of control spazza episode requiring admission to a psych facility

and

b) cancelling and deciding not to come at all....

I decided to change our dates. I did a mad ring around to the other Bali-adventurers and then to the travel agent and we have re-booked for early September. Initially we were unsure if we'd be able to get another 3 bedroom villa, but today it was confirmed... so it's all systems go!

Phew.

Note to self: NEVER try and organise more than 2 people to do anything at once EVER again!

* * * * * *

Husband is in Perth for a week catching up with his favourite things - family footy and friends.

He rang me today from the Lancome counter in Myer to see if I needed anything - he handed the mobile to the sales girl so I could explain my foundation and moisturiser to her. He then paid and will bring it back for me. Ah! Too easy!



He's decided to go to Bali too with some mates (He's not invited on our girls trip - so he had to make his own fun!) He's going before I do so I'd better start stashing some cash in case he spends it all.
Might start now... am off to hide a 50 under the mattress.

Happy Birthday Jo!

My Sister JoAnn turns 42 years young today!

Jo you are a beautiful, generous and incredibly kind person.

I love you lots & hope you have a fantastic day -because you deserve to be spoilt rotten!

Nice Bikini.... even nicer hat. Did you choose that getup?

Gee... we reeeally look like sisters.

Hey! Take note of the date on this pic!

Happy Birthday Jo!

xx

running solo

All my running buddies have deserted me for a life by the ocean in the big city. boo.

On Monday I bit the bullet and figured if I want to run I'm going to have to learn to enjoy it solo for the time being. I've done a grand total of zero-zilch-no exercise since coming back from Canada and I knew it'd be tough, but I managed a 30minute 5km jog (plod) - just me and my trusty iPod and we did great! I felt like a big blubbery whale pounding the pavement, but it didn't completely kill me, and to be honest i actually quite enjoyed it.

Now I have no excuse not to go more often....especially now God has turned the heating off and the cooler weather has arrived.

Animals

My fourth goldfish just carked it, so I'm now officially giving up on trying to be a fish-mum.

I'm obvioisly doing something very wrong.

First there were Ajax and Omo - they were both orange Fantails and survived the journey not only all the way back from Kal (240km) but accompanied me shopping in Woolworths before I even left Kalgoorlie! When we got home Ajax promptly swum sideways and died. Omo was a toughie tho and lived on solo in the tank for 2 months.

JB bought me fish number three -Harpic. He was a Comet and despite a traumatic fall from the window hanger-to the seat- to the floor In JB's car (on the journey home from Kal - which nearly caused JB an accident as she skidded to a halt to retrieve him!), he too survived two months before suddenly dying.

After a long discussion with the Pet shop gal (who assured me I was doing nothing wrong), I decided I'd go a fourth attempt and bought a Black goggle eye fish last Friday. I called him Bingo (hoping he'd be lucky) and he lasted.... wait for it.... TEN WHOLE DAYS.

I feel horrible that I've killed another one.

I spent a large portion of today on the 'Goldfish Emergency 911' site trying to save the little sucker. I'm now convinced the pet shop gal knows SHIT ALL about fish, and the tank I bought off them is DODGY, and our water up here SUCKS.......... because it couldn't possibly be all MY fault that four little innocent fish have snuffed it whilst in my care. Could it?

* * * * * *

JB is away converting to Yankee-ism in New York. She's loving it and reckons she's never coming home - she'd better because its weird here without her.

Anyway... I've been watering her plants because she only lives 4 doors up the road. On Friday I took the dogs up there, locked them in her yard while I watered and they LOVED it. They raced around the yard chasing each other, hid in the bushes - they had a great old time.

Today I thought I'd do the same.

Within one minute Murphy had found a broom and went mental attacking it (he has a 'thing' with brooms -it's an issue we're working with him on) and while trying to release it from his lock-jaw before it was completely trashed, I tripped over a sprinkler in the back yard, fell over & twisted my ankle - snapping the sprinkler off at the base of the retic pipe. I still didn't get the bloody broom off him and had to practically rugby tackle him and pull his ear till he yelped and released it. Shit-head dog.

I then locked them in the yard (or so i thought) and went to the other neighbours place to turn his retic on & water the back potplants. When I came out JB's front gate was open and there was no sign of the dogs.

Shiiiiiiiiiiiit. Crap crap crap.

I ran up the street screaming 'Murpheeeeeeeeeeeeee' (you can't call out to Diesel coz he's deaf as a door-nail and it's no use) a guy in a ute drove by and said he'd seen them run up the street into the bush. I had visions of squashed dogs on the highway because they have ZERO road sense (and zero intelligence) between them. As I ran down the street toward our house I screamed to husband to come help. I then spied Murphy staring at me from about 50 meters away in the bush. As soon as husband walked outside Murphy ran toward home, with Diesel following 2 feet behind.

Phew.

I fully need therapy after todays animal incidents.

See why I don't have children?!

Clever Husband

Early in February, husband studied his butt off and sat a very intense interview to be considered for the Police Sergeant pool. He spent ages preparing & I helped him a bit - proof reading his application, quizzing him on 'Frontline First Policing', reading over scenarios with him - heck I was so familiar with WAPOL strategies I think I could've sat the damn interview myself! Anyway, he rang me last week (He's away at the moment in Leinster doing a week relief because they're short) and said:

'Drea, I'm in the pool'
I replied 'Really?? - Isn't it cold?'
He said ' No! I mean the Sergeant POOL'

Ooooooohhh, I said (feeling like a complete moron for thinking he was swimming) YAY! Congratulations husband, what a smarty pants!
I'm really happy for him because I know he'll make a fantastic Sarg (and secretly I'm also glad we don't have to go through that whole bloody loooong process again, jeezus it would've killed me!)

Now we have to think about the future. It opens a few more doors and changes our plans a bit, but thats kind of exciting.

* * * * * *
More cool news.... Off to Bali I go! And I'm going with all my favourite girls! Mum, Jo, KDF and JB! - - - It'll be AWESOME!

JB, KDF and I were chatting one night about having a girls only holiday, then I asked Mum and Jo if they would consider coming, now it's all booked and we're going -July 25th for 10 nights.
I'm so excited because I've always dreamt of holidaying with Mum overseas (she hasn't been anywhere!) and I think we'll all have a fantastic time.

We've booked a 3 bedroom Villa at The Bali Villas that looks very luxurious. JB has been eagerly practicing her Indonesian (on any poor soul that will listen) and I'm all of a sudden on a health kick to make sure I don't scare everyone in my bathers.

103 days to go!!

Ironman

Yeah i know.... it's been a while.

I've been a bit 'off' blogging lately, mainly for fear of losing my anonymity and the whole small town i live in reading my daily moans. However after having a long think about it, I've figured if anyone is offended by anything i write - then sod off and stop reading. Its that simple!

I can't believe it took me so bloody long to figure that out.

* * * * * *

Is it me, or is the whole world in a facebook-frenzy?

Its a frenzy i just don't get... well I would if maybe i was single or a teenager, because all the crazy questionnaires, flirty quizzes, writing on your wall (or whatever it is)....it's just plain annoying to me. God i'm OLD. Anyway, i got sick of emails asking if i'd be friends or telling me i had a funwall mesage... so i deleted my facebook. GONE.

Husband has a serious klutzy- issue with the iron. He blames our ironing board but i blame his lack of attention. We've had TWO new irons because he's knocked them off the board onto the floor and they've broken. Yesterday he rings to tell me 'he's had a bit of a mis-hap'.

Mishap all right.... he was ironing (while watching the football - he's not quite as multi-skilled as he thought) and knocked the iron off the board (because hey...he's good at that) face down onto the carpet. We now have a perfect singed outline of our iron on the carpet in the lounge. For fuck sake...what is the deal with the iron NOT staying on the board when he is trying to iron??? I have NEVER knocked the iron off the board...ever. And he's had 3 disasters in 12 months. The burn mark is right in the middle of the lounge room carpet. It couldn't be in a more obvious area damn it.

Maybe it's a ploy to get out of ironing.

The men

KDF Matt and i made these little guys on Boxing day. The cookie cutter has these built-in bits that make a dent in the dough for buttons, mouth and eyes. They turn out so cute and it was so much fun turning each one into a little person... i felt bad eating them (but only for a split second because they tasted so good the flavour wiped my emotions). My personal fave would have to be top right, he was dropped when coming out of the oven (maybe he tried to run away) and sustained a severed arm and leg in the process. KDF fixed him up with some blue stitches. None of Matt's decorated men made it into the picture... because he insisted on givng them all 'pink-eye' (Knocked-Up has a lot to answer for) and they looked like possessed crazy little gingerbread-men.

All in the family

This is a pic of Mum, KDF (my niece) and I. I dragged Ma back to Leo for a few weeks to work at the hospital again (bless her woolly socks for saving our souls) and KDF has been working as a Patient Care Assistant/Casual Admin clerk... so thats 3 generations of my family all working together. It's a conspiracy to take over the town! It was great fun, however Mum snuck away back home just before Christmas leaving KDF and I to soldier on in the heat.

HEAT.... it's been a kazillion degree's every day (Thats no exaggeration). My whole garden is turning crunchy and the dogs have dug enormous craters in the back garden to try and stay cool (trust me... you need to dig a looong way down for any sign of damp-cool-dirt).

Husband is in Perth for a week having a holiday. He's staying with friends... relaxing, swimming, eating, shopping.

Bastard.

I want to be shopping.

I love shopping.

Love love love shopping.

Doesn't matter though coz i've given him a list. A long list. he'll wish he never went shopping without me ever again.