Thursday, April 29, 2010

Our foal

Just realised I hadn't posted on our foal, she was born on 17th September 2009. Her mum is the first broodmare we have owned. I helped her mum foal her, and it was amazing, I loved every gorey moment :-) She was born with one floppy ear, she probably laid on it in the womb, but now is 100% perfect.

A few photos below from when she was born through to a couple of months ago, will be taking more photos of her next week, it's amazing how she's grown.

When she was born on 17 Sept she weighed around 55kg, now 7 months later she would weigh in at about 200kg, fully grown she'll get to around 500kg!
Mum & Daughter at 3 hours, bonding at dawn
Mum having a well earned breakfast - foal is 4 hours old
Bub trying to reach an itch - 4 weeks 
Bub at 7 weeks old - just a beauty
Little Miss at 8 weeks

more pics to come :)

Till next time

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A tip find turns into a treasure

C's niece turned 4 a few weeks back, she's a girly girl, loves pink, butterflies, sparkles, handbags, etc. 

They moved into a new, much bigger house, and Little Miss 4 got her own bedroom, painted pink of course.

We wanted to get her something a bit different for her birthday, so we hunter around everywhere for a coat stand for her, to put her handbags on.  After a week of no luck, C thought why don't we try the local reuse centre.

We pulled up and there standing on it's lonesome in between mangled weight benches, was a very rusty, but utterly gorgeous, wrought iron coat stand.

It was white, but covered in rust, standing about 5 foot high, with a vine wrapping around it with leaves at the top. And has about 6 curls for hooks that handbags could go on, all the way up the length of it. Got it for $2 :-)

C derusted it (not the technical term I'm sure), then undercoated it and spraypainted it musk pink.

I painted some of the arms metalic pink, the leaves metalic green, added some sparkles, gems and butterflies. 

While painting I realised it's not a coat stand, it's a plant stand, but oh well still looks great I think.

I didn't get to take a pic of our creation at home, but did at the birthday girls house for her party, she was so excited, squealing, she went bolting around the house collecting her handbags & umbrellas to hang on it.  

It's probably not everyone's cup of tea but we have one very happy niece :-)

Till next time

Masterchef Julie's Ridiculously Cheesy Lasagne

We indulged on the weekend and bought a copy of Masterchef Julie's "My Family Table" cookbook, when we spied it on sale at Big W on Saturday.

Luckily we had everything in the pantry/fridge, except eggs to make the pasta, we ended up going with premade lasagne sheets rather than making our own, as per the recipe.

I love Julie's comment on the recipe "The ridiculously cheesy lasagne is probably my favourite recipe in the book, because it's how I won my husbands heart"

And I can see why, my DP "C" 'hates mince', so I was always going to be pushing it up hill. But when I bought 2kg of mince from the butcher on sale (great price), he agreed to give it a go.

DP did the bolognaise sauce, I did the cheese sauce. I'll come back and add the ingredients/method when I get home tonight and can get to the cookbook.

One thing I should note is I stuffed the cheese sauce (don't tell C), I'm a skim reader sometimes, and I saw 'add cheese to roux' and didn't look at how much so I put the whole 240g, then when we were putting the lasagne together it said add some of the 240g to each layer, oops!!! So I grated another 200g or so. So ours was ultra ridiculously cheesy lasagne :-)

So our first recipe from Julie gets a big thumbs up, we had it for dinner last night, and have 6 portions in the freezer for dinners over the coming weeks.

Photo below, as you can see I'm no Donna Hay :-)

Till next time

Monday, April 26, 2010

Finally a weekend for us

The past few months have been hectic, we've felt like we've hardly had a full day to ourselves, between work, C having to work in Sydney every fortnight, me having to make an emergency trip to Victoria at Easter, both of us having to go to Sydney for family birthdays, it's been a whirlwind.

So this long weekend has been a quiet one for us (yay)

On Saturday we had a lazy day, it rained most of the day. We went up to Rutherford and bought a new ceiling fan & lights for the kitchen (it's ridiculously dark in there, need a torch to make sure dishes are clean if cleaning up after dark!). We just did 'housey' stuff for the arvo, we're still organising things from when we bought & moved in last year, so got some stuff done we've just not been able to get to.

Sunday we went to the dawn service (in the rain), then got the papers and read them lazily lying on bed for the morning. In the arvo cooked up a storm, made the Cheesy Lasagne from Masterchef Julie's cookbook, we've portioned 1/2 up for midweek lunches for C, and are having it for dinner tonight. Then we whipped up a Chilli Jam Chicken and rice for dinner, lovely. C & I cook so well together, I love that we can share it and enjoy it together.

Today we went and visted one of the vineyards we'd not been to before, Calais Estate, the wines were ok, the view from the restaurant (we had a sticky beak), was lovely. Then we headed to the Smelly Cheese Shop to try the cheeses (triple brie just scrumptious). Then finally to Cafe Enzo for lunch, we shared a caesar salade & some roast potatoes (yumyumyum).

Stopped off at stupormarket on way home to do our shop for the week. Now C is reading the paper, and I'm catching up on some blogs I've meant to read for ages!!

Life is good

Friday, April 23, 2010

My ANZAC Day Memory

I went to Gallipolli in 2001 for ANZAC Day, and it was one of the best, most emotional, worthwhile days of my life thus far. In total we spent 2 weeks in Turkey, and 3 days on the Dardenelles, which is the coast on which Gallipolli is located. We arrived at ANZAC Cove at about 2.30am on 25 April, with another 15,000 Aussies & Kiwis, it was quite surreal, everyone was laying on the grass and dirt listening to the waves crash in on the beach, hardly anyone slept. About an hour before dawn the officials started to take their places, the Turkish and ANZAC soldiers wandered around, making sure everything was in place, then as the dawn broke the ceremony started, there were speeches from the officials, presentations to soldiers and families, an Aussie schoolgirl read a very moving piece.

After the ceremony was completed we walked up to Lone Pine, and the Kiwis went the Chanak Bair (the Kiwi memorial). The ceremony at Lone Pine was even more emotional than the one at ANZAC Cove. There were rows of seats to the side, about 6 levels high but the majority of us sat on the grass between the headstones of the fallen solders. There were also a couple of rows of seats at the front, beside the ceremony area. A couple of these seats were spare, and one of the officials came on the loud speaker and asked if there were any diggers sitting on the grass, to make their way to the seats at the front.

What happened next is something I will never forget. A girl, probably 20 or so, helped an old digger, he would have been 85+ up from the grass and escorted him to the front seats, with that the entire crowd, about 10,000 people, stood up and clapped, it was beautiful and I'm getting goosebumps writing this.

The ceremony was lovely, a lot of Aussie songs sung and memories verbalised, and Alexander Downer gave one of the best speeches I've heard, Mr Puffy came through 100%. After the ceremony, we wandered around Lone Pine as much as we could with the huge crowds, got a few photos with some of the Turkish soldiers and with Mr Puffy and some diggers.

We then sat on the side of the dirt road for probably 4hrs waiting for our bus, I'm not sure how many buses were there, but well over 200. It was over 35c and we all got fried to a crisp. That night we had a couple of drinks and everyone was talking about their impressions of the day.

The next day we headed back over to Gallipolli, and went back to ANZAC Cove, Lone Pine, Chanak Bair, the ANZAC & Turkish Museums, and the Turkish memorial site. Some people didn't want to visit the Turkish sites, and I can understand that, but I'm glad I did.

The ANZAC museum is very sad, there are the iron army caps with holes thru them, a skull with a bullet still embedded, half written letters to loved ones, shredded and blood soaked uniforms etc.

We walked on the beach where our troops landed, and standing in the water looking back up at the cliffs that they faced, it gave a true perspective to the position the ANZACS found themselves in, lambs to slaughter is an understatement, the cliffs are so steep we struggled to get up them, I can't imagine trying to do so in a full Army kit. I pocketed some stones from the beach, which I will treasure forever.

We walked thru the ANZAC trenches, and that also made it all a bit more real, standing in the trenches, you realise how awful a place it must have been, two people can not stand side by side, there isn't enough room, if you stand straight your head is above the top of the trench and there is barbed wire everywhere, to think that hundreds of diggers shared these spaces seems unreal.

Wandering around the graves the ages on the headstones are quite shocking, the majority are under 21 with hundreds aged 18, we also saw John Simpsen's grave.

We wandered over some of the scrubland and found bullets laying along the ground, there are memorial signs everywhere stating what happened, and you can't go 100m without coming across another area where hundreds of ANZACS were killed.

It's not all doom and gloom at Gallipoli tho, the Turkish people are very respectful of the ANZAC history, and most have a good understanding of the fighting that occurred at Gallipolli, from both a Turkish and ANZAC viewpoint.

In the village where you arrive on the ferry they have the Vegemite Bar, the ANZAC bar, and a couple of others, with paintings of kangaroos, kiwis, maps of Australia & NZ everywhere. And you're not an Aussie or Kiwi there, you're an ANZAC, the local people all address you as 'Hello ANZAC'.

If any of you get the chance to go to Gallipolli, make sure you do, it's something you will never forget.

That's it from the old blog

A bit to update since my last post back in August 2009

Cam (my partner) quit his job in Sydney in Feb, and moved up here full-time, he's doing his part-time 'hobby' job for now, we've squirrelled away enough $ so he can take some time to work out what he really wants to do.

Our lovely mare foaled a beautiful filly on 19 September, will add some photos soon. She's now back in-foal, due in October this year.

Work's been busy, we foaled 12 mares last year, and got a total of 25 back in foal, so it's been very hectic.

Will post more soon, time to hit the road home for a long weekend, woohoo!!!

ciao for now

August already! eek

4 August 2009 - reposted April 2010


Cannot believe it's 5th August, that's crazy, April seems like a blink ago!

Few updates:

House - loving it, still getting everything unpacked/organised/decluttered etc, but it's so amazing to lie in bed and look at the pressed ceiling and think wow that's ours!! Amazing!

We cracked a bottle of beautiful Petersons champers on the front verandah on our first night, my lovely partner retrieved the cork from the middle of the road :-)

We cooked our first meal on the Sunday, a lamb shoulder in the slow cooker (first use), scrumptious, melt in mouth stuff.

Our neighbour is terrific which is a relief, he an DP have mated up, and his son jumps the fence to play with the puglet, so it's working well! Plus he bought the bins in for me last week, yay!

Pug - his usual happy self, had the weekend in the kennels while I was in Syd, he loved it, they spoil him rotten and he gets to play with heaps of dogs

Work - busy, working 8am-7pm most days, but loving it still, busy time of year about to kick off, so hopefully all the foals arrive safely and everything goes to plan.

Birthdays - had DP's nephew's birthday in Syd on the weekend, got some oldschool 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books on ebay for him, they're 2nd hand, but he loved them, yay. Was a good day, DP & I made pizzas, there was lasagne, wine, all the good stuff.

Business - we now have a pty ltd for DP to use when he goes contractor soon, alot of paperwork involved, but should work well, fingers crossed.

Kiva - I've now got 4 loans:
  • Magdalena in the Phillipines - farming - 60% repaid
  • Pillar in the Peru - vet supplies - 33% repaid
  • Fotu in Samoa - farming - 0% repaid
  • Evelyn in Phillipines - cattle frmer - 0% repaid
so far have $18.34 repaid, as soon as it hits $25 again I'll be re-loaning, yay, love giving a hand up, not a hand out :-)

Family addition

6 August 2009 - reposted April 2010

No, not the pitter patter of little feet, much to our families chargrin.

The clip clop of hooves, welcoming our new broodmare - 'Thongie' not her real name, just a nickname.

She's heavily in-foal, as you'll see below, due to foal 19th September.


New house bliss, maybe :)

22 July 2009 - reposted April 2010


Well we moved into our first home on Saturday, it may still resemble a bomb shelter, but it's our bomb shelter :-)

We both took Thurs/Fri/Mon off work.

Thur/Fri was the final packing session, with about 10 trips to the new house with breakables, kitchen stuff, clothes (luckily new house is about 3kms away from old rental).

Friday we had Foxtel booked at the new place, with their wonderful 5 hour window of 7am - 12pm, 11am rolls by and nothing, so DP calls them, and low and behold our appointment didn't get given to the installers! Luckily they took pity and we got a tech to the house about 4pm, he wasn't happy given it was 4pm Friday, but not our fault!

Saturday the removalist arrived at 7am, 1/2 hour early, excellent! (slight sarcasm there). They were loaded and unloaded at new place by 10.30, which was great. Had a gate guy give us a quote for a gate on the driveway to keep the pug in backyard, not cheap but has to be done!

Saturday was mainly unpacking & organising.

Saturday night we cracked a bottle of favourite champagne on the verandah, my lovely DP retrieved the cork from the middle of the road :-) followed by delivery Thai, and we were in bed by about 8pm.

Back into it Sunday, more organising/unpacking, trips from old house with garden stuff and other things left over from removalist.

Monday was hellish, cleaning the old rental, thankfully it's now looking better than when I moved in, but gees it was hard work!

DP headed back to Sydney Monday arvo, very teary farewell, more yucky than usual.

He's on a mission to get up here permanently now, hopefully within next 6-8 weeks, fingers crossed!!


Met with the accountant today, we're now officially business owners too, nothing like timing, not often in life do you become home owners and business owners in the same week!

Oh well, gotta do the hard yards to get ahead!!

Woohoo we've settled!

13 July 2009 - reposted April 2010


Well yesterday was the day, at 12pm they pressed the button or whatever they do, and settlement was a done deal on our house!!

We're madly packing, and have the truck booked for 7.30am Saturday.

Yay!!




Mojo definetly back :-)

8 July 2009 - reposted April 2010


After my whingeathon last week, all is on the improve.


HOUSE


Council approved the DA that's been holding up settlement on our house, settlement is scheduled for Monday 13th July, with us moving in on the following Saturday. Woohoo!!!!! Working through the checklist, removalists done, next insurance & connections.


WORK


Work is busy, but still loving it, got a nice bonus at end of financial year, yay!


NEW STUFF

BUSINESS - With DP moving up here soon, we've just found out we have to start a company to limit our liability, we've got our accountant onto it. Checklist beginning, ABN/GST/etc etc.

HORSE - We've just bought a share in a broodmare, as a trading prospect, we'll HOPEFULLY sell her for a profit next year, fingers crossed!


Damn times got away, gotta get to the library, till next time.............

Just dragging on.........

25 June 2009 - reposted April 2010


Time is just dragging on re our house.


It was 11 weeks yesterday since our offer was accepted, 7 weeks last Tuesday since we paid our deposit, and we're still waiting. Latest story is that vendor has to get another drawing to council, and that 'should' be done next Wednesday, then council 'should' be able to give a definite timeline.


Meanwhile alot's on hold, I'm still waiting to give notice on my rental, we are going to miss the end of financial year sales to buy the furniture we want to get, etc etc.


Getting annoying, very annoying!


But on a good note, I'm off to Sydney on the weekend, well in around 2.5hrs I'll be on the road, yay! Looking forward to a relaxing weekend, maybe dinner out somewhere.

Mojo gone awol

2 July 2009 - reposted April 2010

Ever have days when it feels like your mojo has gone awol? I'm having one today.

Life seems to be in limbo land, we're waiting to get into our house, I'm in the middle of packing up the rental without a real date to work to, I've get checklists everyone, one for council, one for agent, one for solicitor, one for bank, one for moving, one for budget, one for new business proposal, not to mention the work ones!

I've been working 11 hour days, getting home tired, waking up tired, driving to Sydney most weekends, it all feels a bit groundhog dayish.

I know it's just a whingey day (week maybe), but gee it's easy to get caught up in it.

Plus have been feeling ultra clucky last few weeks, I love my job/career, but have a really really strong clucky moments. I know it's not the time, cause we've got heaps on, plus I want to be married before having a baby. But again it's easy to get caught up..........

Anyway, I'm sure once we get council approval, and get settlement done on the house a heap of the pressure will lift off and I'll be back to normal, well as normal as DP says I can ever be (haha bastard :-))

Till next time, I'm about to hit the road to Sydney, well in 2 hours or so anyway.

House update

12 June 2009 - reposted April 2010


Mid June already, gee time's flying again, time for a quickie update, my home pc is busted so haven't been able to log on much at all.


We FINALLY had the application lodged with council by the vendors on our house we'v bought, woohoo, it's only taken them 5 weeks!!!! Council have said the process could take up to another 6 weeks, fingers crossed that's a worst case scenario and it won't be that long!


Heading to Sydney for the weekend, SIL's birthday, hopefully it's not as cold there as it's been here, my heater in the rental not working hasn't helped, brrrrrrrrr it's cold, thank god for water bottles!!


Until next time..............ciao

RIP to a special bit of my past

1 June 2009 - reposted April 2010

I logged onto Facebook yesterday and noticed a few old school friends had posted things like "you're at peace now", "RIP mate" etc etc. I wondered who it could be, assuming a grandma or something, and clicked on one of the profiles and was so shocked to read that a good friend from High School had died on Saturday night.

I hadn't been in contact with her since leaving school (16 years or so), until she contacted me about 6 months ago, one of the joys of Facebook is old names can rejoin. We had a hilarious back & forth online reliving school days, she and I were 2 of a group of 10 or so 'trouble makers' at our private girls catholic school.

I laughed so hard at some of the emails that I'd cry at my desk, my boss just shaking his head as I relived some stories. Well yesterday I cried at my desk for the saddest reason. I still can't believe she's gone.

RIP Macka, you were a great mate, and partner in crime. You will be sorely missed.

:-(

Yay we have liftoff!

5 May 2009 - reposted April 2010


Well not liftoff, but exchange. Exchange on our house, yayayayayayayayay!!!


We made the offer on April 9, and it took 2 weeks to get the contract, we signed it and returned it with a cheque for 10% deposit over 1 weekend, then it took nearly another 2 weeks for the vendors solicitor to send back the completed contract. Talk about dragging the chain!!


Anyhoo, we now just have to wait for council to approve the extension, hopefully that will be within the 5 weeks settlement, and we should/could/might/hopefully be moving into our first home in the 2nd week of June!


But we shall see, don't want to count too many chickens yet!

House update

13 May 2009 - reposted April 2010


Vendor has received certification that the building is structurally sound, they've had people out to draw up plans, which should take 2-3 weeks to be formally drawn up, THEN they get submitted to council.


Agent is speaking to council today to find out likely timeframe.


We're not holding our breath that we'll be in on settlement (9th June), but hoping it won't be too much after that!


Vendor has asked agent to apologise and to assure us they're doing everything they can to get it sorted asap.


Found an application tracker on the council website yesterday, it lists all of the applications lodged/approved since September 2008, you can search by street name, so I'l be madly checking that daily to find out when the application goes in!


So now I will be stalking the council website and the house :-) Have only driven by once this week, but can feel another coming on tonight :-)


I just wanna get in there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We've got a house, hopefully!! :-)

13 April 2009 - reposted April 2010


Well we went and had another look at the town house last weekend (one before Easter), and loved it even more. We put in an offer on Tuesday, and it was accepted, after some negotiation on Thursday, so we're nearly there!!


The house has an unapproved extension, and we made the offer conditional on the vendor obtaining full Council approval of the extension, and subject to our own building inspection. So fingers crossed it all goes well, and we'll be on the move soon!


It's a Federation house, renovated & extended 4 years ago, 3 bedrooms, master is gorgeous & huge, big renovated kitchen, bathroom with clawfoot bath, new living area, dark timber throughout, big garage for b/f's work, and a good size yard for the pug & future rugrats!!


We drove by it twice on the weekend (b/f's sister & b/i/law up, so that was the excuse :-)) and it's gorgeous still, the vendors are away for weekend, so was all locked up, we didn't notice the security shutters on front windows, nice bonus.


Weekend was great, last minute visit by b/f's sister, husband & baby, take away Thai Sat night, Vintage golf course markets on Sunday, lunch at pub, then they hit the road later Sun arvo. B/f and I chilled out rest of Sunday and he hit the road this morning to beat the traffic back to Sydney.


We're both really excited, and have everything crossed that everything goes through quickly, the settlement is 5 weeks, but will depend on Council, fingers crossed!!!


Nice Easter pressie for us, yay :-)

On the way.........slowly


 21 April 2009 - reposted April 2010


Waiting on contract to arrive at Solicitors, the vendors solicitor said he mailed it on Friday, spoke to solicitor tonight, hasn't arrived, hopefully tomorrow!!!! We want this 35 day settlement to start asap!! :-)


The only good thing about the 'delay' is that it means council is a week further down the road (hopefully) in approving the extension (fingers crossed!).


I went through the house on Thursday (again heehee) and took photos, it's soooooo lovely, can't wait to get in there!


Our building & pest inspection is happening tomorrow morning, so fingers crossed there too!


This is a pic of the house, the vendors were away, so they had the security shutters down on front windows, 'she' looks much prettier with her eyes open!! :-)

Missed the 5 acres but not too upset

5 April 2009 - reposted April 2010


We went to the auction yesterday for the mortgagee sale of 5 acres, there was only one other bidder, he ended up getting it for $20k over what our max was, but pretty sure he was nowhere near his top. A bit disheartening walking away, but a bit of a relief too, we were thinking that 5 acres, plus buying our first home at top of our budget, new location & work setup for b/f, and wanting to start a family in next 2 years might be biting off a bit more than we were ready to chew.


We're going to buy in town, at about $80k less, and then in 5 years or so if we still want acres we'll have a go then, we'll (hopefully) have a family started, and will be financially more sure of where we're at and where we're going.


Had a look at 3 houses on Saturday, 1 was a 2nd look and we still loved it. It has some issues re unapproved renovation/addition, so will be speaking to Council and a certifier tomorrow, if we can get the clear there we'll have a go at it.


Very exciting.


We had a cheap weekend, take away noodles Fri night, $20, nibbles for lunch at home Sat in between inspections $0, coffee out $8, then spent aobut $15 on prawns and we made prawn ravioli, was beautiful, even if I forgot to put the cream in the prawn mix (oops), first time either of us had made pasta before, won't be the last!! B/f bought up tomato pasta sauce I'd made at his house last week, he's becoming a SS'er :-) And a bottle of Chambocin from the winerack, noice :-) Oh and used basil & parsley from garden, so much nicer :-)


Today we went to Broke for the Taste Of Italy day, spent total of around $20 for the day, got a commemorative wine glass each, tasted wines at 6 vineyards, plus the associated goodies: olive oil, olives, chutneys, jams, dukkah, nuts, bread.


A great day, Broke is just gorgeous, had only been there once, on a quick visit previously. The scenery has Pokolbin covered, it just doesn't have the same profile tourist wise, which is good for us, not so good for the Vineyard owners.


B/f headed home aobut 3pm, he's got pizza with a mate who's heading o/s for a few months.


So I've spent the rest of the arvo mowing the lawns, washing clothes, reading the papers, lovely, I love Sundays :-)


Just need a good week and a co-operative Council and will be very happy campers :-)

We got approved, Yay!!

29 March 2009 - reposted April 2010


We met with ANZ on Friday and walked out with a Home Buyers Certificate for $450k, yay yay yay yay. The offered more, but we're sure a $450k noose is enough for us for now!

What a little gem!

8 March 2009 - reposted April 2010


Well my worries about seafood at the servo were unfounded. Yay!!!!!!


We have discovered a true gem, $35 a head for 3 courses:


Soup - choice of vichyssois (sp?) or gazpachio - cold soups, the vichyssois was magnificent, gazpachio nice also


Entree - figs stuffed with blue cheese wrapped in prosciutto - have never tried figs and don't like blue cheese on its own - this was beautiful, so tasty!


Main - a massive platter containing:


1/2 lobster
4 legs of king crab - sooooooo tasty!
4 legs of blue swimmer crab
about 8 bites of fish
about 8 bites of calamari
24 natural oysters - yes 24!!!
1kg of prawns - yes 1kg, chef said 250g each!!!!!!


None of us eat natural oysters, except for b/f's dad, he put in a stirling effort, managing to down 19 of them!!!!!!!! We got through the lobster, craps, fish calamari, took home 5 oysters and 2 foil containers of prawns. None of us could even fit a coffee in!!


The atmosphere was gorgeous, only 1 other table (of locals), sitting outside with a waterfall in the soon tobe beer garden next door, and coloured lights everywhere.


The chef & his wife were the chef/waitress/host/hostess, and so friendly and lovely, the chef is originally from Portugal, his wife English.


We will definetly be taking all visitors there, b/f's dad has travelled extensively for work and said it was hands down the best seafood plater he's ever had!!!!!

A Note to Bosses

1 March 2009 - reposted April 2010


A note to all the bosses out there, it really doesn't take much to make us feel valued and keep us happily chugging along.


I work 8.30-5.30, at 5.35 Friday I got a call from the boss, he asked if I was still at work (yep) and could I do a bit of research for him. I said sure, but was thinking bugger, b/f's due to arrive from Syd any minute, but did the research, sent it off at about 6.10pm.


I just logged into my work email from home and have the following email :


"Fantastic - thank you for doing this at short notice late on Friday."


Now that probably took the boss about 10 seconds to do, but I am so happy and feel so good it's quite pathetic really.


So if you're a boss, don't scrimp on the thankyous, when deserved, they really do mean alot to us plebs.


:)

Victorian Bushfires

Feb 8 2009 - reposted April 2010


I'm a born & bred country Victorian, lived there until mid 2007, I was 10 years old when Ash Wednesday occurred, I remembering being sitting on the floor in school rooms while teachers closed the windows and covered gaps as smoke came blowing into town. We 'only' lost livestock on Ash Wednesday, but friends lost just about everything, it was too much for our 10 year old brains to compute, we were just sad. Memories that will live with me forever.


I am so saddened by the current tragic bushfires in Victoria, I have not lost any family members, thank god, but friends have lost their lives, loved ones, pets, properties and businesses, words aren't enough.


RIP to all the lost souls, and strength to those who have to rebuild everything or go on without a loved one.

Australia Day 2008

- reposted April 2010

Looking through my old blog there were a few memories/photos/posts I thought I'd like to include in my new blog. This is the first of them.

AUSTRALIA DAY 2008 on Sydney Harbour

My first Australia Day on Sydney Harbour :) Was a great day, I kind of drove Cam nuts playing the tourist, but like he said with him being a Sydneysider he doesn't appreciate what's on his front door. The day with me playing Japanese tourist fixed that though!!

We lucked out finding underground parking in the Rocks for $20 for the day, sounds pricey but when the bus costs around $11 each return it's cheaper, plus more flexible.

We saw the tallships and watched the ferry race, I was barracking for the Duck ferry, not sure if he won or not.

We walked around to the Opera House, I've never seen it close up, WOW, it's gorgeous! Walked up the steps (very Aus Idol), I was surprised the tiles are a mix of off white & a boney colour, I took a close up shot, will post that.

Went to a few pubs, the Orient, Lord Nelson, Australian, a few more, they were packed.

Had a drink called Nelson's Blood Cocktail at the Lord Nelson, I think this was the mix:

2 parts Rum (can't remember name of rum but was 47.7% alcohol!!), 1 part orange juice, 1 part cranberry juice, 3 dashes bitters

was very strong, but not too bad. We were feeling it on the walk back down to the Harbour, so stopped to share a nice lamb pizza at the Australian, served by a girl who I hope was high on something cause she certainly wasn't all there, maybe just being a Pom. :)

Walked round to the Pier 1, Cam said it used to be a 3 storey fun parlour with rides & games, he was surprised it was deserted, just a couple of very quiet restaurants and cars parked on the pier. Walked up a massive staircase, gee my lack of fitness really told, was blowing hard by the time we got to the top!


Back to the Harbour, we went to another pub, a walk through the market, then to one of the Rocksong stages to watch Christine Anu sing. Just brilliant, her voice is amazing, I took some photos, will add them.

Wandered round a bit more then it started to rain so we headed home, both a bit sunburnt and tired, so just chilled out.

I headed off from Cam's at 6.30am this morning when he left for work, picked Ollie up from the kennel (sorry puggie) on the way and made it to work by 8.30am, Ollie's down with the other dogs, till I can take him home at lunch.


Hoping like hell my garden hasn't wilted while I've been away, the peril of not knowing neighbours well enough yet to ask them to water the plants, fingers crossed!!!!!

Blog liftoff

How do you start a blog, I can't think of anything insightful or clever. I've been reading a few blogs of late and find some of them inspirational and thought why don't I do it too.

I had a blog 2 years ago and life (new job, buying house, moving in with partner) got in the way, and I drifted away from the blog.

So I'm going to pilfer some of my old posts, delete the old blog and start afresh!

Why the title 'Can we do it....Yep we can'? Well I couldn't think of anyting profound to call it, and it just popped in my head. It suits me, because we've got a bit on in our life.

We're paying off a mortgage (had it 9 months now), trying to get fit & healthy so we can get married & start a family, my partners quit his job in Sydney to move up to the Hunter Valley and start our life together, so we've started our own company and he's doing his hobby for a job, part-time for now, but we have hopes it will grow.

That will have to do for now, work to be done.

Till next time

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails