23 March - that's it - woohoo!

I told my boss today that 23 March is the day I'll be heading off on maternity leave - woohoo!

So relieved, they had thought I would work to a week before due (due end of April), and that was never on my radar, not sure where they got that thinking from!

Really looking forward to getting our house, and my body (!!) ready for the big event, life has been so hectic, still working 9-10 hours a day, 5 days a week, plus some work on weekends, so it will be great to be able to just concentrate on us, Mr Mel, Me & Bubs for a little while.

Hopefully bubs doesn't decide to come early!

Till next time,


PS - At this stage I'm going to take leave till bub is born, then be on the 18 weeks of Paid Parental Leave and will re-evaluate what we want to do come August!

Back to work - not so yay!

Well today makes it a week since 1st day back at work, following our wedding and honeymoon, and man oh man it's been a hard slog!

Our honeymoon was so amazing, it was a massive jolt back to reality when I had to man the 7pm - 2am foalwatch shift on Saturday night, I had a flashback when I was handmilking the mare (foal wouldn't suck from both teets, so I had to milk one of her teets every 20 mins!), that 7 days ago we had been having dinner on our island paradise, throwing leftovers to the hundreds of fish swimming under the deck of the restaurant, while sipping Mojito's!

I'm sure it's just the usual post holiday blues, but gees louise, they are as blue as blue can get!

Erakor Island, Vanuatu - aka Paradise!!  Our villa was at the top right corner

Till next time,

Sheep Shakers - Friday On My Mind - 16

Today my boss and his family got back from a 10 day trip to New Zealand, and these 2 little sheep salt & pepper shakers are my present for keeping the place afloat while they were away.

Terrible quality photo (dodgy phone), in real life they are beyond super cute, the salt and pepper holes are their nostrils, and they fit so snuggly in my palm, they're just gorgeous!  Oh I just realised, the one with the white around his neck should probably be the salt sheep, the darker one the pepper sheep, so cute!

So on my mind are 2 little sheep shakers from the land of the sheep shaggers  

Thanks to Rhonda from the Down To Earth blog for her 'Friday On My Mind' idea, it's a gem, I've clicked through comments on numerous blogs on Rhonda's list, and on my own, and found some great blogs which I'm now following, and looking forward to discovering many more!

Grin and Bare It

Now I've written the title, I'm not sure if it should be 'bear' or 'bare', how annoying!

Just having one of those days where over and over in my mind (albeit now with a question mark on the spelling) goes the words "just grin and bare it", "think of England" blahdy blah blah.

You know when you have someone say something to you and your instant thought is "I could just smash you in the face with a tennis racket right now"?  (well I hope someone knows, eek or I'm a tad whacky!)

I try to bite my tongue most times when I could easily let fly, and I'm usually successful.

Today after being the recipient of a out of line comment (don't want to get into details as this could turn into War & Peace) I just had to get out of harms way so to speak, instead of launching a tennis racket or a tirade, I said "I just have to head out for a bit", got in my car and drove for an hour, leaving my work mobile on my desk.

(photo source)

I have just Googled 'one of those days' and one of the first links was

http://www.organizeit.co.uk/2008/05/26/having-one-of-those-days-heres-how-to-deal-with-it/

their advice is below and I'm happy to see I actually did alot of the things they suggest, without really thinking about it (my comments in green):

• Take a breather
  Get away from it all. Disconnect the phone, turn off the computer. Heck, lock yourself in a cupboard if you can’t get away from work. Give yourself a chance to clear your head and gain some perspective. You can’t get hold of your day if you don’t give yourself a chance to regain control. One or two unfortunate events will effect your mood which can ultimately cause things to spiral if you don’t take a step back
• Yay I actually did this, I got in the car without the work mobile, hit the road, music up loud, singing & yelling alternatively
• Work out what the problem is
  What makes you think you are having one of those days? Was it the moody customer who shouted at you? Have you been inundated with work because two of your staff are off sick? Having one of those days will put you in a bad mood. It’s important to know exactly what the cause is so you can do something about it.
• Oh I know what the problem is!!  Don't get me started!
• Shit happens…
  There is a logical, rational reason for everything. You might not directly cause it but it’s there all the same. If a customer gives you a hard time because another department didn’t do its job properly, that’s unfortunate. But these things do happen. If you’re dwelling on it while hiding in the cupboard, tell yourself you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• Yes shit does happen, but when shit keeps happening it's NOT wrong place wrong time!  Well actually it is, wrong job wrong time perhaps?
• …but could I have done something about it?Things happen that ruin our day which are out of our control, but there also things that, in hindsight, we could have  influenced or can yet gain some control over. Could you perhaps have dealt with the rude customer a little better? Can you defer or delegate the workload till the absent staff return? Take the lessons from the experience now so it doesn’t mess up another day in the future.
• Not really, out of the blue comment that was so (A) untrue, (B) not needed, (C) hurtful
• Treat yourself and move on
  Rationalizing and being proactive will help you to smooth out the whole unpleasantness but if it fixed your entire day you wouldn’t be having one ofthose days in the first place. Take lessons from the experience and try and get through the rest of the day. Treat yourself by going for retail therapy, having a nice meal or watching a film, if it helps. Then get to sleep. You will almost certainly feel much better the next day.
• Yay I actually did this too, on my hour long drive I bought myself a bottle of poison, well not really poison, Ice Break, same/same really, as I'm on a pre-wedding diet, and good old Ice Break is not my friend!
• Don’t live in a bubble
  A boxer will never be successful if he just runs around the ring avoiding his opponent’s blows. Likewise you will never get anywhere if you are not willing to take the knocks and blows  that life will all to readily dish out. You may feel like hiding in your shell when the day turns against you, but resist that urge, it’s not an habit you want to slip into. Shake it off and get back in the fight.
• Again something I've done to a degree, I have requested some info on a course to change career.  I'm not really shaking off the comment cause I'm still quite pissed at it and the commenter, but I'm back in the ring of my career if you know what I mean.  Don't they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result?  Well my info request is the start of changing what I'm doing to hopefully get a different result!

That's my whinge quota full for a while, so I'll sign off :)   Tomorrow is Friday, woohoo!!!!!!!

Till next time,

Should I Be Elsewhere?

For the past few weeks, well probably months to be honest, I've been feeling a bit unsettled at work, and couldn't really put my finger on it.

I love my job for the most part (like every job there are days when you could just walk out and keep going), I enjoy the company of the people I work for and with (mostly!), and I love working with the horses (always). So there's not anything glaringly wrong, I just have quite a few days when I'm very easily distracted, and know I'm not putting in 100% which I really don't like!

But I've just had that 'should I be elsewhere' type feeling. Yes I can do my job well, but should I be doing something else?

Ideally I'd love to work for myself, or with Mr Mel, however the jump to leave this job to have a go at something when we have a mortgage, an impending wedding and a hopeful start to our family this year, make me think maybe I should stick to the safe option.

Things I've considered:

- Real Estate - I love it, but don't know if I could do it as a career, plus it would mean starting from bottom in an agency, getting to a place where I could work for myself would be a long way off

- Blog - we started a blog - www.huntervalleygrapevine.com - recently and are hoping to build it into something substantial, however with me working full-time, organising a wedding, trying to get fit, and Mr Mel working fulll-time, we're struggling to put enough time into it

www.huntervalleygrapevine.com

- Farm - both Mr Mel and I want to buy and work a small farm, raising produce and stock for our use, and with a view to selling meat, cheese, vegies etc, currently we don't have the capital to do it, but we will one day!  And of course we'll have horses on the farm! :)

photo source

- Aussie Farmers Direct - a new franchise business that I've been following since it launched, Australian farming is something I'm passionate about, we try to buy Aussie everything foodwise, and support local suppliers, attend every farmers market we can.  Everything I've read about AFD has been positive, they have been highly ranked by BRW as one of the best recent franchises.  The only downside the setup costs are quite expensive.  We could probably manage at a pinch (with a loan), but it would put alot more financial stress on us.

Aussie Farmers Direct

I think I'm most likely rambling, as I said earlier I've not really been able to put a finger on what's got me thinking this way, and obviously I'm struggling to put it into words also!

Maybe it's just because I've got so much going on, but I don't think so, I think the underlying issue is that I need/want to move on? Mr Mel as usual has been so supportive, and such a rock, he's told me a few times now, "Chickadee if you're not happy we need to do what we need to do to make you happy".

I think I'll give myself until after the wedding to make sure it's not the stress of sorting everything for the wedding that is making me think this way, if I'm still on this train of thought after our honeymoon (10 days in Vanuatu), Mr Mel and I will get our heads together and work towards change!

Any advice/inspiration more than welcome :)

Till next time,

39c to mini cyclone in 30 seconds!

Yesterday around 3pm we had a crazy storm cell hit us, the temp was about 39c, and I had been watching the radar online at Bureau of Meterology, and could see a small storm cell coming our way, it didn't look sinister, just heavy rain.

Boy was I wrong, out of nowhere hail came pelting down, I left the office to bring my car under cover, and the rain was coming through the barn horizontally and you couldn't see more than a few meters in front, it was like a blizzard of rain & hail.  I nearly got bowled over running to my car.

With the car safe inside I ran out to check on the foals (we had just turned out the 6 newly weaned foals into a big paddock), but I couldn't see more than a meter into the paddock. Then lighting started landing close by, so I went back to the barn.

After the lightning had stopped, we started doing a livestock and fence check.

Luckily none of us and no horses were injured.

We had about 12 gum trees partially or fully down, most had come down safely, 2 had come down over fences, but the paddocks were empty so not too bad.

The biggest casualty was the poor front gate!

Farm gate after a gum landed on it - we had already removed 3 big branches

The power was out until about 9pm, and we spent the rest of the daylight hours chopping up fallen trees, pulling down loose branches, and building a massive future bonfire in the dam paddock!  Today will be more of the same.

I realise our storm is nothing in the scheme of Cyclone Yasi, the floods, Christchurch disaster, etc, but it was still enough to rattle our cages.

Till next time,

Bushfire Season

Yesterday at work around 1.30pm I was on the quadbike and noticed some weird shapes clouds above the trees, I went up on the hill and saw that there was a bushfire on the mountain behind the farm.

While I could see it was 'only' small, the awful sick feeling you get in the bottom of your stomach, which is probably the age old imprinted 'fight or flight' response showed up.

We called the Rural Fire Service, they had only just been advised, and trucks were on the way, so they didn't know how big or bad it was.

From the farm the fire was around 3kms as the crow flies, not very far on a windy day, but thankfully there was hardly a whisper of wind.

We got the pumps and firehoses out, and had a firedrill, pumping water from the top dam, after much swearing at the pump it finally kicked over and we felt a bit more at ease that we had water at hand.

As a precaution we placed the irrigation lines around the house & barn, and ran the sprinklers.  Then worked out what documents we'd need from the house & office if worst came to worse, and backed up the important files onto an external drive. We worked out where we'd move with the horses, and where the best evacuation route was for them.

By 5pm the RFS reported they were bringing the fire under control, they had revised the size from 50 hectares down to 30, and the fire was going up the mountain rather than down towards us.

They had 7 trucks and 2 choppers working on it, as the mountain is covered in dense bush, the access isn't good, so the choppers dumping water helped.

By late last night the RFS reported it was under control. Thankfully.

With the temp today to hit 40 again, and between 36 - 40 for the rest of the week, as Steve Liebman says, we'll be alert but not alarmed.

Just have to hope there are no firebugs around, the Valley is an absolute tinderbox at the moment.  But I won't get started on my view of firebugs, that's a tirade for another day.

Stay safe everyone, Australia's a hell of a place, floods, fires, cyclones, all within a few weeks, but you have to love her regardless.

Till next time,

2011 - bring it!

So it's already Jan 10, and I'm only now getting around to putting 'pen to paper' re my 2011 goals.  I have put a bit of thought to it over the past weeks, some goals more than others.

So let's see, forgive the typing dribble, but I'll just blurt it all out then try and make sense later, perhaps!  I think I'll go for 6 month goals at this stage.

Health - a major goal is to get healthy, it effects so many aspects of life, it's something that I have overlooked, well more accurately, accidentally on purpose, ignored!  With not great results.  I'm now 37, and not very healthy, I need to lose a fair lot of kgs, and I need to build my fitness up, I work with horses, and over the past year have been doing alot more physical work with them, and my lack of fitness has been glaringly obvious (see my previous post on herding cattle!).  I need to lose weight and get healthy to give my 37 year old ovaries the best chance of producing viable eggs in the next 12 months, with Mr Mel & I wanting to start a family (hopefully!).  Plus I want to lose weight for vanity reasons too, I'm sick of frumpy granny clothes! So let's put a number on it, you read everywhere that you have to define your goals, so here goes, by 30 June (end of fatty year not financial heehee), my goal is to lose 20kgs. After 30 June I'll look at a Xmas goal!

Finances - Mr Mel have been going well, paying almost triple our minimum payment on our mortgage, after 18 months of owning our home we have just over 57% equity. We have made paying our mortgage down, a high priority, we're both in our late 30s and if we want to have kids it has to be asap, and we want a buffer financially, and our thinking is if we can build a buffer in our mortgage, if we happen to fall pregnant and lose 1 or 2 jobs, we'll still have a good 6-8 months of breathing room before things got desperate. So my goal is to be at 60% equity by 30 June.

Business - Mr Mel and I set up our own P/L business last year, he works as a sub-contractor/consultant, and we have invested in broodmares (my speciality), under the business banner.  This year our plan is to expand the business to include a new blog, I can't give too many thoughts away until we get everything registered etc. Our goal is to have our new blog up & running, with 50 followers, and 1 advertiser by 30 June!

Investments - Mr Mel and I have a small share portfolio, we have been quite lucky/fortunate, depending on how you look at it, Mr Mel invested a chunk of cash when the market crashed, and he has managed to double the investment, we took the profit and left the original investment in the market.  This has helped us get to our current 57% equity in our home.  I invested $5k in a speculative share (on the advice of a client in the business) and that share has gone from 0.335 to 0.810 in the past 3 months. Our long term goal is to buy some land, say 10 acres, and build our dream home & farm, so there's no real goal at this stage.  Well actually there is, our goal is to keep on planning for our dream home, it will happen!

Work - While I love my job (most of the time!) I'm getting more and more drawn to working for myself, in my industry I don't know if it's a realistic goal, but I do more than a passing interest in another industry that I could end up working for myself in.  I need to decide if my 'passing interest' is worth pursuing, I need to research and meet with an expert in the field to investigate further. My goal is to by 30 June have a meeting with a local expert and get more info re my possible career change.

Personal - I want to get married, there it is, Mr Mel knows it, he wants to also, but he just seems to get distracted, and forgets to do the whole proposal thing!  Our plan (yes we're planning but not proposing!!!!) is to have a surprise wedding, we will invite loved ones to an engagement party and then get married at the party, it might be a bit risky given most of my family will be coming from interstate, but we've been working on ways to get them here without giving away the surprise.  Our goal is to get bleeping well engaged asap, not by June 30, now damn it!!  :)  Then hopefully preggers will follow!! :)

Home - After having rented my way through 16 years, 14 houses and 2 states, I still have to pinch myself when I look round our home and realise yes it's mine/ours!  The major downside to being a renter for so long, is that I lived those 16 years in a continual state of packing/unpacking, so I never really settled anywhere.  I've found it hard since we moved into our home in July 2009 to try and put down roots, I still think I shouldn't nail a picture hook into the wall, etc.  The end result is our home is a bit of a schmozzle, will no real identity, it's homey enough, but I still as usual have a spare bedroom full of boxes. So my goal is to have no removalist boxes in the house/garage/anywhere by 30 June.  Time to get nesting :)

So there they are, my goals for 2011, well for part of 2011 for now, I'm sure I will edit/add over the coming months!

Till next time,

The Day A Cow Gave Me The Finger & A Massive Lightbulb Moment

For anyone who googled ‘cow’ and ‘finger’, please note this is not a porn story, so move along right now thanks.

Ok so for anyone else, today I had a massive lightbulb moment courtesy of a steer (male cow), well a few steers, while they were ‘flicking me the bird’, ‘giving me the finger’, etc.

At work we have a small herd of 8 Charolais cattle, today it was time to move them from one of the horse paddocks they’d been cleaning out, back to the bush/dam block.

3 of us were up for the job, the new girl was hiding behind the gatepost to the holding yard, ready to shut the gate when the herd ran into the holding yard, the boss was on the quad bike moving them up and I was on a side, flanking them in.

We got them close to the yard and they bolted my way, so I run, well shall I say lumber off, and try to head them off before they get to open paddock and go bolting down the other end.

So while I was running in front of the cattle, heaving and panting, I thought ‘well Mel doesn’t this show you just how unfit you are’, then I turned round and the cattle all stopped, 7 of them turned back towards the yard, but 1 stood there staring at me, I yelled at him, waved me hands, and he just stood there, I thought ‘you cheeky sod’.

About 10 seconds later he took 3 steps towards me, I took 3 towards him, and we were having a face off. Steer v Me – now for anyone who knows cattle, they’re meant to turn away from you and be scared of you, not this cheeky bugger, he was just staring at me, like a cheeky teenager flipping you the bird, daring you to do something.

So I’m standing there panting & wheezing, red faced, staring at this steer, I ran at him, and he stood his ground till the last second, then turned on a dime, with a look over his shoulder at me that was almost a derogatory smirk, and went straight into the yard with his mates.

I walked into the yard, and he stops munching on the hay we put out to entice them, and just stares at me, now I know I’m reading to much into it, but I just now that steer, was saying ‘Mel go have a look at yourself, I’m just a stupid steer and I can see you’re not in good shape’.

So I went to the bathroom, trying to catch my breath, and saw my red face, messed up hair, and thought yes Mr Charolais, I take your point.

The moral or point to the story, 2011 is my year to get healthy and fitter, which in my case means losing about 30kgs, so wish me luck everyone, and Mr Charolais, or shall we say Nemesis, we shall meet again, and thanks for the inspiration!

Till next time,

A Built In Camera Required For My Car

Every day I drive 20kms each way to work and back, about 3kms of that is in town, the rest are through bushland.

Since we moved into town last year when we bought our home, I've enjoyed the trip to and from work, 15 mins each way to sing along to (what Mr Mel would call very ordinary) music, and basically relax before entering the lions den of work, or destress before I get home to Mr Mel & the pug.

Over the past couple of weeks I've been amazed at the variety of animals I've literally crossed paths with.

During foalwatch last year when I was driving to work at 3am, through fog, I had a couple of near misses with kangaroos, so since then I've been ultra aware of driving down certain stretches of road at dusk/dawn.

Over the past say month 'my' menagerie of animals that have crossed the road just before I've arrived, or who have pulled up just in time on the side of the road, and waited for me to pass (at around 2km p/h!) includes:

around 50 kangaroos
3 wombats
2 echidnas
1 enormous goanna
a family of 5 goats, 2 adults, 3 kids
2 steers who escaped from a paddock (yes I went and told the owner :) )
1 dive bombing kookaburra
at least 10 galahs who must be attracted to my car, the near misses have been very near

and yesterday, a deer, a big male deer with 1 stub of an antler and one large antler, he was going to cross the road, heard/saw me, turned on a dime and trotted back into the scrub.

So that will be on my shopping list for my next car, a built in camera, that takes a photo automatically or when the driver squeals :)

Till next time,

Time for a change?

When do you know it's time for a job change?

I love (well loved) my job, however the stress of the situation I work in has been getting to me over the past 18 months, it's getting to the point now that most days I leave either feeling a bit jaded, or with a headache. I work hard, 10-11 hours a day, 5 days a week, plus some weekends every couple of months.  It's not the hard work thats the issue, I absolutely love being busy, and working hard. It's the stress of working for people who aren't happy, and it seems can't stand anyone being happy, that's really taking a toll.

Mrs Boss is extremely high strung and blows up very easily.  I'm fairly laid back, and it takes a fair bit to get me wound up, but gee she's doing a very good job at it.  The relationship between Mr & Mrs Boss is one I'd never hope for, and I find being around it quite toxic.

I've always been one to value a job much more than the pay, I can cop alot of crapola if I love the job, and I've been doing that for the past couple of years. But it's getting to the stage where I spend alot of time wondering if it's worth it.

Surely life's too short to be miserable at work?

Mr Mel and I want to get married and have kids in the next year, I'm tossing up whether I make a move now, or wait to see if we fall pregnant, then look at a part time career change.

Some more thinking to be done........................

Till next time,

Brrrr Hello Winter, We Meet Again

Day 1 of running the farm for 2 weeks with the boss away, and by crikeys it's cold!

Left home at 6am for the 20 min drive to the farm, our iron front fence was covered in ice, and the front lawn was white & crunchy. Mr Mel put some water on the front windscreen while I ran around inside looking for gloves, by the time I got to the car the new water was frozen too!

Driving to the farm the paddocks looked like the were covered in snow.

Got to the farm at 6.30am after stopping at Woolworths to buy some el cheapo gloves & a beanie (yes a good look I know). The weather station said -2 deg, excellent!

I was adorned with 2 singlets, a long sleeve top, a zip up jacket, scarf, beanie, and gloves, and still the icy wind went through me. After 2 mins on the quad I couldn't feel my fingers, always a good sign.

Luckily all the horses were in good order, so I didn't have to fumble with frozen fingers and undone rug straps, and even luckier all of the horses must have decided it was too cold to have their usual play with the trough floats, so I didn't have to go shoulder deep to fix the float, yay!

At 7.30 when I'd finished it was 0 deg, it's now 10am and it's 7 deg, and the paddocks have lost their cover of frost, hopefully the sun will have a bit more warmth to it before the afternoon feedup!

And I must say, thank whatever god there is for coffee!!! :-)

Till next time,

CM Challenge! Did I Do It? Yep I Did :)

Well it's been 4 weeks, and the good news is my uniform fits well, currently wearing it, there are no buttons straining about to burst, which is always a good thing!

I had set myself the aim of losing 2.5cm off my bust & hips, happy to say that I've surpassed my aims, and am very very happy about that.

Final Day
Weight - 129.8kg (-3.4kg)
Bust - 120.0cm (-4cm)
Waist - 114.0cm (-6cm)
Hips - 139.0cm (-5cm)

The ongoing challenge, is to keep all the numbers tumbling down, the benefits are too numerous to say, obviously, health, fitness are big results, plus it will help give us our best chance to fall pregnant, after I look smashing (well more smashing than I would've), in a wedding dress, when we finally get round to getting married!

Till next update,

Quick CM loss challenge!

Well this should be interesting!
I've just been told I'm working in Sydney on 23-24 June, and had to go and order a uniform (shirt & vest) today, well the only ones available in our colours that could be embroidered in time, were a size too small.
SO.................I'm on a CM loss challenge.
I need/must/have to/would like to, lose around 3cm from bust & 3cm from hips, so the shirt & vest aren't sticking to me like a wetsuit!
Day 1
Weight - 133.2kg
Bust - 124cm
Waist - 120cm
Hips - 144cm
Wish me luck!

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.


:)