happy new year

wishing you lots of good health, laughter and joy in 2011

did santa bring you something nice?

i hope so. we had a lovely day and i was spoilt by the family. silk kaftan, bracelet made out of a silver fork (i know it sounds a bit strange, but it's really nice), painting, and a praying monk statue. all very lovely. we had a lovely lunch and the only fly in the ointment was that my sister had to go back to wallaroo that night. big trip for her and was really great that she was able to come down. kids are on holidays and so am i. at least for a week. i have plans of course but so far i haven't really done much. i'm going to wallaroo wednesday. all good. i hope you had a lovely day too and are enjoying this holiday period. pic is of the girls. sister, dil, daughter and g/daughter.

well that time is approaching

you know the one. too much everything. esp. shopping and eating. both work places have so much 'bad' food in the kitchens at present it's really hard to ignore it. so i'm not. i think i've finished most things. i'm picking up some food tomorrow after work. we finish at 2.30. yay. whatever you get up to i hope you have an enjoyable time and santa brings you something nice ;) i'm going to clean the house

thank goodness it's the weekend

i'm so tired. it's been a long week. i have the new overlocker. it's amazing and does everything. so cool. i can't wait to play. i must buy some beads tomorrow as i want to make some angel earrings for the girls. super easy. click here for a video. they're cute. enjoy your weekend.

i have to work today

i spent yesterday at home. couldn't be bothered going anywhere. feel a bit off but nothing serious. i want to purchase a new overlocker. if you saw the one i have it's practically an antique and dammit i deserve a new one. i got a great deal but have to wonder if i'll use it very much. i'll get it on thursday. i had to buy an indoor antenna for the tv downstairs the other day coz i couldn't get sbs or the local adelaide channel. the signal would come and go. might be the weather. the one upstairs is fine. weather here is damp and cool atm. i hope it stays that way for a little while yet. kids are coming for christmas tea. my sister is coming down too so that will be nice. i am downsizing presents this year. only one each. except my sister and the g/kids. :( i'm going quite well with the carbs except that yesterday i ate some chocolates. very nice they were too. i've been going through my wardrobe and altering clothes that don't fit. all good

a wakeup call

if this isn't one i don't know what is. as you know i have decided to cut down carbs and try to eat sensibly. don't go to my other blog, what i ate today, coz i've deserted that idea. didn't work. anyhoo, i bought a lovely old oak wardrobe recently. pic above of it in the shop. paid extra for delivery up the stairs but still a bargain i think. it's in pretty good nick. it's got a mirror on the door and tonight i changed when i got home from work. hung up my shirt (i'm so good) and left the wardrobe door ajar. shouldn't have done that coz what did i see in my wall mirror but a full back view of me. oh that wasn't pretty. yuk. at least i don't have changing room lighting in my bedroom that's the only good thing i can think of. so.... i'm glad i saw it coz it made me think that yes, i am too heavy and that spells unhealthy. not to mention unattractive. :( i had a nice healthy dinner tonight with kiwi fruit for dessert. :)

repairs

i'm quite proud of myself atm. i have a pair of work pants which were far too big. swam on me. i took them in last night and i'm pleased with the result. fit beautifully now. they are grey and light so good for summer. bad news is that a pair of my fave three quarter pants are getting a bit snug. this is after i nearly gave them to the op shop coz they also swam on me. ooppss. time to cut down on the carbs i feel. :)

it's wednesday

and i am off today. from work that is. just pottering around, not doing too much. my son's mil is arriving today from cairns so he didn't come over for brekky this morning. it's so hot here. a change is expected today i think. might go shopping this arvo but first will sort out my wardrobe. declutter (again) and tidy things up a bit. nothing too strenuous :)

harbour town

i'm going to harbour town today to try to get some fila slides. my bff went friday and got some. i'm taking my son and g/daughter. his partner is at work this arvo. it's very warm here atm.
footnote: didn't get the slides got some flojo thongs instead. super comfy.

dinner with friends

day off today. cleaning, shopping etc, etc. also visit to the dentist which went really well as he could find nothing wrong with my tooth. clean and polish and that was it. dinner with friends at local indian restaurant which is really nice. i've eaten too much. :( i'm off to bed to start my new book. rice mother. looking forward to it. i missed my after din dins coffee tonight and it's too late now to indulge. i'll have to wait until brekky. oh well. pic is of some balinese buddhas near ubud in bali of course :)

american $

with the exchange rate so good atm i thought i'd order some US$ from my credit union today. good rate. cost me $5 in fees. not too bad. i went to the pub tonight after work with the girls which was nice. alas, i arrived home and was disappointed to find no little parcels from ebay awaiting me. :( maybe tomorrow night ...

i've got a little problem

with ebay. i don't buy much but those little purchases are adding up. i got a cover for my phone for a dollar. free post from honkers. how can that be wrong? don't answer that as i've already thought of three reasons. i worked today so am absolutely pooped. i'm looking forward to receiving those little parcels in the mailbox soon. i need something to look forward to ....

it's done

always an exciting part of the trip, and not least a little stressful, is the booking of flights for a holiday. i bit the bullet last night. flights to bali booked and paid for. done. insurance quote received and will pay for that today. emailed the hotel after receiving their quote. so far so good. :) staying at the persona beach inn in poppies 1. and the best part is that my friend from perth will be there at the same time and hopefully our friend graham. the only part i'm a bit worried about is that i have to fly out a day earlier than my annual leave starts. getting leave at work is like pulling teeth so i'm just a bit concerned about that.

i'm working on sunday

yuk. it's super busy and hard work. i also have an incredible urge to create something. sewing, painting, photography, gardening. i can't decide. i've been looking at Diane's fab photos and a friend's crafty etsy page. lovely stuff. photo is of beach at seminyak in bali. always get good photos there. so picturesque.

Diana went home last night

i drove her to the airport. late flight back to cairns. she bought me a lovely piece of amethyst as a thank you present and cooked dinner last night, it was delicious. she's a great cook. so i'm all alone again. my son called in for breakfast this morning. he's done his back in again and has serious hayfever/sinusitis. i bought him some apple cider vinegar as it's supposed to help with allergies. i'm going to try it too.

a visitor

my friend from Cairns/Adelaide/Coventry is arriving tomorrow to spend a week here. she left for Cairns about 3 years or so ago. it's very humid up there atm so she's in for a shock as Adelaide is cold and wet atm. i'll be working most of the time but she has plans a plenty. visiting her husbands family and chilling out. although why she chooses to holiday in Adelaide when she lives in Cairns is kinda crazy to me. i stayed with her when i holidayed in Cairns a while ago. i'm so used to living alone i'm just a tad concerned about how i'll cope with someone (not my sister or the g/kids) in the house with me. work today was horrible. my first weekend in a few years. omg everything hurts. might have an early night :)

well it's different that's for sure

very different. i was at my old site today. every tuesday. it's great. new site is just so different. not completely horrible. i was shelving down the back of the library and heard helicopters overhead. they seemed to be there for ages. omg there must be a raid in the neighbourhood i thought. turned out that it was only the aircon. omg. bloody noisiest aircon ever. no raid at least. i work much harder at the new site. more desk shifts and the back room work is a bit boring. i'm used to lots of variation. doing stuff i really like like spreadsheets and designing posters and good stuff like that. the most interesting thing i've done thus far is a mail merge. i do hope i have enough strength to stay with it and it gets better. pic is of the g/kids at wallaroo on the w/end. we had a great time. it was exhausting but fun. :)

a big change

my first day at my new site tomorrow. i'm a bit nervous of course but it should be ok. wish me luck

why are we here?

is there life after death? have we lived before? do you believe in ghosts? is there only one chance at life? just wondering

more news

nothing much to report re the closure but instead of me staying at my present site i'm being moved back to my original library next week. yuko. the hours are reduced and the roster is horrible. i'll miss my little work family.
on another note my daughter is 30 on wednesday and they are all coming over for tea. my sister is coming down from wallaroo too so that will be nice. it's her b/day soon. 10/10/10 how's that for an auspicious date? :)

bad news

but not unexpected. the community centre where i work is owned by the state govt. we lease the library and our lease has come to an end. govt. saving money making cuts and then some more cuts. you know the story. we have to vacate the building in 6 months. whether we will relocate or not is anyone's guess atm. we are depressed and although it's been talked about for many years and we knew that one day it would happen it's still upsetting and horrible. we went to the pub after work to drown our sorrows. well one glass of wine hardly made my sorrows wet but you know what i mean. :(

super glue and me

omg i've done it again. why i even bother to purchase super glue i will never know. question one: how come sg glues everything except the little glass angel wing from the figurine my bff gave me? why????? it glued my fingers together. it glued the lid of the sg to my fingers. it glued the tube of sg to my fingers. i have no fingerprints. thank goodness i have some nail polish remover somewhere coz i'm going to need it. i also found out that if your fingers are covered with sg and you rub same fingers together it creates a hell of a lot of heat and it hurts. apparently if you keep the open tube of sg in the fridge it keeps it from going hard. isn't that great??? btw i can't feel anything, how i'm managing to type amazes me. it wears off after about two weeks so if i can't find the nail polish remover there is hope.

a Buddhist temple

i've always wanted to visit the Buddhist temple here in Adelaide at Wingfield. i was invited to accompany Lan in our lunch hour today . a short drive away from work and what a gorgeous experience. i have visited the Hare Krishna temple here in Adelaide which was a lovely experience too. of course it's not everyone's cup of tea. the temple is gorgeous, there is a large enclosure in the front garden housing the happy Buddha. Lan lit incense and prayed to Quan Yin and placed incense around the garden and temple in four locations praying each time. the inside is truly something to behold. i've been to the Greek cathedral in Adelaide and that's a beautiful church too. i will return to the temple as it's something i'd like to experience again as it's such a peaceful place, i guess all churches/temples are, or at least they are supposed to be. the afternoon dragged today for no particular reason. i had a fairly easy day. not too much to do. sad day in that Jackie came in for her last day before maternity leave. she's been on annual leave for two weeks and in due very soon. she's expecting a baby girl. we have not been told her name yet. that bit is a surprise.

going going gone

i've taken four car loads of 'stuff' to the second hand shop. things are looking decidedly less cluttered and i'm feeling lighter somehow. emotionally at least, the diet certainly isn't working. i don't regret throwing anything out (donating) but today i took a bag of toys to the sh shop and unfortunately the hand of my sister's doll was in it. i rang the shop and will go and have a look on wednesday. drrr she gave me her doll years ago when she got rid of most of them years ago. i keep meaning to put it on ebay, it's probably worth something to someone :). she had so many dolls when we were kids that my dad had to build her special shelves all around the room. she liked dolls. our neighbour used to sew clothes for them. i had two dolls. susan was one and i can't remember what the other one was called. i wasn't into dolls. i had an impressive marble collection until raymond armini pinched them. i was good at sports and preferred to spend time with dad in the shed than mum in the kitchen. mum, dad and my sister had/have the really really tidy and clean gene. i didn't get that. i think i'm adopted. :( lol. the pic is a cat called princess lilo. just adorable

yikes

i've had the house painted and didn't even think to get low allergy paint. it looks great but i'm suffering atm. hopefully it won't last too much longer. i've tried everything. i've got one of those air cleaner things, puts clean air back. don't know what they are called. open all the windows while i'm home but it's freezing. :( am trying nilodour, vanilla, essential oils, carb soda, candles, oil burner. i can't think of anything else. dustin is upstairs and he's not happy. actually he's freezing too. i have a lamp over him to try and warm him up but i don't think it's working. ahhhhhhhhh horrible week at work. everyone is resigning. bloody restructure. boss should publish a book. how NOT to implement a restructure. my bestie work buddy left but so did the wicked witch from the west. hahahaha. you win some, you lose some. i just wish i could get rid of this paint smell. if you have any ideas please post them, i'm desperate. my sister bought a scooter and i'm jealous. i want one. she lives in a small country town so not much traffic.

two things

1. dustin survived the bowl cleanout. but, he's spending a lot of time on the bottom of the bowl and not moving much. i would think that he's just frozen like me. it's freezing atm in adelaide. too cold. i actually used a laundromat this arvo to dry my clothes. it was sunny but not much wind to help them dry. i had a large wash coz i went to wallaroo on the weekend and didn't get time to do it on friday night/saturday morning.

2. wtf is going on with blogger? i hate the new 'design' function. sadly lacking. i've lost my previous layout which is totally my fault coz i didn't save it before playing around. story of my life really. hahahaha. i made some lovely pumpkin soup today so that's a plus. here's a pic of my tattoo.

well i'm home

and missing bali very much. i had a wonderful time with my sister. best holiday we've ever had which is a big call indeed. we met lots of new people and went to new places. enjoyed some fantastic food, spent as many beer (read six) oclocks as possible on the beach watching the non-sunsets (it was cloudy most of the time) and the world go by. we relaxed and just went with the flow most of the time. we didn't go on any excursions this time but we meant to. we wanted to spend a day or two at lovina, which is on the far north coast, but just didn't get there. i rode a motorbike around kuta which means i'm either very brave or extrememly stupid. i'd have lunch and a nice juice (couldn't drink much as i was driving - not that there are any road rules about drinking and driving) and i'd get to where i was going and need a cold drink. i loved it. my sister is so brave as she was the pillion passenger most of the time. i didn't buy everything i wanted but there's always next time (i have a list already which is really sad). i got a new tattoo. i'm still not completely unpacked and organised (i'll never be completely organised) but i'm getting there. i'm back at work which is horrible. :( complete restructure happening there which is a story on it's own. but .... mostly all is good. i even found the cable for the phone and the drops for dustin so that i can change his water. (dustin nguyen, my siamese fighting fish (tetra) in case you were wondering). my son is obsessed with his welfare saying that he's swimming in fish wee and i should change his water immediately. i'll do it today. lol

home from bali

we are back from bali. *sad face* had a wonderful holiday but it's so cold in adelaide. ahhhhh have a look at some of our photos if you get time.

anzac day

a time to remember. not just those who gave their lives to defend their country but also my late husband. it's his birthday today. always rains on anzac day doesn't it? well in adelaide at least. i went with my son and family to a friend of theirs who sells ex office plants. they are gorgeous and very well priced. i bought two for twenty dollars. one is a kentia palm and he said the other is a happy plant. it's large. they look good on the veranda and need to be under shade cloth or inside. after buying the plants and doing some shopping i then went to the cemetery. each time i go, which i admit is not often, i can't find my husbands grave. now i know that sounds terrible. i make mental notes but each time it eludes me. so after about ten minutes i finally found him and did my thing. whilst there is it crazy not to visit the graves of my parents and his parents. they are all at enfield cemetery and as far apart as possible so it takes a while. unfortunately i left my floral tributes at home. drrrrr. oh well. i was supposed to have cookie, my grand daughter, yesterday but her mum rang to say something came up so i missed out. i won't be able to have her again until i get back from bali. they've given me their lists of presents to buy. lego transformers and hannah montana. ahhhhhh really. oh well, if that's what they want. my daughter submitted the paper work last week for my g/son to go to high school. omg now if that doesn't make me feel old i don't know what does. :)

a blog

there's a blog i love to read. i've mentioned it here before. there was a post in december. 'life part two: begins today'. end of blog. she left to live in hawaii with the man of her dreams. i have a link to her blog and check it regularly just in case she decided to blog again. sad. nothing. get over it. goodbye. so now i use the link to get to this blog. saves typing in the addy blah blah blah. you know how it is? imagine my surprise, no shock, tonight when i went to her page and da dum there is was. a new blog. and she's back. she's an editor for a fashion magazine. she broke his heart and she doesn't like herself atm. i don't know if she's blogging from singapore or hawaii. time will tell i guess.

procrastination

procrastination is my middle name esp. lately. i've been sitting here on the net each night doing not much of anything really. i've been meaning to sort out my kitchen drawers at least but nothing accomplished. go through my clothes. nothing. my son is coming over tomorrow for breakfast and we are going to cut down the hedge/creeper thingy on the front fence. it's an australian native but it's really just a fancy potato vine. boring and looking really awful atm. there's a lovely star jasmine next to it that could do with a prune. it will make it grow bigger and better (i hope). i noticed i have four tomatoes on the bush the other day. four. but i'm not getting excited coz they simply don't get enough sun and will be horrible. i've really noticed a touch of autumn in the air of late. lovely and cool mornings and evenings. good sleeping weather.

more lizard stuff i'm afraid

i should change the title of this blog to something relating to lizards. what's going on? my sister and i were out the back the other day and i was watering and topped up the pond a bit. i saw a pear shape covered with duck weed and thought nothing of it. bit of branch or plant fallen it, nothing to worry about. then i noticed it had developed a 'head'. oh dear. sure enough it was a lizard. still alive. fallen in the pond and not able to escape because of the stones overhanging the edge. poor thing. i got some long handled kitchen utensils and scooped it up onto the stones. we should move it into the sun said my sister. so we got a basket from inside and i scooped it up again and put it in the sun. it was pretty inactive and a bit bloated as you can imagine. we took it into the park to warm up and decided to check on it later which we did. it was gone so hopefully it's ok. then .... i was sitting outside on tuesday night having a coffee and some grapes and looking around for lizards as is my habit just in case. area is covered with pebbles and pavers so lots of leaf litter etc. lovely place for lizards/wildlife. nothing noted so i just sat there for a while and then i looked over to the shed and there it was. it was peeping out from under the door where it's damaged (the shed door, not the lizard). didn't come out and didn't run back into the shed. just looked out. how strange. next morning it was there again and i noticed it on and off most of the day sitting outside the shed sunning itself. it moved around a bit, not going too far from the shed. in the afternoon it disappeared again and i haven't seen it since. now the question on my lips is ..... is it the same lizard? i didn't get close enough to notice if it had any duck weed on it. it was the same size. i wonder ??? i will definitely blog about something besides lizards next time. promise lol

possum poo (makes a nice change from lizards, hey?)

i got pood on at work. possum (i'm hoping it was a possum) was startled when i went to start my desk shift the other day. poo rained down on me. yes i hear you saying yuck. believe me i said more than that. i had to wait to go home too which was not good. the day before they found a dead possum in the ceiling. the building is a health hazard. it was built in the 70s as a school library in a community centre. the centre is dying and they may close the library in september but that's a whole new blog. ahhhhh. the stench from the dead possum was unbelievable and it's a wonder people came in let alone stay. the english class teacher didn't want to go to another part of the library for her class even though she was right next door to where the smell was originating from. strong? omg you have no idea. they removed the body that afternoon and we can still smell the stuff they put down to cover up the dead possum smell. we think that the possum who shat on me was it's child/mate. sad really. because i have suffered greatly this past week i bought myself a present today. da dah. a new laptop. it's very nice and red. fast and fab. i started my diet in preparation for the big b. bali in may. can't wait of course. but just to make me feel better i got the laptop. or notebook. i don't know the difference. did i mention it's red. very spesh. i'm also listening to indonesian reggae atm. it's my new thing. love it. see facebook for videos. the band i'm listening to atm is steven and the coconut treez. lol. hope you are well and happy. hot weather coming up here for the next few days. i'm sure i'll cope somehow. lol. till next time. bye ...

lizard poo

at least i hope it's lizard poo. i've searched the net and i think it's the lizards. i'm hoping it's not a snake. it's on my veranda and in the garden. Maz told me the most horrible story the other day. apparently, a woman who lives a few suburbs away went to her wardrobe to get some shoes as they were going out to dinner and discovered a baby brown snake. long story short, she called snake catchers and they took it away and charged her $250. she didn't want to go to the wardrobe after all that so thought she'd wear the pair of shoes under the bed instead. that's when she found the mother. ahhhhhhhhhhhh return of the snake catcher, another $250. what i want to know is? why didn't the snake catcher look around a bit and where are all the brothers and sisters? as everyone knows snakes don't just have one baby. and the babies can kill you if they bite. omg i've been freaked out ever since. she loves to put the wind up me so to speak. so you can see why i feel a bit apprehensive about the lizard poo. is it or isn't it? maybe i could take it to the zoo or the museum or something.

happy australia day everyone. hope it's a good one for you. ;)

heatwave

i don't like the heat. 41 today and 43 tomorrow and monday. i've just put the aircon on in the lounge room. it's ancient but seems to be working atm. of course having the bedroom upstairs is a major prob in the summer. if it's 43 outside at the end of the day it's about 5 degrees hotter up there. i shut it up all day and it's insulated but doesn't make much difference. usually i bring down the flipout sofa thingy and sleep down here but i haven't done that yet this summer. i have a fan on all night and put the aircon on for about an hour before i go to bed. can't sleep with it on coz it sounds like 10 tractors going full pelt. oh well bring on the change on tuesday i say. on another note completely i've just installed utubu on my son's computer. it's linux based and completely free to use. it's so different from windows but i like it. finding my way around it. uses firefox as the browser. and finally happy 75th birthday elvis. hahahaha

happy new year

hope it's a really good one for you. i was lucky enough last night to have a lovely meal with great company at my fave restaurant. pondok bali of course. my friend from perth and her family were over for Christmas and although we've never met before we had a lovely time. i know that sounds a bit strange, let me explain. years ago i contacted a woman from the bali forum i go to about a hotel. she was staying there at the same time we were and said we'd meet up and have a drink. very nice hotel btw. anyhow, as it turned out we missed each other although we must have been in the next room and had breakfast each morning at the same place. obviously at different times. to cut a long story short we have kept in touch by telephone and email and of course facebook and we finally met face to face and she's just as lovely as i thought she'd be. she's back home in perth now, they left very early this morning. after i left them at their hotel i called in to see my son and his partner and watched the fireworks with them as well as checking out the blue moon through their telescope. wow! what a site that was. gorgeous. so again, i hope your 2010 is filled with luck and joy. X