November full.

November was marked by tiredness. I have been going really well with my pilates on top of everything else, but there was one very intense class with a new keen instructor, and I did not recover from it - when I’m wiped out by something I need a weekend of lying down, and until I get that weekend, I have to drag myself around tired and achy, so that was my vibe for November. Lesson learned, next time I’m wiped, at least cancel the next class! But i’m loving pilates. 

Work has been good, I’ve been able to start wrapping up projects for the end of the year, and then catching up on things that I leave until I’ve got time. I finished 18 powtoon videos about food inspectors, and got a large publication off to print. So now I’m working on ebooks and I forget what else I never have time for.

This was Foundation Day, where one of my books was launched.

I now have a standing desk! When I've got the energy, it's really great to stand for an hour or two.

I got a call from a marketing agency asking me to apply for a job with them, which was very exciting! They have the same niche as I currently work in, so it is really good to know there are other fun places to work, because I tend to think, I’m a generalist and not good enough at anything to stand out. 

Reflecting on my year of living with a housemate again, I think I’ve finally adjusted. Obviously it was an awful circumstance that brought us together, and that trauma was a shadow that slowly lifted as the year went on. I’ve lived with a lot of housemates but not with a close friend before, and that was a new dynamic to get used to, because it’s more of an emotional thing to navigate.  Things like, its harder to have a D+M conversation when you then have to go back to living normally with each other, and in fact you tend to spend a lot of time together not having conversations because you’re watching TV on the couch. We went to Newcastle for a voucher dinner and ate big steaks and ice cream, and it felt like a reconnection. Things are going really well now.

The garden has peaked! A strange, late spring and summer, but so much greenery and blossom. Amazing to compare even with a year ago just before the jasmine completed the fence.

We put up JK Christmas tree.

Chocolate mug cake which we made in the microwave! I've never succeeded at this before. Now I can do it, very dangerous.

Other friends have been going through tough times, so we made a care package / birthday box for Denise.

AM almost couldn't come but was able to in the end, she came up for a weekend so that we could see The Corrs at Hope Estate! We napped, went to Morpeth, napped, and then headed out to Broke Road. 

We got there for the start so we got a great car spot, we heard all the local opening acts, and ate from the food trucks, and kept up our energy for the Corrs at 9pm. Highlights were singing Love is all around, with Wet Wet Wet, and then the Corrs encore set, singing Runaway and 2 other songs with a drone show. And the final highlight was getting out of the carpark and back home smoothly.

The Corrs were fantastic: good musicians, so many hits, and very Irish and charming.

Some other miscellaneous things: Lucy turned 3, 

the parents house continues in renovation, the ancient screens have been replaced and Banjo now has a doggy door!

My microwaved died :( it was very old, 2nd hand from 2006. I use a microwave nearly every day, because I’m a food prepper and reheater. So the next day after work I shot to the good guys and bought one. Fortunately it was still the black friday sale thing. Because decisions are hard, I just bought the one I liked the most that had everything. It was of course the most expensive one. 

The handle sold me at first glance - a soft close door with a big handle, no button to pop it open and no slam when you shut it. It is one of those combination oven and air fryer ones. We have been testing various functions. The oven function is slower than the actual oven based on my frozen croissant tests. The melting butter and chocolate functions are great, GAME CHANGERS. It runs very quietly and beeps politely when finished. It’s just… classy. It was on sale for $630 or something, from $800. It’s nice to sometimes splurge extra on something mundane. 

I also bought this plastic bag storage I had been eyeing on Amazon for months. It's not cheap for a basic bit of plastic, but you know, it's really functional. The old Australia post box was reused for Denise's care/present, and interestingly, the box was originally sent to me by Bei En, a care package when I was sick in 2018! So satisfying that it was used for the same purpose again.

 

October: a bit Spring.

I think September was a turning point, where my holiday gave me a reset, and work changed gears, and the garden started to move from Winter to Spring. A huge joy has been sitting in my garden, and this is the first year it has been FINISHED. The jasmine has merged together and the fence is covered! as I write this, the view outside my window is a wall of white-bloomed scented jasmine, and the smell is wafting on the warm breeze through the garden and house. The sweet peas and roses and poppies have been picked and enjoyed also.

Back on the long weekend, mum and I popped down to see family at Lake Mac, and got to go on Uncle David's new boat around the lake and see everything from the water. What a nice little morning adventure on a rare nice sunny day.

I had wanted to do trivia with my parents for ages, and with Shane commuting to Maitland from Mudgee for the weekdays it was a good family social, although the usual quizmaster was away sadly.

In other family news, the parent's house is undergoing more renovation, of the master bedroom and ensuite, removal of shag carpet, and squaring of arched doors.

During October I had to dogsit Banjo twice, the most tricky time was with the builders coming and going, so I had to get there early to let him wee and eat before locking him in the back room for the day. He seems to cope OK with them being away now although it must be boring for him.

I got a bit motivated to do some tidying and culling, one area I targeted was my wardrobe! Not exciting but ongoing satisfaction from the organisation and space I now have, plus I found a lot of presents stashed away which is convenient before Christmas.

The last big organisational job for the year was the music for church camp. I agreed earlier in the year, and quickly asked my 3 other band members to join, and then locked in a practice date the saturday before camp. Then I just had to pick songs, which I did while I was on holiday in September. My musos were all so talented and experienced that we just had to have a <2 hour Saturday practice, and then just have it all written down! Most songs were basic "everyone in" arrangements but a couple we did make an effort to structure them and take turns building.

I was actively trying not to stress or be perfectionist, because it was only camp, not a conference or a christmas service or anything public. Even so I was feeling pretty anxious about personal things in the leadup, and worried I didn't have my heart in it. However, when I arrived at the site, my anxieties felt left behind. I was so encouraged to see the work people were putting into the set up and the sound and for everything to run smoothly.

We had little warmups before the sessions but didn't practice in that mad stressful way you sometimes get at camps. I really wanted everyone to have time to be with people, not missing out on half of breakfast or the social time or helping with their family or whatever. The music went WELL. The camp was obviously full of the keenest people who belted their hearts out.  The songs after the talks were the perfect fit for reflecting. So many people came up with thankful feedback.

One of the things I was anxious about was a family dinner on Saturday night, and whether to miss it or go back and stay for the night. In the end I decided to go back in the afternoon, do pilates, go to dinner, but leave at 7:30 and miss out on the birthday cake. That was a good choice, and I was able to even join in the camp games for a bit when I returned. I did the dry Eno in the mouth challenge!

A bit of interest at work has been a turnover of staff. A new colleague started in my team, and we had a few in another team resign. I actually had a phone call this week from someone asking me to apply for a job, which was flattering. But that's the worker shortage at the moment. People are getting offers and opportunities. 

The other thing was 4 of us tackled the 3 decades of junk in Dean's office. I'm a ruthless chucker but I have kept the physical stock illustration folders. I hope I can use them in some quirky way!

Last Saturday a few of us went down to Sydney to be at the thanksgiving service for Ros's dad. It was good to carpool and talk with Naomi, special to be at Ros's family gathering and learn about her father's life, and Dundas Uniting did a wonderful lunch.

And I am still enjoying Pilates and going as often as I can, and feeling fitter and stronger. Very nice for a change to be able to exercise regularly but not have such fatigue to recover from. 

September: holiday and ordinary

First half of September holidays, second half very ordinary.

I headed to Dubbo for work team workshop, which I enjoy, and we squeezed a quick couple of hours visit to the zoo when we got there too. 

 

The last morning of the conference I was very stressed because my booking for Katoomba had been cancelled and I hadn't found out. It would have been fine if I had known because Ros was no longer able to join me so I would have cancelled the plan and got a refund, easy. However now it left me not sure where I'd sleep the night. THankfully the agent was able to find a vacant house in wentworth falls!

Unfortunately the house was vacant because the owner had a whole lot of tradies rocking up, so I stayed in my room for a while and then headed out to avoid them. I felt like I was in the way of the owner but also felt like I was not having a very nice holiday because of the working being done on the house, so I was quite stressed. I had a conversation with the lovely owner before I went out, asking if I was out of the way all day could they let me have it to myself the next day, and I also messaged the agent about it, and they ended up working that out, and giving me a bonus night for free. After that stressful start to the holiday, it was all up from there!

I thought I'd walk from Wentworth Falls to Leura, but all the rain had made landslides damage a lot of the walks, so I did just a nice waterfally walk instead, on the advice of 2 ladies and 3 rangers I met.

Anna arrived and we had lunch at Leura. It was AMAZING to have a good catch up with her! We can pick up like nothing has changed and no time has passed. We spent the afternoon at Leura shops, had dinner back at the house. The next morning, we had breakfast at WF post office cafe, and I really enjoyed shopping at the small set of boutique shops, I bought some candles I am now obsessed with from Southern Wild, and a yellow shirt from the UK brand Seasalt. The news of the Queen's death was a lot to process and discuss with shopkeepers. 

We did the Wentworth Falls bushwalk, and after lunch at home we went to Katoomba. Katoomba is the village most affected by the lack of international travel, sadly. We shopped at The Little Lost Bookshop, and evening at the 3 sisters was spectacular, then we had Tibetan food for dinner.

Anna headed to church camp on Saturday morning, and I stayed another day on my own. I can't remember what I did. I had plans of doing tapestry but I'm pretty sure I didn't. 

On Sunday I quickly checked out the nearby amazing rock platform with no fences, and then headed to Mudgee.

I had to stretch out my activities to fill in my visit. I did the rounds of the local shops, but pretty much didn't buy anything this time except food. I had lunch with H on her lunch break each day, plus a few teas and cakes. I enjoyed the Mudgee Museum which has a fabulous doll collection, while the art gallery is basically one space but had a good installation of paper marionette brolgas.

S took me on a bushwalk which had lots of little creeks to cross, so it was lucky I had my hiking boots.

I gave them a puzzle as a thankyou gift and we did it within my stay. 

And I cooked butter chicken one night for dinner.

The amazing french patisserie Althea was closed most of my visit but opened on the day I left so I got some takeaway pastries. It is a must visit. 

And now back to regular life! I bravely went to a Mafia night but I did well, it's a game that I always make an embarrassing mistake, forget who I'm supposed to kill or something, but I played well enough. 

We had a wedding squished into our 6pm service one Sunday which made doing music chaotic, there were two bands doing different things, and for some reason the sound switched off for the guitar for the end of it, but we pulled it off. My next music challenge is church camp band.

There was a tiny little market in Maitland, and a new bakery has opened which used to be in the Gaol a few years ago, good bread, JK and I went and bumped into Ros there! Got some fried chicken also at the new asian fried chicken shop.

On the Queen's memorial public holiday Thursday, JK and I went up to Singleton and hung out with the family. Sweep chased the chickens and one seemed to be lost but it was just hiding.

We filled in the whole afternoon with games and then I headed back for a Pilates class, because my current system is to fit in a few regular ones each week that I book in advance, and then jump in any bonus classes if I feel like it and they are available.

I organised a coffee with Tony, which is something to do every few months. And I joined JK's fb social group for cocktails, which was nice to do something different and meet some different people without any sort of motivation beyond drinking and chatting - don't have to build work relationships or spiritual relationships or anything, just meet and move on.

A big fail: I washed a load of my winter woolies in the machine on the wrong setting and ruined half of them and damaged the rest. My favourite merino cardigan shrunk, other things were felted. Some are going to be still wearable but a wrap is now a scarf. I guess that's less stuff to care about in future, and caring for wool is a battle here there are so many moths, but it was sad.

A big win: I ordered a replacement washing line from bunnings because my old one had rusted through at the outside end, and I got it off the wall, and Dad came over with his masonry drill to help put the new one up. I then adjusted the lines myself to work so that some are higher and some are lower, bc me and JK are different heights.

The garden is now flourishing! New green leaves on the fence jasmine, and its the first year of enjoying a fully green fence! New leaves on the roses and I've just noticed a rosebud. I did a little digging to fix the wonky bird bath, and JK picked up a second hand shelf that fits her succulent collection, which freed up some of the other chairs and such outside. On the October long weekend I was home alone one night and lit candles and sat outside and enjoyed it. Ate and drank and listened to Missy Higgins.

And finally, excitingly, mum and dad are renovating more of the family home, so it is goodbye to the OG shag carpet and other such out of date wonders. 

I returned to work after my holiday refreshed and aiming to be nice to everyone and not stressed and grumpy, and thankfully that has been achieved. How long can I keep it up hmooo. I organised an after work dinner catch up with A who left and T, which was a good thing achieved, very enjoyable and grownup work ladies having cocktails and burgers. I'll probably do one early next year again. Work and life has now switched into "what can I get done by the end of the year, and let's not add anything more to the plate now OK". I've got a set of things to finish at work, and I'm counting down the number of weeks of music left, and I've got a few social things I want to do.

And to finish with, I am really enjoying Reformer Pilates! Aiming for 3 a week - 2 workouts after work and 1 stretch session on SUnday before church. Will do a bonus on Saturday or sometime if I feel like it. I'm enjoying the early rush of gains you get when you are exercising regularly and learning new moves and getting more coordinated and stronger. I'm enjoying that it doesn't make my feet hurt, because it's mostly lying down haha and even when standing, it's often sliding rather than stepping or jumping. I think it's helping with my posture and core, but my shoulder pain is improved from months of Physio anyway. I enjoy exercising not at home as I am a bit bored of that, having a place of my own to exercise in Maitland. I push myself harder with other humans around. I'm having a red hot go at getting fit and healthy again and if possible losing the few kilos I put on during covid and surgery times. Watch this space.