First week in blue house, exploring Old Maitland.

Had a sore tired back for over a week from heavy lifting but I think it's getting better now.
Did a really big supermarket shop so my fridge and pantry are stocked and I can now cook meals.

 

Did Jillian with R!

Did some washing!

There are things I can't find. A bunch of summer shirts are annoyingly not turning up yet. Sometimes I wander into the mess room but I can't find anything useful so I give up.

Had a good time on Saturday morning walking through old Maitland, which has several huge op shops. Didn't buy anything except a $25 DVD player from Kmart, which I will return, because it makes a lot of noise spinning the disc. Here are some things that caught my eye but I didn't buy. I was kind of looking for bird cage table, desks and tables and an armchair I can put in the sun.

The pedestrian shopping mall is being redone, opened up to cars again, and they are knocking down a couple of shops on the left there to let people go through to the river. The river is currently sadly wasted. I think it will be a great improvement, and I think the shops are quite good and the area has potential, but the construction looks terrible. It is a depressed and declined old main street CBD that currently cannot compete with Greenhills, which is new and indoors and has all the boring chain clothes shops, Big W, nice supermarkets, and a lot of jewellers. But it could potentially be a pleasant place to look at independent shops and eat and have a nice river to look at.

When I walked along the whole street I noticed some interesting places, bars and shops and cafes, but they are scattered here and there along several kilometres with empty shops or boring shops in between. They would do a lot better if they were densely clustered so you could stroll easily. Personally I like to go to a location and then look around for a place to eat, like The Spot or Dixon St or Anzac Parade or, the local equivalent, Morpeth (not really open at night). I find it annoying that in Maitland I have to choose a specific restaurant in advance and go there directly and usually book in advance as well (eg King Bill bucket o chicken), it's just not easy to be spontaneous and explore. If you do turn up at a certain one and they are full, there is nothing much else nearby so it's really inconvenient to change your plans.

Here is some beautiful beeswax from work.

 

testy thing

o_1920ab8q61sqji281hlnk6pb7fa.pdf

Furniture flux.

The three spots I have moved my bookshelves this week. I've settled on the spot under the aircon for now, because that was dead wall space anyway, I couldn't hang a picture there. I'm not sure if the western sun will come through that window because I haven't been home in the daytime yet, but closing that blind is no big deal, whereas in the other room closing the blind covers the back door.

The pallet table I have made for Percy Milos.

 I'm looking forward to a weekend with lots of time at home. I'm also going to go to Maitland for some op shopping.

Unpacking 1.

A girl from church came over after work on Monday. I thought it would be nice to spend time with someone AND get help working while I'm tired and make the decisions about what goes where. She pretty much did the kitchen stuff while I did random things in a big cupboard. I also made a table for the parrot cage out of a pallet I scavenged from work and two empty cardboard boxes. Then I made the decision of where to put the green lounges and the book cases and such large heavy things. Because I have 3 small rooms instead of one open plan room. We ended up putting the green lounges with the TV in the small carpeted front room. That's all that fits in there. Book cases are in the tiled dining area I call the parrot room, and my art cupboard in the tiled room off the kitchen, which has junk in it also. I might have to rethink the whole parrot room thing if I get a dining table one day, but it's nice for now.

I keep expecting things to be broken, but everything is nice. Doors slide smoothly and drawers have handles and all that. I also am pleasantly surprised by how nice a lot of empty space is. I think Where will I put the birdseed? And then I just put it on one of my 50 empty shelves, no problem. I reckon there are currently three rooms and an ensuite that are totally redundant. Oooooh I asked R if she would like to do Jillian with me and she is a little bit keen! So one of my rooms, probably the master bedroom which has air con, will be a Jillian room.

Putting books in book shelfs is my fun job for Tuesday. With bible study after work I don't have time for much else. On Wednesday I will do more social unpacking with a girl from work! We might go back to the parental house and try and gather up the dregs. I left dregs everywhere.

Parrot room before

Parrot room after. Not sure about bookshelves here because the books will fade in the sun. Note a table made from a pallet and two empty cardboard boxes.

Kitchen before

Kitchen after

Lounge room

Room with non urgent unpacking. My lamp is broke.

Big move recap.

Settlement settled at 2.30 on Friday, after an anxious Thursday making a way for all the money to transfer. I left work at 3pm and drove to a conveyencer at greenhills to collect the house keys praying that they would give them to me and everything had happened, and it all worked! So I went to my new home and unlocked the door. Mum came and then dad came and we all had a look.This is my SOLD portrait and my backyard (taken on Thursday afternoon at the last minute inspection).

I planned to celebrate by having some local friends over for an empty house party. B, S, and JK came and we had fizzy white wine and gourmet pizza and it was just delightful. I was so happy to have made it through the house buying process and to be doing something social and fun and messy in my own house. JK slept over with me at parents.

On Saturday I woke up early and cooked Anzac biscuits. JK and I each packed a car full of stuff and unpacked it in new house, then walked to a cafe for a really nice breakfast. Then she headed off and I went home to get ready for my next helper, T. A couple of boys to help put my furniture things in a big car and trailer took no time. Then we had a couple hours break for lunch, then did another couple of loads.

Then I washed my hair and went to JKs house for dinner with lots of people from her church. I left at 9.15 pretty wiped out but it was a great evening and I was happy with how the moving day went. Here is JK cheesecake.

On Sunday I was really tiiiiired. My aim for the day was to get house functionable, with food, TV and a bed, but not do anything else and make myself tireder. So I gathered up all my bedding, toiletries, food from the kitchen, and made a shopping list. Mum and I went to Coles, and bought an adaptor thing for the TV, and went to my place to sort it out so I could sleep there, made the bed and put food away and stuff.

I went to JKs for lunch of leftovers, and I was feeling a lot less tired then. I had the edge of a headache but didn't feel completely wilted anymore. We went to the stitches and craft show, which JK loved, she has decided to do some crafts.

I bought some card stuff, so we will hopefully have a card making day soon, that would be an excellent outcome. Then we went home for some leftover cheesecake. It was nice to hang out in her home and discuss her plans to do some gardening and buy a BBQ. I don't think that was something we did in Sydney, we didn't go to each others homes much, we did things together like eat out or swim. We picked some flowers and I went home to my home! I had an hour before church so not much time to rest.

I went to parents after dinner to watch doctor who and it was a really good episode. Excitingly I found some quilling tools for JK and the remote to program my TV. My new home trinity is bed, fridge and TV. The remote was the final piece of the puzzle. I watched the Bletchley Circle while I typed this blog post, and texted thanks to people who helped me and ate some chocolate. Also, had quite a nice shower in my bathroom. Here are some photos of my bathroom where I can keep my jurliques and BBs, my street, my front door and garage door, and the all important programming of the TV.

I am really happy with this house. I love the location. It is exactly where I wanted to live to access work easily and it's very fast to get to church, parents, shops. I can walk to things and there are footpaths so I can scoot. The house is very new and very clean, the nicest place I have ever lived. I don't have much stuff to fill it, because I reckon it is 3 times the size of my last home and I shared that (but I'm basically ignoring 1/3 of the space for now). I've met one of my neighbours already, which is so great, it's nice to live in a place where people want to say hello. It's a positive start all round. I'm going to set the song for my morning alarm to Sara Groves He's Always Been Faithful. Recently my life song has been When I have no friends by Jordan Ruiz, it's not as depressing as it sounds, it's just got good simple words about the reality of different times of life. Free on Noisetrade btw.

Sundry photos.

Not related to anything, here is a roo we've been seeing on lunchtime walks, a pink and purple hotrod my colleague bought last week, and a rubber duck on top of an auto shop on my way home from work.

Turtle.

A turtle in the middle of the driveway on a lunchtime walk. Apparently they stink and if you move them you should put them down facing the same direction they were going.

I've been making lists. Boring lists of things like connect electricity. And fun lists of things like buy bed. Having the long-term fun list is helping me get into the boring this-week list.

The weather has been so changeable. Last night at bible study the topic (last of the joined-up-life series) was euthenasia, and we happened to have lots of prayer points for sick people and deaths in extended family, so it was sad and bleak, but we also thanked God that winter is almost over. Having the window open and letting fresh air in is literally a breath of fresh air.

Welcome Spring!

I felt distinctly relieved last Monday when I realised it was the first day of September. August was done! I decided to go to George's 40th on Saturday night to celebrate. I couldn't face another tiring weekend but somehow once it was a new month and I just had the one thing to do, it was doable. And it was a really lovely afternoon and night, and I helped cook food, and saw many good friends. Denise even returned my hart of dixie DVDs and gave me the new ikea bookbook. I gave her a thank you present from a colleague who wanted Denise to source a pair of fingerless gloves for her like mine, she loves them and wears them daily, and a bit of the jurlique from E. I got three burns from the oven, one accidentally and two just stupidly. Stupid ones were rather painful but I wrapped party ice in paper towel and that worked. I had a milk bottle of frozen water in the car on the way home and next to my bed. Actually it worked well, driving down and back for one event. To get from Randwick to Ashbury via PT would have been a pain. The traffic was a breeze going home cos I left around 9.30. It was a bit scary only because of extremely heavy rain. Not just for visibility but because of water on the road. Went slower and stayed away from the other cars. Some idiots still go at 110kms. Anyway I was asleep by midnight, so that's pretty good for a party. It is worth going to Sydney for fun things. I think it costs about $30 in petrol, that's not too bad. Petrol is so much cheaper in Sydney, up to 20 cents sometimes. 

On Sunday I had a sleep in til 9 and I felt unusually rested. I decided to check out the maitland markets. I used to go as a teen. They aren't like the olive tree markets, which are small and carefully curated and all quality local handmade things.... They are just big random markets. Not as big as they used to be apparently, and there is a lot of junk I'm not interested in (whereas OTM are all amazing) but other people like that stuff. There was one particularly good vintage stall where I bought some linen tea towels for $2 each, which is great value compared to new cotton ones, and a small linen tablecloth embroidered with strawberries for $20. 

Not sure what I want it for, a tablecloth or a throw or a wall hanging, but it's beautiful and I have always liked the strawberry design, and I don't embroider. I also wanted this set of servy things for $30 but I had no money. 

But how trendy is that! The rest of the shopping was food. Home made slices, hot nuts, strawberries, and fresh fried dumplings for lunch which were delish. 

I also scouted around for things I could buy later: a smaller birdcage that I can keep at work and fit in the car, $26. Plants for my garden. There is a man who makes drawings, I might pay him to draw something for me, maybe jane austens house, or the QVB, he has a lovely detailed pen and ink style I'm way too lazy to do. There is a man who makes multi photo frames, huge ones, so I might pay him to do some to my specs. I hope E comes and visits these markets cos I thought she would enjoy them. They, like the OTM, are on the first weekend each month, so book it in friends! Road trip double market weekend!

At work, I'm quite enjoying myself. I've decided to gradually replace the books in the iBooks store that predate me. A whole lot were done in some kind of batch conversion process and so they aren't very nice. It really annoys me. So last week I grabbed the book files and did my own conversion of a book, which took two days. Nobody got to check it or make suggestions, it's just about getting a better looking book up in the store ASAP, cos they are already for sale anyway. I'll try and do one every two weeks in amongst the slower things that get checked and checked and take months. 

After church we set up for HSC exams.

Engage 14

I took a flex day on Friday. I did some stuff with mortgage papers and a stamp duty cheque, packed my stuff, and in the middle of the day left for Katoomba. First of all, AM got us an amazing house. Charming, well-heated, with views, and close to town.

Blossoms on the street, which I took a LOT of photos of.

Engage was really good, again. Engage doesn't have huge numbers, which is a shame, but gee it makes it a lot easier, not having to crowd and queue and all that. My main nit-pick is that the volume of the music is overwhelming. The sound mix was really good, especially for that auditorium. But  they don't seem to take into account the congregational singing as part of the mix. I think it SHOULD be part of the mix, ie, if you can't hear it over the band, turn down the band. I was reminded of Gordon Cheng's comment about music at the first Engage, in that he thought it was amazing but he couldn't be bothered singing because he couldn't hear himself or anyone else over the band. It's a significant change in me in the last couple of years that the music is no longer one of the highlights of a KCC conference, its now often something I suffer through (well, 'suffer' is hyperbole, but I do occasionally put my fingers in my ears). I now prefer the music at my local church, or a smaller conference like TWIST. Which is such a shame, but the thing I used to love was singing with hundreds or thousands of other people, pretending I was in heaven but it would be even bigger in heaven, and now I don't get that sense that I'm singing with hundreds of people, I just get to listen to and watch excellent Christian music and occasionally be part of it when it pleases the musos to pull back a bit. And I want to be clear that the music WAS excellent. The highlight was the Saturday night, where they did music in an "unplugged" style, at a better volume, and with a variety of instruments, including the melodica, which was a thrill for me. Melodica is a past obsession for me til I remembered I hate blowing into instruments because of the spit. Back to the point: I wonder if the music or sound teams consider the congregation in anything other than a theoretical way? Do they actually wander around and look and listen to see whether the people in the red chairs are singing or not? Which songs and styles are working well for group singing and which aren't? But aside from the volume gripe, the music was excellent. Song choice, leading, visuals, everything else was unfaultable. I really enjoyed the interviews with people like Meg Best, John Best, a cotton farmer called Ian, and a young guy who used to run detention centers.

The talks were good at counterbalancing the value of work with the value of gospel work. I think it was a deliberate thing, because of late I had noticed that Engage, or maybe just one person who was often up the front, had a kind of idealised view of work and sort of a certain way of talking, telling us we're the cool young urban working people. I got tired of that emphasis. On the other hand, what can I say, I actually do have a cool job. I'm super blessed. I know a lot of people who love their jobs, too, even though they aren't cool (ie creative!) jobs (ie some people actually love being a doctor or being an accountant in a skin care company or working with uni students). Maybe though there are also a lot of people who need encouragement that work is good and worth doing, because it's a bit more of a daily grind for them, so they need to feel a part of a group of cool young urban working people. I'm probably not making sense. But anyway, this year seemed like a reaction to a reaction.

Some of the points I took away from Duane Olivier and Paul Grimmond:

• There is a theory that Christians have to be excellent at their job, to glorify God. As if someone is going to notice "wow dude you are an excellent burger flipper, who is your God?" Actually you can be an average burger flipper, and it should be your love of others, humility etc that makes you stand out. Being like Jesus.
• The gospel is the diamond, and our work is the golden setting in which we hold out the gospel. We don't hold out the diamond in a grotty piece of blu tak.
• Work is part of this world which is passing away. Refuting the Tim Keller eschatology of work that it is a way of redeeming this creation. 
• Gospel work has a higher priority than other work, in the bible. Which isn't to say that valuing the gospel work highest implies that other work is not valuable. But just like Paul says singleness is better than marriage but both are good, gospel work is better than dentistry, but both are good.

I bought a hat! This is most exciting.

I had a quick lunch after Engage, and came home via Carlingford to pick up a guitar for Heather. Tired from driving so I didn't go to church late, I read a book and cuddled my bitey bird and used up leftovers to make french toast for dinner.

Parrot.

Haven't got much to say other than busy busy busy and here is a photo-roundup of more of August. The big change in my life is the adoption of Milos. I am now a parrot lady. I continue to shuffle through the house-buying process and my car is getting a lot of kms as I drive up and down the motorway and I finished moving out of Ada St. I sometimes ponder what September will be like.

Actually a side note worth mentioning, last week at work we had a Hermann thinking profile team day. For those who like profiling themselves, this is pretty useful in a work context because it helped us understand how we work together. If you have a diverse team it can help show the different strengths, whereas with my team we are pretty much all in the same quadrant, so we really had to be made aware of our shared blind spot: details and planning and measuring outcomes.