About the town.

During the week I established an area to do tapestry. The other spare room is now a tapestry studio.

My car got a wash. 

Cows on my lunchtime walk. 

So, just had a lovely weekend. Two full days of outdoors walking and of course eating and looking at old stuff. 

First we went to fort scratchley, and had a tunnel tour which is pretty good but mostly about cannons. Lovely views. Panoramas are fun!

Then we went to a seafood cafe at honeysuckle precinct. The entertainment book voucher led us there but then the voucher wasn't valid because Saturday is a public holiday now but we are there anyway. Then we walked from there to the nobbys breakwater and back which is beautiful. 

We had a bin fire and BBQ in the backyard of my parents place. 

And watched Hart of Dixie before an early bed time!

On Sunday we went to Morpeth. It's always nice to look at stuff and eat stuff. 

We took a ride in a cart thing. 

And had lunch which took rather a long time but luckily we have plenty to talk about and we arranged a visit to Sydney which should work out excellently. Then the girls left and I drove out to the farm house me and jk are house sitting from Monday to next weekend. Then church because it was Easter which I didn't even notice I was missing out on chocolate. 

Ahhh! Good weekend.

The weekly post.

This is where I have been doing Jillian. 

This is a funky shop I went to last night. The CBD has night markets two Fridays a month and it's mostly food, but there are quite a few designy shops there as a result of an urban renewal project started in 2008 to lease shops to artists or entrepreneurs for cheap or free. Went there to meet JK for the evening. We're both glad we both moved up here. 

A bar mitzvah band playing in the street. Food we ate: pulled pork burrito, charred ginger ale, a gourmet marshmallow each, fresh hot nuts, gelato.

Today mum and dad have gone away on a grandma run til Tuesday, and sayed moved out yesterday. So I'm home alone.  I did Jillian (in the big family room now s is gone) and then drove to newcastle for a swim. The water was a little bit cold, dirty and choppy, but I stayed in for almost half an hour and it was still mighty nice. Discovered how to do pano shots. Cos I'm blogging on my phone these will be all over the blog. 

Spent the afternoon eating and reading miss marple stories. 

Work is going well btw, I actually saw my busy boss last week and got guidance on the direction of my work. Also because another designer somewhere else in the dpi has got sick I will have to finish their job, which isn't about bees at all, some kind of profarm training manual. So my desk is getting busy and it's time to start finishing things to get them off my plate. 

Steamfest is on this week but actually I've never gone, maybe next year. Trains.

Me and two friends on twitter are doing a challenge to finish beauty and skin care products, because of the triffid-like way the multiply. That's my minimalist outlet for now.  

And that's that for another week. Next weekend is road trip day, which George invented for us to visit jk and now I am up here it's for her to visit both of us. Wonderful times anticipated. 

New life.

I'm gradually establishing a new sense of normal. It's been weird being in M every weekend and not just one visit. I've had enjoyable things to do on the weekend which is good fertiliser for my new roots. I've enjoyed being on twitter because that keeps me in the loop w a couple of people I am used to being in the loop of.

Also step two has been taken, (step one being buying iPhone) and I have a car. It is a nice brand new corolla in a very nice orangey red. I never wanted or needed to drive in Sydney, but driving is unavoidable up here, although it's a lot less hideous than in Sydney, i do get to drive on beautiful country roads. So this car is a blessing I'm very thankful for. 

Work is going well. I've spent lots of time making ebooks which is my job, a significant number of hours doing IT training, induction modules online, ringing help desk to get all the email and time sheet access happening, installing everything on my computer. I think I'm 99% set up now though. And then a tiny amount of time doing little jobs for people. 

I'm eating too much chocolate. And missing a lot of incidental exercise that came from being carless. Suppose I'll have to do more deliberate exercise instead. I've got my reputation as a nacker out there though!

I got a couple of xn books for my bday. Trying to read them. I'm a bit hopeless at reading nowadays. I do audiobooks more easily. 

And that's everything. It's weird how much my blogging has changed since I left Sydney. I was right to end Jelssie cos that whole part of my brain seems to have died.

Here are few more photos. A bower bird nest, grass, and stopped at roadworks in the fog.

 

Megaweekend!

No photos because I'm not organised it's been so busy. But, another big event is behind me, my "Farewell to my Sydney Twenties" party, which was my 30th + farewell party. It went really well. It was a fast and crowded day, but my family were very helpful and I had kept it pretty simple. If I had remembered the keys to get into the hall it would have gone more smoothly, but even so, nothing was a disaster and I had a good time and I think people enjoyed it as much as I could have made them. I was pleased at the range of people who came and managed to mingle.

Making cake like soup.

Driving back up to Maitland afterwards, I decided that the next day I would start Job #2, car-hunting. I had been hoping to buy a second hand corolla via friend connections, but I missed out on it, so I without further ado I jumped into the murky waters of car dealers on Sunday. I rather enjoyed it.

I was one of the first people in to the Mazda shop on Sunday morning, and Dad came too but hung back so that I did the talking. A sales man spotted me and was super helpful. I took 3 cars for a drive. The new mazda 2 and 3, I wish there was a 2.5. The 2 is so basic, and the 3 is so much more expensive and loaded. So the car I liked was a Holden Cruze, 2012, and it was a good price and I am seriously considering it.

Then in the afternoon I went to the Toyota place. It was heaps quieter, don't know if that's a time of day thing. The sales man there was a lot cooler and frankly barely helpful enough. There is a demo Corolla I drove and it's for sale so that's another option. But then the Teacher's Carbuying Service man said demos can be a bit dodgy and it's worth getting the 2014 plate and full rego and all that. Sigh.

And then I went to church (2nd time), and it was good. It's just not easy starting at any new church. Even having been there years before, it's a different crowd of people and everyone's at different places now, so it's really a different church, and therefor although quite a few people know me I'm still essentially a new person. The sermon was good, I think I'm going to enjoy Roger's preaching, he preached on the parable of the shrewd manager and it was about money.

And I ate leftover birthday cake too late at night so I couldn't fall asleep.

Monday at work my computer came, I went to get it from the local post office with someone, so I spent the afternoon dealing with that.

Really the biggest thing in my mind is the car. I don't feel like new car people, and new car money is such a lot of my past savings, but on the other hand it's money I can save back relatively quickly now, living at home and all that. It's a big challenge to my identity as a Girl Of Slender Means, I'm now more a Woman Of Means. Turning 30, buying a car.

Here are some more pics from my new location. Tocal homestead, which I went and looked at last Friday, and a photo out the car window while I waited at roadworks.

Second week.

Took a photo at work because I forgot my keys so I went for a walk to find the swimming pool or a cleaner w keys. Still haven't seen the pool yet.

I feel like I have nothing to blog. My life is now unbloggable? 

Tocal is a really nice place to work, I'm super lucky. They are friendly. There is a group of ladies who walk around the property a bit in lunch break, I join them often. I call it the parasol club because they carry umbrellas for sun protection. Sometimes I wear my special hat and it is much admired. Yesterday was my birthday and although it was a little dull compared to the fun at mm on a birthday my boss did mark it, told ppl and put a candle in some leftover morning tea and that was nice.

I am digging into Ebook production. Trying to turn out some early results so that they can see my skills and feel validated about hiring me. I will be a world expert on bees pretty soon.

I'm pretty comfortable living with my parents. I'm starting to look at a place to buy, because it's affordable here and also I earn more. This is exciting, but I think I still want to live with a housemate. However all the single women are buying their own place so sharing is less likely. Can't have everything can you! 

There is also a boarder living here. Which is interesting. He's an unlikeable teenager who is silent and secretive and hard to understand. On the other hand he is clean and quiet. It's an uncertain situation . 

 

Swam here on the weekend, came back today but the pool is empty. 

I'm very glad I organised a party for this Saturday. When I was feeling a tiny bit lonely and uncelebrated yesterday I remembered I'd be seeing 50 lovely people very soon! I also loved the nice things on my Facebook wall. So turning 30 has been mix of weird and underwhelming and ok really.  

A first day.

 My commute actually did involve heavy traffic and some red lights because there is a new bridge. I need to experiment with time of day efficiency otherwise the longer way is provably faster. I took a sneaky photo while driving and while stopped at road works.

I forgot how much your first day at work isn't a real work day at all, it's meeting meeting meeting and trying to get your email and passwords working. I know my job title now, digital media and design officer. First things I'll publish are all about bees. Bees are trendy.

People are very friendly and the hours will be great.

After lunch I cleared put my new desk drawers. As a decluttering pro I sorted out some stationery to go back to the store and then threw everything else in the bin. A drawer with a packet of floppy discs in it is not a drawer that I should bother to sort carefully. 

Oh I just want to do so much decluttering but I have to wait til I get a sense of what people will come looking for and what has just been left here because it's a handy room. Speaking of getting a sense, this is one of those places where everyone speaks a different language, abbreviations and acronyms of all thing rural.

I don't have my actual computer yet, or an internet connection on the temp MacBook, or access to the software license, or the ability to do Anything. There is 1% chance of my phone having a signal at any time. 

But in the future I'm going to have a nice work mac and I'm getting a hand me down iPad newer than my current one.

On the bright side I have my own window!! On the other side, I could not find a functioning kettle. A day without tea 😟. But there is a tap for boiling water after all.

I'm investigating the frugal and efficiency ramifications of buying lunch because the staff kitchen isn't that great (coffee machine and microwave but no toaster) but you can order a salad from the dining hall for $4. I could bring wrap bread or stuff in and put put the salad in. No washing up!

Quiet day.

The move went great. Mum and dad came w wagon and trailer and we loaded it within the hour. D came and helped me and my housemate clean and pack the rest of my stuff into the commodore, a 2 hour job. When it was done I had lunch and watched the end of dark angel. An excellent rest. Then I drove up and unpacked the car.

This is the day after moving house and before starting new job. Other than going to Coles, it's been a relief to stay home and recover. H came over and cleared some of her stuff out which made it easier to fit my stuff in. And I blobbed.

Swimming.

Swimming in ocean pools is one thing I will really miss.

Engraving.

Source

How beautiful are engravings like this? I can stare at black lines for ages.

Home grown tea drinks.

My tea pot plants are living! They are doing quite OK on the windowsill with only morning sun. I bought some slow release fertiliser which has helped I think.  I occasionally harvest a cup of tea from one of them. This is mint tea.

Gold in them hills.

My usual favourite gloomy song is 'Rainy days and Mondays', which I love to play on rainy Mondays. But this is my new favourite, 'Gold in them hills' by Ron Sexsmith (duet version with Chris Martin from Coldplay). At first it was just a lovely piano song, but now I think it's really beautiful. It's not about love and breaking up with people, it's just about the mundane things that get you down. Bills and bad weather. And it's a very hopeful song.

Though our troubles seem like mountains
There's gold in them hills

Nearly all moved.

I took a carload of boxes up on Saturday, and what's left now is what I'm using and furniture, so now I just live normally for 2 weeks. Packing is a good distraction, I'm feeling at a loose end. Hopefully I can go swimming this week as much as possible and make the most of the end times. Something to pray for is a replacement flatmate. It's a great flat with a great flatmate! It seems like people have unrealistic expectations of rent in this area though. Anything over $200 is pretty standard if you want your own bedroom. And we're at the humble end of the market. But anyway, praise God it's all basically under control.

Moving.

Fortuitously, I have already spent several months decluttering so I'm in the right state of mind for packing! It's a bit harder to declutter while packing because you don't have time to ponder, you have to put it in the box or not, so sometimes I pack it in the box and ponder it later. But on the other hand, it really forces you to completely empty everything out, not just glance at into a drawer and say "yes, that all looks useful". Really empty it out and it turns out it's 30% crap. Another thing is that my flatmate is staying on and replacing me in the unit so I can leave quite a lot of things she will use. Bookshelves. Cleaning products. Things in kitchen drawers.

Mum dropped by on the way back to Maitland a while ago and we filled the station wagon with a load of things, like winter stuff, keyboard, blanket box, books, coffee table. I've been gradually packing boxes every now and then, so there is another pile ready to go up this weekend, which I'll do myself.

Furniture I'm taking is: blanket box, coffee table, lamp (all done), lounge chairs x3, washing machine, art cupboard, chest of drawers.

Furniture I'm leaving: 4 bookcases, the kitchen table and chairs, probably the bed, TV etc, fridge.

Furniture I've got rid of: freezer, small chest.

I think that's a pretty good effort for downsizing. My rule is, anything I've bought and it's properly useful, I'm keeping. If it was free or basically cheap, I'm leaving it behind—easy come easy go.

Finished little quilt!

Didn't do much this weekend, felt blah, but the weekend before I finished this job.
One small quilt. Woo. A frugal end to a pile of scraps!

I've been processing change.

This is the process.

Two weeks ago on Friday: phone call out of the blue with job offer. Very excited!

Try to weigh pros and cons, but just excited!

Accept job on Monday.

Monday night: anxiety and regret.

Tuesday onwards: think it's a good decision regardless of the mixed feelings. Looking forward to some things, sad about others.

Spend the week emotionally flipping back and forth, because still getting used to the idea. Randomly cry at TV commercial for funerals, story on A Current Affair about baby with 2 faces and 2 brains, and while telling people I'm leaving. Lots of tension in neck. I think that was there before the job offer though. And it's too muggy at night to sleep well.

Telling people quietly that I have a job offer, but since it's pending official approval, holding off on big announcements. And it's good to let some people know personally anyway, hearing on the grapevine can be hurtful.

And now it's going ahead, it's out there, and it's all about the logistics.

Mid-week leave.

I took a day of leave on Wednesday. It was really nice! Sometimes a random day off feels like a waste, I don't relax... I just feel like I'm not making the most of it. But I made the most of it! Went for a swim, had lunch with a friend, browsed a second hand book shop that's closing down, (bought the book Going Grey, which I want to pass on now I've finished it, holler if you want it), painted nails, had a lie down, sold a freezer on gumtree! I call that a win. Failed to get a massage because didn't want to go out in the rain, but read the new book instead.

Sewing to be useful.

I did a lot of sewing. Some of it was inspired by my decluttering. I decided to use up fabric and leftovers from my recent quilt-finishing project and make a small quilt for a baby gift. I had a few bits of patchwork already done, and I cut other fabric into strips and sewed then together then cut them into strips the other way and mixed them up and sewed them together.

I didn't use a ruler and all the equipment that makes quilting accurate, I just used a Twinings tea box as a guide and tried to cut straight. So the resulting quilt isn't exactly square! But I don't care. It was never going to be beautiful because the fabrics clash. I do think it will make a nice cot quilt though, it's an excellent gift. Hopefully when I trim it and bind it it will square up a bit. It cleared out my fabric stash beautifully, anyway.

 The other thing I did was add length to a friend's dress. Very satisfying. I love helping people get more value out of dresses!

Earring repair.

Some of my favourite earrings look too old to wear anymore. Just all tarnished and gross. SOLUTION! I bought a packet of hooks for about $3 at Spotlight. (I got a packet of little rubber backs while I was there. Now all my stud earrings have backs.) I took my earrings off the old hooks and onto the new ones, using my flatmate's pliers.

I love this guy. My favourite sidekick ever. His voice is hilarious.

SO OBSESSED WITH MINIMALISM

It's a rebellion against materialism. Although the people who are best at it are the people who live alone. Other people wreck the purity. But when I look at my stuff, I need it you know. I want pictures on the wall and wool to crochet. I don't think I can do true  minimalism as a creative person.

Getting ideas off blogs like this one. http://www.theminimalists.com/fool/ This idea is intriguing.  My frugal nature rebels but I agree with the logic. Paying full price would require actually thinking about how much I need it. Although there is a danger that you end up just as materialist but in a different direction: you only have 1 coat but it's the perfect coat!!! it's still being obsessed with stuff, only in smaller amounts of stuff.

On the other hand, I have realised that I already am QUITE minimalist. If I had a linen cupboard, it would not a very full linen cupboard. It's just that I feel crowded with stuff because it's all in my bedroom built-in. So I'll stick with the slow and steady Daily Bin thing and see where it takes me.

I hit the wall on the weekend with some sentimental things though. In theory, they're useless. Drawings and letters and so on. Should I keep them forever? Just to look back on every so often? I think that's OK. But really they are useless and I rarely enjoy them. At least I've already got rid of the mediocre ones. And I find that every time I try and throw things away but cant, I get a bit closer to the day I suddenly do throw them away. I threw out my first camera on the weekend. I couldn't throw it out last time I decluttered, even though I took photos of it. But now, chucked. It didn't take good photographs.