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.

Full diary, full brain.

This is my new diary. Motivational quotes aside, it's really good. The space suits me. It currently reflects the state of my head. About 9025 things to think and do. The obsession with decluttering, the admin of life that needs to be done and is never completely done (my heart sank when I got a letter about changes to electricity billing yesterday), work to-do lists, big picture life stuff, people I want to encourage somehow. Maybe it's all been building up while I was on holidays and is bursting out for the last two weeks I've been back in real life.

Kangaroo Valley.

Walking group weekend away! I drove myself which is a luxury. Had a great drive, even with the M5 traffic (turns out the M5 is nothing to Kiama, as others found to their doom) and heavy rain as I drive down the valley wall past a fatal car accident. Stopped in Bowral each way.

Really hearty chicken ceaser salad from pizza shop in Bowral

Did the token bushwalk (Fitzroy Falls, very easy), but other popular activities included napping, reading, watching Iron Man, playing Rapidough, and kayaking. I drove to Nowra for church with friends on Sunday morning.

There were some unexpected joys. A newborn calf on Saturday morning.

Wombats.

Wombat POO!!!!!

Our farm in early morning fog.

Mad jobs Monday.

Still doing it. On Monday I turned the TV off, made a cup of tea in my nice teacup and saucers, got the song list and and my bible, and picked all the songs for church up til Easter. It took over an hour. 3 cups of tea and 2 pfeffernüsse. It will be another Monday job to enter them into the roster system we use.

New for old Shoes.

Shoes!

New orthotics means time to buy new shoes that fit them in. Also that have a strong sole. Lesson: a shoe should only bend where the foot bends, like an L, not like a C. The world is full of shoes that are useless to me.

I tried one shop in the city and they had nothing that fit me. On Sunday I went to Ziera, also in the city, and they were having a sale! The lady was super helpful and got out lots of shoes for me. Also measured my foot like in the olden days, and I'm a 39.5. That's pretty specific. I bought a pair of camel-coloured mary janes, to be my everyday shoes. I loved the red ones but red shoes and a yellow handbag is a bit too Jess Day for me.

I joined the Ziera club where you get $20 every $400 spent. Which is about the 2nd or 3rd pair of shoes. I'm a big fan now. Ziera is my new Colorado. More expensive but removable inner soles. And you can return them within a month.

The only downside is, getting rid of my old shoes. My beloved white and orange Colorados. They are so comfortable. The soles are almost see-through though. I need to throw them away and not even keep them "for the beach", otherwise I'll keep wearing them instead of the Ziera ones. But I have this photo of happy shoe times.

Farewell, trusty shoes. Your loyal service will never be forgotten.

January holiday oddments.

Summer School last week was variously exhausting and encouraging. I felt like I struggled to take in the talks but there were lots of little bits from the talks, songs, missionary sessions, friends, and even the beauty of the mountains that penetrated quite deeply. I read Keep the Faith, and started reading Romans, sang 'How Great Thou Art', and then actually went and "looked down from lofty mountain grandeur". And it all fit together and a penny dropped about creation displaying God's glory.

I watched Hart of Dixie season 1, which was a Christmas present. Actually got given Miranda S3 twice so returned one of them and got HOD instead. It's very enjoyable. A quaint town, quirky traditions, some beautiful people, and some slow-moving love triangles. It's been done before but it's still fun. Unfortunately season 2 is expensive.

Also listening to Raising Steam. Terry Pratchett is just the best with words. I laughed out loud at "agenderitis", which is where you have too many agendas at a meeting. Listening on the Audible app. The downside of the app is that it doesn't sync with iTunes so you can't leave off on the app and then pick it up on your iPod at the same place. But it's great all the same, with the ability to bookmark and stuff, if you just listen on the one device it's a fair bit better than iTunes.  Here are pics of the Audible app for audiobook lovers.

My favourite word at the moment is "hinterland". It just sounds nice. It's German for back country.

Some good articles in The Briefing. One on discipling in music ministry.

Mum, Julia and I cleaned our grandparents windows inside and out at Christmas. Now I am desperate to clean my windows but I'm stuck because flyscreens on the second story. Maybe a pressure hose thing would work though.

I started a cross-stitch, a small one, did quite a lot of it at Christmas and Summer School until the needle broke.

And I'm back in regular life now.

NY!

Me and 3 friends camped on Cockatoo Island. It's tiring, but the island is quite interesting, you can just walk anywhere, through industrial bits and tunnels and stuff. We put up a tent (using a rock as a hammer like Bear Grylls would do) and then mainly just lay around eating, cross stitching, dozing, waiting for the fireworks.

photo by bec

Did take excursions to variously explore or swim or have a picnic, but mainly resting. Tents are exhausting. There was a big firework barge in front of the island and then the bridge fireworks were small off in the background, but it actually was a nice effect having close and far fireworks, very 3D.

photo by bec

The seagulls though. They don't sleep. As Bec said on twitter, "All day and night, the hellions screech."

We packed up pretty efficiently, caught a ferry back to CQ, then JK and I had only a 2 min wait for our bus! And I say OUR bus because we only shared it with the driver and 1 passenger. I bought a steak at Coles on my way home because I'm giving blood, and it was a fancy one for 40% off. I didn't actually catch up on sleep during the day, I washed my doona, watched Sherlock and Hart of Dixie, then went swimming with flatmate and her friend. We watched Pitch Perfect then I went to bed early and forgot that Jonathan Creek was on.

Holiday scars.

I slipped on wet pebblecrete on Christmas day, crashed to the ground with great force, and have the most stupendous purple bruise the size of an apple on my bum, but high enough up that I can actually show people if you want to see it. Yesterday I went swimming in the middle of the day, putting my expired sunscreen to the test. I think it half worked. My arms went pink but it certainly could have been worse. I forgot to do my back at all because I forgot my swimmers don't cover my back as much as they do my front, so it's slightly sore. I also got a cut on my toe from the rocks in the pool. Trophys of time away from my desk!

Flatmate got a coffee pod machine for Christmas, the most exciting thing about that is she also got a milk frother machine. Home made frothy hot chocolates and chai lattes! I had a very delicious hot chocolate for dinner last night. Yes, for dinner. Holiday!

Today I am at work, wrapped in a blanket and hugging a hot water bottle. This isn't living. So I'm taking Tuesday off.

Ender's Game.

I saw this on Sunday, by myself, because a) it was a facebook special and b) it was airconditioned. The cinema was pretty empty though: there was one young couple, there was me, and there were maybe 6 solo men of various ages scattered around the room.

Some things about the movie were good. The actor who played Ender Wiggin was perfect (apart from being a teenager instead of a primary-aged kid). It looked great. It was succinct. But, compared to the book, it was so abbreviated. None of the kids (teenagers though) had an interesting story or a personality, there was no sense of the loneliness and cruelty Ender went through to become a military genius before puberty, the vocabulary was watered down, the time-frame was shorter, and most of all there were hardly any games in the battleroom and that was my favourite part of the book. And there is a whole side-story with Ender's brother and sister that's gone, although I wasn't satisfied with where that went in the book anyway. It's basically very very compressed.

The film is a good way to get a handle on the Themes of the book though. It's a sci fi classic because it has Themes. It's the kind of book kids would study in year 12.

Ending.

It's getting hard to be at work. The days seem eternally long. I can't break it up with snacks because I'm not snacking, and now even cups of tea are fewer because it's hard to get my retainer out. One day of work next week and that's it!

This is my roundup of 2013.

• At work: legwarmers, stopping using skype, stopping using the dishwasher, and starting and finishing early made my life better.
• I exercised consistently! Jillian and walking.
• I went to church and bible study regularly. Took a few stabs at a bible reading habit.
• I started using a tiny smear of styling mousse to thicken my hair and make it hold better.
• I stopped snacking. This was a major obsession because it took some difficult adjustment, but I think it's a better way to eat.
• My mealtime cut-offs are nothing before 11.30, nothing before 4.30, and nothing after 8pm, except when I break them.
• I finished my big cross stitch. It's now framed and on the wall. I still think it's the nicest cross stitch I've ever seen.
• Tried internet dating for a month (well the internet part but no actual dating).
• I finished a quilt, which I'm actually using to sleep under this summer.
• Jelssievision. Episode 2 is my favourite.
• Went to the land of Westerra, to the cities of Perth and Busselton.
• I cried the most when I signed up for another year of braces.
• My mint and lemongrass are still growing!
• I started breathing through my nose more.
• I bought a lot of nail polish. I don't know how many I have. I love my current newbie a lot, it's blue like TARDIS or willow pattern.
• Started using BB cream.
• Started recording the Cost Per Wear on my clothes.
• Experimented with Herman sourdough starter.
• Went to Bowral, Katoomba, Cabramatta and Eastwood just for day trips.
• Started a walking group.

Swimming season.

I'm finding myself too hot and lethargic to "enjoy" Jillian as much as usual so today I'm going to swim after work instead. The last few times I've done Jillian I've been wishing I was frolicking in cool water and fresh air, but when it comes to it I find it harder to motivate myself to actually get down to the beach, especially on my own. Using the medibank ad to reinspire myself. And the thought of doing Jillian in a stuffy room.



I think this is the year I need to bite the bullet and get a new set of togs. I've been attracted to a lot of fancy retro one-piece suits, but then remembered the inconvenience of the one-piece. I'll stick with the tankini, even though it costs more to have the same amount of fabric in two pieces. I'll wait until the end of summer I guess, I want the price to come down. And, I think I can just get a new top, and get away with the same pants a bit longer. Maybe I should go for sun protection and get a rashie.

My retainer is driving me bananas. It doesn't hurt but it's tight.

I really want to watch TV tonight. I taped Miss Marple on Sunday. But Big Bang Theory would do.