October round up! Part the second.

Lucky there is a long Bachelorette finale to have on while I blog.

I had an opportunity to do something nice for my colleagues, which was a bee themed morning tea to congratulate some team members on the native bee book. I bought in my whopper teapot and helped with food and picked a big bunch of native flowers and painted some cards the boss could write in and present to my colleagues. 

That’s not all, the next week I put together a Bachelorette themed morning tea with some colleagues for the campus social club. It was cheesy and amazing. Chocolate dipped strawberries, fairy lights, everyone had to pick a bachelor for the raffle.

I scored the decoration roses for my desk afterwards!!!!!!!!! I can't have roses in my tiny garden I think, so enjoying them was a treat. And garden roses are so different to florist roses. So generous, and showy and scented, not just perfect uniform rosebuds.

Can't stay away from my garden for long. I've been looking online at Wallgarden and other types of vertical garden system. I had rigged wire mesh to the fence. A friend cancelled her plan to visit from Sydney so I consoled myself with a trip to Poppys garden centre in newcastle to buy multi hang pots. They are pretty well designed to hang easily and be moved around. It was a few hours work in the rain on Saturday to dig up plants from the garden and plant them in the pots and hang them on the fence. I'm pleased with the results, I think the plants will cover a lot of fence if they don't die, and I can add more pots later!

Then there is the annual ED workshop, my work team from around NSW meets together for a couple of days with bosses and does seminars and things. I had nothing to present this time except a get to know you game, which was pretty fun and easy. So I was just looking forward to a trip down to the Riverina, learning some stuff and seeing new things, and my office hosted the Togies. I might blog a report of that separately.

We flew to Nerrandra in  Rex. Sydney always looks amazing from above. And then I noticed all the sort of agriculture we flew over. A lot of greenhouse horticulture on the outskirts of the city, then green green flat fields, a bit puddly and flood ruined in some areas.

I had the biggest pub meal of my life, a lamb shank. This is me on the home straight. I took the opportunity to stock up on red meat.

We stayed in a old, faded, historic hotel in Leeton. Charming.

Glen from Trangie and I played a duet, cello and viola. It was great for me to have something like that to work towards, my first string duet. Some of my colleagues said they really loved it. Looking at the video one of them took I was smiling the whole time so I must have enjoyed it too. It went well, notes-wise, no mistakes.

I ate a lot, but I went for a walk each morning. The area is amazing for flowers. Roses, and irises and things.

On our last afternoon we visited an iris farm run by our college in Wagga. I've bought a few and they've grown this year but haven't flowered yet. When it's time I will dig them up and plant them in pots in a sunnier spot. Then it was a flight to Sydney and a long mini-bus ride back to Tocal, arriving painfully travel-weary at 9pm. It was a really successful trip and workshop.

And finally, Mum re-taught me how to knit so I can knit myself a new pair of wrist warmers.

October roundup! Part the first.

I know I've got to much to catch up on, it's been a lovely full month. It's so nice to go through the last month of photos and see the things that I've got to do. It's been a triumphant month, in a quiet way.

I thought it has been a really long time since I saw a concert or play or anything in Sydney, and I plan to see something big each year. I have seen local things like Earnest this year, but I want to maintain some touch with the big experiences you get in Sydney. I really like My Fair Lady so decided to jump on that. Providentially I asked G to come with me and randomly picked her birthday! 

Monday was a public holiday so I drove to Cronulla and saw Julia which was lovely. The area was packed because of the grand final win but luckily we got a seat at a cafe and had a good brunch and a little walk to the bay. It was a lovely day.

In the arvo I drove to Birkenhead point. I’ve been trying to replace my really old sneakers for years, and BP has a Ziera outlet. They don’t have a huge range and it’s not the coolest left overs, but amazingly I got a pair of brown sneakers basically what I was looking for. New for old!

I checked out all the other shops too. Some shops were too crowded and I’m no longer keen on crowded shops. The only thing that caught my eye was this doona cover on sale at Laura Ashley. I went away and thought about it while I looked at the other shops, and it was the only thing I wanted. I went back, and the queen size was sold! But I bought the display off the bed :) I don’t regret buying it. It’s not something I needed to look for, but whenever I see my bed it looks so pretty, even when it’s not made.

I told George that Ziera had big shoe sizes and was worth checking out and that led to shopping joy for her the next weekend :)

G had dinner with her mum for her birthday but Denise was free! So we had dumplings in Ashfield and it was a lovely catchup. I wasn’t planning to see a different friend for every meal this visit, but I’m thankful to have been able to line up with Denise at the last minute. 

On Tuesday we went to the zoo in the morning, with Karen and her girls. We didn't have very long but its not a big zoo so we saw some good things quickly. The seal show was really good, and the baby gorilla was cute/weird.

G and I had our lunch at the ferry station thing, and got the ferry to CQ. It was really perfect to be catching the ferry across the harbour with a view of the opera house, to go to the opera house!

Couldn't take photos of the show but the sets were beautiful (from the back row) and the singing was perfect.

Did some useful shopping quickly up in the CBD, like a saucepan lid and a bottle of shampoo and I forget what else. Had birthday dinner with G, then I did PT back over the harbour to the zoo carpark and drove home.

Ahh, what a diversion. Back to my day to day life! Which is... GARDEN!

The snow peas finished, I've planted new seeds and tomatoes.

I felt my new camellia was going to be better in a different place to where I planted it.

  
So I straight away started digging up grass. As in straight away after work on Thursday until it got dark, and then I went to Bunnings for timber on Friday night and dug up trenches, and put my garden edging level in the trenches on Saturday morning. 

I used Eddie’s heavy tools and level, and asked DB to come around on Sunday and drill the pieces together after I had them in place. I reckon I built 95% of it myself, I knew what I was doing, and it was great to have someone do the drilling for me at the end. I moved the camellia in place and voila! Actually a couple of weeks later I decided to put some star posts and wire in behind the camellia so as it grows I can encourage it sideways.

Mulberry season!

Sweet peas season! I keep a bunch on my kitchen table and on my bedside table. Lovely to see them around and get a whiff of their perfume.

I've done a desk makeover. I tidied up. Then I realised that a piece of material I bought from Spotlight for the house was the right size for my cubicle wall so I tape it up. It looks fabulous and designy, because the cubicle walls are a bit drab and shabby it's really given my cubby a lift.

End part the first.

Obsessions.

Life is quiet, so I've got nothing to blog but my ponderings.

Something I just realised, I haven't been buying freddos all year. I used to regularly buy bags of Freddos to keep in my desk drawer at work. so that I could eat one after lunch with a cup of tea. Boring lunch but a tasty dessert afterwards. I broke the lunchtime chocolate habit over the summer holidays and decided to not buy any more drawer chocokate, but just buy a fundraiser if I really wanted something. So in the end, I've eaten a lot less chocolate this year and saved money. That's something I can be quite proud of, desk chocolate has been a long term habit.

Current obsession: how to eat better for my gut for my skin. Gut friendly diets are the current thing, and I'm jumping on board with that. Hoping that my itchy skin will improve if I have happier gut bacteria. I have to say, I've had a small win this year with skin, a colleague suggested Chickweed ointment for the itchy fingers, and I got it (after failing many a recommended natural remedy such as moo goo or beeswax based creams) and blow me down, it's pretty good. It is dark and smelly, but it sooths the itch as well as steroid cream does. I've been using it since the end of April. It's not a cure, no cream is a cure, but it is effective and soothing the itch.

Anyway, I've been leaning my diet in a healthy direction this year. I heard a guy on the ABC talking about gut health and saying the mediterranean diet is the best place to start, lots of vegetables, good oils, avoid processed foods, cut down on meat. That sounded doable. I think it is a well-balanced diet. I'm not super strict about it, but it's the baseline anyway. The next step is, decrease sugar and try some of those fermented foods that good bacteria love. unsweetened yoghurt, kimchi, etc. I'm not sure how I'll incorporate those regularly, they sound weird. But that's my next step.

I'm on a bit of a campaign to minimalise some stuff around the house. The new rule is, NO SPARES! No spare stuff. The only time you need a spare is if being without would ruin your day. So spare tire, good. Spare key. Yes. Spare toilet paper, yes yes yes yes. But spare sunscreen, spare food, no. I'm on a mission to work through the redundant contents of my pantry, freezer and bathroom cupboards. I actually use very few things week to week. It's just the assumption that I buy things for the future instead of for this week.

I was obsessed with online clothes browsing, but I didn't buy anything. Swapping winter clothes away for summer clothes under the bed helped, feels like new wardrobe, even though I haven't worn them. Got enough clothes. NO SPARES applicable.

There is more daylight so I feel like there is time to breathe in the day. There are a lot of things that feel better in natural light. Garden things, reading, housework.

I bought an audiobook called Work Clean, about how chefs are really organised and good at planning and achieving. I haven't got that far in. A common theme of all organisational management methods I've heard about is to make your day to day tasks feed your big goal. Work is more satisfying if you aren't just being busy, but working towards something and marking off progress. I think one useful thing I've absorbed from this book is your actions are easier if your environment is well planned. It's something I'm becoming more aware of. I've come up with an ingenious basket for my laptop charger and backup that hangs off the bottom of the table, so it's neither cluttering the table nor inconveniently put away. Win! So like, if something is annoying, just fix it. My iCal was annoying because I usually want to add things to my personal calendar but the default was adding things to my work calendar. I finally fixed that.

I wonder if I'm becoming too independent. My life is really good, and I don't really need anybody else. At the moment I am quite dismissive of marriage, and even friendships are a mixed blessing. I do pretty well on my own. Is that good or sad, I don't know.

Martha and Mary thoughts.

First, some excellent wisdom from a friend today. I've had a few clashes with different people, which on the bright side I think I'm getting a tougher skin, but it's a bit demoralising when generally I think I try very hard to be there for people, be reliable, do what I'm asked to do. Turns out I've even probably offended someone at work by giving them advice about how to print something. That one I'm not worried about, my professional advice is valid, but I guess it's always possible to be more tactful. So anyway, here is the wisdom I place here for myself to see in the future.

1. Acknowledge what the other person has said
2. Refrain from giving an opinion unless they want it or you think necessary or you want to create discussion
3. If giving it, give in a gentle manner, or phrase it so that it shows your concern etc etc

Hmmm, now thinking about this more. Most people don't care what we think, unless they specifically ask us.

I had an accumulated tiredness or worry or something, so many things on, full weekends, no space to think for a month or two, getting anxious about what to do with upcoming events (do I go to a wedding in Brisbane? When will I visit Heather? When will I go to Mudgee this year? I have so many people to text about things!) and I decided I just need some space. If I get some space and calm down it's easier to confront things.

I had a sudden thought at home group and went home and deleted the Twitter app off my phone. The reason I got a smartphone and got twitter was when I left Sydney I knew it would be a great way to keep in touch with Sydney friends. And it has been. But I don't really have time to check it, and I think the usefulness in that support has decreased. I'm keeping the account so I can check on my computer at home and at work, and keep tweeting @whatpercydoes, but deleting the app off my phone has been quite good, I haven't missed it and I've found it faster to get out of bed in the morning instead of reading articles in my twitter stream.

Then I took Wednesday off work. Middle of the week is a great time to have a day off because it makes the beginning and the end shorter and more bearable! First of all, I didn't sleep in. I got up and went to a cafe for breakfast and read a chapter of Disciplines of a Godly Woman. That was a good start because it mentioned Martha and hit the nail on the head. So many things! Getting anxious! Jesus says ONLY ONE THING IS NEEDED. We need to challenge each other about this. It's hard to be wise about because of all the good things you have to sift through and sometimes say no to, to have time for the one thing. Relationships, acts of service, etc.

So anyway, I had my breakfast out, and then I BLASTED a whole lot of life admin by just pottering around! I had a locksmith over, dealt with my mortgage (had to choose a new fixed rate term), received a delivery of wine (JK and I joined a wine club at the food and wine expo), planted cherry tomatoes, did cello practice, wrote a few emails, baked cookies, took my spare TV to the tip, went to the movies and say Love and Friendship, got a hot chocolate, watched a bit of Netflix, did Jillian, watched Bachelor, went to bed early. I guess I did a lot, but I also didn't do a bunch of other things and that's OK. It was an energising day.

I find landfill sad. I like decluttering but the thought of my beloved old bag or trousers being dumped in a pile and buried is really sad. Confronting. A good thing to remember when I'm obsessed with a new bag, which I am. My main soothing pastime now is to watch TV while browsing online stores for yellow clothes. I don't know what that says about me.

These two trees in Raytay are the marriage trees, where people got married before there was a church in the town.

Had a home group girls night at my place, decorating pizza and painting our nails and talking, and hearing about CAP money.

I had a very empty weekend and Saturday was sunny and windy so I basically washed load after load of clothes and bedding. Nice to open the house up and get rid of some winter dust. The house isn't clean enough for my liking, that's another thing that's weighing me down. But I'm busy living and it's not so bad that I can't have people over. I would just feel better, in my mind, if it was cleaner and tidy.

Went to a church blues night at a bowlo. I wasn't going to go because of the whole 'it's too hard to organise people to go with me' thing. I tried to get people to come with me to a music thing a few weeks ago and it was disappointing. I can't be bothered trying at the moment. I've been to the movies twice by myself in one week and that was great. I'm OK not going to things. But, I went because I got a lift with Maddie's mum and her friends, and I hung out with Maddie there which was actually really nice. We shared a huge bowl of wedges, and got up and danced like crazy people for one song.

On Sunday, I worked on my personal project, a Regency Dress. The time has come! I have some worn out sheets so the top sheet has plenty of wear in it for a dress. This is about halfway, I think. I need help fitting it, and when it fits I'll dye it and add a ribbon sash. I may wear it to a birthday party where the theme is mid-life crisis. I can't think of anything good, and Austen is often my escape from life.

And so that's all. I'm going pretty well in a lot of ways. I'm content in my singleness, I am still enjoying my job, I love my home. I'm mainly trying to figure out where I can cut back and how I can have a better time praying and reading.

Prayer August 2016

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

Lord God and Father, 

We gather every week in the name of the Lord Jesus as sinful, forgiven people. We basically ignore you God, and we turn up here every week with fresh sin, fresh proof that we live as if we are the gods of our lives and other people. You see the real sin inside us.

We’ve seen in Romans that you are just to punish every one of us as we deserve, but you are faithful to your covenant, you have shown mercy on us, and mercy to people all over the world. Make us amazed at your salvation, make it always fresh and powerful as we remember again and again that we are sinful, and we are forgiven, especially after we leave here tonight and start our weekly routine again. May you be gracious to us and bless us; look on us with favour, so that Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations.

Lord we thank you that we can partner with others in making Jesus known to the nations. We thank you for K in France and her commitment to learn French language and culture to serve the church there. We thank you for the people who have gone out from us to different places to meet the needs of people in the local church as well as those who need to hear about Jesus. 

We thank you for our pastors and leaders, please keep them strong in their faith, and help them to work together in love and humility to make wise decisions and to keep everything fixed on Jesus. We pray for the B family to enjoy some refreshment together as R takes a week off. 

We pray for the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, our sister churches, and the upcoming annual conference which will bring the churches together from all over Australia. We pray that it will be a time of good fellowship in the gospel, and that all the churches will be encouraged to stay focussed on the gospel and the vision of seeing the kingdom of God grow all around Australia. We thank you for all the churches in the fellowship, and praise you that over a short number of years you have grown your kingdom through these new young churches.

God, you are the father of the fatherless, and your church is a family that must be like you, welcoming all who seek justice and material help. We thank you for the opportunity to care for the Afghan asylum seekers in our community and we particularly pray for M who no longer has any support from the government to stay here. We thank you for news this week that a lawyer has been appointed and we ask for compassion from our government and the people of Australia on him and many other desperate people. We pray for T and others as they continue to care for the boys.

We pray for ourselves, that we will listen to your word, that your Holy Spirit will work it into our hearts, and that we will be changed week by week to be more like Jesus. Give us opportunities to make your word known to our friends, compassion to understand others, and wisdom to reject the lies of the world. 

We ask all these things in the name of the lord Jesus, that everything might be for his glory, and we submit to your perfect will to answer our prayers, knowing that you work all things for the good of those who love you.

Amen.

August. Pacing myself.

I struggled to get back into work after my holiday. Before holiday, I was acting team leader, so work was busy, then the wedding, then the holiday with all the driving, so when I got back, I really wanted another couple of days. But there was a Rural Resilience Team workshop I had to prepare something for and attend. It involved each of us doing a 2 min presentation. Mine went well. There was good networking. I got to see the people involved in some of the projects I design for. 

Then I took Friday off. I did chilled out things at home, bought expensive new bamboo cotton bed sheets (from an outlet) because my very very old ones tore, had a hot chocolate and did some sudoku, went for a jog with Cass, and got a haircut. The haircut was the highlight because I "auditioned" a hairdresser and was very pleased with their work. This bob has a steeper angle up at the back.

After that day off, it was night church weekend away. I decided to conserve energy this year because it's not my favourite thing. I've figured out that I can manage events where I go home after the session, but night church camp has no escape, no boundaries, it's pretty much designed for extroverts who like board games. So I did not go on Friday night, I slept in my own bed. On Saturday morning I collected the fresh bread and the forgotten groceries from Woolies and arrived for the talk. On Saturday afternoon I chatted to people happily for a while, then I went to my cabin and had a phone call with JB. That was a good way to do things. I went off to bed at 8.30. Still, by Sunday, I was crabby, so I left straight after lunch and recovered at home with tea and finished Stranger Things, which I loved. Everybody loves Stranger Things.

The annual stunning photo from the Tahlee jetty pool. We actually saw dolphins in the bay.

The next week at work was very tired, I buried myself in an ebook about fungi, and ignored everything else, which was really good. I finished the book, so I've got something to show for the month. There was a death at the college which was very shocking and sad, and the effects are still playing out.

Last Saturday was the hunter Word in Song conference. The talks were fantastic. The workshops were probably good but I get nothing much out of them because I've done them all, seriously all of them, even drumming. I did songwriting for the second time. It was good to go though, spending time with the church band I'm about to join.]

On Sunday I was solo, and I walked to Maitland to have lunch at the Aroma food market then caught the train home.

This week I've been fully charged! Jumping easily from job to job at work, doing good creative work,  after work I've caught up on personal jobs like sorting out what sheet music I need to print and trying to organise my tax stuff, and I've done Jillian and cello as well. It's good to have energy to do things and not have them looming over me.

Things I'm looking forward to:

• Starting to play piano at church.
• Making a Jane Austen costume from my old sheets. I need to find a pattern. I have enough time to make it, and a costume event to wear it, so it's going to happen! Then one less thing to do before I'm dead.

July. Christmas, wedding hair and skiing.

Blogging is something I like to do when I download photos off my phone and reflect on the memories. It’s unfortunate when I have a run of full weekends and I have no time to do it, the job gets bigger and less enjoyable and more of an obligation, but I’m going to still do it anyway even if it happens only monthly. 

The first thing that I’m pleased to rediscover from July photos is the Christmas dinner party that a couple at church had. It was unusually fun. Pretty much all church things have an element of duty to them, everything is an opportunity to talk to a new person or care for someone. This dinner was duty free. When I looked at the invite list on Facebook I thought “oh, those are all fun people!” and the atmosphere on the night was rare, it was an excitement to be with each other. It’s not that we are all best mates, in fact we’re all spread through different home groups and always doing various duties, so we literally never hang out. We had secret santa, roast pork, christmas pudding, decorations, home made bon bons, the whole wonderful thing.

Next, I played in the church bush band. Pretty much only morning church people went. I did get to dance a couple of songs when not playing, but it was touch and go and I was super fragile until I had a partner.

These are some flowers that have dried nicely out of a bunch Denise sent me when I was sick. Very delicate and pretty.

JK's birthday dinner, which was just her housemates and myself on a Tuesday night, but we headed into Honeysuckle and had cheap schnitzels and expensive beers and free giggles. She already had a 10th Xn Bday recently which was a big deal with a big group.

I've been doing a lot of hair work. This is my excellent curls for a wedding, which I did with my hair straightener. SO PROUD.

I treated myself to a new dress for the wedding, because I've worn the same one for a long time. Also new shoes, because I got rid of my bridesmaid heels, and I bought some really lovely and comfortable flats from Ziera. This is my home group mob.

It was a daytime wedding, and when I got home at 4pm I pretty much showered, threw my stuff in the car, and left for my holiday. I was so tired after the wedding I cried in the car. Saturday night in Goulburn with my parents, gave dad his 60th birthday present, then onwards. I went with Emma and her parents to ski in Perisher, we stayed in Jindabyne. 

We had half a week of bad weather before it fined up for skiing, so we did low-key stuff like driving up to see snow, cafes, etc.

A highlight was visiting Cooma, buying sudoku books at Percy's, having excellent berry bread in a cafe, and visiting the Birdsnest shop, which you can do online shopping in the shop! You click in the online store and they deliver clothes to the change room! I bought a wool skirt on sale for $40. Emma also found me a new long black merino cardigan for work at Jeans West, which I'm loving. Holiday purchases are the best. 

Something killed all the trees so the landscape is spooky.

On Thursday we finally got up to Blue Cow. It was a clear blue morning and amazing. I did a first timer's lesson.

After the lesson I went down the Easy Starter with Emma and her mum showing me the places to turn, and that's a lot steeper than the school area, and it has a chair lift, so I fell over a lot. I was OK with the falling, but after about 8, I was too tired to get up anymore. So after lunch I went back to the Pony and just cruised safely to fill in time til the others were finished.

The next day, I had another lesson, got a bit more advice on traversing slowly down hills, practiced on the Pony, and then at the end of the lesson I headed bravely off down the Easy Starter on my own. I did not fall over. I came up on the chair lift and got off it without falling over. This is one of the proudest achievements of my life. It was all really scary. After a rest Emma joined me and we did it another 7 or so times, and I got better and better and had no falls, until the last time I jumped off the chair lift and sat on my skis.

I found a Corroboree frog in the tank at the visitor centre. The lemon cheesecake in the cafe there is very highly recommended by B.

And then back home on Sunday.