Change is as good as a holiday they say.

MOTH is feeling unhappy with his phone. It keeps freezing. It's not out of contract, but out of warranty. Typical. They won't replace it, either repair or payout is going to cost a fortune. So we're kinda stuck but it's no use having a phone that won't work. We've opted to update the phone which means we have to pay out the contract. Luckily we can do this in installments! Why do they make you take a 24 month contract but the phone is only good enough to last 12 months? Grrr.

He gets the phone and is eager to play with it. Wait! It doesn't fit in the case. What's going on? He goes back to the outlet to check. It seems they've given him the wrong model and now he has to wait until Tuesday to get the proper one. Oh dear.

I've used MOTH's new toy a few times now. Probably more than he has. When you're used to a machine that rattles and "walks" all over the laundry floor in its enthusiasm, it's odd to use one that doesn't. It's heavy and solid. And quiet! It is a front loader but we've been using one for ages. When we first began looking I asked MOTH if he had a preference for top or front loader. He also has trouble with his back and knees. He didn't have a preference as he has to bend either way. We laughed together in one of the shops. It was a big top loading machine. I almost had to climb into it to be able to reach the bottom of the bowl. You never know, if I do washing I might need to be able to fetch a sock from there. So as I mentioned, this one is a front loader. It sits on the floor but I imagine you could put one on a table or something. It would have to be strong though. I find it easy enough to throw the clothes in and to remove them I put the laundry basket under the door and pull the clothes out into it. MOTH manages as well although he does find it a little difficult on his bad days.

I rearranged the rumpus room again. I think it looks kind of weird, but hey, I only have myself to please. The fan is in the middle of the room so it's difficult to find a spot for the desk where I can get some of it in the desk area. I'm back to the wall again on the other side of the room. I can feel some air movement in this spot and I hope that come summer it will be alright. MOTH growls at me and says You have that! *points to airconditioner* Use it! Yes boss!

I spend time with the Club this morning. It's the first time in quite some time. Being back at work makes it difficult to socialise! Special K is there. And so is Luigi. Luigi monopolises the conversation most of the morning. I like his style of talking. It means I only have to listen and don't have to contribute much. He has us in stitches frequently and my cheeks and jaw hurt from laughing so much. Even Wombat can't help to laugh, even though it was ruining his bad mood. Special K tells him that he'd have to let it go cause he couldn't stay mad. Wombat laughs and agrees.

Work seems to be going alright so far I think. Next week I'm on a 5 hour roster so we shall see. I've finished the task I was set and I'm ready to take on something else. Admin2 has gone on 2 weeks holiday so I don't know how much of her work will be given to me. I'm still finding things that have been done outside our usual process. Admin3 tells me of a petty cash claim that had been made. It wasn't recorded anywhere and Admin2 didn't know anything about it. So how did they manage to get a $100 petty cash claim processed without the usual paperwork the Cashier asks for? I might have to check. If there's a shortcut, I want to know about it!

I'm sitting at my desk and Admin2 says something. I look up and a brush turkey is on the top of the steps peering though the glass door. We watch it for a short time as it paced the top step, peering through the glass all the while. I think that it must have been trying to find a way in to the rest of the turkeys inside. Eventually it walks down the stairs and disappears. Later I see a male wander past.

There is a cat who likes to hang around the grounds. We don't know where it comes from but it's definitely not feral. It's a beautiful apricot and cream colour, well kept and well fed but doesn't wear a collar. Admin3 does volunteer work at RSPCA and mentions it is a burmese. She's worried that someone will run over it and wants to know where it comes from. It's very friendly but likes to lie in the road and kill the wildlife.

She sends a message to the property mailing list but no one can provide an answer.

Work tomorrow and I think I am really going to miss being able to walk out of the office at 1pm....

Quiet! Smell that? I'm thinking.

I'm thinking about what has happened this week.

Made it through another week of work. I'm slowly getting the upper hand with the left over travel paperwork, should be finished soon. Then I guess I'll have to discuss with Super what to do next. I think she's angling for me to hurry and finish with this stuff.

MOTH has been spending quite a bit of time in the rumpus room in the recliner watching Foxtel. Well, some occasional time anyway. I asked why he's gravitated to there instead of his area. Dunno, he says. This Foxtel has more of the stuff I watch. Although I am sure the Telstra T-box does have at least one of the channels he watches on it. I don't mind, I just think it's funny.

I'm not sure that Jerome has worked out if he likes MOTH's transition or not. He has taken over the recliner and usually has to give it up when MOTH decides to watch TV. Jerome was sitting on the window sill, close to the recliner. MOTH decides to sit in the empty recliner. Suddenly Jerome clears the space between the window sill and the recliner in one leap! He throws himself in the recliner and spreads out leaving no space for MOTH to sit. If only I had captured it on film! It was hilarious. MOTH giggled a bit then shifted Jerome to the couch. Jerome huffed and stalked off. We still laugh occasionally, MOTH even chooses the couch sometimes if Jerome is in the recliner.

I get a quick notice from Elder that they will be coming for an overnight trip to collect their bed. Fair enough. But this time, I don't bother to do much of a clean up. Heck, I don't think I've even made space on the bathroom vanity this time. They finally arrive, yay! The house is noisy once again. They've brought Asian with them. He's one of my favourite non-children. They dump their gear, get settled, nip out for some things and head out for the evening, yay! We provide a door to door drop off service. Just to make sure they've gone. Asian provides directions from the front seat but when we get there, he can't remember the number of the house. I know what it looks like though! We drive up the street and he decides maybe we've passed it. U-turn and back down. Wait, there it is as Burrich calls out the number from the back seat. He's checked it on his phone. Clever!

I've made sure they have house keys and checked to see if they can find a way home. I'm not keen on the idea of heading out to the railway station for pick up at some ungodly hour. They have keys and they might get a bus home. Alright.

I hear a noise. I look at the clock and it's 1:48am. I know what's happening and I check to make sure that MOTH has his pyjamas on properly. You never know, he's kinda pale so he could glow in the dark. The screen door rattles, keys turn in locks, someone says something, the doors close, and three shadows flit past my bedroom door. Elder leads the way, Burrich comes second, and Asian brings up the rear. It's like a scene from a movie. MOTH and I lie in the dark discussing which one gets picked off first. The front, he says. No, they always start at the back I say. Haven't you watched any of those movies??? He chuckles and we drift off to sleep.

Elder and Burrich have to wait for the ute owner to wake up before they can make arrangements. He's way out on the northside and has asked if someone can come and drive in with him. Instead they want to meet a friend in the city so they decide to meet in there. They're gone for a couple of hours and return with the ute owner in tow. He seems nice enough. Elder is stressing badly, yelling at everyone and I try calm her down. Not sure if I succeeded but things even out a bit and total meltdown is avoided. She insists the tarp must go on the bottom however a quick look in the back of the ute and I reassure her that things are sitting on a rubber mat and all is good. All she needs to do is put the mattress on top and cover it with the tarp. She isn't sure but calms a little.

They get on their way eventually, the bedroom looks like a cyclone has hit. I'm hoping to clean it up eventually and using it as a spare bedroom with the single bed.

As it was before they moved in.

I've been very tired lately. Home from work and crash on the couch for a couple of hours. And if I'm not careful, a couple hours later again. Friday I thought I've had enough of this and I don't want to go to sleep. I like to window shop through electrical stores looking at everything from the small appliances through to stoves. *ok, i admit i'm weird* Let's go wander I say to MOTH. He's not sure but we go. And we decide to head for a different branch of Harvey Norman. We wander happily about. I see a couch I really like. A 2 seater and a 3 seater, fabric upholstery, in a beautiful teal colour. MOTH isn't necessarily impressed. We look at desk chairs. One is shaped like a racing car seat. MOTH pronounces it comfortable. I'm not so sure.

There are other couches I like the look of. MOTH goes for the ones with recliners. We ooh and ahh over carpet samples. We like the shorter pile, slightly darker colours that won't show use as much. Our current carpet is a longer pile, beautiful, soft, and creamy near the walls. Dirty grey and flat in the traffic areas. And smells terrible if the house is closed for extended periods during the wet season. The landlord isn't willing to upgrade though.

We look at dryers. We look at vacuums. We look at kettles. We look at fridges. We look at cameras. We look at washing machines. Did I say we look at washing machines? The salesman traps us there. We've been thinking about replacing the washing machine - it's about 8 or 9 years old. The life of the machine we have is rumoured to be about 3 to 4 years. MOTH hasn't fully decided if he likes front load or top load machines. But we're happy to look to see what's there. $1500 later we walk out with a Meile washing machine to be delivered Tuesday.

That's the last darned time I decide window shopping is better than sleeping on the couch.....

Tea, glorious tea

I've found a new blend of tea. Actually two. Both of these I don't need to sweeten too much and I can drink them without milk. Glory be! Lipton green tea with mandarin. Lipton black tea with orange. I'm sensing a pattern here. So now I'm drinking a lot more tea. I am still to decide if this is a good thing or not.

I'm back at work part time and survived my first week. My supervisor is determined that I will work only on the things she tells me to, none of the other managers are permitted to ask me to do anything. So for four hours a day I work on the backlog of travel, fixing mistakes made while I was away. There's a lot of it. I was told that they thought the travel and credit card reconciliations were being kept up to date, but if they were any sort of manager they would have been straight onto finding out what needed to be done and making sure it did get done. You can't expect one person to do the work of two for three months when they have a busy job of their own to tend to. *whoo, look at me! defending admin2* And that's when micro managing would have been needed, not constantly in every other circumstance.

In the meantime, I have finished the story line of Tomb Raider and now I'm just going back taking my time and exploring areas I didn't complete last time. I'm still interested in taking up Minecraft but the budget insists I wait a bit first. I'm okay with that.

I miss not having the time to catch up with the Club now. I could do Saturday and Sunday mornings but now I'm back at work my weekends are once again too precious to spend out of the house. I use my weekends to unwind, relax, and recharge for the coming week. So, I spend them at home. Time out at the shops is wasted when I could be on the couch zoning in front of the telly, or gaming, or even occasionally pottering about doing housework.

I caught up with the Club for the morning. Wombat had told MOTH that I have really come out of my shell. So just for laughs I tackled Wombat for calling me a turtle. He was a little confused at first, then when he realised he laughed along with everyone else. This is a far cry from what he was like when I first met him. I don't mind having his presence at the table now. A new Italian fellow has joined them. The rest of the Club aren't quite sure as Luigi is very .... voluble. Which means Club regulars sometimes have a hard time getting their two bob in. Not necessarily a good thing for oldies who like to tell stories and chatter. He's a nice bloke though if he would just stop yapping...

Sunday I sent MOTH up to the shops by himself and I tackled some housework. And by housework I mean vacuuming and mopping. I only went as far as I could with the cleaner attached to that power point. Not quite all the way up the hallway, but the toilet, laundry, bathroom, second hallway, kitchen, and rumpus room got done. Jerome has learned that the cleaner won't actually do him harm and no longer runs for cover. Some days I would like to vacuum him though as he's losing so much hair! The house is full of tangles of black fur and blonde hair. We both must be shedding our winter coats. I have to empty the cleaner at one point and end up doing my usual trick. I dropped the filter in the wheelie bin. This means tipping it on its side while I retrieve the offending part. Luckily it's lined so I could lift the bag and grab the filter.

MOTH came home and remarked on the dust on the front of my pyjamas *yeah, i didn't get dressed first*. Oh yeah, I said. I needed to empty the cleaner and it exploded all over me. Did you drop anything? *what is he suggesting exactly?* Ummm, yes. I dropped the filter. He rolls his eyes. Did you get it? Well, yes, course I did. Okay, what about the rubbing ring *i swear the man doesn't trust me* and we pulled the cleaner apart to make sure I hadn't lost the rubber seal. Nope, still there. He has already had to glue the two halves together because I lost the other rubber seal. Oops...

I see an offer on Facebook from a page I like and I decide to bite the bullet and take it up. It's a Spring Package from a local salon for about $160. They state a saving of $234. All I know is that what they offer for $160 is a darned good deal. So, maybe a new me soon? We shall see....

Can we fix it?

My last week of freedom before I return to the real world. Doctor says I can manage four hours a day for the next two weeks. Then we'll review again. I'm busy trying to find ways to convince her that MOTH needs a full time carer. A good plan.

Or maybe I could import my niece for twelve months. I'm sure that would give Ma a hand and I wouldn't have to work. At work. Cause my niece would keep me busy with a different kind of work. I'd just have to convince Ma. And that could be a lot of work on it's own. Hmmmm. Maybe I'll just keep working. There's too much work involved in this paragraph.

MOTH is busy cleaning up one of the front gardens. There are native trees, some weedy vine with sharp barbs that grip, and the bougainvillea is rampant. This is a work in progress as MOTH has been slowly progressing with it for a long time. Now the old chap next door has begun to lend a bit of a hand to tidy things up. One of the Club members has a small chain saw he's never used. *his daughter won't let him cause he's likely to damage himself* MOTH borrows it and begins to saw up some of the larger branches. It seems to work quite well.

I've installed skype. Lord alone knows why. I don't chat much and I certainly don't video call. I've added Special K and she thinks it grand. I can now tell tales out of school and she can rag MOTH when she sees him next.

One of the local grocery chains has the Nescafe Dulce Gusto on special. I think about buying it. The Elder owns one and she loves it. I watched her use it and it's very fast. Ours is a little slow and fiddly and won't take a full sized coffee mug. MOTH doesn't like to use it often for this reason. I use it frequently. I buy it and tell MOTH that's his Father's Day present from the girls. The coffee pod choices are a little limited flavour wise and none of the other pods seem to fit. That's ok, the flavours I can get are still good.

I seem to be the only one using it...

MOTH decides to tackle the tangle in the front garden again. He pulls the starter cord and ... the handle comes off and the cord disappears into the machine. Uh oh. That didn't take long. Looks like he's going to have to change his mind and fix it.

MOTH complains to me the new coffee machine is terrible. There's something wrong with it. He made a coffee and it was COLD! He had to zap it in the microwave. Did you do it right? I ask. Did you push the lever the right way? There's a right way? Yes, I tell him. The machine does both hot and cold drinks. Did you read the instruction booklet? The lever has a small circle on it, one side of which is blue, the other red. What circle? What colours? I can't see colours! *and he's right. in a fashion. he's colour blind, but he's not blind* He switches the kitchen light on and still complains he can't see the circle. I tell him, lever to the left for cold drinks, to the right for hot drinks. And laugh.

Tomb Raider is nearly finished. I'm about 74% through. Surprisingly, I haven't rage quit very often. Which is a big thing for me. Maybe I'm learning to be a little more patient and persistent. Or maybe I'm just enjoying playing this particular game. That must be it.

Jerome is due a visit to the vet. He doesn't like this idea. I've decided that I will have to buy a carrier but which one? I've looked at some but he's a rather *ahem* large cat so most of them would be a little cramped. I finally decide on one of the soft carriers which can apparently fold up. I leave it out for a couple of days and he doesn't mind going into it to inspect. He doesn't like going into it for real! He's wriggly, strong, and determined. This day he's due his annual booster and I discuss with the receptionist the feline aids injection. Since he's going outdoors a little bit and all. So today he's poked, prodded, donated blood, had a thermometer up his butt, been weighed and pronounced too heavy *and had his food intake cut back to boot* and jabbed twice. Not a happy kitty. He actually growled at the vet.

The vet has convinced me to join a scheme they have like pet insurance. $100 up front and $27.30 a month for 11 months. It's an annual thing. It covers a lot and I decide to join. It covers today's exam and needles and blood test and entitles me to a discount on flea products and food as well. There you go, she says, you've saved yourself $128 dollars. I don't know if this is a saving or the actual saving is only $28. Either way, it covers Jerome for the next two boosters to bring the aids cover in line. I guess that can't be too bad. I decide not to bother with the discount flea products *advocate 3 pack for about $45* as I can still get them cheaper online from budgetpetproducts.com.au.

Poor kitty. Back for another jab in two weeks. Then another two weeks after that. If you're a good boy I might consider letting you outdoors again after that. Maybe....