Think I Blinked...

And a week went by. It seems it did. Now how did that happen? Not that I was busy, or doing anything exciting. Or much of anything really. It just seems to have ... happened.

I was on holidays and doing not much of anything except catching up with some washing. I would have said housework, but I didn't seem to have mustered up that much enthusiasm.

Oh, and I applied for a loan. To consolidate debts. I thought I would try and see if I could live without a credit card. I've had one for years so the challenge is on. I applied online and it took almost a week for the approval to come through. As the ad says, why does it take them days... I filled out the online application. Two days later they contacted me for the supporting documentation. I sent it same day. The next day they tell me I've sent the wrong one. I send the right one. Two days later they tell me it is conditionally approved. But I have to wait for it to be processed before I find out if I have the loan. Saturday they finally call me to say I have the loan. And the appointment to sign the paperwork at the bank is scheduled for the next day. Wait, isn't that Sunday. Yep, that's right. They trade on Sunday.

I open an account at the bank and the money is in there straight away.

I've managed to pay funds onto one card, but have forgotten to get a payout figure *d'oh!* so I will have to wait for the end of the billing period to get the final payout.

I've not seen my regular GP as she is on leave. I work out with another that I can go back to work full time. I think I can manage it although my level of enthusiasm is way low. Except the first day. That's still a five hour day so we can work out what jobs I need to be doing when I'm back full time.

We've seen interesting looking vehicles on the web. I've even looked on eBay. I found one I liked but it was interstate. That's not a problem, I am sure I can work out how to get it up here. But no go. The listing ends, is relisted but comes down again within 24 hours. MOTH pokes about on Gumtree. He finds some to look at. And we do. There's one he likes the look of at a wholesaler a couple of suburbs over. We head out for a look. There's a small BMW hatch with red leather seats. In reality, it's not as great as it looked on the web. The red leather of the seats is actually more of a darker red brown. The price is right though. The passenger window is broken out. The dealer assures me it will be replaced before we pick up the vehicle. I sit in the driver's seat. Nope, this is not the car for me. I buy my cars this way. I sit in the driver's seat. The car must "talk" to me. There's another car nearby that takes my fancy. It's unlocked. MOTH looks at it. He likes it. It's unregistered. I sit in the driver's seat and yes, this is the car. The seats wraps itself around me and welcomes me. Everything feels right. The interior is in very good condition considering. It's a 2000 model BMW 318i. But the price is $1000 more than I want to pay.

We wander around the lot and look at other vehicles. There are some that catch our attention but they are all out of my price range. I expected this. You can't get a lot for the price I have in mind. We discuss it further and decide that to heck with it. We shake hands with the dealer and I walk away after having signed the papers with a BMW to pay for and make arrangements to pick up. It's in "as is where is" condition so I have to look after the transport, roadworthy, and registration myself.

I get an email unexpectedly. Well, I guess I'm expecting it as it should be a reply to an online application I've submitted a while ago. I open it and am shocked. It's FANTASTIC news. I've been accepted as a volunteer for Supanova2013. A pop culture expo. Induction is this coming weekend. The geek in me is sooooo excited!

MOTH has spent the week running about finalising car paperwork, getting roadworthy/safety certificate, CTP insurance, registration papers. Isn't he marvelous?? He has a bad experience at the registration office with a very rude clerk. He didn't have the money to make the payment for the registration as it was higher than expected. And guess what. I've cancelled the credit card so we can't transfer any money. Oh no! MOTH tells me later that the clerk just walked away from the booth and left him there. He didn't know what to do and she had kept the paperwork with her.

I went with him the next morning. He's on edge and short tempered, not liking having to deal with government departments. We grab the ticket from the machine and are called to the counter straight away. Today's clerk goes through the paperwork and asks where the original RWC is. MOTH explains it was taken the day before and not returned. The clerk goes to find it and a short time later and about $450 later we walk out with the plates.

We spend time that night playing with all the buttons in the cabin. Oh dear. No AUX jack in the CD player. Darn. I can't connect my phone for my music. But whatever, I'll get by. I take the car to work the next morning. DAMN! The transmission light is on. I'm not sure what to do about this.

The induction is today. I'm SO NERVOUS! It's been a long time since I've stepped outside my comfort zone to put myself voluntarily in a room full of strangers. It's an interesting morning though and I wait for more information about what I'll be doing that weekend. I've been allocated to a team, but there is a chance this may change. I'm expecting to be keeping people in lines.

Whatever they put me on, it's going to be a full on weekend! I'll be totally exzzzzzzzz......

Surf, sun, and sand equals ouch!

It has been so long since I've been in the sun long enough to get burned that I'd forgotten how much it stings. OUCH! Apparently I missed some places with the sun screen. *is sheepish*

I've finally given up on my glasses. I check and the last time I had new lenses was 2009. Oops. I've upgraded but now I need to wait for them to arrive. My wallet is still recovering from the shock. Last time was a two for one deal and the whole gig cost me around $400. This time just the lenses for one pair is $380 or so. Ouch!

The part is this weekend and I've managed to stretch my stay out for a few days to catch up with family as well. For a long time I thought I couldn't go but at the last minute I managed to grab some cheap flights and a bit of a balance on my credit card. For the saree too. Poor overworked credit card! I'm leaving after work so MOTH and I have spent some time thinking about timing.

The flight departs on Wednesday night. Boarding is delayed about fifteen minutes. Not too bad and we arrive very much on time. It's great to see Elder and Burrich at the airport.

The Teen is eager to catch up and badgers me to attend a concert with her. All those young people going mad in the mosh pit? I don't think so! I agree to meet with her before the gig though. She's happy to settle for that. It's also a chance to meet one of her good friends. Teen makes me welcome because she's always happy to see me but sometimes I feel a little out of place as the only old person there. Never mind.

I spend some time out at Ma and Pa's place. It's great to see them. Elder drives me out and it's a good opportunity to catch up with Froggy as she passes through on her way back south. Frogs travelling south for the summer. Quite a novel idea. We spend a lot of time laughing and talking, eating cheese, kabana, and pickled onions. The day is warm but a breeze blows through the kitchen so it's not unbearable. I'm a dreadful stirrer and Ma is easy to spook. I take full advantage of this, after all I have plenty of time to catch up on! I stand close behind her but don't make a sound so she startles when she turns around. Elder is lifting a picture down from a high spot. She can just reach. I cry out she is going to drop it and turn in time to see that Ma got the fright, not Elder. We collapse about giggling.

I have two supervisors so to speak. One is my official one from my team, the other from a different team which I also help out as part of my job. While I've been away my duties for the second team have been sent elsewhere and he is now on Paternity Leave. His wife had their second child - a little girl - just recently. Super2 is away for a couple of days so I have been asked to do that part of my job for a day while I am on leave. Luckily it is the one day I haven't anything planned.

It's nice to spend the day just relaxing around the house. A glass of Nestea peach flavour and the laptop set up on the desk in the room where I'm sleeping. Even though I'm working it is relaxing. How odd.

Mouse isn't ready to collect me until mid afternoon so I spend the morning at the shops and mucking about with Elder. Mouse comes for me and we head off. I haven't seen her house before as she's moved recently. Oh wow. The kitchen is great. Sort of galley style but much wider. The house itself is not at peak condition and there are sandflies galore. But it does have a cozy feel and the breeze circulates much better than her previous abode. The kitchen window overlooks a park and the scene is very tranquil.

We nip around the corner and pick up Minx on the way to the party. It looks great when we arrive. A welcome table. Everyone is in costume. The decorations are great. There are a couple of pavilions set up with couches. There are lanterns. A food table. A lolly bar. We bag a table. The metal chairs are unbelievably comfortable. We stay there all night but are joined by plenty of people circulating through.

There is a slushy machine! I love it! Fruit tingle or Pina Colada. Choices choices. We go Fruit Tingle first. It's delicious. Think I have about three or four. Then switch to the other. It's nice, but I'd rather the Fruit Tingle. Minx likes the Pina Colada. The food comes out. Butter chicken. Chicken korma. Lamb rogan josh. There are things that look like coconut ice but are not. We sample some of those as well. I finally realise they must be halva. And someone said that there was a salad. I couldn't see it very well so didn't sample. Someone commented it had carrot in it. WELL WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE SAY SO! I LOVE THAT STUFF! I've made it myself once or twice. I help myself to a couple of spoonfulls. It tastes much like caramel. I usually eat it with vanilla ice cream.

It gets to half ten or so and we call it a day after the cake cutting. I was stuffed full of food and starting to get sleepy. Maybe if I hadn't eaten so much I would have wanted to stay till party end. Who knows. But I had a really great time.

The following day Mouse is sick. She didn't drink anything so we suspect that something she ate must have had cheese in it. Poor chook. I send her back to bed to nap and I reach Archie and Veronica comics. Elder comes to pick me up.

It's a public holiday and we are headed north to pick up Teen and head for the beach. I want to spend time with them though I'm not keen on sand and seawater. I don't have sunscreen or a hat. Luckily Elder has sunscreen. I must find out what it is too. It certainly worked. Where I put it on that is. I missed some patches and boy are they red and sore! I haven't been burnt like this since I was a kid. Elder thinks it funny because one of the red patches has a white finger mark on it, complete with joints. She giggles at this.

Some of Teen's friends join us on the beach and it becomes quite a crowd. The day is sunny but the breeze is cool and I have found a patch of shade. I stay there. Elder has brought the dogs and they manage to kick sand and water over most of us. Hefe also managed to stink out the car on the way up. Gotta love dogs. Not.

I doze on the trip home and we managed to get there with enough time for me to wash off the day and finish up the last of my packing. Once again MOTH has arrived too early and had to circle through some very heavy pick up traffic several times before he can collect me. I'm not waiting for him all this time, I come out and wait. He doesn't circle past once while I'm there. I try to convince him that I'm happy to pay for parking if he arrives early. But he doesn't want to spend the money. Mind, he's not happy to circle continuously either. Can't win there.

So home to relax, to a very happy hubby and kitty....

I love parcels!

Packing, packing, packing, where for art thou packing? I should be, but yet I'm not. Not yet. Wow. Once upon a time I would have been sorting my clothing about three weeks out from a trip. But I'm heading out next week but no packing yet. I'll get MOTH to get the suitcase down later.

This marks the first week of five hours back to work. I'm coping ok but still taking my work slowly. I'm not pushing myself too hard. My Super still hasn't put me back to a full workload and Admin2 is away so things are still progressing slowly. I am doing ok though despite the fact that the work itself is boring. Super has left me alone on the most part so that is making things better.

*huh. i put perfume on this morning around 7:30am. Thierry Mugler "Angel". a little on my arm and some on my skirt. it's now nearly twelve hours later and i can still smell it on my arm*

MOTH has been having a lot of trouble with his phone. It's a Samsung Galaxy S3. It keeps freezing and he has to pop off the back and remove the battery to get it to restart. It's becoming very frustrating. We check when he can update the phone. It's only been just over twelve months since he upgraded to the S3 so no, not yet. Not without a $900 penalty for early termination of contract. And the phone is out of warranty. Typical! Thank you Optus. And at that price, it would be cheaper to buy a new phone outright. One of the other options is to downgrade the plan to a lower level and make repayments on the new phone plus installments on the penalty. Sigh. Never ends, does it. It's something to think about anyway.

My eyes are getting worse. I finally bite the bullet and have MOTH book me an eye exam. When we look, my last eye test was 2009. Oops! No wonder my glasses are no longer working. So I need to get the lenses upgraded. It's only going to cost me $387. Ouch! Poor wallet. And that's using my own frames. Last time I had two pair of glasses with frames and lenses for not much more than that. These however are the extended focus lenses which means I can use them for close work on the computer and for reading without having to change. A single focus will give me one or the other to best effect but not both.

I have a party invitation lined up for this coming weekend. A friend is turning 50 and has decided on a Bollywood theme to celebrate. I've given some thought to whether to get a saree from eBay. Or a costume? I don't like costumes because wearing something that someone else has worn previously and often doesn't fit properly is somewhat of a turn off. Who am I kidding. It's a total turn off. I've browsed eBay and not found anything that takes my fancy. I look at a couple of web sites that sell sarees and finally find one. It needs to ship from overseas somewhere. I choose the prestitched option - that means the petticoat and pleats are stitched and I don't have to tuck and fold it - and it turns out to be expensive for something that I may only wear once. I think the result looks alright though.

I speak to Mouse and it turns out that a mutual friend who didn't want to go by herself asked Mouse to attend because she likes to dress up. So, looks like I will be attending with my sibling! It will be interesting as I ask Mouse what colour her saree is. Ummm ... a golden orange. I laugh. Wonder what the third member is wearing. She asks. Umm ... orange! We had better not stand too close to each other. I haven't seen my friend for some time and it looks like she has invited all the party animals she knows. She's gone crazy with the decor and decorations so I am really looking forward to seeing what it looks like.

I've been toying with the idea of buying another car. The only drawback is that my budget is very small so I'll only be able to afford an old one. The biggest problem is that I am very, very, VERY fussy about the interior of my vehicles. Not so much the outside, a few scratches or a minor dent or some paint off doesn't bother me. Torn upholstery though ... that's another matter altogether. Just lately there seems to be a few cars parked on the side of the busy road. One of them is an older model BMW with a tag of $3500. After passing it a few days I stop for a look. A bit of sun damage, some scratches, nothing major. Then I peek in the windows. EEEEEEEEEEEK! It's dusty. There are crumbs on the front seat. The steering wheel is peeling. The upholstery on both front seats is worn through to the foam. Nope. No way, no how. Not ever. I drive on.

I browse through carsales.com.au. There's an Volvo S40. Looks pretty good. I talk MOTH into an inspection on Sunday afternoon. They reverse the car out of the garage for us. I look at the outside. Oh, a missing blinker cover. I'd have to replace that. A few scratches on the duco. Nothing too bad. Pop the door open and .... oh dear. It's not been looked after as well as it might. There are tears in the upholstery. MOTH asks if I want to take it for a test drive but he tells me later he can see I don't want to sit on the seat. We drive it though. It feels very heavy compared to the other Volvos I've had. We notice small things. The rear window doesn't power up. Nope, not the car for me. The price wasn't too bad but much more than I would have been prepared to offer because I'd have to fix all the other things.

At a loose end we drive out to look at the car yards. It's been a long time since I've done that. This time however we only look at the wholesaler yards. Pretty limited because they are few and far between. Still, it's a nice way to spend some time. There's nothing in the yards we look at that piques my interest as a possible consideration. Of course, it doesn't help that I keep gravitating to the more expensive ones! Never mind, no rush. If I'm meant to have a new car I'll win the lotto, right? ... Right?