Travel Time

This week I have a quick trip to Canberra/Sydney/Melbourne.

The plan is as follows:- Tuesday morning wake up in Brisbane. Go to airport and travel from Brisbane to Canberra. Have a few meetings. Back to airport and fly from Canberra to Sydney then from Sydney to Melbourne. Staying in Melbourne overnight, have a planning day on Wednesday then back to the airport and home to Brisbane.

Doesn't that sound like fun?

Lovely surprise

There was a lovely surprise waiting for me when I came home from Canberra last night. What a lovely husband I have - still buying me flowers after 10 years together.

Thanks darling!

Emergency

Tom took a squash ball to the eye tonight so we ended up at the Mater. It was a tad stressful and I drove like a tourist on the way there but we did get there and the doctor pronounced Tom's eye to be fine. What a relief. I mean what if Tom couldn't see how pretty I am? what a tragedy that would be :)

Fabulous veal recipe

Since I am still sick poor Tom had to come home early today to take me to the doctor and then, while I waited for the doctor, go grocery shopping. And then once we were home, medical certificate excusing me from work until tomorrow in hand, he also had to cook dinner.

We had veal steaks in the fridge so I found the following recipe on the net. Tom cooked it to perfection and it was the best veal I have tasted. Well done darling!

Mustard Veal

• 4 small thin veal steaks
• 1/4 cup mustard
• 1 tablespoon butter
  
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 cup chicken stock or water

Preheat oven to 160°C. Place veal between 2 sheets baking paper. Bash with flat side of a meat mallet until paper thin. Using half the mustard, spread over both sides of veal and then coat lightly in flour. Heat half the butter and half the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat until sizzling. Cook steaks for 1 minute each side until light golden. Transfer to an oven-proof dish. Add garlic, stock and remaining mustard to pan. Bring to the boil, stirring. Pour over veal. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve with mashed potato and green beans.

Wedding Dress: dress for wedding

This week has been frantic. Today I did 8 hours of training and about 4 hours of report writing. And then after I was exhausted and totally over it - I went shopping. Because our weekend is already fully booked (dance card is full boys and girls) we had no option but to shop for my outfit for the wedding next Saturday tonight.

I started at Maiocchi as per Ness's instructions. (Thanks for the tip Ness - I really like the store) I thought I was on a winner with this dress..... but it wasn't quite right. I did find another couple of tops that I really liked but in the interest of getting an outfit in time for the wedding I shelved them and moved on.

My next stop was Cue which really only seemed to have very picked over sale stock in styles that didn't appeal anyway. At this stage Tom joined me and we contemplated giving up and going home - what stamina we have :) . But instead we had a bite or two to eat in Queens Plaza which gave us renewed energy.

Then we started fresh at David Jones. I went straight to the Veronica Maine area and found a great dress. I tried it on and it was a really great very flattering and very much my style - plain and classic. Now if I was a guy I would probably have bought it straight away but I am not so I proceeded to search the entire of David Jones to see if there was a better option. Needless to say an hour of my patient husband's time later, which included a trip to lingerie, hosiery, shoes and menswear, we concluded that in fact the dress I found first was the best in the entire shop. So we bought it. And now I just have to pray that no one else who is going to the wedding buys it too....

Travel

Finally I got Gold Status on my Qantas Frequent Flyer. Now I just have to try and maintain it. ..hmmm.

I am doing a lot of travel at the moment. I am leaving for Sydney tomorrow and am there until Wednesday night. Then on Friday I am doing a flying visit of Townsville - going up in the morning, running a training session and then coming back after work. Then next week I am going up on Monday night and back Tuesday afternoon and then ditto the week after. And then two weeks after that I am in Canberra for a project management course for two days.

Travel makes me tired. But it is always nice to come home.......

Proposal

Andrew and Kat's recent engagement has got me thinking about when Tom and I became engaged. It was such a special day. Tom put so much effort, money and planning into making sure it was really special for us.

It really all started on my 21st Birthday when my grandfather passed away. It was a very sad day for me and left a bit of a sadness associated with the day. Two years later on my 23rd Birthday Tom picked me up from my apartment at Toowong to spend my birthday together. Little did I know what he had in mind....

My first surprise was that Tom had hired a beautiful black BMW Z3 Roadster. At this stage I had no idea that anything was happening. I just thought it was for my Birthday. We drove the Roadster up to the Sunshine Coast hinterland - it is such a nice area up there.

Tom drove us to my favorite picnic spot behind the church at the top of the hill in Montville. We both got out of the car to go over and look at the view as we had so many times before. We have had lunch there a lot over the years - so much in fact that I had a local artist paint a picture of the beautiful scene for Tom's birthday one year.

Overlooking the picturesque north coast hinterland Tom got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I am not sure if I actually said "yes". I think I may have said "of course". Followed by an Elaine style "get out" and happy tears. I was so thrilled.

Following the proposal we drove to Noosa and had lunch at the Sheraton to celebrate. That night we saw my parents and Tom's parents to tell them the happy news.

It was a great day and I think about it often. It was really special and just perfect. Having such a special event happen on my Birthday helped me distance the grief from my grandfather's death from my Birthday and made it a day for celebration again - just as it should be.

Congratulations Andrew and Kat

Andrew finally popped the question to Kat (Congratulations guys!) so it seems that I will be going to a wedding in December. Time for a new outfit....

Home sick II

I am home sick again today.

I managed to only do three loads of washing yesterday and spent lots of time resting so I was really happy with that. Today I have been even better doing absolutely nothing except for a bit of tidying around the place...I couldn't help myself.

But on the up side to do feel much better tonight and I will definitely be at work tomorrow.

For lunch today I had vegetable soup that I made on Sunday night. I was even more delicious after stewing in the fridge for a few days. Here is a picture I took of just before eating it today. See below for the recipe. It is very easy to make and so long as you use good quality stock it tastes great.


Classic Vegetables Soup

2 x 400 cans chopped tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely crushed
2 carrots, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 zucchini, finely chopped
4 cups vegetables stock

Combine all ingredients in saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 20 minutes. Cool before transferring soup to blender. Blend soup to desired consistency. Reheat and serve hot with crusty bread or croûtons.

Home sick

I am at home sick today. I have been sick for almost two weeks and up until now have struggled through. But since I still am not better I thought it would be prudent to have a full day off and do nothing but rest. I actually think that is going to be a challenge for me. There are a lot of things around the house that I could do today and no doing them is going to be difficult. I will see how I go.

Luckily there is a fair bit of new stuff on the Buffalo. I think there will be a lot of lying under the blanket on the couch watching tv.

Hopefully after today I will get better......

White chocolate & raspberry ricotta jaffle

• 60g fresh ricotta
• 20g white chocolate, finely chopped or grated
  
• 2 slices white bread
• 15g butter, at room temperature
• 2 tbs frozen raspberries

Preheat sandwich maker. Combine the ricotta and chocolate in a small bowl. Spread one side of each bread slice with butter. Place a slice, butter-side down, in the preheated jaffle maker. Top with the ricotta mixture and sprinkle with raspberries. Top with remaining bread slice, butter side up. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until golden. Serves 1

Doctors waiting room

I have had a sore throat since last Wednesday. Unfortunately all three of my work colleagues are on annual leave - they are holidaying in WA, NT and Alaska. Meanwhile I am stuck at work doing everyones jobs. Which was fine - until I got sick. When you are the only one there you really can't call in sick and besides last week I had a workshop on Wednesday and Thursday that I couldn't miss. So I have plodded along and continued to go to work. I thought that if I got to the weekend and had a very quiet weekend I would be able to shake whatever it was that was making my throat sore and my joints ache.

So I had a very quiet weekend. We only went out three times : Friday night for a great Lamb Roast with Cam and Ness (Thanks guys); Saturday to buy some bedside lamps and Sunday to go to lunch at a friends place. The rest of the weekend I rested, slept, napped and watched tv. Overall very relaxing and perfect getting better environment.

But NO. I didn't get better. I am still sick and still waking my long suffering husband up in the middle of the night coughing and spluttering.

So today I went to the doctor. I made an appointment for 8:20. It was an express appointment which goes for 5 minutes and the doctor bulk bills at a rate of $60 (aprox). I arrived at 8:15 to ensure I was on time for my appointment. I was sent to a special waiting room across the hall near where my doctors room was. At 8:17 another girl - who looked very sick - joined me in the waiting room. After 15 minutes she started crying quietly and lay down on the floor. I resolved to let her go before me when the doctor came....30 minutes passed. I started to worry about getting back to work.....I decided that I really needed to see the doctor and girl on the floor could wait. Eventually the doctor did come. She took one look at the girl on the floor and took her into the room. At this stage I was very angry. How dare that girl be so sick! Why didn't I think of lying on the floor - perhaps I could do that now? After a few minutes of serious thought I decided against lying on the floor since it would be obvious I was copying other girl. Another 25 minutes passed........Doctor came to see me.

I let the doctor know how angry I was by saying..." well that must be my record of the longest time I have waited for a doctor. I waited for an hour and ten minutes" The doctor nodded and smiled sweetly.

The doctor was very nice though and very thorough. Tested my blood pressure - which was surprisingly good given my ongoing rage at waiting so long. And gave me lots of things to take and do to help my sore throat. Hopefully I will be bright eyed and bushy tailed again by tomorrow........

Perfect night in

Tom's perfect night in = couch and AFL.

But to be fair we are flicking between the football and iron chef. Go challenger!

The garden I planted....

Before:After:
The weekend before last I was given some plants by my mother's cousin's girlfriend. She had a lot in her yard and was more than happy to share some with me - which was very nice of her. I planted them under the coral tree in the backyard. Above are the before and after pictures. The plants look great and have made an instant garden.

New bedside tables and bedside lamps

This week we were lucky enough to score some bedroom tables from Tom's parents. These ones didn't suit their new house so they have upgraded to some modern cubic ones. Since our house is old, the bedside tables fit right in. I love them they are just right for our bedroom.

Clearly once we had new tables we "needed" new bedside lamps. To be fair we only had one bedside tables to start with. Tom had it over his side of the bed and if I wanted to read in bed I had to have the big light on. Not an ideal situation. However all is good with the world now that we have one each. I have half a dozen books that Ness lent me so I will be able to test out the new lamp very soon.

Gold Qantas Frequent Flyer

I am very excited because I am only 25 status point off becoming a Gold Qantas Frequent Flyer. I am not sure exactly why I get so excited about this but for some reason I do. And I will be thrilled when in a few weeks I travel again to Sydney,Canberra or Townsville and get enough points to obtain Gold status.

Gold status entitles me to free Qantas Club membership. Which would be wonderful but I am already a member of the Qantas Club so I don't get that. It does mean that I get more frequently flyer points when I travel - except when I travel with work. And since most of the travel I do is through work that doesn't really help.

So essentially I get no real benefit from achieving Gold status. Now you might think that this knowledge would dampen my excitement. However I can assure you that is not the case. I am still hugely excited about it and no doubt I will post again when I do achieve Gold status.

Happy Mothers Day

Mothers day started early this year. Not with breakfast in bed or flowers & chocolates but with getting ready to go to church. Church was good; there were lots of skits and a short sharp sermon by one of the members of the congregation. She is the same woman who took the easter service and is a very intelligent and eloquent speaker.

After the social chatter than inevitably follows church Tom and I came home to finish the preparations for lunch. We had my Mother and Father, Grandmother and Brother over for lunch. Lunch was chicken, zucchini slice, salad and fresh bread. It was great. And followed by rhubarb crumble which turned out very nicely. I just finished the leftovers a moment ago.

RHUBARB CRUMBLE Serves 6
INGREDIENTS

1 big bunch rhubarb, cut crosswise into 2 cm slices, leaves discarded
1 1/4 cups sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
1 cup all-purpose flour

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 190°C.
2. Stir together rhubarb and sugar in an baking dish.
3. Cream butter, sugar and orange zest, then rub through flour until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
4. Crumble mixture over rhubarb in baking dish
5. Bake 30-35 minutes
6. Cool for 30 minutes

Serve with vanilla ice cream or yoghurt.

I highly recommend it. It is lovely and quite an easy recipe. After tea, coffee and rhubarb crumble we played Mexican Train Dominoes and I won. Yay! And then my family went home and left Tom and I to change into tracksuit pants - essential Sunday afternoon wear - and watch tv for the afternoon.

The May Long weekend

Three days in a row without work are welcome this weekend. We have been so busy. We ate out every night except Wednesday so the long weekend and especially tonight at home doing nothing are especially welcome.

Last night we went to the Pizza Cafe at UQ. It was great. The Pizza was a little bit more expensive than I remember ($13.00 each) but that didn't matter. I had Pizza P as always. They have changed it a little bit - the potato on it seems to have seasoning on it and there is bacon as well as pancetta. It really is a great pizza. Tom had a chicken one with capsicum and feta cheese. It was really nice too.

Today Tom and Dad laid some more pavers in the BBQ area and started on the next retaining wall and I went to the west end farmers markets with Mum followed by Coles by myself. I was exhausted by the end but I think Tom is even more tired than I am having shoveled road base and moved pavers/blocks for most of the day. It looks like tomorrow will be more of the same.

Monday we are having friends over for lunch so the house will need to be spic and span. We are having a BBQ and I am making a Toblerone cheesecake for dessert. I make it with corn in it - which I am allergic to - so that I can't eat it. So far that seems to work.

Buses and The Big Smoke

Well, due to a change in my husbands employment circumstances (READ: Tom changed jobs) we are now catching the bus to and from work each day. I am quite enjoying it. It is nice to have time to relax together each day.We get on the bus early enough to always get a seat and so far have always been able to get two seats together. It is nice to sit together each day and mellow before and after work.

As yet we have been out for lunch only once. So far Tom has only showed interest in the one place for lunch - which happens to be the cheapest (and freshest) place to eat in the city - Harry's place in Rowes arcade. But there are so many others on offer. My favorites are Ye oldie worldie (clearly not the real name of the restuarant), the Theodore club(no this is not a strip joint - it is an rsl style club in the city - former run by the masons), MYO in Anzac Square and Saffron. I suspect there are other really good places to eat in the city but I don't know about them. I was keen on Bay Swiss too but after the food poisoning incident I am less keen. So I am hoping over the next few weeks/months Tom will let me show him all my fav spots for a good meal. Otherwise I suppose I will have to settle for the $2.50 ham and salad sandwich from Harry's place which lets face it would probably be better for my budget and my waistline....

BBQs and upset stomach

We had Tom's family over for breakfast this morning. I got up early and made blueberry muffins while Tom set the table and got everything ready. He did bacon, eggs and little sausages on the BBQ. It was great. We also had orange juice, a fruit platter and copious cups of tea. All in all it was a great meal and it was lovely to catch up with the family.

For lunch we went to the pool area at Cam and Ness's place for Cam's BBQ lunch (see the theme arising?). Cam and his uncle cooked a great BBQ with some really tasty steak and sausages. Everyone took salads to share and there were some great salads there - people were a lot more adventurous than my boring green salad. There were about a billion different cakes for dessert including the Toblerone Chocolate Cheesecake Tom made for Cam last night.

Unfortunately I started to feel sick with an upset stomach just before dessert so we missed out on trying the cheesecake. I won't lower the tone to describe my symptoms, but suffice to say I have not been too well but am feeling ok. I came home and had a shower and sleep. Now I am in my PJs on the couch - resting. Not exactly how I wanted to end the day, but it has allowed Tom to watch lots of football so it isn't a total loss. :)

Easter Sunday

What a lovely day it is today.

We went to church this morning, for the first time in a while. It was a great service, the sermon was short and sharp, the skits were really well done and several of them were very funny. Tom's parents did one of them and it was great. In character, Tom's mum suggested that she and Cam should go caravaning around Australia which was hilarious because I know she hates the thought of that.

Then we went to Suzy and Dan's place for morning tea. Suzy put on a lovely spread including several different types of toasted hot cross buns and some lovely fruit loaf. They used all the nice things they had been given as wedding gifts which was great.

We stayed to watch their wedding video. I was surprised how good it as. I though it might be a but drab because the main videographer was a bit of a tool. But it was great - Suzy and Dan chose the music and that really made it. Plus the footage he got of everyone was really good. Some of the thing they did were a bit corny but other things, like speeding up the footage of the boys getting ready, was really clever. I was in it quite a bit and was pretty happy with how I looked - and really it is all about me!

This afternoon we are having a rest and Tom is watching the football. Essendon is playing Fremantle. Tonight we are going over to Tom's parents place for dinner. Some of their family friends with small children in tow are over from Sweden so it will be nice to catch up with them and see the kids.

Happy Easter everyone!

How long do you want to be loved? Is forever enough? Is forever enough?

Preparation for Suzy and Dan's wedding over the last few weeks and watching Wife Swap tonight has got me thinking about marriage and what it means to me.

I think getting married was the best and most worthwhile thing I have done in my life. I often tell my husband how happy I am to be his wife. To me being married has meant being very happy.

Marriage means being part of a team and having someone who will always be on your side. It means having someone who will help you out and watch out for you. It also means being responsible for helping and watching out for that person back.

I am always sad to see couples who don't help each other or consider each other in decisions. It is sad.

My absolutely favorite TV couple are Allison and Joe Dubois from Medium. I like them because they are nice to each other and help each other out - there is a lot to be said for that.

New Job

I started a new job today.

Well maybe new isn't the right word. It was the job before my last job and the job before the job before that. This is the third time I have done the job. I can't help it I just keep coming back.

This time I am suppose to be doing it for three years. What a ridiculous amount of time. They should just give it to me permanently. But then on the other hand I am not know for my long tenure in positions so I don't really blame them. They probably know that if they give it to me permanently I am likely to bugger off somewhere else.

I had to move all my things. I fit my entire work life into one box which I sat on my chair and pushed into the lift. Sadly the special key to make the lift go to my level didn't work so me, my chair and my box had to go down to ground floor and via the atrium lobby go to the other lifts. It was fun. Someone actually asked me if I was stealing stationery. Loser!

Anyway I have settled in and back into the swing of it again.

Better go now have an application for another job to write.........

The deck

We are extending the deck this weekend.

The timber has arrived and has been moved from the front to the back yard. The existing deck is being partly demolished and then the new deck will be built.

This is what it looks like so far..

Dancing Classes

We have started ballroom dancing classes in preparation for Suzy and Dan's impending wedding. Tom and I are progressing well. Tom is particularly good and I was better than last week - when I need quite a bit of remedial attention from the instructor. We started with the rumba and then have progressed to the jive this week.

I suspect we will be ready to compete professionally in a few weeks.

Holiday

At last.....at last......our holiday has arrived.

We stayed down in northern NSW for a few nights at a place called Crystal Creek Rainforest Retreat. It was right in the middle of beautiful rainforest.












It was fabulous. Not cheap but worth every cent. We stayed in a Creekside Spa Bungalow. It was well set up with a leather lounge and a big lcd TV, DVD, CD player, mp3 player, surround sound system and even a harmony remote. It was self contained and even had a great big barbecue that Tom and I made good use of. The spa was great - not as good at Rainesforest but very good all the same. And they even left us a bottle of 1998 red to "celebrate" Tom's birthday and some muffins for breakfast - nice touch.

I would highly recommend it!!!
























Yesterday we drove up to Mooloolaba and are now staying with Toms parents at the Peninsula. It is nice to stay with them and catch up. Tom's sister is going back home to central QLD soon so it is nice to be able to spend some time with her.

Tonight we went out to the surf life savers club for tea. Is there anything better when at the beach than a good club meal? I think not. It just goes with the holiday somehow.

Anyway we are coming home tomorrow and I am very much looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. I miss my house and my creature comforts.

Tom's Festivus

Today was Tom's birthday.

The festivus started at 8 am with breakfast. Tom got a donut maker from his adoring wife so we had donuts and iced coffee.

Then we went to Raines forest and had a massage and time in the spa/sauna. It was wonderful and very relaxing. After this we went to Indooroopilly and saw Casino Royale in Gold Class. It was a great movie. Very gritty and not too much violence. We got the car washed while we were there.

After that I had planned that we would go to the Maritime Museum at South Bank but we were too tired so we came home and had a rest.

Then after bacon and eggs for tea we went to dancing classes that Suzy organised in preparation for her and Dan's wedding at the beginning of March. The class was fun. It was quite intimate because we got to dance with the same person the whole night. So Tom and I spent the whole night dancing which was really nice. We needed some remedial attention for a few steps but overall weren't too bad. Ok well that isn't quite true. I needed some remedial attention for a few steps but overall weren't too bad. Tom was great thanks to natural talent (?) and possibly those Churchie dancing classes.

Tom's family came back to our place after dancing class for coffee and cake. I made Chocolate mud cake last night which was very rich and very nice. Maybe tomorrow we could have some from breakfast........