Birthday

It is my birthday today. Happy Birthday to me.

I have a leisurely day planned. It started with pancakes and presents for breakfast. This afternoon we are going to a day spa for massages and facials. And then out for dinner tonight. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? If only I could do this every day!

The holiday has started

Work finished at 6:14 pm tonight.

I did remember to turn ON my OUT of office reply.
I did get ALL my "must do" jobs done.
I did make a list, I did check it twice, I did find out work is boring; not nice.

Holiday started at 6:15 tonight. Hooray!

You are what you eat

I seem to go through phases with food. Whether it be soup, salad, weight watchers, or vegan there is always something that I preference eating.

My current food is choice is frozen meals. Thus my freezer looks like this;
I used to just buy them occasionally for when I was home on a Wednesday night and Tom was out playing squash. I lacked the motivation to cook a meal for myself and a lean cuisine is a better choice nutritionally that a Vegemite sandwich or bowl of cereal.

More recently I have been buying these to have in stock for Tom when I travel. I used to cook meals and freeze them before I left, but my motivation to do that is long gone.

This year I have started buying them to eat while Tom is a squash, for Tom to eat while I am away and for us both to eat when I work past 6:30 pm and/or am too tired to cook when I get home from work.

So now, instead or once a week, we seem to eat these a few times a week. I suppose they are better than the fast food choices we would make. Fish & Chips, Pizza, Chinese and Indian all taste great but they are not good for the waistline. I still feel bad though that I am not cooking everything myself. Home cooked meals are nicer but a lot more effort.

Hair care

I have great hair. I know, I know FIGJAM. But seriously, I love my hair. It is fully bodied. It is dark brown. It is wavy without being too curly or hard to manage. It sits well no matter what I do with it. I have no control over what it does, but oddly that doesn't bother me. I am happy with it.

I really like the colour brown that it is so........... I have never dyed it. Yes that is correct cowboys, I am almost 30, a child of the modern world but I have NEVER dyed my hair. Not even a rinse.

I did try once. I had very long hair at the time and went into a hairdresser I had never been to before in the city. I spoke to the hairdresser about dying my hair blonde, really really blonde. We talked about it for a long time and in the end she talked me out of it. She explained the maintenance, the ongoing costs and the toll that it would take on my hair. She didn't paint a pretty picture.

I am not big on hair maintence. I usually have my haircut once every 12 to 18 months. It doesn't need cutting very often. I don't get split ends because I don't use a hair straightener or a blow dryer. I actually don't even own a hair dryer or a straightener. I just towel dry it after I wash it and then let it dry.

So all in all it was probably best that I didn't go blonde. I don't think I would have coped with the upkeep.

I do care about my hair, I am just not big on hair care.

Hay fever Hell

I don't know what the hell is causing it but I have hay fever badly again today.

Despite washing everything in my bedroom (including the pillows) and vacuuming the whole place to within an inch of its life (including the air conditioning unit)....

My nose is this colour

and my eyes are watering

and my head is cloudy

and my thoughts are muddled

and the drugs don't work at all

and I may be feeling ever so slightly sorry for myself.....

My turn to smell like dirt?

The council replaced our water main today and all the water smells like soil. So instead of asking if it was my turn for the shower......

Freedom

I have completed my scholastic obligations for the year. No more study, tutorials, lectures or irritatingly thin, poorly dressed 17 year olds until next year. Hallelujah!

What did I learn this semester?

• One subject is better than two for my sanity.
• A contract may be voidable where the conduct of the party not mistaken amounts to "sharp practice"
• Having a cleaner is good (the new one started last week, bless her).
• Some contracts are divisible and rest are lump sum contracts.
• I have the best husband in the world (actually I knew that already).
• Contracts to murder someone are not illegal to make, only illegal to perform and hard to enforce.
• Contract law is mostly boring.

The most difficult part of studying is finding motivation.

The actual study is not that difficult. It just requires time and effort. Lots and lots of effort. Focus to read the texts and the cases. Attention to listen to the lectures. And energy to take notes and digest the information.

I am wondering where I will find the motivation for next semester. Perhaps my motivation well will be refilled while I am on holidays in a few weeks? Or is there a utility company I should call to organise a top up?

I am glad that there are no summer subjects that I could do right now because I don't think my heart would be in it anyway.

But come next year, I will hopefully be refreshed and ready to start again. Torts and International Legal Perspectives, here I come! or more accurately - I'll be right there, after this short commercial break......

Lightspeed

Time seems to go by very quickly. My life is busy with work, travel, and study.

Most days feel like this..


and really I would prefer this...

Idiosyncratic Glass

We all have our little idiosyncrasies. One of mine is that I worry that one day most people in the world will die and only a few of us will be left - think an scenario like in Stephen King's The Stand.

I worry that if this happens no one will know how to do anything, like grow food, build houses etc because most of the world's population aren't engaged in those sorts of earthy jobs. There seem to be a lot of us who work in offices and make no obvious contribution to the day to day survival of the species.

Today I decided that should everyone else die I would really like to be able to make glass. I like glass and I think I would miss windows if I didn't have any. So I googled "glass making" and now understand the theory behind how to make glass.

My glass making knowledge will also be helpful if I ever get transported back to 16th centenary England and have to win over the royal family by helping them refurbish their castle.

You might call it odd. I prefer the term idiosyncratic.

Beauty where you find it

Here are a couple of photos I have taken in my work travels.

The first is a photo of a church in Melbourne. I took this photo on my phone from my hotel room.


I love staying in Melbourne. It is a lovely city. The shopping is great. The dining is great. And people dress nicely. And I get to wear coats (something that doesn't happen often in BrisVegas).

The second is a photo from the window of my hotel in Canberra.
Canberra may have terrible weather but it sure is pretty in the morning.

Antique Newbies

As promised, a photo of my birthday china. What a great gift.

Bed

Traveling so much with work makes me really appreciate my bed. There is really nothing better than sleeping in my own bed. I sleep better, get to sleep quicker and sleep for longer in my bed. It seems simple but it makes a big difference to how I feel when I wake up in the morning.

Longing

I long to drive this sunburnt country,
to cruise the sweeping plains,
to climb the mountain ranges
through the current drought and sporadic rains.


I love the open road,
My hair blowing in the breeze,
My hubby and my Navman,
a long road trip for me!


I have annual leave soon - in mid November. That seems like it is soon, but let me tell you it is not soon enough!

Garden Tuesday - Pet Poinsettia

Although quite pretty I really dislike my pet poinsettia.


We have a ritual, my pet poinsettia and I. It involves me cutting it back savagely and hoping that it will not recover. After that my part is done. Next the poinsettia flourishes and grows back twice and big and twice as healthy as before.

Perhaps this "tough love" treatment would work on my herbs?

new china

In helping my Gran last weekend to spring clean her china cupboard I ended up with some more china. Tom gets much kudos for doing all the actual work washing up every cup, plate and bowl in Grandma's hutch while she and I discussed the origins of each piece.

Grandma was kind enough to give me the tea set her parents were given as a wedding gift when they married in 1906. I insisted that she make this my birthday present this year which she reluctantly agreed to.

For me this is a wonderful gift. It has huge sentimental value to me because of it's history. As a lover of antique fine bone china I think the set is truly delightful. I will take some photos and post them soon.

Garden Tuesday - Jasmine

We have star-jasmine growing over some of the natives at the back of our block.

I apologise for the poor quality photo. It doesn't do the jasmine justice.

But then star-jasmine is really a full sensory experience. The perfume that eminates from this ordinary looking creeper is simple and sweet.

I plan to grow this over an arch near our entrance when we renovate.

The big 3-0

As one of my friends pointed out on facebook the other day "Numbers that follow numbers ending in 9 are important in a base-10 numerical system". This year my birthday ends in an 0. How momentous.

Actually I am not that fussed about it.

Perhaps this is the calm before the storm?

How do I feel about turning 30?
I don't really care.

I have achieved a lot in my life already so it is not as though I have wasted my time.

What am I going to do to celebrate?
whatever. Maybe a breakfast at a hotel in the city, maybe dinner at a local restaurant with 40 of my nearest and dearest.

What do I want for my birthday?
nothing.

Maybe a nice Cartier watch with some pretty diamonds? that isn't really nothing is it?

Is turning 30 a big deal to me?
Right now, no, it really isn't a big deal. Perhaps it should be and perhaps when I get to the day it will be but right now it feel like it will be just another birthday.

Sweet Summer Rice Salad

I found this recipe in the warranty card of my rice cooker. I had a lot of brown rice and wanted to use some of it so I thought I would try it.


I was surprised at how nice it is - although I must admit Tom was less fussed over this one. It makes a huge amount so I think I will be eating it all week. I am happy enough with that.

Sweet Summer Rice Salad
Serves 8

2 cups cooked and cooled brown rice
225 g tin pineapple pieces
1 carrot, grated
1/2 celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup currants

1/2 cup juice (from the pineapple)
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup white wine vinegar

Mix rice, pineapple, carrot, celery and currents together in large bowl.

Whisk together the juice honey and vinegar, until honey is dissolved.

Mix dressing through salad. Serve immediately.

When did young people get so young?

Being a mature age student who is able to attend tutorials and lectures during working hours means that the other students are not other like minded adults (as they would be if I went to night time classes) but rather seventeen year old children.

While I am by no means old, I am still in my twenties, the kids that frequent my classes seem so young to me. Their language and clothing is so different to my own. Why the boys insist on wearing jeans two sizes to small for them with black pointy shoes is beyond me. The girls seem to wear a lot of short shorts and more makeup than I have cumulatively worn this calendar year.

They all seem to have cute nicknames for themselves which they insist on being called. Vivien is "V". Samantha is "Sam". No one goes by there full name.

I was amused to find out from my tutor that several forward guys had asked out their negotiation exercise partners after the exam. I was focused on negotiating a reasonable outcome for my firm under exam conditions and they were swapping digits?

I must give them credit for being nice to me though. Either I am really hip (this seems very unlikely) or they feel sorry for me (much more likely) because in each class a few students make friends with me. It is nice to have someone to sit with and talk to, although I don't know what I will do if I get invited to someone's 18th birthday. That would just be odd.

Garden Tuesday - Herbs

I love using fresh herbs in my cooking.

The smell and texture of fresh parsley in my spaghetti carbonara or bolognaise is heavenly. And no fruit salad would be complete without mint.

My issue is my unnerving ability to kill plants in pots. I forget to water them for long periods of time. This causes them to dry out and then they die. I get sad. I go grocery shopping and buy more herbs. I forget to water them....the simplicity of the circle of life is really quite astonishing.

Tom is very helpful with herbs as he can remember to water plants in pot. When his help is sought the herbs last much longer.

At the moment I have two types of parsley on the go as pictured below....

I also have basil and mint. The two parsleys have been around for quite some time but the others are "new" this week.

Pizza and Salad

I made pizza and salad for lunch on Sunday. I was a nice easy meal to use up the leftover green salad I made to take to a friends place on Sunday night and the rice salad I am currently keen on.


The pizza was especially good. I did a half Tom/half me pizza which consisted of chicken/pepperoni with cheese for Tom and I can't believe it's not bacon and capsicum for me.


I am a fan of the no cheese pizza. I don't think pizza really needs cheese when you have a good base and lots of tomato paste on it.

Thai noodle salad

I made a lovely cold noodle salad for dinner tonight. The recipe was a Donna Hay one adapted by Pam. I adapted it further and took quite a few liberties to make a vegetarian version.

It was deliciously light and cool. Perfect for a hot Queensland summer day. Tom loved it so I will have to make it again.

Thai Noodle Salad
Serves 2

220g pack Kan Tong flat thai noodles
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tablespoon fish sauce
1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 large tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, diced
1/2 cup basil leaves

Cook noodles per package directions, drain and rinse.

Whisk together the lemon juice, fish sauce, oil and sugar, until sugar is dissolved.

To serve, toss the noodles with the tomatoes, cucumber and dressing.

I am an addict, its cool, I feel alright

When I started my current job I took up drinking coffee as a social activity. I have never been much of a coffee drinker although I am quite partial to a few blends of tea.

Over the last year the coffee trips have become more and more regular. I find that I now go to get a coffee in the morning even when no one else goes with me. So obviously I have moved from social drinker to addict.

I have also been having problems sleeping. I am ok when I get off to sleep but falling asleep has become difficult and frustrating. There is nothing more stressful that knowing how tired you will be in the morning and how much you have to do but not being able to get to sleep.

So yesterday I decided to cut down my coffee intake. One of my coffee buddies is going on holidays so there will be less reason to go and get a hit every day.

After having an entirely coffee free day yesterday; today I woke up today with a terrible headache. I know why. And it is sooo tempting to have a quick coffee because I know that will get rid of it but I can't. So I had a panadol and a big glass of water and will try to get on with my day.

I hope the withdrawal side-effects don't last very long. I slept brilliantly last night and had no trouble falling asleep for once. But I am unaccustomed to headaches and have a low pain tolerance so I know I will be running back to coffee if this goes on for too long.

Carbon Based Frustration

I had a very annoying incident with the IT department at work recently. I accidentally deleted one small but important excel document. I right clicked on it when in windows explorer and instead of clicking "rename" I clicked "delete". And because I wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing when it asked me if I really wanted to delete the document I clicked "Yes" even though the answer was "No, no, no, a thousand times NO". Perhaps if that had come up as an option I would have paid more attention?

To remedy my small understandable mistake I contacted the IT department to retrieve it. And several days later they did retrieve. Thanks IT boffins!

BUT in retrieving the file they saved this one excel document over a whole drive full of hundreds of folders with thousands of very very important documents in them!

I contacted them immediately, in mild hysterics, and "requested" that they ameliorate the issue. Several days later they dutifully retrieved the data. Good save boffins!

I was very happy and hugely relieved to have all the data back. I would have been in a world of hurt if they had lost it because there was a lot of information I could not duplicate. I was one happy customer, despite their mistake.

All that happiness was spoiled when I received an email confirming my issue had been resolved and the job had been closed. That in inself was fine except that in the summary of the issue they had written " LDHBE accidentally deleted the nvfkjdfvwfj drive". WTF? NO I DID NOT! YOU DID THIS YOU STUPID BOFFINS.

I left the email overnight to calm myself down and wrote a pleasant email the next day alerting them to the inaccuracy of their records and requesting they update them and email me to confirm this had been done.

I am waiting with baited breathe for a response. If they happen to call about it I have a notepad next to my work phone with words I would like to drop into the conversation. At the top of my list are unprofessional, disappointing, credibility and dishonest.

I might speak nicely but I can be mean if I want to be. I am LDHBE - dont mess with me!

Chocolate Cake Expolsion

I made a chocolate cake a few weeks ago and turned the mix master up too high which caused what I can only describe as a chocolate cake explosion.


Tom was very kind and helped me clean it up. It was all over everything - including me!

Garden Tuesday - B is for Bougainvillea

OK there has been no A yet so that title is kind of lame but here we go anyway....



















We have a Bougainvillea growing outside our bedroom window.

It blooms a beautiful pink shade which almost make me forget about the massive thorns which tear my skin each and every time I trim it.

Almost but not quite.

This is the view out our bedroom window to the north. The sun shines in every morning and the pink petal glow in the bright light.




































They are beautiful. Pink always was my favorite color.

Bougainvillea are native to South America but because of the similarity in climate it thrives in BrisVegas, Australia.

I love the way it clings to the side of the house. I love the way it seems to put on about thirty centimeters every time I turn my back.

I hate trimming it. It bites me. My delicate white flesh always comes out second best to the spikes which grow on every inch of every branch.

But overall it is a great plant.

Choc-Chip Biscuits

It all started with a Tangelo.
I bet my friend they would eat it.
So I had to bake choc-chip biscuits.
They were delicious.

New day; New Dyson

Tom and I went shopping this morning and bought a new Dyson vacuum cleaner. I am so excited!

I had worked out which one I needed thanks to a very lovely lady on Dyson's customer helpline. She sent me an email in response to my email to them suggesting they add a quiz to their website to help customers chose a model. She said if I called her she would talk me through the range and help me decide which one I needed. So I called on through the week and spent 30 minutes discussing the pros and cons of each model.

Due to my dust allergy, the HEPA filter models were a must and as I have mostly hard floors I didn't need the motorised head versions. So in the end we decided I needed the DC23 Turbine Plus which comes with the hard floor tool.
A quick trip to David Jones this morning with their 15% off sale means I got a bargain.

We have already vacuumed the whole house and been revolted at the amount of dust that came out of the rug in the lounge especially.

Cara Cara Navel Oranges

In late breaking news, there is a new type of navel oranges.

Cara cara are slightly more red than regular navel oranges but not as red as a proper blood orange.

They are sweet and very tasty with no seeds.

Bon Appetit!

Towel Incident Update

Cleaner got fired (Thanks Tom)

Tom explained what he had done wrong. His response was "Oh Shit"- lovely. He failed to apologise.

We have a new one starting in a few weeks. Requested someone more "careful".

Hooray!

Cutie-Pie Contest

I am having trouble deciding who is cuter - my husband or my niece.

They are just both such cutie-pies.

If you want a Dyson, it's got to be a Dyson

I am looking at buying a new vacuum cleaner.

As I have mentioned previously the vacuum cleaner I have now was purchased very cheaply many moons ago and is not up to the job. It is crap. Very very crap.

I am looking at buying a new one and due to my dust allergy I have decided to buy something good (read; expensive). I am currently look at getting a Dyson because, as their motto goes,

"If you want a Dyson, it's got to be a Dyson"

I am not joking - that is what it says on their website. What an odd motto.

The selection process commenced in earnest a few weeks ago while I was supposed to be studying. I have really moved on from the muffin baking I used to do while procrastinating study as a 17 year old - no?

I have spent hours reading the Dyson website trying to decide which Dyson is for me. Honestly I have trouble understanding the differences in the technical specifications. I am seriously considering just buying the lightest one. That is really the only spec I could properly comprehend. They really needed a quiz, like the one on the Olay website, which would tell me which model would best suit my needs.

I think a trip to my local full service department store is in order. And what do you know; they have 15% off Dysons at the moment. What a coincidence.

Garden Tuesday - Beginings

I have decided to take a leaf out of sidewalk shoes book and start blogging about my garden on a semi-regular basis.

I hope to be able to post some nice shots of the plants I have grown on purpose, accidentally and those which are only alive thanks to my husband who has an uncanny ability to water plants when they need it.

Here is a teaser for you....


This is my favorite Poinsettia. The ants are on the attack but it still looks beautiful.

Father day gift ideas

I have been surfing the net trying to work out what I should get my Dad for Fathers Day. I will likely end up giving him food or clothes because he doesn't need anything else.

This item which was on the suggestion list from a reputable Ozzie online store made me laugh.
It is a USB pole dancer. She swings around the pole when you plug it into you computer.

I can NOT imagine giving this to my Dad.

Joseph and the A mazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

We went to see Joesph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Tuesday night and it was AWESOME! Absolutely Brilliant performances by Joesph and the Narrator. And the front row seats made us so close to the action.

We had a really wonderful night and spent the whole trip home singing in the car.



In fact once we got home I watched another production on youtube until I was too tired to keep my eyes open. And the next day at work I was humming " there is one more angel in heaven..." all day long. It must have driven my work mates made - but they were nice enough not to mention it.

The Towel Incident of 2009

As I have posted previously I recently hired a cleaner. And the cleaner has been great, it has been wonderful knowing that the house is clean and the dust is being attended to.

(I am sure you know by now there is a but coming... )

BUT.....

Today I came home to find my FAVORITE TOWELS have bleach marks on them.

I am devastated! I know that seems like a severe response to some towels being ruined but there is a story behind why they are my favorite towels.

Towel Story: When Tom and I were dating (many years ago now) I gave Tom a very expensive blue Country Road towel as a present. Thinking back that seems like a odd gift for a guy...but moving right along.... The following year he gave me the same towel as a present. I actually thought that he had just given me exactly the same towel back but he hadn't. Tom had bought another of the towels so that we each had one. It was so that one day we would have a set. And when we got married and started living together they became a set. So you can see why they are precious to me.

Now, I hope, you can better understand my angst at finding them destroyed. I actually feel a little bit sick about it - I am a hopeless romantic after all.

The worst part is that I don't really know what to do about it.

Should I fire the cleaner? NB This is currently my preferred option.

Should I call him and tell him what happened as ask him to be more careful in future? The cleaner did ask us to tell him if there were any issues but what is he going to do about it? the towels are destroyed now and do I really want to keep a cleaner who has to be told not to bleach my things? Surely that goes without saying.

Also three shirts of mine which were in the washing basket in the bathroom got bleach on them a few weeks ago. I thought that Tom or I must have done it but now I suspect that it was more likely the cleaner.

Any tips on firing hired help?

Safari Style: A lesson in commitment

I like the idea of fancy dress parties but as I always leave me costume until the last minute I rarely go to a lot of effort. Recently we went to a birthday party with a safari theme. I was very impressed at the trouble some people when to in their costumes. The level of commitment was extreme.

These guys took three hours to paint all the visible skin on their bodies with black body paint. They looked great and I was impressed that they still looked like this at the end of the night. I did wonder if there was black paint on the seats of their car......


And these two spend even longer applying their body paint because it needed to be layered.


Tom and I were less committed with our Irwin inspired numbers.

Review: NY Art in BrisVegas

On Saturday, amongst one thousand social engagements, we visited the Queensland Art Gallery to see the "American Impressionism & Realism: A Landmark Exhibition from the Met".

It was wonderful. We went through the exhibition twice and stopped for lunch in the gallery cafe in between.

I really like this style of painting and the way light was captured in three or four painting was truly amazing! My favorite section was the portraits. There were some great painting and several interesting stories to go with them. We didn't stick with the tour that was happening while we were there but we did listen in from time to time.

One of the highlights was the painting below. It was commissioned as a wedding gift for the couple pictured and was originally going to be of the woman and her dog. But the dog didn't make it so the artist included her husband instead. Interesting.....


John Singer Sargent | 1856–1925 | Mr and Mrs IN Phelps Stokes 1897 | Oil on canvas | 214 x 101cm (84 1/4 x 39 3/4in.) Bequest of Edith Minturn Phelps Stokes (Mrs IN), 1938 | 38.104 | Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York | Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art



















If you have the means I would highly recommend seeing this exhibition.

Ticket addiction

Addiction: an obsession, compulsion, or excessive psychological dependence

I have an addiction to buying tickets.

It makes bus rides fun.......no just kidding I don't mean that kind of tickets.

I am addicted to buy theatre tickets. The problem stems from the set up of the qtix website. I have worked out how to get really good seats to see shows. So from time to time I log onto the website to see if there are any good seats available and when I find there are I am inclined to buy them. It is a kind of expensive habit actually.

I had a quick "session" the other night. As a result we have front row tickets to see Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in a few weeks. I am really looking forward to it. We saw it earlier in the year and it was really excellent - but we weren't as close to the front. It will be interesting to see if being so close to the action improves the performance - probably not but we are going now anyway.We are also going to see a play by the Melbourne theatre company at the begining of Septemeber.

But I really must stop looking at the website. It is to tempting and I am addicted!

Forced Spring Clean

I never really understood the idea of spring cleaning. My mum didn't ever really seem to do it - or if she did I certainly was not involved.

I was speaking with an Eastern European friend of mine recently and she told me about the huge spring clean her family would do every year which included removing all furniture from every room of the house and cleaning all the furniture and all the rooms thoroughly - including washing the walls and repainting them with lime, and washing ever square inch of fabric by hand. It sounded like a lot of hard work but I suppose the social structure which had the entire extended family living together helped ensure there were enough hands to get it all done.

Last weekend my darling husband Tom was sick, with a chest infection and a horrendous cough. I was happy to put up with it keeping me awake all night but he insisted (bless him) on leaving me in peace in our room and sleeping in the spare room.

This sounded like a great idea but no one had slept in the spare room, which doubles as my study, for ....well...years. I decided that before he could sleep there I needed to clean the room.

I started with the pillow slips, sheets, mattress protector, doona and doona cover. They didn't all fit in the wash so I did two loads. Meanwhile I assessed the condition of the pillows and decided that even the poor probably didn't want them - they were very old, possibily mine from childhood - and so I threw them in the bin. Or more accurately I put them on the front porch in the hope that Tom would put them in the bin.

Now is a good time to mention I am allergic to dust. The spare room was VERY dusty.

Anyway, I put the bedding in the dryer (I have no clothes line and they did't fit on the airers) and made a start on the rest of the room. After some intense vacumming I decided that I was going to by a dyson and that my $30 vacuum cleaner, which was purchased when I left home in 2001, is useless. The room was a bit cleaner.

I moved the mattress out into the sun after giving it a good vacuum. I am not sure how I hoped this would help the mattress which is older than I am but I am sure it didn't hurt - perhaps the fresh air did it some good?

Then I started with the Glen 20. When I finished the first can I went to the shops and bought some more. Then I started again. I cleaned the walls with antibacterial wipes and opened all the windows in the room to let the fresh air in.

By the time I noticed the blinds needed cleaning I was completely over it. So I put the room back together, spraying Glen 20 over every layer as it went down, and did a final vacuum of the floor. And finally my forced spring clean of one room in my seven room house was completed. I think perhaps I should be more diligent in future with maintaining the cleaniness of the rooms I don't use everyday because if I have to do that every year it would drive me nuts!

LDHBE

I vaguely remember committing to posting a photo of my new short hair some time back. I have finally made time to do it.

This is what I look like at the moment.

It is subject to change without notice.....

TV Time

I don't have much time for TV.

I could watch hours of it but I do work full time and study so I don't indulge in it very often. Usually the times I do watch tv is when I travel for work and when Tom and I watch tv series.

Watching tv series is great! Earlier in the year we watched the X-Files from start to finish - All 9 seasons. It is great to see the characters develop and watch the way different writers and directors impact the episodes. Watching them all together highlighted lots of trends - like everytime someone took over Mulder's body or life (this happened quite a lot) they would always try to seduce Scully. Or how every serial killer wanted to kill Scully - I forget how many times she was kidnapped or attacked in her appartment. Luckliy Mulder always arrived in time to save Scully from seducution (and the serial killers).

Currently we are watching Midsomer Murders. My favorite is the main character - Detective Chief Inspector Tom Barnaby, although I am fond of his wife Joyce too. The 13th season of the show is playing in the UK this year and each episode goes for an hour and a half so it is a big cmmittment to watch them all. So far we are up to season 5.

We also recently watched all of Scrubs, Arrested Development, How I met your mother and are always up to date with Top Gear.

The beauty of watching series to tv shows is that a) there are NO ADS, b) you can watch them whenever it is convient for you and c) stop and start them anytime.

Golden Key

Well it turns out that being academically brilliant has advantages, I have been invited to join the Golden Key International Honour Society.

I had not heard of the Society before so I immediately imagined that they all get dressed up in club colours and drink Port. Which, quite frankly, sounds great.

On further investigation though it seems this is a society which aims to provide opportunities for its members to gain skills to help them get jobs. As the website attests "Member benefits range from scholarships and development opportunities to jobs and internships. Through Golden Key, members are empowered with tools to help them realize their potential."

After reading through the website thoroughly I think they should rename the society "Overachievers Anonymous" and there should be a 12 step program to help these poor people with study/life balance. I notice that none of the people they hold up on pedestals make any mention of family or children. I doubt anyone who is member will ever understand the joy of leaving work at 5 pm and letting every thought of work leave your brain as you exit the building. It is truly a wonderful thing and the more you get paid, the harder it is to achieve.

Anyway, I have decided that the Golden Key is not for me. Mostly because it is really aimed at school leavers who are undertaking tertiary study and need an edge to get a job after finishing their study. And by the looks of it if that is the purpose people join for it is probably well worthwhile. The reality is though, that I am not 17 and I already have a job, so for me this invitation to join is not the Golden Opportunity they claim.

Domestic Bliss

After thinking about it, talking about it and googling it for years I have finally got a cleaner.
Working full time and traveling twice a month plus studying law and keeping my house tidy and clean is unsustainable. I am great at the tidy part but not brilliant at cleaning. In my defense I am allergic to both dust and bathroom mold. But if I am honest I just hate cleaning. I am good if I am in the mood but I am not in the mood very often.

So my wonderful husband organised a cleaner to come once a fortnight for the very reasonable price of $49. I think that is pretty good value. I do feel bad for spending the money on it though, when it could be going towards our huge mortgage or something more worthwhile like food. You will be pleased to know that despite this guilt I am pushing through and having the cleaner anyway because I don't think having my house paid off sooner will really be very meaningful if I go insane with stress anyway.

There is another component to having a domestic helper. I feel that as a woman and as I wife I am not fulfilling my role properly. And despite the whole gender equality thing we pretend to have going on I still feel like the home is my responsibility and I am failing by not being able to care for it myself. I feel guilty that I have to pay someone else to help me. But again you will be pleased to know that I am working through this guilt and having the cleaner come anyway. But I do feel bad.

And Yes if you must know I did clean a little before the cleaner came. I know I know. There is no need to say it!

Dominoes

Reading my last post makes me laugh.

The new job I started didn't last for very long. We underwent a restructure at work which meant the person whose job I was doing came back much sooner than expected. And that meant that I only had three weeks in the job instead of three months. Very amusing considering how nervous I was about starting it - I need not have worried.

Essentially what happened is that someone higher up the chain from me came back from leave expectantly and so the business had to be reshuffled to give them something to do. This caused a whole host of people to be returned to the jobs they actually own and I was at the very end of that little chain of dominoes.
It was heartening, after being told that I wasn't needed any further, that my boss said "YES!!" like she had won the lotto when I told her I was returning to her team. It is nice to be loved.

New job nerves

Tomorrow I start a new job. One I haven't done before.

It is a good opportunity for me and a move up career-wise.

BUT I was really enjoying the job I was doing and I am a bit sad about leaving it. There are so many things that I have been working on that will remain unfinished or more specifically I have to trust to someone else to finish.

AND I was part of a really great team and was loving working with them all.

Although I know it will be fine in a few weeks BUT right now I am nervous about it. I want it to go well and I hope that I can do a good job and that the new team will be fun to work with and respect me for my skills.

A moment

Tonight as I was walking through the Queen Street mall I saw a fabulous orange coat in the window at Cue....then I remembered that I can't wear orange.....how could I have forgotten that?

Melbourne

I was in Melbourne this week for work. The work part all went well although I ended up with more action items than I would have liked. And the shopping went well too.

Melbourne is one of my favorite shopping destinations, certainly my favorite in Australia. This time I focus mainly on Melbourne Central and Myer.

The Melbourne City Myer is a bit of a rabbit's warren and I became completely disorientated and lost both times I visited. I suppose if you were accustomed to shopping there it would be ok and you could probably navigate it effectively. But I am not accustomed to shopping there and as a result spent the whole time I was shopping there feeling quite lost.

Melbourne Central was great. There was such a good variety of shops. I bought a denim skirt from Espirt which is very cute. I got Tom a nice business shirt from Industrie which, kudos to me, fit perfectly.

Review: National Portrait Gallery

After working a 12 hour day on Tuesday I flew to Canberra early Wednesday morning for a full day of meetings. As luck would have it I was able to finish my work early and by 3:30 pm I had met with everyone I needed to, dropped by all my friends in the Canberra Office and discussed every possible report with every possible person. As my colleague had hired a car for the day we decided to go to the national portrait gallery in Parkes which is a suburb very close to Parliament House in Canberra.

Visiting the portrait gallery was a very enjoyable experience.

The building is very new and quite beautiful. It has sharp model lines and architecture but inside is warm and inviting. I was particularly taken with the bathroom and took several photos of the vanity units which I would like to use when we renovate our house.

The portraits in the gallery ranged in medium, size and shape. There were photos, sculptures, painting that looked like people and paintings that looked like blobs that represented people. I was asked in next day which was my favorite and couldn't think of any. But some of my highlights would be Princess Mary, John and Jeanette Howard, Justice Kirby and some of the Indigenous portraits.















One of the best things about the gallery was the descriptions of the person in each portrait. I think they were designed to make the reader interested in the person and to inspire the reader to follow up and find out more about the person. They achieved this by combining odd facts in short sentences without much flow or explanation.

One of the classics was " she had 5 remarkable children". This was confusing to me and I had no idea if the lady in question had 20 children of whom 5 were remarkable or if she had only 5 children all of whom were remarkable.

Another description explained the way the subject had died - "he shot himself in the back of the house". I must admit I thought the last word in the sentence was going to be head and had to read the sentence again just to make sure. Why is where is the house he shot himself part of a one paragraph summary about him? How is that in any way important?

I wondered what they would write next to my portrait. I suggest the following:

Long Dark Hair Blue Eyes (1979 - ) This oil on canvas painting of the much loved public servant was painted in 2003 after her first year in office. Inspired by Elizabeth of Bavaria, Long Dark Hair was not painted or photographed after her 30th birthday, making this image of her the most recent. She is best know for her ability to remember song lyrics and write odd blog posts.

Big decisions

(No Givinya, this is not about your dream)

We recently decided that we will renovate our house. While we have been considering and planning toward it for years now the decision to go ahead with a specific plan has really only been made recently.

It is exciting to know that we are going ahead with our plans and that the house that looks so good on paper will soon be a reality.

There is lots of little things left to happen before the building starts, including:

• soil testing
• surveying
• finalising plans with engineering stuff
• moving out to enable renovation
• moving in with in-laws
• choosing tiles, windows, doors, etc etc

So far we have

• finalised the architectural drawings
• chosen a builder
  
• removed the massive Jacaranda tree from the front yard that would have been in the way of the drive way

Before the Jacaranda was cut down. It was almost three times the size of our house...


And after it was removed...

suddenly the house seems small.

Anyway, I am sure there will be more renovation related posts in the future. It seems like the sort of stressful expensive project that will create some great blog fodder. :)

The novel

I love to read. I love to enjoy a good story that gets me thinking and introduces me to interesting characters and situations. I have been trying to cut down on the amount I read while I am studying but once I start a book I can't stop reading until it is finished (unless I don't like it of course). My attempt to read less has been wholly unsuccessful.

All the reading I have been doing has got me thinking about writing a novel. I have thought about it a few times before and really like the idea. I don't have a particular story that I want to capture. I would have to think of one before I started because I don't think I could make it up as I go along.

I had an interesting dream last night which would have made the basis for a great novel. When I woke up this morning I thought wow what a great dream - that would be a good book. I then proceeded with my day and have completely forgotten what the dream was about. I tried hard to remember. My ipod is flat so I spent 20 minutes on the bus home tonight trying to remember what had happened - but to no avail.

Perhaps I will sleep with a pen and paper on my bedside table tonight.

Pure torture

Details of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" used by the US have been in the news this week. It is so awful that this sort of treatment would be accepted and acceptable by such a large influential nation such as America. Although I am sure there are many people in America who are horrified by the news.

I find it unacceptable that one person could treat another person in such a way.

But it seems that this is the way that the world views people who have made big mistakes. Even in Australia peoples rights are taken away if they do something wrong (break the law). For example, prisoners in for longer than three years lose their right to vote in elections during that period.

I think it is sad that society spends so much time and effort punishing law breakers and such little effort in trying to re-rehabilitate people. I mean what good does forcing someone to go to prison do? If it was meant as a disincentive to commit a crime in the first place then clearly that is not working because prison populations continue to increase. Current Australian laws give judges very little discretion when it come to sentencing - many crimes now have mandatory prison time.

I realise that rehabilitation programs do exist and that some have success with offenders - especially young offenders. However I would prefer to see a system that better recognised and addressed the issue behind the offense rather than focusing on punishment.

Gone but not forgotten

I did it.

I cut 20 cm off my hair. Thats right. 20. cm.

I don't think I can really call myself LDHBE anymore but I am going to go with it anyway.

I have short hair now - and it seems to be very curly. Those who know me IRL will know that this is a regular 18 month to 2 yearly event, so I wasn't stressed out or upset by it like some people expected me to be.

I have to admit though that I can barely keep my hand off it. It is like have a new toy!

Soapy

This post is all about embarrassment - mine!

It all started with my last coles online grocery order. For those of your who have not used this service - with each order you receive a couple of free testers for you to try. Usually these are new products or trial size packs of things they hope you will buy next time. I have had terriaki sauce, olay moisturiser, breakfast cereal and other similar things in previous orders.

In my last order I got a free sample of Dove moisturiser to try. It looked really nice so I have been saving it for when my skin is dry. Last night was my chance. I had been swimming in the local public pool and there was LOTS of chlorine in the water which had made my skin a bit dry. So after my shower and before I went to sleep last night I sat down on the bed in my PJs and rubbed the moisturiser into my arms and legs.

Except that it wasn't moisturiser. It was body wash. Soap.

It knew immediately that it wasn't right but I had already spread it onto both arms and legs. So embarrassed and quite soapy I slowly made my way to the bathroom, trying not to get "body wash" on my PJs. Irritated beyond words by that stage I stubbornly refused to have a second shower and wiped the soap off with a hand towel.

To be fair to the dove product which has 1/4 moisturiser - it didn't dry my skin out any more than it already was. And it did smell very nice. But I won't be buying it in my next order.

Newsworthy

The local paper in Brisbane is truly horrendous so I have taken to reading the Sydney papers - they are a much better quality and have actual news not just human interest stories about pet mice who can surf. I know that sounds like it was a joke but that was actually in the news here last year.

It is sad that a city of 1.8 million people can't support one decent newspaper.

The news at the moment is particularly ordinary because of the state election due to be held this Saturday. I am quite tired of the political adverting. I had decided who I would vote for before the election was even called so it is not affecting my vote, although it is affecting my temper.

In addition to the normal political criticisms and banter there have been some very risque photos of one the more ordinary female candidates in "various stages of undress". Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to buy these for $15,000 and put them on the front page of the paper?

In my illness

I had the flu this week and was quite quite miserable.

I started feeling sick last week if I am honest - which I wasn't with myself. So by Tuesday I was really sick. I went through three full boxes of aloe vera tissues in one day. I felt so terrible all I wanted to eat was special K.

But today finally I am starting to feel like I am on the mend. The tap that is my nose has finally turned off, my eyes have stopped watering and that wonderful hot/cot sensation has finally gone.

To celebrate I have done a few loads of washing. Oh the fun. How can I contain myself?

Spaghetti Bolognaise: A question

Why does Spaghetti Bolognaise always taste better a few days later than it does the day I make it? That hardly seems fair.

Back to the grindstone

I have started back at uni.

This means a few things.

1. I am having trouble finding time to wash the clothes, clean the house, make the food, shop, etc
2. I am stressed
3. I am keeping myself under close supervision to ensure I don't get too stressed.

But apart from the occasional insanity it is going well. I am not ahead in the work by any means but I am keeping up with it so far and I am certainly better prepared to deal with working full time and studying this year than last because now I know what it is like.

For those who don't know I am studying law, because... I can.

Tuna Risotto Balls with creamy vegetables

I made up a new dish last week - Tuna Risotto Balls with creamy vegetables. It was really quite nice although the risotto balls could have done with a bit more tuna in them. Here is the recipe if you are interested.

Tuna risotto balls

2 cups cooked long grain white rice
1 tin flaked tuna (I used a small tine but would recommend using a large one)
2 tablespoons organic tomato paste

mix ingredients together and shape into balls. Place on tray and set in fridge for 1 hour. Then bake in moderate oven for 20 minutes.

Creamy vegetables

carrot
broccoli
1 tin chicken soup

Cook vegetables and soup and then stir together. Serve with tuna risotto balls.