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Yes we are both still alive! It was C’s birthday on the 2nd of August, which took a fair bit of prep, as we had his dad and stepmum over to a three course dinner that I cooked. Yep three courses, plus little coffee meringues for afters. I was shattered by the time it was over, but it was worth it – C had a great night. As the 2nd was a Tuesday, I then had to struggle through the rest of the week at work knackered, but it was a good evening.
On the third, we lost both internet and phone connectivity. Thanks Telstra! We’re iinet naked DSL customers, and it appears one of Telstra’s techs just stole our line for a new customer in the area :O This shit amazes me. It’s anti-competitive behaviour, as far as I’m concerned. Anyhow, we didn’t get a connection back for nearly a week and a half. Pretty stressful as C was on call for a week during that period. Luckily for the first time in forever, he didn’t actually get called on the entire week. This is just about a miracle.
LIfe has been going pretty well generally. We’re finding the properties are all behaving themselves, which is nice. We had people move out on Friday and for some reason, I washed all the linen like I was possessed. Not really sure why, as we didn’t have anyone due to move in to that property. Anyhow, wouldn’t you know it, I got a call and long story short, we did end up with people moving in on Saturday. I’m SO glad I got that linen all sorted out. How’s that for lucky?! They’re there for a minimum of three months, which is great. Next couple of turnovers will be happening at the beginning of September, so no rest for the wicked here.
Work is also going well – my boss P has asked me to put in for a permanent position. This is a good indicator. Mind you, I am pretty good 😉 I know he likes the work I do, plus the fact I can adapt reasonably easily. These two factors definitely count in my favour.
Firstly, YAY CADEL! I’m so proud <sniff> <wipes tear away>
Another good day. Ironed two business shirts for C, cleaned both bathrooms, changed linen on both beds, and finished off the laundry, including some white towels I bleached, so they’re actually white again. C vacuumed the house and even wanted to sort out the front room (our ‘crap room’) until I had to tell him his birthday presents were in there, unwrapped. I ended up wrapping them and even started cleaning up the loose paperwork that was in that room. Baby steps, baby steps.
I had lots of naps and also spent lots of quality time with the cat. She’s spending all her time with us now, and sleeping in her box we’ve given her every night. She’s such a darling. Even C has completely fallen under her spell. On the way home from work, the topic of discussion inevitably ends up being, will the cat be there when we get home? She usually is. Coincidentally we do normally feed her not long after we get home, but I prefer to think she likes to see us as well 😀
We have two turnovers this week, one mid-week (move out Tuesday, move in Wednesday). I’m going to see if I can take a day of annual leave on Wednesday, which will make things a lot easier.
Lots has been happening. Specifically, my little brother got married a couple of weeks ago. It went perfectly. He and his other half had asked me to do a reading, which I was happy to do. We gave them a lovely card, and a healthy cheque. I had already asked them what they wanted, and they’d replied money, which we were happy to go with.
The properties are all behaving themselves, although somehow it’s happened that they’re now all falling vacant at the same time. This isn’t an issue in terms of money, as I allow a fair buffer; but it does make doing turnovers HELL. Nothing like cleaning four 2-bedroom apartments in one weekend, plus preparing all the paperwork for the new tenants! Sucky doesn’t begin to describe it. Oh well.
I have been crook for the last two weeks. Some kind of flu bug, despite the fact I did get the flu injection a couple of months ago. It really knocked me around and I’m still not feeling 100% by any means. I actually had today off, even though I was back at work this week, as I woke up feeling crap, with a sore throat and earache. Still, I did get a few things done – all the laundry, plus cleaned both bathrooms. It makes for a good start to the weekend.
This has been a good weekend. We had my brother and his fiancee over to dinner last night, to celebrate his birthday. We’d normally go to Mum and J’s place, but they’re over east, and as my brother’s only sibling I felt like it would be nice if I did something. So C and I spent all day cleaning, I cooked roast beef and vegies, and it all went so well they didn’t leave until 1am! C and I were zonked! But it was a great night, and my brother appreciated it, which was lovely 🙂
As a result of such a busy day and late night, I spent most of today sleeping – I was just shattered. I had two naps, both about three hours long, and I only felt normal when I woke up from the second nap at about 6pm tonight. And I won’t have any problems sleeping tonight, either. Being tired is the key trigger for my depression, and I’ve learned that ridiculous amounts of sleep for normal people are sometimes necessary for me to keep functioning.
And tonight, after dinner, C asked me if I’d like to go down south next week, for five nights. (We have a week of leave but we hadn’t made any specific plans for it.) Of course I said yes, so he booked it online. We’re going to a place called Harmony Forest in Margaret River, which is beautiful and isolated. We actually got married there so it has lots of good memories for us both 🙂 So that will make our week off work extra special. I’m looking forward to it already.
Life is good. It’s a long weekend this weekend, which means that I get to have a nap three days in a row, yay! And C found out yesterday that he got his job that he’d applied for. It’s with the same organisation and he’s been acting in it for ages, but he actually will be properly appointed to it now, which is fantastic. He’d been grumpy ever since the interview for it about three weeks ago, but now he (and I) can relax 🙂 To celebrate, we’re going out to dinner tonight to a local italian restaurant. And he might even get lucky 😉 [okay sorry tmi there]
We’ve been contacted by someone who wants to rent our properties for a few different periods over the next couple of years. It’ll be interesting to see if this works out or not. There’s nothing like assured rental income to make property owners relax.
I’m so relaxed I’m even planning to cook a roast beef dinner tomorrow night. I bought a lovely piece of topside today, and it was even on special – $5 off the marked price. Not bad! I still need to pick up the vegies but our local greegrocer is open seven days a week, so I don’t need to go out again today if I don’t want to. Mmm I love roast beef and vegies – possibly my favourite dinner.
On that cheerful note, I need to hang out laundry. A woman’s work, etc etc.
I’ve been so slack, not keeping up with my blog. Naughty me. To be honest there’s been so much going on, I’ve been spending a lot of time sleeping. (big surprise there, I’m sure!) All the properties are going well – nice tenants who pay on time and look after them – so they’re all okay for the moment. My new job is great, I’m settling in really well and very happy. I’m hoping they’ll want to extend my contract or maybe even offer permanency, so fingers crossed. I just cannot imagine ever getting stressed doing this kind of work. C has noticed that I’m a lot happier too, which has made him happier as a bonus side effect.
Speaking of C, he’s been called in to work tonight. Lots of important stuff going on and they decided they HAD to have him in. He got the call early afternoon, and I just spoke to him – he should be home in an hour or so. That’s about seven hours of overtime. Looks like somebody will be able to make an extra mortgage payment this week 🙂
I’m slowly reconnecting with friends. Even though I’m tired after work, I still have more energy and inclination to see people I haven’t seen for a while, including some of my good friends from high school. That’s been really nice so far.
I’ve had a falling out with my mother. She rang me up and berated me for being a horrible daughter, the day after she had us over for my birthday dinner. I didn’t know what to say (and in fact I still don’t) and when I recounted the conversation to C, he couldn’t believe it. So I’m basically not worrying about keeping in touch. It’s not like ‘Oh, I’m not speaking to her’, it’s just that when she gets like this anything I say makes it worse, so I’m basically just laying low and not calling or emailing her voluntarily. Much less stressful that way. It’ll all sort itself out eventually.
So, it’s 2011. What wonderful and amazing things will this brave new world present to us? If I had my way, one of them would be an ironing lady or man. I’m not fussy about the gender, just how well they can iron C’s work shirts. 😉
My birthday was on the 30th. It seems hard to believe I’m 34 and still getting pimples. Surely that can’t be right?! C spoiled me by making me breakfast in bed – real coffee and crumpets with golden syrup. Yum, my favourite. 😀 He gave me a fitness program thingy for my wii, which is a lot of fun and very addictive. He also got me a couple of mangoes, my absolute favourite thing in the whole world. There’s been floods recently in mango growing areas of Australia (especially Queensland and the north of Western Australia) so the prices have gone to astronomical heights, so he spared no expense for his middle aged wife. Now that’s true love. Stuff diamonds. You can’t eat jewellery, and besides, I have heaps that I just don’t wear. I’m so not a jewellery or makeup girl, much to my mother’s disappointment.
We spent New Year’s Eve with our friends G and V, who were the only guests we invited to our wedding. We had a thoroughly good time, very sedate (although champagne was drunk), and managed to get home by around 2am. For some bizarre reason I woke up at 6:30am, so I got up, fed the cat and gave her some pats, did a couple of things in the kitchen, then fell back into bed.
When I resurfaced I ended up going to our latest vacant apartment to do some work. There’s some leaking in the shower which is coming through to the hallway wall (the other side) which has made the paint bubble and peel. C has said he’s not doing any more renos this year, so we’re going to get the shower sealed. This is expensive, but worth it. So other than scraping the peeling paint off the wall (and looking horrified at the mould) I scrubbed down the stove and the kitchen cupboard next to the stove. There were four bachelor guys living in the property, and while they did clean it, it’s not in a fit state to just hand over to the next lot of tenants. We will have to paint throughout, for example. Still, it’s all fairly manageable, given our next tenants are due to arrive on 26 January.
Well here we are. Tonight is the night that Santa visits boys and girls and leaves them presents, if they’ve been good all year. Or if they’ve been born into a first world country with an economically stable family life.
I have finished all my christmas shopping. C isn’t getting anything spectacularly amazing this year – mostly clothes and various bits and pieces – but as he was asking me today at 11am what I wanted, I don’t feel too bad. His dad and stepmum are sorted out, as are my Mum and J, her other half. So now all we have to do is survive the family bombardment.
I hope that you are all safe and happy this festive season. Look after yourselves, and each other.
I grew up with pets – dogs, guinea pigs (cavies), canaries. I’m used to having them around, feeding them, worming them, and their general company. C on the other hand never had pets. The most he had was his dad and stepmum looked after a couple of stray cats. Apart from being asthmatic, he’s allergic to dog and cat dander (and probably everything else, too), so having one ourselves is impractical.
However we seem to have ‘found’ a pet cat. She’s actually next door’s cat. They do look after her, but she’s one of four or five others, and in the five years we’ve been living here, we’ve never heard the owners actually talk to or make a fuss of any of them. As a result, she spends a lot of time with us.
First thing in the morning, she appears at our back door, meowling for some attention. I usually go outside and pat her while drinking my morning coffee. Then I give her half a tiny can of tuna (she’s pretty skinny – while I’m sure they do feed her at home, I think the older cat, who is fat, eats his share and hers as well). C might come out and throw the ball around for her a few times – she chases it and pounces on it, she thinks it’s the best game ever.
After work, she comes over again and has a pat or twenty from me, then plays with C and the ball, and may get some dry cat biscuits afterwards. We’ve got to the point now where we can tell if she’s hungry (rather than just wanting food, which is different) so we don’t automatically feed her all the time.
She’s such a darling 😀 She’s probably about ten months old now, and she definitely loves us back.
Yes, it’s true. I am still alive. Despite suffering from colds, flus, conjunctivitis, strep throat, two weddings, and two renovations – I have survived. I’m now doing my best to avoid getting unwell in any way shape or form. Every morning, I have two prozac tablets, one multivitamin, one iron tablet (ferretin), and one probiotic, all washed down with double-strength Berocca. It doesn’t taste particularly flash, especially as the licorice flavour of the prozac tablets goes nastily with the Berocca, but I don’t care. I will survive until January, festive season stresses be damned.
Otherwise, all is well. C and I are finally doing some cleaning around our own house, for a change. It’s so good. We still have heaps to go, but very slowly, we’re getting there. Today, for example, C is hanging up three pictures in our bedroom. They were a present for my 30th birthday. As an indicator, I’m turning 34 in a couple of weeks. Better late than never 😉
I even saw my mum today. She was in good form. We trekked around her local shopping centre, alternately amused and horrified by the marauding Christmas-shopping crowds. We got a few things done – I helped her with presents for C and myself, plus a few other family members, and we had some quality time together gossiping. Plus, I finally got to see her wedding photos. After that I went and saw my granny (on my mum’s side) and sat next to her, smiling, as she mumbled who-knows-what for an hour. Fortunately other family members appeared, which broke up the monotony a bit.
As soon as C is finished hanging the pictures, I’m planning on a nice long afternoon nap. 😀
a life half lived 