various happenings

Lots has been going on.  Most importantly, my friend L and her husband had a baby boy last Monday!  I didn’t find out until Thursday morning, when L’s sister M sent me an email with some pictures.  L had an emergency caesarian, but apparently it went okay.  The baby is adorable, at least according to the pictures.  I wanted to go and visit, but L’s having problems with breastfeeding, so I said I’d wait until things have settled down a bit.

I managed to have a minor prang on the weekend.  Long story short, I backed into SO’s dad’s trailer.  Yay me.  I spent the rest of the afternoon alternately crying and sleeping.  Hey, crying is tiring.  Fortunately SO assures me he still loves me.  There isn’t any damage to the trailer, and the car is still relatively okay (and definitely fine to drive) which is good.  It definitely put a blight on the weekend though.

In work news, I had somebody come to see me today to complain about a senior manager taking credit for their work.  They have the sent email and everything, which had their own work attached to it.  The doc that went up to the head of the organisation had someone else’s name on it, and that’s the version on file.  This person is really upset, needless to say.  What I can do about it, I don’t know.

assorted

It’s been a good week. I haven’t needed anti-anxiety drugs since Wednesday, even though I delivered training yesterday to a group of employees.  And of course, Wednesday was our anniversary   I got SO a leather wallet by Hugo Boss, and he got me a rose bush.  Not just any rose bush – it’s called Petrona.  How’s that for smooth?!  Plus I got a beautiful card and a gorgeous flower arrangement at work, which everyone admired.  I’m a very lucky girl.

It’ll be a relatively busy weekend.  I’m looking after Mum’s dog, as she and J are away at the moment.  I’ll be dropping the dog off to Mum’s friend tomorrow, so it’s a temporary arrangement only.  Other than that, I need to get some descaling stuff to our tenants with the washing machine problem, and I’m meeting up with my friend S on Sunday for croissants and coffee.  Yum.

update

Yes, I’ve been MIA again. There was a good reason – SO and I were in Victoria.  We spent three days in Ballarat, and three in Melbourne. 

We were in Ballarat to catch up with my lovely friend M, the single mum of three kids under five.  (Just pause and think about that for a moment.)  She recently turned 30 and had a bash to celebrate.  We normally wouldn’t travel for something like that, but with the divorce over the last year or so, she’s had a hell of a time and we wanted to see her.  Anyhow, it was wonderful catching up with her and the offspring, all of whom are completely adorable.  She was so happy that we came over, too.  She told me that after she dropped us off at the train station to go to Melbourne, she had what she called ‘a sook’.  Poor darling, it would be so good if she were closer to us, but Ballarat is where her family is, and they help her out with the kids more than we would.

So yes, after Ballarat we went on to Melbourne.

rentals, rentals, and other stuff

It’s Thursday night already!  Where has the week gone?!

As per usual, it’s been a busy one.  Monday night we had an annual general meeting for one of our groups of units.  It was a good meeting, we got a quorum, and we decided on some capital works projects for the coming financial year.  We have a good group of owners in this block, which is good to see – all very concerned with maintaining the building appropriately.  That went from 6pm to 7:30pm, so it was basically straight after work.

After the meeting, I went to our just-vacated unit and did a clean.

feeling amazingly good

I have to say, I feel absolutely fantastic today.  I was sitting here trying to work out why, and I think I can pin it down to the 15 hours’ sleep I’ve had in the last 24 hours.  Oh well, it was obviously much needed!  SO and I had our flu injections on Thursday night, and since then I’ve been feeling a bit ordinary – heavy eyed, runny nose, sore throat.  The doc did say that we may feel a bit crap for a few days, even though the injection is inactive, and I guess he’s right.

I forgot to mention that last Sunday, when we had our friends’ wedding, was also our fifth anniversary of our first date.  It just doesn’t seem like five years.  Where on earth has the time gone?!  As with most anniversaries of significant occasions, it got me thinking.  We are so very happy, I can’t think of anything that I’d change.  (Apart from SO cooking, that would be great, but that’s relatively minor in the scheme of things.)  I can’t imagine life without him, and I know he feels the same about me.  We are so very lucky to have found each other.

Anyhow, as it’s not our wedding anniversary, I didn’t do anything, but when SO did the food shopping on Saturday, he bought me flowers:

Awwwww. 

Yes, so things are going well for me at the moment.  Life is good. 

I have the house to myself at the moment.  SO has gone out with a couple of his mates to go bike riding.  He’s getting a bit concerned about his weight lately, so when he found out a couple of guys from work do this every Saturday, he was keen to join in.  As a result, I’ve had some ‘me time’ today.  ‘Me time’ has resulted in both toilets and bathrooms being cleaned, the bedsheets changed and washed, dishes done, and most of the laundry washed and hung out.  On reflection, it sounds more like ‘house time’ than me time, but hey, it’s stuff I like to have done so I can then forget about it.  But yes, it’s half past ten in the morning, and most of my weekend stuff is sorted.  This means I’ll be able to fit in a nap this afternoon – my favourite pastime.  Woohoo!

assorted blahblah

Wow, Wednesday night already! 

The weekend was good.  We had a wedding on Sunday, which resulted in us taking public transport home, and much stumbling on my part.  I blame that tenth champagne.  Monday (which was a public holiday) was spent in bed, feeling like I’d been kicked in the stomach by a donkey.  Otherwise, no harm done.

Some fantastic news – my friend M confessed that she’s eight weeks pregnant.  She actually told me at the reception, when I picked she wasn’t drinking.  After what happened last year, I’m just over the moon.  And as M said, she and her sister L will be having their babies at the same time, which will be a great support for both of them.  So that was an extra reason to celebrate.

This week has been beyond busy.  I’m doing my Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment, which will enable me to formally deliver registered training packages.  It’s dry, fairly boring, and a lot of work.  Bad combination.  We have to do a 15 minute talk on Friday.  Basically we have to teach the group something.  I wouldn’t say I’m dreading it, but certainly I’m not looking forward to it.  Plus, I haven’t started actually preparing it yet.  I suspect I’m going to be doing a rush job tomorrow night.

another sunday

Here it is, Sunday afternoon already.   Where on earth did the weekend go?!  We did sleep in today, admittedly; but then we made up for it.  The kitchen and both bathrooms are clean, the bedsheets changed and washed, and about six loads of laundry have been done.  Oh, and dinner is already slowly simmering away in the oven.  Meat and veg casserole – cheap, tastes good, easy to make, reheats beautifully.  It’s just about the perfect dish, especially for somebody with my limited interest in food.

Yesterday was a busy day.  We had different stuff to do, all in the morning, which resulted in a huge rush from 9am until midday.  We needed to lodge some mortgage documents for the latest purchase, then SO and I needed to go to different units – SO to hang some mirrors and check a sticky door, me to give some new tenants their keys, show them the meterbox, etc.  After that I came home via the shops, where I bought some much needed necessities like milk and bread.  (Yes, that’s how bad things had got.  So shoot me.)  After that, I did some paperwork, and washed my hair, then fell into bed for an afternoon nap.

I needed the nap because I had a hen’s night on last night. 

update

Ugh, I’ve been neglecting this blog again.  My bad.  We’ve been fairly busy, with one thing and another.  One of the units we put an offer on fell through, and there have been a few dramas with finance for the other.  We should know by next Friday if it’s all okay to go ahead.  Fingers crossed!

My fantastic boss leaves in a few weeks, so that’s been really sad.  I’ve so enjoyed working with her, she’s a great person as well as a great boss.  She’s actually suggested I come to work at her organisation.  I’m considering it.  I wouldn’t be reporting to her, but the work itself would be great, really interesting and varied, and the people I’d be working with are apparently good too, which of course makes a huge difference.  So yes, that’s one option to get away from my ‘proper’ boss, who will be returning shortly.

Speaking of work, SO is away in the country for a few days.  It’s good and it’s bad.  I do like having the place to myself at night, so I can just veg out and do nothing, and not feel guilty about not making dinner (or making it just in time for the 10pm news).  But I don’t sleep so well without him around, and I worry about him.  He’s had to fly in a light plane, as well, which he hates.  The good news is, he got there okay, now he just needs to get home again.  I’m sure he will, but I hate to think of him alone in his hotel room and stressing about the flight home.  Poor love.

That said, I’ve already cleaned up heaps, so the place is nice and organised, and I even have dinner sorted out - leftover spaghetti bolognese.  Yum!  All I have to do is zap it.  Even I can manage that.  Plus, what does a girl without a man in her 30s do? Catches up with her gay friends, of course!  I’m meeting K tomorrow for a coffee.  We actually work together but in different areas, so we don’t get a chance to really talk properly.  We normally have a coffee about once or twice a fortnight.  He’s recently fallen in love and so there’s lots to catch up on at the moment.

Things have generally been good.  We’ve got new tenants for one of our units, so that’s great.  The old ones move out this Saturday, and the new ones move in on Sunday, so we’ll be flat out cleaning everything in between.  Luckily we like a challenge.   Other tenancies are ongoing so that’s no hassle to us.

Yawn…. I think it’s time to get my dinner in the microwave.  Hungry.

unwell, again

New Year’s Eve was fun.  The only damper on proceedings was that the other couple at our friends’ place was, well, shall we say, not simpatico.  They were fine, but not people we’d choose to be friends with.  However, the evening was very pleasant, and my coffee thingos were much appreciated.  I may even make them again some time this decade, in fact; they tasted divine.

There was one downside though – I started to feel worse and worse as the night passed.  Think sore, scratchy throat, runny nose, losing voice, etc.  It felt like an amped-up continuation of the thing I haven’t managed to shake since November.   We left our friends’ place at about 2am, and by the time we got home, I knew I was coming down with the mother of all head colds.  Sure enough, I’ve spent the last 24 hours blowing my nose, taking cold and flu tablets, and sleeping.  Lots of sleeping.  Hey, if my body demands I sleep for 20 hours out of 24, there must be a reason. Feeling like this, I’m miserable when I’m awake, anyhow.

I’m hoping desperately that it’s just a head cold, and won’t be anything else.  I also hope I’m good for work next Monday.  There’s heaps I need to catch up on, and I had a lot of sick leave last year, so there’s not much tolerance left for any absences that may occur.  So basically at this point I’m just going to keep my head low at home, sleep as much as I need to, and not push myself to do things.  SO is a bit over me being sick as well, but he understands I need to shake this properly.

Apologies for the whingey entry, I’m just so over being unwell!

In other news, I didn’t hear from my brother on my birthday.  I’d be annoyed at anybody else, but my brother is a fairly typical engineer, who wanders around in a dreamlike state, finding real life difficult to cope with.  Give him a maths problem, and he’s in his element.  Ask him to check the oil levels in a car, and all you get is a blank look.  I love my brother and we get along well, so I don’t get upset when he forgets things like birthdays.  Also, I  believe he was going to ask his girlfriend’s father for her hand (and the rest of her) in marriage over Christmas, so that’s probably taking up a lot of his mental space reserved for things like social interactions.

Ah yes, The Girlfriend.  She’s a Japanese girl, who lives in Japan, so their relationship has been conducted through a series of long holidays in each others’ countries.  She has come over for a few stints of three months at a time, and lived with him.  But that’s about the extent of the time they’ve spent together continuously.  They’ve been together nearly five years, so that’s a looong time for a LD relationship.  However, part of my concerns are based around the fact that absence/abstinence makes the heart grow fonder, particularly in my brother’s case (he’s a simple guy, with simple needs).

So what do I think of A proposing? Well, basically, I think he’s making a mistake.  They’re not suited, personality wise.  They’re both very immature, emotionally.  There’s a huge cultural divide which really does divide them.  I just hope that if they do end up marrying and splitting up, that they don’t have kids.  She would go back to Japan, and A would miss the kids terribly.  He loves little kids, he’s much more interested in them than I am, and it would just tear him apart if his were in another country.

Oh well.  We can only hope that things turn out for the best, whatever that happens to be.

back in town

Yep, here were are.  Unbelievably, I did do a couple of loads of laundry after we got home.  We were both too wound up to go straight to bed, so I put the time to good use.

It was my birthday today.  SO has promised to take me on a shopping trip when I feel better (since finishing the last round of antibiotics, the symptoms have returned. Sigh.) so I’ll make sure to take him up on that.  I got calls and messages from various friends, and a stiff, formal text from my mother, referring to me as “Petrona”.  I only ever get called my full name when I’m in trouble, so clearly she’s still annoyed at me.  Oh well, if she doesn’t want to talk to the person who she spawned 32 years ago, that’s her business.  I’ve realised that it doesn’t matter what I do with my mum; we’re never going to have the relationship we could have had, if she had stayed on antidepressants.  It’s sad, but when she was on them, she was more relaxed, and didn’t carry on like a three year old throwing a tantrum.  Since she came off them, our relationship has been more difficult.  But what can you do?! Not a lot.  So I just have to accept it.

SO and I went to his dad and stepmum’s for a BBQ dinner tonight.  They gave me some birthday presents, a card, and some money, and we gave them a shirt (for SO’s dad) and a pashmina (for his stepmum) which we picked up in Singapore.  Luckily they both loved them! I love buying presents people really like.  It makes me feel all warm inside.

Tomorrow night we’re going to G and V’s house.  As a result, I spent this afternoon making coffee meringue things.  I’d never made them before, but Mum has made them for years, so I know they taste divine.  They were fiddly though, I’ve never used a piping bag before, and I hope I won’t use one again for a long time.  The professionals make it look easy, but jeez, the kitchen ended up with uncooked meringue from one end to the other.  I even managed to get some in my hair.  However, they appear to have worked, even though I didn’t manage to dissolve the raw sugar properly, so that’s a relief.  Now all we need to do is pick up a bottle of champagne, and we’re set for an evening of great food, wonderful friends, and alcohol.  Woohoo!