Steak and magpies

Last night's dinner was delicious. 

As I was sitting on the couch with Jinx Max decided he wanted some love, too.

The blurry pink thing is Jinx's tongue as she was giving Max a wash!

When I picked Sally up from school today she was quite distressed. They have swimming every day this week and for some reason today her eyes were very red and sore from the chlorine. We went to the chemist and got some eye drops and antihistamine. The drops made her cry which made me feel awful but at least washed some of the chlorine out. The antihistamine made her fall asleep in the car on the way to her mum. We went to the discount shop in to see if they had any goggles. They didn't but they did have a Collingwood magpie which I had to buy for her.

Where has the day gone?

I was meant to catch up with J and C at our favourite yarn shop and then have lunch but C wasn't well. J and I went to Karingal and had lunch just the two of us. We took our knitting and knitted and nattered for a couple of hours. It was lovely. The two gave me a voucher to the favourite yarn shop so that is something to look forward to spending.

I dropped a bloody stitch in the same place I did with the first sock and had to pull the whole thing out. Obviously I am doing the same thing wrong at the same place. Doesn't matter. I get to knit more for less money spent on yarn. Or so I keep telling myself.

When Three went into work today he handed in his written resignation (it had been in his back pocket all day yesterday so when he went to resign it was crumpled and grease stained!). He gave four weeks notice but was told he only had to give two. So he finishes up next Wednesday and will have a decent break before starting the new job a week earlier than anticipated. This is a good thing.

Himself is cooking dinner tonight. He is making it up but will involve porterhouse barbecued and thinly sliced, creamy mashed potatoes and wilted rocket and cherry tomatoes. And a nice cab sav to go with it. I am very lucky he that enjoys cooking. 

I bought Alice's birthday present when at Karingal. It is a soft toy that you can programme to be unique to the child. I think I will leave that task to a parent. It also plays lullabies and other songs. Not quite the noisy interactive toy I had in mind but probably better for her mum and dad!

I am now going to try to track down a strange smell in my study/craft area. Not sure if it is damp dog or something worse. It's been there for a while and is starting to perplex me.

Another glorious day

This is the view of the jasmine from my bedroom. The smell, you can imagine, is amazing.

I woke very stiff and sore today. My replaced knee has a strange dent in it which I hope is just bruising.

We assembled the second bed without mishap which was pretty good considering I also managed to burn my fingers yesterday when I picked up the lid of the bread tin without oven mitts straight out of a 200*C oven! Those nuts and bolts on the garden beds are tiny.

This is what the first one looked like yesterday. You can see how steep the block of land is.

Himself dug them in a bit and now they are almost level. At least level enough for what I want to plant.

They will have cucumbers, pak choi and zucchini. I have a half wine barrel we will move up as well as some other pots and they will have flowers and herbs in them. Anything that can be eaten or otherwise attacked by pests will be in the raised beds under cover.

Remember the faint green tinge on my birches from the other day? This is them today. Still only one in leaf but the others won't be far behind. The black containers behind them are the potato planters. Still waiting for them to sprout.

As I write this it is 3.30 and Three STILL hasn't handed in his resignation. Amy and I think he has been intimidated at a meeting this morning and will resign at the end of the day where he won't have to cop the wrath of the boss. Until tomorrow!

I won't publish until later this evening. Hopefully I will have better news by them. Oh, in that meeting with his immediate boss and his boss's boss he was asked again, are you ok ("seeing as it was RUOK day last week") and again he broke down and repeated he wasn't and he was really struggling. Their response? Take it a day at a time. Three days off is too much for them to cover. And he can always ring his boss who will always answer the phone except he never does.

Later And he has done it. He hasn't told them where he's going - as far as they're concerned he has nothing but needs to leave. His immediate boss was quite good about it. The other twat manager will have found out by now. How he treats Three will be interesting. There is a mass exodus happening from that place. Couldn't happen to a better company.

I can now relax.

Clutz

It was a lovely day and Himself continued to get the vege area ready.

I helped him put the raised beds we bought from Aldi together. Well, one of them at least. A piece of paper blew away (it was quite windy this afternoon) and I chased after it.

As I climbed back on to the front porch the toe of my gum boot got caught under the cardboard box the bed came in and I went arse over elbow landing on my knees, grazing my hand and clocking my head against the wall of the house. I sat there shaking, rubbing my knees and trying not to cry. Thank goodness I had a pair of fleecy tracky pants as even with those my knees are bruised and grazed.

Our esteemed prime minister has declared the 22nd September a public holiday to mourn the late queen. The 23rd September is a public holiday in Victoria because it is the day before our footy grand final. I wonder how many people will take advantage of an unexpected 4 day long weekend and hoof it out of town.

At least it means Three gets two fewer days in that toxic workplace. He rang me and said "Albo's got my back"! Tomorrow will be hard for him as he will be handing in his notice as soon as he gets to work and will then have to deal with the incessant questioning and recriminations.

Hopefully we can get the beds finished tomorrow and the soil ordered or I will have seedlings growing out of the soft drink bottles I planted them in!

Who had the bright idea to get a long haired shepherd?

Oh. That would be me.

Even better we got a long haired shepherd who hated being brushed. 

Until today when something clicked and he seemed to realise that a brush is like a big stroke and pat. 

This is what came off him after a quick going over. I think I have enough to make a small dog. (Why does it remind me of Tony Mokbel?)

I then vacuumed the whole house and turned around to this. More bloody dog fur. Tufts of it over the carpet. Just as well I was given a you beaut vacuum cleaner for my birthday that I love using every day. I think I am in for a long moulting season. 

When Jinx moults you can pluck the tufts off her like feathers off a chook. Not that I've ever plucked a chook but it's what I imagine it would be like. Between the two of them I am finding chunks of fur everywhere.

I had plans for today but ended up wasting time playing silly games on the computer. Sometimes I think my brain just needs to shut down its thinking part.

Nearly all my seeds have sprouted. I even have a zucchini seedling. I just need to get the beds happening so I can plant out the ones that need to climb. Sadly the tomato seeds show no signs of emerging so I think I'll give something else a go and go with seedlings. The ground is still so boggy underfoot I am grateful for my raised beds.

Typical Spring weather with a bit of rain, a bit of wind, a bit of sun. Hopefully tomorrow will be more sun than rain and Himself can get my beds finished. I really need to plant my peas!

I watched the speech King Charles made. I found it quite moving for a man who had just lost his much loved mother as well as his monarch. The media reported it as gushing when he referenced his wife, Queen Camilla (never thought we'd see that). This does not bode well for the future if they are already finding fault with him. Interesting times ahead.

I had a giggle last evening when after hours and hours of queen stuff, Channel 9 switched to the rugby. We know our what's important!

A sad day

Obviously the news on everyone's lips at the moment is the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the ascension of Charles as king. I knew my aunt would be upset and I rang her to find her in tears. We had a long chat about the monarchy (Harry and Meghan should be charged with treason among other points of discussion!) and she acknowledged that a lot of her grief was for times past as she (and so many like my aunt) remembered their lives in the light of her Maj.

We have seen the end of an era and will never see the like again. Whether this is a good thing or not remains to be seen.

Last night Three and his lot came over and we had steak for dinner. They thoroughly enjoyed this rare treat. Much discussion was had about how to resign, how much notice to give, how to handle the inevitable fall out (walk out if they treat him badly). He popped over today for a chat and is so looking forward to this new start. 

Three rang when he was on his way over and told Sally the news. He said "Do you know what this means, Sally"? She replied "Yes. We will have a better life". Out of the mouths of babes.

We have five steps that go from the kitchen/family area up to the top room. Sally missed her footing and slipped down them yesterday and the screams were terrifying. Her parents said they had never heard her scream like that before. I think she winded herself which is very scary She had small graze on her back and it might bruise a bit but otherwise seemed ok and perked up a bit after some mummy TLC.

Remember the bloomers/pilchers we were knitting for Alice?

Amy finished hers yesterday. The wouldn't even get past Alice's chubby knees but they did make a cool beanie for a kid with pigtails.

She of the chubby knees is nearly walking. God help us all.

 I have another physio appointment later today. I think my back is slowly improving.

Not sure what we will have for dinner. I made a loaf of bread this morning and we all had ham, cheese and salad sandwiches for lunch. They were pretty damn good if I say so myself.

It is a quiet, still day today. Not sunny, not overcast, just a bit dull. A bit like my mood. I think the events of the past few days have taken their toll.

Five years

We have been in this house five years today. This is the first photo I took on the day we moved in. 

We have had some ups and downs but on the whole we are very happy here.

Breaking news ....

Three has been offered the job at 12k more a year. They said he was professional, picked things up quickly and is exactly what they want. Needless to say we are all over the moon and I don't think he will come back to earth for quite a while.

Now he just has to work out his notice which won't be fun.

I had to pick Sally up from school early as she had been sick. It turns out she ate too much morning tea just before PE. She is bright as a button. Three is going to pick Alice up and then come here and Amy will come straight from work. They are staying for dinner.

Now I must go and supervise the not sick child.