Feeling brighter

We sent the paperwork off to VCAT on Tuesday. I hope we haven't clouded the issue with too much information (Himself and I have different ideas on what was necessary - me less, him more, I think we reached a compromise). I would love to show you what our submission was but, hey, the internet isn't the most private place to share stuff! Now we wait. To be honest, we really aren't too fussed as we will abide by whatever the VCAT dude decides. It was more a case of letting the agent and landlord know we know that they are lying. And as the wise Ms Moon said, we know ... they know ... just let it go.

Yesterday I drove for three hours to catch up with my brothers and their wives for Christmas. Himself didn't come. He was invited but long time readers will know that my husband and a brother and a sister in law aren't a good mix and I really didn't need that shit so I used the dogs as an excuse. I enjoyed the drive by myself although Google maps decided that the middle of a dirt road was my destination! It took me probably 20 minutes out of my way but I found Dr Teacher's place without calling for help. We had a lovely couple of hours and then I drove three hours home. I went the exact same way up and back but home seemed to take less time. Maybe the road was familiar or something.

Of course this gives you no idea of distance but it was just over a 500km round trip.

Himself's recent trip to Melbourne was to see the ophthalmologist who prescribed eye drops for a condtion that can only really be resolved with a corneal transplant so we will avoid that for now. I arrived home last night to a husband with a very, very sore eye as he managed to poke his eye with the eye drop dispenser (fortunately single use). Why is it necessary to actually see the dispenser as it delivers the drops into the eye?  

Today I roped him into helping move some stuff from the old U3A digs to our new home in which we will no longer be the poor cousins at the mercy of the whims of our landlords. It was good to see him interacting with other people and I think he got a buzz out of helping. 

We have long been meaning to have neighbours over for a drink and one of our neighbours works at the local waste transfer station so as we were dropping some e-waste off from the U3A move we invited him and his wife for Christmas drinks on Monday. We then invited their next door neighbours (across the road from us) as well. The last time we had neighbours over for drinks was exactly 12 months ago when Crazy Neighbour came and turned feral on us. I think I will have to stipulate that feral behaviour won't be tolerated!!!!

I have had more social festive functions this year than I have for many a year. It is lovely feeling part of a community. 

We were going to ignore Christmas Day completely but Himself bought an Aldi stuffed turkey breast so I guess I'll have to buy spuds and greens and a pud and some bubbles so we will actually have a semblance of a traditional meal! Knowing that Two and Three and their lot are coming down on the 27th is uplifting as well. 

So yes, I am a bit brighter than the last time I posted and I can honestly say that most of that is due to the insightful, supportive, understanding comments from you lot.

I really need to take a cup of harden the f**k up but instead I wrote a miserable post

 It took Himself nearly an hour to register that the unit with the bottles on it had been moved from under the painting and the dining table and chairs had been moved towards that wall.

I, and others, have written about hard this time of year is and I have been trying to work out why. When the kids were little Christmas was a wonderful (albeit expensive and very busy) time of year. I am not a person of faith so I cannot rejoice in the birth of someone that means nothing to me. I think I had hoped that when grandkids came along we would be part of their Christmas celebrations. Sadly this is not the case. We have never been considered by the other grandparent families and have just had to slot in when it was possible to get the boys and their families together in one spot. Sometimes this might be around Christmas - one year it was well into January. This makes me very sad and bitter towards these people as we share grandkids. It doesn't help that every man and his dog keep asking what we're doing for Christmas. I know it's just polite conversation but it still stings having to come up with an answer. I usually opt for "we have a quiet Christmas" or "not much" unless they know us and know we have grandchildren and then I offer more of an explanation. Those who have sons understand. 

This year we have the VCAT issue thrown into the mix. What is really upsetting me here is the lies that have been told. The cleaner who invoiced for the clean before we moved in sent an email to the agent saying the house was extensively cleaned and ready for any tenant to move in with no evidence of pet odour. It was filthy and the entry report reflects this. The carpet people who told Himself they had issued a quote on 28th October and didn't do reports and didn't want anything to do with VCAT presented the agent with a quote dated 28th November stating the presence of "pet odour". It's not the money that bothers me, it is the fact that people are lying and the nasty piece of work landlord will win. We are not denying that the cat piddled on the carpet - we are arguing that the carpet is 40 years old and was in very poor condition when we moved in. I am hoping that the magistrate will take this into account and ask us to pay a very small amount. I am also hoping that the ex husband gets a win in court against her.

In the words of that movie I really should just let it go. 

I will be back in a brighter mood very soon.

A lovely day

True to her word, Penguin made her presence obvious!

We had a coffee and a lovely getting to know you chat. I won't give much away as she is a very private person but she has lived here a long time and leads an interesting life.

This went past as we were sitting in a cafe with an amazing view of the water and water traffic. Not sure why such a piece of equipment was being towed in through the entrance. Might need to do some research.

While Himself has been in Melbourne I have been moving furniture around. I am pleased with the results. I hope he is cos if he isn't he can move it back!

Had lunch with a new neighbour which was also pleasant. Not sure if she will stay as just before their house was finished her husband of over 35 years decided they weren't getting along and called it quits. There is still landscaping and fencing to be done and then the house will go on the market. I feel so sorry for her. She didn't see it coming.

Himself will be home shortly and the animals will be thrilled. I don't jump at their bidding!

You probably don't want to read the following if you're eating......

The flies are terrible at the moment. I don't mind the little bush flies but we have been inundated with blowies to the extent I have resorted to fly spray. Those disgusting little buggers lay their ... um ... live offspring as they die. Gross.

On that note I'm off to pour a much needed and deserved gin (I HATE fly offspring to the point of gagging). Be grateful I didn't take a photo!!

Penguin

I am delighted at the interest in the upcoming meeting between yours truly and Penguin. 

So far I know she is female and not young. (You can go back over the comment sections to know as much as I do)

I am wondering how to make ourselves known. Help me, blogging mates. Should we wear hats? Carry something unusual? We are meeting at a cafe but not one on the main street so I can't pretend to be wandering past. 

The success of this meeting is now in your hands. Tell us how we should recognise each other. What shall Penguin wear/carry and what shall I?

The winner will get a photo (as long as Penguin agrees of course).

No title cos it's taken me longer to think of one that it did to write the damned thing!

The only thing I missed about the rental was the view but then I realised that we get some pretty good sunsets from here. 

We weren't going to bother with Christmas this year but Himself kept asking me if I wanted the lights put up. I think he secretly wanted to, so today he hung the the outside and lights and I put the tree up. We bought this one in our old place as it's very festive and requires minimal setting up and even less taking down. The lights change colour. I couldn't get the red ones but you get the idea - and it's not as wonky as it looks here!

The outside lights look amazing and I will get some pics of them in a day or so.

This will be the extent of my Christmas frivolity.

On Thursday I am meeting "Penguin" (a reader who doesn't have a blog) for coffee. I have met blogging mates in the past but always know a bit about them from reading their blogs. I don't even know if Penguin is male or female! I am feeling a tad anxious and haven't told Himself (he will be in Melbourne) as he will probably tell me I am being reckless. 

Penguin, I hope you are not a serial killer!

Tomorrow is the cut off date for our ex landlord to send her paperwork supporting her claim through to VCAT and us. I had hoped she would drop it but I am sure she will try her damndest to get money out of us. Not good for my stress levels at the moment.

Added to the stress is the appalling whistling when the wind is up. The builder has told us this is not considered urgent. I would argue that wanting to leave the house because the noise is intolerable makes it urgent but they hold the cards. 

And on that note I shall leave this somewhat miserable post and go to bed. 

I know I am not the only one who suffers with mental health issues at this time of year. If you are another, know you are not alone.

win win win

Win #1

On Monday I received a text message saying I would be getting a call from a private number that would be a representative of Services Australia (aka the keeper and provider of pensions and other monies) and to not ignore this call. The call duly arrived and it appeared the reason was to explain why we had been knocked back for the old age pension. The lovely person at the other end was trying to explain how things had been calculated (based on something from over 18 months ago) as I was trying to explain that the information provided on Friday was all that mattered. 

We reached an agreement whereby I would provide further information by uploading documents into the ether and she would contact me if she hadn't received them or required further enlightenment. 

I was the recipient of another phone call (without the prior text message warning) from the same person and went through some more interesting proof of identity validation (when were you married, where were you born - Somalia; always throws them, which bank do you bank with - that bank; if you're Australian of a certain age you will know which bank!) and then provided the details of how much we sold our house in Melbourne for, how much this house cost to build, what other things we had spent money on, what I had for breakfast and the last time I went to the loo. At the end of this interrogation - don't get me wrong she was very pleasant -  the call ended with her saying she had all she needed to assess and process the review and we would hear back in due course. Christmas is coming (and the goose is getting fat, please put a penny in the old man's hat ... sorry, I can never help myself  *) and we didn't expect much until the new year. 

Hence my surprise this morning to see an amount of money had been placed in our bank account followed shortly after with a message from mygov to say our application has been approved.

We are now officially old age pensioners (still mainly funded by our superannuation but every bit helps). 

Win #2

For my birthday two years ago Himself gave me a whizz bang super duper Dyson vacuum cleaner. I love this cleaner and use it frequently as opposed to the previous cleaner, which was also a Dyson but a barrel and too hard to lug around. Since moving here I often use it two or three times a day (at least once a day but our dogs are shedding a lot right now) and I have noticed that my hard floors were getting scratched (not a huge issue as a damp mop fixes the marks but still not happy). I asked Himself to have a look and it turned out that a tiny wheel on one side of the motor head had jammed up with dust and effing dog hair and a part of it had worn flat hence the scratches. 

Himself worked out he could fix the problem but wanted to make sure he was buying the correct $3 (plus $10 postage) part so he rang the Dyson service people. Long story short (you're welcome) - we will be getting a brand new motor head valued at $199 posted to us for nothing come mid Jan when they are back in stock. Registering the vacuum cleaner when we bought it (it was out of warranty) might have helped but I was very impressed with their customer service.

Win #3

Our new fridge has had issues with the ice maker freezing up and the freezer showing high temperatures. Because we live rural we don't get the manufacturer's service people, rather a local company who can service this brand. A couple of calls for service and the delightful local chap said fixing it wasn't really going to be work and approached the company with this opinion and -woohoo-  we will be getting a new fridge when stock comes in mid January.

Now, here is my problem. Things happen in threes. I was hoping that the third win would be VCAT. Himself said the fridge was the first win but I feel that it is a warranty issue that had to be dealt with and therefore doesn't really qualify as a win as such.

Not that I am superstitious or anything.

*I apologise for his pronounciation of "ha'penny" but I liked his rendition

A quick update.

Not much happening here. Just the usual day to day stuff.

We applied for the aged pension as we have had to dip into our super a bit with this house and had dipped below the threshold for a part pension. Or so we thought. We were knocked back and the letter said it was because we had over $2million in assets. That would have been nice if we did but, sadly, nowhere near that! On Friday we toddled off to the local Service Australia office (it was easier to make an appointment than speak to someone over the phone) clutching all our paperwork and it appears that someone mis-keyed our data and doubled up our super balances. Hopefully we will hear back from them soon and can start the pension again. The pension won't be much but the benefits like rates reduction, car registration, power bills and medical stuff will be a big help.

On the VCAT front (the issue with the carpet at the rental) we got notice from VCAT saying the landlord has until the 10th to provide VCAT and us with documentation supporting her claim and we have until the 17th to provide our side of the story (which is simple - the carpet is old). I managed to contact her ex-husband and he said the carpet was laid in 1985 so I think we're ok there. She has to provide the reports she claims to have had done although I wouldn't put it past her to get a mate to dodgy one up. Himself wants to give way more information than I think is necessary as I feel the less the better - the carpet is old; that is all that matters. Anyway, it gives Himself something to do so I shall let it go. 

Three sent me this ...

I mentioned my bin stickers. Here they are ...

I am still sewing strips of fabric together to weave into place mats ...

 ... the pile doesn't seem to be getting any smaller. It reminds me of the magic pudding.

Yesterday the Mermaid successfully bid on a unit. It's been at least two years that she has been looking and after she sold her house earlier this year (the new owners have kept her on as a tenant) she kept losing out on so many places. I think it is because she was reluctant to spend what was necessary. Yesterday her son and daughter in law were there and convinced her to go beyond her planned highest bid and she got it. It's brand new and in a great location so she did very well.

We have had a lot of rain lately interspersed with sunshine so everything is growing really well. My tomatoes are growing so fast I'm sure if I sat and looked at them long enough I would see them grow. Yesterday I planted lettuce and radish seeds and some chives, coriander, basil and capsicum seedlings. Today Himself dug up the tree we planted at the front of the house that is dying. Once he removed it the hole filled up with water so I am hoping that some dry soil in a pot will help if it isn't too late. Now we have to work out how to fix the water problem. It could be an underground spring of which there are many around here, or just heavy clay soil that doesn't allow the recent rain to drain away. Or a pipe has been damaged. Something else to keep the old man busy.

Three and I have been sharing gin cocktail recipes. I recently tried an elderflower collins and it is delicous. Might just go and make one now!