Wear, wash, iron, repeat

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I have been known, once in a while, to insanely purchase clothing items that need ironing. 

I know, I know. 

I wear, wash, iron and repeat a few times and then I tend to get a bit stuck between the wash and iron stage of the cycle.  It's not because I hate ironing because I don't.  It's a much worse reason.  I am a bit of a lazy bum. 

This weekend I decided to do some ironing because MR needed a shirt ironed and I thought well, while I have it out I may as well do the rest.  There wasn't that much really.  Two dresses and a pair of pants of mine and six shirts of MR's.  And, wouldn't you know it, another pair of pants I forgot I even had.  I was ironing a pair of grey pants and tried to work out when I wore them last.  I think it was last Winter.  I thought to myself I should have bought a pair of these in black, these are nice pants. Continued ironing a couple more shirts and then what do you know, the next thing in the stack is a pair of black pants of the same style of the grey ones.

On the plus side, my work wardrobe options have just increased a lot more.




Are you a bit slack in some areas? Come on, make me feel like less of a lazy tart.

15,467

That's the number of pages I have read so far this year. 30 books.

6 of them in the past 11 days. 

I finish one, faff around the house for a while doing odds and ends but not really committing to anything of real importance. 

And then start another. 

My bedside stack has dwindled to just one. 

Mass reading, while a definite holiday pleasure, is also a sign of mine. A sign of lack of coping. Of attempting to escape from something. 

In this case it's the empty house. My 'just weekends' now with MR are taking more adjustment than anticipated. It feels too much like a step backwards. It's not. But the less time together leaves an ache in my heart. I feel lost. 

The end of next year feels a very long way away. There are things to be done in that time. And then we can finally, after seven and a half years, live together full time. 

Properly. 

One week down, one (and a bit) to go

It's hard to believe the first week of my holidays is practically over already.  Usually it gets of to a much slower feeling start.

I spent the weekend in MR's home town where he is now working again.  He's staying with his parents so I did too, it was nice to get looked after for a couple of days.  They live on the edge of town, overlooking a paddock.  This was the lovely view greeting me outside each day.  Anyone see the legless rooster cloud?

I got to watch a really good game of netball by my old team, which actually has no one on it that I used to play with and also now has one of my ex-students.  Way to make me feel old!

It was incredibly freezing there on the weekend so I didn't get a lot of socialising done, I kept racing home in need of warming up.  But I did manage to light a fire myself for the first time in over 15 years.  My first attempt wasn't too successful but the next day I tried again and got it going first try.  I spent a fair bit of time cooking myself in front of it.

I also made a cheat's pavlova and a chicken and chorizo risotto for a family dinner on Monday.

And on Tuesday I got some help getting the binding ready and attached onto the baby quilt I started during the Summer holidays.  MR's Mum is an accomplished quilter (I have just finished selecting the fabric for her to make us one) so she was a great help getting me on the right track.  I've got one side of the binding all attached now and the corners are all pinned and I have done about a quarter of the hand stitching.  I don't think I blogged about this when I was making the top of the quilt so apart from the tiny sneak peek in the corner below, unless you follow me on instagram, you will have to wait to see the rest!

Since getting back on Tuesday evening, I've just been chilling at home, reading books, watching DVDs and The Ashes, stitching the binding and attempting to get on top of all the washing that seems to have built up to mammoth proportions.

Today I went for a massage this morning and now I am madly trying to push away the need for an afternoon nap.  I haven't had a nap yet these holidays and I actually had a sleep that was restful enough to rate as a good night's sleep two nights ago (sadly followed by a bad sleep last night) which is pretty rare for me. 

Unfortunately, the thought of school work has started to loom above my head with the almost half way point of the holidays.  Next week will need to be a bit more productive!

 

A facelift is as good as a holiday

What? No, no not me.  Our house.

As mentioned previously, we recently got a bit of work done on the house.  We got our gutters replaced and the fascia painted.  It's been on the list to happen since last Winter and we finally got onto it. 

Previously they were both a particularly unpleasant shade of pooey-red which (in my opinion) did not at all go with our grey roof.  I am not overly fond of warm colours either which never helped the situation. 

BLERGH!

We wanted blue gutters and seeing as there is only one shade of blue, Deep Ocean, in the Colourbond range, we went with that.  Nice to have an easy choice.

We had discussed getting the facsia painted at the same time but hadn't quite gotten ourselves sorted with a painter which we mentioned to our gutters tradesman when he was doing our quote.  He said he would bring a painter he knew over with him to give us a quote.  Brilliant, we thought.  So the day comes and they both arrive.  We get a Really Good quote for the fascia painting and ask when he might be free.  Today?  Excellent, but we haven't chosen a colour yet!

Luckily, when I was collecting colour samples for ideas for our walls I grabbed an outdoor colours card too.  We had about 3 minutes to make a decision (at 9am on a Saturday morning) before the painter was heading down to the get the paint and get started.  Sometimes, that pressure and limited lack of choices is a good thing or I would imagine it would have taken hours.  I chose a colour I liked, MR liked a different one.  I coaxed him around to my choice because his blue had green undertones and mine had grey undertones which would suit the roof better.  He thought it would be a bit light but let me have my way.  Looking at it all finished he says he likes it and I hope he's not just humouring me!

The gutters are off and the fascia has had its first coat.

All finished and looking SO much better

It really does look like a whole new house.   MR gave the bushes out the front a good pruning as well.  Our bedroom is to the right of the front door and that bush was blocking all the light which is fine in Summer but having it pruned right back in Winter makes such a big difference.  Afternoon sunshine comes in and lets the room warm up just a little bit.  Perfect!

Now we just need to get rid of the horrible red driveway and path.  Unfortunately it does not feature anywhere in the near future on our list of things to do!

  

New Frontiers

A friend of mine who is very fashionable buys almost all of her day to day clothes online.  And a lot of her going out clothes too.  She has labels she sticks with that she knows her sizing in and waits for the sales to hit the online store and then stocks up on mid range designer label items at not so high prices.

Even jeans.

I, on the other hand, have only once purchased an item of clothing online that I can remember.  It is a tshirt that I bought from etsy about 2 years ago with a cute tree print on it.  It is slightly too big, very thin and strangely (as usually I find the opposite to be the case) way too long.  I wear it over a singlet to pilates and this works fine. 

The thought of purchasing jeans online leaves me incredibly perplexed.  How is such a thing possible?? My friend is on the short side so does not have to worry, like I do, about the length of the leg being long enough.  But she also doesn't seem to worry about the online jeans purchase being bum flattening, or bum unflattering or for that matter, bum fattening.

And not only does she purchase jeans online, she also buys dresses.  Usually she likes to try the dress on instore first but on the occasion of the store not being located in WA, she is generally quite happy to just buy the dress anyhow.

As she explains this to me, and I look at her with an expression of dubious nature, my brain wonders if a) I am a particularly odd body shape that finds picking out clothes difficult; b) she is just the perfect body shape for most clothing brands; c) I am just incredibly fussy and picky or; d) she is just super self confident and happy in herself.

After pondering on this for a while momentarily I believe it is a hefty dose of c and a smaller combination of the rest. 

This phenomenon is not just isolated to my friend.  My sister is somewhat shoe obsessed and has taken to purchasing online brands of shoes unavailable in WA.  This is even more inconceivable to me than online jeans purchasing but I know this to most definitely be because I am incredibly fussy and have feet that blister up each season whether it be the change from havianas to my oldest most comfortable ballet flats or the reverse. 


So, I've decided to give this online shopping thing a try again. 

What I'd really like to buy but will not without trying it on

 
With another tshirt.  And one that is on sale!  I really don't think I will ever progress to jeans, dresses or shoes online unless I am purchasing an exact identical version of one I already have because I love it so much that I want it in a different colour or a spare one for when the first dies.  I suppose it helps that looser style tops are rather fashionable at the moment so it doesn't matter if the tee is too big. 

One cute tee coming to a letterbox outside my house soon

So here's my choice.  Stay tuned for a review of fit and liking of style once it arrives.


Do you buy clothes online?

  

Looking forward

Right now there's lots of good stuff to be looking forward to and about.  Both event wise and life moments.

I saw my haematologist today and my Leukaemia cells are at their lowest ever.  Last month they were at 0.057 and this month they are at 0.022 which is an excellent drop for a one month period.  My next test is in three months time now so I've got my fingers crossed I'll get another zero on the right side of that point mark.  Either way, I'm feeling very positive right now!

There's two days left of Kindy until I'm on school holidays.

I'm heading to MRs home town this weekend for a bit of time with him and his family.  He had his first week of work at home and enjoyed being busy and working with the tools again after being office-bound management for quite a while on the mines.

On the weekend there will be some quilt finishing by me and some quilt starting by MR's Mum who is making us a quilt which I think I have finally finished selecting fabrics for.

I've made plans with four friends for four different catch ups over the holidays.  Movies and lunches and afternoon teas.  And hopefully I'll manage to fit in a few more catch ups along the way.

And super exciting, we had some work done on the house this weekend just been.  It's not entirely finished so no photos yet.  The workman is back tomorrow to finish it off and I can't wait to show you what we have had done.  I am so pleased with it and it is our first big change to the place since moving in two years and three months ago.  What a long time we took to get to this point!!


Have you got some lovely things on the horizon? 

New Zealand?

There are tentative plans in our household for a visit to New Zealand during the October school holidays.  'Fabulous!' you think.  What fun to plan.  But unfortunately, at this point we are a little bit stuck on actually being able to go part of the planning phase.

You see, when you have Leukaemia and an addition dose of a liver transplant, travel insurance companies seem inclined to laugh in your face when you suggest maybe they could insure you.

Rude, I know.

I've looked at a few places so far and they have a list of medical conditions that exclude you from getting travel insurance and whilst Leukaemia hasn't been on any of them, an organ transplant is. 

Thankfully, there is an organisation called Transplant Australia, of which I am a member.  They hold the Transplant Games (fun Olympic like games for transplantees) and there is a World Transplant Games which requires transplantees to travel somewhere in the world for the games.  Of course, they will need travel insurance for such a thing and so Transplant Australia has partnered with a company that will (in most cases) provide it. (AIG Travel Insurance for anyone interested)  Phew!

I rang them today and now need to get multiple medical forms and letters from my specialists stating my conditions and the status of said conditions and then I get to fax them off and then ring to talk to the insurance company's medical team to do an assessment of whether or not I can be insured.

And then, if they decide they will insure me, we will be able to get on with booking flights and planning our adventures.

So fingers crossed.

And, where would you suggest I visit if we do get to go?  I'm thinking awesome crafty places, cool shops and lots of nature places. 

We'll be going for 10 days with probably 6 in north island (MR has lots of family there) and 4 in south.  Already on our list is glow worm caves, natural hot pools, a big flying fox and a bit of snow and lots of green.  If they let us go at all...

Celebrity Stalking

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Today I was reading Maggie Alderson's blog, Maggie Alderson's Style Notes, which I regularly do as I am a big fan of her books and columns.  I got to the bottom of the page, past the comments and saw a link to her instagram account.

You can imagine my next move.  Of course, I grabbed my phone and hunted her down, started following her and then looked at every single one of her pictures (in my defence, there is not a huge amount of them).  After which I felt like a bit of a stalker. 

I'm not a trashy magazine, celebrity loving sort of gal.  When asked that question of "Which three famous people would you invite to your dinner party?" I cannot instantly rattle off ten names, protesting my inability to narrow it down any further.

However, I have realised I am a bit of an author stalker.  Of the three 'celebrities' I follow via social media, all of them are authors.  I realised this this morning after I finished stalking Maggie Alderson.

I follow her blogs (she has two) and now her on instagram.  I also follow Zoe Foster on instagram.  And I first read her books because Maggie Alderson had done a front cover blurb on one of them.  Also, she is incredibly hilarious, has great beauty tips and Meowbert is awesome. I don't yet read her blog because I feel I would be tempted to just buy all of the beauty products she recommends.  And that would cost lots of money.  Of course, now that I have opened her blog so I could link it here I am destined to the failure of ever paying off my credit card.

My third author stalkee is Patrick Rothfuss, the author of The Name of the Wind, which after my first read, instantly became my most favouritest book of all time EVER. What a storyteller than man is.  I read his blog and follow him on facebook.  Each post is like a short story.  Totally excellent, completely satisfying. 

Not including the Australian blog world celebrities of which I follow a couple via their blogs and/or instagram, I don't follow any others.  No actors, models, sports stars.  And that's not to say I don't enjoy a movie, a bit of fashion or watching a game of sport (preferably cricket) on tv.  I totally do.  We have four drawers of movies here and two shelves of tv shows on dvd.  It is MR's thing.  And it is perfect to crochet alongside of a movie.

So it is interesting, but not overly surprising for me to note I am an author fan.  Maybe those three people would be the ones I would invite to a dinner party?  Poor Patrick Rothfuss might feel a bit out of place...  (although, reading his blog, I really don't think he would be at all)


 
Do you follow any celebrities via social media?  Who?  Are they all of a particular genre? 

 

This week...

we got a dishwasher. We haven't had one up til now and I am on cloud nine. Every time I put a dirty dish in it I get a big grin on my face and when I turn it on (twice so far) I have clapped my hands and bounced with glee.

I finished my Kindy reports a day early. This is big for me, usually I am the type that hands things in a day or two late. Being on time has never been my strong point. So to finish and hand them in a whole 24 hours before they are due was a super exciting and proud moment for me. It also meant a weekend ahead of no school work. *ahhhhhh*

I baked, twice. Sago and banana bread. Can you guess the reason why? (Hint: see point one) Baking and no dishes afterwards? My kind of bliss.

I caught up with my best friend for a movie (Monsters University) and waffles. We felt like we were in high school again as we both chose mint fudge choc chip ice cream, the flavour of choice from those years.

I bought a new pair of jeans and only paid $35 for them. Enough said.

I have managed to schedule in a don't-leave-the-house, pyjama-filled day of reading, blogging and relaxing.

I have indulged on naughty forbidden treats; blue brie and pate. Oh how I love them. I'm on antibiotics at the moment so I figure they will kill any bad things hiding in them. This is my justification anyhow.



And finally, this week marks the end of MR's break after finishing up on the mines after 6 years! Unfortunately he is not now living full time with me but instead we have swapped locations from when we were first going out. Now he will be in his country home town working at the family business and I am in Perth. We're back to (as many as we can possibly fit in) weekend visitations after two years of approximately one week of three visitations. I'm a bit sad about it but it also marks the start of the next chapter in our lives together and I'm sure I'll get used to it again. I'll be in Perth probably until the end of next year and then I'll be heading back to the country as well.


How has your week been?

  
  

"I'll just..."

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Perhaps the most rampant aspect of my inner five year old self is the "I'll just..." part.  As in the I'll just do anything at all that keeps me out of bed for one more minute.

We all have our bedtime routines.  Mine involves fill up water bottle, turn out lights and check locks, take off makeup (if I haven't already), floss (if I can be bothered), brush teeth, go to toilet, go get the Meow, get in bed, have a drink, put on lip balm, set alarm if needed, have cuddles with Meow, turn out lights and if MR is home, talk his ear off for as long as he will let me.

Some of the other things I'll just do before going to bed (usually when MR is not at home) on a very regular basis include:
- playing with hairstyle options in front of the mirror
- tweezing my eyebrows
- checking facebook, instagram and the weather on my phone
- playing words with friends
- looking at pinterest on my phone
- reading just one more chapter of my book, which undoubtedly will turn into another 100 pages
- going to find the Meow (who has crazily run off to go back outside to sit on her favourite chair in the freezing cold) for some more cuddles
- after all of the above, go to the toilet - again
- anything else I can think of to procrastinate with

No matter how tired I am, I will still do these things.  I just have this intrinsic urge to rebel against all going to bed type actions.

The Meow has no such rebellious behaviour in regards to going to bed type actions

Admittedly, of late my sleep patterns have gotten slightly better.  I'm going to bed a bit earlier (most nights) and while I've had a few nights this week of lying awake for hours once in bed, those sort of nights are on a decline.  Thank fuck.  It's been hard work getting this far though and by going to bed earlier I mean instead of 1am it's more like 11.45pm.  11 if I'm really, really, really tired. 


Last night, while procrastinating from sleeping and thinking of this blog post I thought, I'll just pop on blogger on my phone and type in a few notes.



The Gods are one day going to smite me one day with a child just like me aren't they?