Can we do it.....Yep we can!

Ummmm I'm back!

2012-02-09T14:16:00.001+11:00

Ah yes well, to say it's been a while would be a tad of an understatement!

My last blogpost was back on August 30, when I was under the weather. Where do I start from there?

How's about some news? Something along the lines of WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!

Yes, my under the weatherness from August was also morning sickness, altho I wasn't 100% sure at the time!

We returned from our Honeymoon on August 9, and on August 26 at 2am we got 2 lines on our home pregnancy test!

I had been feeling sick for a few days, and had an odd full/heavy feeling in my tummy, I thought oh wow what if. So went and bought some preg tests, the first 3 came back negative, but I was sure something was up, so I kept buying & taking them! Then at 2am on Aug 26, I got up to go to the loo, and thought bugger it I'll test again, and up came the 2 lines, I ran in and woke up hubby waving the stick in his sleepy eyes.


Test 1 - on day 35 of my cycle


Test 2 & 3 - on day 36 of my cycle

Test 4 - day 37 of my cycle

Our GP confirmed our home test by blood test on August 31!

From August until 2 days before Christmas I had dreadful 24x7 nausea and vomiting, I was vomiting up to 20-25 times a day, and about 5 times overnight, I just about nightly awoke with vomit on it's way and had to run to the toilet! Life wasn't much fun for those 5 months!

At Christmas we drove 15 hours each way to my hometown to have Xmas with my family (we told my family via Skype on Fathers Day, saying that hubby would have a very different Fathers Day in 2012, they got the hint!

Since Christmas I haven't had much nausea and only a few vomits, more related to heat/tired than morning sickness, I think.

We're now at 29 weeks, and have met with the great midwives at John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle, and have been to our first 2 ante-natal classes. I'm reading everything I can on natural childbirth, to try and overcome my birth fears, I want/hope/would like to go as natural as I can, but we shall see.

Everyone has been calling us old fashioned, with us conceiving a honeymoon baby, but we feel so lucky and blessed to have 'fallen' so quickly, old fashioned or not we'll take it :)

So in answer to one of my initial 'Can We Do It Questions'

Ah YEP WE SURE CAN!

Till next time, I promise it won't take so long!

Apologies for no show

2011-08-30T10:12:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the lack of content! Have been sick with a cold/flu, haven't been able to shake it for the best part of a month now, 2 days off work in the last week is most unlike me, but I think I've just about broken in now and on the mend.

(pic source)

Will have a bit to catch up on and looking forward to checking through all the blogs I follow and those who follow/comment here!

Till next time,

The burn - hurts so good!

2011-08-26T13:15:00.004+10:00

Since returning from our honeymoon 2 weeks ago I have been trying to fight off a cold/flu/whatever. Well this week it's just about won the battle, I've felt uber-ordinary, and even had a day off work!!

Nights have been a battle to breath, and a very attractive look for my lovely new hubby, with me 'sleeping' with a tissue wedged up ease nostril to stop the constant running, whilst coughing my lungs out and sneezing. I did offer to sleep in the other bedroom, but lovely hubby won't allow it (yay he's soooo sweet)!

I grew up on Vicks, we had it rubbed on our chests as kids, my grand-mother used to put some in a bowl of boiled water, and lower our heads down over the bowl with a tea towel over us, to help clear up a cold.

So when the constant sniffles/blocked nose/head, coughing etc persisted, I went to the Vicks, only to realise our jar, which I've probably had for the best part of 10 years, was about empty!

So I headed to the stupormarket and bought a new jar and an inhaler.

This is the burn bit.

I consistently stick the inhaler too far up my nose, and sniff it way too hard, thinking it's not working, only to have the hairs in my nose just about singed off, and my eyes watering from the 'vicks burn'. I know that if I stop doing it, it won't hurt, but for some bizarre reason, I continue to do it, and continue to burn the bejesus out of my snozz. In my cold ridden brain I justify the pain, by enjoying the maybe 20 seconds of clear nosedness (new word?) that follows my monster inhales!

Hopefully this cold will be gone soon, and I can stop the singeing burn that is oh so good, for a few seconds anyway!

Till next time,

PS - Married life is the best!

Back to work - not so yay!

2011-08-18T10:35:00.000+10:00

Well today makes it a week since 1st day back at work, following our wedding and honeymoon, and man oh man it's been a hard slog!

Our honeymoon was so amazing, it was a massive jolt back to reality when I had to man the 7pm - 2am foalwatch shift on Saturday night, I had a flashback when I was handmilking the mare (foal wouldn't suck from both teets, so I had to milk one of her teets every 20 mins!), that 7 days ago we had been having dinner on our island paradise, throwing leftovers to the hundreds of fish swimming under the deck of the restaurant, while sipping Mojito's!

I'm sure it's just the usual post holiday blues, but gees louise, they are as blue as blue can get!

Erakor Island, Vanuatu - aka Paradise!! Our villa was at the top right corner

Till next time,

Howdy everyone!

2011-08-10T10:09:00.002+10:00

Just a quick update to let everyone know we're still in the land of the living! We just returned from an amazing honeymoon in Vanuatu, will be back to 'normal blogging' soon! Bare with me :)

Our Wedding Day

2011-07-26T10:07:00.001+10:00

Hi Everyone!

Our wedding day was amazing, went off better than expected. A very special day, if the rest of our married life goes 1/10th as well as yesterday did, I will be one happy girl :)

We went back to the hall at 9am Sunday to clean up, 'unsetup' everything, and make bacon and egg rolls for everyone. It was a lovely morning with our family, everyone was abuzz with happy talk about the day/night before.

My husband (that sounds weird!) spent most of Sunday in bed trying to sleep off a shocking hangover before we met with the last of our family Sunday night for dinner before they fly back to Vic yesterday!

Thank you everyone for all of your support, advice, good vibes & wishes, I have felt the love through the screen :)

I will post a 'proper' entry with photos soon, we were blessed with a lovely day after a week of pouring rain, we had some rain while getting photos done, but when the sun broke thru again the light was amazing, according to the photographer! Hope to have some photos before we head to Vanuatu on Thursday, if not we'll definitely have them when we return in 2 weeks, and I will post them here.

PS - the bunting looked amazing!!!!!!! :) :)

Wish us luck, our big day today!

2011-07-23T06:36:00.000+10:00

:)

wedding day today, shall update after!

My Lotto Splurges

2011-07-18T15:15:00.000+10:00

Ok so it should probably be titled 'My Dream Lotto Splurges' maybe?

I have been lusting over this house for about 6 months, it first came on the market, about 4 months ago, and every time they had an open house organised we were away, then when the auction was scheduled we were away, I was not a happy camper.

The property got passed in (yay in my dreamland!), and now it's back on the market with a price tag of $1.29 Million!

Now if we win Lotto this Saturday, which seeings as it's our wedding day, it only seems fair that we will, doesn't it? If we win, we could buy it and move in when we get back from our honeymoon in Vanuatu, perfect timing, surely 3 weeks settlement would be long enough?

I don't usually go for modern, we bought a 100 year old Federation home, but for this I will make an exception! And the 10 acres is just perfect, we could always buy more acreage down the road with the rest of our Lotto winnings should we need it!

I'm a strong believer in the Dream Big theory :)

Till next time,

The age old money dilemma!

2011-07-15T10:39:00.002+10:00

On my mind today is money, why oh why does it cause so many issues!

Mr Mel and I are financially comfortable, we have worked very hard to get to where we are at. We're not flying but we do own about 60% of our home, have stable jobs, and have some money invested. We are able to go out for dinner, and can splurge on holidays now and then, although I'm not sure if you could call my first proper holiday in 11 years (our soon to be honeymoon!) a splurge!

However we are still sensible with our spending, and we do everything we can to ensure we're not paying more than we need to when we do have splurges. My friends roll their eyes (in jest) when I bore them with details of a bargain I have found, or a savings we have made. They are now asking me to help them with their mortgages, insurance, shopping etc, which I love to do.

We hope to have kids soon, and the finances will definitely tighten up, but we are making sure we are building a buffer so to speak, so that when we are blessed with a bubba, we will be financially in a good place to handle the probably time with me not working, added expenses etc.

I have just had a conversation with a colleague who at around 50-55 years old has hardly a cent to her name, she has debt to her eyeballs and yet even being in such a hole, doesn't seem to want to make an effort to fix it.

She is happy to have a pity party of the world isn't fair, how hard done by she is, yet she also spends money on horses that she can't afford, doing up the garden in her rental, etc, while ignoring the mounting debts, and letters from debt agencys that are arriving weekly.

After yet another whinging session from her, she has just finished telling me "Mel you're lucky you have a husband and a home you own, you don't know how hard it is".

My reply, while half biting my tongue, was "Hang on, you don't know my story, you don't know what effort I have put in to get where I am. I have worked bloody hard to get 'lucky'."

Yet she still seems to think that anyone who is not 'struggling' has been lucky. What is with that?

I have had similar conversations with friends and family, and other colleagues. If you're struggling financially you need to look at why and find out how to fix it!

If you can't afford your mortgage repayments - it's not because the world is against you, in the cases I'm thinking of, it's because you have chosen to buy a house in an area you can't afford, and you didn't budget for interest rate rises, that's not really anyones fault but your own!

Of course there are situations where people lose jobs, get sick, etc, but in most of the cases I personally know it's not for those reasons, it's through being stupid with money!

If your grocery bill is sky high every week, it's probably because you're shopping in one of the 2 stupormarkets, buying brand food, and not willing to put in the effort to shop around, and/or make more things from scratch. Do you really need to buy baby food in a jar or bag? Go grab a bag of apples, stew them down and freeze it, it's not rocket science! Don't stop at the bakery, go home and make something if you need to, or heaven forbid, go without!

If you don't know where you spend your money, then do a bloody budget! Being an ostrich with your head in the sand is rarely the best way to attack things, keep note for a month or even a week, of everything you spend, then work out where you can cut back. Do you need that coffee at Maccas at the weekly girls get together? You can still go to Maccas and chat with the girls, but have a water, or take your own coffee, or suggest meeting at a park instead.

I love Albert Einstein's definition of insanity - "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"

Ok off my soapbox (for now!), blame my colleague for my rampage!

Till next time,

Thanks to Rhonda from the Down To Earth blog for her 'Friday On My Mind' idea, it's a gem, I've clicked through comments on numerous blogs on Rhonda's list, and on my own, and found some great blogs which I'm now following, and looking forward to discovering many more!

Toastabags - success

2011-07-12T13:33:00.001+10:00

I must admit when I saw the 'Toastabags' at Aldi recently I was a tad sceptical, however my longing for a toasted sanga for lunch at work, and lack of a sandwich maker in the kitchen at work convinced me to give them a try.

The claim is that you can make a toasted sandwich in a normal toaster, something we personally have needed for a while, since Mr Mel's 'melted cheese all over and in toaster' fiasco.

So I headed home from Aldi with 2 x 2 pack, one pack for home, one pack for my work.

Today was trial day, Mr Mel had made me a lovely poached chicken, avocado & cheese sandwich, on pumpkin seed bread, delicious fresh, but the best when toasted.

I had visions of the pocket melting all through the toaster, luckily as per the photos below, the toaster is ancient and mucky, so if it died it was no big loss! I have been asking for close to 4 years for a new toaster, and have a note stuck in the kitchen - "clean up after yourself, the kitchen fairy has quit!" but to no avail!

Let the test begin:

Empty pocket ready for the test run

Poached chicken, avocado & cheese on pumpkin seed sanga

Uhoh - not gonna fit

Some sacrifice was needed

As snug as a sanga in a pocket!

Ready for deployment into depths of manky work toaster

A tight fit, poking & prodding to load was required - I thought it was for sure not coming out ever!

toast it my ~~pretty~~ manky beast toast it

Some manhandling required to 'pop' it up - but looks promising

Victory!

More toasted on one side than the other

But that's more due to the dodgy toaster I think!

Extremely happy to report that the Toastabags were a success, first try I'd give it a 8/10, perhaps if I'd used smaller bread it would be a 10/10, but an 8 is excellent, especially for an Aldi product. And the price of $2.95 for a 2 pack is outstanding, considering the pockets are reusable!

Woohoo. Toasted sangas will now feature heavily in my work lunches, and will be a saving grace during the foaling season when checking mares from midnight till 7am!!!

Till next time,

Sheep Shakers - Friday On My Mind - 16

2011-07-08T13:04:00.002+10:00

Today my boss and his family got back from a 10 day trip to New Zealand, and these 2 little sheep salt & pepper shakers are my present for keeping the place afloat while they were away.

Terrible quality photo (dodgy phone), in real life they are beyond super cute, the salt and pepper holes are their nostrils, and they fit so snuggly in my palm, they're just gorgeous! Oh I just realised, the one with the white around his neck should probably be the salt sheep, the darker one the pepper sheep, so cute!

So on my mind are 2 little sheep shakers from the land of the sheep shaggers

The Step After The Next Step

2011-07-07T13:56:00.000+10:00

So the next, impending, step for Mr Mel & I is our surprise wedding in 2 weeks!! But the Step after the Next Step is us wanting to start a family. Back in June I went to the Doc, and had a full checkup, and was glad to get the all clear. His famous last words, hopefully in a good way, were "see you when you're pregnant".

Since that appointment Mr Mel and I have been taking Menevit & Elevit (respectively), Mr Mel has lost about 10kg, I have lost around 7kg, so health & fitness wise we're on the improve.

We have been talking about and planning our hopeful pregnancy, and given I've been trying to lose weight before our wedding, I wasn't keen on being pregnant on the day!

But now the big day is only a few weeks away, things will be getting serious on the TTC (trying to conceive) front.

I have bought a 'Maybe Baby' kit to help track my cycle, and today have just bought a couple of books (through Ebay) that have been recommended to us by friends and family:

"Up The Duff" - by Kaz Cooke
"Baby Love" - by Robin Barker

and because they came in a 4 book lot set, at great value, I also picked up:

"So You're Going To Be A Dad" - by Peter Downey
"The Mighty Toddler" - by Robin Barker

I hadn't heard of the last 2, but seeings I was buying the 2 I wanted (Up The Duff & Baby Love) for less than the price of buying 1 retail, and with the other 2 thrown in, I thought it was a bargain, plus might be some worthwhile info in the extra 2 also.

bargain books from Ebay

I am keenly aware that given my age (37), that the chances of us falling pregnant are on the slide, and we have both had alot of conversations re what happens if we can't have a baby, so we're not going into this assuming it will be a done deal. I know that there are alot of women out there who are not able to fall pregnant, including some women in my immediate family, so we are not treating this lightly. My heart goes out to them, as I know while we would cope, I would be heartbroken if we can't conceive.

But we will jump every hurdle as it approaches, we are going into it with eyes wide open, but with a hell of alot of hope in our hearts. Wish us luck, and send some baby dust our way!!

I am more than open to any suggestions/recommendations re books/websites, so please feel free to let me know!

Till next time,

Dust Storm of 2009

2011-07-06T10:18:00.000+10:00

While going through some photos at work to use on the website I saw a photo I had taken, on my mobile, back on 23 September 2009, at 6am, while I was on foal-watch.

It was the day of the 'Sydney Dust Storm' however the dust travelled far and wide, it was measured at 500km wide, and 1,000km long at one point, and it was visible from space.

I remember I had just checked the progress of one of the overdue pregnant mares, and saw an odd orange hue in the sky, my immediate thought was bushfire, but I couldn't smell anything, so I jumped on the quad bike and drove round the farm seeing if there was any threat.

The dust got heavier, and it was an 'orange out', at one stage I couldn't see more than a meter or so in front of me, checking the mares in the foaling yards, I had to virtually stand next to them to see them clearly.

Once I had done the rounds and realised there wasn't any danger I jumped online in the office, and saw that the dust was everywhere, some of the footage from Sydney Harbour was just surreal.

The farm at 6am on 'dust storm' day

According to Wikipedia:

The CSIRO estimated that the storm carried some 16 million tonnes of dust from the deserts of Central Australia, and during the peak of the storm, the Australian continent was estimated to be losing 75,000 tonnes of dust per hour off the NSW coast north of Sydney. The dust storm coincided with other extreme weather conditions which affected the cities of Adelaide and Melbourne.

While the cloud was visible from space, on the ground the intense red-orange colour and drop in temperature drew comparisons with nuclear winter, Armageddon, and the planet Mars. The dust storm was described by the Bureau of Meteorology as a "pretty incredible event" that was the worst in the state of New South Wales in nearly 70 years. The phenomenon was reported around the world. The Weather Channel's Richard Whitaker said: "This is unprecedented. We are seeing earth, wind and fire together".

Some of the thousands of tons of dirt and soil lifted in the dust storm were dumped in Sydney Harbour and the Tasman Sea. This increased the nitrogen and phosphate levels in the water significantly. Measurements taken two weeks after the event indicated an explosion of microscopic plant life which can be expected lead to an increase in fish numbers.

It definitely is an interesting world we live in!

Till next time,

I'd love to have the guts to wear it!

2011-07-05T11:10:00.000+10:00

Trawling through shop websites trying to find some cheap summery clothes for our honeymoon, I stumbled across this t-shirt, gee I would love to have the guts to wear it! :)

Till next time,

Burglary - how do they rationalise it?

2011-07-04T13:56:00.000+10:00

Having just got news that our neighbour had an attempted burglary overnight (they got into garage, tried to access the house while neighbours were home!), it has got me thinking, how do thieves rationalise their behaviour?

Maybe I am way off base, and there is no rational thought to it, but surely there has to be a moment in every thief's life where they think "why?".

Why do they feel entitled to take what isn't theirs?
Why do they think it is ok to scare the life out of people by breaking into their homes?

I know most theft is for financial reasons, either needing money to survive, or to feed addictions, be it drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc. But I really do wonder if they understand how their victims feel, and if they do, do they care?

I have only had one instance of theft affect me directly (touch wood!), I stupidly left my backpack in my car when living in inner Melbourne, and the next morning the back door was open and backpack was missing, luckily it only contained a few easily replaced books, and some notes.

However what was lost is not the point, the point is the feeling of being violated and having someone pilfer through your things and life.

I can only imagine (I hope to the gods we never have it happen to us!) what people must go through if they have their home ransacked, even moreso if they are home when it happened.

Friends have had it happened, and one good friend still, some 6 years later, cannot be at home alone. She was asleep in an upstairs bedroom, when thieves broke in and ransacked her lounge and study, taking her stereo, tv, laptop, ipod. She wakes to every noise in the house, and if her husband is away she will stay with friends/family instead of being at home.

That one instance of someone invading her home and stealing her things, has changed her, maybe for good. I find that terribly sad.

Mr Mel and I installed a monitored security system last year, we don't live in a bad area, we wanted it as peace of mind, as we are away a fair bit, with work or family commitments.

After last nights burglary next door, we are now going to install a sensor light in the front yard, it might be overkill, but I would rather take the extra precaution and hope like hell it never happens to us. And I hope karma catches up with all burglars/thieves sooner rather than later!!

Till next time,

Friday On My Mind - 15 - storage sorted!

2011-07-01T09:06:00.000+10:00

On my mind this chilly Friday morning, our built-in robe in the 2nd bedroom are finished (almost) yay!!!

Following on from yesterdays post, the builder finished off the built-in robe in our 2nd bedroom yesterday, now all we need to do is paint the timber trim at the top, and have them back to re-align the 2 middle doors. He said because they are so large, they will drop once hung, which they have, at the bottom there is about a 6-8mm gap, at the top they are flush, so he'll hopefully be out today/Monday to get the weight/hang spot-on.

built-ins at end of Day 1

built-ins at end of day 2, just need to paint the trim at the top and get the middle rehung

end of day 1

end of day 2

love the door finish, much nicer than the built-ins in our room! hmmm

Very very happy, now I can finally unpack things and give them homes, instead of being stuffed in moving boxes for the past, say 10 or so years!!

Did I say yay? :)

Till next time,

Yay more storage on the way!

2011-06-30T09:56:00.001+10:00

When we moved into our home almost 2 years ago (17 July 2009), I bought with me several (ok well maybe 20!) boxes of 'stuff' that I had been dragging from house to house over the previous 10 or so years, during my never to be repeated (hopefully!) rental life!

Over the past 2 years I have gradually been going through the boxes, giving away what I no longer needed/want, and repacking into fewer (say 8!) boxes, and storing them in our 2nd bedroom and garage.

Our home is 3 bedrooms, but only the main has built in robe, the only other storage in the house is the linen cupboard, then the garage.

So we decided we wanted to get built-ins put in the 2nd bedroom, which (gods willing) will be our future kids room. We had a local guy come and quote, he was great, very down to earth, great reputation, and reasonably priced, compared to getting a crew from Newcastle or Sydney.

We confirmed the work about 5 weeks ago, and yesterday the install began, woohoo!

These are a couple of dodgy pics form my phone, when I got home last night, the builder was back at 7.45am this morning, and according to Mr Mel he's currently 'working like a trojan on it'. So hopefully when I get home tonight it will be all done! And I will take more pics tonight.

So not only do we get much needed storage, hopefully we have added some value to the house, now with 2 bedrooms with substantial built ins!

We have the built-ins going across the width of the room, up to about a foot below our 12 foot ceilings, we didn't want to ruin our lovely ceilings, so are stopping short, and there will be a decorative edging at the top of the robe, that will finish it off nicely.

Oh and ignore the hideous blue paint, the previous owners had painted it blue and cream, for their two young boys, I shall be changing that later this year!

Till next time,

28cms & a nail file!

2011-06-28T10:13:00.001+10:00

I had my weigh in & measurement this morning at Curves, very happy with the results.

Even though this 6 weeks has included me being sick for almost 3 weeks, a semi crushed big toe from a 500kg horse landing on it, a suspected bonespur on my heel, being away in Sydney with work for a week, and missing out on at least 4 weeks of gym attendance, the results were pretty good.

28cm's gone - that's right 28cm's, I had to ask the Curves lady to measure again!

Bust -6.00 cm
Waist -8.00 cm
Abdomen -4.00 cm
Hips -2.00 cm
Thighs -4.00 cm
Arms -4.00 cm

I received a printout of my report, with the cm & kgs lost highlighted, and a lovely Curves nailfile.

Curves nailfile - I really need a better camera on my phone!

I started at Curves back in March, and Mr Mel & I kicked off with the Great Australian Diet in April, we have changed the way we eat and live, less, but better quality food, and at least 40 minutes a day of exercise.

We both feel alot healthier for it, Mr Mel has lost over 10kgs, just amazing, and alot of people are noticing, which gives him even more motivation, it's great to see how much happier he is.

I've lost just under 7kg all up, and I too feel a hell of alot better for it, we both have a fair way to go, I have more to lose still than Mr Mel, but we're both very conscious and 'in the moment' with our food & exercise now, which can only be a good thing.

Till next time,

Friday On My Mind - 14 - our lovely lad

2011-06-24T12:23:00.001+10:00

On my mind this Friday, is our lovely lovely lad, Gatto (nickname), the 2010 foal from our mare.

Gatto's mum, fat as a fool 8 months pregnant

I took Gatto's mum for her 'date' back on 8th October 2009, when she was covered by the stallion, I nervously waited 3 agonising days with fingers & toes crossed until the vet confirmed she had ovulated. Then waited 11 months, until 20 September 2010, when she produced our magnificent Gatto. We were so happy to have a colt, as in the Thoroughbred world, unfortunately, colts are generally of much higher value than fillies.

Gatto at 4 hours

I kept Gatto company when he was weaned from his mum, and reassured him that he was ok on his own. I taught him that a headcollar, and lead, and brushes weren't scary monsters to be fearful of. I taught him that walking with me, nice and calm, was a lovely place to be.

Gatto at 8 days

I visited him out with his mates and singled him out for a bit of extra TLC and scratches.

Gatto at 6 months

I picked the brand he would have (6 for good luck), and held him while he was branded and microchipped. Then taught him that a rug was his best friend to keep him warm and clean, not to devour him whole!

This week I spent from Sunday to Thursday midday with him at least 12 hours a day, showing him off to interested buyers, we were hoping for around 60 inspections, we ended up with 87!

Gatto at the sales complex

I asked industry experts to come and have a look at him and give me their opinions, they loved him, and he showed himself off like an old pro.

Gatto showing himself off a treat

We got him ready for his salesring appearance, I'm not sure if I will put the butterflies down to nerves, or sadness, as I knew it meant the end of our story together. Gatto paraded beautifully in the sales ring, I video taped his sale, through tears of pride, joy and sadness. Pride that we had helped produce and raise such a special colt, joy that he was showing himself off to his best ability, and sadness that I was losing him.

In the end, our trading business, is just that a business, but I'm a horse lover through and through, I know some in the industry can just treat their horses as an asset, but I can't, and I'm not ashamed to say so.

We got a terrific price for him, much more than we were hoping, and a hell of alot more than we were expecting, in the current depressed market. But goes to show, the cream will always rise to the top!

Gatto you were a joy to know, own, and educate, we will follow your career with much interest. Good luck big boy!

Till we next meet, when I visit you in NZ in 2012, take care sweetpea.

Moroccan 1 night, Japanese the next!

2011-06-21T07:44:00.000+10:00

This week I'm in Sydney for work, arrived on Sunday, and will be here until Thursday afternoon when our horse (a weanling) sells at the Inglis Weanling & Broodmare Sale at Randwick.

I had planned to get through alot of the fabric prep for my DIY Bunting for our wedding, bringing along a big box of fabric, scissors, cutter, etc.

Well so far, no luck! Sunday night we were treated to dinner by the boss, at Moroccan Feast in Randwick, I had never tried Moroccan but knew I would probably love it, as I really like Turkish food.

Very happy to report that the meal was delicious, and the service was top notch.

We started with a combo of 4 salads :

- Homemade Moroccan Pickle mix
- Tangier Beetroot, seasoned with Chef's spice mix, served cold
- Chickpea salad, with special spice mix
- Eggplant dip, seasoned with garlic, lemon and salt

served with moreish pita bread

I followed with a very yummy Chicken Kourdass (seasoned chicken breast, stuffed with mince, cooked in homemade preserved lemon & lime leaves, with fresh mushrooms & a touch of saffron).

Luckily we walked to the restaurant and back to our hotel, otherwise I think I would have spent the night walking round the room, as I was sooooooooooo full!

Last night we were invited by another sales crew for Japanese, at Monkey Magic, Surry Hills.

We started with a bowl of Miso soup, feels so healthy & clean. Then rice paper rolls with chicken, caramelised onions, julienne vegetables, sesame-miso sauce, so scrumptious!

Main was Slow-Cooked Pork Belly, apple-lime puree, spicy kimchi, salad of pickled vegetables.

A great dinner with good company, a treat on a week that will be very busy.

The miso soup turned out to be VERY cleansing, both myself and workmate spent a bit of time in the bathroom overnight!

Hopefully I'll be posting about a good sale result come Thursday, wish us luck!

Our colt at 4 hours old, he's now 9 months and sells on Thursday!

Till next time,

Friday On My Mind - 13

2011-06-17T09:02:00.002+10:00

On my mind today, is some gorgeousness, I ADORE hydrangeas, and we're planning to replant our front garden with them when the weather isn't so freezing & wet, so for now I'm extremely happy with the new addition to our home, some lovely 'indoor' hydrangeas (so 'indoor' might equal not so real, but who's counting heehee).

I want to get a big glass vase for them, but this one will do for now, excuse the dust on the floor, I was having a 'pretty ' moment, not a cleaning moment :)

Happy Friday everyone.

Till next time,

Windy Wet Wintery Wednesday

2011-06-15T09:21:00.001+10:00

Driving to work today the one lane bridge I cross each morning, which usually has a trickle about 8 feet down, is currently a fast running creek around 1 foot under the bridge, the paddocks on the farms surrounding work are looking more like very big swimming pools, and the cattle & horses don't look anything more than miserable.

Luckily where I work is mostly elevated, so only the low parts of the farm are under water, but everywhere else feels like you're walking on a very wet sponge, water squelching out underfoot each step.

So far this week we've had around 90mls, that's just from 1am Monday morning (currently 9am Wednesday).

The forecast isn't looking like much improvement is on the way, below is the current Bureau of Meteorology map

Bureau of Meterology Map (source)

BOM are forecasting 90-100mls today, with wind gusts up to 90km/h! The rivers in the area are rising, with some due to burst their banks today.

It seems June is the month for massive downpours, a couple of weeks before I moved up here from Victoria, in July 2007 there were the 'June 2007 Hunter Floods' where 10 lives were lost during horrid 2 day storm.

In June 2009 Mr Mel and I had his family up from Sydney for a weekend, and we (8 adults, 3 kids) were just about housebound for the weekend, one trip saw us being the last cars across a soon to be flooded causeway!

Now 2 years later in June 2011, a similar sort of scenario to 2009 is settling in, with heavy rain forecast through to Friday this week, then hopefully a few days to dry out, before I head to Sydney next week to sell our colt!

Till next time,

Too Cool For Masterchef?

2011-06-14T12:08:00.002+10:00

Yesterday we went to the almost washed away FlavourFest at Hunter Valley Gardens, we tried going on Sunday but the torrential rain meant organisers had to cancel the day and try and scramble to reorganise for Monday.

We went last year and had a ball, this year the only real highlight (with many stallholders not coming back after washed out Sunday) being seeing Callum Hann, finalist of 2010 Masterchef cook. Callum seems a very down to earth young guy, he had a casual, if a bit nervous, persona in front of the small crowd, he was engaging and spoke with genuine enthusiasm and warmth. He was more at ease when he was cooking - Vietnamese Prawn Salad then a Confit Pork Belly - both looked delish.

In the small crowd watching Callum was his Masterchef mate Matthew Caldicott, the accountant who wanted to follow his passion and move into cooking, according to his Masterchef spiel.

(photo source)

Sorry to report that Matthew thought he was a bit too cool for school, evidenced by the following exchange with Mr Mel (we were standing next to him in a 'crowd' of about 20 people) :

Mr Mel - G'day Mate, you here to support Callum? (he had been talking to Callum 5 mins previous)
Matthew - Yes
Mr Mel - What do you think of the current Masterchef crew?
Matthew - Don't watch it, I've never watched it, didn't watch the one I was on, only went on it
Mr Mel - Ahhh ok, so are you working in cooking now?
Matthew - No back at old job (accountant)
Mr Mel - Righto well good luck

Now I'm not sure if Matthew was just having a bad day in the cold wet weather, or if that's his normal personality, but gees louise, it wouldn't kill you to smile or engage with someone talking to you, or to show a bit of respect to the show that gave you a bit of fame.

And yes everyone is entitled to their privacy, but it wasn't as if we were bugging him for an interview etc, just a pleasant 'how you going' type chat, to a guy we'd seen on telly, who was standing on his own in a small crowd.

Have to wonder about the real story behind Matthew going on Masterchef. Was he legitimately interested in becoming a cook? Or was he on there for his few weeks of fame? I suspect that more than a few contestants are there for the latter, and really it's up to them what they want to gain out of the show, but it wouldn't kill you to fake being pleasant at the least!

Till next time,

Friday On My Mind - 12

2011-06-09T23:55:00.001+10:00

On my mind this Friday is my seemingly endless DIY Bunting Project!

I'm wanting to decorate the hall for our wedding with home made bunting, and after measuring everything up it looks like I need around 750 flags to make around 150 metres of bunting! Oops!

I hadn't sewn since I was in about Year 8 (late 1980's!) so my DIY project may have been a tad ambitious, but proud to say that I can drive the machine I bought, and so far have cut out about 120 flags and have sewn up around 75, so I'm slowly getting there.

My Brother beast!

This weekend is a long weekend (yay!) so I shall be bunting my butt off! In between running around getting my pre-wedding to-do list (which is meant to be shrinking but is growing!) done!

Luckily I'm finding sewing/bunting quite relaxing, thank god, otherwise it would have been a disaster!

The first stitches!

First flags, from calico, just in case I stuffed them up!

First non calico flags cut out

And sewn up!

These are all sewn up now

Some red to break up the green

Till next time,

Grin and Bare It

2011-06-08T15:35:00.000+10:00

Now I've written the title, I'm not sure if it should be 'bear' or 'bare', how annoying!

Just having one of those days where over and over in my mind (albeit now with a question mark on the spelling) goes the words "just grin and bare it", "think of England" blahdy blah blah.

You know when you have someone say something to you and your instant thought is "I could just smash you in the face with a tennis racket right now"? (well I hope someone knows, eek or I'm a tad whacky!)

I try to bite my tongue most times when I could easily let fly, and I'm usually successful.

Today after being the recipient of a out of line comment (don't want to get into details as this could turn into War & Peace) I just had to get out of harms way so to speak, instead of launching a tennis racket or a tirade, I said "I just have to head out for a bit", got in my car and drove for an hour, leaving my work mobile on my desk.

(photo source)

I have just Googled 'one of those days' and one of the first links was

http://www.organizeit.co.uk/2008/05/26/having-one-of-those-days-heres-how-to-deal-with-it/

their advice is below and I'm happy to see I actually did alot of the things they suggest, without really thinking about it (my comments in green):

Take a breather
Get away from it all. Disconnect the phone, turn off the computer. Heck, lock yourself in a cupboard if you can’t get away from work. Give yourself a chance to clear your head and gain some perspective. You can’t get hold of your day if you don’t give yourself a chance to regain control. One or two unfortunate events will effect your mood which can ultimately cause things to spiral if you don’t take a step back
Yay I actually did this, I got in the car without the work mobile, hit the road, music up loud, singing & yelling alternatively
Work out what the problem is
What makes you think you are having one of those days? Was it the moody customer who shouted at you? Have you been inundated with work because two of your staff are off sick? Having one of those days will put you in a bad mood. It’s important to know exactly what the cause is so you can do something about it.
Oh I know what the problem is!! Don't get me started!
Shit happens…
There is a logical, rational reason for everything. You might not directly cause it but it’s there all the same. If a customer gives you a hard time because another department didn’t do its job properly, that’s unfortunate. But these things do happen. If you’re dwelling on it while hiding in the cupboard, tell yourself you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Yes shit does happen, but when shit keeps happening it's NOT wrong place wrong time! Well actually it is, wrong job wrong time perhaps?
…but could I have done something about it?Things happen that ruin our day which are out of our control, but there also things that, in hindsight, we could have influenced or can yet gain some control over. Could you perhaps have dealt with the rude customer a little better? Can you defer or delegate the workload till the absent staff return? Take the lessons from the experience now so it doesn’t mess up another day in the future.
Not really, out of the blue comment that was so (A) untrue, (B) not needed, (C) hurtful
Treat yourself and move on
Rationalizing and being proactive will help you to smooth out the whole unpleasantness but if it fixed your entire day you wouldn’t be having one ofthose days in the first place. Take lessons from the experience and try and get through the rest of the day. Treat yourself by going for retail therapy, having a nice meal or watching a film, if it helps. Then get to sleep. You will almost certainly feel much better the next day.
Yay I actually did this too, on my hour long drive I bought myself a bottle of poison, well not really poison, Ice Break, same/same really, as I'm on a pre-wedding diet, and good old Ice Break is not my friend!
Don’t live in a bubble
A boxer will never be successful if he just runs around the ring avoiding his opponent’s blows. Likewise you will never get anywhere if you are not willing to take the knocks and blows that life will all to readily dish out. You may feel like hiding in your shell when the day turns against you, but resist that urge, it’s not an habit you want to slip into. Shake it off and get back in the fight.
Again something I've done to a degree, I have requested some info on a course to change career. I'm not really shaking off the comment cause I'm still quite pissed at it and the commenter, but I'm back in the ring of my career if you know what I mean. Don't they say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result? Well my info request is the start of changing what I'm doing to hopefully get a different result!

That's my whinge quota full for a while, so I'll sign off :) Tomorrow is Friday, woohoo!!!!!!!

Till next time,