Life’s small pleasures

I have a sweet tooth – that’s no secret – but I’m finding that my favourite little treat at the moment is a piece of toast, (must be pumpkin 5 seed or something equally grainy and textured) smeared with crunchy (low fat!) peanut butter; cut into 4 squares and enjoyed with or without a cup of tea (chai, black or chamomile!)

Bliss!

Easter Break

Wow. I haven’t had a holiday like that since…. well…. to be honest? Probably since our honeymoon! Hubs and I took our 14-year-old Nephew Nathan down to Sorrento for 5 days over Easter and it was just the best!! We had no visiting schedules, no commitments, just 5 glorious days with Victoria’s finest weather to do whatever we pleased! Now THAT’S a holiday! I couldn’t decide which photos to cut out, so I just put all my favourite ones in!

We got up late-ish most days and went for a walk after brekky. Hubs’ Dad, Poppy, took us along a few of the walking tracks near the beach. Poppy has spent a lot of time exploring those tracks, so he took us to see some great views!


Hubs, Neph Nath & Poppy



Yes, Hubs IS the King of the world!!



This is a really dodgy photo, but I was trying to capture the 4 generations, sitting around the fire. Poppy, Grandad, Neph Nath and Hubs.



Neph Nath’s favourite thing to do for the weekend – the good old-fashioned wheelbarrow ride!



Hubs cooking oysters Kilpatrick on the BBQ. No slumming it for us! We also had garlic prawns, smoked cod, honey soy chicken and steaks! (Not all at once, clearly!)



Oh, and not to mention the fine wine we had! 1976 WAS a great year!



Some rellies who came down on Easter Saturday for a visit, with Grandad (far left) and Nanna (far right). (And can you see the kombi in the background!!)



Wifey starting a fire. I had my cocky pants on, and was strutting around saying “look at that stack! This is going to be a great fire!” Unfortunately, it took 2 goes to get it going!



But, you know, better late than never!



Granted, it wasn’t as big as Neph Nath’s and Hubs’ fire 🙂

We really did have such a great time. It took me back to my childhood where we used to spend most of our holidays at Lake Cootharaba or on the Burrum River. Just chilling out, reading, swimming, (except that I didn’t go swimming at Sorrento. Are you crazy!? Do you know how cold the water is down here!?!) and cooking on the BBQ. I feel so rested and relaxed – I want to bottle this feeling so whenever I get a little stressed or mopey or apathetic, I can just spray a bit in the air and remember how good life really is.

Oh and I love this photo of Neph Nath at the top of the Eureka Tower. It looks like he’s peeing on Melbs! Tee hee!!!!

Happy Easter!!

I can’t describe to you what the weather is like in Melbourne today. But I’ll try.


It’s a mixture of this:



And this:



Oh and this!



And definitely some of this:

Translation: it’s ALL GOOD!

Hubs and I are off to Sorrento to hang with the fam over Easter and I simply CANNOT WAIT!! Especially if this weather keeps up. I hope you all have a great Easter and a safe and fun holiday, whatever you’re doing!

Guest Mondegreen (#12)

I put on a bit of Matchbox 20 the other day and Hubs shared with me that in the song Girl Like That he used to think the line was

Well you got to think with a girl like that
Any love at all, is bent out of nothing
It’s bent out of nothing

Instead of:
Well you got to think with a girl like that
Any love at all, is better than nothing
It’s better than nothing

He thinks his line is much deeper and more poetic.

Thanks for joining me in Mondegreen land Hubs!

I’m not a nerd, but…

…I married one. I thought this would mean that I no longer had to do ANY nerdy stuff (fix my computer, know which cords plug into the TV/DVD player/amplifier etc etc) and that’s true to an extent. But I HAVE had to become au fait with using a Data Projector, amplifier and Play Station to watch DVDs. Yeah. You read correctly. This hasn’t always gone well for me.

One afternoon I came home and I had a pile of washing to fold, so I thought I’d put on a few episodes of the office and do my folding. Data Projector on? Check. PS2 on? Check. Disc inserted? We have a picture! Amplifier on? No sound. Hmmmm… so I started fiddling with the wireless play station remote, as I’ve seen Hubs adjust the volume through that before, but it didn’t seem to be picking up any signal. I thought the batteries were flat so I replaced them with 2 other rechargables. The problem is, you never know if they’re recharged or not. Still no signal. So I knew I had to find the duva to put in the thingy of the playstation so the remote would pick up the signal (technical, I know. I hope you’re keeping up!) but had no idea where it was.

30minutes later, Hubs came home to find me sitting in front of the data projector , watching the menu page of the office and a little tear streaming down my face. I tried so hard!!!!! (Turns out the lead to the amp was plugged into the wrong socket AND the duva for the thingy was in a “safe place.”)

Not to be deterred, I found myself in a similar position last night. I got everything working, but had the same problem with the PS remote. So what did I do? I channelled my inner nerd and picked up one of the guitars used for Guitar Hero, plugged it in to the playstation and used the buttons and strum bar as a remote.

Yeah. I rock! (In more ways than one!!)

Happy Birthday Billy-Bob!

Last Tuesday I was sitting at my desk at work and I had the sudden urge to book a flight back to Brisbane for the weekend. Hubs said it was a-okay (anything to keep me from crying!!) and so operation “suprise Godson Billy-Bob and Billy-Bob’s Mum for Billy-Bob’s 2nd Birthday on Saturday” sprung into action.

Now I’m actually a vault when it comes to keeping other people’s secrets, but when it comes to my own secrets, I’ll keep quiet for about 5 minutes before I hear myself saying “now I’m not telling many people, but….” or “don’t tell anyone, but….” and so I spent a stressful few days trying to keep it from B-B’s Mum. But it worked! I surpised the crap out of them! It was very exciting:

Me and B-B’s Mum (we’ve known each other since we were 2 years old)

With B-B

And B-B’s Dad. Make a wish!

We had a lovely day at the park on the river, after which I went to my Nanny and Grandpa’s place for lunch, and because they knew I was coming, there was of course pierogi! Yummy!

Saturday night I had some time with my bitches (I’ve been missing you guys!!) and Sunday we had a 4 hour brunch at Mum and Dad’s with my cousins and a few other family members and friends. My parents don’t do things by halves though. As usual there was SO much food!

I got to catch up with more of my bitches in the afternoon (no, seriously! I miss you guys!!) on the way to the airport, and all in all I had a very relaxing weekend. Thanks to everyone who came to see me! And sorry to those I didn’t tell! It just ends up being too full-on if I try to see everyone all the time! You know I love you!

A visitor from the North

A Beer (and some passion pop… and $3.50 cowboys…)

My friend A-dele came to visit a couple of weeks ago now and, as usual, we had a ball together! I ordered some typical Melbourne weather for her visit, and it delivered: Warm and sunny Friday; rainy and windy Saturday; freezing cold Sunday! Regardless, we had heaps of fun!

We danced at the Turf Bar:

Walk like an Egyptiannnnnn….

It’s fun to stay at the Yyyyyyy M C A!

Billie Jean is NOT my lover (ow!)

“Dancing’s for sissies” (says Hubs & L)

Yeah right!!! (do you like the new shirt I bought for Hubs!?)

We discovered what is now my new favourite coffee shop, Bebida on Smith st, we did LOTS of window shopping, we visited Abbotsford Convent, we ate yummy cupcakes (check out that awesome cupcake-to-frosting ratio!!!)

And we walked and walked and walked! Saturday we covered around 8km and Sunday we did about 5km. We also stumbled upon the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival down at Fed Square, but it was very crowded so we just had a quick look before heading back home for a cup of tea and a rest. Looking forward to some more visitors booked in over the next few months!

Popping the corn

So Hubs and I have been eating a bit of pop corn lately – it’s a cheap and tasty snack that’s SUPER easy to make!… or so I thought… Here’s what happened:

Wifey: “I’m off to see my friend now. Be back in a few hours”
Hubs: “Can you please make some pop corn before you go so Dr Luke and I can eat it while watching (insert boy movie here)?”
Wifey: “Honey, I have to go. It’s really easy to make. Just heat up the oil, put half a cup of corn in, put the lid on, and turn it off when it stops popping.”
Hubs: “Okaaaay”

An hour later

Ring ring
Wifey: “Hey Hubs”
Hubs: “Oh yeah. Cooking pop corn is soooooooooo easy. How come I have a kitchen full of smoke and a saucepan full of black corn? See what happens when you leave me alone to fend for myself????”
Wifey: (trying to stop laughter)

This is what greeted me on my return: (our new pots!!)

And it took a few days for the burnt pop corn smell to leave the house!!! The moral of the story? Never assume that a super-intelligent man who is completing his PhD in electrical engineering, as WELL as studying medicine, can cook pop corn.

So’s your face

A HUGE Whine!!

“I can’t find you on facebook.”
“Why aren’t you on facebook?”
“Are you coming to my party? I sent out a facebook invite. Why haven’t you replied?”

These are a sample of the questions, comments and near accusations we are regularly subjected to, because we choose not to subscribe to facebook. Now I would consider myself to be a fairly open-minded gal, so I signed up to facebook just under 2 years ago. Then I unsubscribed just over a year ago. Let me tell you why. (If you don’t want to read a rant about the evils of facebook, then this is not a blog post for you.)

1. What ever happened to “what happens at the hen’s night, stays at the hen’s night.” Or substitute “hen’s night” with any type of gathering where there is drinking and silliness – many Friday nights for some of us! These days it’s a case of “what happens at the pub, is sure to be splashed over the pages of facebook 10 hours later.” I don’t like this. I don’t like the feeling of “well I WANT to be silly and get a laugh, but where are the cameras? Who out of these people are likely to ignore common courtesy, not ask for my permission to post photos of me, and share them like crazy in a few hours time?” Answer? Most of these people are in that boat. Which brings me to my next point:

2. I pride myself on the fact that I ask my friend’s permission to post photos of them on my blog – a blog that perhaps a dozen people read (I have no idea who reads this thing!!) and a blog where I like to share fun things that Hubs and I have been doing. Whilst a facebooker, I had VERY dodgy photos of myself being put up on other people’s pages and being “tagged”, and when I asked for them to be taken down, I was told to get a sense of humour. The word “friend” started to lose it’s meaning. Which brings me to my next point:

3. What is a “friend”? I don’t know about you, but my “friends” are people I have things in common with; whom I share a history with; and who’s life journey I would like to be a part of, whether regularly or sporadically. “Friends” are not people I once met through an ex-boyfriend 6 years ago and had a beer with. I don’t want to know what they are up to, and I don’t want them to know what I’M up to. I know I can choose who I want to be friends with, but after getting friend requests and ignoring a certain person I did NOT want to be “friends” with 3 TIMES, enough was enough.

4. I don’t feel that my life is less fulfilling by not knowing what people are doing every second of their lives, (don’t even get me STARTED on twitter) nor do I have the need or desire to keep my friends up to date on my daily goings-on. And call me old fashioned, but I like receiving actual invitations to things, even if it’s in a group email. At least I feel like the person inviting me has taken the time to think of me. I just find facebook so impersonal.

If facebook is used the right way, for the right reasons, with the right intentions, then I’m fully supportive of this online tool. But generally it’s not. Generally it’s used to embarass and make fun of people’s silly antics. There is no trust and no courtesy. There is no thought as to how the person in the photo will feel.

I know my not having a facebook account isn’t going to stop “me” from being on facebook, but what I can’t see can’t hurt me. So if you love facebook, great! Good for you. No, really – each to their own. But believe me when I say that I’m okay with not being on facebook. It’s just everybody else who seems to have a problem with that fact.

Sexy husky voice

A whine

Yeah yeah, I’m sick again. After a relatively uneventful January and February, I have picked up the “Fresher Flu” (first years are called freshers and apparently every year they pass around this nasty chest infection that they’ve nicknamed!) and I’m not happy about it! I actually don’t feel TOO bad, except for the fact that I’ve all but lost my voice which makes answering the phone super-sexy! I currently sound like Myf Warhurst (stand back gentlemen!) which is not necessarily a bad thing! 🙂

Apparently this is an occupational hazard, working at a university college. Let’s see how long it takes me to pick up the next bug….