… Helga’s Pumpkin Seed bread on special for half price.
Author: Renae
Living life as a wife, a stay at home mama of 3 kids under 5, a marriage celebrant, a craft and sewing amateur, a cooked breakfast lover, coffee enthusiast, extroverted socialite, and most recently, someone who is trying to keep a tidy house. It's tough I tell you!
Life is a rollercoaster….
….just gotta ride it.
Yeah, I don’t really like that song either, but it just sums up my feelings at the moment, so I’m going with it.
I really don’t think my hormones have been crazy since I got pregnant. Hubs may disagree entirely, but I think I’ve been fairly balanced. Well, I was. I seem to be unhinging slowly. Like on Friday night I was reading The Chronicle on the train on the way to Melbourne, and was checking out the death notices to get ideas for names. (What? It was Hubs’ aunty’s idea!!) And then I started reading the tributes attached to those names and started crying a little bit. And they didn’t even have any comics to cheer me up again!
And then there was this morning. On my way to work I somehow got the song “Butterfly Kisses” in my head. I know most of the song, and I lost it when I got to the following verse. And the worst thing was, my brain wouldn’t stop singing it!! I was actually crying (mascara-smudging-crying) as I walked across the pedestrian railway bridge tears of joy and sentimentality:
“She’ll change her name today.
She’ll make a promise and I’ll give her away.
Standing in the brideroom, just staring at her.
She asks me what I’m thinking
And I say I’m not sure.
I just feel like I’m losing my baaaaby girl.
And she leans over.
And gives me butterfly kisses, with her mama there
Putting little white flowers all up in her hair.
Walk me down the aisle Daddy, it’s just about time.
Does my wedding gown look pretty Daddy?
Daddy don’t cry
Oh with all that I’ve done wrong, I must have done something riiiiiiight…..”
And I’m off again. Excuse me a moment…..
Aaaaaah…..
That’s just kind of how I feel at the moment. Things in Wang are settling down, I started my new job which is going well (after my 2nd day of having absolutely nothing to do and no internet access at work to do it on). I walk to and from work some days, and other days I ride. Hubs rides to the hospital each day and has set himself the goal to arrive at 8am each day. So far this is going well. I have a cold which is a be-arch. I haven’t been sick in a VERY long time so I’ve been rather whiny about it. Plus, and this is just so typical, I’m on casual hours here which means no sick leave. Not that I would have taken time off necessarily, but ain’t that just the way? I’m at a job for just under 2 years and could count the number of sick days I took on 1 hand. Then I start a new job, and in the 2nd week I come down with something. Anyway, I’m getting over it.
I head down to Melbourne this weekend for my Marriage Celebrant Professional Development which should be good. Then I’ve booked up my Sunday with lots of coffee dates which I’m really looking forward to. Hubs is going to hit the ski fields tomorrow and have another day of snowboarding (which means 4 or 5 days next week of him being sore). And then I’m up in Brisbane the following weekend, so as you can see, the fun never stops!
I know I keep promising it, but I WILL have some photos (before/during/after unpacking) of our new place just as soon as we get our computers all set up. Hubs is working on that in his minimal spare time.
So yeah, just another little update for y’all, so you know I’m still here. I’m doing well, Hubs is good and Littlefoot just won’t stop kicking. Aaaaaah. Life is good.
A numbers game
6 – the number of times I’ve used our slow cooker since we arrived in Wang (10 days ago!)
6 – the number of times I’ve gone to St Vinnies to look for dresser drawers to no avail
1 – the number of times we went to St Vinnies and there were 2 sets of PERFECT dresser drawers there for $25 each but had just been sold. (Man I need to let that go!!)
2 – the number of weeks til our broadband is connected
150 – the number of GB we will get with our broadband connection each month. Hellllooooo Skype!
5 – the number of Yoga classes Hubs and I have left on our membership
8 – the number of clear, sunny, beautiful days we have had since arriving in Wang
2 – the number of bicycles we bought at a garage sale on Sunday
1 – the number of Uniting Churches we have visited and have decided to attend
3 – the number of coffee shops we had great lunches at last week
4 – the number of times I have visited one coffee shop in particular
24 – the number of weeks Littlefoot has been growing inside of me
2 – the number of weeks he/she has been kicking like crazy
Hangin’ out in Wang
Wow what a week it has been! Hubs has been living it up in Shepparton for the week (well, he’s been attending lectures and social nights at least) and Mum and I have been spending it up in Wang! After my blog post on Monday, Mum and I headed in to town and as I was talking to a guy at Optus about broadband (bring it on baby!) I also asked him if he knew of any second-hand furniture places around the place. He recommended a place within walking distance so after a (delicious) pie and coffee for lunch, we set off down the road.
And hit the jackpot.
This place had everything!!! We bought a fridge, 4 chairs, a bed frame, a rocking chair (bliss!!) and the coolest fold-down sewing table imaginable. They had free delivery and gave us a tip for a place around the corner where we could be cheap new mattresses, so we popped in there on the way home and made a purchase there as well. It was about 4:15pm by the time we got home, and by 5pm, everything had been delivered! How amazing is that! Wait til you see the photos of the stuff we bought. We just had the best luck! And the best thing is, it’s all second-hand so there was no budget-blowing!
So the last few days have been spent lunching and getting bits and pieces for the rest of the house, and yesterday we had a big cooking day. I’ve been putting the slow-cooker to good use and we’ve already made apricot chicken (a family favourite) and pea and ham soup (so goooooood.) I made some more roosoles to freeze yesterday, as well as some pumpkin and dark chocolate cookies.
It’s been absolutely amazing having Mum around this week and it will be hard to say goodbye to her tomorrow. But before I do that, we’re going to hit some garage sales and look for some dresser drawers, while Hubs spends the day at the snow with a friend who’s coming down. Still so much to do!!
Baby update: Lots of kicks since last Thursday – basically all day, every day. A lovely feeling indeed.
No time to spell-check! 4 minutes remaining on my library internet session!!! You’ll have to proof-read and correct yourself…. 🙂
We’re heeeeeeeeeeere!
Hubs and I arrived in Wang on Saturday afternoon after a great trip up. We were packed and ready to go by around 10am and after a brief pit-stop at our friend’s place on the way, we were on the highway by 11. We arrived around 2 and as we drove in to our new place, the neighbours came out to say hello. It was really lovely. Charlie next door made an offer of a cup of tea which we took him up on once we unpacked. How is it that it took 2 days to pack the kombi and less than an hour to unpack!?? Hilarious.
Charlie invited us over for dinner but we mentioned we had something organised already. This didn’t stop him though! At 4:30pm there was a knock at the door and there was Charlie, telling us he’d cooked us dinner. Ha ha. It was very sweet. We had pork chops and veges and were home around 6 for some more unpacking.
After the rental debacle, everything worked out fine. We really like the unit we got and it’s in a great location. I also landed a casual job at the Council offices (just finished my interview and signed the contract to start next week) which is absolutely perfect! So you see? Everything worked out wonderfully.
Now Mum and I are off to do some much-needed shopping including buying FURNITURE!! And a fridge. Hopefully. I have a big long list and a whole week to check everything off! Hubs gets home Friday night and our friend is coming down for the weekend which will be great. That’s about all for now. I’ll be baaaaaack….
Inconceivable
I love The Princess Bride. And I LOVE how Vizzini says “inconceivable” all the time. And then Inigo Montoya says “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” My friend recently bought a copy of the DVD because it came with a key ring that says “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my Father. Prepare to DIE.” when you press a button. (More memorable quotes can be found here.)
Believe it or not, this post is not about my love for The Princess Bride, though I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that. This post is about moving to Wangaratta. Tomorrow. I mean, we’ve known for 8 months (just think about that for a moment – 8 MONTHS!) that this move was coming. In no way should we have been caught unaware. But here we are, with 24 hours to go, our place filled with packed and to-be-packed boxes, our wardrobe has thrown up all over our room, and we pretty much know the kombi needs a push-start each time we want to start the engine. Fun, oui? Well at least we have a home to go to (yay!) and we have a plan. You gotta have a plan my friends.
Exactly 2 years to the day, we moved to college. And exactly 2 years and 1 day after we moved in, we’ll be leaving. I’ve been looking forward to a bit of a change, but leaving here is filling me with sadness. We have met the most incredible people, been shown the most gracious hospitality, and had some of the best times.
But now it’s time for new adventures to begin; for new friends to be made, and for more good times to be had. I know that it was God’s plan for us to be here at Newman for this time, and I thank him for his great idea often. As I sit writing this, Littlefoot is kicking away (the coolest thing I’ve ever felt in my LIFE) and I know he/she is looking forward to what is to come.
Unnecessarily painful, but a satisfactory result
As my Mama always says “it’s not what you know, but who you know.”
I’m mostly okay with that. Truly. I understand the way things work. What I resent is not being approved for a property on our own merit, with no good reason whatsoever, but as soon as they find out we know the owner of the business (a.k.a. I give-in out of sheer desperation and ring the owner of the business who we dealt with when we were looking to buy, and tell him what’s been going on for the last 2 weeks) we get a phone call within half an hour saying our application has been successful.
But here’s the clincher. She actually says to me:
“I wish you had told me earlier that you knew Gerald*.”
I was ropeable. My response:
“That should not have mattered. We had a good application with everything you needed, and knowing the owner of the business should not have made a difference.”
I just couldn’t believe she said that to me!! I had considered a week ago to ring the owner, but I didn’t want to involve him. I didn’t want to look like I was using him to get a place. Apparently this would have been quite acceptable, nay, MANDATORY if we wanted to be spared this whole rigmarole.
I’m not going to go in to it any further, other than to say we’re very happy it has been resolved in our favour, and that the owner of the business will be receiving a 4 page letter outlining the goings-on over the last 2 weeks. I just think he would want to know.
Oh, and I have an interview for some casual admin work in Wang on Monday. See? I told you everything would work out.
*name has been changed to protect the awesome.
I don’t need this!
Drama drama drama. I remember the days when things were simple. When ice cream cones from McDonalds cost 30c, when previews for movies only went for 30 seconds instead of practically showing the whole movie, and when you applied for a rental property and the Real Estate Agents actually returned your calls.
I’m not going to go into it right now, but all I can say is NOT. HAPPY. JAN!! And the people I’m dealing with had better come through with the goods, otherwise they’ll be hearing from me.
Cracking the funnies
Setting the scene: Hubs and Wifey are at their first antenatal appointment at the hospital, answering endless questions from the midwife about conception, family histories, health etc etc. Hubs and Wifey are trying to act like mature, future parents. Well, Wifey is at least…
Midwife: “Did you need any help getting pregnant?”
Wifey: “No I didn’t.”
Hubs: “I helped!”
Wifey and Midwife look at each other, and are left unable to speak for some time…