Category: Happiness

Dorothy got it right

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There’s no place like home. We have had such an amazing time in Brisbane; staying with Gran and Grumpy, catching up with family and friends, and spending amazing quality time with people. But it’s time to go home. I miss Hubs (he went home 11 days ago to get back to work) and I miss our little routine we had going on up in Townsville. I need to feel settled again.

But things won’t stay settled for long. Hubs’ final rotation is in Ingham (chicken, love’m) so we will be packing up in the next 2 months, putting our belongings in storage, and moving in to a 2 bedroom unit for the 10 week rotation. And after that? Well, the jury is still out, but we will hopefully find out in the next month or so. 

This has probably been one of the best Brisbane visits I’ve had in years. I really wanted to have one-on-one time with people, as I find when we have lots of people over at once, it’s just too hard to have an in-depth conversation, and I leave feeling exhausted, but not really knowing what anyone is up to. Not this time. I can leave tomorrow, feeling closer to my family and friends than I’ve felt in years.

A few more highlights:

We turned Quinn’s seat around! 

Chanbe visited a fire station!
Chanbe drove Gran’s boat: (in the driveway…)
Even though packing awaits, I can’t wait to get home. The last move was pretty horrendous, and I believe no other move could be any worse than that, so I’m rather unfazed by it all. Plus, we have more of a plan this time around! I have quite a few of my 101 in 1001 to give you updates on, so I’ll be back soon!

Our holiday in photos (and a few words…)

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We began our holidays at Rainbow Beach, in this apartment, with this view:

 There was “incy wincy” cake:

 and books to read:

and more beautiful views:

 Then there was Melbourne. And what does Melbourne mean? Melbourne means coffee:

Then there was Wang. And Wang meant catch ups;

meeting new friends:

more coffee;

and more coffee:

and good times at old places:

and more catch ups with old friends:

and more meeting new friends:

Remember these guys?

Then back to Melbourne for some underwater fun:

and more catch ups:

and of course, more (awesome Melbourne) coffee:

Lots of lovely times at the park:

And a few snoozles in the car:

 And so many cuddles with Big Brother;

 Nanna;

And Poppy.

And one of the best things of all; ice creams in the car after a long drive.

A truly amazing mix of complete relaxation, delightful catch-ups, crazy toddler getting cabin fever in the car, yummy coffees and not-as-bad-as-you-might-think Victorian weather. Hubs is on his way back to Townsville in our “new” car (we bought Mum and Dad’s land cruiser off them) and the kids and I are in Brisbane (Woody Pt) until the 11th of September. Might see you round 🙂

Chanbe’s car trip

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There’s a fair bit of road works going on a few kms from our house, and although it would be quicker to avoid it, I’d also miss out on this each morning:

(Re: the “smiley face” he’s referring to: There’s a temporary speed sign that says 40 and has a speed camera on it. If you’re going 40km/h or under, it gives you a big smiley face.)

(The size and quality are better if you click on the “YouTube” icon on the bottom right, and view it via YouTube.)

And of course, if I’d kept filming for another 5 seconds, you would have also been treated to a big “BOBCAT!! Bobcat Mama!!!”

I love the delight the Chanbe finds in a boring old trip in the car. It’s definitely a highlight of my day 🙂

I may regret telling you this…

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I’m committing myself to run a 5km fun run in August. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve always wanted to do a 10km fun run, so this is a build up to doing that some time in the future. I was aiming for 10km straight up, but seeing as how I’ve never done much running, and my body is still “recovering” from my pregnancy with Quinn, I was advised that 5km would probably be a better start. And I concur.

So I’ve started walking with the kids in our new pram:

And am currently looking into a running program like Couch 2 5k or something similar. I’m a little nervous and somewhat intimidated by the task I have set myself, but I really need something to focus on at the moment; something just for me; and I feel like this ticks a number of boxes for me at the moment. I need to dedicate some time to myself to complete the 3 sessions a week needed to reach my goal. These programs state you can complete the program in 9 weeks, and I have 16 weeks til the fun run, so I’m feeling confident that it will happen.

The best part is, my good friend Bethie, who is a personal trainer and does lots of running and other exciting things, is flying up to do the run with me! So I will have a cheer squad on the road which will be very helpful. (Thanks Beth!!) And it will also mean that I have to do it, as Beth has already booked her flights! Eeeek!

So there you have it. Here I am being all accountable to you guys. I shall keep you posted on my progress!

Wifey!? Awayoo??

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“Awayoo? “That’s how Chanbe says “where are you?”

So here I am! Life is cruising along without too much to report. Well, not much interesting at least. Until today!

This is Hubs’ 3 day weekend, and after we got reprimanded by the real estate agent for the state of the garden*, I suggested that we spend some time on it this weekend. This is after I got a quote from a gardening business to prune and spray for $550. Granted, there is a lot of pruning to be done, but we have better things to spend our money on! (Here comes a tangent!)

Like things at garage sales. As well as gardening this weekend, I suggested we hit the garage sales for drawers for the office (mainly for my crafty and sewing stuff), bookshelves, a cot, and Hubs is always on the lookout for tools and lego. We cleaned up big time! We went to almost a dozen places over 2 suburbs, and I couldn’t have been more proud of Chance. He is very much in to doing everything we do, and doing things himself (“Chance do iiiiiiiittttt”) but we didn’t want to take him out at every place, so Hubs would go and do a reccy and decide if it was worth us all getting out. We probably all got out at half of them, and the other half I trusted Hubs’ judgement. And he was so well behaved in and out of the car. A very proud day for us 🙂

So, what did we score? Well. We got 2 lovely, pine tall boys for $50 each, complete with slidey drawers!! I assured Hubs that this was an absolute steal, though he wasn’t as convinced. I plan to use these in the kids’ rooms, and use the dodgy flat-pack ones that are currently in there for the crafty stuff. We also picked up a tent for $75 that retails for $500 new. It’s a few years old but has only been used a few times and looks like new. Very excited about that too. We should probably go camping some time!

I sent Hubs back to pick up the second tall boy and check out a garage sale that started at 12noon (weird!!) and he rang me from there, very excited, as he had found a work bench and a bunch of tools. So he brought that home and has left again to pick up the other tall boy and the tent. We also picked up random crafty stuff, a wooden train for Chanbe, and some kids camping chairs (for FREE!!)

Lucky we are getting paid this week!! I plan to do lots of reorganising around the house in the next week or so, and hopefully have the rest of our stuff unpacked and sorted by next weekend. The only things we are still missing are a cot and some bookshelves, so I’m afraid the 5 boxes of books will remain packed at this stage. But we are getting there!

Oh, and we might actually get some gardening done at some stage as well……

(Random cute photo to keep you coming back!)

*I wouldn’t mind so much, except we have had outstanding maintenance requests since we moved in, 2 months ago, and have had to deal with 4 different agents from the same place because of staff turnover, and have had to resubmit the requests each time, as they have gotten “lost”. So yeah, my feelings about how renters get treated by certain real estate agents hasn’t changed.

Call the Waaaambulance

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The last year, as I have documented frequently on this blog, has been tough for me. This time last year I broke my foot, and that pretty much set the tone for the following 12 months. Well, I let it set the tone. I have been quite caught up in how hard my life is, except that it’s not. Not really. I think when your (well-meaning) family and friends (and strangers!) tell you how hard it must be to move around so much, especially when 36 weeks pregnant; to start again in a new town; for Hubs to be starting a new job etc etc etc, it’s hard not to accept the sympathy and empathy and get caught up in the drama of it all.

Hubs and I make choices, and sometimes those choices come with extra challenges, but the pay-off is worth it. We have had such wonderful experiences with each move we have made, and I can quite confidently predict that the same will be said of this move. We have already made some friends through the hospital, and  have plans for more social events coming up.

I don’t want to make light of feeling overwhelmed with a new baby, but if I really think about it, I can feel those feelings and work through them and come out the other side much quicker than in the last year. I will accept help when it is offered, and I will let myself feel whatever I’m feeling, but I am also committing to focusing on the positives; to taking each day (and sometimes each hour) as it comes, and to know that, when it has taken me an hour and a half of trying to get Chanbe to go to sleep during the day, and he is still awake, that it’s okay if he skips a sleep that day, and that “this too shall pass.” I’m committing to less “whining” and more “beering” and “spiriting”.

Onwards and upwards.

Romantic night for 2

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Hubs and I were able to head out to dinner on Saturday night, just the 2 of us, and we both agree that it was one of the nicest meals out we have had in a very long time. We went to the Watermarc restaurant in Wangaratta – we hadn’t been there before but had heard good things about it. We arrived around 7pm and sat at a table outside, along the river. We really wanted to take our time and make the evening last, so we ordered some wine and started off with some oysters kilpatrick. They were fantastic – a great start to a delightful culinary experience. We then ordered 2 more entrees – a margarita pizza and soft-shelled crab. Our theory is that if a place can simple things well, they are onto something. The margarita pizza was delicious and the soft-shelled crab, delightful.

We then went for 2 more entrees to share – house made fettuccine with calamari ragu (yes, we love seafood) and the house made gnocchi with pumpkin and shredded boccocini. Scrumptious! We then went for the jugular and ordered dessert. I had the vanilla creme brulee and Hubs had the Affogato with Frangelico which looked something like this:

 

The presentation of the meals, the service, the flavours, the freshness, the wine and the company were all sensational. We took our time and didn’t feel at all rushed. It was one of those nights we will remember for some time, and a great way to celebrate the end of 4 and half tough years of study, moving around, and great times that we have had.

It was just one of those meals that reminds of this scene from one of my favourite movies, What About Bob:

Every mouthful left me wanting more, and I’m so glad we could end our time in Wangaratta with such a lovely memory.

 

I told you so!

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As I knew it would be, the last week has been huge, and today is the first day I’ve had more than 10 minutes to sit down and play on the computer. Sunday was a glorious day and we had a lovely walk to Paradise Falls, followed by lunch at Dal Zotto winery. It was such a lovely day with lovely friends, though I was having some annoying pains in my stomach that wouldn’t go away. I was pretty certain it was ligament pain and it eventually subsided in the evening so I wasn’t too concerned. Monday night we had a crowd over for dinner and Revenge and both left us wanting more. Tuesday we dolled up and headed to the races, and, as usual, Chanbe stole the show:

Suspenders were certainly the order of the day for the boys!

I wasn’t happy with any of the photos that were taken of me, so you can just tell me how dashing my boys looked instead!! Mum and Dad were running a bit ahead of schedule and ended up on our doorstep at 6:30pm Tuesday night, much to Chanbe’s delight! Hubs headed to Shepparton on Wednesday for his final med exams which was very exciting! Thursday was supposed to be spent preparing for the garage sale on Thursday, but the pains in my stomach came back and I thought it was best to get them checked out at the hospital. After 3 hours of monitoring, I finally got to see the doctor who said it didn’t seem like anything too serious, and sent me home. Which was good, but frustrating that he couldn’t tell me what it might be, other than “probably ligaments” which I wasn’t convinced about as it was so isolated to one spot.

I got a fair bit done Thursday night which was good, but at 9am Friday, the pains came back and I couldn’t stand or walk, so back to the hospital we went. It was so much worse that day, and I saw the doctor immediately and he said we’d try and get to the bottom of it. He did an examination and assured me that the baby is absolutely fine, then gave me some morphine and let me rest. He said it was most likely either a kidney infection, appendicitis, or an ovarian cyst that was twisting on itself. After bloods and an ultrasound, they could rule out appendicitis and kidney problems, and although he is pretty sure it’s an ovarian cyst, they couldn’t actually see it on the ultrasound as Baby Baloo was in the way. So he gave me some strong pain killers and said that we’d touch base again the following week, but really there’s not much they would  be happy to do until after the baby is born.

So needless to say, not much got done on Friday for the garage sale until I got home at 6pm. Hubs is now officially finished medicine (woooooo hooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!) and we decided to postpone our dinner til Saturday night. The garage sale was a HUGE success yesterday, and it was so nice to just relax in the afternoon and know that all the hard work over the last few weeks/months of getting all the stuff ready and making pretty signs etc had all paid off.

That’s enough from me for now. More on our romantic night out soon….

A truffling thought

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I’ve been a bit absent from regular blogging lately, and I fear this trend will continue for the next few weeks months. We are in the midst of planning and packing and (sadly) counting down the days til we leave Wang (18). We are fitting lots of socialising in which has been lovely. We headed to Melbourne last weekend to farewell our “med friends” – this group of people have really made the last 4 years of our lives somewhat amazing, and they will always hold a VERY special place in our hearts. I know that we will certainly keep in touch over the years to come.

Here are the graduates of 2012. Hard to believe we only met them in 2008!

And here is the “support crew” (missing a wife and twins of one the the graduates!!)
And the graduation cake I made for them:

And as yesterday was Hubs’ last day of medicine (he has 2 days of exams next week and then that’s really it!!) we have had a few end-of-med dinners and lunches to attend which has been great. The one we went to on Thursday night was a thank you from the students to the Doctors and teaching staff, and I offered to make some baked goods to hand out as a thank you. I decided to make truffles, as I’d never made them before and it’s always a great idea to try something new when you are making presents for 20 people. (Ahem.) Thankfully, they turned out beautifully:

And everyone was very thankful which was lovely. I made the little boards out of cardboard wrapped in alfoil, and stuck the patties down with melted chocolate. I was worried about them melting but I believe they stayed intact. I made over 100 of these little friggers!

 This coming week:
– tonight I’m making lamb shanks as an end-of-uni treat for Hubs
– tomorrow we’re doing a bit of local sight-seeing and maybe catching a bit of the Wangaratta Jazz Festival (I can hear it from our house)
– Monday night we’re having 6 people over for dinner + Revenge episodes (yes I’m hooked. Don’t judge.)
– Tuesday we are going to the local races for Melbourne Cup Day (like last year)
– Wednesday Mum and Dad arrive and Hubs heads to Shepparton for his exams til Friday
– Thursday I’m hosting Mums group at my house for the last time (boo)
– Friday Hubs and I will hopefully go out to dinner to celebrate the real end of Hubs’ medical degree!!
– Saturday we are having a garage sale

So, you know, enough to keep us busy. I’ve been having a bit of anxiety lately, most likely centred around getting ready for the big move, and am just trying to be aware of it, acknowledge it, and not let it manifest itself in crazy ways. I know we’ll get there. We always do 🙂

Spring time bubbles

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We are currently spending as much time outside, when the weather permits. It’s finally nice enough to pick flowers:

And do a spot of (much needed) mowing:
And get into some serious bubble blowing:
I love love love spring 🙂