Category: Hubs

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.

 

TGIF

/ Renae / 2 Comments

This week has been a nightmare a shocker challenging on many levels.

Level 1 – Chanbe has been waking up at 5:30am. Shocker. Hubs and I are NOT morning people, and an early morning for us is 7am. 5:30? Not cool. I am hoping it’s just a phase, though, with daylight savings starting this weekend, and us going to Queensland for a week from next Friday, I feel there will be a few weeks of disrupted sleep. Oh, and the whole moving interstate thing in 6 weeks time – yeah, that’s going to be completely hassle-free!

Level 2 – Even though Chanbe is still 7 weeks away from his 2nd birthday, I feel he has already turned a corner into the “terrible twos”. I really hate that expression though, because you’re just really setting yourself for disaster. I prefer to use our friend’s expression, the “terrific twos”. I like the positivity that implies, and even though some days may be terrible, I like to think there is more terrific involved in this age group. Plus I think Chanbe is pretty darn terrific 🙂

Level 3 – Hormones hormones hormones. I have been super emotional and a bit of a mess for a few days now, and the tears have flowed on more than one occasion. Not only this, but with all the relaxin floating around my body, my muscles have been particularly achy lately, and I’ve had sciatica pain and pregnancy-related tennis elbow. Have you ever had tennis elbow? It is not a pleasant experience, especially when you can’t take anti-inflammatories for it.

So all in all, these things have made for a very cranky Wifey. Thankfully, I have a very awesome Hubsband who has been taking extra special care of me this week. I cannot tell you how much he has saved me these last few days, and it just makes me feel so grateful that I have found a partner who will always do whatever he can to make my life happier. And today, I am happier. Which is good, since I’ll be solo parenting again tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Adults only

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(I’ve been meaning to type this post for a couple of weeks!)

When Hubs was visiting us from Melbourne, we took the opportunity to go out to dinner. Just the 2 of us. Being around the Redcliffe area, we weren’t exactly spoiled for choice with places to dine on a Thursday night, so I jumped on to Google to see what I could see. Ahem. Not much. Then I mentioned the “R” word.

Ribs.

Hubs was suddenly a man possessed. It had to be ribs. And what restaurant was the most likely source of ribs? Hogs Breath Cafe. We weren’t overly enthused to be honest – it wasn’t really my idea of a romantic night out! But without any great alternatives, Hogs is had to be.

We arrived and were seated outside in a little, ah hell, let’s call it “romantic” corner, and a few minutes later our drinks order was taken. We weren’t ready to order yet so our waitress said she’d be back soon. Our drinks were brought out by a different waitress who promptly left us, so we just sat and drank and chatted for a while. After a little while, I said to Hubs “I think they’ve forgotten about us.”

This triggered a series of “events” that really showed me that a) I need to relax and not be so concerned about time and what “should” be happening, and b) how different Hubs and I are when it comes to time and what “should” be happening. Hubs just kept saying “what’s the rush? Do you have to be somewhere? Am I not interesting enough for you? They haven’t forgotten about us. They’ll be here.” to which I replied “I’m not in a rush, I’m just saying, they’ve forgotten about us!” This went on for a while, and I said to Hubs that all I wanted was acknowledgement that they’d forgotten about us, and I’d relax. We made a deal that if the next table, who had arrived after us, got their food, I got to wave down a different waitress (ours was nowhere to be seen!)

Sure enough, 40 minutes later, we had not ordered so I was allowed to flag someone down. Turns out they had forgotten about us, and because of that, we got dessert on the house! So even though I was right, Hubs was also right about me not needing to be in a hurry all the time, and sometimes things don’t go the way I plan, but they work out okay in the end – free profiteroles!

Oh, and the ribs were really disappointing!!

We have arrived

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It’s Friday night, Hubs and Chanbe are having a shower, I’m drinking a glass of milk, and all is right with the world. As I mentioned 6 days ago, things were going to be better in 6 days. Today they are better. In fact, things are the best they have been in months. Hubs and I are smiling. And not in the strained “we just need to get through the next few months/weeks/days” way we have been smiling this year. We are happy. We are relaxed. We are (almost) ourselves again. And I really can’t express how good that feels.

You see, this week has been pretty sh*t. (Sorry, but it has). Hubs has been away in Shepparton for exams since Sunday afternoon, so I have been solo-parenting this whole week, and after this experience, all I can say is that I have even more admiration for full-time single parents. Oh wow. Seriously. It was hard work. Especially since I hate staying at home on my own. But I’ve known this week was coming for a long time, so I did a lot of mental preparation. I didn’t want to spend the whole week anxious and scared, so I started focussing on the positives, and rationalising to myself that there really was nothing to fear.

And you know what? It worked. Chanbe and I actually had a really great week. I made sure I had things to do each day to keep us occupied (including taking a train down to Kilmore to pick up the car and drive it home – turned out the alternator crapped itself and it didn’t cost as much as we were thinking. Woo!) and I just really focussed on keeping positive and realistic about my expectations.

Sunday to Wednesday were quite challenging with Chance waking up every night for an hour or so for no particular reason (he probably missed his Dadda) and not having particularly long naps during the day. Wednesday was my mental “hump day” – if I could get to Wednesday without cracking, I could get to Friday. Wednesday was a really great day, with playgroup in the morning and haircuts in the afternoon – one of the mums in my mothers group is my hairdresser so I go to her house and our boys play together while we cut, colour and chat. I was there for over 2 hours and it was so lovely. By the time we got home, it was just about dinner/bath/bed time which was great.

And each night I had something to look forward to – I watched 5 or 6 episodes of Sex and the City every night. It was very decadent. I decided I was going to do 1 load of washing a day, but as far as other housework went, I was giving myself the week off. No pressure, no guilt, no worries. And it really worked for me. By the time Thursday came around, I was on the home stretch and I really enjoyed myself. I topped the week off with a night out with my mothers group where we went out to dinner, had dessert and laughed so hard we got a stitch. It was so therapeutic.

So after my week off from housework and good sleep, I made up for it today. Chanbe went to childcare at 8:30am, I came home and slept from 9:30-12:30, then did housework til Hubs came home at 3. And the hug I got from him when he walked in the door was one of our best hugs ever. We had made it. We had gotten through the toughest time of our marriage to date, and we were on the other side. Damn it’s good to be here 🙂

Haircuts: 2 for the price of 1!

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Both of my boys recently had haircuts, and boy do they look dapper. Yes, dapper.

First, it was Chanbe’s turn. My friend from mother’s group is a (damn fine) hairdresser, and cuts all of the kids hair in our group which is very nice of her. Chanbe didn’t think so, but he got through it a bit better than the first time. He had this gorgeous little curl at the back of his hair that I just couldn’t part with, so we put in a little piggy tail and snipped it off for safe keeping!

Before: 
(starting to look like a bevan)

This little piggy went to market:
(and this little piggy didn’t make it home!)
After:
See? Dapper.
(This photo was actually taken this morning, after an overnight low of -1 and frost)
Then it was Hubs’ turn for his 6-monthly haircut, courtesy of yours truly.
Here he is before:
And after: (dapper)
Don’t I have 2 of the most handsome boys around?

A day for mums

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Today is Mothers Day (in Australia), and what a day it has been so far. Last year, I got very spoilt with a beautiful Kenwood mixer, and since that was my first mothers day, I figured things would be a bit more low-key this year. But then, I remembered who I’m married to…

I woke up to the sounds of our little man, who is the reason we celebrate mothers day in our house, and went in to bring him to our bed for some cuddles. He wasn’t in a particularly cuddly mood, so Hubs got up with him around 6:45am (neither of us are morning people) while I turned over and promptly went back to sleep. At 9am I awoke to the smells of another delicious breakfast being cooked for me (Hubs actually cooks me breakfast at least once a week anyway!) and a hot cup of tea sitting on my bedside table.

I came out to the living area and was greeted with cuddles and presents!! What better way to start the day?!

Even though we are on a pretty tight budget at the moment, Hubs kind of ignored that for the greater good (my extreme excitement and happiness!) and surprised me with:

Oh yeeeeeeaaaaahhhhhh….
I can’t even begin to tell you how much this excites me! Now when I’m pretending to host my own cooking show as I’m making dinner, I have the right equipment! 🙂 I have wanted a Chasseur pot for a little while now, but could never justify the expense in our current financial situation. But Hubs could! YAY! I was ready to get up for breakfast, when I saw these notes in the bottom of the pot:

There’s a trainer at our gym who looks SO much like Luke Wilson it’s ridiculous! I’ve been struggling a bit these last few months with my broken foot, and have been feeling pretty down about my body etc, and I told Hubs a couple of weeks that I really would love some personal training sessions. So that was present number 2! I’m so excited about this, and have already booked in 2 sessions for this week.
Surely that was everything?? But no. As I was walking to the breakfast table, I saw these:
The one on the right (remember it?) is almost life-size! And our wedding shot is just gorgeous. I may not have a wedding album yet, but this is a great substitute for the time being!
I was exhausted with excitement even before sitting down for my favourite breakfast (poached eggs, bacon, spinach, tomatoes and toast). After said delicious breakfast, Hubs and Uncle Ben (down for a visit this weekend) took Chanbe outside to do some more manly work, and here I am lazing about, reading blogs, listening to Adele and Paul Simon, and loving the fact that the house is a mess but I don’t have to clean it up! (That will be a job for Tuesday 🙂
Happy Mothers Day, to all the mothers out there reading this, and particularly to my Mum, who has not only been indescribably helpful these past few months, but who has taught me so much about how to be a great mum to our little guy. And to Hubs’ Mum, who is such a great role model and inspiration to us. We wish we could see you more, Ma, but we know that it’s all about quality, not quantity. We can’t wait to catch up with you both next week.
Thank you Chanbe and Hubs for another beautiful Mothers Day. You sure do spoil me rotten and I love you both so much.

Back in business

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Our internet finally got connected yesterday (woo hoo!) after almost 3 weeks of being off-line. Apart from our phones. And the Library. And Hubs’ work. But it’s different to just being able to sit anywhere in the house (hooray for wireless!) and surfing/blogging/paying bills/emailing to my heart’s content. My neck didn’t cause me too much grief and it was all better within about 5 days, thankfully. We are still unpacking but the end is nigh. These bookshelves that Hubs made really helped!!

Pretty gorgeous hey!? So I spent yesterday filling the middle and top shelf, and I’m now left wondering what to do with the bottom shelf. It might work nicely as a little desk for Chanbe actually. And who says unpacking has to be hard and boring? (Excuse the sound – that’s me laughing hysterically…)
So we’ve had some fun over the last few weeks as well as working very hard. We have a very busy few months coming up, with going down to Melbourne for a weekend, then I’ll head up to Brisbane for a week for a wee holiday and a couple of celebrations while Hubs stays home to study, then he’ll head to Shep for a while for exams, then we’re taking a trip over to Adelaide in July to visit friends which I’m REALLY looking forward to! And lots in between! So much for staying put for a while. *sigh* At least we love our house. 
More pics to come!

Plummeting back down to earth…

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… with an almighty crash. 

This time last week we were surrounded by family and friends and a support network. We were staying in the same house, night after night, week after week. We didn’t have to pack and unpack and pack again every week. I felt relaxed and faced each day with anticipation and excitement, and had such a great time.

It’s hard to come back to our “normal” (I use the term very loosely) life after such stability. I am sitting here with my diary open, planning the next couple of months. 5 days back home in MB, then next week in Wang, then back to MB for a week, then the following week in Wang, then back here and so forth for maybe 2 months. Oh, and a few trips down to Melbourne thrown into the bag just for fun as well. 
I realise the choice to go to Wang with Hubs is mine. But at the same time, it’s not really a choice. If Hubs is going to be away for 5 of 6 days, and he’s going to a place where I have a whole bunch of awesome friends, well… what would you choose? I think the hardest part about this lifestyle is that I don’t know anyone else going through the same thing. So people can say they understand, but I don’t think they do. 
This is why next year, I need for us to go somewhere and stay put for a year or 2. We’ll go on holidays of course, but not every single freakin’ week. It’s already getting me down and we haven’t even started. Man this is going to be a long year.

We’re sailing! – Part I

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Since being in Brisbane, Hubs hasn’t had a lot of luck with sailing. He has owned his hobie catamaran, “Big B”, since before we were together, and we have had a lot of great times on that boat. For the last 3.5 years however, it has been sitting in his Dad’s backyard, yearning to be free. So the boat was in our front yard within days of arriving in Brisbane.

The first day he took the boat out with BFF Ben, they cartwheeled the cat in really rough conditions resulting in this:

But you should have seen their faces. “It was totally awesome! You should have seen us!!” I’m kind of glad I didn’t as I probably would have been worried sick, but I’m glad they got some thrills in the process of smashing up the boat 🙂

So Hubs and Ben spent an evening building a new boat from the 2.5 boats Hubs owns, and had quite a bit of success. Um, except for the fact that when they took it out, it… um… almost sunk. After more fibreglassing of the hulls, Hubs and another one of his mates Nate had a great afternoon of sailing up and down the waterfront at Margate:

It turned out though, as you can see from the photo, the blue hull was taking on water again, but it was through the pylon, not the bottom of the hull, so Hubs has since sealed this leak and is keen to take “The Phoenix” out again.

Part II to come…

A package deal

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When I married Hubs, there were a few things that came with him, like the desire to live in many places and experience different cultures, the want to try new things as much as possible, a lot of electrical cables and wires, 2.5 hobie catamarans, an amazing family, and this:

Most of the people in this (very dark) photo (taken on New Years Eve) are a part of Hubs’ extended family, and they are amongst my most favourite people in the world. They welcomed me into the fold with open arms, and I feel I belong. And this is how they are with all they meet. Everyone is a part of their family and some of my best times in Brisbane are spent in their company.

I’m looking forward to so many more good times to come with these folk 🙂