Cashing in

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(Warning: Spoiler alert.)

I finished reading Vivian Cash’s autobiography last week, and have just been pondering over it. There have been a few books that have really impacted on my life, like April Fools Day, The Mayne Inheritance, Mao’s Last Dancer, and now, I Walked the Line. These books have changed the way I view things, and not just in a fleeting way. There have been permanent changes, and there are so many things about this book that have really haunted me. Johnny and Vivian met just 3 weeks before Johnny was to go to Germany for 3 years as an airforce officer in World War II, and two-thirds of the book are the letters that Vivian received from Johnny over those 3 years. They were so devoted to one another that they waited that long to be together. They just knew they were meant to be. For the last year he was away, they wrote to each other every day. EVERY DAY!!!??? The letters are just so full of love and adoration, you can’t help but wonder how everything fell apart.

I only wish there were some of Vivian’s letters included as well, but they were all one way. The last part of the book is Vivian taking the reader through their courtship, Johnny’s return home (I got very teary), their marriage, their children, the drugs and booze that put so much strain on their marriage, and the other woman in Johnny’s life who may have contributed to their eventual demise. 
I can’t quite put my finger on why this has affected me so much. It really broke my heart and I feel like I’m grieving for someone I don’t even know. I feel like I want to talk to Vivian, to know this dignified, beautiful woman who waited so long for the love of her life, only to have everything fall apart within a decade. I ache over her broken heart, her tears, her frustration, losing her beloved to another woman and feeling like all she could do was watch it all unfold.
Even writing this now, I’m filled with anger and sadness. As I said, I really don’t know why it has affected me this much. And the thing is, now I don’t really want to read Johnny Cash’s autobiography. It’s seemingly mainly centres around his life and marriage to June Carter. (I don’t know that I could ever read June’s biography…) 
I don’t know if I want to read about a man who broke the heart of a young woman, so devoted and full of hope. I know this is an unfair judgement, but we all know I’m hopelessly flawed. Maybe in time I can read more about their story, but for now, I’m totally on Vivian’s side.

More fun!

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We spent a very relaxing few days with our rellies in Sale (actually, it’s Stratford, but most people have never heard of Stratford), enjoying the unpredictable weather. We spent Friday fighting the heat (30 degrees!), cleaning out the car and giving Chanbe lots of rides on his new trike:

It was seriously SO hot that day. The wind was gusty and we had the air conditioner on inside. Chanbe was getting a little too cocky on the 3 steps down from the deck to the gravel, and took a bit of a spill πŸ™ It actually looked a bit worse than it was. After the initial shock and tears, he was unfazed. My little bruiser.

On Saturday, my great uncle had to take my great aunt (they’re great in more ways than one!) to the airport in Melbourne as she was flying over to England for her mother’s funeral. Her mother was 97! So it will be a great celebration of a wonderful long life. So we went in to Sale (much bigger than Stratford) to do a spot of shopping, along, it seems, with half of the town! It was crazy! We didn’t do too much else, other than make delicious lamb shanks for dinner (sorry Hubs πŸ™ I’ll make you some next week).

We’ve been busy little bees!

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Has it really been only a week since we left our house at MB?? REALLY?? It seems like a lot longer. I’m writing this from the house in MB where we’re staying to kill time before we can move into our Wang house on Monday. We left our lovely house with our magical view around lunch time Thursday last week, and started our trip down to Sale. We headed over Falls Creek, and apart from the really steep bit on the other side, (our car’s lower gears don’t work so there were some pretty smelly brakes!) the trip to Omeo was pretty uneventful. We stopped there for some playtime:

And went on our merry way. I was in the front with Dad, and Mum was in the back entertaining Chanbe. He was having a great old time snacking away, and I forgot to mention to Dad that he gets a little carsick on the winding roads. After about and hour of twisty-turny roads, we hit the straight stretch, and wouldn’t you know it? That’s when Chanbe decided to do a HUGE power spew all over the car. We were doing 110km/h at the time, so by the time Dad slowed down and pulled over, he was done. And there were chunks EVERYWHERE. This has happened before to Chance with just Hubs and I in the car, and it’s normally my job to look after Chance (who always feels fine straight after) and Hubs’ job to take care of the car and car seat. This time, it was MY job to do the car seat. Yeuch. Thankfully Mum was there to help while Dad entertained spewy-guts-McGee.

So on we went in our smelly car, and we arrived at the rellies house around 6:30. Just in time for a yummy dinner. More adventures to come!

Goodbye Mount Beauty (edited)

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Hubs arrived with”the truck” on Tuesday evening, filled it up, and left yesterday morning. Here is the truck as it was when it arrived:

And here it is, mostly full. Chanbe really enjoyed carrying things down the deck to truck. He was very helpful! (And so cute!)

He even offered to help Hubs with the driving! (And was most displeased when we kindly refused his offer!)

We were still hoping to move straight into our new place, or at least over the weekend, but we got the call from the real estate yesterday afternoon to say that now the house won’t be available til the 16th!
So Hubs is in Wang, locked away in the student accommodation working on his PhD while , Mum, Dad (who arrived yesterday), Chance and I go and visit our rellies in Sale, then come back here to stay with a friend for the following week. That gives Hubs some serious uninterrupted time that he needs, and gives Dad some serious Chanbe time that HE needs.

So it’s only farewell to MB for now, as not only will we be back next week, but we’ll be making an effort to come back a bit for Hubs to go gliding, for ME to finally go gliding, and to see the lovely friends we have made here.

Taking deep breaths…

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…and knowing that we’ll be settled in to our new place 2 weeks from now. But for now, the chaos continues. We have to be out of our current place tomorrow, and we only just found out a few hours ago that we can’t move in to our new place until the 13th of April. Which was the original date they told us, just before telling us that the current tenants want to leave earlier so we might be able to move in earlier. I’ll admit it. I got my hopes up WAY too high on that one. I was convinced that we would get a phone call last week saying “you can move in over the weekend” and everything would work out a little too perfectly.

I know that this isn’t a big deal, and we have had 3 offers to stay with people here in MB in the interim which is so generous and lovely. It’s just not what I had planned in my head. But life sometimes throws us these curve balls and you’ve just got to roll with the punches. (anyone for a clichΓ© sandwich?) It will just make moving in to our new home all the more sweeeeeeet…..

House news

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We got the house (rental) in Wang that we (I) wanted!!!! SO EXCITED!! The only thing is, we don’t have a date we can move in as yet. The current tenants’ lease doesn’t finish til the 13th of April, but we are hoping they’ll want to move out earlier (this weekend would be ideal!). We have to move out by next Wednesday and it would obviously be best if we could move straight into the new place. But the real estate agents haven’t gotten back to me about that, so it’s not looking good. It took a week for the landlord to approve our application which was annoying, and they couldn’t ask the current tenants if they would be prepared to move out early, until we were approved. Which is a shame because it would have worked out really nicely.

It could still happen though. Otherwise, we’ll be looking for somewhere to stay for the week in between moving out and moving in. That wouldn’t be much fun, but this house is totally worth the wait.

Can’t wait to show it to you! But here’s a sneak peek in the mean time…

(Disclaimer: it probably won’t be furnished as nicely when we move in, unless Vinnies is particularly well-stocked at the moment πŸ™‚ )

Cast off

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Aaaaaaahhhhh…..

That was the relief I felt when my cast came off yesterday. I’m free! I can walk again! Or so I thought. Was it crazy for me to think that they would just fit me with a boot and I’d walk out of there unaided? (You know, except for the boot.) How wrong I was. I figured since the bones had healed nicely, I’d be right! A bit weak maybe, but I certainly didn’t expect the level of pain I was about to experience. Especially when the kind orthopaedic surgeon pushed down on certain parts of my foot and asked “Does this hurt?”

Does it hurt? DOES IT HURT????? YES IT FREAKIN’ HURTS!! DID YOU NOT SEE THE 3 BROKEN BONES THAT ARE STILL HEALING!!!!!?????

My foot is still bruised and a bit swollen, and I can’t really move it much on my own. The best bruise is the one under my foot:

And I can’t believe it’s still swollen!!

I just figured by this stage it would be a lot better than it is. I thought I’d wear the boot for a week or 2 and be good as gold, but I couldn’t even walk on my foot yesterday at the hospital without the crutches, even in the boot. By the end of the day though, I was just walking around in the boot. Just a bit, to ease myself into it. When I woke up today I needed the crutches for the first couple of hours but am now walking around okay. I just have to be careful not to push it, and to pace myself so it doesn’t take longer than necessary to get me back on both feet.

I have to wear the boot 24/7 (yes, even to bed), (but not in the shower – woo!) for 1-2 weeks, then just during the day for another 2-4 weeks after that. I guess the Doctor at my visit 4 weeks ago did say it was a 3 month injury.

So this is me for the next few weeks:
Sexy, oui?

Changing my tune?

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I pride myself on not being quick to judge, not believing everything I see and hear on TV/in the media/in movies, and not jumping on any bandwagons. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha….. I can’t even keep a straight face when I typing that rot, let alone saying it out loud! In the words of Jo of Little Women (the remake) fame, “I’m hopelessly flawed” (to which Frederich responds “we are all hopelessly flawed.” *sigh*)

I judge. I jump on bandwagons. And I most definitely change my mind about people when I read/hear about differing points of view. I’m a shocker and am completely embarrassed by how much, after reading only 30 pages of Vivian Cash’s autobiography “I walked the line” I have changed my tune about June Carter and Johnny Cash’s romance. Vivian was Johnny’s great love. I don’t doubt that June and Johnny were in love and were very happy together, but it was Viv (did I just refer to her as Viv? Yes I did) who stole Johnny’s young heart and shaped him into the man he was.

Okay okay. I may be jumping the gun a bit here, but seriously, my heart is already aching for a love lost and a marriage that could have, nay should have, lasted a lifetime. It did for Vivian Cash, but was unrequited by her first and deepest love.

I’m going to admit right now that I’ve had a glass of sparkling red wine, am packing up our house, am missing Hubs (he’s away for the night – yeah I know. It’s one night), am counting down til I get my cast off (FRIDAY!!) and am feeling just a teensy bit sentimental and melodramatic. Still, I’m looking forward to reading more about Vivian and Johnny’s romance. Stay tuned for more judgement!

They arrived!

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Hubs and I arrived home last night after 3 days and 2 nights away together, alone, in Melbourne. I had a wedding to officiate, so we decided to make a weekend of it. Chanbe stayed home with Mum and my aunty Mandy (Mum’s sister), and it was a great weekend all round! Hubs and I got to relax, unwind and do not much at all, while Chanbe got to stay at home and get spoilt! (Thank you thank you thank you Mum and Mandy!!!!!)

And waiting for me at home, were these:

And the bigger picture?

Yes, I’ve started packing. (Well, emptying out cupboards and stuffing the contents in bags. Packing, right?) Anyway, more about that later.

I still haven’t decided which one to read first. I’m leaning towards Vivian’s autobiography I think. I’ve had a lot of free time the last few weeks, and now that I actually have something specific to read (apart from random blogs) I don’t have the time to read it! Oh well, things will settle down in a month or so (won’t they???) and I’ll hopefully get cracking on them then. Who knows? I might even remember to tell you about them once I’m done!

Back to the packing. I found a house on Thursday in Wang that was just GORGEOUS!! And in our budget and in a nice area. Tick tick tick! We had looked at a couple the day before, and although they were okay (read: liveable) they certainly didn’t get us that excited. But the gorgeous one? It’s just so US. Hubs hasn’t actually seen it yet. Oh yeah. That’s how much he trusts me. I know what he likes and I know what he wants (a shed) so I’m super confident he’s going to like it as much as me. (It has a shed.) We put in the application at 4pm on Thursday and by 5pm, 3 out of 4 of our referees had already been contacted! How on the ball is that! Considering the debacle of finding a rental in Wang last time, I didn’t hold high hopes of dealing with real estate agents, but so far so good. We haven’t got the house yet, but I’m hoping to hear today. And hoping to be moving by this time next week.

So how about that packing?

Self portrait

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You know how sometimes you grab your camera or phone, take a photo of yourself and go “wow! That’s awesome!” And sometimes it takes a few more goes (and adjusting some settings) before you’re even remotely happy with the outcome? That happened to me the other day. I started out with a little of this:

But it kind of made my nose look bigger than it is, plus I didn’t like the angle (or the background). 
So I tried this:
Kind of a “glancing up all sultry-like”, but I just looked dopey.
Speaking of dopey:
I’m not exactly sure about what look I was going for there, but I realised I need a hair cut and colour.
Then came this one:
…where I went from dopey to goofy. And realised I also needed to WASH my hair.
By this stage I was getting a little bewildered:
So I moved inside for a change of scene. 
And a change to black and white:
Aaaaaah. That’s getting better (though, my nose still looks a bit big. Or maybe it just is). 
Do I really need to push my luck?
Turns out, yes I do:
I think that was supposed to be my bedroom eyes shot. Oops (and poor Hubs).
And then we went back to goofey.
The purpose of this “shoot” was to get a new profile pic, which I did (I used the first b&w one) but have decided that once we move house, and I get my hair coloured and trimmed, I’m going to ask Hubs very nicely to take some headshots for me. That way, hopefully, we won’t have to go through this exercise again… πŸ™‚