No spending for me

I am going to see how long I can go with no spending on anything other than essentials. Limiting it just to me so no more choccy bars or impromptu coffees and op shop buys which are the main culprits! I will of course still need to buy food and in my eyes alcohol is a staple so that's in too!!
Failed yesterday because I bought a kit kat at the shops :(. Today is going good. I'm also going to join Coles online because I figure a huge monthly shop even with delivery will curb my impulse buys when I "need" to pop there every day.

Escape to the beautiful South West

We have just returned from 4 days in the South West Region, based in Donnybrook. Most of these 4 days I hasten to had have been spent driving the kombi thanks to a crappy GPS which must have been last updated in the 1970's.

We stayed in a little tin cottage on an 100 acre farm which was the most gorgeous place EVER! The dogs ran their little legs off, chased and barked at the cows and generally had a ball, getting to spend every minute with us.

We visited Margaret River, Bussleton and Capel, so many more places we should have gone but we were not leaving the house till late morning, the pull of the countryside and freedom was too much to abandon.

The kids loved the space and the peace and quiet and we just thought we'd died and gone to heaven. It has made me even more sure that I was a place with land and space to breathe and no bloody neighbours to listen to!

Wicked

Liz, Helen and I went to see Wicked which is a musical stage show. It was great. The set was fantastic, the acting and singing were wonderful...........just something missing which Liz declared as the songs and she was right. They were all a bit slow and mamby pamby. Nothing to really grab you, tap your foot and make you remember it. It was still a great night and we managed to squeeze a few drinkies in. Unfortunately the piccy with Helen only got her cheek!

Freo Fun

Liz and i spent a girlie weekend in Freo, yayyyh. We had a funky little room right in the middle of Freo, so easy to pop in and out of for toilet stops. We spent the first day doing the op shops and book shops. We found a wonderful Moroccan cafe with the most amazing decor and food. I will be taking Lee back there this weekend when we are down for the squash tournament.


In the evening we did a bit of a pub crawl to get to Little Creatures where we had dinner. A quick play on the swings on the way back..


and a good 15 mins watching all the weird and wonderful forms making their way into the local nightclub. Back at our room we finished our bottle of wine and I passed out! Not pretty.



Felt pretty groggy the next day, swear someone had poisoned my drink. Managed to mope round the markets and have coffee at our new cafe before heading back to normalisation. Think I might give up this drinking lark cos it ruined my Sunday for sure :(

This week...

We have that moving house bug again, the paintbrushes are out and the doors are finally being finished off (4 years later). We have been wandering round Old Quinns whimsically gazing at the lovely old homes and shacks. There is a house for sale which we have nicknamed "the 70's house" which needs heaps of work doing to it due to the fact that it is still in the 70's but hey that would be vintage now, which i love so it can stay. :) Anyway it's too expensive but we can dream.....i'm still holding out for Margaret River or Bussleton at least!

William had another bad will incident where he rang me in tears asking me to go to school because the head teacher had confiscated his scooter. Of course he wasn't riding it when she saw him zoom past the window :(. I got it back but he's not allowed to take it to school and he was in tears with his fists clenched getting angrier and angrier when she spoke to us, to the point where he stormed off. I don't know how to get through to him and help him sort it all out in his too mature but still a child head.

Caught up with Lynn and endured gross coffee which was a laugh.

Gardening wise have planted some carrots, garlic and leek. Peas and beans that I put in are not doing a thing! have been saving my egg shells and crushing them to put round the seedlings to keep those darned squidgy sluggy things away. My pumpkin plant is rambling well but flowers are just dropping off.

Work are looking at changing our shifts, I about blew a gasket because as normal no communication, just have a look at this roster! They want a 3pm start (can't do) and every second weekend, can't do unless I give up CW and loose money. I also loose my 8 days off with 4 days being my longest break. Needless to say it was a crap shift and I spend most of it with a bright red face getting redder every time someone mentioned it. The next day was much nicer when I had got over it. I have to take it as an opportunity to make things better or make a change. I've emailed her and told her what i can and can't do.

Liz is off to margaret river with wendy.................wahhhhh not fair.

Elliot has finished his exams, all 2 of them, he has been bowling, at his mates and up to moore river, he is sure getting out and about, not sure if there is a 'special" girl yet. A few "friends" but like he'd tell me anyway...:(

An adventure to the recycling centre

my friend Liz and I go on a series of "adventures". Today we headed off in Ozzil to the Balcatta tip and had such fun rumaging though a plethora of treasures. There was even a coffin there for god's sake. One of those made out of fibreboard - of course it has to be environmentally friendly. We were too nervous to take a peep inside but I wish we had!

I ended up with a hockey stick (so we can play with Oscar), Army wellies for my little man, a Christmas decco, and a light fitting to replace the one I broke in the dining area. $10 which is quite expensive really, would have been $5 max at Tamala Park.

After that excitement we headed off to Leederville for coffee in a funky cafe called Greens, had a lovely chicken and avocado toasted sarnie and the smallest coffee I have ever seen!

In the evening Lee and I went to the ballet, yes that is correct, the ballet. I have always wanted to see a ballet and it was on my bucket list (in fact the only thing on my bucket list). Hartac are sponsors of the dancer Darryl Brandon so we got free tickets (result). It was a modern production called Helix which has to do with the DNA structure. He is a fantastic dancer. Lee managed to stay awake and enjoy it so I was very impressed.

I take it back

Bad Will is back, got an email from his teacher to say he'd been involved in an incident last Friday (like 5 days ago!!!) where a girl was hit by another girl and a group of them (Will included) had all been egging her on. I am so disgusted and ashamed. Of course he denies any major part but where will it all end. He needs to get his act together....2 kids got suspended, hopefully that is enough to make the others realise their actions have serious consequences. By the way the girl is okay, just a bit of a scuffle but that's beside the point.

The last few months

God I am crap at this.....Since I last wrote I have

Turned 44.....not good but past caring, I got an IPod so that makes it all okay.

Elliot has turned into a proper teenager and has started partying and drinking

William has been bad Will but seems to be good Will again

Oscar needs to have a plate in his mouth and one of thse horrendous head appliances to fix his jaw.

William needs braces.

Lee has gone slightly deaf.

Got some new chicks

Built new rabbit/chick/guinea pig enclosure

Been to a pscychic party - my Dad came through so gay Peter reckons

Been to a gardening workshop with free food!!

Have put a deposit on a holiday house to go back to UK next year for a month

Still Dreaming of moving to Margaret River

It's finished

Yep the laundry is finished (photo to follow) and it only took 3 weeks which is a record for Lee! Still needs a lick of paint but that's it. Very pleased.

So what's been happening, not a lot except William being in trouble at school, and doing a turnaround into a model student, long may it continue..

Elliot has a "girlfriend"! She is the one responsible for the 2009 texts he sent in December! He says they are not an item, just friends which is just as well cos William informed me she was only in year 10!

Last shift of 5 at work today, yawnn. got a few good days planned so hopefully will have some photos to post.

Lots of my seedlings are ready to pot up, but what exactly can I do with 8 million basil plants, since that is the only thing that seems to grow. The vege patch at the back it just crap, nothing grows in it. I really need to get my compost bin producing quicker.

Oh and Japan......what's happening, so sad. Can't help thinking the world is on it's way out. Maybe that's why my veggies aren't growing.

New Laundry

So excited, we are putting cupboards into our Laundry area.. yayyyyyy.. so easily pleased. Will now have somewhere to put heaps of stuff that's crammed into spaces here, there and everywhere..hope Brian stops peeing in there though!

RIP Gerri

Feeling emotionally drained, Gerris funeral was beautiful but so so sad. A packed church said goodbye to her with a catholic service, lead by a fab Asian priest who looked about 12 and who played to violin by her graveside. I want him for sure when I go!! Her daughter and twin sister talked about Gerri at the service, her daughter did SO well, she was a star. A great life ended so soon, seems it was her heart.
Talking of hearts, my brother Raymond has had double heart bypass this week. He is doing well with his arm giving him more jip than his chest wound. I didn't realise they took part of the artery from the arm/leg to patch up the one in the heart. EEkkk. Trying to be a bit healthier and food conscious with the awful family history of heart problems in our family.
Liz and i went to Anam Cara, the mediumship thing at Quinns. Nothing of relevance to us but we are off to see Lisa Williams on Saturday so that should be very awesome.
Have planted up a heap of herbs and a few tomato plants so they are almost ready to pot on, have got Liz in the herb thing too, she has planted heaps!

The arrrival of Ollie

Decided to get Ollie even though Klaus has not sold, also decided to keep name Ollie and not change to Basil. A long trip out to Northam on a boiling hot day with a cranky 6 year old, not pleasant. With an equally cranky husband who was missing squash to help me get said vehicle, even more unpleasant. Ollie is nice and shiny on outside but a bit of (lot of) a heap inside! Oh well, as usual my trust was a bit too trusting and I think I have paid too much but it's done now and hopefully I can remember and learn from this but I bet I don't! Drove home well, he is like a little noisy rocket, Elliot very impressed so that was a bonus. Petrol cap is impossible to get off, horn doesn't work, indicators don't self cancel, radio is el crappo so am stuck with a Doors tape which seems to be about the only decent tape I have left. Seats are vinyl so it's sweaty bum city. Am going to have to try and make some covers. Saw a girl in a beetle the same but purple and cream, I waved but she didn't wave back. %^%%^#%&!!!

Sad News

Don't think it has sunk in but I was at work yesterday (ED) and things were as normal as they can be there, just had a tour of the new department which is very swish and HUGE. Maggie comes round, visibly upset and says, it's Gerri, she's dead. I sat there with my mouth agape, stuttering and stammering thinking it was some cruel joke but no it was true. Beck had gone to pick her up to go to one of the nurses wedding and was faced with that news. Donna gathered us all together with coffees and tissues and explained that she had been playing her favourite computer game last night when the rest of the family went to bed (she is a night owl, does nights) and her daughter found her in the morning, no details as autopsy to be done but assume a massive PE or something similar. She wouldn't have known anything about it but the family must be devastated as are we all. Marlyn had to go home. Gerri was one of the few at work who actually made me feel welcome, she was a jovial little thing and a huge hole is left with her passing.

Cider festival and all is good

last night i went to a cider festival with liz and wendy. We got to sample about 15 different ciders all for free! Yipeee. liz knew one of the promo girls (she looked after her at ymca lol) so we got some merchandise too and our photos taken (not so good). after having our fill of freebies we headed to the indie brewery for some nosh and another drinkie. a lovely night was had.
also vented my spleen at lee and felt better, he took it well. Lol. I did the unforgivable thing in a fit of fury of saying to will that we were getting a divorce and he should choose who to live with. he promptly burst into tears and i realised the this tough gangster 11 year old is still a little boy and not at all ready to face the harsh realities of a grown up world. i quickly retracted and told him i was joking and he settled down. Never ever will i be that stupid and selfish again.

Moan moan moan - all about paint.

Why is it that mountains are built out of molehills, why does one comment fester and decay until you (well, I) am ready to pack my bags or more precise pack his bags and kick him into touch. Why when I feel like this can I see only his bad points, and believe me there are many of them, and none of his good points. Does he have any good points? Not at the moment he doesn't. Why is it always me that has to turn around and make the situation okay.....all because he said I should get my paintbrush out and paint the doors..and my response of "I don't like doing it so I'm not going to" launched him into one of his 'he is great and does everything rants'.

AND.....the neighbours were partying till about 3am this morning so I ended up sleeping on the settee....

happy days.