Garden Bed Building

Yesterday saw us working all day non stop. James moved all our big boulders and created a retaining wall out the front of the house - it looks realy good! We forgot to take the camera though, so will have to take photos today. After all the rocks were in place (which wasn't as easy as it sounds!), James and Shane took turns moving dirt to start the garden bed while I shovelled the dirt around the rocks to fill it in properly, and also wheelbarrow loads of gravel for when James does the paving. It doesn't sound like a lot of work, but it was and we were all buggered by the end of the day.

Ginnie is still pregnant. Very very very pregnant. She's like a pregnant lady whose belly button goes flat - Ginnie's stomach is very tight. I think she'll have 7, James thinks 9, and Shane thinks 10. We're not sure when she became pregnant since we put her wit Ash twice, but if she conceived the first time, then today is her 63rd day (which means she'll probably have them tonight - the gestational period is 59 to 63 days). For over a week now, I've checked on her as soon as I get up, and every day she's still pregnant!

Some changes, glorious rain, and work troubles

I have found some fantastic vegetarian recipes and am having so much fun making them. Right now my tummy is full with fennel and cheese stuffed sweet potato - sooo easy to make, sooo yummy and soooo filling. And I hope I don't jinx it by saying this, but I'm not eating as much sweet stuff lately. Don't get me wrong, I'm still eating it, but I'm not bingeing like I've done for years. I have had a packet of clinkers, a family size kit kat block, and a jar of boiled lollies for about a week. There is still half the packet of clinkers, the kit kat is whole except for two squares, and the jar still looks full (I've only had the ones that were jammed up against the lid). Oh, and there are still 3 yogo tubs from when James and I were sick almost a fortnight ago. And I'm not even depriving myself or forcing myself not to eat. I'm just not craving those things as much anymore at night.

We've had a nice rain front come over yesterday and today. Yesterday we have 18.5 points and I don't know how much we've had today - I'm about to go out and check. Its exciting to go check it and hear the water rushing into the rainwater tanks.

I've been having some trouble at work with Marilyn but I'm hoping its getting sorted out now. On Monday when I came back to work, it was as bad as I expected and instead of her taking my corrections well, she got mad at me. I just really don't like her. We don't really interact with each other at all unless we have to - she does her job, and I do mine. Although I'm wondering if she's going to complain about me cause I've been spending a lot of time out the front lately - one time I was going out to the supermarket and starting my lunch break when I realised the reception trainee was all by herself, so I sat with her and waited 45 minutes until Sheryn came back from lunch (she was running late) and then had my own 30 minutes break - trainees aren't supposed to be left unsupervised. Then yesterday I knew I'd want to go to the supermarket and do a big shop during the day, so I got to work 20 minutes early. In the middle of the day, I spent 20 minutes in the supermarket, then when I got back, Sheryn asked if I wanted to have lunch with her, so I went and did that - as far as I'm concerned everything I've done has been above board, but Marilyn doesn't know that and I'm away from my desk for about an hour and she might assume I'm having a long break. I don't know.

Ginnie is most definitely pregnant. She's made a spot in the garden to whelp, her mammary glands are swelling up and she's definitely getting fatter in the right place. Even though she's got a few more weeks left, I still check her out each morning in case the puppies come early! Cindy thinks Daisy might be pregnant too cause her mammary glands have swollen a lot (Daisy was on heat shortly after Ginnie) - they didn't put her with another dog but the neighbours dog might have jumped the fence when they weren't home or something.

Update

Its been a while since I've updated and I guess a fair bit of little things have happened.

The house is going well. The flooring has been finished, we've got a proper driveway, the electricity has been turned on, we've got a tv aerial, the pavers have been delivered, and the shed materials have been delivered. We got a great 20ml of rain out there a few weeks ago so that was a great boost to the tanks. Someone has bought the land next door and put some sheep and cattle on it - its nice to sit at our temporary dining table, look out the window and see the cows wandering around.

I'm about to become a golfer. I played 12 holes on Anzac Day with James and two other people and we won! I had a few shit hits and one of the other guys tried to be nice and give me pointers, but I know when suck and I know how to fix it, so I got upset. Not directly to him, but James could see the steam coming out of my ears. Nevertheless, I have officially ordered some new golf clubs (a set of Wilson Hopes - they're pink!) and will get my handicap this season and sometimes play on Saturdays. It was Australiana Night at the golf club on Saturday and I went over to Viv to ask if she wouldn't mind coming out me (to get your handicap, you play 3 x 18 holes with a club member and then it gets worked out). I said that I'd ordered some clubs and wanted my handicap but before I could ask her anything, Adey jumps in and says she'll come out with me any time I want and to just let her know. I was blown away! She's been telling me to get my handicap for ages but I just haven't felt ready. I feel more confident now, but I still need to practise a lot, but as James said - if I go for it and get a crap handicap, by the end of the season I should have knocked a few points off and improved.

Back to work today - I've been sick since last Tuesday. I'm not really looking forward to going back. Its not necessarily work, I just don't really like Marilyn. She's been really hard to teach and she just doesn't seem to read her notes and do things properly.

Today is going to be really long - I'm tired already! Really don't want to go to work...

More progress

I’ve got a few things to report on, but aren’t really in the mood tonight. First thing is that Sheryn and  went to and auction yesterday and I had a fairly successful day. I got a nice wooden dining table with 6 chairs for $22 – Sheryn and I will recover the cushions in the seats cause they’re a yellow colour at the moment that I don’t like. Recovering is easy (we’ve done it before) so they’ll be fine. I also got a little garden setting (two chairs and a table). They have a proper name, but I forgot what it is. The type was originally made of cast iron, but the newer stuff isn’t (but its still nice). I’ve always thought one would be nice, so now I’ve got one for $24. One of Traci’s friends got to the auction late and couldn’t believe the price I’d paid for those – she said she would have easily gone up to $100 for the dining set and gave up bidding against me for the garden set cause she could see I meant business! But she also said that if I wanted to get rid of it one day, that she would have it. My other purchases were a Clarion cd player (for a car) for $11 – James is always putting things in cars so I thought this would come in useful one day (all our cars except the datsun have cd players, so I guess the datsun can have this one).

 

My last purchase was a big garbage bag full of plastic garden pots which I wanted because I’ve got over 500 bulbs to plant for my transportable garden. Which brings me to today – today I potted up the jonquils, daffodils and freesias. 100 bulbs down, only 400 to go... at least I know what I’ll be doing with any spare time I get in the next few weeks!

 

James will be home again at the end of the week. He was supposed to go up for two weeks, then come home for one, but when he got there his boss said they’d replaced him already so only needed him for one week then he could go. We’re both pretty happy about that cause we’ll get more time together (one week just isn’t enough, but we’d have survived if we had to) and also it means he’ll be home for Kimberly’s 21^st. We haven’t told her yet (going to keep it as a surprise).

 

So anyway, that’s the latest. I’m winding down for the night and think I’m going to go have a glass of red. Does anyone actually read this? I don’t really care – its more of a record for myself, but just wondering? Good night J

Breakdown

James has gone back to Moomba to work for Bardrill for the last time. Megan met us at Port Wakefield which was nice of her, but I really don’t want to see her because she’s pregnant. I told James that I didn’t want to stay for long because I wasn’t very hungry and I wanted to get back on the road to make the most of the last of the daylight cause I hate driving at night. Both were true, but he saw right through me and knew it was also because I didn’t want to see her. So we had a bit of a chat and I had a bit of a breakdown but it was what I needed because I’ve been holding in all those feelings for a little while now and I just really needed James’s support which I got. By the time we got to Port Wakefield, I was still a bit teary but soon calmed down and by the time Megan got there I was fine. I put my act on like always and was nice and smiled and asked her how she was going (how was uni, had she had any morning sickness etc) and I was proud of myself afterwards because I was able to be strong and not immature or childish.

I was disappointed in myself today though. I emailed Melissa and bitched about how much Megan ate and how much weight she’ll probably put on. I think I was reacting to what happened at lunch time – there was a 2^nd hand sale at the church so Sheryn and I went for a look and she of course oohed and ahhed over the baby stuff. I can be civil to Megan, but I just can’t get excited and really feel happy in my heart.

On another topic, I had lunch with Cath yesterday. It felt awkward for me cause we haven’t seen each other in a year and so much has happened and I just really don’t know what to talk about. I was thinking though that Cath will be home when James and I hopefully have a baby next year so that will be nice. I hope that we’re able to spend more time together and catch up and become close friends properly again. I think a lot will hinge on James – he’s so... arrogant I think is the word. And stereotypical in the way that he thinks all people from England are the same and what he tries to say as jokes aren’t really funny or good and just make things awkward. I know he means well, but he is just a bit narrow minded sometimes. I hope that once we meet and get to know Tim that James will be nice and not a jerk and it will all just be good.

Flooring is almost done

Our flooring is finally almost finished! The carpet is finished, but they ran out of border for the knight tile so we’re waiting for that to arrive before they can finish off the kitchen and then its all done. Hopefully it’ll get here today.

 

I got all my bulbs in the mail yesterday so I know what I’ll be doing over the next couple of weekends! My chives have started to grow much to my delight. I’ve booked myself into a Trees For Life workshop at the start of May, so that should be good. Also a bloke from work (who is very greeny) lent me some books about seed collection and propagating seedlings so they should be helpful.

 

Kelly C and I had a bit of a chat yesterday about my impending aunty status and its nice to be able to vent a little bit to someone and have them know exactly how I’m feeling cause the same thing is happening in her family and she feels the same way I do. What is sad though is that it seems whenever someone finds out that Megan is pregnant, their first question is “who’s the father?”. Megan and Paul have been together for almost 2 years now – its not like she’s unfaithful or has only just met him or anything. So, despite my jealousy, I do pity her. And let me clarify my jealousness – I’m jealous of the fact that she is pregnant and going to have a baby – I am not jealous of her, the fact that as a uni student she will struggle with a baby, that her relationship with Paul seems to be fairly volatile, or that people are being made to feel they can’t express their positive feelings towards her because she has all these rules. I’m happy that I’m not pregnant right now but hope to be next year because right now we need 2 strong incomes to cope with the 2 mortgages we’ve got. Even when we move to Rocky Glen there’s going to be a lot of hard manual work to be done which I’m kind of looking forward to. Once we’ve done a fair share of that and we’ve made our nest, then we can try and have a baby and bring it into a happy and hopefully unstressful home.

 

James has officially got his new job! He’s going back to Moomba for Bardrill, as planned, this Thursday morning, finishing up for Bardrill in 2 weeks, come home for 1 week, then go up and start for Transfield for 3 weeks, and then be on a 2 and 2 roster.

23 going on 75

Well we should definitely have puppies in 9 or so weeks. We put Ginnie and Ash together again today and it was successful (I don’t really like to watch or know much about the official mating process – to me it feels a bit rude as opposed to an act of nature – or if you’re a male, a wonderful source of entertainment at watching a 6 legged dog with 2 heads hop around). But I’m making note of this cause a dog’s gestational period is 9 weeks so this means Ginnie should have pups at the start of June. I wonder how many she’ll have this time – she had 2 in her last litter, but that was her first, so I’m expecting more this time. Everyone keeps asking what we’ll do with the puppies, but I’m not too worried – we’ll give them away and perhaps keep one so I can test my training skills. See what happens when we get there.

I seem to have taken up a few new hobbies – they sound very boring and grandma-ish but I like tackling something new, even if I get a bit angry and frustrated sometimes because I’m such a beginner. But practise makes perfect, so that’s what I’m trying to do. First one is golf – my start in golf was at the Flaherty’s Sandbar Classic, which was a fun beach golf day. And I came runner up in the ladies, which won me a prize – definite incentive to play again. Last Saturday was the golf club’s opening day and ladies were invited to play. It was an ambrose comp, which means everyone in your group (we played in groups of 3) tee off, then you go to the best hit and try again. So in my group were myself, James, and a guy called Rob (James and I had to go in the same group because I don’t actually have any golf sticks – I borrow his). So, Rob would tee off, then James, then me, and lets say Rob had the best hit, James and I would pick up our balls and go to where Rob’s was, and we’d all hit from there. Good game if you suck at golf. But, I managed to come second in the ladies’ nearest to pin shot (I was winning but then some evil woman beat me – what an outrage!). So again, I sort of won. But my problem is that I’m very prone to getting aireys which makes me angry and embarrassed and then I get even worse. And then James tries to help me by giving me friendly pointers, and I do what any sane, rational woman would – I turn my anger to him. But today we went out for a hit (just played the 6 holes near our place) and I did alright. I took his constructive criticism and pointers well and applied them (well, I tried) and I actually was impressed myself. Which then made me cocky enough to whack my ball into the nearest tree (usually a metre or so away).

My other new hobby might be patchwork quilting – Sheryn is very very very good at it and has done it for years. She and I made a quilt together in the past (I’m laying on it right now actually) and I bought a little kit from the craft shop, which she’ll help me with. Its a wall hanging (not big enough to be a quilt) and its got some cute sheep on it. Will put a photo up when its finished – but that might not be for months! But she was away this weekend, but told me to practise my blanket stitch for when I appliqué the sheep on – so I traced the sheep template and used some scrap material to cut out and blanket stitched away. I started last night and finished today. You can tell where I started and see how I got better as I went along! The fabric bubbled a bit though (I mustn’t have pinned it properly) but it was only for practise, so it doesn’t matter.

Daylight savings has started or finished. I’m never quite sure when it starts or finishes. Our clocks have been turned backwards. Its 6:12pm at the moment and getting dark outside. Time to go cook dinner and then sit down and watch 60 Minutes and Grey’s Anatomy. 60 Minutes shows the inner grandma, but Grey’s proves I’m still young!!!

I'm Getting Old

I'm tired and I didn't even get really drunk last night or do anything today, but my body seems to have lost some of its stamina! Drinking mindlessly until 3am is not appealing at all to me, and this is tricky to cope with considering my fishbowl of a social world revolves around getting drunk and staying up late, then slowly driving home. I like to snuggle down into bed around 10, after having spent the night at home (making dinner and zoning out in front of the tv). And James, who is 4 years older than me, gets frustrated with me not wanting to get pissed all the time, or have a few "quiet drinks" (meaning drinking a carton between 2 people in one go whether it be at the beach, while watching a movie, at Rocky Glen, or just at home in general).

Anyway, Rocky Glen progress - our hole in the linen cupboard floor is finally filled in, and the floor coverings are being installed on Tuesday or Wednesday (depending how soon they finish a job they're starting on Monday). We went to put the shelves in, but discovered they don't fit - another thing on Rivergum's to do list.

Paul is coming down this weekend and said he and Deb might pop in for a coffee and a grand tour - it'll be nice to see him again. At work, he was the person who I could vent all my office stress out to and he understood it all cause he got all I did, plus some.

James's 10 year high school reunion is being planned for October. I kind of hope he's not home so we don't have to go - actually he says he doesn't want to go.

The bloke who looked at the Minlaton house last week had an appointment with his bank yesterday afternoon - still waiting to hear how he went. If they give him the money, he'll pretty much buy the house. I'm getting a bit uneasy about it all and just wish the house was sold and things were done and dusted in perfect time for us to move into the new house. I'm sure I've said that before because I think that a lot.

Builder problems... still

Rivergum came out yesterday to fix the level of the linen cupboard floor, which was great... except that he didn’t have enough cement and only filled in about a quarter of the hole. Supposedly he’s coming back on Friday.

 

Today we were supposed to get the air conditioner installed. James was going to meet Samuel out there, but dropped into Betta Electrical after he dropped me off at work this morning to make sure everything was all set. Samuel was fine to install it... but Sharon had forgotten to order it, so there was no air conditioner to install! I’m starting to wonder if this house is jinxed. We had to fight to get building approval, and now we have hold ups at every point (it feels like). It’ll be ok, and it happens to every house (well, it did to our last one too), but I’m just getting sick of it! I just want things to go smoothly for once.

 

It was Cindy’s 30^th birthday yesterday, and we had dinner at the pub. Was a nice quiet night out. Well, quiet isn’t really the word – the dining room at the pub echoes really badly, and with everyone trying to talk at once, it got a bit frustrating.

 

I ran more at the gym tonight – woo! James came after I begged him and made him an appointment so he couldn’t back out. He really really didn’t want to, but I don’t think it was as horrible as he expected. He won’t go back cause he’s just not a gym person, but it was really nice that he came. Even if I had to get Abbie, Sheryn, Rob and I to gang up on him to get him out of the car.

Possible puppies (in more ways than one)

What a eventful couple of few days we’ve had. We officially found out that Megan is pregnant and due in September, so that makes a little one on the way for the family. I don’t think many of us will actually be closely involved with the baby though. Not like how we’ve been with Cindy’s kids. Don’t know if that’s good or bad. Both I think.

 

We may also have some puppies on the way. We took Ginnie out to see Ash yesterday but unfortunately he didn’t quite hit the target (so to speak). But we took her out there again today and left them to nature and Viv saw them stuck together, so we’re hoping that’ll do the trick. Might take her out again in a couple of days, just in case. She’s been on heat for a week now so at the moment she’s in her most fertile period. James has put his foot down that if she goes have pups, none of the dogs (puppies or adult) will be allowed in the laundry to get out of the cold winter weather, so I’m just going to have to make her whelping box as comfy as possible and do the best I can to help her with the pups when they’re born. Last time she whelped in the garden, but I moved her and the two pups inside into the laundry afterwards. I’d like to make some sort of fluffy warm thing that I can put down for the puppies (to keep them warm even when Ginnie is away from them) but also make it so I can rip it out and wash it easily.

 

James and I had a bit of an argument out at Rocky Glen yesterday when we were talking about the front garden – he wants some massive gum trees and lots of other trees (gum or other) along the ridge to create a windbreak. I want a windbreak and lovely big gums (in 100 years!) too, but one of the things I love is the view. I was really tired and cranky and I know that’s no excuse, but I just sooked and whinged and was in general bad form. He thought a bit of lawn around the trees would be good – I said it would if we irrigated and put drippers in, but he thought we could just use a sprinkler (we’ll be using bore ware, so don’t have to worry about water restrictions). I said that was a crap idea cause how are we going to water every single seedling and piece of lawn and all the other plants, and he had a crack at me for reading too much and watching too much tv. We’re all good now, but its crap cause looking back, his idea is really nice and I only have to walk past the trees to appreciate the view. Haven’t told him that yet though!

 

I joined Trees For Life yesterday. I’d like to attend some of their workshops and learn how to collect seeds, and propagate my own trees. It would be cool to be able to grow my own and really do it all from scratch. I don’t know if I’d see them all to maturity but it would be something nice for future generations and of course for the environment.

Easter weekend

Did a fair bit of gardening yesterday - some to improve the look of the backyard/fill in a few dead spots, and some to take with us when we move to Rocky Glen.

To stay, I planted a clivia miniata where the fish pond used to be - never had a clivia before so it'll be interesting to see if it lives or dies. I attempted to dig up some of the elephant ear lillies by the rainwater tank and potted them up so they can come with us too - they're lovely plants when I remember to water then and keep them alive and they've got a bit of a family history. I got them from Sheryn when we originally moved in to our Curry Rd house, and she'd taken them years before from her Gran's house, so they're a pretty special part of the family. I want to keep them going and take them with us to Rocky Glen. I only dug up the weaker cluster of plants - if they go well, I'll dig up the bigger healthier cluster as well. In its place, I planted a scaevola fandancer which has pretty purple flowers and is supposed to be a good groundcover - however, its supposed to go in a sunny position (the spot I've put it in is in the shade in the afternoons) - see how it goes.

Also to stay, I filled in a few empty spots with some pansies (and also replaced some dead pansies) - I love them cause they're easy to keep alive, and they're lovely colourful flowers. Fairy plants, I call them (them and petunias).

To go, I've planted some chive seeds in 3 pots and put the pots in different areas of the garden to see which kind of environment works best for them. One pot is in full sun on top of the hot water system, one is under a dripping tap and only gets afternoon sun, and the other is by the remainding lilly and gets morning sun. I'm hoping to get results from all 3 pots, but we'll see how I go. I've also snapped off some succulent bits and hope they'll take root in their pots and get going again. Succulents are supposed to be easy to propogate, but I've never done it myself. I'd also love to propogate some trees but I don't know how. I'd like to have a go at doing it from the bushy sugar gum we've got in the backyard, but I think its too young to have flowered. I don't really know what I'm talking about though and would love to research a bit on the net if only the stupid modem would decide it feels like working today.

I've also accumulated a heap of pots (from Sheryn) so that when its bulb planting time, I can pot up a heap of those and take them with us. James will hate it (he thinks pots are untidy and things die in them cause they have no room to spread their roots out), but I'll love them to brighten up Rocky Glen a bit since we won't have proper garden beds established for a little while (and bulbs can grow in pots perfectly fine). I think I'll order some bare rooted roses (that will arrive in June/July) so that I can get them started in bigger pots as well and have a bit of an instant transportable garden.

Our modem is slowly dying and only seems to work when it feels like it. This is good and bad - bad cause its very frustrating not being able to quickly look something up on the internet, but also good cause now we can get a wireless one that'll work with my laptop (and I can finally have some use for the bloody thing).

Ginnie is on heat again - I'm hoping Luke will let us put her with Ash. I'd love to test my puppy skills out again and see if I can train them and be a bit like Rachael Treasure - I love her books not only cause they're wonderful stories but because they also inspire me to get my hands dirty a bit more and actually do something rather than just think about it.

Hopefully the shed at Rocky Glen will start getting built soon. We finally have council approval, so now its up to the builder. Once that's done, then we can get stuck into putting up fences and give the dogs a yard to live in - its one step closer to moving out there! Once that's done, all we need is rain to fill the tanks up, otherwise we'll have to truck some in. Oh, and we need the Curry Rd house to sell. Not asking too much, am I?