Do you ever feel so restless that you just don't know what to do with yourself?
I am feeling like that at the moment.
We, well I should say I, lol since Hubby is still working at his regular job,,,,,,have started up our business. We are in week 6 (I think?) and it is moving along. Not as fast as we perhaps would like but I have it making enough that is covering our costs almost. It is covering our franchise fees and some of the fuel costs. So I feel like I am working for nothing but I'm not working a full time equivalent, I am only doing one job a day at most and even then I don't do 5 days a week. Last week I only worked 3 days, this week it is 4 days. The customers I have picked up are lovely and most of the houses are pretty good to clean. I only really have two houses which I don't like doing, simply because they are pretty cluttered, hence making it alot harder to clean.
So the business is growing slowly. I have been a little fussy with where I will travel to. I don't seem to be getting much work locally and this is bothering me a little. With a few of my jobs being up to an hour away, I feel that my day is taken up in travelling,,,,,,which of course doesn't earn me money! So I am starting to only quote on jobs that are closer to home. We are going to do a few letter box drops in our local area to try and drum up a bit more local business. We have so many new houses popping up around us that it seems silly to be driving further afield to do work when I am sure that there are plenty of potential customers within a ten minute drive of me (the best bit of course is that these are all newer houses so they are so much easier to clean!!)
After seeing other people's houses, it has made me more determined than ever that our lives need a good declutter. Prior to moving here, hubby and I were selling off stuff from around the house, and we had boxes of things that needed to be listed on Ebay. Well they moved with us and of course as things would turn out, life has taken a few different turns and our enthusiasm for online selling has dwindled and we still have boxes of stuff cluttering up our shed. We have gone through the boxes and pretty much halved the amount of "stock" we had, donating it all to charity. Now of course, with the start up of our business, I don't have as much free time as I did, and I am seriously considering just donating the rest as well. Having said that though, we have sold an incredible amount of stuff over the last couple of months between Ebay and Facebook sites. I had a wonderful collection of novels (about 250 or so) which have all gone. I think I ended up donating about 30 books, the rest I sold. Even though majority of them only sold for $1 it was still a great feeling getting that little extra cash and being able to clear off a full to the brim book case. We have also sold many of the kids old Playstation 2 games which had been unused since the boys all "upgraded" to the xbox 360. Also quite a few of the dvds that have gone unwatched for quite a while have left the house.
We still have a long, long way to go with the clutter but I can see that we have made a start. I'm still unsure as to what to do with those other boxes of stuff, it seems silly to just give it away when I know that we could get a bit of money back but then again, it takes time to list the stuff.
It doesn't help that hubby bought a second hand drum kit for Mr11 for Xmas. It is stored in boxes in the shed at the moment and supposedly by Christmas we are supposed to have the shed set up nicely so that the drum kit can be assembled out there,,,,,,,,,,aagghhhhhhhhhh.
Man!!! Do we have some work ahead of us!!!!
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Monday, July 15, 2013
So Close Now......
I know I said I would blog more regularly and have a look, it has been almost two whole months since my last blog!!! Where has this year gone??? It is going by so fast it is just unbelievable.
Really though this last 15 or so months have been such a rollercoaster ride for us that it truly doesn't surprise me. With the announcement that we would have to move interstate, to having to repaint our old house, get it on the market and sell it and then find a house to buy here, move here, my dear Mum passing away just two weeks after we did move, then the juggling and trying to work out a school holiday routine with all the kids, Christmas, Hubby's never ending overseas trips for work, Hubby's dear Dad passing away in NZ and having to make a trip over there and then us deciding to take on a business, it has just been so overwhelming and truthfully something I never thought we would have to deal with in such a short space of time.
Deaths in the family are never easy on anyone, but I think that is how we decided that we needed to do something to hopefully enable us to work together in our own business. A franchise wasn't necessarily the way we wanted to go, but as neither of us have ever had our own business it seemed a safer option at the moment. We still have no idea of really how to run a business but I guess it will be something we learn along the way lol.
Our official start up date is next Monday. I am more than a little nervous, I tell you!! Since it is going to be only me running it, I am very aware of the fact that I need to make enough money to actually pay the franchise fees each month. Even though it is house cleaning, something I have been doing for many, many year, I am really nervous about doing it and expecting to be paid to do it lol. I have no idea why! I just think that there is a vast difference to cleaning your own home to cleaning someone else's. In my own home, near enough is good enough. I'm not a cleaning nazi and I tend to have many dust bunnies occupying various corners of my home and I am fine with that. Cleaning someone else's home however, they will for the most part want their dust bunnies evacuated and I will have to be much more fastidious than I am at home. Can I do this?????
The other thing I am nervous about is that I am not a salesperson. I have always hated feeling pressured to buy something and I refuse to place pressure or sales tactics on people. I go by the theory that if someone wants something they will buy it and no amount of pressuring is going to make them buy something from someone they don't like. So having said that I will be going into this just being me. I figure people will either like me and want me to clean for them or they won't. Simple as that.
Another lady in this area recently took on one of the franchises a couple of suburbs over. She has been running it for about two months with the same desire to build it up to enable her husband to leave his job and work with her. I have been told that she hasn't needed to advertise herself as yet, she has just been going off of the leads that the company have given her and she is at the point where she needs to take on a part time cleaner to help her out. I have my fingers crossed that I too will be able to get to that point, just as fast as she has. The only difference is that she is offering lawn mowing (courtesy of her husband, doing it after he finishes his normal job) and also carpet cleaning which we are not offering at this point.
I will be offering house cleaning, vacate cleans, dog walking, ironing and holiday pet minding services. For the vacate cleans we will have to either hire a carpet cleaner or get someone in to do it for us.
I guess at the end of they day we just have to think positive about it all working out. We have the comfort in knowing that hubby's income is fine for us to live on and all I need to do is get the business expenses covered each week. Its not like he has left his job and we are having to live on the income from the business, now that would be really scary!!!
Geez I can ramble on can't I!!! Lol sorry.
I was going to share school holiday happenings but I might leave it there and make a real effort to get back in the next day or two and share some photos etc with you.
Hope everyone is happy and well.
Take care!
Really though this last 15 or so months have been such a rollercoaster ride for us that it truly doesn't surprise me. With the announcement that we would have to move interstate, to having to repaint our old house, get it on the market and sell it and then find a house to buy here, move here, my dear Mum passing away just two weeks after we did move, then the juggling and trying to work out a school holiday routine with all the kids, Christmas, Hubby's never ending overseas trips for work, Hubby's dear Dad passing away in NZ and having to make a trip over there and then us deciding to take on a business, it has just been so overwhelming and truthfully something I never thought we would have to deal with in such a short space of time.
Deaths in the family are never easy on anyone, but I think that is how we decided that we needed to do something to hopefully enable us to work together in our own business. A franchise wasn't necessarily the way we wanted to go, but as neither of us have ever had our own business it seemed a safer option at the moment. We still have no idea of really how to run a business but I guess it will be something we learn along the way lol.
Our official start up date is next Monday. I am more than a little nervous, I tell you!! Since it is going to be only me running it, I am very aware of the fact that I need to make enough money to actually pay the franchise fees each month. Even though it is house cleaning, something I have been doing for many, many year, I am really nervous about doing it and expecting to be paid to do it lol. I have no idea why! I just think that there is a vast difference to cleaning your own home to cleaning someone else's. In my own home, near enough is good enough. I'm not a cleaning nazi and I tend to have many dust bunnies occupying various corners of my home and I am fine with that. Cleaning someone else's home however, they will for the most part want their dust bunnies evacuated and I will have to be much more fastidious than I am at home. Can I do this?????
The other thing I am nervous about is that I am not a salesperson. I have always hated feeling pressured to buy something and I refuse to place pressure or sales tactics on people. I go by the theory that if someone wants something they will buy it and no amount of pressuring is going to make them buy something from someone they don't like. So having said that I will be going into this just being me. I figure people will either like me and want me to clean for them or they won't. Simple as that.
Another lady in this area recently took on one of the franchises a couple of suburbs over. She has been running it for about two months with the same desire to build it up to enable her husband to leave his job and work with her. I have been told that she hasn't needed to advertise herself as yet, she has just been going off of the leads that the company have given her and she is at the point where she needs to take on a part time cleaner to help her out. I have my fingers crossed that I too will be able to get to that point, just as fast as she has. The only difference is that she is offering lawn mowing (courtesy of her husband, doing it after he finishes his normal job) and also carpet cleaning which we are not offering at this point.
I will be offering house cleaning, vacate cleans, dog walking, ironing and holiday pet minding services. For the vacate cleans we will have to either hire a carpet cleaner or get someone in to do it for us.
I guess at the end of they day we just have to think positive about it all working out. We have the comfort in knowing that hubby's income is fine for us to live on and all I need to do is get the business expenses covered each week. Its not like he has left his job and we are having to live on the income from the business, now that would be really scary!!!
Geez I can ramble on can't I!!! Lol sorry.
I was going to share school holiday happenings but I might leave it there and make a real effort to get back in the next day or two and share some photos etc with you.
Hope everyone is happy and well.
Take care!
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Lost in Life......for 3 months!!!!! Sheesh where did that time go????
Hi everyone, I can't believe its been 3 months since I last posted! I have been reading blogs here and there but just haven't really had the "oomph" to actually write on my own.
Life sure as heck hasn't been any easier these last three months, I am still waiting for our life to turn around and put smiles on all our faces for a change.
Settling in here just isn't as easy as I thought it would be, but I think that has mainly to do with all the things we have going on in our lives. I'm the sort of person that can't really settle until I have all my little duckies in a row so to speak lol.
Hubby has resigned from the job title that we moved here for. After being told just 3 weeks after that last trip to China that I mentioned on here, he was informed,,,,once again with just over 24 hours notice,,,,that he was off to China yet again for another 8 days. The toll on our family and our relationship was just getting too high. None of us were happy and something had to give, so when he returned from that trip he resigned as GM and is now just Director of a smaller part of the company. He has lost his office and is now in a share office downstairs with two other guys. I felt terrible that he resigned but at the end of the day, all of the promises that had been made to him regarding bonuses and pay rises hadn't happened and we are acutally worse off financially here, due to the higher cost of paying child support and the costs of having to travel back and forth to Adelaide 8 times a year, so it just wasn't worth the extra stress on all of us.
At the end of March, my Hubby's dear Dad passed away over in New Zealand. This came as a complete shock and it definitely wasn't a good time. I had to pull the boys out of school and we had to drive them over to stay with their Dad in Adelaide so Hubby and I could fly out to NZ. We were in NZ for 6 nights before heading back. The funeral was lovely but very hard. Hubby wrote his eulogy with my help but said he didn't want to read it out and I bravely offered. I have never been a fan of public speaking so I was very nervous but at the same time was determined to do it for him. I got up the front and put my head down and slowly made my way through it. I couldn't believe I actually made it through to the end but I did!! I even managed to pronounce a few of the Maori names without tripping over them lol so I was very relieved.
Since we have been back home, we have also had problems happening with my Hubby's two kids. I can't share on here what has been going on but lets just say it has been very stressful. First of all it was his Autistic son and that problem is pretty big, bigger than me I feel, and is going to be a long drawn out affair. Then we have his daughter that has just decided that it is her turn to cause problems and of course her mother isn't helping at all, so this too is going to be a pretty stressful affair too. I am trying to keep my cool and keep Hubby calm about it all too but I tell you,,,,,some days grrrrrrr! The whole thing is just heart breaking and I know that if we had still been in Adelaide, these problems would be minute in comparison :(
Yesterday after talking to my Ex I discovered that I may have a problem of sorts which will arise with my boys too in the very near future. I am trying to remain calm and I know that at the end of the day I will let my kids make their own minds up, but it is waying heavily on my mind at the moment.
On a hopefully happier note though, Hubby and I have decided that working together is the way to go for us. And although I am more than a little nervous about everything we are going ahead and are determined to make things work for us. We are taking on a cleaning franchise. We were able to get in really cheaply due to one of the other guys who lives on the other side of Melbourne, branching out on his own in a slightly different direction to what the franchise deals with. We are taking over his franchise and starting it up from scratch on our side of town. Naturally, we will start with no customers at all but hopefully we can make this work. Hubby will continue working at his job and I will be starting up the business on my own and attempting to grow it to the point where Hubby can leave his job and come and work with me.
Hubby has also taken on an Ebay Shop selling covers and mounts for phones and ipads and tablets etc.....All these things look the same to me lol but he believes that he can grow that business into something worthwhile. Once again we were able to buy the stock very cheaply as the other guy had to get out of it in order to do his demolition/rebuild of his home. So far so good with that, we have only had it up and running a few days and have had a few sales already. It seriously needs sorting out as they guy only had a basic computer knowledge and kind of has things all over the place but I think we will be able to work it all out and fix it up eventually lol.
I also have decided to start jewellery making (I know,,,,like we really need something else to occupy our lives right??? lol). I am doing memory wire bracelets, earrings and necklaces,,you know the sort you see at craft fairs with the beading etc. I find it quite relaxing and I am really surprised how easy it all actually is lol.
I still love my crochet but haven't made any new things for a while. I am trying to get a blanket finished that I started about a year ago and am so bored with but I am determined to finish it before starting anything else lol.
Anyway, I need to go and pickup my little cherubs from school. I just wanted to update you on the "Days of Our Lives" happening in our neck of the woods.
I am hoping I can get this little blog of mine going again and be a more regular blogger once more. I just feel like all I have done for the past year is share dramas and that wasn't what my blog was meant to be about, not at all. So from here on I hope to be able to share fluffy bunnies, sunny smiles and pretty flowers or the like and breathe some sunshine back into blogland.
Maybe I will share a few photos of some jewellery I have created,,,,and hopefully this darn blanket very soon too lol
Talk again soon, Take care everyone :)
Life sure as heck hasn't been any easier these last three months, I am still waiting for our life to turn around and put smiles on all our faces for a change.
Settling in here just isn't as easy as I thought it would be, but I think that has mainly to do with all the things we have going on in our lives. I'm the sort of person that can't really settle until I have all my little duckies in a row so to speak lol.
Hubby has resigned from the job title that we moved here for. After being told just 3 weeks after that last trip to China that I mentioned on here, he was informed,,,,once again with just over 24 hours notice,,,,that he was off to China yet again for another 8 days. The toll on our family and our relationship was just getting too high. None of us were happy and something had to give, so when he returned from that trip he resigned as GM and is now just Director of a smaller part of the company. He has lost his office and is now in a share office downstairs with two other guys. I felt terrible that he resigned but at the end of the day, all of the promises that had been made to him regarding bonuses and pay rises hadn't happened and we are acutally worse off financially here, due to the higher cost of paying child support and the costs of having to travel back and forth to Adelaide 8 times a year, so it just wasn't worth the extra stress on all of us.
At the end of March, my Hubby's dear Dad passed away over in New Zealand. This came as a complete shock and it definitely wasn't a good time. I had to pull the boys out of school and we had to drive them over to stay with their Dad in Adelaide so Hubby and I could fly out to NZ. We were in NZ for 6 nights before heading back. The funeral was lovely but very hard. Hubby wrote his eulogy with my help but said he didn't want to read it out and I bravely offered. I have never been a fan of public speaking so I was very nervous but at the same time was determined to do it for him. I got up the front and put my head down and slowly made my way through it. I couldn't believe I actually made it through to the end but I did!! I even managed to pronounce a few of the Maori names without tripping over them lol so I was very relieved.
Since we have been back home, we have also had problems happening with my Hubby's two kids. I can't share on here what has been going on but lets just say it has been very stressful. First of all it was his Autistic son and that problem is pretty big, bigger than me I feel, and is going to be a long drawn out affair. Then we have his daughter that has just decided that it is her turn to cause problems and of course her mother isn't helping at all, so this too is going to be a pretty stressful affair too. I am trying to keep my cool and keep Hubby calm about it all too but I tell you,,,,,some days grrrrrrr! The whole thing is just heart breaking and I know that if we had still been in Adelaide, these problems would be minute in comparison :(
Yesterday after talking to my Ex I discovered that I may have a problem of sorts which will arise with my boys too in the very near future. I am trying to remain calm and I know that at the end of the day I will let my kids make their own minds up, but it is waying heavily on my mind at the moment.
On a hopefully happier note though, Hubby and I have decided that working together is the way to go for us. And although I am more than a little nervous about everything we are going ahead and are determined to make things work for us. We are taking on a cleaning franchise. We were able to get in really cheaply due to one of the other guys who lives on the other side of Melbourne, branching out on his own in a slightly different direction to what the franchise deals with. We are taking over his franchise and starting it up from scratch on our side of town. Naturally, we will start with no customers at all but hopefully we can make this work. Hubby will continue working at his job and I will be starting up the business on my own and attempting to grow it to the point where Hubby can leave his job and come and work with me.
Hubby has also taken on an Ebay Shop selling covers and mounts for phones and ipads and tablets etc.....All these things look the same to me lol but he believes that he can grow that business into something worthwhile. Once again we were able to buy the stock very cheaply as the other guy had to get out of it in order to do his demolition/rebuild of his home. So far so good with that, we have only had it up and running a few days and have had a few sales already. It seriously needs sorting out as they guy only had a basic computer knowledge and kind of has things all over the place but I think we will be able to work it all out and fix it up eventually lol.
I also have decided to start jewellery making (I know,,,,like we really need something else to occupy our lives right??? lol). I am doing memory wire bracelets, earrings and necklaces,,you know the sort you see at craft fairs with the beading etc. I find it quite relaxing and I am really surprised how easy it all actually is lol.
I still love my crochet but haven't made any new things for a while. I am trying to get a blanket finished that I started about a year ago and am so bored with but I am determined to finish it before starting anything else lol.
Anyway, I need to go and pickup my little cherubs from school. I just wanted to update you on the "Days of Our Lives" happening in our neck of the woods.
I am hoping I can get this little blog of mine going again and be a more regular blogger once more. I just feel like all I have done for the past year is share dramas and that wasn't what my blog was meant to be about, not at all. So from here on I hope to be able to share fluffy bunnies, sunny smiles and pretty flowers or the like and breathe some sunshine back into blogland.
Maybe I will share a few photos of some jewellery I have created,,,,and hopefully this darn blanket very soon too lol
Talk again soon, Take care everyone :)
Monday, February 18, 2013
Discovering Costco
Well we finally did it,,,,,we succumbed to temptation and went on our first visit to Costco!
After living here for just over 6 months, the place called to us and we just had to hand over our $60 membership and have a look. I hadn't bothered before because I kind of begrudge handing over $60 or our hard earned dollars just to go shopping,,,,,but well I had to go and see for myself if it was worth it.
The result,,,,,,well yes and no. The kids loved it because of all the food samples they received along the way. Hubby and I were impressed with some things, not so with others. We ended up spending about $130 on things that we didn't necessarily need right now, but which will save us money down the track.
The store wasn't as big as I had imagined it would be. The electrical equipment prices seemed pretty ordinary, I really don't think they were any/much cheaper than elsewhere. The clothing, well I didn't really pay alot of attention to it, but from a distance the prices didn't seem that great, as for the shoes. Furniture, well they don't have much of it and the prices, once again are ordinary.
I did buy myself an awesome set of melamine mixing bowls, set of 4 with lids for $23. They are fantastic bowls and so big! I was in desperate need of some more mixing bowls and I wanted sturdy ones, so I was pretty happy with that.
Also bought a 4 pack of those flame gun thingies (you know the things I mean lol....so you don't need matches). They cost about $4.50 - a bargain compared to buying them individually!
Food prices were a little hit and miss. I didn't thinnk their fruit and veg was that great, price wise, as with their meat and bakery section.
We found the real savings to be in standard food items which was finally where we decided that we would continue to come here maybe once a month or so.
We got a large tub of Marshmallow Fluff (yummy,,,,I love Fluffernutter sandwiches!!) for just $4.20,,,a jar in Coles is worth more than that for about half the amount.
We got a twin pack of Hersheys Chocolate Syrum (1.4L bottles) for around $7.
A jar of peanut butter for about $4 - I'm talking a very large jar!
A small bucket of Vegemite for $11.
Large packets of Doritos (500 grams) for about $5.80 and the list goes on.
I basically only bought things that I knew were cheap. I will pay closer attention to my shopping for the next few weeks and maybe jot down prices of things we buy regularly so that I can compare. We may or may not renew our membership next year depending on how much we save overall. While the savings on these items are great, it will also depend on how fast we go through them as to whether or not we have saved enough to recoup our $60 membership.
The kids did find it quite fun though and the fact that they do have some different things to try made it fantastic in their eyes.
On the way out we stopped for lunch at their cafe. This area was a bargain. We paid $16.50 for the 5 of us for lunch,,,great value!
Three of us had hotdogs and the younger two had a slice of pizza (we are talking american sized slices here! Mr10 couldn't even get through his whole slice and that is unheard of lol). We all had refillable soft drinks.
The hotdogs were $1.00, pizza $3 a slice and drinks $1.50 for the refillable cups.
Next time we will go in the afternoon because they had the most amazing looking berry sundaes for just $3.50 I think it was lol.
After living here for just over 6 months, the place called to us and we just had to hand over our $60 membership and have a look. I hadn't bothered before because I kind of begrudge handing over $60 or our hard earned dollars just to go shopping,,,,,but well I had to go and see for myself if it was worth it.
The result,,,,,,well yes and no. The kids loved it because of all the food samples they received along the way. Hubby and I were impressed with some things, not so with others. We ended up spending about $130 on things that we didn't necessarily need right now, but which will save us money down the track.
The store wasn't as big as I had imagined it would be. The electrical equipment prices seemed pretty ordinary, I really don't think they were any/much cheaper than elsewhere. The clothing, well I didn't really pay alot of attention to it, but from a distance the prices didn't seem that great, as for the shoes. Furniture, well they don't have much of it and the prices, once again are ordinary.
I did buy myself an awesome set of melamine mixing bowls, set of 4 with lids for $23. They are fantastic bowls and so big! I was in desperate need of some more mixing bowls and I wanted sturdy ones, so I was pretty happy with that.
Also bought a 4 pack of those flame gun thingies (you know the things I mean lol....so you don't need matches). They cost about $4.50 - a bargain compared to buying them individually!
Food prices were a little hit and miss. I didn't thinnk their fruit and veg was that great, price wise, as with their meat and bakery section.
We found the real savings to be in standard food items which was finally where we decided that we would continue to come here maybe once a month or so.
We got a large tub of Marshmallow Fluff (yummy,,,,I love Fluffernutter sandwiches!!) for just $4.20,,,a jar in Coles is worth more than that for about half the amount.
We got a twin pack of Hersheys Chocolate Syrum (1.4L bottles) for around $7.
A jar of peanut butter for about $4 - I'm talking a very large jar!
A small bucket of Vegemite for $11.
Large packets of Doritos (500 grams) for about $5.80 and the list goes on.
I basically only bought things that I knew were cheap. I will pay closer attention to my shopping for the next few weeks and maybe jot down prices of things we buy regularly so that I can compare. We may or may not renew our membership next year depending on how much we save overall. While the savings on these items are great, it will also depend on how fast we go through them as to whether or not we have saved enough to recoup our $60 membership.
The kids did find it quite fun though and the fact that they do have some different things to try made it fantastic in their eyes.
On the way out we stopped for lunch at their cafe. This area was a bargain. We paid $16.50 for the 5 of us for lunch,,,great value!
Three of us had hotdogs and the younger two had a slice of pizza (we are talking american sized slices here! Mr10 couldn't even get through his whole slice and that is unheard of lol). We all had refillable soft drinks.
The hotdogs were $1.00, pizza $3 a slice and drinks $1.50 for the refillable cups.
Next time we will go in the afternoon because they had the most amazing looking berry sundaes for just $3.50 I think it was lol.
Friday, February 15, 2013
Work Headaches and Life problems as usual
Wow, well at this rate it is going to take me all year just to catch up on our Christmas events lol......lucky I don't have much else going on to talk about right now!
Hubby has had the last two days off work, lets call it a couple of "mental health days" shall we? He is pretty down about the way this job is turning out and the way his boss has been treating him since Christmas. He is relieved to realise that others at work have noticed it and it hasn't just been his imagination. None of them can work out what is going on at all. Even the older guy who Hubby took over the job from, although he hadn't known how bad it was until Hubby had a talk to him on Monday, is shocked. The older guy has also been getting treated badly too though. He is a consultant for the company now and basically is mainly there to do overseas consulting and only works 2 days a week. He has been told that when he goes to China on his next trip that he will only be paid for the 2 days a week he works even though the trip will take him away from home for about a week!!! Needless to say I find that disgusting, its not like he is going on a holiday, he is going to get business for the company!! I'm sure this is against some kind of workplace law. I said to Hubby that something must be going on for the guy to be treating people like this. I have a feeling that he has used hubby for his knowledge though and has gotten whatever it was he wanted from him and now is trying to make him leave.
Hubby is desperate to do something together, just him and I but I have my concerns about that. We are looking at the moment at a cleaning franchise and have a guy coming out tonight to give us some information. They do car cleaning, house cleaning and a few other different franchises. They are very cheap franchises and it would mean we wouldn't have to take out a loan which does take away one worry. I don't see it making enough money to support us though. Child support is our killer each week, it basically takes over a quarter of hubby's take home pay and after a conversation with the Child Support Agency the other day, if hubby starts up a business and it doesn't give him the same earnings that he is getting now, that is just too bad, he will still be stuck paying what he is now, even if his earnings only end up being $30,000 or so! They call it him deliberately downgrading his income to avoid paying child support and he has a higher earning capacity. Basically they said that it doesn't matter what we want to do, his children require him to pay this money and its not fair on him to deny them that. Now don't get me wrong, I have an ex as well who pays child support and I think that parents should support their children and I would never not help to pay for his children's welfare BUT having said that, I also believe that parents are entitled to be able to do what they want to do in their lives too. If we had all remained with our previous partners we would have been able to do whatever we wanted and just because you have a relationship breakdown, why should you have to stick at a job you hate just to support your children. Our biggest annoyance is that we believe his ex is earning money and a decent enough sum that they can run two cars, both only a couple of years old, both petrol guzzlers, they can afford Ipads, brand new phones (stepdaughter has gone through 4 Samsung Galaxy 2 and 3s in the last year!). They have 4 people in the house using mobile phones and stepdaughter got told that her bill was ok each month provided it wasn't more than $100........We sure as hell can't afford to run 4 mobile phones with a $100 bill each in the month! Stepdaughter is always getting new clothes, haircuts are done at hairdressers on a regular basis, the ex can afford to get tattoos and hair extensions, they have take away numerous nights of the week and go out to hotels for dinner at least every couple of weeks and movie cinemas........you tell me where the money is coming from and her partner has been unemployed for a few months too! (Child Support have been told this but they say unless we can come up physical proof that she is earning we can't do anything about it,,,,ggrrrrrrrrr)
So back to my original point, I just don't know if us starting a business together is going to be wise from a financial point of view. I'm off to ponder things for a bit today and try to come up with some ingeniuous money making idea lol,,,,,maybe we could come up with a plan to take over the company ourselves!!
I will leave you with a few more photos......
....or maybe I won't,Blogger has decided once again it doesn't like me today lol, maybe next week we can have photots!!!
Hubby has had the last two days off work, lets call it a couple of "mental health days" shall we? He is pretty down about the way this job is turning out and the way his boss has been treating him since Christmas. He is relieved to realise that others at work have noticed it and it hasn't just been his imagination. None of them can work out what is going on at all. Even the older guy who Hubby took over the job from, although he hadn't known how bad it was until Hubby had a talk to him on Monday, is shocked. The older guy has also been getting treated badly too though. He is a consultant for the company now and basically is mainly there to do overseas consulting and only works 2 days a week. He has been told that when he goes to China on his next trip that he will only be paid for the 2 days a week he works even though the trip will take him away from home for about a week!!! Needless to say I find that disgusting, its not like he is going on a holiday, he is going to get business for the company!! I'm sure this is against some kind of workplace law. I said to Hubby that something must be going on for the guy to be treating people like this. I have a feeling that he has used hubby for his knowledge though and has gotten whatever it was he wanted from him and now is trying to make him leave.
Hubby is desperate to do something together, just him and I but I have my concerns about that. We are looking at the moment at a cleaning franchise and have a guy coming out tonight to give us some information. They do car cleaning, house cleaning and a few other different franchises. They are very cheap franchises and it would mean we wouldn't have to take out a loan which does take away one worry. I don't see it making enough money to support us though. Child support is our killer each week, it basically takes over a quarter of hubby's take home pay and after a conversation with the Child Support Agency the other day, if hubby starts up a business and it doesn't give him the same earnings that he is getting now, that is just too bad, he will still be stuck paying what he is now, even if his earnings only end up being $30,000 or so! They call it him deliberately downgrading his income to avoid paying child support and he has a higher earning capacity. Basically they said that it doesn't matter what we want to do, his children require him to pay this money and its not fair on him to deny them that. Now don't get me wrong, I have an ex as well who pays child support and I think that parents should support their children and I would never not help to pay for his children's welfare BUT having said that, I also believe that parents are entitled to be able to do what they want to do in their lives too. If we had all remained with our previous partners we would have been able to do whatever we wanted and just because you have a relationship breakdown, why should you have to stick at a job you hate just to support your children. Our biggest annoyance is that we believe his ex is earning money and a decent enough sum that they can run two cars, both only a couple of years old, both petrol guzzlers, they can afford Ipads, brand new phones (stepdaughter has gone through 4 Samsung Galaxy 2 and 3s in the last year!). They have 4 people in the house using mobile phones and stepdaughter got told that her bill was ok each month provided it wasn't more than $100........We sure as hell can't afford to run 4 mobile phones with a $100 bill each in the month! Stepdaughter is always getting new clothes, haircuts are done at hairdressers on a regular basis, the ex can afford to get tattoos and hair extensions, they have take away numerous nights of the week and go out to hotels for dinner at least every couple of weeks and movie cinemas........you tell me where the money is coming from and her partner has been unemployed for a few months too! (Child Support have been told this but they say unless we can come up physical proof that she is earning we can't do anything about it,,,,ggrrrrrrrrr)
So back to my original point, I just don't know if us starting a business together is going to be wise from a financial point of view. I'm off to ponder things for a bit today and try to come up with some ingeniuous money making idea lol,,,,,maybe we could come up with a plan to take over the company ourselves!!
I will leave you with a few more photos......
....or maybe I won't,Blogger has decided once again it doesn't like me today lol, maybe next week we can have photots!!!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Catching up Part 1
As I said earlier this week, I thought I would play a little catch up with my photos that have escaped getting put on my blog due to the unco-operativeness of my blog lately lol.
These pics were taken all the day back in early December when we decided to take a little venture into the city to view the Christmas displays of lights. As you can see we arrived in there a little early to take in twinkling lights so we grabbed a bite to eat and went for a wander to start the night off.
We discovered this fantastic stick house just down from Federation Square which we hadn't seen before.....not sure if it was newly put here or not but it was new to us.
It was called "Stickwork Ballroom". Absolutely amazing and must have taken a very long time and a heck of a lot of patience to construct!!
Will be back soon to show you some of the other Christmasy things we saw this night (I do remember that we had very sore feet,,,,,,we walked for kilometres that night lol).
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
I'm actually here,,,,,,,,,I can't believe it :)
Hi everyone :)
Well after spending the christmas break frustrated because I couldn't access my blog, finally after help from the wonderful, fabulous, incredibly helpful Niki, I am in!!!!! Thank you Niki you are awesome!!
Of course I have absolutely nothing to say today, because I hadn't expected to be able to do this but I just wanted to say that yes I am alive and yes I do still love blogging and I will return with my usual grumpy moods and moaning and groaning very soon lol.
I now have to actually remember everything I had been going to talk about over the last couple of months!!
Right now I can say that my Hubby is in China yet again :(. This time it is a ten day trip, he returns home at about 11pm Saturday night........it has been a very loooooong trip. Once again it was last minute notice and this time even he is disheartened with the company and feels that he needs to leave (I know........we only just moved our family here and we can't afford to move back to Adelaide!!!). He was supposed to be on holidays until Monday 4 February but got a call last Wednesday Jan 30 at 6.30pm saying that he was going to be flying out to China the following day at 4.30pm!!!! We both feel that this is beginning to get just ridiculous. The boss also turned around to him and said that he doesn't get holidays like everyone else, in this position he is on call 24/7 and even if he is on "holiday" he is to still answer phone calls and emails. Needless to say Hubby and I are less than impressed.
Hubby wants to find a business that we can work together. We enjoy being together and all this travel has made us realise that even more. When he returns we will look into it further. Right now the only business that I can think of us affording is a cleaning business or something along those lines,,,,,,,,looking at the state of my house I wonder if I could clean other people's and still be smiling at the end of the day lol......then again cleaning someone else's house is never as bad as cleaning your own I find.
Hubby called me last night saying "I don't think I can work for this company any more". Apparently the guy he went with (the accountant of the company) who is a very straight laced kinda guy generally, got absolutely blottoed when they went out for dinner last night with the supplier they went to see yesterday. The supplier organised a dinner at some Chinese restaurant. There were quite a few people there, including the supplier's family members and Mr Accountant took up the offer of some chinese rice wine. They have been travelling with one of the Chinese girls from their work who acts as interpreter for them and she warned about the potency of rice wine. Mr Accountant has been on many trips to China in the past so he was more than aware anyway, but he drank some,,,,,followed by some red wine,,,,,and then followed by some yellow looking wine. He got up and sang karaoke, he got angry with Hubby for not drinking (hubby rarely drinks and if he does he really only drinks a beer or maybe a spirit). Anyway by the end of the night Mr Accountant managed to throw up on himself. Hubby and one of the supplier guys half carried him out to the car, where he promptly leaned out and threw up yet again. They had a 40 minute drive to their motel where Hubby had to check them in. They got Mr Drunk Bum up to his room where he started crying and begging the chinese girl to stay in his room to keep an eye on him. She obliged and got a fold up bed brought up so that she could sleep in there too....she even washed his clothes for him!!! I said to hubby I would have just walked out of his room and left him to lay in his own stench, I think she is crazy for doing what she did personally lol. As hubby said to me though, what kind of impression did this behaviour give to the supplier people. As far as I am concerned, you travel for business, then you are the face of the company and you don't get drunk to the point where you can't walk! They guy is in his late 40's and definitely old enough to know better. He kept saying to hubby that he "took one for the team" because hubby wouldn't "man up" and have a drink..........if Hubby gets a talking to by the head boss when he returns next week, I think I will give them a piece of my mind myself,,,,,sheesh for all they know hubby may have been a recovering alcoholic (which he isn't), they don't know!!!
Anyway today they are off to the next city, Hubby just called saying they are about to leave and he hasn't seen Drunken Bum yet but apparently he is ok to travel,,,,,,,,,,will be interesting to hear about the day later lol.
Ok, well for not having much to say I have certainly rambled on lol.
I will return later this week to do a catch up of our Christmas and holiday season :)
Well after spending the christmas break frustrated because I couldn't access my blog, finally after help from the wonderful, fabulous, incredibly helpful Niki, I am in!!!!! Thank you Niki you are awesome!!
Of course I have absolutely nothing to say today, because I hadn't expected to be able to do this but I just wanted to say that yes I am alive and yes I do still love blogging and I will return with my usual grumpy moods and moaning and groaning very soon lol.
I now have to actually remember everything I had been going to talk about over the last couple of months!!
Right now I can say that my Hubby is in China yet again :(. This time it is a ten day trip, he returns home at about 11pm Saturday night........it has been a very loooooong trip. Once again it was last minute notice and this time even he is disheartened with the company and feels that he needs to leave (I know........we only just moved our family here and we can't afford to move back to Adelaide!!!). He was supposed to be on holidays until Monday 4 February but got a call last Wednesday Jan 30 at 6.30pm saying that he was going to be flying out to China the following day at 4.30pm!!!! We both feel that this is beginning to get just ridiculous. The boss also turned around to him and said that he doesn't get holidays like everyone else, in this position he is on call 24/7 and even if he is on "holiday" he is to still answer phone calls and emails. Needless to say Hubby and I are less than impressed.
Hubby wants to find a business that we can work together. We enjoy being together and all this travel has made us realise that even more. When he returns we will look into it further. Right now the only business that I can think of us affording is a cleaning business or something along those lines,,,,,,,,looking at the state of my house I wonder if I could clean other people's and still be smiling at the end of the day lol......then again cleaning someone else's house is never as bad as cleaning your own I find.
Hubby called me last night saying "I don't think I can work for this company any more". Apparently the guy he went with (the accountant of the company) who is a very straight laced kinda guy generally, got absolutely blottoed when they went out for dinner last night with the supplier they went to see yesterday. The supplier organised a dinner at some Chinese restaurant. There were quite a few people there, including the supplier's family members and Mr Accountant took up the offer of some chinese rice wine. They have been travelling with one of the Chinese girls from their work who acts as interpreter for them and she warned about the potency of rice wine. Mr Accountant has been on many trips to China in the past so he was more than aware anyway, but he drank some,,,,,followed by some red wine,,,,,and then followed by some yellow looking wine. He got up and sang karaoke, he got angry with Hubby for not drinking (hubby rarely drinks and if he does he really only drinks a beer or maybe a spirit). Anyway by the end of the night Mr Accountant managed to throw up on himself. Hubby and one of the supplier guys half carried him out to the car, where he promptly leaned out and threw up yet again. They had a 40 minute drive to their motel where Hubby had to check them in. They got Mr Drunk Bum up to his room where he started crying and begging the chinese girl to stay in his room to keep an eye on him. She obliged and got a fold up bed brought up so that she could sleep in there too....she even washed his clothes for him!!! I said to hubby I would have just walked out of his room and left him to lay in his own stench, I think she is crazy for doing what she did personally lol. As hubby said to me though, what kind of impression did this behaviour give to the supplier people. As far as I am concerned, you travel for business, then you are the face of the company and you don't get drunk to the point where you can't walk! They guy is in his late 40's and definitely old enough to know better. He kept saying to hubby that he "took one for the team" because hubby wouldn't "man up" and have a drink..........if Hubby gets a talking to by the head boss when he returns next week, I think I will give them a piece of my mind myself,,,,,sheesh for all they know hubby may have been a recovering alcoholic (which he isn't), they don't know!!!
Anyway today they are off to the next city, Hubby just called saying they are about to leave and he hasn't seen Drunken Bum yet but apparently he is ok to travel,,,,,,,,,,will be interesting to hear about the day later lol.
Ok, well for not having much to say I have certainly rambled on lol.
I will return later this week to do a catch up of our Christmas and holiday season :)
Friday, December 21, 2012
Christmas Mayhem and Job Annoyances
Well here we are just a few days away from Christmas. What a ride we are having this year.
I have been and still am so far behind my usual organisation. I still have shopping to do. I have no ham or pork yet,,,,and for that matter still haven't actually decided on a menu for the big day!
Not last Friday but the Friday before hubby came home from work and announced that he would be leaving for China on the Sunday morning,,,,,yes that is right, less than 48 hours notice of a trip that would take him away for an entire week!! I admit to being furious and letting my anger be seen. The job is really beginning to annoy me majorly.
I hate him being away from us full stop, but these overseas trips are just horrible. Its just so far away and an entire week, well that is just way too long. Of course we had so many things on our list to do this week too which didn't help my bad mood.
The Sunday he left we were supposed to be going to a Carols by Candlelight but neither me nor the boys felt like going without Hubby so we cancelled that.
On the Monday we had open night at Mr12's high school for next year,,,,,naturally I had Mr10 home sick that day too but still had to drag him along to the high school hoping he would be okay....thankfully he managed to make it through to the end before saying I need to go outside in the fresh air. Off he went and we followed a few minutes later to find the poor little sausage being sick by the side of the building :( He only had a cold, but he tends to get quite phlegmy with his colds and always ends up being sick because of it.
Monday night also had me receiving some news from Miss13 which came as a shock to me and I was put in the predicament of whether to let Hubby know while he was away or to wait till he got back. I chose the latter. He isn't happy but is going to pretend that he doesn't know and see how long it takes his Ex or his daughter to actually tell him the news. The worst part was that the news had been decided a few weeks ago and I had to find out on facebook! (Edited to say that he has now been back home for almost a week and he hasn't heard from either his Ex or his daughter regarding the subject!!)
Tuesday saw Mr10 home yet again and Mr12 had his orientation day at the high school. Mr10 and I went at the end of the day to pick him up and he was in a horrible mood. Attitude was oozing out of him at a great rate of knots which didn't put me in a good mood at all. After both he and I having "words" on the trip home, he began to calm a little, but it has made me worry about what next year may hold for us.
Wednesday saw my Ex arrive with my older boys. He had planned a 5 day visit and at the end would leave my Mr15 here and take Mr17 back with him. I still miss my Mr17 terribly and can't quite get my head around him not being a part of my everyday life as such but I understand that being the sweet natured guy that he is, he doesn't want to leave Dad totally by himself. I love him for being like that but the fact that this will mean spending his 18th birthday (Christmas Eve) without him just about kills me and naturally this will be my first Christmas without him too. It will also be our first Christmas without having my stepkids for at least half the day :(
It will sure be a strange Christmas. I am determined to make it as happy as we can though under the circumstances, its just going to be awfully quiet,,,,sooooooo not used to that lol.
Hubby ended up coming back from China a day early due to snowstorms in the last city they were supposed to visit making it impossible for the plane to land. I was happy about that, but that was short lived when he received a phone call from his work at 9pm on the Sunday night (this was the day he was supposed to arrive back at 9.30am and his work had no idea that they had flown in a day early!) to say that he had to be on a flight out to Perth at 7am the next morning for a day trip and would arrive back home at 10.30 at the Melbourne airport,,,,this meant he wouldn't get home till around midnight!! I find this ridiculous since his work had thought he hadn't arrived back in until 9.30 Sunday morning and then expected him on a 7am flight on Monday morning,,,,sheesh the trip from China was 17 hours as they had to take connecting flights from over there and they had been literally travelling either by plane or train every day for the past week all over China!,,,,,totally not impressed I tell you!!!
Anyway enough of my moaning. What I really came here to say is that I hope everyone has a totally awesome and wonderful Christmas and a fantastic new year!! I probably won't be around much between now and the beginning of February except for blog reading when I get a few spare moments :) Hubby has the majority of the school holidays off with only a few days that he has to work scattered in there. I can't wait to spend some quality time with him and just totally relax. I feel we need this time so badly!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY ONE!!
SEE YOU IN 2013!
I will leave you with this cute little video I found on YouTube,,,,,I love kids singing lol!...tried to get mine to sing a little carol to put on here but they ran away in horror!!
I have been and still am so far behind my usual organisation. I still have shopping to do. I have no ham or pork yet,,,,and for that matter still haven't actually decided on a menu for the big day!
Not last Friday but the Friday before hubby came home from work and announced that he would be leaving for China on the Sunday morning,,,,,yes that is right, less than 48 hours notice of a trip that would take him away for an entire week!! I admit to being furious and letting my anger be seen. The job is really beginning to annoy me majorly.
I hate him being away from us full stop, but these overseas trips are just horrible. Its just so far away and an entire week, well that is just way too long. Of course we had so many things on our list to do this week too which didn't help my bad mood.
The Sunday he left we were supposed to be going to a Carols by Candlelight but neither me nor the boys felt like going without Hubby so we cancelled that.
On the Monday we had open night at Mr12's high school for next year,,,,,naturally I had Mr10 home sick that day too but still had to drag him along to the high school hoping he would be okay....thankfully he managed to make it through to the end before saying I need to go outside in the fresh air. Off he went and we followed a few minutes later to find the poor little sausage being sick by the side of the building :( He only had a cold, but he tends to get quite phlegmy with his colds and always ends up being sick because of it.
Monday night also had me receiving some news from Miss13 which came as a shock to me and I was put in the predicament of whether to let Hubby know while he was away or to wait till he got back. I chose the latter. He isn't happy but is going to pretend that he doesn't know and see how long it takes his Ex or his daughter to actually tell him the news. The worst part was that the news had been decided a few weeks ago and I had to find out on facebook! (Edited to say that he has now been back home for almost a week and he hasn't heard from either his Ex or his daughter regarding the subject!!)
Tuesday saw Mr10 home yet again and Mr12 had his orientation day at the high school. Mr10 and I went at the end of the day to pick him up and he was in a horrible mood. Attitude was oozing out of him at a great rate of knots which didn't put me in a good mood at all. After both he and I having "words" on the trip home, he began to calm a little, but it has made me worry about what next year may hold for us.
Wednesday saw my Ex arrive with my older boys. He had planned a 5 day visit and at the end would leave my Mr15 here and take Mr17 back with him. I still miss my Mr17 terribly and can't quite get my head around him not being a part of my everyday life as such but I understand that being the sweet natured guy that he is, he doesn't want to leave Dad totally by himself. I love him for being like that but the fact that this will mean spending his 18th birthday (Christmas Eve) without him just about kills me and naturally this will be my first Christmas without him too. It will also be our first Christmas without having my stepkids for at least half the day :(
It will sure be a strange Christmas. I am determined to make it as happy as we can though under the circumstances, its just going to be awfully quiet,,,,sooooooo not used to that lol.
Hubby ended up coming back from China a day early due to snowstorms in the last city they were supposed to visit making it impossible for the plane to land. I was happy about that, but that was short lived when he received a phone call from his work at 9pm on the Sunday night (this was the day he was supposed to arrive back at 9.30am and his work had no idea that they had flown in a day early!) to say that he had to be on a flight out to Perth at 7am the next morning for a day trip and would arrive back home at 10.30 at the Melbourne airport,,,,this meant he wouldn't get home till around midnight!! I find this ridiculous since his work had thought he hadn't arrived back in until 9.30 Sunday morning and then expected him on a 7am flight on Monday morning,,,,sheesh the trip from China was 17 hours as they had to take connecting flights from over there and they had been literally travelling either by plane or train every day for the past week all over China!,,,,,totally not impressed I tell you!!!
Anyway enough of my moaning. What I really came here to say is that I hope everyone has a totally awesome and wonderful Christmas and a fantastic new year!! I probably won't be around much between now and the beginning of February except for blog reading when I get a few spare moments :) Hubby has the majority of the school holidays off with only a few days that he has to work scattered in there. I can't wait to spend some quality time with him and just totally relax. I feel we need this time so badly!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!! HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY ONE!!
SEE YOU IN 2013!
I will leave you with this cute little video I found on YouTube,,,,,I love kids singing lol!...tried to get mine to sing a little carol to put on here but they ran away in horror!!
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Testing with a funny photo.....
Ok well it seems that Blogger is going to play nice today and let me share a photo......I may just go back into yesterday's post and see if it will let me share those pics as well!!!!
Nothing much to say today other than,,,,,,this car is so cute, I can imagine my car dressed up like this one lol (hubby would freak,,,,but yeah I can imagine it).
Ok off to investigate yesterday's blog post......
I tried,,,,sadly no it still says I'm out of room.........seems so strange how alot of us are having the exact same problems at the same time,,,,,how on earth can we all just run out of room at the same time???? Something fishy going on I think!
Monday, November 26, 2012
Weekend Bits and Pieces
This weekend saw us quite busy little bees, not doing alot but moving constantly.
Saturday morning was the usual trip to the shops to replenish the dog and cat supplies and do a little more Christmas food shopping,,,,,(we are trying to make the most of what, for us, is going to be a very strange Christmas, not having our family near us). We bought another turkey. We now have two. One for Christmas day and one for our "second Christmas" in the middle of January when we have all the kids here.
We then spent a couple of hours on the phone to my Ex (the boys dad) and my boys Mr17 and Mr15. Mr17 spent last week in New Zealand as part of his Gold Level Duke of Edinburgh Award. He said he had a fantastic time and met so many new friends. He said it has been the highlight of his life so far and I am so glad that he had such a brilliant time. He said all the kids bonded really well and he felt sad at the end because it felt like they had become a family and had to say goodbye. Amazing how a group of 15-18 year olds can become so close in just the space of 4-5 days :)
Saturday night saw us go to Frankston for their Christmas Light Spectacular. They had rides and food and a stage set up with various entertainment throughout the night. It was quite a warm night which made it a little unpleasant early on but thankfully there was a little cloud cover which protected us somewhat. Santa and Mrs Claus made their entrance riding Thomas the Tank,,,,that was pretty cute,,,,even if my Mr10 and Mr12 were a little underwhelmed (oh to have little kids back again that got so excited at things like that lol!!) At 9.30 they lit the huge pine tree and had fireworks going off from two different points nearby. The highlight for me would have to have been the sleigh carrying Father Christmas and Mrs Claus which was suspended by a huge crane and circled the huge lit up pine tree,,,,truly amazing. This was our first year seeing it naturally lol,,,,don't know if it is something that happens every year, but for a first timer, it was pretty awesome!! My photos don't capture it very well but you get the idea.
Sunday we spent at home. The lawns had taken on lives of their own and hubby gave the kids a crash course in lawn mowing,,,they didn't do too bad at all actually! I think we may have found our future slave labour in the garden :)
Sunday afternoon we put up our Christmas tree. We were originally going to have a real tree this year, but we realised that a real tree wouldn't more than likely last right through to mid January when the other kids come over so we have stuck with our fake one for this year (was so looking forward to the smell of pine needles in the house!!,,,,oh well).
We now have to work out how we are going to do our outside lights. We had a fairly large area on the old house and could really make a decent display,,,,this house has only a little front yard and not as much house frontage either,,,,we have to put our thinking caps on!!!
I hope you all had a lovely weekend too!!!
Sorry I went to add photos but apparently I am out of space for photos.....seems like there are quite a few of us that have run out at the same time,,,,,don't they like us any more???? lol
Saturday morning was the usual trip to the shops to replenish the dog and cat supplies and do a little more Christmas food shopping,,,,,(we are trying to make the most of what, for us, is going to be a very strange Christmas, not having our family near us). We bought another turkey. We now have two. One for Christmas day and one for our "second Christmas" in the middle of January when we have all the kids here.
We then spent a couple of hours on the phone to my Ex (the boys dad) and my boys Mr17 and Mr15. Mr17 spent last week in New Zealand as part of his Gold Level Duke of Edinburgh Award. He said he had a fantastic time and met so many new friends. He said it has been the highlight of his life so far and I am so glad that he had such a brilliant time. He said all the kids bonded really well and he felt sad at the end because it felt like they had become a family and had to say goodbye. Amazing how a group of 15-18 year olds can become so close in just the space of 4-5 days :)
Saturday night saw us go to Frankston for their Christmas Light Spectacular. They had rides and food and a stage set up with various entertainment throughout the night. It was quite a warm night which made it a little unpleasant early on but thankfully there was a little cloud cover which protected us somewhat. Santa and Mrs Claus made their entrance riding Thomas the Tank,,,,that was pretty cute,,,,even if my Mr10 and Mr12 were a little underwhelmed (oh to have little kids back again that got so excited at things like that lol!!) At 9.30 they lit the huge pine tree and had fireworks going off from two different points nearby. The highlight for me would have to have been the sleigh carrying Father Christmas and Mrs Claus which was suspended by a huge crane and circled the huge lit up pine tree,,,,truly amazing. This was our first year seeing it naturally lol,,,,don't know if it is something that happens every year, but for a first timer, it was pretty awesome!! My photos don't capture it very well but you get the idea.
Sunday we spent at home. The lawns had taken on lives of their own and hubby gave the kids a crash course in lawn mowing,,,they didn't do too bad at all actually! I think we may have found our future slave labour in the garden :)
Sunday afternoon we put up our Christmas tree. We were originally going to have a real tree this year, but we realised that a real tree wouldn't more than likely last right through to mid January when the other kids come over so we have stuck with our fake one for this year (was so looking forward to the smell of pine needles in the house!!,,,,oh well).
We now have to work out how we are going to do our outside lights. We had a fairly large area on the old house and could really make a decent display,,,,this house has only a little front yard and not as much house frontage either,,,,we have to put our thinking caps on!!!
I hope you all had a lovely weekend too!!!
Sorry I went to add photos but apparently I am out of space for photos.....seems like there are quite a few of us that have run out at the same time,,,,,don't they like us any more???? lol
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
I love cute animal pictures :)
Not alot going on today, feeling sluggish after Hubby being up at 4.30am for his trip to New Zealand. I can never get back to sleep after he gets up so I just watched some early morning TV until it was time to get the kids up,,,,,,rivetting viewing I tell you lol!!
I have wrapped a couple of Christmas presents today and done a little housework but that is about it. Have an hour till the kids get home,,,,,might just put some water on my tomato plants and have another coffee I think!
Monday, November 19, 2012
The last few days in our lives
My contributions for the cake stall was an Anzac Cake and a Coconut Cake. I couldn't really ice either of them because the school didn't want anything that was going to melt and go mushy,,,,just in case it had turned out to be a warm day. They needn't have worried but I didn't ice them as I normally would anyway. I made a very thin icing and just drizzled it over both cakes and then topped them with coconut, just to make them look a little pretty. They sold them for $5 each so that was cool, it all helps the school.
 |
| Getting organised |
 |
| The cake tins are ready (notice the extra one on the side....lol lucky for the kids the Anzac cake recipe makes a larger cake than I needed for my round tin so we got to have a small cake for home out of the mix as well!!) |
 |
| Thank goodness they turned out reasonable......the coconut cake on the right is upside down in the photo as I had problems getting it out of its tin,,,,,,disaster was averted though with lots of gentle handling! |
 |
| The end results, not great but not too bad |
Saturday was a bit of a crappy day. I was just a little over emotional when Hubby informed me that he was going away yet again. This time he is off to New Zealand! Although this trip is only a small one with him leaving at 5am tomorrow morning and returning at about 8pm Thursday night, I think all the travel he is doing has just caught up with me. This trip will allow him to pop in and have a little visit with his mum and dad who live in Auckland at least, so that will be great. He hasn't seen them in over 5 years, so I am at least happy about that. I guess I am just at the point where I am overwhelmed with the events of the last 6 or so months and the slightest thing is enough to push me to the edge at the moment. Hubby said I wasn't being very supportive of his new job and it is a better life for us here...........I still fail to see how a better life comes from tearing a family apart, and him travelling constantly leaving me to hold the fort. The money is the same as it was back in Adelaide, yet we have more expensive schooling here (this is still a big shock, I just can't believe the difference!) and our child support payments for his kids have basically doubled and then we have to factor in 8 return trips to Adelaide each year to pickup and take back kids (this alone costs us approx $500 a trip by the time you count fuel, accommodation for 1 night and food)! I am back to level headedness today but I know that life is going to be a continual emotional roller coaster for me and I am going to just have to find some way of coping with it all. Next year I do plan on volunteering somewhere while the kids are at school so that will be something I suppose. I will keep my eyes open for a job too but even that will be hard due to the nature of hubby's work and the last minute type of notice he gets for travel. I think I need to find my niche in craft or something and maybe start my own little business up,,,,,don't know,,,,food for thought.
Anyway on a lighter note, yesterday we went back to the Caribbean Markets again as we had to find a few more Xmas gifts. While there we went on the Jungle Boat Ride. We had bought tickets for the ride last time we were there but I started to feel ill and we had to leave before we got our turn. It had been a quite warm day last time and we had walked around the market before lining up for the ride and I think I got a little overheated. The market is in a big shed and of course, big shed combined with lots of people can make it very hot. Once I had got back in the car and hubby had cranked up the air conditioning I was fine. So yesterday, being a cooler day, we went back and got to have our ride. Here are some pics of our little jungle adventure.....
 |
| Goats on the island (real ones!) |
 |
| You may need to click on this pic to enlarge it lol |
 |
| Beware the Crocs!! |
 |
| The Aussie Dunny |
 |
| Kangaroos in the bush.....there were more but they are out of camera shot lol |
 |
| Gillligans Island??? |
 |
| These guys were just too cute lol |
 |
 |
| Someone help that man!!! lol |
 |
| Lions on the loose |
 |
| Mr12's thrilled to be here look (lol he said he did enjoy himself, not that you can tell!) |
 |
| Hubby,,,,,,,he hates being on boats of any type lol |
Friday, November 16, 2012
Bringing a new meaning to drive through......
Another funny photo from our files.......
My hubby says I am shocking at parking a car but I made sure I mentioned to him that I have never, at least, done anything quite like this!! I have accidentally scraped the side of his car on the edge of the carport when I went to reverse out of the driveway and I have accidentally gotten a little too close to the wall when I have pulled in (is it my fault our old carport was only just long enough and it meant getting my car within an inch of the wall at the far end so his car could fit??? lol). But never have I driven up stairs and attempted to enter through the door!
Yesterday I did the post which I titled "Procrastination",,,,,,,great title lol but it shows where my brain was at yesterday (or perhaps its where my brain wasn't at), as I realised I never actually mentioned what I was procrastinating about!
I was procrasinating about checking my cupboards to ensure I had the ingredients available to make the two cakes for the school market nite which I need to get made this morning. I was supposed to check the ingredients and then go to the shop and buy anything extra I needed.........this morning I am all ready to go to make the cakes and,,,,yup, I now have to go to the shop as I just realised I have no golden syrup left in the house,,,,,,not even anything resembling syrup,,,no honey, no maple syrup, no treacle, nothing! I had totally forgotten that we had a bit of a pancake run during the holidays and the golden syrup and the maple syrup got used up on those and the honey got devoured by Miss13.....as for the treacle, well I'm not sure where that went but its disappeared too. So, off I go to the shop, then its back home for some baking.
If I don't surface before the weekend,,,,,have a great weekend everyone!!
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Something to Share.....
Hubby and I have a folder on our computer of photos and bits and pieces that we have (mainly he has lol) accumulated over the years. I have no idea where majority of them come from but I've decided I will share them here. Some are funny, some are just awesome and some, like the one above are just too scarey to even contemplate. Most of the photo are obviously photoshopped of course but I always get a giggle out of them.
Procrastination......
.....is a big word to try to type today lol. I seriously had to actually think about how to spell it when normally it would just flow from my fingers.
I think it is just going to be one of those days where the brain just doesn't want to shift into gear.
I sat here before trying to think about dinner. After thinking of some really yummy, healthy meals I could make, I decided that they would all take too much time, too much work and too much thinking power to bother with. Then I remembered I had these in the freezer.....
I had grabbed these from the shop for just such an occasion as today. The day where I just sit here looking at recipes and the food in the house and can't seem to put it all together. This however is simple and easy. I will just cook these up, add in a jar of tomatoes, herbs spices, hide some veggies in the sauce and boil up some pasta and throw it in all in together. Simple and quick and the kids will enjoy it. I'm glad I had grabbed these after they had been marked down at the supermarket...normally I would keep walking but when I saw these last week I bought them home and threw them in the freezer. I like my homemade meatballs but today the thought of making meatballs really doesn't appeal at all, so I am going to be lazy!
Today I am feeling a bit like Shadow the Greyhound,,,,,ahh the life of a dog.......
Meanwhile this little lady is full of energy. I managed to snap her just as she came over to have a drink. She had been running around the house like a madwoman. She is the most unsociable cat in the world this one, hates cuddles but then occasionally likes to sneak into the kids bed, even getting under the blankets to snuggle up along side them. Seriously strange little cat is our little Smudge!!!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and being a little more productive than I am. I hope tomorrow sees my brain kick back in as I have two cakes to bake for the kid's school Market Nite tomorrow night!
I think it is just going to be one of those days where the brain just doesn't want to shift into gear.
I sat here before trying to think about dinner. After thinking of some really yummy, healthy meals I could make, I decided that they would all take too much time, too much work and too much thinking power to bother with. Then I remembered I had these in the freezer.....
I had grabbed these from the shop for just such an occasion as today. The day where I just sit here looking at recipes and the food in the house and can't seem to put it all together. This however is simple and easy. I will just cook these up, add in a jar of tomatoes, herbs spices, hide some veggies in the sauce and boil up some pasta and throw it in all in together. Simple and quick and the kids will enjoy it. I'm glad I had grabbed these after they had been marked down at the supermarket...normally I would keep walking but when I saw these last week I bought them home and threw them in the freezer. I like my homemade meatballs but today the thought of making meatballs really doesn't appeal at all, so I am going to be lazy!
Today I am feeling a bit like Shadow the Greyhound,,,,,ahh the life of a dog.......
Meanwhile this little lady is full of energy. I managed to snap her just as she came over to have a drink. She had been running around the house like a madwoman. She is the most unsociable cat in the world this one, hates cuddles but then occasionally likes to sneak into the kids bed, even getting under the blankets to snuggle up along side them. Seriously strange little cat is our little Smudge!!!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful day and being a little more productive than I am. I hope tomorrow sees my brain kick back in as I have two cakes to bake for the kid's school Market Nite tomorrow night!
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Things you discover
While having my morning coffee I stumbled across a new blog House of Humble which I am really enjoying browsing through,,,,,most of all they are doing a road trip soon and I love to read about people's road trips lol.
While there I discovered something new too,,,,,Bloglovin which allows you to follow blogs. (I know,,,,as if I'm not already following enough blogs,,,,,,,,but in my defense I have found blogs that I have never seen before and I am loving it). All this time I have been determined not to get hooked on Pinterest, so what do I do,,,,,find myself another obsession instead lol,,,,,the housework will get done, I promise!!!
I think this will take you to have a look at it (maybe,,,,,possibly,,,,,if I did it right lol)
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
While there I discovered something new too,,,,,Bloglovin which allows you to follow blogs. (I know,,,,as if I'm not already following enough blogs,,,,,,,,but in my defense I have found blogs that I have never seen before and I am loving it). All this time I have been determined not to get hooked on Pinterest, so what do I do,,,,,find myself another obsession instead lol,,,,,the housework will get done, I promise!!!
I think this will take you to have a look at it (maybe,,,,,possibly,,,,,if I did it right lol)
Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Monday, November 12, 2012
Our Weekend Wrap Up
This weekend we didn't have much planned. After Hubby had been away on yet another work trip last week (Perth this time) which took up 3 full days and saw him not walk in the door till after midnight on Friday night/Saturday morning, we decided to have a fairly low key weekend.
On Saturday we enjoyed a sleep in and then tackled the kids homework which I had been a little lenient with on Friday night. It took a couple of hours, but most of it is now done with just a couple of things left until tonight to get finished off.
After lunch we headed out for a walk/bike ride (kids rode, we walked) down to a local park which we hadn't yet been to. It has a small playground and a small bike track which Mr10 particularly enjoyed. We then headed back home, popping into the shop to grab some things for dinner and to quench our thirst with a nice cold apple juice.
Saturday night saw the kids out riding their bikes until dark and then we all settled down to watch Men in Black 1. I had never seen this movie and since the kids have been saying they wanted to see Men in Black 3, I thought I really should play catch up. While watching the movie I also made a start on another little crochet item, this time it is purely decorative and I will reveal it when I am finished,,,,hopefully this week if the crochet Gods are willing lol.
On Sunday we enjoyed yet another sleep in and then made our way out to a local fete that one of the schools had on. It was a fairly small fete but it was nice to be out and about and Mr10 enjoyed himself.....Mr12 did too but he is just getting to that age where he doesn't want to look uncool and be seen doing anything silly lol so he basically just walked around not participating in any rides or even asking for anything. Both boys had a turn at guessing how many lollies were in the various lolly jars which were lined up......and today I received a phone call saying that Mr10's guess had been a winner and we are now the proud owners of a jar of jelly beans which I will go and pick up tomorrow lol (Hubby will be over the moon,,,,he loves jellybeans!!!).
While at the fete we grabbed a few novels for my Mr15, a cookbook for myself and Mr10 bought himself a book as well. Hubby and I bought some plants for the garden too. We bought a couple of Bromeliads, a couple of fuchsias a succulent and some Easter Daisy, We ended up paying just $5 for 8 plants so we were pretty happy with that! We plan on putting the bromeliads out in front of our bedroom window. The fuchsias will go into nice pots and when we have our verandah area done, they will live out there. The Easter Daisy and the succulent will most likely go either out the front or down the side of the house, not sure yet :)
Mr10 had a turn on one of those giant inflatable things where you are tied around the waist and joined to another person by a stretchy rope and you need to pull and try and get to the basketball hoop at the end of your run and pull it to the ground. Mr10 got teamed against a girl who was pretty much half his size lol, so it was a little unfair for her. He had a blast though lol and the fact that he beat the girl and won the round, well his day was made!
I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend too....now back to the housework!
On Saturday we enjoyed a sleep in and then tackled the kids homework which I had been a little lenient with on Friday night. It took a couple of hours, but most of it is now done with just a couple of things left until tonight to get finished off.
After lunch we headed out for a walk/bike ride (kids rode, we walked) down to a local park which we hadn't yet been to. It has a small playground and a small bike track which Mr10 particularly enjoyed. We then headed back home, popping into the shop to grab some things for dinner and to quench our thirst with a nice cold apple juice.
Saturday night saw the kids out riding their bikes until dark and then we all settled down to watch Men in Black 1. I had never seen this movie and since the kids have been saying they wanted to see Men in Black 3, I thought I really should play catch up. While watching the movie I also made a start on another little crochet item, this time it is purely decorative and I will reveal it when I am finished,,,,hopefully this week if the crochet Gods are willing lol.
On Sunday we enjoyed yet another sleep in and then made our way out to a local fete that one of the schools had on. It was a fairly small fete but it was nice to be out and about and Mr10 enjoyed himself.....Mr12 did too but he is just getting to that age where he doesn't want to look uncool and be seen doing anything silly lol so he basically just walked around not participating in any rides or even asking for anything. Both boys had a turn at guessing how many lollies were in the various lolly jars which were lined up......and today I received a phone call saying that Mr10's guess had been a winner and we are now the proud owners of a jar of jelly beans which I will go and pick up tomorrow lol (Hubby will be over the moon,,,,he loves jellybeans!!!).
While at the fete we grabbed a few novels for my Mr15, a cookbook for myself and Mr10 bought himself a book as well. Hubby and I bought some plants for the garden too. We bought a couple of Bromeliads, a couple of fuchsias a succulent and some Easter Daisy, We ended up paying just $5 for 8 plants so we were pretty happy with that! We plan on putting the bromeliads out in front of our bedroom window. The fuchsias will go into nice pots and when we have our verandah area done, they will live out there. The Easter Daisy and the succulent will most likely go either out the front or down the side of the house, not sure yet :)
Mr10 had a turn on one of those giant inflatable things where you are tied around the waist and joined to another person by a stretchy rope and you need to pull and try and get to the basketball hoop at the end of your run and pull it to the ground. Mr10 got teamed against a girl who was pretty much half his size lol, so it was a little unfair for her. He had a blast though lol and the fact that he beat the girl and won the round, well his day was made!
I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend too....now back to the housework!
 |
| These things look like alot of fun,,,,pity it wasn't made for adults lol |
 |
| Almost there...... |
 |
| Got it....and took out the ride manager at the same time lol |
 |
| But finally victory was his! |
 |
| My plant haul |
 |
| My 50 cent cookbook......the recipes in this book look so yummy!!! |
Friday, November 9, 2012
Friday Wandering
Today is a day where I should be doing housework. The floors are calling out for a vacuum and mop, the bathrooms really do need a good scrub and the kitchen bench needs to be found beneath the bits and pieces that seem to get left laying on it. But today, I really don't want to do housework. Today I just want to sit and read a book, read some of my favourite blogs, wander in my garden, making plans for its future and basically do nothing that normally I feel I HAVE to do......so that is what I am doing. I am having a day of little productivity. I have another 2 hours till the kids return home and another 11 hours till hubby gets home from his latest work trip to Perth. He left at 4.30am Wednesday morning and will walk though the door at around midnight tonight. When hubby is away I either rise to the challenge of being Queen of the Castle and work like a madwoman or I turn into a sloth. These last couple of days have been the latter lol. Hubby will come home and probably wonder what the heck has happened to the house, but I really don't care today. I will get back into it tomorrow. When the kids get home I need to get them to knuckle down and get some homework done so we don't end up with all of it left for the weekend. I really should have pushed them a little harder last night to get more done, but last night I accepted just the bare minimum out of them. So tonight we will get most of it done, leaving just a little bit for Hubby to help with tomorrow. I will make Spag Bog for dinner as it is quick and easy and a great comfort food and then we will laze on the couch and watch a movie I think. By the time the movie finishes and I get the kids to bed I should have about an hour or so before Hubby gets home where I can just chill out and read a book or flick through a magazine. Sounds like a plan to me!!
I just went for a wander through my garden, it is so full of hope and promise right now. Not that we have a bountiful garden but there is hope for the future in the garden. Our fruit trees are looking healthy in their pots, the roses are in bloom (after summer the existing plants, roses included, will be pulled out in preparation for planting our fruit trees). Our veggie gardens are lined up, waiting for their soil and compost to be loaded in and getting things planted out in them.
My little tomato seedlings I bought earlier this week have been transplanted into some little pots (not bad from the one punnet of seedlings I ended up with 13 plants!! On my kitchen bench are some flowers that Hubby picked earlier in the week and my celery bottom which is now shooting.
When Hubby arrives home we will make some plans for the weekend, maybe go to a local school fete on Sunday and possibly, weather permitting, a bike ride or walk somewhere new on Saturday.
Have a lovely weekend everyone :)
I just went for a wander through my garden, it is so full of hope and promise right now. Not that we have a bountiful garden but there is hope for the future in the garden. Our fruit trees are looking healthy in their pots, the roses are in bloom (after summer the existing plants, roses included, will be pulled out in preparation for planting our fruit trees). Our veggie gardens are lined up, waiting for their soil and compost to be loaded in and getting things planted out in them.
My little tomato seedlings I bought earlier this week have been transplanted into some little pots (not bad from the one punnet of seedlings I ended up with 13 plants!! On my kitchen bench are some flowers that Hubby picked earlier in the week and my celery bottom which is now shooting.
When Hubby arrives home we will make some plans for the weekend, maybe go to a local school fete on Sunday and possibly, weather permitting, a bike ride or walk somewhere new on Saturday.
Have a lovely weekend everyone :)
 |
| Celery shooting |
 |
| Flowers picked by Hubby |
 |
| My happy plant rescued from the sad bench at the shop is starting to look happy again |
 |
| Strawberries hiding in my pots |
 |
| Nearly ready!, not large but they will do! |
 |
| My tomato seedlings,,,,all from the one punnet,,,now that is value for money lol |
 |
| Roses in bloom |
 |
| Not sure what these are but they are quite pretty |
 |
| Another rose |
 |
| Fruit tree blossoms |
 |
| Yet another rose |
 |
| One of only 3 plums on the tree |
 |
| But wait there's more....roses that is! |
 |
| Our promise of a bountiful future harvest,,,,,fingers crossed lol |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)