Tats

G'day all!

I am having A Week.

My internet is very slow. My chat session keeps dying = very hard to talk to DH online.

DH is busy and not very contactable.

Uploading photos takes a number of tries.

I am very surprised that I can blog at all.

Helmet (the car) decided the old battery was not good enough any longer and killed it Wednesday. Getting that fixed just ate all my budget for the month.

Nathan doesn't answer his phone very often.

Things are not very organised. I am doing 10 minutes of tidying/cleaning per room per day.

I am in a house full of crap (ok, there is some really nice stuff too IMO). The garden needs a lot of work. The house needs a lot of work. There's no plaster on the walls or ceiling in the laundry. Before the walls can be plastered, we need to get a plumber in to plumb the new toilet in its new location. Then we can remove the old toilet. Then we can put new windows in. But before we put new windows in, we need to get the new windows. Nathan has the quote but I can't access it and we need to change the wood type and get a quote from another place. Until I get that email, I can't do anything about the windows. Then we have to reclad the external walls because the windows are slightly different and the cladding is old vinyl fake weatherboards that break rather than let themselves be cut. Then we can plaster the internal walls (note to self, may need door on new toilet once it is done...and plaster on the walls so that it is blocked from the kitchen. The floors have to be sanded and covered whilst we do the plastering and then start on the kitchen cabinets. A new stove and rangehood have to be bought and installed. New benchtops. Yikes! I am going to be busy and I'm not sure where the money will come from.

I just ran out of money :-( Nathan has a shiny new job but we are a little stretched currently because he has to pay bond and rent on his new flat in Sydney. We've not had a lot of income this year and our savings were pretty much done for.

In good news, I will shortly be able to show off my most recent FO. I am blocking it now.


(Wonder if anyone would like to buy a nice shawl. Blocked it is about 150cm by 80cm, probably will shrink down a little when off the wires and pins...)

The weather has not been good for blocking shawls recently. Yesterday turned out to be quite pleasant - a little cool but it wasn't raining and/or windy all the time and there was actually a little sun! The walk from the bus to the mechanics was quite pleasant, first time in ages I've liked being outside (except in Siddeny). And today was quite fine too! Again some sun, quite pleasant, a light breeze, enough to get the first load of washing dry but not the lot that I put out at 3pm... oops.

In more good news, my seroma seems to be resolving itself. I still have some swelling in my armpit but it isn't very big any more, just a bit annoying. I can do most of my exercises without any particular worries.

I did my set up for radiotherapy today. The position I have to lie in is not quite as the physios said it would be and I found it a little uncomfortable on my arm/axilla! I shall have to practise it quite a bit to make sure I can stay in position - I don't want the wrong bits getting zapped!

Other good news is that Nathan does have a place to live up in Sydney. Even better? One of my sisters is getting rid of all her old furniture (from the house she shared with her ex) and guess who needs furniture? And guess who has almost exactly everything we need for the flat? 8-) She was going to ring the Salvos the morning I emailed and asked about it.

I even did some weeding and planting today! I've been very productive - I tidied and vacuumed this morning, I did a load of washing from the various things I found around the place that needed washing, I dealt with some moving stuff for Nathan, I made a little bag for the new camera,


(That little bit of quilting took FOREVER! I didn't realise the machine was set on slow so the stitches were massive, then I stuffed up, then the machine partway unthreaded itself = lots of loops on the back side. I unpicked the quilting THREE TIMES. But it is done now and the camera has a bag to protect it. Of course the bag is lurid! I chose black for the outside as it shouldn't look too grotty too quickly.)

I went to set up and endured that (I nearly was late cos I was blocking the shawl, oops!). I have pen marks all over my upper torso and six new tattoes! OK, they are only pinpricks (and gosh aren't the ones on my lower ribcage electric! Like OUCH!) but I don't have any tats, well didn't... Then I did another load of washing for me, hung it out, dealt further with Nathan's moving stuff, did 90 minutes of weeding and 20 minutes of planting (why does the fun stuff take so much less time?) and now am ready to collapse! Alas I have to cook myself tea. I have no idea what I'll make, or whether I'll get out some frozen leftoevers and eat them, even though there are two servings in them (cos someone doesn't have containers for one serving cos they are usually two of us!).

So things are happening, if a little slowly. It is supposed to rain again tomorrow - this is the wettest winter and early spring in quite some years - at least 10. Our dams are at their highest levels for a few years (though y'know almost 42% full is still less than half full, just sayin'). The garden is getting into the full swing of spring. The roses are pushing out leaves as fast as they can and some are already blooming or about to bloom, silly things. We may not be done with frosts yet! Though our frosts are pretty wimpy and only last about an hour.

I might go see Aussiecon/Worldcon this weekend. Yep, the grand home of geekery is in Melbourne this year. I could go hang out with my fellow nerds and geeks. :-)

anon!