So, Australia Day.

Beach picnic with the family down at Balmoral Beach … lovely hazy day, lots of families relaxing, people reenacting the landing of the First Fleet, enormous amounts of Maori’s doing a haka (for you Northern Hemisphere bods, that’s New Zealand indigenous bods doing a big scary dance … on Australia Day … but it was very cool to watch!) …. lovely morning in fact …. until I realised I ‘d locked the keys in the car.

Which worked out okay, as I had a spare key in my purse.

So, okay, minor interruption, could happen to anyone right?

But wait, there’s more …..

Saturday arvo, down to the Bavarian Beer Cafe for a late lunch with my friend Kylie, parked the car downstairs under Manly Wharf. Great lunch, good catchup, tried "Hell" beer (lovely!), ice cream for desert and a walk down to the beachfront to watch the Surf Carnival.

All good so far.

Walking back … no keys … I’ve done it again! Okay, I’ve been a little distracted of late but this is getting a little ridiculous. But it’s okay, I’ve probably done the same thing as Thursday, just left them hanging in ignition.

I have ….. but I’ve also LEFT THE CAR RUNNING!!!!

Yes, I have pulled up, grabbed my bag, locked and closed my door, and left … without turning the car off or taking my keys.

ooooohhhhhhh dddddeeeeaaaarrrrrr …….

On a lighter note … I’d left the aircon on as well, so the car was delightfully cool!

I put it together.

I put it together all by myself.

I did not throw anything at the people who were watching me put it together and making ‘helpful’ comments.

I resisted telling them to take a short step off my (second floor) balcony.

I lay in it last night when everyone had left/gone to bed (Australia Day Lamb Roast dinner with friends – and no wine or beer!) and lay under the starry sky, in the quiet … and nearly fell asleep.

I think it is one of my better purchases.

That is all.

Happy (belated) Ostraya Day!!

I have booked and paid for a leadlighting course, commencing (of all days!) on Valentines Day.

I have done leadlighting before, and actually have about 6 panels lurking on the top shelf of my wardrobe, but I have done nothing since I moved to Sydney, so I’m really looking forward to it. All my leadlighting has involved leading (not so obviously) but this course will also teach copper foiling, I can’t wait! I’ve dug out my glass gun (not like a glass knife, much friendlier on the hands), am buying industrial amounts of bandaids, and I’m ready to go!

Anyone else out there had a go at leadlighting?

It was brought to my attention by Deeleea that I have failed to live up to my wibname – there has been very little mention of high heels or hardware of late!

So, to update …. i have bought no new shoes …. help me, I’m feeling faint! it is true, i have been wearing the same shoes almost every day (for work) – black strappy heels, nice and cool – or bare feet really … not so interesting!

As for hardware … well, I bought a big toolbox and am now hunting down all my tools from their various resting places around the house/garage and transferring them …. i have ambitions to own a massive metal tradesmans toolbox one day …..

I have bought a hammock on a lovely wooden stand though, which I am going to put together tonight, and will be spending quite a bit of time in. It’s going on my balcony, so I will have a view of the pool, the bush (and the Roseville bridge, if I get the angle wrong!) …

I have also bought a digital camera, so once I’ve figured out how it all works (or Dan Dan the Gadget Man [otherwise known as the BroBoss] figures it out for me) I’ll put some pics up . Just to note too, that I get Dan to do these things ’cause I’m not interested, not because I can’t do it! Just wanted to make that point . He had a perfectly wonderful hour putting together my TV/Video/DVD player combination and hooking it all up together, whereas I’d looked up it and just groaned – easy enough to do but DEAD BORING! So, each to his own eh, and if I can make my brother happy, why not

Goodness, that’s a whole lot of drivel really … but that’s the kind of day I’m having, so why not share it.

So, I just heard on the radio that there were over 480 fires across Victoria over the weekend, 50 are still burning, and one of the largest was DELIBERATELY LIT! I cannot even BEGIN to tell you what I think of arsonists! I grew up in a country area, on 25acres of bush, and have had times of being evacuated … the closest fires have ever made it to us was 3km’s away, but the whole district was out fighting, and the smell and feel of the air stay with you forever. Even now I live in the city but near the bush, so even the slightest hint of bushfire smoke in the air (and it smells different to houses or cars or rubbish burning) will send my mind rushing about, working out what to get out first, what stuff gets taken to my brothers house, do I know where all the photo albums are, etc. My parents are both in the local bush fire brigade, and have spent many a summer day and night fighting fires …. I honestly cannot even think what goes on in the head of an arsonist. One of the most memorable photos of them that we have has mum block from head to toe and full of adrenaline, ready to go, and dad, spotless, looking like he’s about to drop down and fall asleep right there on the floor. It was taken at 7am as they came back in from 12 hours fighting fires in the foothills of the Blue Mountains – mum had been running around setting fire breaks and hauling hoses all night, and took ages to come down from the adrenaline – dad, as one of the few with the right licence, had been driving the fire truck all night, in the dark, through the virgin bush, dodging trees, fires, wombat holes, cliffs etc – took him another two days to get back to normal.

My prayers are not only with the families in Victoria (and Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia) who are in danger – but also the 4000 firefighters currently on the ground – and especially the family of the water tanker helicopter pilot who was killed in a crash this morning as he was attempting to refill his tanks.

Wow, having to think. I must say I love these things … I’m incorrigibly nosy, so I love finding out about everyone else – even if I do forget it 5 minutes later!

Anyway, for those who wish to know (and some who probably would rather not)

4 JOBS YOU HAVE HAD (post uni only, all the pre/during uni one’s are BORING):
1 Bank Teller
2 Office Administrator (Local Christian School)
3 PA to NSW Dept Education Coordinator for 2000 Sydney Olympics
4 Admin Assistant (or office manager) for Co which shipped oil around the South Pacific

4 MOVIES YOU COULD WATCH OVER AND OVER
1 84 Charing Cross Road
2 Return of the Jedi
3 A Room with a View
4 Entire Lord of the Rings Series (extended versions) – that’s probably cheating, but I don’t care!

4 PLACES YOU HAVE LIVED
1 Bega, New South Wales, Australia
2 Southern Highlands, NSW, Australia
3 Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
4 Harbord, Sydney, NSW, Australia

4 TV SHOWS YOU LOVE TO WATCH
1 Stargate
2 NCIS
3 Hogan’s Heroes
4 Daria

4 PLACES YOU HAVE HAD VACATIONS
1 Fiji
2 Canada
3 Brisbane
4 Wombeyan Caves (go on, see if you can find it)

4 WEBSITES VISITED DAILY
1 www.smh.com.au
2 www.hotmail.com
3 www.wibsite.com
4 www.bom.gov.au/weather/news

4 FAVOURITE FOODS
1 Chocolate
2 Lamb Roast
3 Snow peas
4 Blueberries

4 PLACES YOU RATHER BE RIGHT NOW
Can we all spell TASMANIA!

but grinning

So, two official dates, one really long chat at church, a number of very long emails, a couple of phone chats, and photos exchanged, addresses, phone numbers, etc etc etc …. and I don’t get to see him again until beginning of March!

Well, I guess you never can tell, can you. My flatmates are just a teency bit overexcited (they’re basically at the point of running out and buying bridal mags – you can just imagine! … or maybe you don’t want to take your mind there!). It’s nice though, we tend to live vicariously, as we generally never have more than one ‘romantic interest’ floating about at any given time, so they’re enjoying themselves

He is taking a long weekend in March though, just to come up and see me ….

he lives in Tasmania, my little brother set us up for coffee, he’s lovely, we can really communicate, and I’ve been flustered for 11 days! Whew!

Just a quick one to let you know (Ian) that I’m still alive! We hit the ground running at work on Monday, jobs coming in, orders to go out …. and a server that had decided it needed a few more days off, thank you very much!

A blessing in disguise really, no internet or email access, no access to our main files, meant that I got a lot of cleaning up, chucking out, and reorganising done …. and now I am trying to catch up on a fortnight’s worth of accounts, jobs, etc.

Still, I had a great holiday, relaxed, spent time with family and friends, and am now quite happy to be back at work, winding my brain up to a level where I can function properly again (I have decided I would not be cut out for a life of complete leisure, my brain has no intermediate stage, it’s either working or not, none of this just coasting along bizzo!)

Anyhoo, I will hopefully be back on board with an update of the last two weeks … you can check in with Yay and Deeleea to see what mischief was had in the Highlands ….