we made it home, with Chinese food and lamb in pieces.

Lamb is now in freezer and Chinese food in us

Miniorb was put in shower recess this morning and looks great! I had my doubts but it works really well and has made the bathroom look bigger and more together somehow – so well done Mr Tasmania!

He spent part of the day up a colleague’s tree, very high up actually, pruning large limbs, then we took a trailer to help him pick up some dry wood. Lots of wood fires still in this part of Tassie, though a law has just been passed that will bring a $500 fine for excessively smoky fires, and the government is working on a law to not allow the installation of new wood fires anymore … I guess it’s just one of those urbanisation things – and the huge increase in the number of people with respiratory problems too.

We came home and I made pumpkin soup and two sultana loaves. Very satisfying on a cold SAturday afternoon. I’m planning on a chocolate cake tomorrow, and maybe cheese scones … and possibly beer bread and crumpets, depends how much I get done and if I’m still in the mood!

Windscreen glued and plugged – $35

In the next exciting instalment … husband proceeded to lock keys in the car. Luckily I was down the street picking up mail from the head office, and he was in town attending an auction for work (which is 40mins drive away) so was able to unlock car as it's mine, and I have the main set of keys with me.

He's bought the miniorb to replace the shower screen … oh yes, you didn't know about that bit. That was MY excellent start to the day. Many moons (ha ha) ago Mr Tasmania's dad, the Man Mountain, turned the shower on as hot as it could go on a very chilly morning and proceeded to direct it at the thick glass shower screen with predictable results. It's stayed there ever since, cracked but not broken. Until this morning. When I was killing two birds with one stone and scrubbing the opposite wall while waiting for my conditioner to work – as you do. Bumped it with the derriere. Didn't want to look for a minute, as it hurt – the glass went OUTSIDE the shower, thankfully – but all okay, just a little line. One bandaid later and it's all okay.

So, husband has now bought miniorb (corrugated iron but with small ‘bumps') to replace it.

And now he's managed to replace a missing hub cap on my car for only $15 … no idea what happened to the missing one or where or when it went missing – it was just GORN!

So, tonight, I think we will just meet in Burnie, drive to Wynyard, pick up a lamb (not a pet, sorry, it's in pieces) that his dad has picked up for us, pick up some Chinese food, go home and STAY THERE. And hopefully nothing else will happen

To the lady on the road from Wynyard to Yolla this morning (Friday) who was obviously not driving to road conditions. Thanks so much for losing control and oversteering, running your car into the gravel, and putting rocks into my newly replaced windscreen, which now has to be replaced again. IT DOES NOT MATTER if the road is posted at a limit of 100km … it's a LIMIT not a CHALLENGE. I'm just glad there wasn't frost, water, or oil on the road otherwise it might not have been just rocks in the windscreen!

Lovely warm sun yesterday as we sat on the balcony with a friend and read the papers – just beautiful. It was 15C in Burnie on Friday – and poor Townsville, in QUEENSLAND hit a high of 9C!!!! Poor things must have thought they’d been transported to Antarctica!

I have been fighting off the flu I think (after sinus and toothache last weekend, then a tooth out on Tuesday – last thing I need really), had no vim at all yesterday. Managed to make a couple of trays of lasagna and clean the kitchen and loo (after the lasagna!) but that was about it – Mr TAsmania was a champion, got out the MR Sheen and dusted away, then had a go with the Dyson – he loves the Dyson . He went out to a colleagues 50th last night, I washed my hair and went to bed – social queen!

We’ve had a lovely day today too … slept in, went and bought the Sydney papers, then he drove me out to the Oldina Native Plant Nursery to look at things for ideas for the block. We’ve been thinking pittosporum for hedging plants but now we have a lovey catalogue and have seen all sorts of gorgeous natives so we may well be changing our minds. Tall grevilleas interplanted with westringia and silver birch sounds good, possibly a few large rhododendrons and camellia’s thrown in for good measure – very exciting. We’re actually thinking we may go and dig a few holes next weekend and start the process of planting … our dirt is very very good and things grow extremely well, so although we won’t have a hedge in five minutes, we’ll have one in fairly short order.

Yay!

I can't believe it, I've lost my purple glove! Note, that's GLOVE singular, not GLOVES purple. If I'd lost the plural I'd be frustrated but ultimately end up thinking they'd turn up somewhere (even if I never saw them again) but no, I've lost one, I know where I lost it, I went back and looked for it, and some wally has taken off with it and is now wandering around Burnie wearing a 15 year old purple lycra/cotton inner ski glove – blast!!!!!

Not to mention that both chemists I went to were closed – honestly, you'd think in a place that persists in calling itself a city there'd be at least one chemist on the main street that opens before 9am on a weekend – good grief!

And then I spilled my coffee – not all of it, or I'd be half way home by now calling in sick and going back to bed J. Just enough to get my remaining glove wet and make driving and juggling a dripping cup awkward – ‘cause my car's too old to have cup-holders of course. And before you say it, I've tried the attachable ones – they don't stay stuck, and I've tried the ones that hang off the window frame – the window is wide and they won't hook over.

Blast

Okay

Deep Breath

I have a list of things to get through – thank goodness – and I'm just going to start and keep going until I finish work and go and meet my beautiful boy and try out the Indian Restaurant in town – why there are no Thai restaurants I have no idea, if anyone is looking to start a restaurant and wants to know a good location to start a Thai restaurant – come to Burnie Tasmania!!!! Burnie Tasmania needs a Thai restaurant – please! And real Thai, with real Thai chefs, or at the very least someone who has trained in Thai cooking, not Aussie's hoping for the best. Sorry again, I miss the Wok Bar in Manly and Dee Why very very very much! Ah well – the sun's out, it's going to be a lovely day – about time I drank my coffee and got into it I reckon!

PS re the house – no news as yet but I have bought another Kitchen/Bathroom design mag – it's awesome! Not just for the good stuff but for the stupendously horrifying things that some people want in their kitchens. I wonder if they remember they're probably going to be living with it for more than 6 months?

I haven't really written about our trip to Hobart yet either .. . must get to that!

This blog, I think, will start turning into a House building blog before too long – hope you don't mind!

There is a lot to do so we're busy making lists and looking things up and researching – we still haven't really made a decision whether to go with a builder or owner build so if any Ozzie bloggers / readers have any suggestions – let us know!

We have an enormous pile of design magazines and bits of paper we've pulled out of newspapers and other mags – not to mention all the brochures we've been picking up from shows, trade fairs, stands in supermarkets, the hardware store – I have bought a couple of scrapbooks and am planning on spending some time this weekend going through and putting things in them – at least they'll be in one place then and we can see if we've got an overall theme happening or if we really need to get some ideas/concepts in place.

We have two purchase lists going really – things we can buy second hand / cheap and now (ie a loo and handbasin for the shed – will be useful for us when we're working there all day and also for use of builders – will be on the now list, and nice loos for the main bathroom and ensuite will be on the later list; bean bags for the living room will be on the ‘get ‘em if you see ‘em on sale!' list and a gorgeous 2 and 3 seater set of couches on the later list).

Unfortunately (surprise!) I have expensive tastes – the shower rose I like is $900 … I think we might be looking around for a cheaper version!

It's interesting working through the decision making process – with two people making decisions – even down to things like loos … I like rounded, he likes squared … we will find a happy medium I'm sure!

We do seem to be able to discuss things without enormous argument though, which is a bonus – I'm sure that will stand us in good stead later on!

The hot water pipe in the kitchen froze this morning – but luckily the pipe in the bathroom was okay, as the hot water heater is in the bathroom and it doesn't have to go outside or travel far! We had a frost, so under 0C at least, and Tassie is going through a bit of a cold snap – though we've had lovely days – not warm (10 – 13C). Can't really complain, when we look at what has been happening on the coast of NSW! Nasty!

The good part is that my parents' farm has had quite a lot of rain (which means the Sydney Catchment to Warragamba Dam has too) – their dam is overflowing quite nicely. My Dad says that it's the most rain this century! Poor old Sydney is forecast to have winds of over 120km/hr tonight – and the Hunter etc, already suffering after the recent floods, to get more rain (see Orthodox Ian’s blog). The cold has not been great for my sore tooth – but I go to the dentist this afternoon so hopefully that will cease to be a problem, one way or another!

** Back from the dentist, tooth is no more! He said it was either root canal, which wouldn't have worked very well, and probably needed to come out in a couple of years – or straight out, so I chose out. 20 minutes from into dentist surgery to out with 1 less tooth. Not bad!

I bought myself (and Mr Tasmania) a Kitchen & Bathroom design book as a reward for being a brave girl (o, and four doughnuts too – fresh cooked, awesome!).

*** later now, mouth feels great (well, a bit sore but not horrible aching pain, so, relatively, good!).

Many moons ago Mr Tasmania planted some trees at the top of our block (well before it was OUR block). They grew well. They grew VERY well. In fact, they were enormous! (Nitins … eucalypts grown for plantations.)

Last year Mr Tasmania had them all chopped down and taken away, as the constant leaves dropping were giving him … how shall I put it … the sh*ts. Only stumps and the heads were left. The heads were pushed into an enormous pile and left to their own devices.

Over time, the heads have shrunk – but not greatly – and dried. So after church yesterday Mr Tasmania and Miss Lisa sallied forth in the mighty Starlet, struck a match and stood back as the biggest bonfire they've ever seen took off like a rocket! Miss Lisa is quite impressed with herself as she lit it in exactly the right place and it burned properly, against the wind, and burnt thoroughly, turning all in its path to ash.

It was still going last night – but only the last bits and pieces – and it should be almost finished by tonight. We will have a friend put the last horrible black bits mixed with dirt in his big truck and he can haul it away and then we can begin to see our ‘view' … mind you, at this point the view takes in the silly neighbour who I am unimpressed with so we will be planting a row of pittosporums down that fence line – hopefully we will choose the correct ones, there is such a variety – which will grow to about 2m tall and block them out, whilst retaining our view of Table Cape.

Burning things (things you are allowed to burn, I might add!) is very satisfying.

It greatly took my mind of my shocking toothache. I have booked into three, yes three dentists and am on their cancellation lists, so it'll be first in best dressed. There are not many dentists in North-West Tasmania, and they're all booked solid, so if any dentists out there are looking for a country lifestyle, with decent shops not too far away, four seasons, and a ready market for their skills, here is the place to be!

I have had trouble with this tooth before and the previous dentists insisted on filling it, then fiddling about with the fillings – I just want it taken out – and hopefully that's what the new dentist will do. It's the back tooth, upper left, I honestly, truly, will not miss it, trust me!

To add to my joy I experienced my first ever massive sinus attack at the same time, also on the left hand side of my head. Poor Mr Tasmania had a very upset and in pain girly to deal with at 2 in the morning – but he did very very well, what a legend.

Hopefully by this time tomorrow I will be one tooth down and very happy!

Hobart on the long weekend. Salamanca Markets – awesome. Finding a laundry sink – cool! Peppermint Bay Cruise – outstanding!!! More details to follow (it’s Friday night, I’ve had a rather large red wine and a very nice pizza and I can’t be bothered).

Venetian blinds have gone up in the kitchen – yay for handy husband and half price sales – they look great, and I think will make an enormous difference to the temperature of the house – it was less than 5C in here yesterday morning – nasty!

Good pizza was had at La Porchetta in Burnie – excellent!

Makeup – inspired by Deeleea’s latest pic in the 365 days project …. ladies (and gentlemen?) do you put your eyeshadow on before or after your eyeliner and mascara? I’ve always put the eyeliner and mascara on first, then the eyeshadow … Deeleea appears to go eyeshadow first … what do you do?

As my husband goes out for a run in 2C temp ……

Can’t do bold etc for some reason so … yep = read, no = not read, gonna = gonna read, dunno = convince me to put it on my list, hell no = well, hell no not interested!

1. The DaVinci Code (Dan Brown) YEP
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) YEP
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee) YEP
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) HELL NO – BLARG!!!!!
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien) – OH MY GOODNESS ME YEP!
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien) – AS ABOVE
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien) – AS ABOVE TOO
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery) YEP
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon) DUNNO
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry) NO
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) YEP
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) YEP
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling) YEP
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving) GONNA
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) YEP
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Rowling) YEP
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald) DUNNO
18. The Stand (Stephen King) YEP
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling) YEP
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) YEP
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien) OH MY GOODNESS YEP
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger) GONNA
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott) YEP
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold) DUNNO
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel) NO
26. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) YEP
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) HELL NO
28. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis) OH MY GOODNESS YEP
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck) NO
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom) GONNA
31. Dune (Frank Herbert) YEP
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) NO
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) DUNNO
34. 1984 (Orwell) YEP
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley) NO
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) NO
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay) GONNA
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb) DUNNO
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant) YEP – ANNOYING
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho) YEP – OVERRATED
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel) HELL NO
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) DUNNO
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella) DUNNO
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) DUNNO
45. The Bible YEP – BUT NOT AS MUCH AS I SHOULD!
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) GONNA
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) YEP
48. Angela's Ashes (Frank McCourt) YEP
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) GONNA
50. She's Come Undone (Wally Lamb) NO
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver) YEP
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens) YEP
53. Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) YEP
54. Great Expectations (Dickens) YEP
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) YEP
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence) DUNNO
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) DUNNO
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough) GONNA
59. The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) GONNA
60. The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrew Niffenegger) NO
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) DUNNO
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand) DUNNO
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy) GONNA
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice) NO
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis) NO
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez) NO
67. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (Ann Brashares) GONNA
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) YEP
69. Les Miserables (Hugo) YEP
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) YEP
71. Bridget Jones' Diary (Fielding) YEP
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez) GONNA
73. Shogun (James Clavell) YEP
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje) TRIED, SHOCKINGLY BORING
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett) YEP
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay) GONNA
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith) DUNNO
78. The World According to Garp (John Irving) YEP
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence) DUNNO
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White) YEP
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timoth Findley) NO
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck) NO
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier) NO
84. Wizard's First Rule (Terry Goodkind) YEP
85. Emma (Jane Austen) YEP
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams) YEP
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) GONNA
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields) DUNNO
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago) NO
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer) YEP
91. In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje) NO
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding) YEP
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck) GONNA
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd) DUNNO
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum) YEP
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton) YEP
97.White Oleander (Janet Fitch) GONNA
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford) HELL NO
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield) HELL NO
100. Ulysses (James Joyce) NO

Working backwards … our church (a branch of Deeleea's  … just a tad smaller, here in Tassie's NorthWest) is holding it's annual Youth Conference this week. It is open to all comers, youth not being a prerequisite. Mr Tasmania and I have dipped out however … been there done that. I was a having a little think about how we felt about it, worried that we'd gotten old and cynical … but I've decided that we haven't, we've just been to too many conferences. I've found you can always learn something … but sometimes it's better NOT to go and retain a good attitude towards your church, rather than go and write grocery lists ….

Anyway, I'm sure it's gone swimmingly (‘cause there's not other swimming down here at present – it's chilly  – though a rather pleasant 14C is not too bad actually, warmer than my parents are experiencing – predicted to hit 12C their way. Sydneyites are probably thinking their throats have been cut as the temp hits a ‘freezing' 15C … I can hear the gales of laughter from the Northern Hemisphere now!).

Work is okay. The people are nice, the location is great, the office is lovely, I now have my own computer and have managed to make sure I am at the back of reception with only a window behind me – yay! I was going to phone another company today to request more information on a PA job they have advertised … but at this point only for information, not because I want to leave  … but have decided not to. I think I should just stick to this job for the moment, learn a few more skills, get to know a few more people – and how bad would it look on the resume to have left another job after less than a month!

Mr Tasmania is on holidays, currently playing golf (I don't think he'll be a happy boy – it's ages since he's played and he has ‘the finger' to deal with – hmmmm). He's picking up his parents and then coming to get me and we're heading to Hobart for the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend. About a 3.5 hour drive from Burnie I think (with a small stop off in Devonport for KFC – yummy, love the fake potato and gravy!).

I'm going to the Salamanca Markets tomorrow (to buy socks! … very cool funky striped socks of course … and look at other bits and bobs) whilst Mr Tasmania visits a mate, then we're doing the Peppermint Bay Cruise with his parents, niece, and sister on Sunday, then home on Monday – so it should be a lovely relaxing weekend and I'll get to know Hobart a little more.

It's very funny, Tasmanians, I have been told this week, ‘don't travel' …. And it's true! We live 15 minutes out of Wynyard and people talk about it as if it's a week's trek! I, apparently, drive such a long way to work (40 whole minutes!) … too funny … and HOBART! The ends of the earth!!! The mainland is just beyond thinking about in some cases – but then there are others who travel heaps! Very interesting really … mind you, I know (seriously!) some people in Sydney who have never travelled ‘over the bridge' – the Harbour Bridge that is … ie live in the South, never ventured North … bizarre! I love my home comforts but there is a definite limit 