If not for you...

Yawn

2011-10-01T18:36:00.000+10:00

I have, again, been very absent from the blogging scene of late. This is mainly due to a couple of reasons. Firstly, not long after my last blog, I found out that I was pregnant (woohoo!) and did not want to jinx it in any way by shouting the news to the world before the little one was well and truly settled in its temporary home. Secondly, and probably due in no small part to the first reason, I've been exhausted. Totally, utterly, drop down can't move, can't keep my eyes open knackered.
I keep reading that this exhaustion disappears in the second trimester and you spent those three months (or so) feeling wonderful and full of energy and much, much better than you did in the first trimester. I have 5 1/2 weeks to go before I reach the third trimester (which is a scary thought in itself...) and have as yet seen no sign of this debilitating tiredness leaving me.
My husband has been wonderful. He makes me tea when I get home from work, he makes me put my feet up (especially after the incident with the swollen ankles - eek!) and he makes me go to bed early so that I get enough sleep. And I really do mean early. It's not been unknown for me to collapse in my bed at 8pm. Weekends are a time for resting. I do pregnancy yoga on a Saturday morning while he does the housework and after a week at work, that just about wipes me out for the rest of the day.
Given that we're also heading into summer (it's technically only spring and it was 34 degrees today) the chances of me having the energy to do anything for the next few months are rather slim.

Heaven only knows how I'm going to cope once I actually have a baby to look after! I'm hoping that this will get better but with sleep deprivation and the such that comes with a little one, I'm not counting on it.
Still, there are joys to being pregnant that I am discovering, feeling my baby kick and roll about is something that I just can't describe. I did think I was about to launch into a scene from Alien though the first time that I saw my stomach actually move when the baby kicked. That is just plain weird.
Anyway, to stall the inevitable questions, yes it is possible to tell what we're having and the answer is...a baby. What sex said baby is is a mystery that will just have to wait another 4 months to be resolved :)
I will try and do better with the blog. Am not making any promises though...zzzz

hmmm

2011-03-19T21:28:00.000+10:00

Feel dizzy, lightheaded. I've taken to keeping a bag of sweets or a bar of chocolate near me to stop me shaking. Had fun yesterday when I tried to go for a blood test. Found out that the only way they could eventually get blood to flow from my arm (after trying to warm me up with blankets and a heat pack) was to lie me down and dangle my arm off the edge of the bed and hope that gravity did all the work. Fun? Not really.

Also feel just one step away from tears. Constantly, they're always there and I know that if someone just looks at me the wrong way at the wrong time they're going to just flow out of me. Sometimes they do anyway (and the double episode of How I Met Your Mother dealing with pregnancy tests, fertility issues and then the sudden loss of one character's father did not help in the slightest).

Need to call doctor next week and be reassured even though I think that these are fairly common symptoms of my medication. Still, in the meantime I did what any normal person would do and googled the facts and side effects of my medication. Of course.

Found something that amused me greatly. On a page headed 'Clomid facts and comparisons' I found the following under the warnings:

"Avoid becoming pregnant while you are taking it"

For those of you who don't know, Clomid is given to those women who are having trouble conceiving. It's supposed to boost your system to help you get pregnant. Somehow, this isn't really reassuring me.

Houses

2011-03-11T17:58:00.000+10:00

I am obsessed with househunting. My husband can't understand why I go through the real estate part of the weekend paper. Every weekend. I'm not at the point where I go to open houses (unless, of course, it's the neighbour's place...) just for fun but sometimes, just sometimes, I'm very very tempted.

It's normally just an idle curiousity that drives me. A 'what kind of place would we buy if we could afford to' sort of thing. It drives me crazy, however, when I'm looking at the price range that we could buy in and finding houses that look really good and could be absolute bargains for us but know that we can't put in any offers or do anything until this place is fixed and we can sell it. So, at present, I'm a bit cranky with slow insurance companies. And the body corporate.

There are some sorts of houses from some areas that I would just love to live in and I think that's what I keep looking for. If I was in Britain, it would be an older house, possibly full of little corridors and rooms that surprise you when you walk round the corner because you really didn't there would be a room there. One with character, anyway (and, for the record, that doesn't necessarily mean beams and tiny rooms). Oh, and a big fireplace.

If I was in Melbourne, it would definitely be a house similar to the one my sister lives in. A single story wooden slatted house, with a veranda and wrought iron decorations. There are suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney that have houses just like that on wide, tree lined street. Street after street of them.

Here, in the tropics, it would be a Queenslander. For those not from around here, it's quite simple. This is a hot, wet climate. Prone (in case you hadn't noticed) to flooding. The original people who settled here knew this and they designed a house to cope with it. Also, crocodiles can't climb. So, a typical Queenslander is a single story house on stilts. Usually the floor of the house is high enough that you can walk under it. They are usually designed around some central rooms with a wide veranda that goes around the entire house. Sometimes this is enclosed, or at least partially, with old fashioned casement windows from wall to wall so you can open up any part of the house to let the breeze flow through. They are open, airy houses perfectly suited for the tropics.

I love houses. One day...

Lucky really

2011-02-05T19:36:00.000+10:00

The last few days have been...different...to say the least. We shut down the office at work on Tuesday lunchtime. We spent the next 24 hours packing up stuff because we live at a beach suburb and were hearing at that point stories of 6m storm surges. That would have come at least through the ground floor of our house. Yay. We moved to my parents' in law's house in a different suburb (more importantly, a higher suburb).

Anyway, by Wednesday lunchtime Yasi had headed further south than previously forecast and we decided that home was where we wanted to be so we left my car, full of all our electrical stuff at Kewarra Beach and headed home.

I must admit of all the things I thought I would be doing Wednesday night, sleeping was not one of them. However, I was exhausted and fell asleep on the sofa. Occasionally I woke up as lots of flying leafs, twigs and probably the occasional branch hit our garage and roof and my fish tried to escape from the tank. My husband reported that the upstairs windows were bending and shaking under the force of the wind. We lost power fairly early that night.

Thursday morning came as a relief and whilst walking down Yorkeys (I live at Yorkeys Knob, go on, chuckle, you know you want to...) main street, there were trees down and debris just everywhere. The 50k signpost was still upright, but the actual sign was at the bottom of the pole and facing the wrong way. The sea was just incredible. We never get surf up here and it was pounding up the beach. Or, at least, what was left of it.

Unfortunately, the worst was yet to come for us. The ensuing thunderstorm that parked above us for Thursday afternoon and night was incredible. 10.5 inches of rain in 24 hours, most of which fell in a 6 hour period. We had most of our neighbours out helping us in the pouring rain with the wheely bins trying to move the water on that was threatening to flood our house.

It was ironic really, that as we were trying to save the ground floor from flooding, that the roof decided that it couldn't cope and I went upstairs to discover a small river pouring from our lightfittings in the spare room. Onto the spare bed. Onto the carpet. And, as it turns out, through the roof, through the walls, through the built-in wardrobe, through the window casement and through our downstairs ceiling. Bugger.

Now we just sit and wait for the insurance assessors, the electrician to tell us that we can turn our lights and fans back on and use our upstairs power points, the builder to tell us what needs to be done to fix our rapidly mouldy house.

I will say one thing. We were really bloody lucky. We have a roof, we have walls, we have a house (albeit rapidly mouldy one). If cyclone Yasi had come where it was intially forecast we most likely would not have anything right now. I'm so glad that we do, and I feel so desperately sorry for those so near to us that now have nothing.

Nearer family

2010-12-21T18:53:00.000+10:00

Oh I am so happy!! I will have family in Australia for the next four years!!! (hopefully) I know that they will still be a four hour plane flight away but it's a damn sight easier and cheaper than Britain! And I love Melbourne so yayayayayayay!

Update on phone frustration

2010-12-12T20:31:00.000+10:00

We received this month's bill and, amazingly enough, Telstra had stopped charging us $11.00 for the T-Box. Oh yes. They had, instead, charged us well over $200 as a cancellation charge.

Needless to say, after a mild heart-attack, I contacted Telstra. No more going through the accounts department for me. I went straight to the heart of it and called complaints. I spoke to a lovely chap who took one look at the record of calls on his computer, took a deep breath and apologised wholeheartedly. He sorted it out, confirmed that there had been a huge mistake and then thanked me for being so nice about it and not shouting at him.

And so it ends.

Until next month...

Some fun

2010-12-03T22:16:00.001+10:00

I couldn't help myself with this one, it just made me laugh. Please, if you need cheering up just follow the directions below:

1. Go to 'Get Directions' in Google Maps;
2. Type in 'Japan' as your starting point;
3. Type in 'China' as your destination;
4. Go to point 43.
5. When you stop laughing, tell someone else.

Why?

2010-11-30T22:05:00.001+10:00

Some days, it's all going well, and then something, some little thing will happen. Someone will say something completely innocuous, I'll catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye or, without warning, it will hit me like a sledgehammer and then the tears come.

I'm not actually depressed. My doctor told me so. It's happening less these days and I'm getting better but sometimes I just can't stop the tears, that's all and the one thought just goes round, and round, and round in my head.

Why not me?

Then, by and by, it passes. And I'm happy and relaxed again and I get on with my life and everything's good but a part of me knows that deep down, that question lurks sometimes hidden, sometimes yelling and screaming to get out.

Why not me?

tv

2010-11-28T20:01:00.001+10:00

I have often wondered about Australian tv, before the advent of all the digital channels, for the most part all you got was either sport or American sitcoms (either new or re-runs - M*A*S*H was on constantly when I first got here).

However, since free to air digital tv, it's almost like I've been transported back in time to my childhood. Take tonight, for example. I had the choice of watching (listen carefully, I shall say this only once...):

'Allo 'Allo*
All Creatures Great and Small**
Vicar of Dibly
Bless this House
Heartbeat
Bargain Hunt
Escape to the Country
Birds of a Feather

and at other times during the week

Keeping up Appearances
Love Thy Neighbour
Jonathan Creek
George and Mildred
Pie in the Sky
Wycliffe
Coronation Street
Emmerdale
Hollyoaks
Quincy ME; and
The Antiques Roadshow

And that's really without venturing into the realms of the ABC (think the BBC but Australian...and with adverts) which is the acknowledged place to find all programming of a British persuasion. The ABC is where I get my Dr Who/Torchwood fix :)

You can also catch at various times Knight Rider, The A Team (loving it!), Get Smart*** and Hogans Heroes*** and the original Star Trek.

* Graham had me in fits of unexplainable giggles the other day when for some reason something he said about a picture made me ask "Is it the Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies?" He still doesn't understand what was quite so funny.

**I had to laugh at the description of this on the guide - it was apparently "*all new*" 'All Creatures Great and Small'. From 1989.

*** Didn't actually see these in my childhood but discovering them made me feel like I was back there anyway :)

Phone frustration

2010-11-18T12:33:00.000+10:00

Ok, I'm sure I've probably mentioned this before but, as I sit her on hold for the 17th minute, I feel the urge to say again how flipping hopeless Telstra* are. We bought a landline and what they call a T-Box which is a set-top box with free internet music/sport/movie channels. Sounded good. Unfortunately, not only was reception a bit dodgy in our area but to get the movies (which is what we really got it for) you had to register and confirm your age with a credit card. We don't have one, nor were we told that we'd need one.

So, after two whole weeks of trying to get Telstra to explain to us why we couldn't register and receiving a myriad of excuses until we found the one person who knew straight away what the problem was, we said that we no longer wanted it as it didn't do what we'd been told it should. "No worries" said Telstra "Just send it back to us in this lovely registered post bag that we ourselves will provide to you and call us if you keep getting charged and we will sort it out". Too easy.

The next bill arrived not long after. With the monthly charge. I ignored that one as we had only just sent it back. The next bill arrived and of course, we were still getting charged (and not only that but they had whacked a massive 'one off' charge on which apparently always shows on your second bill. Not happy as this had most certainly not been mentioned, I think I would have remembered someone saying 'Oh, and by the way after lulling you into a false sense of security with your first, normal bill, we will then give you a heart attack with a massive second bill". Made such a fuss that they credited that back to us too) So, I rang up and they credited us the $11.00 and said that we wouldn't be charged any more. Fantastic.

Next month. $11.00. I mean, honestly. So here I am, again, on hold to Telstra (the all Australian company which is why I'm talking to someone in the Philipines...). Maybe this time...**

*for those of you in the UK, this is the Aussie version of BT
**one bright spot, they said at the end that they would put me through to a survey and instead the line went dead. Yay :)

The trouble with the tropics

2010-10-31T20:02:00.000+10:00

Ok, my feet itch. Badly. I look diseased.

This is my own fault, I know, for being for some strange reason highly attractive to mosquitos. And then compounding the issue by spending an evening sitting in a boat club handily situated by a swamp. I got chewed.

To cap things off I went fishing today with the husband (first time in ages - he can't understand why I don't like getting up at 3am to go and bounce around in a boat - apart from the fact that getting up that early makes me sick even without the added problem of trying to brace for waves you can't see because it's still pitch bloody black. Anyway...) and, despite covering myself with lashings of sunscreen - factor 30+ no less - every few minutes, I burnt my knees. No other part, just my knees.

So, in summary, I look terrible from mid-thigh down. It's not a good look when most of the clothes I own these days (do I hear shocked gasps?) are skirts.

Hmmm.

Oh, and did I mention that my feet are on fire!!!

Names

2010-10-19T20:43:00.001+10:00

I've been thinking a lot about names recently. There are some Welsh names that I absolutely adore but I know that I can't use while we live over here. Two names may give you an example of what I mean...

1. Megan. Pronounced with the 'e' the short sound you get at the start of 'egg'. Lovely name. Here, they pronounce it 'Me-gan' as in 'you and me'. Irritating.

2. Sian. To you and me, this is a simple name. The 'Si' is the soft 'sh' of 'shop' and the 'a' is a long round sound 'ah'. Sian. Easy. Not to the Australians. Oh no. Here, they say 'see-ann'. I despaired until I heard someone called 'Sian'...until I saw that they spelt it 'Shaan'...

Grrr.

Great TV

2010-10-16T20:33:00.000+10:00

We've recently gained some new free to air tv channels, namely 7 'mate' (which is frankly a take off of Dave in the UK) and Nine Gem. 'Mate' shows mainly shows along the lines of 'That 70s Show', 'Scrubs', 'Family Guy', 'American Dad' and 'My Name is Earl. Generally, great favourites with both the husband and myself. Gem, on the other hand, didn't look too promising. It specialises in old movies and shows and for the first two weeks it seemed to show nothing but 'The Virginian'.

It redeemed itself last week however, by showing 'Swallows and Amazons'. I was converted! This week it went even better and showed 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'* So, I wait eagerly to see what gem they have on next. I'm sure that, amongst all the dross, will be another movie I haven't seen in years - and I can't wait!

Unfortunately, today's treat has been being made to watch not only Jurassic Park, but 'The Lost World' as well and I've just been treated to the sight of someone's lip being chewed off by mini velociraptors. Yay.

*this celebration was slightly muted by the fact I recorded the repeat on early on a Saturday morning and the husband did not realise that I actually meant to record that 'silly looking western sort of movie' and turned it off. When I pointed out it was a musical, he said that no-one was singing in the bit that he saw, which means he saw the only 2 minutes of the whole thing where no-one bursts into song or nicely choreographed dancing (or chopping wood, or dumping snow on someone). Anyway...

New born baby goodness

2010-10-14T18:44:00.000+10:00

I got to hold a 2 day old baby this evening. So tiny and lovely and gorgeous enough to make any one melt. I lived in a happy little world of my own for a good 10 minutes, just me and the baby whilst her mum chatted to other friends around me. Can't begin to imagine what it's like when the baby is your own. Can't wait to find out either.

One day.

For now, the memory of that tiny little person snuggling up to me will keep me all gooey for a good while to come.

Saving money

2010-10-11T06:41:00.000+10:00

I'm going to have to start saving money. Need to afford flights!

Skype

2010-10-05T06:47:00.000+10:00

I love Skype!! I got to not only talk to but actually see my mother, brother, sister-in-law and my two adorable nephews this weekend for the first time in two years! I cannot even begin to describe how happy I was to get this finally up and working.

I have also talked (well, there was some miming involved in one case) to two of my best friends in the last couple of weeks. Getting the internet was a brilliant decision.

Classic FM Classic 100

2010-09-29T22:13:00.001+10:00

Ok, so I voted for the following (in no particular order):

Beethoven - Egmont Overture
Smetana - Ma Vlast
Elgar - Cello Concerto
Bizet - The Pearl Fishers (for Au fond du temple saint of course!)
Rossini - Stabat Mater
Verdi - Requiem
Mozart - Requiem
Copland - Rodeo
Shostakovich - Symphony No. 5
Bernstein - Candide

What do you think?

Moments

2010-09-29T21:17:00.001+10:00

I have moments. Sometimes a lot, often not for ages then one will come along and grab me by the scruff of my neck and shake me about a bit. I had one tonight. I think it's been brewing for a few days but I managed to keep it under wraps and focused on a completely innocuous girly book (Anybody Out There by Miriam Keyes if you're wondering) which I picked up from our lunchroom bookshelf at work. If I could keep it aimed at the book, I could function when I wasn't reading it.

Anyway, I started reading it at work, which meant I was desperately trying not to cry in the middle of the lunchroom. This, plainly, would not do. So, I brought the book home. By the time I finished it tonight I was a sticky mess. The tears I've been holding back for days I could finally let go because I was on my own and it was ok. No prettily crying for me, oh no. Huge, gutwrenching heartbreaking sobs and tears that seemed like they wouldn't stop.

Still, I must have needed it, because I feel a whole lot better now.

Powderfinger!

2010-09-28T17:59:00.000+10:00

I go to see Powderfinger tonight, yay!! Please spare some (ok, a lot) of sympathy for my poor husband. These tickets were his birthday present, and work sent him away this morning for a week...not a happy hubby, oh no.

Geekiness

2010-09-25T09:07:00.001+10:00

GO! (Channel 88) is showing Deep Space Nine! All is right in my world :)

Domesticity

2010-09-22T06:55:00.000+10:00

What is it about men and cleaning the kitchen? There's absolutely no problem when it comes to arranging the garage down to the minutest details, cleaning floors, cleaning fishs tanks etc. but ask them to do something in the kitchen and suddenly all sense goes out the window. In what possible world does putting dirty plates in the sink count as 'cleaning up'? How do they think dishes will get cleaned in the dishwasher when they've dumped them in in such a manner that the water will not actually be able to get to them.

I know an effort has been made and I do appreciate it but it just means more work for me in the end because I end up doing the dishes sitting in the sink and reloading the dishwasher so I won't have to do it again.

It can't be that hard, surely?

Mind you, I have had tea cooked for me the last two nights in a row so I can't complain too much ;)

A new chapter

2010-09-10T20:25:00.000+10:00

I've been thinking about this for a while. I've contemplated that eternal question, to tweet or not to tweet, and thought about restarting my old blog. I keep thinking of things which are closely followed by the thought "Oh, I should blog that".

I'm not sure about Twitter, yet. I may still join. I don't know.

My old blog. Yes, well. I must admit, I re-read some of my old posts and I'm quite amazed by some of the things that I wrote. I can be quite eloquent at times. I can also be quite incomprehensible. That probably won't change! Still, my blog was started when I was travelling and needed a way to report to my family without sending mass emails. It saw me through about 4/5 years during which I came to Australia, met a couple of reprobates and finally met the man (in a packing shed on a farm of all places) who, in a very short space of time, became my husband. It saw, over time, our wedding, our first couple of years of marriage, the purchase of the boat which is my husband's pride and joy and the purchase of our first house. It ended, and there I think it should stay, when I miscarried our first baby at the end of my first trimester.

So there you have it, in a nutshell, the trials and tribulations of the last 5 years.

This is not, exactly, a new beginning, more a new volume to an ongoing series. So, read it, don't read it, I really don't mind. I'm just glad to be writing again.