Drama

So many family dramas yesterday! Was a really bad day with my Dad who won't look after himself and then blames the rest of us, despite all we try and do to help. He's a grown man who needs to take some responsibility! But that is an entirely long story I don't want to get into this morning. But it was already a bad family day and then my sister and I had an argument on the phone which remains unresolved. Suffice to say, I got no homework done last night as a result because I simply couldn't concentrate. So I have to cram this last assignment this weekend, gah!

Ivan and Miyuki are coming to visit today which I am looking forward to because I really need to unwind. It means tomorrow I'll probably go to Uni and use the computers there so I am away from distractions and can get this blasted thing done, but that's ok. I may be an expert at procrastinating, but I'm also fantastic at finishing things off that need to be, haha. Although I must admit to being a little panicked at the moment...

At the moment I'm just waiting for Glen to wake so we can go get our grocery shopping over and done with before we return to the comfort of our air conditioning. I hate hot weather, next few days are going to suck and blow!

Just over 9 weeks to go!

That's how long there is before our wedding. I can't believe it is so close! A year ago, I had a goal to lose 30 kilos by the time the wedding rolled around. Now the wedding is so close, I'll be lucky if I lose 5 :( Typical bloody Mel... I know my dress will look nice, just wanted to look nice for the photos, that's all. Never mind...

I can't believe January is almost finished. After this month, I'll be having 6 months off Uni as a bit of a break around the wedding and honeymoon. It'll be nice to have a break but I doubt it will free up much time. There is so much to do around the house before the wedding. We still have boxes of stuff we haven't unpacked - terrible! Not to mention the never-ending spiders and webs which seem to keep infiltrating our living space. Having big gum trees around is nice to look at, and hearing the birds is quite relaxing, but anything with more than four legs can GO AWAY!!!

Anyway, so my book buying addiction has not disappeared, but I genuinely am trying! I now have 166 books in the bookshelves that have not yet been read, but I've borrowed 2 books from my sister, am on a waiting list for 3 from the library, and I'm putting together a book club at work which will be using more library books, so I don't see this number of 166 dropping any time soon.

Oh, and then there's all the magazines...

A love renewed

I love reading so much but rarely have the time for it, so all I do is buy books and then they pile up waiting to be read. I now have around 130 books that I have bought which I have not yet read! It's an addiction.

But lately I have been making time to read because I really do enjoy it, and I have joined the local public library so am borrowing the new books I keep hearing about instead of buying them all. Problem is, now I'm addicted to borrowing books and have six at home I have to try and read in the next 4 weeks, oops! And additional problem is that now I am borrowing books I'm still not getting through all those I already own.

Oh well, it's nice to make the time to read again. It just means I'm not on my computer very often anymore, but that's okay, a bit of variety is good.

Many birthdays

*post removed*

Have edited and censored myself for the first time. Needed to vent and writing about it helped me, but now I'd like to return to bottling it up and not telling the world about it.

In other news, happy birthday to my beautiful niece, my gorgeous nephew, and my kind spirited sister xxx

Lazy Sunday

Well I was planning to do some Tafe homework today, go to the gym this morning and then get stuck into it, but it's now almost 4pm and I have been enjoying having a day off. I even managed to stay in bed until 9am - I can't remember the last time that happened!!

All I've done today is some washing and the grocery shopping, otherwise we've been staying in the warmth and I've either been reading or on the computer, so nice and relaxing but I know I'll regret it when I have to stay up late getting Tafe stuff done. Oh well, I very rarely get actual relaxing days with all the work and study I do so I should enjoy it instead of worrying!

Disney on Ice last night was fantastic, Susanna was so happy, it was so nice to see her that happy. I'll post a couple of photos :)

Disney on Ice

Tonight I'm going to Disney on Ice with my Mum, niece, sister and brother-in-law. I can't wait to see how excited Susanna will be! When my sister told me they were going I just had to get a ticket too, I love seeing Susanna happy :)

It'll be my only highlight this weekend I imagine, given work is crazy this time of year and I'm also trying to finish up my Tafe studies this semester. I see a lot of late nights working in my very near future.

We've been so slack in unpacking, we still have about a dozen boxes we haven't even looked at in weeks. Must get on to that at some stage... For today though, I'm planning a nice relaxing one before we head off tonight. I wish it wasn't so cold and wet outside so I could do some gardening, but nevermind.

Aside from that we've started up the wedding planning again after not doing much for three months. We now have all the flowers arranged so next big things to organise in the coming weeks will be the cars and the cake. I think I will like sampling the cakes :D

Something new to play with

I don't have anything of interest to write about, I'm simply playing around with this Word template I found and hoping it works. Carry on :)

Times a changing

This is proving to be a very busy but very exciting time for us at the moment. I don't know about Glen but I love being engaged! Our wedding seems so far away but it's exciting to prepare for a lifetime together.

Our big project at the moment before we even think about the wedding is the building of our house. After much stalling thanks to the bank, we've finally signed the building contract and are moving ahead at a frantic pace so that we can get the design and plans approved so the builder can give us the bank pack which they need before they'll finalise the loan and which we need soon to be able to get the First Home Owners Grant. Phew! Bloody paperwork...

Our builders have so far been great in moving things ahead though. We got our drawn plans last week finalised and today we got all the info for making building selections in the post. Tomorrow I'll be ringing the companies and making some appointments for us to get all our selections finalised. Very fun stuff! Thankfully Glen and I aren't in horrible disagreement over anything... yet.

In amongst all this my studies have been going well although it's approaching the busy part of the semester so I hope I can maintain my focus for just a few more weeks and continue to get good grades.

I've also got more responsibilities at work which means very full days and somewhat stressful days but I'm trying, for the sake of my health, to not let things in the workplace get me down so much that I'm thinking about them at all hours of the night. Work will be madness now until at least August, and although the extra pay I'm getting is very helpful and very welcome, I don't want it to be at the expense of my health. As an aside I also interviewed for a higher paid position last week - hopefully I find out how that went soon.

I don't believe anyone visits here anymore but I refuse to remove this page! Hope any that still pop by are well :)

Random thoughts

My bad luck with buses lately is concerning. It seems whenever I'm in a rush they are so late that I may as well have caught the later bus and not rushed so much. Then when the bus is only 1 stop from Uni the bus driver will decide to get out and go to the toilet when already running somewhat late. Apparently my train curse has now shifted to buses being that I don't drive near any train crossings anymore.

Random thought 2: There is a mature age student in one of my classes who is very strange. Example - she will ask someone where the toilet is, the person gets up to show her and point her in the right direction and while the person is explaining she will turn around and sit back down. What was the point of asking? I don't mind eccentric people but the behaviour has to make some kind of sense.

Random thought 3: Threatening public servants with going to Today Tonight or that we'll be hearing from lawyers and "a bunch of people we don't want to hear from" won't actually change any outcome you're unhappy with, but it certainly does amuse us in the office.

2009 already?

I can't quite believe we are already midway through January 2009. Where has the time gone?! Life got so busy with Uni and work that I'm forever neglecting to update this site. I could just give up and close it down but that would be a bit of a shame, so instead, sporadic updates it is.

Uni finished well last year and in a couple of months it'll start up again. I ended up with a High Distinction and a Distinction for the subjects I did last year and I hope to do as well again, which is made easier by the fact that I really love what I'm doing. I'm also hoping to finish off TAFE this semester so that that's behind me.

Our Christmas was the nice and quiet usual family get-together on Christmas Eve and then Christmas Day itself was pretty relaxing. On Boxing Day Glen and I left for Mackay where we had a nice time with his parents despite the heat and humidity which was stifling. I truly enjoyed having the time though to just sit in the air conditioned comfort and be able to read as much as I wanted. We went fishing a couple of times, once on the beach and once on the boat (which was an experience) and did a little sight-seeing. We had a quiet NYE but no complaints from me on that, I think it was just what I needed.

We flew home on January 3rd and since then I've just been working and not doing much else. This afternoon will be my first session at the gym since before Christmas because I got a crappy cold that knocked me around a bit when I came back but it's not too bad getting back into a routine again. Our focus this year is getting this house built so it helps to have such a big goal driving me.

Anyway, time to be off, more later (although how much later only time will tell).

Bloody slack Mel

I know, I know, I'm very slack for not posting at least boring every day stuff here regularly anymore. Life is just very busy with working full-time and studying part-time at both Uni and TAFE. Thankfully there's only another semester of TAFE to do and then at least that will be one thing crossed off the list.

Can't think of much to write about but thought I might kill some time while here at Uni waiting for my next lecture to begin instead of, you know, studying.

The main piece of news is that the block of land finally settled on October 7th. I say finally because it was supposed to happen back in July but no matter, all done now! So now begins the fun part of finding a place we like, choosing a builder and getting the place built :)

Xy and I went and looked at some places last weekend and so far we're in agreement about what we like and what we want and what we don't want which has been great. We've also made a shortlist of builders and hoping to catch up with the one on top of the list this weekend to discuss additional costs, inclusions etc.

In other news we've booked a week in Mackay over New Year's Eve so that Xy can see his parents. I am looking forward to meeting them but a little nervous too.

There hasn't been much going on besides work and study really apart from a weekend away to Angaston recently over the last long weekend which was beautiful. We were lucky enough to have perfect weather, the B & B we stayed in was nice and the wine was very tasty indeed. The only downside to the weekend away was the family staying in the B & B upstairs from us who were Noisy As Hell. Apparently naturally walking around was impossible and all they could do was stomp around the house, or better still, run and scream. Brilliant. Kinda killed the peaceful romantic retreat idea but we did still have a nice time :)

Anyway I had better publish this very belated and boring post and make my way to the lecture theatre. Bye!

Catchup kinda

Ok, too much has happened since I last updated this Blog to list it all, but I figured it shouldn't mean I stop updating entirely so I'll start it from here I guess.

A few months ago, while looking through the newspaper, I saw an advert for a new course being offered by UniSA that sounded like what I'd wanted to do ever since I was a little girl - Bachelor of Arts (Writing & Creative Communication). They were accepting mid-year intake so I bit the bullet and decided to apply, and I'm now into my 4th week of University! I am still working full-time so am starting almost every day at 7am so that I can make it to lectures and tutorials in the afternoons, and I'm still finishing my Certificate IV in Government at TAFE, so needless to say I'm a very busy girl these days. Most days I am out of the house around 6am, home after 6pm and then have a few hours to study and/or relax before having to go to bed and start all over again.

Glen has also gotten work too, which means he has long days now also. I know he's been very busy and tired, but otherwise he seems to like the people he's working with which is probably the main thing, so he's been doing well.

We're now living with my parents to save on rent money while the house is built, although it is yet to begin because the settlement for the land has been pushed back, but it's okay, it'll all be worth it in the end when we have our own brand new house. It hasn't been too bad living with them although they are difficult to please most of the time, but truth be told we don't see them very much anyway because everyone's working (apart from Mum who broke her ankle and is still recovering, but that's another story).

In a way it's good living there, because the last few months we've had a lot of family dramas and so we've had to help each other through them. Most recently my grandfather in Yugoslavia passed away. I had met him a few times and he was a beautiful man. It obviously really hit my Dad hard though, and although he's now more "back to normal" I think when father's day rolls around it might resurface, as it hasn't even been a week yet since Grandpa died and it's all still a bit fresh for Dad understandably.

Anyway, apologies for leaving it on a sad note but I think people have given up on me updating and probably don't drop by here very often anymore, and also I have to get to my next Lecture and then race to the gym to try and fit a workout in.

Hope all are well :)

Pew pew!

The last week has been great, due largely in part to the awesome weekend I had last weekend.

On Friday night Xy and I went with my work social club to Marksman's Indoor Range for some pistol shooting and it was incredible! We had a package where we got to fire 24 rounds with a .357 revolver and 30 rounds with a Glock 9mm. What can I saw but "WOW!". What an incredible experience! I have to admit my nerves were high even though it was something I've always wanted to do, so I waited for a little while before I gave it a "shot" (ha ha). Eventually the nervousness passed so I started with the .357 and it was incredible. Even with our ear protection on the noise was intense and my heart immediately started racing and didn't stop for the whole 24 rounds. When other people in the range fired I couldn't help but jump a little, the adrenalin was running rampant. Anyway, my first shot went right through the bullseye! I managed to do pretty well with the .357, not great but not too shabby. I then moved onto the 9mm which I didn't enjoy quite as much and which I did far worse at, firing too low for some reason. Maybe because by this point my heart wouldn't slow down, not sure. Anyway, Friday night was awesome! The rest of my week pales in comparison.

On Saturday my auntie took us all out for lunch to the Para Hills Community Centre which was pretty decent actually, so it was a day with the family because Maria and Steve weren't gonna be around on Mother's Day. The place was pretty good, there was an area for kids to play to Susanna got to have a bit of fun with some other little kids. Yes I know I'm biased, but she's so beautiful. If anyone ever hurt her I don't know what I'd do, I want the best for that little girl. I wonder if all Aunt's feel this way.

Anyway Sunday was Mother's Day but I had a major assignment to do which was due on Tuesday so I spent most of the day working on that. We did go to Mum and Dad's for a couple of hours but didn't stay too long as I really wanted to get it done (which I did).

Since then the rest of the week has ofcourse been "blegh" due to work, and we haven't been up to too much otherwise. I've just been gaming a bit and Xy and I have been watching episodes of Dexter which we finished last night and oh my goodness, it is such a good show! Very well written even if I did seem to guess the plot on occasion. Looking forward to the next season!

Work still sucks but admittedly I haven't found much worth applying for, but I'm still looking. I'm still not being paid my higher duties which has pissed me off no end, but what can I do? It's hard to find something else I'm qualified for with decent pay... Better get back to it *sighs*.

Last week

Wow, one post a week! I wonder how long the updating of this Blog will last! It's been a bit of a busy week, so figured I may as well blog it :)

Last Friday night Xy and I went out to Sagamartha's for dinner as we try to have a "date night" once a week. I never thought I'd enjoy going to such a place as I'm not really a fan of curry but the food was fabulous. I had the Poleko Kukhura and it was so delicious, I think I may have changed my mind about eatting curries and would be willing to go there again to try something new.

On Saturday morning I eventually arrived at Michelle's house for a coffee and a catchup after arriving late due to my curse at catching a freight train on a freaking Saturday morning. I thought the curse was broken but alas, it lives on. Anyway, it was great to see her again as we haven't seen each other since last year. After that, the rest of Saturday was a pretty quiet one.

On Sunday it was my Grandma's birthday so we went to her place for lunch. My Aunt from Queensland is also in Adelaide for a couple of weeks and she's staying with Gran so I got to catch up with her too which was nice.

The rest of the week has just been work as usual. I have a big assignment due next Tuesday so I'll be working on that this weekend in amongst Mother's Day. My car's been giving me some hassles too lately, somehow need to find some money to get it serviced I think. A couple of nights ago I had to get the RAA out to replace the battery (hadn't been replaced for 7 years so pretty happy with that) but this morning it wouldn't start, then it started, then it wouldn't start again, then it started again. I hope I'm able to get home okay tonight...

Xy has been busy with interviews this week, he has one this morning at Telstra which hopefully goes well.

Anywho, better get back to work now :)

Friday a.k.a. my lazy day

I am trying to do as little work as possible today so figured I might as well write some crap on my Blog to kill some time.

The reasons are:
1) Very little and restless sleep last night means I have no energy to be here let alone think.
2) It's Friday (nuff said).
3) My boss is giving me the shits.
4) I'm sick of working here.
5) I basically just can't be bothered.

I really am tired of this place, and I've started looking for a new job and have applied for 1 thing so far, but finding something I'm qualified to do that earns me at least $55k a year isn't easy. I wish I'd done something different with my education sometimes. Oh well, in the meantime I have to learn to do what Dad always tells me I should do - come to work, do my job, go home and get work out of my head. Sometimes work is all I can think about when I lay down to sleep or it's the first thing that pops into my head when I wake up. It's crazy. Actually I no doubt would go crazy if Xy wasn't there for me to whinge to about it all.

I applied for a Senior Project Officer role for 3 months and got the job, but it's not at all like I thought it was going to be and I'm a bit disappointed which sounds ungrateful considering the extra pay (not that I've started receiving the extra pay yet). On top of that all of the Coordinators (that's my regular role) are also working on projects and are also getting the same pay rate as I am so I'm not sure why I took the time to write an application for something I was apparently going to be doing anyway. Anyway enough about that.

So, what else can I write to kill some time...

I seem to be finding lots of people I went to school with on Facebook lately, and each of them I swear looks just like they did in High School, it's quite funny. I can't believe how many of them are married and/or have children though, I wonder if I'll be the last remaining unmarried person from my old high school friends? Really cool to read what everyone's been up to though.

To go with the nostalgic feel I've been cleaning out old things at Mum and Dad's place for the last few weeks and found heaps of old letters, cards, diaries and yearbooks. Some of it was funny and pathetic (I had crushes on boys I never even spoke to) and some of it was quite sad (a certain boy making my high school years hell by being an arsehole), I just can't believe all the crap I kept unnecessarily. No wonder Mum and Dad's place needs a cleanup!

Well I'd better go and try to find something else to occupy my time on this day that seems to be dragging on. Only 3 hours to go until I get out of here and to the gym though, yay!

Stupid work!

I just wrote a proper long update and it got eatten by the web because of stupid work and it's internet quota time. So now I'm annoyed and can't be bothered re-writing everything, so here it is in very short form:

- QLD was fab, coming home sucked
- Xy has now moved to SA, wooooo!!!!!
- Have bought a block of land at Mt Barker
- Susannah is almost 10 months old, almost walking and very gorgeous
- Work sucks

Wow I should write all blog posts like that hahahaha.

Should have done this a long time ago

Okay, so an update by me has been long overdue, I had all these wonderful plans and photos prepared of my trip to the zoo and my niece's Baptism, but obviously none of that came to fruition and now too much time has passed.

At the moment I'm here in Queensland with Xy where I'm spending 6 weeks and 3 have almost passed already. I've been lucky enough to meet lots of people I know from online gaming and to go to a family wedding, and photos will ofcourse be posted when I get back to Adelaide (at least, that's the plan).

For now, though, I just wanted to let everyone know I was still okay and to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope you all had a nice Christmas :)

A little less slack

Ok so I promised some pictures from my trip but have not secured permission from my friend JP to post his pictures so shall refrain from doing so at this stage but might update later if I get the nod, Enjoy!

My niece Emily:

Sister, Lars and Emily:

Emily, Myself and Lars:

OMG Slack!

First and foremost, yes I have been very slack in updating the blog recently, secondly it isn't because I have had nothing to update about but rather because I am slack.

A while back now JP and Sarah came up to see sunny Brisbane and surrounds from NSW and were treated to one of our finest week long torrential down pours that just always seem to follow visitors that are seeking our sunny climbs.
It was awesome fun with one of my friends bringing around his Xbox360 and with a house full of gamers (at least 6) we had a great couple of days, I even managed to get out at one point and show them around the city and eat some delicious foods with them, twas good fun! :D.
I personally can't wait till they come back up again as they were great fun to have around (and considerate guests!)

Just this last weekend I decided to go and visit my sister and her new born bub (the second one now) he is my first and likely only nephew from my side of the family so for anyone counting that is one niece and one nephew, the likelihood for both being very spoiled by me in the future is likely high :p.
They are doing well despite the two children running my sister ragged and slowly driving her insane but I am pretty sure this is normal so I am not as worried as I would normally be.

The kids are adorable and I spent quite a lot of time colouring in with the niece and generally being silly and making faces for them and trying to communicate as best as possible with a three year old and a 7 week new born.
(p.s in my previous blog post I got my nieces age wrong by about a year!, yes I am a terrible uncle :/)
Anywho, they are great and I enjoyed my time there immensely.

This afternoon I am headed out to a long time friends place for his 29th birthday party.
Brett always throws awesome party's with much food and waaaarn and scotch available as well as always having an interesting tale or twenty to relate.
Today I have been let in on something he will be trying at the party to entertain us all, he will be "acquiring" a little liquid nitrogen from his university to bring home in the hopes of making some home made ice cream!
I can only imagine the crazy shenanigans that could take place should something go wrong in this process with people having body parts frozen and shattered 'ala' Terminator 2 styles.

Lets hope this evening doesn't boil down into a mass emergency room visit hmm?

I shall update with some piccy's of past doings and possibly some emergency room pics should something exciting happen tonight :D.

A Day in the Life

I swear these things can only happen to me...

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I was putting on my eyeshadow and dropped the eyeshadow wand. I watched it fall towards the sink, and plummet to its doom as it continued to fall, all the way down the drain. How it managed to fall so perfectly, so that it fell through the drain hole without even bouncing off the basin is beyond me.

Needless to say I am now short one eyeshadow wand...