Hi!Well. Here we are, slightly late but here before two or three weeks have passed at least! The day is lovely, warm and sunny, the birds were pretty busy this morning but have now all gone out to run their errands. I wonder what it is that makes them so chatty in the morning and at night
but during the day they're rather quiet, busy doing stuff I guess...... I could look into it but I prefer my version of what birds do with their days....... It's a bit early for wine although lunchtime has well passed...... maybe a root beer float instead (A&W of course, tho imported... although I noticed that my grocery store has started selling pints of Ben and Jerry's - you know what one of those suckers goes for? $11.99. And that's just the regular little tub. Good thing I don't eat their ice cream or I'd be in real financial trouble!)...... Got some ol skool 80's tunes courtesy of the 91X Resurrection streaming radio channel - an oooooold favorite radio station from San Diego days...... Chores have all ben done and then some........ Life is good! So work. Yep. Is really good. Even better that Wednesday last week everyone in town got the day off to go to the Ekka (like the Del Mar Fair - you'll remember it from previous episodes), which I think is way nice of the city council to do that. I went once on People's Day (as it's called) and
afterwards decided I'd never, ever go on that day again. If I do go (every couple of years) it's usually on a mid-week day, take the day off work and have fun without the gazillions of people and their strollers (or 'prams' as the locals call them) and screaming sugar-riddled children. So for the rest of us without kids we use the day to do laundry or run errands. Only this time I decided to take Thursday and Friday too - I caved under peer-pressure from folks at work, everyone was taking time off. And am glad I did - I got so much done around the little apartment! But more on that later. It was just nice to have a teeny bit of time away from work to just get stuff done. Much as I like the dough work gives me, it's a bummer that it takes so much time. And even bigger bummer is the stores here are only open "late" (9pm) on Fridays, the rest of the time they close at 5pm, which really just leaves running around over the weekend..... bummer.... Hmm. But anyways, work is good, always with stuff to do and nice folks to work with - hooray!And then there was the weekend, or rather, extended weekend. Sadly, no Adventures were had (the bank has sort of put its foot down on any more Adventures until I save some money and pay some of mah car off... fair enough....). But lots of chores got done! Filled three donation bags
with stuff for a charity that comes around every few months and leaves little plastic donation bags in our mailboxes. Who knew I had three plus bags to fill? And it wasn't just clothes, it was crap from the kitchen, stuff hiding, dusty on shelves, plastic picnic stuff, a straw beach bag with matching hat (that I think I used once like 3 years ago), just stuff. It's a great feeling getting rid of it. I like to think my little apartment gets just that teeny much bigger..... lighter at least. Oh, and I had this little miniature rose bush that desperately needed some attention, trimming and replanting, so did that and typically, one is happy, one looks miserable.... I wonder if it misses it's container-mate? So that was how I spent my Ekka day off. Hmmm.But Thursday was very exciting - my brand-spankin' new washing
machine was delivered (p.s. tho that website says it retails for $1,199, I paid $727 with free delivery)! Huzzah! I've never had mah own washing machine before, always had to share. So no more sharing, waiting an hour for folks to wash like 2 socks and a towel, and best part - no more neighbor cooties! But, hooking it up was a little tricky as I have no taps whatsoever. I thought I was creative with this rubber valve clamp thingy on the kitchen faucet but that failed spectacularly. So, once I dried off the kitchen, off I 
trotted to Paddington Hardware, the local hardware store (which happens to be right next door to where the best pizza comes from, Kookaburra Cafe), for a temporary solution - a garden hose valvey adapter thingy. So I had to run the garden hose from outside, up under the stairs and to the 
washing machine. Hmmm. Bit of a production. So I snapped and called the plumber the hardware store recommended and by Friday afternoon and $145.20 later, I had a tap under my kitchen sink with the hoses strung across the floor - success!!!!!!!!!!!! Then of course, being in such a dumpy place with hollow wood floors, I had to trot off to Bunnings for a thick rubber mat to help with absorbing the vibrations and noises that seem to
radiate from the thing during its 1400 mile an hour spin cycle. The mat helped immensely and am happy enough. Not so sure about the neighbors underneath me, but after how many years of their mid-week late night parties and now a new baby in December? Yeah, a little washing machine noise during the day is the least of their and my worries. So far I haven't washed everything in the apartment.... yet... but I will get there!And that was Thursday and Friday..... I really tried to rush to get all the chores and stuff done so I could chill over the whole weekend and just
watch movies. But no. Saturday and Sunday was more laundry and sanding the hell out of my little wooden deck table and chair. Which actually turned out to be a lot more work than it looked. First I had to wash the heck out of them with this toxic acidy wash stuff to kill all the mold, etc - and that was hard work. Then had to let them dry out good so I could sand them, more hard work with stubborn patchy old varnish. Then yesterday, Sunday, I had to finish sanding and then started to stain/varnish them, which again, took way longer than I expected, the
sun had set and I still hadn't finished. Sheesh! So today, Monday, I was super bad and woke up feeling too exhausted and achy to go to work, so called in and after a little sleep-in, finished the first coat on them...... tho I
think they're going to need at least two or three
coats because they live outside and the summer and rain is super hard on
them........ I'll just keep varnishing until I run out! Whew! And now here we are! Thrilling, isn't it?So there you have it! Whew! What a way to spend a good long break off
work. My god I feel like I need a vacation - like a lay on a beach and have margaritas hand-delivered for a week kinda vacation! But the bank says no, to suffer until Xmas......... Sigh. But, I got lots done, stuff I'd been meaning to do for ages, and now I have a washing machine with a tap under the sink - one thing I've been meaning to do for yeeeears and one I'm sorry I didn't do sooner! Hooray!Otherwise, hope you're all well up there. Because the bank says no
more Adventures until I save some money and pay off mah car, that means I won't be either moving or buying a place any time soon, so if you're thinking of getting in a quick visit before summer fires up (Nov/Dec), well, you're welcome to stay with me, just don't bring a lot! Otherwise, after summer is a good time to visit too - March April and on to next Nov/Dec.... am just sayin'......!BYE!
J!
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