anyresemblance

Chaos

I don't think I have ever been as disorganised for a move as I am this time.  I started off well but have hit a flurry of chaos in the past few days as I am working such long hours.  I think it is exacerbated by worrying where all the books are going to go.  I am sleeping very badly.  This morning I packed my car before work and took stuff out to the front in the hope that people will rescue my discarded furniture without me having to make a trip to the tip.  I managed to net 3000 steps before 8am without even walking the dog.

Breathe and this time next week the move will be over.

 

Behind the clouds

Yesterday, I walked up the ridge and watched a hot air balloon above us make its decisions on where to land.  It wasn't very high up but suddenly drifted in behind some cloud and went from being familiar and visible to something that sat behind a veil of another world.

Hidden treasure

I have no excuse.  Just busy, work, work, pack, pack.

I have gone from being sad about leaving my house to happy on new beginnings.  I am doing some tough things at work but learning new stuff from my colleague.

It puts all one's minor niggles into perspective when you hear of someone with a health problem.  Really good health is all we need.

I am reading Rodham.  I like it but it is long and the American trajectory for a career in politics is so different.  I am sure someone smarter has unpacked it but the whole edifice underpinned by constitutional law is so alien to what I observe here where you either have a union based social outcome driver or a business driven reduce the imposte of government driver.  I am radically over simplifying.

I am excited about cooking stuff in my new kitchen and for the days getting longer and living closer to the farmer's market.  

I just need to get through to the end of the month... and then maybe the one after but come September I am going to take some time off and go somewhere high up where I can see for a long way and just read books for two weeks.

Soup and bread

I am insanely busy at work.  I have a large sales deal I am responsible for.  I have the particularly busy time of year for my client.  I have a significant promotion board I am trying to prepare for.

Oh, and I have to pack my house in the next three weeks.

But, I have an excellent and highly organised colleague who keeps reminding me of all the things we need to do for the deal, I have an excellent delivery team who just keep things ticking over and I have a colleague up for the same board who sends me encouraging texts.  Yesterday she told me she dismantled her range hood to clean rather than do preparation for this board which is exactly my kind of distraction.

I did go and bath the dog as he was very smelly and also buy a new tape gun and 40 book boxes.  I made soda bread to ganching's recipe* and while rather an odd shape it tastes good and I made vegetable soup to eat it with.  I ate my dinner at 6pm in front of Hamilton and then was in bed (albeit with my laptop) my 8pm watching our CEO's speeches so I can sound like I remember the corporate strategy.

*I can't find where it is but it probably about ten years ago as I have a dog eared print out

Under the weather

Even though it has not been that cold, I was freezing all day, continually turning the heating up degree by degree, and bone tired. I did wake at 5 but I had been to bed early so it was not that bad but even so the day just dragged.  If the dog walkers of NYC were available with their wonderful app, I would have done that, but instead shuffled round the block tonight.

I've had a hot shower and taken myself to bed.  I have a very busy month ahead with work and moving so I really hope this is a temporary ague.

Dog not included

I posted the old sofa on a give away group.  It had been living with my daughter in Sydney but came home when she moved out.  I kept meaning to get it recovered but I actually had it in the house for a bit after I had surgery last year and realised that it was not that comfortable and very low and tricky to get out of so I consigned it back to the garage.  It is another candidate for "stop hanging on to stuff you will never get round to and just makes you feel guilty".  I couldn't get to it through all the rest of the stuff to take a decent photo so I searched my archives for old ones.  The only ones I could find had pets on them so I had to include the disclaimer "dog not included".

 

Miscellany

Much as I despise Facebook, Facebook marketplace is so much easier to sell through than eBay or gumtree.  There seem way less time wasters and stuff goes quickly.  I have sold 3 items today which I would otherwise had to have transported to the salvos: a small bedroom chair, a fan and a garden bench.  I also gave away the mattress to grateful young couple.

I arranged to pay a friend's teenager daughters to pack books which removes that anxiety.  If they do an ok job they can unpack at the other end.  I also drove up and had a look through the windows of the new house (currently unoccupied) and assured myself that it will be big enough.  I got lost on my way to Ainslie shops which are impossible to find.

I've made myself a fish pie tonight as the fish hater is in Sydney and am looking forward to a night on the sofa.

 

 

Icy

One of the added benefits of lockdown life is that winter doesn't seem as bad when you don't have to go to work in the dark and come home in the dark.  I still go out in the cold to walk the dog but none of that is hard. It was pretty icy today though.

I have a lot of work on - and see a Sunday of work to get a report finished - but I will have the house to myself so I am feeling ok about it.

I have listed a ton of stuff on Facebook marketplace and a) people are flipping rude and b) I hate haggling over something that only listed for $20.  I am also in a free group where I am getting rid of some stuff to help families get started.

My daughter's bought me this for Mother's Day but it had to be back ordered and took a while to get shipped but it is very cheering.  Rachel Castle is so uplifting.

random thoughts

I had a coffee a couple of weeks ago with someone I know from work who was randomly in my town for a wedding.  I like her a lot and she is a person of some influence.  She was on her way to visit her father in a country town.  I asked if she had other siblings and she paused.  "How long have you lived here?" she asked.  I told her and she answered, "Ah, yes it would be before your time but I had a sister who was raped and murdered in terrible circumstances".  I was without words.  I think if I had lived here I would have known by her name but it had meant nothing to me.  I felt terrible to have stirred that up for her.  Of course, I googled the name later and the story is shocking even now.  I am still thinking of the ripples violent crime creates many years after its occurrence and this woman and her sad, sad missing of her sister.

My kids have had some good news which has taken a load off the future.

I have to move house again.  Don't ask but I have finally found a nice place.  It is north of the lake but I am being a grown up about it.  Also, walking distance to work which is not to be sniffed at.

I am listening to a lot of good podcasts.  My current favourite is Home Cooking with Samin Nosrat and Hrishikesh Hirway which led me to his other podcast, Song Exploder which is also a delight.

I am catching up a bit on reading with the back catalogue of Inspector Bruno but I did read Ann Tyler's Redhead by the side of the road which is astonishingly and quietly good.  I can't believe I have never read one of her books.  I am reading Samantha Irby as I heard her on a couple of podcasts and she was so warm and funny but I find the pieces a bit like magazine columns that don't quite work for me in book form.

I am still watching Run but also LoveLife which I disliked in the first episode but loved as it got darker and more challenging and its defiance of an easy ending. 

 

Lost and found

1. 
   Reading I finished the latest Sara Paretsky.  I've been reading her since the 80s, used to share them with my father and am content to grow older along with VI Warshawski.
2. Watching I finished Normal People and loved every moment of it.  Finished High Fidelity and also loved it.  Watched 3 episodes of Run and am liking the twists in that but frankly would watch Merrit Weaver read the phone book. I am also half watching Carnival Row and the Great.
3. Eating beef bourgignon and beef rendang which I have made to stock the freezer while this cold weather sets in.  Also, cake.
4. Listening to jazz.  I find it helps the back drop of working more than other stuff but usually I despise jazz so not sure what is going on.
5. Loving walks in the woods with the dog.  I don't know how I would be coping if I did not have a walk to get me stretching and out of the house.
6. Dreaming about when I will get on a plane again. I am feeling the distance from my homeland.  I've always been ok to be living here knowing I could always get on a plane if I needed to but now things are different and I miss my sisters.
7. Worrying about my kids and their lives.  I guess they have to work out the tough bits themselves.
8. Grateful for pets being such good companions.  My dog just wants to lie within a metre of me at all times which is a great comfort even if the house is always full of floof.
9. Thankful that I have a decent vacuum cleaner to keep on top of the floof.
10. Obsessed with closing the rings on my Apple Watch.  It's not the steps but making sure I do the 30 minutes of excercise that raises my heart rate that is most tricky.  Thank god for Joe Wicks, I say.
11. Considering applying for a job I am only 75% qualified for.  I've got a week to get my arse in gear.
12. Baking Samin Nosrat's midnight chocolate cake.  It was ridiculously easy but I realise I don't actually like chocolate cake that much so I only ate a slice and the kid ate the rest.
13. Pondering something my daughter said to me.  She told me I constantly self deprecate about my age.  It bothers me and I need to unpick that.
14. Buying shoes in case I have to go back to the office soon.  Also, a new shirt and trousers.
15. Discarding clothes that I have not worn in three years.  Thankfully the salvos is back to accepting drop offs.
16. Luxuriating in a four day week.  With a requirement to take 5 days leave this quarter and a few public holidays I have 3 weeks worth of upcoming short weeks.
17. Losing my door keys.  They have been missing since the beginning of lock down which is irritating but worse is that they have my much loved Michelin man key ring attached to them which I have made since the late 80s.  Also missing are the kitchen scissors which my daughter has misplaced somewhere.  We need a few prayers to St Anthony.
18. Discovering that you can put just about anything in a tortilla and call it a taco.  My latest delight, discovered by my stepson, is pork belly with gochujang mayo
19. Wondering if politics will ever be ok again? The venality and lack of empathy globally is distressing.
20. Delighted to see so many humans beings behaving with courage and happiness on twitter.  It's garbage sometimes but other times so uplifting.