anyresemblance

Sunday stocktake

1. Wondering: what would make someone install a wall socket and ariel socket right in the middle of a wall?  I was forced to wall mount the telly as the big contraption was left in place but it looks so ugly (clearly the owners had a giant ass tv) that I am going to take it down and hang some pictures there to cover up the ghastly mess.
2. Watching: I am trying to eke out the last season of Call My Agent so not watching much at all.  I also have a lot of work I am trying (and failing) to do in the evenings.
3. Eating: good Japanese food last night at Raku and a fish finger sandwich for lunch as I was feeling distinctly under the weather today from too much wine.
4. Drinking: lots of tea.
5. Sorting: 60% of the books are unpacked as is all the odds and ends of china, including my wedding china.  I got married 28 years ago today (sort of, it was a leap year and we actually got married on the 29th).  I still love the pattern.
6. Smelling: Charlie had a bath yesterday and is both fluffy and nice smelling.
7. Selling: off loaded two Ikea rugs today, marking all of my current Facebook marketplace sales complete.
8. Enjoying: the fink cups my friends gave me last night at a mini celebration and loving their contemporary design.
9. Wishing: I had another day of weekend but happy that there is a long weekend next week. 
10. Listening: to more You're Wrong About - the episodes on the DC Sniper and also Caroline O'Donoghue and Dolly Alderton dissected SATC on Sentimental Garbage which makes me want to watch the seasons again.

 

Fuming

I am involved in a ridiculous thing which is so absurdly a junior functionary applying a rule in a nonsensical way that everyone, me and the client included, assumed it was a joke.  Anyway, I am having to compose a contractual letter which is a waste of everyone's time and has put me in a bad mood.

On the other hand, the weather is delightful, with that end of summer vibe with clear skies but cool nights.  C and I did a lovely walk by the lake last night.  I allowed myself one episode of Call My Agent last night and am eeking out the final season.  

I have lovely plans for the weekend with dinner with my daughter tonight, some book unpacking to do, dinner with friends tomorrow night (oh the joy of being in a Covid free city) and the enlighten festival starting where public buildings are illuminated.

In haste

I've been hit with another slammer of a work week, in part because of being away last week, but mostly because there is just a lot of pressure in the business (code, not doing as well as we should be).

I'm still loving my new place and the endless space and the neighbours seem nice and Charlie already has amassed a fan club.  I met an older woman when I was walking the first day who told me she had a border collie a few months ago.  Then on Saturday, a middle aged guy came and patted Charlie and said he had seen him around and had his ten year son come over to meet him.  The next day, I saw the older lady again and she told me the man was her son and had sent her a photo of her grandson patting the dog and she was able to say "oh Charlie and I are already acquainted".  Glad to know the pupparazi are a force for good round here.

Sunday stocktake: new digs edition

 

1. Listening: to a hundred million episodes of You're Wrong About and grateful for a giant backlist.  I think I heard about them from the High Low but the Brittany documentary (which I have not seen as is not streaming in Australia yet, I don't think) and the current raft of women blaming, had me raptly listening to the Anna Nicole Smith episode and many more besides while moving stuff and unpacking the car and emptying endless boxes.
2. Cooking: a grapefruit and white chocolate cake from Snacking Cakes using my new bundt tin.
3. Watching: Virgin River.  I just need low energy, romantic drama right now.  It is ridiculous with lots of eye rolling and head tossing but the scenery is soothing.
4. Raging: about sexual violence, our political leaders and the stupid tropes which endlessly repeat themselves.  Fair play to FWA Twigs on "why didn't you just leave" - "the real question should be, why are you holding someone hostage with abuse?"
5. Loving: my new pantry with which I am borderline obsessed.  It lowers my blood pressure to have all the appliances and ingredients displayed with such easy access.
6. Realising: that my eye sight is getting worse.  I can't even read a text message without my glasses any more.  This also leads to coveting a new phone with a bigger screen.
7. Glorying: in successful Facebook marketplace sales this week.  I got rid of a two seater sofa and a small chest of drawers that did not fit anywhere.   Both were women who successfully manhandled the purchases into a) a Toyota Corolla "it's like a Mary Poppins bag car"  and, b) a truck.
8. Smelling: Jo Malone's Grapefruit cologne in David Jones.  I remember the much missed Karina telling me she loved the scent of it on other people but it smelled like gasoline on her. 
9. Feeling: relief at having moved.  The removal guys were so nice and helpful and worked non stop for 7 hours.
10. Hearing: cows lowing from the dairy flats which I am now living close to.  I can't remember hearing cows ever before in Australia.  Lions on cold mornings, when we lived close to the zoo, yes.  Bird life, yes. Cows, never.

In transit

Charlie gets very anxious when we move house.  He usually goes and hides down the end of the garden, and after a day of to and fro to the new place, I found him hiding behind the washing line.  The car was already loaded with stuff but I stuck him in the front seat for the final drop off for the evening.  He is quite delighted with the new place, stuck his nose through the railings to look at everyone in the street below, charmed the elderly Russian lady who lives in the penthouse when we met her in the car park, and cheered up immensely at the outing.

We came home and ate takeaway again and were in bed by 9pm.

This morning, I off loaded the old tumble dryer and a double mattress, went to the tip with a load of cardboard and jettisoned stuff at Vinnies.  I told my colleague I was 20% on too many tasks and he reminded me to stop multi-tasking and complete one thing at a time.

Valentine stocktake

1. Feeling: happy with my own company.  I would be lonely if I didn't have pets, I think, but I enjoy my solitude.
2. Watching: the Dig which was utterly soothing and the right pitch for my fevered brain.  While I loved the clothes, I was so glad not to be eating the dinners which all looked like boiled gammon, potatoes and cabbage.
3. Marvelling: that Ralph Fiennes is younger than I am.  I think I might be ageing better.
4. Selling: all the things.  A USB-C cable I had wrongly order for $10 to a guy who drove across town for it, the dryer which I would have listed for free but couldn't find that option and the aforementioned fridge.
5. Reading: city of girls after putting it down two months ago.  It's ok but I am not loving it.  I even made my daughter take a ten minute detour to the bookshop yesterday but nothing jumped out at me.  I need to find my library card again.
6. Donating: a lot of books.  I wish it were cheaper to post them as then I would hand them on to my niece but instead I am swelling the coffers of the charity shop.
7. Painting: scuff marks on walls with great effect as, in a miracle, the builder told me the exact paint shade used.
8. Cooking: nothing but eggs as I try and run down the food supplies.  I had an omelette for lunch yesterday and am about to eat boiled eggs.
9. Driving: across town to pick up a necklace and bracelet my friend in Melbourne had bought off someone on marketplace.  It turned out to be from Taxco and the seller and I swapped stories of our visits to Mexico.  I am still hoarding the cast iron frying pan this friend had me pick up a year ago.  God knows when she'll ever get it with Melbourne back in lockdown.
10. Deferring: watching the final season of Call My Agent.  I have enjoyed it so much, I want to savour the final season.

 

In progress

I am that chaotic stage of packing where everything is 10% started and nothing is finished.  I have set myself the goal of getting all the books done by the end of tonight.

I have managed to sell the fridge which meant that I had to clean out the food from the fridge and make my daughter take the freezer stuff and clean all the compartments and shelves in the fridge for the person who is coming to collect it tomorrow.  I will be fridgeless for 24 hours but I think that is entirely manageable.  The new place has a giant fridge with ice maker which I asked them to leave as my tiny fridge was going to look lost in the space.

The washing machine is also going to my daughter but I made her do the organisation of that removal.

I still have to get rid of the old dryer, a chest of drawers and a small cabinet.

I did go to the lockup with some more cushions for the cushion library and sold my burr coffee grinder to someone.

 

Slog

My boss is returning to the Middle East as covid has put paid to his commuting back and forth plans and it's a long and tedious story but he is going.  He has a small flat here with bachelor stuff and has kindly given my daughter his vacuum cleaner and ironing board and contents of his spice cupboard.  This meant I had to load up my car last night and god, his over explaining and insistence on packing my car made me glad I am not married.  Anyway, the kid has a modicum more stuff in her apartment and got the good news on a promotion and a commensurate pay rise which makes her very happy and really lifts the strain on counting every single penny.

I sold two more things on Facebook marketplace last night but the big things are not shifting which is super annoying given the impending move.

Finally, I finished the Tana French I was reading.  The last 150 pages were quite good and paced but, man, it was dark, dark, dark and I need to find something cheerful to read now.

Goosey goosey gander

I am busy at work but in a good way.  The office is full with the downside that the car park is full of badly parked cars, one of which forced me to climb in my passenger door today.

Yesterday I had to take the cat to the vet as he had got into a fight and had some bleeding puncture wounds.  Fortunately he is now dosed with antibiotics and regaining his dignity while snoozing.  The dog came to for a dental check up.  We also met a goose called Toulouse in the waiting room.  His owner says she names all her geese Toulouse.  

Name change

My former husband had a habit of using boarding passes as book marks so I'll often find a decades old reminder in a book but yesterday I stumbled on an old Christmas card from his parents he had used in a book.

I snapped him a photo of it and he reminded me it must have been taken pre 1995 as it did not mention our youngest daughter.  His family is big on nicknames.  He, himself, was known by multiple names by his siblings and parents.  He calls one of our daughter "Being".  I love the careful way his mother describes these multiple identities.  To me, they were Anne and John.  To their son, they were Bun and TF (the father), to the grandchildren they were Grandma and Teddy.  Confusingly, they called each other Teddy as well.

The biggest surprise was the book "surely, I never read that?".  Actually, despite being published more than 25 years ago, Hughes is pretty good on what he calls "the fraying of America".  Adding it to my re read pile.