Camping!

Friday was ANZAC day and finally the time for camping had come. I've been going on and on about going camping for months now and after the whole Lake fiasco I'd finally found a place we could go camping near to where we all live.
It's a little place called Patens Brook and it's very near to Mundaring Weir (you know the place - I think every time I post about it I include photos of roos). Patens Brook is only open outside of the total fire ban season and you have to hike about 3kms to get to it so I figured it would be a nice, quiet little site. Perfect for a little get together!

Did I say little? Does 11 people count as a little camping group? Medium to large maybe... ;-)

Anyway, lots of people decided to come and it was great to have so many of my friends all in the one place. The opportunities for cuddles was endless! I also did my usual photo thing so I have lots of pics for you guys today as well as stories. I like stories!

Okie, how bout I just get started with the whole actually telling you about camping thing instead of this digressing I'm doing now.

Right, so everyone was late but really that's just normal now. We'd planned to get to the meeting point at half eleven and I think it was almost eleven when Damian and Wendy arrived at our place as they were giving us a lift. Mel rang about that time to tell us she hadn't even left home yet and as she was picking up Mike and Chiaki and Kat was also getting a lift with us it seemed that everyone bar Dan and Helen were late.

Damian, Wendy, Kat, Christian and I trundled up the hill, stopping in the Stonemasons Hall car park briefly so we could meet Dan there. The car park is perfect for doughnuts and other manoeuvres and Wendy had to warn Damian several times that all horrors of the universe would be visited upon him if he got playful with the car.

I said I had photos, didn't I. Guess we should get to them.

This is Christian and Damian checking out the car park, mourning the lost opportunities.
I'd just like to point out that this is probably the best photo I got of my darling hubby the whole time we were away. His skill at dodging the camera seems to have been refined since my last outing with the camera.

Kat on the other hand plays well with others and will always pose for the camera. She always looks so good too damn her!

This is Wendy who I haven't as yet properly introduced. Wendy is married to Damian who took over from Mike when he left Christians' work. We met at a party a few weeks back and ever since then Christian has had to put up with me saying constantly "Wendy and Damian are soooo nice! I really like them!". I liked them even more when I discovered that they're snuggle bugs too! Being British Wendy didn't feel the cold much but was very nice in keeping snugged up to me to keep me warm.

So this is Damian, who informs me he's actually Welsh. Neyh, where ever he and Wendy come from they have the most divine accents! Damian professes to hate photos but always seemd to be posing for the camera...

Ok, so that's not too unusual I guess. I don't like photos and this is as big as a pose as you're likely to find.

So, Dan and Helen finally emerged and we took off again, not doing too badly seeing as we arrived at the rendezvous point a little past noon. Mel, Jann, Mike and Chiaki met us there a short while later and we were ready to start our camping adventure!
It was at this point that we all came to the decision to head back into Mundaring and get lunch before heading to a bottle shop. Being ANZAC day all the bottlos were opening late and there weren't many of us that had been organised enough to get booze the day before.

Right, so now, being fed, boozed up and organised, it was time to start our camping adventure. We figured out exactly which way to go (the track loops round but if we took the wrong one we'd have ended up walking 5kms, not 3), loaded backpacks and tents onto backs and took off.

You know, on paper 3kms doesn't sound far at all. I've walked 3kms many times before. Every time Kat and I head down to the river for a walk we would easily cover 3kms.

3kms with a heavy backpack on and a bag in each hand feels like forever! Ok, that might be a slight exaggeration but we did need to stop a few times to have a rest.

I took one rest opportunity to take some more pics.
Mike actually gave me a smile for once, bless his little cotton socks!


Daniel and Wendy, waiting for everyone else to catch up.
And here they come!
We finally came across the camp site and it was a relief to be able to finally throw our crap down and just relax. Jann and Damian especially looked relieved.

So we set about putting up out tents and setting up camp. Wendy and I decided to be neighbours and without waiting for the boys started putting the tents up. It took us about twenty seconds to figure out that we had exactly the same tents. Even bought them from the same place. They had had theirs a bit longer than us though and so I got some good advice and tips on the best way to get the mass of canvas and poles to look something vaguely tent shaped.

Christian came over and helped me with the last part and so I gave him the honour of inflating the air mattress we'd brought with us. Having only a stupid little hand pump it didn't really do much but I did get the chance to take a photo of Christian's arse. Yay me ;-)


Across the way a bit Dan and Helen were putting up their tent (I refuse to use the word 'erecting' in this post because I do not know of one of you who read this that won't make some juvenile comment!). Their tent was so sweet, it looked like it had come straight out of a boy scout manual!
Mel was having a little more success with their air mattress as she had bought a foot pump with them. She was nice enough to lend it to us although she probably shouldn't have bothered since our mattress didn't like staying inflated and even before I went to bed it was very sad and droopy looking.

Kat was bunking in with Mel and Jann and helped put up the tent by having a nap on the log.
We discovered that while the girls were putting up the tents, the boys had been busy getting the camp fire ready. They had managed to put together a nice little pile of wood to get started with.

A little more foraging and we had a nice wood pile off to one side to keep us going for the night. Surely we wouldn't need any more?


Obviously we did! Kat and Dan decided to collect all the fallen trees they could find.

Once the fire was started Christian pulled out his pack of cards and everyone sat down to a few games. I wanted to explore and after telling Christian 'I'm off to look at rocks' I set off.
The camp site is in a valley and I wandered northwards for a bit and came upon a really lovely area that had huge granite rocks sticking up every where. I absolutely love places like this and had a lot of fun exploring the area. I even came across a bit of a cave!
Ok, well, maybe not technically a cave but it was an area where some granite boulders had fallen together and had formed an area about a metre wide and maybe three metres deep.

This photo doesn't actually make it looks as big as it was.
Just past the cave the valley came to an end and I started climbing up the rocky side to get to the top. I found a lovely rock to perch on and stayed there for maybe twenty minutes, just enjoying the peace and quite. My doctor says that since I'm such a stress head I have to find activities that calm me down and since yoga and stuff like it bore the crap out of me he advised I spend some time 'looking at trees'.
Honestly, he said that to me.
So, what better place to be that sitting on a rock at the top of the valley!
I took photos of course but it really just doesn't do the place any justice at all. Boo and Mouse, when you come in October I think we'll need to go camping for a night or two so you can really experience it.

I was rather high up on my rock, almost as high as the tree tops. I sat there in silence for ages but you know, apart from some birds and a shit load of spiders, there didn't seem to be anything else around. Maybe the laughing that came floating along on the breeze from the direction of the camp fire scared everything else away.

I played about with the zoom on my camera for a bit. This honkey nut was on a branch about twenty metres away from me.
After a while I heard the guys yelling for me and I sent a coo-ee back to let them know I was still alive but they were worried and sent Christian to look for me. He found me on my rock and I climbed down to head back with him. He told me that the state had spent $32 billion dollars on their search for me and if I didn't pay it back by dinner time I'd be in trouble.
I argued that I'd told Christian that I'd gone looking at rocks and even though he hadn't been worried, Christian said that I'd been gone quite a while and my parting explanation didn't really explain my absence. I thought I'd been gone only twenty minutes or so but I do have a warped sense of time and it had been a bit closer to an hour.

Before we headed back I got a snap of the rock I'd been sitting on. Yet again, I don't know why I bothered because the photo makes it seem not very exciting at all. It was much higher and prettier than that, honest!

When we got back to the fire everyone had started drinking and the fire was roaring. I'm not exactly the most experienced drinker but I thought that we'd bought quite a lot with us. Christian and I had 8 Pulse cans between us, there was 4 litres of Goon, another bottle of wine, a five litre keg, 4 G&T's, I think 8 cans of various Bourbon and Cola's and 4 pre-mixed Cowboys (there might have been something else too but I can't remember). I have since been told by the more experienced drinkers that were there with me that we didn't really bring that much with us. Anyway, I think it was about 3pm when we started and by half 9 it was all gone, to be replaced by several extremely drunk people. Christian got rather talkative (as he does when he's drunk) and kept on trying to get Kat and I to kiss, Chiaki headed off to bed very early and Wendy and I were having a hard time keeping Damian out of the fire.
Me : 'Damian, I think you might want to step back a bit.'
Damian: 'Nah, I'm fine!' as he staggers backwards a few steps.
Wendy: 'Seriously, you need to come over this way a bit.'
Damian: 'I'm telling you, I'm fine. Never better.'
Me: Grabbing Damian's arm 'How bout you come over here and sit of the log.'
Damian: Pulls arm away and leaning dangerously backwards 'You two worry too much!'

I'm just don't know how he managed to keep from getting his butt burnt to a crisp but I guess alcohol can make you a bit numb.

Christian grabbed my camera and started playing with the night mode, a favourite past time of his and had fun with taking photos of the fire.

He took so many photos that I deleted some of them as I uploaded them because I really didn't think we needed twenty photos of it. I know, it was a great camp fire but lets not go over board!
He moved on to flaming marshmallows after that...
And then he and Kat hit upon the idea of using a keyring sized LED to write our names with. I think he set the shutter to go off every 5 seconds or so and the results were really cool. We all gathered about to see what each name would look like.

Kat kept on spelling Annette wrong so she just stuck with Annie. It gets slightly confusing at times being known by so many different names! We should have done one Annette, one Nettie and one Annie just to cover all of them!

Christian rarely gets called Chris but one must make sacrifices when having ones name written on the night.You can't really see it here but if you look closely on the full photos, you can sometimes see Kat three or four times throughout the photo.

I had given this a go earlier but I couldn't get the knack of writing in a mirror image. Kat turned out to be a natural at it.

Although the Y gave Kat a little trouble. I think they tried to write Wendy four or five times and kept on getting it not quite right but the batteries ran out and so there was no chance of doing it over and over until a perfected one was reached.
Kat tried writing Brooksey but couldn't make it in time so we stuck with Mike.
Chiaki took over for this one and wrote her name in her native Japanese. How awesome does that look!Mel, short and sweet, just like the woman!

Kat tried some flourishes but they didn't always work out too well...
All in all though the fact that she was writing in light and having to guess where to place each letter next, the results are just so cool!
If only the batteries hadn't run out, we could have had so much fun with this!The funny thing about camping is that time moves at a different pace. I kept on looking at my watch expecting it to be almost midnight and it would only be half eight.
The night wore on and after a pitch black adventure to the cave, people started one by one to head off to bed. I crawled in at about 12 but was so cold! Sitting around a fire after a few drinks snuggling up to one person or the other was nice and comfy, laying in a sleeping bag by yourself in a cold tent, quite another! To make matters worse, Christian, Kat and Dan had stayed up and were yakking by the fire and I could hear them so clearly that between listening to them and the sound of my chattering teeth, there was no way I was going to fall asleep. After a while I yelled at Christian to stop being so damned philosophical and to come and keep me warm but he thought I was joking. About an hour later I got out of bed and told him in no uncertain terms to come to bed and although I was much warmer after that, I didn't sleep much at all. Every time I rolled over I would wake up or Christian would shuffle up the mattress and I would wake up or Damian would start snoring in the next tent and I would wake up. It was almost a relief when it started getting light just after six so I could get up.

The morning was spent cooking brekkie and packing up and then it was time to start the walk back. It was slightly easier with the lighter load but tents and air mattresses weigh a certain amount regardless of it being the way in or out so it was still heavy and awkward.
It only took us 45 minutes to walk back though and so we were soon on the way home, heading for a hot bath and a much needed nap (if six hours can be called a nap).

I just had so much fun, I cannot wait to do it all again! I even think that Christian, who professes to hate camping enjoyed himself but I think I can put that down to the people who were there with us.

How time flies when you're having fun

Today is our 12th anniversary from when we got together, not when we married (only been married just over 4 years).
Since rain has been forecast for most of today we had to cancel plans for a picnic at Kings Park so instead we went to a movie last night. Went and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I must say it was much funnier than I thought it would be. The only reason we picked it was because it looked the least crap out of a whole line up of crap but I really was surprised at how good it was. At the beginning I thought the only funny bits would be the numerous full frontal male nudity and Billy Baldwin's lines from the crime show but it turned out to be more than just that.

So it was a fun night out and I'm glad we did it. After so long these things kind of get forgotten about. We don't do the whole present buying thing any more but it's nice to acknowledge the day and enjoy each other's company. Sometimes things get so hectic around here with work and everything that we don't seem to have a lot of time to just hang out together.

I think today we'll just get out a dvd and relax at home, maybe walk the dogs if the rain lets up. Just spend time with my adorable hubby.

Opportunities and pant wetting

I resigned from my job today.

Yay me!

Even after my talk with my bosses about lightening my work load several weeks ago not really much has happened in that area. I had a task or two taken away from me but within a week I'd been given several different jobs so it hasn't exactly been lightened, just rearranged. My stress levels haven't decreased at all and at the end of the day that's what's stopping us from falling pregnant. I decided I had to get my priorities straight. Having a family is more important to me that staying in a job that, although I love the job itself and the people I work with, I'm a bit disenchanted with the bank in general at the moment.

So, what will I do now?

This is where the pant wetting comes in! lol

I haven't gotten another job as yet, haven't even looked. I've done what I did with my previous two jobs and quit without any where to go. The difference is this time I have a mortgage. However the way the job market is at the moment I doubt I'll have any real difficulty getting another job. Since I need about six weeks off in October I doubt anyone will want to hire me fulltime so I might just look for a casual or temping position. I don't really mind what I do, stocking supermarket shelves actually sounds quite appealing at the moment!

At the end of the day hopefully I'll find something that won't cause me any stress and with any luck we'll soon have a baby on the way and that's the most important thing :)

Book tag

Okie here goes.

1. Pick up nearest book

The Last Battle By C.S Lewis

2. Open book to page 123 and find third sentence.

When you are using every muscle to the full - ducking under a spear point here, leaping over it there, lunging forward, leaping back, wheeling around -you haven't much time to feel either frightened or sad.

3. Post the next 5 sentences.

Tirian knew he could do nothing for the others now; they were all doomed together. He vaguely saw the Boar go down on one side of him, and Jewel fighting furiously on the other.Out of the corner of one eye he saw, but only just saw, a big Calormene pulling Jill somewhere by her hair. But he hardly thought about any of these things. His only thought now was to sell his life as dearly as he could.

I'm not going to tag anyone else because I think they've all been tagged already.

Rose and The Doctor

I know it's been a couple of seasons since Rose left Doctor Who but I still really enjoy this little clip. It also helps that it's one of my fave songs of all time.

Trip to Emergency

Had an asthma attack at work today and was taken to the ED, against my will I should say. I didn't think it was bad enough to be taken to hospital but my boss disagreed.
According to the doctor I'm over worked and way too stressed. He thinks it may have been a mix of an asthma attack and an anxiety attack.
Whichever it is, it sucks.

Molly

Aka Snugglebugs
Slayer of Chickens
Mollykins
Pain in the bum
and Smelly.


Lately it seems everyone is doing posts regarding their various furry friends, be it Hastings the rat or Yang and George the evil cats, so I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon.
I've spoken about my dogs before and even posted a few pics but just how much do you really know about my delightful doggies?

I'll start off with Molly as she's really my dog.
About seven or eight years ago I was living between my Mum's house and Christian's Mum's place, staying one night here and the other night there. It worked rather well as both our Mum's were single and although they both enjoyed time to themselves, they didn't want to be alone all the time.
Christian had a dog called Tessa, a pure-bred Jack Russell who was a little cow and hated everyone except Christian and Margaret (my mother in law). Tess was slowly warming up to me but in her eyes I was an usurper, the one who stole her precious Christian away from her. She rarely had any time for me and although she would occasionally allow me to pat her it would more often than not end up with her snapping at my hands.

Margaret one day heard about a dog that was going to be put down because she'd killed a chicken. The dog was a Corgi-x-Jack Russell, about a year and a half old and apart from this one instance had a nice temperament. Having considered for a while getting another dog to keep Tess company, Margaret went to have a look at Molly and discovered that even before she had killed the chicken Molly had been mistreated by her current owners. That was enough to convince Margaret to keep her.

I had been at work and had a message on my phone saying that as no one would be home that evening could I maybe go around there to help Molly settle in. I had no idea what to expect but when I got over there I found the most adorable dog in the world waiting for me. Molly loves cuddles, I sometimes say she's a cuddle slut as she'll mob anyone and everyone just to get cuddles. She has the softest fur in the world and compared to Tess, she's very well behaved.


From that day onwards Molly became mine. Unlike Tessa, Molly accepted me instantly and would love me regardless. In fact I believe it was because of her ill treatment that has made Molly the way she is. If someone is willing to show affection she will return it ten fold.

Molly is also the funniest dog I've ever seen. She gets playful at times and like Tess (it must be a Jack Russell thing) she'll tear off around the house, running laps, stopping suddenly as if to dare you to chase her and then she'll be off again. She will stand on the rug for ages bent into some crazy yoga position so she can rub the top of her head and if you sit down she'll come and claw at your hand until you pat her. Molly is also a ball freak but because she tore her cruciate ligament a while back and had to have it replaced with wire, we don't play often with her. This doesn't stop Molly though! She has a rope with a ball attached and she'll throw it into the air and play by herself. She can really get some height with it too - I've lost track of the times she's thrown it over the fence.

Molly is a slinker and if she's been caught doing something naughty she'll slink away guiltily. If I come home from work and she's run up to me just to slink away it usually means she's been in the bin, although she does act like this even if it's Tessa who's done the deed. Again I think it's her past experience that makes her believe she'll get into trouble even if she hasn't done anything wrong. Since Tessa doesn't give a shit if she's chewed a wrapper from this bin and doesn't act guilty at all I do think that Molly takes the blame for a lot of stuff she hasn't done.

The other morning I woke up to find it was thundering. As I wandered about getting ready for work I was thinking how great it was that Tess was deaf now since she hadn't been howling at the thunder and setting Molly off. Just after this followed another thought - where the heck was Molly? I hadn't seen her all morning. I searched all over the house and yard for her but just couldn't find her. Her usual spots were all vacant - under the bed, in her basket outside, in her bed in our walk-in robe. I was heading through the bathroom into the bedroom again, sure I had missed her in there before when I spotted her cowering in the shower. I had only just gotten out of the shower so she was sopping wet but her trembling wasn't from being cold and wet. She was absolutely petrified.
I went about making a hidey hole for her in the lounge, putting her bed in between the couches and covering it with cushions but she wouldn't stay in it and headed straight back into the shower. In the end I lay the dog towels in the shower and had to leave for work. As I left she seemed quite content to ride out the remainder of the storm huddled in the shower.


Such a cutie.

Work, work, work

I've been rather busy lately, work has been rather hectic and by the time I get home after going to the gym (I do try and get there but it all depends on how buggered I am), watered my garden, cooked dinner, had a shower, all that jazz, I'm finding it difficult to get online. So no one's really seen much of me over the past couple of weeks.

So what have I been doing?

I went out to dinner with some work friends last Saturday and that was really nice and we have a leaving do for one of the girls this Saturday. We're all going out to an English pub in the city (Laura is British) and to make the night even more special Laura, her partner Leanne, Christian and I are going to catch a limo in.
Yay!
It's ever so exciting.

On the Sunday I took my nieces to Adventure World along with my sister Jo. It was a good day but we didn't stay too long. I was rather surprised at my nieces, especially Chiara. Chiara is the sort who loves rides and she went on the kiddie roller coaster and Bounty's Revenge (a big boat that swings you up to a 75 degree angle) and a dragon ride but refused to go on the paddle boats. I really thought the roller coaster would have been too scary but apparently it's not as scary as a paddle boat. Darcie is a little chicken and doesn't go on anything but she loved the paddle boats and even went on the roller coaster. Of course she screamed the whole way and all you could hear from the ground was 'Mummy, stop it, stop it! Why? Whyyyyyyy? Mummy please make it stop!'. Poor thing, she was sobbing and shaking afterwards and it only did three laps...
The girls seemed to have fun though and didn't want to leave but Jo and I were exhausted after three and a half hours and over-ruled the girls!

I'm going to buy a tent this weekend so I'm thinking of going camping over the Easter long weekend, even if it's just overnight. I'd love to camp at Lake Leschenaultia in Chidlow as it's just gorgeous there and they have great facilities (like showers and toilets). I like camping but I do like my little luxuries too! We go there rather often for barbecues and I think it would be great to spend a longer period of time there. There's heaps to do, canoeing, swimming, bush walks, lounging around on the beach. Should be fun!

Baby making is still in progress and with any luck we'll be pregnant soon. I'm very hopeful for this month - we did everything the doctors asked plus more so fingers crossed people! I am trying not to get my hopes up too much but dammit, I'm sure it's time for luck to look our way!

That's about it really. I'll keep you posted about how this weekend goes and I'll make sure to get photos of us in the limo!
Take care and I'll see you later!
xxxx

Trip to Freo

A few weeks back my sister Jo, niece Darcie and I took a little trip into Freo to have lunch for Jo's birthday. I took a few pics and thought I'd post a couple on here just for the sake of doing a post really.

Now I like Freo. I don't spend a lot of time there mainly because the parking is crap and it's not exactly close to where I live (although it's much closer now than to where I used to live). But it has a certain charm about it, a lot of the buildings are the original ones from the settlement, being a port city it has a hustle and bustle about it and there are heaps of little back alleys to explore.

We had lunch at Cicerellos, one of the more famous fish and chip joints in Perth. They're pretty good there although you pay for their fame but it's always worth it when in Freo. They have tables outside on the jetty and so we sat outside to eat although Darcie was a bit freaked out being so close to the water's edge.
After lunch we decided to head over to the Round House and have a looksie. Smerk posted a few pics of the Round House a while back on her blog but I can't find them to link to at the mo so you'll just have to make do with the photos I've taken from the inside and underneath and check out the Wiki link.

Under the Round House is a tunnel that is used now as a mini museum. There's several enclosures that depict various colonial scenes plus displays about how the tunnels were incorporated during war time.

This is the big flag pole that stands at the top of Arthur Head as seen from below (I got very excited learning the name of this hill and made several references to Arthur's Seat much to the annoyance of Jo). When a ship is coming into Port a welcome flag is raised to acknowledge it's arrival, apparently Freo is one of the few remaining Ports in the world who continue with this tradition.



All it really needs is a pirate flag!


There are some stocks inside the Round House and the guide there was going to unlock them to let us have our photo taken. Unfortunately she's misplaced the keys and so Darcie and I settled for just putting our hands through. I guess we're lucky that the guide didn't lose the keys after she'd locked us in!

After we left the Round House we meandered down some little back streets and made our way over to the new Maritime Museum. We were going to go and have a look but didn't really want to spend a heap to get into the museum and then have to pay for the submarine tour as well when we knew Darce would chicken out and we'd be left penniless for no reason. Darce tried to convince us she'd be ok but when we pointed out the submarine (it's at the back of the museum) she realised how small and cramped it would be and admitted she would have freaked.
So we caught the bus up to the prison with the intent to take a tour and show Darce the first prison that Poppy worked in (Dad was a Prison Officer for many, many years working all over the state up until he retired several years back). However when we got there we discovered we'd just missed the last tour and would have to wait an hour and a half till the next one. By that point we were tired and sunburnt and decided to head home.

On the walk back to the car we passed a church near the markets and I really liked this sign out the front. I'm not a religious person but if I was I'd love to attend a church with a sense of humour.

Also I'd been meaning to get a photo of this church for quite some time but have never had a chance. Sorry it's a bit blurry - it was taken from the car while driving past. If you can't read the name of the church on the sign it says 'The Immaculate Conception Parish'.

Freo is a must do place for when Boo and Mouse come to visit in October. It might not be as ancient as their city but it's the oldest man made place we've got here and I'd like to show it off.

I'm so dizzy my head is spinning

Aloha cousins.

I've not exactly been well this last week. It all started with a killer headache on Monday that hasn't let up since, I started feeling a bit nauseous (well, a LOT nauseous) and then the dizziness started. Throw in a bit of vertigo and you've got yourself a recipe for a crappy time!
I went to bed Tuesday night feeling awful and even though I just don't vomit (as much as it would probably make me feel better to just have a good spew my body just physically won't do it. I have to be on my death bed to actually vomit), Christian bought me in a nice red bucket and placed it next to the bed. I slept horribly the whole night thanks to the room that would just not stop spinning. You know when you're rather drunk and every time you close your eyes you feel like you're on a merry-go-round? It was like that.

So Wednesday morning I get out of bed to call my boss and tell her I'm not coming in. Not too sure what happens next but I can tell you this. The room started spinning like crazy and then one hand is landing in that delightful red bucket - thankfully it hadn't been used for it's intended purpose, my knees are cracking onto our hard as nails tiles and I'm moaning in pain.
Yes dear readers, I had fallen out of bed.

Not happy Jan.

Christian looks down at me and gives me 'a look'. A look that asks 'What are you doing down there?'
Trust me my beloved, I didn't do this intentionally.
The following conversation takes place.

Christian : 'Come back to bed.'
Me : 'I have to ring Di to let her know I'm not coming into work.'
Christian : 'Get back into bed and I'll go and get the phone for you.'
Me : 'You know, since you're getting up maybe you could just call her for me.
Christian (with a look) : 'That would look rather dodgy.'
Me : 'I call in for you all the time! You never make that call yourself! Why won't you just call for me?'
Christian : 'I just think it would look really suspicious. I really think you should call.'
Me (sulkily) : 'Fine, get me the damn phone.'
Me : 'Hello Di? I'm not coming in to today, I've just fallen out of bed and it fucking hurts!'

I ended up going into work on Thursday since I couldn't get a doctor's appointment. I really shouldn't have since I felt like shit all day. Di and my Team Leader Heather both gave me a good telling off for going in and when I left that night I was told not to come in the next day if I was still feeling that bad.
So this morning I've gotten up, almost fallen over in the shower (bending down to wash your feet isn't too bad but the standing back up afterwards part is the killer) and so I've managed to get a doctors appointment today. Hopefully it'll just turn out to be some stupid virus that will go away in a few days and not an inoperable brain aneurysm. The Doctor I'm seeing isn't the best with his English so whatever he says I'll just take it as 'stupid virus that will go away in a few days'.

Okie, have a great weekend guys and I'll let you know how it all went.

In space no one can hear the thunder...

Nor can we in Perth.

BECAUSE THERE ISN'T ANY!!!

I am so over being told by people in the know that we'll be having thunderstorms and rain. All we're getting is fecking hot and humid weather and I'm really, really over it. Towards the end of a bitterly cold winter I shall never again look expectantly forward to summer.

I tell you, I think hell decided to relocate to the south of Western Australia.

Ok, enough ranting about the weather.

What have I been up to lately?
Well, I've been implementing one of my new years resolutions.
No, not the 'gym more, eat less crap' one because I think I'm going backwards with that. I shall be the size of a house by the time some of you come to visit me in October.
No, the one I've been implementing is the 'do more of the things that I want to do' one.

To put it simply, Christian and I don't exactly have similar tastes when it comes to hobbies. Sure there are some movies that we both like, TV shows are pretty on par and I've taken up an interest in cars, but on a base level we're quite different.
Now I don't have a problem with that at all but to actually spend time with each other it does mean that one if us ends up doing something that isn't a real interest to us.
That person tends to be me.
99.9% of the time.
Since we've been together I've ...

• Joined a rally team and hence spent many weekends being cold and wet in the middle of nowhere changing muddy tyres.
• Sat for many an hour watching Christian participate in track days plus attend numerous Motovations and car shows.
• Watched endless Jackie Chan movies plus other martial arts movies (to be fair I have developed a liking for some of these but they're still not my genre of choice).
• Spent hours on end and occasionally all night playing cards and board games.

• Spent hours on end and occasionally all night watching Christian play on his computer (once again I've developed a bit of a liking for this as I do enjoy chatting to the guys that attend LANS but it's not something I would have taken up by myself)

I wouldn't mind this if it went both ways but Christian is a stubborn male and absolutely refuses to do an activity if he won't enjoy it. Therefore all he has done in return is...

• Take up Squash (he refused to play Badminton as he doesn't like it but this was his compromise)
• Watch one or two girly movies with me at the cinema (Ever After being one and Harry Potter 5 being the other!)
• Once (and only once - it was last Sunday) help me in the garden.

I've discovered that I've kind of lost myself over the years and so I resolved to this year make more time for myself and do less things just because Christian is doing them. If this means that we spend less time together then so be it. If Christian wants to spend more time with me then he can participate in some of my activities.

Now I don't want to give the wrong impression - things are great between us. No marital problems or anything, I just need to do what's right for me. So in aid of this I have recently undertaken the following...

• Taken up Jazz Funk classes. These are classes in which we're taught a new routine every few weeks (the first is a hip hop routine, not sure what the next will be) with the intent of having fun and getting fit at the same time.
• I've stopped going to soccer on both Wednesdays and Sundays. I did like going to soccer but it was more for the perv value I think than out of any actual enjoyment for the game. I can perv on my hubby at home just as well as there and it does mean I can do more important things on the weekends instead of cutting them short just to sit around watching Christian exercise.
• I've chosen not to attend two games nights that our friend Daniel has held since the New Year. Now, there are a couple of board games that I quite enjoy but at these nights the boys tend to steer away from those and play more strategy based ones and I get bored and try to sleep on a mouldy old couch.
• There are a few movies that Christian has gone to watch that I haven't joined him with simply because I'm not interested in them. Instead I've seen a few chick flicks with some girls from work and my sisters.
• Barb and I are going to take up Belly Dancing when the new term starts. It's something I've always wanted to do, although I'm sure I'll be crap at it.

So hopefully is all goes well I'll start actually having my own life as well as my married one. I think the problem I've had is that I've only been thinking of me in terms of 'us' and not as 'me'. Just because I'm married it doesn't mean I should give up my own life.
I'm already feeling much happier for it which is great although I don't think Christian realised just how resolved I was. I'm pretty sure he thought I was having a whinge but wouldn't make any changes. On Sunday I went off to the markets and received a txt saying 'Soccer's on at 3 will you be back in time to come'. I really wanted to reply 'You assume I'm going' but managed to restrain myself. There's no need to be snippy after all. Instead I waited till I got home five minutes later to inform him I wasn't going. He seemed a bit shocked as I always go but I'm sure he'll learn that that's all going to change.

So I'll let you know how all my new hobbies go. If Belly Dancing doesn't work out I'm thinking of taking up another type although most of them you need a partner for (and I'm sure it comes as no surprise to hear that Christian refuses to take up dancing lessons with me). We'll just have to wait and see I suppose.
Sorry if this seemed like one long rant. I'll try and make my next post a little cheerier. Till then, take care.

Pinged by Neo

Okie, I've been saying I'll do it for a while now so here it finally is. My 'things to do before I kick the bucket' list. One item for each year I've been on this Earth.

1. Take dancing lessons. *
2. Join a choir. I can't sing but I love doing it and in a choir no one can hear your squeals ;-)
3. Finish the story I've been working on for years but keep putting off because I don't have time.
4. Have a baby.
5. Travel to Canada to see my Dad. *
6. Travel to New Zealand.
7. See snow up close and personal (meaning not seeing snow on a distant mountain while driving to Loch Ness)
8. Own my dream car, if I can ever figure out exactly what it is.
9. Own a brand new, never been driven car.
10. Pay off the mortgage.
11. Retire.
12. Travel around Australia.
13. Walk into the caldera of a volcano.
14. Take a tour of The Zone of Alienation, Chernobyl and Pripiat.
15. Visit Edinburgh again.
16. Have another MoH reunion. *
17. Grow old with Christian.
18. Win lotto (how realistic does this list have to be???)
19. Finally put up a patio.
20. Teach my niece how to drive when she's old enough.
21. Go on another cruise.
22. Gain more self confidence.
23. Overcome my fear of the dentist so I actually go.
24. Become more assertive.
25. Find and then keep more friends who don't take advantage of me.
26. Learn how to heel-toe properly.
27. Fork out the ridiculous amount of money for coloured contacts so I can have green eyes, if only for a little while.
28. Die before Christian. I couldn't stand being alive without him. Preferably we'd die together. Or maybe he'd kill me in a murder/suicide. Which is likely since I drive him mad. But that would still qualify as me dying before him. Unless of course his aim is off centre,then he shoots himself and then I die later from blood loss.
Crap. Maybe I should discuss this with him...

Oh, the * stands for items that I will hopefully be able to cross of my list by the end of this year. I'm taking Jazz Funk classes as of next week, Boo and Mouse are coming to visit me in October for two weeks and I'm going to visit my Dad the following two weeks.

Like a Japanese Tourist

I've got a rather large photo post for you lot today, mainly due to me playing tourist this weekend. I'd gone up to visit my Mum on Saturday and while I was up the hill Jo and I decided to take a run out to the weir. I took lots and lots of photos, and was so excited by some of the content of these photos that Christian asked me 'Are you a bloody Japanese tourist???'.

Not quite Christian but I do get excited about things that you have obviously become apathetic towards.

Shall we begin?

First of all I've got a few pics that aren't from this weekend but from last weekend. Their purpose is to show you my new hair colour because that's the most important bit, yes? ;-)
This is Jess, Clelie and I from Clelie's leaving do at the Riverbank Winery.

Not the best job of portraying the red in my hair but for some reason Mouse seems to like drunk Nettie photos and this is a very drunk Nettie photo. Taken at Mel and Jann's engagement party last weekend.

Ok, onto more exciting photos.
Jo, Darce and I had parked at the main carpark of the weir and were a bit annoyed to find that the usual crowd of roos weren't hanging about. I've lived in the hills since I was a kid and I never stop getting excited when I see kangaroos. I'm such an unobservant person that I tend to miss a lot of stuff that goes on around me (just ask anyone who has ever tried getting my attention while walking past me in a shopping centre) so when I do actually see wildlife, my excitement levels go through the roof.
Anyway, we'd left the carpark and were walking down the millions of steps to the weir wall when we detoured through some gardens into slightly uncharted territory.
Which is to say that we'd never ventured that way before.
We stumbled upon a toilet block and while Jo took Darce there, I wandered over to a huge granite outcropping and was going to take some photos of South Ledge off in the distance.
I heard a crash in the bush and turned to see this fellow staring warily at me.

Looks a bit shocked, doesn't he?
And there were more!


Jo and Darce came out of the loos and I gestured to them to be quiet and scoot carefully up onto the granite. They crept up and we spent a good ten minutes just watching the roos. After a little while the roos let down their guard slightly but always kept one eye on us. I think they were quite happy when we scooted down off the rocks and left them be.

We walked down onto the weir wall itself and took a stroll out to the middle. The day had started off quite overcast and windy, though still warm and the water was quite choppy.

Darcie made it as far as the pump station in the middle of the wall but then freaked out and wouldn't go any further out. I agree with her sentiments regarding this. The first bit up till the pump station is concrete and very wide. You feel relatively safe. The rest of it is a narrow wooden walkway with gaps through which you can see the huge drop beneath you.
I don't feel safe at all walking across it.

While Jo escorted a panicking Darcie back to the safely of solid ground I noticed these doors on the pump station. I rather liked them so I took this photo.

We started to climb down some more steps to the bottom of the weir wall but halfway down we thought we'd check out a track we'd never followed before. It led around the side of the hill and took us out to the bottom of the granite outcrop we'd seen the roos from. We spotted them again, this time slightly uphill from us and had another peek before carrying on.
After a while we came across these ancient stone steps leading up the hill. They must have been built back in the days when the weir was first built and was a popular picnic spot for the citizens of Perth. Of course back then it was a full day trip to visit the weir as the journey was made by train.

The stairs wound all the way up the hill and for some time followed the pipeline.

After we'd finished at the weir we took a drive up to South Ledge. I have only been to North Ledge before and wanted to see what the views were like from the other side.
At South Ledge they've made a viewing platform they call Golden Views, since water is more precious than gold in these parts.

The view of the weir from the platform.

They have these funny little totem pole things at the entrance to the platform and they have the most wonderful carvings on them.



After we left South Ledge we headed back into Mundaring and got some lunch before heading off to Sculpture Park. I'd been meaning to drop by there and get some pics of some of the sculptures there for The Worst of Perth as many of them are quite hideous and creepy.

These are the weird little clone tourists that have been there for years. I remember when they first went up, you'd drive past thinking that they were real people standing amongst the trees but upon closer inspection you were scarred for life by their creepiness.

They're quite small and Darcie looks huge next to them. I'd asked her to pose beside one and she just stood there, looking a bit worried. When I asked her to put her arm around it, she shrieked and moved away several steps. It took a bit of convincing but she finally snuggled up to it and eventually found it quite funny.


Darcie of course demanded payment for the previous photo and that was to let her take a photo of me with the creepy clone woman. I actually look tall! Yay!

One of the other sculptures there has been made into a bench that you could sit on if you found cement to be soothing to aching joints after a long walk.
A bit weird, but arty yes?

Errr, maybe not from this angle.

This is the angle you see from the road if you look far enough back into the park. My gutter mind makes me laugh at it every single time.

And that's about it for now. I'll have another post for you soon as I've promised Neo I'll get my own list together. Till then, take care :)

The worst of Perth

The last few days haven't been the best for me. Last Thursday I woke up and found that I couldn't move my neck from side to side and when I even attempted to it hurt like crazy.
I'm stubborn though and since my next chiro appointment wasn't for another month I plodded off to work and just put up with it. I felt like, and must have looked like, a robot. My moves were so stiff and mechanical.
Stubbornness however can't break the pain barrier and by Thursday night I had to admit to myself that I had to make a chiro appointment - pronto. My regular guy was away on holidays but his brother (also a chiro) fills in for him and so I had no problems getting an appointment the next day.
Naturally (this is me we're talking about) I felt guilty about not going into work, especially on a Friday but my neck had gotten to the point that I had no choice. Apart from sharp stabby nerve pinchy pains I also has muscle soreness from trying to hold my neck straight and a constant headache, probably caused by tension.
My fill-in chiro figured out what was wrong (sublaxation C5 was mentioned but I only have a vague idea of what that means) and started the slow process of fixing me. He also gave me a certificate for work and told me I was to take it easy for the entire weekend and was also to stay home today.

So, in between an achy neck, spasms of guilt and bouts of feeling sorry for myself, I had to find a way to keep myself occupied today. Mikey had mentioned to me a blog called The Worst of Perth so I thought I'd check it out. It was well worth it!
Basically it's a blog that highlights the low points of Perth. Dodgy sculptures, god awful architecture, painful colour schemes, the lot. The guy who runs the site must live around my area because the surrounding areas feature prominently. The purple church across the road from me gets a dishonourable mention, and there are so many places on Morley Drive featured (that's the major road I live just off of) that the whole road has become a bit of a joke.
I know that at the end of this year (how I wish it were sooner) a few of you are going to come visit me so I highly recommend that you check out the site and make a list of the worst places in Perth you'd like to sightsee to. I think it's going to be a heap of fun!

Aloha 2008

I don't really have anything super exciting to post about - just thought the new year deserved a new post.

I had a quiet New Years, just Christian and I, Mel and Jann and it was really nice. We had a barbie at Mel's place and just chatted the night away.
I hope you all had a great New Years and I'm sure 2008 is going to be a good year for us all!

xxx