Visitors and A Full Saturday

Yesterday, my brother and his girlfriend came over to my townhouse for a visit. It was great to see them; as I don't have visitors normally, and least of all my family. 

You see, I do enjoy my townhouse, but I'm very embarrassed about the townhouse complex I live in... it's rare for me to invite people to my place because of the suburb the complex is in and how my neighbours act in it; and yesterday was no different. When my brother and his girlfriend showed up, they scored a parking spot at the back (only just because it was full with cars) and somebody new was moving in a couple of doors down and had parked in front my next door neighbour's place... well, another neighbour did his pills while I stood there embarrassed that my family had to see this side of my neighbour. 
Then, the poor new neighbour asked me where he could park. I told him that there was a car park down the front just inside the gate or there was car park just at the end. But he was convinced there wasn't - a lot of people don't know about the end car park because they're never shown the back one. My brother told him to drive around to the back, following the drive around he'd find it - and he did, got lost and came back, parking his car back in front of his unit. 

During this time, my brother and his girlfriend had coffee with me while my brother install wifi and Netflix... all exciting and new in my home. However at first, I didn't want it - the wifi, yeah, but the Netflix, not really. But when I saw how many shows were on there, and what I didn't need to pay for or save up for with dvds, well, I thought it might be a good thing after all.

While we were having something to eat, we chatted about the townhouse and how long I've lived here for and what has happened since I moved in. And I said that this place has reverted back to what it was when I moved in over 15 years ago - it hasn't improved or moved forward as many places would; and I don't want to live here anymore. They get it, and my brother said it's time for the townhouse to get evaluated, I told him I did that last year and because of its position, and the work done on it over the years, it's worth more than it was when it was bought years ago. 

While my brother was on my computer, his girlfriend asked me about the terrarium on the table and how I got it grow properly, and I told her the ingredients which go into terrariums; and that I'd love to have more room in a house to have another two or three - but I just simply don't. I have another one in my bedroom and that's it. But I do enjoy building them, they're just adorable - but the most expensive part is the container.
Then she asked me about my dish drainer and where I bought it. Well, I tried to remember exactly which kitchen store I bought it and the only thing I did remember was the it was a place on Compton Road, and she had to Google for it and showed me a few kitchen places and we finally found it. 
After we all had something to eat, set up my account for Netflix and got it all sorted out and I chose a show to see if it worked out (which was Gilmore Girls - A Year Of) my brother could see I was going to setting in and watch the show. Then asked his girlfriend if she watched The Gilmore Girls and she said 'Yeah I used to watch it... it's a great show.' I said I loved it until it went off the air and they made the year of the Gilmore Girls but didn't put it on free to air and I was bummed that it was only on Foxtel. 

Well, we went out to the garden where I had been doing so much work, and my brother was stunned at how much changed in it. I told him there was plants I found were taking over the garden too much and I really needed a change. They both loved it that I was growing garlic and that I had gotten myself a greenhouse and took a look around in it. I offered up the spare herbs and his girlfriend took them off my hands - saying they'd plant them out and use them! I said they were from Bunnings and were the $3.00 ones... I didn't see much point in letting them die if somebody else could have them. 

Before long, they were off and it started raining less than 10 minutes after they left - good hard rain too! I watched 3 seasons of 'The Gilmore Girls' and then ate dinner. Chatted to my Mum and Dad on the phone about the Netflix and then thought that I might have to talk to my ISP about how much download I've got... see if the Netflix will take up. It might be a lower download than I think. I'll have to see. Well, that was Saturday, I totally enjoyed my day, but I was stuffed by 10pm as I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep the night before - no thanks to a weirdo who bashed and crashed around for an hour at 1:30am, and when I called the cops (which I am sure everyone else did too) they told me off for calling triple 0 because the guy had a reputation for flipping out and destroying things around him. 
Well, I zonked at 10pm and only woke about twice in the night to roll over... the alarm woke me and I'm well-rested now. Another good night's rest and I'll be ready to tackle the next week. 

Yep, this weekend is full. I'm chilling out today on here, and enjoying my time online and I'll see what I want to watch. Television to me is something I watch in the late-afternoon and evening, it's not a daytime thing. I don't use it all the time to while away my day. Well, until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Home Office Clean Out - Yet Again!

Now, how many times have I cleaned out the office here at home? Um... (counts on her fingers)... I don't keep track, but I know it's the one room which quickly turns into a junk room in my house.

Well, not anymore!

I have had the great fortune to have found a gorgeous chair in my unit complex and I'm currently fixing it up. It's taken me two days already, and three coats of stain, and the chair looks almost brand new.

Exactly why people throw out good furniture which only needs a touch-up of stain and a bit of polish is beyond me.  I saw its potential and loved the style of it - and have always wanted a chair just like this one in my home - and pounced on it immediately!

Now, the office is undergoing some very permanent changes. I've moved things around in the wardrobe so my vacuum cleaner, ladder and other things will fit completely (and yes, the doors close on it).  Around 15 handbags are destined to be given away at Vinnies, with a few going to some relatives, while another few are going to still find a home with me. I've emptied out two tiny milk crates and I'm happy to report I've rediscovered a piece of floor which hasn't been seen in around five years.

Five years!

Now, that's progress!

I also found a piece of artwork I made called 'Opening Night' which I have yet to hang on the walls here.  I'll have to find some more hooks for the walls here and hang it by the window hopefully... it ought to be good; as my office isn't only for books, it's also an art gallery for book-related art.  This will make this room very quirky and unusual, and this is what I want it to be.

I'm so happy this is happening the way I have been hoping.  It's been a busy day with a bit of work on the chair this morning, and work here at home this afternoon.  Dad's proud of me and how I'm dedicating myself to the chair; however, once that chair is finished - over the next few weeks - I'll be working on the bath table I've had at their place for the bedroom.  Once that's done, I'll bring that little thing home, set it up in my bedroom, get rid of the chair in there and put it where the chair used to be. It will be the first thing you see when you walk into my room by the window... it will set the feel of my room.

So, after this room is clean and tidy, and I have cleaned the carpet here properly, the chair will have returned.  Then, I'll return to my parent's house to work on the next thing that I've left there in the laundry to bring it home.  I have the jug and basin kit... and soon it will be all put together. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Hi-Tech To-Do List

I've been working on my house lately.  And it's easier than I first thought.  Planning out what needs to be done is the hard part; as I have know how much money is to be set aside this year... thus saving is going to be a big thing.  I have to back off on spending a lot of money and start putting it away to work on this place.

Now the laundry has been begun, I am looking into de-cluttering the rest of the place while I have time in between the other job of working on getting the dryer out and the shelves in.  So, what I've done today is get a 'To-Do List' app on my iPod.  It was free and came from the iTunes store; and seeing I work off these kinds of lists all the time,I really need it.  Anyway, I'm hoping it works out really well to keep me on track to getting my place working better than it used to.

Last year, I bought myself the clothes airer in March/April and that put my clothes dryer out of commission permanently.  And then, I started looking at my garden.  And even though I bought some great stuff last year, it needs to be looked at this year again too.  I'm beginning to save up in the gardening fund - and that shouldn't take very long to do - before I get some serious dollars to work with.

I am hoping to make this townhouse I live in work better, be less cluttered and feel more like a home and less like I'm struggling through it all the time.  What goals for your house have you got this year?  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm/cool and remember, I'm always here.   

New Habits

This week has been a tough one for me; and it's been a long one too.  My little bird lost her life only last Saturday evening and my living room was empty of one very cute, very charismatic little budgie; after 7 3/4 years of us keeping each other company I'm finding this townhouse very quiet.

But now, I have had some time to feel sick and grieve over my little bird; to figure out what I'm going to do next with the house.  I've also got about 6 weeks until I'll be thinking of getting another little feathered friend here.  And over those weeks (it might be longer), I've thought it a good idea to start working through my house and throwing out my junk - the bigger stuff.  
Okay, over the last few years, I've worked through the smaller things in my house that needed throwing out.  Now, over the next year, I'm going to work on getting rid of the bigger stuff that I haven't used in the decade I've been here.  There's suitcases I've owned since 1997 that I've only used once - and that was to move into this townhouse - and then there's a multitude of clothes I need to go through and see what I'm going to wear over the next year.  Sure, I've been buying clothes, but I haven't been throwing out the clothes I no longer wear, or clothes that don't fit me anymore - and that's bad.

And it's not only inside the house that's getting a face lift and clean out.  My garden will too.  I'm going to begin saving up money and stop spending so much.  With Dad retired now, I'll get him to help me build a shade house and a sun house for my plants.  I'm hoping to also replace the outdoor setting - table and chairs alike - with new park benches and get rid of the table altogether.  Then, I'll make sure the place looks good with some better plants and a set of bigger pots to really do up the place.  Dad reckons it'll look great.  This will take time, though, and lots of saving up money, but it will be worthwhile.

Another thing I want to do is start taking one day a week off from here.  Yep, I'm finding myself on the internet too much.  I'm a writer and have found that my work is lagging behind too much.  So, I'll be taking off one day a week to work on my writing, housework, painting... well, anything that needs attention.  Otherwise, the rest of the week will be worked on here, then the rest of the place for the rest of the day.  
I know this sounds like a lot to do over the next year.  However, it's what I hope to get done.  If it doesn't happen, well, it doesn't.  If it does, great.  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.    

Morning Walk

It warmed up quickly this morning and so I got in and did the laundry early.  I ate my breakfast, got out the two loads, washed up and got organised to walk to the chemist.  After checking how much I had in the bank - via the phone - I was out the door and to the post office.  The last load of washing was only a quarter way through and I thought to put it out when I came home.
I didn't get anything much in the mail, but the walk to the chemist was nice.  There's a new restaurant opening across from The Big Apple - a Bake House - and so people were in the old Mediterranean Restaurant working in it and fixing it up.  It's been empty for such a long time, I wondered if anyone was going to reopen it as anything else again.  However, what's sad is that as I passed the fruit shop, I saw the vacant corner across the way of the newsagents, pawn shop and the Balinese store.  All of them were closed down and the place looked very dark indeed.  The newsagents had been there for the last 30 years or so and only gone bankrupt in the last few months; I was shocked to hear about it from the brewery shop across the road.
Anyway, just past the Argonaut Centre, I walked past the little lot of shops and saw the fence just before the bridge where there used to be a half-finished painting on the fence.  Well, today it was completed.  I pulled out my camera took photos of it.  It's beautiful!  After I went to the chemist, I returned to the fence and walked behind the lot of shops and saw more graffiti and found it had been refreshed since the last time I had photographed... well, all except one piece.  This piece was of a portrait of a young man who had been killed in a car accident and the young folks - his friends - kept it fresh as a memorial to him.  I think it's great they think of him like this.
On the way home, I was about to cross the bridge near the storm water drains closest to Park Road when I spotted two Water Dragons in the grass on the other side of it.  I slowed down, took off my sunglasses and pulled out my camera.  I photographed one of them as another took off into the creekbed.... damn!  Then, the first one I photographed ran across the path, stopped and - just when I pulled my camera into focus - took off again into the grass!  Cheeky little bugger!  Oh well, you can win 'em all!  I zoomed in as far as the lens could go and photographed him until he vanished into the long grass.
Soon enough, I returned home with my lot of photos, my medicine from the chemist and the mail.  The laundry had finished and I went straight out the back to put it all out.  The day had turned out quite hot.  My next door neighbours were taking in the morning at the pool, swimming and enjoying having it to themselves for the day; seeing the kids were back at school now.
Now, I'm online here with the fan of the air-con pushing fresh air through this room so it's going to be nice and fresh for Wednesday when my friend, Wendy, comes by.  Besides, I don't like this room getting to musty anyway as it makes me cough when it does.  But I have gotten a lot done this morning.  The back yard was beginning to get bindi's; so I pulled them all out - and the worse thing was that they were all around the back door!  Then, I washed up, wiped down the counters and cupboard doors and then cleaned down the stove.  Now, there's just the wiping up to do.  I even cleaned off the fish tank as I found pancake batter on there from yesterday - oops! - oh well, as least I know it's on the outside of the tank, and not on the inside! 
Well, I've gotten most of the work I've set myself to do done over the last three days.  Now, there's only about three or four jobs left on the list and that's it; I'll be happy with my house this week.  I'm not only doing this because I have a friend coming over, I'm also doing this because my house needs a clean up.  Well, until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here. 

It's Official!

It's over.  My computer is no longer able to be used.  I did get it started long enough yesterday to transfer 95% of my photos and all of my written material that was on the hard drive.  And I did it all in one big hit.  I grabbed the 'My Pictures' folder and pulled it onto Mum's external drive and it took around an hour to put all the photos on to that.  Then, I pulled the whole folder of 'My Documents' over which held all of the things I've ever written on there.  However, after switching computers - from mine to Mum's - I found that my computer failed to move across this year's photos... yep, it didn't have any of this year's photographs on it.  So, this morning, I tried my computer again and to my heartbreak, it didn't want to talk to anything - not my keyboard, mouse or monitor.  And I hate to admit this, but it is time to get a new computer.

However, I have had time to look around the house - since I have had a limited time on the internet lately - and fix a few things up, catch up on some much-needed reading, start on another art project I've been putting off and tidy up the office.  And these are things that have been looking at me for months.  So, I have begun working them bit by bit.

Yesterday was a warm day - unusually warm for August - so I took advantage of it and stripped the bed, washed all my sheets and did my handwashing and hung it all out on the line outside.  Then, I flipped the mattress of my bed and got the bed all made up before the sun went down and the clothes horse put away and the rubbish put out just after dinner.  I also started on a Christmas present for my brother and his fiance (something hand-made) which usually takes me about a month to do.  This time, I'm taking my time.  And so I'm working on it slowly.

I'm also getting through plenty of reading too.  I'm ploughing through up to 40 pages of 'The Drawing of the Three' each day.  And I'm not usually reading that much in two hours; ordinarily it's less.  So, I've found that with more time on my hands, I've been able to get more done.  Have you found when something your life disappears for a while, you find time to do other things?  Until my next post - and when I'm back on my own computer (hopefully a new one soon), take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.

Uses For Basic Things

I've been using a lot of old-fashioned things for unusual uses lately.  Like vinegar - for example - is great for cleaning out drains when you mix it with bi-carb soda.  That bubbling effect is fantastic!  I love how it fills the whole sink and looks like something that'll take over everything; and yet it disappears down the drain and won't harm the environment.  My plumber has even told me that vinegar and bi-carb are the only things you should be putting down your drains as they don't eat away your pipes.  

Vinegar is also great for washing floors.  Well, okay, not just  washing your floors.  Use the Handy Andy, but once that's done, get a hot bucket of water, throw in some vinegar and give your floor another going over with it.  This makes sure your floor is easier to tidy up when you drop something that might stick - like cheese.  And believe me, I've tried it and it works!  It's great.

I also throw vinegar into my laundry instead of softener; as I'm allergic to ordinary clothes softener.  That stuff just makes my skin itch like no tomorrow; so I asked Mum what Grandma used to use and she told me vinegar.  And once I began using it about 5 years ago, I didn't stop.  Then, when my washing machine began to grind and I had to get the maintenance guy out to fix it (to put in what he called 'goop' to keep me from having to replace the gearbox), took the whole tub out and was amazed there was no build-up.  He said my machine was nice and shiny and asked what softener I used - if any - and I said vinegar.  He grinned and said that I was the first young person to figure out that washing machines aren't built to take all the build-up from the softeners.  And you know, my clothes are as soft as anyone else's, and they don't stink of anything like apples; just nice and clean.  

And I use Earth Choice washing liquid... great stuff that.  But be sure to read the instructions and not just throw it all onto your clothes.  The stuff can't come in direct contact with your clothes or you'll end up with white spots all over them.  I've seen somebody borrow some of it off me, not read the back of the container and wreck her housemate's washing - and his clothes weren't cheap.

The best thing I've found lately is to throw in a quarter cup of Bi-Carb Soda into my wash to make my laundry liquid work harder.  And it works!  I've done it a few times and there's no build-up and it works well with the vinegar too.  The best thing is that there's no smell to Bi-Carb Soda; and it soaks up bad smells too. 

In my last post, I told you that one of my drink containers made my milk taste like garlic.  Now, through washing up and using the same scourers on other things as well, the strong herb got into the container and permeated into the milk.  It was the most disgusting thing I had ever tasted and made me want to puke!  I told a friend about it last night; and she had read it in my post.  She advised me to get some Bi-Carb of Soda and fill the container up with it - dry - and leave it overnight.  Then, toss it out and rinse out the container in the morning.  So, once we finished our conversation, I did just that.  And this morning, I took it out of the cupboard, tossed out the Bi-Carb and took a smell after washing it out - and the smell was gone!  Brilliant stuff this Bi-Carb!  I also have a box of it in my fridge; hiding away in the back of it somewhere to absorb the smells of anything that's gone off or mouldy.

So, what things have you found work wonders around your house, but have been around forever?  Are they the most basic things and you've been using for years?  Or is it something you've just figured out in recent times?  Yep, it's sharing time!  Leave a comment about old-fashioned remedies for things that have been around forever and where you got them from.  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.