A Cool Day Off

I've had a few hectic days of either catching up with housework or going out driving.  So, today, I thought to have a day to myself and absolutely nothing; besides, my right arm has been giving me the shits.  It's been getting better off and on, but otherwise, the pain in it is dreadful when I move it.

So, it's time to sit down and do zero and let it do its thing.  I do find this hard to do; honestly.  

But I have done a lot of things over the last few weeks when you look back at how long I've been driving - which is only about three weeks or so.  And I'm damned proud as how much has been done around here thus far.
To start with, I got this office cleared out permanently.  And it's stayed nice and clean; which I'm happy with.  My bedroom still needs some work on - especially the chair - but I'm not giving up on it.  I've hooked up both the beside lamps and have just yesterday replaced the bulbs in them.  One of them was the old-fashioned bulb and I have never used it since I received this set of lamps a couple of years ago; so I didn't want to risk the bulb doing something weird or exploding (which I have seen happen before some years back at Mum and Dad's house once.  I was picking up small shards of light globe glass for about week after it exploded!).  Anyway, I went to Bunnings and found myself two new bulbs and bought them, installed them and made sure they both worked well... and they do!

Over the weekend, we had a bit of rain.  So, I did some laundry, caught up with my washing up, put out the rubbish and checked on my finances to see when I could work on the front garden again.  I've got the plant for the other end of the garden and the potting mix, so all I need is another big pot, river stones and a bag of small stones to go on the top of the planter so when I water the plant, it doesn't dry out so quickly - and it'll look great too.  I'm hoping to get a few more pots from Bunnings and more potting mix so I can begin working on my backyard to repot my other plants that really need to upgrade to new pots soon.  But the front garden was the most important project for this year.  I wanted it look like it was something worth coming home to; something I could look at when I walked home and know I did all that work myself - especially that wall next to the front door.  I love that!  It took me a long time to get that wall just right, but it was worth it and a lot of fun.

Craft Group was good yesterday.  I took in 'Books On My Mind' - the painting I've been working on over the last week - and the ladies loved it.  After three hours of writing with paint on the canvas about 10 books, I was exhausted, and it was almost time to go.  So, I packed up and put the painting on the table with all my gear next to it ready for me to pick it all up and leave.  A lot of the ladies had a look at it and were amazed I had read so many books from 2001 - 2013.  I told them that there were still about 25 books that I couldn't fit onto the canvas from My Reading List book and showed them.  They were still amazed that there were books that they noticed I had read, and they hadn't.  And last night, I counted up the books I had put onto the canvas, and found there were 105 books on the canvas!  How cool is that?  I'm hoping to do more work like this, however, seeing Christmas is coming up, I'll be doing some work towards my Secret Santa game played at Craft Group, and painting up a few canvas' with flowers on them for one of the ladies. 

Well, that was my weekend, and yesterday.  I've got shopping to do tomorrow and I hope I can get in and do it all in one day - the fruit'n'veggies and groceries - as I don't want to be going out too often this week.  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember, I'm always here.

Slow Down Weekend

My week has been go-go-go, this weekend I'm going to be slow-slow-slow... I did have a few chores to do this morning, but I didn't want to get in and do too much as I just want to be able to kick back and do as little as possible to help my arm heal well too.

I'm not saying it's not, but I'm hoping to also get in some serious reading and painting during this weekend.  But this morning, I got in 2 loads of laundry, picked up some milk, washed up as little and then, I wiped up a bit and made a drink for myself and have been online since.

Since I've sat down, I've written a Flash Fiction for a challenge for Chuck Wendig's site titled 'Ned's Move' (which is also on one of my blogs) and then, I read a few blogs myself, read my e-mail, updated some photos of my art and looked at a Bookcrossing forum and took part in that.  I've also edited a photo on Picmonkey and uploaded it onto a Supernatural fandom page I'm a member of and then... well, that brings us to now.  
Now, it's cold.  Today is supposed to be warm, but it's not.  I'm not warm at all.  Okay, it's probably warm in the sun, but inside my house, it's not warm, so I've closed the house up and pulled some Pumpkin Canneloni out of the freezer for dinner tonight; and a lime for tomorrow's breakfast of pancakes.  Yeah, I plan ahead a day or so with food.

This arvo, I gotta wash up all the pots and pans and really tidy up the kitchen, put away the dry laundry and throw out last week's Sunday Mail.  Then, I'll be ready for tomorrow.  And tomorrow?  Well, I have the shopping list to look into and petrol for the car.  Yep, that's my weekend.  It's not much - and it's not supposed to be much - and I'm happy with it being not much, seeing how busy the week has been.  So, what have you been up to this week, and what have you got planned next week and for this weekend?  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm (or cool) and remember, I'm always here.

Busy Week - But Fun

This week, I've had my ups and downs.  I began to really make a difference with my front garden.  After buying large river stones, a couple of plants and a planter pot with a few bags of potting mix and a bag of river stones, I had to borrow a gardening tool off Dad before I really got going with this - and did.  However, that's not all that happened.  
On Sunday night, I found my right fore arm was hurting like crazy.  After wrapping a compression bandage on my arm, I Googled tennis elbow and found that I might have it - but thought to ask my doctor about it first.  So, I made an appointment the next morning to see if I did.  And low and behold, I did!  $50 for a proper strap later, I was on the road to recovery and on my way to my craft group, where I had one lady tell me about another exercise to help my recovery along (the doctor had shown me one).  So, I'm using both the exercises and my arm is feeling better each day, so long I rest it for long stretches of time.  But I have noticed that it's not as sore as it was on Monday.  I can grip and carry tiny things and I'm going okay with reading and holding a book... so that's something.  I don't wear the support at night, and put it on in the morning and wear it all day - as annoying as it is - until I go to bed at night.

Anyway, that's not all that has been happening.  I worked on my front garden.  It's been looking as though I only rent my house when I'm a full-time resident and have been for a long time now.  So, with the use of Mum's car, I've been able to get to Bunnings and pick up what I need to get this garden looking the way I want it to.  
So far, I've built a rock wall - which took me four days to do with only one arm and a few trips to Bunnings to pick up large river stones - and I also scored a good-sized blood blister on my right hand (it seems to be in the wars this week, eh?).  This makes typing very interesting; and I'm making all kinds of typos.  And I've also placed a large pot out the front of my place, next to the door, and planted a Draceana Plant in it.  It looks gorgeous.  I love it.  This plant has made my place look better already.  Now, next week, I have to buy another pot the same size, a bag of river stones and start on buying bags of smaller stones for the garden itself, and another couple of stones for the centre of the garden.  That will be another two hours of work or so... depending on the weather.  But I'm in no rush to get this done.  After this garden is done, I'm going to get in and fix up my back yard by repotting my plants... they'll look great.  I'll be getting new pots for some of the plants and moving some from old pots to newer ones - upgrading them a little.  I can't wait to get stuck into the back yard... it'll look great over the next few months.

But one thing at a time, eh?  

Well, until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm (or cool) and remember, I'm always here.

New Specs!

Today, I was up nice and early to take off to the Optometrist at the Underwood Marketplace on Logan Road.  It's been a long time between having my eyes tested; and it's because the buses aren't always reliable and I don't normally have a car.

So, with a list of other things to do while I was up there, I arrived early, parked and found my way there.  Before long, it was my turn to have my eyes tested and we chatted for a bit before he started looking at my eyes.  He said that it had been 4 years since my last visit; and asked why now?  I said that I've been finding it hard to read books; and that my eyes are becoming tired faster.  He did say that my eyes have changed marginally and this would make me feel tired at the computer or while reading.  So, we looked at my private health fund and found I could get 2 pairs of glasses fully covered; or spend a little more for designer frames where I put in a bit of money out of my pocket.  I looked at the fully covered frames and found some funky designs I liked, picked out two with the receptionist's help and she ordered them in for me.

After that, I was off to Bunnings to find another plant for the other end of my garden out the front; and I found one!  Once I found a plant, I was in search for a large pot.  Soon, I found that and I was ready to go and pay for it... but I found the plant wasn't for outside, it was a shade-lover, so I exchanged it for a sun-lover and went to pay for it when I ran into one of my Facebook friends.  It was really cool!  She and I knew the same person; but from different places and she said was amazed I knew her too.
Well, I had forgotten to buy large river stones.  So after packing the car - and having some dork park close to the back of the Pajero, making it hard to open the back - I went back in to see if they had any big river stones.  Unfortunately, they didn't.  So, I was off to the other Bunnings to find they still had the large river stones for $3.97, and so I picked out three of them, went and bought some purple paint and looked for detailing brushes (but didn't find any) and then, went and paid for my stuff.
Once home, I went straight to work on the front door wall.  Within the hour, I had smashed my finger between two rocks and scored myself a good-sized blood-blister (which I burst and put on a couple of band-aides) and then I was back to work to finish up the wall.  And before long, the wall was complete!  I'm so pleased with it!  After I finished it, I pulled the new pot out of the back of the Pajero and put it in the back yard - along with the new plant - and locked up the car... the hour of working was all I wanted to get done today.  I may get more done next week.  I'm in no rush to finish this project.  How are your projects going?  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm (or cool) and remember I'm always here.

A Day Off

Since Monday, I've been on the go; but not because I had a choice.  With craft group, I was there painting and working on a new larger piece because I had to rest my right arm - which is fair enough.  By the time that ended, it was raining and I was glad I drove there and not walked.  
I dropped into Mum and Dad's place and looked for something for Aunty Helen, then locked up again and drove home where I made some nachos and settled in to work on my painting again.

Yesterday, I was out at Bunnings again to find a piece for one of my large handled utensils.  I found it, picked up a large river stone and came home.  On the way out to the car park, I found somebody had left a box next to the back of my car and so I used it to put the other rocks in the back of the car into it; to keep them from rolling around.  Then, I was off to Mum and Dad's place to borrow a few tools to work on my garden in the afternoon.  With my tennis elbow, my work on this project was going to slow down, and not completely stop... I still want to get this done.
Anyway, I found some mail in their letter box which was supposed to have come to my place and so I grabbed that, called the bank for Mum and then came home.  I did some washing up, tidying up and patted Sheba - the neighbour's cat over the back fence - and took some photos of the front yard as well as a Kookaburra on the roof from the backyard - and then worked on my front garden for about an hour.  And - boy! - was it a slow hour!  I took my time though.  The rock wall looks good, but still needs work as it needs two more rocks to give it proper overlap and to make them stand up properly as they're laying down too much.  Oh well, live and learn.  I'll be doing the next part of that wall tomorrow.  Otherwise, it'll hold until then - seeing it's all dug unto the ground.  And by tomorrow, I'll clean it up properly and it'll look great with proper rocks around it, leaning up against it to hold the water back.  I can't wait to finish it.  
So, today, I'm just catching up with things around the place I haven't done.  So far, I've done the laundry, pulled in the bin (as collection was early) and then put away the kitchen towels and some wiping up.  I'm hoping to get in and tidy up the lounge a bit more and do out the bags next to the piano and throw out more stuff I don't need.  But that might wait until another day.  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm (or cool) and remember, I'm always here.

Tennis Elbow

Yep, that's what I have.  I was off to the doctor today, and Dora did some basic tests on my arm - pressing here and there and asking me which hurt and which didn't - and she confirmed my suspicions of having Tennis Elbow.  She recommended that I go and buy a support from the Chemist - which set me back $50! - and that I take it easy on this arm.

Bummer!

Oh well, at least this gives me a month or so to do more planning on my front garden.  Or to at the very least work on it a little more slowly.  This is a good thing.  I can get in and enjoy my work and not hurry it along - as I'd probably do.  The support is harsh and does hurt a little, but I'm not feeling horrible and sick anymore, so it's doing its job.  
Dora told me that it's good that I strapped it when I did as I was putting pressure on something that needed it in the first place - in the right place too! - and that I was beginning the healing processes a few days in advance.  However, she wants me to keep it on there as much as I can and not use my right arm.  So, I'll be doing some paintings and reading a few books over the next few weeks; and that's not a bad thing either.  I've been meaning to catch up on my reading list in a big way; and well, this is a good way of doing it.

Craft Group was good.  I took along a stretch canvas with me to begin my new painting on and told some of the ladies what happened and scored some free advice on how to assist with my healing processes and physio too.  So, I'm glad I went.  Another lady celebrated her birthday and we all had cake today; and this time it wasn't horrible and sweet.  

Well, I must get going.  I have a few things to get done tomorrow, and there's I want to get in and figure out some things around here as well.  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm - or cool - and remember, I'm always here.

'Lazy' Sunday

I've had a good day today; and tried not to do anything too much.  Last week was one where I didn't seem to stop; and I've hurt my right arm.  So, tomorrow I'm off to the doctors to see what I've done to myself.

Today, I was up early and off to get the paper.  It was a nice chilly walk to the service station and the price has gone up to $2.50 for the Sunday Mail... and I remember not so long ago, it used to be only $1.00 to buy.  Damned inflation.
Well, this morning, I washed up a bit, made pancakes, read the paper, listened to some nice music and took it easy until around 10am.  This is when I jumped up and put on the two sets of sheets which really needed washing - both Winter sheets - and they were out on the line before long.  Then, I moved the clothes horse out of the way and pulled out the vacuum and took it upstairs and vacuumed my bedroom and the nice tidy office (which both look great after 2 weeks of nothing invading the floors or anywhere that I've cleaned - that's a record!).  I'm pleased with myself.  
Then, I chopped up some pumpkin and got fruit cooking on the stove to make some of my famous pumpkin fruit cake for tomorrow.  I'm taking half the cake with me.  Yummo!  The ladies at the craft group will enjoy it, I'm sure!  Anyway, it's on the counter now, on a plate, cooling off.  
There has been one little drawback with stove though.  The little clicker thing which lights my oven, stove and grill is broken.  It no longer lights them.  How fortunate was it that I happened to buy a proper lighter for the stove that runs on lighter fluid just last Wednesday just in case it did this again (yep, it did this trick once before, and I didn't want to be caught unawares this time).  It cost me around $10, but was well worth the money.  

Now, the laundry is almost dry - even though there's no sun, and only a gentle breeze - and I've got washing up to get done because of the baking.  Otherwise, I've strapped my arm up because it hurt like hell this morning.  Yeah, I'm off to the doctors tomorrow by the looks of this... darn.  Oh well, at least I'll be able to know what I've done to myself.  And it's feeling better because I've strapped it.  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm - or cool - and remember, I'm always here.

A Full Week of Busyness!

And what busyness was there to be had!  I had a great time driving around in the Pajero, and managed to get myself to places I normally can't.  And by this morning, I thought it was high time to catch up with my housework... or part of it.

On Wednesday, it was shopping day.  I took the car out and did my shopping, spent more money than I intended but arrived home a half hour earlier than I usually did without a car.  Very cool; and even cooler is that I had $30 more in my pocket.
I put this money to good use the next day where I was off Bunnings and bought a plant, some river stones and created a large utensil holder for my kitchen.  Now, I have one of these already, but it only held 4 hooks.  This one was one I wanted to have a number of hooks on it and I wanted to be able to add or subtract hooks from it as I wished.  So, after buying a $3.95 towel rack and eight 50mm hooks at around $1.85 each, and some long screws, I was set.  I used the same first hole in the stud in the wall the anchor the first end and then went from there!  Within half and hour, I had my utensils hanging off it... very cool.
Yesterday, I was was back at Bunnings looking for another bigger clip for one of my utensils, but got the wrong size... darn!... oh well.  
Today, I went back and picked out the next size up... and it was still too small.  So, I'll take it back and get the next size up again.  But while I was there, I picked out a big river stone to add to my front garden.  I've got one there, and now I'd like to add a few more to give it character.  So, $3.95 later, I've got another one to add to the garden in a few weeks' time.  Not too bad.  So far I've spend about $30 on the garden and house; and it's only been a fortnight.  And I've cleaned out two rooms in my place too.  I'm two weeks ahead of schedule for my four-month plan for this place to work... and this is good.
So, what have you been up to around your place?  Any improvements?  Or are you happy with your house the way it is?  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm - or cool - and remember, I'm always here.

Oils Ain't Oils

Today, I was going to stay home and do nothing but catch up on housework - you know the deal: vacuuming, dusting, bring in the laundry and wash up.  Well.... that didn't quite go to plan.

I was going to pass by my folks' house to pick up some motor oil for Mum's Pajero and had asked Ian - a neighbour of mine to fill it up with a litre of it.  Easy-peasy, right?  How wrong could I could be!  I got there and found there was nothing looking like oil to be found - oh yeah, an empty can of motor oil, but nothing to fill Mum's engine with.  So, I tried phoning them, and found she had turned off her phone to get a good nights' sleep (something I can't do because I need my phone to use as an alarm clock).
So, I grabbed some money and went to Super-Cheap and asked the guys there to help me with finding a good one for Mum's car that won't destroy it.  He asked me what she recommended and I told him, and he looked it up for me and found me the Castrol range I had found under their house and told me which may work for the car.  I picked out the mid-range one and grabbed a funnel (to make it easier to put in) and then, at the check-out, I found a chocolate-scented car smelly thing and bought that too... I mean, why not?  It looked like an ice-cream cone too!  Very funny; and I strung it onto the gear shift so it wasn't too distracting.

Then, I was off to Bunnings!  I had some hooks to pick up for the kitchen.  I found the row they were in last time I was there and found a clip for the pizza lift handle - but it turned out to be too small - so I attached it to my house key and put Mum and Dad's house key onto it; so I'll never forget their house keys ever again!
Then, it was off to the gardening section of Bunnings to find a plant for out the front.  I was in search of Draceana Tree/plant for out the front of my house; but not one that was too old or too expensive.  So, I asked the lady there and she told me they were very popular for small places and grew well in pots as they grew the size of the pot they were put into, but they needed drainage.  So, I grabbed a bag of riverstones and went to the checkout.  I'll buy the large pot next fortnight.  I want it to be a good, large on and I'll make sure it'll be nice enough that nobody can tip it over.
I chose a Draceana (pronounced: Dra-ceena) plant because it's slow-growing and has nice soft leaves and doesn't need too much watering.  And it's such a lovely plant, once it's established too, I've always loved plants that don't need too much caring for.  I can't wait until next pay when I can go and get a pot for it and plant it!  How cool is that?  

Well, it's going onto 2pm and I've been home and hour or so and the clouds have scudded over the sky.  So, it looks as though I arrived home just in time for rain.  However, I also have to wait until the engine of the Pajero cools off until Ian can put a litre of oil into it; and I bought a 5lt container of it.  I'm tired, but have gotten a lot done; which I'm happy with... and it's more than I had planned to get done this fortnight.  So, I'm ahead of schedule for the makeover for my house and garden.  Very cool!  Are you making over a part of your house, garden or life this year?  If so, which part?  How far along are you?  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm and remember I'm always here. 

Busy Morning Out

Today, I wanted to do just the fruit and veggie shopping and that was it.  However, I got up to a lot more than that.
It began to rain as I drove out onto the busy road, and so I thought to get myself to Bunnings up near the Underwood Marketplace to find some potting mix and bits to fix up my kitchen.  I've been meaning to get into the yard, and so I grabbed 3 bags of the potting mix for $6.95 each and some things to make a new hanger for my large utensils for the kitchen.  You see, I'd seen one at Gabe and Kat's place above their stove and wanted something like it in mine; and instead of forking out an arm and a leg, I thought to invent my own from a towel rack and hooks.  And doesn't it look great?  I love it!

My morning wasn't done yet as I drove out into the rain again and made my way to The Big Apple to pick up some things I needed for this weekend.  I didn't spend much money there, but it was good I did; as I'm planning on making a cannelloni and a cake for Monday's craft day for the ladies (the last one I made, they all loved!).

Well, by the time I arrived home, it was past 11am and I was hanging out to get my work done in the kitchen.  But after the rain, I didn't think it was a good idea to work in the garden yet as everything is wet.  So, the potting mix will have to wait.  At least I got that part of the gardening plan.  The next part will be getting new pots and a few new plants - which I priced around at while I was at Bunnings.  I will definitely have to save more money than I originally planned, or buy smaller-sized plants of the ones I want and put them into the large pots they'll be growing into.  Oh well, one step at a time.  Until my next post, take care, keep safe and warm (or cool) and remember, I'm always here.