Journal

the problem with working full time is that all you do is work full time and you have nothing else to talk about except for work and you’re too tired to do anything but go to work and then go home and get ready for the next day of work. too much work.

two weeks of full-time to go. i miss wednesdays, as much of an aimless emotional minefield covered in mushed up foodstuffs experience they tend to be.

this weekend we start work on the garden. it’s a drew dad sunday so we may just get some stuff done. i’m thinking of lemon trees in pots, and pavers in the sun.

last weekend we wandered around CERES for a little while, while the wind blew us around. so inspiring. inspiring enough to invest in a proper composting bin and a worm farm and think about sustainable plant options for the backyard. and showering with a bucket.

i have a dream that one day we’ll live on a few acres in a nearly self-sustainable house. is this even possible? i’ve started reading about solar panels. i draw the line at composting toilets. chooks would be nice too. as nice as chooks can be.

nobody interrupt this dream with the hard work reality.

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where do you meet people when you’re 34 and single, and everyone else is partnered up with/wo kids?

i have no idea.

the only advice i have is internet dating. or lying on your bed listening to the smiths while moaning. that’s all i’ve got.

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i know she’s dusty lite but i still love her.

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i don’t really love debt. and we’ve clamped down on spending now. and we do have a budget.

but it’s easy to get carried away in the heat of the moment.

eilis had to drag me away from the car dealership last sunday because i was ready to sign after about two minutes.

beating our previous records of buying a house after looking at it for 10 minutes, and buying a dvd player in three minutes.

i was talking to a friend today who said “oh yes” when i told her about the new car, then reminded me of the days when we were all single and lived on a very small amount of money and had no worries and life was good. except, now i think about it, i am pretty sure i still had worries and i don’t know if life was that good. but it certainly was more straight-forward.

i had to leave work early today because i felt like i was going to pass out. i think the feral cold i’ve had for five weeks now is maybe not a cold after all. i’m going to brave the 24 hour medical centre in werribee tomorrow morning. it’s hard to get an appointment with doctors around here who don’t use neon signs to advertise their wares.

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1) What were you doing 10 years ago:
i was living in a crappy one bedroom flat in north fitzroy that smelt like curried fish soup. i was working as an editorial assistant at a technical writing company … i would later be fired from this job because i hated it and it hated me in equal proportions.

2)What are the five things at the top of your “to do” list:
a) water the herbs

b) buy my friend laura a book voucher for her birthday

c) figure out tomorrow night’s dinner

d) try and get drew a doctor’s appointment

e) organise a bbq for great aunts and uncles

3) What are five snacks you enjoy:
a) chocolate
b) muffins
c) pesto pasta
4) Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire:
pay the house off, move to the country, live like a hippy, study animation, buy a pony, travel with eilis & drew, buy a scooter, give some it to my brother and mother, give some of it to people who need it more than me, self-publish some terrible novels that shouldn’t see the light of day, smoke a pipe

5) Name some places you have lived:
bendigo, parkville (in a melbourne university residential hall), carlton, st kilda east, north fitzroy, thornbury, williamstown, hobart, yarraville, spotswood, west footscray, werribee

6) Name some bad habits you have:
freaking out, not making decisions, too many others to list individually

7) Name some jobs you’ve had:
filing monkey, sound assistant girlie on corporate videos, technical writing editorial assistant monkey, media monitoring monkey, operations manager monkey, editorial monkey, archiving monkey, database assistant monkey, web design monkey, information management monkey

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*if you write a word too many times it starts look strange

at the moment, because of work situations not so much financial situations, eilis is working four days and i am working five days.

all should be back to normal in about a month.

it’s really crap seeing drew for two hours a day, five days a week.

that is all.

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the place where i work is right by the maribyrnong river.

the building is about three storeys high and the top level is a cafe, a gym and a courtyard/outdoor soccer field scenario.

the cafe is the kind of place where the barista knows your coffee order and you can get a sandwich if you’ve forgotten your wallet and promise to pay for it later. the cafe is the heart of the place, i think. and the best thing about the cafe is that it’s pretty much all glass so you can look out across melbourne and industry and shipping containers and in the winter in the morning it’s really quite stunning. i’ll try and find a picture of the view.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sophiecunningham/714569896/#DiscussPhoto

not quite what i’m trying to convey but close. it’s nicer with a sunrise happening in the background.

we’ve finally finalised the bond for the old house. we had to pay for cleaning after we went back and cleaned the place twice. do you see that steam? it’s coming from my ears. nevermind. apparently there was two piles of dust and one streak on the mirror and they couldn’t possibly sell the house full of two piles of dust and a streak on the mirror!

and we’re going to buy a new car. new for us anyways. probably this weekend. when i left work tonight and my shitty car had another shitty flat tyre and registration is due now and it’s worth more than the car i cracked. after some swears and a bit of kicking random parts of the car and considering jumping up and down on the bonnet while i waited for eilis to come rescue me i resolved that the shitty car was going to god. this weekend.

i think a switch has switched in my head in regards to debt. now we have so much debt it’s like “a bit more debt. what does it matter!” after being fiscally a tightarse for the last 10 years it’s a bit of a turnaround. maybe i’ll go buy myself a flat screen tv on the weekend on my credit card not because i want one, just because i can. and a pony. a pony on credit.

having your own house is great. half the fun is knowing that you can do whatever the hell you want to it and you only have to answer to yourself. the other half of the fun is knowing you never need move again until you make the decision. it’s nice to be in control. except in regards to debt and accumulating more of it. seriously becoming out of control on this front.

new couches, yes please! a holiday in tuscanny. why not? paying the utilities bills on time. if we have to!

this weekend i resolve to resolve the inability to add links to my blog posts. what is the interwebs without the inter? questions.

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where is my toothbrush?

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eilis & drew have set off for hoppers crossing in search of a fund-raising sausage and a few more boxes. i am watching prospective tenants walk through our old house.

grandparents, bless them, kept drew occupied yesterday so we had the time to put most of our stuff in boxes. the removalists are booked in for 9am monday. grandparents again are taking drew sunday night and dropping her back monday afternoon. grandparents also leant us a bit of money. i think we can say this move is sponsored by grandparents.

we got the keys to the new house yesterday and a bottle of champagne and some biscuits. there were no real surprises (which was a surprise). i was expecting cracks in walls and dodgy taps and what-not, but so far it seems pretty much as we remembered it. maybe slightly bigger. the feature wall certainly is a feature without furniture.

i feel a little overwhelmed but i have another week off work to collect my wits. i think i packed them in a box somewhere marked “random crap”.

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1. fences

2. gates

3. locksmiths

4. trading in two crap cars for one better car

5. building insurance

6. interest rates

7. childcare - pros and cons of moving child to childcare closer to home versus keeping childcare at place closer to old home where the staff are lovely

8.  bunnings

9. feature walls

10.  stain removal for couches

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