On Top of the World

Now that I’ve got the Friday Five out of the way, I can happily say that I’ve finally got tenants for my house! After 8 weeks, there is someone who wants to move in! It’s a group of 3 students, which sounds dodgy, but I’m so desperate now, and their references sounded ok, so we’ll see how it goes. Thank goodness we’ll have some money coming in, and be paying 2 mortgages instead of 3. One house down, one to go. We saw a new real estate agent for Matthew’s house today, and we’re going to make a few more changes to it, so I’m hoping that we’ll find someone to move in there relatively soon. It sucks trying to find tenants.

1. Do you like to shop? Why or why not?
I absolutely hate clothes shopping. I can’t think of anything more boring. I’m not very girly at all. But I love shopping for housewares, and appliances and things like that. And looking at cars, gadgets etc

2. What was the last thing you purchased?
I bought paint to paint my verandah. And I was very pleased with the result, even though it took me 6 hours to do!!

3. Do you prefer shopping online or at an actual store? Why?
It depends on what I’m buying. I generally prefer going to an actual store, so that I can see what I’m going to buy and make sure that it’s what I want. But, having done that, if I can find it cheaper online, then I’ll buy it online.

4. Did you get an allowance as a child? How much was it?
I got $2 per week… wooooo And all of a sudden one week, for no apparent reason, it got upgraded to $4. I felt so rich! But then I started at a private school and heard about all the rich kids who got a ridiculous monthly allowance, and then I didn’t feel so rich any more

5. What was the last thing you regret purchasing?
Bath paint. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but it just didn’t work out. I bought tile paint too, which I doubt I’ll ever use. So they were a waste of money.

Man I’m knackered. I did some painting at my house today, but didn’t get it all finished because the verandah walls were taking so long. The surface isn’t entirely smooth, so I spent ages mushing the brush into it to get paint in the uneven bits. I knew I should have taken the roller with me. But I did enough to get an idea of what it will look like in the end, and I think it will be ok. I didn’t realise how tired I was until I stopped. I guess 3 hours of crouching down and frantic brush movements takes its toll. I’m ready for bed.

I’m a a bit sad that Rupert went tonight. I quite liked him. But if he didn’t go soon, he probably would have gone straight to the end and won, which in a way would be good, but it would be a bit predictable. Although I must say I did enjoy the look on Sandra’s and Christa’s faces when Rupert was voted off. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything at all against Christa or Sandra, but I guess I just get a sick pleasure out of seeing smug people brought down to earth. I know that’s not very charitable of me, but I can’t help it. Of course, now I’m waiting for Jon’s turn… damn Jon. Although maybe having him in the final two, with him thinking he’s got it in the bag, just to have the other person win, would also be good. Again, the sick pleasure thing. But surely it’s forgivable in the Jon case?

I had my bath resurfaced today. It looks really good - just like a new bath! The bathroom’s still ugly, but somehow the white bath makes it look at least a little bit better. I almost think it was worth the $520 it cost me. And I bought some paint for the walls around my verandah. So I’ll go there after work tomorrow and paint it. I’m quite looking forward to it! I hope it turns out ok. I wish I’d done all this home improvement while I was still living there

I finally got a calendar for my blog. I’ve wanted one for ages, and I finally found one. So all you blog*spot people, if you don’t have a calendar, and want one, you can get one here. I’m really pleased with it. I only had to make a couple of changes to the code, although I’m still fixing up the colours. But yeah. Cool!

I had my interview at TAFE last week for my Auslan course starting next year. It just highlighted how deficient I am in putting sentences together. The woman I saw is Deaf, and she wrote most things down for me, and I tried to sign back. So I doubt I’ll get any credit for the courses I’ve done. But I guess that’s ok, since I’ll probably forget stuff by February anyway, and it’ll be good to have some revision.

Rexona doesn’t make my favourite deodorant any more I looked in 3 supermarkets before finally accepting that I’m going to have to settle for a different one. But when I was in town yesterday, I saw it in Harris Scarfe I was about to buy a couple, but then figured that if they’re not making it any more, I may as well get used to it now rather than face disappointment later. I thought that was very ‘adult’ of me

On another note, I think that Iron Chef is rigged. I saw it last night, and the challenger made 6 dishes, and carved a cool-looking pagoda out of a carrot, and Iron Chef only made 4, but he still won! Something’s wrong there. But still it’s a great show, especially the translators who translate everything they say, right down to the laughs and the “mmmm”s when they’re tasting the food.

I went Christmas shopping today. At least, I tried. The same thing happens every year - I go into the city, walk around for 4 hours or so, and come back with one or two things. This process is repeated, on average, half a dozen times before the shopping is complete. Every year I say I’ll get my shopping done early so I don’t have to battle the huge crowds in the week or so before Christmas, but every year it’s always a case of rushing around at the last minute because I couldn’t think of what to buy. It’s so stressful. What’s excellent is when you know exactly what you want to get someone, and you can go out and get it straight away, and know they’re really going to like it. I love that. But then I get really excited about giving it to them, and I have to be careful that I don’t say too much!

This week has really dragged for me, particularly the last couple of days. Anyway, it’s Friday now, and I’m armed with Top Deck chocolate, and all ready to tackle my first Friday Five… bring it on!

1. List 5 things you’d like to accomplish by the end of the year
i) Get the house cleaned up - we moved in a couple of months ago, and there’s still heaps of stuff lying around.
ii) Get my house rented out - it’s been on the market for ages and still nothing! The agent’s got till the 30th, then I’m taking matters into my own hands…
iii) Have a barbeque at our house. We’ve got the bbq, we’ve got the entertaining area, but we haven’t yet combined the two!
iv) Get our new lounge - we’ve been waiting for months, and it’s supposedly due in early Dec (this is about the 3rd date modification), so I can’t wait to have it in there and have the lounge room set up. I’m sick of sitting on cushions on the floor!
v) Have breakfast on the balcony of our house. Or a glass of wine in the early evening, looking over the plains as the lights come on for the night.

2. List 5 people you’ve lost contact with that you’d like to hear from again
i) Verity
ii) Alex
iii) Fiona
iv) Anneline
v) Olivia
The first 3 are school friends, and the last 2 are penfriends. I wonder how they’re doing.

3. List 5 things you’d like to learn how to do
i) Basic car maintenance, so I don’t feel like an idiot when I take my car to be serviced. And also so I know if they’re trying to rip me off.
ii) Become proficient in Auslan. I’ve been learning since March, and I’m (hopefully) starting a course at TAFE next year. I know lots of vocab, but now I have to learn how to put it together using the correct grammar.
iii) Play the piano really well. I started off teaching myself, then I had lessons for 9 months but gave up. I wish I could just take a piece of music and sit down and play it without having to concentrate so hard.
iv) Take French lessons again. I used to learn in high school, and loved it, but didn’t continue at uni, which I regret.
v) Learn website design

4. List 5 things you’d do if you won the lottery (no limit)
i) Quit my job. I always said that if I won the lottery I’d keep working, but I realise now that that was a lie.
ii) Enrol in some courses I’d really like to do, but can’t now because I have to work.
iii) Buy a nice car. My car sucks. It’s reliable, and has served me well for the last 4 years, but it’s just so gutless and girly. I’m ready for something with grunt!!
iv) Go on a holiday with my husband. Overseas, or around the world… that’s the life!
v) Give some money to DeafSA. I believe that Deaf people have the right to free interpreters for things like trips to the doctor, dentist etc, and since government funding for this purpose has been cut, many Deaf people can’t afford to pay them, and have to rely on family and friends to interpret for them.

5. List 5 things you do to relax
i) Listen to classical music. My favourite is Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition.
ii) Go for a walk. Where I live is quite hilly, so going for a walk is a bit more strenuous than it used to be.
iii) Read a book. My favourite author is Maeve Binchy.
iv) Take a long bath. With bubbles of course.
v) Play the piano. Not very well, but it’s still relaxing (probably not for the people who have to listen to it though).

I had a London bun for breakfast today. Usually I try to take some breakfast with me to work, but I didn’t have time today, so I had my ‘usual’ from the deli next door. I love the white icing on top. It’s just so sweet and yummy. The icing is 95% of the reason I buy them. The other 5% is that I kid myself that because it doesn’t have cream or anything in it, then it’s not too unhealthy. But deep down I know better. They’re just so hard to resist sometimes.

I wish Jon would get voted off Survivor. He is just so irritating.