Drive Time

I drove a five hour round trip today.

Two and a half hours up, a 6 hour meeting and forum, then two and half hours back to Red Dirt Central.

The meeting was worth the drive but it sure made for a long day. On the bright side I got to listen to a bunch of CD's I love without anyone complaining, wanting the music turned down or The Wiggles music put on instead! Gotta love that LOL.

Now I'm off to babysit for a friend. I have done a little bit of cooking during the week so I'll be back over the weekend to share some recipes.

Hellooooooooo

I am here really, just working lots, settling into the new job, helping hubby write job applications, still tutoring three kids, not cooking anything very interesting and coping with minor childhood emergencies.

Offspring #1 closed the door a little more forcefully than was required and, unfortunately #2's thumb was in it! Much screaming, even more swelling and bruising, a quick trip to emergency, her first x-ray and home within 2 hours! I was impressed. And although it all ended well and all body part are intact she now has another cold. It's so unfair when it's hovering around 39C outside!

So, are you doing anything interesting?

7 Random Facts

Mountain Mama at Careful What You Wish For has tagged me for a meme.I'm thrilled to have had the hand of blogging friendship extended to me but have had a really hard time coming up with the content required for the meme. So much so that this has sat in my draft box for a week or more.

So, here's the meme rules:

Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.

Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.

Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

And here's 7 random things about me:

1. I love lists. I write lists for everything - shopping lists, to do lists, how to lists, meal plan lists, - you name I'll write a list for it. I write a to-do list every single day. They usually have much the same thing on them (make beds, do dishes, etc) so I guess they are pretty useless but they make me feel good. On the days I don't write lists I feel like something is missing. And I usually end up forgetting to do stuff like return phone calls or pay bills that are due.

2. I suck at maths. I hate maths and numbers make my mind go kind of blank, then I have a really hard time concentrating and working out what I have to do let alone actually doing it. It's become more about my fear of getting it wrong and looking stupid than not actually being able to do it. It's annoying and dumb because it stops me doing stuff I like, like playing card games, because I get too worried about what other people will think if I don't add up the cards right.

3. I cook when I'm happy and I clean when I'm not. Of course, it's not quite that simple but that's kind of how it works. A flatmate from many many years ago worked this out quite quickly and totally used it to his advantage. It was lucky we'd been friends for a long time otherwise I think I would have had to hurt him LOL.

4. I love 80's music, the daggier the better. I tell myself it's because I was in high school in the 80's so it was when I was 'into' music but I secretly think I'd love the whole synthesizer-music and men-wearing-make-up thing no matter what decade it came from.

5. I only ever wear nail polish on my toe nails and I only wear two colours. Blood red in winter and bright blue in summer.

6. I never knew that The Village People were gay. It's true. My boyfriend-at-the-time told me when I was about 23 and I was totally shocked! He still laughs about it, as does my husband and just about everyone else who knows. Now you can all laugh too :)

7. I hate hanging washing on the line. I don't mind sorting it, loading the machine, unloading the machine or folding it when it's dry. I don't even mind ironing too much any more (once upon a time when I had money and no children I only bought 'dry clean only' clothes in order to avoid ironing) but I HATE hanging it on the line. Sadly, everyone in my house insists on wearing clothes so I have to keep washing them.

I'm supposed to tag 7 other bloggers but while I admire many, ready even more and leave comments on a few, I don't really know 7 that I could tag so, if you'd like to do the meme jump on in and let me know in the comments so I can come visit and find out all about you!

I Love Sydney!

I freely admit that the thought of flying to Sydney, leaving the kids and Hubby for a week and having to deal with luggage, airports and hotels had me FREAKING out! But... it turns out that I can handle it all just fine. Who knew? Okay, well most everyone except me, apparently LOL.

First up, the hotel in Sydney sucked big time. Considering how much the rooms cost per night I was expecting something a little better - let's just say the wallpaper was peeling, the tv didn't work, the shower didn't work properly, the maintenance people had to be called twice before they came and fixed the shower and three times before the tv was fixed and my room service dinner order was wrong. Add to that two of the most uncomfortable beds on the face of the earth - one had lumps all through it while the other while the other sunk in the middle so that I could hardly get out of it - not enough blankets and no extras in the room and you have some idea of the level of crapiness.

But... the city of Sydney was fabulous, gorgeous, bustling, friendlier than I expected and just full of life. I can't say I'd want to live there but it was a terrific place to visit and I can't wait to go back.

Here's a small sample of some of the millions of photos I snapped.

A view of the city from the harbour












The Sydney Harbour Bridge, taken from Circular Quay

And the Harbour Bridge, from out in the middle of the harbour

The Sydney Opera House, on a gorgeously sunny day

And a closer look at the Opera House, on a cold and rainy day.

I'm so glad I had the opportunity to take this trip. It was a real learning experience, obviously from the work-side of things, but also personally. I stood on my own two feet, I found my way around a strange city (and yes, I did get lost but I found my way back to where I needed to be), I did some site-seeing, and I spent some time on my own. The last is a very rare luxury and I wasn't sure how I'd go with it. It can be quite daunting when you're used to being surrounded by people and are constantly putting their needs above your own. Not that I'm selfless and saintly by any means but anyone with kids knows what I mean, you get used to putting what you want at the bottom of the list and making time for yourself is something that doesn't happen very often. And do you know what I loved the most? That in the middle of a bustling, busy, modern city I found a space to be silent. There was no children's television, no radio blaring at me at 6am, no kids fighting/screeching/singing at the top of their lung, no phone ringing, no dog barking and it was bliss. They can all be joyful and joyous sounds but sometimes it's really nice to have a break from them.

Perth Was Great

Mum and Dad met me at the airport and took me to my hotel. They waited while I checked in and then we went for a walk in the city. We checked out the Christmas decorations, avoided the druggies in the mall, oohed and aahed over window displays and generally caught up on family news. We had dinner together in the hotel restaurant - my lamb was delicious! - and then they headed home.

I can honestly recommend the Travel Lodge in Perth. It wasn't 5 star but it was a nice place to stay and the staff were great. By the third morning the girls on the breakfast shift greeted me by name, which was really nice when I was eating on my own and feeling just the tiniest bit lonely.

Here's my hotel room.

The bed was comfy, the blankets were warm enough (and there was an extra blanket in the cupboard - gotta love that) and everything worked.

Here's the view from my balcony (yep, I had a balcony!). First the view towards the city, although it misses all the tall buildings so I realise that it hardly looks very city-like to most of you.

And then, an even less city-like pic, facing the other way:

I had dinner with my girlfriends - more delicious food, lots of wine and lots of laughing - went shopping with my Mum, had Hungry Jacks for lunch (my weakness and the one junk food I always indulge in when in Perth) and, of course, worked. It was great to start the week in my home-town where I was comfortable and in familiar surrounds.