He's done it again...

Around 18 months ago I posted about a surprise delivery I received when home one afternoon.

Guess what, he's done it again...

This morning, (I hadn't long been up) we heard the parcel delivery man in the driveway. We are expecting a few deliveries, (new mobile phones, books I had ordered) so I expected it would be one of these.

But no, the delivery man is making his way to the door, utterly swamped by a rather large box, considerably larger than I had expected for what we had ordered. Upon investigation it appeared that the contents matched the photographs on the box and it contained this...
...a new espresso machine...I had no idea it was coming, not a clue...

Our last machine bit the dust a while back and we have been managing without one since then. It will be lovely to have a fully automated machine again with glorious, thick, black liquid at the press of a button.

I do love surprises...!!!

Utter Disbelief...

John works as the State Director for a large (well-known and respected) organisation that provides services & accommodation for people with a disability. On Tuesday evening he came home looking somewhat bemused and recounted the following reported to him by one of his Managers.

Person A is his Manager, Person B is a contact that works for a State Government Department. A has been in daily contact with B regarding finding a service for one of their clients, I'll call the client C. This situation has been going on for some time.

A: Is anything happening with our request for C ??

B: No, not as yet, in fact I will not be handling C's case file any more, I have referred it to my supervisor for her attention...

A: Oh, would she be in please, I would like to speak with her ??

B. No, she is not in at the moment...

A. When would be a good time to speak with her ??

B: Actually there isn't a good time to speak with her, she is on leave at present...

A: Okay...

B: As a matter of fact I am acting in her position while she is absent...

WTF ???

At this point in time I am incredulous.

Does B actually realise the utter stupidity of what he was saying..?? I doubt it. Keep in mind that B is a Manager in a State managed government department, almost certainly with a university qualification, a number of years experience and a commensurate salary.

People like this give the Public Service it's much maligned reputation. Days later I am still gobsmacked.

The date of my very first giveaway has been extended to this Sunday 8th March, International Women's Day. Click here to leave a comment and join in.

Valentine's Day...and a question...

Last year on Valentine's Day I gave John this gorgeous frangipani...in the past 12 months it has more than doubled in size and now stands about a metre (3ft for those still using the imperial system) tall, it's flourishing.

How delighted I was to find that on Valentine's Day this year the buds had burst into flower...very timely. I love the way that the petals overlap in the centre...the perfume is divine, especially in the cooler evening...


Now for the question...

I've noticed a daily visitor to my blog from Buxton, Victoria and can't help but wonder who you are. Do I know you..?? I'd love it if you commented occasionally & introduced yourself but understand if you would prefer to remain incognito.

Regardless, please keep visiting. I hope you and those close to you were spared in the horrific fires. I can't imagine the horror of it. Stay safe.

Sob...

Last night when perusing the wine cellar John noticed that a bottle of Penfold's Grange Hermitage was somewhat rusty around the top. On further investigation he noticed that it had leaked slightly.

From Nick's Wine Merchants website...

"Penfolds Grange is without doubt one of Australia's and the world's most famous wines. From humble beginnings in the 1950's, Grange has maintained its place as Australia's most prestigious red wine over four decades and lead the charge of Australian wines onto the world market. Today, it is a wine of international fame challenging the First Growths of Bordeaux as the Worlds best. And like the First Growth wines of Bordeaux such is the reputation of Grange that each vintage is eagerly awaited by collectors both in Australia and overseas...

...Penfolds Grange is the benchmark against which all other Australian red wines are judged. To share a mature Grange, 15 to 20 years old in fine condition is one of the great wine experiences."

Of course it couldn't have been any old run of the mill everyday drinking red wine could it..?? It had to be the ultimate Australian red wine.

Hoping against hope we opened it this evening to enjoy with a pasta dinner. Sadly it had turned, the nose was very much like methylated spirits and it had turned a nasty brown colour.

I have just checked the Penfolds website...1995 Grange is now worth $499.00/bottle

Ouch...

Think I'll keep that information to myself.

In Our Garden This Morning...

Had a crappy night's sleep so at around 6.30am got up and went for a meander outside. Look what I spied on our avocado tree...!!! Our very first tiny, wee, baby avocado...!!!

It's about 5cm long at this point, not sure what will happen with it and how big it will eventually grow, probably not huge as this is the first year the tree has fruited. Hopefully next season we will be inundated, we eat them almost daily at his time of year.

Also had a look at what has happened in the garden since our huge rain dump last week...over the course of the week we received around 400mm, quite substantial. John was outside in the pool shed a number of nights having to pump water out of the pool. Had it over flowed we would have had it in the house or worse, it would flow over the retaining wall into the neighbours courtyards, they are about 1.5m lower than us over the back fence.

We have tomatoes of a number of varieties going berserk, although some of them are quite watery after the rain, eggplant, beans, zucch's, huge amounts of self seeded salad greens (love the bitter, peppery ones), sweet potatoes and a feral garden bed of mint, rosemary, flat leaf parsley, thyme, lemon thyme, lemongrass, Vietnamese mint and basil. The front garden has a couple of passionfruit vines on the fence, olives, avocadoes, a grafted eggplant tree, mango and paw paw. We also have a kaffir lime, mandarin and grafted lemon tree in substantial pots on the verandah.

When we moved in to our home the orange and lemon trees had been somewhat neglected over the years and we (that would be John actually) gave them a serious prune and nurture. They are looking fabulous now and have the makings of healthy fruit on them. We did get a reasonable number of edible oranges this year but most of what we picked needed to be dumped.

I'm keen on the garden but more a fair weather gardener, John is the more passionate one, I like to harvest and cook the produce, he enjoys getting his hands dirty. In the scheme of things it's not a bad balance I guess.

Three Years Ago...

Three years ago on this night when I went to bed I had no idea what was in store for me the next morning. As I slept I received an email in my inbox that would change the rest of my life in a huge way.

When I turned 40 I set myself up a profile on an online dating site, kind of a birthday gift to myself I suppose. I have a dear friend who had been suggesting that I do so....she had been dating men she had met online for some years. I had been quite reluctant for some time but then she asked me to answer the following question as honestly as I could...

"So...where do you go to meet nice men..??"

I was stumped, couldn't answer, there was no answer. That very night I checked out a few online dating sites, chose one that was reputable, set up my profile, uploaded a photo and perused the profiles available to me. During the following 18 months I met and went out with a number of men, some I am still dear friends with today, others that didn't get past the first date. I had a series of short and a couple of longer term liaisons.

Then...

One night, during the wee small hours I was sent an email from a man named John, who said that he liked what I had written about my life and my family and wanted to know if I would be interested in communicating further. Immediately I wondered what someone was doing sending me email at 3am...what kind of oddball stayed up all night scouring the internet for dates..?? However, I had made a promise to myself to respond to every email I received, even if it was with a "thanks, but no thanks" so I replied. I checked out his profile and it seemed we shared a number of interests including food, coffee, wine, farmer's markets and left wing politics. He didn't have a photo up but was quite willing to send me one on request.

We exchanged emails over the next few days...he revealed that he didn't usually sit up all night trawling the internet for women but his (then 9yo) son had broken his collarbone that day at school and they had spent just about all night in the ER, waiting to be x-rayed etc. He was wired when he got home and thought he would spend an hour or so unwinding online. Hence, the email.

It became apparent that we needed to meet and soon...so the date was set, we had lunch and spent many hours that day talking and laughing...an excellent start.

Over the next couple of weeks we fell very much in love...yes, it was quick and unexpected but so, so sweet. I had very definite ideas of what I was looking for in a partner, not necessarily a shopping list as such but having had a few more years life experience I knew very much who "fit". Finding John was like coming home, very much the other part of me...he felt the same way.

That first email was three years ago tonight, in the wee hours of the 4th October, 2005. John and his family coming into mine and Matilda's life has been for the most part the easiest thing in the world. It became apparent very early on in our relationship that we would be together for a very long time so plans were made and we ended up here in Queensland.

I adore and respect him, I enjoy his companionship and shared discussion. I never, ever thought I would find someone to watch Insiders with on Sunday mornings but I have. He is generous and kind, thoughtful and funny. He treats me with greatest respect and love. We do not argue, we never have, there is no need. He doesn't sweat the small stuff and understands what's important in life. He cares for Matilda like he were her biological father. My heart still leaps when I see his name in my Inbox, just like it did three years ago tonight...he is warm and very snuggly, gives the best hugs, I love the way I "fit" under his chin when we hug and the way he smells, he always smells so good. I love his mind too, he is highly intelligent...I love bits of him other than his mind. I love going to sleep with him and the way he places his hand on my hip as we drift off. I love that he has entrusted me to care for his children, not a decision to be taken lightly. I love that our children care for and get along with each other, we are so very fortunate. I love that he loves me...I am a lucky woman indeed, my life has been very blessed.

Happy three years my love, they have been amazing.

With so much love...

Kerrie...xxx

Homesickness, Illness, Matilda's Photos...bit of a ramble...

I haven't been a good blogger...

My apologies for being absent this last week...sometimes my attentions and energies are needed elsewhere, at home and for me in this case, perhaps selfishly.

I have a big case of homesickness at the moment. We left Victoria over 18 months ago and I have found that it can strike hard, really hard without warning. It usually hits on the weekends, times when I would be doing things with them

I am missing my friends...I could live anywhere in the world with my friends within reasonable distance. Despite many promises there has only been a visit from one friend since living in Brisbane. I understand and feel no malice nor blame for broken promises...I just miss them.

John has suggested, even insisted, that I take a trip to Victoria for a week or so to catch up with them. I won't even entertain that thought at the moment, he is still very much unwell and although back at work is finding the vertigo and constant tinnitus quite disabling. He is being stoic, very much so...to the point where I just haven't been able to read what is going on with him and was so worried he was much sicker than he was letting on or that there was something critically wrong with him...his wall was about ten feet high and he wasn't letting me in. The higher the wall became the more morbid & skewed my thoughts became. I crumbled last night, the tears came and we had a full & frank discussion and I impressed my need to understand exactly what is going on with his health. I think he "gets it" now and I am feeling more relaxed tonight.

Anyway...I won't go away and leave him holding the reins until he is well again or I can take Matilda & Myles with me...it's too much to ask of him to do it all here. I can suck it up and put on my big girl knickers for that long.

Hmmm...I wasn't going to post much tonight, it's way past bedtime and John is already sleeping soundly. I have been up way too late these last few nights, have been caught up with watching the track & field events in Beijing.

However, I did promise Matilda I would post some of her recent photos.

She has taken a keen interest in photography of late, always has her camera with her and has taken some fantastic action shots. She has an "eye" for unusual angles...she uploaded these yesterday...I find them oddly compelling.

They were self portraits taken through a magnifying glass. She was just "playing" with her camera as she often does...the results are almost creepy.

Time for bed...it's late and I'm tired. I promise I'll try to post more regularly over the next few weeks.

Absent Blogger...

My apologies for being so absent this week.

John has been rather unwell with what seems may be Meniere's Disease and we have been doing the run around of visiting doctors and having various diagnostic tests.

Last Monday at work he had quite sudden onset of ear pain, vertigo, unbalance and total deafness in his right ear. It was quite frightening and he was taken by ambulance to a private hospital with an ER.

Well, almost $250 and many hours later there were no answers. The following morning we were able to speak to his General Practitioner who was able to get us in to be seen by a specialist ENT Medico...he was brilliant.

He is taking a cocktail of medications, still not really having a definite diagnosis though. He is feeling a little less vertiginous but isn't sure whether it is due to his condition actually improving or the medication masking his symptoms. Either way he is getting some relief from the hideous vertigo and nausea that accompanies it.

He is an impatient patient though...is suffering a little from cabin fever. He's also not one to complain when he is unwell, he is very stoic and will carry on until he just can't any longer. He's not good at being cared for, which quite frankly is driving me a little crazy. I want to care for him, want to make sure he is okay and to get him what he needs. Earlier in the week he had no choice but to let me and that was really difficult for him. I hear there are many men out there who have "full blown 'flu and are dying" when all they have is a sniffle or at best a head cold...I'm not sure which I would prefer to be living with.

We are going back to the ENT doctor on Monday, prior to this appointment he has to have a hearing test. The not so good news is that while the vertigo should pass there is the strong possibility that his hearing may not return. If there is little or no improvement in his condition after a couple of weeks he will be sent for an MRI...this is where the potential diagnosis gets scary. The positive side of this is that acoustic neuromas are always benign...they have to be removed and the surgery isn't pleasant but it willbe benign.

Hopefully it won't get to this.

So life has been hectic here...thankfully towards the end of the week we had a couple of days at home and John rested, he needs to rest.

Tomorrow morning I am on football duty, Myles has to be at footy at 9am...he is playing at a ground in the far northern suburbs, about as far north as the district goes. We need to leave here by 8.15 at the latest so I will bid you all a goodnight, wish you sweet dreams and hopefully post more regularly next week.

Actually, I just looked at my diary for next week...the dreaded mammogram looms...

Oh joy...

Surprise...!!!

On Tuesday we were home in the afternoon just pottering around. I have had a tummy bug and wasn't up to a lot so the first couple of days of the holidays had been rather quiet.

I heard a (rather large) delivery truck pull up in the street and a short while later a man knocked at the door. He had our new pool table to be delivered...!!! Kids very excited, they knew nothing about it. However, neither did I...!!! A quick phone call to John confirmed that yes, indeed it was meant to be delivered...he laughed loudly at my incredulousness (is that a word..??)

John had neglected to mention that he had bid for it (successfully it seems) last Friday. He wasn't even sure he had won it until Monday and because I was ill and slept the whole day away he hadn't told me. I was quite incredulous. The kids are pretty happy about it, will give them something to fill in some holiday hours.

It was a fantastic buy really...it came with cues, balls, triangle, chalk...all we need to get playing. It is apparently valued at around $2,500 but a bargain at $350, mind you, it cost $200 to get it to Brisbane from Sydney but even so it's still a bargain. Have a look at Gray's Online for similar bargains.

Is It Just A Man Thing..??

When John & I moved in together and relocated to Queensland we had some difficulties with the carrier that came to collect our container. Originally we had specified a date, then five days before hand they phoned and said that they had to pick it up in two days.

So 5pm on Friday was it...!!!

Two days...!!! That was three days earlier than we had planned...do you know how much can be achieved in three days of packing up a house..?? My house was already packed and vacated, most of our things safely in the container. I was exhausted after doing that single-handedly, and hadn't quite planned on having to pack up John's house too, most of which hadn't been done. He has so much "stuff"...accumulated over many years and most of which never sees light of day. It was hard work, really hard work and we were just exhausted. John has moved many times in his life but has never moved himself, a removalist has always done it so he really had no idea of how long it was going to take to pack.

Lunchtime on Friday comes and we had measured out the container and found we had a place for everything we wanted to take...fantastic.

Well, it was fantastic until the carrier showed up at 2pm instead of 5pm as arranged. The container had to go. We ran like lunatics to throw everything into it that we could...the driver was getting impatient and very antsy as he was due to be elsewhere. He showed us his manifest and sure enough, it said 2pm for our pickup...tried to phone the office but no joy, they had gone for the weekend it seemed. Eventually we could fit no more in the container, none of it was packed as we had arranged and we could not fit it all in...had we had the time to pack it properly it wouldn't have been a problem. Thankfully we remembered at the last millisecond to throw the trolleys into the container.

There was some kind of elated relief as the container disappeared around the corner leaving the detritus of our lives spread across the front lawn. A few calls later and we had a storage locker close to John's house so the next day or two was spent doing a final pack up.

Of course this left us with a problem...where to sleep..?? Kids were all deposited at their respective grandparents homes for a few days farewell visit and John and I hightailed it down the highway to Melbourne to stay at the Sofitel.

Reception staff were taken aback when we arrived to check in...we were filthy and I'm sure we didn't smell too good either. It had been a stinking 37C degrees (that's 98.5 for those still on the Fahrenheit scale). It was utter bliss to walk into our room, the cool of the room was just heavenly. A long bath with a gin & tonic in hand was the order of the day for me, then dinner at the restaurant while watching a storm roll into the city from the 52nd floor, just stunning. I loved that man so much for thinking ahead and making the booking...we had 3 nights there. We worked hard during the day at the house but to go "home" to the Sofitel and it's amazing view was just heavenly.

Fast forward 18 months to now...

Our things in storage arrived this week...we decided that yes, we would get them sent here and not have to pay storage fees any more, probably a fiscally prudent decision.

John started unpacking it on Saturday and my mostly tidy home just disappeared under piles and piles of John's lifetime of accumulated "stuff"...there is no other word for it, well, no other nice word for it anyway. I was too overwhelmed with the piles of it to do anything to help...it was just taking over. I'm struggling with his need to hang onto so much of it, it's an aspect of his make-up that I haven't encountered before. John is (usually) a very practical, no-fuss person...it's part of what attracted me to him...this just seems to fly in the face of that.

I understand that he is probably hanging onto a lot of it for sentimental reasons. For those of you who don't know, John's wife (and the boy's Mum) died 11 years ago...I have to be respectful of that but still...this goes waaaaaaaaayyy beyond that. I don't know what will happen to it when he is no longer on this planet, I can't see the boys wanting any of it.

I feel very overwhelmed, very much like my home has been taken over. Matilda commented last night that she felt like she was living in someone else's house (but was referring to our changing the living room around). She nailed it in one though...it does feel like I am living in someone else's house. We talked last night about new curtains for the living area...need a trip to Spotlight to choose fabric...might also sew some cushion covers for the floor cushions and do a trip to Ikea for some bits & pieces to "lift" the room.

Meanwhile, I'm still coming to terms with the hoarding and inability to get rid of things. Is this a "man" thing..?? Do women do it too..??

Can anyone shed any light on the subject...if so I would be most grateful.