Any time I think I want a baby, I just watch Nanny 911 and I remember how much I cherish our "Just the Two of Us" time at the moment sans tantrums and potty training. :) I think I'm too selfish to have babies right now. I like having my days to myself, sleeping in, reading a book and having Beebs all to myself in the evenings when he's home from work. I like being able to pick up and leave town on a whim every weekend if I want to and I like being able to catch up for coffee with friends without having to consider a babysitter or what to do with The Kids. I know, some day, I will want to give all that up and for my whole being to revolve around someone else's needs and wants.....but for the time being I'm really happy just being concerned with myself and my marriage. I think if we added a baby to the mix, it would be like building a foundation on sand and would be really difficult to find stability in our relationship again once the attention shifted from us and our needs to the needs of someone else.
All that considered... (and now that I've made it obvious I'm not pregant. lol) I do think about baby names a lot. :) (Doesn't every girl?)
My fave girl's name of the moment is Wrenalee. How pretty is "Wrenalee Wood?"I thought I'd made it up, but I did find one instance of it on the internet so there's at least one baby out there with it as a name. lol
Thoughts:
I've had people tell me that it's going to be a nightmare when she's in school because of how it's spelled and most people won't know how to pronounce it and la la la. It makes me wish Amelia was here because SHE of all people could appreciate the beauty in a name like Wrenalee. Even if I can't appreciate the beauty in some of her baby name choices. lol
I can safely say that I have had my name misspelled my entire life and it is one of the most common names in the country. I at least changed the spelling from "Leigh" to "Lee..." So there's that argument dead. I agree that people may not know how to pronounce it initially; pronounced wren-uh-lee, like Natalie but with Wren instead of Nat. But, I think that if we keep her within the same school system that most classmates will be used to her name and it will only be the teachers that have to pronounce it at the beginning of the school year. I think it's a beautiful name and it's rarity makes it a special gift in my eyes. Maybe I want such a unique name because of how common mine is. I could never go through school without another Melissa or 5 in my class, even with another Melissa White in my high school and yet ANOTHER Melissa White in my dorm at UNT. Something else people have said is "You could call her 'Wren' for short" Yeah...no. She would be Wrenalee. Maybe Wrena for short, but not Wren....hellllooo "Ren and Stimpy" anyone? She'd always be Wrenalee to me.
Anyways, I'm just speculating on a beautiful name for my hypothetical daughter that hopefully will remain hypothetical until at least 2016.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
One more thing...
I've got some steaks on the "barby" hahahahahaha and a little bit of free time while things heat up so I thought I'd post some things I forgot to earlier.
I booked my return flight today, so I'll be in Watauga from the 21st December - 20th January. Chris is going to be visiting from the 23rd December - 2nd January. He did get some more time off, yay!! But not as much as would have been ideal. :( Booooo. But he did get the WHOLE week of my birthday off! YAY!! The Taylor Swift concert is that Monday in Newcastle, so hopefully we can spend Tuesday (my bday) in Sydney! Swanky. ;) So far I only have my flights booked through to LosAngeles, so I still need to book the flights to DFW. I'm hoping to find a deal....lots of deals in Jan. but, of course, everybody and their bro. wants to fly the same date as me. It has really paid to wait to book until closer to the date in the past so, at this point, that's what I'm going to do.
Someone came to our church on Sunday to try to recruit "RE" Teachers or "Religious Education" teachers for the high school. Apparently, once a week, all the kids split off into their declared religions for 30 minutes of "Religious Education." Most people are too scared to volunteer for the high school kids, but I'd really love to do that! I'm also interested in applying for the chaplaincy next year but I'm not really sure how all that works. I just think I could really relate to the kids and become, hopefully, a positive Christian role model in their lives where there wouldn't be one otherwise. So far the only strong Christian role models I've seen in town are more like mother/father figures and I can speak from experience to what a difference it can make in kids lives to have someone younger in that mentor role, someone who they feel "gets it" when mom and dad don't. I'm not sure how these things would affect my ability to do an apprenticeship next year, but I know God didn't put me in Moranbah to cut hair. That was more a "me" thing because it would be a fun way to work hard and pass the time. I'd be happy to give it up to try and make an impact in the lives of the youth here since that's why I feel like I'm here in the first place. Every little bit makes a difference, hey?
Chris came home from work today with flowers in hand. :) I just had to brag on him again.
I booked my return flight today, so I'll be in Watauga from the 21st December - 20th January. Chris is going to be visiting from the 23rd December - 2nd January. He did get some more time off, yay!! But not as much as would have been ideal. :( Booooo. But he did get the WHOLE week of my birthday off! YAY!! The Taylor Swift concert is that Monday in Newcastle, so hopefully we can spend Tuesday (my bday) in Sydney! Swanky. ;) So far I only have my flights booked through to LosAngeles, so I still need to book the flights to DFW. I'm hoping to find a deal....lots of deals in Jan. but, of course, everybody and their bro. wants to fly the same date as me. It has really paid to wait to book until closer to the date in the past so, at this point, that's what I'm going to do.
Someone came to our church on Sunday to try to recruit "RE" Teachers or "Religious Education" teachers for the high school. Apparently, once a week, all the kids split off into their declared religions for 30 minutes of "Religious Education." Most people are too scared to volunteer for the high school kids, but I'd really love to do that! I'm also interested in applying for the chaplaincy next year but I'm not really sure how all that works. I just think I could really relate to the kids and become, hopefully, a positive Christian role model in their lives where there wouldn't be one otherwise. So far the only strong Christian role models I've seen in town are more like mother/father figures and I can speak from experience to what a difference it can make in kids lives to have someone younger in that mentor role, someone who they feel "gets it" when mom and dad don't. I'm not sure how these things would affect my ability to do an apprenticeship next year, but I know God didn't put me in Moranbah to cut hair. That was more a "me" thing because it would be a fun way to work hard and pass the time. I'd be happy to give it up to try and make an impact in the lives of the youth here since that's why I feel like I'm here in the first place. Every little bit makes a difference, hey?
Chris came home from work today with flowers in hand. :) I just had to brag on him again.
Another week half gone and nothing much to show for it. Ah well. :)
I cleaned the front part of the house and the bathrooms this weekend and it's nice to bask in the glow of spray-n-wipe. We have an inspection coming up next week and, while they don't particularly care if your house is spotless, they probably care if it's as bad as ours was.... So the only non-spotless rooms at the moment are Chris's office and the spare bedroom....we are pretty good at keeping our room clean but somehow the mess managed to travel into the spare room. I don't think any of our clothes are on hangers or in drawers at the moment which is pretty pitiful. We don't really have a "closet" persay, just too tiny wardrobes which, when combined, form an even smaller closet than your average hotel room. We just need to suck it up and buy a bedroom suite I suppose, maybe after Christmas.
It has been RAINING in Moranbah. They have an el Nino or whatever that's been keeping the rain at bay for months but now we're predicted to have scattered showers for the rest of the week. Hopefully they scatter themselves over our lawn, that would be more than convenient. Typically this region has a monsoon season where it rains every afternoon for a period of time, but something's changed in the past few years that's put the region in a massive drought.....not sure what caused it. I hear that it hasn't really STOPPED raining back in good ole F Dub, send some of that rain over here!
I finally figure out that it's not pictures that are sucking up all the memory on my laptop, it's my tv shows! I've been downloading Gossip Girl, Bones, America's Next Top Model, House and Medium every single week....and apparently they suck up a lot of disk space. So I moved a whole heap of them that I haven't watched since last year and freed up 24 Gigs of space. Woot! How convenient. :) They do show all of these shows in Australia, but most of them are a whole season behind which doesn't do me a lot of good and is why I've continued downloading them on iTunes. Yes, it costs money but no more than what a couple lattes a week would cost and so we'll just say I've traded pleasures for the time being.
P.S. I've found a KILLER otc sleep aid; Doxylamine succinate. It is apparantly the antihistamine in Nyquil that makes it so sedative. I must have worked up a tolerance to Benadryl over the years because it does NOTHING for me, but this stuff really knocks me out. Better than Ambien even. I wonder if you can get it in a pill form in America? And I wonder why, if it's so much stronger than diphenhydramine, it's not more widely known? Anyways, this is a very helpful discovery for yours truly and put me to sleep by 11pm last night. Very impressive!
I called the consulate today. I lost my passport and the Mackay police mailed it to the consulate. They are now holding my passport hostage until I change my name.....wow. I didn't even think I could change my name here legally, but apparently I can and I have to or else they won't give the passport back. Oh well, I was kind of depressed about having to stay Melissa White anyways when all I want is to be a Wood! So I just have to figure out how to do that....I'm meant to go to the department of births, deaths, and marriages now and they'll have our thingee and I'll change my name. I have to pay $100 for a new passport though, how inconvenient. At least I get to keep the old one though, and at least they actually FOUND it because it would have been a lot more complicated if they hadn't. I'm watching that thing like a hawk from now on.
Horrible Trend of the Moment
I would like to take this opportunity to address a horrible trend of the moment: The RaRa Skirt. Now, if you have fallen victim to this trend, please do not take my criticism personally; just do not ever wear the skirt again. Thanks. ;)
Offenders:
Now, the RaRa skirt is not really all that bad on its own, what makes it bad is how everyone who wears one insists on pairing it with a tucked-in tank or spaghetti strap shirt. SO unflattering!
There is about 2% of the population that can wear a spaghetti-strap shirt tucked into a RaRa skirt and actually pull it off. Why? Because they are like a size 2 and 5'10". If you have anything remotely resembling hips, a butt, or a set of boobs this trend DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU. Maybe if you threw on a cute shrug or cropped jacket....but you just cannot tuck your shirt into your skirt and make it look good on its own. Sorry for ya, but the muffin-top will never be "in." Next time, just say no and please give this outfit to your 15 y/o sister whom it was most likely proportioned for.
I cleaned the front part of the house and the bathrooms this weekend and it's nice to bask in the glow of spray-n-wipe. We have an inspection coming up next week and, while they don't particularly care if your house is spotless, they probably care if it's as bad as ours was.... So the only non-spotless rooms at the moment are Chris's office and the spare bedroom....we are pretty good at keeping our room clean but somehow the mess managed to travel into the spare room. I don't think any of our clothes are on hangers or in drawers at the moment which is pretty pitiful. We don't really have a "closet" persay, just too tiny wardrobes which, when combined, form an even smaller closet than your average hotel room. We just need to suck it up and buy a bedroom suite I suppose, maybe after Christmas.
It has been RAINING in Moranbah. They have an el Nino or whatever that's been keeping the rain at bay for months but now we're predicted to have scattered showers for the rest of the week. Hopefully they scatter themselves over our lawn, that would be more than convenient. Typically this region has a monsoon season where it rains every afternoon for a period of time, but something's changed in the past few years that's put the region in a massive drought.....not sure what caused it. I hear that it hasn't really STOPPED raining back in good ole F Dub, send some of that rain over here!
I finally figure out that it's not pictures that are sucking up all the memory on my laptop, it's my tv shows! I've been downloading Gossip Girl, Bones, America's Next Top Model, House and Medium every single week....and apparently they suck up a lot of disk space. So I moved a whole heap of them that I haven't watched since last year and freed up 24 Gigs of space. Woot! How convenient. :) They do show all of these shows in Australia, but most of them are a whole season behind which doesn't do me a lot of good and is why I've continued downloading them on iTunes. Yes, it costs money but no more than what a couple lattes a week would cost and so we'll just say I've traded pleasures for the time being.
P.S. I've found a KILLER otc sleep aid; Doxylamine succinate. It is apparantly the antihistamine in Nyquil that makes it so sedative. I must have worked up a tolerance to Benadryl over the years because it does NOTHING for me, but this stuff really knocks me out. Better than Ambien even. I wonder if you can get it in a pill form in America? And I wonder why, if it's so much stronger than diphenhydramine, it's not more widely known? Anyways, this is a very helpful discovery for yours truly and put me to sleep by 11pm last night. Very impressive!
I called the consulate today. I lost my passport and the Mackay police mailed it to the consulate. They are now holding my passport hostage until I change my name.....wow. I didn't even think I could change my name here legally, but apparently I can and I have to or else they won't give the passport back. Oh well, I was kind of depressed about having to stay Melissa White anyways when all I want is to be a Wood! So I just have to figure out how to do that....I'm meant to go to the department of births, deaths, and marriages now and they'll have our thingee and I'll change my name. I have to pay $100 for a new passport though, how inconvenient. At least I get to keep the old one though, and at least they actually FOUND it because it would have been a lot more complicated if they hadn't. I'm watching that thing like a hawk from now on.
Horrible Trend of the Moment
I would like to take this opportunity to address a horrible trend of the moment: The RaRa Skirt. Now, if you have fallen victim to this trend, please do not take my criticism personally; just do not ever wear the skirt again. Thanks. ;)
Offenders:
Now, the RaRa skirt is not really all that bad on its own, what makes it bad is how everyone who wears one insists on pairing it with a tucked-in tank or spaghetti strap shirt. SO unflattering!
There is about 2% of the population that can wear a spaghetti-strap shirt tucked into a RaRa skirt and actually pull it off. Why? Because they are like a size 2 and 5'10". If you have anything remotely resembling hips, a butt, or a set of boobs this trend DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU. Maybe if you threw on a cute shrug or cropped jacket....but you just cannot tuck your shirt into your skirt and make it look good on its own. Sorry for ya, but the muffin-top will never be "in." Next time, just say no and please give this outfit to your 15 y/o sister whom it was most likely proportioned for.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Today was an awesome day!
Chris did a beautiful job of loving me today, I could tell he was making a real effort. He took me out for coffee and then bought me a new lipstick. He sure does know the way to my heart; quality time and gifts. :) The lipstick is gorgeous btw, L'oreal's new Infallible Gold. It's a new infallible formula in a stick instead of that goopy nonsense. LOVE! He also made us dinner tonight; Dijon chicken. mmmm it was so good! My little love tanks are super full!
I made buttercream icing for the first time yesterday and it turned out GORGEOUS! I was so nervous because I've never made meringue before and who knew that buttercream is meringue based? I'm still preparing for Chris's bday! I want to make the most beautiful cake in the whole wide world. Orrr at least the most beautiful cake I've ever made. LOL
A HUGE storm (okay, not huge by DFW standards but huge for Moranbah) rolled in tonight! It rained all over our lawn and garden and I'm so happy! They needed a good drink.
Hmmm...blog is kind of all over the place. I'm just trying to think of things that have gone on lately!!
I'm ordering some vases and maybe some end-tables for the living room. I saw a posting for a whole living room set (couch, love seat, easy chairs) for only $1000 AND it matches our colour scheme!! WOOT! I hope they still have it....it's like a coffee brown micro-suede. They're really pretty and supposedly only a couple months old. The family is moving out of town and wants to be rid of it. Maybe they got laid off, who knows?
Culture clash vent of the day:
Went to get coffee today and, when the lady takes my order, I say,
"I'll have a coffee, please"
"Uhhh...like a long black with milk?"
NO! Does she seriously not know what coffee is??
"No, like coffee. You know, brewed coffee?"
"Uhh...so like a long black."
You can't be serious. This coffee shop really does not sell coffee. REALLY?? ::sigh::
"Sure, why not. Long black it is"
AHHHH!! Sometimes all I want is a coffee. Not espresso. Coffee. (a long black is a cafe Americano, not another name for brewed coffee btw) ::sigh:: What I hate more than anything is when they look at ME like I'M an idiot. Hello, I'm not the one who doesn't know what coffee is. You can go in shops in Mackay and get coffee...maybe this was just a one-off. But what I wouldn't give to just be able to drive thru McCafe and get an iced coffee whenever I want! You ask for Iced coffee in moranbah and they give you ice-cream with coffee poured over it...not bad but not what I was going for! Or like the one time I ordered a macchiato and it came out in a shot glass with foam....turns out this is what a macchiato actually is; a shot of espresso with micro foam. No wonder they looked at me weird when I asked for it with caramel syrup. LOL LOL Ahhh.... it's a learning curve, lemme tell ya.
Chris did a beautiful job of loving me today, I could tell he was making a real effort. He took me out for coffee and then bought me a new lipstick. He sure does know the way to my heart; quality time and gifts. :) The lipstick is gorgeous btw, L'oreal's new Infallible Gold. It's a new infallible formula in a stick instead of that goopy nonsense. LOVE! He also made us dinner tonight; Dijon chicken. mmmm it was so good! My little love tanks are super full!
I made buttercream icing for the first time yesterday and it turned out GORGEOUS! I was so nervous because I've never made meringue before and who knew that buttercream is meringue based? I'm still preparing for Chris's bday! I want to make the most beautiful cake in the whole wide world. Orrr at least the most beautiful cake I've ever made. LOL
A HUGE storm (okay, not huge by DFW standards but huge for Moranbah) rolled in tonight! It rained all over our lawn and garden and I'm so happy! They needed a good drink.
Hmmm...blog is kind of all over the place. I'm just trying to think of things that have gone on lately!!
I'm ordering some vases and maybe some end-tables for the living room. I saw a posting for a whole living room set (couch, love seat, easy chairs) for only $1000 AND it matches our colour scheme!! WOOT! I hope they still have it....it's like a coffee brown micro-suede. They're really pretty and supposedly only a couple months old. The family is moving out of town and wants to be rid of it. Maybe they got laid off, who knows?
Culture clash vent of the day:
Went to get coffee today and, when the lady takes my order, I say,
"I'll have a coffee, please"
"Uhhh...like a long black with milk?"
NO! Does she seriously not know what coffee is??
"No, like coffee. You know, brewed coffee?"
"Uhh...so like a long black."
You can't be serious. This coffee shop really does not sell coffee. REALLY?? ::sigh::
"Sure, why not. Long black it is"
AHHHH!! Sometimes all I want is a coffee. Not espresso. Coffee. (a long black is a cafe Americano, not another name for brewed coffee btw) ::sigh:: What I hate more than anything is when they look at ME like I'M an idiot. Hello, I'm not the one who doesn't know what coffee is. You can go in shops in Mackay and get coffee...maybe this was just a one-off. But what I wouldn't give to just be able to drive thru McCafe and get an iced coffee whenever I want! You ask for Iced coffee in moranbah and they give you ice-cream with coffee poured over it...not bad but not what I was going for! Or like the one time I ordered a macchiato and it came out in a shot glass with foam....turns out this is what a macchiato actually is; a shot of espresso with micro foam. No wonder they looked at me weird when I asked for it with caramel syrup. LOL LOL Ahhh.... it's a learning curve, lemme tell ya.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Great Mood Thursday!
Okay, so I was horrible about updating this week. I got totally enthralled in that book and didn't think about blogging until it was time for bed every night! (I finished it and it's really good btw!)
I am SUPER excited because I've started my Christmas shopping. I was on the Victoria's Secret website (they sell more than just panties y'all ;) ) and got FREE shipping because of a coupon I had (it was for $75 off, not free shipping...shipping just happened to be $74.32) and didn't have to pay tax because I'm "an international order." Woot!! I love stuff like that!!
BTW mom, some packages for me will be arriving at y'all's house. DO NOT open them please, they are full of Christmas love. :) Thank you!
I've been feeling "blicky" this week, in the words of my mother, and have super slacked on the exercise but have kept up the dieting. I think it should be a right of passage for women to sit it out from the gym once a month.... but I read this new quote yesterday on a weight loss forum that said "Make the effort, not an excuse." So I'm done making excuses and will continue to make some kind of an effort regardless. I'm down to 210 this week which *almost* puts me at the 10 lb loss mark. WOOT! (yes I weighed almost 220 lbs....you'd freak out and exercise too. LOL) I'm back to what I weighed at the wedding in July and will hopefully be far smaller by the time New Years rolls around. Exciting!
Bean decided to completely unroll a whole roll of 4 ply toilet paper this morning. He couldn't have unrolled the 2 ply with frogs on it....he had to unroll the lovely quilted beautiful Quilton 4 ply. So we're stuck with frogs. I swear we go through like, a roll a day of the frog ones. Sorry, is that TMI? That's TMI...moving on. ;)
I got to talk to mom on Monday (yaay!) but have been having trouble getting ahold of my sisters. Kara has been trying to call me, but I missed the call or the text and I've been trying to catch her but our sched.s just don't line up. Ugh.
Kaitlyn doesn't even try. "Oh Melissa, I miss you, I miss you!" B.S. Kaitlyn. You don't love me. :P
P.S. like, all my flowers died. Okay, not all of them...but a lot of my favorite ones!! I don't know what I did wrong. Maybe it's just too dry for them here? And some kind of fungus is eating one of my rose bushes. Gardening is exhausting. Why even bother if everything's just going to die??? Our mango is thriving though (the one from the picture) and I think he's about ready to be picked. Though, the reason why he's survived all the fruit bats (yes there are bats here. basquillions of them) is because he's right next to some paper wasps....so I might have to murder the wasps in order to eat my mango or risk being stung. Hmmm....We're getting TONS of baby mandarines too, so fingers crossed that they make it through the strong winds we've been having.
It was grandma's birthday on Tuesday. She turned 88 years young! Happy Birthday Grandma!! We love you! xoxo
In other news I have discovered that I can, after all, drink beer. ::gasp:: Yes, me. I know.... So far the only beers that I like can only be purchased in Australia....so maybe I just like Australian beer?? LOL I really like this one called BeezNeez, it's a honeyed beer. It doesn't taste sweet, but has a nice sort of flowery after-taste that I really like. :)
The only beer that I have HATED like, couldn't even finish hate was Guiness....it tastes like burnt ashes, like licking an ash-tray...like disgusting. Blech. I only started drinking beer because, light beer anyway, is only about 100 cals per bottle and has very few carbs and only a few grams of sugar if any. This helps if you want to have some drinks with friends but are on a diet. I can have 6 beers and still have less calories than in 2 cocktails. I like that! People keep reccomending vodka/rum/gin and diet coke or wine spritzers...they still have WAY more carbs and sugars than beer. I'm just gonna stick to the beer for now, we don't have drinks that often anyways. :)
I ordered Chris's bday presents this week! I'm really excited. :):) It's not his bday until Nov. 30 but I just wanted to make sure everything got here in time. He's turning 24 this year. Yay! I'm trying to decide whether to do the Thanksgiving party like I did last year. Dunno if it will work out this year as his bday is on a short weekend (every other weekend he gets 4 days off, this is a 2 day weekend) and it's just an awful lot to try to drive out friday night after he gets home from work 2 hrs to the beach and then I'd have to spend all Saturday cooking...only to pack up again Sunday morning and drive the 2 hrs back....I don't know that it would be the most relaxing bday that way. Maybe I'll just make us our own little turkey and a couple pies and have a small Thanksgiving at home. That would be nicer I think. :)
Tonight is our Date night. Hurray! There's a gas station about 15 minutes from here that makes AWESOME burgers, so we're thinking about heading out there for a meal this evening. It's the ONLY place to get burgers in Moranbah. There's an abundance of chicken sandwiches....but no hamburgers. And I'd really like a burger! They're Aussie burgers....with beets, pineapple, carrot, egg, and BBQ sauce...... ...... so I might get the toppings on the side and bring some mustard and pickles in my purse. lol
That's all I have for now! If y'all think of something I should write about, let me know. :)
xoxo Mel
I am SUPER excited because I've started my Christmas shopping. I was on the Victoria's Secret website (they sell more than just panties y'all ;) ) and got FREE shipping because of a coupon I had (it was for $75 off, not free shipping...shipping just happened to be $74.32) and didn't have to pay tax because I'm "an international order." Woot!! I love stuff like that!!
BTW mom, some packages for me will be arriving at y'all's house. DO NOT open them please, they are full of Christmas love. :) Thank you!
I've been feeling "blicky" this week, in the words of my mother, and have super slacked on the exercise but have kept up the dieting. I think it should be a right of passage for women to sit it out from the gym once a month.... but I read this new quote yesterday on a weight loss forum that said "Make the effort, not an excuse." So I'm done making excuses and will continue to make some kind of an effort regardless. I'm down to 210 this week which *almost* puts me at the 10 lb loss mark. WOOT! (yes I weighed almost 220 lbs....you'd freak out and exercise too. LOL) I'm back to what I weighed at the wedding in July and will hopefully be far smaller by the time New Years rolls around. Exciting!
Bean decided to completely unroll a whole roll of 4 ply toilet paper this morning. He couldn't have unrolled the 2 ply with frogs on it....he had to unroll the lovely quilted beautiful Quilton 4 ply. So we're stuck with frogs. I swear we go through like, a roll a day of the frog ones. Sorry, is that TMI? That's TMI...moving on. ;)
I got to talk to mom on Monday (yaay!) but have been having trouble getting ahold of my sisters. Kara has been trying to call me, but I missed the call or the text and I've been trying to catch her but our sched.s just don't line up. Ugh.
Kaitlyn doesn't even try. "Oh Melissa, I miss you, I miss you!" B.S. Kaitlyn. You don't love me. :P
P.S. like, all my flowers died. Okay, not all of them...but a lot of my favorite ones!! I don't know what I did wrong. Maybe it's just too dry for them here? And some kind of fungus is eating one of my rose bushes. Gardening is exhausting. Why even bother if everything's just going to die??? Our mango is thriving though (the one from the picture) and I think he's about ready to be picked. Though, the reason why he's survived all the fruit bats (yes there are bats here. basquillions of them) is because he's right next to some paper wasps....so I might have to murder the wasps in order to eat my mango or risk being stung. Hmmm....We're getting TONS of baby mandarines too, so fingers crossed that they make it through the strong winds we've been having.
It was grandma's birthday on Tuesday. She turned 88 years young! Happy Birthday Grandma!! We love you! xoxo
In other news I have discovered that I can, after all, drink beer. ::gasp:: Yes, me. I know.... So far the only beers that I like can only be purchased in Australia....so maybe I just like Australian beer?? LOL I really like this one called BeezNeez, it's a honeyed beer. It doesn't taste sweet, but has a nice sort of flowery after-taste that I really like. :)
The only beer that I have HATED like, couldn't even finish hate was Guiness....it tastes like burnt ashes, like licking an ash-tray...like disgusting. Blech. I only started drinking beer because, light beer anyway, is only about 100 cals per bottle and has very few carbs and only a few grams of sugar if any. This helps if you want to have some drinks with friends but are on a diet. I can have 6 beers and still have less calories than in 2 cocktails. I like that! People keep reccomending vodka/rum/gin and diet coke or wine spritzers...they still have WAY more carbs and sugars than beer. I'm just gonna stick to the beer for now, we don't have drinks that often anyways. :)
I ordered Chris's bday presents this week! I'm really excited. :):) It's not his bday until Nov. 30 but I just wanted to make sure everything got here in time. He's turning 24 this year. Yay! I'm trying to decide whether to do the Thanksgiving party like I did last year. Dunno if it will work out this year as his bday is on a short weekend (every other weekend he gets 4 days off, this is a 2 day weekend) and it's just an awful lot to try to drive out friday night after he gets home from work 2 hrs to the beach and then I'd have to spend all Saturday cooking...only to pack up again Sunday morning and drive the 2 hrs back....I don't know that it would be the most relaxing bday that way. Maybe I'll just make us our own little turkey and a couple pies and have a small Thanksgiving at home. That would be nicer I think. :)
Tonight is our Date night. Hurray! There's a gas station about 15 minutes from here that makes AWESOME burgers, so we're thinking about heading out there for a meal this evening. It's the ONLY place to get burgers in Moranbah. There's an abundance of chicken sandwiches....but no hamburgers. And I'd really like a burger! They're Aussie burgers....with beets, pineapple, carrot, egg, and BBQ sauce...... ...... so I might get the toppings on the side and bring some mustard and pickles in my purse. lol
That's all I have for now! If y'all think of something I should write about, let me know. :)
xoxo Mel
Sunday, October 18, 2009
I'm coming home!
Guess what the visa officer said! :
Yayy! I'm definitely coming home for Christmas! My ticket is for the 21st December. :) Ticket prices have gone WAY up since May (from $1200 round-trip in may to $2800 in Dec.) so we're really hoping that we can afford for Chris to come too. I'd hate for our first married Christmas to be spent apart. :( At least I know that there will be no visa dramas this time 'round for me anyways. We do have to lodge the Partner Visa app. before Feb. 4th, so it's really good that I'm able to come home and get all the documentation we need. It was going to be a BEATING trying to send mom on a wild goose chase after all of it!!
If Chris is able to come with me (he should, we just might have to pull a few strings) we'd really like to road-trip up to a little bed and breakfast someplace where there's snow. :) He's never seen proper snow before, and I've only seen it from the airplane window so we'd really like to just bundle up and go to the B&B and maybe spend an afternoon building a snowman!
I'm a little bit disappointed that my ticket is for so late in December. I don't remember it being that late when I booked it, I thought it'd been for around the 18th or so...but I think that booking it earlier made things too expensive or something...ah well what can you do. I wish I could be there to experience how nice Christmas time is in DFW. There's just an entirely different mood in the air, it's like magic. There's Christmas music playing in every store and everyone has those over-the-top light displays in their yards and on their houses....there's the seasonal coffee creamers. hahaha The mood in Moranbah just doesn't change all that much. Sure the decorations go up....but I honestly think that everyone's hot and sweaty and the heat makes people angrier than they would be otherwise. Australians should be allowed to elect to celebrate Christmas in July. Maybe then they'd get to experience some of the magic. :)
The Aussie dollar is REALLY strong at the moment and is only going to get stronger!! It's at $0.92USD and is supposed to make it up to $1.20 USD sometime next year! woot! We'll be transferring my student loan debt over here at that point, so it's really exciting to be able to chop 20% off my debt just like that! Let's hope the predictions are true. :)
Anyways, I know this update doesn't really talk about what we did on the weekend....but I can't be bothered to write any more than I already have, just wanted to say I'm coming home!
After initial entry to Australia has been made the visa allows you to leave and re-enter Australia as many times as you like until 4 February 2010. Please note that the visa will cease on this date.
Yayy! I'm definitely coming home for Christmas! My ticket is for the 21st December. :) Ticket prices have gone WAY up since May (from $1200 round-trip in may to $2800 in Dec.) so we're really hoping that we can afford for Chris to come too. I'd hate for our first married Christmas to be spent apart. :( At least I know that there will be no visa dramas this time 'round for me anyways. We do have to lodge the Partner Visa app. before Feb. 4th, so it's really good that I'm able to come home and get all the documentation we need. It was going to be a BEATING trying to send mom on a wild goose chase after all of it!!
If Chris is able to come with me (he should, we just might have to pull a few strings) we'd really like to road-trip up to a little bed and breakfast someplace where there's snow. :) He's never seen proper snow before, and I've only seen it from the airplane window so we'd really like to just bundle up and go to the B&B and maybe spend an afternoon building a snowman!
I'm a little bit disappointed that my ticket is for so late in December. I don't remember it being that late when I booked it, I thought it'd been for around the 18th or so...but I think that booking it earlier made things too expensive or something...ah well what can you do. I wish I could be there to experience how nice Christmas time is in DFW. There's just an entirely different mood in the air, it's like magic. There's Christmas music playing in every store and everyone has those over-the-top light displays in their yards and on their houses....there's the seasonal coffee creamers. hahaha The mood in Moranbah just doesn't change all that much. Sure the decorations go up....but I honestly think that everyone's hot and sweaty and the heat makes people angrier than they would be otherwise. Australians should be allowed to elect to celebrate Christmas in July. Maybe then they'd get to experience some of the magic. :)
The Aussie dollar is REALLY strong at the moment and is only going to get stronger!! It's at $0.92USD and is supposed to make it up to $1.20 USD sometime next year! woot! We'll be transferring my student loan debt over here at that point, so it's really exciting to be able to chop 20% off my debt just like that! Let's hope the predictions are true. :)
Anyways, I know this update doesn't really talk about what we did on the weekend....but I can't be bothered to write any more than I already have, just wanted to say I'm coming home!
Friday, October 16, 2009
TGIF!!
TGIF everybody!! It's Beebs's last day at work today and we get the whole weekend to play together. yaaay!
We usually have date night tonight and I'm trying to think if I should cook something or if we should go out....it'd be nice to just have Subway and hang out I think. For those of you who don't know, finding a restaurant with a drink fountain is hard to do round here; they just give you little 16/20 oz bottles of coke....and if you run out you buy another one. Boooo! BUT the Subway here has a fountain! Granted they still don't give you free refills which is stupid because the store is obviously designed to allow for it, what with it being in the dining area instead of behind the counter....but whatevs. Sometimes I could just KILL for a huuge diet coke from the fountain. I'd really love one of those tonight. :)
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Happy Birthday!!!
Okay so my bday's not til February. BUT, Beebs found out that Taylor Swift is coming to Oz the same weekend and now I get to go to Newcastle and Sydney for my bday to see her! AHHHH!! We have floor tickets, so I'm going to get there like 6 hours early and wait for the doors to open so I can get as close as humanly possible without being trampled. WOOT! I'm so excited, I've never been to a real concert before. :):):):):)
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Love and Marriage
Bleh. Is it weird that I miss Beebs even though I saw him like, 9 hours ago? I hear about all these newlyweds who are like, at each other's throats every second of the day and that "the 1st year is the hardest" and blah blah blah.....we are really thankful that our marriage has been easy so far. WAY easier than dating....I don't know if it's because we've spent so much time apart that we truly are thankful to be together and see it as a blessing that we're on the same continent let alone under the same roof....but we just don't argue about stupid stuff. We don't even argue about important stuff....the only time things get tense is when we're really stressed (like before the wedding,) but even then we've never yelled at each other or had to take back something we said.
For example, we went to church on Sunday and I was under the impression we'd be having morning tea after the service at about 10:30.... I was picturing like donuts and little sandwiches and cookies and things, you know, morning tea....but it turns out it was a sausage sizzle (Aussies are BIG on sausage like we are on hamburgers) with chips and meat pies. I hadn't even had breakfast yet and, while I would eat it if I had to, sausage and meat pie for breakfast was just way too heavy for my blood. I asked Chris if it would be all right if I walked down to Cole's or the servo to get a coffee and a muffin or something. I pictured a difficult selfish husband in this situation would use this opportunity to start an argument about how I should just eat what they've made and suck it up (or something) but you know what he did? He refused to let me walk and insisted on driving me.
I really appreciate how he does things like that, and appreciate even more that we're not at each others' throats all the time. If the first year is the hardest, I think we're going to be fine....but, between you and me, I think the first year with *kids* is going to be the hardest. ;) I mean, it has taken some adjusting for me to figure out that, even though I missed him when he was at work all day, I should allow him some alone time to regroup when he gets home (extrovert vs. introvert.) And it took some adjusting for him to decide that hanging out with me on a Saturday morning is at a higher priority than playing Call of Duty.
We're also really lucky that we agree on just about everything. I thank OKcupid.com for this; out of the hundreds of questions we answered that were meant to measure our personalities on countless variables....we agreed on 94% of the questions. That's just about as compatible as you can get. So I guess we are at a mega advantage in that respect. :)
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All Hours of the Day
Most of my adult life (yes, all 5 years of it ;) ) has been semi-nocturnal. I've never felt that this was at-all unusual. I'd usually go to bed before 3/4am and wake up around 11am/12pm. No big deal, most of my friends and acquaintances were the exact same way. When you don't have a 9-5 job it's like a right of passage and, even those friends of mine who *did* have a 9-5 job would have a similar sched. to mine on the weekends.
It's been somewhat of a shock to me to come here and be jided for my sleeping schedule. Every where I go people gape in shock and awe....I just want to tell them to get over it and that THEY are the weird ones!! Someone just the other day was trying to shock me by telling me they slept in that day until 9 am.... .......... it took me a second to realize that she was serious. 9 am is "sleeping in."
Now, I started thinking about it....my parents have always woken up by 8/9 even on the weekends for as long as I can remember....Grandma and Grandad are up even earlier than that. So, I'm wondering if the only reason there has been this shift of schedule for young adults in America is due to the age of the 24 hour business, commercial businesses staying open until 9 and 10 pm, movies starting at 10:30pm, bars being open until 2am.... I'm not quite sure.
A night to catch up with my friends would often start with dinner and drinks at 9pm and a 10:45 movie. It's really really common, not like we were the only people out and about by any means....But here, the latest showing I've seen for a film is like 8pm (or something) and just about everything closes at 4:30/5pm. The grocery store is open til 9pm on weekdays....but closes at 5pm on Saturday and, until 3 weeks ago, wasn't even open on Sundays. It's like the opposite of shops back home where everything closes earlier on weekdays and then on Saturday, the busiest day, absolutely everything is open late. So of course you wouldn't sleep in until noon, how would you ever get anything done? Whereas, with Walmart being open 24 hrs, you can get just about anything you need any time of day. You can buy a lawn mower at 3am if you wanted to for crying out loud. lol I don't think businesses are like this everywhere in Australia, but even in Brisbane things close pretty early....it's a whole new world.
Long story short; I think it's weird to wake up before 9am for any reason other than employment. They think it's weird to stay in bed past like 7 am for any reason other than death. I guess I'm the outsider once again. It's going to be tough for me to change my ways. Going to bed at 9 and waking up at 6 makes me feel like a grandma. Like "is my life really this boring"... but I know it's far more boring here to sleep away the only hours that there's anything to do, so I'm going to have to try to shift things. Dunno how easy it's gonna be though.
The end for now!
We usually have date night tonight and I'm trying to think if I should cook something or if we should go out....it'd be nice to just have Subway and hang out I think. For those of you who don't know, finding a restaurant with a drink fountain is hard to do round here; they just give you little 16/20 oz bottles of coke....and if you run out you buy another one. Boooo! BUT the Subway here has a fountain! Granted they still don't give you free refills which is stupid because the store is obviously designed to allow for it, what with it being in the dining area instead of behind the counter....but whatevs. Sometimes I could just KILL for a huuge diet coke from the fountain. I'd really love one of those tonight. :)
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Happy Birthday!!!
Okay so my bday's not til February. BUT, Beebs found out that Taylor Swift is coming to Oz the same weekend and now I get to go to Newcastle and Sydney for my bday to see her! AHHHH!! We have floor tickets, so I'm going to get there like 6 hours early and wait for the doors to open so I can get as close as humanly possible without being trampled. WOOT! I'm so excited, I've never been to a real concert before. :):):):):)
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Love and Marriage
Bleh. Is it weird that I miss Beebs even though I saw him like, 9 hours ago? I hear about all these newlyweds who are like, at each other's throats every second of the day and that "the 1st year is the hardest" and blah blah blah.....we are really thankful that our marriage has been easy so far. WAY easier than dating....I don't know if it's because we've spent so much time apart that we truly are thankful to be together and see it as a blessing that we're on the same continent let alone under the same roof....but we just don't argue about stupid stuff. We don't even argue about important stuff....the only time things get tense is when we're really stressed (like before the wedding,) but even then we've never yelled at each other or had to take back something we said.
For example, we went to church on Sunday and I was under the impression we'd be having morning tea after the service at about 10:30.... I was picturing like donuts and little sandwiches and cookies and things, you know, morning tea....but it turns out it was a sausage sizzle (Aussies are BIG on sausage like we are on hamburgers) with chips and meat pies. I hadn't even had breakfast yet and, while I would eat it if I had to, sausage and meat pie for breakfast was just way too heavy for my blood. I asked Chris if it would be all right if I walked down to Cole's or the servo to get a coffee and a muffin or something. I pictured a difficult selfish husband in this situation would use this opportunity to start an argument about how I should just eat what they've made and suck it up (or something) but you know what he did? He refused to let me walk and insisted on driving me.
I really appreciate how he does things like that, and appreciate even more that we're not at each others' throats all the time. If the first year is the hardest, I think we're going to be fine....but, between you and me, I think the first year with *kids* is going to be the hardest. ;) I mean, it has taken some adjusting for me to figure out that, even though I missed him when he was at work all day, I should allow him some alone time to regroup when he gets home (extrovert vs. introvert.) And it took some adjusting for him to decide that hanging out with me on a Saturday morning is at a higher priority than playing Call of Duty.
We're also really lucky that we agree on just about everything. I thank OKcupid.com for this; out of the hundreds of questions we answered that were meant to measure our personalities on countless variables....we agreed on 94% of the questions. That's just about as compatible as you can get. So I guess we are at a mega advantage in that respect. :)
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All Hours of the Day
Most of my adult life (yes, all 5 years of it ;) ) has been semi-nocturnal. I've never felt that this was at-all unusual. I'd usually go to bed before 3/4am and wake up around 11am/12pm. No big deal, most of my friends and acquaintances were the exact same way. When you don't have a 9-5 job it's like a right of passage and, even those friends of mine who *did* have a 9-5 job would have a similar sched. to mine on the weekends.
It's been somewhat of a shock to me to come here and be jided for my sleeping schedule. Every where I go people gape in shock and awe....I just want to tell them to get over it and that THEY are the weird ones!! Someone just the other day was trying to shock me by telling me they slept in that day until 9 am.... .......... it took me a second to realize that she was serious. 9 am is "sleeping in."
Now, I started thinking about it....my parents have always woken up by 8/9 even on the weekends for as long as I can remember....Grandma and Grandad are up even earlier than that. So, I'm wondering if the only reason there has been this shift of schedule for young adults in America is due to the age of the 24 hour business, commercial businesses staying open until 9 and 10 pm, movies starting at 10:30pm, bars being open until 2am.... I'm not quite sure.
A night to catch up with my friends would often start with dinner and drinks at 9pm and a 10:45 movie. It's really really common, not like we were the only people out and about by any means....But here, the latest showing I've seen for a film is like 8pm (or something) and just about everything closes at 4:30/5pm. The grocery store is open til 9pm on weekdays....but closes at 5pm on Saturday and, until 3 weeks ago, wasn't even open on Sundays. It's like the opposite of shops back home where everything closes earlier on weekdays and then on Saturday, the busiest day, absolutely everything is open late. So of course you wouldn't sleep in until noon, how would you ever get anything done? Whereas, with Walmart being open 24 hrs, you can get just about anything you need any time of day. You can buy a lawn mower at 3am if you wanted to for crying out loud. lol I don't think businesses are like this everywhere in Australia, but even in Brisbane things close pretty early....it's a whole new world.
Long story short; I think it's weird to wake up before 9am for any reason other than employment. They think it's weird to stay in bed past like 7 am for any reason other than death. I guess I'm the outsider once again. It's going to be tough for me to change my ways. Going to bed at 9 and waking up at 6 makes me feel like a grandma. Like "is my life really this boring"... but I know it's far more boring here to sleep away the only hours that there's anything to do, so I'm going to have to try to shift things. Dunno how easy it's gonna be though.
The end for now!
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Boob Job??
I'm watching Dr. 90210. There is a VERY thin 18 y/o girl maybe 105 lbs/5'7" and her mom is buying her a BOOB job saying she has a "condition" that has caused her to not develop properly because she is a 32A on the left and a 32AA on the right. Uhhh..."condition?" It's called being SKINNY. Just give yourself 5 years for your metabolism to catch up to your age and you would have had boobs! LOTS of girls have boobs that are uneven in size, it's not a "condition." I cannot believe her mother is supporting her in this.....
Just had to throw that out there.
Just had to throw that out there.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Hump Day!
Today was one of those days when I woke up expecting to be in my bed back at my parents house which is very disorienting at first. This usually only happens when I wake up from a dream where I'm back in their house....the last thing I remember thinking was "omg I'm back in Texas and I haven't gone to Chipotle yet!!" I literally think that I woke up from my dream at that point so that I could go to Chipotle....only I was in our room here in Moranbah. lol
I've been reading more of my book and it's getting better! I also made some really yummy dinner tonight. I've been hankering for some Tex-mex, so I made this DELICIOUS shredded chicken. The best part is that it has no more calories than boiled chicken and sauteed veggies. :) The 1.5 TBS of oil is like 150 cals but when you intersperse that between 2 lbs of shredded chicken it's somewhat negligible don't you think?
If you can't tell....I'm on a diet. Yes...yes AGAIN. shut up. lol ::sigh:: I gained the newly-wed 15 (well, 10 anyway) and I SO did not have room to gain 10 lbs. All my jeans were getting tight and I was just over it. I put my foot down. I've lost 5 lbs in 6 wks woot! Hopefully by Christmas I'll be exactly where I was LAST year at Christmas which, for me, is a big deal. It will be the first year that I haven't been 20 lbs heavier than the year before....I'd just like to end things on a good note. ;)
Beebs and I went to the gym tonight and, by my calcs, I have to step up my cardio to reach my goal. I went for almost a full HOUR on the elliptical tonight when I only do 35 minutes most days...I was really proud that I could do it and I really feel like I can go the full 60 minutes next time with a 5 minute cool down. I want to be 185 by Jan 1st, but I'm going to have to work really hard to get there! Beebs has lost 15 lbs and all his shorts are big on him now. I gotta try to keep up!!
I only took one pic yesterday. There were these really cool clouds coming in and it even sprinkled a little bit! I'm really looking forward to the rainy season and hope it actually comes this year.
I love how the colour turned out in the clouds and how the light hit the path. It's really beautiful. This was taken next to the foot path that runs by hour house. :)
Topic of the day: Aussie Jeans Sizes
Aussie Women's jeans are sized 1-2 sizes smaller relative to American jeans. A 16 is considered "plus size" here which is usually around a U.S. size 12. Many stores don't even carry anything over a size 16 in their regular women's range. I get depressed every time I go into a store and absolutely nothing fits. There is no Avenue or Lane Bryant with cute clothes here for plus-size women. All the "plus size" clothing consists of drapey tunics and mumus. I can't believe I'd even HAVE to consider shopping in the plus-size department...I don't feel that big! I can only imagine what this is doing to all the women here psychologically...
I know that America has succombed to "vanity" sizing in recent years, which is one of the reasons their sizes are bigger than Australian jeans....but seriously. If it's not enough for the entertainment and fashion industries telling us we have to weigh 100 lbs to be beautiful, a woman can't even go into a department store without the sizes on the rack telling her she's so big they don't even make clothes in her size. Awesome.
Some stores like Jeans West and Just Jeans DO carry up to size 20 in some styles....but the proportions are ALL wrong! All of my U.S. jeans are size 12/14. It stands to reason I should be an Aussie 16/18... I had to go all the way up to a size 20 at Jeans West just for them to go over my bum....and then I had like 4 inches gaping at the waist. It's like they expect you to not have hips. I'm so over it. I'm just going to lose weight and not have to worry about it anymore. AND I'm going to start sewing my own skirts and dresses so all those stores can kiss it. I don't need the size on my jeans to dictate how I feel about myself. I know I'm sexy. ;) lol
I've been reading more of my book and it's getting better! I also made some really yummy dinner tonight. I've been hankering for some Tex-mex, so I made this DELICIOUS shredded chicken. The best part is that it has no more calories than boiled chicken and sauteed veggies. :) The 1.5 TBS of oil is like 150 cals but when you intersperse that between 2 lbs of shredded chicken it's somewhat negligible don't you think?
If you can't tell....I'm on a diet. Yes...yes AGAIN. shut up. lol ::sigh:: I gained the newly-wed 15 (well, 10 anyway) and I SO did not have room to gain 10 lbs. All my jeans were getting tight and I was just over it. I put my foot down. I've lost 5 lbs in 6 wks woot! Hopefully by Christmas I'll be exactly where I was LAST year at Christmas which, for me, is a big deal. It will be the first year that I haven't been 20 lbs heavier than the year before....I'd just like to end things on a good note. ;)
Beebs and I went to the gym tonight and, by my calcs, I have to step up my cardio to reach my goal. I went for almost a full HOUR on the elliptical tonight when I only do 35 minutes most days...I was really proud that I could do it and I really feel like I can go the full 60 minutes next time with a 5 minute cool down. I want to be 185 by Jan 1st, but I'm going to have to work really hard to get there! Beebs has lost 15 lbs and all his shorts are big on him now. I gotta try to keep up!!
I only took one pic yesterday. There were these really cool clouds coming in and it even sprinkled a little bit! I'm really looking forward to the rainy season and hope it actually comes this year.
I love how the colour turned out in the clouds and how the light hit the path. It's really beautiful. This was taken next to the foot path that runs by hour house. :)Topic of the day: Aussie Jeans Sizes
Aussie Women's jeans are sized 1-2 sizes smaller relative to American jeans. A 16 is considered "plus size" here which is usually around a U.S. size 12. Many stores don't even carry anything over a size 16 in their regular women's range. I get depressed every time I go into a store and absolutely nothing fits. There is no Avenue or Lane Bryant with cute clothes here for plus-size women. All the "plus size" clothing consists of drapey tunics and mumus. I can't believe I'd even HAVE to consider shopping in the plus-size department...I don't feel that big! I can only imagine what this is doing to all the women here psychologically...
I know that America has succombed to "vanity" sizing in recent years, which is one of the reasons their sizes are bigger than Australian jeans....but seriously. If it's not enough for the entertainment and fashion industries telling us we have to weigh 100 lbs to be beautiful, a woman can't even go into a department store without the sizes on the rack telling her she's so big they don't even make clothes in her size. Awesome.
Some stores like Jeans West and Just Jeans DO carry up to size 20 in some styles....but the proportions are ALL wrong! All of my U.S. jeans are size 12/14. It stands to reason I should be an Aussie 16/18... I had to go all the way up to a size 20 at Jeans West just for them to go over my bum....and then I had like 4 inches gaping at the waist. It's like they expect you to not have hips. I'm so over it. I'm just going to lose weight and not have to worry about it anymore. AND I'm going to start sewing my own skirts and dresses so all those stores can kiss it. I don't need the size on my jeans to dictate how I feel about myself. I know I'm sexy. ;) lol
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Just Another Tuesday
Happy Tuesday!
Yesterday ended quite nicely. :) Deb and Graham came over to see the garden and our new nightstands/lamps. Both had a go at the new Sleep Number bed too and looooved it. Yay! Beebs and I ended the day with a Mexican pizza I made (basically just nachos on a puff-pastry crust instead of chips) and then we went to bed. Or, I should say, he went to bed and I was awake until 3 am....I need to stop doing that! It wastes my whole morning sleeping the next day and I hate that.
One of the reasons I was up so late is that I have started a new book called The Hickory Staff by Robert Scott and Jay Gordon. It's a fantasy book about a bored asst. bank manager who discovers a 135 y/o safety deposit box that had stood unopened since the day it was commissioned.... until he finds the key in an antique store and opens it discovering a portal to another world inside. ooOOooo I haven't read far enough into it to know whether it's any good or not, I'm still in the plot building stage...but here's to hoping it's a good one. :)
I was really disappointed today because I was supposed to go to my friend's house for morning tea but TOTALLY forgot to set my alarm last night and overslept. She came over to pick me up and I was in bed. :( I hate this memory of mine, it's totally useless. I am cursed to be forgetting things the rest of my life, I only pray that my future children won't hate me for it....well, at least not anymore than they'll hate me for how messy I am. :)
Bean went to the Dr. yesterday and is "in exceptionally good health." Yaaayy! He gets his little balls cut off next month which should cut back on his extreme feisty behavior as of late. ;) He has become fully intrigued by the toilet and spends a good portion of the afternoon sitting on the edge and batting at the water...until he inevitably falls into said toilet and trails the water all over the house....I need to remember to close the door to the bathroom! I've tried closing the lid on the toilet but it's the cheapo thin plastic lid that bows at the front instead of closing all the way (not purposely, it's just cheap and has bent I assume) so he STILL ducks through the gap and the front and gets into the water.... crazy kitten.
<=This picture of him is what we call his "dinner plate eyes" face. He makes this face right before he attacks something, it's too cute!! He was stalking me from around the hallway. Speaking of kittens, I got two new kitten mugs for my mug tree over the weekend which makes my Rachael Hale Kitten Mug Collection (that's the official title ;) ) complete! I have 6 mugs now which fills the whole mug tree. I now need to start my Christmas mug collection so that I'll have all 6 by Christmas!
These mugs are just TOO cute! I love the one with the little witch hat, he will be my Halloween mug. :)
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I just gotta vent on this one for a minute:
Someone said something a while ago that really irked me, like REALLY irked me. I was talking about how we'd had a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone last year for Chris's birthday and how much everyone seemed to enjoy it and that we were thinking about doing a Halloween party this year just for fun where we could eat candy and watch scary movies and people could dress up if they wanted to although I probably wouldn't....and this guy is like, "Why?"..... ..... ummmm because it's fun?? "But we don't have Halloween here, what is even the point of Halloween?" So I explained the history behind it and that it's mostly for kids but that it's fun for adults to get to be a kid again for a day and put on a show for the kids when they trick-or-treat to make it fun for them. He (rudely I might add) made it clear that he thought it was ridiculous for me to want to continue American traditions that don't exist in Australia. I tried to suggest that if he moved to a foreign country and there was like, no more Christmas or Easter or something he'd probably want to share that tradition with new friends and family in that country and he insisted that he wouldn't...(Uhh..okay, Liar.) But whatever....and then I was talking to some people at Cole's about different foods that I can't find here (namely good ingredients for Tex Mex) and someone said something about "can't you just get used to what we have here?" ::sigh:: I think it just bothered me because if I was like, Indian or Chinese or something and wanted to continue the traditions of my culture here absolutely no one would question it and DEFINITELY wouldn't suggest that I leave them behind me for fear of being called a "racist." I mean, I know that if it's hard for me here it's gotta be a basquillion times harder for people from non-westernized countries....but you'd think maybe I could get a little slack?
There are a lot of Australians (mostly older Australians) panicking over the "Americanization" of their country, so maybe this is why people can get so defensive when I mention wanting to continue celebrating my culture here. It's just SO ignorant though, it makes me want to scream. Maybe it is ignorant of me but I believe the Australian culture is still forming. There are only about 22 million people in Australia at the moment which puts them, population-wise, where the USA was in the mid 1840's. Australia's population in the 1840s was about 170k. Now, I'm not trying to say Australia doesn't *have* a culture because there is definitely a strong one here but, when you consider the sheer population boom that is upon us here in Australia, the culture *will* evolve and new sub-cultures will form. It's just inevitable. Australia will never mirror the USA entirely because the mind-set of the people, the economics and the government here are completely different than that of those in the US...Australian's Egalitarian mindset and distaste for corporate giants alone is enough to ensure that they will never become an America, that they will always be their own nation. So, people of Australia, just accept that, when your culture is based on a population of immigrants, it is going to evolve as the cultures of those people integrate into your own. It is inevitable AND absolutely doesn't mean that your identity as a nation will be lost in the mix. You aren't who you were 150 years ago any more than you will be who you are now 150 years in the future. So cut it out with the paranoia.
Long story short, me celebrating the 4th of July, Halloween and Thanksgiving isn't going to turn Australia into America AND it doesn't mean that I'm rejecting the Australian culture for my own. I'm just integrating my traditions into the traditions of this country. If you don't like it, you're not invited to the party anyway. :P bahahaha
Yesterday ended quite nicely. :) Deb and Graham came over to see the garden and our new nightstands/lamps. Both had a go at the new Sleep Number bed too and looooved it. Yay! Beebs and I ended the day with a Mexican pizza I made (basically just nachos on a puff-pastry crust instead of chips) and then we went to bed. Or, I should say, he went to bed and I was awake until 3 am....I need to stop doing that! It wastes my whole morning sleeping the next day and I hate that.
One of the reasons I was up so late is that I have started a new book called The Hickory Staff by Robert Scott and Jay Gordon. It's a fantasy book about a bored asst. bank manager who discovers a 135 y/o safety deposit box that had stood unopened since the day it was commissioned.... until he finds the key in an antique store and opens it discovering a portal to another world inside. ooOOooo I haven't read far enough into it to know whether it's any good or not, I'm still in the plot building stage...but here's to hoping it's a good one. :)
I was really disappointed today because I was supposed to go to my friend's house for morning tea but TOTALLY forgot to set my alarm last night and overslept. She came over to pick me up and I was in bed. :( I hate this memory of mine, it's totally useless. I am cursed to be forgetting things the rest of my life, I only pray that my future children won't hate me for it....well, at least not anymore than they'll hate me for how messy I am. :)
Bean went to the Dr. yesterday and is "in exceptionally good health." Yaaayy! He gets his little balls cut off next month which should cut back on his extreme feisty behavior as of late. ;) He has become fully intrigued by the toilet and spends a good portion of the afternoon sitting on the edge and batting at the water...until he inevitably falls into said toilet and trails the water all over the house....I need to remember to close the door to the bathroom! I've tried closing the lid on the toilet but it's the cheapo thin plastic lid that bows at the front instead of closing all the way (not purposely, it's just cheap and has bent I assume) so he STILL ducks through the gap and the front and gets into the water.... crazy kitten.<=This picture of him is what we call his "dinner plate eyes" face. He makes this face right before he attacks something, it's too cute!! He was stalking me from around the hallway. Speaking of kittens, I got two new kitten mugs for my mug tree over the weekend which makes my Rachael Hale Kitten Mug Collection (that's the official title ;) ) complete! I have 6 mugs now which fills the whole mug tree. I now need to start my Christmas mug collection so that I'll have all 6 by Christmas!
These mugs are just TOO cute! I love the one with the little witch hat, he will be my Halloween mug. :)
_______________________________________________
I just gotta vent on this one for a minute:
Someone said something a while ago that really irked me, like REALLY irked me. I was talking about how we'd had a Thanksgiving dinner for everyone last year for Chris's birthday and how much everyone seemed to enjoy it and that we were thinking about doing a Halloween party this year just for fun where we could eat candy and watch scary movies and people could dress up if they wanted to although I probably wouldn't....and this guy is like, "Why?"..... ..... ummmm because it's fun?? "But we don't have Halloween here, what is even the point of Halloween?" So I explained the history behind it and that it's mostly for kids but that it's fun for adults to get to be a kid again for a day and put on a show for the kids when they trick-or-treat to make it fun for them. He (rudely I might add) made it clear that he thought it was ridiculous for me to want to continue American traditions that don't exist in Australia. I tried to suggest that if he moved to a foreign country and there was like, no more Christmas or Easter or something he'd probably want to share that tradition with new friends and family in that country and he insisted that he wouldn't...(Uhh..okay, Liar.) But whatever....and then I was talking to some people at Cole's about different foods that I can't find here (namely good ingredients for Tex Mex) and someone said something about "can't you just get used to what we have here?" ::sigh:: I think it just bothered me because if I was like, Indian or Chinese or something and wanted to continue the traditions of my culture here absolutely no one would question it and DEFINITELY wouldn't suggest that I leave them behind me for fear of being called a "racist." I mean, I know that if it's hard for me here it's gotta be a basquillion times harder for people from non-westernized countries....but you'd think maybe I could get a little slack?
There are a lot of Australians (mostly older Australians) panicking over the "Americanization" of their country, so maybe this is why people can get so defensive when I mention wanting to continue celebrating my culture here. It's just SO ignorant though, it makes me want to scream. Maybe it is ignorant of me but I believe the Australian culture is still forming. There are only about 22 million people in Australia at the moment which puts them, population-wise, where the USA was in the mid 1840's. Australia's population in the 1840s was about 170k. Now, I'm not trying to say Australia doesn't *have* a culture because there is definitely a strong one here but, when you consider the sheer population boom that is upon us here in Australia, the culture *will* evolve and new sub-cultures will form. It's just inevitable. Australia will never mirror the USA entirely because the mind-set of the people, the economics and the government here are completely different than that of those in the US...Australian's Egalitarian mindset and distaste for corporate giants alone is enough to ensure that they will never become an America, that they will always be their own nation. So, people of Australia, just accept that, when your culture is based on a population of immigrants, it is going to evolve as the cultures of those people integrate into your own. It is inevitable AND absolutely doesn't mean that your identity as a nation will be lost in the mix. You aren't who you were 150 years ago any more than you will be who you are now 150 years in the future. So cut it out with the paranoia.
Long story short, me celebrating the 4th of July, Halloween and Thanksgiving isn't going to turn Australia into America AND it doesn't mean that I'm rejecting the Australian culture for my own. I'm just integrating my traditions into the traditions of this country. If you don't like it, you're not invited to the party anyway. :P bahahaha
Monday, October 12, 2009
Our Garden
Upon request, I went around the yard today and took some pictures of what's going down in our garden!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43479003@N03/?saved=1
As disappointed as I am that I'm missing out on my favorite weather of the year back in Texas, I really am so excited for all the life that's slowly creeping out into the sun in our yard. The garden here as been neglected for many many years, but the original owner of the house was a horticulturist so even though we have our work cut out for us there's really a beautiful garden underneath all the over-growth and shed leaves.
Our little beebs grass is growing as hard as he can in the front yard!! It's starting to look very green...but because we are in such a dry climate it is SO hard to get a yard going AND follow the water restrictions. So far the only green grass is in the patch in front of the house....but everything in the backyard is still dead. We have a picket fence in front of the house, and everything in front of the fence is dead as well. :( It makes the front yard feel like a bit of an oasis from the dead and barren, but I'd really like to just see a nice green patch of grass in front of the fence when we pull up at the house, know what I mean? We're going to lay some gravel and mulch on the side of the house to save some effort on trying to get the grass to grow there. It should look very cool and modern. We're going to put 4 large tiles with 4 pots and little bushes on the gravel too. We just have plastic pots at the moment, but sometimes next year I will buy the big shiny ones I want!
The vision is like this, but on a smaller scale:
I should have researched drought-hardy plants rather than just picking the prettiest flowers I saw. ;) I can see now why so many people have tropical plants now...it's hard to build a classic garden in Moranbah!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43479003@N03/?saved=1
As disappointed as I am that I'm missing out on my favorite weather of the year back in Texas, I really am so excited for all the life that's slowly creeping out into the sun in our yard. The garden here as been neglected for many many years, but the original owner of the house was a horticulturist so even though we have our work cut out for us there's really a beautiful garden underneath all the over-growth and shed leaves.
Our little beebs grass is growing as hard as he can in the front yard!! It's starting to look very green...but because we are in such a dry climate it is SO hard to get a yard going AND follow the water restrictions. So far the only green grass is in the patch in front of the house....but everything in the backyard is still dead. We have a picket fence in front of the house, and everything in front of the fence is dead as well. :( It makes the front yard feel like a bit of an oasis from the dead and barren, but I'd really like to just see a nice green patch of grass in front of the fence when we pull up at the house, know what I mean? We're going to lay some gravel and mulch on the side of the house to save some effort on trying to get the grass to grow there. It should look very cool and modern. We're going to put 4 large tiles with 4 pots and little bushes on the gravel too. We just have plastic pots at the moment, but sometimes next year I will buy the big shiny ones I want!
The vision is like this, but on a smaller scale:
I should have researched drought-hardy plants rather than just picking the prettiest flowers I saw. ;) I can see now why so many people have tropical plants now...it's hard to build a classic garden in Moranbah!
Blog-aholic.
It has been two years since my last blog. I am one of the lucky ones who figured out "who" I am and what I want at a very young age; I believe I can attribute my unusually high self-awareness to the fact that I used to journal about everything, all day, all the time. When I met Chris I stopped journaling and blogging; I had finally found someone with whom to share all of those internal musings and unanswerable questions (and I must say he has made quite the good listener over the years.) However, I think my blogging days aren't quite over yet...
Moving countries, even between two English speaking countries, is a lot harder than you could imagine. I keep having people give me advice about how they felt when they moved interstate but, I have to tell ya (as much as I appreciate advice,) there's really no comparison. I never expected the culture shock I have been experiencing here. I've never lived in a small town, so I'm not sure how much of the shock is from Big City/Small Town culture vs. USA/AU culture but it's definitely been an adjustment either way. I'll look forward to sharing some of the differences with you because some of them are quite interesting. I'd have to say the high cost-of-living here has been the biggest shock for me and I can't imagine ever being able to adjust to it...but I'll elaborate on all of these things another time.
I am somewhat incapable of working out how I feel without putting it into words, whether written or spoken. I expect this blog will be a type of therapy for me where I can once again work out more than just the how of what I'm feeling but the why as well. I can hear some of you groaning from here, "Oh, just what the world needs; another emo blog." I will counter this by explaining that I fully expect for this blog to be just as much a what's what of my life at the moment as it is about my feelings (I'm not emotional all the time after all.) This way family and friends back home can stay connected to my life through the blog.
Please bear with me while I figure my way around Blogger. I've never used this program before and haven't had a proper chance to explore. I know there's some way for you to become my "follower" but I'm not sure if you have to become a member to do that. I should also warn those of you who don't already know that I am a very long-winded blogger. I never could quite figure out how to keep things concise when so much to share was bubbling up inside.
I need to go to sleep now, it's 4 am and I have no business being awake after being so exhausted all day!
Moving countries, even between two English speaking countries, is a lot harder than you could imagine. I keep having people give me advice about how they felt when they moved interstate but, I have to tell ya (as much as I appreciate advice,) there's really no comparison. I never expected the culture shock I have been experiencing here. I've never lived in a small town, so I'm not sure how much of the shock is from Big City/Small Town culture vs. USA/AU culture but it's definitely been an adjustment either way. I'll look forward to sharing some of the differences with you because some of them are quite interesting. I'd have to say the high cost-of-living here has been the biggest shock for me and I can't imagine ever being able to adjust to it...but I'll elaborate on all of these things another time.
I am somewhat incapable of working out how I feel without putting it into words, whether written or spoken. I expect this blog will be a type of therapy for me where I can once again work out more than just the how of what I'm feeling but the why as well. I can hear some of you groaning from here, "Oh, just what the world needs; another emo blog." I will counter this by explaining that I fully expect for this blog to be just as much a what's what of my life at the moment as it is about my feelings (I'm not emotional all the time after all.) This way family and friends back home can stay connected to my life through the blog.
Please bear with me while I figure my way around Blogger. I've never used this program before and haven't had a proper chance to explore. I know there's some way for you to become my "follower" but I'm not sure if you have to become a member to do that. I should also warn those of you who don't already know that I am a very long-winded blogger. I never could quite figure out how to keep things concise when so much to share was bubbling up inside.
I need to go to sleep now, it's 4 am and I have no business being awake after being so exhausted all day!
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