I'm Leaving...

On a Jet Plane!

Come this Saturday, hubby and I will be on a plane headed back for home...we have yet to pack our suitcases or do anything remotely related to getting ready to going back. All we've done is book our tickets and get our travel insurance. I guess we should get our butts into gear, although I don't see that happening anytime soon. It's looking like another packing frenzy on Saturday morning!

I've been preoccupied these past few days with fulfilling another New Year's resolution. I've just put in 2 applications for 2 various positions at work. I unwittingly fulfilled this resolution for getting another job by volunteering for another role (thus sorta getting a new job)...but I didn't think that it really counted given that all I did was put my hand up and not really do any work.

So I'm crossing my fingers that I successfully get into the interview pool for these positions and have a shot at crossing another goal off my list.

On a side note, given that I'm going to be away (and the modem at my parents' house has recently been through some weather-related trauma), I doubt that there will be a post for a few weeks.

But I'm big on trying to fulfil my resolutions this year so by hook or by crook, it's going to happen somehow *cross fingers and toes and all other body parts*. Wish me luck!

Save The Best For Last...

& you could end up not using it!

All of us have received (at least once in our life) the email about the man who lost his wife. You know the email, it goes something like this...

"A man recently suffered a great loss - his wife had passed away. While going through her belongings, he discovers the lingerie that he bought for her, lying in her drawer untouched. He picks it up and strokes it lovingly. He tells you that she never wore it, claiming that it was too good to use and she was saving it for a special occasion. He puts it down and then picks up a beautiful perfume bottle, still filled to the brim. It was her favourite perfume, he says. But again, it was untouched. And again, for the same reason - she was saving it for a special occasion".

For our first year anniversary, hubby's parents bought us a set of 4 Austrian lead crystal wine glasses. They're delicate, sparkly and look too good to drink from. We put them in our display cabinet and left them sitting there with our other normal wine glasses. They've been sitting there looking pretty for a couple of months now.

Last weekend, we bought another set of these crystal glasses at a closing down sale and now have enough glasses for a dinner party of 8. So we washed them and put them together with our initial set of crystal glasses. It's all looking very pretty and very posh. Exactly how they're supposed to look.

Except for one problem. I'm looking at them thinking that they're too delicate for us to drink out of.

But I don't want to end up being like the wife at the beginning of the story who saved everything for a special occasion. There are still so many things that I want to experience, and holding out until something special happens might just take too long. So that's why I think I should just take action here and now and deal with it. Life's too short to hesitate.

So I grabbed 2 glasses, headed to the fridge and poured orange juice into our beautiful crystal glasses and shared a romantic toast with hubby, entwining our hands just like you see in the movies.

I have only one thing to say about that experience - orange juice never tasted quite so delicious...

Service?

What Service?

Getting service in Australia is like pulling teeth sometimes!!! I'm ready to practise what I learnt in Marketing or Consumer Behaviour (I forget...but anyway) - everyime you get bad service, you tell 9-12 people about it. Well in this case, to everyone who's reading this, IN YOUR FACE TELSTRA!

Recently, hubby & I registered to get our phone connection put in and I specifically requested that the phone bill be in both our names (only coz' the house is). The person who took my call said "No problem" and I assumed that this was all settled and I could continue with my merry littl' life and not think about it.

Yeah right...should've learnt by now that nothing is ever THAT easy in Australia.

Not only is hubby's name not on the phone bill, but he's been left out of the listing in the Residential White Pages! He was not impressed one bit!

We didn't even know this until a friend of his wanted to send an invite to us for her wedding. She couldn't find him in the White Pages but lo and behold! If you look me up, there's only 2 in the state!

Of course, me letting the company know that they've stuffed up big time only took 2 weeks for them to fix the problem...and still not all of it is resolved! They've fixed it up on the phone bill (apparently...I'll wait for the bill before I say anything else) and have pointed me in the direction of the White Pages people to fix that listing up! You would've thought that because they made the error, they would get in touch with the White Pages people to fix it up.

But of course, that's asking for too much.

& they wonder why they're losing customers...

Never Wrestle With A Beanbag...

It just gets too messy!

This may sound a tab bit strange but I've always wanted a beanbag. For some reason, I've always liked the idea of having a sack of beans on the floor, ready for you to plonk your butt on and just sink in (yes, I know...having a sack of beans on the floor sounds just as inviting as a sack of potatoes on the floor). & since we moved in, I thought that it would be really cool if we could get ourselves our very own beanbag to put in the living room.

Turns out a good friend of ours decided to give us their beanbag. I was excited! Finally, our very own beanbag to have and to use. I couldn't wait to get the beanbag home and put it to good use.

After the long journey home (anticipation always makes car rides feel longer), I lugged the beanbag in (it really looked like Santa's gift sack...only blue and less lumpy) and decided that we should give it a wash before putting it to use.

Big mistake...bad idea...will never think about doing it ever again.

We attempted to empty the beans out of the bag. 3 large garbage bags and a 60litre plastic container later, we ended up with most of the beans emptied out and fake snow all over the floor. Hubby was like..."Don't worry. We'll hafta put the beans back into the beanbag anyway, so don't worry about cleaning it all up too much".

Should have listened to him! Me, wanting to keep some semblance of order in the house, decided to attempt to get the beans into one of the garbage bags. And so, felt quite accomplished after half an hour of labour.

Today, after washing the beanbag cover and letting it dry, I decided to attempt to put the beans back into the bag.

2 hours (or maybe more, I lost track of time) and lots of aches and pains later (will spare you the details, its almost too painful to relive), I managed to get 99% of the beans back into the bag. The remaining 1% was too much of a hassle to try and get out of the garbage bags, off the floor and into the beanbag.

Again, mental note - should have listened to hubby.

& so, if anyone hears me talk about getting another beanbag, please feel free to whack me over the head or knock me unconscious. I'm sure there's other better things to do that would be less painful than getting a beanbag - like going through labour and having children.

A Pinch & A Punch...

For the 1st of the month...

This new year, I will set myself some goals. I have come to realise that I have become rather static and comfortable with myself and need new things to happen. I believe that 2007 is the right time for me to:

• Become healthy and incorporate exercise into our weekly routine
• Learn how to create another source of income & master it (this will really be handy if we ever have to travel between KL & Perth...but this is probably going to be the hardest to achieve of my goals)
• Find a new job (something that will make me more content with how I spend 8 hours of my day)
• Learn how to play the flute
• Become a regular 'blogger' (I really should quantify that shouldn't I? Alright...let's say at least once a fortnight).

It may seem as if I have only 5 goals to achive...but I know that I'm going to need all the help I can get to achieve them. Support is always welcome (and so is a kick up the bum. That works wonders ever so often!). Drop me a line if you know ways to help me figure out how I'm going to achieve my goals. Any help is always welcome.

So to everyone reading this...have a Happy New Year and good luck making some goals and figuring out how you're going to achieve yours...because this year, I plan to make mine a reality.