Moose Musings

9:43pm: Man, it's been months and I am shamed that I've neglected DW for so long! My orginal plan was to update on the new year, but er yeah...

However, today is my birthday, so I thought why not update today? Beyond that I was born some time after 9:30pm, so I am now, officially...gulp...thirty-five.

I know I'm as shocked as you are! However, I do at least have a big life event to report, with any luck tomorrow afternoon I will be receiving the keys to the apartment I have purchased (with my parents as 10% owners)!

Yes this Moose will be a home-owner! OMG, indeed!

I think I've described the place before in an earlier entry, but suffice to say I'm quite excited! There's heaps of storage and everything is nice and new. I'll definitely have to take photos to show you.

My parents and I had hoped to get the keys in time for my birthday, but alas it didn't happen and actually things are still a bit up in the air with two last documents to sign! Fingers and toes crossed it can be sorted out tomorrow morning so the keys can be in my possession in the afternoon.

Apart from that life is good, my co-workers got me a cake and a funny card, I got a Christmas Sweater Pusheen ornament for 50% off during lunchtime and I had dinner (with another cake) at a nice club with my parents and little bro this evening.

The only downside of this exciting time is that my job which I'm doing under contract will be advertised soon. With a few changes that is it'll be full-time with a higher pay rate.

Now you might think that's good news, which I guess it is sort of, except it now means that the job is a lot more attractive and competition for it could be quite tough.

The Collections Assistant job is also coming up again, which I'm also planning on going for...but it's less hours and less pay, which is a bit of a worry with the apartment and all.

But, Mum and I are going to work hard at polishing up the resume and my interview presentation. Plus I'm going to keep a record of what I'm doing that fullfills the selection criteria. So more fingers and toes crossed :O)

Ok, better wrap up here since I am sleepy (I woke up an hour too early this morning and couldn't get back to sleep).

Goodnight all!

PS. Oh! I almost forgot, the big bro and his family called me from Japan which was super nice. :O) My neice wished me a happy birthday!

11:30pm: Yes indeed! And my big bro, sister-in-law and little niece have headed off back to Japan. Ah, it's been good having them here, although it's not like I saw them all the time, but it was fun while I could. In fact, just yesterday I had the experience of holding a baby, which I haven't done before, because as I've mentioned before perhaps, I don't really want to hold a baby because they seem way too squishy and the thought kind of freaks me out. However, yesterday my big bro was trying to show me how to do something on his i-Pad and I didn't do it right so he was like "Hold the kid, I'll fix it."

So, I got to hold a 10 month old, who fortunately wasn't too squishy, although she was heavier than I expected :OP. Suffice to say though, I don't have much of a maternal instinct, so I didn't end up all "coo-ey" and what not. I'm just happy to report my niece didn't poke me in the eye, LOL!

So, today was another day off from work at the library for me, yay! However, I realised this evening while checking my shifts that I've put my hand up for not just Tuesday and Thursday this week, but Wednesday and Friday too! Which normally wouldn't be an issue, but though my foot is feeling a lot better (even after all the walking yesterday) I'm a little concerned that this might lead to a flare-up. There's not much I can do about that, though...except not wear those enclosed sandals I bought since I'm not entirely sure they've got proper arch support. Here's hoping the anti-prespirant I got for my feet will hold up with the other shoes.

Anywho, the point about having the day off is that I went and saw my friend who wasn't able to come to the New Year's Eve fireworks today, we watched some John Oliver and Galaxy Quest as well as having lunch with her parents. It was fun! :O)

I also made the cupcakes for Mrs S's husband's birthday tomorrow, although I need to finish the frosting before I go to bed, good thing I can get up a bit later in the morning because of the public holiday (which means I only do two hours instead of four) since I won't finish by midnight!

I did make an unfortunate discovery when I came home from the parentals before heading off to my friend's place, I'd left the fridge ajar! Which meant my butter was soft for the cake, but there was no way the milk I just bought on Friday was salavagable. What's really annoying is that I came back to the Granny Flat to collect a number of things before leaving on Saturday and at no point did I notice the fridge door wasn't closed properly. Man, I hope the landlord's power bill won't be horrifying.

Right! I better be off, though I was hoping to get back into the swing of things re: memes, but once again time calls me away.

Goodnight all!

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Cupcakes

Reach for the laser with Antic's Sims-ulator!

11:33pm: Seriously, I know a lot of people pass on every day and year, but 2016 seems to be out for the celebrities! Today like everyone else I turned on the TV to discover from the news ticker that Carrie Fisher died! I just saw her on The Graham Norton Show at the start of the month and she seemed quite well, promoting her book and everything. She was also the same age as my mother which always makes a celebrity death disturbing to me, because that's young!

And of course there was George Michael just a few days ago, which I think I mentioned here, but maybe not (I guess I didn't think you wouldn't have heard about it yourself!). I couldn't remember what songs he sang, but then they mentioned them are some of them are my favourites.

This coupled with the fact that I got invited to join a Facebook group about it being fifteen years since I finished high school makes me feel a bit alarmed! Like time is passing me by or something. How can it be 15 years since high school? What have I done with myself? How can I be 5 years older than Romy and Michelle were supposed to be in their movie! Although I guess a big part of that movie was that they hadn't done much with their lives either...but they did have fun, so I guess that was the point. :OP

Anywho, in stark contrast to yesterday I spent all of the day out of the house, firstly by being at work and then by going over to the parentals. As it happened Mum and I didn't go swimming at the outdoor pool at M and Grandpa's house, but in the indoor pool at Mum and Dad's place. Which was cool because my brother, his wife and my niece came along too. Although only the niece went swimming, she seemed to like it more in the warmly heated indoor pool. Also my new goggles are great! Man, I had no idea my old ones had gone so foggy.

There was some brief discussion of going to the mall because Mum wanted to buy something for my niece before realising that it was probably too late - it was going to be a large toy that my brother and his wife couldn't have taken back on the plane. Instead she went to the supermarket near by to get the ingredients for spaghetti which Dad prepared and a delicious dinner was had! Yum!

Tomorrow is also going to be a busy one, it's supposed to be hot as Hell (like 40 degrees C!) so I'm going over to M and Grandpa's for canasta and then to the parental abode to pick up my swimmers and towel (which I forgot to take tonight) and if the weather is still super hot stay the night. Although since we live so close to the coast the sea breeze often comes to the rescue, but we'll have to see!

And now, I gotta go, it's midnight again and I need to get my shut-eye!

Goodnight all!

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Swimming

Reach for the laser with Antic's Sims-ulator!

10:39pm: Indeed! A Merry Christmas to all and to all a Merry Christmas! Hope yours was/is as fun as mine was. :O)

So I woke up this morning at the grandparental abode and at least got to show them what I put in my Christmas stocking and also to open Mrs S's present, since it was a small one. I turned out to be a very nice locket with room to put a photo in. Except I'm not sure what photo that'd be! I've probably mentioned this before, but when I was a kid I had a heart shaped locket and the picture I put in there was...a drawing I made of Garfield, LMAO! Probably won't do the same with this one.

Anywho, as I think I might have mentioned yesterday, contrary to my belief the Christmas Party was being held in the Clubhouse in the retirement village my grandparents' live in, rather than at my parents' place. This meant that it was quite easy indeed for me to get there, which was great! What was not so great was I felt rather icky with a stomachache, kind of nauseous which was not fun! Eventually I took some Buscopan even though I had no idea if it was mid-ovulation related pain or what. Guess it was digestive though because not long after taking the Buscopan I felt way better, which was great because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the delicious Christmas lunch or the swim in the pool afterwards! Good times, good times.

It was nice to see Emma, my niece again, she's a super-well behaved baby and barely cried at all despite the fact the room we were in was rather echo-y and it had to be a long day for a baby. Unfortunately we didn't open the presents until the end of proceedings when she did get tired so I didn't get to see her open my present. However, I am going over to the parentals tomorrow after work with Mrs S and perhaps they haven't opened it yet so perhaps I'll get the chance then.

I kind of forgot to take any photos though! Booo! Dad did though so perhaps I can get him to send me a few. :O)

Anyway I have to go to bed soon because I stayed over with M and Grandpa again, but I don't have the correct clothes for work tomorrow so I need to pop by home on my way to Mrs S's. Which means, even though I start an hour later tomorrow I pretty much have to get up at the regular time.

I got some good presents! From my Secret Santa - who turned out to be Grandpa - I got a green sunglasses case with money to buy the sunglasses I want to get (although this does mean I'll have to go to the mall at some point. Oooh deaaar.) From my godmother I got some nice perfume - Tommy Hilfiger (sp), I put some on after swimming in the pool, smells good! From the library a cookbook of desserts, whoo!

My family enjoyed the presents I gave them, which I sure hope didn't melt when I left them in the car while at church yesterday (well, at least Mum's and the little bro's, Dad and the big bro got non-melting stuff), although the stuff in my stocking was OK so I have hope.

Right, best be off now, although I so need a new phone...my one just sucks ass right now. It's so slow and I can't get my Simpsons Tapped Out to work half the time. I've got a phone in mind too although apparently it'll take two weeks to show up at Officeworks, but eh what can you do?

Anywho on that note, I shall be off! Goodnight all!

PS! I almost forgot! I won Canasta against M in an epic game the lasted over two days! Yahooo! Go me!

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Christmas Spirit

Reach for the laser with Antic's Sims-ulator!

11:08pm: Well, actually they landed more than 12 hours ago, but I feel like that's a good title.

Anyway! The big party was today, very exciting! I got there on time, which I was rather surprised by because I kind of left it a bit late to go, but I guess that's the Sunday morning traffic for you.

Anyway, I had my pretty dress, the white cardigan and my new shoes on and with my hair all nice from yesterday I was feeling pretty good. I think I was a bit overdressed compared to everyone else, but hey, if you've got it flaunt it, or something, LOL.

As to be expected, the big bro, his wife, Eri and Emma didn't arrive until much later in the party since they didn't even get their luggage or through customs for like an hour or something. Fortunately, the traffic wasn't too bad although it did seem to take quite a while. The rest of us had all ready finished our brunch by the time they arrived.

But for a while it looked like they might not come at all since it was a long flight, and none of them got any sleepy apparently. Mike actually SMSed Mum to tell her that, but she managed to talk him into it. And also luckily, Emma despite the lack of zzzs was super well behaved. She's pretty cute and quite chubby as babies tend to be, but everyone was pleased to see her, especially M and Dad's sisters (the great aunts) and Mum of course. :OP It was also very lucky they showed up because Mum had hired a photographer to get some professional shots of the momentous occasion. So there was a big family/friends photo on the steps outside the room where the party was held (despite the less than nice weather, seriously it was pretty shitty today and chilly!) As well as some with immediate family inside with a proper screen and reflecting thing so with any luck we'll all look like models. :OP

So yes, the little bro was the one who picked the big bro, Eri and Emma up, which was really good of him since he kind of forgot he was supposed to do it and only remembered while sitting up late watching a soccer game! So he only got five hours sleep! Then he kind of forgot the party was on today, so he wore thongs - which aren't allowed in the Golf House, luckily he and the big bro are the same shoe size so he borrowed a pair of his otherwise he might not have been allowed in!

So yes, a good time was had by all, although Mum had me do quite a bit of reloading of the car at the end by which point the new shoes were making my feet hurt and all that hard work has made me most sleepy! I should have taken a nap in between getting back to the parental units and having dinner there.

The dinner was most enjoyable especially because my favourite aunt and uncle came by - they're from Canberra and were spending the night at the Retirement Village (I guess some owners go away during Christmas and rent their places out) and although Mike, Eri and Emma were catching up on their sleep and whatnot in the second room we all enjoyed ourselves.

Right, so like I said I'm most tired and need to get myself to bed since work calls tomorrow.

I tried to upload a photo of my outfit, but Photobucket is being a butt so we'll have to wait on that.

In closing, goodnight all!

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Good times

Reach for the laser with Antic's Sims-ulator!

11:11pm: Yes, today was the big combo-Mum's Birthday-Father's Day Celebration and it went off without a hitch! Although, I didn't actually end up doing what I was meant to! For example, because I had to get my hair done I wasn't able to pick up the birthday cake on Saturday afternoon - so Mum had to pick up her own cake, LOL! Then because my friend Ben called to invite me over to his place (he lives far away in Darwin and that was the only time I could see him before he headed back) I didn't have time to make my usual cards, so I had to do that today during the party. Lastly, I neglected to pick up two Venetta ice cream cakes from Woolies so had to ask my little bro to do it.

Actually, considering that he picked them up, made the fruit salad and got the Chinese food from the restaurant he was the real hero of the day! :O) Which is nice because often he doesn't get to involved in this sort of stuff. I guess have a steady job with normal hours has made it easier for him.

The only thing that didn't happen was the big bro making a Facetime call, because the air-conditioner has broken down over there and it's still summer and my little niece is probably still too young to properly regulate her body temperature, so he had to get onto that. Good thing he's in Japan where you can get handymen to come out on a Sunday! Hopefully he got it fixed.

Also, my cousin Mack kindly gave me a little Bonsai as a thank you because on Wednesday Mum and I helped him out with buying some pants which he needed for a performance he was in at his school and delivering them to him. It was actually on our way to Newtown, so he didn't have to, but I do have an empty spot where my old fish tank used to be, so there's somewhere to put it which is cool.

As for the fathers, well I'm sorry to say I totally forgot to get something for Dad! I didn't even get him a bag of salted peanuts like I usually would! And I forgot to bring over the Pineapple Cadbury Dairy milk chocolate that I got especially for Mum. Man, I meant to buy another block of it last night when Ben and I had to go to his local Woolies because he was missing an ingredient for the cake he was making.

Pft, talk about scatter-brained!

Anywho, it's past 11:30pm now, so I better hit the hay, I didn't get enough deep sleep last night - at least according to my app - and I think it might have been behind the headaches I had today - one in the morning and then in the afternoon. Dave McFly is totally right - the last thing you need is headaches.

But man, I so need to get back to the Memes...it'll have to wait though.

For now, goodnight!

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Family

Reach for the laser with Antic's Sims-ulator!

11:48pm: Because I was distracted by watching various figure skating programs since I didn't see them all.

Interesting competition to be sure, although it's weird when you listen to the commentators and they're all like "Oh wow this is so amazing!" or "So-and-so just captures your attention right off" and I'm just like... "I find them super boring to be honest."

Of course, I should admit my terrible bias towards Plushy and his arm movements, apparently the arm movements are not beloved by everyone and most skaters don't do them, because they're "tacky" if you ask me though, they lend a real pizazz to a program and makes it more interesting! Something's happening all the time and all that jazz.

I've also realised while watching Plushy videos that I prefer the old footwork, there's a lot of one-footed skating these days, which I guess is harder, so fair enough, but the two-footed stuff lend itself to so much more expressiveness and what not! Now you get dinged in points if you spend too long on two skates. Booo.

Anyway! Today I said goodbye to the parental units who as I type are on the plane to Japan to see their first grandchild, with my kangaroo plush in tow! I hope it's well received, with any luck I'll get a photo.

I also go to the Council Info Booth on time, even though I stopped by Mona Vale Library to fill out my time sheet since I forgot to do that yesterday. I'm not sure if I did it early enough to still get paid, or if I still get paid anyway? Since I'm permanent part-time. I'll have to keep my eye on things, I suppose.

Finally, since I'm running out of time, the Friday Infobooth shifts have been cancelled, which is understandable since the submission have to be received by that date, so unless we can get everyone to do it online, nothing from that day would get to the Submissions Board anyway.

Right, time to wrap this up and hit the hay, I keep staying up too late!

Goodnight all!

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Skating

Reach for the laser with Antic's Sims-ulator!

10:26pm: In these tiny houses? Because they usually have lofts, but you can't even stand up in them! Sounds like a bad neck waiting to happen. I suppose these could just be really tall people in which case I'd probably be OK...Still seems like a bit of an oversight.

Moving on...Happy Easter all! :OD Today was a great day, with a delicious family lunch with M and Grandpa at their house. Mum went with M to an Anglican church service, and I drove Dad to M and Grandpa's place where we were supposed to help with the table, but Grandpa had all ready pulled it open to fit six chairs. So I mostly sat on my butt colouring in the colouring book Mum got M (keeps your mind active, apparently) at least until the time came to set the table.

Mum, M and the little bro all arrived at noon and then it was time to dig in, Grandpa had cooked his famous roast potatoes and the lamb was absolutely delicious, I had a small portion, but I still ate pretty fast and finished way before anyone else, LOL. Eventually everyone else caught up and the all important egg/chocolate exchange happened. :OD My little bro got me an Easter basket- or bucket rather from his old work place (he's starting a new full-time job next Tuesday - lucky dude) the bucket is green and its got chocolate eggs and a chocolate rabbit in it. Niiice. M and Grandpa meanwhile gave us a box of eggs to share, I took one called Abstract Heaven, which is white and dark chocolate swirled together.

M and Grandpa got the same chocolate bunnies from both Mum and Dad and from me, whoops! But there's only so many options out there...besides it's chocolate, who can complain! :OP

After lunch, the big bro called from Japan, alas Emma (the new baby) was asleep, so we didn't get a chance to see her in person, but what are you gonna do? Plus, considering how often babies are awake and crying at all hours it's good to know my brother's kid sleeps well. LOL.

This of course, has reminded me of the kangaroo plush I need to make before Mum and Dad leave, on the upside I found the perfect ribbon to put around its neck. On the downside, it doesn't have a neck yet because I haven't finished it! I thought using the sewing machine would make it more secure, but instead I've managed to make my neck sore because of all the unpicking I had to do due to misplaced stitches and what not. I'm not working version III which seems to be coming along OK - especially since I put it together with pins first to make sure everything lined up (obviously I need to think ahead). I was hoping to finish it, but I do have work tomorrow so I better leave it for now.

Now, I was going to do the Memes...but the neck is really quite sore so I'm not really in the mood. So once again I shall forego them.

A Happy Easter to all!

And now goodnight.

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Kangaroo Plush

Reach for the laser with Antic's Sims-ulator!

11:01pm: Indeed! I was a bit worried an hour or so ago when it was looking more like a T-Rex than a kangaroo, but I preserved with it and now that I've stuffed it a bit it looks pretty good. Although, I'm not sure the stitching is all that secure, I wouldn't want an arm or an ear to fall off! I'm not sure how to fix that, the plush toy is awfully small so I'm not sure I'd be able to use my sewing machine on it after all.

Makes me wish the pattern I used had actual instructions, because I think I should of sewed the arms into the side seams rather than put the on later. It's all very head scratchy.

In other news, I've finally got around to watching this documentary on Versailles that I borrowed from the library, man history is a screwed up thing...like France and England declaring war on each other for the Hell of it and what not. And in the end Louis XVI got screwed.

What else to report? Not much, the afternoon and evening was spent at the Council Info Booth, which wasn't all that busy, although in the end I think we got around 36 submissions, so I guess that wasn't too bad, I'm not sure how next week and the week after that will go... I hope I won't end up being bored out of my mind. :OP

Anyway, the documentary is about to finish and it's my bed time so I better head off. Without doing any memes again, sorry about that.

But for now, goodnight!

Hunger Comfort Hygiene Energy Fun Social Bladder Room Kangaroo Plushy

Reach for the laser with Antic's Sims-ulator!