Note to Josie-Bean

Hello sweet-pea...

I have your birthday present, finally, and I need to come over to visit you with it.

Hopefully I will be able to see you before next weekend, or at least manage to catch up with your parents so that they can pass it to you.

Stay beautiful.

Hugs and kisses,

Auntie Riss...

See, I'm Smiling

That means I'm happy that you're here...

Sooo tired. Who would have thought that going to someone else's party would be so labour intensive?

We have been letting the cleaning of the house slide a bit in recent weeks because we just haven't been home on the weekends, when we usually do it, to catch up. Really, who wants to come home after a hard day at work earning money and then start washing clothes or doing the vacuuming/hoovering?

Ok, so it's just me. After wiping things over my hand and arm start getting tired. Probably means that I'm not doing the cleaning enough to build up those muscles.

We've been trying to catch up this last week because it was just getting beyond a joke. I guess it also means that we can spend more time in the garden or relaxing over the weekend because we won't have the cleaning to do.

The kitchen's even clean enough for me to think about cooking something yummy and tricky because I have the space and everything's all ready to go.

Speaking of cleaning... I have suggested, and it has been agreed, that in honour of our holiday in Spring my partner and I should actually have a spring-clean and get rid of a lot of the junk that we've just packed up in boxes and taken with us when we have moved house. As we are not moving house this year we should give thanks by moving things out of the house while we stay put.

Therefore, I need to organise a nice big truck with a rubbish skip on the back of it to visit so that we can do a really good job of it.

I'll then be able to start thinking about renovating the inside of the house which will be easier to do because we won't have as much stuff to move out of the way! Hurrah! There is method in my madness. I will just have to go shopping then to do research and start the whole process.

I love organising new stuff. Shopping is nearly as good as a holiday.

Lydia, oh Lydia, that encyclopedia, Lydia the tattooed lady...

Where are you?

As I said to my other half yesterday...

He called me from work yesterday morning, which is unusual because we try not to ring each other for fear of being accused of being on the phone all the time, and everything was fine. He called an hour later and from his mobile phone (even more unusual) hence my question.

He was on his way home with a migraine to keep him company. Poor thing.

He had taken his anti-nausea pills and his anti-headache pills so he just felt queasy instead of wanting to ask the train driver to stop so that he could, well, you know, and the pain had calmed to a dull thud.

I was amazed to find that he had attempted to do some chores while he was home. This was, of course, after sitting quietly (because lying down makes it worse) on the couch for a few long hours waiting to feel better. I got to the end of the driveway and the rubbish bins were out ready for the morning collection, he had done some of the dishes, folded the washing and was ready to help me bring the groceries in from the car when I arrived.

Isn't he a wonder?

I cooked dinner and he had a little bit, but that was mainly so that he didn't have a headache from sleeping on an empty stomach.

All this activity then had the knock-on effect of turning the evening into an early night for him while I made the arrangements for my girlfriends' partners to come over to our house on Friday night.

I'm going to a girlfriend's place on Friday and, with a few other invitees, we're having a girls night with sleep-over. This means that my friend's partner needs somewhere else to stay for the night. The other partners are also without their "girls" for the evening. We have spare beds at ours and so we have invited all the partners to our place to have a guys night with sleep-over.

That sounds fair to me.

The only complication is that it is my Dad's family birthday celebration the following day with a brunch which means that my partner and I have to finish everything quite early the next morning. It's the only time that we were all free over the weekend what with EG's work roster, and Boo's and Mum & Dad's other social engagements.

More later.

Que sera, sera...

But I Can't Do It Alone

She'd say,"What's your sister like?", I'd say,"Men"...

I have just had one of the most relaxing-est weekends that I have had for a while and I have to say that I enjoyed it very much.

We ate a lot. We are very good cooks. We laughed a lot. Some people laughed so hard that their stomach muscles hurt and tears came out of their eyes. They were still sore the morning after.

It's got me warmed up for my holiday when I plan to do more relaxing, eating and laughing. Only twelve more sleeps.

Thank-you.

That is all.

Dat's Amore....

Why Don't You Give Me A Call?

Ring, ring...

EG did eventually call me on Friday night.

I had rung twice to try to find out where she was. I had figured that she wasn't coming because she hadn't called me to say she was running late (which she will do).

She had been on the phone to a work colleague who had just come off a shift, she was still in her pajamas and she completely forgot.

This is after I rang her the day before to tell her we'd be having fish and chips for dinner to make it quicker and easier for us to get our computations done and she could still have an early night before her early shift the next day.

Just because I figured out that she wasn't coming doesn't mean that I'm not annoyed.

To add to the annoyance, the other thing that had possibly made her forget was that D2 was at her place also.

Yes, "issues" man is still on the scene. I really don't know why she would put up with it all again. I know that my parents don't want to deal with it all and neither does Boo. I thought that she would really have told him to push off, grow up, and never talk to her or come near her again.

She has no trouble saying that sort of stuff to me, for goodness sake!

I'm starting to think that she has been pushed to a point where she needs to hold on to someone because she thinks they are all she deserves.

She can do better than that.

Thought about what I wanted, wasn't like that at all...

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Arr, me hearties...

It be Talk Like A Pirate Day, matey.

My pirate name is:

Dread Pirate Bonney

Like the famous Dread Pirate Roberts, you have a keen head for how to make a profit. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Pieces of eight, pieces of eight...

Missed It By That Much

Excuse me...

I'm still here at work waiting for my 4:00pm appointment with my sister, EG.

I think I'm going to have to catch the bus home.

It's raining now.

It's getting darker and colder.

I'd prefer a lift in a heated car where I don't have to get out and walk from a bus stop...

Where are you now?...

I hardly can believe I'm real

Feel like running and dancing for joy...

My sister, EG, is coming to visit me at work this afternoon. I have since found out the real story about the new boyfriend we met on Fathers Day and, according to Mother, he barely rates a two out of ten now.

I tend to agree with her.

EG has had a couple of long term beaus with "issues" and we found out that this one has a combination of those "issues" himself so we're not planning the wedding any more.

Sorry, EG. We'll have to suss out the one you had waiting in the wings.

I'm not going to become a dating service for my sister but I do think that I probably need to introduce her to a higher class of potential partner.

Anyway, she's coming to my work this afternoon to pick me up and we're going to go and get Fish and Chips again for dinner. Yum!

No more cheesecake left from last weekend but we won't need dessert tonight. The weekend might be when I make a chocolate self-saucing pudding - we'll need it after the attack we're going to have on the garden.

22 sleeps to my holidays...

It's a Knockout

That's the name of the game...

I really do like my job. Especially on a day like this when it's nice and warm, and, it being Friday, there are not so many people around so it's a little quieter.

Today hasn't been all easy though. We've been having a few cabling problems today, have needed to take a few walks to fix things located at a distance and I'm down a staff member. I'm also about to be visited by a very needy customer who will be going overseas shortly. She is going to be taking a mobile phone with her so "will need some very urgent assistance" as she has not, to my knowledge, ever used one before and will be using overseas roaming on top of it all.

She stresses too much which can be a little exasperating.

We'll manage to get through all our work by the end of the day which will be good considering the hours I've been putting in recently. We might even be able to gather around the water cooler and talk about general stuff instead of struggling to make it out the door by five. Hurrah!

I'm looking forward to having take-away for dinner tonight.

I'll be able to get started on making a lemon cheesecake after that.

Cooking for friends is so much more fun than being at work. But I still enjoy my job.

Bork! bork! bork!...

Communication

Why is it so hard?

Due to the action of another department at work I have been landed with trying to explain exactly what areas this action has impacted.

I don't think I was taken terribly seriously to begin with.

Problem was identified on Monday afternoon. I contacted one person who was unfortunately not going to be able to help me on Tuesday due to being on a training day. He did reply to me to tell me this, however, and I thank him for advising me. Thanks, SB.

Problem escalated early Tuesday afternoon when I identified another group of data that was affected by "enemy action". This is when I contacted the database helpdesk.

I spoke with the person who had been given the action to perform which had created my problem. He is a Trainee and is only doing his job. He explained that he had performed the action for seven groups of data that would affect my work area.

My headache grew.

He did mention that at the time he was given the task he thought that performing the action would possibly adversely affect some part of the data. (Go with that gut feeling!)

He liaised with his Manager to see whether they could rectify the situation. I requested a copy of the data that I no longer had access to and also a list of the groups that had been affected. The list I now have, the data is taking a bit longer to appear.

I received a call late today from the Manager of the area. He advised that he had relinked part of the data and that new information should come through without any problems.

Hmm.

We went through the process that I perform to record data on the system and that worked.

Yes, good. I don't actually know whether we have recorded receipt of information for this piece of data before through.

Oh.

And there are five different distribution points for this piece of information, I don't know to which point it would have been sent.

Oh.

If we did receive the data, I have no record of what date it would have been entered originally.

Oh. I am beginning to see what you mean.

What has happened to the data that we have already entered? We didn't keep paper records because to keep updating every time we added a new piece of information would have taken longer than trying to record everything.

Oh. This is a little more involved than I thought. You say that there is more than one group affected by this?

Yes. (Thinking, there are potentially 4000 individual records affected by this just for my work area.)

I'll have to look a bit further in to this and come back to you.

Thanks.

End the painful dream...

"A", you're Adorable, "B", you're so Beautiful

"C", you're a Cutie full of Charms...


"D", You're a Darling and "E", you're Exciting, And "F" you're a Feather in my arms...

Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows

Everything that's wonderful is sure to come your way...

Happy 1st Birthday Josie-Bean.

I'm sure Mummy and Daddy will give you lots of cuddles and kisses and snuggles because they've known you for a year now and it is a time to celebrate, you beautiful girl.

I'll come over soon with a present for you and an additional cuddle of my own to give you too.

Oh, you are so cute!

Happy feet, I've got those happy feet...

I'll be so proud to call you mine

When finally you come home to me...

Ask me where my beautiful new bracelet is from. Go on. It's from Zanzibar! Bakstar brought it back for me as my birthday present. Thank-you!

Catching up was great! I don't think we stopped talking the whole time she was there. And the Fish and Chips wasn't bad either.

I didn't get to go to the theatre at all this weekend. Why? Because the show was SOLD OUT! And I didn't even mention the name of the thing. 'The Last Five Years' by Jason Robert Brown played this weekend (and last) and had been sold out for a week by the time Boo called to get tickets. This is a shame but I'm glad I had more of an opportunity for sleep. I also didn't get to go to "Songs For A New World" because I worked late (a lot) this week and my eyes voted for sleep instead.

I watched some of The Muppet Show instead and stayed up late but I was closer to my bed than if I had gone into Melbourne to see TL5Y. TL5Y probably would have finished earlier but I enjoyed my night in with the DVD player anyway. My husband now complains that he either has The Muppet Show theme or the Swedish Chef's song playing in his head.

UK Mum and Dad are moving house. Again.

They've only been in their current house since April 2004 but we can understand why they would consider moving (this time) because the house they are in is rather tiny. The only inner doors in the place are to the bathroom (which is squeezy) and the wardrobe. And there's the door to the Conservatory which they installed last Summer. Other than that it is Open Plan living with a mezzanine bedroom.

They went for a walk and saw this other house for sale in the same estate as their current property, put in an offer, and then realised that they would have to sell their own. Two weeks later their house is sold and they are hoping to move in to the new place by Christmas.

But they're really staying put this time! (They've moved house 4 times in the last 6 years so we're not holding our breath.)

Fathers Day was lovely. There were no Grandmas at dinner this time, just Mum & Dad, my sisters and I and all our partners. We were meeting EG's boyfriend for the first time and Dad has given him a 9 out of 10. We're waiting to see the other one to compare. Yes, EG has two on the go. This one was trying very hard to impress Mum & Dad and after dinner I thought we were all on an interview panel as he laid out his life story for us.

At one stage, EG, Boo and I all had partners with the same birthday so this is now the criteria for any new boyfriends that may last the distance (we're talking EG here, Boo is very settled). EG's new one has missed that date by a couple of weeks but he is still born in the same month, and he has the same name as Boo's partner. We're getting close.

So (if he lasts) it may be that we have to call them by their surnames, nicknames, or just D1 and D2.

Bananas, in pajamas, are coming down in pairs...

People who need people

Are the luckiest people...

Woo-hoo! Bakstar's coming over tonight. Haven't seen her for years it feels like.

After spending some time in the UK doctoring the pets of the Poms* she has returned via a holiday in Africa and is requesting Fish and Chips for dinner. She said that you can't get decent Fish and Chips in England and she's hanging out for some from our local Fish and Chippery.

I agree with the Fish and Chips in England thing. There was way too much oil on that cod. (Grilled? What is "grilled" fish?)

Although I would love to be cooking some gastronomic extravagance I'm glad that I don't have to after the time I have spent here at work rather than at home this week.

If I'm feeling energetic I can always whip up a Chocolate Self-Saucing pudding for dessert, or maybe a rhubarb and raspberry pudding. Or a good chocolate fudge sauce over ice-cream would do just as well.

Mmm, chocolate...

She's bringing along photos so we'll have lots of those to look at while we catch up with what's been happening over the last however long it has been since we saw each other. I can tell by the postcards Bakstar sent from weird and wonderful African/Egyptian/European locations that my trip to Lorne on the Bellarine Peninsula last May will be rather insignificant by contrast.

I'm really glad she's back. I'll have someone to go with me to the movies that my husband doesn't want to see!! And I'll have an extended book library once again. I've really missed that.

Welcome back Bakstar!!


*I can say that because I married one**.

**A Pom, BEVIS, not a pet.

When you come home to me, I'll wear a sweeter smile...

Headache, Headache, Pop-O-Matic Headache

It's always fun until somebody cries...

Hubby is home with a migraine.

I'm still here at work. I'm not trying to impress, just make sure that the day's work is out of the way before we start the next one.

I have scored brownie points big time with the IT dude, we'll call him Muzza, today and that boosts the ego. I had to set up a data projector for the first time in my life today and before the scheduled time I received a panicked call from someone else needing same equipment earlier in the day (no overlap, no worries) so off I go to set it up. After setting it up three different ways before it was right (specific location difficulties) I returned to pack it up and did so with success.

Of course when I come to set it up this afternoon the bleeping laptop, to connect it to, won't boot up. In a cyclical error within itself it thoroughly ruined my unblemished track record.

Thankfully a colleague asked me how I was doing and I replied "not so good" with a little stress showing in my voice and he proceeded to ask if there was anything he could do for me.

"Can you find me a spare laptop for the evening?"

"For you, I would climb the highest mountain, swim across the largest ocean, ford the widest stream..."

No joke. He actually said that.

And then he presented me with a laptop.

It worked.

I'm joyous.

Now I just have to get finished all that work that I missed while helping set up data projectors and laptops.

Staff members are happy.

And nothing else matters...