Thursday, April 24, 2008

*happy dance* Moving House

ooohhh i just noticed bloggers new add another image thingy! horray!! How long has it been there i wonder????


This happy dance is due to MOVING OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!We will be moving out of this shoebox flat (that i seem sooo ungrateful for, it has done its job e.g being a home/roof over our heads) into a... wait for it... A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!! You know one of those big things, with extra walls.. space.. privacy.. Now our flat did its job, aside from not having a laundry, any yard.. we got accomodation when we badly needed it when moving into victoria..
But im going to dream about my inside laundry with purple walls, thats actually bigger than the bathroom... purple walls??? i can get a washing machine *happy dance* ooohhh how i missed u!!!! And i can save on $$ and pollution with a wait for it.. a clothes line.. its a rope.. im sure i can put something better in.. even still i would actually have room now for one of those indoor portable clotheslines..
An absolute miracle! Thank you God!!
After the ferals had their visit from some angry person they know (drug dealer, friend or family? i dunno) hubby and his boss went into action to get us moving ASAP. Thru another lovely unexpected miracle hubby also got a payrise this week! W-o-W!!!!!! Hubby and i found the same place (without talking to each other, him being at work.. me at home) and he rang up.. they were about to process someone else application and stopped that(he told em bout the ferrals and his preggy wifey), gave us a private inspection 9am the next morning (today) faxed over applications (so we could fill them out and hand them over at the inspection) So we inspected it, applied and waited back for a answer today.. so glad we didnt have like the usual wait!!!! And success!!!!!! o.0 W-o-W!!!!!!!!!!!

And yeah.. wow.. the place is great.. (apart from the usual repetitive pink, yellow, green paint thats in 99% of houses) *not that im complaining* its got yard that needs some attention *woohoo says the greenie in me* lots of lavender, conifers.. it has a gas stove top *woohoo says the wok lover/iron chef in me* and a aerial! *woohoo says me who hates digital tv thru rabbit ear antennas and the temperamental choice of channels that work*

and its BIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*woohoo says me who gets grumpy with being able to hear Tia thru the thin walls, singing, talking, constantly in her room.. that and when she tries to run around this small place*

We get the keys on monday. Have the long weekend to pack! Need to look up a few things like gas rates etc.. This means i have to decide between 2 schools for Tia, that we can walk too. Which i need to enrol her into for next year!

youtube vid- "we gotta get out of this place" by the animals 1965?(warning the YT vid contains star wars footage).. something i grew up listening too, thanks to my dads music taste..

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Stressed... again.. not feeling safe

It hasnt even been a year since the sex worker who lived next door, had people around, yelling, bashing, talking about getting guns, trashing her flat, breaking her window and taking all her valuables (she had a debt to her dealer) It was a scary time..

I may or may not have mentioned the 'undesirable' people living on the other side of us, in the newly done up flat. I miss the old dude that used to live there, but i dont blame him for getting out!! Its almost sad.. people make their own choices in life, and these people have yet to make a good one.

The mum has a voice of a druggy, one of those type of voices (she looks like a older version of the sex worker actually) she is nice to talk to (like the sex worker) but yeah..

Her teen kid doesnt go to school, shes a tart (james had overheard her talking to the boys she hangs with and taking off her clothes etc..) and shes also the neighbourhood smokie bully as in she will harass people into giving her 'a spare smoke', she doesnt take 'no' for a answer at all. .. she wouldnt be older than 15 years old and has really bad hair.. (not nice, but so true.. i admit lame to talk about bad hair.. but the hair with terrible roots, terrible colour, terrible cut and all the time is just a big bed hair mess) *sigh*

Then theres the boys that hang around and don't seem to go to school either, i dont know what relation they are to them..
Theres new graffiti all the time, which isn't helping the old lady who is trying to sell her flat even with dropping 20k off the asking price. Her for sale sign gets attacked, altho someone cleaned it on the weekend (real estate no doubt) but now the kids have written all over the back of the sign.. she might want to cancel any further inspections also.. especially after last night!

yesterday i was watching tv or something, it was in the afternoon. And there was this banging and the sound of broken glass and the mum yelling the name of the person. I knew it was close, and it was.. the neighbors bedroom windows were smashed. The person who did it had thrown a metal bar of what must have been a metal stick for a broom. As there was the broom end also on the road... the police came and went..

At night, we had a group of people around the broken window, friend or foe.. i dont know..
Then i woke up later at night to the sound of more banging, kicking, lots of yelling.. then i guessed hubby had been spotted checking out what the hell was going on thru the window as the guy told him off but using other words...so hubby came into our room to look at what was happening.. i was stressed, i had the shakes soooo bad.. hubby told me that the guy had ripped off their security door with the frame on it (next door) and that their car windows had been smashed. The car with all its flat tyres has been off the road for some time, it was bought here via a tow truck when they moved in. (which is why canceling the rest of the inspections for the old ladies house or dropping off 100k the asking price) The mum yelled after the person and walked off... it was quiet and 4 police turned up... as usual too late to do anything but take notes etc..

anyways off to see what places we can look at this weekend, see if theres any new rentals... The last saturday inspections have been nothing bigger (yet they are houses!) than here.. and this place is small. we did go see some apartments for sale (11o of them) ranging from 89k-168k. cheap for a studio apartment.. and the 168k ones were like a formula 1 room space x2. they did come with a reasonable sized bathroom, spa bath.. they also have access to a pool, tennis court etc.. awesome, yet so small.. (oh and no storage except for kitchen cupboards)

Im praying today is calm, hubby said if anything happens again to call him and he will come home.. Not to leave the house (on my usual shopping day) boo-hoo!!!!
I already know what some of the people who live in these flats think of the family... and after a night similar to the sex worker they will be keen to see them gone.

Saturday, April 19, 2008

high pressure sale bullies

Last night, there was a knock at the door.
I opened the door and looked at the person on the other side of the screen door. it was a guy with one of those lanyard badges *which they show u quickly and is tough to read* and a clipboard.. which translates instantly to me as yet another door knocker wanting to change us over to yet another electricity companies. (we dont get avon ladies, foxtel... or anything but electricity companies.. name the company and theyve come and gone..) they also seem to come around the same time of night too, its after 6pm.

The guy instantly confused me by saying he was from victorian electicity, which had me thinking.. ok so perhaps this is some state government thing.. and he asked if i had received a letter informing us of a 7% price hike in our electricity bills? say what? of course i said 'no' (but still dubious, as a rule i never buy anything over the phone or the front door.. i also never decide on anything without hubby okaying it also, which some sales people just dont seem to understand why?) he said 'ok, i'll have to make a note of that'. he then asks to see my last energy bill (yup 100% he is trying to sign me over and talk me into it.. they all ask if they can see our energy bills to show us they have a better rate.. but course he isnt saying that) I say 'no'..

He then rattled off some savings, and cards we would get saving on caltex and woolworth fuel (we dont have a car, not that im going to tell him) i said i wasn't interested. he would reply 'sorry what?' and keep going on.. he understood english perfectly.. and kept talking
i then tried the usual tactics to get rid of him (not waiting for him to finish), "you have a green energy policy" (i have learnt now that every energy company does) darn, they did and he prattled that off too.. i tried the "but we will be moving soon anyways, so no thanks" to which he prattled off the $50 connection fee we would have paid and transfer fees that his company would or wouldnt charge us.. he then says ok, so if u can go get your drivers license *i don't of course go to get it.. i have a nsw 18+ card*, we can send you out a welcome pack... a welcome pack to what? To when have i said 'yes' to anything? I did actually say ' what welcome pack?'
ugh, this has gone on for long enough.. i say again 'sorry, no' giving him to much politeness than he deserves and close the main door.. altho somewhat slowly.. i see his face twist in a way and he laughs as if i've done something wrong? it was the weirdest laugh..

i looked up instantly to see if i could ring up and complain to the company.
hubby came home bout 10mins later and i was pretty upset. *my hormones have not been the same since becoming pregnant* I told him about the guy and he said i did the right thing, and he was a bully sales guy and that he probably laughed oddly because i was too smart for him.. he was trying to get me to sign over, without actually saying that flat out... i had to take hint for hint... or be signed over to a new company possibly without knowing it *especially if i had not asked about green power*
they always claim they are not trying to sell you anything, but thats a straight out lie. They are trying to sell their electricity company to us for our $$...

Friday, April 18, 2008

Kengo Zero Xbox 360 Review

Watched hubby play, not afraid to say he is one great gamer. he played this on the normal difficulty and even then it was a bit hard to play. Then on easy difficulty he had some issues.. he said something about the game requiring more skills than most gamers actually had.
I thought it was interesting, if not repetitive .. how many games is musashi in anyways *yawn* Not that you expect to come up against him so early in the game?!!! err.. anyways each stage is like the last, beat up a bunch of ronin or thugs while walking thru a level and get to the stage boss guy *and repeat* the sound effects at the end of level when collecting experience points to spend on skills was awful!!!!! The skill map/tree was interesting.. the skills not too bad.. however counter attack and timing was a bit crazy, impossible for any novice. And thats all the game seems to offer. If you want a good samurai game, stick to the best one so far being Sword of the samurai on ps2.
End story: We returned the game and spent $69 on a different game.

27 weeks..

i had no idea of how many stripes i had.. isn't it a lovely picture, pasty white skin & what can happen to ur skin via pregnancies. After having tia those stripes turned into unlovely (shrinked) bits of crinkly wrinkly skin.. heaps weird. now they have stretched all the way out again.. so none of these stripes are new. New stripes come up as bright red on my pasty white belly...
I now have to wake up thru the night to roll over! And can't sleep on my back, as im not meant too and it feels uncomfortable anyways.. 13 weeks to go..

Im also starting to feel a bit unbalanced.. which will get worse as the weeks go on. I can still put on my socks and shoes.. however that wont be for long.. the bright side is, not much longer to go.. oh and ive been shopping. ^^ More wraps, blankets, towels, suits.

Also noticed that, Tia's birthday falls on mothers day this year! So that will be interesting being just like the day she was born without all the pain etc.. sharing the same day again!

p.s do u think schools could use my belly picture in sex education. "Now if u get pregnant.. and your genetically unlucky, your belly will look like this!!!!!!"

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Ebay petition

I havent sold or bought anything on ebay before.
i do know how the selling works, ive looked into it once when i had alot of stuff to sell prior moving to melbourne (it was everything in our house almost) and ive looked into buying as i often drool thru some hello kitty items and other cute stuff..
i know a bad egg when i see one tho. And ebay trying to get immunity from the trade practices act in regard to using paypal & COD as only payment options isn't good..
besides charging double fees.. it wouldn't be too bad if they had some competition like other secure online paypal-ish things like the one google has?

anyways theres a online petition and the ACCC is open to public opinion till may 2.
Sign the petition if u think ebay is greedy ;)

Friday, April 11, 2008

Iron Chef Tia & Chocolate crackles!!!



Ah gotta love em..
Need:
250g block of copha, melted.
4-5 cups cocoa pops (my rice bubbles always go soggy?)
1/3 cheap cooking dark chocolate block, melted.
1 tbsp of good cocoa
1 cup of coconut
1 cup of icing sugar or mixture

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

5 quick confessions

Time to fess up 5 things about yourself, what youve done this week, month, year or your whole life.. and then tag a few friends!
I tag: Maria and Johnhohx

1) Im afraid i never taught Tia to pick up and put away her toys after she finished playing with each single one... so her room goes from bombshell (not a inch of carpet to be seen) to cleaned up. I often get annoyed on how 'clean your room' means to her go play in your room.. instead its better if i stand in the doorway and instruct her 'pick up all your clothes', 'now pick up all your books' etc.. it drives me nutty. i feel for the pain i must have put my parents thru for 17years about my room!!!! rofl

2) i cant stand the amount of money spent on the cat. Biscuits, kitty litter, kitty milk, toys, mushy food in foil packs... registered the cat for $30! Have to take it to have the rest of its immunizations?!, wormed weekly.. i suppose its not all that bad!

3) Im lazy when it comes to laundry. I dont check pockets, i dont check that everything is the right way out (i will unravel hubbys socks so they get washed) i only separate the laundry into blacks and colours (whites go in the colours) anything new and coloured gets washed in with the blacks first, im lazy but not silly!

4) when im bored, i just troll online news sites.. even tho i could be doing the dishes, ironing, mending clothes or toys..

5)Seems every 6months i go thru a chocolate crackle thing.. altho i loathe looking at the block of copha!

Monday, April 7, 2008

Cravings

This week ive had cravings for apple pie (mainly the pastry)
and last night i had a craving for a passionfruit flavoured soft drink, a sip of fanta and pineapple lollies. James was just happy it wasnt like last time, wanting a sausage mcmuffin at 9pm at night. ROFL that time might come again..

Friday, April 4, 2008

need a laugh?









everyone seems to have picked on the americans. I watched the cnnnn one a few times and spotted that they had written on australia 'north korea' and 'iran'.. which was pretty funny.. but still.. gosh.. this is the reason why americans dont have a clue on geography:

she gets it on round 2


Everything on the up

You can't escape it.. its in the business column of every newspaper, magazine or online news site.... its on every 'current affair' program, every breakfast program (minus the cartoon ones), its even in educational-bore-kids-news programs ttn (ten) and btn(abc).. its in every single freaking news program, morning, 11am, noon, 5pm, 6pm and the late night...
Money.. interest rates.. inflation.. recession..bank profits..rising/lowering house prices..tarifs..taxes..government spending.. federal spending..council rip-offs..fraud..scammers..credit woes.. credit card debt..
increase...increase...increase...
gosh its exhausting!!!!!!

Example.. sure go to any woolworths or coles in the area (if theres more than 1) and their prices will be different.. a 250g of 'unsalted butter' was $1.49 (woolworths brand) 250g of 'butter' was $0.99 (woolworths brand) a few weeks later i noticed they are both now $1.49.
Theres currently a inquiry into grocery prices, their lies, truths, profits, margins and all.. hopefully they can get to the bottom of it all!!

apparently 44% of people have private health care cover from a story i read today... one provider is slashing what you get for your $ and charging more, changing their 'packages'.. ugh!

Washing our dirty laundry at the laundrymat now costs $4.00 instead of $3.20.. saying its the first price hike in 3yrs due to rising costs of electricity, water and gas (the gas i thought was strange, i guess the water is heated via gas) like i keep saying.. it makes me want to get out of here and get a place big enough for a washing machine and a place with a clothes line!!! *not that theres any good rental choices lately* Don't remind me that come late april our rent (for a tiny 2bedroom, kitchen/lounge in one, bath/shower toilet in one) is going from $130 to $150 a week.. altho i'd pay extra if it came with decent neighbours! and yet we have no yard/garden no space for washing machine of *any* loader on any wall, floor.. except perhaps the ceiling.. (could imagine how cool it would be to have a front loader bolted to your ceiling?.. they'd have to work out the door to be half the size tho) anyways its a crap hole and clearly going up from like a price hike by the rental agency or via the news hype of theres no rentals left.. go on landlords charge what you look for your shit hole houses/apartments that you care so little about!

banks... where do u start.. the RBA saying rate hikes are good, i know its hurting people but tough! RBA saying yeah banks make insane profits but hey look at american banks arent u happy we have banks that do make money?! *rolls eyes*

power is out..

today is a wow-ee dust storm gale force wind-ee day.
i thought to myself.. yeah the power has gone out for like the 3rd time today..
good thing i have a laptop i wont be bored.. i lurve u battery power... and then it hit me
darn the modem and the router.. why couldnt they be battery powered too?
Meanwhile i have some goji berry and sultana cupcakes in the oven.. im guessing the power shortage is going to make them rather flat! I then think of chefs cooking souffle.. and laugh. Yeah it could be worse.
I can hear my neighbors outside talking (shock) about whether the power is out with them too.. rofl.. i dont know why they are complaining its not like theres anything on tv worth watching.. but then one of my neighbors deals illegal movies and dvds (i dont like piracy.. but i do think its much worse if you try to sell stolen stuff for your own profit)
funny, the oven timer has gone off but its been like 5-10minutes since the power has gone off and hasnt come back on.
Im thinking about the effect it might be having on the fish n chip shop.. that is if anyone is braving this weather for some..
i do like this weather... altho i prefer rain to dust..
ive looked out the door previously this morning and seen a swarm of dirt fly past (the joy of the front of our flat looking across the old driveway) that at least was interesting.. until i saw the dirt around our front door.. theres no way i want to increase my cleaning just because i had the door open..
luckily there was enough heat in my oven to finish cooking the cupcakes! yay!!!