Discussion Thread đ Monday 30 June
I'm working at catching up on life admin that I have let slide a bit while moving. All the financial changes with different utility companies, insurance etc. with moving make it a bit of a mess. But it will be nice to have it sorted out and be able to rule a double line under the last financial year.
AAAARRGHHHHH!
Alarm didn't go off. Still somehow managed to pull off being only a couple of minutes late to work, but that was a major rush. Poor Mr Woof didn't get his morning walk. Not a great start to the day for anyone.
The wok burner on the stove does a great job, and the rangehood was also great at removing all of the smoke. There was a brief issue when I realised I had not unpacked any of my starches, but I managed to track down the cornflour and tapioca starch without too much trouble, and also managed to locate the Chinese cooking wine.
Not unpacking straight away has been very good for working out which things are most important. I'm slowly building a collection of things to get rid of as I realise they don't add enough value to my life to be worth finding a place for. I'm thinking of getting rid of most of my measuring jugs, when I eventually locate them. I haven't bothered to look for them because I had some mason jars on hand which have worked well and fit in the dishwasher better. Plus the numbers have been washing off the jugs, whereas mason jars have measurements moulded into the glass. I just need to make sure I keep the little jug I mix my pancake batter in so it's got the spout for pouring. Or maybe I should try the jar first and see if that works - as an added bonus I could shake to mix.
It was an absolutely beautiful day to be outside mowing. The self propelled mower was definitely appreciated, the ground is quite lumpy and it makes pushing a bit more effort, combined with patchy clumps of grass rather than a proper lawn. I didn't do any edges, that can be a next time thing (and hopefully I'll have found all the batteries and charges and things I'll need by then!)
It's not exactly hot, but it is warm enough I've turned on the ducted cooling fan to push a bit of fresh air through the house. It's nice having that bit of air movement, I don't think the layout of the house would work to create much airflow even with windows open.
Sun is out, and it's time for my first grass mowing session at the new house. Also time to poison a few weeds, mostly stuff growing in the gravel also a couple of nasty looking thorny things I don't like the look of. If I can find the gardening tools I might pull a few weeds out of the garden beds too.
I do batches of grilled vegies and freeze them so I can do fancy sandwiches easily. I also freeze sliced meats and caramelized onions (and the bread itself) and make sure I always have cheese in the fridge, and then just add in anything extra I have on hand.
It had colby and feta cheese, chicken, some roasted vegetables, marinaded capsicum, mushroom and kale. The feta had been in herb & garlic oil which adds a bit of nice flavour too.
I have done that technique, but have found just turning it to work just as well and be a bit simpler.
It had colby and feta cheese, chicken, some roasted vegetables, marinaded capsicum, mushroom and kale. The feta had been in herb & garlic oil which adds a bit of nice flavour too.
I am looking forward to the day I unpack my sandwich press, having to toast my sandwiches in the frying pan is a bit of a pain.
It looks like once the fog burns off it's going to be a nice day. Tomorrow looks good too, which is fabulous as I have washing to do, and Mr Woof will also be thrilled as it encourages me to go on longer walks. I might even go up past the cows and kangaroos again. But I also need to get through more unpacking and sorting, which is all in the boring inner room with a view of the fence âšī¸
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A nice hot bowl of porridge please.
It is starting to feel like home, which is a nice feeling. It is nice having everything new. The last place was old and not in the best repair, so no matter how much you cleaned things it never really looked that great.
Miss Meow seems to be liking the new space, she seems to really enjoy exploring any newly rearanged areas. She'll probably be disappointed when it is finished. Mr Woof is still a bit unsettled, but I think he just needs a bit of time to get used to things.
Roast chicken is in the oven. It took a bit of looking through boxes to find a few vital components - most important being the baking dish. It's the oven's first roast, I've only used it for heating a pie before. It's smelling pretty good. It's a much bigger oven than I'm used to, which could be handy sometimes (but mostly I just use the little toaster oven/air fryer).
I've had a productive day. I've moved a few bits of furniture around and assembled a shelf unit that will hold a lot of the pantry/storage items. That section has been the cause of a bit of roadblock that stopped me doing things in other areas, so this should mean I can start getting a lot of stuff out of boxes and properly sorted out. Mr Woof was very unhappy with all the banging going on while the shelf was being assembled and evacuated to the back yard until things quietened down, but Miss Meow was right there wanting to be involved and investigating everything.
The small fenced off area around the back gate to store the bins in and keep the pets back is working very well. Amazingly the width of the panels fit across the gap between the house and fence perfectly so it looks like it was made for the spot. Hopefully it lasts ok in the weather, it's designed for indoor use so it will probably rust out at some point, but if it can last me for a few years while I am here that will be ok.
I think I'm feeling better now. Still a bit of a sniffle, but mostly fine. I'm out of bed, showered and even took Mr Woof for a walk (he is thrilled to have the daily walks again). Now I can hopefully get into gear to do a bit more unpacking - I've done the easy initial bits so it's very tempting to keep putting off doing more. But it needs to be done and I'm a bit sick of all the boxes everywhere.
I had to drive to Williamstown yesterday to see the dental surgeon, which was absolutely horrid driving with the weather. But the good news is the implant has healed (implanted?) successfully, so I'm free to move on to the next phase of getting the crown. I might push that off into next year so I can get another insurance rebate for it, I've not got a lot of cash spare after all the moving costs.
Welcome back YarraByte, hope you're feeling ok. It's a bit of a nasty bug that's been going around.
I have managed to put away some of my groceries and check if the order was ok. I somehow managed to order three avocados instead of one, and a single tomato instead of a kilo. They gave me much larger eggs than I ordered, but one of them was broken so I'm probably even on that one. Miss Meow will be comforted to know that we are now fully supplied with her tinned food, and have an extra bag of dry food to tide us over until I can find which box I packed her dry food in when moving.
Mr Woof has been very unsettled that I was spending time in the study instead of the lounge. I tried putting one of his beds in the study for him, but he just brought his moose toy in and left it in the bed.
Ordering groceries online is easy, carrying them all to the kitchen from the front door is hard. I am exhausted just from that effort, and haven't even put it away yet. I really should have ordered some chocolate.
A fancy cocktail served in a coconut and five hash browns please.