Well sadly the past w/e has resulted in a bad ending.

We had planned to end it on a wonderful note with the family enjoying a get together at a local Sizzler restaurant.

On the way travelling there, a young man in a white Camry decided to run a red arrow & make a right hand turn into a small street from a major road as we happen to be going through our green light at the intersection. Even though we braked, it wasn’t enough to stop us from colliding with him & we T-Boned him fair & square between both front & rear door on his left hand side. Luckily for him, he had no passengers in the vehicle. Unluckily for us, we had a full carload. Mum managed to slide under her seat belt & ended up crying out to us laying on her back on the bottom of the seat as she was very scared & had no idea what had happened. I guess for her, it would feel like the end of the world as like a child, she hasn’t the reflexes to brace herself nor can she see over the seat in front to watch oncoming traffic. My niece H was also slightly injured & grazed a leg, which wasn’t evident until she was climbing into her mum’s vehicle to go home who had come to pick her up. In tears she returned to us to pay the Ambulance a visit in which “Little Nanna” was being attended to. Both were taken to St George Hospital for observations. H left after a couple of hours as she was extremely tired & well & truly hungry. Promising that she was finally ok & Mum decided to take her to a local GP the following day if need be. My bro D & I stayed with mum from 6pm till midnight when after seeing the Dr, then having ribs x-rayed, then seeing the Dr again we were able to go home. Basically looks like mum may have suffered a little cartilage damage under her ribs, which nothing can be done about but let heal on it’s own. Hey, I had no idea we had cartilage there!

So after a long night, we climbed into bed after 1am (SK, Mum & I all slept in lounge room to keep an eye & listen out for each other)

So.. basically we are now awaiting news from the insurance company as to what will happen with our car. The tow truck driver basically told us its a write off. But until it actually gets inspected & assessed, we won’t know.

So through all of this, even though we pretty much all came home unscathed I am feeling somewhat P’d off to put it mildly & have the worst feeling of violation. Not only did the guy manage to take a risk & fall short, he put ALL of our lives in danger, totalled my own vehicle, sent 2 ppl to hospital & left us stranded without transport for work & every day needs. Not to mention costs for the little things that are involved like hiring of a car etc. Hopefully karma will make its call upon this young fellow & teach him that there are truly other people on this earth, not just himself to consider.

I will end the blog for now & update it as soon as we have organised what’s going on.

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Tonight we have made a change in our household. We have moved the computers into our main living area as the room we so aptly named “the computer room” gets full sun throughout the day & mainly in the arvo. It is like sitting in a sauna whilst trying to check emails or look up something in the shortest space of time. So now that we have the pc’s so handy, we should be online a little more than we have been in the past several months.

Several months… wow! Time has just gone so fast!

I realised last week that as of today (Sunday 12th Feb)SK & I have actually been engaged for a whole year already! We still havn’t gotten much further with wedding plans, but it has been discussed a few times lately & soon we should have a date set. So Happy Engagement Anniversary for u my schnooki! xxxx

P.s we have mum staying with us for a couple of weeks. She seems happy to be here & we have enjoyed her company. Hopefully it has given my bro & his wife a well earned respite.

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My gosh… i know we tend to say it to each other each & every year, but… my how time flies!!!!

I can’t believe it is almost the end of JANUARY already! I have been so tied up since my last blog & didn’t even get a chance to leave everyone a happy new year message. So here it is…

hApPy NeW yEaR!!!!

A little poor i know, please forgive me!

I do wish everyone a wonderful 2006 ahead & hope everyone’s Christmas was what they wished for. I was very lucky to spend it with Shadowknight & my own family. It’s just a shame we couldn’t share it with our W.A family as well.

We love u mum, dad & sis & we are looking forward to spending special time with u all soon.

To keep this short, work is going well. SK’s work is also keeping him busy. Family is doing well & apologies to all who think we have fallen off of the face of the earth. Of course we havnt & hope to get in contact with all of u at some point in the very near future.

No plans have been set as yet for the wedding nor a date. But now that things have settled down we shall get back on track.

In March we have planned a brief trip to the Gold Coast. We shall be staying for 4 nights & hope to take that time to reflect upon each other whilst relaxing our cares away (and enjoying a well deserved sleep in)! It shall be quite a treat for us & besides, I am looking forward to the romance in the air!

This week we all should be enjoying a nice day off. So i wish everyone a Merry Australia Day & whatever ur plans are, enjoy them & don’t regret anything!!!! hehe.

We are spending the day in the city @ Darling Harbour mainly & i hope SK will enjoy his 1st Australia Day here in Sydney.

Ooroo!

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Well it’s been quite a while since I left a blog on my site, so I thought considering I’m having a day off work (which I’ll chat about below) I’d write a little about what’s been happening as of late.

Update on Bathurst 2005.

WHAT AN AWESOME WEEKEND!

Apart from sum cold weather (snowed in Oberon Saturday night whilst we slept in our tent) & a fair bit of the wet stuff, the camping experience totally rocked! It was well worth the effort we put into planning it & now we have stayed our first year on site, we know what to take to improve our stay for next year.
Also, watching the race on Sunday snuggled up like a Bug-in-a-Rug with my HRT jacket & Holden blankie around my legs, it was a pleasure to watch Skaifey cross the finish line 1st & be a spectator of a race where our much loved Murph took out our major competition. SNAPS to u Greg!

It was great catching up with our friend Nat from Berridale & can’t wait till next October!

Buy Buy Baby

This is my place of employment. I actually feel it is a second home for me. Since starting at the store in August I have met many wonderful people, including those I have worked & am working with.

Recently one of our beloved staff members, who was the store manager left. In my first 2 months of learning the job, she was basically my whole book of knowledge as I worked with her 3 out of 4 days per week.

Thankfully we may see her on occasions & I have contact with her during personal times as well.

I wish her all the best & thank her from the depths of my heart for all she has taught me :o)

Now…. Just to reassure everyone. I am working VERY busy atm, considering we are also another staff member down due to her being on a wonderful holiday to the States. I have easily slid into a “managerial” position in the job. I feel I am handling it ok but still am unsure on a few decision making processes. Keep in mind the fact I have never really worked in the retail sector before, I am quite proud of what I have accomplished without pushing my way. It has basically been handed to me on a platter & I am happy to accept what’s been dealt to me as long as I continue feeling comfortable in the position I’m in. Currently, I’m quite cozy indeed!

This weekend we have planned an outing for my niece’s birthday to Luna Park. We gave her a list of ideas & she decided herself she’d love to go to Luna Park for her 9th Birthday, insisting that it’s the Sydney one we go to & not Melbourne! How Cute!

So fingers crossed it won’t be raining & spoil our day for her. We will only get to spend the Saturday night & Sunday with her & her sister, so it shall be quite a busy & hectic weekend ahead.

I will end the blog for now so it doesn’t start drying ur eyes from reading so much & will add more in a few weeks closer to Christmas. As of writing this, there is merely 32 sleeps left till the jolly man in red pays us his annual visit!

Happy shopping everyone!

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It’s my 2nd week working & i am loving everything about it! My feet are extremely sore every night from being on them all day, but i have wonderful people im working with & a great environment. The staff are caring to their customers & i find it very easy to fit in with the store. I couldn’t be more happier :o)

Dean has settled rather well at work & even tho he spreads himself across 2 buildings in seperate parts of Sydney each week, he seems to be happy as well.

The house is pretty much unpacked now & we just have a few more furnishings to get to be complete. These things will come with time & we are in no rush. We make do without currently & havn’t had any probs with that.

I have recently found a new hot drink that i like to relax with. Chai Latte. It is actually a tea, not a coffee. Speaking of which, i have a steamy cup sitting in front of me now & find it mesmerising to drink a “Cup of Christmas” whenever i feel like relaxing. For those of you who have tried a Chai Latte, you will know exactly what i mean with that term.

We went to the NRL at Oki Jubilee Stadium this past weekend, taking our nieces & their dad so we could all spend Fathers Day together. We watched with plenty of excitement the St George Illawarra Dragons take out the Newcastle Knights, ensuring they do indeed receive the Wooden Spoon! We also got to bid a fond farewell to none other than living legend, Andrew “Joey” Johns. He played a great game considering in the 4th minute of the game he had injury to his leg. Unsure of the exact prob at this stage, but rumours went from a Corked Right Calf to a Torn Crucial. Im sure if i bothered to look up the NRL webby i’d soon find out. But, meh.

Looking forward to a nice quiet(!)weekend at home this weekend. V8’s, NRL & hopefully good weather to keep us happy whilst tending to the yard for a bit of TLC.

Cheerio for now… keep in touch :o)

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As of next Monday I begin working with a lovely group of people who took the time out of their own busy & tiring schedule to consider a position for me.

I shall be working on a 4-day-a-week basis for the next 2 months or so whilst I am trained & get product knowledge behind me. There is a lot of studying & reading for me to do & plenty of research to be done. I am told that my training will be fast-tracked & that they will bombard me with “information overload” for some time until I am capable of being in the store without having assistance.

From then we will discuss whatever days are going to be suitable for us all, which must include a weekend day. There is flexibility in that & when the time draws closer we will come to that decision. As for now, I am just completely over the moon that I have been accepted by these Employers & that yet again I am back in the workforce.

I will be doing exactly what I set out to do. Working in Retail at a Baby Shop. I couldn’t be more delighted in succeeding at the task I had set myself!

Those of you close enough to me will know that I had this venture on my mind before actually finishing up with Family Day Care.

All the pieces are falling into place.

I guess on a personal note, Dean & I will be able to begin saving & planning for our wedding day.

I know that most of you out there are awaiting the news of when it will be. I promise you it will happen before the turn of the decade! Hahaha.

The house is becoming quite comfortable to live in & we are finally starting to put the last things in place. There is no hurry to do the odd jobs around the place that need doing. So when we have spare time on weekends, we will spend a lot of it outdoors.

Recently late one night, very late one night the power went off. It then came back on briefly… only to disappear again. This time for good. The power we lost was to all power points. So we had use of all of our lights. After waiting till 9am to call the Real Estate & being informed that “We have NEVER had this kind of trouble before now… I’ll call the landlord & get back to you”.. I felt a feeling of dread. Knowing that last call out of the Electrician only a mere 3 weeks or so ago ended with us footing the bill as a brand new but out of warranty toaster decided to blow up a power point in the kitchen & scared the living heck out of me!

After waiting patiently (just) till around 11.30am, I decided to call the Real Estate again to find out what the .. was going on with the Electrician. I was quickly informed that he indeed had my number & would call me with a call-out time. Literally as I was hanging up my mobile from that call, it rang. Of course it was the electrician so I could have saved my couple of dollars calling the Real Estate & waiting on hold till someone that new the story told me what was happening. These things always seem to happen like that! LOL

Cutting a long story short, the Electrician came out round 2pm. Found that the problem lay behind the very old fuse in the fuse box & that we were indeed at NO fault to what had happened. Apparently after years & years of wear this happens in the old system. He was a great guy & almost guaranteed that this problem would never happen again for as long as we tenanted here. I suppose that was good to hear! So I will bet our new landlord will be none too happy to receive that bill. Though of course, bad timing got us & i’m sure it would never have happened to the previous tenant if they were still here or to any new tenant that had of won the lease over us! LOL Pessimistic aren’t I?. HAHA.

Enough grumbling & griping for now…

In the next few weeks we are hoping to start organizing our Bathurst pilgrimage. Though there’s a huge gripe to be had there too, let me tell you!!

And as the weather warms up we are hoping to spend many weekends relaxing in the yard or at the footy games & even down by the beach at Brighton-Le-Sands. We have adopted that as our leisure grounds. We have been there several times before moving to spend a day relaxing. We have successfully flown kites, kicked a mini footy & taken many a stroll along the boardwalk there.

It’s a lovely area & I do hope to have many more memories from there.

Ok people, so leave me a message on here please so I know how all of you are doing & don’t be shy to give us a holla.

If you’re around the area, let us know! You’re more than welcome to call in for a barbie or a drink or even just a quick hello-goodbye :o)

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Finally I have some time to sit down & create another blog for you guys.

What are we up to these days????

We have settled into our new place fairly well & are both very comfortable with living here. We had the majority of everything unpacked within the first few days of being here, all the large items & furniture were in place by the second day. The important boxes & items were swiftly set into place & over the last few weeks, we have spent time unpacking slowly the rest of what was brought here.

Dean has become accustomed to using the CityRail system pretty well. He catches a train to the city & home every weekday & manages to travel to other areas for work purposes as well.

I am very proud of him & how he has made such big changes in his life to accommodate us both.

I have been comforting him in the evenings with lovely home cooked meals & have even ventured into making a few things that I have never done before! I seem to have a knack of being able to cook things off the top of my head & using “guesstimates”. Hehehe.

Me on the other hand, things have been slow.

I have spent many days doing the normal housework routine & continue unpacking small boxes of assorted items as well as fit in visits to my brother’s place for multiple reasons & look for work. Do the shops when things are needed & organize bills.

I am enjoying the time I have had for myself but am feeling a little stir-crazy as of late & deeply miss my once-normal routine of waking up, getting ready for the day & starting my working day from 8am with bright happy little faces & curious minds to entertain me all day. It’s amazing what you miss once it’s gone.

Anyways, back to the “job-hunting” front.

Even though we are in the Sydney metro area, jobs are not coming in thick & fast.

My initial plan as I pointed out in a previous blog before the actual move, was to try my hand in retail for a while if not indefinitely. I knew that there would be an abundance of retail shops in regard to Baby shops etc….. but I was surprised to find out that most of these are either Asian owned & don’t care for extra staff, or that a lot of the businesses are family orientated.

I researched some of the shops I found in the local Yellow Pages & set myself the task of “cold canvassing” these businesses, offering my resume for future reference to those that didn’t need any new staff immediately. Out of the 26 Businesses I called one morning, I managed to get 3 Not-Connected Numbers, 1 Asian who thought I was trying to sell HIM something, only 2 businesses that would accept my resume through the traditional Snail Mail method & 3 businesses I was able to successfully send a fax of my resume to.

I took a hold of this task & nurtured it for all I could. Admittedly the response was disappointing, but at least I was making that attempt. 1 business in particular had me smiling from ear to ear as they were very kind to speak with & showed much interest mirrored by my own enthusiasm.

So on I went, sending a fax to the 3 businesses that were kind enough to give me the pleasure & time to actually think I might still have some slight chance. Seriously though, my hopes were fading fast & I was under the impression that even though I was making the effort, I would have to go back to Day Care in some nature & just leave my small dream for either the future or to stay as it was. A small dream.

I did forget to mention earlier that I had already been emailing my resume to different Child Care positions advertised in local papers or the internet & out of the dozens sent, I have had merely 1 reply from Canterbury Council informing me that my Application was received & is being viewed by the appropriate peoples & that if I was successful in making it to the interview point, I would be contacted via phone immediately. Nothing since.

Ok.. So I got my task finished & was feeling a little down at the same time as feeling quite happy that I was, in fact successful in doing what I set out to do. Make contact with these businesses.

I went about my day as per normal, doing the little housework needed then got in the car & went over to my brother’s place for a fleeting visit.

As I was leaving my brother’s to head to a Hardware store, I received a call on my mobile from a gentleman at one of the businesses I had contacted earlier in the morning. I was ecstatic & im almost sure he could hear my heart pounding through the phone! But all in all I made a time suitable with us both to go meet him the next day.

I’m pleased to say that our meeting yesterday was quite fruitful & without any promises made, I shall be meeting with his wife at the Menai store which is where I shall be working with her if they agree to employing me. I am very very happy to have had this meeting & I am hoping I will make a good impression on them enough to allow my foot in the door where I can prove to them that it was quite worth hiring me & adding me to their team.

So my next big blog will hopefully be to inform you all that indeed I am employed again & that happy days only are ahead of us all!

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Ok.

I know i have not left any new blogs fer anyone to read as of late & i do apologise. Most of you will have probably read ShadowKnight’s webby in recent times & will know that we are now actually IN Sydney & that he has been working since we got into NSW at the end of June.

Recently we have spent many a night discussing & looking at pictures of houses/units i viewed almost every single day. With the help of my Brother & often help from my 2 nieces, we saw many places & became a little worried that i wouldn’t locate a property suitable for our residence.

Finally 2 weeks ago i came across a little 3 bedroom house. I went to visit it on my own & after us putting in an application for it, started wondering if i was actually doing the right thing or not & if i had made a mistake by grabbing the first place i liked. Altho i did believe that choosing 1 place for our liking out of the dozens & dozens i had viewed wasnt so bad.

So to cut a long story short, the application was accepted & we are now in the Bay yet again this weekend, but this time to pack house & shift out.

So i will get some time soon i hope to sit & write some more blogs for you all & finally get u all up to date with wats happening.

We shall be online within the next week or so from our own place so will catch up with you then.

XxXxXxX

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Its the 2nd week since finishing work. I feel like am merely on holidays, which of course I am not complaining about! I think the reality won;t hit me for sometime as I have a great deal of stuff to keep me occupied & busy over the coming month, at least.

The weather here has been quite cold, wet & windy. Typical NSW Winter. I am told that it isn’t normally this cold over here, so perhaps it’s a strange phenomenom that the winter followed me here to prepare SK for the big move ahead.

Since being here I have spent some considerable amount of time with my future Mother-In-Law.

Hopefully my constant babbling isn’t enough to make her take pity on her son! Hehehe.

I am enjoying spending this time with her as I know that we won’t get to spend time together constantly after the move, considering we will be across the other sides of the country to each other.

Well, since leaving work & Batemans Bay well over 2 weeks ago, I had a busy few days to begin with.

On Sunday 12th June I left Batemans Bay to meet our eldest brother & my 2 adorable nieces at Nowra, where our other brother lives. We left mum in their capable hands & travelled back to Sydney listening to Gwen Stefani’s “Holla Back Girl” almost on repeat for the whole of the trip!

The girls have become quite attached to this song & its all I heard for the following 24 hours! They stayed with us overnight to much delight for me. H has a new way of singing the edited part of the song.. which is “B for Bananas, B A N A N A S!” LOL Very cute!

On Monday 13th June, we all got up bright & early in the crispy cold morning to head down to DOuble Bay where my meeting with the prospective Employers of the Baby Shop took place over a Cuppacino. It went well & I was quite confortable chatting with the owners. Their 2 children are georgous & if I don’t get employment with them, it was definately wonderful meeting them.

That was early in the morning, so we spent the rest of the day going here & there in the car, walking along clifftops at The Gap & stopping to get treats from a Chinese Bakery & taking them to a park for afternoon tea. It was a lovely way to spend the day & I do hope the girls enjoyed it before we dropped them home in the evening.

On Tuesday 14th June, my bro & I spent the day driving around St George & Canterbury/Bankstown suburbs viewing properties for rent. Nothing realy took my fancy, although 2 properties were to my liking. One we only were able to view the outside front of, as the agent gave me the address whilst driving around & he was tied up & couldn’t meet us there with the keys. The other property was in the middle of shops in Padstow. Its backyard was so huge that I felt too overwhelmed just looking at it from the back of the house. The house itself is VERY well maintained for its age. I did find looking through the house made me imagine where pieces of our furniture would lay. LOL

I made no attempt to apply for leasing any of these properties though, so for Dean & Myself, it’s basically back to square one. Because we are flying back in on Thursday 30th June, we will start looking at properties as of July 1st. Thanks to my bro who has offered to accomodate us for a time until we get a lease signed. If we didn’t have a place to stay I would have been a wreck by now from all the stress! LOL

On Wednesday 15th June, I was at the airport around 8.30am to check in, went to the end of the Virgin Blue Terminal where i could sit & relax & watch the incoming & outgoing planes from the large viewing windows. I boarded the aircraft around 9.25, 10 mins after the scheduled boarding time. We sat for what felt like an almost eternity, before making a very long taxi out & joined the cue behind 3 other aircraft waiting for take off.

The flight wasnt’t too bnad considering I was surrounded in the back of the plane by lots of children. Most being under the age of 3! They all did very well considering a majority of the children were flying for the very first time int heir young lives.

Once landing on Western Australian soil, Mum greeted me at the baggage claim carousel & off we went towards my home for the following 2 weeks & 1 day.

It was wonderful greeting my baby when he finally arrived home from work. To feel all the anxiety & pressure lift in that first embrace was magical indeed. I am looking forward to my relaxing time ahead here.

So I guess I don’t have a great deal of news for everyone at this post, except for 1 important thing which has taken a lot of pressure off of us both. Dean got his Transfer through from KAS NSW! Although we don;t know fine details as yet of pay, hours/days to work & what date to start, it is definately a good step in the right direction to progress.

Congratulations baby, I Love You! XxXxXxX

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It is the end of the workday, Friday 10th June 2005.

It is the end of my career as a Eurobodalla Family Day Carer.

I am considered from this moment on as “unemployed”…

So where to now?

Saturday, I shall be packing house.

Sunday, I shall drive to Nowra & meet my Eldest Brother whilst dropping Mum at our other Brother’s house to stay while im interstate.

Monday, even though a Public Holiday, I shall be meeting with owners of a successful Baby Store in Double Bay. I hope I can make a good impression & allow them to get to know me in the short time we will be together. I am hoping that I can take on employment with them & possibly join the staff in their existing or brand new store.

It will be a wonderful adventure with many things for me to learn. I also know I can offer them a trusting employee with dedication for my work commitments.

(Wish me luck!)

Tuesday, our Eldest Brother & I will be travelling all over the St George Area in order to view houses & a few units for rent. I do hope that we find a place suitable for SK & I, but if we do not get to apply for anything on Tuesday, then that’s Ok. We have the opportunity of staying with my Brother until we do score ourselves the place we are hoping for after flying back from W.A.

Wednesday, I get on a Virgin Blue plane & cross the countryside for a few hours to my beloved Fiancee waiting for me in W.A. This is the day our lives change forever. And for the better.

From the moment I land & am in his arms, then we are together forever.

I do hope he STILL is going to be in W.A when I land!!!!

I sit here now, thinking to myself that there is so much i’d like to say right at this very moment.

So many people I would like to thank.

So many people I would like to remind, how much I love them.

So many memories to reflect upon…

But instead I am going to leave it at this, shed a few tears of joy & sorrow, put my mind into a different place & prepare myself gathering the last few important things I need to remember to take with me for after Sunday.

My Resume…. My Diary…. My Address Book…. My scribble pad with info on properties on it…. My dinner….

OH! Dinner is ready!

Ok.. I’ll stop now before I loose the plot completely.

Keep in touch peoples.

Love you all.

Miss you all.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

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