A Prime Minister

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As usual with any blog posts which deal with politics, I offer the following disclaimer.

WARNING:  This post is a political piece which contains my personal opinions.

2015-09-23This article by Meshel Laurie was written almost 2 years ago but I have only just discovered it.  It captures my feelings perfectly and I only wish that I had written it.

Will we ever have another Prime Minister who has the courage of his or her convictions and who is prepared to make decisions for the future good of Australia rather than simply eyeing off their own re-election?

Red, Recycled & Revamped

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It is definitely spring-cleaning time and it seems that many of us are taking a long, hard look at what is in the wardrobe.

i 001This is a gorgeous, lightweight trenchcoat that my sister retrieved from her wardrobe recently.  She offered it to me as she admitted that it was really a bit too big for her and she had never felt entirely comfortable with it.  The coat fits me perfectly and being the perfect shade of red made it doubly attractive.

She did point out that the buttons on one sleeve had been damaged with one completely missing and the other one broken in half.

i 002I went to Lincraft in the city today and found some buttons to replace them with.

i 003They are the same size and style as the originals but are plain red rather than a variegated red/black as the others are.  I am going to replace all 4 buttons on the sleeves and while they will be slightly different to the ones on the front opening, I don’t think that is going to matter.

I am looking forward to doing the necessary repairs so that this coat is ready to be a really useful addition to my wardrobe.

This is the sort of positive story that is happening every day when you choose to let go of things that are not quite right and languishing in the cupboard.  There is someone out there for whom it will be perfect.  They may be a family member, an op shopper or someone looking on eBay or even a Facebook Buy, Swap, Sell page.

And Now He is Gone

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WARNING:  This post is a political piece which contains my personal opinions.

Australia has a new Prime Minister.  Tony Abbott is gone and Malcolm Turnbull is now the leader of this country.

2015-09-15 01There has been much written about this change and the merits or otherwise.  Regardless of political allegiance we all deserve a national leader who is articulate and can represent this country appropriately on the world stage.  Tony Abbott did not.  Here is a sample to illustrate my point.

The Cupboard was Bare – Not Really

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We arrived home early this morning after an overnight flight from Singapore.  I had pretty well cleared out the refrigerator before we left and shopping was the last thing on my mind this morning.  The house-sitters had bought fresh milk for us and GMan made a loaf of bread.

This afternoon I began to think about what we might have for dinner and I really was not in the right frame of mind to go grocery shopping shopping so I decided to make do with what we had on hand.  There were sausages in the freezer as well as some pre-cooked rice and diced raw onion.

I grilled the sausages and then sliced them up. Next, I fried the onion in the pan, added 1/4 teaspoon of chilli powder, sliced celery (from the garden) and a broccoli stalk which was also lurking in the freezer.  A can of tomatoes and 5 olives which was all that was left from a jar in the frig completed the sauce.  I added the thawed rice and sliced sausages and heated the mixture before putting it in a Pyrex dish.

2015-09-13 01I topped it with a mixture of grated cheddar and parmesan cheese mixed with flaxseed meal and ground pepitas and popped it under the grill for a few minutes.

2015-09-13 02Since we had not bought any fruit and vegetables today,  I served it with a generous helping of kale from the garden which I chopped and stir-fried with a sprinkle of chilli powder and squeeze of lime juice.

GMan and I ate one half of this tonight and the other half has been divided into 3 serves for my lunches this week.

Happy Birthday

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On this day, 33 years ago my life changed forever with the arrival of my first-born child.

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There was no internet, Skype, Instagram or Facebook.  We did not even think to take a photo while in hospital.  This is the first photo of our newborn daughter at 7days, once we were home from hospital.

It seems like yesterday but so much has happened in those intervening years.

There have been highs, lows and plenty of challenges but I am so proud of what she has achieved and the woman she has become.

2015-09-03 02Happy Birthday, darling and best wishes for an amazing future.

Tracking 2015 – August

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Another month has flown by and time to review what we spent.

BudgetingJanuary – $5,144.53
February – $1,783.49
March – $4,350.56
April – $2,385.31
May – $5,961.54
June – $2,939.07
July – $3,537.09
August – $3,601.19

I was a little surprised at how much we spent this month but when I examined the categories it was interesting to note that ‘House & Garden’ which is often a substantial amount was only $24.50 in August.  However, we made up for it in other ways – routine service for the car, major dental work for GMan, new sandals for Gman, a couple of items of clothing for me and a bulk purchase of dog food.  We also had visitors and so naturally we spent more on entertaining and also petrol but I would not have it any other way.

The average monthly discretionary spending for the first 8 months of the year is $3712.

September will be an interesting month for spending as we are heading to Singapore for a week during the month.  Airfares, accommodation and travel insurance have all been accounted for earlier in the year so our spending will be limited to transport, food, admission costs and anything that we buy while we are there.  More on that at the end of the month.

Marie vs Me – Round 2

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Back in March I wrote this post about the Japanese tidying guru, Marie Kondo.  Her ideas seem to have taken the world by storm but I was not overly impressed with what I found.

A couple of weeks ago, I finally caved in a bought the Kindle edition of her book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”.  I have read well over 50% of it and remained firmly unconvinced that she had anything new to offer and some of her ideas seemed downright wacky.  However, a few days ago I came to a section where she described standing her laptop computer on its end as though it was a book in a bookcase – now that really was a lightbulb moment.

I had been too busy for the past couple of days to try this idea but this afternoon I spent a few minutes repositioning the 2 laptop computers that we own and this was the result.

Check out the middle shelf.

2015-08-30 01The simple act of standing the laptops up has made a huge difference to the ability to make and (hopefully) keep that shelf tidy.  Now I need to find time to re-look at the top and bottom shelves.  The bottom shelf is actually the top of the 2 drawer filing cabinet.

While I do not plan on using her methods to fold my clothes, I am always open to suggestions and am really happy to have found this idea.

Have you read the book or applied any of the principles to your own circumstances?

Small Talk or Social Grease

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Tonight I want to address a discussion I became involved in on a forum.  Someone asked if people felt that interactions with businesses, either face-to-face or in telephone conversations had become overly familiar and insincere.

2015-08-27 01I felt that this was the case and even quoted the following example which was fresh in my mind.

I had just been to pick up my new glasses and during the process of fitting and adjusting them I was asked

“How’s your day been?” – “fine, thank you” then
“Are you working?” – “yes” then
“Where do you work?” – “name of employer” then
“So, what have you got planned for the weekend?” – “just a quiet weekend at home”.

At this point the glasses were ready and I escaped. I am much closer to 60 than 50 and the interrogator was was a male who was probably in his 30s. I had to bite my tongue not to reply with something the lines of “none of your business” after the first question and answer which I accept as standard. Am I being too harsh? I am quite happy to sit quietly while the fitting process is completed.

I do not mind chatting and some people who know me in real life would attest to that.  However, I am essentially an introvert and prefer not to share all of my details with a random stranger who is not really interested in my answers.  One of the aspects of this particular example which I found particularly annoying was the interrogative style of questioning. I have thought about this and examined my interactions quite a bit since the experience I outlined above.  I have decided that it really all in the delivery.  Probing questions that leave you feeling as though you are being interrogated are not the way to go.  It is clearly an art to set the customer at ease and have a casual conversation.

Like the poster at the top, perhaps I should build up a collection of witty one-liners for times when I feel confronted by the line of questioning.

What are your thoughts?

Local Sightseeing

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The last few days have been pleasantly busy as we hosted some friends from interstate.  It was a great opportunity to do some local sightseeing and discover some hidden gems in our own backyard.

After meeting our guests at the airport in Brisbane and then having lunch we headed home on the road less travelled.  There is not a lot of interest on the highway between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast so we took the scenic route via Dayboro and Mt Mee.  We had discovered this route a couple of weeks ago and you can read more about it here.

On Sunday we ventured to the Glasshouse Mountains lookout, a short drive west of Glasshouse Mountains township.  I had previously noticed signs about this but had never sought it out.  This is a fantastic spot with great views, picnic tables, BBQs and a short walking circuit.

2015-08-25 01 2015-08-25 02 2015-08-25 03Monday saw us take off in yet another direction where we sampled cheese at the cheese factory in Kenilworth before travelling along various back roads and finally ending up at Boreen Point on the edge of Lake Cootharaba.  We had a picnic lunch and then adjourned to an historic hotel for a quiet drink.  The Apollonian Hotel was relocated from Gympie where it was built during the goldrush days of the 1870s.

What gems have you discovered in your local area?