A puzzling thing

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I bought a puzzle for Mum a while ago that I thought we could do together when she was down here in July. Obviously we were too busy buying furniture and playing house to do the puzzle, so I whipped it out a couple of weeks ago and the 4 of us got to work on it. I had fun sorting out all the side pieces from the guts – the corners are especially fun to find, aren’t they!? Then I put the frame together. I may or may not have lost a bit of interest for a while after that…

We all had a go at it one afternoon and it started to take shape.

And this is where Hubs and Mum’s enthusiasm kicked in! They really got stuck into it. This is, of course, after Dad and I “sorted” the pieces by colour! 🙂 (That’s our story and we’re sticking to it!!) Can you see what it is slowly becoming?*

And I believe this is about how we left it last, though, it looks like Mum and Dad have done a bit more on it on the side…
Once all the fun stuff was done, and only the sky was left, Hubs all of a sudden found other fun things to do! Ha ha. I’m sure we’ll finish it off in the next few days, if Mum and Dad haven’t already!
*For those playing at home, it’s the Arc de Triomphe

Keeping occupied

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So while we play the waiting game, Mum and Dad and I have been getting out and about (while poor poor Hubs is stuck doing work – make sure you give him lots of sympathy for his very very hard life! I love you honey!! 🙂 We headed out to Mt Beauty and Bright on Saturday and had a lovely time visiting wineries and breweries. Oh yes, those lemon, lime and bitters sure were something else! Obviously I let Dad do the beer tasting (okay okay, I had a couple of little sips) and Mum partook in a glass of wine. It was nice being out and about, and they even took me on a few bumpy roads to try and “start things off”. Alas, to no avail.

Dad with the first lot of tastings at Sweetwater – this was actually quite disappointing as the beers were mostly flat and not very cold. But if it makes a good story…

Next up, Dad tried a spot of fly fishing
But only managed to catch a couple of foxy ladies 😉
We then stumbled upon the Bright Brewery – this was much more impressive, with better beers (on tap) and a sampler tray with tasting notes. Mum took over driving after this place… 
We had a lovely day out and about, listening to old road trip tapes (The Bushwackers, Bullamakanka, Supertramp, Pink Floyd) and with Dad falling asleep in the back of the car on the way home. The weather was glorious and the company, wonderful as always. Hopefully Hubs will have time to join us on the next trip!

The Due Date

/ Renae / 4 Comments

Today is my due date, which, in pregnancy terms means diddly-squat since only 5% of babies are born on their due date. But you just never know. There’s still 13 hours left in the day. I’m still fairly comfortable in general, though it’s going to be 31 degrees every day this week which may test my patience a little I’m sure. I do feel as though I’ve gotten to the “okay I’m ready now” phase without quite being at the “ohmygoodness-get-this-thing-out-of-my-belly” phase. The thing I keep thinking about is that the longer he/she stays in residence at casa de Mamafoot, he/she is getting bigger. And as many of you know, Hubs and I aren’t the shortest of people (don’t even get me started on our brothers who both stand 6 foot 6 inches!!) so it wouldn’t at all surprise me if Littlefoot comes out 3 feet tall with a boot size of 10. Hey! I’ve felt those kicks!!

So in answer to your texts and emails and phone calls and comments (thanks so much for the love!) no, we don’t have an outside baby as yet. But we are ready…

Deviating from the menu

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I usually order from the menu. I understand that when a chef puts a menu together, they do so with a lot of care and there are reasons for putting different foods and flavours together. Particularly at fancy-pants places, I don’t like to mess with that. At cafes, however, I figure they run from a pretty stock-standard menu, so I don’t mind asking for something a little different. For example, at one of my favourite cafes in Wang, Espresso on Ovens, one of the breakfast menu items is toasted pumpkin bread topped with spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes. So the first time I ordered it, I asked if I could have a poached egg on top. Their response? No problem! And my goodness it was SO GOOOOOOOD.

The next time I went there, only a few weeks later, I asked for the same. It was a different person this time and I think it was just a little beyond them, as an order of poached eggs on toast came out, and we told them we didn’t order poached eggs, then my order came out without the poached egg on top. Hmmmm…..

I’m just saying – they’re in the hospitality industry. Their job is to take orders and bring out food. It’s not rocket surgery people! Is it rude to ask for something a bit different to what is on the menu? Being the paying customer, do I get to choose what is specifically cooked for me? I don’t like to be a pain, but when I’m eating out and paying good money (well, money) for it, I want to know that I’m getting the best possible meal combination I can.

We’ve encountered this problem with coffees as well. Lately we’ve been ordering iced coffees and I don’t like cream on my iced coffee, (but if they want to put extra ice cream on top, I’m really okay with that.) Hubs on the other hand, likes a bit of iced coffee with his cream, and gets a bit disappointed when, after I’ve asked for mine with no cream, his comes out with no cream too. Do we have to actually check that that they understand 1 with cream and 1 without? Like I said, they are in the hospitality industry. It’s their job to take and bring out the correct order.

Clearly I have too much privilege and time on my hands right now 🙂

Technology can be a bitch

/ Renae / 2 Comments

So as you know, I’ve had my run-ins with various technological gadgets and gizmos, with mixed results. I think I’m pretty open-minded when it comes to trying new programs, e.g. for our music and photos, and if I’m shown how to use something once or twice (sometimes 3 or 4 times) I can usually pick it up pretty easily. And out of all the gadgets in my life that were going to be the next to potentially cause me grief, the last thing I expected it to be was my mobile phone.

I like my phone. It’s a slidey Nokia that I acquired off Hubs when I gave him the iPhone I got with my plan 2 years ago. I didn’t think I had much need for an iPhone and I knew Hubs really wanted one, so we swapped. This phone has been so good to me. I can use it with my eyes closed it’s so simple.

So yesterday I decided, for some reason, (maybe cos I have all this time on my hands) to make my phone more “adult”, particularly my contacts list. Instead of having contact names like “Hubs Mob” or separating “Mum & Dad Mob” and “Mum and Dad Home” I grouped all the numbers together and got rid of duplicates. I also changed names like “Erika Med” (hello!!!) to her full name, and for some people, if I thought I would wonder in a few months who on earth they were, I put a little note with their contact. Like for our Real Estate agent, I put “Real Estate” in her notes section. I also made sure all the mobile numbers were listed as mobile numbers, and home numbers as such. It took about 2 hours all up and I was so happy with my work.

As I was going to bed last night, I thought about how all my contacts are stored on my phone, and how if I lost my phone, the contacts would be lost too. So I decided to move them over to my sim card instead, as Optus backs up your sim card for you on their database so if you lose your phone, you don’t lose your data. Great idea right? RIGHT??? Wrong.

What I should have done is told Hubs what I was about to do and he would have said “sim cards can only hold 1 number for each contact so if you do that, it will split them all up again.” Why oh WHY did I not tell Hubs I was about to be clever and do this! I pressed “OK” thinking I was so clever, only to be horrified 5 minutes later when I browsed through my contacts. Instead of having, for example “Mum & Dad” I had “Mum & Dad1”, “Mum & Dad2” and that was for everyone with more than 1 contact detail, including the notes. All the mobile phone numbers had been changed to general numbers. All my notes were attached to contacts separately. I just couldn’t believe all my hard work had been tossed out the window.

In my despair I told Hubs I wanted a new phone. This may have been a little over-dramatic, but it was late and I was annoyed. I think the worse thing about this situation is that I thought I was being really clever, you know? I thought I was making my life easier. I should have known better.

Technology 1, Wifey 0.

Self portraits, belly shots, and new hair

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I decided to get my hair done last week, since I won’t have a lot of free time once Littlefoot joins us in the outside world. I haven’t dyed my hair in almost 18 months, and was in need of a bit of a cut, so I got the works done. And I feel like a million bucks! I found a great hairdresser who uses natural hair dyes with no amonia, and who did exactly what I asked for and didn’t charge an absolute fortune – they are just so hard to find! I’ll certainly be going back to her (eventually). I think it’s hilarious that It’s only taken me 30 years (okay, 15 years of actually trying) to find a hair style that I really like and that I know pretty much exactly what to ask for when I walk into a hair salon. Getting the hairdresser to actually do what you ask for is another thing, so that’s why I was so excited about this one!

I also decided to try my hand at some self-portrait belly shots – this is harder than it looks! I got a couple of okay ones, but would like to practice the whole self-portrait thing a bit more and learn how to frame a bit better. Oh, and a nice mirror would actually help I’m sure. The first 2 are my attempts. The next 2 are the belly shots Hubs took of me just before we went out to dinner with Mum and Dad at Rinaldo’s (delish!!) last week.

From the front

And the side
From up high
And down low (too slow! ha ha ha ha)
We’re really enjoying using our new camera. It’s a sony something-or-other and it’s great for not only pointing and shooting (my kind of photography) but you (read: Hubs) can do lots of other cool things with it as well. I’m sure I’ll be able to explain what those things are some day, but for the time being, I’m just happy to use it in auto mode, much to Hubs’ horror! Hee hee!

A wife of my own

/ Renae / 2 Comments

Mum and Dad have been here for a week now and it’s so lovely having them around. We’ve been hanging out at their place in the evenings which means I can just relax and not be looking around thinking “I really should be doing insert jobs here.” I really do liken it to having a wifey of my very own! Mum and Dad have been cooking for us each night and topping up my juice and mineral water and making sure I’m comfy.  

“Would you like to have a nap?”
“Are you hungry? 
“Can I get you anything?”

Aaaaaaah bliss! It’s nice to be spoilt like this I must say. And I’m taking everyone’s advice about getting plenty of sleep and rest while I can. Mum and I have been hanging out at our place during the day, getting things ready and just pottering around. Poor Hubs has to go to work every day while we stay at home, baking and resting. Though, he does benefit from the baking, so it’s not all bad for him! Last week we made a yummy orange and polenta cake – there will be an encore this week – and today we’re making a pudding for dessert tonight, and I’ve just made a batch of home-made Kahlua. I do like this whole “lady of leisure” thing!

Thank you to everyone who has been sending emails and texts wishing us luck for the birth – you’re all very kind and it’s lovely to have all this support. And of course, everyone will be informed when the big day arrives!

Baby swap meet

/ Renae / 2 Comments

No, this was not an opportunity to swap your baby for someone else’s (Hubs). It was actually a Baby Bazaar but Hubs referred to it as a swap meet. Friends of ours, whose baby is due 2 weeks after Littlefoot, told us about this event so we went along with them last Saturday. And it was so great! A whole lot of pre-loved baby stuff in excellent condition at excellent prices! And the best thing is, they hold it every 3 months, so you don’t have to “stock up” on stuff that you won’t need for another 6 months cos it’ll be there next time you go!

They had everything from cots, prams, change tables and high chairs, to baby clothes, wraps and toys, to maternity wear and books. We spent a bit of time wandering around and then made a few purchases – I bought some maternity tops for $4 and $5 each and Baby Love – a book that was highly recommended to me which I’ve been looking for, second-hand, for a while. $5!! BARGAIN! And for Hubs we bought a pirate bean bag and a wooden block puzzle. Actually, the puzzle was free cos there’s a piece missing, which is funny as it’s an alphabet puzzle. So Littlefoot will grow up wondering about this letter “G” that everyone is talking about. 🙂 Luckily the names we have chosen don’t contain that letter. Hee hee! How’s that for a useless hint for you!

So we spent a bit over an hour there and met up with another couple and their 6-month-old boy who were friends of our friends. We then went to lunch all together and had a great time.

Hubs wanted to take a photo of me on this bench, so how could I say no?

It was such a beautiful day that we decided to head home via the Beechworth Celtic Festival. The weather really was amazing and warm so we had some delicious ice cream and a nice wander around. (This was after we’d eaten most of it.)

There was some Irish music and dancing, to be sure
And of course, a Pipe Band – they were awesome!! 
Update: our friends due 2 weeks after Littlefoot had a baby boy at 3am this morning! I believe everything is going well – can’t wait to meet the little guy!