Friday, December 23, 2016

Last Days

It's the last day for the Christmas Rush and I hope everyone has survived it this year without too much hassle. 

I'm going okay I guess.

The car is wash, waxed, polished, cleaned and the stuff under the bonnet looks good too. Then, I took it for a drive and nearly got cleaned up on Springwood Road because a driver backed out of their driveway and didn't look where they were going. On such a wide road - where there's a huge emergency stopping lane - you'd think they'd pull into the curb before joining the traffic. But they stuck the butt of their car right out into my lane and I couldn't stop, so I had no choice but to swerve and blow the horn. It was scary and yet I wondered what would have happened if the road was more crowded... it wouldn't have gone as well as it did.

Anyway, today, I took the time to do what I needed to get done. The presents are all packed up and ready to go to my cousin's house tomorrow night. I have the makings of a pasta salad all ready in the fridge; just to throw together and take with me in my Corningware dish (I just hope nobody scratches the crap out of it) or drops it. 

And tonight, I almost got all the first bit of the Lake Como tapestry completed! I'm so pleased! It looks so great! Well, I hope you have all finished up working on what needs to be done. Until my next post, take care, stay safe this holiday season and remember, I'm always here. Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Last Minute Craziness!

Okay, who hasn't finished their Christmas Shopping? Put your hands up... I knew it, there's some of you out there who leave it until the last minute.

I don't.

I started looking around at present ideas for Christmas during the mid-year sales. Then, in September, I start buying presents for Christmas... or making them... then, it gives me time to save up for the big ticket items people really want or need. And I always buy my presents last; that's so if I miss out on my presents, I can buy them at the after-Christmas sales.

But then, at this time of year - two or three days before the big guy shows up, I'm usually at home painting, reading, writing or watching movies. It's the best time to stay home and not go to the shops. This year, I've been going out to friends houses and cooking with them. Otherwise, I'm working on paintings and a huge tapestry of Lake Como. It's nice to just chill out and not do anything stressful for the next few days, unless I'm going out to see the Christmas Lights at night or checking the mail (and trust me, that's nothing too interesting). 

I'm hoping to just enjoy my time with my family over Christmas as one of the neighbours in the complex isn't here for this week - our week has been very quiet, when normally it's noisy. I'm looking forward to having a day or so to myself where I don't spend too much money on my groceries and put quite a bit of money away next week into my ANZ account before the New Year (as I've missed a few weeks lately). 

Otherwise, I am looking forward to working on a novel, editing some Flash Fiction and reading a couple of books over the few days I'll be at the coast for a bit. It's always nice to be able to get away for a while... I do look forward to coming home to my own bed though. Isn't it funny that when you head off to the holiday at the beach or the country, the one thing you really miss is your bed? Yeah, I find that interesting too. 

At least I don't have the last-minute craziness most people do. I've been a very organised person at this time of year because of how I've had to live on a such a tight budget. I sent off my Christmas Cards around mid-November. By then, I have got around 80% of my Christmas Shopping done and hidden in a part of the house, the wrapping paper has been bought the year before and there's plenty of sticky tape and labels. All I have to do in the month of December is send off an ornament to my Ornament Exchange Buddy (from Bookcrossing) and then buy a new decoration for the house from the Christmas Shack. It's a thing I'm doing each year... I'm hoping to do the whole house up to be totally Christmas-y in about five years - seeing I've found this place!

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous New Year. I'll still be posting here before the New Year is upon us. I just thought to get those wishes in before I forgot to say them. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Only A Week Away!

Christmas is only a week away and I'm finished.

I'm finished with my Christmas shopping, card sending, and decorating for the month. I'm not going anywhere for anyone at all for the next week. I have presents for everyone in the immediate family; and if I have found a present for one of my cousins or Aunts well, they're lucky!

For the next week, I'm going to be here at my place reading, writing, tidying up and putting things away... it's going to be a stinker of a week and I don't wish to move anywhere (unless I have to) and it's going to be a good week of me not moving unless I need to.

I'll be doing a modeling gig, but that's to get me out of my comfort zone and get me into modeling again... and that's a good thing for the coming New Year.

Otherwise, the one rule I always stand by with every Christmas is: never go near a shopping centre the week before Christmas. Those places are just too damned crowded for me; and I hate crowds to the point where I either can't breath or you'll find me outside sitting on a seat staring into space because it bothers me that much.

I have had this problem with crowds so much I avoid art openings, the city and night clubs (the latter has other problems that have to do with my health; but that's another blog post). So, crowds aren't really a good thing for me... I only just made it through last New Year's Eve as the crowds at a street party wasn't too bad - except the clowns (yep, hate clowns - stop laughing, it's a real fear) who I really didn't wish to run into there. 

Crowds of any kind exhaust the crap out of me. I went out to lunch with friends and I was good at the beginning of it when there weren't that many people around. However, when the place was full to the brim with people at surrounding tables, I started to get tired. It started feeling as though I was being crushed slowly from the outside. We decided to leave at the right time; as when I arrived home, all I wanted to do was sleep. 

So, all the Christmas shopping bothers me because people rush, push and become rude. It's just how it works out. It's strange though: when I do a market, as a retailer, it's a different thing for me. My table keeps the crowds from bother me. I'm behind my table - where it's nice, neat and tidy - and crowds are on their own side where they can annoy each other. So, attending a market as a retailer is a totally different thing... it's exhausting, but it's a physical exhaustion, not a mental exhaustion. 

Anyway, I digress.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I'll still be here for a bit until the New Year when I may not be doing as many posts for the first week or so. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.

Thursday, December 8, 2016

A Very Smelly Week

Phew! And Gack! 

That's what I can say about this week as my folks are home a day early for doctor's appointments and to clean up after the power company - in their infinite wisdom - disconnected the electricity to rework the wires on the street for the new building across the road. Then, the day they were working on it, they didn't reconnect their power... well, we didn't get the letter until yesterday; and so missed out on being told completely.

Due to the heat wave and the storms - which kept me at my place - I didn't get to their place until yesterday afternoon... and it was then I noticed an overpowering stench. I thought it was a dead possum... or some poor dead rodent... which had become stuck under the house. I never thought the power hadn't been reconnected; let alone disconnected!

So, I madly made phone calls to my folks, they raced up the coast, while they organised for the power to be restored to their now-smelly house. And today? Well, my Mum and Dad were still working on getting rid of the rancid food from all three fridges and the chest freezer. And seeing they were up until 2am last night, they're just running on adrenaline.

However, Energex won't own up to their problems in how this has affected them. This would affect anyone - and it does! My Dad thinks it's not right to expect people to just be around for the electricity company to drop by and disconnect the power, then come back for them to reconnect it. It's not something people do, and it's not something we would expect of others.
But Energex expected us to do this; and it's unfair to expect us to be home all the time just because this was going on. I mean, if my folks had been on a 4 month overseas holiday and I didn't live close to them, what would have gone on then? In 4 months they would have come home to a house infested with ants, cockroaches and spiders and would have had to replace all their appliances because they wouldn't work.

This is a problem which isn't going to go away. We, the public must do something about it. We have to make sure the electricity industry work for us because they provide electricity to us - and we pay a lot of money for it; and yet still get told how it's going to work from them. Instead of them working to our timetables and working us - the people who keep them in a job - the big companies are treating the public as though we don't have a say.

My folks had food in that large freezer that they were going to use for Christmas Day. Now, they have no food at all! Their insurance company won't help them, and now Energex won't help them - nor will Origin. This is beyond a joke. We must do something to make these industries look at what they are doing. Instead of expecting us to be around when they are doing work, they have to figure out if somebody is home, ask if they're going to be there, make phone calls, email people (this is the age of the internet, after all!) and get on the side of the public who they're going inconvenience. 

Because if they don't, what else are we going to allow them to get away with?  

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Christmas Craziness

It's crazy at this time of year, isn't it?

Sure it is! Everyone is out in the heat or the freezing cold trying to buy that unique gift for that unique person in the family - and you can't quite find it.

Well, I've finished the Christmas shopping over the weekend just gone and am happy with everything I've managed to purchase... okay, I fib, I haven't bought  everything this year - I haven't bought myself my major gift; that's waiting for next week when I get paid.

However, isn't every Christmas crazy? It seems that every year that goes by, it become harder and harder to just simply go out and buy that simple thing you want to buy. No matter how early you leave the house, there are people out there who are doing exactly what you are just to 'beat the rush'. It's become a total nightmare to just do your grocery shopping because school holidays have started and kids 'are bored' within a week or two. 

And is it me, or have P Plater drivers become the biggest idiots on the roads and in car parks lately? They have the brand new, up-to-date cars and yet they'll park them just about anywhere (and block off half a lane of traffic - yes I'm talking about something that happened at Garden City on Saturday where a red P Plater parked on a yellow striped area and blocked off half a lane in a brand new Barina... when people told her it was illegal, she laughed at us. Little did she know that her insurance doesn't cover it when you're illegally parked; especially when you knowingly park illegally - oh well, her loss). I've seen so many P Platers zig-zag in the traffic and act as though the vehicles they're cutting off aren't as heavy as they think - especially trucks. A lot of P Platers can't make up their minds of where they're going... left... right... oh, wait! I'll go strai- left!... without indicating and all the while, they're playing with their hair or talking to their friends in the car. We know it's great you have this independence, but it'd be better if you actually paid attention to the road and got yourself and your friends - not to mention your car - to your destination in one piece, not stuff around wondering where you're going or trying to cause accidents.

Now, I don't mind driving on the roads - in fact I love driving - but since I have gotten a dash cam, it's been something I've noticed about other drivers. They will blame everything on you, right up until you point out that you have a dash cam; then they're gone! And at this time of year, when people are extra-crazy, it's harder to be a nice person on the road. 

Well, I really do hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New Year. I wish you all the best of health and in the hopes you are safe and on the roads while you're out Christmas Shopping - as I try to be. Until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here.