Tuesday 13th August, 2013
The weather has been so changeable lately. One moment we are having downpours, fog and then a few days later we are experiencing spring weather where it's even warm enough to go down to the beach for an icecream.
Which is exactly what we did on Sunday after having gone out to lunch with Robyn and Bob. We've only got a few weeks left of "Split the Bills" and so we are making the most of them.
Last Thursday the new air conditioner was installed. We now have to wait for some hot weather so that we can test it out.
This country is in election mode. We go to the polls on September 7th to elect a new government. The election was announced last Sunday week ago and I am already sick of the propaganda we are hearing on the radio and television not to mention the junk mail being delivered to our letter boxes by the various parties.
So far not one of the major parties (Labor or Liberal) have given me a reason to vote for them. It's the 'same ol same ol' spin.
Robyn made these Greek Almond biscuits. They were so delicious, and exactly the same as what you buy from a Greek cafe. She said she got the idea from a Better Homes and Garden episode where "Fast Ed" made them. She bought the magazine to get the recipe. We're hoping she makes them again.
Friday 2nd August, 2013
OMG, I have to accept it....I am OLD!!!
This afternoon Tony and I went shopping. We went out and bought two rocker/recliner chairs. What on earth was I thinking??
You see, to me, recliners are chairs for old people. It is usually the elderly who have recliners in their homes. You don't often see them in 'younger' people's houses.
Now we have a wait of 18 weeks, yes 18 weeks, before we will have them. Like most products that were once manufactured in this country, they are now made overseas.
But that's OK, we have sorted out our Christmas present to each other for this year so hopefully they will be here in time for Christmas.
This is the chair we have bought. We are having it covered in a champagne coloured velveteen which will fit in more with our lounge suite..........
Thursday 1st August, 2013
Yay, August is here and that can only mean one thing........Spring is 31 days away!!!
Actually the weatherman has said that July has been our warmest month for 38 years, this being mainly due to the overnight temperature being 'warmer' than usual. We also had the wettest July for 18 years.
The bad news is that August will be more winter-like with colder overnight temperatures due to the high pressure systems bringing clearer skies and we may also have a drier month.
It looks as if I will have to call back the washing machine repair man. Water is once again leaking from under the machine. Looks as if the hose he tightened up may have loosened itself again. Grrrr!!
We should have the new airconditioner installed within the next few weeks. Got the car back on Monday, looks as if it is running how it should be but time will tell if it will continue to do so. As soon it shows any signs of failing (the istop) the car will be straight back to City Mazda.
Katie rang to let us know that she has again been chosen as part of the choir to sing at the Festival Centre in September. She said she is already starting to feel nervous.
With Tony's help we finally managed to give the house a good thorough clean instead of the lick and promise I usually manage to give it. Now if only those dust bunnies realise they are not welcome here and move into someone else's house.
With the warmer weather we had in July it is understandable how our neighbour's, David and Sally, garden is looking so good with all the flowers in bloom. Walking out of our front door the scent from the Stocks is heavenly.
Sunday 28th July, 2013
I know it's been quite a while since my last post but I am still having trouble adjusting to Tony only working half a day. It feels like we are on holiday or something. I can't seem to get into a routine.
Since my last post we have been busy with the everyday things of life. Two weeks ago we had Katie for a few days and yes she did come to stay not feeling too good. She had a persistent cough and just feeling blah most of the time. I ended up going to the chemist to get her some medicine for her coughing and sore ears.
On the Saturday night we went to dinner at Zapata's, a Mexican restaurant, for Tori's birthday. The food was very nice but way too much for us to eat.
an assortment of dips
On Sunday Katie wanted to go to 'Build A Bear" at the Plaza. This shop has only just opened up in the last couple of months. She wanted to make a Port Power bear but they didn't have the clothes so instead she chose a rainbow bear and called her "Cuddles".
meet 'Cuddles'
After making her bear we came home and chilled out. I cooked dinner but she wasn't even up to eating that. Monday morning she woke up feeling a bit better, the cough medicine had done the trick and she wasn't coughing as much. When Tony came home from work she asked to go ten pin bowling.
We went to the Village Bowl and she was excited because she bowled 3 strikes.....the first game she beat Tony and then Tony beat her in the second game. She also played some of the game machines and ended up winning 740 tickets which she redeemed for prizes. As Kerrie was going to take her home we ended up dropping her off at Kerrie's work around 5pm.
The nice spring weather we had enjoyed for a couple of days was short lived. The cold and wet conditions returned again. Last weekend we had very wet weather.....almost 80mm of rain over a few days plus a very cold blast of Antarctic air which caused it to snow in the Hills and on Mt Lofty.
This past week has not been a good week for us. They say bad luck comes in threes and so I hope our bad luck has ended. Firstly, on Monday I had to have the washing machine repair guy out as the machine was leaking water all over the floor. It looked as if the door seal may have been worn as that was where the water seemed to be coming from.
Tony had a look at the machine himself and found that one of the hoses was blocked. He unblocked that but it still didn't fix the problem, but at least we could see the water was now gushing out from under the machine. When the repairman looked at it he found that the drain hose had slipped which was causing the water to flood the floor. He attached it back to the outlet and so far so good. No more leaks.
Over the weekend we also noticed that the mat I've got in the vanity area was wet again. We couldn't actually see any water coming up from the drain but we decided to go and get a ball top drain cover. I don't know what they're called but there's a little ball that sits on the top of the drain hole and it's supposed to stop water from coming back up the drain and flooding the floor. We decided to go and get it Monday afternoon after Tony came home.
After more rain on Sunday night and Monday morning I noticed that there was more water on the vanity floor. It wasn't coming up from the drain, I saw that the water was coming through the light fitting. Oh no!!
When Tony came home he went up into the roof to try and see where the water was coming from. Luckily while up there we had a shower of rain and he could hear the dripping of the water onto the air conditioning duct. Maybe because of so much rain the air conditioner had filled up with too much water and was overflowing, that was our hope anyway.
Because it was too wet he couldn't go onto the roof to check it out. Tuesday it was still too wet to be climbing on the roof and so he waited until Wednesday. He was in for for a shock when he finally looked at the air con. There was no water inside it but instead the bottom had completely rusted out and with the strong winds that we'd been having was blowing the rain up and under and down along the duct in the roof. With the light fitting being at the lowest point the water was gathering there and running down the light fitting into the vanity area. Luckily it had done no damage to the ceiling.
The rest of the afternoon was spent making phone calls getting prices to have the air conditioner replaced. Looks like we will be up for at least $3500.
Now for the third thing........two weeks ago we took the car in for it's service and just like all the previous services we've had on the car we told them that the istop was not working. They rebooked the car in for last Thursday as they wanted to investigate further. They believed now that the alternator may be at fault. I dropped the car off Thursday morning as arranged. They wanted to have the car overnight and so they gave us a loan car.
By Friday afternoon we had heard nothing and so Tony rang them. He was told they would ring him back around 5pm. At around 5.15pm Friday afternoon we still had not heard from them and so Tony rang again. He was told that the problem had been fixed and that they had put a new battery in which we had to pay for.
Tony questioned us having to pay for another battery as they only replaced the battery back in June last year and to our knowledge most batteries these days have a 24 month warranty on them. Not Mazda batteries apparently they only have a 12 month warranty. We were 6 weeks past the warranty period. Also according to them the alternator was fine, it was charging the battery but the battery wasn't holding the charge. A completely different story to what we were told 2 weeks ago.
Still not happy about having to pay for the battery we told them that we would pick the car up on Monday. Tony had to work yesterday morning and we decided to go and pay for the battery and get the car. He rang them first to tell them we would pay for the battery and to get the istop working and he would go and collect the car.
About half an hour later City Mazda rang him to let him know that there were no batteries in South Australia and one would have to come from interstate which wouldn't be here until about 11.00am on Monday morning.
Huh?
Less than 18 hours earlier if we had gone and paid for the battery it was our understanding that we could have taken the car there and then. Where has this said battery gone from Friday 5.15pm to Saturday morning 10.00am for one now not to be available???
As far as we are concerned having the istop not working is or should be a warranty problem. It has not worked properly since February last year and they have been told each time the car goes in for a service. If they want to keep changing the battery each time why should we have to pay for it. The problem has to be far greater than the battery but try telling that to City Mazda!!!
Grrrrrr City Mazda!!! We are not impressed!!! And you want us to recommend friends and family who are in the market for a new car to come and purchase one off you. I do not think so!!!!
Our next option is to take it to the RAA and to get their mechanic/auto electrician look at it. Tony thinks it may be the circuitry that's the problem. Let's see what the RAA comes up with.
So that's the third bit of 'bad' luck this week. Let's hope there's no more.
On a far better note the past few Saturday nights we have been going out for dinner with Robyn and Bob to various hotels around town using the Split the Bill vouchers. Some of the pubs have been hit and miss but on a whole most have good food.
Last night we went out to dinner with them to a Chinese restaurant, Queen Bee. They are members of a Bird club and the club decided to go out for dinner and so Bob asked if we would also like to go. It was an all you can eat place for $18.50 per head. Yum, the food was very nice and being all you can eat we over indulged. When it was time to leave I think everyone 'waddled' away.
Today they forecast showers but so far even though it is windy there is still lots of sunshine. A good time to do some gardening methinks. We'll see, it's too warm and cosy inside!
Friday 12th July, 2013
Hey, I am still here......lol. I know it's been a while since my last post but I've had some adjustment to get used to. My life has been turned upside down.
As I said in my last post Tony has gone to working 4.5 hours a day. He loves it. Whereas, I on the other hand, have to get used to him being home in the afternoons. You see before, I had ALL day in which I could potter about to get the laundry, house work, and ironing done. These past couple of weeks I've only had half a day to get things done and it's practically killed me....lmao.
I've kept the afternoons free so that we can go off and do what we want, like shopping, go to the movies, for a drive or whatever else takes our fancy. He has offered to help me with the housework when he comes home, especially when I do a full house clean. I'd never get that done in half a day.
Our afternoons have been spent shopping, taking the car in for a service, going to appointments, lunch with Dianne, Tony has been helping the neighbour with some electrical work and just doing nothing.
We've also been enjoying coffee and macarons from Nic and Rocco's (former contestants on My Kitchen Rules where they made a name for themselves making macarons)......
This is also my favourite time of the year....the Tour Du France is on and so that has kept me up until the early hours of the morning.
The weather has been cool, not really cold, and we've had some rain. So far we've had a few foggy mornings but no frosts. 50 days to Spring........hehehe!!!
While waiting for the car to be serviced Tony and I went for a walk and to have some lunch. It was the most perfect winters' day, sun shining and no wind. It was more like a spring day. It was great to be out and enjoying the sunshine.
A week ago while calling in to get a coffee on our way home we met up with Jodi and Taylor. I have not seen her since last Christmas and have only spoken to her a few times on the phone since then. She has been going through a very difficult time these last few months.
Yesterday was Tori's birthday, Happy Birthday Tors and hope you had an awesome day. Tomorrow night we are going out to dinner to celebrate. We also get to have Katie.
It is currently school holidays and Katie has been spending time with her best friend from school. When I spoke to her last night she sounded as if she may be getting a cold, so I hope she will be OK for the weekend. Can't wait to see her again.
Friday 28th June, 2013
Today is the day Tony retires......or is it? His boss at work doesn't want to lose him, but for him to receive his redundancy payment he has to leave. The past few weeks they have been trying to work out how he can stay for the short term. The only way he can stay is to be hired by a third party.
The guy who was to take over from Tony is going on holidays, plus he hasn't shown any real interest in the building. Each time Tony has arranged to meet with him the guy has found some other job or meeting to attend to.
Tony's boss suggested Tony be recruited by a hiring agency. During this past week he was signed by a hiring company and will still get to stay with the building for at least the next two to three months.
Seeing the building is only 'part time', Tony will now work part time which is ideal for him. He will work for just over 4 hours a day from Monday which I s'pose can be called semi retired.
After the three months who knows what may happen. Tony may finally get to fully retire!
Last night Tony met up with his fellow co-workers and some from his previous employment for a dinner in his honour. One of them was a previous boss and while talking to Tony he has offered him some work if he wants it. He said it was great to catch up with the guys, a couple of them he has not seen in years.
I think we may have to remove any ideas of retirement in the foreseeable future. It's a nice feeling knowing that Tony is held in such high regard and regardless of his age he can still be of use to the work force.
Wednesday 26th June, 2013
What a day in Australian politics!!! We have a new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. Back in 2007 he was elected Prime Minister by the people of Australia. Three years later, on the 25th June, 2010, Julia Gillard 'knifed' him in the back and she became PM. She went to the people with an election and was voted in as Australia's first female Prime Minister but with a minority government. To govern in her own right she had to enlist the help of the Independents.
During the past three years there have been certain factions within the Labor Party trying to undermine the government Practically every month we have heard about a challenge to the position of PM by the supporters of Kevin Rudd. He had one unsuccessful attempt last year, another aborted attempt earlier this year and the last few days there was growing speculation that he would try again.
Earlier in the year Julia Gillard announced that we would have an election in September. Since that announcement her popularity as PM has plummeted and the Labor Party is so far behind on the polls. The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott would convincingly beat her at the election and the Labor Party would be practically decimated.
Julia Gillard has not been a popular Prime Minister. She has 'lied' too many times to the voters, brought in very unpopular taxes like the mining tax, the carbon tax, has been portrayed badly by the media, and the list goes on. On the plus side she averted a financial crisis in this country when a lot of the other world powers were going through difficult times, the unemployment rate is comparatively low at 5.5%, and built stronger ties with other countries.
Kevin Rudd is the people's favourite, and time will tell how true this is. Unfortunately there are two more sitting days of Parliament left and then they rise and go into election mode. We have to wait and see when the election will be now. Some are saying August, others are saying November.
The only thing left to do is get rid of Tony Abbott and re-instate Malcolm Turnbull as the leader of the Opposition.
