Front runners…

We are three weeks into our house hunting and I suppose we have yet to have that “this is it!” feeling. I fall in love with places as I see them, imagining all the decorating possibilities, but that soon fades away as Ben gives his objections and I see his point.

But here are some of our favourites so far:

Its big, with room to move. But it does have carpets and paint like this:

Gross! But easily fixed. We wouldnt be able to afford the carpets straight away, but a rug is cheap and easy!

But it has a great kitchen:

Also a favourite:

Its cute!

And a great little side garden (at this stage, im hoping its the side garden and not the only garden we get!)

And a nice big kitchen – even if it is wood!

We are seeing it tonight, so fingers crossed its good! Its also across the road from shops, so not sure how I feel about that!

We are also considering what we are calling the dead house… its a deceased estate and the owner didnt die there, but Ben is still funny about the deceased estate! Its a cute little house on a big block of land, so room to extend out. But the bedrooms are quite small and Ben is not happy with that! But, I like it, so I will keep pushing for it.

I (very stupidly) feel as if we are running out of options each time we look at houses, and I am in this big rush rush rush buy something now!!!! move… I know its stupid, but I just want this part over and done with, so we can then move into our house, I can start buying all the prints Ive been bookmarking on etsy for the last year and plot my decorating.

Lets just hope that THE house comes along! Im not the biggest fan of losing entire weekends to house hunting!

 

First taste of dissapointment

House hunting has commenced… and already there is a big dissapointment. We saw a great unit on Saturday but because it was rented we couldnt get back in on Sunday to show our parents, so we thought we will just go again this weekend, and left it at that. except, today it went under offer. Which means it will be sold And the place was great – lots of room, not much work needed, big rooms, double garage, 3 bedrooms, big enough yard. And we were thinking perhaps we would beat the odds and buy a house relatively quickly – not 6 months down the track.

so there are only a few places left on the list in our budget… bah.

 

Its still hurting

And I really shouldnt be surprised. I mean, I had surgery on Tuesday! Its Thursday. The worst part though is I cant get to sleep, and my normal healing process is just to sleep as much as I can. So, I stayed up late, tossing and turning, and finally fell asleep about 3am and slept through to 8am when Ben got up for work.

I am better at sitting down today though, yesterday it was hurting no matter what, but today, sitting down is not so painful. Unfortunately, walking is.

Ive been really touched though by the actions of some of my friends… One will be keeping me company on Friday night with chocolate and dvds, so Ben can go out to a must see footy game, one sent me flowers (totally unecessary but very sweet!) and Ive had a bunch of emails from everyone, because most only found out about this when ben put a facebook message up saying he was sad I was going to have to stay in the hospital.

In other news… was woken up by my Dad this morning who called to ask me what my sister had said to me yesterday about her boyfriend, and when I said nothing but I got the impression something was up…he told me that he had broken up with her. Now, I totally dont blame him (and in the nicest way for my sister) but shes not the most mature or thoughtful girl at times, and so its a struggle for him to deal with that at times and lately she has been going a bit off the rails, drinking wayyy too much and acting up. I knew it would just be a matter of time… so its only fresh but she has agreed to move home (thank god) and my parents can help her get her act together and she can get a proper job, stop drinking so much, and possibly work at her relationship again.

Its just sucky that this has happened when I cant do anything to help her… shes going to need some support, but she may just have to get it from me from the phone!

 

Ouchies

So… had my surgery. Went as well as these things can go… and one day on, I am in pain! I was the first patient in for the day, and the last home!

I woke up at 10.30, with a nurse holding me down, very groggy and in pain. Morpheine was given, then more morpheine a little later. After an hour in recovery, I was rolled to the next room, and basically kept sleeping until about 2pm. Then they tried to feed me, but my throat was so dry that I could barely get anything down. Finally at 3pm they allowed me to start getting dressed, and by 3.30 I was sitting in a chair, waiting to get discharged… or so I thought.

I was sooo tired still, like barely able to keep my eyes open, and I needed a lot of water, but the nurse I had been asking just wasnt bringing it (oh but went and got her own!) and everyone else in that area had called their pick up person… when I finally asked if I could call mine, they found out Ben was already waiting for me.

So I went to the discharge room, went through a few questions, found out I have endometriosis and they took 2 samples of it, but the nurse couldnt tell me much more so I have to wait 6 weeks for more information at my follow up appointment. Then I started crying, I was just so tired, there were annoying people in the waiting room, and i wanted to be home. Then she goes “have you peed yet?” no… and thats when the troubles started.

you see, as part of the operation they looked in my bladder to check there wasnt anything there, so i needed to pee to make sure nothing was stuffed up. But, i was so dehydrated and exhausted that I just couldnt. I sat on that bathroom for a long time, no luck. At 5 they brought Ben in to watch over me and I tried again and by then I was so frustrated that after I came off, I was nauseous and they had to give me drugs. Then they told me that if I couldnt pee that I would have to stay overnight and have a catheter put in! THAT I was not looking forward to.

I was taken upstairs to a bed, given a dinner (but I still couldnt eat because my throat was scratchy) and tried to go to the bathroom again. My mum (who was verrrry worried, having had a catheter herself!) visited for a bit and then at 8pm the nurse came back and said Ive got one chance left to pee – and thankfully after a few litres of water, I was able to! PHEW!

The nurses were happy (they sure as hell didnt want to catheter me!) and the doctor was happy and so I was allowed to go home.

After all that water, I had to pee every hour and it got harder and harder to get off the bed, so I moved to the couch at 4am and I havent moved since then really! We went to the chemist today to get some panadol, so I am mixing up my good strong pain killers with the weaker stuff and taking anti inflammatories. Stitches come out Monday and ohh that does not look like fun! My aunty may be able to do it which means at least she will be gentler!

But for the rest of the week, I shall be sitting upright on the couch and hoping that it doesnt hurt too much when I move! But at least theyve found something… there is an explanation for that pain and it wasnt in my head. That is something I am very thankful for. Oh and that I made it through surgery ok!

Ben has been wonderful…. my mum is a little more in love with him now! She keeps gushing about how great he is… he stayed home with me today to look after me, which is good because there were times I couldnt get off the couch. Hes a great guy and I am lucky to have him!

 

surgery tomorrow

I have surgery scheduled for tomorrow… and I am still sick. And I am now very nervous about this! I went in today for pre admission and told them I have a cough and a touch of asthma as a result and had to wait around 3 1/2 hours to get an answer on what they were going to do. In the end: the decision will be made about surgery by the anesthestist tomorrow morning. you know, after I drink the horrible bowel preparation kit before the surgery. ick.

It should be fine… but now if they dont do it tomorrow I am in a bad spot with work because Im still new…but also, am I healthy enough for the surgery? Its not a major surgery but still….

so I am scared… nervous… and anxious. I hope it all goes OK.

 

surgery

I am having surgery on monday. The time has FINALLY come! I am stresed about it, fearful they wont find anything, scared they will.

 

Most importantly right now: Im worried my being sick will cause it to be cancelled. Theres been a nasty sore throat/cough/chest infection going around and I was lucky enough to have caught it by Monday morning. By Tuesday it was bad and I got sent home from work, stayed home Wednesday, came in Thursday to get things done because, hey Im having a week off for surgery and things need to get done! And by Thursday night I was so exhausted. This morning, i should have stayed home. I know I should have. But, I didnt. Because today there were a lot of things to get done, and when I look at all the things I achieved in a day, it was worth coming in.

 

Except, if Im not better by Monday when I do pre-admission, they might cancel my surgery. Which will cause issues at work. Which will cause me stress. Which will make the hospital mad at me! I know we cant help getting sick, and I did what I could to get better – including visiting the worlds worst doctor because I couldnt get in to see mine – but aside from a lot of R&R this weekend, and hoping like hell the cough clears up, there isnt a thing I can do.

 

I understand hospitals cant cut into you when you are having breathing problems, I get it. So, body of mine, please stop annoying me and get better!

 

Buying a house

So I know I have been moaning on here for a while now about money and I’m so poor and stressed and I want this and that and I have to be patient… well, it turns out, screw patience.

After advise from everyone around us that we should at least see a mortgage broker to see if we can realistically afford a house right now because our parents, his sister, and a few friends thought that it would be cheaper than we thought. So… once the stress with Bens dad died down (hes home from hospital and doing a bit better now) we went off to the broker.

The broker came highly recommended – a few of Bens friends had used him and promised there would be no stress. And there literally was. He put the different options on the table for us – use all your deposit and the first home buyers grant and you can borrow this much and repayments are this much… and told us what it would cost for different levels of deposit and house price. And the surprising thing? It was cheaper than our rent.

Now we arent looking for an expensive place… just a place to suit us for now. This can be a 2 bedroom unit or 3 bedroom (if we get lucky) and if its brand new, we barely have to touch the deposit!

So… we decided to bite the bullet and go for it. There is never going to be a PERFECT time, you will never be debt free, have the full deposit and have plummeting house prices all at the same time, so why wait? Particularly because in Australia waiting another year will literally cost you a free $14k. (The government gives first home buyers money to help pay off the stamp duty.)

Last night we went and saw our broker again to get our pre-approval and while that wont come in for another week or so, we can safely look at houses this weekend and put offers in without being fearful of having no money.

The things I was worried about? My debt and the fact that this is all his deposit… well if we get a place that is relatively cheap, I can still pay off my debt at the same rate we have now AND we barely have to touch his deposit, give or take a few thousand for legal fees and all that. That means he can use that money to pay off his student loans (or HECS as we call them here) or buy something he really wants, or just keep it to accrue interest.

We also made a deal: I take on the buying of decoration for the house and he puts in what he has to of his deposit, eventually itll even out!

This weekend: going to be CRAZY. We could spend all Saturday and all Sunday seeing houses and still have 10 left over. So, we are going to prioritise those in each time slot, look at the new buildings first, and see what else we can do.

Keep your fingers crossed that we find something, love it, put an offer in, have it accepted and its DONE in the next few weeks. Otherwise this will become the house hunting whining blog. Nobody wants to see that!

 

No drama queen

I am not a drama queen. I hate being the centre of attention and am happy to go through life with just my good friends and thats that.

When I was a kid I was PAINFULLY shy. (Although as a 2 year old apparently I would sing and dance and be very loud) I would hide behind my mum if people were around that I didnt know, and I was nicknamed Mouse by our family friends because I just wouldnt talk. I struggled to fit in during the first few years of primary school and when I was in Grade 4 my mum had had just about enough! She had one kid (my sister) who wouldnt shut up and dominated everyones attention and another who struggled to say a word. So she sent me off to drama classes at the community centre with a bunch of other loud mouthed kids. I totally did not fit in in that class. My drama teacher would always struggle to get me to participate, and she would have to force me to take on any kind of major role. I was happy to stand in the background. Towards the end of our course, we all had to pair off and learn some lines to do a little scene on the stage for our parents. I was soooo nervous! I did not want to do it, but my mum pushed me to at least try, saying I would be proud of myself if I did it. And so I learnt some very difficult lines – it was a doctor/patient scene. I had to come in and tell the doctor that my stomach hurt, then the doctor asks me what I had eaten that day, and I listed off a bunch of junkfood – so many and so fast that when I finally completed my lines (and got it correct!) that people clapped!

 

I went onto that stage so petrified I thought I was going to throw up, but I came off pretty damn proud of myself. I had done something I didnt want to do, and did it well. And now it was over!

Mum didnt make me go back to the drama class, but I did come out of my shell a little bit after that.

 

I was promptly put back INTO my shell during Year 8 drama class. That year was the worst of my life. I had been put in a class with none of my friends, and all of the naughty kids. (Seriously – the school decided to trial a program where all the naughty kids were put in a class with some of the better behaved kids and hope that the influence would rub off. All that happened? The good kids got bullied, there was one day where the classroom was completely destroyed by a food fight and the teacher had 3 years off on stress leave. She came back when we were in Year 11 and refused to talk to anyone from our year level.)

 

Drama class was my least favourite time of the week. I would be forced to fake scream, act, and dance in this class and I really didnt want to. I didnt have many friends I could stand with and the teacher was very gung ho on drama and couldnt see why others may not enjoy it. Halfway throug the year though, it got worse. A boy had been picking on me and making my life hell all year long and we were put in a group together to work on a mini play. So for a few weeks I put up with his mean taunts and my friend and I tried to just get on with things.

 

One day however, he was soooo mean to me. Anything I did, he said I did it bad. “Is that seriously how you act?” “Whats wrong with you, why cant you act?” and then, he started picking on my looks! I KNOW I was an ugly kid. I had an unfortunate fringe and horrible teeth - teeth that wouldnt get braces until Year 11 because they were too stubborn to move. “You are soooo ugly” he started saying “What is wrong with your teeth? you need braces” It was then that i CRACKED. I screamed at him then started crying and locked myself in the toilets for a very long time. The teacher was freaked out because I just wouldnt leave and I wouldnt stop crying. My insecure 13 year old mind had had enough. I was sick of the bullying, torments and I was sick of being in that class!

 

Finally I came out, and he got in a world of trouble. But I never had to participate in class again if I didnt want to, and they kept him away from me for the rest of the year. He was also never in any of my classes again. From then on though, drama was the stupidest subject ever. I couldn’t see how anyone would like to fake pretend!

 

Years later, I saw that same guy in a nightclub. We said Hi and chatted (he was with a bunch of other guys from my year level). He apologised for what he did to me, that he wasnt trying to be mean to me but that he had liked me and it was the only way to talk to me. I called him an asshole and told him that I accepted his apology, but I certainly wasnt going to forget it! He begged me to, but nope, I said I couldnt forget what was one of the worst experiences of my life. Then, he actually tried to kiss me while we were dancing! I may have been drunk, but sooo not that drunk!

A few days later, he called me, having gotten my number from a mutual friend. He went over the same spiel, then asked me out, saying he was serious about liking me. I said no. I said I was happy that he apologised and could understand he was a different guy now, and that I was glad of it, but I just wasnt interested. And I totally wasnt. I was still very insecure and was dating almost any loser that came along, but I wouldnt even consider going there!

 

He called a few more times, we went over the same thing again and again, and eventually he went away. Today we are facebook friends and he is married, and into running and all sorts of things I have no interest in, so I think I made the right choice there!

 

 

 

 

 

Loving Masterchef!

Masterchef is all the rage here in Australia. Its a bunch of amateur cooks, cooking off against each other to create the best dishes. Its on 6 days a week, and it is awesome. I know it SOUNDS boring, and it certainly started off that way, but trust me, for some strange reason it works. None of the judges are the nasty judge either, they seriously want to help these people explore their passion for cooking, and even though there is bitching and all that amongst the competitors, we dont see any of that. (They just sell their stories afterwards to the papers!) We just see people, learning to cook, loving food, and all these great tips.

 

And that is why, I love it. I guess it is no secret that I love to cook. I certainly would NEVER try out for something like Masterchef, because I know my levels of presentation or creative thinking are anything like theirs, but I still love to try out new recipes and techniques. I find it fun (except for the dishes).

 

Because of the show I want to try to make a souffle. I also got confirmation that even though my flourless chocolate cake failed big time, it wasnt because of how I made it. It has made me see the value in fresh herbs, and using actual lemon zest when it says to. 

 

It has also been fun seeing bens reaction to things like fresh basil. He would ask what is this green thing? I really like it. Then he describes how it tastes and how its sooo good. 

It is fun to share those kinds of things together. Ben loves to eat, I love to cook. And certainly, the fancier the dish I make you, the more you know I care! One of the funniest things is having people over for dinner. Ben cant understand why I ask what they like to eat most…  it is simply because I want to make them something they like! My favourite friends to cook for is a girl I used to work with and her fiance. The fiance loves EVERYTHING I make and it is sooo funny! I knew he loved mexican, so I made him mexican pizza when they came over last and was like “OMG give Kylie the recipe!” and I brought Creme Brule cupcakes to their house once, and he ate like 5 of them, and I left them the leftovers and apparently he ate the rest for breakfast.

 

Im not kidding myself in that my food is great. I have failures all the time and nothing looks great on the plate, but it usually tastes nice, and it just another way I can relax. I sometimes chide myself for not having any “real” hobbies like other people. But I know I simply love to read and to cook and daydream!

 

Sweet potato and spinach cannelloni

Funnily enough, I had never made cannelloni. It always seemed pretty hard to do! Turns out, although it is fiddly, its pretty easy! Just use fresh lasagne sheets and it will all go well.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 350g orange sweet potato, peeled, chopped
• 400g can butter beans, drained, rinsed
• 100g baby spinach, chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 fresh lasagne pasta sheets
• 500g jar tomato pasta sauce with garlic and onion
• 1/2 cup grated reduced-fat tasty cheese

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Cook potato in a large saucepan of boiling, salted water for 10 to 12 minutes or until just tender. Drain. Return potato to pan. Mash until smooth.
2. Place beans in a large bowl. Using a fork, roughly mash. Add spinach, basil, egg yolk and potato. Stir to combine. Cut lasagne sheets in half crossways. Place 1/4 cup potato mixture along 1 long edge of each piece. Roll up to enclose filling. Repeat with remaining potato mixture and lasagne sheets.
3. Spread half the pasta sauce over the base of a 6cm-deep, 25cm x 35cm (base) ovenproof dish. Arrange filled lasagne, seam side down, on sauce. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until lasagne is tender and cheese golden brown. Serve.

Source

Super Food Ideas – July 2008, Page 70