Every day

Wall-E, for Dad

His little plant's green border comes off, but I think I'll leave it on to protect it, for now.  His head swivels, arms slide back and forth, claws rotate and of course the tracks work too.

Plus, Here's a view of his 'space' with the plant inside.

September

September, where did you go?

30 days, and over so soon.  So many things happened, and I barely seem to have had time to breathe.  Most importantly, of course, there was my birthday, the 18th.  Since then I haven't stopped, even today when I planned to be home, I got called off reserve.  Okay, I still know I shouldn't make plans on reserve!  I didn't make actual plans, just 'do nothing' plans.

Yesterday I got back from Canberra after three days there - and my last two birthday presents arrived from Ireland!  One parcel from my mother, and another from my sister.   Both awesome.  So, whoever claims that birthdays only happen once a year is wrong.

I also got a chance to build the final part of Kurt's present:

I also got a model of Wall-E but I'm not sure where he is.  Probably somewhere very very safe.

Smalley (otherwise known as Lily) was enthusiastically welcoming to me yesterday - making me feel very loved!  She is quite a stalker and follows at my heels every time I move in the apartment - often so close I can feel her little cold nose on my calves.

She's booked in to get a haircut tomorrow - maybe we'll be able to even those legs out a little.

In other news, we are building a house!  Yes, this is news, this is very new news, in August, we were not building a house.  We were not planning on building a house, and now we are, so call us crazy but there you have it.

Having become more and more unhappy with the new onsite managers at our apartment complex, we decided that yes we probably could afford the bare bones of a deposit, and to look more seriously at places to live.  In fact, Kurt announced wanting to have another look at display homes (We also did this six months ago and decided it could never happen ever.  Okay, I exaggerate, maybe one to two years down the track.) just before my birthday, so on the morning of the 18th, after opening my presents, we went down the coast to start looking.

By the end of the weekend we had a block of land.

And by the end of the last weekend we had the house sorted out.  I definitely think we are crazy now.  How did that happen?

The land is still a construction zone, and is due to be registered with the council in November.  I got a good view of it today as we were on final for Runway 14:

Our part isn't built on yet, and it doesn't have roads on either, so it's part of the dirt-coloured bit.  They have to have all the roads completed before registration - so hopefully we will see it change quite a bit over the next few weeks.  It's only a very little block of land - as is usual for all of these new "people factory" developments, but we have one of the larger ones in the estate and will at least have about 6m by 15m of garden.

All going accordingly to plan, we hope to start building after Christmas!  And perhaps we will get to move in mid to late 2016...  *crosses fingers*

Guest Post

Mummy and Daddy don't love me any more.  I'm pretty sure of this because I haven't seen Mummy in 2 days and Daddy just locked me up without my bed again.  This upsets me because I can see my bed on the other side of the room and he only left me 2 towels and 4 of my toys which isn't OK because I wanted one of the ones he didn't give me.

I'm needy like that.

Also, my favourite toy is an awesome white nylon bone with a tasty jerky filling which if I chew and chew and chew I might manage to get to some time next millenium.  This is another reason I'm sure my parents hate me because they keep taking the bone away from me after I rattle it on the tiles too much.

And then Daddy looks at me like this:

He's a lot taller than me.

I lost my new treat ball under the TV stand yesterday and Mummy didn't get it out before she left to go to work and that was cruel too.  

I like licking toes to say hello, and when Mummy or Daddy let me out of my crate I lie on their feet to say hello.  If they ignore me, I wriggle under their feet so that they HAVE to pat me.

And then Mummy looks at me with a 'OMG how are you so sneaky' face and I just smile back.

Here's another thing.  Mummy gives me a bath ever so often.  I don't really like getting wet but she keeps doing it.  And sometimes she submerges herself in water too!  I'm not sure this is a good idea so I whimper at her a little to make sure she knows that I care, and I make sure I check on her every few minutes.

I'm still not allowed in the bedrooms, but I'm working on it.  I figure if I look pitiful enough maybe one day they'll give in.

It hasn't worked yet.  Mummy just takes photos of me and laughs, and that's not what I meant to happen!

My fur is growing back on my leg where they shaved it , although I still look a little silly.  Mummy says she's going to book me in to get groomed again but she's been very busy.

Apparently Mummy and Daddy are going to build a house next year and I will have a garden to play in!  I am very excited about that, as when I'm outside I go completely crazy and run around like a mad thing.  I am much faster than even Daddy when he sprints, and I love going for runs with Mummy.  She hasn't taken me for awhile because she has shin splints, but she still takes me to the park.

One day I fell in the creek and I got really really wet !  

Mummy says I looked more like a drowned rat than a dog.

Anyway I have to go now, it was nice talking to you all!

Lots of love

Lily 

(the white bone)

1st anniversary!

Today is our 1st wedding anniversary.  Both being one for tradition and also having been offered a free night's stay where we got married, we have headed up the coast to spend the weekend in Caloundra.

It's been a great couple of days so far.  We've watched a good movie, played mini golf, gone to the beach where we got married, bought Lego airplanes, and in general had a good time.

The resort, having forgotten to give us chocolates on our wedding night, left us a plate of chocolate coated strawberries and Lindt truffles in our fridge today (and a bottle of wine yesterday).  We had been saving a bottle of Moët Champagne for the last year or so, so having been told of a delay for dinner, we enjoyed this on our balcony!

We are now waiting to be seated at a quite well rated Italian restaurant - having walked 20 minutes from the resort - and despite Kurt's pleas to go to Hogsbreath!

And... it looks like the table is ready!

Hanging with Lily

The plovers are angry.

Angry that this little grass-eating monster has invaded their space.

And me, of course, they're very upset about me.

It's quite a monster of a small dog that I've got here.  (and a terrible picture of me, but the sun was bright, and Lily is cute)

We're just out at the back of the complex, and like I said, the plovers are going crazy, fake-swooping in our general direction.  

And there's loads of space, so we're happy to share.

I think the small dog would spend the entire afternoon out here if I let her ! 

At the weekend, Kurt and I are going to Caloundra, where we got married, for our wedding anniversary.

Lily is going to stay with Kurt's parents on Bribie Island, which will be nice for her - I'm not sure whether it'll be nice for them...

This lying outside in the sun while the small dog plays is good.  I should do this more often.  (sans plovers). 

The RTCC

It was so cold this morning.

Wisely, I opted to wear my overcoat (from Ireland) rather than just a hoody, or maybe I could have died.  You never know.

Mind you, there were about a thousand cyclists wearing various combinations of very little, unless you include Lycra, of which there was a mind-numbing amount.

Maybe it's because I'm not involved in the sport, but I do struggle to understand the attraction of all this skin tight shiny madness.  I understand the reasoning behind the shaved legs (I've been told, so I know) and I understand the padded underside (I get sore on even a short ride) and I guess I understand that baggy clothing would cause more drag, but... it's all a little much to comprehend when you put it all together.

Anyway, where was I?  Oh yes, it was so very cold.  So so very cold that I felt like every one of my muscles was clenched together causing everything to get stiff and sore and OMG how much longer ????

Kurt looking positive and excited despite the conditions

Moving on from Lycra, the next thing I don't understand is why you have to turn up for an event 2 hours before it's actually going to start.  We arrived just after five, and "kick-off" wasn't until seven.  Apparently you "had" to be there by six or else, but nothing magically happened at six.  Nobody said "that's it, folks!  If you're not here, stay out, the gates are closing".

And I'm not saying that Kurt made it up - not at all, it said so on the website.  It said be there, or just don't come, or something like that, and one of Kurt's Very Experienced Cycling Friends said "I'll be there at five" and that just compounded the urgency of we must, or we will miss out.

Folks, I don't think we would have missed out.  Even I, the wise one, thought that we left at a sensible time, given the website's Decree, and the friend's Opinion.

Also, given that there were no gates, it was a bit of a free for all.  One of Kurt's cycling mates turned up, telling me "oh, I'm not doing the ride, I'm just going to join in for the first twenty k or so".  Okaaay then.  And the organisers didn't seem to mind.  Which begs the question, if anyone could turn up, and at any time, why, o why, did we have to be there so early when it was so bloody cold???!!!

My lovely husband wisely chose to wear sweatpants and a hoody over his sexy lycra, which made him somewhat warmer, although the bare feet and thongs (flip-flops, people, keep your minds out of the gutter) rather spoilt the "keeping warm" effect.  He did elect to wear socks for the ride, thank goodness.

Unfortunately, having pondered the meaning of life for the last few days, he decided to pack his leg-warmers and arm-warmers and wind-breaker and gloves into his bag for day 2 (forecast to be colder) which was then packed onto a coach to be delivered to where they camp tonight.  We didn't realise just how cold it was going to be this morning.  Did I mention how cold it actually was?

Okay, it probably wasn't colder than about seven degrees, but that's pretty cold, for two hours, especially (and I can't complain, I had an overcoat, like I said) when you have to strip down to 100% lycra short-sleeved cycling jersey and knicks.  Maybe the socks helped?

Someone told Kurt that the RTCC was super super organised.  They're so organised, Someone said, so much more organised than other rides.

For instance, when dropping the bag off, all of the trucks had coloured dots on them.  All you have to do is match the dot on your wrist band to the dot on the truck, and voila!  See?  We're organised.  Except that Kurt's wrist band had three dots on it.  Pink, green and black, and there was a pink truck, and a black truck (I guess the green truck didn't make it?) and he was in Tent Zone C and oh dear, the purple truck said Zone C on it...  Eventually we went with the purple truck, for want of a better idea - at least he knows which truck it's in !  (This issue came up again at the start line, where you were directed into Zones to start - blue, black or pink.  Whoopsie, same issue, folks!

After breakfast (supplied by the Ride, which was nice) Kurt had to go down to his Zone for start, and I went and stood on the nearby roundabout to watch him go past.  Half an hour later after interminable talking (did they not know it was cold?) they were off.  I tried to take a picture but was unable to distinguish him amongst the hoard of lycra-clad helmet-wearing blue-jerseyed cyclists.

They were through at 07:02, at 09:14 he messaged at the 40k mark, and at 11:11 after 66k he stopped for lunch... so I presume it won't be too much longer until day 1 is complete!

And then he has to camp in the very-very cold - I do hope he is warm enough with the stuff he brought.  And I went home to eat leftover Chinese Takeaway for breakfast, feed Lily and then go back to bed :)

Tomorrow, another 100k to the Finish Line, where hopefully I will be waving and cheering him on :)