Thursday, June 19, 2008

No Longer Listless

I'm very organised today. I've launched on a new project at work that I'm actually quite happy about. It involves lots of timelines and getting things in order, so I began thinking about getting my own 'business' sorted and wrote a list:

Paint the inside of my house which is looking decidedly grubby and neglected because I've done little to it thinking a bulldozer would have been long through like a Vogon battleship building an intergalactic highway.

Wash my car. For the first time in I don't know how many years, this weekend we can hose our cars (damn now I've no excuse for a dirty car) It needs a 'good going over' as my mother would say, inside and out. Who knows what I might find in the bowels of the boot or under the seat! It'll be interesting to actually see what colour it is, I've forgotten.

Book my passport application interview because you never know, I might win that overseas trip or have a rush of blood to the head and spend the weekend in Paris. The papers have been completed, signed and witnessed, I just need a Postmaster's stamp and I'm ready to roll. Only problem could be the two year old photo . . pfft

Book into my photography class at TAFE which I've procrastinated over for two terms. One because my partner in crime had touch footy and couldn't come with me (clearly had his priorities wrong) and the second because funds were a little short at the time. Now I have no excuse, so will do it and attend next semester. I have a Mickey Mouse Canon EOS 40D SLR and two lenses and no idea how to use the manual settings which results in lots of black when I try to take pictures of possums.

Fix the pool auto cleaner before the Liquidamber leaves begin to fall which will be any second now, clogging up impellars, blackening the bottom of the pebblecrete and forcing me to put hands in icy water as skimmer boxes explode with the weight. Curse my sister for giving that tree to my father before the pool was built! It will be restored to it's former glory by summer.

Get the pressure hose out and clean away the duck poo. Seriously, I put my car in for a service today and a colleague picked me up this morning to get to work and there must have been forty wood ducks munching on the over grown grass at the front they have adopted our pool over the winter as their safe haven and the coping stones have become a daffy dunny.

Fix the kitchen cupboard that came off it's hinges last night thanks to a slightly exhuberant opening by a thirsty DrummerBoy looking for a glass and a stressed hinge which has simply snapped. The kitchen's only 5 years old! Either we clearly drink too much or they don't make 'em like they used to.
Replace my living room sofas with a decent sized lounge and sofa bed. They should have been tossed years ago. No amount of steam cleaning is going to clear the gunge so it's time for something new and no self-respecting couch potato can schmooze on a dirty sofa (I'll wait until I've painted).

Check out two year interest free deals on a new washing machine. Mine's screaming like a banshee under the stress of washing filthy King Gee gardener's clothes and the pump means I have to be on stand by to get a 'syphon' working during the spin cycle. I should have been a Queens Guide I'm so handy.

Book a family week in Hawks Nest in January just to chill and watch the dolphins and read and eat fish and chips on the Tea Gardens Wharf while the sun sinks slowly in the west and wear nothing but bather's and sarongs and thongs for the whole week. I might even try to find a dog friendly rental so that Lily can at last frolic in the surf and immerse us in sandy doggy slop.

On a more immediate note - Start a course of glucosamine to help with my ailing fingins and hands which are feeling increasingly arthritic and red clover to stem the hot flushes - don't ask, I'm the only person who sleeps without bedcovers in the middle of winter - it's better than dealing with the crimson wave and 'moon cycle' as my friend calls it.

Oh and buy a present for BabySis who's birthday it was today but has gone pretty much unmarked. Shame . . we don't do cake and jelly any more or wear silly hats and frilly dresses.




Happy Birthday Doo-Doo! I'll swing by on the weekend!

10 comments:

Thriftcriminal said...

Ah, Lists. Love em. I've had a living list going for the past 2 years since we got our extension. Stuff gets crossed off, but more gets added on to replace it. July will see a deck built out the back. Oh, Kitchens are designed with a 5 year life expectancy these days, for us frivolous consumers who get "bored" with the same old look. Hinge is a doddle to fix. Have fun!

Anonymous said...

What is the time frame for your list Baino? A new computer isn't on there!

Anonymous said...

That's everything sorted then (in theory at least)! Glad we don't have room for a pool, it sounds like an awful lot of work keeping it in order. If I made a list like that, I'd probably have a similar mental list with all the excuses for not doing any of them. So I accept reality and just do things when I feel like it or when they become undeniably urgent. I'm a lazy sod.

Anonymous said...

I knew you would bounce back! :D

I used to keep a list and score off and add on regularly. Now I never bother.

Excellent Adventures said...

Hawkes Nest in January? Sounds like a plan! How am I supposed to pay off all my holiday debt with all these summer vacations! Oh well!

Baino said...

Thrifty I am notorious for NOT making lists and always forget something vital when I shop for groceries for instance, but it's a start. And I'm a bit pissed off with my kitchen . . .it's not that old (rebuilt after a flood) My previous one lasted 20 years! I have Mr Fixit on the cupboard case.

Anony: Time frame? Before Spring. I do need a new computer but madly saving for a holly at the moment so he two old things I've got will have to suffice. *note to self - backup hard drive*

Nick: Nup, I'm going to start painting next week. Off to Bunnings I iz. The pool is easy to look after if the auto cleaner does it's job. I need an electrician to fix the pump (I only have two in the family!) I wouldn't have another one now the kids are older - they prefer the beach.

GrannyMar: Oh yes, only down now and then, like an old bedspring I am. Boing!

Clare: I thought maybe a four day weekend if I can get a house in the school hols. If not, maybe we'll go Feb once school goes back. All depends on the timing of a houseguest we might be having. My shout!

Kath Lockett said...

Sounds like you're busier than a blowfly at a barbeque, Baino.

In addition to glucosamine, try fish oil (the loose oil in a bottle, not the poxy capsules). It's made a huge difference to my Dad... and my dog!

Anonymous said...

I'm a great list maker. It puts things in perspective and relieves stress. Crossing stuff off lists however is not my specialty!

Anonymous said...

Awww tank you Nellie! Happy Birfdy indeed.....just for the record Hippybro gave ME the liquidamber for my birthday when I was 12 and we first moved in! It was such a tiny tree then.....good luck with your list...I've got a bit of paintin' to do around here once you're finished!
Luv ya!

Baino said...

Thanks Kath. I don't think I could tolerate drinking fish oil! I can however tuck away the tuna and salmon. I actually think its RSI. It's my 'mouse' finger that's really sore and my right wrist. Suspicious because I'm a lefty.

I dunno Quicky after that last trip of yours there must have been much list making! I'm a bit slow on the crossing off scene myself!

Babysis: Hippo Birdie Two Ewes, Hippo Birdie Two Ewes, Hippo Biiiirdie Two Euuuuuuuuuuuweeeees . . . Hippo Birdie Two Ewes.