The washing up saga

Now, I don't mind washing up. I know that sounds a bit odd but on the whole, it's quite a calming exercise when you're standing there with hot soapy water over your hands. It's a time for contemplation. I wouldn't have been complaining at all had I occasionally managed to convince my husband to do it once in a while. Surely once a week is not too much to ask? Sadly, it was. Given that we also cook separate meals I would have two lots of pots and pans to wash up (or not quite two lots when he uses the barbeque). Every. Single. Day. So, after the evening meal it was always he'd go and flop on the sofa whilst I spent ages putting away the dry dishes from the night before, doing the washing up, then cleaning up. To make things worse he always asked why was I doing that and why couldn't I go and sit down and do it all in the morning. I hate leaving the washing up for the morning. Coming downstairs to make your breakfast and seeing a disaster zone that you know has to be cleaned before you can even sit down is something I loathe. Especially when I have my mornings timed to perfection so I don't have to get up a second before I absolutely have to. (I don't do mornings) On top of this I do most of the laundry (he may put a load on once a fortnight) I do the housecleaning (he may mop the floors once a fortnight or less) I clean the fish tanks and filters when they need doing (he may do them occasionally - I've learnt not to believe when he says he'll do it soon, because he won't. He'll do it then, or not at all) I take most of the rubbish and recycling out (he thinks that putting the recycling in a bag and putting it in the garage for me to take out later is 'doing the recycling') and I do all the washing up (sometimes he would rinse all the dishes and pile them up, but it still meant me washing up). So I complained. I nagged. I mentioned it at every damn opportunity. I wanted a dishwasher. He didn't really want to spend the money and then worried that the kitchen wasn't set up correctly and didn't want to have to pay for a plumber to install it. So after a couple of heated discussions, I figured it was a lost cause so imagine my surprise when I got home on Monday night (the night after the talk about plumbers installing it costing too much) to find a nice, shiny new dishwasher in the kitchen. I'm in domestic heaven. It's so easy! You quickly rinse the plates/glasses etc. as you finish with them and just put them in! Set it at night and in the morning you have clean dishes! It takes me a quarter of the time in the evening it used to take me to clean up which means more time giving my husband attention so he's happier. He doesn't have to listen to me complaining so he's happier still. It's also so quiet, you cannot hear it unless you're right next to it, it's great! Now I just have to work out what I want next...:)

new house

I'm a bit bored so I thought I'd show you all where I live :) Or, at least, the complex as seen from our house. The flowers were from Graham because I wasn't feeling very well yesterday. I love that man :)

getting there

So, I took the job with the lovely firm I've been temping with so that's all good, I've got a date for my wedding which is fantastic! (it's the 17th May 2008 at 4pm). We don't use the pool at the house because it's always full of kids but you can't have everything I suppose. All we have to do now is find a job for Gray, I'm keeping my fingers crossed about one he's rung up for today. Please please please please please please...

domesticity

Oh, and we have somewhere to live! It's got aircon, and a pool and we're off the main roads in a lovely quiet (so far) complex. Woohoo! AND I've got a job interview on Thursday with one firm and then I've got to go back to the firm I'm temping for and tell them what they've offered and they'll see if they can beat it :) They've also promised to give me not only time off for my wedding but time off for my sisters wedding too which, in Australia, and with work choices (bad BAD law) you're not allowed to take holidays within the first 12 months of starting a job so that could be a very, very good thing! Oh, and we've got an iron, you should be proud of me :)

The hazards of a new house...part 2

I am, without a doubt, so glad that I have the Other Half who knows what the hell is going on in this country. I may have mentioned that the house is not actually IN Bowen itself, but about 5/6 ks outside the centre of town. This poses some problems that I had not even thought of. Water Before I came to Australia water was such a simple thing. When you moved into a house you turned the tap on and hey presto! there water was. Unless you live in London that selfsame water from the tap was for bathing, drinking, you name it, you could use the water for it. I now am having to learn the differences between - town water (drinkable but not really tasting that good to be honest) which is available, oddly enough, in town. bore water (definitely NOT drinkable) which is what those of us daft enough to live outside the available town water have in our taps tank water (drinkable) which is basically rainwater from the roof. Not the best plan to survive on it given the amount of rain Bowen has grey water (urgh) which is our waste washing machine water etc for watering the garden. I'm also not sure what happens when we go over our water allocation (fingers crossed we won't) I suspect that we get charged a lot. Rubbish You would think that rubbish collection is a given - or I do, being British, where you may have to take your rubbish to the end of the drive but collect it they do - but noooo. Once again, out of the town boundaries your rubbish is your problem. The Other Half and I had a fun time emptying our fire bin last night because the previous idiots..sorry, tenants...had filled it with things that do not burn - like glass bottles - or things that need a really hot fire to burn - like cans - which they did not have. Food scraps will go to the chickens when we get them but until then we're throwing them out and I have to remember to bring them into town to dump them in a public bin* Post Once again, I know that being British I have certain expections regarding my post - that is, it will be delivered to my door or post box at the end of the drive. However, here, those pesky town boundaries come into play again. Australia Post do not deliver out to where we live. I have to organise for the Post Office to keep my mail for me until I can pick it up or they just return it to sender. Grr. I'm getting there though, I've changed the electricity to my name, got the Post Office to hold my mail and applied for a PO Box (2 month waiting list - useful) although I'm still not sure if I have to ask people to write letters to me c/o the post office or if they just keep it with the address. I think that given it's a redirecting service, just my address will do. The rubbish will have to wait until this afternoon or tomorrow and I'm going on a beanbag hunt in a minute** I'm getting there, I'll be an Aussie yet (although I'm feeling like a wee bit of a traitor as the Other Half is a rabid cricket fan and wanted talking Boony and Beefy figurines to watch the cricket with so I said I'd do it online which involved joining the Boony Army. I'm still supporting the Poms though, I promise!). *which I completely forgot to do this morning **they're a lot cheaper than a lounge suite...

The hazards of a new house...

I may have a little problem with my address. To all those who I have given my address to, please hold off sending christmas cards because I'm not entirely certain that Australia Post actually deliver out this far. I may have to set up a post office box and get post sent to there. It's all highly irritating *sigh* In other news I am having lots of fun being highly domesticated. I've spent a blissful 2 days organising the kitchen and doing all the washing and banishing the Other Half to the garage (not that he needed much persuading!). We've managed to blow the safety switch twice trying to run 2 freezers and a fridge from one powerpoint (we've given that one up as a lost cause) and discovered that the green ants like to try and come in the bathroom window because it's got a franjipani tree just outside. I also woke up this morning and whilst wondering through the house rather scantily clad (it is my house after all) looking for clean clothes I noticed that the mango pickers were only a couple of trees away in the next paddock. I think I may need to check out my windows before doing that again, I may have given them just a wee bit of an eyeful by accident before realising they were there. Ah well. I'm working on the photos (of both the house and the Other Half) and will send them as soon as I possibly can!