The principal of the school is showing a group of dignitaries around the new campus. They came into my room, where naturally I’d written a Dad joke, (but not the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria – oops), and she read the joke at the bottom of this post aloud.
“I should have known I’d come into this room and you’d have a Dad joke on the board!” she said.
Then one of the men in the group asked if he could tell a Dad joke.
“Where do robots go for fun? The circuits.”
Where I’ve been:McClelland Park.
See my previous post.
Where I’m going:To my sewing room.
I finally started the quilt with over 5,00 tiny squares. It’s not difficult sewing, but I do need to keep my mind on the placement of each and every square. If I’m able to do 5 blocka a week, I should get it finished in a few months.
I’m already up to 3 blocks. Only about 87 to go. I’ll be finished in no time!
What I’m watching:Netflix.
I just finished season 2 of ‘Bridgerton’ and now I’m diving back into ‘Peaky Blinders.’ I had no idea that Peaky Blinders is based on real events. Ryan27 remarked that they cast the actors as looking very much like the real people, so I googled them.
I noticed that Netflix has released yet another season of ‘The Black List.’ I started watching this about a decade ago as my silly, junk tv secret pleaasure. I guess I’ll sign up for yet another season. I’ve been seeing what Raymond Reddington has been up to, right from the start. Can’t turn back now!
What I’m reading:2 books with the same beginning.
I’ve borrowed an ebook and a regular book from my local library and I started both of them in the last couple of days. Both begin with a suspicious death in a gated community in prologues, then when the chapters start they backtrack to a few weeks before the murder/s.
I hope I’ll be able to keep the two plotlines separate in my head.
One is called ‘The Girl Beyond the Gate’ by Becca Day. The other novel is at home so I don’t know what it’s called.
I tend to only listen to podcasts when I’m either driving or gardening. Aussie Firebug has a monster-length poddie episode with the Motley Fool guy. This’ll keep me going for a while!
This morning I was listening to it and he had a number of things to say about the property market. David28 and Izzy are looking at their options at the moment, so I found this interesting.
I couldn’t help but think that, given the post I referred to above, that this poddie ep was even more interesting…
What I’m eating: Red Leicester cheese in my bread roll.
Normally I just slice off some tasty cheese, but I saw the Red Leicester in the fridge this morning ad thought, ‘LUXURY!’
So today at lunch I’ll feel just a little but fancy.
After all, it’s the litle things in life that give you a buzz.
Who needs a good slap: The teacher who gave her year 8 class a DOUBLE lesson in grammar when she was away.
I’m good, but no one on Earth can make that lesson appealing.
Ugh.
What I’m planning:Nothing at the moment.
Just living my life, baby, the best way I know how.
What has made me smile:Dad’s Surprise Birthday Party.
My sister organised us all to pop in at our parents’ place at 3 PM Sunday for champagne, scones and birthday cake. Mum knew it was going to happen but it was a total surprise to Dad.
It was lovely to see the brothers and their cousins catching up. Dad was in his element.
Dad joke of the Day:
Prison may be just a word to you, but for some people it’s a whole sentence.
It’s an absolute bonus when I can bring the Little Woofs with me on a Little Adventure! This month’s Little Adventure was extremely close to home – it only took about 10 minutes to drive there. I’ve been here 6 years and have never taken the time to go and have a look, but yesterday was the day!
Now that I’ve decided to pick up a few days’ CRTing, I woke up Monday and thought, “What if I get work for the rest of March and miss out on my Little Adventure? I knew I had this day free, and though the siren call of the quilt with literally 5,000 pieces was calling, I decided to throw Poppy, Jeff and Scout into the car and go and see this park.
The McClelland Sculpture Park is set on 8 hectares of bushland. It also has an indoor gallery, but because I had the Little Woofs with me, I didn’t bother to go into that. There was plenty to see in the grounds alone.
We wandered around, with only a couple of other people that we saw from a distance.
The photos I’m showing are only a small sample of what’s there – these were the ones I liked the most.
This one is probably my favourite. I rounded a curve in a path and there it was. It’s fabulous.
I don’t know if you can tell in this photo, but the rocks aren’t sitting on the ground.
They’re suspended. So beautiful.
I took a photo of this because it reminded me of the Buddhist burial ground we saw in North Korea.
It’s been 15 months since I hung up the whiteboard markers and walked out the door towards sweet, sweet freedom. I’ve enjoyed every minute.
The absolute and total control over my time has been the best part, closely followed by the lifting of almost all of the time-stress I had in my life. If something doesn’t get done, suddenly it’s no drama. I have all of tomorrow to look after it. Or the next day.
Weekends have turned into just another two days, instead of frenzied errand-running and housework days. I can’t tell you how nice it is.
Though maybe it’s not so surprising. I really enjoyed lots of things about teaching. The banter with the kids, (most of) the people I worked with, and the liveliness of the place. Working with lots of young people around will definitely have a bright vibe.
It was the other things that drove me out. The increasing micromanagement in the classroom, the increased data collection and marking… not to mention the increasing number of meetings. Not to mention a pandemic with no vaccines.
Interestingly, these hideous things are NOT a part of being a CRT, (Casual/relief teacher for anyone unfamiliar with this acronym.)
On Wednesday I was working at the new campus, which is a place I’d never been to before. Walking in, I was instantly greeted by a woman I’ve known for as long as I’ve been working at the school – she’d been doing CRT work for at least 19 years. She swept me under her wing and showed me the ropes.
For some reason my details weren’t logged onto the system, so I hot-footed it to the techs. One of them turned out to be one of my beautiful Year 12 Theatre Studies students from my last class. He was unsurprised to see that I had tech troubles, even though this time I had absolutely nothing to do with it. I think computers just smell my fear.
This new campus is home to over 900 year 8 and 9 kids. I don’t know any of the year 8s, but a surprising number of the year 9s were racing up to me in the hallways and talking to me. They all look TALL – and their faces are different, getting the angularity of adolescence. It was so heartwarming to see them again.
The best thing, though, was settling into conversations with people that I haven’t seen for ages. Catching up on how our families are going – actually, quite a few people taught my boys when they were at the school – and hearing how people’s lives have been going since I left was really interesting.
One of the reasons that I put my name down for CRT at my old school was that I know the kids are well-behaved. This makes an enormous difference to a “sub”, as the kids call us. What i didn’t realise was that the new freeway extension cuts the commute from 45 – 50 minutes to 30 minutes. Talk about making a difference! That’s a huge amount of time shaved from the commute each way. I was a very happy camper when I realised.
What I found really interesting was that about midway through the afternoon, I was getting a little bored. This was a new experience. When you are a teacher with your own classes for the year, you’re actively involved with how the kids are progressing. CRTs don’t have that level of active engagement with what’s happening with the kids’ lessons.
The kids were doing a science experiment involving batteries, lights and circuits (or something) and they were as happy as clams. As I think I’ve said before, “boring” is actually a good thing for a CRT. It means everything is running smoothly. It’s when you’re a little too interested in what’s going on… that’s usually a problem.
Thursday was a day at the main campus, where I spent all of my 17 years’ teaching at this school.
First of all – What a difference in the space! Remove 900+ kids and around 50 teachers and suddenly the campus is spacious, with no bottlenecks between classes. I could hardly believe the difference it made.
Seeing so many people that I’ve worked with for years was amazing, as the bulk of the teaching staff has remained here. Hugs in the corridors, greetings as we walk past each other in the hallways… like the day before in the new campus, it was lovely.
One thing I really appreciated was knowing where everything was. There was no angst in looking at the schedule for the day, because I could picture where every room was.
The first period I watched the end of a National Theatre performence of ‘Medea’ for year 11 English. It was really good. I googled the lead because she looked familiar and it turns out she’s in ‘Peaky Blinders’, which I’ve just started watching.
The rest of the day was a mishmash of English, Media and Physics (!) classes. Thank goodness all I had to do in the Physics class is hand out a worksheet. If the kids were expecting any hints and tips from me to help them get through the lesson, they would’ve just had me drawing a sign of the cross over them and a “good luck, my child”. Physics is DEFINITELY not in my wheelhouse!
I had a yard duty at lunchtime in the Oasis, so I was glad I’d brought my hat. The year 7s were still running around like little kids, but without the 8’s and 9’s the noise and the sheer number of bodies in the space has dropped by a huge amount. A gentle stroll after eating lunch is a very civilised way to spend some time. It aids the digestion, I’m sure.
You want to know what the best thing was? After school the rest of the staff had to attend a meeting until 4:30 PM. Haha, suckers!!!!!! We CRTs skipped out of there as soon as we handed in our keys and chromebooks.
What were the downsides?
Obviously, getting up at 6:30 when it’s just starting to become light. I haven’t had an alarm since I retired. The dogs didn’t know what hit them – they’ve finally adjusted to a later waking time and now I hit them with this!
Driving in the morning, when I’d normally be doing yoga or lolling on the couch with the dogs. I was hoping to see some hot air balloons, but maybe they don’t do midweek flights since covid.
Having such a big chunk of my day being dictated by someone else. Obviously not a surprise, of course! It’s a subtle difference between idly daydreaming of the things you might be doing while you’re retired, and another thing to KNOW what retired life is like.
I didn’t expect the boredom factor. I haven’t been bored snce I retired. On the Wednesday, I found myself looking at the clock, working out how many minutes I had until the final bell. It felt so natural… I realised that doing this was a routine that I’d been doing for years. Talk about wishing your life away!
Driving home during peak hour on Wednesday. I had to run some errands for Mum and Dad after school, so I hit that dreaded time of the day on the freeway. Normally, I would’ve made sure I was well and truly done and at home before the roads filled up at the end of the day.
The upsides?
I’ve already spoken about a lot of them. The social aspect of seeing familiar friends and students is huge. I don’t care who you are – when you see people’s faces light up when they see you, it definitely adds a spring to your step!
It feels good to help kids with something. Just a little nudge in the right direction, even though I’m not a regular teacher but just a “sub”, still lifts the heart.
Kids still like the Dad jokes. Some things never change.
I’m looking forward to seeing how much my take-home pay is. I know I could work it out, but we all know that’s never going to happen! Besides, with my lack of numeracy skills, I’d probably come up with the wrong answer anyway.
Wearing the lovely work clothes that I bought just before the pandemic started and I’ve barely touched since.
Already being able to wipe a couple of items from my ‘CRT Earnings’ chart. I knew that it’d keep me motivated! That pizza oven will be paid off in no time… assuming I get more work.
It’s still fun to tell off kids but in a humerous way, so that they get back on task but without any unpleasantness. I guess it’s a skill that you just don’t forget.
Lots of people asked me how retirement life was going, and absolutely none of them asked the obvious question after I answered, “It’s fantastic. Happiest year of my life!” Maybe I forestalled them when I told them that with Tom30 listening to wrestling shows when he works from home, school is a lot more peaceful!! (Actually, I’m only half-joking when I say that!)
One of the teachers laughed when I said that and replied, “So you’re doing the adult thing about this problem and running away from home?”
Obviously with only two days under my belt, going back to work as a CRT is still a novelty. However, as it stands at the moment, the upsides are outweighing the downsides, so I’d happily work more days.
I was looking forward to indulging in a HUGE nap later today, though. This whole going to work gig is tiring! However, I was asked at the end of the day if I could work on Friday. You all know how hard it is for me to say no to work…
… the good thing is that the pizza oven will be well and truly paid off by the end of the day!
I’m in a year 9 class, writing this while they’re doing their work. I’ve been having a lovely time, running into year 9 kids who were my wriggly puppy classes in year 7 and catching up with other teachers.
“I NEVER thought I’d see you here again!” said one woman. I laughed and said that it was Tom30’s wrestling videos that have driven me to it.
I’m at the new campus, which has just under 1,000 year 8s and 9s. It’ll take a few days to work out where everything is, but it’s a nice place to work. Everyone seems really happy.
Where I’ve been: in the Staffroom.
It was lunchtime. I caught up with a few friends and heard how everyone was going. There was even a spare desk to put my bag on. Luxury!
Where I’m going:Mum and Dad’s place.
After work I have to drop in on my parents to pick up some medical stuff that they hired after Dad has his hip replacement. I’ll return it for them.
It’s nice that I’m in the area already instead of having to take an extra trip.
What I’m watching:a boy trying to drill a hole through his ruler with a pair of scissors.
This is a Stephen King novel in a collaboration with someone else. I’m enjoying it, though I’m sure I’d be ripping through it faster if I’d read the first two in this trilogy. Annoyingly, the library has the first, but not the second one.
Just… why? Ugh.
What I’m listening to:A couple of boys playing Fortnite instead of reading through their slideshow on circuits and electrical currents.
I’ve given them the death stare, then mentioned that Fortnite “is so two years ago.”
They’re back on task now.
What I’m eating:Home-made bread roll with home-grown lettuce, ham and cheese.
The ham and cheese aren’t home-grown, just to be clear.
Who needs a good slap:The neighbours who are complaining about theachers parking in their streets.
The Government, in their infinite wisdom, assigned 9 car parking spots to a school with over 50 teachers. I was warned to stay away from certain streets, which meant that I probably got my 10,000 steps before I even entered the building.
What I’m planning:which Dad joke to put up on the board when period 6 starts.
So many options…
What has made me smile:Max.
Max walked in late and stopped, staring at me.
“Where do I know you from?” he asked. To be fair, I’m wearing a mask and I’ve stopped dying my hair.
“I taught you English in year 7, you doofus!” I said.
He asked if I’d been to Antarctica, then when he went to his seat I heard him say, “She’s only the best English teacher ever!”
Dad joke of the day:
What is it called when you have Grandma on speed dial?
Whenever anyone talks about the risks/benefits of early retirement, the one thing they bring up, almost without fail, is that if conditions change, you should consider going back to work if you need a few extra dollars. Even in my early(ish) retirement, especially being a teacher, I knew I always had that option tucked away.
September last year the VIT registration fees came up. It was the expensive one because it included the working with children police check thing. I paid it, more as insurance than anything else. I had no intention of going back to work… but you never know. As my friend Blogless Sandy said, “You may as well pay it. You’ll kick yourself if you wanted to work and couldn’t do it.”
Then in 2022, things shifted slightly in the Jones household, as well as in the wider world. Let’s go through them one at a time.
ONE:
As you know, around a month ago Tom30 abruptly moved back in. There was a fairly tumultuous week of driving back and forth from Ormond to The Best House in Melbourne, getting all of his belongings out. After 7 years away, that guy had a lot of things, including a huge elliptical machine. There’s no denying that it adds a certain something to the decor in the Man Cave.
Anytime a new person moves in, the household dynamic changes. Tom30 is a communicative person who gets excited about what he’s interested in. As Ryan27 said a couple of days ago, “I kind of admire how Tom30 gets so enthused about things. I wish I could have such a simple life!”
It’s true. I’ve learned so much about the worlds of wrestling and gaming – he plays different games to Ryan27 – and I would have learned a lot about American politics, except I’ve put a ban on discussing this. It’s a good thing I did this – it’s saved a lot of bickering.
Tom30 works from home 2 days a week. He likes to have wrestling vids, sporting shows and angry American men podcasts playing while he works. So there’s a different vibe here 4 days a week.
Ok, so that’s a bit of a whinge. Honestly, I’m happy he’s back because it’s allowed us to reconnect again. There’s no better way to deepen a relationship than to share the same house with someone. It’s coming up to a month and the new Jones household is settling into the new normal.
TWO:
Having another adult in the house raises the expenses. Now before everyone goes crazy —- YES. I’m charging both boys board. They pay me $50/week each.
My choice is to put that money aside for them and let it build up in a bank account. Tom30 is saving for a house deposit and Ryan27 will no doubt be doing that too one day. I can’t be the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ like so many people can. I can’t merrily hand over thousands of dollars to help get a deposit together for my 4 kids. I figure the least I can do is to feed and house them when they’re under my roof, then hand their board money back when they need it. (Tom30 has no idea that this is going to happen, by the way.)
So that’s all warm and fuzzy and lovely, but when prices suddenly rise, due to Putin, the pandemic and the floods, then that’s something that as a good FIRE person, I have to take note of. I can’t see prices subsiding any time soon.
I could choose to take their board money and use it for bills, or I could choose to pivot. (There’s that word again...)
THREE:
Ever since I learned about Sequence of Returns Risk, I’ve kept it in the back of my mind as something to watch out for in the first 5 years of retirement. I took the above chart from this article, which explains it in a bit more detail, but the chart gives a good TL;DR summary.
At the moment the market is a bit panicky and has slipped a bit. I’m not breaking out the cat food tins for dinner any time soon, but it’s something that I’m keeping an eye on. The share market has been rising steadily for the last 10 years or so. It can’t last forever, so retiring at this stage, I knew I’d need to keep in touch with what was going on.
We can prepare for many things when we retire, but we have absolutely no control over Sequence of Returns Risk. The market is going to do what the market is going to do, regardless of who is retiring when. I’ve set up my finances to mitigate against this by having several layers of investments, so intellectually I know that I’ll be alright.
One of the best ways to insulate my investments from being tapped too harshly, too early in a market downturn is to have a bit of extra income sliding in.
Can’t hurt and it might help!
For a few weeks now, I’ve had a niggling feeling that it mightn’t be such a bad thing if I earned a little money on the side. Maybe that was why I took so long to make a decision about tutoring because it felt wrong to be knocking back income – but I’ve learned that if I ignore that niggling feeling I do so at my peril.
I definitely didn’t want to do tutoring, as I wrote “When you’re happily retired and you get offered a job”, but CRT (Casual Relief Teaching) is a different kettle of fish. Basically, a CRT supervises classes when the regular teacher is absent. You unlock the door, let them in, mark the roll, direct them to Compass where their work is set, then for the rest of the lesson you keep them quiet and on-task.
Basically, for a CRT, a boring day is a good day. When I first started working again when Evan25 was Evan5 and he’d started primary school, I did CRT work for a year. When you’re VERY VERY INTERESTED in what’s happening in the classroom, it’s either really good or really bad…
Last week I went into my old school and put my name down for CRT work. I could have gone to schools closer to me, but I know my way around the Main campus and I know that the kids are lovely, which makes a huge difference to a CRT’s day. A feral class is absolute misery for 48 minutes. It’ll also be nice to see people on staff and have quick catch-ups.
The catch-ups will have to be quick. Schools get their money’s worth when they hire a CRT – you work all 6 periods and do 2 yard duties. I’d better wear comfy shoes!
The daily pay rate isn’t bad – just over $380 – but as an early(ish) retiree the flexibility is what is really appealing to me. I have the freedom to say ‘No’ if I’ve planned something on a day that work is offered. Tutoring doesn’t offer that luxury.
Yesterday I was offered 2 days’ work – tomorrow and Thursday – so it’s Game ON!
Speaking of games, you know how I like to gamify my spending and paying for my rates. Of course, I’ve drawn up a list of things that the CRT days will ‘pay’ for.
I’ve put asterisks beside the things I’ve already bought. Once I knock them over, then I can start chipping away at the big expenses. Woo babayyyy – I like a list and I like to see progress. If anything will keep me motivated; this is it!
Of course, if I decide that I hate it and it’s sucking the joy out of my retirement life, I can always stop. That’s the good thing about being financially independent.
I’m fully aware that the feeling in my waters about the benefits of having a bit of money coming in is definitely because of the struggle I had when the boys and I were newly single. It took nearly two DECADES for us to recover from the financial aftershocks of the divorce. I love the freedom of being the only captain driving the financial ship, but it comes with the downside of being wholly responsible for navigating it safely through choppy economic waters. I don’t have the luxury of knowing that I’ll be able to nestle into a partner’s super fund in my old age.
So I figure that a few days’ work here and there that will help Past Frogdancer Jones sleep better at night isn’t too high a price to pay. I’m glad I chose to work in a field that can offer such flexible options for people who want to work in a different way than the typical full-time allotment… and who knows?
Oof. I love the freedom of retirement. God, how I love it. I wrote about how I knocked back a tutoring job a few weeks ago and it was absolutely the right decision.
Well, yesterday I went into work and filled out all the forms to apply for work as a CRT (casual relief teacher.) I KNOW!!! What’s going on? Have I run mad?
Am I filled with the joy at the thought of being around the kids again and enabling them to gain education?
Not particularly.
But I’m not hating the idea either. This deserves its own blog post on another day, so I’ll tell you in more detail later why I’ve decided to pivot and earn a little extra money.
Where I’ve been: Costco.
When I take the car out, I like to layer several trips in one – especially now that petrol prices have gone through the roof. So I did a big circle, going to Spotlight, my parents’ lace, the school, Costco and the library.
It was a Tuesday, so I didn’t think CC would be busy. When I drove up, the petrol section was jammed with cars, the queues spilling out onto the street and going way back. I’ve never seen it so packed, even on the days before public holidays. Inside the warehouse, it was very busy.
I went there because I was running low on the raw meat patties I feed the Little Woofs on top of their grain-free dry food – also from Costco. The dry food comes from the States, the patties from Queensland. What with the war and the floods, I thought I’d better make sure that we had enough for a while.
Ryan27 asked me why. I said, “Global supply chains aren’t an issue – until suddenly they are.”
While I was there I picked up 2 big bags of flour, some mince, a couple of slabs of tinned tomatoes and some sugar; all of which we’ve been warned we may be running short of in the coming months. Costco didn’t have any Bakers Flour, so I had to settle for Plain flour instead. After I got home I went to Aldi and picked up more pasta and rolled oats – again, because wheat products etc will be getting very pricey, thanks to Putin. The pasta packets had gone up 20c, I noticed. There were significant gaps in the meat section.
Cauliflowers were $8 each at Aldi. Yikes! Toilet paper was very limited at both Costco and Aldi, with gaps on other shelves being common. Someone on the Simple Savings forum observed that electrical goods such as washers, dryers and fridges would probably be in short supply due to the floods in Queensland and NSW. Imagine the thousands of appliances that would be wrecked and would need to be replaced? I was so thankful I bought Evan25’s new washing machine when I did.
Pandemic, floods and Putin. What a brave interesting new world we live in.
Where I’m going:To the beach.
The Little Woofs deserve a treat.
What I’m watching:Shameless season 11.
My sister put me onto Shameless years ago. I can’t believe they’re up to season 11. I’m still enjoying it.
Of course, I’m also watching Killing Eve, Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Survivor (both the US and Australian seasons) and I have many far more worthy shows waiting in my watch lists. I guess I’m in a frivolous frame of mind right now.
What I’m reading:Catriona Ward.
Stephen King recommended Catriona Ward on Twitter a few days ago, so I jumped online and put a couple of her novels on hold. I’ve read her first novel, Rawblood, and her third, The Last House on Needless Street.
Wow. I’ve been blown away by how original these plots are. As, you know, I read a lot of books, but these two have been living on and on in my mind. I loved them – couldn’t leave them alone. Highly recommend.
What I’m listening to:Jeffrey snoring.
It’s a WHOLE lot better than hearing the stupid wrestling shows that Tom30 likes to listen to when he works from home. Kill me now.
What I’m eating:Pizza again!
My cousin is dropping by for lunch, so we’re having pizza. This new pizza oven has a definite learning curve on how to launch the pizzas in. I ‘accidentally’ made calzones the third time we used it, so we’re experimenting with different doughs and levels of toppings.
So far, using a bit of polenta on the base seems to be doing the trick. The polenta acts like little ball bearings and it helps to roll the pizza off the paddle and into the oven.
Who needs a good slap:Apart from Putin?
No one.
What I’m planning:when I’m going to give my cousin the quilt I’ve made for her.
Before or after lunch?
I hope she likes it.
What has made me smile:The dogs.
As I said before, yesterday I went out for most of the day, When I got home Tom30, who was working from home, told me that the dogs had spent the whole day waiting for me to get back. When I raised an eyebrow and said, “The WHOLE day?” he showed me a photo he took at midday.
Scout had the brains to wait for me on the couch, where it’s comfy, but the cavaliers stayed right at the door for the whole time.
I love my Little Woofs.
Dad joke of the day:
I don’t often tell dad jokes but when I do he laughs.
Call myself a frugal gardener, yet I bought apples a week ago to make rhubarb and apple, but I still haven’t walked out to the back yard to cut the rhubarb.
That’s it! As soon as I press ‘publish’ on this post, I’m going out there to get this job done.
Where I’ve been:Mum and Dad’s place.
Yesterday I drove down to Mum and Dad’s to take Dad to his surgeon’s rooms for an appointment after his hip replacement 2 weeks ago. After that, I went to Aldi to do their shopping.
It’s strange to think that if I hadn’t have made the geoarbitrage move down here in 2015, I would have been in a classroom and he would’ve had to have taken a taxi there. Mum gets dizzy spells so doesn’t drive anymore, so until Dad’s hip heals, they’re essentially stuck at home.
It’s a strange thing to see your parents with their wings clipped.
Where I’m going:Apparently, to the back yard.
See above.
What I’m watching:The wind in the trees.
It’s a sparkling day today and there’s a beautiful breeze. I love how this house catches the wind – just open the front and back doors and the breeze flows right through. Luxury!
What I’m reading:Same as last week.
Yes – very unusually for me, I’m taking more than a week to read a book! I’m still on Cloud Cuckoo Land and I only have 20 pages to go. I’m loving how all of the different times are entwining together.
What I’m listening to:Mum’s Boppin’ Bangers.
I’ve started cutting up the fabric for the quilt with over 5,000 squares. I whinged about the cost of the specialised ruler I bought to help me with this, but now I’m absolutely LOVING it. $100 well spent! It’s allowing me to fly through this stage, because I can cut 3 layers of fabric with absolute accuracy at a time. That’s 163 squares at a time. Today I just have the ‘lights’ to cut up, and then I’ll be done.
I’m so appreciative that Ryan27 shared a Spotify account with me. Cutting squares can be tedious but being able to belt out a song as I work really helps. Every now and then on ‘Mum’s Boppin’ Bangers’ a song will come on that I swear I haven’t heard for decades, yet I still know all the words. Loving it.
What I’m eating: A homemade bread roll.
For breakfast, with butter and peanut butter. Yum.
Who needs a good slap:Me, for eating that breakfast.
What I’m planning:A road trip.
May as well.
What has made me smile:The homemade bread roll with butter and peanut butter.
Last week my sister Kate rang and asked if she could spend the morning with me, as her car was being serviced and she couldn’t get a ‘loaner’ car. Of course, I made room in my hectic schedule (heh heh).
“We could go and grab a coffee and maybe take a walk around K-Mart,” she said.
Dear God in heaven. Does she not know me at all?!?
I decided to whisk her away to grab a coffee in a place that was far more interesting than sitting in a mall or on a city street. I hardly ever buy coffee when I’m out, but for her, it’s one of life’s pleasures. So we drove to Dromana, to the gardens of Heronswood.
Heronswood is one of the gardens that Diggers operates. It’s perched on a cliff overlooking the sea, with both ornamental and working vegetable gardens and orchards. They specialise in heirloom plants, which means that you can save the seeds from plants you grow and then use the seeds next year.
I’ve been a member for a while now. I don’t mind supporting them because I think they do really important work. Seeds should be able to be saved.
Lots of different sunflowers were planted around one of the veggie patches. Look at the bees in the middle of this one!
Along with the huge gardens, there were also little ideas like this planted around. I still think most succulents are ugly, but over time I’m warming to some. I thought these ones looked nice.
As we wandered around we came across this citrus orchard. The huge terracotta pots have rosemary planted all around them.
Here’s a close-up. I like the way the pots are positioned not in straight lines, but so they look appealing from the steps above.
We liked this espalier – it’s so well-established that the support wires have been taken off and the branches stand outstretched on their own.
The gardens are full of little outdoor ‘rooms’ like this.
Here’s Kate heading to the café for that much-anticipated coffee.
We stopped at the nursery on the way out and I bought some Evening Primrose plants for my hanging baskets. According to the gardeners, this plant is “as tough as nails” so let’s hope they’re correct. Four of the hanging baskets are in full sun all day and the petunias all curled up and died.
I was happy with this Little Adventure. It was only a short one, but it was by far more memorable than a gallop around K-Mart!
Tom30 works from home 2 days a week. Now he’s here in the mornings he uses the time he’d normally be commuting, to walk on the Backyard Beach. This morning he posted a pic on FB and it looked so good, I decided to switch it up a little and take the little woofs to the beach before breakfast instead of doing yoga.
Safe to say that they approved!
It was beautiful there – bright and sparkly without being too hot. It was so nice that I actually went paddling *gasp*! Normally I’m happy to stay on the sand. The Cavaliers shrugged their shoulders and went, “Ok, if we must,” and followed me in.
Scout, on the other hand, was delighted. “Mum! You’re joining me! Yay!”
We were only there for around 20 minutes and on the way home we bumped into the young Mum of the baby I mentioned yesterday. She was walking with her friend who also has a new baby. We had a nice little chat and then went on our ways.
This happened during what would be period 1 at work. (I may have sent the top photo to some friends at work who are planning to retire next year. )
To anyone who’s a little nervous about “what will I do all day if I retire”… it’s truly amazing how so many little things pop up to do during the days that you never think of when you’re stuck at work.
Well, the situation in Ukraine is too, but I have nothing to say about Putin etc that will make the least bit of difference, so let’s go with the yoga.
I did 40+ days in a row of the ‘Yoga With Adrienne’ online classes but then I hurt my left wrist. I took 5 days off, then did a class and felt ok, but in the middle of the night I woke with a slight pain in that wrist again. I gave it another day off, then this morning I did another class.
It’s funny. I thought that with such a long time off I’d never go back, but I’ve found that I quite like the morning rhythm of sneaking in a yoga class before breakfast. Poppy and Scout now lie on the floor watching me. They know not to come over until I tell them that they’re Very Good Girls. Seems a shame to forego the yoga when they’ve just learned to do this, doesn’t it?
So I might as well keep on the path to becoming more bendy.
Where I’ve been: Linacre Hospital.
Yesterday, at 11AM, when I would have been in a classroom in my previous life, I was able to quietly drive to Linacre Hospital in Hampton to pick up Dad. He’s just had a replacement hip put in. I felt really pleased that I was in a position to help him.
Then, I went and did a bit of grocery shopping for them and did my own at the same time. When I was at home unpacking, I saw a litre of lactose-free milk among my groceries.
Oops.
Luckily, my sister Kate is seeing them today so she said she’ll buy some on the way through, so Mum won’t have to go without.
Where I’m going:Evan25 and Jenna’s new place.
A little while ago Evan25 and his girlfriend Jenna moved into a flat over a pizza shop in a suburb in the west. Due to conflicting schedules, it’s been hard to arrange a time to see the place, so Jenna invited the whole family over for dinner on Sunday night.
David28 and Izzy are looking to move out on their own soon, so I’m sure they’ll be taking it all in. 🙂
What I’m watching:My solar torch shining.
A while ago I was reading a blog where the author was talking about preparedness. I was already doing a lot of the things she was talking about, but one idea that I liked was to buy a solar torch and just leave it sitting on a sunny window ledge. If ever the power went out, there’s always a light for you to scurry around with and find where you put away the candles and matches.
“But we have our mobiles,” Ryan27 said.
“Yeah, but what if the batteries are getting flat?” I retorted. Plus, unlike the phone batteries, the next day the torch will simply recharge itself by the sunlight on the window ledge. It also comes with a crank to manually recharge it should the battery run low before daylight.
They say once a month to switch the torch on and leave it running to empty the battery, then let it fill itself up again. I do this at the beginning of each month. I forgot yesterday, so today’s the day for March. 🙂
For twenty bucks, I think it’s a good buy. It’s one of those things, like insurance, that you hope you never have to use but it’s damned good to have when you need it. THIS IS WHERE I BOUGHT MINE.
What I’m reading:Cloud Cuckoo Land.
‘Cloud Cuckoo Land’ by Anthony Doerr is the latest from the author of ‘All The Light We Cannot See’, which I think everyone in the world must’ve read. Apparently, it’s been 7 years since the last one – lucky it was such a huge hit, hey? Otherwise it would’ve been hard to pay the bills!
I’m only 50 pages in, but I’m enjoying it. It has characters ranging from far into the future to way back in the past, with the theme of the importance of stories seeming to tie them all together.
What I’m listening to:Casefile – the Zodiac killer.
I’ve been listening to the podcast ‘Casefile’ for years now. Currently, the Anonymous Narrator is onto episode 4 of the Zodiac Killer. OMG – what a terrible person. He just killed people at random… and lots of them. His victims were absolutely in the wrong places at the wrong times.
What I’m eating:Pancakes.
When the lockdowns started, we began a Sunday morning tradition of having pancakes for breakfast. This morning I remembered that there was some leftover batter in the fridge. I thought it’d be a bit past it, but by some miracle it was fine. So pancakes in the middle of the week it was!
Waste not; want not.
Who needs a good slap:David28 parking in a Clearway.
Sometimes people have to learn the hard way. He visited a music shop in Brunswick st and came out to find that his car ad been towed.
Only cost him around $400 to get his car back and I’m pretty sure he’ll get a $180 parking fine as well.
What I’m planning:My day.
Hmmm. What to do? I have a quilt to finish, some hanging baskets to plant, some dogs to wash and (maybe) a nap to have after lunch.
Might get in some reading, too, before I decide what we’re going to have for dinner.
OH! The freedom!
What has made me smile:Hearing the baby next door.
I have young families on both sides of me. One has 4 kids and the parents have a slightly more ‘relaxed’ attitude to parenting than I did. Hence there are a lot of tantrums and getting to school late, etc.
The other side has a young girl and they’ve just brought home a new baby in the last few weeks. As I’m typing by the open window, I can hear the baby cooing at her Mum on their verandah. Now, I’m not nearly ready to be a grandmother – I’m far too youthful and dewy for that! – but it’s lovely to hear, nonetheless.
Dad joke of the day:
I posted this to my FB page but it didn’t get the recognition it deserved…
Retirement Reading Quest – Reading my way to ‘free’ council rates.
I’m on a quest to borrow and read enough books to, in effect, cancel out the cost of my council rates per year.
It’s outlined in this post.
Year 7: I’m already a year ahead on my rates, so I’m taking a reader’s suggestion and I’m going to go back and start covering the rates from the year before I started. I may as well.
Year 7: Total needed: 2019/2020…$1,800
Running total: $1,220
Year 6 (2025/2026) $2,590 AREADY COVERED!!!!!!
10/08/2015 – I won’t have another rates notice until August 2026, so I have time to kill. Let’s knock over a previous year’s rates, just for fun.
Year 5 (2024/2025) $2,339 and dog rego ($63) = $2,435.
Finished it before I even had the new rates notice ready.
Year 4 (2023/2024) $2,413.
Success! Not sure exactly when I passed the total, because I was waiting on the dog registrations to come through. But yes – I blitzed it.
Year 3: (2022/2023) $2,350
12/01/2023 FINISHED! Not working gives me heaps more reading time – I recommend it!
