Wednesday, February 28, 2007

A night at the theatre

I haven't been to the theatre in ages - the last time was to Dirty Dancing more than a year ago, and while I had a good time, I wasn't really impressed with the show, so it doesn't count. In fact, I can't remember the last professional production I went to. So I bought myself a ticket to Queensland Theatre Company's"Private Fears in Public Places" at QPAC next Tuesday night. I'm really looking forward to it.

Workwise, the big thing at the moment is the March software release next Friday. With a week and a half to go, we should be all boxes ticked, all ducks in a row, all ready to go. But we're not. Things keep breaking, people keep failing to deliver on their responsibilites, things keep going wrong. We keep fixing them, but we're rapidly running out of time. I'll have to let you know how it all goes after the fact because I can't tell at the moment. It could quite concievably go either way.

I hope you are all having a good week and that whatever you are doing is going better than our software release. :)

Thursday, February 22, 2007

We've got to get out of this place.....

Turned out I hadn't gotten rid of that nasty chest cold and it came back to bite me on Monday morning. The boss sent me home, and I ended up having to stay at home on Tuesday as well. I hate being sick at all, but if I have to stay home then I'd prefer that it knocked me out so I slept all day. This cold wasn't like that - in fact I couldn't sleep during the day no matter how much I tried, but I got breathless and exhausted when I sat up for too long. I ended up spending all day on the lounge going slowly round the twist with boredom. I knitted a bit and watched some bad tv, but there's only so much Dr Phil a girl can handle.

I did quite a lot of thinking, too. A lot of you will know that my job has been an issue for a while. The role was never what I was expecting when I took it on, and it's changed since then, so that now there's not much about the responsibilities that I enjoy, and it's a really really high pressure role with more and more being heaped on me every day. I've ended up with too much on the plate to do a good job, which has added to my stress, which has made things worse and I've just got myself into a nasty hole. I've tried really hard, but not made much of an improvement, and now I'm scared of going to work because I don't know what I'm going to get wrong next. I'm pretty sure the stress is contributing to making me sick physically as well as mentally. So it's time to get out, I think.

I told the boss of my intention to find a new job on Wednesday and immediately felt a whole lot better. I went out afterwards and had the first meal I'd been able to eat in days. I still have to find that new job but for the first time in ages it feels like there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

So all I've got to do now is finish working on the resume, have a good hard think about what sort of job I'd really like, get the resume off to recruitment agents, look at Suncorp for an alternate role and go out and get that job.

Either that or win Powerball. Hmmmmm. Now there's a thought..... :)

Sunday, February 18, 2007

What time is it now, Daddy?

We had a good day today. We had a quiet morning, but I found a box downstairs that had a few UFO's (unfinished objects) in it and did some work on a few pieces. The Boy's jumper is still in the naughty corner but I got the shoulders and half a sleeve attached on a teal wrap cardigan I started about two years ago, and finished the front and knitted half a sleeve for a lavender baby jumper that I started goodness knows when. Both balls of yarn in the bag with it have lost their ball bands so apart from being 8 ply acrylic, I don't even know what the yarn is. It's a pretty colour though. It will be good to finish it as I will have a girl's baby jumper packed away with the boy's one I've already done so I will be prepared for any eventuality. Well, any which doesn't involve more than one baby of the same sex!

This afternoon we went to visit The Boy's best friend and his parents for a BBQ. We were due to be there at 3.30pm and he was asking all day - Can we go yet? (not yet, sweetie, not for another 5 hours) What time is it now? (about 20 minutes after you last asked...)

We had a great time. The Boy's friend has a gorgeous baby brother, who is only a few months old, and did I say he's gorgeous? I love how relaxing it is to just sit on the deck and talk to good friends and watch the kids "hunt for sharks" in the backyard. Then we had a great meal and a Heaven Raspberry and White Chocolate ice-cream for dessert. What more could you want from a Summer's evening?

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Cough cough, splutter

After sleeping nearly all day on Monday, I felt okay to go to work on Tuesday. I was still a little tired but I got through the day. Wednesday I woke up with a really sore throat but I still went to work. During the day I got really tired and tight in the chest, and by the afternoon I was also light headed and having trouble getting up the stairs at The Boy's daycare.

The Man insisted on me visiting the doctor, who declared that I had a chest infection and prescribed me a day off work and the biggest antibiotics I've ever seen.



I rested all day on Thursday and went back to work yesterday. This morning my chest is still tight and the cold has also moved up into my throat and sinuses so I'm coughing, my face, nose and ears are hurting and I can't taste anything. I'm trying to take it easy today - we're going to see The Man's Mum and Dad this afternoon, but that just involves me sitting in a car for an hour or so each way and sitting on the couch when I get there.
I've been knitting a bit too. I still haven't finished The Boy's jumper (I'm nearly there but the shawl collar wasn't behaving so it's in the naughty corner for a while) but I felt a need to knit yesterday at lunchtime so I went into town and got some yarn and needles and started a baby jumper. I'll post photos when I get around to taking some. :)

Monday, February 12, 2007

Poor little sick girl

I didn't go to work today. I just felt bleaugh so I stayed at home and spent most of the time asleep.

I didn't get any work done on The Boy's jumper so it looks like it's going to go over the one year mark.

There were nasty storms in Esk and Kilcoy today, but we just got some rumbly thunder and rain. Not lots and lots, but enough to wet the ground and make it a little spongy. I hope we get some more over the next few days so that the grass will start to grow back and not look so dried out and yucky.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Aaah. Gotta love the weekend

My sister, her husband and the most gorgeous little girl in the universe visited yesterday and stayed overnight. We had lunch, chatted, made chocolate brownies, played around in the spa, had takeaway Thai for dinner and watched a movie. Very relaxing. Except maybe for Dax, although he doesn't actually look too fussed here....



"No, sweetie, Dax is not a horsey!"

They're up from Sydney for a week, partly to visit us, but mostly to go to the Cleveland Auto Spectacular. Unfortunately they got all the way out to Cleveland this morning to find that they had resurfaced the field the car show was meant to be held on, and the show had to be postponed until April. In the end they decided to go to the Motor Show instead, and got there just after we'd left! :(


We'd spent a couple of hours at the Motor show, looking at all the shiny brand new cars. I had a good look at what's available in the small runaround 4/5 door hatch or small sedan market to find a car I would like once I have my drivers licence. (I'll get my L's in the next two weeks, G,  I promise!). Out of everything in that space, I liked the Honda Jazz the best - cute, comfy, good space, good headroom, while a lot of the other cars made me almost bang my head on the ceiling when I moved (and I'm only 172cm tall!).

Overall, the standouts were:

Best car for me: Honda Jazz
Best Looking car: Mazerati Gransport
Cars we really liked but can't afford: Alfa Spider, Nissan 350Z, Mazda MX-5
Most ridiculously overpriced item: $11.50 for a pie, chips and a drink!




On the knitting front, I've almost finished The Boy's Wee Willy Winky jumper, which I originally intended for him to be able to wear on our ski trip last August. I've just realised that since I started the jumper on my first day of interviews for my current job, I've got one more day to finish it in exactly 1 year. Wow.

I've got the jumper body all sewn up and I'm working on getting the collar all sewn in. I'm struggling with getting the collar sewn in neatly and wish I'd listened to the little voice which said "you should really be using short rows" when I was doing all the stepped cast-offs, but I can't be bothered going back now. I'll know better next time I do something like this!

Friday, February 9, 2007

My first post at the end of a long week...

Welcome to my blog.
I expect to use this as a way to update friends and family on what's going on, as I'm notoriously bad at emailing.....(sorry guys).
I'm hoping that putting some updates out here now and then will give you more info than you got previously, but then again I may turn out to be a notoriously bad blogger. :)