diy or not

Expensive month of Sundays really

Blue moon month of Sundays anyway.



About.
You know, 5 weegens worth of pain suffering success and lack of adulation. 
Had some money left over after tax and pension pay out adjustments and trying to be...cheap. And it is only the start of the financial year...
PS: a Lotto win paid for itself, only, like, the ticket entry....



Whinge needs rants wants and had to be dones...




Ideas/Tasks	DIY?	Follow up	Bargain	success	cost
new 55" LCD 3d smart tv	no	no	blank	blank obviously	yep...
Fix the windscreen of the family car	no	Yes	Yes	Yes	250
Kitchen spout and taps [FAUCETS for the yanks]	yes	Yes	No	Yes	75
Shower head	yes	Yes	No	Dunno	22!!!!
Shower taps	yes	Yes	No	Dunno	43
cracked window pane in Piano room*	no	Yes	Yes	Yes	110
Laundry window pane **	no	Yes	Not really	Yes	110
Front door Side Light Window panes***	no	Yes	Spose	Yes	180
New computer	yes	Tomorrow	Nearly	Hope so	~500?
Fix memory in this computer	yes	Tried	No	No	90
Expand memory in gels pc's	yes	Tries to	No	No	a/a
MCC annual	no	Yep	No	yep	###
Car rego	no	Had to	No	Yep	150
Phone/net/mobiles	no	Had to	Nup	Spose	250!
Water	no	Had to	Nup	Spose	445!!!!!!!
Power	no	Had to	Nup	Spose	450!!!!!!!!!!
Service the car	no	Should	Wont be	Will see	Argh
Girls' new pc's or tablets	no	Maybe	Should be	Could be	Argh
#2son's birthday pressie- acoustic geetar?	tes	Will have to	Hope so	We'll see	Cheapo soonish!
Windows7 64bit, usb3 4port for nu pc	yes	Yes	Yeah	Hope so	110
Plastic stakes for portable Vineyard Pots	yes	Hmmm	Maybe	Hope so	Dunno yet
fix shed lights	yes	have to	no	hope so	dunno yet

 Used the modern way to pay bills, amazing the frequent flyer points accruable doing it that way. Just wish I flew more instead....

*****I finally noticed the OTHER DAY- Cracked and nearly falling out, fixed after too many years!!!!!!!!! Bloody kids fault too!

So the start of Spring was four really nice warm days. Fingers crossed for next day or two...

  

My Mum and gels

nana kay and the gels

My Dad has a trick

Does your dad do this?

Since I was a kid, he would shock kids, like a cousin or nephew, or his grandkids. How?
By doing an....

 Alien impression...

Between the lake and the bush

My place, the Highway
But not for a feed

The other day, we had a drop bear drop in....

Can you see him?

The boys were riding their skateboards around the yard, and #2 came in and said something about "outside"!

Hmm.... what?

A koala had somehow made its way into our yard from the little town lake four of five blocks away, where it itself is not far from the river. And was definitely making its way North. 

After posing for us out the front, he/she jumped onto the fence and then onto the roadside, then after scaring an overawed audience, it scampered into someone else's property across the street.

near the end

Near the Ending


Breakfast

Eating the last of the cereal, I had to pick up the bowl to scrape out the last bits.

And I realised; it was a bit sad really, approaching the end of something.

I had been multitasking; time-watching, eating and reading.

To finish off brekky, I had had to put the book down to use two hands, and thought, "Interruptus vulgaris!"

The End

I had a dream...

A dream knocked my usual shower ponderings off course this morning, after it came back to me, wet like.

The set up: using my hair brush. It is from Aber-bludie-deen, so it had done a few "stylings" since the early 90's... The bristle pad needs to be re-glued to the handle, again. Maybe time to give it up?

I was looking at the brush in the dream, and noticed it had another apartment under the pad, handle side.

"What the...?"

It was a another brush! For shoes!

I turned it over, took it out and tried it. It worked a treat.

"Well well!" [I think I would have said]

Then my dream self noticed a third brush! From the other end it appeared.

This one was for brushing lint off clothes! Wow!

A magical Russian dolls type brush, and for two decades I had never known about it!

Was there a fourth?

I may have woken myself up by then in the strangeness of the dream.

Weird dream. Because had been thinking of dumping it...

Work Marvining- Twice!

I have a nice little job.

I consider that I fulfill my hours and pay requirements until I can get back to something else I really like and get paid for that instead- No not Gold Coast Tanning Spray as You Tan.... Oil and Gas exploration or Environmental Monitoring - Or teach windsurfing- simple. But while single wif kidlets...

Anyway- One of my busy days is doing CODs with phone orders.
The first delivery (del) and only on the first run was a COD. She took all my small notes and not enough shrapnel.
Paid that COD back at the shop counter before the next run of dels.
Before the last run of the day, counted up paids and to be paids... should be even...

7 COD dockets and 6 COD receipts....
And an extra $50 in the wallet...

BAH! And there was acall- Wrong bag wrong address- please pick up. Bah! again.

And so returned to first old lady- where's the pink copy docket please? I took it? Oh. Thanks, but can I take that original? Just in case?
Back to van, look for it. Nothing. Oh well, shit- I though I was gunna be in front with notes today!
Collect the missing bag of groceries.

At the shop- hand over the docket and cash.
Start the next del round, and drop off missing bag too.

Finally get home, what a drag of a day!

Count the dockets again and count up the cash- should be what I started with right?

NO....... I had a duplicate PAID DOCKET AND WAS SHORT ON CASH!!

Of course- being SO busy, I did not tick it off the running sheet I had Devised, and also had managed to collectively cash in the shrapnel to convert to notes... and thought I had not paid a COD...

Called back the shop, and got the chief, oh oh, "Ah- um Hi, I stuffed up! I paid one COD twice- dreadfully sorry!"
"Oh! Thanks a lot! Okay, we'll sort it"

Rob's great- she did, and I got it back... Apparently it was not a great idea to stuff up.

AND THEN TODAY
So I got a call well after I finished work.
A client had not got all their stuff.
"WHAT!?"
So called up the few dels from the last del round- "No, no extras here" x 4.

Hmm. Expensive. Rechecked van.

Phone rings.

They found it.

Bah!

marvined

Hi, my other name is Marvin

Me. Always thinking, not Einstein's type of thinking of course.

Easily distracted. Does that or this deserve a quick witty remark or put down? Do I have to smile? Can I smile? Don't! Well, that is a new life lesson for another day, but oh yeah, marvined.

I think about all sorts of things. Unless I am engrossed in an activity that requires actual supervision of the extremities or the concentration of achieving the immediate goal like avoiding the cretins that the government lets loose on the public roads, I.E. everyone but me.

Just like Marvin*, with a "brain the size of a planet" and his problems and chores that are of minutiae compared to what he could do, I think too much if left to it, unless I can quickly doze off. Or do this- it seems a way to let off a lot of steam, I tell ya.

I categorise these under pondering, shower ponderants and uncategorised/able.

How marvined am I usually when relaxing at home:

Well, when I am in My Area (Children kept away) I check out crap like this or Facebook or in-boxes and or my weather monitor whileI  watch my TV shows [I will ween myself as soon as they get rid of attractive actresses, funny series's and/or good enough drama shows]. And /or listen to the local radio station as well for news or comment. But not for music anymore- weird. I can categorise TV shows into a few types of attention grabbing levels.

• Solitaire (Spider)
• Web Surfing or playing Railroad Tycoon Deluxe (from 90's about)
• Email check ad break
• snail mail check in an ad break
• kid check in an ad break- "BED TIME!"

Now this can be explained thusly-

Solitaire means I can follow the show using a sorting side of my total brain capacity while concentrating on the story, unless the scenery is interesting, like some great photography of the Sphinx or some blue green turtles doing nothing, near a surf beach where volleyball might be on...

Web surfing means that the show is not that interesting  or does not need to be analysed in great depth, because the web surfing or PC use in general is the main activity instead. Like now, the radio world news is on.

Hang on- I appear to be doing a womanly thing here, two or more things at once!! Wow! Coz I am probably supervising the fighting (and fit) children too.

Marvined with hoose werk.

Och, better do the vaccuming. Bugger, the bloody kids left this out... was that the mail man? Better check the mail and emails... surfing, and then, bugger- the vacuuming job, the kids will home soon- dang, forgot to hang out the washing... Or need a hammer and nail for a picture. Out to the garage. Oh oh- the wine needs racking off, won't take a min... Then tipity tip tip tap- bloody hell, is that rain? The clothes!!! And the bills or mail to go to the post office. Oh well, next time I go out? Look at date due- JBC! GDI! Rip orf doon the street anyway...Oh the time, I gotta be at work, bludy heck!

The list placed on the fridge under a magnet (I recommend cleaning magnets for glass fish-tanks: BIG) is getting old, frayed, wrinkly, smelly and nearly completed, ready for a new one. It takes years but then it is done. Being Marvined all the time, there is no real priority given to items on a list. Cos a few a pretty expensive! A new roof. The large branch over the veranda. A new double garage. Gardening. Vegetation under the power line. The noise under the car. The car climate display. The bloody yard. Lawns. Mosquito spraying.

It is not a hard life- I am coping with more work which is a good thing- as long as I am not distracted with thoughts- last week there was a a mistake, not bad, as I was thinking of how I was going to do the job, and not thinking of the job at hand right then! Ah well.

*From Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy

Van, work

I upgraded work procedures today.

Instead of tossing the items to be spread across the landscape into the back on the floor of the great big van, the clients goods will be properly counted, sorted, and placed separately into newly purchased crates, either 52l or 75l. Eight should be enough for now.

Previously items were just chucked into cardboard fruit boxes. By the way, FYI, the styro-foam ones break apart too quick, and leave a mess as well. But the boxes were too shallow and items would roll out or off and around and contaminate other boxes, or slide around, pretending to be free... Please note that no eggs have been broken in the new vehicle.

As the van floor is nearly half an acre and flat, and the big new crates have rollers, guess what?

How boring can work get?

Other fun times with the family wagon. The former delivery vehicle.

Two boxes of carton milk (12 each) fell out the back at a turning light when I sped up to catch the green turning light after the slow coaches in front finally found out how an accelerator worked. None burst, and the boxes were slightly dented. Sorry about that, but I evidently forgot to secure the tailgate.

http://daggydad.blogspot.com/2010/09/figjam.html

FIGJAM

I have some bad news
and some good news.
I was walking toodey
aroon the hoose .

Why was the rain water gutter wet?
Been No Rain?
Fixed the Block
in the nearby drain!

Hmm. wet Groond
around
the post for the garden tap.

It was in the path of the mad BMXrs...
Maybe they had bent it under ground and cracked the join?

So dug carefully aroon it.
Velly wet.
And lots of tree roots from the big tree a few yards away!
So the roots had bent it and maybe the kids had had knocked it too.
A wee crack in the pipe there was.
Oot wif dat den!
Soo ezy to undoo too!

Two bucks and ninety cents
for a plug and the nuisance post and leak
 was dissa peed...

Figjam does it again,
up the tradies
(sorry fellas)

Procrastination Personified

Lately, when it comes to tax, I do it every 2 years, cos I am not a millionaire.

I started last Tuesday to make the effort to do it again, as I drive, I use medical facilities, so I better.

I collect all the little pieces of paper I have to, to justify running my life my way.

I do not need a shoe box anymore, just a little D6 envelope. And stapler. An excel spreadsheet. A pen.

 Pa-thetic. (In a Scottish brogue, sounds grrreat)

This year I have a little business to run, so upgraded to two envelopes...

Have I made enough to justify paying the tax-man, all the extras charged and collected? That is a good question. We'll see. That's all in another envelope.

Oh oh, no, that makes three. Well, I bought a box of 100 really cheap years ago- so cheap there is no gum, you have to sticky tape them closed. You know, look after the pennies, and pounds look after themselves. Yeah, right.

So I think I have it sorted. And another pile of paper appears from under it all. Start again.

There is an appointment with an accountant next week. I have been him seeing each year or so since last century. Late last century. That's a weird way to say for over a decade. The date was made last week.

I have been hounded from a different direction altogether for an income statement for a while now. Obviously a  profit and loss statement not quite nearly enough for some people. A tax return statement please sir.

The accountant will get a big slice if there is anything to get back, but it's like the law. Like voting, death and consumerism. A fair cut of the profit.

Anyway, the old stuff is in a blue folder, full with the envelopes and old bills. The previous years accounts are still all over an armchair, nearly sorted, just the new stuff to double check. Since the day before. Been somewhat busy.

The current stuff is dutifully filed in a plan vanilla manila folder, in a drawer of the filing cabinet, with three envelopes. I plan on being more efficient for next year, when its due, it will be ready!

I have had a nearly child free night tonight. For about 100 minutes. Maybe sit down and finish that pile.

Apart from taxiing them (the immediate descendants) all around town.

Two off to a girlfriends' pizza and movie night, and making up for a mix-up at work. A pizza made by the eldest boys for the three of us was downed with a beer for those that can drink. A really nice simple affair, then off one split.

And then drop-offs and  pickups. An obligatory cuppa with my in-laws, swapped some stories. Quiet inconsequential talk, and left two with their pop for a big day out tomorrow. Fifteen kilometers, four hours, the petrol.

Home for the gap in the buzz, a nap in front of the SBS movie.

A taxi door slam, and back to the clickety clack of the networked teens, and I am back here, finishing off a piece about avoiding that pile of work on the arm chair.

I am about to crash, as I have a long day babysitting the proles at the polling booth ahead, and then counting their scratchings to vote in another boring committee. And getting a few dollars for the effort.

I do love this place.

02 August measurement obsession?

02 August

measurement obsession?

I had a thought that with the new weather monitor I have installed-
 I have a LOT of measuring thingos around the place.

Steel rulers, 1ft and 1m

other rulers 4 or more

Measuring tapes, 2 x 30m, 2 x 3m

Micrometer electronic x 1

Logarithmic tables (35 years old!)

matching slide ruler for above

Refractometer for Sugar in grapes

Alcohol measurement- spirts x 1

Alcolol measurement wine and beer x 4

Multimeter x 1

Cooking thermometer x 1

Clocks with temp/humidity x 3

weather stations x 2

Hi-Lo mercury thermometer x 1

Compasses x 3

Distilling temperature gauge electronic x 1

Brewing thermometers x 2

Scales x 4

measuring spoon sets x 3

measuring jugs x 4

Computers x 6

levels x 3

palm pc x 1

calculators x 4

'basic language' handheld sharp programmable calcu;ator

fever health thermometer x 1

sports heart rate watch x 1

telscope

electronic microscopes

kid microscope

too much stuff- hard to find it Right Now happens a lot.

Dick Smith’s Population question, and there are elephants in the bloody room, you idiots

I liked Dick Smiths doco. The Q&A show was a disaster IMHO.
The Q&A program did not need dickheads like John Elliot or (woman, sorry about the missing  name) nor The Mining Industry attitudes that were displayed  and were unnecessary as were the usual arguments that always come up, like the ubiquitous 'we all know' from the pollies, or their assumptions that anyone that made it through high school would think like they do.
They do not always, sorry.
We should consume less, but that needs SENSIBLE EDUCATION from babes in arms time. Obviously.
These days we just pay tax, and  lose things like the SEC and Telstra. Thanks Jeff and John. NOT. Do not enjoy paying lots more for something that takes less people to keep it going.
I was annoyed that nobody grabbed Dickos thesis and tried to run with it or explore anything he was trying to put up.
And so what that stupid people may have helped him make enough millions that his kids are okay and he cares about the rest of us and all our futures and that he has a flying car in his garage?

Just trying to do it

Just trying another Blog Publishing site.
Here goes.
Was going to try a blog-site name of  'When in Doubt, think, don't shout', but how is that a blog site name?
My good friend and sister in law has a great one.
Even #1Son has a good one.

I like irony, satire, wry life observations or great funny sarcasm.
Anything to raise the eyebrow, bring on a whimsical or wry smile.

For example of a twisted observation that I made ages ago to two friends when we were having coffee at a place that is on the highway through town. A semi pulling a large load of 10 or 20 crushed cars ready for the steel mill went past, and I had always wanted to say this to an appreciative audience:

"Hey, that must have been a big crash." 

One friend  got it, but the other,  did not, being from the long islands?

And that was funnier to me than the initial observation.

You could hear the sonic boom as the comment went over. Not being racist, but taking a huge leap into a gigantic generalization of these people- they are not slow, are clannish and feudal, know nearly everything, and make good friends. From the small group I know anyway.

Ah well, tomorrow I am buying a decaffeinated coffee table...