Lists – Page 5 – Live To List

October 15, 2013January 7, 2021

All time favourite books

I know many of my readers, are readers of books too! So I thought I would share my top 5 books. Not my latest reads but the books that years later I still remember and I want to share with others. And none of them are what I’d call classics either! Each of them will probably reveal a little more about me too.

A gripping story when you're 11 — A gripping story when you’re 11

When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr

This book was read to my year 6 class by Mrs… oh wow, I don’t remember her name! Mrs Jones! Or was in Year 5 – what a memory I don’t have (I had the same classroom those two years, so perhaps that’s why I’m confused).

This novel was my first introduction to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. Since then, I’ve devoured countless books on the holocaust (my book collection features them heavily). The title refers to the characters decision making on packing toys. Until I moved in with the BF (two months ago), I slept with my teddy bear. I promised him (and past BFs) that when I had a permanent bed mate, I would shelve Jessie. To this day, I miss her, and when I’m sick, the BF gets her for me, to cheer me up.

Travel without books - guide books. Novels are fine! — Travel without books – guide books. Novels are fine!

Honeymoon with my brother by Franz Wiesner

This book is the true story of the author being more or less left at the alter. Instead of ‘wasting’ the once in a lifetime trip he’d planned, he signed his brother up, and they started seeing the world. It’s a story of healing, but more than that, what I took away from it was the desire to travel genuinely. To travel and to LISTEN. Not to read Lonely Planet and go where everyone else goes. I don’t travel with a guide book (and sometimes, I regret that!). I ask people in hostels and hotels what they like. I go wherever, and enjoy the journey of walking streets. I go to Jewish Museums (everywhere). That probably goes back to the first book!

Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder

Not be confused with Sophie’s Choice, which I also enjoyed, Sophie’s World is a book that introduces a child to philosophy. Every book by Gaarder is a masterpiece in my mind, and develops and introduces new and challenging concepts to me. She has an incredible knack for storytelling.

Emergency by Neil Strauss

I was in NYC in 2011, and browsing Barnes and Noble. I was hoping to find secrets in a Postsecret book, but didn’t 🙁 I wanted to find something to read, as I’d exhausted my supply by this stage in the trip. I find it so difficult to BUY books, because I don’t (by and large) keep books. I wanted something engaging, but enduring. I’m not sure how I resolved to buy Emergency, but it was my first introduction to ‘doomsday preppers’. I do like end of the world movies, so it probably has something to do with that. Nonetheless, it still sits of my bookshelf and I keep thinking ‘I must get some candles, and a canteen of water, you never know what could happen’.

Each peach pear plum

This is the only childhood book I was adamant could not be downsized or rationalised. My mother loves to downsize, and when you move 10 times in 10 years, I’m lucky to have any childhood books still standing! I love that it rhymes, incorporating all the characters you know from other stories – Mother Hubbard and Tom Thum. It’s just such a joy to trip along through the story, and the illustrations always capture my imagination.

How about you? What books changed your life? What book are you always telling people they just *have* to read?

July 29, 2013January 7, 2021

Smile for you close up!

Wow… This was meant to publish last week (Thu 25 July), but it seems all the other changes, I failed to get it to publish! Thanks to everything else going on in my life, I’ve not been meticulously planning content, and preparing photos. That’s not to say photos haven’t been taken of my new place though 😀

Moving plans

Here’s how things are tracking

My place has had it’s professional photos taken (so it’s even more perfect that how you usually see it… No tea towels! No hand towels! No soap by the sink!)

The ad will go up ~~today~~ last Thursday (so excited to see it!)
My open time is booked in (10am last Saturday)

I’ll pick up the spare keys from my parents Wednesday afternoon (as I’m out that way for a meeting today) & drop them to the agent
My friends are hiring a van (in the GoGet car share system here in Sydney) and will help the BF and I move his few possessions (this past Saturday!)

My strata manager has approved us to store the BF’s stuff in the ‘games’ room in my building (essentially a storage place/meeting room) for the week between him moving in, and us getting keys for our new place
I’ve done my change of address almost everywhere I can think of, the majority were online, so super quick and easy

Bedroom, missing on bedside box from Ikea

I was getting all frazzled about the ‘hurry hurry wait’ situation, but I’ve now resolved I will commence next Saturday – in the afternoon, after the showing. With that decision, I’m much calmer. I think I can realistically get everything packed in 1.5 days, with moving on Monday. Of course, if my place hasn’t yet got a lease, I’ll move ‘half’ my stuff – the stuff I can take away from my apartment, but still give people an idea of space and furniture options. Mostly everything in the cupboard and occasional storage like side tables and ottomans. Naturally, I have a prioritised list of what to move: from move now, to move last.

Career

In non moving news, I’ve also been told I start my new role on ~~Monday~~ today. Just what a girl needs :p I’ll be working under (another) new boss. Everything’s in flux in my office’s management, and I’ve liked my temporary new boss. The new new boss, well, I’m not sure we gel just yet. But it’s a learning experience. I’ll certainly have a much larger amount of work to output (many more smaller jobs, whereas now I have a few large jobs… When I say ‘few’ I mean about 25, of which 5-10 are active at any one time ;))

Along with a new type of work, and output, I will also oversee the work of one person in my office, and a collection of people in another office. The other office people won’t be working on my portfolio full time, but will help out to raise output.

Needless to say, I’ll have a few plates in the air ~~in the next~~ this week, between starting a new role, having my house open for inspection, and hopefully getting it leased, and packing and moving from my place to our new place.

I’ve always said I’d rather be busy than bored though!

Oh I am SO excited to have had my place photographed by a pro, if you couldn’t tell! And here I was thinking (and hoping) I was modest… I’m not, I love my baby(house).

Maybe tomorrow I can share the ‘disaster’ photos of how it looks after absorbing some of the BF’s stuff. It really isn’t that much of a disaster!

July 18, 2013May 24, 2018

Rental wish list

Remember, I share a post about things I’d like in my future home? Well, now that I’m looking for a rental, some of these might be ‘for real’ soon enough. Though I think the fireplace is highly unlikely in inner city Sydney apartments…

Here’s the list I drafted with the BF

sunshine: my dark loft is just too dark. Sunshine makes me happy
train station proximity: we both prefer trains to buses, and my work is on a train line
2 bed or 1 bed + study: the premise for moving from my place to our place is to gain some space (or a location I can escape the snoring!)
crazy: the bf’s way of saying x-factor or character. Something that makes the place better than ordinary
car space: the bf’s car is lovely, and street side parking has already resulted in some damage
grocery adjacent: given how good I’ve got it now, I know I’m unlikely to enjoy such an easy walk to all the shops!
secure: my current neighbourhood isn’t known for it’s safety! The bf wants to be sure we feel safe
storage: I’m used to a full height pantry AND a linen closet, and then a storage niche. I’d like to be sure I can relocate all these items easily into a new place
big kitchen: we currently trip over one another when cooking in his U shaped kitchen, so it’d be great to have something more open
cross breeze: the bf’s rental had a great summer cross breeze, that beats any fan. I don’t like the chances of finding the same again, but it’s something to be mindful of. And I would love a bathroom with a window, but realise they are uncommon in inner city apartments
air conditioning: I think that snuck onto the list when I wasn’t looking. Tut tut. And we’d talked about double fans (when we combine ‘stuff’)
easy to move in/out: yeah, no body loves moving, but this isn’t our ‘forever’ home. If it’s easy to move into, it’s easy to bring groceries home…

The bold options are the non negotiables and a starting point. The rest will act as a guide. But, guiding as they may be, places go FAST in Sydney, so we might need to up our ante. I started looking on Monday morning, and when I called Tuesday morning, the place had two offers and they wouldn’t consider more applications, or show it again. Talk about fast! They didn’t even list an inspection time online (which is usual). Anyhow, I did ring her, offer to drink with her (it was in context) and otherwise befriend her – cause there’s no harm in building rapport!

This was going to be the end of the post, but then we looked at two properties (one is pictured above). Both are in warehouse conversions, but in neighbouring suburbs. Both happened to be on the building’s top floor (3rd or 4th story, not super high) For my thought process, I’ll share these with you:

Daytime property viewing

Positives

lots of light, especially downstairs
good kitchen storage & gas cooktop!
a linen closet!
a block to the train (and opposite my close friend’s house)
2 bathrooms
both bathrooms have windows (light + ventilation)
exposed wooden beams upstairs in the bedrooms and bathroom
beautiful wooden stairs and entry
vacant – could move in anytime
air conditioner in the bedroom
cross breeze possible downstairs
within our discussed budget

Negative

midget sized wardrobes – due to
sloping rooflines
small bedrooms
a bit of a walk to grocery store
no window coverings
no power, so couldn’t check light fittings (known to be bad in this building)

Evening property viewing

Positives

HUGE generally
new kitchen with drawers
new bathroom
more wardrobes than I could imagine ever needing
new wooden floors in living areas
warehouse conversion
close walk to a shopping centre
lovely leafy neighbourhood (I’ve always said ‘I want to live here’)

Negatives

just ‘a bit too far’ to the train station
may be dark (we’ll go back for a daytime viewing)
priced a little higher than we budgeted (but not above what we could afford)
small bathroom
no dryer provided (yet)
difficult to access washing machine taps (just a one time bother)
carspace less safe
small bedroom windows

So which way will we go? Or will we abandon both and look at some more? Either way, I’m sure to share photos of my new home in due course! Oh, and pick which one you think I prefer…

July 15, 2013May 24, 2018

I interrupt regular broadcasting…

… to bring you breaking news!

I’ll soon have one more person living in my place 😀

The BF’s lease is up in two short weeks (sort of caught him by surprise), so he plans to move to my place to buy us some time while we hunt for the ideal rental. We both think it’d be best to have ‘our’ place, rather than ‘my’ place, cause let’s face it, I know I can be a little particular! There’s so much to organise, in the next two weeks, and then looking forward from there, I thought I’d share my list with y’all

The next two weeks

~~Get spare cardboard boxes from work~~/fruit & vege shop for the BF to pack
~~Make space in my wardrobe for his clothing~~
~~List all BF’s bigger ‘stuff’ (furniture etc) with measurements~~
Make space in my house for his furniture (and a plan for what’ll be at mine in the short-term)
~~Speak to my parents about temporarily storing some of the BF’s furniture~~
~~Go to open for inspections – see the places~~, but review the leasing agents…
~~Make inquiries with agents about renting my place~~, ~~and the likely rent~~
~~Make a budget – rent I’ll receive, bills for my house~~, bills for a new place, ~~rent I can pay out~~, savings goals
~~Work out suitable rent/cost sharing between me and BF in the interim period~~ Half of what my neighbours pay
~~Speak to my cousin about borrowing his trailer for move day 1~~ Find a car with a toe bar first!
Collect details on utilities etc for BF to cancel/change his address
~~Book cleaner to do ‘final clean’ at BF’s place (then I’ll likely want to stay there!)~~ Saturday/move out day
~~Book in accountant (for tax)~~ and discuss best $ options with house/loan etc
Bore readers with inventory posts 🙂
~~Share my new rental ‘wish list’ with readers~~, and my ‘what I (inadvertently) love about my current place’

After finding a new place

~~Procure even more boxes~~
~~Start packing up my house~~
Patch holes and paint (ie Lack hanging shelves, maybe hanging birdcages?)
Switch-a-roo washing machines (? Leave bf’s at my place, and take mine to new place, perhaps)
~~Set up new utilities~~
~~Advise all of change of address~~ (yikes, but I’m good at it now!)

I’m sure there’s more for this list – so suggest away! And ask questions too, cause that’ll prompt my brain!

July 1, 2013January 7, 2021

Food memories from boarding school

I spent 7 years in boarding school, when I was 10-13, and again from 14-17 (so I had a year off in between). My parents started by moving to Vanuatu, a small pacific island, and my dad’s employer paid for my schooling. When my parents returned to Brisbane, I was devastated to be a day girl So when they moved to Wollongong (a town 1 hr from Sydney), I was asked if I wanted to stay in Brisbane, or go to school in Wollongong or Sydney. Wollongong didn’t offer an Anglican all girls school, so it’s likely I would have had to go to a school in Sydney. A 2 hr daily commute is rough on a teenager, so it’s possible I may have been a boarder in Sydney. But sometimes the devil you know is better than anything! So I went back into boarding school in Brisbane, and was there til graduation!

Boarding school wasn’t a punishment, for me or almost all the other 180 girls. We loved the camaraderie, and the opportunities – you can play so many sports, and there’s no car pooling in most cases. That being said, some boarding school stereotypes are definitely true! The food was… not ideal! In the 7 years I was in the boarding house, they had a few moments of ‘tarting up’ the food – it was all laid out like it was a photo shoot. For Melbourne Cup (a horse race that stops the nation) they put out a spread with non alcoholic wine, even. It was stolen. It was a coup. Anyhow, these times of improved conditions seldom lasted.

What has pervaded are these memories:

– White bread + butter + sugar at the dinner table

– Orange halves + sugar (you think they’d learn to not put sugar on the tables, right?)

Photo shoot with readers in mind (or... making OJ for a sick BF) Oh the synergies — Photo shoot with readers in mind (or… making OJ for a sick BF) Oh the synergies

– The best dessert ever: caramel tarts. And running to afternoon tea the following day in the hope of leftovers

They looked *just* like this! source: marquetteturner.com — They looked *just* like this!
source: marquetteturner.com

– Icecream bars, wrapped in papery/plastic on Fridays

– Blueberry muffins for breakfast

– Crumpets, English Muffins and raisin toast added to weekend breakfasts

– Bacon and eggs on chapel mornings (Thursday and Sunday)

– Beef stronganoff looking like dog food, namely PAL (remember I mentioned this in my food dislikes list?)

– Creamed rice always resulting in rumours of maggots (especially after numerous repeat servings!)

– Milo (chocolate malt milk powder) stuck to benchtops

– Never having access to a microwave

It’s always interesting to speak to other who went to boarding school. One friend has struggled with eggs ever since. What about you? What are your food memories – particularly institutionalised food!

May 17, 2013January 7, 2021

Knife skills course- 12 in 2 list

On Saturday, I knocked off one of my ‘12 in 2 list‘ goals – do a knife skills course. I went to the Chef’s Armoury in Rosebery, Sydney. It was $89 for a 1.5 hour session – there were 6 people (though one didn’t turn up) to the one teacher in the specialist knife store – mainly Japanese knives, and some additional food items. You were asked to bring a small and a large knife – which is smart, to learn how to use YOUR knife, rather than one of theirs.

First we started with carrots, and had our skills evaluated. It is nerve racking having someone watch you do something you know you’re not that good at – that’s why I signed up for the course! Anyhow, no one was immediately eliminated, and despite threats that he’d shout ‘STOP EVERYTHING’ if he saw anything really dangerous, we all did pretty well. Basically, the key learning was that you need to curve all your fingers around like you’re holding a stress ball, as you cut whatever item. AS I said, we started with a LOT of carrots! Practising our curled fingers we julienned carrots, and then finely diced them. Then we moved onto leeks.

The non cutting hand should be shaped like it's around a stress ball. — The non cutting hand should be shaped like it’s around a stress ball.

The thing that I learnt about leeks was how to wash out that pesky dirt that is always near the tops of the white part. Basically you cut the ‘head’ into quarters or eighths, making it like a brush. Then you swish it around in a sink or bowl of water, and huzzah, no more dirt. Really not rocket science, but something I’d never worked out on my own :s

Creating a leek 'brush' to clean out the dirt — Creating a leek ‘brush’ to clean out the dirt

So far, everyone had all their fingers. Thought a few people had some knife to fingernail action, there was no blood or anything serious! Next he really upped the ante, and whipped out the capsicum (bell peppers). Seeing we’d mastered juliennes and dicing, we then were shown how to skin a capsicum with a knife. Let me assume me, I do not think I’ve ever really thought ‘wow I need to skin this capsicum’ but as the instructor explained, the skin is bitter, and when you have a fine dice or similar, say for a bruschetta, you don’t want little bits of skin in your teeth. I didn’t really master the finer skills in separating the capsicum skin from the flesh, but that’s ok, cause next up we went onto tomatoes).

Tomatoes are EASY in comparison! I can skin a tomato, without boiling it, and then burning my fingers! And then, just to keep up our skills, we finely diced the tomato as well. We learnt that the fine dice was part of the beauty of cooking, the smaller pieces of carrot, leek, onion or tomato caramelise better due to the larger surface area. So there you go, not something I’d ever considered, but of course is makes perfect sense.

Oh and back on the leeks – here’s a good way to dice them. Cut into the core, and then lay it flat like a book. Then julienne in line with the grain (ie cutting along the ‘long side’ rather than the ‘formerly round end’), then come back to dice them.

We leant two motions with the knife. There was a pinch gripe, with a simple up and down motion. This is where we started with the carrots. Then we moved onto the locomotive grip, running in an elliptical motion. This elliptical motion is crucial when cutting spring onion or shallots so that you don’t crush the circular structure. It seems this is what I hadn’t mastered, as that’s what causes the shallots to no be cut right through (they sort of look like a potato hedgehog or something). Definitely something I’ll need to practice some more as I didn’t reach perfection during the course.

Pinch grip on the knife (a lot further forward than where I usually was cutting from)

Next up we learnt how to zest an orange (or any citrus fruit really). Essentially it was just using the knife to finely peel the colour part from the pith. Interestingly, whilst we were asked to bring a big and a small knife, we were encouraged to use the large knife for everything if we felt comfortable. I also wasn’t the master of the zesting, but I got better as we were asked to peel the pith (without, obviously, removing too much of the lovely flesh!) Lastly we learnt how to cut out segments, leaving behind the nasty white niceness (cause white stuff is poisonous – like in the capsicum. NO, no it’s not, but our teacher assures us every 5 year old will tell you it is!). I didn’t take an action shot of this, but I’ll show you the mother’s day fruit salad I made on Sunday to test the skills

Mother's day fruit salad (my mother is a much stronger adherent to no sugar, so this was the PERFECT dessert for her) — Mother’s day fruit salad (my mother is a much stronger adherent to no sugar, so this was the PERFECT dessert for her)

Last, but by no means least, we learnt to cut onions. Now, the teacher says the only way to not cry cutting them is to get someone else to cut them! The other participants said a mouthful of cider or beer will help – so I’m willing to try it. Cause the matchstick between the teeth trick has come up bust with me lately. Basically you keep the root on, and trim the head of the onion. Then you cross the head of the onion, and use the knife to peel away the skin. Tick and tick – well I wasn’t using a knife to peel away the skim previously, but otherwise I was following the method in my own cooking. Then you halve the onion and cut wedges into it, keeping the root intact. There’s not need to do the whole ‘then cut horizontally through the onion’. Then using the fingers around a ball technique, you dice the onion, with tears streaming down your face. Tada, the sad end to the class!

Criss cross on the onion, to help peel it

Angled cut/slice back towards the root ball

I’m pleased I went, and in order to illustrate this post I tested all my skills in making a vegetable soup! For the first six months he asks us to WATCH what we’re doing, but once we have finger placement down pat, the safety of it will mean we can cut and safely watch TV at the same time! Wow, cool huh?

'Practice' complete - and a veggie soup so extensive I needed to do it in two batches as my saucepan is too small! — ‘Practice’ complete – and a veggie soup so extensive I needed to do it in two batches as my saucepan is too small!

I did the course at The Chef’s Amoury on Botany Rd, Rosebery. They were the most competitive course out there, with small class sizes.

Did I teach you anything new? Any cool tips you have, that I can add to my repertoire?

May 14, 2013January 7, 2021

Boyfriend review

Tuesday is review day. Usually books. Sometimes a film. Today, is a special day for someone in my life. So, today I shall share a little about someone known as ‘the bf’.

This is what my boyfriend's FLATMATE looks like (or so he likes to think). I don't have a celeb look alike for the bf source: www.people.com — This is what my boyfriend’s FLATMATE looks like (or so he likes to think). I don’t have a celeb look alike for the bf
source: www.people.com

The BF and I have been together a little over 6 months, and today marks his birthday. He’s pretty awesome as far as a blogger’s bf could go, cause he’s work in search engine wizardry (not that I actually understand any of it!). So he’s constantly enlightening me on the greater intricacies of the world wild (opps, wide!) web. And there’s nothing I can teach him either, it would seem!

So, as this blog is about my listing, I shall list the great things about my bf!

he is a nerd monster (which is just awesome when you make a Facebook account for your blog and it’s a ‘person’ instead of a ‘page’!)
he makes the bed (cause he’s ALWAYS out of bed after me, sometimes by HOURS!)
he drives the nicest car (and! let’s me drive it too)
he’s uber uber into cuddling
he’s always warm, which is particularly good for this cold cat as the temperatures drop here in Australia
he curbed his ice cream addiction whilst I knuckled down for a no sugar commitment in Lent
he helps me with that bottle of red wine
he taught me how to copy and paste of my HTC phone…. here I was thinking it wasn’t possible
he’s mastered toilet seat down, next stop the lid right?
he doesn’t often say ‘yes’ when I ask ‘should I stop talking’ late in the night
he can tell in the middle of the night if something’s not right (like I’m unwell), from when I’m fine
he’ll let me order a SECOND cheese and garlic pizza, and that be dinner 😀
he can untangle necklaces like a demon
he’s got big muscles (seriously, not just man muscles, but buff, breaking out of his t shirt style), and can open those tightly shut lids
he’ll try anything I cook/bake – basically my thinly veiled attempts to get us both to eat more vegetables!
he has an awesome sense of humour, well… some of it is very well worn humour!
he comes along to weddings and the like; for people he’s never even met, just so I have company
he knows that when I say no to a drink or food, that what I really mean is ‘no, but I’ll have some of yours’
after only a few weeks dating, I shaved my head, and he stuck around (but does wish it’d grow a little faster, as do I!)
he pretty darn communicative (for a boy) which means anything can be talked out
he knows my current favourite song, and will leave it on the radio (as his eyes may or may not start to bleed!)

We also have some nice similarities

he has the same size feet as me (this helps HIM know his size in womens, mens, and European!)
same sort of upbringing – socially, educationally etc
both have the similar attitudes to money (ie he vetoes the idea of a $36,000 wrapping room EVER!)

Now a review usually comes with a recommendation, so I would highly recommend my boyfriend, however, there’s only one of him. Oh and any good review should balance the good with the bad, but there’s no point in raining on this little parade of birthday love! Overall, I’d like to say, he’s pretty awesome :p

April 11, 2013May 24, 2018

Future house wish list

I love my loft apartment, mostly. But I can’t help thinking ‘one day’, I’ll move and these are the things I wish my house to have

lots of natural sunlight: a loft with a single double height window doesn’t allow a lot of light, and given the orientation of my place, and the garden beds, I don’t get a lot of light, and only for an hour or two in the morning.
a fireplace: Sydney gets cold! And I love the smell of other people’s fires in winter. And it’s a great way to dispose of paper/tissues/wood
In a modern home
source:eliteproductionsintl.blogspot.com

In a more traditonal house
source:www.bluboxfireplaces.com.au
a garden: even with a bigger, sunnier balcony I could go back to growing things, I loved growing sweet peas (the flowers and the vegetable!), and keep seeing awesome little ways to grow other things I’d love to have on hand
gas: for both cooking as well as heating/water heating. Currently I only have it for water heating.
natural ventilation: firstly a bathroom window! The style of my loft makes that impossible. It was on my wish list when I was househunting, but some things you have concede. My next place will hopefully have more than just a bathroom window, but windows everywhere!

And hopefully it’ll have things I already have in my little loft

a good sized pantry
a linen cloest
an entry area – with places to store ‘grab and go’ items (umbrellas, name badges, coffee cup), somewhere to process mail, dump handbags, put things for delivery when next out etc.

What do you have on your future home’s wish list? What did you used to wish for, and no longer need/want/wish for?

April 1, 2013January 7, 2021

12 in 2 list – a time and money plan!

Zorbing with OZBallsSource: http://www.ozball.com.au/Image_Gallery.aspx — Zorbing with OZBalls
Source: http://www.ozball.com.au/Image_Gallery.aspx

I’ve decided if I’m every going to get this list done, I need a plan – to save the money, but also to DO the things I’ve listed. Two on going task (bible reading and half marathon running) are both currently in practice. As for the other 10, I’ll list them in chronological order. Sadly one goal has been deleted, but it’s for the best reason!

Activity list	Proposed date	Cost
Dinner at Quay	~~Jan 13~~
Knife skills course	~~May 13~~	$89
Go on a silent retreat	3-14 July 13	??
Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb	Sept 13	$218 – $298
~~Do Bridge Run~~ (half way to half)	22 Sept 13	$55
Go Jet Skiing	~~Nov 13? Dec 13~~	$300/per hour
Learn to Surf	Nov 13 – 3 days	$445
Dinner at Aria	Jan 14	$420
Read the new testament	Mar 14	$0
Run a half marathon	May 14 or Sept 14	$120
Plan and prepay funeral	Nov 14	$6000
Zorbing	Jun 13	$110 +$105 in flights
		$1997

You can see the grand total has omitted the funeral prepaying – it’s just such a large chunk… so I have to have $2k raised over 21 months, that’s only $95 a month. I can surely find that! I’ll now sling any ‘extra’ cash at the end of the week into an ‘adventures’ fund (remember, I put a set amount away every week towards my $20k goal to refinance my mortgage at the end of this year). Here’s to getting fun stuff onto the agenda, but still meeting my savings targets!

March 29, 2013January 7, 2021

Goals Updates – March

To see the start of this series, click here, and then there’s Jan Update and Feb Update. My weeks are based on Monday through to Sunday. But where a week ends mid week, I do funny things as you’ll see below!

Financial

$20k target by 22 Dec – on target with planned contribution of $165 per week.

Last month: $12,130
This month: $12,950 *Despite borrowing from this for my ‘generosity’ target, I’m still on track for my $20k goal :D*

Generosity target of $100 p/w – 100%+ achieved

Last week of Feb: additional $20 (+ 9hrs volunteering)
week 1 – $25 to church +$100 petrol in someone’s car, $50 for beer (which I don’t drink) <- this last one might be a stretch!
week 2 – $70 to church (+1hr volunteering)
week 3 – $20 to church + $10 for sympathy flowers + $465 to a friend in need (this was calculated to get me to a complete $100 in this month and the last)
week 4 – $20 to church + $70 gift

Exceeding my planned per week goal, for the year. Having a set ‘amount’ per week makes me less resentful than I used to be. So whilst it might seem perverse to track my generosity, it IS helping me to feel and BE more generous, and that’s exactly what I wanted!

Health

Cook at home twice a week: I’ve started tracking the spend on my part for meals out – some I’m paid for, others I pay for both/all

Last week of Feb- ?? (Thu)
?? (Fri)
Steak and Mash at BF’s (Sat)
Mac/tuna/cheese with Roast Vegies (Sun)

Tuna bake mmmmsource: taste.com.au — Tuna bake mmmm
source: taste.com.au

week 1 –
leftovers (mac&cheese) (Mon),
Thai out$10 (Tue),
Sushi out – thank you dinner $0 & beef curry made(Wed),
Pizza out $50 (Thu)
Mexican out $20 (Fri),
Pub food $0 (Sat), KFC $18 (Sun)

week 2 –
leftovers (curry) (Mon),
Dinner at parents (Tue),
Beef, bacon and egg pies (Wed),
Omlette’s at BF’s (Thu)
Mexican pub food $15 (Fri)
Pizza at BF’s (Sat)
Indian out with parents $0 (Sun)

week 3 –

Tuna pasta bake (with GF substitutions for me!) (Mon)
Dinner out at a South American resturant $45 (Tue)
Cheesy garlic pizza (Wed)
Chorizo & Leek risotto (Thu)
Brazilian BBQ out (Fri)
Homemade pizzas (store bought bases!) (Sat)
Sausages at a friends (Sun)

**both weekend days, I had lunch out – French 3 course for a Hen’s on Sat ($36) and with a friend from out of town on Sun ($20)**

week 4 –
Udon noodles (Mon)
Chinese out – it’s my bf’s fave place/dish and we’ve not been there since Jan, so I figured it was a good dinner before his week away (Tue)
Birthday dinner for brother at my parents (Wed)
Udon noodles (Thu)
Leek & Chicken Terrain and focaccia (Fri)
Leek & Potato bake (Sat)
Vietnamese noodles with prawns (Sun)

Sugar – I haven’t been ideal for lent. I’ve broken lent for multi course (prepaid) dinners, twice. And nibbled some brownies I made for Easter. And a Caramello Koala passed my lips in a bought of cramps and general frustration with the world. At least each slip up, I was mindful of why I had recommitted to no sugar (Lent) and that’s at least part of the purpose.

Train for polo – 0% on water polo, but encouraging on the exercise front. So let’s say… 40% achieved. Sigh – no, I decided a house guest got me off the hook, even though she ended up having the night out with another friend. So that’s a no for the first week. And now the season is over, maybe I should adjust this goal for gym sessions? Given I want to run a half marathon, as part of my 12 in 2 goals, I should really start being accountable to y’all (and myself) with how I’m going! I did play polo the Sunday of Week 1, then a gym session Mon, Tue and Thu – cardio and weights. From then on, I’ve been training for my half marathon goals, with a run every second day – which I blogged about last Friday

Cultural

– 2 films a month – 100% achieved

Side effects – great movie, though not the pick me up I was hoping for, seeing it was a lot about depression. That being said, it was cleverly written.

One sure fire way to lighten my life is to see a movie, so on Sunday I wedged in a movie between church and seeing my parents. I saw Goddess which is an Australian musical. Let me say, I HATE musicals, but i LOVED this film. It’s very modern, and hilarious to boot. And Ronan Keating taking off his shirt once or twice wasn’t too shabby either. The story is based around the wife, and her frustration at being at home with 2.5 year old twins, so she starts a web cam to keep in contact with her husband (Ronan Keating) whose in Antarctica. Except he never signs on, but the rest of the world gets in on the action! It was a great feel good movie, and just what the doctor ordered!

– 2 books a month – 50% achieved

I started with The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey, and I have a review should you be interested. Thanks to The Exacting Life, and her comments on the last few books I read, I picked up Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto from the library, and reviewed it here. Actually I picked it to read next as it’s slim, so I knew I could get it finished by month’s end. Review is here I’ve also started on another Japanese book – seems to be an (unintentional) theme – called Grotesque. Reminding me far too much about cliques and exclusion and cruelty in high school!

Social

Somehow this missed Jan, Feb and mid Mar. Opps!

Call/connect with an out of town friend – well a friend from Brisbane was in Sydney, so we had lunch. But I think this is a cheating ‘win’ on this goal – that involved next to no initiative on my part 🙁

Career

– Certification – 400% achieved! OK maybe 200% achieved as I haven’t made them all perfect. I added one further episode, so I have only three outstanding. The last three are pretty tricky, so I might need to meet with my colleagues who are also doing the certification and get some inspiration. Then I need to improve the 13 episodes I’ve already written, getting them to at least 500 words, and ensuring they are as good as they can be.

– Looking for next role Also something I’ve left off on past months. I’m happy to report that at a water polo BBQ fundraiser, I discovered one of the parents works for a company that supplies materials to my company. So I spoke at length to him about opportunities at his company. He’s already sent me the monthly job list, but the only suitable one needed 15 years experience. So this parent has decided I should meet an engineer in his company and speak to him about what I might be interested in there. The ‘talk’ shall happen on 5th April. I’m not 100% sure this company will get me my ‘ultimate’ career, but I’m not accepting a job there just yet, so it’s well worth investigating a little further.

Happy Easter/Passover to everyone! Looking forward to other goals updates out there – can’t believe we’re a quarter of the way through the year!