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Wednesday 25 April 2012

ANZAC Day

Today, April 25th is one of the most special days in the Australian calendar, it is the day when all australians take time to give thanks and remember the sacrifices may by the men and women of our Armed Forces, in the past, present and future.

ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, and this day commemorates that landing of the ANZACs at Gallipoli in 1915 which was the first major military action by the Australian and New Zealand armed forces in World War I.   I love the fact that this day is marked so well by all Australians, this morning over 35,000 people turned up in the pouring rain to the dawn service in Melbourne alone, its quite amazing. My aim is to definitely attend the dawn service here next year, and then I really hope to be able to attend the 100th Anniversary in Turkey in 2015, which was an aim of my uncle Gary who passed away from cancer last year, I want to attend for him because he never made it there in his lifetime even though it was a dream of his.


So this is my way of saying thanks to the Service Men and Women of Australia and the rest of the world, past, present and future for what they do, thank you for the sacrifices that you and your families make and for being far braver than I ever could be.



Monday 23 April 2012

Money Monday

So this week I signed the Debt Free Life Pledge over at and then she saved, because I've been struggling with money and my debt since 2008, over that time I have paid off over $5K in credit card debt only have it balloon out to its current state of $9K. That I can no longer live with so I signed the pledge and I'm posting about it here to hold myself accountable for my own debt. I created it by wanting the newest shiniest iphone and macbook, by thinking that putting something on my credit card was like paying for it myself, its NOT!
So I'm signed up and committed that over the next year I will only buy things I need, instead of just what I want, so to get me started here is a list of my definite needs.

  • Car payments and insurance, petrol - $150 per week, (my new car is justified because it cost me $50 to fill and a full tank lasts me at least a week and half if not two, compared to my old car that cost me $70-85 to fill and only lasted for a week at a stretch)
  • Food - $70 a week , no more eating out or trips to Nando's before the movies, well no more trips to the movies actually which may be the hardest sacrifice of them all as it is a big part of my socialisation and generally a weekly or twice weekly occurrence, but I'm going to save that $16 and put it to better use. Also no more buying my lunch from at work, my daily food budget is going to be $10 for 3 meals a day which may be the biggest struggle as I love good for but the kicker is I also love cooking, so if I plan out my shopping and cooking I can use my days off to make lunch for my working days.
  • Board - $80 per week or 6 hours work, recently I have been working for my parents in lieu of paying board, and as much as I hope this can continue I feel guilty of the weeks when I do less than 5 hours which is what covers my board.
  • Phone Bill $30 per week, this is a need as I have already signed the 2 year contract that doesn't expire until Feb 2013, and also the boy lives 2 hours away so the phone is our lifeline especially since the no entertainment budget and limited car usage will mean that we get to see each other less. 
So those are my needs, I'm sure things will come along that will challenge this list but that is what I am to spend per week, and I if I'm successful then I will be able to pay of at least $70 per week of my debt. I'm aiming for more and actively searching for a second or higher paying job that will be solely used to pay down my debt with my current job being used for expenses.
Would one of these be nice?
So this is the plan, wish me luck because I'm going to need it!

Charlie

Thursday 19 April 2012

Living (semi) out of home


Princess Polly
In the past week I’ve only spent two nights sleeping in my own bed, its been a refreshing experience helped me get my mind around things at home and solidify my goals for the future, and just given me a break from worrying about jobs and money related things.

It started by me house-sitting for my sister for weekend, well more Polly the cat sitting. She’s more the hide out and stalk you kitty rather than the lets sit on the couch and cuddle, so looking after her can be very entertaining, including her stealing my hair tie of the coffee table and me chasing her all over the house to retrieve it. I love kittens neither of our cats were ever super playful, so its nice spending time with the bundle of energy.



Lilies from the market
Watching TV and discovering new blogs
This weekend also included a visit to the local monthly market, which I love but generally miss because I’m either working or travelling around somewhere, I got some lovely flowers and a super cute new bracelet.






The Market on the waterfront


Then after arriving at work on Monday and finding out that I had no shifts until Friday, I decided after working for my mum for most of Tuesday that I would take the time to visit the boy because I’m now working all weekend so our time together would have been zero. I had such a lovely time hanging out with him and his family for 2 days it’s a lot of what I’ve been missing lately, with all the work he does with his two jobs added on to the fact that he lives 2 hours our time together is pretty precious.
Port Arlington

So I spend yesterday cruising around in his work truck for the day, which was lovely because while it may be a less than glamorous job, the area that he does in it is quite beautiful to drive through.

We also went out for dinner to a lovely newly open brewery restaurant that had amazing tapas and pizzas to go along side the boutique beer (for him) and cider (for me). It was great because it wasn’t busy so we sat around chatting with the chef and owner while enjoying some great food and drinks.

But now back to work tomorrow, what have you been up to?

Friday 6 April 2012

Currently...



Obsessing Over... The Hunger Games, I've seen it once and I'm really dying to see it again, but its school holidays, the teens and tweens are scaring me away from the cinemas, but maybe I'll take my best friend on Saturday night.

Working On... making more money, I've start working with my parents again, which is great because I get to work from home and it help substitute the hours that I'm not getting at my real job, where I'm only getting part timeish hours at the moment, and I'm still looking for another part time job to make everything a little easier, and less stressful.

Thinking About ... redecorating my room, I moved into my own room at my parents in November, I've been working on making it my own space since then. I've painted, re-carpeted, and now I'm working on adding all the extra things that make it mine. All I need now is chairs, well a chair and hopefully a chaise lounge or daybed, but I'm saving up for them so it may be a while.


Anticipating ... my trip to Bali in November, its still a while away but I can't wait. I've in 4 different countries over the last 9 years but the only time I've been to Asia was through the airports and after my trip to Fiji last year I've really excited to get away again.

Listening to...

This song is great, The Treble is a band from Winnipeg and one of the members is the cousin of one of my good friends from Canada, and the video clip is pretty awesome to raise money and awareness for the red cross.

Eating... well you mean beside easter eggs and hot cross buns? Lots of seafood and stir-frys at the moment, I made delicious sweet chilli prawn fettucini and it was a big hit.
                              
Wishing ... that I could invent teleportation because I've been really missing my canadian life over the past couple of weeks but then I love being home and being able to drive around and see my family and the growing brood of kiddies. But a Canadian adventure is definitely due in 2013 I believe or at least that will be my aim.