Serendipity

Today I walked my dog along the beach after dropping Kaidin at school. We head to the dog beach in San Remo, which is a pretty nice beach with only a little swell, but massive tidal movement. Literally, in the morning there is a beach and by the afternoon there is only dunes.

Today I took down a magazine, but I thought I would actually walk and try to find some dogs for Pepper to play with. So I walked along (I used to walk 8km along the beach every few days, but now that I actually have a dog I just walk down and up one bay, about 2 km) and as I was walking I was asking for a friend, a friend for me and a friend with a dog so Pepper could have a friend because I am just so damn lonely at the moment now that Adam is gone. A wave crashed and I looked out at teh sea and giggled a bit and thought ‘yes, even an undine* would be better than no friend at all, as long as it doesn’t try to drown me’.

Walked a bit further and there was a older couple with two red heelers. We chatted about dogs and the beach and the dogs played and Pepper even followed one of the heelers into the water. A man walked along with a shepherd cross and told us that he’d seen a seal, but there are never seals at that beach, so I kinda shrugged it off and kept walking when the old couple had to head off.

Further down the beach a lady and her gazillion kids where playing with their two Labradors*. I told them about there supposedly being a seal and we stood and chatted while the kids swam and the dogs played and Pepper even went further into the water.

Suddenly, a little along the beach a head popped up. I can see why the legends of selkies began – from a distance, the seal’s head really did look like the head of a doe eyed woman with long dark hair. It was huge. It swum along the bay towards the groyne where some surfers were catching the little swell. It must of been lost and looking for other seals, because as soon as they got out of the water it swum around the groyne and away into the open ocean.

The lady and I talked for a while and the dogs played and things were good. It wasn’t until I was walking back that I realised just how well my wish came true – a friend to talk to, a friend (two in fact) for Pepper AND an undine thrown in for free.

With luck like that maybe I should buy a lotto ticket.

*An undine is a water spirit. A selkie is an undine who spends part of their time as a woman and part as a seal. they can take off their seal coats and come onto land, without the coats they can’t return to the sea. Depending on which legend you listen to, they were either nice and saved drowning sailors or horrible sirens who lured men into the depths to drown.

*When you have two or less kids you tend to count offspring like this – none, one, two, a gazillion. I think in reality it was about 4 but they wouldn’t stay still long enough for me to count them, so maybe it was 5.

Healing

Well, what a week it has been. I went down to Albany to get an aura photo taken and bought a heap of new crystals. Adam and I separated, for good this time. I’m pretty cut up about it, even though it was me that ended it. It is for the best though – our relationship was past over and we were really hurting ourselves trying to stay together.

So now I’m going to work on learning how to use my crystals. I have a heap of crystal books that I’ve never really looked at, but now I am going to go see a qualified crystal healer and get some pointers.

As for the aura photo, apparently my base chakra, heart chakra and throat chakra are badly out of alignment. Al the rest are good though and my creativity shines out of my aura, which is always a good thing to hear.

Posting is going to be a little sporadic for a while I’m afraid, but I have plans and I’m healing and growing stronger for the experience. It’s such a cliche, but I needed to learn this lesson.

Summer Colds

It is 34 degrees outside and I have a head cold, a sore throat and an aching chest. I hate summer colds. Despite the scientific evidence that cold and flu are caused by bugs, not by actually being cold (although being cold does lower your natural immunity to these bugs, because your body works to keep warm, not to keep nasties out of your system), there is something terribly annoying and inconvenient about summer colds.

I suffer from allergies to begin with – grass and pollen, animal hair and dust – it all makes me sneeze. The allergens are around more in summer, with no rain to  clear the air and more animals moulting due to the heat; so between my allergies and this head cold, I have turned into a sniffly, snuffly whinging wreck; sleeping all day and only waking up to drink litres of orange juice and take more echinacea (Adam is such a good boy sometimes – I asked for cold and flu tablets and he got the all natural ones for me, even though they are usually hidden on a bottom shelf somewhere at our local chemist).

If you wake me up without bringing bowls of chicken soup, I will sneeze on you and give you my bugs. I’m planning to sleep until I’m better.

I still need a maid.

I still have a huge problem with cleaning my house – it’s just not on my list of priorities, even after I decided that I would spend 15 minutes a day cleaning a few months back. Why spend that 15 minutes cleaning, when you could spend that reading or exercising (or sleeping)? I tend to clean in spurts and quite often I’ll take on something – such as cleaning out my ‘to be filed’ shoebox of paid bills and receipts – and get frustrated 3/4 of the way through. I did finally clean out that shoebox two days ago. there were bills and receipts in the bottom of it from 3 years ago. I’ve moved house four times in that period! I did get frustrated too, I want to quit about half way down the overflowing box, but for once I stuck with it.

I have been worried lately because our lawn is still a mess and we failed &our last rent inspection. The house I kept reasonably clean with Adam was away and I did manage to do some large jobs like weeding out the summer-spent annuals from the garden, cleaning up the shed (we had ditched everything from our last clean up in the shed) and cleaning the back room which was gross from the dog and cats running grass through it, plus still had several unpacked boxes left scattered around the room. Now it’s just a method of cleaning the house and keeping it clean, doing a few fix it jobs where the dog has ripped fly wire and carpet (*sob*) and hoping the lawn grows back before Feb 19th for the next inspection.

But there is still that big hurdle I have to get over – why clean when a) it’s just going to get dirty again. we have a zoo of animals and a 5 year old child, the house only stays clean if there is no one in it b) I have better things to do like blog or watch season 6 of scrubs on DVD or read my metalsmithing books and order some jewelry making equipment online c) no one else helps. Adam is too busy working and sleeping, Kaidin is too young to be of any real help, none of my friends are stupid enough to be tricked into helping me clean. It’s an overwhelming job and I have to go it alone… So I started to research online for some tips and tricks to make cleaning easier, even fun.

I use Seventh Generation cleaning products. It uses Hydrogen Peroxide instead of chlorine, which smells a little strange at first, but with the citrus oils in the kitchen cleaner and other essential oils in the bathroom cleaner it’s not unpleasant. It cleans a lot better than the chemically based products I’ve used. The only problem is it is manufactured in america and shipped here. The bottle is recyclable.

Non-chemical cleaners are really important in my quest for a cleaner home – no point in having shiny floors and scrubbed benchtops if having them is slowly giving you cancer. This site and this site tell why non-chemical cleaners are so important and give lists of suitable alternatives. I know I have an unopened packet of borax around here somewhere, maybe tomorrow I should go and purchase bulk vinegar and bicarb and a heap of spray bottles. When I read that Speed Cleaning book everyone raved on about last year it said to keep a container (bucket or otherwise) in each room, with a handful of rags and a spray bottle of whichever cleaner you perefer to use- That way when you are watching tv/waiting for a site to load/listening to your child read/waiting for the bathroom mirror to de-fog so you can do your makeup you can simply grab a rag and spray to clean up small bits of surfaces/windows etc. Then you toss the rag in the washing basket. Once a week when you do the washing, make sure there are enough rags in each bucket. When I read it I thought ‘pfft – who keeps cleaning products in every room?’ but after more thought it’s probably a good idea – if I only have to clean one surface while I’m waiting for something to load I’m much more likely to do it. And if I make my own spray bottles it’s much cheaper than replacing 6+ bottles of spray and wipe every week.

I’m pretty sure Flylady is my favourite cleaning site. It has so many tips, especially on effecient clenaing for lazy, disorganised people like me! Plus it has a lot of tips about getting kids to clean too. more boxes and baskets needed! Charts and marker pens to be found! Loud dance music to get energy up to be downloaded!

When it comes down to it, al the tips are great, all the cleaning products are great, but it won’t mean squat unless I actually do the work. So I’m trying – at least 15 minutes of cleaning every day. Last night it was all the dishes in the kitchen, the benchtops and cupboards. Tonight I cleaned all the junk off the back lawn (dog bones and such) so Adam can mow it (under duress I might add, and he’s left the choke open on the mower and will probably run out of fuel 1/4 way through, but he told me to piss off when I tried to tell him how to start the mower so I guess it’s ‘Mans Work’ and I should just keep my giggling to myself inside). Tomorrow I fully intend to clean the bathroom, including sorting through all my makeup – a lot of which seems to be under the vanity – and scrubbing the grout in the shower. Wish me luck.

…the mower just ran out of fuel.

Bike vs Car

My bike with Currie electric kit fitted

Originally uploaded by lectureral

I got my car serviced today. Adam and I share a 1999 Ford Laser called Princess Sparkle. It was the 200,000km service and it’s costing me $730. $730!!! I couldn’t believe it when the mechanic told me. And then when I said goodbye I told him that I was walking home (with Kaidin and Pepper) and he looked at me like I was crazy. I’m about to walk down to pick her up, but like all mechanics, when the man called me he said that there were several things ‘wrong’ that he just went ahead and fixed for me, so it will probably end up costing closer to a grand.

It got me thinking about how much I really need a car anyway. The only real reason I got a car when my old one died was to get to uni and to work. Now I’m working at the forum, which is a half hour walk away and we live about 500m from the new train station which goes close to my uni. The other reason I needed a car was that Kaidin attends after school care across town. It’s only a 7 minute drive, but it’s a little too far for little legs to walk and I have no way of getting his bike there everyday (well I could wheel it to him, but walking there with a small child’s bike and a hyperactive puppy is just not something I’m willing to do).

So while I’ll keep the car for picking up Kaidin (Adam also uses it for work), I’m thinking about buying a bike. My Dad bought me one for Christmas in 2006, but I stopped using it the next summer and when I moved into this house, I discovered it had been stolen from my back garage. One of the many, many items stolen from my last house.

I read in G magazine while I was waiting for the doctors about electric bikes – ones that you still pedal, but you don’t have to put as much effort into it as a regular push bike. This spiffy one retails at just over $2000 (or the same amount two car service will cost us). I like the Cruiser Nomad at $1299. According to G’s article electric bikes are the way to go – much more energy efficient, you can choose your level of workout (the article included pictures of a man who commuted to work via electric bicycle wearing a suit without breaking a sweat, or you can simply pedal as you would a normal bike and conserve the batteries) and they take a lot less materials to build and need fewer ‘extra’s’ – no $1000 service fee for an electric bike.

According to this site, “for a 250 miles/month average commute, an electric assisted vehicle is 100 times more cost efficient and emits only 3% of the CO2 of a car.” Which is some pretty good stats Ativ Solutions makes the Crystal Cannon Conversion Kit to transform existing bikes into electric ones. At US$695, this option would cost here about the same as buying a new electric bike. The equivalent in Australia of the Currie motor in the picture above retails at between $1100 and $1600 from Electric Vehicles Pty Ltd, again, much the cost of a whole bike. I’m guessing the conversion kits are more for people who want to convert their $3000+ already owned bikes.

I think it’s really an option I’d keep in mind. Adam and I talk often about buying another car as it’s quite impractical for me to drive him to work at 6pm and pick him up at 6am and my other option is to not have any transport for this time period. It’s also just annoying – I am so used to having my own vehicle that I get frustrated if he takes the car and is not back at the prearranged time. Instead of another car however, I would be content if I had an electric bike to use when he needed the car (shopping and errands etc.) and I just used the car to pick up Kaidin from afterschool care. This would not only cut our emissions, but also fuel costs and seeing as petrol is edging up to the $1.50/L mark where I live, it’ll make a big difference to our weekly budget if I can cut 60% of petrol consumption.

Happy New Year!

Happy New year to everyone! I hope you sent out the old year surrounded by loved ones and welcomed 2008 with positive energy and open arms. I spent the minutes of the change from old year to new on the phone to Adam, who is still up north, comforting my puppy who is not quite sure what all those loud bangs are, toasting with a glass of Jacobs Creek sem sav blanc and watching Matt Damon movies. Nice.

New Years Resolutions are fairly out of fashion nowadays – no one I’ve spoken to in the last few days has made them. An online friend said she prefers to make positive changes as they come through out the year and that is a very good point – who knows in January what your circumstances are going to be like come August, or even December? Also, when you are still bloated from Christmas, making a resolution to exercise sounds good, but can it last? Or will you just be left feeling like a failure come the next holiday season when you still haven’t toned up your thighs?

I kept that in mind and I decided to make New Years Resolutions anyway. And I thought I would share them.

• Learn to speak at least passable Russian. I may not make it to the actual country, but just in case I do, I want to be able to speak the language.
• Train the dog. Pepper has killed out lawn by digging, she runs away and refuses to be caught until she wants to and she definitely needs some discipline and more exercise. So I’m committing to at least an hour of walking / playing a day and at least 3 hour sessions of training a week (including Puppy Preschool with the RSPCA that starts soon).
• Get a new tattoo. Been planning to get more tatts pretty much since I walked out of the tattoo parlour last. I just actually have to get into gear and get what I want drawn up and save up some money for it.
• Get a high distinction in each unit at uni I do.
• Make a heap of new friends, with a heap of different interests, so I don’t have to be lonely if Adam is away and the few friends I have now are busy.

As you can see, I’ve kept it fairly simple. I don’t want to look back next December and think I’m a complete idiot for not keeping my resolutions. I have some goals also – try to live even more green that we do now (more posts on new changes coming soon); to eat and drink more local things, even if that means paying more for them; to spend more time doing family things; to build up my jewelry making toolkit (thanks for the soldering iron Dad!) and to keep this blog up and running for the whole year – but those are the ‘change with the circumstances ones’.

In the book Write it Down, make it Happen*, it’s mentioned that you have to get rid of things in order to make room for the new. So on the new moon (this weekend) I’m doing a Native American arrow ceremony to clear negative aspects from my life and invite in the new. Plus this week I am having a big houseclean; getting rid of unwanted clothes and packing boxes and junk in order to make room for all the wonderful things that are coming to me in 2008. What are you inviting in this year? Any New years resolutions? Share, so we can encourage each other along the way.

*Can you tell this book had a pretty big impact on me by the number of times I’ve quoted it since I read it?

Christmas Break

I am taking a quick hiatus over the holiday season – Adam is going away to work and I am working all but two days in the next three weeks so I won’t have time to post. I hope everyone has a great holiday season, whichever religious ceremonies you celebrate.

Kaidin will be having Christmas at my mum’s while I work. He doesn’t believe in Santa (I’ve always actively encouraged non-belief in Santa) but this year his (Catholic) teacher at his supposedly secular school filled him up on stories of Joseph and Mary, so he is very much asking about Baby Jebus and what it all means. Instead of filling his head with all the different versions of things that could be celebrated at this time I’ve basically told him that this is a time to give presents and visit with those you love and to remember all the good things that you had during the year. Seems to satisfy.

I will be celebrating Midsummer instead of Christmas and the New Moon on the 6th of January. That New Moon is the best time to cast off any unwanted energies from the previous year and make the dreaded New Years Resolutions. I am also going to try a special Native American arrow ceremony that I read about in Write It Down, Make It Happen.

Keeping It Positive

I had a terrible day at work today. I only did 6 hours, but every hour dragged by, my 30 minute lunch break seemed like 5 minutes and everyone I talked to seemed to have it in for me. I’m sure everyone has had this day, or worse, at some point or another. As I was driving home I was looking forward to bitching to Adam or worse, going online and publishing here exactly what I thought of my workmates, customers and work in general.

I realised that telling everyone how horrible my day wasn’t isn’t going to make my day any better. In fact, it’s probably going to make worse the day everyone I tell is having. I’m certain Adam, who is just waking up, doesn’t really want to be greeted with “I hate my job and want to die”, just as I’m sure people don’t come to this blog to hear “working in a clothing store sucks donkey balls”.

So my mission is to turn everything bad that happened today into a positive..

1. Negative: The power went off this morning, so I couldn’t blow dry my hair and I did my makeup in partial darkness.
   Positive: I didn’t have to waste my power drying my hair and I was ready 5 minutes earlier than usual, plus we get shiny new power poles all down my street.
2. Negative: When I got to work my 2IC told me I couldn’t work with wet hair in pigtails, so I would have to dry it in the staff toilets under the hand blower – how embarrassing!
   Positive: The three people that came into the toilets when I was drying my hair had a bit of a giggle, but one said it was a good idea. I saw her later in the day and she commented on how good my hair looked and that you couldn’t tell I hadn’t done it with a proper dryer. My 2IC was happy that I didn’t make a fuss, I just went and did what she asked and the other girls I work with are happy to have a story – “Remember Shannon, when you had to dry your hair with a hand blower?”
3. Negative: No one comes in to the store alone, there is either no one or 50 people at once.
   Positive: Because I was the one floating around on the floor trying to greet everyone, I managed to make 8 sales of over $100 and one lady took the time to tell me that I was great, even though it was obvious I was a bit rushed.
4. Negative: My lunch was too short, I rushed it and ended up feeling bloated.
   Positive: I got a small time out to read my Michael S Rohan book*, but there wasn’t enough time to get out of the zone, so I didn’t have to refocus when I came back to work
5. Negative: My feet started to hurt.
   Positive: I am getting paid good money and walking around all day means I don’t have to exercise as much outside of work.
6. Negative: Customers are stupid.
   Positive: Some customers are nice and they make up for the ones who aren’t.
7. Negative: When I got home Adam was still in bed asleep.
   Positive: It was nice to come home after a rough day and have a quick cuddle in bed, but I’m glad I have a few moments to myself to type this out and fiddle with the garden before he wakes up.
8. Negative: Because I had to work until 4 I’ll barely have time to walk the dog before I have to get Kaidin.
   Positive: I’ll just take her for a quick run down the oval and then maybe walk her again once Kaidin is asleep. And longer shifts mean more money anyway.

And there are some extra positives – the dog didn’t chew anything that she’s not allowed to chew, my pale pink roses look brilliant and there are a heap of bright red tomatoes just begging to be made into tomato salad in the garden.

Writing this post has helped me to see that while 30 minutes ago I was grumpy and angry and altogether rather unhappy about how my day had turned out, just by thinking of the positive aspects of exactly the same events, you can change your mood and the type of day you’ve had. Writing this hasn’t changed what happened today, but it has changed how I look at it and how I feel. Now I am off to eat icecream, maybe skip a little and walk the dog before I pick up my son.

Dancing in the Rain**

*I’m reading the Anvil of Ice and Mr Rohan is so great – when I emailed him to tell him how wonderful his book is and that I’m enjoying it and that I’m an anthro student who longs to be a fiction writer, he took the time to write me back a long, juicy email about what he used as the anthro background to his stories and some tips on researching for fantasy. It’s just brilliant when a famous writer actually makes time for a fan.

** Yes I know my posture is horrible here – nice curvy spine (I typed ’spiny curve’ about 3 times then. I think I need more sleep) and no mum, I’m not pregnant I’m just sticking my stomach out.

Restoration Part II

Don’t you hate it when you type up a whole post and then lose it? *tears hair out*

The weather has cleared up (and is incredibly hot again) so I finally got down to Bunnings to grab some sandpaper blocks to finish sanding the desk I’m restoring. Even with the blocks it was difficult to get into the corners. When I start actually making things I am going to make everything sit perfectly flush to make it easy for anyone who wants to sand back and re-polish any of my work!

Finally, after a quick wipe with a towel to get the wood dust off, it was time to start varnishing. I used a clear varnish. Adam and I tossed up getting a dark stain like mahogany to put under the varnish, but I quite liked the creaminess of the colour the natural wood is. Unfortunately, it came out a lot darker than I expected once I put on the varnish. This is very much a learn as I go project.

Next problem – about half way across the desk is a length of wood that has been cut on the slant, so the grain run diagonally. Lets hope you can’t notice that I kept the brush parallel to the rest of the desk once it’s dry.
You can see how shiny the varnish makes it, when you compare it to the ‘new’ wood.

In books it always says ‘use the best tools you can afford’ and I found out why – small hairs kept falling off the brush and sticking in the varnish, needing to be removed with tweezers. I have an excuse – my mum bought the brush and she must have bought the cheapest one there because a good 1/4 of the hairs are no longer attached to it.

So the project is on hold (again) until I can go and get a decent brush. I did get one layer of varnish on the top of the desk done and if you ignore the small marks where the hairs where pulled off (or left on) it looks quite good.

Note: As I write this MoMo is curled up near the desk, meowing softly in his sleep. He has just come back from another 3 day wander and we have decided to get him desexed, even though he is a middle aged cat and I’m not sure how he’ll take it. He’s booked in for Thursday and hopefully after that he will stop fighting with the splotchy cat next door and just get fat and lazy like the other two.

Jelly Legs

I just got back from a vinyassa* class at Mandurah Natural Therapies Centre. I have been meaning to go for ages, but there is laways one thing or another. When I rang Osheani two weeks ago, she warned me that the vinyassa program is fairly strenuous, a test of endurance, as well as the normal flexibility, strength and balance. I was so surprised that I made it through the whole class without falling over!

We went through standing poses, then some strength work with legs and back and then a series of inverted poses. The whole class lasted about 1 hour 45 minutes and now my entire body is like jelly. I will sleep well tonight! I can’t wait to go back next week. Every week the class is varied so you don’t get bored, and it’s fairly small, so you get the full attention of the instructor. Bliss + Sweat = Yoga.

*Vinyassa classes use sequences of poses – instead of just holding a pose for 8 seconds, each pose is moved into on the in breath and held on the exhale. It’s fairly fast paced and the breathing is a lot more important that in normal Hatha classes – you try coming into cobra pose while exhaling, not inhaling.