Six days to go…

We ended up not going out today, after all! We decided we’d go on Monday, to look for floor lamps and shower stools. We’ll be over at Stillwater on Tuesday morning and Julian wants to measure the space under the laundry bench before settling on a clothes dryer – which is probably a good idea. Unfortunately, all of the places I found with photos of decent-looking wooden shower stools were for online shopping only, none of them had a brick-and-mortar shop that you could go to and, you know that quaint old-fashioned custom? actually have a look at the item you were hoping to buy? Buying online like that is great, if you’ve seen those items, or brands before, you know exactly what they look like, and more importantly, how well they’re made – all you really need are the dimensions – which is about all they give you, along with the not-terribly-detailed photo! Well, we don’t know what these stools are like, or how well they’re made, what weight they’re rated to, or how safe they are on a wet and soapy surface – we’ve never seen one before, and they’re not exactly cheap – so pardon me, Mr. Online Shopping Only peoples, but you’ve just lost our custom! Julian plans on starting at Reece, as being one of the biggest plumbing and bathroom stores in Melbourne, but I just had a look there, and no, they don’t have shower stools …so I guess it’s back to the drawing board on that one…

We did a lot more packing today – well, when I said “we did”, I really meant he did, and I sat and supervised him, because he was packing the big display case that sits in our hall, just inside the front door, and because everything in that display case is so terribly fragile, and totally irreplaceable, it has to be done with kid gloves (so to speak, anyway) You know, I thought that the packing ladies had boxed up all the stuff from the big long sideboard in the hall – the one with the marble top, but… not so! It appears that I’ve been labouring under a misapprehension as to exactly how much has been packed, and how much is still left to do… The sideboard is still full of crystal and plates and odds and sods of crockery, because apparently the ladies didn’t manage to get to it the other day – so I suppose we’d better do that one next We don’t really have to – that’s what we’re employing the ladies to do, after all, but I have to admit that I’m quite appalled at how little they seem to have accomplished so far, and how much is still left to be packed! If we don’t start packing too, and doing at least a cupboard a day, I honestly don’t think the ladies have a hope in hell of getting the last of the packing done – on the day before we move! I’m not interested in how much they have done, I’m concerned about how much is still left to be done! At this point I’m seriously thinking of having our day in the Tarken Glacier on Tuesday, after we get back from Stillwater, and spending tomorrow and Monday packing! Anyway I said I was considering it, but I’m pretty sure we will be skiing? sliding? skating? (how do you get down a glacier, anyway, apart from falling?!) down the Tarken Glacier tomorrow – but I really am concerned about the amount left to pack… Who would have thought we had so much rubbish… junk… “stuff”! There are boxes from here to eternity already, and there are going to be a lot more before we’re finished! (and to think – we still have boxes and boxes, still in storage from our last move, in 2007!)

Weigh-in this morning. Well, still no sign of the dreaded big bounce-back yet, but you can be sure that it will catch up with me, sooner or later! It was quite amazing really – I looked at my graph weight chart this morning after I’d weighed myself – I stayed the same, by the way, at 79.5kg. When I hit 80.5kg, I stayed there for a day. Yesterday, I got to 79.5kg – and again, I’ve stayed the same for a day – though who knows what I’ll do tomorrow! But I’ve thought of a way to stymie the weight-monger’s plans! I’m walking an extra floor! “But”, I hear you saying “how can you walk an extra floor, if there are only six floors, and you’re already doing those?” Easy-peasy! 🙂 I enter the stair well, as normal. I gaze upwards to the top landing – 18 stairs up, 18 stairs down. I start climbing… I get to the top. I walk down to the fifth floor landing again, as normal… but instead of continuing downwards as I usually do, I turn around and walk back up to the top again, and back down to our floor, and then I continue on my normal Stair Walk. And why do I do it twice in a row? Why not just continue up for that extra floor when I get back from my normal Stair Walk?! Because I’m one of the laziest people you’re ever likely to meet, and if I can get out of something I don’t want to do, you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll find a way to do just that! Once I get back to my “Home Landing”, it’s all too easy to chicken out of that extra floor, and say “I’m too tired”, or “It’s too cold! Brrr!” But if I’ve already done it twice before I do my normal Stair Walk, it’s done – and I have to climb back up to the fifth floor to get home again, so I can’t wriggle out of that! Anyway, only two more days of this new pill, and two more days of 2 anti-fluid pills instead of one, then it’s back to normal again, when the extra floor might just make a bit of difference, so I’ll keep on doing it! 🙂

Tomorrow, as I said, should be our day on the Tarken Glacier – I wonder if we’ll make it to level 65? Doubtful… But! Apparently Trion are due to have a new expansion coming out soon, with a new “Calling” – so you’ll be able to choose your usual Callings – Mage, Warrior, Cleric, Rogue (and all their various permutations), with a new one added, called “Primalist” who, the blurb says, “channel powerful animal spirits in defense of their lands” – whatever that means! But it sounds intriguing! *sigh* Just another something else “I can’t wait” for! 😉 What with trying to pack, trying to organise everything and steer us in the right direction to order and buy things for Stillwater (without nagging too obviously, because I really hate nagging – I used to listen to my mother nagging my father and I always swore that I would never do that, with the result that Julian will probably say that I don’t nag enough!) juggle my graphics, writing, and Rift… I seem to be living a very hectic and chaotic life at the moment! Still, this time next month will come, and we’ll be happily in our new home, hopefully I’ll only be a couple of kilos off my goal weight, and everything will be… a little less chaotic? 🙂 And with those words, once again it’s time for me to remind you all to drop in again tomorrow night, and find out how we went on the Glacier! Did we get up to level 65? Did we die? and if so, how and why? Have we done any more packing? How many boxes did we get done this time? Has my weight stayed the same for a second day, or has the dreaded Big Bounce-Back pounced on me?! Will I manage to dodge it, and go down a bit more, or will I be in floods of tears, well back into the 80kg zone again?! All these questions, and more, will be answered for you here tomorrow night! 🙂 Until then, though – please try to bee good, remember that if we did all of the things we’re capable of, we would literally astound ourselves – and don’t forget to look after yourselves, to keep warm, and to drive carefully… and never forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂