Four days to go…

I should really put this on the “As seen on…” page, but I can’t be bothered, so I’ll just put it here. This was my “Quote of the Day” this morning, from Goodreads. It’s simple enough, but think about it for a moment, and you’ll realise how right it is…

“Life is like a prism. What you see depends on how you turn the glass.” ― Jonathan Kellerman

The accompanying blurb reads: “Jonathan Kellerman is a model of high-achieving multitasking, somehow managing to serve as the Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Keck School of Medicine while also writing the bestselling Alex Delaware murder mystery novels.” I’ve never heard of him, or the Alex Delaware murder mysteries – but maybe I should read one or two of them – after all, I do enjoy the odd murder mystery now and again – I don’t always read fantasy, science fiction, and books on ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome! (Note to self: don’t byte off more than you can chew, Winter! Your “Too Read” list is already stretching into about 40 years worth of books, and quite frankly, I don’t think you’ll last that long! Shame… there are some good books on that list, too) *sigh* – oh well, maybe they’ll make some tele-movies, or a “Father Brown” type series from some of his books… One can only hope! (I really hate getting old! It’s not fair!) Anyway, for what it’s worth, I rather liked that quote…

This morning we were supposed to be going out early, to look at floor lamps and outdoor furniture to use as a shower stool/bench. We were going to go down to a lighting place – Custom Lighting –  in Armadale, but we left a little later than planned so we didn’t end up going to Armadale after all – we were going to cruise down the “Household Goods” strip along Whitehorse Road, between Mitcham and Blackburn Roads, but once again, we got “sidetracked”. We got as far as Harvey Norman, and we went in there to see if their outdoor furniture had anything suitable to use as a shower stool/bench. They didn’t – only absolutely appalling choices! All they had was that black/dark-grey “woven grass” looking stuff, which is quite nice in its place (like outside, where I don’t have to look at it every day) but I was after the “oiled teak” look, or perhaps cedar, and there was absolutely nothing like that in the entire shop. Very disappointing! Then, as luck would have it (or bad luck, depending on your point of view) we were spotted my the little salesperson who sold us our white tables wot we’re going to use as desks. So she bounced over (she is truly a delightful young girl – bouncy, bright, cheerful, and always very helpful, but today, of all days, I just wanted to get on with things! *sigh*) So after a small amount of polite small-talk, she informed us that all our furniture, apart from one piece which we’re not expecting until the end of August anyway, was already in, and we could have it any time we wanted! Fantastic! 🙂 She suggested Saturday morning for delivery… and as I pointed out to Julian, we were going to be at Stillwater on Saturday anyway, because we were meeting up with Clarke, our builder, about the en-suite door, etc., so our three white, glass-topped table-desks, Julian’s office desk, bookcase, and filing cabinet, are now being delivered this Saturday, instead of on the 21st!

While we were at Harvey Norman, I thought we might as well have a look at their selection of floor lamps. They don’t have a lighting section, per se., the lamps are scattered throughout the area reserved for lounge room furniture… There were a couple we liked, and they should go well in the lounge room at Stillwater – we ended up buying one floor lamp, and one matching table lamp – they’re pretty standard lamp shapes – long pole holding the shade up – I’m sure you’ve seen similar, somewhere! 😉 The shade is round – or should I say “drum” shaped, and … it’s black! with a pretty “jet” coloured crystal trim (my mother would spin in her grave, if she hadn’t been cremated! She loathed black – said it looked “gloomy” – never mind the fact that it’s about the only colour I ever wear!) By the time we’d been around the floor several times, looking at floor lamps, and organised to bring the ones we’d just bought home with us, it was after lunch time, and because I’m still taking two anti-fluid pills, I was in a bit of a hurry to get home…

Regarding the shower stool/bench. We’ve reached a compromise, of sorts. Julian is going to look at the three best ones available online, and re-check their measurements. When we go over to Stillwater tomorrow morning, he’s going to re-measure my shower – er – the shower in the en-suite. Then depending on their “Return Policy”, he’ll pick the one that he considers the best of the online ones, and order one of those. I’m still very unhappy about having to spend so much money on a “pig in a poke” – there has to be a better way, but at the moment it’s all we can do.

And regarding the bedroom mirror – there’s a place in Hoddle Street called “Mirror Mirror” that Julian thinks might have something suitable, so we’re trotting off there on Thursday to see what they have… Cross your fingers for us… that we’ll be able to get a park close by! 🙂

Wednesday is going to be largely taken up with trotting off to the bank and getting the bank cheques printed up… then taking them to our solicitor, Joy, so that then they become her responsibility – and if she leaves them behind when she goes off to the settlement on Friday morning, it’s her fault, and we’ll sue her! 😉 (we wouldn’t, really, but we would be very cross with her!) Of course, that won’t take all day to accomplish, but I think it’ll probably wring himself dry – he’s done nothing but worry and fret and stew about the finances for this project since we first started contemplating whether we were going to move or not! One of the main reasons why I just wish this whole move was finished, and over and done with is so that he can stop fretting!

Weigh-in this morning. Well, on the very last day of those (obviously not much better than the old ones!) new pills, the Big Bounce Back finally caught up with me! I suppose it wasn’t as bad as it might have been, but it sort of set me back on my heels a bit – after all, I am taking extra anti-fluid tablets, and I am walking that extra floor, three times a day (crikey! imagine how much worse it could have been, if I wasn’t doing those extra things!) I really should have guessed though, from my rather swollen feet, that things were “not going well in the fluid department”… I went up three points, from 79.5kg to 79.8kg – quite a small amount weight-wise, but a very big disappointment emotionally! Hopefully, by the day after tomorrow I should start going down again… Hopefully!

Going over to Stillwater tomorrow is going to be quite exciting! We’ll pick up my favourite eldest daughter on the way there (it’s quite close to Lee’s place in Glen Waverley) and she can come with us, as she was coming over here tomorrow anyway – her sister, my favourite youngest daughter, is going to be fuming that Lee got to see Stillwater before she did – but she works and can’t take time off, and although Lee’s at uni, she only has one day of classes a week this semester! I’m rather glad that none of you can see me at the moment – I’m being most undignified and bouncing up and down in my chair with excitement! I feel like a kid, a week before Christmas! Well, the way kids used to feel about a week before Christmas! Almost bursting with glee and anticipation… what would be under the tree?! What would be in the stocking (or the pillow case, if you were greedy! I wasn’t allowed to have a pillow case – all my friends did, but Mum and Dad said that that would be being greedy… so I got stuck with one of my ankle-biting socks! I used to resent that… I wasn’t even allowed to use one of my knee-length winter socks!) I am soooo looking forward to tomorrow… and, of course, Friday… and then it’ll only be eleven days until the move, so the count-down at the top of the blog will re-start after August 14th! 😉

And that’s about all I have for you again tonight – but don’t forget to drop around tomorrow night, to find out how our visit to Stillwater went, what secrets and useful information about the place we managed to pick up, and the preliminary ideas for furniture placement and household arrangement we’ve been able to formulate. It’ll be a bit too soon, I think, to see much change in my fluid retention and weight (fluid?) gain – I reckon it’ll take about three days for everything to get back to “normal” again… but we’ll see! 🙂 There’ll be heaps of news for you all, so don’t miss out on all the latest chez nous! However, until then, please at least try to bee good, don’t forget that the secret of getting ahead is getting started, and always remember to drive carefully, to look after yourselves, and to keep warm – but most importantly, remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂