05.18 pm

Well, I’ve been out most of the day – I didn’t even get a chance to log onto WoW! However, a lot was accomplished! We went over to Doncaster to get some more coffee and to pick up the Dry Cleaning… I also wanted to pay a visit to the Howard’s Storage World that’s just opened up at Doncaster Shoppingtown – damn them! Why couldn’t they have opened their shop there before we moved! I really like Howard’s Storage shops – they always seem to have something in there that, as soon as I set eyes on it, I instinctively know that I just can’t live without that particular item! Oh well, maybe it’s just as well that we moved away before they opened… However, I digress! Today I was going with two particular objectives… one: I needed some sort of stool or small table that I could put my clothes on when I’m having a shower or changing, and that had room for a small laundry basket underneath or inside it… I do/did have a laundry basket in there, but it’s not the sort of laundry basket that you can “put things on top of”, if you know what I mean. And two: even with all the meticulous planning and designing that went into this new bathroom of mine, it still has a really major storage space problem – or should I say, lack of storage space problem! In the end, it was my ultimate choice, so the buck stops with me. I wanted cupboards with adjustable height, and pull-out shelves, but I stupidly allowed Clarke to talk me into having drawers instead – which turned out to be a very bad mistake on my part, because the finished drawers aren’t deep enough for anything over about 4″, or 10 cm high (if that!) As for things like cans of hair spray and deodorant, forget it, Freddie! I only have two very narrow drawers that are deep enough for things like that, but honestly, the drawers become too crowded to really be useful if you put more than three things in each one! I shall rue that stupid decision of mine until the day I move out of here in a coffin! So anyway, as I was saying, space is a real hassle in my lovely new bathroom (but at least I’m not tripping over an unused and unwanted bath tub every time I turn around!) so the other thing I was looking for in Howard’s Storage was for some sort of a free-standing perspex or chrome “corner stand” – something along the lines of one of those corner shower caddies that hang over your shower head… only a lot nicer, and without the little “hanging up” loop at the top of it. Well, I was lucky enough to find both items – within minutes, really – of us walking in the door! We waited longer for them to bring one of the “hollow wheelie-stool” thingies up from downstairs than we did in finding what we wanted! So that was good… Of course, the little hollow table-thingy on wheels (for putting clothes on, and laundry in) was a flat-pack, but Julian’s getting quite good at assembling those sorts of things, and it’s already done, and waiting in my bathroom for me! 🙂 And I imagine that the little chrome corner stand thingy is also sitting in the bathroom, awaiting my ministrations (after I’ve finished this!)

I had also wanted to go to David Jones and have a look at a new Estée Lauder product (products, actually!) as I’ve had two emails from Estée Lauder about them, over the last two weeks! The Nice Young Estée Lauder Lady in D.J’s had never heard of them – the same as the Nice Young Estée Lauder Lady over at The Glen, last week, so she rang up about it… and it turns out – we’re actually talking about three new make-up products here, not just one or two – it turns out that they’re going to end up being “on-line only”, though for a short time, one of the three new products will be available at a shop at Melbourne Central, in the city! Now really, I ask you! How many women will spend $90 for cosmetics that they can only see online? The Lipstick only comes in two shades – which both look so similar online that it’s almost impossible to tell which one is which! What about whether that shade will suit their skin colouring? What if it’s too oily, or too dry, or too something else, that can’t be determined from viewing pixels on a screen?! How gullible do they think we are?! Don’t answer that!! So… although I’m usually a real sucker for new cosmetics, that was one “itch” I just had to walk away from…

On our way home from Doncaster Shoppingtown we stopped off at Vermont South Shopping Centre, as Julian wanted to have a word with the guy at the Pet Shop barn-thingy where we got Butter and Lemon, about their behaviour and attitude. As I said last night, we introduced them to Auric and Dapple yesterday afternoon, with somewhat disturbing results! I had fully expected Auric to want to dominate the new littler fish, but the reverse was true! The two Golden Comets ganged up on Auric and Dapple, and by about 8.30 pm we had to separate them, or run the risk of losing Auric, and possibly Dapple too, to fear and stress! It was a really sorry mess! Even after we’d removed Butter and Lemon and put them back in their holding tank, both Auric and Dapple remained in a very high state of distress for some hours – especially Auric – though Dapple was a bit more knocked around than Auric (some of his scales looked half dislodged!) Now they’re on opposite sides of the room – Auric and Dapple in their big Fish House, and still in the process of calming down, more than 24 hours after their unhappy encounter with Butter and Lemon. Butter and Lemon are back in their little holding tank over on the sideboard, and it’s interesting to note that occasionally, they’ll even have a go at eachother! The guy at the Pet Sho barn-thingy said to bring them back, and he’d swap them over, which was very good of him – but at this stage I’m not sure if I want to subject Auric and Dapple to more trauma, because as soon as they see (or smell? do goldfish have a sense of smell?) new fishes, especially if they’re Golden Comets, like Butter and Lemon – they’ll immediately react badly, thinking that we’ve brought their two assailants back, and get stressed out again. I think this requires a bit of “think” music for a few days…

And now on to the good bits! 🙂

Food stuffs. last night we had the very last of the Lamb and Harissa Lasagne left-overs that we still had in the freezer – and I have to say, it was just as nice as if it had been freshly made! It’s really delicious, and if you haven’t tried it yet (the recipe is there for you all on my “Recipes…” page!) well, all I can say is “You don’t know what you’re missing!” – truly! 🙂 For dessert I had one of my Corella pears, and a small tub of Apple Le Rice. Today we had lunch at The Shingle Inn, and I had my “usual” – a BLT on Sourdough bread (actually it was toast!) a long black (coffee) with a small side jug of skinny milk, and a sinful, wicked, bad, and extremely delicious and luscious, chocolate caramel slice! 😳 Tonight for dinner we’re having pan-fried chicken breast (again – because Julian forgot that he didn’t have any mustard left?!? Please Explain?!?) with steamed rice, and finely chopped spring onions mixed through it. For dessert tonight I’m having one of my “bald-kiwi-fruit-brown” skinned Nashi pears, and one of those utterly weird, but very nice, chocolate Chia Pods.

Weigh-in this morning. Was, I suppose, within that nebulous “margin of error” – I went from 64.6 kg to 64.7 kg – up one point – hardly surprising, as this is my third day (out of 10) of those dreadful little fluid loving and retaining pills! I did my normal walk this morning, and I spent the better part of the afternoon “grating” the skin off my insteps. You know, I get so cross with the people who make my shoes! I’m… “XX” years old. My feet are the way they are, and no amount of “extra support” that they seem to insist that I really, really need, is going to make any difference whatsoever, except to make me uncomfortable, make me waddle like a duck, hurt my feet, and give me blisters! I only ever wear shoes when I leave the house anyway – and that isn’t often – which also means that if I have to walk around for too long, this “extra support” that’s been forced on me against my will, makes my foot “roll” against the extremely uncomfortable raised instep, which results in me “grating” the skin off my instep. Yes, just like rubbing my instep against a vegetable grater! By the time I got home this afternoon I was in quite a lot of pain, so I guess that once again, I’m going to have to “bandage up” fairly heavily again when we go out for lunch tomorrow. Grrr! Why won’t they listen to me!

And that brings me around to tomorrow which, shoes notwithstanding, I’m really looking forward to! I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow night! 🙂 And as my dinner is almost ready, I’ll call it quits, and tell you all that that’s about “it” from me for tonight! 🙂 Do drop in again tomorrow night, to find out how our lunch went, whether Auric and Dapple have recovered from their traumatic meeting with Butter and Lemon yet, and what else has been happening chez nous! Until then though, try to bee good for a change 😉 don’t forget that a goal is a dream… with a deadline! and remember to always drive carefully, to keep warm and dry as much as possible, and to look after yourselves… but above all, please remember to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂