WEEK THIRTY-SEVEN

It was my final week alone, and I actually woke up feeling vaguely motivated, which was a good thing, so I set to work on the chopping boards I am making. I started work on the extra ones I’m making, and began to sand them. It’s going to be a pretty big job, but after an hour or so – and a lot of mess – they were looking much better than before, so I felt a sense of achievement! I then moved onto mine, and the resin I used hadn’t set, and it was a big nasty mess. Hoping that it was possibly just the top layer which was still gunky I thought I’d sand a little bit of it and see what happened – a bigger mess was created, and I resigned myself to having to pick out the resin and start again. Not annoying at all. So, I spent some time just scraping it out with a chopstick, and when that was no longer effective, I moved onto the Stanley knife! Much better! I made pretty quick work of it after that, but couldn’t bring myself to re-resin it, so gave up for the day – at least the other two were starting to look vaguely respectable! When our flat mate came home from work we went to Coles to get some essentials. Not fun, but necessary. I was really not in the mood to walk the dogs, and making a raging fire didn’t help the cause at all, but luckily our flat mate offered to take them out for a bike ride. Perfect! I didn’t do much with my new-found time, and just wasted it sitting in front of the fire, and avoiding doing the things I was meant to do. This was pretty much the story for the rest of the day, and well into the night. Eventually, after watching multiple episodes of House, I gave in to sleep at 4am.

Funnily enough, after my late night, I woke up pretty late – at midday! I felt pretty guilty, so decided to have a productive day to make up for it! And, as everyone knows, a productive day must start with pancakes! So, I had my yummy breakfast – god I love pancakes slightly too much – and then the dishes. At least the kitchen looked relatively tidy to begin with. Next task was to read the water meter, a slight problem when you don’t know where it is! We had been posted a little card saying someone had tried to read it, so I phoned the number on the card to ask them if they knew where the meter was – I was a little scared people would think I was mad calling them to ask, but at home sometimes they have the location of it on their computer, so I thought it was worth a try! And, they did have, it, and after navigating through the leaves and general sloppy garden crap that covered it, I had managed to complete my first challenge. Next was to do some painting. There was still quite a few layers of red which were required, but sadly first I had the boring task of putting on the masking tape. I was tempted not to bother, but with my track record, thought I should. On more than one occasion I had managed to bypass the tape, and still paint the wrong colour on stuff. Ooops. It took ages to get the job done, and I had kind of lost motivation, but managed to convince myself to get one coat on. It was a lovely day, so me and the dogs went for a walk down the creek. I then took the dogs for a walk, and, as usual, didn’t put them on a lead. This seemed to upset someone, asked me if they were mine, and then informed me they should be on a lead. I may have listened to him if he was from the council, and had the power to take them away, but as he was just an over-opinionated man in a suit, I ignored him and kept walking. He didn’t seem to like that either, and shouted at me down the street they should be on a lead. I kept walking.  Why he cared I’m not sure. Anyway, we had a lovely walk around the creek despite his interference, and when we got back, Joey was suitably muddy. Job done. When I got back I did another coat of red, and then finally got to the job of tidying my room. It didn’t take too long, and was really just a case of folding my clothes and putting them back in the trunk, but it made a massive difference, and looked lovely by the time I’d finished. I thought I had done enough outside jobs for the day (despite my avoidance of the fence!) and sat down to do some writing, and didn’t just get stuck looking at crap on the internet – I actually got some down! In the evening we all sat down and watched the Sex in the City movie - haha! But, it was exactly what I felt like! After all of my hard work I went to sleep pretty early - at 2:30am.

On Wednesday I did very little. I started the day with the usual of pancakes and then the dishes. I went to Yarraville at some point to pick up some tasty treats (and some milk) and that was the extent of my activity. I called Daniel for a chat, and heard all of his exciting news – it’ll be so great to see him again! After one successful phone call I decided to make another, and see how Liz was getting on. Sadly she was busy – Emily had an important social engagement! After being snubbed by her I just wasted far too much time just planning my trip, and getting very frustrated that it was still 2 weeks away! Boring! But, after inspecting the map a bit further, I decided to go further north than Cairns, and now my final stop will be Cape Tribulation. Mainly, because it looks beautiful, and is where there are long stretches of golden sand, edged with a rainforest, but also, because it has a cool name! I must remember to take my kite though –it looks like perfect conditions for it.

Thursday started with the usual start of pancakes and then the dishes I went into Yarraville. I think it’s a good thing I am leaving the comforts of Will and Toni’s house – it’s the only way my routine of pancakes is going to be broken! It’ll be much trickier when I’m in a hostel – I can’t imagine I’ll be transporting eggs up the East coast of Australia! So, yes I went into Yarraville to get some treats for myself. This time was different to others though, and I ended up winning two free Snickers bars! Bonus! I’m not sure the people in the shop appreciated it, but I was very happy with my plunder, and headed off home again. When I got back the dogs were looking pretty unimpressed with the fact I had left them at home, so I took them out to the park. When we got there they both fulfilled their normal roles – Turnip went around everyone looking pretty and getting patted, and Joey managed to annoy a lady because she kept getting the ball quicker than her dog! Perfect! There weren’t many people about, and they all seemed slightly put-out b Joey’s antics, so after they had both had their fun, we left. And, it looked like it was about to rain too – another good reason to get home quickly. Once we got back, I quickly grabbed my paint brush, and did another layer of red on the windows, and managed to get it done before it got dark, and before the rain. Perfect. I keep thinking that each coat I do will be the last, but for some reason, the red seems to need about ten coats! I did manage to get a couple of bits of red on the newly painted blue which was a pain in the arse, and now means I have to re-do some of the blue too. I blame my haste to get done before the rain – that – typically - didn’t come for another couple of hours. After my few hours outside I was pretty cold so set to work getting the fire sorted – I just love them so much! Our flat mate came home from work, and then swiftly went to bed, which managed to muck up my body-clock pretty well, as I thought it was super late for the rest of the evening. This did do something to help my sleeping pattern, and I went to bed at 1am. It is slowly getting better.

With three days left on my own, I was actually starting to get a bit bored of my own company – something I never thought I would say, but there we go! I had just managed to get myself into a bit of a rut – never good. So, I took the dogs down to the creek for a wander, and took them round twice, just for a bit of excitement for them! It was also because I hadn’t left it until the end of the afternoon, so we had time to do it, and not have to walk home in the dark. I did eye up the wood that is down there, of which there are some very cool bits, but considering Joey stinks every time she goes in. When I got home I put off lighting the fire for as long as possible, but it was a really cold day, and after a while, my wheat bag just didn’t cut it anymore, so set to work. And then I made my final pumpkin and feta quiche – the only reason I knew it was my last it because I had run out of both pumpkin and feta – nothing to do with an increased sense of will-power! In a vane attempt to try and cut down my chocolate intake, I had made some pretty impressive jellies, with two different colours, and some fruit in it – it was awesome! I had forgotten how much fun jelly was! Bad vegetarian. In the evening I phoned Hannah for a chat, and after playing numerous fun games trying to get Skype to work, we eventually got it, and had a good long catch up. Perfect way to waste a cold night.

This was my final proper day on my own, as I had earmarked Sunday as a day of cleaning, and sorting out the garden, so I did the usual of pancakes and then took the dogs out for a walk. The fact I was freezing when I came back didn’t actually bother me, as I had planned to finally used my $13 worth of bath stuff, and just enjoy a soak. I knew I was going to have to save it for a special occasion, and the fact the house was empty, and I could, seemed good enough for me. So I had a super hot, bubble bath which had floating bits of glitter in it – how more girly can you get? As it was the combination of two different things it also had a couple of side effects – it made the bath insanely slippery, and also had some kind of chemical reaction with my ring! Regardless of this I greatly enjoyed my bath, and spent long enough in there for the water to start getting quite cold. To continue my wonderful day of relaxation, I then just watched a large chunk of the new series of the Big Bang Theory – maybe not the most exciting day, but it was exactly what I wanted. In the evening I even gave into my desire to bake, and made an amazing batch of Smartie cookies – they were soft and chewy and perfect! Even if I say so myself.  What a fantastic way to waste a day!

In true style, I had written a list of everything that needed to be done in the day, and so I started at the top, which was the kitchen, and then the bathroom, and then the living room, and then the fire. And then I realised, as always, I had done this the wrong way round, so I went back and hovered the living room again. After all of that I was bored, so moved onto the outside jobs I had to do, and the first one was sew up one of the dog beds – I can only guess it was Joey who had destroyed it in such a successful manner – and so I got to sit in the sun. Once this was done, I thought I would be nice, and try and sort out their bed for them – I’m not sure how much they care, but it didn’t look to comfy – and so lifted up the other cushion, to find a dead rat underneath it. Absolutely disgusting – and it stank to hell and back. Why would they keep it in their bed? When I removed that I was reluctant to do much more, so quickly did the rest, and left them both to sort it out between themselves, who got what bed. Turnip won. Once that rather delightful job was done I just sat down in front of the fire. I needed to recover from the smell! And then I moved onto watching the rest of series four of the big bang theory – maybe that wasn’t on my list, but the house was starting to look pretty good and the only thing left was to tidy the bedroom. As I watched I got colder and colder, and ended up fully in bed, with the blankets around my chin – snug and a bug – but it was only about 4pm! The dogs were giving me evils, so I thought I really should take them for a walk, and it was all going well, until they bolted, and didn’t come back. So I was left screaming their names at the top of my lungs, terrified that they wouldn’t come back – I had managed to do so well with them, it wouldn’t be fair if I lost them on the final day I was in charge! Finaly I saw a couple of tails bobbing through the grass, and as soon as they got near me they knew they were in trouble, and Joey shuffled towards me on her tummy – stupid dog! I wasn’t sure whether or not to tell them off – they had at least come back I nthe end, so I put them on their lead, and marched them back home again – thank god I got them back! That night I had my final Quorn ready-meal – they really aren’t as good as I remember them, or there is the possibility I was just more broke the last time I ate them, so they seemed like a luxury, but anyway, I still enjoyed it – mainly because I had to do no work at all. At some point in the evening I kWill to find out what time Toni was getting in, and after a bit of searching, found out that it was on Tuesday! I spent the day tidying for nothing – but at least it is now done, and I get another lazy day to myself.

So I had survived the month on my own, and the dogs had also survived – I would call that a success! I don’t have long until my trip now – me and Kris are just desperately counting down the days until we go, as we are both going on Thursday the 16^th of June. Cannot wait.