I've been quite busy and active the last few days. Tuesday it was a lovely cool day so while out on my walk I stopped into several stores looking for a replacement for an insulated water bottle that I lost when we were at Glenelg on Sunday. Being that the new school year started on Monday, and there were lots of folks with kids there having their last summer fling, I really hope my cool water bottle went to a kid that needed one. Anyway, I didn't find a replacement water bottle, but when I went into Target I ended up walking right up to a computer desk they had put on display...
Last year, we bought a desk for me, but we both knew it wasn't quite what I wanted, but that it would do the job for the time being. Well, this was 'it'. The nearest one similar to this that we'd seen last year was out of our price range. It had a slide out keyboard, a neat pull out table on the left side, plenty of space for the monitor and other stuff, plus two book shelves above, and on the side, 3 drawers and 4 cubby holes for books or other stuff. And the price was at least half of what the one I looked at a year ago at Ikea cost.
Normally when I see this kind of thing, I tend to forget about it once I get home, but because the new gym ball I bought to sit on when at the computer made my desk a bit high for me, especially for typing, I didn't forget. And we needed extra bookcase space too. So I talked to Rod about it, and we planned to have a look at it together the next day. Meanwhile, since Rod's desk has a keyboard drawer, I tested typing on his keyboard while sitting on my ball. No worries! So then I measured the height from the floor to the top of the drawer so I could check on the desk at the store.
So on Wednesday, I had an appointment with a counsellor at 2, so we left home at 1pm and stopped in at Target. Turns out the desk was on sale, at $100 off it's normal price. And there was only one left. It weighed a ton -- well, 65 kilos. That's 143 pounds. Rod says that the screws alone were about 2 or 3 kilos. We were able to pay for it and then we would come back later in the day to pick it up out the back. We got to Colonnades (a shopping mall that also has other agencies and what not with it) for my appointment with about 15 minutes to spare, so I zapped around picking up a couple of things I had on my list to get beforehand. One of those things was a Bookcrossing book that had been dropped off at Billy Baxter's (a coffee shop) earlier in the week by another Bookcrosser. I had read the book a few times when I was a teen and wanted it so I could return it to my collection. (It's one I had to leave behind in Michigan when I moved to Australia). Luckily the book was still there, waiting for me. Yay! The book is 'Mister God, This is Anna' by Fynn. Excellent read, and I can't wait to re-read it from an adults perspective. And this time with a Pommy near by to explain those things mentioned that were too UK-specific for me to grasp back then (yeah and that was in the days before Google and the Internet too).
Later, I walked the length of the mall for my daily walk, and then met Rod and we did grocery shopping. We got home, and boy was I surprised to see the flat pack for the desk already in the office! Turns out, he'd gone to get it while I was in my appointment. Neat. So we unpacked groceries, had tea and then Rod started on the assembly. You know that phrase 'Some Assembly Required' ?? This one should have been 'Degree in reading assembly instructions required. Time to build: 20 hours'. LOL. He started it around 8pm and by 1am, had it in a mostly usable state, but didn't have the keyboard tray or drawers assembled. We called it a night and he put the rest of it together Thursday morning.
Unfortunately, I didn't get much of a chance to use the desk until today as during the assembly process there was a lot of styrofoam, which broke into small pieces and was in every crack and crevice of the room. It looked like a light dusting of snow had hit it. Naturally too, I had to clean the old desk (we're hoping one of our neighbours will want it), and clean the new one too. And since I had to have the vac out for the office, I ended up doing the rest of the house too.
Today I moved some of my favourite reference books onto the desk bookshelves, and let me tell you, it is SO NICE to have my reference books back in easy reach again. Then I tackled one of our bookcases that just seemed to need a good sorting out. Most of the cleaning was dealing with old software bits of papers and warranties long expired, etc. Got rid of a lot of unnecessary stuff.
This afternoon I printed some pics of little Ricky, my one and only brand new grandson so I could show him off at the Breastroke meeting this afternoon. In doing so, I also printed a lovely 5x7 of one of my favourite pics. Now I just need to find another 5x7 frame for it.
The Breastroke meeting was lovely and it was great catching up with everyone again. I took a few pics I could add to the website I'm working on for the group. I left early (I still can't go in the pool or spa until the hole in my side is completely healed), and Rod and I headed into the city.
We did the usual trip to the Central Market, starting with a cheap meal in the food court. We split a $5.00 heaped plate of various Chinese food and Rod had a beer while I had a diet coke which I added a shot of Rum to. One of the things I've learned is that spirits tend to lower my blood glucose levels and doing this once in awhile, like when green tea isn't available, seems to work quite well. That and having a drink before shopping really makes it much more fun. Our next stop was to the touristy shops so I could buy my new grandson an Aussie t-shirt. I found one his parents are going to laugh their heads off over, but I think he'll have to grow into it a bit. Still better too big than too small.
Next stop was the Asian grocery. This is a huge store that also services many of the Asian restaurants so not only do they have some of the neatest stuff but they also have large quantity items. On the list were raw prawns, as they have the very best prices anywhere and garlic. Last year, we bought a 5k restaurant size bucket of garlic and even though my family in the USA tell me that store bought minced garlic isn't strong enough for them, I think it must be a USA / Australian thing. Either that or the restaurant grade we get is just better. Anyway, it took a year to use, but it's near the end so it was time for a new one. I also sometimes use garlic granules and these are expensive at the regular shops. I bought a large bag of it that will last a LONG while for the same price I paid when I bought a 100g bottle of it at the regular grocery store. They also have plates, bowls, etc. in the same pattern as my favourite tea cup (see the photo on the side bar). Rod isn't particularly keen on the pattern but I quite like it, and have been buying bits of the set on each trip to the market. This time I bought two noodle bowls. One of our other finds there this time was frozen clam meat... at only $6.50 for a 500g bag. Guess what we're having for tea on Monday? :-) Neither one of us has had clam in AGES and AGES. Yum. Once we finished at the Asian grocery, we wandered up and down the aisles of the market (it's the largest market of it's type in the whole southern hemisphere). We found some off-cut Aussie Swiss cheese for a good price, and I picked up a few veggies. Off cuts in this instance are small bits of cheese that's left over from a big wheel of cheese after they've cut nice looking pieces to sell. Personally I don't care how weird a piece of cheese looks as long as it tastes good, and it helps that the price on these is a lot lower than than 'nicer' looking cuts.
We're now home, unpacked, and I'm typing to you. Exciting, hey?
We did have one weird experience though. Parking at the market is never an easy task and we managed to find a spot where someone in a big SUV was painfully trying to extract themselves. It was at a bit of a T junction and we would be able to practically drive straight into the spot. We had to wait about a minute, but no big deal. While we were waiting, on the 'road' to the left of us another SUV pulled up and turned their blinkers on - for the same spot. Well we were nearer to it and had been waiting for it as well as indicating our intentions, so we took the park. WELL... I was on my mobile with a client who'd just rung me, but all of a sudden there was a woman on Rod's side of the car with her hands on the window yelling at him for taking the car park! She said she'd been waiting for 10 minutes for it. Right... we saw her pull up after we were already sitting waiting for the spot to be vacated. Rod started rolling up the window and she actually HIT her hand against it! Meanwhile my poor client is going 'Hey Gaelyne... you there??'... being somewhat flabbergasted I told him someone had just hit our car (he probably thought it was a car accident) and I told him I'd ring him back once we got home. Rod got out of the car and the woman was still standing there giving him holy heck for driving straight into a spot that she would have had to spend at least 5 minutes manoeuvring to get into in the first place, and then probably another 10 to get out of later. I think what shocked me most is that 'road rage' tends to be presented on TV as something MEN have. Obviously they never met this woman. I was actually a bit worried about walking away from the car for awhile as I kind of worried she'd come back and slash the tires or something. Anyway, I just thought the whole thing was rather weird.
Tomorrow we have our monthly lunch with the Lunch Group (a bunch of us geeks and family go to various pubs for cheap counter meals and catch up with each other).
Obviously by my activity levels, I'm feeling much better. I haven't had a random fever in about a week, and because of the walking I've been doing as well as using the gym ball as my computer chair, I'm finding that I'm a whole lot more flexible than I had been for quite awhile. For example, I took some photos of the girls in the pool at Breastroke tonight and while talking with June, I squatted so we could each hear the other better. She said wow, that's something I can't do, and I answered with 'Wow, I didn't know I COULD do this!'. I'm sure a few weeks ago I couldn't have.
The hole in my side is still there, but shrinking a LOT. It should only be another few weeks and I'll be all done with nurses changing the dressing and be able to get in the pool and spa on Fridays with the other girls. I told them tonight that when I can go into the pool, I'm bringing a bottle of bubbly to celebrate with them!
Well, time for me to finish this and probably head to bed. Last night I called it a night early and could barely wake up to watch a bit of TV with Rod. I'd been going along all day being quite energetic and doing heaps of stuff and then suddenly around 11pm that was it - I was practically asleep before I even reached the bedroom. I am so pleased to finally have some energy though. It's been a long time coming. Catchya later.
