The Ballots are in the Mail

So I mailed our ballots today--------the guy at the post was clueless....they are in these huge envelopes which are a couple millimeters over the size so it was going to cost 4 times as much to mail them and he said "bugger it---we will send them regular rate" so I hope they get there okay. I did find out that the regular rate to the US had gone up to $2.05 and I had sent some letters at the $2 rate and I think they got through okay so I think this will be fine. He wanted to fold them and I was afraid that would invalidate the ballot or something so I told him I would just pay the rate. Well, it is out of our hands now---not sure if our two votes make THAT big of a difference though!

I drove Chris into work today since he is flying to Brisbane today for a presentation to the CSR folks of the 5 year forecast. There are a bunch of them going to do the presentation I guess. I drove back in later to the mall and just really wasn't into shopping--can you believe that I am saying that??? I did find a couple things at Target that I needed and walked around the mall a bit before doing the grocery shopping. Chris will be happy that he won't have to do it.

My past couple of days have been kind of messed up because the high tide has been right when I usually walk first thing in the morning. There just isn't a lot of beach when the tides have been as high as they have been the past couple days so I have had to walk later in the morning and yesterday I actually got a little bit sunburned to my dismay! The difference of a few hours makes a huge impact on the old skin so I am going to have to slip slop, slap as the slogan here goes!!! Slip on a shirt (well I do that already!!! ), slop on the sunscreen slap on a hat. It is a catchy little motto, don't you think? Complete with a pelican (or something) singing it.

So the Austar folks called today to schedule my next appointment. DECEMBER 2nd!!!!!!! This is getting just a tad ridiculous!! I told her that the installer here this week had to order an extender arm and promised he would be back this week so she was going to follow up on that. I am NOT going to hold out any hope. We may never get it installed. It is really crazy and I have tried to be nice and patient but good grief----how can you keep in business with service like that/?? Because people like me are so nice and understanding.....

So tonight is my first night alone in the house ........i am a little nervous!!! I don't know why but I am!!! I have a good book someone recommended and I am going to stay up and read and eat junk food!!! Well, maybe just popcorn!!!

Some more Australian Language lessons

Since I don't have any great pictures or stories to share today I thought I would give you some more Australian language lessons!!! I have a great book that has helped me out a lot so some of this will be coming from Rusty Geller's Americans' Survival Guide to Australia.

Australians are fun loving, intelligent witty people and they will turn a word into a plaything in a heartbeat. Breakfast becomes brekkie, wishful thinking becomes airy-fairy and waving flies or in my case mozzies from in front of your face becomes the Aussie salute which is not unlike the Lakeside wave for those of you familiar with that!

Lots of words are abbreviated with an ie or y added ---a bricklayer becomes a brickie and an umbrella becomes a brolly. Lots of words are abbreviated with an o on the end---ambulance drive becomes an ambo and a garbage truck driver is a garbo. Not too hard to figure out!!!

Some words are from Cockney rhyming---yank rhymes with tank as in septic tank. So they take the word septic and Aussize it to seppo and an American becomes a Seppo. Did you follow that one? Another one is a lie is a porky. Why? Pork pie rhymes with lie so ...porky.

Cheers means thank you and you hear a lot of the younger folks saying that a lot----when we watch Australian Idol (see why we need satellite tv???) the contestants always say "cheers" which took me a bit to figure out. Whilst is used instead of while and a jersey is a guernsey.... First names are given or Christian names and last names are surnames.

Okay that is enough for one day!! I need to save some for another day!!! Talked to both my boys today so I am happy, happy, happy!!!! Aaron is apt hunting in Raleigh from Melbourne and hopefully has found something and then we will have to do the whole lease thing, find a notary, verify he is who he says he is, do the paperwork, transfer some money and hopefully the Aussie dollar will be up a bit.....life goes on!!!
Aaron is on top of all of it so I am happy that he is doing it!!! Micah is still in Michigan and will be through the end of the year probably so say a prayer for him--living out of suitcases in a hotel is not always the most fun thing to do but he is hanging in there. I think he is wondering why he bought that new tv since he has not been home in JAX to enjoy it!!

Tata for now!

Ahh.....Austar came but still I am disappointed!

So Austar (satellite tv folks here) came bright and early today but after looking at the house they could not install !!! Sigh. The landlord does not want it mounted on the roof because of breaking the tiles which I can totally understand but the wall mount thing was not going to bring it out far enough to position it correctly....so.....they have an extended wall mount they can get ordered in but it is not cyclone proof. Now how often have you ever thought about making sure something was cyclone proof??? So the installer is going to try to get the right thing that will make it work, make Austar happy and make our landlord happy at the same time which is the most important thing. I don't want to do anything to mess up his house!!! The installer is going to work on it and hopefully be back sometime this week to do the install. I am not going to hold my breath. We may be back living in the US by the time this materializes!!! Who would have thought this was going to be such a drama ??? But there are a lot of variables involved and that is why I guess. Nice guys though so I don't mind having people do work when they are nice and explain everything to you like you have a brain!!! So the saga continues!!!!!

No Clever Title Today!!!

Low tide on Saunders Beach

Little guy trying to act all big and scary with me!!!

We have had a pretty uneventful day today so far!!! We got up and planned to go in to the mall to get a haircut for Chris and do some other little things and of course once we got there the place was not open today. Oh well. He will just have to find a place at lunchtime and go this week I guess. We did manage to put our outside table together (gotta love the Chinese and their great easy to assemble furniture) and got that all set up so we can enjoy the outside with our own furniture now. We took a little walk on the beach, happened upon some nude sunbathers (though they got clothed as we walked closer) and didn't see a lot of anything on our walk to be quite honest! We were going to check out a church that meets in town on Sunday afternoons but naps got the better of us.......I feel like I have jet lag or something. Maybe I have some dread Saunders Beach Virus from all the mozzie bites I have--they seem to love me.
Chris just booked Aaron's ticket from Townsville to Sydney--he and Thom are flying back via Sydney so they needed a flight to there and wanted to spend a day there or so sightseeing so now they are all set. Not without some drama though---for some reason the booking ended up being confirmed as January----not December. So a phone call and $30 additional and now they have flights for the right day. Now we just have to figure out when we are flying back to Australia ourselves after Christmas. That is taking some thought!!!
I told Chris i needed to blog about his job and he just looked at me---I don't think he wants to participate in my blog!! That's okay. I was just trying to spice it up since today's is definitely dullsville! I will find something to write about this week!!!!!!!

Our other froggie......sorry the picture rotates and I can' t get it right....

A new day---a new frog!

Now there is a frog in the "safe" toilet---or at least what I thought was the safe toilet.....it is a smaller version of "Carla" according to Chris who spotted it. Maybe it is "Christopher" as the males are smaller than the females.......I just know I am not thrilled.

More Australian Words to learn!

I have had requests for more words so here it goes!!!!

adjustable spanner = crescent wrench
back-to-front = opposite
cane it = drive fast
diary = appointment book or calendar (Day Timer0
easy peasy = easy job or task
fine = (weather) clear and sunny, used instead of "fair"
give a gobful = to verbally abuse
his blood's worth bottling = a great guy
ice cream spider = soda float
jaffle = toasted sandwich
kip = to nap
lay by = lay away
Macca's (pronounced Macker's) = McDonald's
niggle = minor complaint, pain, inconvenience
oil = information (Give the oil on that project.)
panel beater = auto body repairman
p/w = per week, referring to rentals. Our house is a p/w rental as are most.
quids = something you feel strongly about (I wouldn't move for quids!)
rattle your dags = to ride your bike
sausage sizzle = weenie roast, cooking hot dogs on the BBQ. Great fundraiser here---they have stands set up all over on the weekends especially. A hot dog in a slice of bread with onions and some tomato sauce---yum!!!
toe-up = to set up an appointment
underdaks = underwear
village bike = promiscuous woman
waist pack = fanny pack (fanny in Australia means female genitalia so it is not normally used)
yabber = lots of talk
zine = small magazine

There you go---a few words to add to your vocab!!!!