by Kristine | Mar 13, 2015 | Green Thumbs
The weather has just started to turn to the colder weather of autumn with the much cooler nights. Tropical Cyclone Olwyn is in the State’s North at the moment & we will be feeling the effects of that in the Perth metro area tomorrow or so, with a deluge of rain. I don’t mind rain so much if I’m indoors & don’t have to be anywhere urgently. It’s when I have to be somewhere & it is storming when I really don’t like it all. I remember the one time where it was in the middle of winter & I was drenched from feet to knees from trying to get from my car to a site that I was visiting & I didn’t have spare pants in the car. That was an experience in itself.
The cooler temperatures of autumn has brought about a bit of a change with my veggie garden; the tomato plants have stopped flowering, the brown grass patch is now slowly turning green again and all my plants aren’t getting scorched from the summer heat!
My snake beans have been growing rather well, with the longest of them measuring a whooping 30cm! I’m pretty excited to see these as they were pretty easy to plant & look after. All they required were some supports so that they could creep & some general fertiliser in the pot I put them in. Considering the space they take up, they produce pretty good yields & I would recommend them for the amateur gardener any day.
In the past week, I’ve put in some purple sprouting broccoli, brussels sprouts, peas & some radishes. It will be May before I even can look at harvesting any of them, but I guess it will be worth the wait if they all germinate in the moderate weather.
What are you planting in your garden for winter? Let me know in the comments below.
by Kristine | Mar 11, 2015 | Lists
It’s hump day & it’s been a rough night for me in terms of sleep. I’ve been waking up & having trouble falling asleep, which happens to me every so often. I’m not exactly sure what causes it but I deal with it. In last night’s episode, I had a bit of an epiphany in terms of this blog. I’ve always struggled with writing posts & more often than not, this blog always falls to the last on my to do list due to other things such as uni & work. I’ve always resented that & last night I came up with a bit of a motivating plan to keep me on track with documenting stuff here. I’ve always been a fan of lists all my life & I figured, why not make small blog posts which are mainly lists? It’s small enough that I can cope with regular posts but also significant so that I can look back at my posts & reflect on it.
I tweeted last night about not being able to concentrate on studying & someone had replied, saying to do small bits at a time which will slowly add up. That made me also have a good, long hard think about life in general. I know, I’ve become philosophical in my old age! But I make no apologies for that as we only live once & I want to grab every second & live it to the fullest!
At the moment, I’m loving the Seacret body lotion in milk & honey. Someone had given this to me for Christmas one year but I hadn’t used it as I had too many body lotions on the go but finally got around to using it. It’s got a smooth texture to it but doesn’t feel sticky & it dries incredibly well. It’s one of the lotions that I would recommend for summer when it’s all humid & sticky, this doesn’t exacerbate that problem but prevents the dry scaly skin I can’t bear to have! I can’t believe I waited so long to use it!
I’m also loving having meaningful work to do while at work, instead of trying to find filler tasks. At the moment, one of the things I’m working on is a giant spreadsheet, trying to organise information logically & preparing it to the point where we can action stuff from this. Whittling down 18000 lines of unknown data to just over 4000 is pretty satisfying. Something about spreadsheets & data always gets me pretty nerdy!
What’s excited you this week? Any epiphanies for hump day?
by Kristine | Mar 9, 2015 | Eternal Student, Kristine Moments
This is perhaps one of the more epic stories up here on the blog in more recent years. Matt and I were due to graduate on Tuesday 24th February 2015 – him for his Masters & me for my Grad Dip. I had gone down to Rockingham by train so that I could drive us up to Curtin to have our 10 seconds of fame for all the hard work we’ve put in. On the way down, there was impending chaos as there was a bushfire along the Kwinana near Anketell Road, causing the authorities to shutdown the Freeway from Armadale of Rowley Road to Mortimer Road, a pretty decent stretch & one of the main arteries in and out from the South metro area. On the train, I noticed a lot of people gasping & plenty of camera sounds. I looked up and no joke, I saw trees burning right by the side of the Freeway, with flames higher than the tree tops. The roads looked like a ghost town & by that stage, the fire had already jumped the Freeway to burn on the other side.
Our graduation ceremony started at 7pm and we were to be seated by 6.30pm for a video briefing. We left Rockingham at about 4pm, thinking we’d give it plenty of time for us to get through the traffic, given that the Freeway was closed where we needed to get on. Lo and behold, we had started driving & soon it became apparent that things were not looking good. We tried to get on to Stock Road, but traffic was really bad so we attempted to get on the Freeway on Thomas Road, given that either way we’d still be stuck. Got to Thomas Road and at the on ramp to the Freeway, there was a cop redirecting traffic as the Freeway was still closed. We got back on to Stock Road to try to give ourselves a fighting chance to get to our graduation. By the time 6pm came around, we hadn’t even reached Spearwood (20km from our initial starting point) & we had to call it quits as we were only halfway there. Both sides of the road were jam packed as far as the eye could see, we weren’t going to get out of there any time soon.
Turned around at that point & got to Phoenix to try to get some grub but all the back road were also congested & stopping to get food didn’t seem like such a good option as all the carparks were full. So back around to Rockingham we turned & we got to the local Maccas by 8.15pm. I needed to stretch my legs as they were cramped and my butt hurt from the 4 hour long drive. By the time we got back, my dad had messaged & said that the fireworks had come on after the graduation ceremony.
I must say I wasn’t too bothered about it all as it is my second degree and a Grad Dip. We’ve organised it so that we can go to the winter graduation ceremony mid-year. That’s probably a better option, given that the regalia is so thick & heavy, it’d be better suited to colder weather conditions teehee 🙂
What’s your graduation story?
by Kristine | Feb 17, 2015 | Shopping
As part of my birthday 2 weeks ago, a got a number of online vouchers from places where I have reward cards or am registered on their mailing lists. One of these places was Jeans West, where I had a $10 voucher to use by the 17th of February. Being the opportunistic person I am, I dragged Matt over to the Rockingham Shopping Centre to go have a look at what I can get with the $10. I figured, I might as well get something since it is literally free money.
We strolled into Jeans West & I headed for the jeans section as my only pair is currently slowly starting to eat away at the crotch area. Don’t even ask me how I’ve managed to do that, I really don’t know. Anyway, the saleslady came to assist me with my selection as I had no clue what I wanted to get, just that I wanted to get something. In the end, she told me that my voucher could only be used for full priced items which wasn’t too bad as I had chosen 2 pairs of jeans. The lady really knew her stuff, right down to informing me that the dark washes generally shrink & change the stretch of the fabric & she was completely right as I differed in sizes for the pairs I’ve tried on! They even came in different lengths & when one wasn’t available in store, she even placed an order online for me for the other pair to be delivered to my doorstep for free. Now that is what I call service! I cannot rave about them enough, it’s so wonderful to experience such great service, to be treated like a human is refreshing.
Target was also having a sale & I ended up splurging on some Nyx butter gloss in a 3 pack. At last count, I’ve got 44 lip stains/glosses/balms/stains. I think I might have to wear them in my sleep! I am looking forward to the deeper, richer colours of winter but loving the bright splashes of colour for summer. Which one do you prefer?
by Kristine | Jan 16, 2015 | Musings
We’re now well & truly into the start of 2015, with it being the 2nd week of the 2nd month of the year. It’s been pretty non eventful so far, apart from the reaffirmation that my body still doesn’t like mega hot chilli sauces & will attempt evacuation about 12 hours post consumption. I’ve had my fair share of time to think about what I would like to achieve in 2015 & am now ready to put pen to paper, so to speak.
1. Work on my side project
I can’t unfortunately say what it is at the moment as it is still in its infancy but I have got ideas written down & am slowly making my way through setting things up & get it ready for when I have the time to be able to commit about 10 to 15 hours per week to it. The plans I’ve got is for it to be almost a 2nd job which will give me entertainment & provide me some sort of income while indulging my hobbies. Clear as mud? I’m sure I’ll let on in due course, but at the moment it is a closely guarded secret amongst a very select few.
I’m not planning to kick off the project this year, but to get the ground work set up & have some solid ideas & plans. I can’t wait to start sharing with everyone, but it is also a bit scary to do that so I’m waiting till I’m sure that this is going ahead. The last thing I want is to tell people that I’ll be doing something when I’m not ready to deliver.
2. Get a new job
I have mentioned this on Twitter a few times, I am currently employed as a casual & am seconded to another company. I’m grateful for the opportunity, but at the same time being a casual is no way to live life and I am wanting a permanent job and a better paying job. At the moment, having to count each dollar & cent I spend is really doing my head in as I want to be able to get a cup of coffee or food without having to wonder where else I’d have to cut down so that I can pay all my bills. It’s not something that I enjoy after being in a permanent role for 5 years. Almost 1 year with my current company & in my 2nd role, I can say I don’t mind working there but this is not a long term thing.
The people I work with are fantastic, although the role can be a bit monotonous at the same time, it isn’t the worst thing in the world. I appreciate the chance to show that I can do other things & diversify but I’m ready to move into a permanent role to settle down so that I can start a family & get on with life.
3. Get good grades in my Masters
I start my Masters in Information Management in about 3 weeks & am doing a half load for this year & 2 research projects next year in hopes of graduating at the end of next year. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to manage and cope with trying to find a new job – the writing of selection criteria, attending interviews & starting it, combined with getting good grades the 2 units I’m doing this semester. It is quite a lot & ambitious, but like they say, aim for the moon & if you fail, you still land among the stars. I figure that if I don’t try & apply myself in things, I will always ponder about the what ifs, which I don’t like. I would much rather know if I am capable of something or not, and know that I tried my very best than to keep expressing my frustration about my situation without doing anything.
4. Declutter life
I’m the first to admit, I’m a bit of a hoarder but have been getting much better as I grow older. Most of my belongings fit in my room at the moment which I’m pretty proud of actually. My room is literally my living space & has been for my entire life. I cannot wait till I have a whole house to myself which I can decorate to how I like. I’ve made it a point to clean & declutter my room a little each day & so far it has yielded a pretty good result. I’m constantly recycling pamphlets & putting aside things I don’t have use for anymore. If I can keep this up for the rest of the year, I’d say it’s a good effort for when I move.
Moving 5 times in the last 11 years or so, I’ve packed a lot of my stuff in boxes which haven’t been touched in years. I’m looking forward to unpacking my stuff & using them. Yes, I am that person who hasn’t unpacked after moves. I don’t really have room to put my stuff at the moment, so things are staying packed away for now 🙂
I think 4 goals for now is a good start. I’ve made a start to some of my goals at the moment, which is something I’m hoping to keep up during the year. Once I’ve managed to achieve my goals, I’m hoping to add more just so I can keep working towards something as I’m such a goal oriented person. Here’s to 2015 being a better year than before!
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