Garage Sale Madness

After our flea market escapades late last year, Michelle and I decided to have our very own garage sale at the Henderson Ranch. It was a flurry of excitement as we prepared our newspaper ads, priced our crap err items, and got our fancy signs posted. I recruited my mum to help out so the night before the big day we got my pile of stuff to sell together. A few of the items didn't make it to the sale as this is the pile of things my mum decided to "purchase":

So the next morning as our alarms went off at 4.30am - argggghhh - we packed up the car and drove off to Pine Mountain. We arrived at 6.00am - argggghhhh again and found Michelle and Greg well under way with displaying their precious homewares.

So I started getting my stuff out and here's when I learnt my first rule of garage sales. No matter what time you say the garage sale starts, people will turn up an hour before.

Why I don't know. Our sale was clearly advertised as 7-12. It was also cleared advertised with the statement "NO EARLY BIRDS". So of course some lady charged in at 10 past 6 with a lame excuse of having to go to work and started on going through every single item and creating a little pile for herself. After 45mins of picking and us still putting stuff out she asked "is that everything out now?" I had to refrain from pointing out that we still had 15 mins before we actually were supposed to start. Here I learnt the second rule of garage sales. People are never happy with your stuff.

Anyway during her reign over the tables, we had a few more early birds turn up (NO EARLY BIRDS PEOPLE!!), then there was dead silence for the next 30 mins and we all realised it was only 7.30am and we still had four and a half hours to go. Oi Vey. Third rule of garage sales - Make sure you are doing it with people you like and are entertaining. Otherwise you will possibly die of boredom. And bring snacks.

Michelle let her dogs out to sniff about and scare people away for a while (well that's what we decided happened). Michelle wouldn't let me put price tags on the dogs. Party Pooper.

Then I learnt the fourth rule of garage sales - people travel around garage sales in packs. It was bizarre. We'd have 2 groups of people show up, then 30 mins would go past, then three groups, then another 45 mins, then 2 groups. I did ask them if they were following each other and they denied it. Hmmmmmm.

Several loooooooooong hours later we all started counting down till 12 and started to get ready to take home our unsold stuff. Michelle demonstrated how she felt about this:

So we packed up and counted our money....Michelle demonstrated how she felt about this:

All in all it was a good experience and I made a bit of extra money which was fab. Next week Michelle and I return to the flea market for a last ditch effort to get rid of the rest of it. Good luck to us - I look forward to getting up at the crack of dawn again. Not.

Shutter Island? It's 9 past 9!

Just got back from the premiere of Shutter Island at Southbank with Michelle and Greg. Saw it on the IMAX screen which is...big. Leonardo DiCaprio (carrying a few extra pounds I might add) the same size as an office block is a little scary.


Before we went to the movie we managed to shove some Vietnamese food down in about 10 minutes. Very yummy food - would love to go back there when we had a little bit more time. Here's Greeeeeeeeg enjoying his spring roll vermicelli noodles with the sauce that tastes good but smells likes feet:

And here is Michelle with her rice paper rolls. Gluten free of course.

Michelle did take a shot of me with my insanely delicious chicken salad but it mysteriously disappeared from my phone. You can kinda see it in the Greg picture so I guess that's ok.

Anyway back to the movies, we ran into Andrea and Clint waiting to go in and we had a lovely chat about work and all the good times we have there :-) After having our mobile phones taken from us and then being frisked for other recording devices, we were allowed in and found 90% of the fundraising team (and strangely Santa Paws) sitting behind us.


The movie was loooooong, but it was pretty good. I think I thought I knew the story and then got confused when it changed towards the end, while everyone around me was going "ahhhhh". Either way it was a good movie and worth watching, but bring snacks. And a cushion for your butt.


Then we left and collected our phones (1 missed call and a message thank you very much!) and went to validate our parking. Then the comedy began as the chicky behind the counter says to Greg "what movie did you watch today?" and Greg pulls out his phone and says to her "9 past 9". Brows furrowed and an awkward pause ensued until Michelle swooped with the correct answer of Shutter Island and our parking was validated and we were on our way. With Greg protesting all the way that she actually asked "what time does your watch say?" I guess we'll never really know what happened.....

Another 10 photos from a phone

As I had a crap load of fun with the last 10 photos I decided to do another 10. So once again here are the random photos on my phone and why I thought that moment was interesting/funny/cute/momentous enough to have a photo taken.

1. This was Michelle's Birthday last year I think. It was at Montezumas (Gluten Free!) and here is Michelle celebrating her free birthday chocolate mousse, wearing her fancy sombrero and clapping to herself. I like to think she is saying "Franks & Beans"....

2. Same day - we tend to go slightly overboard for birthdays and we all had fabulous Princess Michelle birthday tiaras to wear for the day. Mel had very cleverly covered up Dora the Explorers picture with one of Michelle. I think I was trying to do a coy face, which I'm pretty sure I didn't pull off.

3. Same day again. Apparently we were really enjoying taking photos of ourselves wearing these tiaras.

4. Ooooh this was at my very first AFL game. I have no clue who was playing against the Lions but I do remember they won and it was very cold, hence the reason I am sporting a beanie. Not sure why Rob looks slightly crazed and I look like I have no teeth.

5. Awwwww it's Cubby. This was one of Michelle's foster kittens that she fostered when he was about 3 weeks old and needed to be hand-reared. Two years later and he is still at Michelle's house - he was just that adorable. I love Cubby. Even after he clawed me and ruined my future career as a stomach model.

6. My furry babies. Well two of them anyway. Rosie and Cleo were curled up together on my bed one morning and I remember thinking I just had to take a photo. Two seconds later they were fighting with each other, but for a few seconds all was well in the household.

7. This one baffles me a little. It was taken at my previous job with TrakHealth and they are obviously birthday cakes, but why there is two I don't know. I'm pretty sure that is Julie's hand (if there is cake you'll find me and Julie!), but I haven't a clue who it was for, or why I took a photo.

8. Who said animals in the workplace were a bad thing? Michelle continues to type and work hard even while hoisting Lulu over her shoulder. This was when Lulu was a puppy, but she is now fully grown and still does that. It's freakin' adorable.

9. I'm pretty sure this is Michelle (due to the necklace) worming a kitten. It might be Cubby's friend Tubby who Shell also fostered, or it could be one of my fosters. Maybe you remember Michelle?

10. This was the Pearl Jam concert in Brisbane a few years back. We had front row AA tickets and were close enough for Eddie to pour wine from his bottle into our cups. Such a great show.

Bonus Photo - couldn't resist. Here are Cubby and Tubby all curled up together back when we were allowed to have animals in our offices (free roaming!). They were just so cute together.

Happy Birthday to Me?

Today as I was driving home from another fun filled day at work, I had a craving for this type of cake they sell at the Cheesecake Shop (work = must eat cake!) Conveniently I drive past a Cheesecake Shop on my way home and even more conveniently they are open till 7pm. So I parked and thought I'd get a half serve of the cake I was craving and it would last me a few days (or one. whatever. don't judge me).


Anyhoo so when I got inside I found the cake I was after, but they only had a small version of it, and it didn't come in a half serve. It also said "Happy Birthday" on it. Which was a small issue as it wasn't my birthday. I thought "what the heck" and asked for it. Unfortunately for me I had a chatty girl serving me who asked was I going to a birthday dinner tonight. Oi Vey. Being the sort of person that can't just leave anything, I managed to concoct a story about a friend who was having a birthday today and some dinner that I was cooking for them (I was a great cook in the story). She left to put the cake into a box and I stood and frantically looked through the candle display with the intention of buying some birthday candles to make my story more believable.


Now I don't know why I couldn't just say "nup, I am going to eat this cake myself" or "none of your business", but I obviously have issues as to what other people think of me and I'd rather make up stories than have them think I was a guts. At least I didn't buy any of the birthday candles :-)

Kiki

Today is a perfect day to think back and remember things that made me smile. It will be a challenge, today was a tough one, but I know I can find them.

The first was is easy - Kiki! Kiki is a little dog who was surrendered and was very timid. She is being fostered by Shiny Briony at the moment while she is recovering from her desexing and her issues in her "back end" :-) Anyway she is doing really well and Briony bought her in to have her stitches removed. So of course she came down to see her Auntie Anita and get a cuddle (or seventeen):

Another thing that cracked me up was getting up this morning to find the mysterious black Tucson still parked across the road. I'm sure that Michelle is secretly staking me out to make sure I get to work. That said, as I type it's still there and it's now been four days. When should I call someone or check the backseat for a body?

One more thing that made me laugh was the thought of Michelle being refused for jury duty. I can only imagine the reason why...maybe she was wearing the hat that stresses people out?

Plus of course the following people made me smile as they always do: Michelle, Stacy (fuzzball), Roz, Briony, Rickland, Rob, Jo, Mum, Dad, Julie, Taylor, Sarah and many more. Special mention goes to Fiona who knows what she did to that puppy in the BA Yard.

Here's to a better day tomorrow (and more smiles!)

I've got a Golden Ticket...

Roz and I went to the RSL for a snack and a drink after work tonight and were pretty confused about quite a few things:

• Why did the Keno screen freeze on game 381 for like 15 minutes and no one noticed except me (clutching my ticket)? After a phone consultation with my friend C.Ro the Keno guru who advised a rebooting of the system (although I wasn’t feeling it that she really knew what she was talking about), I went and pointed out the frozen screen. He pressed a button to reboot the system and voila! Keno was back in business. As 15 minutes had passed though it was now up to game 393 so I had to go up to the counter again to get my ticket checked. Yeah it was a loser – I still can’t help feeling cheated though...missing all those games live.

• Why did the man who had ordered a meal, walk around looking confused when his meal pager things started beeping, vibrating and flashing?  He obviously knew where the counter was as he had placed his meal order there. He walked around holding the pager out like a divining rod trying to find his way to his wedges. Odd.

• Who was the man with the “Bookie” case taking bets and calling what seemed to be fake horse races from a script? People were going up, making a bet, and then he would read a horse race out while everyone cheered like they were watching a real race. He then confounded us even more by saying “come up and I’ll give you a free bet – it’s play money anyway”. Pardon? What? We still don’t get it. 

• Why did I put $4 into a Pokie machine that felt lucky (well there was a bird on it), manage to win my way up to around $30, but then walk out with nothing? What happened? Damn those bet 10 lines buttons. As Roz said it’s all about the highs and the lows.

• Who was the little man with the stick that came and tried to tell me how to play the Pokie machine (when I was doing quite well thank you very much)?

• Why do we keep telling each other “I’ve got a Golden Ticket!”

Dancing till your name badge falls off

Michelle wore a hat to work today.  It really threw me off.  I wasn't expecting it and I wasn't ready for it.  But it was there.  Being the sort of person who doesn't ever really say what's on her mind, I paused for 5 seconds and said "yeah, what's up with the hat?"  It was being used to hide an alleged bad hair day....I felt the hair was fine.  Anyway, here's the hat in question.

Later in the day we went to a Stress Management session (coincidence with the hat in the office - I think not?  Roz did actually tell Michelle during the session that the hat was stressing her out also).  Ahh there's nothing like a stress management session to make you stressed out about all the work you should be doing instead of sitting in a room learning how to deal with stress effectively.  We did learn all about walls and how to go around them, under them, over them.  Not how to break them down though which is a little unfortunate.  I also learnt that I'm not fat, I'm just thirsty.  Don't ask me how I came to that conclusion - something about being thirsty makes you store fat.  I may have misheard something along the way.  Yes it's because I'm thirsty, not because of the carton of Wispa Bars I just ate :-).

So we ended the day with a dance party in our office (long after everyone had gone home and long after we should have gone home).  We put on Kesha's Tic Tok, grabbed the hat (of course) and have 5 minutes of hard core dance times (Young Talent Time style).

We danced until my name badge fell off.  And then we knew it was finally time to go home.