Killer Cupboards

I see it is nearly a week since I last put a post up. My chief excuse is that I have had itinerant connectability with the internet - go figure the atmospherics at the moment, AND it has been the beginning of term with a new Principal, new DP (recycled from last yrs staff though) and a few new ways of doing things. From my point of view, all is well with the above as it is pretty much business as usual with the few girls that we have this year.

The snake story has now reached epic proportions and I believe is doing the rounds in Sydney thanks to the new Principal who is figuartively dining out on my reaction. The snake is now about 6' long and highly dangerous, lol...... ah well, you have to make your own fun out here!

On the sports front (gasp, I know, could anything be more disconcerting than my being aware of sport in its many and varied shapes and sizes) I believe NZ BEAT Australia at cricket the otherday AGAIN and Collingwood beat the Hawkes last night. I did not see the cricket but had a snide comment from one of the Brs yesterday, and saw only snippets of last nights game before turning the tellie off at lights out. I understand that NZ are playing Oz at cricket again today so may get to see some of that. It would be nice for a trifecta win so I can gloat a little - well maybe a lot, lol. Scarily, I miss the tennis being on daily!

Did the town run on Wednesday - the temp was in the 30's so a little cooler and reasonably bearable with the aircon on in the ute. The radio has been fixed so I need to make some tapes as it is pre CD car radio with a tape deck as its extra. Otherwise you get interviews and lots of news. As I am in the midst of my spring cleaning kick, I decided I needed more cupboard space in the kitchen as I was tired of storing appliances on the floor and food in stacks all over the miniscule bench space that I have. In one of those ephiphany moments whilst pondering the same and standing in a kitchen aisle in Bunnings, I spotted a sale price stand with guess what .... one door and two door, you build it pantrys!!!! Could there have been a better answer to a maidens prayer (alright, crone, but you never see that written in any fairy story!!!) I decided to go with big is always better and as it said 800mm wide, and I figured that was less than a metre which is about a yard in old measurement, give or take, decided that the two door would fit the space I had and do the trick (Cost, $99!!). Managed to get a worker person to help load it on the ute (with only about 8" resting over the edge. Had a pretty quick round to do and was back here by 5pm. Br helped get it off the ute (it weighed 25k from memory) and I rang the WMH to help lug it inside and natch, got an offer to help build it. Had my new neighbour (current DP) come over to offer a screwdriver and advice as well. We started to build it on the deck but the melamine was getting a bit damaged on the other wood, so with space to manage, took it into the kitchen to build. In short order the sides went up with the top and bottom in place and then the shelves slotted in when I decided to move from one side to the other (forget the reason why), when, as I lifted my not inconsiderably sized foot off the ground to place it between the shelves to get to the other side, I sliced my big toe open on the edge of the melamine shelf. I immediately started bleeding like a stuck pig all over the floor as the WMH dashed for paper towels to mop up small puddles of blood where I had hopped about and then wrapped more around the wound to staunch the flow of blood which was reaching epic proportions. Ick is all I can say. So, I am now seated on the floor with paper towels around toe with foot elevated up on a chair whilst the cupboard building continues (was also handed my beer to finish off, lol). The workmate's boys were also helping and the next thing I knew, was one of them had a cut along his knee where he had rested momentarily against the edge of the bottom shelf!!! Who would have thought a cupboard could also masquerade as a lethal weapon!!!! Maybe instead of buying any more sharp knives, I can throw various cuts of meat at the shelf edges when I want to slice said meat into shreds!!!

Everyone soldiered on and got the pantry upright and one door attached - it was nearly 8pm by then and the childer were starving and needing dinner and bed as they had school the next day. We decided to leave the last door as they are time consumingly tricky to put in so the boys could get fed. The WMH insisted I go up to their place so that my wound could be dressed properly after a heated discussion whether it needed stiches or not. I was willing to take the risk of having an ugly big toe and quailed at the thought of have needles jabbed into it to block the pain before another needle was used with thread, that would have to be undone again when healed. It had already sort of glued itself together by the time I had dinner and finally got to the plaster stage. I must admit to a slight twinge of nervousness re thinking a tetanus shot or not as I think the last one might have been 34yrs ago when I was having no 2 son but decided to gamble 24hrs to see how I went rather than another 1 1/2 hours to the Dr (and the thought they might want to stitch foot as well) Lucky me, no twinges of any thing (and I did stay up for several hours just in case, lol) and today when the plaster finally fell off, I can report the skin has held together but I will likey have a good scar out of it.

I can also report, that the pantry, other than trying to kill me off (is there a Stephen King novel in all this??) has fulfilled its requirements perfectly. All my appliances are stored within as are all my baking goods and the rest of the surplus tins etc are no longer on the bench but stored in the other cupboard - yay.

I am off today until dinner tonight and then again Mon - Wed evening. I drove the minivan to Morawa yesterday afternoon so the girls could go for a swim. The WM is going for her bronze medallion next Sunday so we will have someone qualified on site to use the pool here. That is the minimum requirement in WA and I have buckley's chance of earning one. You have to be able to swimm four different strokes for 4 lengths each, under 12 mins. The WM can do it in 10 mins - I can barely swim any recognisable stroke so no contest there.

Spoke to the no 2 daughter-in-law on Thursday and she is still with child and doing well. Unfortunately Minnie,(the cat) who had been to the vet several times since Christmas, was put to sleep last week as while she was in surgery it was discovered she was suffering from cat leukemia and was not going to have a long time ahead of her. Minnie was nearly 13 yrs so hard to say goodbye to a loved pet after that length of time.

Manged to get two cans of continuous spray insect death whilst in town last week and am happy to say, it seems to be working. I am feeling more confident that they will take care of the nasties that may lurk inside. I have also bought some surface spray to spray around the doors and windows, so am hoping my house will now be an insect free zone.

Hope everyone in NZ had a great Waitangi day/wknd. Have just heard that there are bush fires raging in Victoria and that 25 people have been found dead with possibly a higher toll once buildings are cool enough to be searched properly. Over half the houses in one town are gone, and one of the saddest stories, 6 people were found burnt in the car they were trying to escape in. The fire started by someone throwing a cigarette butt out of a car window. It's hard to get your head around.
Had better go and get some work done and some emails checked. Caio.