Season's Greetings (and I am still alive :) )

I have a list of a zillion things to do and this is one of them so am taking some time out to update on the crazy thing that is my life, over the past few weeks.

I read through my last post and I was waiting for Phil to decide what he was doing with the house and was also beginning to house hunt. I looked at several properties - there were five in the same street I was living in, so checked them all out. I looked at a couple of older houses that were reasonably cheap ($250 week) and although one had screens on all the windows to keep insects out, there were holes in the kitchen cupboards where I could see the ground so goodness only knows what could have crawled up that - eek. I was dispairing when I spotted this amazing house on line, rang up about it to find there was a look see in an hour. Dropped everything at school, zoomed over and WOW. It was a four bedroomed, lounge, games room, sunroom, office, laundry, two loos, one bathroom, two car garage, and back garden property, woohoo. A family pulled up at the same time as me so after walking through the place and making a snap decision I WANTED it, I spoke to the real estate person as to the next step. There was a for sale sign on the lawn which slowed me down a bit, but she said that they were taking it off the market for the period of the lease. The family had walked out when I was talking about the for sale sign (whew) so I went straight down to the real estate agency, got the application form and had it dropped in first thing the next morning. I then had to wait for the owners to decide if they liked the sound of me, to have the house cleaned and the last bits of their things removed. I was told there would be a decision mid the following week so kept fingers crossed.

Meanwhile Phil was still making up his mind so started packing my gear just in case. On the job front, my position at school was advertised so put my application in. I got a call from Phil to say he was not coming back and he was getting a quote to get his gear back to Sydney. When he got the quote, he decided he could not afford it and would I take his stuff when I moved - OK, and would I take his car as well - OK. He then rang back to say, the tenancy there was ending on the 2nd Dec which was a week away. No pressure!!!!!! I was still working both jobs and had in effect three days to pack and one window of opportunity to move which was the Friday before the 2nd Dec. I had my interview during this time, got told I had my new house, but couldn't get the key until 4.40pm the day I had to move. I hired a truck for $150 that had a lift on the back of it, and Bronwyn, Gerard, the two boys and Emily turned up and we moved Phil's entire house five houses up the road in the hottest day of the month in 40+ Celcius. We made up two beds for Jude and I in the new house, put a few bits of furniture in place and put all the rest in the 'games' room before I bought Noodle Box noodles for dinner for everyone. I think it took us about three hours non stop. There was one more trailer load from the garage the following day, and then two days of cleaning, lawn mowing and tidying up the section before closing the door on Phil's forever.

I spent the weekend unpacking and sorting and as I was heading out the door to work on the Monday got a call from the Honcho from school that I did not get the position for next year. They had decided to rejig what and who they wanted to accommodate a head of campus/ plus a teacher, social worker mix, and employed an indigenous youth worker instead. That was a blow as I was only three days into the new house which I had based on having the two incomes. It was a hard week working with the kids knowing I would not be back and had hugs from every single one of the boys who were there on the last day. I had let the DCP people know I was available for as much as work as possible from the 10th so have been lucky enough to pick up extra work there in the meantime, especially as we now have 9 children in care.

Meanwhile there were two more jobs advertised in the paper for a worker at the local Women's Refuge and a residential supervisors position at the Catholic boarding school which is on the same site as the Flexi Learning Centre. I got interviews for both positions, was declined for the Women's Refuge and have been offered weekend work at the boarding school until the end of the first term when they expect to offer me a full time position - woohoo. I could probably have had the part time job they had but I had asked for full time work and they appointed someone else for that but still want me for the rest in the meantime. I signed a roll over contract for another five months at DCP so it is looking as though I should be able to manage.

During the last two weeks, I have also had a friend here who rang me in crisis when her new accommodation of one week turned ugly over her cat. I was working shift and keeping odd hours so barely saw her but did notice she was not travelling too well, only to find out from Jude (who was also staying a few nights),that our friend had stopped taking her medication a couple of weeks before (she has been diagnosed as bi-polar) so I woke up one morning last week to find the mental health team on my door step (they tracked her down after a couple of ph calls), who then became daily visitors as they administered meds each day. The downside of this was that my friend bought her cat with her, and I am not allowed pets in the house. I had asked three times for it to go, but it took two days of meds being administered before it happened. In the meantime (she arrived with all her furniture and bits and pieces as well) I went to look for a table cloth for the Tardun Christmas we had here and could not find it. Jude in the meantime, had been told by our friend that she had got rid of all her stuff (it tells you how tired I have been that I did not even notice a couch and two chairs missing from the front porch area) asking the maintenance man to take it away when he fixed some lights here. It took me about four days to piece all this together amidst work, odd hours etc, and to track the guy down and yes, he had taken stuff of Phils as well which was also in the games room with all her stuff. Some things had already gone to the dump and I have managed to get one box of linen less three blankets back. Not sure if there is anything else I can do about the rest.

As of yesterday, our friend has left, address unknown as she does not believe she is unwell and does not want the mental health people in her life....... There wasn't much I could say when she handed me her key except good luck and keep in touch. I am left with a massive king sized sleigh bed that she bought the first week she was here, which she found after three nights sleeping in it, that it hurt her back, causing her to move into the spare bed I got from Phil's. Not sure how long that is here for as she said she has moved into a semi-furnished flat. You can see my life is not dull and I maybe need a sign, furniture and household possession storage r us, lol.

The week I moved in to my new house, it was decided the Tardun Christmas would be held here - so had fourteen people for a shared dinner which was a huge success. We all bought one present under $10 and were then given a number in order we were allowed to pick one out of the sack. You could either keep the gift or pick one off someone else that you might like better. It was hilarious as some things got swapped several times and as everyone left Jude and I sat outside on the front patio and watched the firework display from Christmas Carols at the Park in town. I did not mention at the beginning of the blog the this house is on a hill, and I have 180o view of the Geraldton coastline, ocean, port and the city, woohoo.

Bronwyn and Gerard had been nagging me for ages about getting all my stuff from Tardun out of storage, so in conversation on the Christmas night, everyone made the decision, it would happen last Friday as we all had the time off. No pressure again!!!!!. Another truck hire, $110 to the removal people, instead of the $1500 they wanted to deliver it, another 3 hours, and it was all moved. Yp, you guessed it, the games room copped it again. I had several days work in a row and now for the last four days have done nothing but unpack and sleep. I got hurt at work on Sunday when one of the boys kicked off. As I held him while he tried to bite,kick, scratch, punch and spit on me (after threatening to hit me with a cricket bat), it seems I put my bakc out. By the end of the shift I could hardly move. So, inbetween unpacking I have been walking about very gingerly and resting lots in between. Whilst not moving like a gazelle yet, I am able to get up and down and move about more freely today.

OMG, I did not realise how much stuff I had accumulated at Tardun. Also, they packed the entire house, regardless of whether it was mine or not so have ended up with tables, two couches, fridge, washing machine, plates, cutlery, pots etc inherited from Tardun. Clothing was the other surprise - I have much, much more than I remembered so am going to have a bit of a cull I think. As I have existed with two pairs of jeans and three pairs of 3/4 length pants all year, with about 6 shirts, I realise I can do with much less, though it is nice to see some of my more dressier bits for going out (should that happen, lol). Most of you would be shocked at how minimalist I have been this year, heh heh.

I am faced now with girding myself to go to town to do some Christmas shopping. I have not done any, sent Christams cards or done anything about food for the next week or so. I work tomorrow (Christmas Eve) 6.45am - 3.15pm, then Christmas and Boxing Day 8am - 8pm. I am not sure how or when I will be able to contact anyone given the time differences. The plus is, that I have more days off next week, so am hoping to retreive the threads of my life and get some sort of normalacy going or maybe I will just aim for some routine, lol. I have been blessed by receiving three parcels from home - from No 1 & 2 Son's (or should I say the daughter in law's and grandsons :)), and one with a heap of gifts in from sister Kay, Mum and the Bulte family. I am going to Bronwyn and Gerards on the way home from work around 8.30pm and will catch the tail end of a dinner they are hosting for several Macca's friends so that will be nice.

Next posting will hopefully have photos - I am working on getting them off the camera and need to wait till I have everything unpacked, (or near enough), rather than the mess it is in at the moment. To all of you patient readers, who have given me support during the year, and been part of this journey, thank you very much. The feedback is much appreciated, and also the emails that come my way. I wish each and everyone of you a blessed and happy festive season. Love Lynn