Quick update

Started work full time this week. It went really well, the people are lovely, I was busy all week, the work is varied, the company looks after its staff (provide cereal, milk, fruit, snacks, tea and coffee, and provide lunch on a Wednesday), I have a great desk set up - my own cube, a nice work laptop, and have had an ergonomic assessment so everything is comfortable. Hours are flexible, just as long as you do your 8 hours. I think I'll be very happy there!

Between that and study, I'm pretty bloody busy and don't have much free time!! The poor kitty is getting bored from having nobody at home and is going through the cat equivalent of the "terrible 2's" I think! We're going back to the shelter today to look at getting a friend for her, so she has someone to hang with during the day - I think that will help her a great deal.

Andrew's flight back from Australia get in in a little over 3 hours - yayyyyy!!!!! :-) We've been invited to 3 parties today as well!! We haven't been to any in ages, so typical to have 3 in one day. I have to be anti-social and just wait and see how much study I get done though! Otherwise not much to report. All's pretty quiet...

Stinking hot

According to AccuWeather, yesterday's high in Mountain View was 38 degrees celsius, which is now the new record high!

Today looks just as stinky hot, with the top temp. due to be something similar. I'm kind of glad I'm inside studying! Gives me something to do without leaving the house. I'm also doing my bit for the electrical shortages since we're on a Stage 1 power emergency, mainly due to a major power plant tripping because of the heat! I've started studying early as the dining room table is the best place to study, and it's too hot of an afternoon, so it's not yet midday and have got a good chunk of study done while it's still not too stinking hot at the table! I'll try to avoid the fan until I become desperate. I have a jug of ice water in front of me which is also helping.

I can imagine Andrew's enjoying being in the Australian winter while all this is happening!

Due to popular request...

Here's some pics of the flowers! Since Andrew has the digital camera, I took these with my phone, and figured out to pair it up with the Mac and get the photos off it (which I'm very excited about!). So the photo quality isn't the best, but it's not too bad, given it's night time, and I'm relying on crappy US lamp lighting.

So here they are!

Happy Anniversary to us :)

This time a year ago we were getting married!! Well... it's 4pm Saturday July 22 here, and we got married a year ago on July 23 (a Saturday) around 4pm. So, a year ago works for me!

Unfortunately Andrew's in Australia for it which is a shame, but he ordered me some beautiful pink lilies (my favourite!!!) in a really pretty glass vase that just arrived. They are absolutely gorgeous, so at least while he's away I can look at them and smile!

Woohoo I got a job!

I signed up for a new temping group on Monday, and they called yesterday and asked if I could do a phone interview today. So I had a phone interview at 10 with the manager of the area, another one at 1pm with a girl I'll be working with, went back to the agency at 2pm so the lady coordinating the job through the agency could meet with me, then another phone interview at 4pm! Between that I've also volunteered at the shelter, so it's been quite the busy day and I haven't got done anywhere near as much as I needed to!

But I got the job though which is fantastic. The company is VMware, which is a software company, and according to Andrew, gives me geek cred :-) The position is a Marketing Assistant, and I'll be involved with organising conferences, seminars and other things like that, helping out with projects for the marketing people, and also some administrative tasks. It sounds as though there's great opportunities for extra tasks and advancement, the people sound fantastic, and the company itself seems like a really good place to work. It's a long term contract, with the view to go permanent in the next 6 months or so.

They are 11km from home, so will be an easy ride to work which is nice!

Did I mention Woohoo? :-) I start next Tuesday, and also start uni officially next week, so that will be quite a busy week! Andrew is flying out to Australia tomorrow (Thursday) night for a little over a week for work to go to a conference in Canberra, so while it'll be quiet without him and I probably won't sleep very well, it should give me the chance to sort out a good work/uni balance and start getting myself into a routine.

I have so many things I need to do for my last few days as a stay at home wife!

Back to school

I'm going back to studying next week! I got in to a Bachelor of Business through the University of Southern Queensland which I will be studying externally, part time over here in the US.

I've already started since I have the textbooks and subject overviews and so far it's really interesting! I'm doing an Organisational Behaviour subject, and what they're talking about I can relate to in a business sense from actually being in the workforce. The other subject is some sort of Accounting subject (I haven't started on that yet), and it looks a little scary, but if I can have one interesting and one not-so-interesting subject each semester, it should be good!

It'll take 6 years to finish if I do it continuously, but hopefully when we come back to Australia (whenever that may be), I can study full time for a bit to knock off some extra subjects.

So if I suddenly start blogging hourly, you'll know I'm procrastinating. :-)

Our cat thinks she's a dog!

She enjoys her walks on a leash, and yesterday morning she dropped a soft ball she likes playing with on the bed after Andrew had gone to work. I threw it for her, and she brought it back and dropped it on the ground next to me! I threw it again and she brought it back again... She did this 8 or 9 times, which I thought was pretty cool.

I thought she would never do it again, but this morning, I threw the ball for her and she started playing with it, then started bringing it back to us again! She would leap up onto the bed with it and drop it near us. I think we played fetch with her for about half an hour or so. So now, Andrew's really late for work... :-)

Applying for jobs...

I've applied for a few jobs around the traps, and found a couple of jobs that have sounded really interesting. The first position I ended up going in to the company to say hello, and found out they'd already filled it, but forgotten to take it off the website - d'oh!

The most recent one that I've found sounds really interesting, it's at a place I really want to work, and I think I fulfill all of the requirements for the position, and could do well in this position. I heard back from a recruiter within 24 hours of putting in for it asking a couple of questions, so hopefully that's a good sign!

So please keep all fingers and toes crossed for me :-)

Mushroom risotto recipe

This is one of my favourite recipes, so I thought I better blog about it so I don't lose it :) It's from the AIS Survival From the Fittest cookbook, which has a bunch of recipes from it including this one on the AIS website.

Mixed Mushroom Risotto

olive or canola oil spray
1 leek, halved lengthways, sliced
500 g mixed mushrooms (e.g. button, swiss, shitake), sliced
2 cups arborio rice
1½ litres MAGGI All Natural Chicken or Vegetable Liquid Stock
100 g enoki mushrooms
¼ cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
2 spring onions, thinly sliced on diagonal


Spray a large saucepan with oil and heat. Add leek and all mushrooms except enoki and cook, stirring, over medium heat for 5 minutes, until softened. Add rice and cook, stirring for 2 minutes. Add stock, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20-25 minutes or until liquid is almost all absorbed. Add enoki mushrooms and cheese and stir well to combine - it should look slightly creamy. Garnish with spring onion and serve with steamed greens or salad. Season to taste.

Big day for Stumpy!

She went exploring outside on her new harness and leash for about 20 minutes, and she handled it all really well! I carried her to a quiet part of the complex behind our townhouse, and she sniffed, explored, watched a hummingbird hover just above her head, and scratched on some trees. I picked her up a couple of times when she went a bit too far into the bushes, and she was purring whenever I picked her up, so was obviously pretty happy!

When I brought her back in, she had a drink, then settled down for a nap quite contentedly.

I came back from the mailbox just now, and our neighbour Carol was on our doorstep (our doorsteps are joined) with Cleo - the mother of the kittens we fostered a little while ago (Carol adopted Cleo, which was great!). Stumpy was sitting in the window watching, so I let her come out as well, and her and Cleo went nose to nose, Stumpy gave a little his, they went nose to nose again, and all was good! Looks like Stumpy has a new friend now :-)

What nightmares are made of

Ok, so I have a fear of dentists. I lost my front tooth when I was 6 or 7 I guess, and saw orthodontists for a period of 8-10 years, and had numerous operations trying to get the adult tooth down and then eventually removing it, getting braces, and getting a false tooth on a plate in there.

I still have a lingering fear in my head from so many dentist/orthodontist appointments.

So having the dental implant recently was a big step for me. It's all gone fairly well so far, but last weekend my gum was getting sore at the bone graft site where the false tooth sits. Then a bit of white was showing. Then the bit of white got larger and larger throughout the week and I realised I had bone coming through my gum. I couldn't get into the surgeon until today, so had been freaking out all week that the bone graft hadn't taken and my body was rejecting it.

So at the dentists, he looked at it, and said it was wobbly, and just a flake of bone (not the whole bone graft). So he went away and came back and started toward my mouth with A PAIR OF PLIERS!!!!!! A pair of freaking pliers!!!!!

I freaked out, jumped a foot inthe air, and cringed into the far side of the chair and got as far away fro those pliers as I could. If there hadn't have been something blocking me I would have jumped out of the chair. He tried to tell me that he would talk me through it. I asked if it would hurt. He asked if I would like some numbing gel. Shit.

So he gave me some numbing gel, then put the pliers in and ripped out the bit of bone. I didn't really feel much thank god, but ohhhh man the whole thing is going to give me friggin nightmares for weeks.

Andrew thought my reaction was hilarious and so couldn't stop giggling. Once I calmed down a bit I also realised it was kinda funny, and we giggled all the way home once it was all over and done with.