Better Now. Yay!

     Ok, so the rant is done.  The bond is not back in my bank yet, but should be on the way as of tomorrow.  If it isn't, game on is all I can say.  I took extensive pictures and video.  They are worth 1000 words.
     The rodent situation is at least under control as of Saturday.  The pest guy had a good look and said the evidence was old and they had moved on.  The critters have done extensive damage in the lower attic above the garage-chewed all the wood beams all around to the point where the door lintel into the laundry is loose as it has nothing to hang onto, but they have moved out for summer.  He tossed several wax based baits that are good for several months and when they eat them, they will DIE a painful death.  Hopefully NOT in the house anywhere!
     Alex's Peace Bursary performance went quite well.  They placed 2nd and were pleased.  She is more pleased to be done with it, and missing the performance at the music concert next week is not upsetting her one bit.  I get the feeling she is ready to be done with choir at this level.  Something about having to sing "little kid" songs too many times!
     We are going to Cairns next week for a family adventure!  We have a snorkeling day out on the Great Barrier Reef, another day out in the Daintree Rainforest with a rail journey and village visits, I get a spa day at the resort for my belated birthday gift, and a few days to do whatever we want.  This time of year is supposed to be good as the stingers (jellyfish) are blown out to sea and the weather isn't totally oppressively hot and humid.  We have been told to not swim on the beach as the saltwater crocs do like them.  Um, yeah.  Think we'll follow that advice!  Also there is a species of conch that we call the attack seashell.  Turn over with sticks and make sure nothing is living in them and even then don't touch.  Apparently they pack quite a whollop and can be deadly, so don't play with the shells either.  So, beautiful beaches, but don't play on them is what we can do.  Good thing the resort has several nice pools to enjoy!
     Lyle has a 10k race this Sunday, Father's Day here in Australia.  We are having a family sleepover-really!  One of his workmates is also running in it.  Now, the race STARTS at 6 am.  They live on the north side of town and that means at least a 1/2 hour drive over this way, so we invited them all over to stay and BBQ Saturday afternoon and Sunday breakfast for the dads when they get back from their brisk jog.  I'll be getting up waaayy too early to drop off at the start and they will be able to catch a bus back to the house.  Thinking about doing a breakfast casserole in the crock and pancakes in addition ought to be pretty nice.  So nice to have enough room to do this!  Alex will vacate her room as she has a double bed and kick Ian out of his.  Kai (their son) and Ian will get an air mattress in the lounge area upstairs outside of the bedrooms and have a boy sleepover of their own.  He is so excited!
     Ian and Lyle had a Father's Day get together at school today.  They played basketball (think short plastic hoops!), golf, tic tac toe (naughts and crosses here!), hopscotch, little reading time and a good time had by all.  Ian's class have been planning this for ages and has been all we heard about school for the last month!  "I can't tell you, it's a surprise!  But you'll really like it Daddy!"
     On a personal note, I was closely examining my hair in the mirror this week.  I have this slightly crazed sort of hair going now.  The grey is pretty disguised by my still natural blonde, but is coming in crazy curly.  I am starting to look a bit like a frayed Q-tip.  And on that high note, have a super week everyone!

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished. Don't read if you don't like negativity. Or a few swear words.

     Just a warning here.  This is not a positive entry.  If you are looking for happy, just move on.  This is not it today.

     So, all the stuff is in the house.  Boxes in every room but Ian's at this point, but still getting through a few a day.  Less time to unpack than we wanted as we just can't seem to shake the old place yet.  I do have to say that we were warned.  Landlords here act just like that-LORDS of the manor and expect a place to be returned exactly in the condition you started with.  They seem to forget that clause in the contract that says excepted normal wear and tear.  Lyle and I spent 5 hours working on the place last weekend cleaning, vacuuming, washing, etc.  What we do when we leave a place, and more than most we have PLENTY of experience leaving a place!  Granted, the paint did not quite match when I touched up the scuffs on the wall, so having to redo those today did not burn my ass.  Burning it right now is that the counter in the garage by the laundry hookup is "dusty" and there are water marks on the tiles and on the fixtures in the bathrooms.  Yep.  The place is a year old and there are water marks on the fixtures!  So, after redoing the scuffs with the proper color paint that the maintenance guy dropped off for me, thinking I was done and locking the keys in the house, I get to put the kids in daycare for another afternoon so I can go scrub and paint the marks I missed in the garage.  The Garage!  But, I can get out of it for $150 off my bond payment.  As I said, this is really burning my ass right now.
     But, it gets more fun.  The place we moved into.  Fantastic space and use of it as well.  Not so on the electrical outlets and lighting-imaging a single electrical outlet pretty much no matter the size of room.  Not one per wall, but one per ROOM.  I can live with that.  I can also live with the edges of carpet being nearly black from the pest treatments that have to be done every year if you hope to stay ahead of the roaches.  I don't mind the traffic noise or the gun range.  What I will not live with is the maggots and rat shit that came out of the garage ceiling this weekend!  Yep.  Read that right.  Maggots and rat shit.  These are some big rats going by the size too.  Management was informed immediately and the owner came out and had his look too.  Have not heard from either regarding scheduling an inspector to come over and have a look around, so they will be called tomorrow and informed they have 1 week to get someone out or I start proceedings to break the lease and they get to pay for my move and deposit on the next place.  See, we learned with this last place we lived.  Being nice does not really get you anywhere as a renter around here.  We put up with "the parts are backordered" and bent over backwards to allow access to fix the issues with plumbing, smoke alarm that had not been wired, noise complaints about the appliances outside and all it got us was roasting in our own juices in the summer heat.  And nit picking on the wear and tear on the place.  Considering we had 3 kids in there, I was pretty pleased with how it looked!
     I detest renting.  I'll say it again.  I DETEST RENTING.  We don't trash the places we live.  The kids are really good about keeping their grubby parts off the walls and they don't put weird shit in the carpets.  I don't like having my money held hostage until every little bit is dealt with when normal wear happens.  I don't think it is helping that the landlord is preggo and suspect she is nesting as she is due in a month.  I really don't have any sympathy though.  My blood pressure is skyrocketing and I am just pissed.  I need to go finish my glass of wine and set the alarm half and hour early.  Alex has to be at school at 7 am to catch a ride down to Logan for the Peace Bursary, a group performance by the schoolkids for some reason or another.  She's not really thrilled and has been rewriting the lyrics to the Kermit the Frog Rainbow Connection song as she is royally sick of singing it.  They are fairly rude (for her at any rate!) but funny considering!  And yes, she is old enough that I told her they were funny.  She gets it.
     So, sorry for the rant.  I feel better.  If it still isn't satisfactory then I will request mediation by the tenant representatives to get back my full bond.  I don't feel like being nice anymore.  And is it a bit mean of me to hope the next renters are not so nice and trash the place?  I don't.

Moving Week!

     My apologies for dropping off the net for a few weeks.  I was hit with a terrible cold, had finally started shaking it off and then got hit with strep throat.  Lots of fun, that one.  I ended up texting the doctor on a Sunday morning asking for an out of office visit if at all possible.  It was BAD.  Fortunately he was able to meet me at the office, script for antibiotics, lots of rest and fluids and I was on the mend. Lyle stayed home on Monday to do the school runs-thats how bad I felt.  As luck would have it, I got a text Sunday night asking me to work for the week for a teacher I was going to do a week for as she was sick too!  They cobbled together subs until I could start on Thursday, and as the next week was my contract week, they just started it early.
     I spent the last week doing a 5/6 combined class.  They were a handful.  Thats all I'll say here about that!
     Whilst working, we were also gearing up to get the move done.  We got the keys a couple of days early and have spent the last 2 days making 12 trips to the new place with fully loaded Nissan X-trail.  Amazing what you can pack in there and how much can get moved when properly motivated!  The garage just has the big furniture and odds and ends now, the hall closet is empty, and much of the shelving in the kids' rooms are also empty.  Computers, kitchen cupboards, closets with hanging clothes-good thing we have Wednesday as a public holiday-more time to move!  The more we move, the less we have to pay the movers, so time well spent for sure.  We got the gym work out in this weekend multiple times over.
     Hope to have power to the place on Monday, have to drop off the entry report of house condition (plenty of notes there), another trip (maybe) and so forth.  On the negative, the internet service is poor at this location.  We will have to switch to mobile broadband, which means we'll have to limit our net surfing and gaming as it is more expensive.  The house next door has the service available, but not our place.  Boo, Hiss!  We should be able to make the internet phone service work through the computer, and skype is still able to be used!  No more endless Facebook surfing for me on non work days.  We are also canceling the land phone line as the only reason we had it was for the internet connection.  So, we'll save that much at least.  Now to continue all the address and phone updates.  And did I mention it is tax season in Australia?
     The location of the house is a bit out there, it is pretty much as far as you can go and still be in catchment for Alex's school!  You can clearly hear the shots at the gun range across the highway, which doesn't bother any of us in the least!  The road noise from the motorway is also audible, but not in the back yard.  Worth it for the price AND the space!
     So, busy weeks ahead.  I'll be working until the end of term at Camp Hill with the kids, and we are taking a week to Cairns in September.  Looking forward to being in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest.  Annika is looking forward to doing a few more Girl Guide badges and Alex the snorkeling!
     Until later-pictures in the next couple of weeks-hopefully!  We have a LOT of unpacking to do!