Thursday, July 28, 2011

Argh!

I really wanted to write a long post tonight talking about how excited I am to be going to the Blogopolis on Saturday and what I hope to get out of it and how I spent hours and hours trying to find the right handbag that will fit my itty bitty baby laptop and rather large camera in it and still leave my hands free to to hand out my snazzy business cards and about how much I am shitting myself about being in a room where I know NO-ONE!  Are you going?  I would love to meet you!  I want to meet everyone!  I am so excited!  And scared.

But my brain thinks my body it is coming down with the flu.  So I went to the chemist and purchased all this...



... and I'm putting myself to bed.  Please send positive vibes my way.  I have work tomorrow from 2pm-10pm, then all day Saturday at Blogopolis and then work on Sunday from 930am-7pm.

I just simply cannot be sick this weekend.  No way.  No how.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The End Of The Saga?

To get yourself up to date with this, see A Letter To Reading Cinemas

I left it a few days and then I emailed them again.  Here is part of the letter I received back from Reading Cinemas...


Hi Jo,

Sorry about the delay in getting back to yourself re you last visit to the cinemas here in Sunbury, as mentioned on the phone I sincerely apologise for the fact that your cinema experience fell well short of meeting a satisfactory  standard and would be pleased if you would accept 4 complimentary tickets to attend the cinemas here at your leisure.

On two of the complimentary passes if it is O.K with yourself I would appreciate it if you went to see a 3D movie, as 3D movies are new to Sunbury and the movie you saw was a 3D session of harry Potter I would like further feedback on the glasses I am concerned as they are put through a dishwasher after being used that maybe a film of detergent isn’t being rinsed properly and I would appreciate your honest feedback as the glasses obviously shouldn’t be greasy or scratched.


Once again I apologise for the substandard experience  at the cinemas and appreciate your feedback, Thanks for your support of the cinemas in Sunbury and please feel free to contact me in relation to any concerns or feedback you may have.

Thanks,

Cinema Complex Manager




{www.weheartit.com}

So, I have four tickets to use.  I am very hopeful that my experience next time will be great, but I guess there's only one way to find out.

Before I sent the initial letter I ummmed and ahhhed for a while, wondering if I should bother speaking up.  In the end I decided I had to.  I believe that we should NOT stand for bad customer service.  There is only one way to improve things, and that is to complain about it to the right people.

Thursday, July 21, 2011

My Sister

I have the best sister in the world.  I know a lot of people think they have the best sister in the world, but they're wrong.  Here are but some of the reasons why my sister is better than yours.

*She is older than me.  Old enough that when I was born it was like she had a real doll to play with, and play with me she did.  She looked after me a lot when I was little.

*She saved her pocket money and used it to buy me Strawberry Freddo Frogs.


*When she moved out of home, even though things were really strained with our parents, she made the effort to come and get me and take me to her house for weekends. 

*She let me wear a pretty dress and be a junior bridesmaid at her wedding.

*She didn't get too mad when I spilt an entire can of lemonade on my pretty dress just before we had the wedding photos taken.

*She can do amazing things with hair.

*She used to let me cook things in her kitchen.

*She has the best stocked baking kitchen.  With all the right sorts of sugar and lots of different sized baking trays and things.

*She cooks me Meatloaf.  And sometimes meringues.

*She has entrusted me with the care of her children.  More times than I can count.

*She introduced me to Lolly Gobble Bliss Bombs


Accept no imitations!

*Even though she didn't like him nobody liked him, she supported the fact that I chose to live with a fucktard for almost four years.

*She supported me again when I chose to leave said fucktard.

*She always seems to know when I need reassurance about things.

*She helped me more than words can say when PTSD engulfed my life the first time and she is doing the same this time around.

*She is the first person I call when things go bad, and the very first person I call when things are great.

*She is beautiful. Despite the fact that she lets me cut her fringe with kitchen scissors.

*She loves me unconditionally.

*She gave Chyken permission to ask me to marry him.

*She pretended to act surprised when I told her I was engaged to Chyken.

*She helped me put my wedding dress on, and told me I looked beautiful.

*She proudly stood beside me as I took my wedding vows.

*She kept me together when my world was falling apart when my Dad died.

*She held my hand and stopped me having to walk out of the church on my own behind his coffin.

*She let me move into her house when there really wasn't room.

*She treats Chyken like he has always been part of our family.

*She is an amazing mother.

*She makes me laugh.

*She listens to me.

*She is hopeless at trivia, but comes along to trivia nights regardless.

*She is the bee's knee's, the ant's pant's and the cat's pajamas.

*She has no idea how wonderful she really is.

*She is my best friend.

Me & My Sister
 Today is her birthday. 

Happy Birthday to the best sister in the world!   I hope you have an amazing day. 

Thank you for everything you do for me. 

I love you.

Jo xxx

Monday, July 18, 2011

An Update... Kinda....

So, I promised to let you know what the response was to my letter to Reading Cinemas.  I have had half a response. 

They called me the day I sent the email, and it was the same guy that was so rude initially!  He was eating some serious humble pie though.  He apologised profusely for everything. 

He tried to tell me that they had a very busy day (Hello!  Harry Potter was opening, of COURSE it was going to be busy, did you think to roster extra staff on??) and that normally things weren't like that.  I accepted his apology, because I think he was somewhat sincere.

He also said that he would be in touch with me to organise some free tickets so we could go back and hopefully have a good experience.  So far I am still waiting. 






I'm a pretty impatient person.  How long do you think I should wait?

Sunday, July 17, 2011

The Block

We found ourselves in Richmond late yesterday, and we couldn't resist a drive by of The Block houses.  Obviously we couldn't see inside them, but the outsides look fantastic!  If you need a reminder of how they looked to start with, try this link.



House number 1, Jenna and Josh's house.  It used to have a blue door.




House 2, Polly and Waz's house.  This door used to be yellow.



House 3, Katrina and Amie's.  Previously a green door.




And lastly, Tania and Rod's house.  What once was red, now is brown.


I love them all, but I think my favourite is number 1, Jenna and Josh's.  I love the timber shutters they have going on.  I almost can't wait to find out who wins!!!!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

A Letter To Reading Cinemas

Below is a copy of the letter I sent to Reading Cinemas after going there to see Harry Potter last night.


To whom it may concern,

I attended a movie last night at the Sunbury cinemas.  Before the movie I used the ladies bathroom.  It was in a shocking state.  (No paper in most cubicles and in one there was blood on the walls and floor) I advised the guy who was checking tickets, and he gave me a dirty look and muttered something along the lines of 'Yeah, well what do you want me to do about it?'.

The movie we saw was 3D, and the glasses I was given were in a shocking state, all greasy and smudgy and scratched.  As I handed them back I told the same guy, and he again gave me a filthy look and said 'Well, that's interesting, because they are only a week old'.  They may have been a week old, but they were dirty and not acceptable when I paid $19.50 (Plus booking fee) to see the movie.

Also, I was in your cinema a few weeks ago on a Tuesday evening.  It was grossly understaffed, with one person selling tickets and one person selling food.  We arrived 20 minutes before the advertised start time of our movie, and by the time we got a ticket and popcorn and got into the cinema we had missed the start of the movie.

I am very disappointed, these incidents have put a very dark stain on what should have been two enjoyable nights out in my local area.  Am I expected to go further afield to get basic service?  I want to support local business, but you are making it very difficult for me to do so.

I look forward to your response.

Regards,

Jo





I'll let you know if and when I hear back from them.






****EDIT**** They contacted me this afternoon.  Check back tomorrow to see what they said...

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Great Temptation

We buy little treat things for the cats.  The ones we buy are called 'Temptations' and our cats LOVE them.  We call it cat heroin.  We only have to slightly shake the bag and they come from wherever they are in the Castle in about 10 seconds.

They don't get some every day, but usually a couple of times a week.  They had some last night and I left the bag on the coffee table, which is where we always leave it.

I was sitting on the couch catching up on my blog reading this afternoon when I heard strange noises coming from the hallway, so I went to investigate.

This is what I found...

What?  Me?

Little bitch had got the packet and clawed at it until it opened up.  She was having herself a merry old time stuffing her face!

The Evidence

I have now put them on the top of the fridge.  Let's see if she can get them from up there!!!

Friday, July 8, 2011

Five Question Friday




Sit yourself down, grab a cuppa and click on the link to find answers from around the world. They should be posted later on today. In the meantime, here are mine...


1. Do you think cursive writing is overrated? (Schools in Indiana have now voted to take teaching cursive writing out of their curriculum.)
No, I think cursive writing is beautiful.  It would be very sad if we were to lose it completely.



2. Do you still use a pocket calendar or notepad or do you keep your info on your smart phone?
I would die without my iPhone.  Well, maybe not, but I would be very sad.  I rarely write things down at all.  If there is something I need to remember I usually email it to myself.


3. What 3 things would you save if your house was burning down? (family & pets are already safe)
Photos, computer hard drives and some irreplaceable things that we have in frames on the walls.



4. Country Mouse or City Mouse, err Person?
Most completely a Country Mouse.  Although I did love my time living in the city, the country is where I have always belonged and I am so glad to be back there.  Having said that, I love being as close to Melbourne as we live now.  The best of both worlds!


5. If you could pick ANY reality show to go on, which would you pick?
Big Brother.  I loved that show.  I especially loved the whole 'rat in a cage' aspect of it, how people cope when they have no control.  When rules aren't their own.  When they can't just leave.  I also loved when they were so obviously having a great time.  I wouldn't want to go on it for fame, or even for the money, but truly for the experience, both good and bad.


Here's hoping you have a wonderful weekend.  I'm having a Tupperware party on Sunday, let me know if you would like to order anything!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Happies Vs Sads

It is school holidays.  I still have to go to work, but Chyken is a teacher, so he gets to laze about.  We have had some of our nieces and a nephew to visit.  Teenage ones.  It's been fun, they're good kids. Mostly.

We have especially enjoyed freaking them out with how strange we are.  I'm pretty sure they think we are putting it on, that we couldn't actually be as mental as we make out to be.  I have news for them though.  We ARE that mental.

In the last few months we have accidentally implemented something new in the Castle.  Happies and Sads.  Things are measured by them.  The maximum happies a person can have in a day is seventeen.  Chyken said so.  I asked him why seventeen is the maximum and he replied 'For the same reasons that the sky is blue and gravity is'. 


Seventeen happies is a very rare event.  For me, it would be something along the lines of John Farnham arriving at the Castle and singing three songs of my choosing.  I'm not sure what it would be for Chyken, but it would probably involve alpacas.  And perhaps Ikea and/or Costco.

Seventeen sads is also a very rare event.  We don't like to think about what such an event would entail.






Things throughout the day can contribute to your overall happie level.  A surprise chocolate bar would be a couple of happies.  Finding $10 in your wallet when you thought there was only $2 would be three happies.  Coming home and finding the vacuuming done would be seven at least.  Breaking the heel on your shoe would be eight sads, unless you happened to have a spare pair, which would be five happies, thus reducing the sads of the broken heel to three.  Make sense?  Don't worry, it is not really supposed to.

What stupid fun things do you do in the privacy of your own life that others would probably think are weird?

And most importantly, how many happies are you today?

Monday, July 4, 2011

Like A Freight Train



Chyken snores.  Remarkably well.  So well, in fact, that I wear ear plugs.  Every night.  They don't completely take away the noise, but they kinda take the top notes off so it is bearable, ya know?  Over the last couple of days it has become apparent he is coming down with the flu.  Or perhaps it is just a sore throat.  Either way it isn't nice.  The direct by-product of this is that the snoring is HORRIBLE.  Where usually it sounds like a freight train, at the moment it sounds like six road trains roaring through our bedroom at any given moment.

To make matters worse, he keeps half waking himself up and kicking me, so if I wasn't already awake from the snoring, he makes sure I wake up.  Fun times.  Especially when he is on holidays but I still have to get up and go to work each morning.

Just as well I love him, isn't it?




In the interest of full disclosure, I should point out that I am quite good at snoring myself.  But Chyken manages to sleep next to me every night though, so it can't be that bad.  Or perhaps he is either extra tolerant or maybe a bit deaf?

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Over The Mount

We went to visit Chyken Snr yesterday.  Mainly to get some wood so Chyken can build some garden beds while he is on holidays for the next two weeks, but also to have lunch. 

My in-laws only live about 15 minutes from The Castle, but there is a rather large mountain between us, we can either go over it or around it to get there.  Before we set off, Chyken always asks me if I want to go 'Through the valley' or 'Over the Mount'.  Yesterday we ended up going through the valley to get there and over the mount to get home.

Once again I wished I had the camera with me, I really need to stop relying on the iPhone.  Most of these were just taken out the window as we drove along.


This is a tree house!  How cool is it???



These people also had the 'over the mount' idea, but were going at a much slower pace than we were.


We really do live in a beautiful part of the world.


We are so lucky!

What have you been up to this weekend?

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Band Back Together




Today I have a post published on one of my favourite websites,  Band Back Together.  It's a story you may have already heard, but I am still very, very, very proud to be with The Band.



*image from weheartit

Friday, July 1, 2011

Five Question Friday




It's Friday!  Yay!  We have two more performances of the show to go and then I get my life back.  In the meantime, here are this week's questions. 


1. If you had the opportunity to bungee jump, would you?
I think so.  Although the idea freaks me out.  I would do the one where you are sitting up though, because the thought of hanging by my feet and all the blood rushing to my head makes me feel sick.

2. Would you rather go to the movie theater or to the drive-in?
The drive-in.  I love the drive in!  I loved it even more when I used to smoke.  Now I just like the old nostalgic feel of the place.  I used to live just near one and could see one of the screens from my driveway.  We don't go there often enough anymore.

3. Do you have your groceries delivered?
Nope.  Although I have thought about it.  I think it is a brilliant idea, especially for people with kids.

4. Eyebrows: Do you wax, thread, pluck, or stay au naturel?
I get them waxed, but I have recently heard about threading and I would really like to give it a go!

5. Would the people you went to high school with be surprised by your life today?
Great question!  I am still friends with most of my high school friends.  But the ones I haven't seen in a while? I don't think they'd be surprised.  However, I have done my fair share of facebook stalking and there are several people who seem to have turned out differently than what I imagined they would.








Click on the button to see the everyone else's answers!


I hope you have an amazing weekend, however you choose to spend it.
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