$200 shopping spree on Etsy

Blog this challenge 22

You've got $200 USD credit at Etsy. What do you buy? Who for? Why do you love it?'

About time I got back to blogging - and this is my sort of challenge (notice a pattern here?).

Ok, so USD$200 to spend on Etsy - I am going to be selfish and spend the whole lot on myself. I have had a rough few weeks dealing with Houston's death and at the moment I am battling a virus. I need something to cheer myself up!

I have decided on two items.

The first one is something that I have been coveting for a while now. It is this gorgeous miniature Victorian style skeleton key pendant necklace by Michelle Chang Jewelry. In sterling silver with 4 diamonds on a sterling silver chain.

I don't think any explanation of why I want it is needed - it is beautiful!

$94 + $12.30 shipping = $106.30

Next is this moop's The Tote in Gunmetal Grey that would be perfect for my MacBook Pro! I need something to take to my courses and on study dates. I'm also participating in NaNoWriMo again this year and want to try and get out of the house and write - this is just what I need!

$89 + $29 shipping = $118

Total = $224.30 (I'd chip in the extra $4.30!)

Houston

I'm sure you can all forgive my absence.

It's been a hard couple of weeks, and last Wednesday we had to say goodbye to our baby Houston.

We will miss him forever.

He had such a big personality, a big presence in our house. It's hard to go about our daily life now without him here bossing us around and making us smile and laugh and sing.

Thankfully we have a lot of memories...

• I remember the time he fought Chris (and won) for a big piece of pork crackling!
• He'd always scrounge around on the kitchen floor while we cooked and often he'd find some onion skin and it'd stick to his face like a little moustache. Chris and I would joke that it was a disguise and we'd say "Houston? Who is Houston? I am Cat Incognito!" (reference to The Simpsons)
• He loved trying to attack the dog behind us through the fence - he was fearless!
• When I first got him, I was told he may be deaf and blind (he was the runt of the litter). I was also told he was a girl! I named him Rian. Well, he turned out to have excellent vision and hearing (all a ploy to be adopted we think!) - and he had a very big set of balls (until I had them removed!) He was renamed Houston a few days later!
• He was always trying to escape out the front, and when we took him out there unleashed he'd occasionally try and run away. But once he escaped through a window and we found him crying at the front door to get back in!
• I remember fondly the little kisses he'd give us every now and again (and never when we wanted them!)
• The time he caught a mouse and I nearly died and screamed the house down til Chris came home from work to rescue the poor thing (me)!
• When we gave him raw meat he'd meow and bring it in to the lounge room as if to say "look what I caught!!!

There are so many more (I must write them down when I remember them!) good times (and a few bad - after all, he did send me to the hospital emergency room! That incident needs a post of it's own!)

For more information on Houston's journey from diagnosis, you can read it on Houston The Cat blog.

Costume exhibit

On Thursday I went into the city to see the costume exhibit from The Young Victoria movie which was on at, quite aptly, the Queen Victoria Building.

The movie is a period drama set during the 1820s and 30s. It is based on the true life of the late Monarch and it is set from the time leading up to the death of her predecessor King William IV and continuing through the early years of her marriage to Prince Albert.

If I were ruler of the world...

Blog This challenge 15

If you were the ruler of the world - what would you change about the world if you had the power to do anything...?

Not sure if this is going to be a happy challenge - it certainly has me thinking of all the things that are wrong with the world.

However it would be thrilling if these changes could be implemented!

First thing I would change is to make sure that homosexuals have equal access to marriage and adoption.

Second thing I would do is to make sure everyone in the world has access to free health care. After having Houston diagnosed with cancer, and having to make a decision for his treatment based on cost, I have no idea how people manage to make those decisions for their human loved ones.

Third action would be to provide 12 months paid maternity leave for every working woman.

Fourth change I'd make is to ensure that the Greenhouse emissions targets were being met. I'd be promoting and rewarding those (countries and companies) who used environmentally friendly technologies, products and forms of power.

Fifth, and final, thing I'd change would be to allow easy adoption access across countries. It saddens me beyond belief that children are being left in orphanages without proper care/attention while families desperately want a child to love and raise but have bureaucratic and monetary issues standing in their way!

They're not perfect - but they are issues that are close to my heart, today!

Houston is sick

My poor baby Houston has been diagnosed with cancer.

I have started a blog to document his treatment http://houstonthecat.blogspot.com/

32by32 update

Another update on my list of 32 things I wanted to do before my 32nd birthday. There is only two months to go!

I'll be happy if I complete half of them - I think some of the more important ones have been accomplished - I got my drivers licence; I have started volunteering; I've paid off my credit card; I've started being more tolerant of my family and thinking more and talking less (it's not all encompassing yet, but I am working on it!).

1. Lose weight - I've lost some!!!
2. Start a healthier existence - more physical activity and eat healthier food
3. Create a fabulous, stylish wardrobe
4. Write a children's book
5. Move to Newcastle
6. Get a new job
7. Go to a Rugby League match again
8. Start going to the movies at least once a month
9. Finish all of my completed projects - paint the bedside tables, restore the hallway dresser, make an ottoman...
10. See Alex Lloyd in concert again
11. Start volunteering
12. Go overseas again - thinking Japan - booked for March
13. Get my P's before my Learners expire again
14. Have a SingStar party
15. Try and be more tolerant of family
16. Start playing tennis again
17. Go to Dubbo zoo
18. Start going to Sunday mass each week
19. Buy a Macbook
20. Get a tattoo
21. Get rid of my credit card (only pay cash in stores and paypal online)
22. See more of Sydney while we still live here
23. Finish 75% of my counselling course
24. Enrol in a psychology degree - complete two subjects
25. Go to Melbourne - cancelled due to Houston's illness
26. Start my etsy shop
27. Think more, talk less
28. Stop being so critical of trivial matters
29. Declutter (ruthlessly) - started
30. Dry clean my wedding dress
31. Prepare for IVF if necessary
32. Fall pregnant

(As per usual the red indicates completed)

P's and a new car!

Every time the expiry of my Learner's Licence was coming up I'd swear that this time I was going to get my Probationary licence (P's).
The last time I renewed them Chris bought me a car to learn on - an old automatic 1983 Volvo 240 GLE. Over the years (three I think?) I'd go through periods where I'd drive it all the time and then periods where it would sit there undriven for six months (it really is an indestructible car!).
So, this time, I had til August 14 to get ready for the test - I had already done more than the 50 required hours.
I went to Newcastle and had some lessons with the local NRMA instructor and booked my test for the very day my licence expired. I was pretty nervous but managed to stay calm under the pressure and got my P's first go!
Finally I feel like a real adult - and the Independence and freedom it has given me in JUST one week is phenomenal!

Exactly a week later our new Volkswagen Golf arrived!
We had ordered it back in May (it had to be built and sent over from Germany!) and we had only sold our 2005 VW Golf the week we were in Tasmania. We were only upgrading our Golf because I will only drive automatic. We loved the old Golf - hence the reason why we got another one!

We've had it a week now and it is just fantastic! Although we were quite happy to 'just get another Golf' - there have been so many great improvements that it has certainly made it worthwhile (so far!)

And the best part? The Park Assist!!! It can do a reverse park on it's own - you control the accelerator and brake and it finds a space big enough and steers the car into it! There are also front and rear sensors which help a novice driver like myself!