Missed out

Remember that job interview I had a couple of weeks ago?

Well, turns out that I didn't get the position.  I have been pretty gutted about it, it would have been perfect - 10 minutes' walk along the river to get to work, and a great opportunity to learn more about natural health modalities.  In the end, they gave the job to someone "with experience".  Bah humbug. 

So I have joined Jamie At Home as a Consultant and will be selling his gorgeous products via parties that people host in their homes.  It's also a great opportunity for fundraising so I hope I can get people to have parties and earn commissions or products that can be raffled or auctioned off to raise money for their favourite charity.

I already have one party booked in January but really need 3 more to fulfil my contract and get more bookings.

Google shopping, how I love thee

My latest obsession is Google Shopping.  It only seems to be available in certain countries or continents, luckily for us we are in the UK then!

Using Google Shopping, I have been able to compare prices on a jacket I have been coveting for weeks now:

Isn't it looooovely?

It's available in black, khaki or palestone (cream/white) - I think the palestone is the smartest looking (yes, yes - I know white gets dirty too easily, but this isn't something I plan on wearing every day during winter!) and the beauty of it is that the hood and fake fur are easily detachable.

RRP is £170.00 which is WAY out of my price range but with Google Shlopping - shlopping?  I meant shopping (that was a genuine typo hahahaha) - I was able to compare the prices online and by sorting them from lowest to highest, I found the jacket at 1/2 price.  It was tempting to hold out a little bit longer just in case the price came down further but the VAT is set to increase from the 1st of January and at that price I think they will sell quickly.

So all being well, I should have my new jacket by New Year's Eve.  That should just about compensate for being left out of the trip away that Andrew has decided he's going on with his friends.  Now I just need to list a couple of things on eBay to thin out my wardrobe (and buy a nice pair of boots to match the jacket heheheee :D )

Stinkin' cold

I'm such a lucky girl, Andrew is so kind to share everything with me, including his cold.  It started a few days ago just as a bit of a sore throat so I gargled a few drops of tea tree oil in some water (tastes FOUL) twice a day and it seemed to be keeping the cold at bay.

Then yesterday I had a bout of sneezing which has really set my sinuses off and made me feel all stuffy.  I have felt so crappy that I couldn't even be bothered going outside for a walk to enjoy the 5 inches of snow we've had this week.  Andrew has been out taking photos but I've stayed indoors.

Here's a few pics of the snow:

River Frome

Catherine Hill (very steep!)

Cheap Street (complete with a little stream that runs down the centre)

Pretty cottage - I love how the snow just clings to the hanging branches and leaves on tree

Andrew has been bitten by the cooking bug lately and has whipped up a few wicked creations in the kitchen.  Most recently he made a lemon meringue cheesecake and some Malteser slice (his sister's recipe, but shouldn't be hard to find online!).



Other desserts he has made are Banoffee Pie (deadly!) and Toblerone Cheesecake (smear-it-all-over-my-body-deadly....  no, I didn't, but I wanted to because it was so creamy and chocolatey).  I can't find the pics for those but will put them up when I do.

Absent

Since my last post, Andrew has taken the leap and changed jobs, we've also moved to a new place which I'm not happy about as it is so small but it will do for now.  To be honest, I had no say in it, he just applied for the lease and got it without telling me.

I went back to Australia to catch up with friends and family in September/October, it made me realise how much I miss the Australian lifestyle.  I do like it over here in the UK but not sure I want to stay for much longer than another year or two.

At least I have been able to see snow again here, this is my 3rd winter in the UK and the 3rd time it has snowed, and it's only early December!  I never would have dreamt of getting the trifecta.  So fingers crossed that we will see even more over the next 3-4 months.  It is very unseasonal but very exciting.

Our first snowfall occurred in November, so Andrew went out and took some lovely pics:

Church of St Mary, Babington, Somerset

On the footpath to Babington

Dusk at Ammerdown (my pic)

My nephew Zack and I on a walk to Ammerdown Tower, snowballs at the ready

More to follow, but for now I will post a pic or two of Scooby which I promised.  I haven't seen Scooby since September before I went back to Australia, she will have grown alot by now. 

Gran, Andrew and Scoobie at the Nunney street fair.  Scoobie was very well behaved and was fascinated with all the other dogs there.

Resting on a walk up the hill to watch the sun set.  She had just chased a rabbit and I was quite worried that she wouldn't come back to me as she had completely disappeared and I would have had no chance of finding her.

You can tell what she's thinking here....  "I'm gonna catch that wascally wabbit...."

"Watch out here I coooooooooooooooome!"

Beautiful girl



In other news, I have an interview on Friday for a part time admin job in town, I am really excited and hope I get it as I can walk to work every day. I am also joining a well known party-plan company (like Tupperware but better) and having my launch party next week, fingers crossed that it is a success and I get a few people to book their own parties. My manager said that there is such a huge scope for promotion and the benefits are fantastic - including all-expenses paid trips to exotic destinations such as the Caribbean if I am a top seller!  I will post more info soon, can't give away too much!

Butterflies in my tummy

At this very moment as I type, Andrew is handing his letter of resignation to his boss.  It has been building up for a while now, he was going to do it a few months ago but we just weren't in a good position financially.  Now we are ready to move on to greener pastures, Andrew is keen to do a different job but still within the dairy industry and when I am back from Aus I hope to find full time work so I don't have to get pooed on by cows ever again!

Last week I had 8 days of Scooby minding while her owners were away on holiday.  She is just the loveliest little dog, she's about 7 months old now, possibly 8, and she is so sweet and playful and cuddly.  When she went home it made our house feel hollow and quiet, to be honest I have been feeling very sad and lonely without her.  Her owners have invited me to their house any time I want to see her and call in for a cuppa which I will definitely do shortly.  I don't have much time left to drop by as I am jetting back to Aus on September 9th.

Pics to come, can't post them now as I have to get ready and go to work.

No news

Nothing exciting happening here lately.  We're just trudging along until October, that is the month Andrew has chosen to start his new job and move house.  I've put him on notice that he will very likely be moving everything on his own as I will be back in Australia in September/October.

We have been keeping an eye on the rental property market and as I thought would happen, so many gorgeous properties have come and gone.  I could almost cry at how lovely they are.  It's even more depressing knowing that we are not in a position to buy a place of our own and probably won't be for a few more years.

Puppy Love

I'm getting some Scooby love on Wednesday!!!

Scooby will be coming to stay with me in the evening, I'll have her for a whole 24 hours and I cannot wait!

Apparently Scooby is obsessed with shadows at the moment, all she wants to do is chase shadows.  She's not interested in playing with people or fetching a ball.  Not sure what that is about but we will go for a nice long walk on Thursday up along Fontmell or Melbury Down so she gets to stretch out and burn off some energy.

It breaks my heart that we can't have our own little Scooby but as we don't know where we will be over the next few years (UK?  Australia?  Canada?) it wouldn't be fair to have a dog and put her through quarantine.  So I will just have to get as much Scoobie love as I can absorb, she is my surrogate puppy.

Springtime in Dorset

All the pics below were taken either in my front garden or within 20 metres of the driveway to our house.  After the two bitterly cold winters and bare trees that I have seen here, spring and summer are total heaven.  It is really weird though, to go to bed at 9pm and it's still bright daylight outside.  Not the afterglow of sunset, I'm talking DAYLIGHT.  And then if I'm up at 4.30am to go to a farm, it's light outside already.  I don't even have to turn lights on in the house to get dressed or see where I am going. 

Better but busy

I have been feeling alot better in the last couple of weeks, I think it has to do with the right supplements and improving my diet.

Andrew is getting fed up with his job, he is more determined than ever to give his notice in a couple of months.  He'd do it now but we're still a bit on the poor side.

I have been given a couple of new farms with possibly more on the horizon.  My little eco friendly business is going slowly, I need to focus on that more and establish a bigger customer base.

Spring is well and truly here now, actually it is Summer but the weather is still quite mild.  It's so lovely to see all the trees in full foliage for the first time and the hedges along our front path are covered in pink and white flowers.

Pics and more updates to come shortly.

Neglected

I have neglected this poor little blog, haven't I?

For good reason though.  I have been going through a period of self healing so have pretty much been wanting to keep to myself.  I'm still working through the issues so if I don't update for a while, at least you know why.

We've had some miserable cold weather again recently, even a few hard frosts that made it unpleasant to crawl out of bed at 4.30 in the morning.  But these last three days have been lovely and I have managed to mow the lawn again.  It's amazing how quickly the grass grows here, I think I'll have to cut it every week at this rate.

We are no nearer to renting a place, Andrew has had to spend money on accommodation for a course he did up north, then we had to travel up that way again for his great aunt's 80th birthday which meant a night in a motel.  Just one expense on top of another lately!

So at this stage, it looks like we won't be moving til September-ish.

Like a slug

That's how I'm feeling today.

Yesterday was the worst day, I felt so uncomfortable the whole day with a heavy period.  I should have been resting but instead I was running around like a blue ass fly, cooking and cleaning. We had about 8 friends over for home made pizzas last night, two guests were late because they decided to ride their bicycles to our place, 30 miles in the wet and it took longer than expected as they got a bit lost.  I almost convinced Andrew to postpone the pizza night to next weekend but I went through with it anyway.  I'm not glad that we still did it, I'm just glad it's over.

I am physically lethargic, mentally and emotionally battered. Angry that my body is so messed up, angry that things just haven't gone right for us. Bitter that it has gone right for others. I guess if there is anything good to extract out of the anger and bitterness, it is the motivation to pick myself up and prepare to start again.



I think I'll have a shower and go to bed early.  Not sure I can be bothered with cooking dinner tonight, Andrew will have to fend for himself.

It's not just me it's the drugs

I thought I was just upset because it would have been our son's first birthday a few days ago but I can safely say that the Norethisterone has a common side-effect of PMT.  I half wondered if that might be the case as I don't usually get PMT around the time my period is due.  Sometimes I feel crabby if I'm in the painful throes of a period but it rarely happens beforehand.

I am feeling better today, even though my period has started and I'm having a heavy day with strong cramps.  The upside to today is that I'm getting some Scooby Love.

Scooby is a bouncy 4 month old Border Collie bitch (yep, Scooby is a girl...  not that I can laugh at that, I called my cat Tina when I was a 2-3 year old...  Tina was a boy), she belongs to a Buddhist couple who live in my village.  They had to go to London today and needed someone to care for Scooby overnight.  I've already taken her for a walk along the top road and across a paddock (oops, sorry - it's a field here, not a paddock!) and she bounced around like a crazy rabbit the whole way, it was funny to watch until she started playfully snapping at my hand every time she ran back to me. 

I've just locked Scooby away in her "bed" which is a massive wire crate that gets transported from her owners' place to here or wherever they happen to take her overnight.  I think I'll have to take her for a super long walk tomorrow to wear her out a bit, she was still bouncing around after our 1/2 hour stroll this afternoon.  I had her sitting on the lounge room floor near me, then I got up and left the room for all of about a minute and when I came back, Scooby had decided that she preferred my seat on the sofa, so that was the line in the sand for me.  She loves her crate, I've draped some towels over it to make her feel safe, so she settled down very quickly and is having a nice quiet nap - I was half expecting her to kick off and start crying and carrying on but she's fine!

Andrew is due home this evening from his 4 day course in Cheshire, he is stopping on the way home to see Grandma and possibly the Daz Man aka Freaky Boy.  I think they were going to see a movie, I'm not sure.

I will have to take some pics of Scooby later and post them just to show you how cute she is.

Dickhead drivers

Allow me to pre-face this by saying that not all British drivers are idiots, most are very courteous.

Where we live in north Dorset it is very pretty, very hilly countryside with lots of narrow winding roads which are often lined with tall thick hedges (which make it impossible to see oncoming traffic when the road winds left and right).  So narrow are the roads that in some places cars can only go single file and if someone else is coming from the other direction there is usually a courtesy system where the first person to be able pull into a driveway or side street or even a puddle will do and the other driver will drive carefully past and give a quick salute to say thanks.

Not today.

I was coming back from doing some shopping in a town about 20 minutes drive away, and I decided to come home via the back road as there is less traffic.  I always drive so carefully on the back roads since a few months ago when I almost had a head-on smash with a courier van driver who thought he was the only person on the road that day (don't get me started on courier drivers either, I've had it up to my teeth with them!).

So today, a woman driving a big van saw me coming with about 30 metres to spare and we both stopped, unsure of who was giving way to who first.  She then pulled over to the side of the road as much as she could to let me pass her.  The problem was, there was kerbing on the other side of the road so as I tried to pass her my car's tyres were wedged up against the kerb on the left and my side mirror on the right was about an inch away from scraping against the side of the van.

I considered reversing back up the road (around a bend, mind you) but then I was suddenly trapped by another vehicle approaching behind me.  So I wound the window down and told this woman I couldn't pass and she would have to move back.  She and her boyfriend proceeded to have a go at me for not backing up, despite the other vehicle now stopped and waiting for them to pass him.

How can they expect me to reverse about 20 metres back when all it took was for them to reverse a whole three metres?  Twats!

Honestly, van drivers have such an attitude on the road here, I really think they believe they should have priority because they drive a larger vehicle.  No, the roads are there to share people, pull your fucking heads in.

British roads are not designed for carrying this much traffic, their "lorries" (they are not lorries, they are trucks) often take up the whole lane and then some of the opposite lane on the main road (called an A road - B roads and C roads are even narrower and in even shoddier condition than A roads!).  For the amount of traffic, the Brits are rubbish at maintaining their roads.  Australian roads are a luxury to drive on by comparison.

Rant over.

Today would have been your birthday

Today would have been our son's first birthday, but he isn't here with us, we lost him at 10.5 weeks gestation in September 2008.  His due date was the 24th of April 2009.

Whenever someone tells me they had a miscarriage and they just can't seem to get over it, I truly sympathise with them and say "it is never easy, but it does get easier".  In a sense, it does get easier.  But on days like today, it's not easy.  It is painful.

Painful because I still have flashbacks of the miscarriage.

Painful because there will be no birth story for him, no joyous announcement, no happy visitors to welcome him into the world.

Painful because we aren't able to hold a warm, squirming little boy in our arms or breathe in the sweetness of him.

Painful because I know that thousands of other women with one year olds are celebrating their babies' first birthdays.  All those exquisite little things to plan - the party theme, the cake, the guest list.

Painful because every day we are missing out on watching our son grow and develop his personality.

Painful because I have visions of him crawling, pulling himself up, taking his first steps, reaching out for me and falling on his bum, only to stand up and try again.

Painful because I will never know that little boy who grew inside me for those few precious weeks.

And then there is the pain of not knowing if I will EVER experience those things.  It's bad enough that it was all stolen away from me four times, but the boot gets laid in even deeper, the knife twists even harder, when I realise that may never happen.  The real kicker is when it happens so easily for other people, especially if they hadn't planned it or they already abuse the children they have.

I think of our little boy every day, without fail.  There is a part of me that will never fully heal, I feel like my life is incomplete without him.

Slow down!!!

Bloody hell, where is all the time going?  It seems like only two days since I updated here, can someone please stop the clocks for just a while?

I've got another busy week, one of the milk recorders is very sick at the moment so farms are being shuffled around and a few have been thrown my way.  So what started out as a quiet week with two farms has expanded to five.  Ah well, at least it means more money in the bank.

I have had some big orders for my Wikaniko products, and one customer has given me a repeat order for a friend of hers in Spain!  I didn't tell her that there is already a distributor in Spain (the owner of the company!!), but I don't think it would have made a difference as she is going to take the products with her when she flies over for a holiday.

Andrew has gone away for tonight, he's gone to Cornwall to check out a cattle sale (not that he can buy anything, he's just going for a stickybeak).

We have bought me a wee little car, it's a Vauxhall Corsa (for the Aussies, it's a re-badged Holden Barina), it's pale metallic green and has a sunroof.  It's about 10yrs old and has less than 50,000 miles on the clock, manual transmission, and I think I'll get around 450-500 miles from a tank of unleaded which is good enough for now.  We probably want the car to last a couple of years (hopefully less if I can save enough money to upgrade).

I suppose you want to see a pic of the car now that I've told you about it.  I guess I can arrange that a bit later today or tomorrow.

Flat out like a lizard drinking

Andrew has been plodding along with his job on the farm, he can't wait to give his month's notice so he can get started in his new job as a sales rep for a sire company. 

I finished my training for my Embrace Eco business today, and I have managed to collect over 200 pounds worth of orders in my first couple of weeks, just from showing the catalogues to a few people in the village.  Hopefully today or tomorrow the orders will arrive.  I am expecting some more catalogues and stationery, and once I have those I can start door knocking and building up a customer base.

For the last week or so I have had trouble winding down and going to sleep at night because my mind is constantly on Embrace Eco, I haven't stopped taking notes and brainstorming.  One of my "routes to market" is holding a market stall and this is probably the most exciting opportunity.  I need to buy some equipment and stock up on some products to merchandise, so this isn't something I can rush into, it requires alot of planning and more importantly, money which I don't quite have at the moment!

I went for a lovely walk a few days ago, we don't get clear sunny days very often so when we do I try to get outdoors and get some exercise. 

Feels like weeks

I had one of those oh shit! moments just now, I honestly couldn't remember when I had last updated this blog!  Turns out it has only been 5 days or so, but it feels so much longer.

It probably feels that way because I have been absolutely flat out busy, I had 5 farms to visit in 4 days this week for milk sampling, two of those had quite large herds so it took about 3 hours to sample each of them.  I was shattered when I got home last night, but good at the same time.  I got horribly lost (well, I thought I was!) trying to find one farm the day before I was due to work there, someone else was doing the sampling that afternoon and she wanted me to come in and see what the procedure was for that parlour (EVERY milking parlour I have ever been into has it's own unique system for collecting samples - so weird!).  Anyway I drove for almost an hour before I finally came home as mad as hell, I was so worked up from trying to find this freaking farm.  The next morning when I finally found it, I discovered that I had driven almost right past the road.  Unbelievable.  I gave up looking in the end because it was getting dark and I was scared of getting lost!

The other thing that has kept me occupied this week is my online training for my new role as distributor for Wikaniko.  There is so much to learn and I just love their products so I have been studying my backside off.

As a self employed distributor, I get to have my own website www.embrace-eco.co.uk, this is my very own domain name which "points" to my Wikaniko shop where customers can register and buy products, and if they are interested in becoming distributors there is a link they can follow, fill out a form and it will be sent to me.  If they join, I get a small percentage of their sales as my reward!  The bigger the team I build, the more profit I make.

I also have a blog www.embrace-eco.blogspot.com which my customers will be able to follow for product reviews, information on how to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, and as the customer base grows I will be adding competitions for them to win free products and gift vouchers.

For all of this to work I have to treat it as my own business, I can set my own hours and days to work too which means Andrew & I will be able to have the same time off together.

Ch-ch-ch-ch changes

I have had to delete some of my latest blog entries due to privacy issues.

The blog address has changed slightly too and I am making this blog available by invitation only, as I had someone contact me on a forum today asking if I had "that Keeping up with the Joneses blog".  This person was using google blog search and found my blog by using a key word.  Creepy.

I didn't realize my blog was so open to everyone, I was sure I had the security settings at the highest level.  Apparently not.

Sunshine!

We've had some lovely weather in the past week after having alot of rain.

Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day, Daz aka Freaky Boy came over for a visit and we went into Shaftesbury for lunch at the Salt Cellar Cafe which overlooks Gold Hill.  We went for a stroll down Gold Hill afterward, and then along the next street which is lined with some of the most quaint cottages in Dorset.  It's no wonder Dorset is so expensive to live in!

Today is shaping up to be the same, only not as cold, so I'm off to do some shopping, pop into the Vets' for Andrew, and maybe start preparing the garden for some vegetable crops.  We weren't going to plant anything because we were possibly leaving in a month's time, but after some contemplation yesterday and this morning we have decided to hold off on renting and changing jobs so we can build up some savings.

Grocery shopping awaits!

Whatley (is now Not-ley)

http://www.swallows.co.uk/Property-To-Rent-Whatley-Frome-PI-79.htm


The website won't allow me to copy photos and post them here, so you will have to look at the link.


Isn't it gorgeous?  It's only one bedroom which I believe is upstairs but the downstairs area looks open and spacious, so that would be great for guests, either on the sofa bed or the king size Aerobed.  My only issue is, we need storage space for "stuff", and this place doesn't appear to have that.


It's on the shortlist for viewing anyway, so once we've been to have a look around we'll have a better idea.


GONE.

This rental property hunting is already starting to piss me off, and we haven't even seen one house yet.

It seems that any property with some character or quirkiness is snapped up.  I have phoned three agents and had at least six properties crossed off my list in the space of two hours.

I hate this already!