Just did the weekly shop, and jesus fuck! At this point I'm seeing a $20-$40 per week increase, and that's with substitutions for lower priced items or just plain going without.
I feel like I'm going insane when I see an item I bought a week ago suddenly double the price.
I vote for this December as Numbat Appreciation Month. Moah numbats! Numbats everywhere! On every street corner! Roaming packs of numbats invading our parks and gardens. Enough numbats for everybody.
I'm very happy that Numbats are actually known outside WA. there was a point where there were fewer than 1,000 left. Conservation programs have been very successful though, and while I don't know current numbers, I remember the celebration when they estimated there were over 2,000 now.
Bot really does not like weekends. I really need to organise the bootcamp and new office space I'm planning to try to get Bot to shape up and act a bit more professionally. I have two assignments due this week, and then I only have one subject still going so will hopefully be able to find more time.
Ted Cat is waking me up for first breakfast so early I'm wrecked and can barely talk. 🥴😴 I've tried putting him in his own room but he meows loud all night. The latest tactic is a big meal at dinner, maybe he will sleep more.
A buffet of small invertebrates served with delicious sauces as appropriate for the species and some baguette. I am undecided about whether to choose coffee or tea, so maybe chai would be appropriate. This unexpected sunshine is doing my head in.
Tree up, time-lapse completed, front garden tree bow done. Added a blow up Christmas elf and pig to the front garden this year. Kids loved it. Multiple people commented on the walk past. Feels good man.
I'm grudgingly working through the stupid cheap manga draw book... but if I quit now I'm admitting to being weaker than a preteen weeb. I really wish I'd gone through this stage back then tbh.
When I was a kid my art was weirdly adult so it's like going backwards
Room update. Bed and mattress secured. Ended up going plan A because the bed comes with a headboard which either needs wall support or mounted to a wall (so couldn't place it against the mirror). Very less space between desk and bed and a bit of wasted space in the corner but I shall downsize the desk and get something smaller. Now to pimp my room.
I've bought the 2024 planner and made sure it was a week to view with a task list at the side. (Lost the old one and am using one with a format that doesn't work well for me.) That's what has always worked for me, hopefully that corrals some of the stuff rattling around in my brain and helps me keep on top of things again.
And a new wallet because my old one broke - my cards are currently floating around in my bag and my Medicare care is... somewhere.
My finger slipped on a portable table easel and a drawing mannikin to make free postage. 🤫 It's Xmas. I've been eyeing them off and I've found that propping the paper up helps a bit. The ebay lap desk I have is honestly more suited to using my laptop, and kind of awkward.
I like the sound of your planner. I find that getting something to work for the whole family is tough.. a series of personal digital calendars on different devices all synced is edgy and modern but just doesn't work well for some of us. The best thing seems to actually be an old-fashioned calendar with really big squares, but there's nowhere to list important weekly tasks. I'm glad you've found a solution!
Yeah, sometimes I don't know which day I'll be able to complete a task and get bogged down deciding where to put it. So it helps to just get a week-to-view with the to do list and dump them all on the side so you can easily see the jobs for the whole week and do them as able.
I have a magnetic chore chart on the fridge just for important daily tasks that repetition can blur (ie. marking off the cat's meds twice a day, tracking her toilet schedule, any daily medication or self care I need) and there is a space at the bottom and top for a couple of weekly tasks, or notes, or reminders. But it is quite a small one and for an individual.
Spent part of my morning watching video recaps of people who died caving. That Nutty, Putty or whatever that place is, the horror of that story gave me such a visceral reaction compared other awful stories. So horrible.
But of course I am stupid and will watch others.
Hit the Design Market, but didn’t buy anything and weird weather, but I’ll take it. Beyotch that rode my ass in your Audi SUV may you get the runs at Xmas. Have made it to a late lunch and will enjoy my two-wheeled cruise after.
There’s this climbing gym down south called Bayside Rocks with a cool little caving simulation area. Two or three tunnels you can try out. Barely big enough to squeeze your body through and pitch black. It’s pretty freaky to try.
I haven’t had any fully claustrophobic experiences in a long time. I think there was only one when I was a child and I noped out very quickly.
It’s weird. I don’t mind weight, contorting or manoeuvring must have an escape hatch. I don’t know. Maybe it’s calculated risk, but I could literally feel anxiety and panic just listening to it. Ugh, usually I find I have this kind of distance listening to this stuff, but tight caves… Eeek.
edit (this was supposed to be my option B, i done goofed up)
Measurements (in cms, roughly):
Room is 290x290 (118 x 118 in)
Table is 160x80 (and a bit for the chair, used a rug in place of chair in the image) (62 x 31 in)
Bed is 228x141 (88 x 55 in)
I need some help w arranging furniture in my room. I believe my room is 290cm x 290cm (and a bit for the door entrance). Room has mirror BIRs on one side and windows on the other side.
Option A would mean very little room to walk but option B is pushing one side of the bed towards the wall. Note that the bed has drawers on both sides so that also means no access to drawers on one side (i can potentially live with that). Does option B make more sense for me? Also gives me a lot more room to play with.
Edit 3: gone with option B. This is the room without the bed (arriving tomorrow). Excuse my busy table. Might shift out the IKEA Alex drawer in the future.
I'd go with option B as being more liveable - but you are going to get annoyed every time you have to climb on the bed to reach the blind cord, and changing the sheets is going to be a pain with the bed against the wall. But you'll do those much less often than you will sit at your desk, so I'd prioritise that space.
B makes way more sense on so many levels, losing bed drawer access is minor compared to how cramped it would be getting to bed in A + weird wasted corner. Just see how you'd feel with the desk being so close to the bedhead in B though, in terms of height difference and how likely you might bang your head against it (but also whether maybe you could use it as a bedside table)
Assuming the windows are on the wall to the left of the door on entry, I would give some thought to flipping the bed through 180 degrees as per revised option B so it faces away from the window. Depending on how much you like lying in bed staring out the window or at the mirror robes. Then the Alex drawer can be put next to the head end and be your bedside table but will still be accessible to the desk. It will help screen your bed from the doorway too. Moving the bed from being jammed up against a wall/window at the head/foot end could make quite a difference to usability. It'll simplify changing sheets quite a lot if you can easily access both head and foot of the bed. Even if the access is only 30 cm or so. Opens up access to the full width of the mirror robe too.
Not much room for a reading chair either way. B is a bit less cluttered, but very much a one person layout. Don’t know if I could sleep facing a mirror.
Just updated option B. It is a one person layout! Also good points on sleeping facing the mirrors, hadn't thought of that. I might just leave one side of the mirrors open so as to see less of myself, but i reckon B (or the updated B now) is less noisy
I reckon option b is the winner too. I nearly did the same except I do a lot of zoom stuff and hate fake backgrounds and hate the idea of people seeing my messy bed! For now I have poked the desk into my living room.
Ok. I spent the fiddy coupon. Money is money. We'll see about the refund.
Pet supplies budgeting ramble
Was going to get some Zylkene but the voucher only applied to food... Bought a bag each of Melbcat's new foods to use up the full amount, I may actually keep them in the fridge/freezer so they stay fresh as mould is on my mind. (I wonder if washing that cereal cliploc is ok or I should toss it. Maybe from now things should stay in original packaging to monitor expiry dates and batch numbers.)
Still bought the Zylkene as by the time babygirl comes back she'll have run out. I might have to ask for a lift to grab some in the meantime. This should have been done so much sooner... the number of capsules was noted when her stuff got packed, should have ordered then, but I was really unwell and very preoccupied.
It's possible she needs a higher dose too. The next size up is a fair bit more expensive but with a much better unit price... I still got the smaller cheaper bottle just for now due to cost, I'll talk to the cattery staff member/owner and ask what dose he would recommend and whether he thinks Zylkene is genuinely effective or a placebo.
Still waiting to see if I get the refund but can save that for the next order with her flea products. (If only coupons stacked.) Getting that too would just about comp the two unusable bags I got with a little bit over. (I cbf getting a return on the one bought from a local shop even though I have the receipt, and as it's in a storage container - ironically for freshness - the original bag is long gone.)
I'd also previously got a bunch of the Smitten wet cans because they were giving boosted Woolies points and I would be buying them anyway. I'm really happy these are tolerated and hope there are no longer term effects from buying cheap food. I'll ask cattery owner about the quality. (Weirdly buying an even number gave me a low amount of points in total... removing a single can from the cart made it bob up from 150 to 750. Wut.)
The Coles cans seeem to work too but seem slightly lower quality and may give her a tiny bit of a tummy ache? That tends to happen after meals though. If the Smitten cans are ok to become the main wet food the Coles will be the backup food, just a few emergency cans if we're running low when I'm doing the Coles shop.
So even with the voucher I've spent some money. (That always freaks me out. I may not buy some clothes and things I was going to, though I do need a new planner for 2024.)
But this puts me in a position where I'm well stocked up on cat food, the only things needed for a while other than flea stuff can be sorted in my supermarket order, and I can now be more choosy about topping it up when it's on sale or giving extra points. (If it's at a time I use Woolies, that is. If I can maintain food stock and don't need to go Woolies I can wait for $2 slots from Coles. I wish I had some sort of timetable for when things went on special or had bonuses but I don't have the brain space to track it.) Also trying the Woolies Smitten brand cat litter to see if it's the same, and will try to always wait for the specials to buy the brand one at Coles.
I'm so annoyed that there isn't a can refund machine nearby so I could go refund the cat cans without a car... eh. No matter. With my completely fucked neighbourhood it wouldn't be safe for me to walk there alone anyway.
I am kicking myself for leaving the Meals For Meows as an option after hearing about Meals For Mutts and so grateful Melbcat was smart enough not to eat it. At least I did start feeding wet food on demand instead and then buy different food in a bit but we were so lucky.
I feel like important things keep slipping by me because I'm currently juggling a lot.