Fat bottomed girls; they make the rockin' world go round.

"I have a skinny woman inside of me trying to get out, but I manage to keep her quiet with cookies........"

Have a good weekend everyone !!

Love, Muggle ;0)

Here I go again........

Today, for The Interview,........

I had nice, neat, trimmed-on-Sunday hair, that had been dyed "Dark Praline Brown" on Saturday. It's one of L'Oreal's new velvet browns, you know. Perfect grey coverage. Rich, even, long-lasting colour. Non-drip (Try telling my Dark-Praline Brown-spotted concrete that). With Ceramide-Protein conditioner. At least that's what the box says. My hair just a dark, reddish brown. colour. Very similar to many other dark, reddish-browns that I have dyed it before........ I used to colour my hair. Now I just try my darndest to make it look natural....


I had attractive, but not over-done make-up. Foundation, Mascara, Lippy...as usual.


My handbag and shoes matched. This is very, very, very unusual. Black, of course. And I carried my portfolio in GG's black (of course) laptop satchel.


Very professional.


Very powerful. Of course.


I wore a very schmick power suit. Black, of course. With a crisp white shirt with thin blue and black stripes. Smart indeed. So did just about everybody else that I saw. Varying shades of the shirt, but generally understated. A few didn't really look as if they had made much of an effort, but maybe they're new to the game. Or they are so confident of their own abilities that they didn't need the props and facade ... And some young girls whose mothers need to give them a lesson in interview preparation....


I was early... and thrust into the spotlight early...... It was lucky that I had been able to spend time at Rose Cottage in Lisa's calming company. I was only mildly petrified....... with a heart that was pumping like a steam train slogging it's way across the Nullabor Plain.


The questions were asked and answered appropriately, usually at some length. Too long-winded, maybe??? I don't know. Others that arrived after me came out before me. I was familiar with one of the three panel members. She interviewed me last time I applied for a traineeship. And I was unsuccessful. Was I better or worse this time???? They were nice folk, Karen, Penny and Bill. What a job they've got to do! We must have all started to look alike in our black....... Droning on about the same things.....


Hmmmmmm.........................


I was not black. I joked with the panel about the "Black interviewee uniform". I was sunny, enthusiatic, co-operative and informative. And professional. And very nurse-like. I am a great pretender.....................


These are the hospitals who will take on a trainee enrolled nurse come September 24;
Armidale, Cessnock, Gloucester, Manning Valley, Inverell, Moree, Boggabri, Tamworth, Wingham, Kurri Kurri (so nice they named it twice), Moree, Maitland, John Hunter, The Royal Newcastle Centre. No Muswellbrook, Scone, Singleton, Belmont.



I had to make a choice of where I would like to train if I was a successful applicant. I told the panel I would "go anywhere, really. It's all do-able". But I had to nominate two places. My 1st choice was John Hunter, because it had 2 places available. My second choice was The Royal Newcastle Centre. I told the panel that these were my choices as my parent's home at Belmont would provide me with the support base that my family and I needed if I were to work away from home. But I will work wherever they send me. These traineeships are like winning lotto. 16 or so positions to be filled. I'm not sure how many lucky interviewees there were today. 2 separate panels running over a number of days, with a minimum of about 15 candidates per session. That's a lot of people competeing for a very few jobs........


I told the panel I would not apply again if I was not successful on this occassion. Not until 2009. Because Scorpaboy sits his HSC next year, and I need to be around for this. If I get lucky this time, then I'll be living back home just after his HSC trial exams. And that will be ok. But I won't live away when my boy might really need me.


GG thinks it would be good. We could set up a flat together, and she could phone me late at night/early morning when she is in her cups to drive her places. Or not. Her mother will be a hard-working nurse trainee on a shiftwork roster........... It would be good to live together, though....................


So . It it done. I will know nothing for a few weeks. Interviews are being held in various sites between 25/6 and 13/7. Referee reports will be collected between 16/7 and 10/8. Luckily, my manager is on leave, and the acting manager actually likes me and thinks I will be a good nurse. She offerred to act as a referree for me, so I supplied her name instead, today. So if I get that far, all will be well. My other referree is my old boss from Muswellbrook Community Health, and she will be glowing in her praise. She wants me to work for her when I'm qualified.


Offers of employment will be sent out between August 13 and 17..............................


I think I shall be very busy over the next few weeks.


Taking small breaths.


Because I will be holding my breath.... a little......


Thank you for all your kind thoughts.



And finally, a bird up-date for Lisa.
Corn is happily chatting with her new friends. The blokes are happy that there is a cool new chick on the block.
Mr Quail, formerly bonk-murderer, successfully made the transition to his new home, only attempting Hari-Kari twice. This afternoon, he was running his little orange legs off.


And now I'm going to hug my GG because she's here, and I can.

See you later.

And Lisa, thank you again for your help today.


xoxoxoxoxoxox


________________________________________

Oh you'd better say a prayer for the pretender...

Hooray for Lisa!!!!!!!


It hasn't rained all day..... she's magic, you know.


It's very windy, extremely crisp and chilly up here in Walnut Grove.


But dry. Thank you again, Lisa.


And if you have an excess of goodwill, please send some my way on Tuesday. You see, I have an interview for an Enrolled Nurse Traineeship. I hate interviews with a passion. Especially panel interviews, and that's what this one will be. But I am a Great Pretender (see, Lisa; I know some Jackson too). This is my second attempt at securing a traineeship. Last time, in February, I was listed as successful and suitable, but missed out on one of the two available places. I was next cab off the rank if someone dropped out. I don't know if they thought I was very funny when I asked who were the successful candidates so I could kill one of them.........


The good and bad part of this traineeship is that I will have to spend two 8 week blocks studying at Newcastle TAFE. Bad that I am away from Beloved and the boys (I hate to think what I will come home to, and how sketchy their diet will be. And how much I will miss them.....), and good that I get Cyndy-time at a place where I love to be. And by that I mean Newcastle. With my Gorgeous Girl. And my mum... So think positive thoughts for me please. You never know; I may get time to come for coffee with all you Newcastle WITs and Marys.

The interview will be Tuesday morning, at Waratah. If I'm successful, I may even be working in the Newcastle area. But that's a whole different ball of wool..............


GG has one more exam tomorrow, and has finished her first semester at uni...... It all happens so fast. She is doing well. Good girl, Elly.


What else???????


Nothing. I'm going to shower, then bed. It'll be lovely and warm. Beloved is a fabulous bed warmer. It's one of his talents. And he always goes to bed before me...... toasty warm.... mmmm ... And if I'm really lucky, the cats will move over and let me snuggle up. I never thought we'd have cats on our bed. It just happened. And Beloved isn't a cat person. But they're warm, too. Trouble is, Moe purrs way too loud.......................


Rambling.....


It's 11.45pm, and for me it's an early night.


Ta Ta.

By the way!!!!! Hang on; we could be in for a bumpy ride!


XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Congratulations. And Celebrations.........

Attention!!!

Attenzionie!!!

Ok, to keep up with my tradition of being a little left of centre, today we're celebrating my

102nd Blog post!!!!


Ta Da!!!!!!!


Ok. I'll admit it.
I forgot to note that I had actually posted 100 times......
SO HERE COMES THE RIVETTING BLOG POST, AUSPICIOUSLY NUMBERED 102.....



It's Monday, and tonight it started raining again.


A lot.

Muchos precipitationos


A special request:

Do you think you could temporarily re-arrange your name, please Raihn?
To something that might help us out a bit, such as "No-More-Rain-For-A-While" ?
Or exert some of your very profound influence? I distinctly remember you arranging some appropriate weather for me last year........


We really can't take too much more rain here at the moment.


Beloved managed to get bogged in the yard, yet again, on Saturday night, and it hadn't rained for a couple of days.... more of my lovely old recycled-chimney-bricks disappeared into the boggy depths...never to return.

I'm not game to park in the yard any more.


A old local from up the road told me that he remembers that there used to be a spring running underneath our yard. And I think that he's right.

Vegeboy is back from his 4 day trip to the Snowy Mountains, in one piece, and happy. Tired, but happy. And he skiied!!!

The Big Boys went to Arcadia for a mototrials event on Sunday. Scorpaboy won A-Grade. We shan't mention that he was the only entrant to compete in A-Grade. He rode VERY well. And arrived home very muddy....



And I had fun placing dirty, damp clothes in the washing machine, then placing damper clothes into the clothes drier. An abundance of them actually.
Then I re-painted Vegeboy's ceiling that was only painted a year ago, thanks to a "Horrible Science make-your-own-brain" that the boys managed to stick to the ceiling, three times, then forgot to tell me that it was stuck there. The stain just wouldn't clean off, so I have had to paint it all over again. That's my idea of "painting", Anchell.
And then I took my time peeling thirty-five layers of old enamel paint off Vegeboy's door with a heat gun. Those 4-panel doors, which look so cute, are a pain to strip paint from.....Oh well.. It's almost half done....on the front.......

I've probably got lead poisoning now....

And I'm a bit of a Trivia geek. I attended the local Combined Churches Trivia night on Saturday night. I didn't even get struck by a thunderbolt.... and I am abashed to say that I was able to answer a trivia question that no-one else in the room was able to.


A One-hit Wonder Question.

Who sang the song; "Push the Daisy"?

Answer; "WEEN"

No-one else knew.

What does that say about me and my mind?

Hmm....


I am, indeed, strange.........

With a head full of shite... Totally useless shite.... I can even remember the film clip.....................

This is a nice picture of them that I found. Not too many photos look like this; they're usually more grungy, with coloured lights and smoke-filled stages, but not rock'n'roll god-like, though. They call themselves Dean and Gene Ween....... but they're not blood-brothers.

They must be nice boys, really. Just look at that beautiful Lab-Adore..... and the aran/cable-knit sweaters that Nanna must have knitted for them....

And I'm going to bed. I worked in the Aged Daycare in Muswellbrook today as an extra shift, and I've got my normal week to look forward to now.


Goodnight all!!!!!


<3
_______________________________________

Ma il mio misterio e chiuso in me

Hi there Bloggers.

It a damp, drab and grey day here in downtown Denman.


I should be at work.


But I'm not. I stayed home as I have the remnants of a migraine that developed when I was standing at the checkouts at BigW yesterday evening. Thank goodness it doesn't happen everytime I'm at Big W. Actually, I typed "Big EW", then. I should have left it.


So, today is very quiet, with just Clover and I in the shed with the heater humming. No TV, no stereo or radio. The cats are curled up on my bed in the house. I'm not going to tell what I'm wearing. Suffice to say that if there was a Miss Universe of bag ladies, then I'd be a top five finalist. We have no wood for the fire. It too wet everywhere. I've tried to send some rain over to Kris, of "Kronicles of Kris" fame, but it seems reluctant to go.


I've spent the day so far wandering throught the realms of cyberspace, reading and blog-commenting while waiting for you-tube videos to load, mainly of the American Idol final 4. A very talented bunch, certainly. And Jordin deserved to win.


But then I found what I was really looking for.


Paul Potts singing "Nessun Dormer" on "Britain's Got Talent".




I saw a bit of this clip on "Sunrise" the other morning, and I wanted to see it in it's entirety. I'm not an opera fan. At all. I can't understand a word of it. Even if it's in English. Gilbert and Sullivan are about as operatic as I get. But this man.... my, oh, my. I was reduced to tears whilst watching "Sunrise". For a reason other than the boys are too slow at getting ready for school , and I will have to drive them to the bus stop....again.....



This mobile phone salesman from South Wales feels that he was born to sing. And I think that he's right. And not just in the bathroom. He lacks confidence. But if he could only see the effect that he has on those to whom he is singing. He lifts the entire room with this short piece of music; the expression on people's faces are amazing. The transformation of the judges says it all.

As I said, I have no idea what he is singing about. I've never seen "Turandot" and I probably never will. But he just makes me feel... Damien Leith sang the same piece on "Australian Idol", too, I think. A great piece of music. And Pavarotti sang it at for the Football World Cup.

Only one other opera has ever affected me, and that was not because of the opera, but I think, because of the scene. It was in the movie,"Philadelphia", in the scene where Tom Hanks explains about the song from "Madam Butterfly", and how it fits into the scheme of things, whilst hanging into his IV pole, with the song filling the background.... Sounds kitsch, but I was overwhelmed, none the less. I was at the end of my pregnancy with GG, and emotional to say the least. I felt so much guilt about the treatment of HIV-positive gays... I carried it for days ... And, as I said, I was very pregnant at the time.......



A commenter says that he read that Paul has been working as a soloist that has performed in Northern Italy. Well, so what; everyone starts somewhere. It doesn't detract from the magic that we see and hear.............



I hope that it takes Paul to where he wants to be.


He certainly took me to a special place.



And then it took me quite a while to find these lyrics;

Turandot

Nessun dorma, Nessun dorma, nessun dorma!
Tu pure, o principessa,
Nella tua fredda stanza,
Guardi le stelle
Che tremano d’amore e di speranza.
Ma il mio mistero e chiuso in me,
Il nome mio nessun sapra!
No, no, sulla tua bocca lo diro’Quando la luce splendera’!
Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzioChe ti fa mia!
(il nome suo nessun saprà!E noi dovrem, ahime, morir!)
Dilegua, o notte!
tramontate, stelle!
All’alba vincero’!

And thanks to Andrea Bocelli, a translation;


no one sleeps! no one sleeps!
You too, o princess
In your cold room
Are watching the stars
Which tremble with love and hope!
But my secret lies hidden within me,
No one shall know my name!
No no, on your lips I will tell you,
When daylight will come
And my kiss shall break
The silence which makes you mine
(No one shall discover your name!
And we will be able to die!)
Depart, oh night!
fade away, you stars!
At dawn I shall win!


Crikey!

I even love the words...... It wasn't easy to find them. Apparently opera isn't mainstream enough ......... or opera fans already know all the words.......


Now I know what he was singing about. And from his heart, too. Just to me........


Enough waxing lyrical for me.


I'm off to place a nice hot water bottle on my neck, and maybe have a little nap.


I might just watch it one more time first. Just while I'm waiting for the kettle to boil.....


Cheers to you all xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Raindrops are falling......

Hi there, Bloggers.

I know I should provide some details of our adventures over the past wet and woolly weekend, but really, the things we did, and how we were affected just seem so miniscule and unimportant in the face of the on-going dramas that people have been through, and are living with now.

It started raining up here on Wednesday night, and picked up in intensity on Thursday. GG was supposed to drive up here on Thursday night, so that we could attend the funeral of a friend on Friday afternoon, then drive down to Sydney so that she could attend a concert by the bands "Emery" and "Underoath". I was getting very nervous of her driving up in such poor conditions, and didn't sleep well at all on Thursday night. I was greatly relieved when she rang me, very upset, but resigned to not coming up for Linda's funeral. I still planned to take her to Sydney, though. The two big kids had tickets to the "Come Together" Festival at Sydney's Luna Park on Saturday.

Beloved didn't think that he would be at work very long either. I dropped the boys off at the bus stop in the pouring rain at 7.50am. At 9.30, there was a phone call from Scorpaboy realying that they were to be sent home on buses at 10am. There was a lot of whooping and hollering in the background. This is the the first time that this had happened to our kids in the 5 years that we have lived here. Beloved rang to tell me that he would be home as well. The roads were cut between Muswellbrook and here, so it took a while to get around the un-flooded back roads. Actually the roads that are passable in flood times are the ones that be swallowed up in the new Anvil Hill Mining Development.....

As I've said before, it takes 20 minutes to travel from here to town. On Friday, it took Beloved well over an hour. And this kids took even longer. Beloved drove the family wagon into the yard, stepped put with a funny look on his face and said; " I didn't mean to park here; I'm bogged...". So he pulled it out with the ute, and I parked it near the shed. He then drove the ute around the block, and parked it in the side lane under the trees... I was thinking to myself "I wouldn't park there..."... and you guessed it; He was bogged!!!!!!! So, he went over and got Rod from across the road to tow him out..... then went to pick up the kids from the bus stop.

We were originally taking the boys motorbiking in Newie on Sunday, but decided ti would probably be too wet....... We packed the car up, and showered to get warm and dry, and at my suggestion, Beloved parked the wagon out the front so that we could walk straight off the verandah, down tha path and into the car, keeping the mud in the car to a minimum. I thought that he would park on the raod, but Beloved parked on the nature strip out the front. Denamn was fast turning into an island, and we wanted to leave before it was too late, so he harrassed the boys to hurry up, climbed into the car .... AND WE WERE BOGGED!!!!!! UP TO THE AXLES.... AGAIN!!!!!!!!.

This time, the ute just wouldn't do the job. We had to get Gary, with his 4WD and winch, to drag us out of the sucking (that's not a typo) mud. We dug out around the tyres, and placed 3 bricks into the holes; these have disappeared. It was after 1pm before we left for Newie. But the time it took was a good thing. We missed flash flooding at Jerry's Plains, and between Branxton and Greta. And we made it to NanandPop's before things became really bad. It took us 3 and a half hours to do a 2 hour trip. The F3 was closed, and the traffic was being diverted down the old Pacific Highway. It was just after 4pm, dark, and we narrowly missed a small sedan careering into us after it hit an enormous puddle of water near Blaxlands road at Cardiff. It was travelling too fast, and sideways at the time. Beloved reckoned he could see the fear in the young male driver's eyes.....

I advised Beloved that there was no way that we were going to travel down the winding, single-lane highway in all the traffic after dark; GG would just have to miss her concert. It was just too dangerous.

It was a very wise decision.

We would have been travelling down that road when it collapsed.....

We had a quiet dinner at Nanandpop's, courtesy of the Chinese restaurant and fish and chip shop at Jewellstown Plaza. Power was out all over the place, and roads cut, but Nanandpop were largely unscathed, except for GG's room flooding again. They never lost their phone or power.

Improved weather on Saturday morning saw us heading off to Sydney, but the first stop was at Bridgestone Tyres, as we had to replace the two tyres we had damaged when we were bogged. The kids and I went for a walk around Belmont while we waited. The power supply was patchy around Belmont. The lake had extended it's shoreline across the road into people's yards, and the jetty had disappeared. The barbecues were almost underwater. The stormwater drains had backed up, and roads were blocked in many places. But everyone seemed to be in good humour. I grew up in Belmont. I don't ever remember seeing it so consumed by water, not even in the big storm of 1974, when the "Sygna" ended up on Stockton Beach.

So we headed off to Sydney. We had a good day. It was wet, but it wasn't really a problem. The police helicopter was still searching for the family at Somersby when we drove down the freeway. We dropped the big kids off at luna Park at 10.45am. Beloved, Vegeboy and I went to "Texas Productions", Scorpaboy's bike sponsor's factory, then to Haymarket, and saw "Spiderman 3" at the movies. Don't rush to see it. Tobey Maguire, the actor who plays Spiderman, actually started to annoy me a bit. And Kirsten Dunst's character, Mary Jane, was so needy....... We had tea at a great little Italian restaurant at Naremburn with Paul and Karen, then went back to their house to watch TV while the big kids had fun until 11pm. Paul and Karen are the owners of "Texas Productions". I hadn't met Karen before. She is intelligent, articulate, hyperactive and fun. As I would have expected of a partner of Paul.

We arrived home to Nanandpop's just after 1am. The twin Service stations on the freeway were still closed, but the 24hr garage at Doyalson was open, so we had a break, and I drove from there.

Sunday, we emptied out GG's room so it could dry, then we were terrrible rubber-necks, and went for a drive around Newcastle and suburbs. Beloved's sister lives in New Lambton, and they werte spared any problems, but the park across the road looked a bit sad, and the damage from the stormwater drains around them was evident. When we drove down on Friday afternoon, we really had no idea how bad things were. We called in to see Beloved's parents at Elermore Vale. His dad had been rushed off to the John Hunter Hospital by ambulance on Friday night just after the power went out. He was suffering from the same bladder issues as Romy's Man, and just can't be left in such an uncomfortable state. He and Val were both ok when we called in on Sunday afternoon, and things don't look any different where they live.

It's odd, isn't it?

We had to stay in Newcastle until just before lunchtime on Monday, when the floodwaters on the highway receded. There are lakes in so many un-expected places at the moment. It was back to life as usual today, but many stories ahve been exchanged. Football training has been cancelled, but Vegeboy isn't playing this weekend anyway...

He's going to the Snowy Mountains for 4 days.........

We really are very lucky, aren't we?

It really does all seem so unimportant now.......


It was just an island up here for a few days... but we're on level 3 water restrictions now, due to the poor water quality of the Hunter River, and the effect that this has on our pump stations.....

I hope that all is on the improve for those that have been affected by the influence of Mother Nature.

Love to you all, and please stay safe.

Bloggie ^_^

I wanna know....Have you ever seen the rain????

Scorpaboy said that I should do a short post to let you know that we are ok.........


He is right.


We are at my mum and dad's house at Belmont North. We drove down on Friday night, with the plan to take GG to Sydney to a concert, but decided that it would be better to stay here, and then drive down to Luna Park on Saturday morning for the two big kids to attend the "Come Together" concert. We drove back to Mum and Dad's late Saturday night.


Tomorrow morning, Monday, hopefully, we can drive back to Denman, if the floods have receded enough. We are hopeful. The cats will be hungry..........


I hope that you are all safe and well. I have had many thoughts of you all over the last few days.


We are right to be thankful.


I will do a complete post later. And I think we've all seen the rain.........

Love to you all,

Cyndy <3

oh, oh, telephone line......

HEY EVERYONE!!!!!

MAKE SURE YOU CHECK YOUR BILLS!!!!!!!

Telstra bigpond have been charging me since March for a wireless internet service that I don't possess, including an installation fee. I only realised this last Friday evening. Dumb of me, I know, but I tend to accept that we have very large phone bills as we live away from family, resulting in lots of long-distance calls. We use our mobile phones everyday as well.

This morning, after 45 minutes on the phone, I have been credited $231.83 off my account!!!!

YAY!!!!!

I am actually $62.69 in credit!!!!!!!

Hooray for me!!!!!!!!!

Have a great day; I'm off to wash lots and lots and lots and lots of clothes, hang them on the line, then put them into the clothes dryer later anyway as it's still incredibly foggy, with damp, heavy air here.........

:0)

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