I went through the last box yesterday. I have found homes for everything and today I think I will sit back and appreciate the hard work. I've started working but only have about 20 hours a week and that is a good place to start I think. Anyway I just need to look forward and I can easily get used to living here. It actually puts a lot less pressure on me. It's starting to sink in how many less bills I will have to worry about for a start. Anyway last night we went out to the casino with some friends. Hadn't got out of the house for a while and nothing much has changed out there but it was good to get out and have a few laughs. There must have been some horse racing on yesterday because there were so many girls there fancied up in there race gear. A good night though. Tomorrow back to a regular work week but only 4 hours a day, Monday to Friday. May be able to call in a little more often now if I get bored. I love the new Janice and Marg group idea! Oh and I joined the on-line personal trainer at springday with the Take 5 Challenge and I am taking it seriously going for long walks every day. I managed to drag James out once too and I am getting lots of new recipes and trying to get healthy so everybody join in and let's get active! Take care, and have a great week! xx

Everything is out. James hired a truck on Tuesday and all the big stuff is gone. As a matter of fact there is now just an empty house. I cleaned everything yesterday, every wall and every wet area. Now there is windows, sliding doors and the outside to do. Liz, you so helped me telling me of the pick up coming up in your area. That is where the containers are so we piled everything in the truck, took off what we decided to keep and took the rest up the front and left it on the verge. Granted we probably would have saw that when we were coming as people are starting to leave stuff out now but not too many. Made me confident to throw it all on though and tell James we could leave stuff on the verge. The next door neighbour helped out so much with the heavy stuff at my place and he needed a washing machine and fridge so he took those off our hands as well as heaps of other stuff, bookshelves, books etc. His kettle had even blown up he was saying so he helped us offload a bit. I let them go through whatever they wanted that was going to the salvos and they have really been helping out. Anyway, better get back into it. It is Mark's week and the poor thing has had all this to do. Tomorrow I have a doctors appointment though and I have promised him we will have a day in the city. I will take him out for lunch so have to go get stuck into this cleaning today. Mark set all of this computer up last night. I was too tired, I went to bed and I wake up and it is all magically together and looks great! I'm working on the weekend but I will still have time to do stuff in between I am sure if needed. I want to be able to hand the keys in Monday but will have to see when the carpet cleaners can come. Going to ring now. Have a great weekend everyone. Very sad to hear that Lui has gone. Not a nice thing to turn my computer on to! xx

Well mum came over and helped me pack on Tuesday so a lot was done that day. I have put my notice in and I have rang up all the companies to cut off the utilities. Luckily yesterday was a nice day so that I did a fair bit of weeding and will get out and do some more this morning. At 2pm I am leaving to pick up James from the airport then we will only come back here to clean and move stuff. I will be glad to have him back. Although I have been busy it is pretty lonely here by myself. I have met some lovely families and all the paperwork should be ready so I can start next week. Sunday was a perfect day for my babysitting of the twins too. We had so much fun, spending most of our time out at the park and I took them to McDonalds for lunch which was a winner. They wanted me to stay over another night, unfortunately the packing boxes were calling. Should have most of it out this weekend then it is just cleaning. The weeds are out of control so have to get back out there now. I filled the whole bin up and now I am going to get it from the kerb and you can bet I will fill it again today. I have been really bad with my garden. What garden? lol Ther is only beds of weeds. I will have to set my computer up in the boys room at James house. Room is going to be an issue. I have a lot of furniture to get rid of. Only some stuff we are taking to put in the sea containers. Hoping for a kerbside collection soon which just reminds me to ring the shire. OK just rambling now! See you all in the other house! xx

That's basically been my week so very tiring but I wish I could get motivated to do more. Feels like I am not getting anywhere. Have met 2 lovely families this week. As long as all the paperwork goes in then will be starting next week, fingers crossed. That is the worst thing about my job, I can start now and they need me but all the processes have to go through and they have to agree on the money. And of course it is a long weekend so now I have not booked anything before Thursday. Luckily I am working this weekend with an old client. So exciting. I get to see my twins again who I worked with for 4 years. I am sure they have heaps to show me. They are in big school now! lol

I haven't heard from my boys for a while so will ring them tonight but they are both working full time up there and they are loving the lifestyle so they won't be coming back this year. If anything I may have to join them up there if the work dries up here, but so far so good. I really want to finish this course. Another thing I have to get to work on. Not as if I don't have enough! lol Anyway, can't wait to get out of this house now as the holiday is leaving me drowning in bills a little bit. All worth it I say! LOL Well long weekend for some here though technically I am working tomorrow but that should be fun! Wishing everyone a happy weekend!

So 3 weeks has past already and I am back to reality. It was fantastic! I took that many pictures there so I guess I can choose a couple to show. In Phuket we went to a theatre show with dancing and elephants performing tricks. It was called Fantasea. As soon as you stepped out of the hotel people would just pester you to buy things all the time. Walking down the street they had big lizards they want you to put on your arm. Eek! They want you to go in and see go go shows. lol They are always trying to sell you suits or massages. Every second tuk-tuk or taxi driver asks you if you need a ride. So noisy and busy and so many bars and dancing girls.

On Thursday we chose to go out to sea and see James Bond Island. A rock made famous by the 1974 James Bond movie "The man with the golden gun". That was nice and peaceful and we went canoeing and into some caves. So many different people of different nationalities on the cruise. There was one other couple from Australia on our cruise. The locals love to say G'day mate to us Aussies. lol

Also on the Wednesday we went on an elephant ride. We hired a taxi for a whole day. He only charged us 200 baht but I think why it is so cheap they must get kickbacks from there friends and they get stamps on there cards for petrol if they take us certain places. Anyway he says it is lucky to go on an elephant ride. I found it terrifying! LOL As soon as we left and got onto this little track up a steep hill with a big cliff drop down one side I started freaking out. I laugh now but at the time not so funny! The elephant could only go one way too so no good asking to turn around. He couldn't speak english anyhow! LOL Needless to say I kissed the ground on returning. We were also taken to a poisonous snake show and yet again I had a snake around my neck. Well very used to that now! Still the guy was crazy because he was kissing King Cobras.

No safety in Phuket. They drive around on motorbikes with no helmets, thongs and shorts and families can fit on the bike. The school buses are just like a open back with a few rows of wood and the kids are hanging out everywhere. We were blown away by the electricity lines too. Definately nothing there would meet Australian Safety Standards. One English guy we were talking to had gone on the speed boat Wednesday and he said it was terrifying because of rough seas. Luckily the day we went was calm and we chose the big cruise not the snorkelling and speed boat trip to phi phi island but we missed out on seeing the monkeys because of that. He had some great footage of the monkeys. Anyway back in one piece!lol

Have to wait til I get back for photos as can't work out uploading onto here. This computer wont do it for minti. Anyway, my stay here is coming to an end. This week we have been around the botanical gardens and the Singapore zoo. The zoo was amazing. We got to see the polar bear feeding and the sea lion show. The orang utan was hanging over the top of people. A lot of the animals seemed to love the attention and were such show offs. We went on the boat cruise which goes around the zoo in the reservior, so Singapore's water supply. Battery powered boats to prevent contamination. Fantastic day. We had Maree with us. The guy we are staying with, his girlfriend came over from India but he has been working so we have been taking her out. We are going to Phuket on Monday. I think Maree will miss us around. She wants to cook us some Indian food today so we are going down to the market later. Hopefully Paul can get some time off while we are away. We are trying to recommend Sentosa Island for them a couple of days because there is so much to do there. We took Maree over there one day and watched the 3D movie. A roller coaster ride thing that Maree and I screamed all the way through. Then we did a shooting game thing and I got the donkey prize. LOL It was school holidays and even the little kids beat me. They flash your picture up on the whole screen. Very funny. James won the game. Show off! LOL Anyway, having a fantastic time and getting on the computer most mornings so that has been good. Got some study done too. Probably wont have internet in Phuket but it is only 5 days. Back home next weekend!

I have put a heap of pictures on facebook already. Takes so much time and have a zillion photos so hard to decide the selection to put on. Had a lovely holiday at Sentosa Island where we did a pile of museums and war history of Singaspore. So interesting. We went up many platforms, Tiger Tower (121m high) and the Merlion. Went to the butterfly Park. Seen Songs by the Sea, a spectacular light and water and fire show. Amazing! Stayed in a little hut. Had some great downpours although still very hot and humid. Is a fantastic city, so much to look at and see. Huge buildings. Air conditioned trains and buses that come so quickly. Been to Chinatown and Little India. Been on a river cruise. Having a great time over here. Beautiful city and lovely people. Teenagers sit around in groups studying at Starbucks or McDonalds. No graffiti. Nice place!

If I visit in the next 3 weeks it will be a bonus, but will have to say goodbye to everyone now and finish my packing and my cleaning. I'm going to go to the gym this morning one last time too, because since it is a night flight I would love to sleep all the way there. Imagine how fast that would go then. I don't get over ther til 3am so I am sure I will get some sleep. Just want to wear myself out. I've been up since 6am so I am sure I will be tired. We are going to go to Sentosa Island for a couple days too and September 14th we are going to Phuket for 4 days we have booked. Then we get back to Australia 19th September. I am taking my budgie to my mums this afternoon. He is going to have a holiday too. Nearly ready. It has been so cold the last 2 mornings too so will be good to thaw out over there.

Heard from the boys. There last job finished up and now they are doing some kitchen hand work. And they never did many dishes at home. Good they are getting the practice. I won't forget. lol Mum was saying the other day, well since all the family is up north now, how about we go to Broome for Christmas. Boy, can't think of that now. I think after this holiday I need to stay home and work. lol Anyway I will be moving out of my house when I get back. I think anyway. Huge decision and can't even begin to think of it yet or I go into panic mode. You should see how much is here and the boys wont be here to help. I have packed the boys stuff up in boxes this week as they want some up there but we have decided why have 2 houses now? Yikes! Big move but I will tell all my final decision when it gets closer. I can't even think now. Anyway, back to business and packing for holiday. Bon Voyage all!

By my mum and dad. They took me out for lunch at the pub. It was beautiful weather for the ducks today. lol They also bought me a necklace and earrings in my birth stone. And bought me a cream cake. Very bad, have eaten too much but other then that, lovely. The boys called me and wished me a happy birthday. And mum gave me some of her left over stew to take home. No cooking tonight! Terribly spoilt but am very happy. James sent me tickets to Singapore. Leave 30th August. Yikes! So exciting though a little scary to be doing this on my own, but if Janice can do it, a 5 hour journey should be a walk in the park. Can't wait to get over there. Now to keep away from any nasties, keep the vitamin and fluid intake up and stop stressing for goodness sake! Eek! So much happening. Passed another unit. Have to go to TAFE Monday night too. Doing it externally but have a couple of night classes to go to. Also should be meeting Steve on the weekend and having my son Mark come over for that night too. Will be here in no time I am sure. Better get in to bed soon and do some reading. Work experience tomorrow at the child care centre. That is good fun!

Already, both of them. Exciting because they do need the money since they got a flat on the way to Port Hedland out of Carnarvon and forgot to take the spare tyre and jack. Thank goodness for good samaritans in the world someone lent them a jack and took the tyre to Carnarvon to be fixed and found someone driving in the other direction to drop the tyre off to them. They dropped the jack back to this nice guy in Carnarvon. Anyway they made it safe and sound and called me last night for there tax file numbers as they have got a job lifting boxes or something. Pays better then I get! But it is night shift. Anyway now I am planning to go overseas earlier in September. So exciting. When I finally book my tickets and get my dates I will have to start a countdown. Cant wait because we are planning to travel around from there.

Tomorrow I start work experience at a child care centre for a few weeks every Friday. It is a "Reggio Emilia" centre so have to get on the internet tonight and find out all about this. Must mean it offers special learning like the montisori. I haven't heard about this one though. Anyway must get to work now before I am late. Have a great day everyone!