Moving on up, or is it moving out?

Well, it's a little bit of both, as we are on the path to moving back into our apartment in the city. By city I mean Sydney. We have found ourselves quasi homeless after living in an apartment under my husband's parent's house. It wasn't it an optimum situation but it provided us a space, breathing room and most of all time to help make decisions about where and how much we wanted to spend on a new home back here in Sydney. For those of you who who are up to speed, we recently moved back to Sydnay after living in Tasmania for the last 5 years. We unfortunately had to move back to Sydney for several reasons, health being an important player. We kept our house in Tassie and are renting it out which will provide us with a nice bit of change to spend on our new mortgage. It will at least make the payments.

Anyway, here we are back in Sydney. We are planning on moving back into our apartment in the city which we were letting out for the past 6 years. We had to unfortunately give our current tenants notice. They were good tenants but we need a place to live. A place to live I might add that is mortgage free, so no monthly rental for us to lay out. We plan on living back in the apartment for probably a year at which time we hope to have found a new house to purchase. So wish us luck and here's to hoping that our current tenants find something sooner. The sooner the better as we can stop living out of suitcases, moving from hotel to hotel and other various forms of accommodations.

Oh and while I'm on the topic of moving and being homeless, seeing that all all of our worldly goods, bar three suitcases of clothing, are in storage, I will not be able to participate in March's 12 of 12. I probably won't be able to do Aprils and possibly May's unless as I said we are able to move back into our apartment sooner. It all depends on the current tenants. We shall see...

Damn and Happy Holidays!!!

Well, I failed miserably! I had one last chance to join in with 12 of 12 and I blew it. I will have to say I did try but I only got six good photos yesterday and the rest of the day was too hot for me to lug a camera around. we also got all tied up in doing errands that the day just slipped through my fingers. So I will just have to try and make up some new project for the new year. I won't promise anything because I don't want to break anymore promises. I do want to say thank you to everyone who visited this blog every month and also thank you for all of your kind words/comments regarding my photos and to my blog in general.

So, that's it for now. If I don't post something before the big holiday. I would like to wish each and every one of you Season's Greeting, Happy holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Hanukkah (albeit a tad late) and/or Happy Whatever else you may be celebrating. I also want to wish you all the best for the coming new year. I'll be around so don't give up on me just yet...

Update (I just found out the the originator of 12 of 12 (found here) has agreed to continue it for one more year. Thanks Chad! I'm very excited about the prospect of redeeming my lack of photos over the past and will really try harder to participate in the coming year. See you then...)

Ten days....

...since my last post that is. As usual I have no excuse for not posting, but as I've been told by blogger friends and others. "It's you blog and you can blog if you want to or not". Apparently I've gone for the "or not".

There's not much going on around here at the moment. You know I posted pictures of the daffodils recently, and there are still more blooming, well I thought that Spring was on it's way but as usual we're in the middle of what hopefully will be a quick cold snap. There was supposed to be a huge dumping of snow on the mountain. I'm going to have a look this morning and if there is a lot of snow, I'll take a picture to share. It never fails that just when you thought you are in the clear, something comes along to mess it up.

Other news has to do with the various on going issues here. Hubbies mum is still very ill. He is probably going to go and stay with her and his dad for a few weeks. It will help them a lot and it will give him a bit more time with his mum. I still have not heard anything about when my hand surgeries, technically it will be wrist surgery but either way I've not heard anything about when they will happen. So I sit and continue try to keep my hands from going numb and also stop doing things that make them go numb like typing. Hmmm, maybe that's why I've not posted lately. I could so use that as an excuse but I won't because the truth is pure laziness on my part.

Well that will about do it for now but I'll be back, who knows maybe sooner more than later. Until then take care and enjoy...

Really flat...

I'm really flat lately. I'm sure it has something to do with not being able to find work. I've filled out over 60 applications. I have to do ten a fortnight so the government will pay me while I look. I think looking for work is more exhausting than actually working. I've only had two actual interviews from those 60 applications and I don't even want to tell you how many "thanks but no thanks" I've gotten.

One interview actually turned into two but I still didn't get the job. I'm kind of surprised at that one because I truly thought the interview went really well. The interviewer even said twice during the interview that she thought I was perfect for thier company. So what the hell happened? The other interview was a preliminary and the organisation is waiting to hear about their funding, which they were supposed to find out about this past week. I am hoping for a second interview as it would be a great job.

Anyway, all I can do is keep trying but it really gets me down and as I say I'm just really flat so life is really grayscale right now. I'll try to keep posting to keep you up to date and who knows maybe something will come up in between that I think you might want to know/see. I will definitely be doing Aprils 12 of 12 as I did enjoy that process but until then just be aware that the post won't be that exciting. Stay tuned...

Anyone for some random thoughts?

Well another week has passed and it seems that once again the best I can come up with are some random thoughts. However, it seems that you get more out me with the weekly random thoughts than you would if I posted daily. Anyway, lets move on.

I put a few pictures up on Flickr if anyone is interested. One set is all of the pictures I took from our friends wedding which you can see here. The other set is a few pictures I found that I took a few years ago and I thought I would share them. They can be found here. Enjoy...

I continue to look for employment. I received two more "thanks but no thanks" letters. So far it's not looking very encouraging, out of 26 jobs applied for, I have been turned down by 5 of them I'm still waiting to hear something from the others other than "thank you for your application we will get back to you shortly". We will be patient and persevere but it's not easy.

This is the last week of summer and based on the temperatures it looks like it is going out with a bang. We are going to have a few really warm days and some thunderstorms. Summer has been basically pretty mild this year until this last month and mother nature finally turned up the heat most of the month.

As mentioned last time, hubby has been working in the yard. He planted some new grass seed in an area that gets very little sunlight in the winter and as such moss actually grows where the lawn should be so in the summer most of that area is pretty crap. So hubby dug up the top layer and replaced it with new soil, tossed out some grass seed and we now have a wonderful new patch of lawn. In saying that now because that new patch looks so great hubby says he will need to do the rest of the lawn but like this last section he will do it in stages.

I might have mentioned that we are going to Sydney next month (March) so I can see my neurologist for a 3 month review of the progress made on getting the feeling back in my legs. I think that it will be another bit of improvement over last time except we have a new problem. It seems that the neuropathy in my feet has decided to rear it's ugly little head. I don't know if getting the feelings back into my legs has created this problem or not. I'm wondering that if I'm getting the feeling back in my legs, that because the nerve paths are waking up, is it a new way for the damaged nerves to send out the incorrect messages using the re-awakened nerve pathways in my legs? All I know is that they started hurting about 2 weeks ago. I thought maybe it was just a bad day but it has turned out to be 14 bad days in a row so something is happening. We'll just have to wait and see what the doctor has to say.

The bushfire continue to burn in Victoria. Such a tragedy so many innocent lives and they continue to add to the death toll I hope it stops soon...

On a happier note I'm sure that I've talked about the great food we have here in Tasmania. The fresh fruits and vegetables are some of the best in the world and I'm not just saying that because I live here but apparently it's the truth. December and through to late February is cherry season and the cherries grown here are so plump, dark and sweet. I can't stop eating them. I have been eating them every day now since like the middle of December. They are finally starting to dwindle in their taste, plumpness and overall quality as their growing season comes to an end but not to fear the ever so lovely blueberries have started to come into season. Berries in general seem to grow well here. I think it's the temperate climate that helps, that and the fresh air and clean water. We get fantastic blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries which a lot of the blackberries are just growing wild as opposed to the others being farmed. You can see people on the sides of the roads collecting wild blackberries. Anyway I've switched to blueberries and now they are my daily treat.

Well on that sweet note I think I've rambled on enough and besides my random brain has called it a day. Well actually just the morning but as far as the post is concerned I'm all out of things to say. So, I'm done until next time take care and I'll see you next week unless something really exciting happens in between and if it does you'll be the second ones to hear about it, right after hubby. See ya....

Random thoughts again....

It seems that posting random thoughts is the best I can do at the moment but at least it's a post. So here goes...

First and foremost Happy Valentines to my Hubby. I'm so glad I found you. You are my rock. I can't imagine my life without you and I know that our future together is solid. So in front of all that read this let them know that "I Love You and always will."

On a more serious note. Well not that my love for my hubby isn't serious because believe me it is dead serious but on another serious topic. I am heartbroken about the bushfire's on the mainland that have devastated the state of Victoria. The loss of so many innocent people. So many others who have lost their homes and everything that made up there lives. The loss of native animals as well as domestic. It's all so very sad. We have all been affected by this disaster and hope that soon it will end.

Job hunting continues and it is extremely frustrating. I keep applying but as of yet no interviews. As I might have mentioned before out of all the applications I've submitted I've only been turned down by two which leaves like twenty plus that have not said no but they also haven't said yes so there is still hope.

Hubby has been busy in the garden lately. I think he is trying to do two things. One he wants to get things done out there before his school starts again which will be Monday after next. Two I think he is doing a number of things getting the garden ready for autumn/winter. He likes his gardening as do I it's very relaxing and at the same time very rewarding.

A very dear and old friend recently visited. She has known hubby since forever. It was her first visit to our home since we moved to Tasmania. I, as did hubby, really enjoyed her short but sweet visit.

Hubby is going up to Sydney on Tuesday to see his parents. His mum is having a hard time with her chemo and the resulting loss of her hair so he thought he might be able to cheer her up. Mom if you are reading this and I know that you do. You know that if it was as easy as a two hour plane trip I would be doing the same for you but unfortunately it's a 20+ hour plane trip to come to see you so it's not that simple but it will happen. We just have to make sure that when it does we make the best of it.

I go up to Sydney in March to check in with the neurologist to see how the nerves in my legs are progressing since the back "surgeries". I think that they will be better than last time although there are still a few problems but as the doctor said last time it will take several months before we know the total impact of the surgeries.

Well that's it from me for now so I'll leave it at that. I hope that you get to share Valentines day with the one you love and even if you are single than be kind and love yourself. Take care and enjoy the day.

Where am I? What day is this?

That's the way I feel right now. I don't know if I'm coming or going. You see dear readers I am looking for a job. In this current economic climate it's not easy, but none the less I will keep looking. I have two solid applications pending and I'm just waiting to hear if I've been shortlisted for the job. I have three more jobs that I'm applying for but I have to finish the selection criteria (see below for definition) for each of them.

There is is a difference here in the land down under compared to how I was used to looking for a job in the states. Generally in the states I sent my resume in with a cover letter and hoped they would give me an interview. Usually if there was an interview I would talk to someone in personnel and then if they liked me they would set up one or two more separate interviews and after all of that if they all liked me they would offer me a job. Here it's a bit different. Here not only do you send in a cover letter and you resume or as they tend to call it your CV (Curriculum Vitae) and then you also have to attach a copy of the selection criteria with your answers.

The selection criteria is a set questions and or statements pertaining to the skills that the employer wants you to possess and they want you to quantify not only that you have the skills but how you used the skills and if possible at which previous job. I'll give you a sample question/statement.

Ability to maintain confidentiality, exercise initiative, judgment and discretion and to work without direct supervision.

Now to that statement I would have to write no more and no less than a paragraph to explain how I am capable of doing this.

After I answer all of the selection criteria of which there are usually 5, 6, maybe more questions. I send that in as I mentioned along with my cover letter and a CV. After that I wait to see if I've been shortlisted (a short list of applicants that they want to actually interview) and if I have well then I get to have an interview, if not I get a nice polite thanks but no thanks letter. The interview process here for professional based jobs opposed to labour skilled jobs are different once again than what I'm used to in the states. Labour based jobs here consist of one or maybe two separate interviews with different individuals. Professional skilled jobs consist of one interview and a panel of at least two but usually three people from within the company. All of the interviewers have some direct knowledge or working experience of the job you are applying. Usually one of the people will be the person you will be reporting to if you get the job.

The interview process consist of a series of questions asked by the three panelists and each of them score your questions. A the end of the interview they say thank you and they will let me know in the next day or so rather or not they are going to offer me the job. Once I'm gone they all discuss me both on physical presentation and also the content of my answers. If they think I'm the one they then call my references and believe me the truly call all of your references, of which you have to have at least two and most times three. If that all pans out, they call me to offer me the job. Of course if any part of the interview process including the referee check does not pan out you get a thanks but no thanks letter.

So looking for work has been a huge learning curve for me but it is interesting. Now all I have to do is get an interview and then hopefully impress the interviewers with my knowledge, wit and overwhelming charm. Anyway that's what's going on here so the posts will be sporadic but I will do my best to, keep you updated. I'll be back, wish me luck.