Do you ever find some periods of your life a bit more tiring than others? That’s where I’m at right now. Nothing is really wrong, just a bit tired by things. Maybe it’s just the “getting close to the end of the year” type mood. I could use a break! At the moment I don’t plan to have anything more than the 10ish days between Christmas and New Years off work though. I’d like more time off but also I like my area when there are fewer tourists, which certainly isn’t that time of year. I might chuck an extra day or two in just to have a short week either side. Haven’t really decided yet.
Randoms 10
We’ve had a bit of a yard saga recently. We had a lot of rain a few weeks ago, which naturally meant the grass grew. Then our mower wouldn’t turn on. Granted, we haven’t taken perfect care of it and it’s a bit old now, so it was hardly a shock. So we borrowed a mower from Ben’s mum, which hadn’t been used in a long time. It would start but not stay on. Frustrating. We weren’t sure if we wanted to buy a new mower or pay to get one or both of the mowers fixed. In the mean time, the grass just kinda did its thing and kept growing.
We figured maybe someone could come in and get it down to a regular height while we made up our minds. Ben’s mum pays someone $40 to do her lawn, which is a lot bigger than our tiny block. Figured, oh, it is long, so maybe $60 max? Haha. As it turns out, I was wildly wrong. The people who came and gave Ben a quote (and it’s so good I wasn’t home to laugh at this, because I probably would have laughed in their franchised faces) wanted $129 to mow the lawn. Or $240 to mow it AND remove the grass clippings. Yeah. No. Noooooo waaayyyy would I EVER pay that. It’s long and there’s one annoying patch of weeds but geez, it’s not a freaking forest.
Anyway, we decided that it was not worth servicing our old mower. Which kind of sucks. I prefer to repair rather than replace, as replacing seems wasteful. But also, cost comes into play. It would probably have cost at least $150 to get it fixed, and with no good timeline on how long it would last. So for $150 we decided to buy a new lawnmower from Bunnings, because a) it’s new and therefore WILL work and b) it has a 3 year warranty. The person on the registers told me that at least 4 other people had bought the same mower that day so I’m hoping that is a good thing.
When the yard dries out in a few days, I guess we’ll know how good it is! Though, seriously. You know how BIG the Bunnings trolleys are? Because they have to fit BIG stuff on them? Yeah. Driving one with a stiff wheel up this aisle sucked. Boxes narrowing the aisle and the hanging whipper snippers catching on the flag pole of the trolley….bad bad bad. How I didn’t destroy anything I have no idea. And those hanging whipper snippers made me feel like one of those people in a movie who walk into a barn full of dangling blades of all shapes and sizes. (FYI this is the same Bunnings store where I once found a saw on the first aid kit box so.)
I took last Friday off work because it was my birthday. I had also just come out of a busy cycle at work so I had over a day of overtime banked anyway. So why not have my birthday off and make it a long weekend?! It was actually a bit of a hot day and we didn’t get up to much. We grabbed some food from a bakery for breakfast and got totally attacked and stalked by magpies, who only cooled it when rainbow lorikeets showed up and attacked them. They were the boldest magpies I’ve ever come across.
We went to our favourite fish & chip shop for lunch. Check out the size of the calamari ring.
And it was terrible and awful and ugly to eat it by the beach.
Triple awful to sit under this giant tree while eating it.
I was given this awesome card game (that I’m yet to play because of above mentioned end of year brain fuzz).
Apparently I’m hard to shop for. Which is kind of correct. I’m not much of a wanter for small things. (Not that I expect people to buy me things for my birthday.) Two people ended up giving me cash. Which means I finally got a new pair of noise cancelling headphones, and a bag that was similar in style to a “designer” one I missed out on getting on a buy/sell list earlier this year and couldn’t stop thinking about wanting. Thanks to the two cash gifts, I effectively got the headphones for $9 (the price on the packet in store was wrong, they were only $59) and the bag for $5. So I’m very happy with these two purchases!
And the shopping on the long weekend continued as well! We went to one of my favourite op shops to look for a new bedside table. They’re a favourite op shop of mine because they actually sell things at “proper” op shop prices, not inflated wannabe prices. We came away with a bedside table and a new office chair for $21 total.
I do have before and after photos of us moving rooms around, but I’m not sure we’re 100% done with the after yet, so I’ll blog about that some other time. Then again it was months ago we “redesigned” our living room and I still haven’t blogged about that. So, my point is, I’ll do it some day.
And that has been what I’ve been up to recently.
Tell me something you’ve been up to! Gotten any great bargains? Do you like new or second hand or a mix?
Check that fish and chips out!! YUM. There’s nothing I love more than fish and chips by the sea.
They are SO GOOD. A bit exxy, so we only go there on special occasions but worth the cost cos it’s always top-notch food quality.
Ok, firstly, happy birthday. Secondly, love the photo of the maggie & that view sucks. You shouldn’t have to eat your fish and chips under those conditions. Seriously. 🙂 #TeamLovinLife
The conditions were just terrible 🙂
Oh, lots of fun shopping there. And an electric mower…?
I’ve never owned a mower though my brother gave me his manual push mower once when I had a tiny plot of grass in Brisbane. In the end it was easier to get the guys who did our complex to do it.
The mowing guys I use now only charge me $60 for my double block and use a ride on mower, normal mower and whipper snipper I think. I keep waiting for the price rise though. (I got an alternate quote once and it was over $100 and they didn’t take the grass away.)
Electric cos it fit the budget haha. But we have a fairly small block so it should be ok. $60 sounds good, just like the $40 Ben’s mum paid. Couldn’t believe the obscene costs I was quoted. It was too much effort for us to keep going back to others for quotes so DIY it is.
Thanks again for posting the electric mower purchase on Instagram this week, I’ve saved the photo and will look out for it when my current manual job carks (spelling?) it.
SSG xxx
We haven’t used it yet (keep having rain!) but I’ll let you know how it goes when we do 🙂
I’m amazed at how much cheaper some things are today. Lawn mowers used to be really expensive and now they’re quite affordable – almost a disposable item! Loved all your purchases and the fish and chips (one of my favourite takeaways!)
In some ways I kind of wish they were more expensive and a lifetime type thing, not a replaceable type of thing! But having said that, a $150 is certainly easier on the cash flow 🙂
I want those noise cancelling headphones. I seem to be very sensitive to the slightest sound, but I guess I can’t wear them to bed? I think we all suffer from end of year burnt out this time of year. Only 6 weeks until Christmas hols. Yay! #TeamLovinLife
If you sleep only on your back, I guess you could? But I think they’d be very easy to break wearing to bed. Maybe more of a sports style would work for that?
No wonder you’re tired – you don’t seem to stop. I am always amazed by how much you can get charged for what seem like small jobs – I guess they figure they have you where they want you if your grass is that long though? Happy belated birthday greetings and hope you are a bit perkier this week.
My #lovinlife post is here
I am terrible at doing nothing! I can’t sit still 🙂 I guess they learned we weren’t where they wanted us cos we were totally happy to leave it long for a few extra days haha.
OMG the price they wanted to charge to mow your lawn!! You made the right decision. We’ve never had an electric mower. They are probably a lot quieter – just gotta remember that cord is there! My commiserations on eating that ugly fish n chips and giant calamari ring under that gross tree and with that hideous beach view. I hope you have recovered!! Great purchases from the Op Shop and Happy Birthday for the other day! #TeamLovinLife
It was ridiculous. Who on earth would pay that for a small suburban block because of a few long weeds?
My entire year has been “trying” if he truth be know. Everything has required more effort than usual. I’m hoping it is just 2017 and that 2018 will magically resolve it all!
You’re pretty busy. No wonder you’re tired. Says me …
It has sounded a bit trying. I would like to be able to rest more on the weekend but I get restless! I think having a sitting day job all week just makes me want to do the complete opposite on the weekend.
The fish and chips looks goooood! And I don’t often crave fish and chips!
They are the best fish & chips I’ve ever had. Not really a meal we eat much but at this place…so good.