Freedom at last!

At last the big day has arrived! For the first time in her entire life, Cheyenne bounced out of bed at 7.30am with a smile on her face.

Usually, the process of Cheyenne waking up and getting out of bed could be more accurately described as a sluggish ooze. An eyelid drags open, a hand snakes out to grab the sheet and pull it back up over her head and she invariably rolls over to bury her face in the pillow. Five minutes later we repeat the process... usually with more success the second time around. Or not. Sometimes it takes several attempts.

Not today, though. Today is the first day of Prep. Cheyenne is so excited to finally be at "big school", that she was up and ready for breakfast before we could blink. After a bowl of Nutrigrain and a glass of orange juice, she cleaned her teeth and put on her uniform, as she says, "my own self".

I know I am going to struggle with the age old question of what to put in the lunchbox. Yeah, yeah, we all know the basic food pyramid stuff. Gotta have the piece of fruit, the dairy and of course, the sandwich. No lollies or sweet cakes, but apparently the occasional snack-sized packet of chips is OK. Even a handful of Tiny Teddies is allowed, as long as there's healthy food too. So, how to keep variety, avoid potential allergy dramas (of other classmates, thankfully not Cheyenne) and provide things she'll actually eat... for five days a week... for the next 13 years ???

Today's lunchbox contained an apple and some chunks of Devon (woohoo for cheap luncheon meat knobs!) for morning tea, and jam sandwiches (currently the only filling she will eat) and a packet of rice wheel snacks for lunch. Hopefully her frozen water bottle will have thawed enough by morning tea time... OK, lunchbox packed, and we're off.

It wasn't a very nice morning for it, so not only did we have the new uniform, but we also had to break out the new raincoat as well, for the walk to school in the pouring rain..

"I can put my shoes on my own self!"

She looks so tiny in her uniform because it's so big on her.

Steve asked his boss for a late start so that we could all walk to school together for the first time. Once there, her teacher Mrs Johnson, pinned on Cheyenne's name tag and told her she could do some puzzles after she'd unpacked and put her bag away. With her art folio placed on one shelf and her ring binder on another (along with everyone else's), she found her pigeon hole, put her backpack away, and settled down to do some puzzles.

At 9 o'clock the bell rang, there were hugs all round and we left them to it. Some families were a bit teary-eyed, but not ours! Cheyenne is off to school without a backwards glance. In fact, she had to be reminded to give Daddy a hug goodbye!

I'm sure today the country is full of sobbing mothers, distraught that their babies have grown up and left them... but not me. I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's just not my thing! I'm ecstatic! I can smell the freedom from here.

What will I do with myself for six hours a day? Hmmm.... well, I think that for the first week at least, I will do absolutely nothing. Maybe read a book or two. I've got a few Kathy Reichs novels that are sitting on the bedside table, waiting to be read.

Steve told me that once Cheyenne started school I had to get a job (what? being a mother isn't a job?? Oh, you mean "paid employment" ! ) and I will. After I have some "me time" first!

I'll let you know how that goes...

Stranded at Spotlight

I went to Spotlight yesterday... (as you do, since there is nowhere else to buy haberdashery these days... Hell, half the country doesn't even know what haberdashery is!)
I was on a mission to buy some cord and a spring-toggle (you know, the things that are usually found on the drawstring on the bag a sleeping bag comes in, to hold it closed) to modify Cheyenne's new school hat. Whatever for, you ask. Well, let me explain.

Remember back when we went to primary school? If we even wore a uniform (definitely optional, at the school I went to), our parents would, if they could be bothered, label our clothes, hats, etc by writing on a tag and sewing or ironing it onto the item...and that would have been enough! These days, it is apparently necessary to make the item easily identifiable from the outside as well as having a name label inside, in case someone else wanders off wearing your child's item. When every child has a navy blue, broad-brimmed school hat, I guess I can see the benefit, so I've opted to change the colour of the chin-strap cord on the hat.

Anyway, back to Spotlight. I love Spotlight. You can, and I often do, spend hours there, just browsing. Yesterday, browsing was much easier due to the fact that Cheyenne is having a sleepover at Steve's Mum and Dad's. That's right, no "Mummy I need to go to the toilet", "I'm hungry", "I don't want to walk, can we get a trolley?", "When are we going home?" Bliss.

The bliss lasted until I'd finished both my browsing and required shopping, and got in the car to head home. I turned the key...and, nothing! Not even a click. No, I hadn't left any lights on, and it had been fine when I left home that morning. Turn off the air con and try again. Still nothing. The charge light and other normal warning lights were still showing up on the dash, but maybe they were a little faint...probably a flat-ish battery. OK, phone Steve. He is working on the other side of town and can't really leave, and suggests I try checking my fuses. Good idea, except that I don't have any pliers in my car and can't pull the fuses out with the useless little plastic "tool" supplied in the fuse box. Fine, I'll call the RACQ. It is what I pay them some phenomenal amount each year for, after all. May as well get my money's worth! Someone will be there in around 45 minutes. They tell me to keep an eye out for him. Gee, what else would I be doing? Not like there's anything else to do in the car park! So I wait.

He arrives, puts his volt meter on my battery, then asks me to turn the key. Like a coroner, he pronounces it dead at the scene. Apparently it is fully charged, but collapses "under load" (ie, when you turn the key). Now for the bad news - since it isn't a simple collapsed cell, but a "break", it can't be jump started! What? OK, so I'm not an auto electrician and I don't know what a "break" is, but I secretly suspect that it's RACQ-speak for "Sucker, you'll have to buy one of the really expensive ones we have in the back of the service truck." Steve already told me not to buy one from them because we can get a better deal through one of his mates (that doesn't sound like Steve, does it? LOL)

Mr RACQ asks me was I planning on keeping my car. Gee, er...let me think...um... Der! I replied, hesitantly, "Ye..s", wondering all the while if he really thinks it looks that bad. (You know, I could have sworn a new battery would be cheaper than a whole new car...) I decided not to tell him I've only owned it for 3 months!
I politely told him I wouldn't be buying one of his batteries, so he told me they could put my car on a tow truck but I only get 10kms free (and it would be an hour wait for the tow truck). Won't get it home, but would get it to my Mum's. Phoned Steve. He says not to bother, he'll get his Dad to bring me a spare battery out of his brother's car. OK. Mr RACQ dubiously asks if I'm sure, then leaves. Steve rings back. His Dad doesn't want to risk spilling battery acid all over his brand new Ford Territory and isn't sure if the battery is the right size anyway, and can I call the tow truck?
No I bloody can't! I don't have the number, and the battery on my phone is almost flat too!

By now, it is raining and I am well and truly over it all. I've spent all my money, dammit, and I want to go home and put my feet up. I phone my brother. He doesn't start work until later and can pick me up. I can wait at my Mum's for Steve to finish work. When Steve finally picks me up at 5.30pm he wonders if, although the car cannot be jump-started, can it be clutch-started? We decide to try. The carpark has cleared out a bit by now, and since I'm parked on a slight slope, that will make it easier to push and keep the car rolling. Started like a dream after rolling less than 4 metres.
Remind me again why I'm paying for RACQ membership???

Got home no worries, although, once turned off it would need to be clutch-started to get it going again. Not a problem, since I should have a new battery by this afternoon anyway.

Let this be a lesson to you - regular checking of the water levels in the cells of your battery is a must. Apparently, running each cell bone dry is a bad thing, and is undoubtedly what caused the "break".

On the bright side, at least Mr uppity RACQ didn't check this, so could not stare at me with the scorn, reserved by men, for "women drivers" that don't maintain their vehicles.

Changing of the Guard - A New Beginning

Before After



Well, we finally have a new vehicle. We found our 2004 Hilux dual-cab at Pickles (an auction house) on Christmas Eve, and put in an offer of $14000 on it. The engineering company that owned it accepted our offer pretty much on the spot (they'd originally wanted around $17500 but it had been there for over 3 weeks and hadn't attracted any interest at that price, so they were happy to sell it), however we had to wait until the following Monday for it to get a roadworthy, before we could get it registered and take it home.

The top picture is how it looked when we purchased it - oxidised paint, steel tray, plain steel wheel rims, covered in red dirt and dust...oh yeah, and complete with orange rotating light !
The engineering company did a lot of work for mining companies, so we discovered it had a few other features designed to comply with mining workplace health and safety regulations - internal roll bar (we're keeping this), headlights wired up so that they are on whenever the engine is running (day or night) for extra visibility, and an extra loud reverse beeper - no, not the sort old fogies buy from Supercheap to put on their cars, I'm talking about the sort you find on large trucks, heavy vehicles... or in fact, on mine trucks!

Less than two weeks later, and it looks like a totally different vehicle (second picture).

Steve's first mission was to give it a polish. The paint has improved, but as it is quite oxidised, this is still a work in progress. Then he fixed up the headlight wiring so that they can actually be turned off during the day. This also included plugging the dashboard lights back in and replacing dash bulbs (clearly unplugged so that they weren't on during the day annoying the driver) - discovered this little "feature" the first night we drove it and couldn't read the speedo in the dark! Then, of course, the reverse beeper was disconnected - no more waking the neighbourhood backing out of our garage late at night...

Next began the serious search for wheels and tray. Steve is a tad obsessed with the aesthetics of his vehicles, to put it lightly, lol. They simply are not allowed to look ugly. I must admit though, the alloy tray is not just for looks. It has a practical side, being that it will not rust from frequent beachwork, unlike its steel counterpart. Ditto for alloy wheel rims, versus the original plain steel ones. Luckily he found both a suitable alloy tray and a near new set of sidesteps at a wreckers and they gave him a discount because he was buying both items. A bit of hard yakka, a whole lot of adjusting and a fair bit of swearing later, and the new tray (previously from a Holden Rodeo) and sidesteps were fitted to his satisfaction. The old steel tray was advertised in the Trading Post and a bloke drove all the way from Biloeila to buy it!

The wheels are a bit of a saga. We were checking out prices for rims and tyres at Fourby's and they had a secondhand set of alloy rims that would suit the Hilux. We said we'd take them and ordered a set of new tyres to go on them. When we arrived to have them fitted, the tyres hadn't been delivered yet. While waiting to hear back about our ordered tyres, we bought a secondhand set of the tyres we preferred (but didn't order because they are too expensive these days) from a friend. We had these put on the rims and fitted to our Hilux. They look great, but scrape the mudflaps a little on full lock, so of course, he's not 100% happy, and is still looking until he finds a better set of rims.

He's just installed a new stereo mp3/CD player with new speakers, and a UHF radio. The window tint will need to be redone as well. It still needs a bit of a cleanup, but we're going to get a detailer to do the seats and have another go at the paintwork. Next on the list is rust-proofing and then a canopy for the tray, but that can wait until the next serious fishing trip in July.

It's not the turbo we were looking around for, but it isn't the "standard" diesel either. It is an EFI diesel, which apparently has power/performance somewhere in between the standard and the turbo. As long as it can handle towing the boat, fully loaded up with camping gear, that's all that matters.

Who cares! It's still the newest car we've ever owned (at just 4 years old), it has low klms (only 85000) and we got it for an absolute bargain price.

You've gotta be happy with that!

(Sorry for the "marathon" post, people!)

Happy New Year!

OK, OK, so it's a week late, but better late than never!

Hope this finds you all refreshed and relaxed after the Christmas/New Year break, and that you enjoyed your New Year celebrations, whether they consisted of serious partying and drinking, or a quiet one at home with family and friends.

Being "between vehicles" during the Christmas/New Year break, we didn't really get away for a holiday. We did however, manage to spend our New Year's Eve with some friends at their holiday place at Bribie Island - just a few quiet drinks and nibblies in their courtyard.

New Year's Day itself was spent swimming at the beach, playing backyard cricket and just relaxing, before heading home again.

The previous late night (New Year's Eve) really took its toll by mid-afternoon. This photo just proves that kids can sleep anywhere, in any position.

We have finally managed to purchase ourselves a replacement vehicle, but I'll tell you all about that in the next post.