Visiting Wildlife

Every year around this time the Golden Penda trees come into bloom. We have one in our front garden and our next-door neighbours have one in their front garden (right outside our bedroom window).

The Rainbow Lorikeets love the nectar. Often there are half a dozen (or more) feeding at the same time, just metres from our from verandah! It is lovely to sit and watch them. I just wish they weren't quite so noisy!

It's a Nissan...

...and that's my car!

(Pretty sure that's how the jingle used to go, anyway...)

As promised, I've finally gotten around to taking a photo of our new car, so I've put the "before" and "after" pics up for you all to see. We picked it up last Wednesday night, but Steve only did the tinting on it last Friday evening.

Thankfully, this one doesn't require much to be done. Steve has already installed his UHF and aerial, swapped out the original Nissan stereo for our Kenwood mp3 CD player, bought some new speakers for the front doors - for some strange reason the original ones had stopped working - and put his huge spotties on the bull bar. He just has to finish wiring them up properly to a switch on the dash.

He is still undecided as to whether he will keep the styleside tray it has now or whether to change it for an alloy dropside tray. This really depends on whether he can find a fibreglass canopy with the window configuration he wants, at the right price (ie. bargain). In the meantime, he's removed the polished chrome rear carry bar and the cargo pins, so that it looks a little less like a workhorse. (Photo with vehicle facing left is from the Trading Post ad, so you can see the carry racks it had)

All that's left to do now is the rust-proofing - both spray on and electronic, for good measure - and possibly some minor panel work on the dent. You can't really see it in the photo, but it is just above the side indicator on the front driver's side guard.

Hopefully, as this one is a turbo diesel with plenty of power, and isn't even 4 years old yet, he will decide this vehicle is our "keeper"... well, at least for the next half a dozen years anyway!

Fingers crossed!

$7.50 - Bargain!

"$7.50 ...Bargain!" - Jimeoin, comedian.

I'm going to a Black Friday trivia night tomorrow night and naturally, we are supposed to dress in black. OK, better rummage through the wardrobe... I have a perfectly good long black skirt and also a pair of black dress pants... but I seem to no longer own a black top (well, not one that still fits properly, anyway!)

I had to go down to Sandgate yesterday to do some banking for Steve, so while I was there I decided to have a look in a couple of op-shops.

Now, I don't usually have much luck with the op-shops. I either find nothing at all that I like, or I find heaps of fabulous items that are just too small to fit me. Or they fit but are too tight and then I have usual internal debate with myself, "I am going to the gym, maybe if I go a bit more I might actually fit into this eventually, so maybe I should buy it anyway?"



This time a had a blinder. I found a nice black top in the Asthma Foundation shop (see top photo). Halter neck, with cross-over straps in front and a handkerchief hemline. Drapes nicely to cover my pudgy belly. Originally from Espirit. Just have to repair 3 or 4 stitches that have come undone at the top near the straps, and it will be perfect. Cost? $7.50 - bargain! I also bought a cute skirt for Cheyenne for $3, but it will have to go into the cupboard until she grows into a size 6 !!

Then I went next door to the Lifeline store. Clearly, Sandgate gets the pick of the clothes amongst the northside stores... far better than what you can get at the Bracken Ridge one anyway!

I tried on heaps of items, including a gorgeous embroidered blouse and long denim skirt that had embroidered flowers with cut-out petals (both of which were sadly just too tight). Despite my internal debate, I reluctantly put them back.

Since I really needed a new pair of crop jeans (my favourite Target ones having worn through near the crotch), I focused on the rack of denim. I ended up coming away with two denim skirts - one a Levi's brand and the other a stretch denim with cute stars - and a pair of 3/4 hipster jeans (also in top photo). Originally from Colorado, and very, very comfy. Cost for each item? $7.50 - bargain!

I'm most impressed that I managed to acquire four items of clothing for myself for $30. So, even though it was pouring rain and windy at Sandgate and not a really nice day at all, it was still a great day of bargain hunting!

Gotta be happy with that!

The Quick or the Dead

It seems I was wrong.
$19 000 will be enough to purchase a turbo diesel ST-R Navara, after all.

It's all in the timing. When perusing the Trading Post or Carsales.com, the trick is to check daily and be on the ball. If you find a potential vehicle (right car at the right price with low kms) and you don't phone straight away, you will probably find that it has already been sold by the time you get around to it.

After spending Saturday night down the coast, catching up with old friends for North Kirra Surf Club's 60th Anniversary celebrations (Steve's an ex-lifesaver), Steve returned home about 3pm and sat down at the computer to look for a new car. Jackpot! He found a likely candidate in an ad that had only been uploaded Saturday evening. A 2005 model, silver, style-side tray, turbo diesel ST-R Navara with only 150 000 kms on the clock (which is practically new for a diesel engine), at Labrador, for $20 000. It even comes with polished chrome carry bars, for carrying ladders, etc. "You'd get that for $19 000, easily" says Steve. I've said it before... his middle name should be 'haggle' - he will never pay the asking price. So he phoned the seller and asked about the car and whether he'd take $19 000 for it (yes, he would) and told him we'd be down in about an hour to have a look at it. So off we went, to a street at Labrador that Steve had driven right past on his way home earlier! Oh well... you get that!

The paintwork isn't perfect since it has been used as a work vehicle, but most of the scratches (from toolboxes and cabinets, since the current owner is a shopfitter/cabinetmaker) are confined to the inside of the tray. It has a small crease dent on the top of the right front guard, next to the bonnet. He had booked the car in to the panel beaters to get that fixed before selling.

We took it for a test drive, and as you'd expect from a four year old car, it drives perfectly well and has plenty of power. We decided to take it.

Rather than wait another two weeks (the earliest he could get it booked into the panel beaters), Steve asked him if he'd take $18 500 for it and we'd get the dent fixed ourselves. If you know Steve, you know he seems to know someone in every possible trade, and yes, we know a panel beater. He accepted our offer and we gave him $500 deposit. All he has to do now is get the road worthy done (hopefully today) and pay out the remaining amount owing on his lease to release the finance interest. Once the finance company processes his payment and advises him that it is officially "financially unencumbered", he'll give us a call and we will be able to go down to pay him, sign the transfer papers and pick up our new Navara.

At least the search and acquisition process was quick and painless... and did I mention the best bit? It's not white! Thank goodness we won't look like we own another "commercial vehicle". OK, so that might seem minor to you, but trust me, we don't really want to do that again. Not to mention white is too hard to keep looking clean!

After being Toyota owners for the last ten years, we have now crossed over to the 'dark side' and become the owners of a... gasp! ... Nissan. That might take some getting used to.

I'll post some pics when we bring it home.

♫ Money, Money, Money...♫

Nineteen grand. All hundreds. Not something you see very often. Unless of course you win lotto, marry a millionaire, or hit an investment jackpot... or have a successful career in armed robbery, I guess.

We sold our Hilux this morning. The bloke phoned during the week, said he was coming down from Childers this weekend to look at another Hilux on the Sunshine Coast, and ours, if we still had it. He asked if we had the Safety Certificate and paperwork ready to go, because he'd be bringing cash (as long as Steve'd take $19 000 for it, a grand less than the $20 000 we'd advertised it for) and if he liked it, he'd take it straight away.

We had, and he did. He checked it out, took it for a test drive, signed the transfer papers, handed over an envelope full of cash, and drove off in his new car.

Normally banks try to talk you out of hanging onto that much cash. They try to steer you towards a bank cheque (which naturally attracts a fee, so that's better for them) or at the very least, direct deposit. Consequently, we've never seen this much cold hard cash in one place.

Why do people say "cold hard cash" ?? Sure, if you're talking coins, but notes? They're neither cold, nor hard. OK, so maybe I should say a "thick wad of cash", which, let's face it, it certainly was!

Steve and I had a chuckle about it after they'd left. It was just a little bit 'gangster' - his wife pulled this envelope (albeit an ANZ Bank envelope) containing a thick wad of cash done up with rubber bands, out of her handbag. "It's all there, you can count it", she says. It brings to mind scenes from movies. People just don't do that these days, so we had to take a photo for posterity.

You wouldn't believe the cheek of some people though. We'd advertised it for sale at $20 000. It was after all, a 2004 model, with only 86 thousand kms on the clock. Car yards would have been asking over $25 000, and if the paintwork had been pristine, we could have asked a few grand extra as well. As it was, it was nicely priced. Steve received a text on his mobile that said "Mate, I got $15 000. Worth coming to look?" Steve sent a text back "NO". Another bloke sent an email saying "I've got $17 000. I'll take it without the mag wheels and tyres." Seriously? ...um... NO!

$19 000 is probably a bit less that we need to get a decent turbo diesel ST-R Nissan Navara, but still a couple of grand more than the Hilux owed us, so you have to be happy with that!

This means that the hunt for a replacement vehicle can now begin in earnest... AGAIN !

I don't even want to think about that just yet.

There goes another one!

Well, last night Cheyenne lost her second tooth! In typical Cheyenne style, this is happening with as little fuss as when she first cut her teeth as a baby. (We were very lucky with her when she first cut her teeth - no inconsolable crying, no temperatures, no sleepless nights...)

Both times now she has been eating, and she has stopped chewing, calmly handed the tooth over and continued eating. Steve and I are amazed that she has somehow managed not to swallow them.

So far there are no more loose teeth - but if the process continues at this rate then I fear that the Global Financial Crisis will hit Fairyland and the Tooth Fairy will suffer her own 'credit crunch' !

Once again , Cheyenne was excited to receive money from the Tooth Fairy. "Look what she left me!" When Steve asked her how she knew that it wasn't a he, Cheyenne informed us that "Only boys have boy tooth fairies"

So now you know!