Helpful Mr Y

I have had a cassette stuck in my car radio for months now. Yes, I still have a cassette radio in my car. Awhile ago when my mum was borrowing my car, she decided to listen to some 'Hottest Hits Volume 1' and well somehow the tape got stuck. Since then we have not been able to listen to the radio at all, so I have been forced to entertain Mr Y with my singing. I am not sure if this is the reason but last night Mr Y decided he would try and fix it.

All was going okay until he had to take apart a large piece of my dash board to remove the radio. Now I love him, but I have to admit that I did not have complete faith in his ability. All was going well until he brought my radio inside and was poking and proding it trying to get the tape out. He then informs me that we can never listen to another cassette again oh and he may have stopped the radio from working aswell.

So...the reason you're trying to fix it would be???

So there he was trying really hard to get the tape out and to my surprise, it worked. My car was in bits but at least the tape was out =). He then went back to the car, put the radio back in and reassembled the dash. He then could not get the face back onto the radio. He used all sorts of things to push it back on. He then tried something else and it snapped in two...I was fine with it being something useless, however what did Mr Y use?...my car key.

No radio and no way to get to work tomorrow. Luckily mum had a spare key and I was able to get her copy this morning before work. The radio went back in without a face on it, possibly never to work again.

Right now Mr Y is outside fixing the radio, my dash is off but the radio once again has a face.

Mr Y has just walked in...job done AND I now have a working radio.

I wonder what he would do if I decided to play some hottest hits...?

Psst..I have the stuff

When I arrived home from work, Mr Y had linked a news story to me. Normally he does find all the strange stories in all the spare time he has.

I had to share this one though...

The story is about a cucumber heist..yes, someone is stealing cucumbers from various places. I'm not quite sure what the motive is, perhaps someone who holds a grudge against cucumbers. Perhaps it is all vegetables in general. Perhaps it is someone who doesn't have a green thumb...

I would really like to know what they are doing with all the cucumbers. Where are they? In a carpark of a supermarket peddling cheaper stolen cucumbers????

Check it out here

Mamma Mia!

I have found a new way of annoying Mr Y....watching Mamma Mia! I know he's trying to ignore it and play his playstation but you can't avoid the music! I see him rolling his eyes every now and again and every so often, he gets a little smirk of amusement.

I have to say, I love this movie. It is so over the top that it's hilarious. Pierce Brosnan really should never be allowed to sing!

Moving? argh!?!?!

I am tired of the packing and moving furniture! I think it would just be easier to pick up our unit and move it to the new neighbourhood.

Baby Fever

We organised a Friday night dinner with a bunch of friends, most who were there, I went to High School with. Mr Y has been missing food from back home, so we decided that we would find a restaurant that served Middle Eastern food. (Beautiful restaurant actually and great Medditeranean/Middle Eastern food, check it out http://www.byblos.net.au/index.php)

We were just on dessert when my friend of 15 years leans over and passes me this little white piece of paper. I open it up and there is this little black and white 'ink blot' shall we say, that resembles a baby. Well I was so excited, another friend of mine is having a baby. Due in January, which means a hot summer pregnancy, so I feel for the girl but I am so happy for her.

Well until we hear her lovely story about the ultra sound.

Apparently she did not know she had to drink plenty of water before it, so the doctor had to take the picture in another, more creative way. I wish that these were the words she used, however we were lucky enough to hear graphic details.

Mr Y is now of course worried that I will be pushing for a baby. Is it so hard to believe that I am really happy for my friends who are pregnant and not actually want a little bundle of my own...yet?

What baby..?!?

Mr Y was putting away my washing. He had just put away my underwear and turns to me with Winnie the Pooh pilchers.

Mr Y: umm, what are these?
Me: a nappy (couldn't think of the word at the time and I WAS reading a book)
Mr Y: Yuck.
He drops it to the floor
Me: No it's not a nappy nappy, it's pilchers
Mr Y: What is a pilcher and why do we need one?
Me: It's what you put on a baby after you have put on a nappy.
Mr Y: WHAT baby?????
I turned away and smiled...I love doing that to him.

Mr Y: WHAT BABY?????

Teaching Mr Y

Okay so Mr Y went out and got his Learners Driving Licence. Him, having never driven before I was a little reluctant to take him out. I have only been driving since 2004 myself and though I am a teacher, it appears I might not be as good with adults. I am not quite sure about how I am supposed to teach him but I think we are getting better.

The first time I took him in the car, it was on a public holiday in a deserted carpark. It involved mainly a little gasping (not in the good way), holding on to the dash board and 'umm curb', 'umm pole'. This made him state that he can not possibly drive and look at the same time...I foresee some problems.

The second time I let him drive out onto the side streets. Much better...until he decided that "BRAKE" was not specific enough in directions. I shouted, for the first time...though maybe not my finest point...I was scared and I think that is a good enough defence. This time it did end up in an argument and it seemed we weren't even arguing about the same thing.

The third time...Today.

Much Much Better. We decided on a few code words to remind him to actually look...like 'Check your blind spot honey' became "BS!". I am never allowed to shout apparently even if we are careening towards a fence/curb/dog/person. I am to say calmly that maybe just perhaps he may want to brake. We'll see how that works out.

I have to give credit where it is due. For a person who has never driven before to improve so fast, is amazing. I'm really happy for him, could even say proud.

Another Saturday

Mr Y woke up this morning and was determined to do something. He jumped onto the computer and checked out 'The List'. It's a list of places to go and things to do in Adelaide that I collected, since he was very new to town.

Where did we end up???

A Medical Centre that is open on Saturdays....this isn't normal so the whole population of Adelaide was there. The wait wasn't terrible though, so I guess we were lucky.

I have tonsilitis. Yay!

He is so very good when I am sick. He has made me tea and made sure I was taking my tablets, checked my temperature and when I called my mum he made sure to tell her he was taking care of me and that my fever was under control.

Right now he has adventured outside to walk to Hungry Jacks (Burger King...for all those who aren't on Australian shores). It is rather cold and possibly will rain any minute. I can't give him total credit, he is probably hungry himself.

He has been great though. I am probably not as nice to him when he is sick, however he can be a little pitiful when he's sick. =)

Another good reason to be in a relationship...

We went to a BBQ recently for lunch. It was 2 of my friend's birthdays so we decided that we would have lunch to celebrate. Each of us said we would bring a salad and I was designated potato salad maker, completely unfairly..I wasn't even there when it was all planned. However unfair, I googled (I heard it's a verb now) 'potato salad recipe'. I have been a potato salad eater for a very long time, but generally someone else had made it or it came in a lovely plastic container from Woolworths.
So, I printed off two different recipes and armed with these, Mr Y and I hit the shops. I had every intention of buying the mayo and putting in all sorts of herbs, but down the same aisle in a pretty little jar was 'Potato Salad Dressing', so we cheated. I came home, boiled potatoes and so I didn't feel totally useless I diced one red onion to put in the salad. It looked really good and a taste test, well it was indeed a potato salad.
I was pretty satisfied with it but driving to my friend's house I suddenly thought what if no one eats the salad? I didn't want my salad to look bad, so I leaned over to Mr Y and told him that he was responsible for eating the bowl or at least half of the bowl of my potato salad. And so he didn't feel that the idea was totally ridiculous, I gave him the name of my salad buddy. He laughed at me.

Packing

Mr Y must be getting very bored at home during the day. Everytime I come home there is another box packed and I have no idea what is in it. He has been pretty good putting labels on most boxes but I can't pinpoint where anything is.

I am pretty excited to be moving but I have no idea where to begin. There is only 2 rooms but about 6 rooms worth of crap.

My Week

Quite a few things have happened in the last week

I seem to greet everyone with 'Do you have any boxes?'
Had a fight with Mr Y.
Made up with Mr Y.
Mr Y broke my mobile phone.
Mr Y fixed my phone.
All hell broke loose at work.
Became the Union Rep for work.
Came home to complain about work.
Saw the movie "I love you Man". Slightly disappointed.

Not really as exciting as I had hoped!

Moving House

We have just found out we are moving house. It will be nice to get out of this tiny place but I am looking around at all 'our' junk (mostly mine) and kind of dreading the thought.

Planning a wedding

There are women who have wondered about their wedding day and began the planning before they had even found anyone to you know, be the groom. Since I got engaged I had been pretty indecisive because I didn't have a plan. On the upside, without a plan, I was open to almost every suggestion. I did a lot of reading of bridal magazines, specifically "My Wedding" and came across many gorgeous ideas.

One of the deciding factors for me, was the cost of the wedding. I refused to end up 'majorly' in debt, and we considered the wedding, one day of the rest of our lives. I wanted the day to be beautiful, fun and relaxed, without the regret a year later when we can't have the things we want because we were in debt.

Some of the better ideas I came across were

• fairy lights - use them to wrap around objects like a wire ball. Hang them from the roof, possibly above the dance floor.

• Instead of a guest book, spray paint a tree branch silver, or a colour that matches your wedding. Place it in a vase with pebbles so it is able to stand. Guests then write on little cards (business card sized) to hang from the branch. Great if you want to keep these to place in a photo album.

• Buy paper latterns to hang from the ceiling. You can buy them from all types of stores, from Cheap as Chips to Homeart and Ikea.

• Buying the same gift for every guest can become very expensive, and does not allow for individuality. Have a lucky dip that guests are able to 'choose' their own gift. Guests are then able to swap their gifts if they wish.

• If the ceremony and the reception are held in the same place, during the photos, hire some entertainment such as a belly dancer, bag pipes, dancers, characterturists etc.

• As a bomboniere, consider a pebble/paperweight with the bride and groom's name and date on it.

• Add bright fresh fruit to your table settings in a bowl. eg. lemon, oranges and limes.

• For an outside wedding give each guest a pot and a preplanted seedling. Write your names and date of the wedding on the pot.

I found that while looking through magazines, I saw things that could be made much cheaper than it would cost to buy them. If you don't mind putting in the time, it can save you a fortune.

Antagonising Mr Y

Going from a relationship via webcam to living with Mr Y has a long list of benefits...There are times I wish that I could just switch off the webcam however my favourite game lately goes a little like this....

Me: I'm thirsty
Him: What do you want? We have juice or coke.
Me: Whatever...I'm not fussed
He brings over the juice
Me: awww I wanted coke!

It works for many things..what to eat for dinner, what to watch etc etc Cute maybe for the first 5 secs but it soon wears off.

In search of work

At the moment I am stuck in a job that I am not happy in. Well that's not totally true, I am very happy with my job, just not my work place. So we have decided that Mr X has to get any job he can so I can leave next year even just for me to do some relief teaching.

I was just looking at this teaching website and there are so many jobs available, some don't have dates they commence, which is really not helpful. Mainly though, the jobs are all interstate or overseas. I would be more inclined to go overseas than interstate, because it would then serve more as a working holiday. The problem is that we have to be in the country so that Mr X can be given permanent residence. Adelaide isn't panning out too well for him and at the moment the Junior Primary positions are pretty dead.

So here we are, struggling with my current wage but we're together so the phone bills have gone down...I guess it all evens out =) (as you can see Mr Y has rubbed off on me and I'm just grappling to find a positive hehe)

Migration

It appears that my boobs are heading south for Winter.

Marriage Advice

Mr Y was recently told that while I may be the best thing in his life there will be times that he will want to cheerfully choke me.

umm....thanks?!

The C word...

Children.

Okay, first thing you hear is 'go out and meet someone' so you meet the guy...you date 'when are you 2 going to get married?' ...you get married to your mum's delight and next starts 'when you going to have a baby?'...what question is left?

The decision to have children is a pretty serious one, and one that we haven't made. It seems to be the question everyone asks...'So when are you going to have a baby?'. We don't have an answer yet but I swear I'm talking him around! =)

How we met

I always get asked how Mr Y and I met. I guess it's because he wasn't born here and until last year, had never been to Australia. They envisage this wild, passionate holiday romance and it really wasn't like that, or maybe in the couple of years of comfortableness I have forgotten.

Surprise, Surprise, it all started on the Internet. We were both in this chat room on www.okcupid.com one night in September (which they have removed now, but the site is still there). He was actually being annoying and generally driving people crazy. Turns out this is his default setting. Something about him though, got my attention. We chatted that first night until 6am and then everyday for the next 3 months.

At the time I was living overseas and was a 'free spirit', or at least behaving like one. Everything I did was rather spontaneous and fun. It seemed perfectly sane travelling to another country to meet him, until I boarded the plane, when it set in that I was about to meet someone that I had only seen on web cam. Obviously, as it turns out, this was the best decision I could have made, insane or not.

Before leaving, I had been talking to Mr Y about how I was disappointed I was missing out on Christmas with my family. Where I was living at the time, Christmas was seen as a time to put up pretty lights, but life went on as normal and people went to work on Christmas Day. The same could be said about where Mr Y lived but this was so very different from my home. I come from a family, where Christmas had always been a huge part of our lives. Everyone eats until they can't fit anything more in and if you didn't believe in Santa or at least pretend to, you didn't get presents.

As it happened, the only flight available was on Christmas Eve, arriving early Christmas morning. I really didn't need to worry though. I had my Christmas Day. Mr Y met me wearing a Santa hat (he had stolen from a friend of his) and clutching a little Christmas tree. It was the sweetest (yet a little strange) thing anyone had ever done for me. Mr Y has since done many more of these weird, sweet things to cheer me up.

After that first meeting, our lives never really went back to normal. I moved back home after a year overseas and we continued chatting daily. We really had no idea how it was going to work out but we both wanted it to. I swear friends thought I was making him up and couldn't understand why I was turning down dates with others. My mum was worried about me sitting around waiting for someone that might never be able to come to Australia. It wasn't until we started the VISA process that they finally understood how serious we were.

2 years after we met, Mr Y arrived in Australia and everyone was there to see us get married. I wouldn't ever recommend this to anyone, the wait was full of ups and downs, but it worked for us...eventually.

OCD...Oh calm down

Mr Y and I have discovered things about each other that has been driving the other crazy. I am not exactly the neatest person in the world...okay well honestly, I don't like mess but I can definitely tolerate it. I then get into this weird cleaning mood where EVERYTHING gets cleaned all at once and is left untouched...allowed to get messy again until that point where I can no longer tolerate it and the cycle begins again.

This drives Mr Y crazy...and well it drives me crazy that he cares so much. He will empty out any handbag I am not using at the time...the minute the drink is finished, the cup is taken away from me...my shoes that I was wearing are put on a shoe stand straight away and I hear complaint after complaint about the crate of shoes I have in the bottom of the wardrobe...food is not allowed to be 'almost finished', so Mr Y will eat it just for the sake of being able to throw the packet away (our food bill is tripled!). I swear the boy has OCD.

On the plus side, I have what every woman wants...a man who cleans up, does dishes, does my washing, brings it in from the line and puts out the rubbish bins. It is also a rare occasion that the toilet seat is left up!

Mother in law

Should it worry me that my mum appears to love Mr Y that little bit more?

I'll chalk it up to her never having to clean up after him all those years.

Our Wedding Playlist

It took me ages to organise our music for the wedding (Mr Y was not any help at all). I googled "wedding playlists" and found page after page and from all of these, I made our own. I hope it will be helpful.

Start of the Reception
1. Norah Jones - Come Away With Me (3:05)
2. Faith Hill - Breathe (4:11)
3. Amanda Marshall - Marry Me (3:51)
4. Brian Adams - When You Love Someone-Hope Floats (3:39)
5. Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman (2:53)
6. Garth Brooks - To Make You Feel My Love (3:54)
7. Seal - Love's Divine (4:37)
8. Chantal Kreviazuk - Feels Like Home (4:43)
9. Ronan Keating - if tomorrow never comes (3:36)
10. Elvis Costello - She (3:08)
11. Aaron Lines - You Can't Hide Beautiful (3:38)
12. Colin Hay - Beautiful World (4:04)
13. Leonardo's Bride - Even When Im Sleeping (3:54)
14. James Morrison - You Make It Real (3:31)
15. Lifehouse - You and Me (3:16)
16. Robbie Williams - Better Man (3:22)
17. Colbie Caillat - Bubbly (3:17)
18. Jack Johnson - Cupid (1:05)
19. Ben Harper - By my side (3:32)
20. Jason Mraz - You And I Both (3:38)
21. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Somewhere Over The Rainbow (4:49)
22. Rolling Stones - Under The Boardwalk (2:48)
23. Temptations - Lean on Me (3:59)
24. Ben E. King - Stand By Me (2:57)
25. Sam Cooke - Wonderful World (2:07)
26. The Archies - Sugar,Sugar (2:49)
27. Stevie Wonder - Isn't She Lovely (3:20)
28. Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get It If You Really Want (2:41)
29. Frankie Valli - Can't Take My Eyes Off You (3:23)
30. James Taylor - How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You) (3:39)
31. Various Artists - Someone Like You (4:08)
32. Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight (3:41)

33. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Down On The Corner (2:47)
34. Otis Redding - Love Man (dirty Dancing Soundtrack) (2:16)

Our Dances (7.25)
1. Pretenders - I'll Stand By You (3:58)
2. Jack Johnson - Better Together (3:27)

Fast Dance (8pm-9pm) (1.10.11)
3. B-52s - Cosmic Thing - 04 - Love Shack (5:21)
4. Ike and Tina Turner - nutbush city limits (3:04)
5. The Beatles - I Saw Her Standing There (2:55)
6. stealers wheel - stuck in the middle (3:29)
7. Letters to Cleo - I Want You to Want Me (3:26)
8. Fefe Dobson - If You Walk Away (3:47)
9. Kid Rock - All Summer Long (4:56)
10. Wes Carr - You (3:16)
11. Ben Lee - Catch My Disease (4:14)
12. The Rolling Stones - Everybody Needs Somebody To Love (5:04)
13. Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine (5:56)
14. Hootie & the Blowfish - Only Wanna be With You (3:46)
15. Jet - Get What You Need (4:07)
16. Joss Stone - Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin on Me?), Pt. 1 (4:20)
17. TOPLOADER - Dancing in the moonlight (9:44)
18. Wonders - ThatThingYouDo (2:46)

Mixed Dance (9pm-10.30pm) (1.43.16)
19. Josh Kelley - You're Amazing (3:34)
20. 243 - Bad Company - Feel Like Making Love (5:10)
21. Eva Cassidy - Songbird (3:44)
22. NORAH JONES - Don't Know Why (3:06)
23. Van Morrison - Brown Eyed Girl (3:07)
24. Stevie Wonder - Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours (2:41)
25. Howie Day - Collide (4:09)
26. Edwin McCain - I'll Be (5:29)
27. Mary J Blige - one mary j. blige featuring u2 (4:21)
28. Rob Thomas - Little Wonders (3:48)
29. Ronan Keating - the way you make me feel (3:40)
30. Newton Faulkner - Dream Catch Me (3:56)
31. Kings of Leon - Use Somebody (3:53)
32. Billy Currington - Must Be Doing Something Right (4:00)
33. Goo Goo Dolls - Iris (4:51)
34. Harry Connick, Jr. - (I Could Only) Whisper Your Name (4:50)
35. James Blunt - High (4:03)
36. John Hiatt - Have a little faith in me (4:04)
37. Van Morrison - These Are The Days (5:11)
38. Joshua Kadison - Beautiful In My Eyes (4:08)
39. Otis Redding - Midnight Hour (2:20)
40. The Romantics - What I Like About You (2:55)
41. Texas - When We Are Together (3:30)
42. Tonic - If You Could Only See (4:23)
43. Jason Mraz - I'm Yours (4:02)
44. Big Mountain - Baby, I Love Your Way [1994] (4:21)

Slower music (end of reception)
45. Roachford - Lay Your Love On Me (4:05)
46. Love Actually - Wherever You Will Go (3:27)
47. Ronan Keating - when you say nothing at all (4:19)
48. Alan Jackson - Remember When (4:30)
49. Ryan Cabrera - True (3:24)
50. Sam Cooke - Cupid (2:38)
51. Etta James - At Last (3:00)
52. Pulp Fiction - Let's Stay Together - Al Green (3:18)
53. Lenny Kravitz - Stand By My Woman (4:19)
54. World Party - She's The One (4:51)
55. Norah Jones - Turn Me On (2:34)
56. Nat King & Natalie Cole - Unforgettable (3:29)

The Wedding

After months and months of planning, the wedding is over. The cars were late and when we arrived at the ceremony they didn't drive to where they were supposed to! My mum was running around the garden, forgetting all about what we had practiced. It was very classy with my mum holding about 5 handbags running back and forth, and then back to the car to tap on my window..."Are you ready?"

Mr Y was apparently very nervous before I arrived, because it wasn't perfect and he didn't want me to be disappointed...aww. The day did not go exactly to plan but the guests didn't notice and we weren't about to tell them. All up it was very beautiful and very relaxed.

We had a cocktail reception, which meant no planning table settings or having to pick different courses. It was so nice actually being able to socialise with all our guests instead of being behind a bridal table and sticking to a schedule. Cocktail receptions work well for very formal and informal weddings, with the advantage of actually being able to thank individual people for coming and in my case, I don't think there was even one person I didn't get to talk to....even Mr Y had a good time!

The night before the wedding

Today Mr Y and I went shopping again. I actually bought myself some jewellery to wear. This wedding has cost us quite a bit of money (though rather 'inexpensive' from what I have heard about other weddings)...anyways I have been buying my bridesmaids' jewellery and all the other little bits and pieces that I have gone without. Right now I have dye in my hair that I have done myself. I figured that if it has worked every other time and looks good then why not now? It may have been a little stupid to do this the night before the wedding, but well everything else has been so carefully planned, that my hair was kinda forgotten.

We got our first wedding present today, a beautiful stand for the bathroom. We can now be one of those couples who display their towels for the world to see. This will probably help save some space too. We are going a little crazy in this small 2 bedroom unit. Mr Y is used to living in an apartment overseas that is the size of a decent 3 bedroom home. When we have a fight, there's nowhere to go!

The Playlist

I have spent about the last 2 hours putting the playlist together and finding songs that run smoothly into the next...Where is Mr Y?...asleep in bed. There better not be any complaints about the music! =)

Two days before the wedding

Mr Y and I picked up the bridesmaid's jackets today but the dressmaker had not finished my jacket or hemmed the last dress. I'm getting a little worried that I don't have them in my hands yet, TWO days before the wedding. They are now going to be delivered tomorrow, let's hope they fit because there is little we can do the day before the wedding.

We have yet to finish the play list, wrap the bombonaire's, visit the function centre and find me some stockings. Right now, instead of doing any of these things, Mr Y is on his playstation and I'm watching That 70s Show...right on schedule.