Today I'm thankful for...

- a pasta shop within walking distance of our current apartment. It makes heavenly pasta - fresh and cheap. Hallelujah!

- my absentee ballot arriving! CO already mailed his back to his state of residency. I got my ballot in the mail yesterday from Hawaii and am researching the issues on the ballot. Hmm... I have to figure out what I think about cannabis enforcement?

- chocolate. It makes me happy.

- the fact I don't have to work tomorrow! Woohoo! No screaming at me by some little "ankle-biter" tomorrow!

- all the friends/family having babies.

- my family's health. I'm reading My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. It's really interesting.

- the chance to live in Australia. We're loving it! (As evidenced by the fact my husband got to go surfing at Bells AGAIN today!).

- my CO having a stable, good job that he enjoys. He really believes in what the Coast Guard does and really likes his job. I'm thankful they sent him to grad school and consented to let us go to Australia for part of it.

- my birthday being a short time away. Well, I might as well celebrate it!

We finished :)

We did it! CO and I ran the entire 10K race - even without training adequately! We finished at a not-so-glamorous time of 1:06, but hey... not too bad!

I'm Miss Grumpy Pants right now, as I often am on Tuesdays after I spend my first of three days nannying. Today was mostly good, but in the last hour, he tried to bite me because I wouldn't do something. That makes me cranky.

In other news, I'm reading Cry the beloved country. And loving it.

Nobody likes a grumpy pants, so I'm going to go and get some food. Adios, keiki.

Spring is in the air!

Today was a lovely day in Melbourne (as was yesterday!). Yesterday, CO and I headed out to Bells Beach and he went surfing. I was content reading on the beach with the sun warming my skin and a slight breeze on my face. It was delightful!!

The trees are in bloom (and allergy season is in full swing) and St Kilda Road is absolutely gorgeous. It's lined with elm trees and is one of my favorite parts about traveling around the city. The Yarra River was lined with people out enjoying the sun, and people were basking on the steps in Federation Square.

Tomorrow, CO and I are going to run 10K as part of the Melbourne Marathon races. Let's hope we don't die. :S It should be gorgeous, but we haven't trained as well as we should have... oh no!

Happy Tuesday to me!

Oh, my CO is so cute!! He's the perfect little student. It's so cute to watch him prepare for class. He's so organized, with notebooks and color-coordinated folders (I bought him those). He's more into it than I was for my master's... oops.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. The boy that I nanny for was pretty good today, and we only had a few minor screaming incidents (him, not me). I stood my ground (if you keep screaming, we're going to leave the park right away) but it was hard.

We moved into our new apartment yesterday and it's pretty good. The rent is only 3x what we pay for our monthly mortgage payment, but it's short term. Plus, CO really likes the area we're in. I liked our last one better, but hey, we still live together.

Well, I'm off to buy an iron.

Cheers!

No oven.

My limited menu of things that I can make that CO will eat has now been blown to bits (fine fine, perhaps I exaggerate just a little). We moved into an apartment today that does not have an oven/stove. It does have a hotplate... uh... ok. Perhaps I'm just too tired to think correctly. What in the world will I cook???

Semper paratus, I guess... no, it's more like semper gumby.

You'd think that this close to China...

... we'd be able to find something that CO likes. He loves Moo Goo Gai Pan, and asks for it in Australian Chinese restaurants. And they look at him like it means "Stupid American hates your mother." Does anyone know what it is and how we can describe it to someone??

It's a small world...

Yesterday I was watching the morning news while getting ready and one of the stories talked about Michigan. They did the little tag and mentioned violence in Michigan. I rolled my eyes, thinking CO had more fuel for his Michigan teasing, but kept the tv on that station, my curiousity piqued. As it turned out, there was a story about a little town called Grand Rapids (lol) and a pillow fight held there over the weekend. I kept watching, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. How strange to be in Melbourne, hearing news about GR!

And then, yesterday on the train, I sat next to a couple of Brazilian women and their children. I got to practice my Portuguese. I'm getting kind of rusty at speaking - the words don't come to mind as quickly as they used to :( but I held my own and could converse pretty well. Funny that out of a whole train, I sat next to them!