I scored big time today. Absolute big time.
Here's my recipe for success.
Step 1. Get up at 5.30 a.m.
Step 2. Wear a purple t-shirt, grandpa cardigan and beanie saying "Australia's Wonderland".
Step 3. Head to your nearest Baker's Delight.
Step 4. Get this . . . they give out day-old bread to homeless people!!!
It was awesome. I've been eating bread ALL DAY!!
I picked a brown paper bag off the ground, toasted some of it up in the work toaster and offered it to Dave saying I'd bought it at a coffee shop down the road. ("What, there's no Vegemite? Oh, look, I can go get it fixed up . . ." "No, no. It's okay. It's probably better for me this way.")
Awesome.
Lunch consisted of about six pieces of bread with butter nicked from the work fridge.
I mean, who needs to ever go grocery shopping with a system like this??
I don't have to worry too much about dinner because it'll be another nutritious night out at PY, complete with all manner of nutritious junk food. So that should be good.
Debating what to do on the weekend. The bears told me today that I should tidy up the house for Rachel to come home instead of sticking all loose items in the cupboard. I told them that until they grow the appropriate skeletal framework necessary for pushing a vacuum cleaner, they could shut up.
Or, alternatively, I
would clean the house and I could use them to clean the toilet with.
Bromley relented, muttering under his breath.
Quark said that Bromley looked like he
had been used to clean toilet because he was brown. He then laughed too hard and fell off the top of the piano where they've been living for the last two days. I'm not sure where that boy gets his sense of humour from.
Bump. Bump. Ker-Thump...that is the sound of ME driving along a rather rough track down to this gorgeous water hole/dam on the 190,000 acre property my parents live on. It's gorgeous and so quiet and peaceful....getting there isn't!
Lol...
I haven't driven along that track since I took Matt down there for a breakfast picnice a fwe years back. Once we got there I took off my sneakers, rolled up my pants and went for a canoe around the dam. It was pretty muddy and the canoe slipped out as I was getting in so I grab the sides of the boat and get a whopper of a splinter in my hand...a bit is still in there and it's hurting so I'll have to attack it with the splinter remover later but I'm being a bit of a woose and avoiding it at the moment! :)
Oh and did I mention that the dirt had loads of prickles out there? Sore feet too! Lol...I'm a sook huh? Well, anyway, the FUN part was getting the dirty tennis ball and rubbing it in Lydia's hair...
Now for the red dirt part...here's a visual.
That isn't our place but that's the kind of colour the dirt is around here...so now imagine that in runny mud...all over my feet and legs...and I haven't yet washed so I'm feeling pretty grubby! :) It was a fun adventure!
And now my culinary skills are being called on to cook spaghetti bolonaise!
Well, it finally happened . . . I ran out of muesli today. And I blew most remaining food money on pizzas last night. (I was too tired to cook.)
So I had three big glasses of Milo for breakfast, washed down with the remaining four muesli bars in the box. (So I
kind of had muesli.) Was feeling a bit sick by this stage, but at least wasn't feeling hungry . . .
until about 10.30 this morning. Dave went to get his morning cup of coffee of toast and I offered to come along and catch up on how life was going, etc. etc. At the coffee shop, he said the magic words, "Can I get you anything?" So I scored a couple of pieces of toast and vegemite out of that one. (Apparently the big breakfast was stretching the friendship.)
Lunchtime was a bit trickier. I wandered around Greenwood Plaza, hoping there'd be some sort of free food that they'd be giving away. I scabbed a bit from a deli by doing the old, "Can I have a try of that before I buy it? . . . This is rubbish! I'm not buying that!" routine.
Topped it up with raiding the biscuit barrell at the office . . .
Still not sure what to do about food at home tonight, because we're out of leftovers. Hoping somebody brings a packet of biscuits (hopefully two) to Bible study tonight.
By the way, if you want to donate anything, that'd be great. As long as it's in some sort of microwaveable tupperware container that'll be great. And self contained. (I really don't want to bother with any of that, "just put it in the oven for 15 minutes, then sprinkle cheese on it and boil yourself some vegies to go with it" type stuff, so don't worry if that's the best you can offer.)
I was on the way home last night and I was still thinking about the KFC issue. Then, I'm afraid to say, I got hit with a case of pride. "I know how this works," I thought to myself. "I get KFC, blog about it the next day, and everyone will just say, 'Oh, Matt is so hopeless at looking after himself . . .'"
So I decided, "Screw that!" (I probably shouldn't have said it out loud because the guy next to me who was trying his hardest to read a copy of The Purpose-Filled Life while pretending not to read it gave me a bit of a dirty look. I tilted my head to look at his book cover, and he went red and looked away . . .)
Sorry, digression.
I decided to go home and cook. It's not that hard.
So I went for the recipes Rachel had left for me. One I found was for skillet pork chops.
I was okay as far as browning the pork chops went. But then came the moment when I had to mix up a mixture of chicken broth, lemon juice, flour, garlic and onions. I chucked it all in the frypan and then turned to read the next bit of the recipe book.
It told me to cook the mixture up until it was boiling, chuck the browned pork back in (sorry, I forgot to tell you that I'd taken the pork out) and then cook it "but make sure that the broth mixture doesn't evaporate when you're cooking the pork".
Determined to be careful, I turned back to the frypan, only to discover that the mixture had all evaporated anyway (except for garlic and onions, which just don't die). This was an unexpected development . . .
So I chucked some water in just to watch something boil. When I saw some bubbles, I threw the pork in. It still evaporated anyway.
I cooked up some vegetables to have with my pork (which tasted, by the way, like pork with onions and garlic). I'm wondering if KFC would have been better.
Next morning, I decided to take the entire container of muesli to work instead of just a little one with some muesli. (Dave had been giving me flack for "carrying enough Tupperware to put a Sylvania Waters housewife to shame" so I decided to take the whole thing.)
So I took the whole thing in but it only had enough muesli for one bowl. So now I'm going to have to bring a whole bag of muesli in tomorrow. If we've got one in the pantry at home.
Lunch consisted of more garlic and onion pork. Got a longing for Oporto, but I'm out of loose coins. Got hungry about mid-afternoon, so I decided to curb my hunger by hitting into Dave's 4 litres of milk.
Verdict: 1/2 a litre of milk does a better job of simulating morning sickness than filling afternoon hunger cravings.
I wasn't on the internet on the weekend, so we're at Day 5 already.
The weekend wasn't too bad.
Friday night was youth group, so I skipped dinner and just ate supper there. It was a healthy nourishing meal consisting of corn chips, potato crisps and a
lot of Mint Patties (nature's greatest chocolate).
Saturday morning, there was still some muesli in the house, so that was okay. Had friends over to watch nine hours of film (see Arts page). We cleaned out remaining bread rolls in the house for lunch.
For dinner, bought pizzas. Probably should be a bit careful with my food money.
Sunday was good too. Still had breakfast, but finished off the milk. I should buy some more.
Lunch was "Guess Who's Coming to Lunch", so I got a good feed at the Wilsons' house. Skipped dinner again but had supper at Ben and Jackie's which consisted of nourishing mini-meat pies, crackers and dip and ice cream. All in all, I'm being looked after fairly well.
Monday morning was a bit rougher. I found the milk from last week in the fridge at work was off, so I had to throw it out.
Hit Dave for some money for milk. He bought me 4 litres worth . . . hmm . . .
My pay cheque clears tomorrow. It's not like I'm
that broke.
Lunch came around and I had chili again. (I brought the bowl this time ... I'm getting the hang of this stuff.)
Hmm . . . what should I do for dinner, though? I'm feeling too tired to cook.
Hmm . . . I wonder if perhaps cut the corners on filling up the car with petrol this week, I can afford to go to KFC tonight? It sounds like a plan.
Except that I need petrol to get to KFC. A bit of a chicken and egg problem this one.
"But it might go out of fashion and by then we won't be wearing anything!" --Hannah Davis
(My sister refering to the fact that the jumper I'm about to take off Lydia's hands is one she LOVES and couldn't wear for a couple of years anyway.)
I love my sisters!
I don't know about the rest of you but Matt seriously needs some cooking lessons...and how to look after leftovers. :-S
I am enjoying my time outback. It's quiet! No traffic, smog, trains or anything like that! It's great! :) And I have a pile of frozen meals to cook up for the kids and I hope I have better luck than Mr. Matt! Lol....
Well, just wanted to check up on Quark & Bromley. How are they doing Matt?
Dinner last night consisted of some vegetable chili out of the freezer. There was a lot of it, because Rach has dreams of being a camp cook one day.
Anyway, chucked it in the microwave for 10 minutes or so. There was still a big frozen ball in the middle, but I didn't want that much of it anyway, so I just drained out the warm edge bits.
I had it with (light!) sour cream, which was cool, except for the pale yellow shade it's turned. Not sure what's going on there.
Made it through Bible study, anyway, without heaving too much, so it can't have been that bad for me.
This morning (Friday), it was really cold. Which was good, because it means I could just wrap the ball of frozen chili in GladWrap and take it to work that way . . .
Well, that was the plan. It was a packed train on the way in and there was a bit of a hole in the bottom of the bag. It took me about five minutes to explain to the woman next to me that, no, I was not bleeding and then after I'd convinced her of that, five minutes of
very fast talking to convince her I wasn't relieving myself in the train.
Sydney-siders . . .
Anyway, at work now. Further problem with taking ball of chilli to work. What do I microwave it in for lunch? There's no bowl big enough and I don't want to scrape it up off the sides of the microwave.
Ended up throwing it out and buying Oporto instead. I hadn't really budgeted for it, but this is kind of an emergency.
Feel sleepy and bloated now . . .
I'll blog more when I feel more awake.
G'day folks,
The wife has left me (only temporarily, for those of you gasping in shock).
Rach's Mum and Dad are going on a holiday to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, and Rach is going on a holiday to babysit her remaining 5 siblings at that grand old outback homestead "Rockwell".
So I'm left to fend for myself. Bachelor style.
Now, the problem with this whole bachelor thing is I've never actually done it before. The closest I came was when I stayed at Andrew and Fiona's place for two weeks before I got married.
And I only cooked for myself on about two occasions.
So this is going to be interesting.
Anyway, I saw Rach off at the train station this morning. This reminded me of all the times I used to put her on a train going back home to the outback back in the old going out days. However, she never got serenaded by a stuffed bear and a stuffed dog the night before on any of those occasions. But that's off topic . . .
Food eaten so far:
- 1 decaf latte courtesy of the Voodoo Coffe Lounge in North Sydney (bought with left-over train money . . . )
-1 small bowl of muesli brought from home and consumed at desk
-2 squares of Cadbury Chocolate Mousse chocolate.
Still feeling reasonably fit and healthy.
Niggling Bachelor Worry for the Day: What am I going to have for dinner? I know I've got leftovers in the freezer, but I also have a Bible study at my house tonight. They'll arrive at 7.30. I'll get home from work at 6.40.
In just 50 minutes, I've somehow got to fit in 1) Defrosting Dinner, 2) Eating Dinner and 3) Doing Lots of Other Things to Procrastinate on 1) and 2). It's the third one I'm worried about. Am I going to have enough time for it?
This is Bromley!!
I just 'eard that there was a Bear Centre at Coogee!! Can I go??
Are there any grizzly bears there? Let me 'at em!!
Growl! Growl!
Brom
at convincing me that riding the trains is a wonderful way to go...but nada...it ain't working...
We bought a car...for ME!
The Queen of this castle...to only be delayed by my lack of brain power at working out how to get around traffic jams! Muahahahaha!
You my darling husband can enjoy the psyche power of working out when that train will arrive but I shall enjoy the power that comes from getting stuck on the wrong road heading to the city and having to take a detour via the airport! And then...having the joyful experience of discovering the new Krispy Kreme Drive-Thru at the airport!! These doghnuts are really wanting us to buy them and get fat aren't they? How's that for an 8 hour shift at Coogee Bear Daycare center working with the 3 yr olds in the Polar Bear room? (and yes I didn't make up those names!)
By the way, Bromley and Quark should be happy because we pulled out the TV and watched some Olympics tonight. Way to go us Aussies with 5 gold medals already!
My Dad sent me a course on copywriting last week . . .
I don't know how familiar you are with it, but direct response marketing is big in the United States. The idea is to write a letter that is so powerfully convincing that by the time you hit the end of the letter, you want to buy what they're selling. Cheaper webpages can do it as well, because sometimes a few well-placed words can be more effective than heaps of bells and whistles . . .
For an example, the following link is for "The Budget Kit", which is probably
the best budgeting tool I've ever seen:
http://www.moneytracker.com/about-the-budget-kit.htm
It's quite a long page, but it sets out to suck you in to buying the product.
Anyway, I'm going to learn to write that kind of stuff! I'll keep you posted from time to time on what I'm learning . . . . and I promise not to advertise too heavily on this page.
But, I'm thinking that maybe CityRail could do with a bit of publicity:
WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD TIME TO MINGLE AND RELAX AT A TRAIN STATION?
In most busy cities of the world, commuters are in a rush. They're trying to sqeeze on to crowded trains, trying to get where they're going as fast as possible.
What happened to the good old days, when people used to slow down, smell the roses?
At CityRail, we take a different approach. We want you, the consumer, to
enjoy the experience of travelling. We want you to have time to admire our beautiful platforms, watch our awesome StreetVision TVs and just generally relax and think about life.
So our policy is not to run trains through as fast as possible. We space them out a bit. Some people say that we're not keeping with the timetables.
But where's the fun in that? If you get hung up on a timetable, you're going to be a boring person. Where's the spontanaiety? Where's the sense of excitement that comes from looking at the board and wondering if that train (scheduled to arrive in 8 minutes), is going to arrive in 2 minutes or 22 minutes?
Some people say that we make them late for things. But, honestly, is it really that important? Why not take some time out, buy a snack from the vending machine? Try to read that book you never have time for?
Think how much happier your partner will be to see you when you arrive a bit later . . . absence makes the heart, etc.
So next time you're standing on one of our beautiful platforms, playing the Random Train game, take a look around you. See those other people standing around as well? They're real people. They've got anxieties and problems, just like you. Feel the love . . .
Hi everyone,
I feel an apology is in order. According to my wife, it's getting too freaky the way all the stuffed animals in our house are talking. They've been talking to visitors, too . . .
While this goes down well with some people, others don't quite know what to make of it.
So if you were freaked out, I apologise.
Rachel's getting used to them, but she wants to know, "Where do their voices come from???"
I'm not actually sure. I just talk to them and they answer.
Coming from the Land of the One-Week Winter where I used to live, Sydney winters were something of an ordeal for me when I moved down here. I know I grew up here as a kid, but for some reason, I don't remember it being this cold. Maybe I was doing a lot more running around.
Anyway, just went outside this lunchtime to sit on a park bench and read a book and it was COLD . . . so I pulled out of my big jacket pocket my gloves and enjoyed the wonderful sensation of
circulation running through my fingers . . . It was awesome.
Except when it came to turning pages on the book. So I took them off again. I was now happy as far as book-reading went, but I wasn't happy as far as circulation in fingers went . . . am I trying to ask for too much here?
Enough of that . . . cables!! Cables are interesting little things. Our internet and email went down at work today and our sadly underpaid Office Nerd being off for the day, I had to try to work out how the thing worked . . .
It turned out - after many phone calls to our Internet People, a choice exchange of dialogue between My Boss and the Internet People where he informed them that he preferred the Other Internet People, and even a phone call to the off-work Office Nerd - that the problem was a cord in the back of the Internet People's Modem should have been plugged into the hole next to it.
This is why I got my degree, of course . . . If your computer ever shuts down, and you want someone to experiment with randomly plugging a cord in a different hole, give me a call . . .
G'day everyone!
This is Matt . . . and I've decided to blog about
something. It's a bit arty, but if you're interested, I'm talking about "The Relentless Pursuit" on the Matts Arts page . . .
http://mattsarts.blogspot.com
Plus, I'll try to have a few more film reviews up there soon.
