The Housewife Bum

Really.

There's so much I want to say and share but I'm not sure where to start. I may go crazy and start talking to myself, but I thought, what the heck, might as well 'talk' here and pretend you're listening. :)

It's 2 weeks since I'm here and you can say that I'm enjoying my life as a housewife bum at the moment. The hubby wakes up and makes coffee and breakfast for himself and of course there's some for me when I wake up. He goes off to work while I wake up whenever I'm ready. Bliss, eh? :D

Sadly, my complexion has drastically deteriorated and I'm staying off coffee for a while. Boo hoo!

Should there be a need to leave the house (which I make sure I do, because daily fresh air is good), the outfit of the day is dependent on the temperature for the day. Usually it's a long sleeve thermal top with a t-shirt over it and jeans, and a jacket. Gloves are optional, depending on how windy it is. Socks and trainers to complete the outfit, as it is more comfortable for that 10-minute walk.

I honestly don't know how I'll be able to be a fashionista with my mismatched clothing. Sigh. I've been trying to observe the fashion over here and well, it looks like a season for boots. And my boots are still on the way via sea freight. 

I was quite colour coordinated for my You Yangs Trail Run but because it could be a bit windy at times, I kept my thin jacket on. Hmmfh. If I was climatised enough, maybe I would have discarded the jacket. Maybe.

The dinner menu is my responsibility. It's mostly Chinese cooking as the ingredients are cheaper this way. So far I've cooked sweet and sour chicken, turkey sausage spaghetti, stir fried seafood glass noodles, ABC soup, and stir fried vegetables to complete the meal. 

Oh, and braised Vegemite chicken! :D

Not very photogenic, sorry.

The local TV channels are a bore, there's nothing much to follow unless it's MasterChef Australia on weekends. Just yesterday I found Mad About You and Perfect Strangers reruns, oooh!

The first batch of shipment arrived last week and I was quite surprised that unpacking took very little time. They were mostly books, towels, blankets, and bags. And stuffed toys. And my running shoes! :D

But really, now that I have some of my books with me (ooh, so happy!) and the hubby's heavy coffee table books are here too, the place looks a tad bit more homey, especially with a temporary bookshelf in place.

Though I swear I heard him mutter, "Mess!" and "Clutter!" the moment I stepped into the flat and started unpacking 2 weeks ago...

One of the things I wished that Melbourne would have is an English bakery, serving croissants, sausage rolls, pasties, muffins and others would be lovely. I even miss Tesco's butter croissants and jam donuts and cookies. The croissants I ate  here are just not buttery enough, which I find quite puzzling.

What I come across most of the time here are Asian bakeries (egg tarts and bbq chicken puff rocks!) and the ones like back home (Bread Talk, Bread Story, etc) or bakeries I have yet to determine their locale. The price is dollar to dollar, so I really don't feel like spending $4.50 for a pizza bun.

Coffee and Muffin tea time offer for $6.80
at Chadstone Shopping Centre.

Look at the muffins in the picture above. See how compact it is? I think it's mostly flour, but I could be wrong.  I'm just a noob, anyway.

(No offence to Cafe Romano, which serves good coffee.)

Chocolate, however, are the BOMB. It takes pure will power to stop myself from filling up my entire shopping cart with just chocolate. So, you can't blame me for taking 1.5 hours to purchase just 5 items. Half the time is usually spent struggling with myself - put bars of chocolate in basket (2 for $5!), walk away and look for other items on the shopping list, walk back to the chocolate aisle, put back the bars of chocolate, take another one which is just $2 and put into basket, walk away while contemplating whether it was a big mistake, goes back to the chocolate aisle and ponder over the choices and offers, reluctantly walk away to the cashier's and get out of the supermarket immediately!

With 11 weeks to the Melbourne marathon, I reluctantly drew up my training schedule last night. The hubby has to adopt the same one, too, if he wants to keep me company.  :D

The problem is always compromising our LSD with trail runs during the weekends, as an outing in the forest is always much more invigorating.

We have a trail race in August and looking at the elevation map, I'm not even sure whether I can make the 3 hour cut off. *secretly freaks out* But since I have a month to train for it, there are no prizes for guessing where we will be spending the next few weekends. :)

The sub-4:30 marathon training is going to be a tough one. I hope to achieve it!

Otherwise, I will be forced to sign up for a half-marathon in December and once again attempt to achieve the sub-2 which I no longer care for. :D

Aah, I just received a reply from an ex-colleague to my email. I wouldn't have expected him to reply but never mind, it's good for my soul. I'm trying to write letters (again) and proper emails again and boy, it is tough. 

But it's the only way to feel closer to your friends far away. :)