I'm back! What's been happening part 1!!

Ok so I know I haven't wrote a post in over 9months I know it's crazy and its been a crazy year. Since November alone we have moved 3 times to 3 different states!!

We went from north dandalup just down the road to pinjarra, after 3months after tommy being told his company wouldn't sponsor him, but on of his friends told him he could get a job in Qld with sponsorship doing the same job. So after thinking hard we decided to take the chance and just go for it!

And a week later after giving my notice at the bakery we were on the road, ill post more on this later, but 5days later we arrived in Dalby Qld. Tommy started work straight away and within a week I had a job as p/t assistant manager of Dough-licious pizzeria. The one problem was I was only getting 12 hours a week and it was when tommy was home from work, and a 3hour shift, and I had mixed feelings about it but they promised me that after march I would be full time and moved up to manager after another month.

And even though it was crap at the start I was glad it was going to get better and I would have a good job again with a good wage again, not that I hated the bakery, I loved it there and working with all the girls and Narda was so good to me. I had learned heaps working here and will take a lot of that to future jobs I will get.

But I was sick on being on a visa restriction were I could work for only 6months and I seemed to be getting jobs where I was on either a low wage or didn't get enough hours and even though this would be a slight step up at least I would be full time eventually!! But the pizzeria was hard at the start there wasn't enough organisation and we just didn't seem to gel right, some nights were great and then others not so. Then one night I got a call form the owners asking if I could run the place for the next 2night as the other manager was sick, and it was horrible, I hadn't made dough since I had stared and I didn't leave it out long enough to rise. Later on that night both I came back from doing delivery after delivery to discover the new dough was making bubbles every where and the kids were remaking loads of pizzas, I just wanted the ground to eat me up, at least we were up at the til on the end of the night.

And then the next day I was in close with my house mate and I got a call, it was tommys mam and I knew something was wrong straight away as it was the middle of the night in Ireland. Tommys grandad was after dying and I could hear the hurt in her voice, but he had a good life and he was nearly 96. When I got off the phone I had to ring tommy and break the news to him and the surprising thing was he took it better than I did! That night was horrible in work again but enough of that!

When I got home that night to talk to tommy we spent nearly 3 hours talking about what to do and if we should go home for the burial or not, and end the end we decided to go as we both weren't happy and we should go and support his family while we could both take the time off under the circumstances it would be better to go home now than if we changed jobs we would be able to get time off later in the year when we were looking at going.

But it's getting close to my bed time so ill wright part 2 tomorrow:)
Night everyone!
Mel

Tommy loading up the trailer!

Did u know??

I never knew this till two weeks ago but our local Libary offers the option to rent out magazines! I thought this was amazing! I dont buy a load of magazines every month, but now I don't have to buy them any more unless of course the come with an amazing freebie!
But now I can rent them instead, they have a huge selection including better homes and gardens, quilting magazines, money, handyman etc.

It's a great way to save money, with out loosing out at the same time! Plus you will always have access to the, instead of buying them, reading, throwing them out and in 6months time realize they had the special article and your kicking your self! All you have to do is pick it up from the Libary!

Hope this help someone out there!

Meet up

Any one a member of meetup.com?
I joined a while ago but only really joining the groups now. Basically it's a world wide site where you can make friends and find groups with interested that suit you.
At the moment I'm a member of Irish and new in Perth, Perth cash flow and crafternoon perth.
I might in the future set up a group nearer to home as these are all in the city, but right now I wouldnt have a clue!

Want to know what we get up to? Well to night I'm meeting the Irish group for dinner at little creatures in freo, which I can't wait to check out!! And hopefully next Sunday if I'm off work I'll get to go to meet the cash flow group!

I'm also checking out the mandurah camera club Monday night, to see if I want to join, and hope fully get my camera off auto, I'll let you know how that goes next week!

What are your thought on groups? Let me know! I think they are a great way to meet new people, learn new skills and of course have fun!

Zoila's op shop

I spotted a new (well new to me) op shop in mandurah today. I really like it because they have loads of furniture, kitchen stuff and books.
It's a little bit cluttered but I personally don't mind this because it makes finding that little treasure that bit more special!!
They also hand out free lemons! I don't know how or way they do this, didn't get a chance to ask as the place was busy.

I guess your wanting to know what I scored?!!

I picked up 7 books for $1!! It was 10 for a $1 but I couldn't make up the 10. The funny thing is they probably all came from the same person, as they are all about money!

How to own your own home years sooner! Without making extra payments by H. Gill & S.

Building wealth story by story, building wealth in changing times and building wealth through investment property. All by Jan Somers

Rich dad's guide to investing by Robert T. Kiyosaki

Introductory accounting principles and practice by Leo Duffy and Ian Monro.

And finally how to make money byJ.D. Thornton, which turns out to be a kids book, but I'm going to read it anyway, you'd never know it could be the one with the best advice!

Anyone read any of these? Let me know what you think!

Organising all your loyalty cards.

I was in Kmart the other day getting a few things and I came across a leather business card holder, so I picked it up for either $6 or $8 bucks, can't remember which!!

And I have to say its perfect, I have the cards grouped by, shopping, restaurants, craft, clothes etc.

It make finding them a breeze, and not spending 5mins at a checkout going "I know it's in here somewhere" while rummaging through your purse like a crazy person!!

In other news I'm trying to sit down for a couple of hours durning the week to get some posts wrote, to try and keep the blog updated a lot more. Hopes I can keep finding something interesting to write about, and know to bore you all to tears, I think it will get better when I have my machine paid off as I can show you what I'm working on and my adventures in learning to garment sew!

Any ideas are greatly welcomed! Or if there is any thing you want to ask me just let me know:)

Mel!

How to get the most out of your local Spotlight.

So I when into Spotlight yesterday for a browse and also because I have a voucher that needed to be used up by tuesday. And this it what I walked out with:

I got the Gutermann thread for $2.68 each so 4x 2.68 is $10.72.

And this dress pattern which was $21 for only $0.49. Yep only $.049.

So a total of $11.20 and not $31.72 which I would have paid of I didn't have that voucher or the VIP card.

So to show you how I saved this much, I was wondering around the store not really sure of what I would be spending my money on.

I seen that some of the patterns were half price for card members, and that makes the one I picked up $10.49, next I decided to pick up some thread as you seen above.

When I got to the counter I made sure to have my voucher and cards at the ready and that's how you do it!!

So some tips!

Make sure you always have your spotlight VIP member card. They have lots of specials just for members.

Always pick up their magazine, the is always some sort of voucher in it. It used to come out seasonally but it looks like they have started bringing it out monthly and it's only $.99.

Try to bring in a bag with you or do with out, as they have another card with 20% 1 fully priced item off after 5 shops. You can pick this up at the counter.

And finally become a member of their Facebook page, they are always holding competitions for gift cards, and you'll always know of anything happening in store!

I hope this helps someone!!

P.s I just applied for a job in my local shop, hopefully I'll hear back from them soon:)

My soon to be sewing machine:-)

Sew when I was at the quilt show the other week, I looked at the sewing machines and left there even more confused! I had kinda had decided between either Janome or Viking. after a couple of sales people at the show I had kinda decided to get a more basic machine and in a couple of years upgrading to a better machine with the same company so that all the feet would be compatible. I really liked the Viking Sapphire range especially the high end version and the Janome Horizon, I no I no I'm only a beginner, but you always want the best don't you!

Sew a couple of days later I while sitting around at home I decided to call into the local Janome dealer, while they still had the sale on and after a long talk with the woman in the shop I decided to put a deposit on the mc4900, which I love, I used to used Anne-Marie's one when I took her class last year, and will do every thing I need at the moment and its mid range so I wont need to upgrade for a long long time! And it come with all the feet so after I buy it I don't need to spend and extra $150 on feet, which i would if I had bought the one for $500.

I cant wait to pay it off and bring it home! The best thing was I saved $300 because it was on sale and I'm getting a free fabric scissors worth $40 which will come in handy because I want to try making my own clothes. Which I don't have a clue, but I'm sick of going into shop and finding the clothes don't fit in the right places, right?

Sew you guys can expect a lot more sewing going on around here soon!