Karen In Sydney, Australia

1920s Morley Style

Embee Louise

In The Navy (with Brisbane in the background)

30 December, 2009

The Year that was....

Well here we are at the tail end of the year and what a year it has been! Sometimes in life you don’t think a lot happens to you, that life is boring…. But all you need to do is stop, breath and take a look back at the year that was!

For me it started off being unemployed, looking for work after being made redundant. Then I worked for a week and two days to be precise for Australian Day Tours at the Roma Street Transit Centre, def an eye opener at some of the sites there as it of course is a bus terminal!

Then came a 6 month stint working for the Federal Magistrates Court in the city, so back to catching public transport for the first time in about 8 years! Followed by a 3 months with the Moreton Bay Regional Council at North Lakes, then where I am now with Department of Communities back in the city and yep back on the Bus!

But I start 2010 with a brand new job with Department of Infrastructure and Planning on a 12mth contract, so to say that I am looking forward to that stability of the “One” job is putting it lightly hehehe.

Along the way this year I have made some wonderful new friends…. Lost a couple as well. But you know that email that say people come into your life for a season a lifetime….. It’s sad when people leave your life, your friendship circle, but that’s life I guess, as you get older.

On the other hand I have had a couple of people from my past, re-enter again, so I guess life is just one big cycle…

I sold my unit and am renting again. Never in a million years would I have believed you if you had told me this, this time last year. Baby Jake decided not to move out of home but to buy a house with me. Again, would never have believed you.

Had a few holidays with wonderful friends. Laughed till my ribs hurt – literally! Hehehe.

Realised what was important to me, stuff that I think we take for granted at times in our life.

Met a couple of famous people or too. Heard some amazing goss!!! On the famous people….. my lips are sealed! And noooo that isn’t me singing The Go’s Go’s song! Hehe. And yessssss there was that night I was pulled over by the Police in Cabarita Beach and had to count backwards from 20 to 15. hehehe Again, lips are sealedddddddddd. But I still am driving, so at least you know that bit! LOL

I have been surprised over the last 12 months just how much I am loved. Money cannot buy this…. It's at these times in life that you find out how wonderful and how supportive friends can be!

I have paid off all my debt and am currently “Debt Free” again would NEVER EVER have believed you on this one…. And I can breath, and by breath I mean those deep deep breaths that feel ohhh sooo wonderful.

I have stopped and sat back and watch the stars in the sky…. Something I realised I hadn’t done since I was younger when I sat on the back steps of our house at Paddington as a kid with my Grandad and looked for The Pot, The Southern Cross and watched the bats fly overhead and talk about life and things in general… things again that money cannot buy.

And speaking of my Grandad, to have yet another year with him, he turned 91 back in September, well my friends, I am blessed to have him still in my life.

To be utterly loved by Miss Embee Louise Morley and followed everywhere, means the world to me. She is truly a wonderful friend…. We all still miss our cat Herman, and that was one of the hardest things actually leaving our unit back in October. The memories and that was also where we had him put down, on my bed, which I know sounds a bit strange, but he had been with me for 19 years, had lived through so many things in my life… he hated going to the vet. He would find a voice that never existed unless he was travelling in the car. Could be a 5 min trip to the vet but my god that boy could cry hehehe.

On our back door he used to sit outside and put his paw and claw in the flyscreen to say “excuse me but I am out here and I would like to come in nowwwwwww” – very controlling that boy became in his latter years!! But we loved him all the more…. At least the boy had spunk!!! Even if he was deaf hehehe.

So to leave our little unit for the last time, to close that back door where the fly screen to the new owner would have a very different meaning altogether than my own …. Was tough to say the least.

But now, today, it feels like a lifetime ago. We have settled in to our new little home, for the time being until we get back onto the merry-go-round they call the Real Estate Market. We will be getting back on the merry-go-round prob end of Feb early March to find our new digs.

Next year, well next year brings with it: more fun, more laughs, prob a few tears thrown in there to mix it up a bit.

Right now I have a trip planned to The Whitsunday’s in May and two more weeks back in Kingscliff in November for my birthday.

But the biggest news is that in 2011 I am hoping to have a round the world air ticket, travel to the UK and USA and catch up with dear friends that I have been promising for yearssssssss to see.

So there are some lights there, sitting at the end of my tunnel, things that I have to look forward too.

If there is one thing that I can give you all is that: There must always be a light at the end of your tunnel. Something that keeps you going, something to look forward too, something that in your old age, when you are sitting in the rocking chair in the old folks home, that keeps you smiling and entertained, so that when you look back you can say YOU LIVED YOUR LIFE TO THE FULLEST.

Because at the end of the day, when all is said and done its those defining moments, moments that when you are in them, that you have no idea that one day you will look back and smile and say to yourself, now that was fun!!!

Happy New Year Kids!! Have a great new year! See you in 2010!

Me xxx

06 November, 2009

My life is like a Realty TV show some days...

Well here it is, the overdue Morley Report that I have renamed The M Report! You know to try and remain anonymous, as you do hehehe.

Where do I start.... what a years its been. I like to call it the year of JOBS! And boy have I had them! I started the year with the Federal Magistrates Court, ended up there for six months in total. Was hoping to get a foot in the door but alas they were going through the good old Amalgamation (spoken in the Maxwell Smart, from Get Smart voice....) and my job ended up being a duplicate and my boss was made redundant so my job ended.

I then moved on to work for the Moreton Bay Regional Council. Orig it was a temp job for two months, ended up being 3 months and they eventually advertised my job on a 12mth contract and I applied, longggggggggggggg story, but in a nutshell I didn't even get shortlisted for an interview. So as you can imagine I took it to heart and found it tough going the last couple of weeks to keep up a brave face whilst my life was unravelling before my eyes....

You see I put my unit on the market again in July to sell, to try and cash in on the lovely First Home Loan grant to try and attract those first time buyers wanting a place close to the city to have a cheap cab ride home after a big night on the town. And this time around (we tried to sell last year...) it generated ALOT of interest and we did end up selling.

But here's the thing: Orig I was selling to buy a small house as Baby Jake was moving out to rent, he had been talking about it for a year. So it didnt matter if I had a job or not, I was keeping the same Mortgage and buying a house instead of paying Body Corp and living in a townhouse. So I was looking, looking and then one night Jake came home from work to say: I have decided not to move out and lets buy a house together with dual living, him downstairs me up!

Orig I wasn't too sure as I didn't want him to feel obligated in looking after me etc. But at the end of the day it made sense, pay off our debt, buy a house together and that way Jake wasn't paying out dead money in rent and maybe say in 5 years, if we can last that long and I don't get kicked out by some Baby Jake girlfriend.... YOU JUST NEVER KNOW.... we can either sell or I can borrow against the equity and give Jake a deposit on a house. So that was plan kids...

Butttttttttt things never really go to plan now do they, come on this is a Morley story and how boring would it be if I lived happily ever after! Mmmmm has a ring to it hey hehehe.

So, lets go back, I have no job, my unit has sold, so one could say NO HOUSE TO LIVE IN EITHER.... and nowwwwwwwwww we couldn't get finance to buy a house. Oh and did I mention this all went down about my job etc. when Baby Jake jetted off to Fiji for his Dad's ex wife NO. 2's wedding.... keep up now kids! This is where it gets good.

Sooooo Jake leaves for Fiji the day the Tsunami hits OF COURSE.... so here I am worried about him, find out I didn't make the cut for a job interview, realise I have sold my unit and am stuffed.....

Then I get this call from Jake, Sat night roughly 10.30pm and he says get this: I just got out of the shower, opened the bathroom door and there is water all over the floor and the balcony door is closed but there is water all over the balcony too. He was like, did a Tsunami hit whilst I was in the shower and I didn't know hehehe.

So over a 7 day stay, he was moved 5 times.... yep you read right FIVE TIMES! Due to some of the rooms flooding due to plumbing and then the last few moves to Room Upgrades! Poor kid hehehe, he was soooo over it and wanted to come home.

So he arrives back, sick as a dog and we sat down to chat on the what we should do housewise and came up with the plan of this: pay off our debt,rent for six months, invest the difference and I WILL GET A PERM JOB.... and start looking to buy again early next year, depending on the job situation.

So we find a rental house in Stafford Heights, 3mins drive from the old place with a downstairs kitchenette, Shower/Toilet and a large Rumpus type room for Jake's House, as I like to call it. And upstairs there are three bedrooms, new kitchen, new paint, floor just sanded etc. And Embee Louise has a HUGE yard, we even saw a Bush Turkey a couple of times, poor thing, the Bush Turkey that is.... Em chased him out!
So we applied and got the house and I finished up at the Council Job.

Meanwhile Jake is dying.... very sick and eventuallyyyyyyyyyyyyy goes to the doctor to find out suspected Bronchitis but could be Whooping Cough, or as I like to call it Fijian Whooping Cough. He gets a blood test and goes back in a couple of days only to find out, no infection! What the... sure sounded like one to me and the whole of Stafford at night time as he coughed up a lung!!!!!!!!!

He ended up getting a Steroid shot to open his lungs and to this day they don't know what it was. Buttttttttttt as we speak he is sick again this week and came home sick today from work, different symptoms from last time, but that lovely coughing up my lungs noise is back! So not sure what this will mean and of course Jake is dying again.... so we wait until he is nearly dead and then he will go to the doctors and find out why! Ahhhhhhhhh boys and sickness and doctors, love it! NOT

Oh and during this sickness time, my Baby Jake turned 19 and on the day he went to a Bucks Night for a friends brother and had his first Lap Dance! I was saying to a friend tonight how it goes from Banana in Pyjama's to Power Rangers to Pokemon toooooo Pokemon of a different kind with the whole lap dance experience hehehe. But when I asked him the morning after if he did and he said yes I was like cough cough, pretending to throw up... and he said: well you asked the question.........

Ahhhh my Baby Jake is growing up to be a smutty boy..... makes sooo proud hehehe. And speaking of growing up, since being sick he hasn't shaved I don't think at all, so my Baby Jake has all this hair over his face!! Makes me feel old.... I can remember the good old days when we had an upside down fridge and I could open the door over his head!! Nowwwwwwww he is like 4 feet taller than me!!! Yeah yeah I hear ya chuckle at the short joke..... soooo funny!!!

So if you are still awake, lets move on with the Morley Story, oops M Story.... for 2009 - So I am unemployed, applying for jobs, registering with Centrelink - now that could be a whole blog and a half, but I promise I do draw the line at some stories.... TRUE STORY hahaha, get it story....

ok


We get the keys, very sad... not the way I thought we would eventually move out of our little unit, but I know its for the best. And the day before the furniture removal's men turn up, I get a call to start a job the very next day, the day they are coming to move our stuff. I ended up moving the moving men, to a day early and it all happens very fast. Maybe a good thing looking back... and during this time when they are moving my stuff into the truck I get a call from the Solicitors, I haven't filled out a form, so this now means we have to wait another week for settlement. I kid you not my friends!

I start the new temp job the very next day at 1pm, off my face from very little sleep, but there I am! And I am employed with a State Govt Dept until the end of January 2010 and here is the best bit, the have decided to take me on and let me take my holiday (which starts tomorrow). You see they had picked another girl, but she didnt show up, god bless her hehehe and so they called me last minute, my agency that is and said if you can start tomorrow they will take you on and let you have your holiday.

You see in the last year and a half I have had one week off on holidays, as I have been trying soooo hard to get a job, get a foot in the door etc. and keep starting new jobs, straight away, so no time for holidays! I know, I can't believe I even typed those words... so wrong hehehe.

So tonight, as it stands, this is where we are at kids: my unit sold today at 2.30pm, I started my holidays at 4.45pm, tomorrow I am off to Kingscliff for 10 glorious nights, have a few friends from time to time dropping by, have a Birthday next Thursday and I say how quick do these seem to come around now! I remember wanting to turn 17 for my Learners and it seems from there Phewwwwwwwwww it moves fast, time that is, maybe not so much me! hehehe.

And now I know I sound like a broken record about this next bit, butttttttttt over the last 12 months I have come to realise that things that I thought were important to me this time last year are now no more. I have also realised how wonderful my friendship circle is, I have had friends offer me places to stay, although one friend, Markkkkkkkkkkkkk suggested Embee could be cooked outside on a BBQ but I could live inside... NOICE ONE MARK!!! hehehe. I have had friends offer money, good bless them, I have had friends trying to find me work, looking for houses for me to buy, when I thought that was the plan and friends that offered words of encouragement when at times life has seem a bit stressful to say the least. And as I type these words I have a tear, ok now two tears running down my face when I think about how blessed I am in life to have such wonderful, caring and supportive people around me in times of need!

Ok, wiped them away!!!

It will be a nice feeling over the next few months to be debt free, for a bit anyway and my biggest fear is that for some reason we wont be able to buy a house, but the plan is that, to find a perm job, and still buy our Dual Living. At least for the moment we can trial this in our rental house and can I just say that I am loving.... my girlie house upstairs, not many boy smells, buttttttt that Baby Jake does come up to visit at times and for some reason has the urge to use my toilet!! I have to work on that... maybe get a lock hehehe.

My Mum and Grandad are doing well too. Of course we have had a few things happen, wont bore you with the details, but as it always happens when my own life is crap something always goes down with them!!! But you get there don't you, step by step, day by day.... Grandad turned 91 back in September and last Saturday him and Mum came over to check out the house, as I know Grandad has been very worried about the stress I have been under and I just wanted to put his mind at rest so that he could see where we were living. We even managed to get him up 7 WHOLE FRONT STAIRS and he actually did it quite well. So this means that both him and Mum are coming back to stay on Xmas night, now that he can climb stairs!

Embee Louise is also doing well, can believe the size of her own back yard, its like Doggie Lotto hehehe. And one day, after a big storm, Jake came home after an early shift in the afternoon and there was Em, all covered in mud, LIKE A DOGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!! Thank god I didn't see it, but he had to give her a shower downstairs to clean her up hehehe.

So there you have kids, the latest Morley oops there I go again, just called me Brittany Bitch! hehehe. The Latest M Stories..... stuff it, I might just have to rename it Morley Report, The M Report just doesn't have the same ring does it!

So next blog expect BIG BIRTHDAY ADVENTURE STORIES, and can I just add, very quietly on the side..... I can feel it my waters, AND THEY DON'T LIEEEE that the next 10 nights are going to bring some fun times and maybe, just maybe some juicy stories to share in the next instalment!!

My god have I written a book this time or what! You see I have been holding off, so that I could write some great news on the job front, house front but alas that, for now is not to be. Over the last two weeks I have had about four interviews, so maybe by the next time I might just have that perm job to tell you all about!

I hope 2009 has treated you all well and can I just leave you with this: when I was standing in my unit, watching the men move my stuff out into the truck, I realised that it's not a house/unit etc. that makes your life, little by little as my stuff was moved out I realised it's your family, your loved ones and your things, wherever they are, that is where your life is. At the end of the day, where you live, well it's just a shell, sure you have some memories, but once you stuff is out of there and the people you love are no longer there, it's just four walls! Took me a few days to come to that realisation and when I did, the move, the sale, the whole process, well it was better to deal with. I came to terms with the fact that life, the people in it, truly are what make it all worthwhile. The ups and the downs.... and I always say: you have to have the bad to appreciate the good!

Take care kids, I cherish you more than you could ever really know and I wish you a wonderful end to the year and for 2010, may all your dreams come true!

love ya

Me xxx

P.S.
Coming soon: Blogs with pictures... I know I have hit the big time you know! Nahhh Jake bought a new camera in Fiji, pre Fijian Whooping Cough.... so watch out kids for pics to tell the story!

20 September, 2009

Getting the hang of this Blog Thing....

Well here I am back for No. 2 Blog! I had no idea how popular this type of thing was. And I guess I did this myself, but through emails to friends and the good old M Report emails that went out a few times during the year when I had some BIG NEWS to share!

And what I find really interesting is some of the comments/feedback that I have received over the years about my M Report emails. I haven’t kept any and my good friend Cassie once said to me, you know you should keep a copy of them and maybe one day make a book! Hehehe Imagine that… You see personally, to me, I don’t see what people SEE in my writing. I didn’t really enjoy it at school and mind you I can remember though the excitement of FINALLY receiving my “Pen License” in mmm maybe Grade 6 or 7, which meant that I no longer had to write in pencil! Ohhhh what a day when I finally had that little certificate in my hot little hands! J

As a lot of you know, I like to talk, andddddddddddddddd I like to tell a good story or two! My friend Chris once said, you know we should have a tent up (this was for a Famiy Day that we were putting on for one of my previous workplaces) and have Karen sitting there and people can pull a subject matter out of a hat and she can tell a story about it! As she has sooo many stories…. Hehehehe

So maybe this BLOG THING is kinda like me being a story teller! J

It’s Sunday night and I am wondering what this week will bring? Hopefully maybe some new houses to check out, maybe even a phone call about having an interview for my job, fingers crossed! It could even bring some phone calls about a couple of offers we have put on for houses…. Maybe they might come back and accept our offer! Or maybe not hehehe.

Ahhhh if only we had a crystal ball to see what was coming up in life! But then again I always say, if someone told you that this, this and thissssssssssss were going to happen to you in the next say 12 months you would go, NOOOOOOOOOO WAYYYYYYYYYYYY but its funny cause we are given things in life that somehow we just manage to deal with! Sometimes it stretches us other times we fly by it! And other times, we don’t even realise how well we have actually handled it!

It can sure suck at times being a Grown Up! J

Well, I am off to bed. I am going to wake up like a four year old tomorrow morning! Rise and shine with anticipation of a great week!

Night!

Me xxx

What a week....

First of all welcome to everyone, well those who have found us on here anyway.....

The last week has been very hectic to say the least! I have finally signed the contract to sell my unit and whilst I will miss it alot, it is time to move on.... Sometimes in life you just have the gut feeling that tells you it's time to move onto the next chapter in your life. It took me a couple of weeks to sign but I just knew that I the time was right!

For those of you that aren't aware Jake has decided not to move out and rent, but to buy a house with me. Something "Dual Living" so I don't have to witness his crap! LOL

So the last couple of weeks/weekends we both have been trawling the "For Sales" and trying to find somewhere! Not an easy thing to do right now as houses are being snapped up really fast! But I am a big believer that things happen for a reason, sooooooo it's just a case of persevering with it all. I said to Jake that very soon I will need plastic surgery and a WIG! Due to the stress... His reply: Mum, we don't have the $10,000 needed hehehe. What a funny boy he IS!

On other news, my job has been advertised on a 12 month contract and I have applied and applications close tomorrow. So fingers crossed that one pans out for me! To be honest I am just taking it one day at a time and haven't even let myself think any further into the future. Prob the only way to deal with that at the moment!

We had a huge Better Business Breakfast last Friday for work, with around 80 people attending. It started at 7am and I had to be there at 6.30am! Let's just say that by lunch time I had hit the wall and needed my pillow hehehe.

But when we have these for work, either breakfast's or lunches, I like to try and take just one thing away with me! This was the third event I have been to and I would like to leave you with the top 3 things this week, that I have tried to incorporate into my life that I have learnt from these events:
  1. "No" is negotiable
  2. If you had 6 months to live, are you leading the life you would want to....
  3. What would it be like if you had the energy of a four year old... almost every day? ie. Waking up every morning and having a positive thought about the day, being positive and not dreading and dragging yourself out of bed every morning! (this is prob the hardest thing to do.... )
Have a great week and thanks for reading The M Report!

love

Karen xxx
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Facebook Twitter Favorites More