Hardest thing I’ve ever been through

#6 – The hardest thing you’ve ever been through.
Fat Mum Slim‘s 50 things to blog about

I’ve fallen off the bandwagon.. Again. I have all these great ideas of starting, and staying up to date with a blog, yet that lasts about a week.

But here we go – I’m going to get through this list, even if it kills me.. Or takes me a year.

This one hits close to home. Well – it did hit my home.

December 2nd 1996, my world and my family’s world came crumbling down.

I was woken, at the age of 7 to hear my dad had succumbed to the beast of cancer.
Aged 36. At 7 – you don’t really understand the concept of death. At 36 – you don’t deserve to be robbed of the rest of your life.

I don’t remember much of my dad’s illness. It was quick, and pretty relentless. It started in his lungs & eventually spread to his brain & bones. He fought hard for 10 months, but unfortunately it spread too far & on the 2nd Dec 1996, the beast won.

I was 7. I also don’t quite think I really understood what was happening. I was too young. I look back now & realise that thankfully I only have good memories, I don’t remember the bad. Whether during his illness or not. I don’t remember him telling me off, I don’t remember there being fights, I don’t really remember when the cancer got too aggressive & he was admitted back into hospital.

I remember that he was a quiet man. Full of dark curls & this ridiculous moustache. His receding hairline & his uncanny knack of falling asleep on the lounge (generally whilst Home & Away was on) with his hand tucked just under the waistband of his pants.

I do remember walking into the bathroom once & seeing him run his hands through his dark curls I had known my whole life, and see chucks of it fall to the ground. Soon he was bald. I do remember that.

I remember the love he had for us & how he fought hard and to this day, as the years go on and the older I get, I will never forget him. I may wish that the world wasn’t so cruel, and how I would love to see him one last time, or talk to him again, but I know that we don’t live in that fairytale world. But how nice it would be…

My mum became my hero that day and I could tell you all the reasons she is, but I don’t feel like this is the post.

This is about the worst thing to happen to me, not the best.

December 2nd 1996, my world and my family’s world came crumbling down, but we are okay, and will continue to be okay. *Sorry this took so long. It actually took me quite a while to find the words to say.

Biggest lie

#5 – ‘That one time you told the biggest lie..’
Fat Mum Slim‘s 50 things to blog about

I’ve been putting this one-off for a while.. Well I can’t even say I’ve been putting it off, I was going to compete this ‘challenge’ a while ago, but I got stuck trying to think of that lie, if I had one. I then got sidetracked with life.

Even now I’m back here trying to write #5 and I honestly don’t know if I have a massive lie. Maybe that in itself is my biggest lie?

I’ve met people in my life that are ‘story tellers’. The ones who love to tell a good story. I’m not against telling a good story, I just see that if someone isn’t interested in the real story, then why should you change it, alter it, make it bigger & better than it is.

I’ve been trying to rack my brains, and I’m sure when I was a kid I told a massive lie. Maybe the time I told mum I liked sandwiches & she made me take the to school.. That ended up with maggots, moths & a fear of sandwiches that is still ever clear.

Maybe I will run with that.

I don’t even see things as the biggest, or the smallest. Sometimes the smallest of lie can hurt the most.

I am in now way at all, saying I am a saint but I do try to live myself in the truth. I love a story, but love the real truth.

#4 the day I left home

#4 The day I left home…
Fat Mum Slim‘s 50 things to blog about

Leaving home is bittersweet.. It really is.

I almost forget what it’s like to live at home, and I’ve only been out for 3 years. But it feels like a lifetime ago.

Now the decision to move out wasn’t an easy one. Both me & my (now) hubby were in good situations with our home life. We were both living at our respective homes with our mums. I know they (secretly) loved having us there as well & it suited us. We weren’t in a huge rush to move out, and as it happened – we weren’t even looking.

At that point in time, we had been together for about 3 years. You get to that point (well we did) and we started thinking; House or Holiday? We had spent some time looking at local real estate, but other than web surfing, that was it. We finally decided nope – the holiday won.

Trav was lucky enough to spend 8 months in America attending college in 2008/2009 & I had travelled over there when I was younger as well as when he was over there to see him, and to put it lightly – we were in love (With US of A). So we decided to organise a 5 week holiday. Booked flights, accommodation & more internal flights (bear with me, this is about the day I left home I swear) & even organised to catch up with some people who Trav has met whilst in College.

Then REIWA happened. Sorry Ashton looking on REIWA happened.

Then Ashton sent a link to mum. Mum wrote back ‘love it’.

Ashton sent to Trav. Trav replied ‘let’s have a look’.

We saw it, fell in love & left. 2 weeks later we put an offer in to buy it. To be honest – I think we both weren’t betting on our offer being accepted. We hadn’t even spoken to the bank about IF we would even be able to borrow the money to buy it. But still we put in the offer & it was within a matter of hours that the RE agent called with the dreaded exciting news “Your offer has been accepted!”

I had luckily been collecting, accruing, accumulating, hoarding stuff at mums of homewards. Mainly kitchen stuff, but it was definitely enough to get us by for at least a year. 3 years later & most of it is still going strong.

Now although we didn’t think buying a house would be easy, we didn’t think it would be THAT hard. We unfortunately were the ones buying off a couple divorcing.. In a bit of a bitter divorce too. So something that should have taken a month or so, took nearly 3 months worth of fighting back & forth between the previous owners. All I can say is, finally getting the keys that Wednesday night was worth it. Finally. Home.

Because settlement had been set, then reset 3 times, we had basically packed everything up. I had even packed up a lot of my clothes. So to live with limited clothes as a female was painful. Utterly painful.

Finally I had those keys in my hot little hand & I headed over to the house with my mum & sister to unpack some stuff I had loaded into the back of Trav’s ute. He was working away at that time & wasn’t due back until the next day when the main deliveries were happening. I just remember it being about 7pm, it was dark, and here are these 3 crazy lamb ladies trying to unload stuff without being a nuisance. Eventually we got it all moved over a few days.

It’s now been just over 3 years & as I mentioned.. It feels like a lifetime ago.

I love the freedom of having our own home, but I won’t lie in saying that sometimes I wish we had of waited. Got all of the travelling out of bones. But what can ya do?

We found a house & fell in love.

Your favourite recipe

#3 – Your favourite recipe
Fat Mum Slim‘s 50 things to blog about

So  #3 is right up my alley… Food!
So I wouldn’t say I’m a wonderful cook, but I think I do alright & I think my hubby would agree.

Now when I read this was #3 on the list, I knew straight away what my best recipe is… I even made it for dinner last night.

Chicken & Chorizo pasta. In 3 words. To. Die. For

What is better than chicken, chorizo & pasta all in the one dish? The creamy tomato pesto sauce that covers it.
Now I’m a MASSIVE chicken lover. If it’s got chicken in it (and no seafood) I will generally be down for it.

Then again – if it’s got pasta (gluten free of course) I’m almost ALWAYS down for it (once again, minus any seafood, oh and mushrooms).

I remember finding this recipe years ago while I was still living at mum’s. So easy & so tasty.

Cut up chicken, cut up chorizo & cook through. Add 3/4 cup of tomato pesto & a tub of cream.. Simmer until warm. Pour over pasta of choice.
Just that easy.

Well that blog entry was easy, if only they all were..

#2 Worst movie I’ve even seen..

#2 – Worse movie you’ve seen
Fat Mum Slim‘s 50 things to blog about

So I’m getting back on the bandwagon.. Following on from 50 things to get me started, where I vowed (and failed) to start my blog by following Fat Mum Slim‘s post to start your blog & there’s #2 – “What’s the worst movie you have seen and why”.

I think I know why I never managed to move onto #2. Because I’m just not sure I can get that list of horrible movies down to 1, only one.. Pretty hard task I say.

It seems I’m torn. Between ‘Drive’ staring Ryan Gosling, and “This is the End” staring all the ‘funny’ guys of Hollywood e.g.; James Franco, Jonah Hill etc.
Let’s start with Drive. I remember this movie & wonder if it’s more of the disappointment in that it was a movie we watched while in New York, but the entire thing was a complete waste of our time. Luckily the movies over there aren’t as expensive as home, so I didn’t feel too ripped off at such a shit movie. I honestly don’t even think I can tell you what it was about, as I was just trying to stay away. I think I’m still bitter I wasted that time in a movie theatre watching that, rather than exploring the Concrete Jungle.

Then there’s This is the End. This was built up way too much. Put that many ‘funny’ people into a movie & it’s either going to be a flop, or it’s going to be a hit.

This was not a hit.

It was not funny, it was pathetic & it was what I see to be a waste of money/budget/time. Lucky I didn’t waste my money on this one & saw it at home.

Anyway – I’m sure I will think of others in the coming days, but these are the ones I can think of right now.
So the question is.. What is YOUR worse movie.

#1 50 things to get me started

#1 – That thing that happened in high school that changed your life forever
Fat Mum Slim‘s 50 things to blog about

So a while ago, I saw a great post on Fat Mum Slim‘s Facebook and blog about the ‘50 things to blog about‘ & it got me thinking. I needed somewhere to start and here I am.

I’d like to say that I would update daily, but generally when I say this – I just don’t. But I will try…

Wow – where to start.. No I lie. I went to a mediocre High School, in a (semi) dodgy area. Nothing wonderful ever happened there, but I survived 5 years of study with all of my teeth intact.

I was never bullied in high school (that I can remember) but I was never one of the ‘popular’ kids. I guess in some ways – I was successfully ignored by many and I don’t mind this. I was a good student, sometimes not the brightest, but I did graduate from year 12 with A’s & B’s with what I like to say is the “Dux of the Dumb Kids” as I got the highest grades of the people who didn’t torture themselves with TEE.

I was never interested in doing TEE, as I was never interested in going to University. Even now, it’s just something that doesn’t interest me. But like any kid in year 8, 9 or 10 – I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do. So just to make things worse, you get put with a teacher to try & explain what you like & don’t like as you had to suddenly choose the subjects you would take in yr 11 & 12, and hope to god you graduate with the classes you need to go into the career you desire.

So I went into my meeting with no idea, and walked out with a glint of possibility. I have always been an arty person, a drama queen & love reading and although it sounds like I came out of it dreaming of being a stage actor on Broadway in Musicals (which is still a dream I dream constantly) my realisation that I can’t sing too well. My husband (still can’t get used to this) would argue that I can’t sing AT ALL.

No, instead I walked in & said to my teacher Mr MacMillian (if I remember correctly), that I loved art, computers, drama & English. I walked out dreaming of becoming a Graphic Designer.

Luckily I had a Computer Ed teacher who frankly loved me. I’m not too sure if it was my skills at 14/15 or if it was because I was the only girl in the class – but she loved me all the same. She gave me an A. I also had the art teacher who struggled to remember my name, but could remember to call me my sister’s name, who also gave me an A. I took these two subjects & revelled in them. I loved to get my hands dirty making little clay dinosaurs (of which my mum still has in her garden) or photoshopping images & making invites and before I even noticed – two years of my teenage life had passed and it was time to graduate from High School into the Big Bad World.

Luckily I got accepted into my first preference of the Certificate III at the West Australian Institute of Art & Technology (which was just Central TAFE back then, but just made me sound smarter) and although it was what I dreamt of doing, I struggled in that first year. I can’t put my finger on exactly what it was that I struggled with, but I remember distinctly telling my mum I was dropping out. I think it was something to do with the fact that it was a lot of drawing & I just wanted to be on the computer.

Well guess what – I stuck with it through that first year, and the second year, and onto the third year. I won’t say it was easy, and even though the most frequent comment I got from people was ‘Oh you get to colour in all day”, that was not the case. I graduated with an Advance Diploma in Graphic Design with a Major of 3D & Animation.

To cut a long story short as I feel I’m rambling now… I got a job a few month out of TAFE at a Corporate Design Studio. Within 6 months I was promoted to Studio Manager where I was responsible for many of the clients from start to finish. I was there for 2.5 years until I decided it was time to move on. Unfortunately I was unsuccessful in finding a job before I left, but I decided to start my own Freelance Graphic Design Business whilst working FT in a non-design related industry. I was working the mornings doing Freelance and working FT afternoons/nights at my other job. After a long & unhappy year there, I got approached by a friend whose Event Management Company required a Graphic Designer over the busy period for a 3 month contract. I leaped at the opportunity & now, a year later – I am still here, and again – I am happy!

I still do my Freelance on the side & I am so thankful to my clients for their support over the last few years as well as my family & friends for believing in me. One day I would love to have my own boutique studio, but for now – I am enjoying my career and still looking back on that time in year 10 when I did not know what I was going to be..

So although I am completely happy in my career and where I am, I still dream of my name in lights on Broadway. A girl can only dream can’t she?

Check out my website to see some of my Graphic Design work.

Thank you Fat Mum Slim.

Welcome to the world..

Of blogging.

It seems like a crazy notion – to start a blog. I did have one on another platform, but I just didn’t love it. That and I only had about 4 posts. I just still didn’t feel like I had connected with it. Weird, I know.