2nd last week

What a week it's been. To Melbourne on Monday after a hurried morning tidying up.  We hate coming back from a few days away to mess but that's becoming increasingly difficult!  It was getting more and more chaotic in the caravan.  I finally got to use the gold class movie tickets that were very kindly sent to me for recommending an IT company we used many years ago at the office I used to work at.

Tuesday was my second last day at my Melbourne job.  I filed every last document I had lying around.  We took my brother and sister in law out for dinner Tuesday night. They have had me as a house guest most weeks for the last 3 years.  It's been so much nicer than staying at a hotel!  Especially since my mum moved to Bendigo....

Wednesday was farewell to my little nephew and new niece (she'll be up and running by the time I see her next).  I spent a couple of hours on the internet changing addresses, looking for accomodation and catching up up on long overdue emails. I'd promised my mum I'd bring her my car Wednesday afternoon so she could have it for a couple of weeks before driving us to the airport.  The weather was absolutely horrific that afternoon driving home from Melbourne.  It was the windiest I can ever remember driving in. 

Car washing hasn't exactly been a priority so I stopped at a car wash half way home.  Oh my goodness, I went around the car three times with the wind whipping that ridiculous pink foam back at me.  Weeks of road grime weren't going to give up easily.  The car wash guy even came and did one round (number 4) and I had one more go after that.  I was soaked to the skin from the spray and wind and my shoes were covered in pink foam but it really needed something stronger to remove the stuck on insects - the brush was just too soft. I gave up and as it was now getting well on in the afternoon I decided it was better to keep driving than tackle the vacuum which was also outside in the wind and rain.  The little roof over it was useless with it being so windy.  I had visions of mum rolling her eyes at me handing over the car in less than pristine condition and I'm sure she had a whinge to her sister who visited this week. (I apologise Mum if I'm wrong about that!).  I did see mum's sister on Sunday and kept waiting for her to make a comment about it but there wasn't a word.

I was by now running much later than I planned and the going was slow.  An hour from home I rang mum and suggested they come to me and swap cars as it would save me another hours driving.  Of course it rained dusty rain all over the car as well as the wind blowing sticks and leaves furiously across the road.  There were trees down too.  Definitely not a relaxing drive.

Thursday and Friday were back at my accounting job.  I tried to squeeze a few chores in before work each morning which left me rushing out the door to not be late.  I'm usually at the office 15 minutes before starting time!  We were busy at the office setting up the last necessary things on my laptop and me sorting out stuff at my desk.

Friday night we had dinner with our favourite neighbours.  It will be our last monthly dinner for quite some time.  We tried Mason's in Bendigo - a tapas style menu.  It was nice for something different.

I had intended to visit my mum Saturday but Mick and I decided to both stay home and knock some items of our list.  I finally got my tax return finished, Mick labelled the remaining boxes in storage and I typed up the last of them too.  I took photos of my antique quilts which are going to be cared for at our local quilt store.  We churned out washing which is getting harder to keep up with.  I even went through all the stuff in the pantry and boxed it up to give to my mum and sister in law.  Oh, and I went through the bathroom cupboard and packed up some of that for mum too.

Sunday I got up relatively early.  I had bought a couple of pairs of shoes online and one needed exchanging for a smaller size.  I had discovered that the shoe shop in the city was also open Sunday morning so decided to go there first before heading to lunch with some friends and family members near where we used to live in Melbourne.  I was a little earlier arriving at lunch as it hadn't taken too long at the shoe shop.  I sent a text to my old school friend Vicki saying I'd be early and of course she arrived, 3 kids in tow, well before anyone else. That's what I love about her - there's no nonsense, no drama - she just puts the kids in the car and gets on with it.  I was thinking about her on my way home and thought sometimes you find a friend who you know will always be there and you're it Vic! 

I had a lovely day catching up with everyone and was so glad I'd ended up arranging a group get together.  There's just no way I could have squeezed them all in separately.

So now there's just a week to go.....