Just in case more people ask...

... the chickens don't have names as this point, and are probably unlikely to get them. This isn't mean, no matter what you might think, it's just a bit pointless. Only one of the chickens shows any difference in appearance to any of the others, the other three look pretty much exactly the same. Really. If they do get named they will quite possibly get lumbered with really horrible names like "Cacciatore" and "Parmigiana". No, we are not very nice people, are we?

They haven't started laying yet, but have overcome their fear of us, to the point that they come a-running, and then follow us around the yard. They are also very good at taking themselves off to bed when it starts getting dark, so we just lock them in the coop. Very helpful. The cats pretty much ignore the chickens completely, and vice-vera. They are kinda cute, except when the little bastards are digging holes in my herb garden...

I will take some photos tomorrow. Promise.

Was just reading through some of my old posts - it really is a good way of looking at your life in retrospect, and seeing how other people react to things that you write about.

Well, it would be, if you posted more than 8 times in a year. I was looking at the list of archives, and last year (2008) I only posted 8 times. I think I have posted more often in a month this year. Shows what being unemployed does for my ability to sit down and share my thoughts and feelings!

The despondency dog

The past few days have seen a big dog sniffing around, looks black, but is actually just dark blue in the sunlight. He wanted to let me know (in the nicest possible way, of course) that despite years of experience, and quite good skills, no-one wanted to give me a job. I have been for a couple of interviews, only to be told that I am overqualified for the position. A couple of agencies that I would have thought would have something on their books are proving to be dead-ends. I sent numerous applications off via Seek on Friday, and got only one response this week, despite this tactic working quite well last week. I still have an interview lined up for this Friday, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

Anyhoo, today was shaping up to be a lovely day, so I kicked the DD in the nuts and told him to bugger off. A bit of gardening, a bit of tidying, a bit of washing, a bit of being followed all over the yard by the chickens, and all is right with the world again. In a rather exciting fashion, the veggie patch delivered all the veggies for dinner tonight, and most of my salad for lunch. I am still needing to think of interesting ways to serve silverbeet though - I like it, but R thinks it tastes like sick, so there has been a lot of disguising it with bacon...

I still wish someone would just give me money to stay at home.

Jobs, jobs, jobs...

Starting to feel a little bit better about the whole job search thing.

I had started a couple of weeks back, by checking Seek, and finding two jobs that I thought would work really well for me. One was with a tapware supplier that I had dealt with whilst at Reece, and the other was with one of Reece's bigger customers. I thought I would have a good chance at one or both of these jobs, as I had relevant industry experience, as well as the skills that the job required. Buh-bow. Not only have I not heard back from either, but one of them (the supplier) I had been for an interview and been told "we'll be in touch"... That's just a bit rude, in my opinion. Both of them I have sent follow-up emails to as well. Bah.

So I sent my resume off to a bunch more job ads on Friday, and the responses have been pouring in! I have had two interviews today (one with the workplace and one with an agent) that were both very positive, one tomorrow and one on Thursday. This is good - for a couple of days there I was starting to think that I was going to have some real trouble.

All that remains now is to actually land one of these jobs (which is where this house of cards may come crashing down around my ears). Wish me luck!

Mind you, I would still rather be lazy layabout stay-at-home type...Can't someone pay me for that?

Ok, now I have really seen everything. You can buy a fog machine at Aldi...

Prattfalls and rip-offs

It turns out that you can't trust what you see in the cartoons. I went to the supermarket this afternoon, and as I opened my car door, there happened to be a banana skin convenienntly placed right where I would step on it. Which I, of course, did - completely by accident. What I didn't do was fall onto my arse in a humorous fashion. I feel somehow ripped off.

Speaking of ripped off, how's this for a doozie - We have received permission from the council to cut down the hideous cyprus pine right at the very front of the property (hooray!), and the other pine that is far too close to the house. So, the next step was to get a couple of quotes for having them removed. The first quote we got was a quite reasonable, although still a fair amount of cash at $1300. The second one, on the other hand, was not quite so reasonable. The minute the guy turned up he started to tell Rusty that there were two other trees in the front yard that could be removed without council permission, then started talking about how espensive tip fees are, and that he'd have to go all the way to Windsor to dispose of the cut trees. Claimed that it would be $800 bucks in tip fees, and then quoted $3500, but he would do the other two that weren't part of the original quote for an extra $1800. Ouch, and gee, I REALLY DON'T THINK SO! The minute tradies start justifying their costs you start getting a feel that they're not entirely on the level.

Things that make you go hmmm....

Piss poor advertising

A while ago I saw posters for a new anti-wrinkle cream in Myer. The posters didn't exactly get the expected reaction from me - it was all I could do to not burst out laughing.

This is it...
It's for an "instant Botox" cream called Freeze Frame. Supposedly it "freezes" wrinkles, so that they appear minimised. One article I saw (on tv) claimed that you could see the effects instantly, and another that I read (product reviews found on the interwebs) says that it needs to be used for a month before you get the best results.

What a load of shit. I don't care whether the product works or not, or whether any of the conflicting info out there is right, it's the poster that really gets me. It's not quite as clear in this small pic, but in a headshot poster that is 3 feet high you can see it quite clearly - her "wrinkles" are drawn on, or emphasised with makeup. It's reeeeeaally obvious on the crows feet - they are just drawn on with brown eyebrow pencil.

Really, if you are going to try to sell me a product with before and after shots, don't insult my intelligence by trying to pull the wool over my eyes with makeup or photoshop. I'm just not that stupid, and advertisers shouldn't assume that anyone else is either.

Taties!

We grew these on our very own!

Yes, many of them are a level of tiny more closely associated with grapes, but still. It's amazing what happens when you stick some dud spuds in the ground and forget about them for 4 months...