Time for a change

I'm going for a new look. It's a work in progress, so bare with me! I can vision what I want this to look like when I'm finished but I'm not quite sure how to get there...

A sigh of relief...

Steve spoke with the vet at the quarantine today and Jesse doesn't have that, whatever it is they said they found, in his blood. He was tested for it before he left Montreal and it was negative, which normally would have been fine, and enough to go off of, however, because he ended up being shipped late (due to Easter), the time limit on the test had run out and therefore, unfortunately, he had to be re-tested here in Australia. The bad news is that because of this Jesse doesn't get walked until around the 10th of May, when the test comes back. The good news is that it's a 99.9 percent chance that the test will be fine, since he didn't have it in Montreal and he'll still get to come home to us at the same time that we expected (May 19th), which isn't far at all!!! So, although I still worry about his lonely stay in solitude, at least it won't be extended! Phew!

How we spent our weekend...

On Saturday, we FINALLY got to go to Ikea! I was so excited! I've been wanting to go since we moved here but because it's about a 30 minute drive outside the city and that of course involves renting a car, we waited until we had some money saved up to spend, to make the hassle of renting a car and driving there worth it. And boy, was it worth it! We got LOTS of stuff for our house, everything from chair cushions for our dining room chairs to candle holders to an area rug for our living room, to a plant stand. And that's just the beginning! We also went to a few other stores and got a few other things on our list. Steve finally got his BBQ, sorry "Man Q" as he puts it and I finally got a hair straightener! Good times, good times! Above is Steve with his BBQ. He says it's small but mighty. I have really enjoyed the steak and chicken we've made on it so far! Today, we bummed around the city. We went to 2 outdoor markets (I love how Brisbane has tons of these around the city!), did a little shopping at the mall downtown and hung out at the lagoon in Southbank. I even cheated and shared a piece of cheesecake with Steve at a cafe on the waterfront! Do you know how long it's been since I have had dairy, especially cheesecake?!? Which just happens to be my favorite dessert ever! Anyway, I don't even feel guilty and will willingly accept any bellyache that comes my way because man, that cheesecake was worth it! Cookies and cream cheesecake. Yummy! Here's a few pics of our weekend...
There were Chinese lanterns all along the waterfront. Not sure why but they looked really nice.
Steve chillin' by the pool.
Our feet.
The so yummy chessecake with real whip cream...need I say more?

Waterfront.
There are a lot of old buildings around Brisbane...which I love. Adds so much character...
The market on the waterfront. This market was HUGE! It just kept going and going...Lots of nice stuff...
How weird is this?!? A religious statue outside a tattoo and piercing place...


More waterfront.
Condos on the waterfront.
The weather was perfect today. Sunny but not hot. Just right.
There were lots of boats for sale...

The electrical boxes are painted all over the city. Apparently they paint them by theme to match the area of the city they are in. This one is by our house...I think it's supposed to be students. That's what their uniforms look like and the school is right across the street from us. All schools here wear uniforms...I think it's a good idea...Just outside the Avis, where we always rent cars. We need to get our Brisbane licences soon.
Another old building.
I think this is Steve's new picture face, since he is doing it in every picture I took of him today!

Happy Birthday to Connie!

Happy, Happy Birthday to my sister, Connie!!! Have a great day! Miss ya!

Not the worst news ever, but still not great...

As everyone now knows, Jesse arrived in Sydney last week (Thursday). The quarantine policy is that for the first week, the dogs are not allowed to leave their own yard area, which means Jesse has been cooped up with absolutely NO exercise. For those of you who know Jes, he can get pretty hyper with no physical activity. Jesse wouldn't even be exercised, unless we hire a dog walker (even then the quarantine rules only allow the dog walker to walk him 3 times a week for 1/2 an hour, which isn't great but better than nothing). The dog walker costs $20 per half hour but is well worth the money if Jes is actually getting a run and some attention. I spoke to Naomi, the lady caring for Jes at the quarantine and it sounds like Jesse is VERY hyper. So, I contacted the dog walker, he called the quarantine to arrange times, everything was good to go. EXCEPT, when the dog walker called the quarantine, they told him Jesse is not allowed to be walked because his blood work did not come back clear! The quarantine didn't even call to tell us! So, after hearing it from our dog walker, I called the quarantine. Turns out, the results are showing a possible chance of him having Ehrlichia. I googled it and apparently it's caused by ticks. I have no idea if he actually has this (I'm wondering how it didn't show up in the 4 million blood tests he had before he left Canada) but because he hasn't been cleared by quarantine, he isn't allowed to be exercised or leave his own kennel area at all, until the results of the second test that they did on April 26th comes back, which can take up to 10 days. This really sucks for a few reasons. The biggest one is that Jesse will go 3 whole weeks without a single bit of exercise and worst case scenario, he has this ehrlichia thing, he has to go on medication for 2 weeks and then be re-tested and then wait another 10 days for the results. Which means a whole other month in quarantine, without leaving his own area and a whole lot more money. Steve and I are both trying to be positive about this but we still can't help but be worrying about Jesse and the situation. It's also hard because there is nothing we can do. We just have to wait the next 10 days and see what happens. Poor puppy...he's used to being so spoiled with us (as you can see by the above pic!) This is going to get hard on him, I'm sure...I'm phoning Monday morning to speak to the vet who drew Jesse's blood, so I'll let you know what I hear...

ANZAC Day

Yesterday was a holiday here, so Steve and I had the day off. It was ANZAC day, which stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. It's basically a day when they remember anyone who's ever gone to war. There were services all over the city and a march downtown. Apparently they still celebrate Remembrance Day but it's not as big of a deal as ANZAC day. Go here if you want more info about it...

http://www.awm.gov.au/commemoration/anzac/anzac_tradition.htm
Steve and I just spent the day relaxing and doing some stuff around the house. Our friends, Kate and Morgan came over for dinner. I made lasagna with gluten free noodles. A bit risky, but fortunately, it turned out okay! I haven't been doing so well with taking pictures. I meant to take a few last night and totally forgot. And just to see if anyone else is having a hard time...is blogger not working properly for anyone else these days?? It's been weird for me for about a month now. It won't let me change my font, make things bold or italic, and it won't let me put links to other sites directly from my blog AND when I upload pictures, it shows them as an html thing, not the actual pic (fortunately, the final post is okay though). I haven't complained because I figured it would just start working properly but it's not and it's very frustrating!

Finished rooms...

As many of you know, Steve and I have slowly been working on getting stuff for our house. After having what felt like tons of stuff (a lot of clutter!) in Montreal, it can sometimes feel a bit bare in our house in Australia. However, that's not always a bad thing. Our goal is to only buy the necessities and a few things for decoration, that we really love. So, it's taking time to save and choose what we really want to buy for our new place. Having said that, I would say that 3 of our 6 rooms are complete. Our bedroom, the kitchen and the bathroom are all pretty much how we want them. So, I know we posted pics when we first moved in but we haven't really posted any since we actually started to do stuff to our home. Therefore, here's a few of the finished rooms...

First, our bedroom...
The doors leading from our bedroom to the front porch...


Same doors, just closed...


Our bedroom, as seen from the front porch, looking in...


The picture that Steve took at the beach turned out really nice framed for our wall...












The kitchen...








I love the kitchen windows! Very open and airy! We always have them open.


The view from our kitchen windows to our back yard...


The food/dishes cupboard...


Back doors leading to back deck and yard...


Same doors, just closed...


And finally, the bathroom...
It sucks that we don't have a bathtub but the shower is pretty big at least!


It's nice having a window in the bathroom...




Thank goodness there is some storage in the bathroom at least! The one thing about this house is that it has no closets or storage. It's not so bad for us because we don't have a lot to store, but I can see how it would limit who rents this place. We've decided to store some of our larger things under the house. We bought big bags to put the stuff in (like our suitcases), so nothing decides to live it them!


And that's it for now. Once we get the living room, dining room and spare room finished, I'll post those. After that it's outdoor furniture we'll need. Like I've said before, slowly but surely...but it is kind of fun!

Touch down...

Jesse landed in Sydney this morning at 7:20 a.m. our time. Steve called to see how he was doing and they said he's doing well. They picked up 40 animals at the airport this morning when they received Jesse. That meant that Jesse was in his kennel for a good 7 hours even after landing in Australia, which makes it about 24 hours that he was sealed his his travel crate, which makes me want to cry :( Hopefully he really is doing okay. I'm going to call tomorrow to speak to the caregiver who is in charge of caring for Jesse (Naomi is her name) and hopefully I'll feel better after getting her report. It's good to know that the flight is behind him. Now only 30 more days until he gets to be with us...

Jesse update

Jesse has arrived in Vancouver and is staying for a night in a kennel there before leaving for Sydney.

This is one of emails we recieved from our pet relocator...
"Jesse Jay was woken up very early this morning. He was willing to play even when it was still dark, cold, snowing and windy. He did his business and had a small meal and of course a few cookies before willingly entering in his crate for his trip to Vancouver. The flight is delayed. The weather is very bad in Montréal.
At the airport he was a sweetheart to everybody. Now all the Air Canada people want to go purchase a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retreiver."

She also wrote us later to tell us that Jes had landed in Vancouver and was doing well. The first lag of Jes' journey is complete...now the rough part from Vancouver to Sydney.
He's doing so well so far! He's such a good puppy! I spoke to the Quarantine place yesterday and they said I can send Jesse a care package. So, yesterday I bought him a blanket (that I slept with last night, so it smells familiar to him...yeah I'm nuts) and I am sending him some of his familiar toys and of course...treats. Never thought I'd be sending my dog a care package in the mail! I hope he likes it!

We had a really quiet weekend. Stuck close to home and just relaxed...it was nice. We did a little shopping, had dinner at Vic's on Saturday night and got some stuff done around our house. Nothing too exciting to report, HOWEVER, we do have some good news! Jesse flies out of Montreal TOMORROW and arrives in Sydney on Thursday!!! We just got all the info over the weekend. I'm still nervous about his trip but once we get over that little bump, it's just 30 days in Sydney and he's here with us! It'll also just be nice having him that much closer to us! Not long now and he'll be here! Time really has gone fast, so I know the next month is going to fly by!

A big thanks to...

...my friend, Katie for the AWESOME book she sent me (and tank tops!). I've already started reading it. I'm gonna learn so much! I'll be mixing those herbs at work like a pro-star before long;) Thanks again Katie!

Yeah for a couch!

Our new sofa got delivered today! It's so nice to finally have somewhere comfy to sit! It's funny because this isn't a sofa that either Steve or I would usually go for but we really liked this one. It matches our living room perfectly and it's really comfy! We decided to get the loveseat, because we thought the full couch would be too big for the space (our living room isn't that big) and I think we made a good choice. The full size sofa was only $1 more but still, it would have totally taken over the living room! We're hoping to eventually get a nice brown leather chair to go with it and next on the list is a coffee table. Slowly but surely, our house is becoming a home...

Australian Bats

I've been meaning to post this video for awhile now but am finally getting around to it. These are the crazy bats that we see here every night. I'm not joking...these things are the size of crows!! The first time I saw them, I seriously thought they were birds! Anyway, there are heaps (Aussie term for "lots") of them everywhere you go! Sometimes when you walk down the sidewalk and look up, you can see them hanging upside down in the trees above you. It's quite creepy! Their faces are NOT cute and it's weird to watch them move up and down a tree branch. They use their wings as little hands and get around a tree quite easily! It's even more freaky when they fly out of the trees when you're not expecting it! They can come pretty close to you! Brisbane really does feel a bit like Gotham city around dusk each night when they first start to venture out for the evening!

Our Easter Sunday...

Well first we went to buy more plants because we have become obsessed! We got 2 more plants (one for the back deck and one more for our bedroom). Then we just decided to drive...



The weather wasn't really that great today (cloudy and only 22 degrees...I actually found it cold and wished I had brought a sweater!). Our drive took us in a new direction that we haven't been in yet. There were so many cute little towns. This one was proud to be "the town of yesteryear"...



We stopped at an antique store and then drove up this HUGE mountain. The road was crazy! It was so windy and literally there was nothing but cliff on either side of the road, which was also super narrow! I couldn't believe that there were no guard rails! Okay so this pic has a guardrail, but really, most of the drive didn't!



The drive up the mountain was very steep...



There were lots of signs saying to watch out for kangaroos but unfortunately we didn't see any. It's my goal to see a wild kangaroo...



Anyway, there were a couple of really cool look-offs at the top, which had great views. These pics really don't do the view justice...





We also stopped at a lake...



...and Steve saw a big black snake. I didn't see it but I heard it slithering away. Steve said it was at least 4 feet and at least a good 4 inches wide. I think it's best I didn't see it. I like not knowing what lives out there! Steve was pretty excited to see it though!



After our afternoon of driving and exploring, we came home and had a lovely Easter dinner...



Yup...that's right...we had tacos for Easter dinner! Maybe it'll be our new tradition!

Happy Easter everyone! We really miss you all and hope you're having a great weekend! Love ya!