The end of my first week back at work! I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised by how painless the commute is, and how un-exhausted I am. I had really expected to be completely comatose for much of the weekend. Instead I have achieved great things. This was, of course, the week whenI have a day off on Thursday so I was able to have a bit of a break during the week which was spent down in Bridgewater sorting out groceries and such like. Rain has been hosing down all week and the midlands (and occasionally the highway have been awash. The dog and I prowl around parattah in the dead of night after we have had our dinner and the fire is chugging away to keep things cosy. But the weather has been mild so the morning fire is no longer a priority.

Over the weekend I have been cooking up a storm. There is now a large irish stew portioned out for the freezer, and a huge meat dish about to go into the freezer. A chicken noodle soup for lunches, and to accompany it, some savoury muffins with ham, capsicum and chives and cheese on top. A prune and hazelnut wholemeal loaf is in the oven to go with morning teas and I have a saucepan boiling for noodles to go into the containers with the rest of the irish stew and some of the meat dish. The rest of the meat dish will be frozen with mash and green peas.

So I shouldn't starve over the next week or two, and the rest of the chicken will be made up into croquettes to be frozen and cooked at a later date when I have some means of frying them.

The gardener came and turned over the front yard. I was disappointed when i got home to see he had not mown the entire yard, just the front bit. Then I realised he had dug up the rose bush from the front yard (a huge job I have been ignoring in the hope it might miraculously turn into a worthwhile rose) and back filled hole and laid turf over it so you can not see where it came out. I was stunned!!!

The shed is still elsewhere and may remain so. It is four by four metres which is pushing my luck planning wise but that is not the reason. The owner has already been approached by her over-the-back-fence neighbours about it. And of course, they get first priority. If they decide the don't want it, it is mine and i can probably work out how to modify it to make a shed acceptable to council.

I have also been scheming about ways to modify the back of the house so the doors are not permanently changing shape and size depending on how much rain has arrived and will develop those thoughts a little further before sharing them. Besides, unless this job keeps up for a full 12 months, I won't be able to do it anyway. It does, however, resolve the internal door issue as well, so worth exploring.

Well the saucepan is boiling and the noodles need to go on now, so will catch up with you all next Sunday (I hope).