Finishing my course and looking for a job in my area/admin has been a challenge with many unproductive days along the way, so we don't have daily adventures worth mentioning. I guess we're a bit down that we weren't simply offered a job or head hunted, when we keep hearing stories about and expecting it to happen to us. Life is harder than they said it would be. 

Wednesday 13th July


Baked mandarin melting moments with the newest neighbor, bio guy (he was in my biology class). A few minutes over otherwise very good. The annoying neighbor commented it was cafe style. Yes it is, and you only need two. She's got 99 problems but has decided to take on the next world war. That's not my problem, but it is when she's pestering me about it. If you want to talk about it go online like a normal person.


After dinner we went shopping, homewares I love. So much stuff including stationary on sale!! Bio guy and I bought pots and other stuff. I bought a book as a gift and napkins. Beautiful ones, hard to use. They're for photo shoots and I'm going to try modpodge.

Service was iffy. One guy was fantastic. Check out girl wasn't. Overcharged because sale price didn't scan, but I pointed that out. But then I get home and realized that there was something else I was overcharged for!! And the store isn't on my way somewhere, it's up on a hill.

The cookbook is on dairy, wheat and sugar free green clean eating. Not my style, I bought it for the first half of the book on elements of food, the stuff in them, nutrients and such. 

Tuesday 19th July


We went shopping and spent $11 at goodwill, Scared Heart is one of the cheaper ones. Here goodwill, the two red ones are like old stuff at new prices. I'm here for the books and potential rare Vintage Polly Pocket. So what did we get for $11? A can opener (jas is amazed its been 7mths and I didn't obtain one till now), a BNIB peeler, a dvd and three books. 80s fashion with Princess Diane (the only thing I recall about her is her funeral), a book for jas printed in Japan, and a book on Time Management. Something I struggle with like no one else.


Not sure if I remembered to share this trip, which featured glass bottles and old vodka skulls, a book box from C&E that I store a couple headbands in, a pretty awesome 20s style hat from the 80s at the latest made by Stella Lang at the Royal Arcade. Later on I'd meet a lady at the jail who had her wedding hat made by Stella!


Off home aka the city. then 20 stops on No.19 Coburg. The tram ditched us a third of the way up so it took almost an hour. But I'm off to get cake for George and he's worth it (the time) plus I got time to kill.


The Green Refectory is our favourite affordable (and cheap) cake shop ($60 fancy south yarra cakes are a bit $$$). We had a meal there once but it wasn't good, too much quantity not enough quality. Cakes are a different story though, ok so they're still massive slices (1 slice serves 2) but the quality's there. Here you can get a full cake for <$40. My favorite is the strawberry sponge, $4.80 a slice or $22 for the whole thing. Though I have no need for one, as I don't have many people in my life. But perhaps for an event. Plastic ta boxes 30c

Wednesday 20th

On this day three years ago I was made a disabled person. Thanks for the reminder fb.


Breakfast could happen if it was around noon. :P Nearly after three months after purchasing a groupon for brunch we got around to it, as it was valid till 11.30am only, and we are not morning people.


Through groupon we bought the 'Build-Your-Own Breakfast with Coffee for One ($15)'. It says total value up to at $32.90 which is a lie. It's $24.90 for the build your own dish (assuming you pick the most $ option each time), so selecting an omelette ($7.50 alone!!) and the more $ sides (salmon, bacon, hash browns, chorizo, feta), plus a salad and coffee. So unless a small coffee and salad costs $8 I don't know how they got to that conclusion.


As we were in a rush to get back to the office we ordered takeaway, and forgot what the deal was, other than for a bread bowl, so ordered off the menu rather than creating our own. Though I would have designed an olive base with cheese omelette, with hummus or cream cheese/spinach dip with mushrooms and salmon. Instead we had the...



Creamy and delicious, the saltiness of the cheese balances out the eggs, and the textures of were a delight! Though we would have liked to seen more mushrooms. Otherwise it was very good and recommended.  


My office is a couple blocks directly south of the cafe and so the food was served warm, getting takeaway did not change the food in any way. We even got better lighting! 
 Service was very good. On pricing it's more than we'd normally spend on a main ($15) but we would return on a groupon, if we were morning people. Fingers crossed a similar offer will be available till 3pm!  


Thursday



Friday

Five years have passed since the last movie, in movie time that is. New movie, new costumes! Sort of, well for some characters. It's still Edwardian England though, so bright colours aren't very popular though Alice was never too bothered about fitting in.


On the other side of the mirror the hatter's gone mad with grief, so Snape reincarnated as a blue butterfly invites Alice back to Underland to help. To help find out what happened to the hatter's family, so she finds the Time Lord and "borrows" the little ball that powers time. Time travel is generally not a good idea from what we've seen, unless you're Hermione.


Alice travels back to meet the young hatter, then again to the day the Red Queen hit her head and formed the bumps, who knew they weren't natural?! Time's after Alice to get his ball back, and to escape him she jumps through a mirror and wakes up an Victorian institution, where if you weren't crazy when you arrived you will be. She hopes back over to the other side, where the adventure continues.



The Red Queen gets hold of the ball time turner/cycle and grabs her sister, the White Queen and together they go back to that moment where everything changed. The events that lead up to her head deformation. But then she sees herself and all hell breaks loose. Like the lava in the cave of wonders, it consumes all it touches, Pompeii style. Everyone says their goodbyes. 

Does Alice make it? She's racing to get the ball back to where it belongs to power the grand clock. Nope. But by magic there's a jolt of electricity and all is well. Funny how she actually asked the Time Lord if she could borrow it, and he did say no as it powers the place, but she takes it anyway. 




Through traveling back to H-Day Alice discovered that the Hatters weren't killed, but turned into tiny characters that the Red Queen keeps in a glass sand frame. She took them as revenge for Hatter laughing because the crown didn't fit her head. It was also the day she lost her crown, both figuratively and literally. 

Once again Alice has to go home, all these adventures are, are for her to learn something. This time it's to let go. Hamish (the guy she rejected in the last movie) has gotten a hold of her shares in the company, and her mother's house. Since the formation of the partnership between Alice and her father's friend, the later has died, and so Hamish is in charge. And he's offering the house back for her father's ship and her a position as his secretary (mockingly). Alice rejects his offer and starts an import/export company of her own.



One thing we don't get is why Alice needs an invite, and can't just pop over for a visit through a mirror. Can she take others too? Or is it just specific to her? Also the plot was missing essence, while it was still all lovely and pretty like the first film it fell short of expectations as sequels tend to.

Friday 15th July

Lucy was upset about something so we spent the afternoon with her rather than doing stuff I was suppose to do, resulting in missing a trip to the circus. In hind sight we could have just bought her along to the event in her carrier bag.  



The evening was spent driving 1.5hrs to Ballarat, there wasn't traffic once we were over the bridge, and it was just freeways going to 120km/ph. Too fast for me! Mainly trucks out there. As I don't have a cd player and the days of buying $40 cds at Boarders have long passed, we bought one cd along: The Wiggle's Wiggly Party. There's an Elmo like voice that I can't figure out who it belongs to...


Leaving at 9pm we got to the motel around 10.30pm-ish. We stayed at the Peppinella Motel, a bit out of town, not somewhere you'd stay unless you drove. 


We booked the room with 1 queen and 1 single bed for two nights at $240. A 3.5-star smoke-free motel in Delacombe. After much research this place was the one. We started with the cheapest within x miles of the place, and then read the reviews. Staying for a Fri/Sat night above a bar is a no go. Bathrooms outside, nope.





Peppinella had what we needed on impressions, though things don't always go to plan. There was...

• Spiderweb in the lampshade, 
• One sink shared between the bathroom & kitchen (it was a hand basin, too small to wash dishes!),
• Not enough powerpoints, in the kitchen you can only use the kettle or microwave at a time. We need a powerboard to recharge everything.
• The kettle had a rustly rim
• Cable didn't work, we couldn't find it (too late to ask for help)
• The heater didn't work and made strange noises (it snowed the week before we got there)
• One electric blanket didn't work (out of 3)
• And sheets weren't changed between the days we were there (jas says they're changed daily), I wasn't fused though as we spent two night there. 

What did go to plan? The place was clean and what we needed. Lots of extra blankets, there was an iron & board, mini fridge came with cute mini milk.

Our main issue was that it was winter and the heater didn't work. But if it did work we'd recommend Peppinella Motel.

P.S. To make it nicer, not that it smells or anything I bought along my electronic diffusor (you use it with essential oils). If you have space and are thingy about your pillow then bring that too. The ones provided are nice and fluffy, though I have a firmer memory foam block at the house and so it felt strange. Also bring a dvd, just in case you want something playing in the background.


There's a laundry room that closes 9pm (except Sundays, 7pm) $4 per wash and $2 per dry. I suppose this is for those staying for more than a week. There was also a pool and hot tub, but we didn't stick around that long (open 8am-9/7pm).




We chose a motel as it was what we needed, just a place for the night rather than a fancy place I won't leave. But how you get there is an important factor in considering where to stay. 

Travel - Are you driving? Where are you parking? Is there parking? How much is parking? How much will it cost for gas to get there? If you're taking the country train, you still need to get to the place/hotel. How will you get there? What time is check in? 

Accommodation - Traveling alone/with someone you'd share a bed with? Airbnb. From what I've read like uber there's accountability, and you'll rate each other.

Thursday 14th July


Tonight we went to see Matilda, marketed as unforgettable I can only recall the outline 4hrs later, and can't recall any of the songs. That could be just my memory going though. An experience lasts as long as the time I spent within the venue, and a couple hours after. Rarely does it make an imprint in my memory, though we always remember the very best and worst. Matilda was neither of those things.


The story with Miss Honey's parents is too dramatic and unbelievable, they should have blown up if it were true. The cottage is now a shed, Miss Honey failed to grow as a character, and I think Matilda's brother is special needs.


Set in Britain, the librarian Mrs Phelps seems out of place, a character larger than life. I felt that she would have been more appropriate if it was an American musical? The role of a supportive adult who wasn't directly involved in Matilda's life was essential though, and Mrs P bought that. A cheerleader on the sidelines to listen to the story. 


Miss Trunchbull was hilarious, played by a man, with low hanging things... Bigger than you, fitter than you, can and will do a roll. Great office, a portable set of surveillance tvs and trophys bringing back her glory days. After all, isn't that what gym is all about? :P Those who can't do teacher (though not always), and those who can't teach, teach gym XD


A great contrast to the timid Miss Honey. Wait, is Honey her first or last name? Aunt Trunchbull was her mother's sister (I think) and so her mother was a Trunchbull too....  


We don't recall Matilda being as rebellious as in the musical, though her sings are always entertaining, getting up to mischief and plotting rebellious coups. 


After the break swings were onstage with a bittersweet song 'When I Grow Up' about children wanting to grow and be free. What they don't tell you is it's a trap! No one tells you about responsibility and bills.

In the end Miss Honey becomes the new headmistress of the school, which in a way doesn't make sense. Because being a teacher is very different from principal, more leader less teacher. But I suppose this a family show and so things don't need to make sense. 

I like it, but didn't love it. There wasn't anything wrong with, it just didn't blow us away. We had a good time, and good view even from the back row. Unlike 'Singing in the Rain' it's not a must see, at least not for us. Will it stand the test of time? Doubt it.

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