Back To Work

Well today I am back to work after 2 weeks of leave. Part of me would just like to stay home, but part of me is ready to go back.

The thing is though, I have been working while on leave, doing some graphic design for an upcoming project, can't say more than that at the mo. I have really enjoyed it, so much so that I wish I could just stay home and do a little work like this all the time.

A few months ago, I did some work for Childhood 101 in the form of their e-Book Art not Craft, and thoroughly enjoyed that as well.

Now I am supposed to do graphic design at work, but I have moved more into administration and have been flogging the dead weight of implementing the sign system which no matter how much I do, just seems never to have an end in sight.

So real graphic design, while on my job description, is not really part of my job any more. And I miss it, I really do.

If I was just confident enough to sell myself to the bloggersphere/cyberspace as a graphic designer then maybe I could get some small jobs. I don't want to do web design, I mean I can do it, but that is not my interest. It is working with words and pictures and illustrations and making them look great, be easy to read, turning them into books and the like.

Maybe one day?

Sometimes The Real World Gets In The Way

Thank you to everyone who has left comments on my last blog post, hoping that I am okay and letting me know they miss me. I am really humbled that you care so much.

Thanks to My Baby John for the award, I will pop over and pick it up soon.

I have been absent from here for a few different reasons,

1. I have been so busy at work and doing some work for my daughter at night that I have been too tired to put my thinking cap on and write something meaningful here. I promise that will change soon.

2. Because I work on my computer all day, sometimes the last thing I want to do is turn this one on and sit in front of it ... this has been happening a lot of late ... mostly because I am busy I think, so really a part of number 1.

3. I haven't been doing anything too exciting so not sure how much everyone wants to hear about just the normal stuff.

With regard to my pain levels, well the injection sort of took the edge off, so in that way it has been good - yippee. But it is certainly not a total cure, or even close, so it will be back onto the other drugs soon, side effects and all. I really feel blessed that so many of you care, thank you again for this ... it blows me away the connections made in cyberspace.

I have pottered around some blogs, but not left many comments, apologies for that, I promise I will get better.

Thanks again and I will be back here soon!

Off I Go Again

I am on the road again (and the air as well) for work, off to Karratha early tomorrow morning, back on Thursday afternoon.

Will look forward to reading all your blogs when I return, and hopefully sharing some more photos of this great State of Western Australia.

xxx

And Yet Another Trip

Off to Shark Bay for the rest of the week, another wonderful work trip. Really looking forward to seeing this beautiful piece of Western Australia again. Catch you when I get back on Sunday.

Just A Glimpse

Back from Albany, what a wild few days that was, every different type of weather - from bad to brilliant. On the drive down on Sunday the front hit, about 40 minutes out from Albany. Squally wind, heavy rain, and light hail. It went from daylight to darkness in the blink of an eye. So glad we were nearly at our destination rather than having to drive the whole 4+ hours in that type of weather.

Monday was worse, it was almost sleeting, the maximum of 6 degrees Celsius and the wind chill factor about 0. It rained, it hailed, it was overcast and grey. Made getting some good shots of the landscape hard, apart from the fact that it was SO cold. Still we braved the weather and spent a few hours out and about in the field.

Tuesday saw the weather ease a bit, to just showers and wind, with a balmy 11 C. The ranges we went to visit were topped by cloud, so again a little hard to get good photos, but a great day none the less.

Wednesday dawned quite sunny, a heatwave of 14C was forecast but it actually got up to 17C. Got to take some more shots of the beautiful national parks around Albany. More light showers arrived late in the afternoon.

Thursday - we drove home in lovely sunshine, looking forward to sleeping in our bed - the one in the motel was so hard, my hip and lower back struggled the whole time we were away.

So here are just a few photos - a glimpse - of my time away. Aren't I lucky my job allows me to visit these beautiful places?

Torndirrup National Park (below)

West Cape Howe National Park (below)

The following 3 shots are of the bark of just one karri tree -
so many amazing colours if you just look (Porongorup National Park)

Stirling Range National Park (below)

Gull Rock National Park - hidden wetland (below)

Two People's Bay Nature Reserve - Little Beach (below)

Waychinicup National Park (below)

Off I Go Again

Off on another work trip, this time down to Albany. The weather here is awful so not looking forward to driving in all this rain, but loving the rain as we need it so badly. Hubby is coming along this time too so it will be nice to have him along to share the evenings with.

Hopefully the weather will clear so that I get some good shots of the landscapes around Albany given that is what I am doing down there.

Will share photos when I return on Friday (or maybe Saturday for the photos).

Will miss you when I am gone and have a good catch up on your blogs to see what you have been up to this week when I get back. Happy Blogging

She Returns

My Esperance Trip - A Quick Reflection

Day 1: Fly to Esperance, get ripped off by the Taxi driver and can you believe they don't take Credit Cards!!! Check into motel. Find room, why do they always smell so much - sweet sickly carpet cleaner or something - phew, not good for people like me with allergies.

Day 2: Get picked up by my wonderful colleague and drive to Stokes National Park - all up that day we did around 450 kms. Ended the day with deep sand 4WDriving, towards sunset, on the boundary of the national park. Next to us is a large farm, its paddocks full of grey kangaroos - think I lost count at around 40. Hard work trying to stay in my seat as we rocketed through deep white sand - apparently the way not to get bogged is to go fast - who would have thought. Ended up at the coast overlooking the majestic southern ocean, truly breathtaking - shame about the trip back down the sand track in the dark - watchful for roos, luckily they heard and saw us coming and hopped out of our way in lots of time. An 11 hour day - but what fun.

Day 3: Get picked up and off to Cape Le Grand and Cape Arid National Parks - we drove on the hard white sand flanked by aqua ocean for miles. Saw so many birds - Pacific Gulls, Crested Terns, Hooded Plover, Red Capped Plovers, Pied Oystercatchers, Sooty Oystercatchers, Silver Gulls - what a job, bliss. Amazed by the granite outcrops meeting the ocean. The white 'squeaky' sand beaches, the aqua ocean, the friendliness of staff I meet. Encounter with a carpet python right on the beach. Saddened by the dying banksia, struck down by Dieback, that is slowly working its way through our Parks. 30kms of corrugated track out to Poison Creek, lunch on the beach, more birds, fish jumping in the creek just before it makes it way into the ocean. Then 30kms back on the same road - reckon I lost cms off my bum - isn't that how those vibration machines work. More kangaroos and then some emus. Soaring wedge-tailed eagles. 650kms today.

Day 4: Off to Peak Charles National Park, miles of bitumen road before we turn off and drive down more dirt roads - through mud, over corrugation but most pretty good. Peak Charles and Peak Eleanora loom in the distance. Driving through woodlands now, salmon gums, then gimlet with it's bronzed stems, lots of mallee. Some very wet patches on the way out, a river crossing, then miles of straight road. Back to town to check out the Nature Reserves surrounding the 3 lakes, more dieback here, beautiful grey paperbarks fringing the lake edge. 450 kms today.

Day 5: A day in the office to debrief before flying back to Perth. Arrive late, very tired and glad to be home. My darling hubby has bought KAZZOOM to the airport so I could drive home in my little black beauty. Purring down the highway with no bumps in sight - bliss.

Day 1 : the beaches of Stokes NP (below)

Day 2 : Driving along beach to Cape Le Grand NP (below)

Encounter with carpet python at Hellfire Bay

Hellfire Bay

Death - Dieback disease

Death : wildfire Hellfire Bay

Old Man Banksia

Life : healthy banksia speciosa - stunning

Nature's sculpture : Cape Le Grand NP

Hakea laurina : also susceptible to dieback

Birth : Hakea laurina in stages of opening



Day 3: Peak Charles (below)

Peak Charles and Peak Eleanora

Salmon gums and gimlet

Day 3 : wetlands

Death : banksia sculpture against the grey evening sky

Paperbark sentinels

Hitting The Road Again

image : fotosearch.com

Well tomorrow morning bright and early I start the journey to Esperance on WA's South Coast. Working there on exterior design for our National Parks. This trip involves me travelling around to the various NPs in and around Esperance, taking photos, getting a feel for the environment - working out sign placements and then flying home to do up the suggested colour palettes over the next couple of weeks.

While I am looking forward to getting out the office, so to speak, it really is not a good time as work is flat out.

My anxiety is at full throttle as I don't really know any of the staff down there, apart from the guy who will be driving me around, and I have only met him once for about 30 mins. Still I am sure I will be fine once I get there. I just need to keep telling myself that.

So if I have Internet access at the hotel you may see me commenting on your blogs, if I don't then there will be a lot of reading for me to catch up on next weekend.

I will set the next Muse Wars when I return - hope you can wait that long.

An update on my son, he is doing well, now back at work, although working reduced hours for a few days. Thanks again to everyone who left such supportive and caring comments. They really did help my heart to feel uplifted.

See you on the flip side.

Someone Missed Me

I have been really busy at work recently with unrealistic deadlines and priorities all because my boss dumped me in it - so to speak. My job is already full on, but to have deadlines suddenly rearranged with little notice means one tired although not grumpy Mumma.

I have been popping over to read the lovely blogs I follow and occasionally commenting, but I have not had the energy to blog myself. Until now!!

I just happened to pop over here and look what I found. Someone (maybe even more than just one) missed me. I just don't know what to say, I am so honoured to think that Madmother thought to post about me.

I will be back here blogging much more regularly as soon as I can. Looking at my schedule I may be away from home a fair bit - I have a trip to Esperance already booked in late April, then another probably in May to Shark Bay and then driving down to Walpole as well. Oh and Albany want me there too. If I thought the world would cope I would attempt to clone myself.

Why am I so busy I hear you ask (well probably not but I will tell you anyway)

I am part way through implementing a total change of look for the Boundary and Site ID signage for all the National Parks, Marine Parks and Nature Reserves in Western Australia. No longer will there be routed timber signs in just three tenure based colour schemes. No, now we are moving to metal sign plates on aluminium and steel supports. There will be different colours to reflect the landscape across this large State. My job now, after being part of the team undertaking the initial trial period in Walpole, which also involved translating the procedure into a Manual and then creating and designing the internal website, is now to assess the various landscape and come up with colour palettes.

Phew - no wonder I am tired. The original trial area has now been endorsed and approved and it only took 3 years. Others are following much more quickly now the initial trials and tribulations (pun intended) have been sorted. I have two more that are close to final approval - which I hope to wrap up by June 30th. So there are probably only 15 - 20 to go. Only, she says laughing hysterically. When was I going to retire?

Photo A Day - February Challenge - Day 2

So I hear you ask out in cyberspace, I wonder what Kakka's workspace is like, this funny menopausal woman. You're not? Well you should be thinking that, I think that about other bloggers!! LOL.

Well today you get not 1, not 2, not 3 but 4 photos to show you where I spend about 8 hours a day/8 days a fortnight.

Yes that is a vase of peacock feathers behind my computer, and no I don't believe they are bad luck - how can they be when they were given to me by a friend who had the biggest smile on her face at the time of giving - beside I am not superstitious. Yes I work on a huge iMac doing graphic design. If you look closely you can just see the edge of my little blue fan that my Grandma Win have me when I was 12 - yes that was a long time ago.

Yes that is a collection of crystals and rocks, candles, a glass shell and a tiny wombat and turtle, a assortment of glass animals and 2 little minis. Oh and there is my hand-painted coaster and one of my 2 butterfly mugs. If I am going to be here for that many hours, then I want to surround myself with things I love.


Okay - the other thing I love is butterflies, so there are assorted ones around my pin-up board, and there is the top of my other butterfly mug (that one is for tea, the other for coffee)

Okay and the last bit of my desk - more butterflies, a photo of my grand-daughters one of my 3 plants - and some tissues - a girl can never have too many tissues.

To my left and not shown are the 3 trays filled with job folders, some waiting to be done, some waiting for advice and a huge one which threatens to tip over of the archiving work I need to do, but I didn't think you would want to see the boring part of where I work.

Stroke Me Stroke Me - Well How About You Stroke Yourself

I had originally started another post last night about how fed up I am of working with some "What About Me" people, then on the way back from my daughter's house this morning heard the Stroke Me, Stroke Me song on the radio and suddenly this seemed a better title and a better post so I deleted what I had written and here is the new and hopefully improved version.

In my workplace there are two major "Stroke Me, Stroke Me" personalities and they both have different behaviours they exhibit to achieve their goal of being stroked. Now these behaviours are not always positive and in most instances are negative. One particular person also doesn't mind if the stroking they receive is actually slapping instead - they just need the attention.

Now I suppose all of us need a certain amount of stroking in our lives, we are after all human beings and all of us if we are honest have an ego, however I would hope that I get enough stroking in my relationship and that I stroke back and that I even have the ability to self stroke. And this has nothing to do with physical touching, but that I have a healthy relationship with a partner who considers my needs and who I hope feels that I consider his. I am beginning to think that I am extremely lucky. It also doesn't mean there aren't times when I feel negative about myself - hell there are lots of those times as I am sure you would work out from my posts but I also know how to appreciate myself and what I do. I don't always need someone to tell what a good job I have done - would be great it they did, but it is not the intent of my working day eg to have people gush over me with praise - no I go to work, to do my work and I love my work and am proud of myself when I do a good job.

Now as I have admitted before I rescue people, and that includes giving into to their stroking demands, partly because I do understand that not everyone has a relationship that delivers this for them and not everyone is good a self stroking. But there comes a time when enough is enough, this past week was that time and to be truthful it has been a long time coming.

But when I have a week when both my boss and one of my co-workers have huge "What About Me I Need Stroking" moments over a 2 day period finally my brain, my heart and my body (yes my body you should have felt my back and shoulders) goes okay enough it enough, no more, no helping, I'm done.

So people, grow up and have a good hard look at yourself.

To my boss - be a boss, maybe if you did that properly you wouldn't have the issues you now have to deal with, and guess what, I will continue to do a good job for you but I will not be your backbone when dealing with the hard stuff - you get paid to do that not me and not any of your other staff, so stop expecting us to be the ones who deal with it. I don't care if you don't want to be a "father/boss" because your father was (in his words) "catholic and strict and I'm not going to be that way" - well tough cookies being a boss means just that. I know you are under pressure but hey so are all of us who work for you and all but one of us is delivering and maybe if you had listened to us earlier and been a boss and dealt properly with our co-worker we would not be dealing with the issues now. You and only you bought this pain on all of us.

To my co-worker, you have no-one to blame but yourself for what it happening to you, so take a good hard look at yourself, if the same situation keeps happening in your life and you are the only constant - then who do you think needs to take the blame - yes that right it is you. It is not like you haven't had lots of us telling you and coaching you and encouraging you but you need to listen, and listen with an open mind. You are a grown woman so act like one. I know you have had a tough childhood and maybe your life hasn't turned out like you thought it would but guess what there are a few of us who work alongside you who have not had it easy either and yet we can act like grown people because we have taken the steps and taken responsibility for who we are. Maybe, just maybe if you did that you would find your life is suddenly a whole lot better.

So there it is said, and yes maybe this is the safe option, say it here where they probably will never find it - but guess what - I'm so fired up I will probably say it to them anyway. Who cares what the fall out is - I am just plain tired of working my butt off and seeing my staff and other co-workers working their butts off while one of you does nothing and the other may work hard but only wants to undertake the bits of their job that they like!

Not Enough Hours In The Day Or Menopausal Brain?

I'm sad to say that I really can't say I have achieved a great deal at work since I came back from holidays, especially this week, which is the week I should have been able to go full-steam ahead.

I just can't seem to finish, or if I'm truthful, start any of my projects. I have good intentions, I get all the folders ready to go through to see where my jobs are at and then finish what needs finishing and that's as far as I get. Now in my defense I am not just sitting there staring into space, but I am allowing myself to get distracted by my workmates. Some would say that I am being supportive - after all I am allowing my office mate to unload her worries about her ill Mother and her sisters and how they are all coping and I feel good about being there for her. But am I allowing that to be an excuse for me not buckling down.

Or is it just menopausal brain? Is it that I can't actually function very well anymore? My boss has for the last 5 years to so been telling me about his partner's menopausal brain and I thought it was a load of hooey, but maybe it is not. They now talk about pregnant women losing the plot, even though I seemed to avoid it when having 4 children. But maybe there really is something to it after all. These damn hormones, are they the problem?

Or is it just I am not motivated anymore because I have lost the passion for my job? I mentioned that in another post, and I really think the passion is gone. Bit of a worry really.

Next week I only have 2 days then I am not back until the 5th January and January is going to be a hell of a month, so Monday and Tuesday watch out - those bloody folders will be dealt with or I'm not going to home until they are!!

Yeah right, bet I allow myself to get distracted again ... sigh.

Working Less

In an earlier post I mentioned that I was going to talk to my boss about working less. I actually did talk to him on the first day back from leave, but then my m-i-l died in the early hours of the next morning and so today was the first day I thought about it again. So I'm happy to say I have applied to work .8 of a full time position on a 3 month trial. This means I get 2 days off in a fortnight and rather than taking 1 per week, I think I will work a 5 day week and a 3 day week.

So now it is in the hands of up line bosses, my boss has endorsed the trial, but there are another 3 levels to go - don't' you love the red tape of government!!

If all goes well by the middle of January all will be approved.

I hope I can managed on the reduced wage, hubby assures me it will be fine, so fingers crossed all be approved soon.

I am really looking forward to the extra time so I can do things like go to lunch with my daughters or my friends. Do some scrapbooking, reading, go to the movies or just get back to my family tree. And of course the sleep ins will be nice.

Time Away & The Beauty Of Nature

Part of my job is to work on implementing a new sign system for the national parks in Western Australia and so a colleague and I drove up to Jurien Bay on Weds/Thurs to visit a couple of national parks and the sites within them.  With all that has gone on this last week a couple of days away seemed like a burden rather than an adventure.  But once we were on the road, I so began to look forward to seeing the results of all the work our team had done.  The drive itself was longish as there were roadworks and heavy rain to start with, but we ended up with blue skies the closer we got to Jurien.  Once there we were met by another colleague and took a trip out to one of the parks to view the recently installed signs - and they looked great. 

For those of you who don't know, the northern sandplains are the home of many a kangaroo tick.  If you have every had one attach itself to your skin it is quite freaky, the fact I had one a few years ago that nestled behind my knee for a week without me knowing was particularly off-putting, so I was super careful while up there. 

It is also home to some amazing landscape and land forms, blue waters and white sands, blue sky and gusty coastal winds although hot when out of the wind.  

We stopped for lunch at Sandy Bay and I could not resist taking off my shoes and frolicking at the water's edge - although for some reason none of my colleagues joined me - perhaps they thought I was a little crazy.  But having that cold water lapping at my toes and rushing around my feet as the waves came in and out was so refreshing.  If I had been on my own I think I would have stripped down to my underwear and gone for a swim.  Which for those of you who know me would not be a pretty sight, I am after all a little (or a lot depending on your point of view) on the large size.  I miss swimming, I love floating in the cold water but I allow my size to influence me - I am not comfortable letting anyone see me in anything but a fully dressed state.  I admire larger women who are comfortable with their bodies but it is something I have always struggled with.

The next morning we drove out to the Pinnacles Desert to inspect more signs and the newly opened Visitor Centre - well worth a look if you are up that way.  It was a beautiful cool morning and we saw kangaroos and emus - some a little too close for comfort given we were in a car!!

The trip was worth the effort, I nice chance to reaffirm one's worth from a work point of view, a great chance to catch up with country based work colleagues and to share time with one of my city based work friends.

Isn't it strange that sometimes we need to leave our comfort zone to actually appreciate other things more fully.