As I mentioned in my previous post, we had a lot of help with our wedding party. Mainly family but also a few friends contributed too. They were happy to, but I also wanted to get a few thankyou gifts. One couple are notoriously hard to buy for as they have everything they could possibly ever want. For that reason, I was thinking of going with a nice bag of freshly ground organic coffee. For others I was going to go along the lines of chocolate, more coffee and for a few who are mothers, a natural bath soak concoction. I am running out of ideas though, and DH is never the one to ask about these things, he just shrugs his shoulders and says he doesn't know. Any ideas??

Our 'Wedding Party' is over, done and dusted! It turned out to be a very fabulous night and 70-ish guests all said they enjoyed themselves greatly.

My dad, stepmum and little sister boarded their plane back to Victoria today and now I'm sitting at home by myself, waiting for DH to get home so we can make dinner.

There were a few stressful moments leading up to do with family, but in the end everyone behaved themselves and got along, which we were very thankful for.

It rained during the night but was misty and grey for the photogrpahs. I can't wait to see them, I think they are going to look amazing. It suits DH and I as we love that grey, rainy, wintery weather, so we are SOOO pleased that the day was like that, and the backdrop to our outside photographs will have gorgeous mountain ranges with misty air!

And so now it's time to tally up our costs. Probably the only place where people are interested in the money we *saved* on an event like this, is here!

Costs:
Spanish Paella: $1225.00
Other Food: $80.00
Drinks: $82.63
Hall Hire: $150.00
My clothes: $175.90
Accessories: $34.40
DH Clothes: $172.40
Wedding Favours: $14.50
Tableware: $87.69
Canvas: $24.95
Total Cost: $2047.47

We had friends & family chip in/provide for free some items:
- cake
- honeymoon stay (2 nights hotel accomodation & breakfast)
- hair styling
- hall decorations
- champagne
- photography

and recieved $2000 in cash & $100 in GC's. I'm depositing it in the bank tomorrow. Of course money isn't the reason we decided to throw a party - but money WAS the reason we decided to have a party INSTEAD of a fully blown wedding, so in a way I am really relieved at the outcome. We do have the money to cover the costs (otherwise, we would not have organised it!) but it is nice to know that money can now be absorbed and/or go into savings.

June will mark the start of a ruthless savings plan! We need two new cars and want to start organising some failry major renovations to our house, so it means hard work & not much play. Or at least, cheap play!

My exam is June 16th, I have a lot of study to do over the next three and a half weeks! Then a bit of a break before I am back into it again. Eeep. Would love to have the summer semester off, but I think I will do an extra subject over the break to make myself feel better for only doing one this semester.

From my dads side for our wedding present, we were given a Stephanie Alexander gardening/cookbook which is about 2000 pages of gardening tips and instructions, and recipes for once the produce has been grown, and is *amazing*, as well a piece of artwork my late grandfather completed in 1951, a sketch of the Irish countryside he made when he was travelling with my late grandmother. It is something that not only has huge financial value but is most importantly a piece of my grandfather that I will never let go and treasure for our lives. I think DH also feels as though this was a huge welcome to the family gesture. We are going to get it framed shortly.

In other news, I have discovered some paypal/credit card fraud. Only around $120 worth, in five small payments (so weird!), but it makes me feel uneasy. I have deleted my details from paypal, which will be a pain in the future but makes me feel better. I have changed all passwords and security details for paypal, emails and banks. Argh.

I don't think I could have enjoyed working at my current place any less, but it has happened. I now officially *hate* my workplace. Wow. What a week!

First of all, I went into work with my friend (who also works there) so that she could drop something off, on a day when I was not working (it was a public holiday, I am too expensive to pay to work on those days, so I don't get any hours, and no pay either). My boss & his wife were there. While I was standing there, minding my own business, boss's wife came up to me and starting raving on about two plastic plates that were in a drawer out the front of the shop. Apparently, she had put them out the back, and they had been moved back out the front. She requested that I please inform all the staff members that if she finds them, or any other 'useless crap' out there, that she will throw it out. Why *I* am required to do this is beyond me, and to be talking to me on my day off? Uh, I don't get paid enough to deal with that kind of BS. (excuse me).

So then on Friday I have to call her to tell her my little sister could not work her shift the next day. At the time, I am giving her 24 hours notice exactly. My sister by this time, has been in hospital for two days. I do not want to discuss why, but she nearly died. So yes, I am not in the mood for anyone else's problems. My sister is 15 and works a 5 hour shift. She's a casual junior and has NO obligation to her employers for ANYTHING, technically speaking. She does not get holiday or sick pay etc, so does not have to divulge why she cannot work on certain days, etc.

So I call this woman to tell her my sister cannot work tomorrow. 'Why?!' She says. 'I can't discuss that with you.' I say. 'Well! I need to know why!' She says again. Again, I tell her I can't discuss it with her. 'Well, I'm GOING to need to KNOW WHY, this has really put ME in a lurch, you know. You are giving me NO notice...' she raves on. 'She's in hospital. If you want to call to make sure, that's fine.' I tell her. All of a sudden, she starts yelling at me. 'You don't have to get SHIRTY with me, you know, she could want to go to a PARTY or something. That's all you needed to say, that she was in hospital.' (seriously? wtf? My sister has NEVER taken time off to go to a party, never been late, never been hungover on the job or ill-fit to work for any reason. She has actually never even had a day off). I tell her that I did not want to, or need to, tell her or discuss it with her, that it was personal information and she did not require that knowledge. She carried on shouting for a moment, then says that's fine. She will work something out, somehow. (Like I care? NOT my problem?!)

She then has the gall to ask if I'm ok! By this stage, I have nearly hung up on her twice. I'm ready to throw my phone, or scream, or resign. I am nearly crying. I tell her I am quite fine, and terminate the conversation.

The next day, she sends me a text message. It reads:

' Hi Whitestripe. Feel bad about our conversation yesterday. Let me know if (my sister) needs any more time off or if there is anything I can do to help. '


I am with my friend/colleague at the time, and she reads it too. We are both gobsmacked at the fact that this is clearly meant to be some kind of apology, with the absence of anything that resembles 'I'm sorry'. It does not even say *I* feel bad. It just says 'feel bad'.

My sister quit yesterday (Partly due to the fact she will not be able to work for a few weeks, but also partly because my boss's wife scares her, and she hates working there). Can't say I blame her!

I feel as though she will call me at some stage. I did not reply to her text message.
On one hand, I know I should be careful of what I say. I do need a job to pay the bills. I suppose we would be alight for a few months if I were to get fired, but I don't want that. On the other hand, I feel as though I should say *something*. I do not believe the way she spoke to me was acceptable. I am not a student at school. She is not my mother. I am sure somewhere it states that it is not technically legal to talk to someone like that? Surely? She spoke to me as though I was a child that needed discipline. I just don't really get how someone can think it is appropriate behaviour. She seems to think she is the greatest person on Earth, because she owns a bakery. Sigh.

Anyway, that is the end of my rant.

In other news, I have heard back from two places - did not get an interview for both. But am still waiting to hear back from two more. I would be happy with working for either, so keep fingers crossed for me. I fear I may just explode in a fiery ball of rage very soon at work. It is just almost too much to take sometimes.

I mean, who YELLS at someone after they tell them their sister is in hospital? It's not like I said she was at Disneyland! Urgh.

- for those that were wondering, my sister is doing alright. Will be able to return to school next week. Scared the hell out of everyone. She is now living back with her mum too.