This Friday I'm so excited to introduce the lovely Liz from Mumstrosity. Liz is a fellow blogger, and a wonderful writer. Her blog has that warm straight-forwardness about it which makes you think you've just had a chat with a good friend whenever you read her latest post.Who are you? Sometimes I'm not sure, but for the most part my friends call me Liz.
What occupies your time? I am a WAHM and a blogger, though I spend most of my time ferrying children around to school, kinder and weekly appointments.
Where do you live? I live in a reasonably quiet country town in eastern Victoria.
Who do you live with? I live with my partner and 3 kids (+1 on the way), 3 budgies and backyard full of Magpies (evil creatures).
Day job / other job? I am self employed, doing a small amount of online work (including blogging), but I am also one third of a non-profit organisation to which I volunteer the majority of my spare time.
Secret gifts / talents / hobbies... You could call me a Jill of all trades (master of none), I like to dabble in a little bit of everything and go through phases of what I'm into. One thing I've spent a lot of time doing is researching my family tree. I started doing it about 3 years ago and now have well over 1,000 names in my tree. There's more to add, but I just don't get a lot of time to do it anymore. So far I have not found any unclaimed fortunes.
Interesting stuff I’d like to know about you…
Tell me a story about a car you loved?
I once had an old Corona wagon. It was a rust bucket, and I'm still not really sure what colour it was - somewhere between green and gold. It's top speed was 100km, downhill. However, this old rust bucket gave her all. Two friends and I packed up the boot and headed north on a little road trip. We travelled up towards Brisbane, stopping in and around little towns here and there, and when we couldn't find a room we slept in the car.
The Corona provided well for us. She made it all the way to the Sunshine State, and would have made it all the way back if we hadn't hit a kangaroo. Just 3 hours away from home a kangaroo (or possibly a wallaby) hopped on out in front of my car. It hit the bonnet but went straight under, and surprisingly I was able to keep a steady grip on the wheel and stay on the road. We didn't stop. Normally I would have pulled over to do check the animal and move it off the road, but I had a big line of traffic behind me so there wasn't a great deal I could do.
When we got to the next town I pulled into a servo to assess the damage. The front end of the car had been smashed in from the lower half and the licence plate was missing. We were able to pop the bonnet, but we're not a very mechanically minded bunch so we had no idea what we we're looking at. A man came over to us and informed us the mechanic wasn't in until tomorrow (it was night), so we asked if he could have a look for us. We told him we were 3 hrs from home and just wanted to know if he thought we could make it that far. He told us we would be fine.
So, convinced we could make it home, we bought some pizza and headed off again. Then, about 15 minutes out of town the car started making some bad sounds/smells - I can't really remember exactly, but we were convinced the car was going to explode at any given moment, so we pulled over. Of course it was pitch black, in the middle of nowhere, and with no reception. Naturally.
We locked up the car and headed down a nearby driveway, hoping it would lead us to a house. What we came across what a giant gate and fence (at least 6ft), that looked like it was electric. Then when we heard male voices and strange animal sounds, we were certain we had stumbled across some sort of Jurassic Park slash Wrong Turn habitat and hastily got our arses back to the car.
We had no choice but to walk or hitch, so we put the hazard lights so we could be seen and waited for a car to come along. Sometime later, a car finally came by and yes, they stopped. It was a woman and two teen girls. She explained to us that she was a teacher and they were at a school camp, but one of the girls had become very sick so they were taking her to find some medical assistance. When she saw 3 young girls on the side of the road with a broken down car she felt compelled to pick us up.
Back in town again, we were dropped off at the servo we had stopped at on the way through. The guy working gave us free coffee and use of a telephone, and we had soon sorted out a taxi and accommodation for the night (Hooray for comprehensive car insurance!). The mother of one of my friends came and collected us the next day, and when I returned to collect the car we found that the radiator had been pushed back against the fan belt, which had cut through from the heat and friction. The car was a write off, but she'd had a good run.
I’m a bit of a weather nerd. Tell me about your preferred type of weather??
I don't particularly mind if it's hot or cold, or even raining for that matter. I lived in the Top End for a while and the heat and rain didn't bother me so much, neither does the frost down south. The one thing I can't stand is the wind. I hate when it's windy, it just puts me in bad mood. Having to check the house and yard for wayward objects, hair flapping about recklessly, dirt blowing in your eyes and embers in the summer being blown about catching everything alight. Blergh.
What are you reading at the moment?? Is it good / bad??
I am currently reading 'A Hidden Fire' by Elizabeth Hunter, which is book 1 of the 'Elemental Mysteries' series. It's not bad, it dragged a bit for the first half but it's grown on me. I'm enjoying it.
What frugal thing do you do?? Have you got a sneaky money saving tip??
I love a bargain. For groceries I mostly get the 'no name' stuff, food that has to be used quickly and whatever's on special. I research things I need to get on the internet so I can compare prices. I also have a budget/forecast that I made up in excel that is 12 months in advance. I like to know exactly where my money goes, and how possible purchases will affect me down the line.
Thank you so much Liz :) Its been a real pleasure to have you visit. Will you stop by again some time?? I hope so.
You can find Liz online at
BLOG: www.mumstrosity.com
FB: http://facebook.com/mumstrosity
TWITTER: http://twitter.com/mumstrosity
1 people love me:
Loved the interview with Liz. We've all had a rust bucket we loved. Mine was a poo brown Ford Cortina with a beige vinyl top! It was a Ghia top of the line model!!!
Post a Comment