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Portia
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Hello Fellow Fumies,
Every Saturday we have a Question, an idea purloined from Olfactoria’s Travels. Everyone gets to chime in with an answer, chat with other responders and it is a fun event each week. Taking sides never means taking offence and everyone keeps it respectful and light, even though we can sometimes trawl the depths.
The idea is you’ll see it on the weekend or chime in through the week. Hopefully you will come back and see if anyone has responded to your comment and you can reply to them.
Over 100 responses I will draw a $10 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Over 200 responses I will draw a $20 Surrender To Chance Gift Card.
Comment purposefully on yours or anothers comment & you’ll have a chance, random.org will draw on Friday.
Last Weeks Winner: Didn’t make 100 comments.
eMail me at (portia underscore turbo at yahoo dot com dot au) with the eMail you’d like me to send your Gift Card to.
Saturday Question:
What Would You Ask For If You Knew The Answer Was YES?
Saw this one a while ago on a Facebook page and it tickled my fancy. This week we don’t have to keep it fragrance related but I would ask that we keep Medical or Relationship Saves, World Peace and Money out of the equation. Let’s make this fun, interesting and personal. Maybe something you’ve wanted but only as an “if I win the lottery” kinda thing. You might have a secret dream that you could make reality. Could there be a different work direction you could have taken that seems far more appealing now? A trip, extra child, bathroom renovation, perfume cupboard, backyard studio or granny flat, live in the country/city, study law or have your favourite chef in to cook for you every Sunday. Seriously, anything
My Answer:
I would ask Jin if we could move to a small town and have a garden. In the garden there would be enough room for an entertaining verandah, pool, vegetable patch, chicken coop, Hills Hoist clothes line and dog run.
Why a small town? Well, I’m not talking outback Australia with under 1000 people. Maybe I mean a larger town. It has to have the amenities: Supermarket, Hospital, Main Street, nearby Airport and all Utilities. Part of me likes the idea of having so much less invested in our bricks & mortar, the extra space and a vegetable patch to dig in. Doesn’t need to be a very big patch either. Room for a couple of fruit trees, some spinach, potatoes, peas/beans and herbs. Chooks have been on my wish list since childhood and I love the idea of the dogs having an easy care run.
If “I win the lottery” kinda thing- I would love to be able to buy a yoga studio for my yoga teacher and help her run it. We would charge much less money than other studios so that folks who normally could not afford to take a yoga class would be able to (and reap the benefits of it!). In the studio I would sell or gift my essential oil blends and have a blast combining my love of yoga and fragrance. And with my newfound wealth, the two remaining Marzipans that are still at home but on their way to college in the next two years could attend the college of their dreams without any concern about finances and the eldest Marzipan could attend graduate school immediately after she graduates current college. We would all take a trip to Oz to visit Portia every summer and have a blast!
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OMG Marzipan,
That sounds like HEAVEN!
Portia xx
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Having just spent a whole day in my kitchen preparing a huge meal, my average sized lottery win would be a kitchen reno. The previous owners of my house redid the kitchen but it has some serious functional flaws. But if I won the Powerball, I would encourage my husband to retire from his current job and look for something more fulfilling. Maybe he could teach in Marzipan’s yoga studio!!
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Oh yes!!!!
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Hey MmkinPA,
A functional kitchen is a very good goal. The one we created in our current apartment is nearly perfect. We love how smoothly creation and cleaning is. Though we are naughty and leave stuff on the benches for ease of retrieval, so they get clogged up.
My fave thing is a small walk in pantry, Jin added a light that flicks on when we open the door. It’s a small thing that feels super luxe.
Portia xx
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I always thought that if I won the lottery I would stop working and just travel the world, but I love my job and my many journeys around the world make me appreciate my home more.
But I will have a business class trip to Europe one day. Both ways!
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JackieB,
It’s funny isn’t it. If I won a large amount of money I hope that the business would still be a major focus for me. It employs 9 people and I love that we’ve created something that keeps a dwindling profession extant.
Business class is wonderful. Fingers crossed you get that wish fulfilled.
Portia xx
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Jackie, we did business class to Europe in 2012. I cannot recommend it highly enough, it was so worth it. I broke a shoulder while we were in Norway, and I cannot imagine what flying home in an economy seat would have been like. Think if it as extra insurance. 🙂
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I would love to be able to spend a few months a year traveling, mostly in France an some of europe. Just rent/lease a car and drive from one place to the next, staying as long as caught my fancy. Some day I will do it!
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Call me when you do. I’lll jump a ride for part of it TaraC. There are so many European friends I never get to see, it would be really fun.
Portia xx
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I would ask my partner for another dog 🙂 Possibly two?
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YAY! Would you rescue Nemo?
Portia xx
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For sure! The hardest part would be stopping with one…or two.
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A slightly unusual one – to go to uni and study theoretical physics.
I love your wish, Portia. It sounds perfect for where you are at in life. And it would be heavenly for the dogs.
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Study Kate,
Isn’t it a luxury denied the mature. I love that you’d do it.
Yeah but Jin would rather eat his foot.
Portia xx
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Not knowing any of your circumstances, Kate, please forgive me if this is an unhelpful sticking-in-of-an-oar but…is the Open University an option?
(I completed my undergraduate degree with them after 20 years of dreaming and regret, and I’m now doing a research degree part time. Never thought it would happen, but, it can!)
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If I inherited lots of money ($ 142 Million from a Nigerian diamond dealer) I’d buy a perfume shop. I would probably never sell anything because I want it all for myself.
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Oh you’re part of that inheritance group too, eh?
I’ve recently been awarded a HUGE tax rebate too, several times more than the amount of tax that I’ve paid in my entire life. Don’t quite know how I’m going to spend it all, haha.
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Inheritance group? Take a number, I was first in line! 😀
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HA HA HA HA HA! Inheritance! They’re so naughty.
A perfume shop. I’d buy from you Ingrid.
Portia x
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What I most want in all the world is impossible: just another half hour or so with my late mom and dad and brothers and sister. (Actually, my sister need not come. Really just my one favorite brother and my dad are required, although then I’d feel badly leaving my mother out.) This falls in the world peace category in terms of impossibility but is just for me, so fits the theme.
Most of them died right around this time of year, so it’s on my mind particularly.
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I only want health and happiness for my daughter….she is healthy and happy but I want it till she’s 101
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Oh I forgot the money part 😛 money can’t buy happiness but I’d rather her be rich and unhappy than poor and unhappy…..
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We say, “I’d rather be crying in a Porsche than laughing on a bike.” Marion.
Portia x
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“We say, “I’d rather be crying in a Porsche than laughing on a bike.”
– a Porsche Turbo, of course.
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A trip to Paris -and I’m getting it in June!
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Woo Hoo! How freaking exciting MaggieCat!
Portia xx
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Are Hills hoists still made?
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Happy to buy one from someone’s backyard Saffyishere.
Portia xx
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I’d love to buy the wallpaper featured on my Facebook page, and have it as a feature in my lounge room, then renovate both lounge and dining rooms….they are adjoined.
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That would be gorgeous.
Portia x
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I may ask for a trip to every country in the world and a chance to live with a local family in every country. I would ideally live 2 weeks in each country so I know this whole wish would take more than 5-6 years to materialize. I will devote a week to sightseeing and a week to discussions with people to learn as much about the country and its culture, politics, history and so on. I can only imagine how much wiser and more knowledgeable I would be once all of this is over.
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Love every bit of it except living with a family. That would be my own special hell Fazal.
Portia xx
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hehhehheh. My purpose in living with a family is really to engage in conversatins with them about country’s history, culture etc. it gives you a native perspective that my be different from the official perspective or what is written in history books (lot of propaganda). I would prefer if my host family has some elders who have seen the world since mid-20th century.
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I would take a personal trainer, personal dietitian and personal chef. Thank you. I do not mind to keep working if everything else is taken care of.
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WOW! What an interesting idea Undina. It would be excellent to have a good regime forced upon you by a team. Love it, though I think I’d rebel.
Portia xx
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The thing with lists is that you always think of other things after you have answered!
I would like a private session at the Osmotheque at Versailles. Please.
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Having done a private session at the Osmotheque at Versailles I can tell you it’s worth every cent. I would happily have paid double. It was amazing JackieB,
Portia xx
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A trip to Australia with Chris and my kids and the UK perfume crew. All expenses paid including a floor in a superb hotel in Sydney. as a home base. You would organise the month we would all spend in Australia.
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The real dream: being able to work part time–but magically with no drop in salary–so I can balance study and work and training better.
Oh, and the actively-working-on-it-dream: find the right doggo to adopt (s/he has to be ok enough with strangers to walk through the city and take a train with me to work AND not want to chase my cat) and get a “yes, now” from my beloved on this, rather than an extending “yes, soon”.
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I cant think of what Id want most, so here are several (greedy that I am 😀). A flat/house in both places I feel tied to, so I can go back and forth. A new direction/job after this one ends and a couple of cats.
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I had wondered why I didn’t like the idea of travelling the world until it dawned on me I hated lineups and generally being treated like cattle. I would like to see the world in an unhurried manner so probably another fortune winning wish.
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The practical side of me says a little ‘weekender’ on the coast, near the beach so i can see the waves from the lounge or bedroom window. Nothing super flash but something we can turn ito our home for later. The impractical side of me says winning a charity auction that gets me lunch, or dinner with Hugh Jackman!
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What a great question! I’ve been thinking about how I might answer, and I’m embarrassed to say that I had several ideas, which seems greedy. And really, I have almost every single thing one could wish: happy, healthy, loving family; security; a home and garden I love. Maybe this: more time and leisure to pursue my creative outlets, and noteworthy success for my creations!
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Funnily, your scenario is pretty similar to what I’m doing next year. We are upping stakes and moving to Bendigo. Maybe not exactly a “small town”, but it will feel that way after decades in a city the size of Melbourne. We will have a big house of our own to live in after renting for 15+ years, and will finally have a big garden to design, plant out and grow. My version of your chooks will probably be a fish pond.
I’m greedy so I’m going to mention a few other things. They may sound a bit political, but so am I.
I would ask for all of the people on Manus Island and Nauru to be brought to Australia and cared for here, immediately. I would ask for marriage equality to be introduced into Australia immediately, with zero concessions for people’s religious hangups. I would wish for my younger son to find a secure job that he can be happy in, and I would ask for my grandson to grow up healthy. I would ask for my wife and I to have a long and happy retirement in our Bendigo home, surrounded by new friends and our loved ones.
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