Living up to my blog

Well I am living up to my Blog title.
On 1st July my sister went on a trip to the UK, and left me in charge of her house, her pets (2 small dogs, one free-range rabbit who thinks he/she is a dog and 2 lovebirds whose main occupation is to make as much mess as they can) and her business. So I am living at her house.

For the last couple of years I have been working with my sister every Thursday & Friday in her business which she runs from home. I still do my half-time job at the University of Western Australia library, in the first half of each week.
Heather's business is two-fold, firstly she is an Education Agent, dealing mainly with international students http://ultimatestudiesaustralia.com, and secondly she is an au pair agent, perthdemipair.com, where she places au pairs and demi pairs with families.
Now the best part of all this is that the au/demi pairs when they arrive in Perth stay at Heather's house until they are acclimatised, inducted, oriented etc. to their new situation and placed with a host family.
The demi pairs also go to school, usually to learn English, so they learn to use our public transport system. We train them to be independent, helpful people who can't rely on their mothers any more to pick up after them.
It is very interesting and informative and we have met some really lovely people.
However July is historically a quiet month for the arrival of au/demi pairs. But as soon as Heather booked her month long holiday, July turned into a busy month.
At this moment I am sharing Heather's house with a Korean, A Zimbabwean, a German and a Japanese. Tonight, being Friday, I decided not to cook, so we had fish and chips, and they all enjoyed them. Every other night I have concocted delicious meals for them :-)
These girls are wonderful. They are helpful, they wash the dishes, they sweep the floor, they hang out the washing, they play with the dogs and the rabbit. They are happy and we have lots of good conversations and have lots of laughs.
But I am so tired. I feel as if I am on constant duty. I have a normal telephone, Heather's mobile phone, my mobile phone, the phone connected to the computer, the answering machine, the fax, the emails (mine and Heather's) and my job!! And then "Excuse me, Kathryn, I have a question..."

Today I had to call out a plumber. The water would not drain away from the shower. Disaster! Five women who can't take a shower! I convinced the nice plumber that it was essential it was fixed today even though he was extremely busy.
The weather was particularly bad today too, raining, very windy, thunderstorms and cold. Many homes in Perth ended up with no electricity because of power lines being down. Some houses were damaged by falling trees, some houses lost parts of their rooves (roofs?). So we were fortunate.

I feel better now for having written all this down. Now I can go to sleep. Tomorrow is another day.