am still here…

It seems that the daily blogging for a month didn’t hold beyond the month like I hoped it would! Ah well will still attempt to blog more regularly.

The kids are at Dads and I’m out in my scraproom.  This room that has been such a beautiful haven for me for sooo long has become a bit of a hovel of late and I have barely been out here at all. I came out to try to get it tidied up a bit.  I have made some small progress, have a long way to go but at least I have almost half a desk free now and am starting to feel the urge to scrap….usually the urge to journal comes first and the whole blogging thing seems to help me to get writing….just proves that Jude never ever stops talking for long I guess!

The big boys started at their new school last week and while it hasn’t been all wine and roses it has been a pretty good start to the new year. Brett seems to need a little more time to settle in but then he has two part time teachers too so that is probably understandable.  Corey started kinder too and (as expected) has taken to it like a duck to water…he is perfectly at home there but then he has been in and out of that kinder all his life!  Owen and Brett went to after school care on Thursday and loved it – I had to wait for Brett to finish decorating his biscuit before we could go home. I have them booked in just for that one day a week, I could pick them up after work but this way I just don’t need to stress about rushing from place to place, instead I can come home and relax a bit and/or organise dinner do the shopping etc etc.

Am currently working on getting finances in better shape after the kitchen but we have our next ‘big dream’ all worked out.  We will be getting a camper trailer and then heading off to Perth for a holiday. The plan for the moment is take them out of school for an extra week or so around the September holidays next year or the year after (depending on finances). Sept is a bit cooler than the summer break and means we will go in spring – the wild flowers are supposed to be an awesome thing to see. Plan is to spend a week there and to stop several times on the way taking easy drives where possible so we don’t overdo the driving (just me driving after all).

What else? Getting involved again with the NVG group in Geelong (Dubh Linn), going to their big Feast next weekend with the boys and will see what happens from there. Always was enjoying the involvement but the big problem was that I couldn’t do the Thursday nights but it seems we may have worked a way around that so will see how it pans out.

And a thought for today…as I clean out my scraproom and start to think of  well stuff….

I want my kids to recognise that money is necessary for life and yet not the only, nor even the most important, thing in life. I want my kids to measure their success by the happiness they bring to themselves and others. I want them to appreciate the very best things in life ARE free. I want them to embrace life and face their fears.  Because life is not all about economics, it is about so much more than that.

Zero…

how did I forget to blog the newest member of our family?! Zero has been with us for almost 3 weeks now and is a constant source of delight. He is so funny to watch chasing his tail or stalking/chasing a fly. And the peace and harmony when he curls up on my chest of an evening and purrs! He’s been sleeping on the spare pillow on my bed. I am so glad I decided it was time to get a new cat!

When I finally acted on it I posted on facebook a simple status message that ‘Jude needs a kitten’ and within half an hour a friend posted her friend had some almost ready to go….and now I have little Zero who’s mum is half Birman and who was born on my birthday! Some things are meant to be!

picture to follow – its on the other computer oops!

Zero the day he came home, sitting on my knee!

Australia Day is coming!

and I have been busy planning a bonza Aussie BBQ at my place. I will have (including me and the boys) 6 adults and 5 kids here for Australia Day and the menu is looking good….yet to be completely finalised but so far (and with the help of vibe village for contributing marinades, chips, pitos and chocolate) we will be enjoying something like this….

Chinese (honey/soy) chicken on sticks

Portuguese chicken on sticks

Moroccan lamb on sticks

Tuscan beef on sticks

Thai prawns on sticks (maybe)

sausages

vegies on sticks (maybe)

possibly some grilled polenta

toss salad/potato salad/cold boiled eggs

roast lamb and rosemary kettle chips

sour cream and chilli pitos

cadbury white bubbles chocolate

and Pav for dessert

And we have Aussie plates, cups, a flag, hats for the kids, apron for me, temporary tattoos, beach ball etc to make a real Aussie celebration (looking at the food I’d say we are also celebrating multiculturalism)!

Now just to finish cleaning up and get everything on sticks and marinading  – oh and make the pav etc!

I’ve been buying things a bit at a time mostly at $2 shops – dread to think how much I have spent though!

New kitchen

well it went in faster than anticipated. No rangehood as yet as I want it vented properly.

Plumber, sparky and tiler all came in….at one stage I had all three of them in my kitchen at once!

Still look at this…..one new kitchen (ok a little bit of plaster repair, paint and a rangehood still to go in and floors to be sanded and polished too)

so what do you think? can I cross it off my list or do I have to have rangehood, floors and paint done first?

click the pictures to enlarge! lovin’ it!

Old kitchen is gone!

well technically it is still on the property but the skip is being picked up tomorrow so not for long!

The whole kitchen has been ripped out including almost all the floor (I moved the pantry out to the laundry (it will be my linen cupboard – woohoo I get a linen cupboard) but haven’t pulled up the tiles from under there yet – it’s only a 5min job though so will get that done today.

It looks a mess. I have quite a bit of spac fillering to do this morning before I go out to diggers rest. The scout group camp is on and my Brett had his first joey sleep over there and Owen had his last one …he is going up to Cubs this afternoon – can’t miss that!  So off for a bbq lunch and watch him go up to cubs. Should be back by 4ish and we will just have a sandwich for dinner methinks and I will get stuck into cleaning the walls with sugar soap with the hope of being able to throw up a coat of undercoat this evening after the boys go to bed.

That’s the plan because I might well need two coats of undercoat – the green on the walls at present is quite dark.  I only have two more days to get it done and tomorrow I have a morning tea at school so will be out from 9-10.30 and then I have Owen’s eye test so out again from 12-1.30 then school pick up…hoping that I can get up a coat of something in the morning  – I have two hours and am only aiming to do the two walls that the cupboards are going on really. Then another coat between lunch and school pick up if I can which may even leave time for one last coat between the kids bedtime and mine before the installers arrive at 7.30ish on Tuesday morning!

So far though…

I have learnt…..

- never to get ‘a mate’ who says ‘yeah I can do that’ to do brickwork (window still not completely bricked on the outside.

- never to let the size of the job to freak you out – just think of the next thing that needs doing and do that…one step at a time I can do anything!

- to plaster! yes I singlehandedly plastered up what used to be my window (someone else removed the window). But I built an inner frame to attach the plaster to because the frame of my house is hardwood and very difficult to screw/nail into – had to use my hammer drill to make pilot holes to screw into

- to buy more than one tiny drill bit so you have a spare if you break one

- that liquid nails is a girls best friend

- that no matter how much you think it will cost, it will mostly likely actually cost more!

still here…

Christmas tree is up, Kitchen is not empty….I need to get organised but as usual I am procrastinating on it.

Plumber, tiler, sparky, skip and mate to destroy/remove old kitchen all organised. I just need to empty it out and be prepared to let people in and out to get it all done…and of course hope that nothing goes over budget (although there are more quotes than estimates now so crossing fingers on that one).

Tomorrow I’m taking Brett for his eye test (in school time – lunchtime) so here’s to hoping that he doesn’t need a  new script then it is just Owen to go.

Also got to work on reindeer antlers – got them 1/2 done for Brett and the rest of Owen’s costume for their scout camp next weekend.

I hate wisdom teeth

here I am up at 4am for the second night in a row to get pain meds for my wisdom tooth again. The dentist said there was room for them to come through but I think she may have been wrong with the uppper left one at least….may have to go back but oh how I hate the dentist!  On the up side usually this sort of movement only lasts a few days then they settle down again so here’s hoping…and tomorrow I might take the nurofen and a drink to bed with me and take it as soon as I wake with pain instead of lying there thinking it will go away for hours first!

yes I’m a big sooky la la!

Crossed off #12

that’s right. I have blogged every day for a whole month!

And I’m moving on #2 as well. Today I spent quite a bit of time trying to resolve my missing cupboard frame issues with ikea but seem to have gotten somewhere and am expecting a call from them tomorrow with news.

Meanwhile I have been in touch with the sparky who can’t come on the 11th but can definetly come before then to disconnect the stove and rangehood and put in some additional power points.

I left a message for the plumber – no return call yet will try again in a day or so.

I left a message for the tiler – same as above.

I left a message for the skip guy but he did call back and the skip is all booked in for Friday 11th and pick up Monday.

I also cleaned half the playroom, half the kitchen table and half the crap off the chair in the loungeroom lol!

Off to bed now…trying not to be stressed.

 

Stressed and Cranky

went back to Ikea today to get the last 5 things I needed for the kitchen. My oven frame cupboard and a few draw fronts etc. Got there around 20 past 10. Waited my turn at the kitchen counter. Put my order in. Went downstairs and paid for it. Waited for it to be gotten from out the back somewhere. No cupboard. Really, they had checked the stock levels but oops sorry someone stuffed up. There was no cupboard. Got the 4 little bits I needed but not the major part! They had to refund me and said to come back tomorrow as they are expecting them back in tomorrow! grrr!

So I have rescheduled Brett’s eye test and am hoping to get it tomorrow – what’s the bet it isn’t in? Think I will call first to check.

The time travellers wife

Went to see the movie (on my own) tonight. I enjoyed it – movies are never quite the same as the book though. Still one part was right- she said she wouldn’t change anything. She’s right. For all the ups and downs in life, given the chance I don’t think I’d change anything. …. Well unless I could find a cure for cancer perhaps.