House Frames and a Nerf War

My house was invaded today by five tween-aged boys playing war games. They had thirteen Nerf guns between them, ranging from guns that shoot one dart at a time, to fully automatic machine guns. I am torn between the sheer horror of my gentle baby boy choosing to play with guns and shoot his friends and pride at how well behaved all the boys were and how well they all got along while pretending to blow each other's brains out.

I told Tom he looked like Rambo when he was walking around with a gun in each hand, grenades hanging from his belt, several machine gun chains draped around his shoulders and fully loaded clips in his pockets (the boys are now laughing at me because I had to go and ask them what these things were called).

Tom asked me who Rambo was. I felt old.

Cassidy arrived home from Ballarat and seemed glad to see us all. I sure was glad to see her! Grandma said she had been very well behaved and even tried a few new foods while she was there. And her Pop Larry had done the sweetest thing and taken her to buy a new party dress all by himself.

As I mentioned yesterday, the frames are up on our house. Here are some photos of how it looks at the moment.

This is going to be our alfresco area.

This is our living and dining area.
The walls in the existing house are also all framed.

Tomorrow Abbey goes to creche and I hope to get some packing done, it is now only just over five weeks until we move. I have my fingers crossed that the rain holds off until the roof goes on the extension, then the rain can hold us up no longer.

My Love/Hate Relationship with Ikea

Ikea rocks for so many reasons. It has a huge range of pretty much everything you could need for your home. It is reasonably good quality. Ikea furniture is functional and it looks good. It is affordable.

What I do not like about Ikea is it's service, or lack of service to be more precise.

And yes, I know Ikea operates the way it does to keep their prices down and I do appreciate this fact but when you have to drive over an hour to get there it is very frustrating that they will not hold stock and cannot guarantee what will be available.

We drove to Ikea with the kids on Sunday to get our taps because they are just so much cheaper than anywhere else. I had my heart set on taps that pull out to make it easier to rinse dishes and to rinse around the sink. I had chosen the taps out of the Ikea catalogue and we had previously been to Ikea to check them out to make sure they were not so inexpensive for a reason.

Luckily enough my sister lives just near Ikea and offered to look after the kids while we went to get the taps because anyone who has been to Ikea on the weekend knows that it is an absolute nightmare there because it is ridiculously busy.

Anyway we drop off the kids, drive to Ikea, find a parking spot easily and go straight to the kitchen department.

We check out the taps but the one we want for the kitchen is not on display. My heart sinks, I just know it will have been discontinued. But the tap we want for the butler's pantry and the laundry is there, so we are pretty happy.

So we go to write down the warehouse location to pick up the tap but it says to find a staff member to inquire about this item. So we find a staff member. They say do we have a ticket? Ummm, do we need one? So we go get a ticket. We then somehow get distracted arguing about flippin' taps and somehow don't hear our number get called. They take pity on us and serve us even though technically it is no longer our turn.

We inquire about the tap that is no longer on display. Sure enough it has been discontinued and it is no longer available. Not to worry, we think, we can still get two out of three. So we inquire about the other tap. No, it has not been discontinued it is definitely still available. Oh, wait a minute, it is out of stock. We will have it again in around two weeks. But we can't get them put away or sent to us, we will have to come back in two weeks.

We wander away, pissed off that we have driven all the stinkin' way to Melbourne for nothing. And that our kitchen tap is now going to cost way more, and we still have to come back to Ikea in two weeks time, right when we will be far too busy to contemplate a trip to Melbourne.

So we go back to the kitchen department, choose two different taps that are not really what we want but are nice enough, take another ticket and pray that these are available.

These are the taps we ended up with.

This tap is the one that is going in the pantry and in the laundry.

And this is going in the kitchen.

And just for the record I forgive Ikea, they simply have too many great products for me to remain cranky with them.

On the home front we received news from my Mum and Dad and my brother and sister in law today that they all made it to Everest base camp. The weather in the Himalayas has been bad and they had not been able to see Everest though. They were beginning to think they would leave Nepal without catching a glimpse of the elusive mountain. My sister reckons you've got more hope of seeing a unicorn than Everest! But the weather cleared and they got to see Everest, I can only imagine how awe inspiring that would be.

Can't wait for them to get home this weekend and hear all about it. Might be a little green with envy but the gorgeous gifts they always bring from Nepal should soften the blow considerably.

Oh, and our house now has frames! Will post photos tomorrow.

We Have a Floor

More progress on our new home. We now have a floor, a ducted vacuuming system (well, it is wired in anyway), some bricks and the central heating unit is in the roof.

This photo was taken before the yellow-tongue was put down.

A few more slight hiccups, the brick wall on the south side had to be knocked down completely to put a new window in. The builder originally planned to cut the bricks out as it is only a half-height window but the piers in the bricks didn't line up so the all had to come out. This meant David spent the weekend cleaning bricks as we could only manage to get just enough second-hand bricks to build the extension and we would need the ones that were knocked out.

The second hiccup is our frames are not ready and will not be ready for another week, meaning, once again, the extension will take a little longer and we will be potentially homeless for little longer. We a trying to stay positive about this and the upside is that our builder can at least work on the existing house while he is waiting on the frames.

All the changes to the wall locations have been completed in the existing house and it is great to finally be able to see what the new areas will be like, not to just try and imagine from the plan.

David pointed out that there was not a good shot of the front of the house on here so, just for him, here is a shot of the front of the house.

School holidays have so far been going well and I cannot believe they are already half over. The kids have been to the movies, we've done some shopping, been to Melbourne, had friends over and just generally slacked off and relaxed. Abbey loves it when the kids are home and she has been kept very busy following them around.

Cassidy has gone to Ballarat to stay with her Grandparents and is having a wonderful time. The highlights so far, so she tells me have been doing some gardening, going for walks, visiting her Pop's yacht at Geelong, getting a new dress and having curly fries at Hogsbreath Cafe.

It is very quiet here without Cass and we all miss her. Can't wait to see her in a couple of days when she gets home.

Progress...

The weather this week has been shocking. Windy, rainy and freezing cold. I was beginning to think that our stumps wouldn't be able to be put in. Our builder also had both his labourers off one day and only one the next due to sickness.

But against all odds, the stumps are in.

Aren't they a beautiful thing?

The inside of the existing house is looking a little sparse, there is not much left in there really. The lounge, dining room (which is to become the office) and kitchen (which is to become Tom's bedroom) are the only rooms left in the house with walls. This photo shows what used to be two bedrooms.

The space shown on the photo will become the ensuite, walk-in robe and a bathroom. The room I am standing in to take this photo will be the master bedroom.

In other happenings this week Cassidy attended her first school camp. She was a little nervous getting on the bus but was trying so hard to be brave. The camp was at Phillip Island and the weather was terrible. I was told they nearly all froze to death when they went to the penguin parade but luckily the rain held off. Cassidy missed the penguin parade because by this stage she had come down with a flu-type virus and had a roaring temperature. She said she tried to stay outside to see the penguins but it was just too cold so she waited inside until it was finished, poor baby!

The teachers and parent helpers did a great job with her, especially when she had trouble sleeping and said they were so proud of her, particularly since she was quite ill for the last day. We are so proud too. It was a very big step for her.

She looked positively awful when she got off the bus, all glassy-eyed and flushed from her fever. Poor darling came home and got straight into bed fully clothed and fell fast asleep!

School holidays have also begun and tomorrow my sister is taking all three kids out for the day to do fun stuff like see a movie and go out for lunch. The kids are very excited and the girls have already had a fight over which room Lissy is sleeping in tonight! I'm sure she would like to take the pull-out bed in the lounge but I'm not sure my girls will allow that, having Lissy sleep over is to them one of the most exciting things that could happen.

Right now the sun has begun shining (for the first time in days) so I'm off to tackle Mt Washmore.

Have a great weekend!

Cutie Patootie

Our first Hiccup

I received a call from our builder this morning. It went kinda like this:

"Hi Bec, it's Trav. Now I don't want you to panic but we have a problem."

So I immediately think in the one second before he continues these possible scenarios:

1. The whole house is riddled with white ants, or
2. He has had some sort of family emergency and can no longer work on our house, or
3. The house is on an aboriginal burial ground (not likely I guess but the thought ran through my mind).

It was none of the above. Turns out they found an old septic tank. An engineer had to be consulted about the removal. This sent me in to a slight panic as in my experience the word 'engineer' is generally interchangeable with 'this is going to cost a whole lot of money'.

Trav assured me that even though some extra cost was going to be incurred because of this, it shouldn't be too significant.

Thank goodness for that!

He also assured me that once all the digging was complete there would be no more surprises.

Let's just hope that they don't uncover that burial ground tomorrow.

Everything Including the Kitchen Sink

Our new house is across the road from where the kids go to school so I thought I'd have a look at what was going on there today when I picked up the kids from school.

I could not believe what had happened in 7 hours!

There is barely any plaster left in the existing house, actually there is hardly anything in there at all!

There is a huge pile if rubbish in the front yard, basically everything that has been pulled out of the house.

There is an enormous, shallow hole in the backyard where they did the site cut for the extension and the big tree has been pulled out.

There were cars and trucks and tradies everywhere and it gave me hope that we may have somewhere to move to when our lease runs out here in 7 1/2 weeks!

We also had to finalise our order from Reece's plumbing and I agonised over the kitchen sink. Too many choices! We are having stone benchtops so I really wanted a undermount sink instead of an inset, I think they look more sleek and unobtusive. I also wanted one with square, not rounded corners. Of course, these were more expensive as everything I choose is more expensive! Here is what I ended up choosing.

I think it is a beautiful kitchen sink and I was particularly pleased that David liked it too (even with the bigger price tag).

Another choice I agonised over were the bathroom basins. Did I want above counter or semi recessed? Square or rounded? Tap holes? What size? I had no idea of the choice available!

We ended up going for this Porcher above counter basin in all the bathrooms. Which meant we ordered five! Lucky they are reasonable priced.

We found it pretty easy to choose all the other bathroom products, which was surprising considering the range available.

We stumbled a little over the toilets. Crazy, I know but there is a lot of choice in toilets these day. We were quite keen on having those toilets where the cistern is completely hidden and you just have a couple of buttons on the wall to flush but they were just too expensive, especially since there are three toilets in the house. So we once again compromised and went with this toilet.

It looks easy to clean and has a soft-close lid so I'm happy.

Speaking of easy to clean, we are going for wet-seal showers, except for the girls shower which means only one shower screen to clean! The wet-seal showers are just three tiled walls and open otherwise. I am thrilled as I hate shower screens, the soap scum eventually soaks into the glass (glass is actually a liquid!) and no longer comes clean. And for the remaining shower with screens I have been advised there is a product that can be painted onto the glass that seals it and stops the soap scum soaking into the screen so I'll give that a go.

More on the renos tomorrow, now I'm off to watch Man Against Wild with my boy, he loves that show. Me, not so much. All the bug and raw fish eating makes me queasy!

Beautiful....

....is the best word to describe my brother's wedding. It was so heartfelt and real, it didn't seem like they were just going through the motions.

The rain held off and although it was a little cold, the ceremony was perfect.

Here is the gorgeous couple.

Sorry about the crooked photo. I was holding Abbey as she refused to put her feet on the ground for fear her sparkly wedding shoes might get dirty. I was going for an artistic look but it only looks crooked. Oh well, photography has never been my strong point.

Here we are, all dressed in our finery. We scrub up all right I reckon!


My brother and my new sister are now in Katmandu getting ready to trek up a mountain or two.

It's a big week for Cassidy this week, off to her very first school camp. She is a bit anxious, asking lots of questions about what her bed will be like, whether there will be a light on at night, mostly questions revolving around the sleeping arrangements. It's a big deal for her, especially because of her Asperger's, she does not cope well with the unknown. She does seem determined to go though and I am so proud of her for being willing to try. In typical Cassidy style she is all packed to go already, she has crossed all the items off the list and has packed with coordinating items of clothing grouped together!

Construction of the extension of our house also begins this week, by the end of the week the foundations should be complete. It's all very exciting and as we need to move out of here in less than eight weeks, please, no rain this week!

For Richer and Poorer

My baby brother gets married tomorrow.

We are all excited to be part of this wonderful occasion. They are getting married at the most gorgeous location, the reception is going to be very original and the amazingly talented Nicole Finlayson is the photographer.

But I must admit, at the risk of sounding shallow and materialistic, that for both myself and my girls its ALL about the outfit!

Abbey is wearing this beautiful number from Big by Fiona Scanlon.

Cassidy is wearing this gorgeous dress, also by Big by Fiona Scanlon

Abbey is wearing a Metalicus top under her dress and the cutest leggings from Seed. She also has some glittery gold ballet flats from Seed. She has been so excited about her outfit that I have kept it hidden at my mum's house to stop her from wrecking it before the wedding (the dress is silk, it will mark very easily).

Cassidy's outfit is also being completed with a Metalicus top and her footless tights are from Target. Her silver ballet flats are from Kmart.

My dress is from Country Road and as it is from their Winter Collection I can't find a photo of it anywear. It is also silk and it will be a modern miracle if I manage to get out of the house without marking it. It is sleeveless so I am wearing a Metalicus top underneath. I haven't decided which shoes I am wearing yet, it will either be boots or ballet flats, depends on the weather.

Oh, and if you are reading this David each dress was bought on sale!

Lucky he agreed to the richer or poorer thing.

Tom is being outfitted by Target and Pumpkin Patch, not that he could really give a toss and David is wearing pants by Colorado and a business shirt, same as every other day.

I can't wait to get some photos of us all dressed up, it happens very rarely.

The wedding is at 11am so it will be a challenge to get us all ready by that time in the morning but they needed to get married that early as they fly out on their honeymoon to Nepal that night!

And the ceremony is outside so let's hope for no rain, our silk dresses will watermark!

Slow and Steady

The renovations on our new house are progressing slowly but steadily.

We have had mostly wins so far, all the walls and ceilings are in fantastic condition, the mountains of lino lifted without too many problems and we haven't found any nasty surprises.

We did discover that the hardwood floor is in perfect condition throughout (except for a small area in the laundry which has rotted) and is actually blackwood! Unfortunately the boards are running the wrong way, ie. across the hallway and since we are going to extend the hallway quite a bit and don't want a join in the middle we are going to cover those beautiful blackwood boards with a new hardwood floor. All the other rooms in the existing house are going to be carpeted or tiled. It makes sense to cover the blackwood but just seems like such a waste.

David had a hell of a time pulling up all the masonite that was under the lino. It was stapled down and he ended up having to use the grinder to get rid of the staples, it would have taken him weeks to pull them all out with pliers. Lucky we decided to cover the blackwood floors because the grinder made a fair mess of them.

Tom has been waiting for weeks to be able to smash something with a hammer and his time finally came, he smashed the bathroom to pieces with glee! He did a wonderful job of cleaning up after himself too. He gets special credit for his efforts as he had spent the entire week in bed with the flu and still helped out even though he felt a bit under the weather.


Abbey also gets a special mention as she woke up Saturday night with a raging fever. She spent the whole of Sunday lying on a blanket watching DVDs and snoozing on and off while we all worked away. She did not complain once.

Oh, and if you are wondering why there are never any photos of Cassidy it is because she absolutely cannot tolerate being at the new house while we are working, it is far too loud and boring for her, she goes to her cousin's house instead.

On Friday we chose all the materials and colours for our kitchen, bathroom and laundry cabinetry. This was so much fun even though David and I had a slight moment when we were disagreeing on the ensuite cabinets but we worked it out fairly quickly (I got my way). Below is an example of the colours we are using, sorry about the bad photo.



The builder started today so hopefully it won't be too long until I will be able to post some photos of the extension.

The Tooth Fairy

The Tooth Fairy that services our area is absolutely useless.

She is unreliable, tardy and often doesn't show up at all.

She needs to understand the the kids are really disappointed when they wake up in the morning and the tooth is still here and there is no money.

I try to placate them by saying things like "Maybe the Tooth Fairy had a very busy night and she simply could not make it here in time before you woke up" or "Maybe the tooth wasn't obvious enough and she didn't see it" but deep down we all know that she is just crap at her job.

When I was a kid the Tooth Fairy always came, she never missed a tooth. I guess it is as they say, it is hard to find a good employee these days.

So I'd just like to say that the Tooth Fairy in charge of our area needs a very big firecracker put up her nether regions to get her moving because there are still many teeth to be lost in this house, Abbey hasn't lost any yet, and the current situation is just not tolerable.