oh dear

We had a call this morning from D the man in charge of WA C B maintenance team He wanted to call in and see our issues as per the paperwork we handed in yesterday. Very fast work. It seems we have some painting dramas to look forward to.
A-M I'm thinking of your painting dramas now and feeling a bit stressed.

ceilings need redoing, sanding, re-taping, repainting in at least 2 areas. One of them being the main living/dining/kitchen/games area. then cornices need patching and repairing. It's going to be messy. Paint sheets everywhere.

he's said something about getting in a cleaner afterwards "if " it's messy. but it looks like a few weeks worth of work as it's a several stages job.

We also need an extra bit of guttering to be added near the front door and also had a suggestion to wait 'til next winter to look at getting additional downpipes put in. He seems to think we don't have enough downpipes and need2-3 more. Hubby grimaced at that although he felt the same. the last thing hubby wants to do is dig more soakwells. oh joy.

hmm hopefully they start no earlier than late next week when the kids and I will be away and it's only hubby here and not while my mum is staying at the beginning of the week.

at least it's a good excuse not to finish our own painting. We might as well wait until the builders painters have finished. .

Tick tock time passing

IN reverse order:
Tomorrow I must be brave and finish the curtains for our bedroom. They've been sitting partly cut, unpinned and not sewn for 2 months now as I nervously dither about how to sew them. No more.


Today we handed in our 4 month maintenance form to the builder. We should get some action of the few things that need fixing hopefully in the next week or 2/3. Much is cosmetic but there are a few things that do need to be looked into including a section of guttering that seems to hold water rather than sending it flowing down the downpipes.
Our S.S. mentioned that our ceilings needed redoing in the main living area 3 months ago just after we first moved in. This will be something that hopefully gets sorted out now the follow up team are due to start their part of the process.

We've purchased a couple of extra towel rails for the bathrooms for hand towels. Still need a wall cabinet for our ensuite or else for the temporary mirror to be hung. ( Perhaps in the next wave of drilling)


Have looked into getting some earth delivered to do some planting and it was quite reasonable for very ordinary soil. It looks like the plants I have put in will get moved yet again. I think they are too far from the house for the garden border they are meant to be part of.


Yesterday the first of our pictures were finally hung on walls. There are more to do but it's amazing what a difference it makes once a few things are up.

We've had a couple of mini bonfire/fires to start to clear up some of the wood we have here. It's been fun sitting outside on a still night. C has discovered the joys of toasted marshmellows and R loves dropping leaves on the fire.

We splashed out and bought a new tv. Time for some family movie nights.

Several weeks ago our outside clothes line went up. Yippee. Airflow in the garage wasn't the best and it was taking ages for things to dry that couldn't be put in the dryer.

Finally all the soakwells have been dug. Hard going in rock and gravel as hubby will happy tell you. He's just glad it's over with.

talented

I have a very talented and clever MIL. She makes handmade cards for Christmas and our birthdays every year and we even got a special "welcome to your new home" card from her when we moved in. It had little hand made paint rollers on the front and was very cleverly made.

Today our eldest turned 14 and she made a gift card for him. It looked exactly like a wallet. Which turned out pretty much the perfect card because he was actually hoping to get a new wallet for his birthday as he had lost his wallet several weeks ago when we had a family outing. ( yes he did get a new wallet from us)

His wallet card from the MIL had 2 little "cards" inside with messages and also had some money in it as well which pleased him no end. I wasn't home when she rang this morning but I hope he thanked her and my FIL for the gift.

Thank you B & M.

slowly........

My LSL is over. We have several half completed soakwells waiting to be filled in. Hopefully G's arm will be ok enough for him to get these done this weekend. We have purchased a basic wireless doorbell. Yippee. So that can be installed this weekend.
We have hooks so our pictures and wall clock can finally be put up. Again, hopefully this weekend. Then the house will start to feel more like home.

The seascape will be going above the electric fire. ( used as a light effect only not for heating) and the Escher s will be going in the hallway.

I would really like to put up all the postcards in their frames that we had up in our last house but they need re-framing and I'm not sure where to put them so for the moment that won;t be happening.

We have a busy week next week. Our wedding anniversary and both boys birthdays to get through. so I'll be busy cooking cake and doing other things as well as catching up on what my class have been up to for the past 2 weeks and finding out what wasn't covered from the war and peace sized file of work I left for the replacement teacher.

Weekend.

Sunday
Digging:

Hubby has dug the soakwells in a fair way but not technically as far as he is meant to go. Soakwells are meant to be buried with their lids 600mm below ground but in the case of our soakwells they are around 300mm below ground level. The first 3/4 is digging into sand but after that it's sheer determination, bloody mindedness , energy and luck as to how far down he can get. When you hit huge rocks and they can't be dug out by hand there is only so much you can do. G has been digging out the smaller ones but after relocating the holes numerous time to allow for bigger rocks i't becomes a matter of get the soakwells in where you can. After these two he only has one more to go.

Meanwhile I had another go at planting some things in the front and marking out garden areas.

As a friend (W) who lives nearby recently said, " If you want to plant anything it means using a crowbar or a pick." He wasn't exaggerating. Dug 15 holes to plant some border plants using a pick and a trowel. Went back 3 hours later and realised that most were in the wrong position so out came the pick again to move them. Must learn to wear gardening gloves and remove rings. I have a lovely blood blister at the base of one finger now.

I think I had better refrain from gardening today.

We were given a weather station by the inlaws on Friday. Youngest helped me put it together and we placed it in the "garden" to try it out. It has a fairly accurate temperature thermometer. Compared it this morning with another weather station tool I'd bought Hubby for his birthday and it was pretty much on the button.


I am on LSL atm. My 2nd and final week about to start. Should have been in Bali but it was not to be so spending time here getting a few things done, feeling a bit down in the dumps over missing out on Bali but also fighting off a slight cold which I've had now for more than a week.

Most inspired by a friends garden. W & P have been here 2 years and are on a 1/2 acre block and there is barely a vacant patch of ground. Lots of native plants but they also have roses and at least one camelia and several raised veggie beds. I really want to get some soil in to do proper garden beds. I've ordered a couple of" ned kelly" grevillias. yippee should be here in a week or 2. I intend to plant them below the trees out the back. Mum has offered to propagate some kangaroo paws from seed for me and I will have to do a trip up to Perth with minimum luggage and passengers and fill the car with more plants. Hopefully will get to collect a mulberry tree from Maggie, from H1 who offered to grow one from a cutting for me.
When we first lived in Joondalup there was a huge sand bank just across from the estate entrance area that was covered with paper daises ( everlastings) I loved seeing it each year and I am hugely tempted to plant some here. I've noticed seed bags of them for sale in the local hardware store. When we went to visit W and P's last week I noticed they have a small drift of them at the front of their house.

It's funny that I love everlastings as I'm not a fan of pink flowers and pink themed gardens.

http://www.everlastings.com.au/products.html




Saturday.
Getting ready to return from Perth on Friday afternoon my eldest declared that he'd really like to go in costume to to local Medieval Fair on Saturday. So we had a last minute dash around to a fabric shop and I managed to pick up some black poplin fairly cheaply and also some stretchy silver material. Youngest declared he wanted to dress as a thief. In the end I talked him into wearing a cape with a hood. ( what a sewing disaster ) 2 attempts later he had to live with a some what sad cape. Eldest had declared he fancied being a monk. He had visions of a "Monty Pythons search for a holy grail" type monk. Forgot completely about him needing a cross or prayer book to carry. Luckily G was able to fashion a cross from the stem of some bracken while we watched youngest play soccer on Saturday morning at the local oval in the town where the fair was held. Given the short sewing time I'm quite pleased with his monk tunic and hood but the stretchy silver fabric was a nightmare to sew and I ended up re-cutting fabric and leaving it with mostly raw ends as you can see from the photo. After all the late night sewing we didn't end up staying long since youngest had the beginnings of a nasty cold and felt quite miserable.