It's funny 'cause it's true

I like to use this blog to record the funny things that happen in our family. I love the thought of my kids and grandkids reading it in the future and really understanding what I was like. I've decided to cut and paste my latest FB update here, so apologies to those who read both.

Decide to go to work with Mark today. Wear a skirt. Have to sit in dirty, smelly truck and drive to woop woop. Change seats for the trip home. Start to feel pinpricks on my arms. Remove small 'wood shavings.' Feel more pricks. Realise the backs of my legs, thighs and bum are covered with 'wood shavings.' Mark suddenly announces they are not wood shavings they are prickly pear spikes.

Pull up at paddock to get my car. Can't sit down. Spikes are all over my skirt. Take skirt off. Have to lean over my car seat while Mark picks the spikes out. Spikes hard to see. Must have sunlight on spikes so they can be found. Place bum in sun.

Drive home, no skirt. Get home and realise gates are shut. Pull off slinky ninja move so that the neighbours don't see me in my granny undies. Fail.

Remnants of house owners past

Sometimes when you renovate you find things that previous residents have left behind. Sometimes those things are cool like bones and bottles. But sometimes those things are a bit odd, and suggestive of not-so-savoury dealings.

This weekend I finally convinced Mark to remove this. Can you tell what it is?

In case it isn't obvious, this is a length of irrigation piping complete with downward facing spray thingies. It ran the entire circumference of the underside of our verandah and when we moved in it pointed directly at.... nothing but the dark underneath of our house.....

Now I'm not casting aspersions here but what do YOU think it was used for?

 Goodbye irrigation, goodbye shirt

Verandah gets fixed

Thanks for all your wonderful comments on the painting post. I'm still pinching myself in disbelief that it is finally done.

Alex the Builder has also been busy this week fixing our very rotten verandah. It has long been a source of discontent here- Mark wanted it fixed ASAP, I didn't want to spend the money- but finally it is getting done.

 Those poles are supposed to be attached to a piece of decking....

Once the broken, rotten wood was removed the full extent of the damage shocked me. I'm very glad now that we decided to get this done sooner rather than later.

Wow!

Our hardworking double team of Paul the Painter and Alex the Builder have produced fantastic results over the last week. So far we have seen our kitchen move one huge step closer to completion and it's heaven to look at a fully painted wall instead of a motley arrangement of colour samples.

The cutting in begins

You might remember the debate I was having about choosing to continue our green theme or paint the kitchen white? The final decision was to go with the green and we are very happy we did, it looks wonderful.

Here the wall was beginning to take shape. Notice there is no masking tape? Paul doesn't use it because he is so skilled that he somehow manages to paint exactly to the edges. It's amazing to watch.

 Finally this corner starts to look like it matches up.

And here's the final product. It's just wow, that's the only word I have.

Now for the next important question. What should I use to cover the large sliding door?

Holiday Day 14- Townsville

I've finally put all of our photos on our new pc which means I'm able to finish off blogging about our trip. For those reading along my last entry was about the first part of our stay in Townsville. This entry is the second part of our stay.

Day 14 offered up a glorious Townsville day and we headed off for to spend some time at the Townsville Strand. Thanks to Facebook I had arranged to meet my 'old' (but not OLD) friend De who now calls Townsville home. She suggested the area known as the Rockpool and we made lunchtime plans.

Here's the rockpool area. It's right next to the ocean and in the background you can see Magnetic Island.

We arrived a bit early so I slathered the kids in sun cream, hats and protective gear. It is very rare for me to let the family play in the midday sun and I was very worried we would all end up burnt.

 Tiny Girl is under that massive hat.

As I was meeting De, Mark decided to go fishing for a while. Luckily the Rockpool also has a fishing platform so we were all able to entertain ourselves while we were there.

The Rockpool uses water from the ocean and has a sandy floor. Just before De arrived, Tiny Girl realised that the floor was not concrete and so promptly refused to touch it with her feet.

I took her out for a play on the grass and she found another toddler to have a standoff with.

After meeting De (sorry, no photos we talked too much) and having a fabulous lunch at the Rockpool Restaurant, Tiny Girl and I headed off to find Mark. She decided to try her hand at fishing while Big Boy complained about something and refused to talk to me.

For all Mark's efforts we only ended up with one fishy delight, and delightful it was. Despite catching no fish, he ended up line catching a crab. It was, hands down, THE most delicious crab I have ever eaten.

So Townsville served us up a delightful time with Miss De, wonderful architecture and glorious food. For those that believe in fate or the universe it also served us up a solution for Big Boy's every present rash. On the way out of Townsville Big Boy was complaining about being itchy and sore. Not knowing where the chemist was I popped 'chemist' into the GPS and it took us around a few streets to a small local chemist. I marched Big Boy in and the pharmacist took one look and announed that she is in fact the local skin specialist chemist. We had in advertently found just the right place at just the right time. Thanks universe!

P.S. Townsville was battered by Severe Tropical Cyclone Yasi a category 5 storm last week. I haven't seen many pictures and I hope the areas we visited fared OK. My very brave friend De sat out the storm at home with her family, while we all watched her Facebook for updates. I'm very happy to report that De and family are 100% fine.

Paul the Painter

We've been very lucky this weekend to have Paul the painter join us. He painted Big Boy's room years ago and thankfully his normal work has slowed down enough to allow him some time working for us.

He spent the day painting the window 'bits around the outside' (I have no idea what they are called.) They've come up a treat and we are very happy with the progress.

Tomorrow we are being visited by Alex the builder. If we have Paul and Alex working at the same time we might just get this house one step closer to completion.

Shot of lounge room window surround freshly painted. You can also see our new cornice in the picture.

To Do List 2011- Feb 1 Progress

Merry February!

You may recall my 2011 to do list that I started in January. Thought it was worth updating to see how we are progressing.

TO DO LIST: 2011

Put away money to buy tickets in October for the 2012 Brisbane International - woops, forgot. Will start ASAP

Paint the house - painter comes Saturday!!!!!!

Have a BBQ or similar social event at least once a month here at the house - we have had two so far, so we're averaging two a month. I have a new philosophy now, if someone says 'we should catch up one day' I say 'yes, when, let's book a day and have a BBQ

Get my teeth re-bonded - no comment

Have the house pest treated - thank goodness. No more fleas.

Reply to text messages and phone calls right away instead of 5 days later when I remember no comment

Plant the back garden bed done!

Create a reasonable Christmas Lights display

Go for a walk once a week no comment

Go somewhere on the plane

Network more (work) - I joined LinkedIn. Want to add me?

Plan birthday parties for both the kids

De-clutter the playroom once and for all half done

Clean off the cornice over spray

Achieve 100 followers by the end of 2011 (thanks Lauren)

Finish typing up my PhD proposal - oh bugger! I need to do this by Thursday! this week
Sort out our computing needs half done, we have a new PC (that hurts my eyes)

So that's my list, how is yours going?