Category: Diary

Happy Anniversary my love. Three years today. xox

The mistake we made was being thorough. We had to go and check out the display home of the plan we liked instead of just saying yesm build it now. This meant we saw what they had done – added decking out the back, and boy it looked fantastic. Ever since that day it’s been our aim that the first major thing we would do after moving in would be to add a deck, but not just any deck. No, this one is 32 square metres.

Well thanks to sky rocketing material prices the cost of such a deck seemed out of reach until, thanks to some clients finally paying and a little more than expected tax windfall we can just afford one now. That is, if we dig out the ground underneath ourselves and lend a hand lugging some stuff around. Hmmm, deck and a bit of work or no deck at all, so we decided to start digging.

You know what, for a digger I make a great web designer. Rob (cementing his place in the Brother In Law Hall of Fame) came around yesterday and the three of us got stuck in. You missed a sight, me wielding a pick, shoveling a shovel and wheeling a wheel barrow. Of course Rob seemed to do as much as the two of us combined but we’re quietly proud of what we managed to do, and we even got out there again this morning to get more done before we realised our muscles just weren’t up to it. We’ll give ourselves a day off today, maybe tomorrow too, before doing the last bit.

My back is stiff, my arms are like jelly and wrists aching but it feels great. I know I’m not Mr Muscles and this is so far removed from what I do for a living it’s absurd but I do want to be able to sit on my deck in a couple of weeks, raise a toast to Rob and the ATO for helping us along, and know that in a little way I actually helped make it happen.

Hey, anybody out there got a shovel and/or pick? We need to borrow one tomorrow morning as we have to dig up half our backyard. Bad news for our backs, good news for the house.

Today I learnt, thanks to Mr Henry, that toothpaste is good for removing black Sharpie drawings from flooring, walls and bed heads. You only need soap for glass over pictures but nothing seems to work on glossy doors.

Sigh.

Any one else remember Club Hoy? Here’s a video of Not Like That, with an early 90s style warning.They’re helping to lower my blood pressure.

Update

Now I’ve started looking at early 90’s videos I can’t stop. Here’s one of my favourites from way-back-when – Falling Joys, Lock It

I’ve been wanting to bake biscuits for the kids for ages and finally got around to it this afternoon. They are as basic as you could wish for but taste yummy, just ask the kids!

Sunday morning and time for a little reflection. We’ve been in our house for almost two months now and things are calming down as we settle in. There’s still way too many boxes in the garage and way too many things yet to find their proper place but it’s slowly beginning to feel like home. Last weekend Rae swapped the dining and living rooms around and that had a huge impact, seemed that things finally fell in to place; we even managed to settle on who sits where at our new bigger table.

So, what have we learnt and how is the place?

Downsides.

• The carpet. We thought we had chosen the perfect carpet for the house and family, but oh boy how wrong we were. It may manage to pass the Lego test but it shows up every single mark. We’ve already mentioned that in ten years we’ll probably replace it.
• Our bedroom. It’s a great bedroom, light, large and comfy with a fantastic ensuite but it’s in the wrong place. We’re at the front of the house and we hear every noise from the street; cars, people, cats it’s all there and we seem to live in a street of night owls. One party, only a couple of days after we moved in and the first night in our room, had us wondering if we’d made the right choice in moving. Since then it’s all been quiet on the party front but other noises and lights don’t help getting to sleep.
• Minor things – no power points in the entrance or hall way, no lights for the back yard, no tap within easy reach of the back yard, neighbour who won’t respond to fencing notices (which is major now, but a temporary annoyance), couple of structural things that needed fixing and no ADSL2+ ports on the local exchange. All liveable, but annoying.

• Space, so much space! I’m in the theatre room, Rae is in the bedroom (both on laptops, how sad), Phee is in her room and the young ones are napping. This still leaves the study, lounge and kitchen/dining empty! Coming from a house where everyone was on top of each other all the time this is pure joy.
• My office. Work to be done? Kids yelling? Shut the doors and I’m in my own world. It’s made a huge difference.
• The wonderful kitchen makes cooking a joy. No leaking benches, no ineffective range hood, plenty of pantry and storage space. It’s open to the living areas so family is around, you couldn’t ask for more.
• Walls. Walls that we can put our ‘stuff’ up on. It felt weird hammering in that first nail but we’re over it now and planning where all of our pictures, prints and photos will be going. Hopefully we’ll get some more up this afternoon, it’s amazing what a difference they make.
• Doors and Windows. One of the best things about this place has to be our back doors – three sliding glass panels that open right up and with the addition of flywire sliding doors we, the fresh air freaks, are in heaven. Then we have the huge windows in the theatre and lounge rooms for more light and air, it just makes you happy being able to have everything so open.

Things have gone pretty much how we thought they would, only exception being the theatre room isn’t quite the parent retreat we had hoped it would be. Kids seem to like playing in here although since Rae moved the rooms around that’s beginning to change. Rae still needs her arm chair for the bedroom so she can hide away with her book and PC and there’s a lot of work to be done outside. I have to remind myself this a long term project, a complete house and home ain’t gonna spring up in eight weeks.

It’s tough moving to a brand new estate after living in suburbs so close to the city for so long. I’m still getting use to the isolation and we’re working on ways to make sure it doesn’t become overwhelming. I’m slowly learning the local shops and roads, have made friends with one of the neighbours and even asked the guys next door to turn down the volume of their music, which from Mr-Avoid-Confrontation-At-All-Costs was nothing short of unbelievable, but this is my house, our home, and we deserve to live here happily.

Our short term aims are to get the garage cleared and get the back yard in some sort of shape, it’s a bit hard to see past that at the moment. Our ‘projects after moving’ money has all dried up, but it got us all we initially wanted so while we work on the short term we’ll be saving for the long term goals. It’s hard work but sitting here in my home with my family and realising how far we’ve come since the first place we lived in together I couldn’t be happier.

A mate of mine, if may be so bold Richard, who is a truly superb photographer is making a wonderful offer for bushfire victims. He’s offering a portrait session and files for families who lost their photos and for couples who have lost their wedding pictures. I know Richard isn’t flush with funds at the moment (he’s happy to admit that on his blog), so this is a magnificent and generous offer on his behalf. Please, if you know of anyone this may help give Richard a call.

Well done Richard, you are a true professional and I salute you.

Man, what a week. I don’t think I can add any more to the millions of words that have been written about the Victorian bushfires; the tragedy is so large as to be past my full comprehension. It’s only when you read stories direct from the survivors and firefighters that you understand the hell these people have been through. Listening to the CFA volunteers you realise there are truly good people in this world and no word of praise could do these brave people justice.

It’s times like this I wish I had some more practical skills, building websites isn’t much use to people who need a house constructed. I love working in the digital world but not for the first time I ponder the wisdom of kids ‘getting a trade’, however anyone who has seen me with a tool in my hand will know that never would have worked.

On the home front we had some fun this week with young Albert who ran out of floor as he belted through the house last Sunday. Of course where the floor finished the wall began, and it was the corner of a wall that cracked open his head. There was blood everywhere, an ambulance was called (with two turning up!) and then we spent a few hours at Sunshine’s emergency department. The little trooper had stitches put in to his head, thank god Rae had given him a buzz cut the day before and lucky for us Uncle Rob and Zita were on hand to look after the sleeping babes. It’s all healing well and the stitches should come out next Monday.

So as I sit here on the front step, with the smell of smoke in the air and an orange glow from the smoke filtered sun, I do some work, watch the kids play and hope this weekend will be quieter and safer for us and all Victorians.

Happy birthday to my wonderful wife.

Love you Rae, xoxo.

That’s from The Age‘s front page. They aren’t joking. I just poked my head out the door and the heat and blustery winds took my breath away. We’re doing okay here, the house is amazingly cool given the furnace like conditions outside. Even though we can’t have a window open the evaporative air conditioning is doing its best to circulate what little cool air we have. Zita dropped over this morning and has decided to spend the day here in comparative coolness. It’s that sort of day, we’re keeping the kids and cats cool, not exerting ourselves and waiting for the cool change that is only a couple of hours away.

I just checked the BOM site – the city is now at 46.8. That’s unbelievable.