Wedded Bliss

My little sister married the love of her life on the weekend.  It was magic.  Despite some stormy weather with only twenty minutes to go before the ceremony, the moment that she walked down the isle, all their troubles melted away.

My sisters and I have been bridesmaids for each other, and at each wedding I have struggled to hold back the tears.  If anything, it was harder at my little sisters wedding.  My little sister....a Mrs. I was unbeliveably happy for her, you could see how much her husband to be loved her. Their own personal vows were a wonderful tribute the each other, so romantic! It's not often that we take time out to say to our partners how much we truly love them and why.

One of the things that I love about weddings is that it takes me back to my own, I look at my wonderful husband and feel like we are getting married all over again.  I hope that my little sis enjoys that feeling at every wedding that she goes to from now on.

Some trials and tribulations for us in the last few weeks has reminded me of how precious the people who surround you truly are. I love you so much my little sister and I am so glad that I could be there, I wouldn't have missed it for the world.  I wish you every happiness in the world as you start out in your married life.  Dad would have been so proud of you.

50 Things That I'm Looking Forward To

The DA for the new house design is in, I have started thinking about the build and the exciting things to look forward to.  My 50 things to look forward to is also a bit of an ode to the last two years...

1. Being able to walk around the house without the walls and floor jiggling
2. Opening the windows
3. Sitting on the toilet without worrying that it is about to fall over
4. Not living in a beige house
5. Mounting the television on the wall - level, not in line with the stripes in the wall
6. Having a bedroom door
7. Not having to have a 20 cm chock under one end of the bed and not the other
8. Not loosing anything that can roll
9. Being able to cook a stir fry, not a stew fry
10. Having a wardrobe that I can close
11. Not having to keep a collection of buckets just in case it starts to rain
12. Not being terrified every time there is a storm, but secretly hoping that the house will fall down
13. Ticking the 'Yes' box on the insurance form for 'Is your dwelling well maintained?'
14. Having tiles in the bathroom instead of contact
15. Not having daily visits from all of the slugs in the neighbourhood
16. Not having rats climbing inside the walls (or dying in the roof)
17. Never expecting it to be my house when I see a puff of smoke off in the distance as I drive home
18. Not having to organise
19. Sewing again
20. Having electrical cables inside the walls
21. Decorating
22. Choosing a kitchen
23. Sunshine and lots of it
24. Fly screens
25. Carpet that doesn't belong in a highschool
26. Storage
27. A house that is worth cleaning
28. Curtains that I didn't buy in the Salvos shop
29. A dining room table that can accommodate more than 4 people
30. Being able to invite friends over for a BBQ
31. Not having my very own stream at the back door
32. Not walking mud into the house every time I go outside
33. Opening all the boxes that we have in storage, Christmas here we come!
34. Not wondering what is crawling through that crack there, and there, and there
35. Insulation from the parties next door ( I know I am a nanna)
36. A garden
37. Less grass
38. Music
39. Being half way up the hill to my vege patch
40. Remembering why we bought this place
41. Being proud of where I live
42. Having a view!
43. Being busy just being a family
44. Not saving so much money anymore - clothes shopping what is that?
45. Buying cushions
46. Cooking
47. Sunday breakfasts
48. Having my family to my house for Christmas
49. Having a smaller eco footprint
50. A totally AWESOME house warming!!

Better make it 51...

51. Providing this answer when someone asks how the house is going..
'Actually it is finished, we moved in two weeks ago!'

A builder visiting

A quick post today! I had a builder come and visit today. Lovely guy, very friendly and talkative. He thought the plans were good (great start!). He thought that there were a few things that could be changed to make the build cheaper (even better because we agree!). As we talked about the build, I learnt a few things:

- freeform stone work would cost around $250 per square metre (ouch! That's gone!!)
- already knew louvres were the most expensive kind of window, but 3 grand for one set! Double ouch!
Overall, his advice aligned with many of my thoughts on saving money so I am pretty happy and will look forward to the quote being finished.

The New House Design

After buying our block of land in October 2009 we have been in the throws of designing our future house. To put it bluntly, over the last twelve months we have completely stuffed it up.  After many months of working through house plans and a DA approval we were confronted with builders quotes that we could not afford.  What to do??

Start again.

With a new building designer on board, the preliminary design has been developed at a very fast pace in comparison to last year. The preliminary plans are off to a series of builders for estimates so that we don't make the same mistake as last time. Exciting times? I'm not so sure. I have remained hesitant, pessimistic and unsure.

The new design is so different to the DA approved plans that a comparison can not be drawn. Think Hamptons style contempoary cottage and now try and switch to pavillion style modern contemporary.  The picture below is a preliminary image of the front facade.

Overall, I like to new design. I love the floorplan but I think that the outside needs some personalising and perhaps some privacy.  Working in my new found love for modern mixed with vintage will also be a challenge and one that will require some changes in the exterior design of the house. A little less contemporary, a little more rustic.

For the moment, I am just trying to hold on to the dream. One foot after the other and we may just get there.

Roadside Retro

Lately I have been cruising Ebay in the hope of finding some retro furniture inspiration.  Danish design dining chairs and a telephone table were my main inspiration points.  A retro telephone table screams VINTAGE!! The need for a telephone table would have arisen from having to sit next to the phone which was plugged into the wall. Remember those? I do and my grandma still has one.  The worst thing about portable phones (especially in a house as ramshackle as ours) is that they get lost which leads to the mad dash around the house as the phone is ringing just to find 1 of 4 handsets!

I had spied a few telephone tables which took my fancy, one in Sydney which was selling for $200, a little above my budget.  My budget was a combination of reasonableness, but also the fact that my hubby thought that it was a completely useless item and why on earth would I want such a piece of junk in our new house?  (I have a feeling that there will be many more statements like this as I try to decorate the new house).  I happened across another table which was more of a hall table, very cute with spoky retro legs, metal feet and a black glass top.  I marked it so that I could see how much it ended up selling for.

Around three days later I was driving home one afternoon and came across an item of someone's lawn which had been put out for someone to take for free.  There were four spoky legs, four metal feet and a black glass top! By jove it was identical to the one on eBay! Yippee I thought!! Roadside retro!  I drove around the block and then stopped again to pick it up.  It was one of those sheepish moments where you hope that it definitely had been put out to be taken for free and that a random stranger wasn't just about to run out and say that it was just on the front lawn because they were dusting.  No random stranger appeared and I shoved it into my car and headed for home.

With great glee I brought my roadside retro table inside for a closer inspection.  The wood was in pretty good nic and in the shadows of my house you couldn't see the scratches in the glass.  Alas, in the sunshine entering new house they may be quite visible and it is probably why it was out in the street.  Hubby returned home later that night, came in the front door and said at the top of his voice 'What the heck is that!!! Where have you been collecting junk!?!?'

My response - 'I didn't pay for it so no whinging allowed, it's roadside retro!'

Roadside Retro Table



Diggers Order Arrives

The diggers club seed order has arrived! I am very excited at the prospect of our expanding vegie patch.  We are relatively new to the growing veggies game so decided to start with seeds that can be sown directly into the ground.  Raising seedlings myself will be something to tackle in Spring.

On Saturday a trip to the hardware for compost also meant that we came out with a soil pH testing kit, some Rhubarb seedlings, a native violet and some heirloom romanesco broccoli.  Store bought compost was unfortunately a necessity as our compost is currently in need of some serious attention.  It represents more of a fruit fly breeding ground that compost, but I am sure that it can be saved.

Sunny weather again on Sunday drew us outside and up to the veggie patch.  In winter, it is pretty much the only place that gets sun for more than two hours as our land faces south on a steep slope. It is a hefty walk to get to the sunny paradise at the top of our block especially when trying to carry a 14 kg toddler, baby bag and camera.  Yes, I have to pack a bag to go up there.  It just isn't worth the effort to have to come down for a drink or food!

We planted our Rhubarb, broccoli and native violet and then set about to plant the seeds.  Unfortunately the Monkey was extremely overtired and spent the majority of the morning whinging or crying over just about anything.  It is a delicate time in the garden to have a toddler stomping on everything so there was a lot of  'watch where you're treading' coming her way.  After finally giving up on trying to ride in her trolley, the watering can provided much needed entertainment. Finally, to get the seeds in the ground! In went some carrots, shallots, sugar snap peas and snow peas.  I think if the Monkey had her way, the whole garden would have been full of snow peas.

All in all, something was certainly achieved:

• four hours outside in the sunshine!

Something's gotta give

I hate hearing the phrase 'I'm a busy Mum' it reminds me of ads for cleaning products, but lately I have been. With a two year old, a part time job, a household to run, a small business to run and a house to design, things have been a little nuts. It was only a matter of time before something had to give. The story goes like this....

The Monkey threw my iPhone into a bucket of water about eight months ago. After a very speedy retrieval from said bucket, the phone was stored in some rice in the hope that it would live to see another day. Well it worked! Great! A narrow escape. As time has gone on, the phone has had a steady decline and seems to be having more and more trouble. Not making calls, not letting messages through and sounding like you're talking to Darth Vader on every second call.

The other night a bosom friend of mine had a very quick dash to the hospital to have her baby, and after a number of attempts to call me to babysit, my phone had let me down and another friend was called to help out. Wretched phone I thought. But a least it let through pictures of the new baby on the block. The following morning, my phone had gotten worse and it seemed as there was no service st all by this point. I was going to have to wrangle one of two iPhones from my hubby. Only fair to share I thought. So I finally gave up and admitted to myself that my beloved phone was not going to work any longer. Until I discovered the best tip ever I had come across yet for getting my phone to work....

Pay the bill!!

Something had to give, sorry Optus you were it.

Ikea it Up!

Faced with the glee of a day off from being a mummy on Sunday, I heartily headed off to Ikea with my beloved sister.  We did have a bit of a laugh at ourselves, what would you do when offered a day of freedom from little people? A day at a fancy restaurant? The Bronte to Bondi walk? A day trip to the Hunter Valley?  Our bliss was to head to cheap homewares heaven, where the crowds are thick and the husbands whinge.

Beach Style Room - loved it but not

sure if it will work

with the house design

 

We planned our day in homeware heaven many weeks ago when I was going through a bit of a rough patch with the progress with the house and needed some motivation and something to look forward to.  Progress has been made with the house plans and I was not feeling glum in the lead up to our day out, instead I was rather excited at sourcing some inspiration.  Re-starting our house plans has meant that the design slate has been wiped clean and I am now floundering to find the sense of individual style in my new home that I have been longing for over the last two years.



This couch was a hit, very

comfortable and nice and compact



Upon entering Ikea I was not disappointed, the individual room designs were gorgeous, clever and affordable. I could walk in there and buy the whole room in one hit and still come out with some change (ok, maybe 20 cents). So that I wouldn't forget what I liked, I snapped a few pictures during our meandering walk of homeware heaven.  The greatest benefit of the photos has been to look back and try to decide which style I prefer and where to head to from here.  I have a bit of a passion for vintage furniture mixed in with everyday furniture, but after seeing some pieces in person, I am not so sure.





Cosy home office designed with repeated
bookshelf units.
 Black really set off the books



I was really drawn to the rooms done in green, grey and cosy homey style, and was put off by the ultra modern.  There were a few things that I can definitely cross off the list.  I was not impressed by the bathroom cabinets or the dining furniture.  I was impressed with the storage designs, small storage items and gadgets and the kitchen gadgets.  I think that I would definitely go back for the couch for our family room and will keep in mind all the gadgets and fittings which make it so cheap to fit out a kitchen.



If you wanted to order your kitchen or wardrobe through Ikea, I think you would need to have a high level of patience if you decided to tackle it on the weekend.  The counters were enormously busy and I don't think it would be fun to try and take that through the checkout!



Wardrobe Bliss



At the end of the day I left with some great ideas, a bag full of small storage gear for the cottage and a bit of a re-think of what I like and don't like in a home.

Nothing to something mantra:

Nothing:

• Lack of motivation following a re-design of the house plans
• A messy house!



Something:

• A fun day with my big sis
• Lots of ideas on how to get the most out of cheaper furniture and using small storage ideas
• Some direction for the next store to visit to get some ideas
• A very tidy looking desk in the cottage after using my new small storage gear
• A happy toddler when mummy got home!

And so the Vege patch begins

After many months of remaining idle on our block of land trying to get plans through and the building started, we have started a new project!

A grand vege patch at the very top of our block. My hubby commenced this project with the ambition of keeping our young daughter outside in the garden as well as being to start enjoying the land and space which we are growing to love. In amongst all the trials of building a house (or not building at this point) the new Vege patch provides us with something that we have created ourselves to put our stamp on block.

The soil for the Vege patch came from a contact who was looking to get rid of some fill. Although there is some rubbish in the soil and a number clayey patches, all 30 tonnes of it was brought in and loaded in the Vege patch for next to nothing. Considering the driveway access to this part of our block is barely negotiable in the wet and we didn't have to lift a finger, it was a bargain! There will probably be considerable effort involved to get the soil into tip top shape, but soil from a landscape yard would have cost ten times as much. Although I don't think I'll be enthusiastic enough to improve the soil if we get some good yields from the plants.

On the weekend, we finished off the mulching and built the first trellis pyramids for future peas, beans and tomatoes.

We have kicked of the plants with some seedlings from a nursery at Ourimbah - $10 for 10!

Our first plants are:
capsicum, dill, rocket, thyme, coriander, cauliflower, sage, oregano, and chives.

The capsicum was the Monkey's choice as mummy is not a fan!

We have also created somewhat of an orchard along the back fence. The winter sun in this position is limited so it will be interesting to see how the plants manage. The previous owners left us with a lemon and orange tree, and we now also have an olive, mandarin and Tahitian lime.

With many hours of procrastination of the weekend, I have also finalised an order through my sisters Diggers club membership. Over the next few weeks and months our vege patch will expand to include potatoes, beans, snow peas, sugar snap peas, corn, zuchinni, shallots, carrots, rhubarb, spinach, tommy tomatoes, peanuts, beetroot, pumpkins, watermelon, rockmelon and a bay tree.

Although I have had vege patch in the past, it was about a tenth the size and I am excited about the prospect of having a plentiful supply of our own veges and fruit.

Nothing to something mantra:

Nothing:

• bare garden heartily growing onion weed
• many hours spent indoors on the weekend due to lack of space around the outside of the house and lack of motivation
• all our fruit and veges coming from the fruit shop every week

Something:

• a fun outdoor space to enjoy as a family
• a project which creates a sense of ownership and belonging at our new block
• lots of learning experiences for the Monkey
• reducing our ecological footprint
• scrumptious supply of fruit and veges!

Slow Cooking

After recently buying myself a bargin slow cooker in Aldi for $29, I have started to learn how to make slow cooker recipes. I expected that it was just a matter of throwing everything into the pot and switch it on. So far this approach has not been so successful!


Although the meals taste ok, they don't look the best and I have found that I am left with an abundance of watery sauce. My first ever lamb shanks last night were a slight improvement. I didn't have all the ingredients for my first choice recipe so I hunted through a few google links until I found one - Red Wine and Garlic Lamb Shanks. The only vegetable ingredients were onion and carrot (this was possibly one of the disappointments when it came time to eat it). The recipe also called for a Bouquet Garni (which I have since learnt is a bunch of herbs, bay leaves, parsely and sage or thyme).

With two hours of cooking time to go, I scooped out several cups of the saucy water after realising that it was far too much. Some failed attempts to thicken the sauce with cornflour meant that we enjoyed the lamb shanks with just the vegies. All in all, I think I will find a better recipe next time, I give them 2.5 stars out of 5.

Best parts:

• saving a fortune by using google to find recipes for which I have the ingredients in the cupboard (our cupboard has never looked so bare!)


• first lamb shanks made a home


• my french trimming skills (thanks Masterchef!)

Not so great parts:

• watery sauce (going to need some tips from another fabulous cook)


• using a cheap bottle of wine in the sauce (I think it would taste a lot better if the bottle was worth more than $2.95!)

Overall, my nothing to something goal is:

Nothing: Never used a slow cooker before

Something: To become a slow cooker diva that has a scrumptious, saucy and healthy dinner on the table!

From Humble Beginnings

Our lives changed dramatically in 2009, we were blessed with the arrival of our gorgeous baby girl but also sold our house and moved on to the next big thing. We were excited, impulsive and full of ambition when we packed up our lives and headed for a new beginning. It was the beginning of a journey that has proved to be challenging.

As the first blog of our adventures of building a new house, a new garden and future for our family, I feel the need to pay tribute to the little house which was our home for five years and which I struggled to let go of for the first twelve months after moving.

Our little house was just like any other in a comfortable suburb of the Central Coast. We bought the house as our very first and spent the next five years renovating it. With a new kitchen, timber flooring and new doors, the seventies look was a distant memory. My heart however lay with the garden.

We created the garden from a backyard of nothingness. The garden was an oasis. Whenever a bit of soul food was required, a quiet sit in the backyard was all that was needed. Rob built a pond which we filled with lillies and fish. I have heard that the new owner now enjoys a lily which we left behind.

We created the garden beds using $10/t sandstone rubble (great for natives) and filled them with plants from our favourite nursery - The Wildflower Place at Erina Heights. We had a special attachment to the plants as they were a gift from friends.

Ruby (our dog) enjoyed the sunshine and regularly squashed my new plants as she enjoyed a piece of splendour. What I miss most however, is the sense of pride which comes with a successful garden and enjoying the beauty created from hard work. It is something that we have once again started to enjoy as preparations for our vegetable garden have commenced.

As I move forward into the future , I will never forget the happiness I was able to enjoy at our first little house.