Christmas 2102 & Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all.

It was a mad rush to get the house in order to have visitors. With tiles still to be sealed and power points still to be connected.

The painter was officially FIRED on the Wednesday before Xmas as he was given 7 days to complete his work and he was onto Day 16. So Jason had had enough and told him what he thought and the painter packed his gear up and left.
We have since found out that he hasn't been using the correct paint as it isnt DULUX wash n wear.
The finish of the walls is shocking.
We have hired another painter to give another coat to the walls and patch up the ceilings in the coming weeks.

Jason had the boys helping him lay the turf. Not that Jack our middle child wanted to. Our youngest James was out helping his dad every chance he could.

This is Jack when he was actually helping not watching :)

The pool guys arrived a week before xmas and finished the pool off. It was interesting to watch the process as they covered it all with a huge tarp so the weather wouldn't set the concrete quickly.

Interesting foot wear.

Our daughter Gaby had her end of year ballet concert just before xmas.
This year was Sleeping Beauty. She played  Carabosse who is the wicked witch that pricks the finger of Sleeping Beauty.

Danielles Studio of Dance is a fantastic ballet school and is a real family community. The girls & boys are all making life long friends and lasting memories thanks to Danielle Williams and her amazing talented staff.

The dads even made an appearance this year and gave us mums a run for our money. We need to life our game this year if we are going to top their performance.

Dads Direction - Jason is back row 2nd from right

I finally pulled the dead tree in the front yard out. Well my mum and i did.
Then i turned it into a decoration at the front door.

Hanging my home made Rosemary stars on it

I had the painter who was painting the outside of the house come in and paint me my blackboard wall.

Love love love

And i also allowed 15, 15 year olds to sleep over. As good as they were, i am not having that many EVER again to stay the night...

15 x 15 yr olds playing street cricket

I am liking my husbands decision on the house number.
As i am finding when i tell people our address they repeat the words one one three not one hundred and thirteen.

Different

We had 14 people staying over Xmas. So Santa had loads of gifts.

Before Santa arrived

After Santa

Everyone was spoilt EVEN me. My hubby surprised me with something i have had my eye on for 12months.

Belle Collection

Another xmas with another helicopter. They dont last long but are heaps of fun

The new black board got a work out.

Cousins arrived

Boxing day cricket

with to many umpires

We had many funny nights playing The Logo boardgame. A gift from Jason sister Lisa to the kids.

Add caption

My Aunty Jo made this amazing desert called Broken glass pudding.

My dad got to visit his eldest sister Aunty Dorothy. She and her husband live in Harvey Bay. So just after xmas along with my mum and dads other sister Aunty Jo they made the 4.5 hr drive from the gold coast to visit.

As long as i can remember Aunty Dot has always fluttered her eyes. So after many photos that my mum was taking. Not one did she get with Aunty Dots eyes open lol

They also stole some of Aunty Dots plants and brought them home to me. This was one of about 10.

After a two week stay Mum Dad and Aunty Jo headed back to NSW :(

Mum, Aunty Jo, Me & Dad xxx

Then our Middle child Jack headed down to stay with his cousins in Port Stephens in his Uncle Bobbys truck.

Happy holidays Jack

Now we have grass. Jason is loving that he can mow his lawn again. He loves his lawn as most blokes do. He can spend hours outside admiring his lawns.

As we have been living in an apartment for awhile he took the first opportunity he had to get the mower out and there was no stopping him, until the mower stopped after 2 strips and had to go to the repair shop for a week. lol

I finally found the stools i had been searching for. Right under my nose at Domayne. I picked them up for $90 each

Builder will be back on Monday to complete the outdoor room and electricians still have to fit my vacuum maid and a few odd power points so i am hoping they too will return. The new painter should arrive next week as well.

So till then,

Stay cool

Pen x

Todays progress

Today i woke at 3am to the sound of pouring rain outside. The last of the concrete was booked in for 8am so i laid there hoping it would stop.
By 530am it had slowed to a sprinkle. The concreter arrived by 6 am and it was full steam ahead.
Grass is arriving in the morning so the digger arrived to spread dirt in readiness for its arrival. I know it is only grass but for me it will make my dust issue a little less.

I think the tree out the front has seen better days.

The tiler has finished off the front feature wall. I am really happy with my choice of tile. Yes it is a tile not real slate.

 He has also started on the cellar walls.

 Snooker room should have windows and roof by the end of next week and hopefully the tiling may be completed too.

This back yard section will have grass and a small concrete slab for a basketball ring/area.
The top part will have a small grass section in which i want to place a seat and a small pergola and grow a weeping plant of some sort over it. Kind of a love seat. lol

 The brickie is almost finished this side and by Monday should have the other side complete.

My family start arriving the end of next week. So we are hoping it will be looking more like a home than a building site.

Tonight we are off to Gaby's ballet concert in which another family member is performing in it too. "SHHH i didn't tell you that, did i?" That is a blog post for tomorrow though.... I am looking forward to the performance.

Pen x
PS "painters are in the garage today painting all the doors" - nothing more to say about them!

I am back on board - image problem solved

Yesterday the 11th December my baby turned 10.
Gosh it took me two days to have him and 9.5lbs later he arrived. Due on the 18th i asked to be induced a week early as i didn't want to be in hospital 1week from Xmas with two little ones at home.
James has brought us loads of joy as he was a surprise addition to our family.
Never one to sit around always on the go. Always wanting to help. He loves all sports and is very artistic.
I wonder what the future holds for James...whatever it is he will do well.

Happy 10th Bday James

School holidays have begun here in QLD. So that brings the beginning of street cricket season.

I wonder how long DAD was batting for?

and boys having fun or up to no good things to do

NOW THE UPDATE ON THE HOUSE

OK you know i really dislike my painter...If you follow me on Twitter  you will know this.
On Monday he came and removed all the doors as they needed to be painted AGAIN and all hinges removed as they had paint all over them. Well it is now Wednesday and he hasn't been back. Builder just called him and he is in hospital due to a heart attack. ARHHHHHH
Heart attack or no heart attack i still don't like him.

So now we have no doors on any room (annoying) and now wont till mid next week. These are all in our entry... Can you see my anger?

On a better note we have grass arriving Friday.

The brickie has almost finished is work.

Just need the top wall rendered.

This is the side of the house. The water tank has to go here too.

The glass pool fence is almost complete. Then the pool can finally be sprayed on Friday and we could be swimming by early next week. Fingers crosssed.

Oh and i have CURTAINS

Pen x

PS' For anyone who is having trouble with images and google asking for you to pay i was told about a blog post that Miss Direction posted a few weeks back and she solved all my problems. Thankyou Miss Direction

Buying Storage?

Question Time?

(insert photo here)

Does anyone else have to buy storage to run their blog?

I can not uplaod any more photos onto my blog unless I pay to up grade the storage.

I have two price plans to choose from, via Google;

25GB for $2.49 per month

or

100GB for $4.99 per month

I'm not sure weather I should hand over my credit card details or not?

Any suggestions or help from fellow bloggers who may have encountered these problems?

I'll be back on board as soon as I sort this out! I hope!

                                                                         x  Pen

My dust bowl

OMG THE DUST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My house is surrounded by diggers. On my yard and across the road.
My WHITE yes bloody WHITE leather lounge arrives tomorrow so i am going to be a wreak until all the house is concreted and turfed.

We have concreaters everywhere and plumbers doing all the paths around the house and the slab for the snooker room. All of this will be finished by end of next week.

My pool fence is going up as i speak BUT he already has stuffed up and has to change a panel as the gaps dont match up. SORRY Mr glass pool fence man but it just has to be changed. He wasnt to happy!

UPDATE on that horrible painter.
This coming Monday morning there is a meeting at our place with the painter, the builder & Master painter association. ARRRHHHH
I am not happy!

Still waiting on my curtains and blinds but with all the dust around i am ok with that. They should be ready by end of next week.

In other news:

Kids got left at school on Tuesday after the bus driver would not let them on the bus. One had forgot her bus pass and the other had no weekly pass. (oh and that middle child just got on and didn't care that his other siblings were not on)
Long story however after calling the bus company their answer was "no child should be left at any bus stop with or without money" The lady was extremely apologetic and called me back the next day letting me know what happened to the drive.
She called me and said that 'the driver hasn't been spoken to however they are onto him and are doing something sneaky with him as he is known to have done this to more than just our children on many occasions. Looks like he wont have a job for much longer.

Gaby has her Year10 Dinner/Dance next week. And havent i had a wonderful experience with the dress.
She wanted this dress from the internet (mind you somewhere in Hong Kong it came from)
It arrived way to big and it looked like a yr 7 student had made it. Terrible $140 GONE
So off to the shops at Robina Town Centre. She found a great dress she was happy with at Blockout

Then it was shoes, handbag and accessories. I tell you i have done all the things i said i would NEVER do. Many many hours later and loads of arguing. which oh so reminded me of myself and my mum. As everything i liked she was rolling her eyes at.
She is happy with her choices. Me too'

James our youngest had his swimming carnival yesterday.
He had been talking all week leading up to it saying he didnt want to go. Every day he would say "mum, i am not going to school on Thursday" etc....
So Thursday arrived which was yesterday, he WON his 50meter freestyle, WON his backstroke by heaps and came 2nd by a nose in breaststroke but could've won if he hadn't looked around so much. He had all the girls in his class cheering "Jimmy, Jimmy"

 Of course all i got from him as a smurk!
 Little bugger.

I am having problems with my photo downloads as i have to upgrade so i can down load them.
Until then follow me on my Instagram as i place loads of pics on there of our home and daily life happenings.

Pen x