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

Outside update

Last week brought a front fence and a front balcony. YAY!

and a drive way

Which then made us have to actually unpack boxes so we could get the cars in the garage and off the road. As we have found that new empty housing estates make great weekend racing areas.
The cars come up and check out the gorgeous views and then decide to race side by side each other along the street.
It hasn't happened to often as the estate has a security driver that is always around but it does happen.
We have had a few trees knocked over in the street before we moved in from crazy drivers.

The boys were a great help. NOT

We made room for one car. So that is a start.
I have heaps of things to sell. So until i do that the garage will be used as storage.
I sold the lounge James is sitting on in 2 hrs on Online Garage Sales Gold Coast for $200. It was a 2 seater and a 3 seater. BARGIN as it was in excellent condition. I also sold a washing machine for $150 and a bar fridge for $70.
Plenty more to go...

I have discovered the Panorama options on the iPhone. Going a little over board with it but i think it is really cool.

Still waiting on that mirror splash back.

Oh and i had a birthday.

I got a new kettle & toaster. My mum was surprised with that, as she said that isnt a birthday present she would like to receive. But that's what i wanted when asked.

I went out for lunch with my friend Megan and came home to a yummy caramel mud cake.
That is all i need on a birthday.

A rare family shot.

Kids have been enjoying the outdoor building site and i found them on the trampoline the other day. I had to close my eyes.
As i friend said "20 years ago we wouldn't worry about this but these days we freak out"

I watched my youngest one and his mate play out the front with the good old game that i used to play with the hose. They were using a plumbing pipe. Remember we used to spin around with it while the other had to jump over it. Great game...

While i then thought they were just out the front laughing and having fun. I found them having fighting games with texters and marking each other with texter including their clothes.
Later that evening i went across the road to take the dog for a wee and saw that they had drawn all over the concrete footpath with texter.

Here he is scrubbing it all off.

This week brings the pool guys back to start the completion of the pool. The snooker room brick work and slab. The footpaths and side fences.

Still no sign of the painter. We had the plaster guys come back yesterday to patch up all the holes and mistakes.
Apparently plasterers hate painters and painters hate plasterers.
They blame each other. Frankly i don't give a dam. Just finish the job and get the hell out!

I have my eye on a buffet that i need to twist my husbands arm a bit more to get the deal across the line.

Kids are just in from the bus so gotta go.

Pen x

The week that was.

It has been one of those weeks.

I will start with the good.

I am rising at 450am most mornings and heading off for a walk at 5am. I meet a friend near her place at 530am. Just having someone to meet helps me get up and go...
We then head back my way. It is hills all the way around so it is a great walk.
I am back home just past 6am to then jump in the shower and be ready for the day.
Kids are now on the bus so they are all out of the house by 745am.

Mr Kookaburra.

This is a walking track directly behind our place.

I got swooped by these stupid Plubber birds on the small intersection you can see in this pic. The birds were like jet fighter planes coming at me in all directions. I woke the street up that morning at 5am with my screams. lol 

The back view of our house. The outdoor entertainment/snooker room has the footings down and should be complete by mid Nov

Here comes Kylie to meet me.

My almost home track

Lance our brickie is a fantastic worker. He always has a smile on his face. Need to have more tradies around like him for sure.

Love my curtains - i swore i was not going to do this...But i am still mucking around with quotes..I best decide soon as Xmas is coming ;)

Then we have a PAINTER

Need i say more...

My glass balustrade was completed inside.

Still waiting on him to come back and do the outside now! Wouldn't you just finish the job?

I didn't want this end piece of glass but after much thought we decided it would be a safer option.

I received a few new goodies:

It will never be this clean again :( Let me know your tips if you have any

We need a degree to work this

Just need the plumber to move the hole at the back higher so it fits flush.

Then last Friday night Jack played his first ever basketball game. It is a summer comp that runs for 10weeks. WOW i loved every minute of it.
He didn't know any players and really looked the part.
Never did i know 'this kid can throw baskets' He was getting 2 pointers & even a couple of 3 pointers.
He is number 7. Check him out!

On that Friday the 12 October we remembered all that lost their lives in Bali...

My parents and Davids parents are very good friends. I grew up with David and his sister Jane. David is very sadly missed by so many.

Oh how the small things in life that we complain about ie: my painter included are all so insignificant.

Just love always

Pen x