Winter on the GC

Waking up on the GC is so very different from my childhood winters.
This is probably why so many of us flock to Queensland to live.
It barely gets to under 8* in the mornings and mostly a top of atleast 19* some days higher.
Never a fog, never frost on the grass.
All i have to complain about are the cold tiles under my feet. A pair of slippers fix that.

Look at the boys sitting around the fire in their T-shirts and shorts with no shoes on. LOL real cold hey!

They come home most afternoons and build their own little fire. They kick a footy and just sit around it. They want to camp in the back yard over the school holidays. Maybe i should send them down to my mum and dads place in country NSW then they will understand what a cold winter really is. ( are you reading this mum? hint hint )

On the home front:

The bar top has been put on in time for Game 2 State of Origin.

Camphor laurel timber  

I also brought a outdoor lounge setting i have been searching a long time for. I didn't want a modular lounge it wasn't a space that a modular would fit nicely.
I found this at Masters of all places. The quality is outstanding. It was a bargin at $1298.00
Very happy!

 Pen :)

I've got my mojo back...

Some of you will know that i am a nail technition. It is something i have done before kids & while they were little at home & now they are almost all teenagers i have more time to put more effort into doing one of the things i love.
I have been doing nails since i was 16. Starting out with acrylic nails. I have been using a product called Bio Sculpture Gel for 15 years. I don't use any thing else, only Bio Sculpture & trust me you WON'T find a better product. So check out their website and find a Bio Therapist near you. You won't regret it.

Come follow along and see the magic that Bio Sculpture can achieve. Here are a few pics.

I have a Instagram account

 & Facebook account

Pen :)

Hello, it's been a while...

Gosh it has almost been 2 months since my last blog.
So much has happened.

We have gates!

The snooker room is all but complete. I have a tiler here at the moment who is finishing off the bar so i will show you that next week.

We have had that dart board for 20 years and it has never been out of the box. Till now!

Bring on the State of Origin i say... Game 1 is at our place!

I haven't done much with the kids rooms yet but here is how they look at the moment.

I would like to get 6 or 9 how ever many is needed of the IKEA magnetic boards and place them together and use them as a bed head for this room. I also want to hang pendant lights either side of the bed too. Maybe with yellow cord.

Dare i show you the other side of her room ie: desk area - its a huge MESS

 

This is my nail room - tucked away under the stairs.

 My wonderful mum knitted me these gorgeous throws. Perfect for this cool winter weather. 

Thanks mum x

I am going to attempt a Pallet coffee table following Katrina's DIY

AND LASTLY:

                          On Monday the 27th May we celebrated 18 years of marriage. We went out to Sanctuary Cove for a lovely lunch date as our nights are to busy with dropping and picking kids up from ballet, footy training & tutoring. Oh how life has changed from this day...

We are told that people stay in love because of chemistry or because of many kindnesses or because of luck. But part of it has got to be forgiveness and gratefulness xxx

Pen x

House update

Finally the sun is out and we have movement in our outdoor room.
The plumber was here yesterday doing what he had to do before tiler comes on Wednesday. Tiler should be finished by Saturday.
That's the plan!

The renderer's are back into it today.

Our builder Steve is battening some walls out for plasterboard in the bar area, other than that wall we are keeping most of the room walls just painted render.

Jason is hopeful he will have his newly restored 120year old snooker table in by Easter - oh and i tell you, that is VERY important ;)

I am keeping an eye on their progress from my kitchen table

I have big regrets with my kitchen. YES i know! What the hell was i thinking...
I originally put alot of planning into this kitchen with NONE of it happening in the end.
NEVER again will i let this happen. BUT we are not planning on selling in a hurry so i have to get this sorted out.
From my original plan having a butlers pantry with loads of space i have no butlers pantry and not a overly huge pantry now.

 

The mirror splash back was to go to the height of the cupboards, however i was talked out of it by the builder and the mirror guy, as they said the range hood would come out to far and would look silly with so much silicon behind it. WHATEVER

So again i went with what they said and i now have a huge blank space that is driving me crazy.
If i was told this before the kitchen guy finished my kitchen i wouldve changed the rangehood and had a slimline built into the over head cupboards. (which i now dont have)
Are you all getting where i am at?

The cupboard door above my bread roller door in the back corner opens up against the wall. I am thinking of making that a skinny pull out spice rack. That way i will be able to do cupboards all the way across the wall.
SO my delima is what kind of cupboards do i go with....
That bloody range hood cost us around 2.5k just for the range hood. It is a ILVE top of the line, some super dooper range hood. They are all the same to me really..anyway do i sell that and go with a slimline pull out one. That way it will give me a nice straight line of cupboards.  
Come in husband,
who when i speak to him about this, of course says this is all not happening and if it does it isnt happening now! He also says that the rangehood is staying. Big Sigh
You all know it will happen, us women do eventually get our way. So i am chasing your thoughts for when it does happen.

Excuse the vase with flowers i am in need of a new huge bunch of something. Just haven't found the something yet! I am one to move them on and off every day. Just not sure about them. Tell me to get rid of them if that is your thought..

and after seeing all the beautiful lights that A-M has, i will in time get my self some for over the island bench but for now these will do the job..


Pen x

Here is where i sit...

After the kids have left for school, here is where i sit.

Scrolling through all of the blog posts i follow.
Dreaming, wondering, admiring and most of the time wishing i could be doing something more with mine.
I cant believe people can make a full time wage, even more from just blogging. They do!
This is something i really would love to do.
I am a open book. No secrets with me.

I think we all enjoy looking into peoples lives. Just REAL peoples lives...

I am real and i, like many, scream at my kids, argue with my husband and struggle with paying bills.

As well as love my kids, love my husband and love spending money.

I am 40 this year. Watch OUT!
I have always looked forward to being older but as it is getting closer i am starting to think differently.

The sun is shining on the GC today. For how long...i don't now.

Have a great day,

Pen :)

House update

Not much has happened around here for awhile. The Gold Coast weather has been terrible. Raining almost every day.

We have been trying to get the outdoor room finished since early January.

The roof of the outdoor room was finally completed today in the two hrs it wasn't raining. Literally as the roof guys left it started to rain again and is still raining now.

It will be a few weeks (probably months, well in the building world for me a few weeks is a few months) before this outdoor room is finished. The trades are shocking up here. So unreliable. The tiler has been telling us he will be here tomorrow for 3 weeks now.  The electricians are no where to be found. I am still waiting for some electrical work inside the main house to be finished as well as the outdoor room now.
Oh and don't even get me started on that painter. ARHHHHH

 
While out and about today i found the outdoor setting i have been looking for at MASTERS. Below is our back patio/BBQ area where it will live.

I haven't brought it yet but this is the one x

Next job for us to attack, is the top back yard. I am seeing 2 large shady trees either side with a (love) seat in the middle. With loads of different ground covers.
Hedges following the fence line for privacy as there is a walk way just over the back fence and we have many sticky beaks.
I want heaps of agapanthas (not sure if that is the correct spelling). Only now i wish i had taken them in bucket loads from all my other homes as can you believe that a very small and i mean 2 leaf small agapantha from Bunnings is $11. So thanks to my sister inlaw who will start me off with 25 small cuttings from her home to get me underway :)

Out the front we are waiting for the driveway gates to be made as well as the front entry gate and intercom. I think i heard Jason say it will be 6 - 8 weeks before they will be finished. So much for no one on the GC having much work on. Not sure what the hell they are doing then.

Looks like another wet weekend for us on the GC. Have a great weekend!

Pen x

Rainy Aussie days

This Australia Day weekend has brought non stop rain for us here on the GC.

We have just been upgraded to a mini cyclone with 500mm of rain expected for Brisbane and GC with flooding. Its already created 6 tornadoes since moving south of Burnett Heads from 6pm last night.

Happy to report we have no leaks and all water run off is going in the correct locations.
So a safe high and dry house for us at this time. We could end up being a water front property soon.

No beautiful view of the Gold Coast today.

If only the roof was put on last week.
With all the rain we are having it will need to be completely dry before they begin roof work again... (big sigh)

Maybe i might go drown my sorrows in the cellar ;)

"Some people walk in the rain, others just get wet."

Pen :)