17/52

a portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013 via Che and Fidel

He : Lest we forget. When I asked him if he new what ANZAC stood for, he paused, thought for a while, then said "Australian and New Zealand Army Corps" I was so proud, I managed to stifle my giggles when he pronounced Corps as Corpse. 

She : Has decided her new favourite colour is yellow, just like her brother. 

On the distractibility of husbands

So, the sun has been shining for a good week, the weather is warm and balmy and we have an entire house to pack up ready for our imminent move. Suddenly I notice that Legoman has been absent from the packing chaos for some time and is nowhere to be found. Then over the hum of the washing machine, I pause with the packing tape dispenser mid roll and hear the sound of thudding from the back deck. And yes, the house does appear to be shaking somewhat. It appears that Legoman could restrain himself no longer and he and Roboboy have started demolishing our deck. Two weeks before we move out.

Within the hour the Menace brothers arrive armed with hammers and crowbars and expressions of evil boy glee on their faces. They have been waiting for this day for months and answered the call of duty in record speed. They mate who was having a sleepover was dragged over as well, nothing better than random children in my yard wielding deadly weapons, with uncertain vaccination status and of course, parents who are lawyers. Needless to say, I was on high alert for the next few hours. Not to mention my valid concern that I would hang out a load of washing and discover that the entire back wall of my house had been ripped off with over enthusiastic gusto.

So after a few clear rules as to what could be ripped off and what needed to be left intact until after we move out, instructions on how to deal with all those rusty nails and the biggest Menace on Liongirl duty, I retreated to pack some boxes.

The boys (and men) were like pigs in mud. See that happy face.

Best of all we were able to take most of the wood to a mates place who is going to reuse it for his chook run. And that meant lots of rides in the garden wagon.

Now they are all excitedly plotting when they can pull the rest of it down. Me, I'm just packing up the entire house, you know, the work that actually needs to be done now, vs the fun but completely unnecessary jobs.  Men. Anyone else have a distractible husband?

Turquoise pyrex, vintage wallpaper and collaborative embroidery

There has not been much op shopping action around here of late. Decluttering will do that to a girl, but I must say I was missing having a good ferret. There is nothing better than stumbling across a bundle of Little Golden books that are all new to me, titles I have never found before. Only to be topped by four rolls of this amazing blue vintage wallpaper and some turquoise pyrex. Oh happy days.

Behind the scenes there has been some crafty action happening at school in preparation for the school fete. A call out for vintage doilies and embroidery talents. This amazing masterpiece is on show in the school foyer ( way beyond my talents I might add but oh so inspiring).

Having never embroidered before I was determined to have a go and trotted out a few simple ones (no I absolutely did not do those incredible birds, just the words). It is actually quite an addictive past time once you get started, I think I managed five in total. They are all going towards some master plan that a bunch of uber creative mums at school are hatching. I for one cannot wait to see the end results on display at the fete, even the junior school are involved with those amazing stitched hearts above.

And look what just appeared on the oval, now we have the doily tree sharing company with  the crochet tree  from last year. And it is so exciting to rock up to school and see all the new creative contributions being deposited daily at the office.

Goodness, I think Fete fever is starting to take hold. Now I just need to try and behave myself at the Trash and Treasure....

16/52

a portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013 via Che and Fidel

He : like a pig in mud starting to demolish our deck with dada. Must hammer all those rusty nails flat (grammy-bot had given him a tool kit of his own for his recent birthday).

She : being the baby in the cot with her book and her snuggly. I will spare you all the pics of me being the baby squeezed into that tiny basket.

School holidays long gone

It seems we blinked and the school holidays vanished and life just kept rolling on. In the first week of holidays, just as she was about to get on a train with Roboboy, my mother in law tripped and fell. In that split second everything was different. She fractured her hip and has required a hip replacement. Amazingly, just over two weeks later, today we took her home again, walking almost independently. After seeing the xrays of her new robotic metal hip joint, Roboboy has taken to calling her Grammy-bot.

So, in between the hospital visits, flower market forays, care of her pets and other bits and pieces the holidays flew by with our house move getting closer by the minute.

Despite the drama, there was much of the usual too. Lego building, park romps, movies with friends, and even a quick spot of op shopping. Nothing more wonderful than a fifty cent Richard Scarry find.

A wonderful discovery at Grammy-bot's house whilst feeding her cats. A large box complete with a cruiser needing minimal assembly. Who knew these could easily accommodate two? We are letting them whizz around trashing the floors for the next few weeks, after that it will be outside only when the floorboards are polished.

And there has been the usual duplo building, but as a team, with matching early morning blankets.

Miss Liongirl and I had a lovely girls afternoon out the ballet, there were lots of other little girls there to see Cinderella but I think mine was the littlest, hence the chupa chup bribe to counteract act three squirming. She sat riveted to her seat in act one, like me, she was spellbound by the costumes, especially the pink floor length floating chiffon cape worn over the tutu to the ball.

There is also nothing better than riding around in a bike chariot sharing your snacks with your best mate. Let me say that pulling two little girls who are stuffing themselves with snacks in a bike chariot is a definite workout.

And even a bit of progress on the homefront. Legoman relishes any opportunity to get up on high structures and chop things. We would rather prune our trees ourselves than have builders lop them when they are in the way of a new roofline. (We, being the royal we, meaning not at all me, as heights are not my thing).

Look at this wonderful new shoot though, he was not allowed anywhere near this baby.

We even managed to sell the kitchenette in the granny flat within a few hours of advertising it. Best of all, someone is paying us $420 for the pleasure of removing it all and taking it away.

We are hoping our kitchen and the carport are as enthusiastically appreciated. Fingers crossed.

15/52

a portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013 via Che and Fidel

He : it has only taken seven years and a little help from our good friend Enid but here he is finally reading by himself,  for the love of the story. Since he was a baby I have read him books every night, by now I would guess I have read thousands. 

She : loves to raid my wardrobe and pretend she is going to work. Her she has my bag, shoes, scarf, beads, hair clip, cardigan and purse. When I queried the flats and not the heels, she replied very matter of factly that she was going to a MEETING and not to work.

Friends in Far Flung places

I think I have mentioned before that there is nothing like a good declutter to bring out the forces of goodness and goodies. And there has been some serious sorting and selling going on over here, even a few vintage sheets have been sent on their way. Months ago I fell in love with  some retro inspired goodies created by Handmade by Alice Apple and soon after, that cute little sausage dog arrived along side a little shopping bag of goods for miss Liongirl to stock in her cafe.

Recently, Alice had a giveaway and I was lucky enough to be the winner. How exciting to have that pink stripy parcel turn up at Betsy's front door last week. And inside,  these marvellous postcard creations that she has just released. If you haven't been over to her Shop , take a peek, I for one am now seriously coveting those fridge magnets.

And because it was a week of parcels arriving, a very thoughtful package arrived for Roboboy as well. Lovely Kylie from Lucy Violet Vintage sent him some wonderful bird tea towels tucked inside this super cute tea towel bag which I have completely snaffled.

The tea towels were right up his alley too, birds and rain forests, how did you know Kylie?

And obviously because we have been taking bags of stuff away  for the school fete, it would then be the trifecta of goodies coming our way. So, remember recently when I lamented the lack of turquoise pyrex around the traps? Specifically, that missing little turquoise ramekin? Well, would you believe that lovely  Karlyn from Rosa's Room had that exact turquoise ramekin, all by itself, with no friends? And she, like me, really wanted it to be united with the rest of its family.

Sigh. Can you see how happy it is now? Perhaps that's just me, as I get to gaze on this glorious colour combo all day. So, on that lovely note, I thought I would ask you all, what is your turquoise ramekin? What lovely vintage item are you missing from your collection, what would you break into a sweat for if you spotted it in someone else's hand at the oppie? Do share, and you never know, I might have one to send your way as the big cleanout continues over here. Or perhaps someone else reading may have that elusive piece of pyrex or milk glass you are after. ( I'm envisioning little parcels of coveted goodies zooming all over the place). Anyway, I'm off to do some more packing, and sorting and packing......

14/52

a portrait of my children, once a week, every week in 2013 via Che and Fidel

He : loves his birds. This budgie made from nano bricks is his new buddy.

She : playing the patient with a sore knee for the doctor to fix. The doctor in this case wears yellow sunnies to work, applies healing gemstones and has the laptop on hand to consult google for diagnoses. The oversized sunnies are for protection against the laser. 

Lights, Contracts, Action!

Woohoo, I'm finally back, with a new computer and some real, actual renovation news. We have been talking with our builder for months, he is a country boy who works on his word and a handshake. We like that about him, but we really, really like having a completed, signed contract. It has taken a few weeks to finalise all the details and trim a few costs ( like painting the exterior of the house) in order for us to be within budget, but this week we locked it all in. Betsy, it seems, will just have to remain her unseemly shade of dirty cornflour blue for a while longer.

The plans have gone off to the certifier and the surveyors have been to confirm the boundaries, leaving white posts and pink tags, that to me just wave and say "renovation is actually happening" every time I use the driveway. After vacillating over whether to stay here through the build or move out, we finally made the decision to move. While the bulk of the work is at the rear of the house, with new windows to be installed and asbestos to be removed in several other areas, not to mention the lack of a kitchen or laundry for a minimum of two months, we decided that the costs of a rental house were probably cheaper than divorce and division of assets.

So for the last two months I have been trawling rental properties in the hope of finding one close to home that would offer us a shorter than standard six month lease. A few popped up here and there but they were only for three months, and the timeline did not match our plans. I was starting to fret slightly, when the school-drop-off-mum-network kicked in, and it seemed that one of the mothers at school had a neighbour who had an old friend from playgroup who lived in our suburb and was planning a few months travelling around Australia with their kids. Leaving exactly when we would need to move out. With a high set house with lots of storage and tolerance towards tenants with a cat. So with immense gratitude for this incredible serendipity, we signed a contract yesterday and it seems to all actually be going ahead.

And what about the lights? Well about a month ago while attempting to complete several years of overdue tax we took a break and went for a drive to look at lighting options. As we need fans in nearly all the rooms, the bulk of the lighting will be provided  by downlights. We already had pendants for the kitchen, we just needed to find two pendant lights for the entry foyer and the hallway. As with most other decisions we each had a few options but couldn't actually agree and also both lights needed to work well together as one room flows into the other. Suddenly we were driving past a window with this light and we screeched to a stop.

The one bonus of disagreeing with your husband on ninety eight percent of possibilities means that when something falls into that magical two percent bracket where you both like it, you just buy it on the spot. And choose the plain white one for the hallway. Four weeks to go folks.

Easter splendour

The Easter tree is up and adorned, eggs have been painted, egg cards have been created to tie onto chocolate bunnies, the bunny himself visited and ate the carrots we had left for him and an early morning egg hunt revealed lots of tiny eggs to count and sort by colour.

It was lovely to see the kids decorate the Easter tree completely by themselves this year, atop a pair of stools, as this time we dragged home a massive branch blown down in recent storms. I think Roboboy has a fantastic eye for colour and balance.

Thank you all so much for your kind words of support with our recent burglary, we are just getting on with it all but if it isn't already obvious by the shocking layout of these recent posts, I am not at all enjoying this blogging on an iPad situation I have found myself in and I can't wait for the computer to be replaced.

I seem to be able to dump a few photos and throw down some text with next to no ability to move anything around to make it prettier or more readable. If anyone has any tips they would be greatly appreciated. Back soon with some long awaited Reno news.

13/52

He : loves nothing more than to count and colour code his egg haul.


She: had to be just like her big brother and make her own apron and chefs hat too.