It's good to be home

We have been home for nearly six weeks now and in between all the drama we do feel like we are settling in. Most importantly, the milk glass has all been unpacked and one quiet morning  Liongirl appeared with this trio of floral displays she had  arranged by herself.

There is an abundance of gorgeous spring sunshine and the jacarandas are in full bloom.

Every window at the front of the house has a view like this.

The gnarled old frangipani tree is sprouting it's new green summer canopy.

The sewing room is a half unpacked messy disaster. But we did solve the problem of no table. I had a brainwave to salvage one of the old laundry doors ( from the infamous laundry in a cupboard in the lounge room) and whack it on top of some trestle legs we have had for years. Voila, a huge smooth expanse of table for cutting/stitching and garden window gazing.

While the vintage sheets are yet to be found and colour coded by Roboboy, I did manage to start a little something for my fox obsessed girl.

Who spends her days dressed like a walking rainbow.

There have been tulips from my mum (with leg healing powers).

Even the boy mess looks better on those shiny, shiny floors.

 And there is no better goodness than kindy creations made with love. Eastern long necked turtle of course.

It's good to be home.

After six months of renovating posts I am struggling a little to get back into my usual blogging groove. I had naively thought that blogging about the house renovation would be fun and exciting. While it was both of those things it was also stressful, dull and almost became a chore near the end.

In recent months I also made the discovery that my once small, somewhat private blog was now being read by my neighbours, extended family and the school principal. Yikes. Sharing with strangers in other parts of the world who have a common love for vintage pyrex/sheets/wallpaper/house renovations is quite different to people on the fringes of your real life suddenly seeing inside.

This space, which was always intended to be a creative outlet and place to connect with other like minded souls, suddenly felt intimidating. In real life I am shy, private and  frequently overwhelmed by the demands of mothering a complicated child.  In my blog I like  to be brave, colourful, positive and have gratitude for all the small moments in life that are joyful.

So, after contemplating ending this little space, I think instead there will just be a shift. Back to colour, craft, and sharing what makes me happy (for goodness sakes it's about time for some op shop finds). And mostly, remembering that this is my happy place, and that is all that matters.

Unpacking

We have been home for three weeks now and finally we have managed to unpack some of those boxes of treasure that have been in storage for the last six months. The house is still somewhat resembling a tip shop with excess furniture lolling around the place but since we hit my stash of vintage glasses and pyrex, I am a happy girl.

Amidst the unpacking, there have also been some more bouts of painting. We made a start on the entry foyer, but it all ground to a halt when we moved home at the exact same time that school holidays started ( this was most definitely not part of our plan).

Instead, we spent a bit more time outside and Legoman borrowed our builder's jackhammer and dug out the random 70's slab under our macadamia nut tree.

While it was a very handy spot for cracking nuts, it will be much nicer to have grass. He did have some helpers,

until they discovered my raking pile.

The concreters came back to finish the decorative pattern on the driveway, to match the existing slabs.

And after much negotiation about which room to tackle next, we made a start on the other smallest room in the house, my sewing room.

Roboboy was not happy as he wanted his room done next but as it is a massive room and needs lots of preparation, we knew it would not be a fast room to complete. Also we were keen to cover all that new mdf which releases fumes, especially if the house is shut all day. And lastly, I did not want to unpack into unfinished rooms, only to have to pack it all away again to paint.

What we didn't realise when we started this room, was that I was shortly going to have minor surgery on my lower leg, which was really going to put a spanner in the works for all our painting plans. However, given that I am the sort of girl who thrives under pressure, I can say that having the deadline of a week to get this room finished, forced us to buck up and get it done.

So while half the house is unpainted, several rooms are half done and the kitchen company has still not finished the kitchen, we do now have TWO completely finished rooms in the house. And one of them is all mine. As soon as I have unpacked my vintage sheet stash, I will be back to share.

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.

Rainy day blues

It has been raining pretty solidly here now for close to three weeks. The ground is boggy, the dryer is running almost continuously and the windows are misty with condensation. It was the  perfect weekend to take the kitchenaid for a spin and pop out some melting moments, that lasted all of about five minutes. Luckily, despite a hint of cool autumn in the evenings, the days have been warm enough to get out and enjoy the rain.

When the rain eased back to a drizzle we headed out to hunt down some puddles and some mud.

There were dams to build, and mud to splash in .

Miss Liongirl was keen to fill her flower basket.

We snipped a bouquet from the  huge native trees on the footpath blooming with flowers and full of feasting rainbow lorikeets.

And then we trotted home to enjoy some wonderful treats that came my way this week. Having crafty mates is fantastic when you have a birthday. My mum made me this lovely bag,

And one of my sewing group gals made this gorgeous one for me too.

And then just when yet another day of rain was enough to leave a girl slightly unhinged, an unexpected parcel arrived at Betsy's front door. From a blog buddy in another state no less.

Allison from Just Underneath sent me a little pile of  blue goodies to chase away the rainy day blues. A gorgeous tin for my fledgling collection, a lovely little vase and a cracker of a tea towel that is a pretty good match to Betsy. Al, you sure now how to perk a girl up.

And miss Liongirl so enjoyed filling up that little vase with her basket of teeny tiny plucked flowers.

We love it Al.

We hope now that we have more that half our usual annual rainfall done and dusted 9 weeks into the year, that the rain might move on, to other places that need it more. In the meantime, if you too are a tad soggy, I can highly recommend a batch of these.

Rainy day melting moments.

3/4 cup butter creamed with 1/2 cup icing sugar.

Add 1/2 cup self raising flour, 1/2 cup plain flour and 1/2 cup cornflour. Mix until forms a dough. 

Roll into small balls, flatten with a fork and bake for 12-15 mins in 160 degree oven.

Cool and make icing.

I cup of icing sugar, 2 tsp butter and 1 tbsp hot water. Mix until forms a thick paste and use to glue to biscuits together.

Makes nowhere near enough ( about 10 iced biscuits). Scoff with hot tea on a rainy day. Next time, triple the quantities. 

A hive of activity

Yep, this week it has been all stations go, go, go over here at Betsy's. We all of a sudden made the horrific and exciting realisation that it is only  a matter of weeks until the renovations start. In response, we have been a precision machine working together to ruthlessly cull the house from top to bottom. I am in charge of ebay for the easily postable and Legoman is heading up the gumtree sales for larger items. After dropping off a huge sack of parcels at the post office, a small reward was in order. Laura Ashley had these lovely hook sets for sale at half price, I think this will be for hanging up aprons in the new pantry.

Legoman has been badgering me to let him cut down this tree every day since his chainsaw arrived. I finally relented and he was a happy, happy man. This tree is right where the new double carport is going. The old carport is going to make way for a new laundry. If you fancy a new old carport, holler, this one is for sale next.

Roboboy was in heaven with all these new opportunities for critter rescue. That would be three praying mantis and one silk worm cocoon all saved from a trip to the dump and re farmed around the garden.

And try  and keep children away from the natural peeling options available with paperbark trees. Poor, poor tree. The end was swift,  even though it looks like the trunk is bleeding. We cannot believe how much more light is coming into our bedroom with this one gone.

In a moment of sleep deprived insanity, Legoman installed a new cat door into a wall that in about seven weeks will be torn down. We have small animal issues over here. If we leave the window open so the cat can get out, we get visitors. And as they raid the cat food, they they never wake me up, only Legoman.

If we shut the house, then the cat has issues and demands to be let out at 4 am. And the sound of her claws on the front door only wakes ME  up. So every night has been an argument over whose turn it is to get up. It is ironic of course that this is when our children are finally both sleeping well at night. I won't show you the bodgy outside bit but this is just a heavenly image for us both. The cat wears a radiofrequency thingy on her collar so the door only opens for her alone.

There has been a small op shop visit of course. With mountains of stuff leaving the house, a few items back in is quite acceptable. Some new additions to my glass collection.

A stationary box full of paper and envelopes for my girl.

And a lovely little table with angled legs. I think it looks like something from the Jetsons. This is the last custard corner in the house and it glows for only a few minutes in the very early morning when the sun is at just the right angle. Every other minute it is there mocking me with the fact that it is not white.

And amidst all the chaos, a bit of birthday party planning. Roboboy wrote me up a suggested schedule for his party. So nice to see that mid way he has thoughtfully  allocated time for " chit chat for the mums" after the hosing on the trampoline and before the sausages.

Back soon to show you a nearly empty granny flat and why renovations in the nineties should have been banned.