The weekend is upon us and I can’t believe how excited I am to have two whole days of nothingness.
Of course I’ll be filling the nothingness with a whole mess of stuff. Remember I have a gazillion and ninety boxes to unpack, plus the garden needs to be stared at harshly in the hope it will fix itself, the bathroom needs a good talking to about its personal odour and there are muffins to be baked! I suspect there will be several visits to the hardware store and at least one to the plumbing store. There are several family members that need visiting and Mr Blueyarn has promised me breakfast at the local café.
In amongst all this I am determined to sleep in, go to a market, see a movie and get some beading done!
Just your average relaxing weekend really!!
Friday 29 August 2008
Wednesday 27 August 2008
We are in the Building!
Yup, you heard right, we are in the building. In fact we have been in the building since Saturday when we (with the help of some wonderful people) managed to transfer just about all our junk from the storage unit to the house in one trip!! it was a site to behold...
Not only are we in the building but we have carved out a small area that is classified normal (read no boxes allowed).
It's spartan, lacking in the personal touches and both the walls and carpet are in need of more cleaning but it's home.
Not only are we in the building but we have carved out a small area that is classified normal (read no boxes allowed).
It's spartan, lacking in the personal touches and both the walls and carpet are in need of more cleaning but it's home.
Wednesday 20 August 2008
Matter over mind
I'm busy at a course for work for the rest of the week. It started today and I think it perhaps has something to do with the very large box of fabric I opened Tuesday night that when ever the guy taking the course said "text styles" I heard "textiles"!
I can't wait to set up my very own craft room
I can't wait to set up my very own craft room
Monday 18 August 2008
No visible movement
Well despite working our buts off over the weekend and even taking Friday off to get a little extra done we have yet to move into the house.
I think that if we were younger and less exhausted and if mums place didn't have an open fireplace and a large supply of wine we might have made the effort. However the bathroom still smells (despite do everything I can think off including a little angry dance), the doona is
at the dry cleaners and we have (so far) one chair and a beanbag between us!
However, we have some smaller bits of furniture, the bed is screwed together, there are towels in the bathroom half the kitchen stuff is unpacked and about half of that is washed and ready to go and the pantry actually has food in it!!
Plus miracle of all miracles the fridge (that is mum's as mum has ours...very confusing hey wot!) started after 9 years in storage. Ooh they don't make em like they used to!
Opening the boxes has been a little exciting. 6 years is a fairly long time and without realizing it your tastes and opinions undergo subtle (and sometimes not so subtle changes) There's a lot of stuff in storage that I wouldn't buy now and much I would have thrown out over the years had we still been using it. I suspect a giant garage sale is in my not too distant future!
SO things have progressed somewhat...just not as much as we'd hoped and so it will be another week at least before we move back into our house. If I'm grown up and sensible this is for the best. This will give us time to unpack a bit more and get organized, which will make the eventual moving in much smoother.
Now if only I could convince myself that I wanted to be grown up and sensible!!!
I think that if we were younger and less exhausted and if mums place didn't have an open fireplace and a large supply of wine we might have made the effort. However the bathroom still smells (despite do everything I can think off including a little angry dance), the doona is
at the dry cleaners and we have (so far) one chair and a beanbag between us!
However, we have some smaller bits of furniture, the bed is screwed together, there are towels in the bathroom half the kitchen stuff is unpacked and about half of that is washed and ready to go and the pantry actually has food in it!!
Plus miracle of all miracles the fridge (that is mum's as mum has ours...very confusing hey wot!) started after 9 years in storage. Ooh they don't make em like they used to!
Opening the boxes has been a little exciting. 6 years is a fairly long time and without realizing it your tastes and opinions undergo subtle (and sometimes not so subtle changes) There's a lot of stuff in storage that I wouldn't buy now and much I would have thrown out over the years had we still been using it. I suspect a giant garage sale is in my not too distant future!
SO things have progressed somewhat...just not as much as we'd hoped and so it will be another week at least before we move back into our house. If I'm grown up and sensible this is for the best. This will give us time to unpack a bit more and get organized, which will make the eventual moving in much smoother.
Now if only I could convince myself that I wanted to be grown up and sensible!!!
More house stuff...
Finally got a moment to sort out some of the photos we've taken of the house. Things are a little more positive now but every now and then we stop cleaning and look around only to realize just how far we have to go before this place is comfortable and ours again.
Above is the backyard. It's in better condition than we thought with the drought and all. A lot overgrown and very neglected but workable. My veggie patch will go in against the far fence I think. Although I'm a great believer of integration so some stuff will go in to the garden with everything else.
This is some roof damage. Three separate leaks in this one spot right above the chimney. We think we may have fixed the leak but repairing the damage is another issue all together.
Lovely!
The gutters or as I prefer to think of them...my rooftop garden
The oven...after 5 goes with "easy off". It's approaching what I would term normal. I wouldn't be happy to have my oven in this state myself but I don't think it's out of the realm of normal now.
Above is the backyard. It's in better condition than we thought with the drought and all. A lot overgrown and very neglected but workable. My veggie patch will go in against the far fence I think. Although I'm a great believer of integration so some stuff will go in to the garden with everything else.
This is some roof damage. Three separate leaks in this one spot right above the chimney. We think we may have fixed the leak but repairing the damage is another issue all together.
Lovely!
The gutters or as I prefer to think of them...my rooftop garden
The oven...after 5 goes with "easy off". It's approaching what I would term normal. I wouldn't be happy to have my oven in this state myself but I don't think it's out of the realm of normal now.
Wednesday 13 August 2008
What a difference 6 years makes...
Right well the house....I'm not sure that I really want to go over it all again but I'm sure your all curious so here I go.
We did a walk through the house as soon as we got the keys back last week. It was dusk and there was no electricity but it looked ok. There were issues to be sure but overall the house was still standing. However Saturday morning in the harsh light of day, with our sleeves rolled up and our sponges at the ready things looked a little different.
It took two days of constant scrubbing to get the place somewhere near decent. I'm not discussing the toilet and the oven might need to be replaced because even if we can get it clean I don't think I could bring myself to trust it not to poison me.
Aside from the cleaning there's a leak in the roof, rubbish left everywhere, gutters that have fully grown gum trees sprouting from them, (well almost) dog poo all over the garden and various items missing or damaged, including walls, doors and light fittings.
Cleaning wise I'm sure there are much worse houses out there. I also sure that I've never been inside one of them. We both get that it's a rental and that people don't look after them like they would their own place but I still don't understand how anyone would want to live like that. We fully expected wear and tear, what we didn't expect was the complete lack of care these tenants had, not just for the house or for their own quality of life but also for their kids.
This has been a lesson in just how 'different' people can be.
However we have a choice here. We can stew over the unfairness of it all giving ourselves ulcers and generally being miserable. OR we can roll up our sleeves, hold our noses against the strong doggy smell of the carpet and get on with it!
And we are doing exactly that...getting on with it. We've cleaned till our fingers bled and we are all set to move in this weekend. (bleeding fingers crossed) We've toyed with the idea of painting everything (goodness knows it needs it) before we moved in but quite frankly it's been 6 years since we lived on our own and we just couldn't wait.
Once we get our furniture and belongings in there it should start to feel more like home and I think that's when inspiration for the colour schemes will come.
Can't wait for me to be sitting on my couch in my house watching my TV and knitting my sock!!
We did a walk through the house as soon as we got the keys back last week. It was dusk and there was no electricity but it looked ok. There were issues to be sure but overall the house was still standing. However Saturday morning in the harsh light of day, with our sleeves rolled up and our sponges at the ready things looked a little different.
It took two days of constant scrubbing to get the place somewhere near decent. I'm not discussing the toilet and the oven might need to be replaced because even if we can get it clean I don't think I could bring myself to trust it not to poison me.
Aside from the cleaning there's a leak in the roof, rubbish left everywhere, gutters that have fully grown gum trees sprouting from them, (well almost) dog poo all over the garden and various items missing or damaged, including walls, doors and light fittings.
Cleaning wise I'm sure there are much worse houses out there. I also sure that I've never been inside one of them. We both get that it's a rental and that people don't look after them like they would their own place but I still don't understand how anyone would want to live like that. We fully expected wear and tear, what we didn't expect was the complete lack of care these tenants had, not just for the house or for their own quality of life but also for their kids.
This has been a lesson in just how 'different' people can be.
However we have a choice here. We can stew over the unfairness of it all giving ourselves ulcers and generally being miserable. OR we can roll up our sleeves, hold our noses against the strong doggy smell of the carpet and get on with it!
And we are doing exactly that...getting on with it. We've cleaned till our fingers bled and we are all set to move in this weekend. (bleeding fingers crossed) We've toyed with the idea of painting everything (goodness knows it needs it) before we moved in but quite frankly it's been 6 years since we lived on our own and we just couldn't wait.
Once we get our furniture and belongings in there it should start to feel more like home and I think that's when inspiration for the colour schemes will come.
Can't wait for me to be sitting on my couch in my house watching my TV and knitting my sock!!
Tuesday 12 August 2008
Sock-tastic!
The sock is done! It isn't perfect but it is finished. It is also warmer than my other socks, which is good motivation to start on the other one!
I'd have more/better photos but am still pretty flat out with the house. More info and pics (maybe) of that when I can bring myself to relive the weekend by typing it all out.
But I have my first ever sock!
I'd have more/better photos but am still pretty flat out with the house. More info and pics (maybe) of that when I can bring myself to relive the weekend by typing it all out.But I have my first ever sock!
Friday 8 August 2008
No more cold ears!
Apologies for the photos that are less than inspiring however I figured that without photos this was just another post of me saying I'd knitted another beanie (everyone shout YAY!) and you must be sick of them by now. Even with photos I think I'm pushing it but hey...with all that's going on right now your lucky to even get a beanie post!!
Knit on 4mm circulars in Stockinette Stitch (or all knit as it's in the round). The yarn is Cleckheatons Nature Country Spun, colour no.83 (i think) and is a lovely pale mossy green closest to the photo below.
Now my ears are all toasty!
Knit on 4mm circulars in Stockinette Stitch (or all knit as it's in the round). The yarn is Cleckheatons Nature Country Spun, colour no.83 (i think) and is a lovely pale mossy green closest to the photo below.
Now my ears are all toasty!
Thursday 7 August 2008
Wednesday 6 August 2008
Changing Seasons
I'm all turned around with the seasons at the moment. One minute I'm about to go into Spring and the next I'm once again at the start of Winter. I should be eating strawberries and picking my veggies now but instead the few seedlings I've managed to grow have gone to seed.
To add to the frustration I can't find a single magazine in Australia that deals with vegetables. And I don't mean a general gardening magazine...there are heaps of them. I mean a dedicated veggie mag like Kitchen Garden or Grow your own. I think I'll have to purchase a book or something just so I can get my head around the seasons in this hemisphere. Especially since I once again have a backyard!
So because I'm feeling nostalgic here are some veggie photos...I grew 'em myself!!
beans
zucchini
cheery tomatoes
lollo rosso lettuce
strawberry
To add to the frustration I can't find a single magazine in Australia that deals with vegetables. And I don't mean a general gardening magazine...there are heaps of them. I mean a dedicated veggie mag like Kitchen Garden or Grow your own. I think I'll have to purchase a book or something just so I can get my head around the seasons in this hemisphere. Especially since I once again have a backyard!
So because I'm feeling nostalgic here are some veggie photos...I grew 'em myself!!
beans
zucchini
cheery tomatoes
lollo rosso lettuce
strawberry
Tuesday 5 August 2008
Relief
As the deadline for the tenants moving out of our house has drawn nearer the stress levels have risen. The fear of the unknown has led to our imaginations painting all sorts of horrible pictures of our house.....dirt, grime, dead rats, strange smells, rotting unidentified objects, the garden a barren wasteland, the house a burnt out shell or simply a pile of rubble with the letterbox hanging sideways off it's post.
A frightening and unrealistic projection that has lead to many a sleepless night and distracted day, however all was revealed today and of course it wasn't half as bad as what we had imagined.
After six years of no maintenance the house wants for some TLC as you'd expect. There are some additional issues we're not best pleased about BUT overall the house is A) still standing and B) almost livable. With some serious elbow grease, some intense airing out and a lot of ongoing handyman type activity we will, once again be able to call it home. (I oversimplify somewhat but you get the idea.)
SO, although we're relieved (I can't tell you how relieved we are) we are still looking at a week or two of extremely hard work of scrubbing and cleaning before we move back into our home. If in the meantime the blogs a little light on, my apologies. I can't type in marigolds.
A frightening and unrealistic projection that has lead to many a sleepless night and distracted day, however all was revealed today and of course it wasn't half as bad as what we had imagined.
After six years of no maintenance the house wants for some TLC as you'd expect. There are some additional issues we're not best pleased about BUT overall the house is A) still standing and B) almost livable. With some serious elbow grease, some intense airing out and a lot of ongoing handyman type activity we will, once again be able to call it home. (I oversimplify somewhat but you get the idea.)
SO, although we're relieved (I can't tell you how relieved we are) we are still looking at a week or two of extremely hard work of scrubbing and cleaning before we move back into our home. If in the meantime the blogs a little light on, my apologies. I can't type in marigolds.
Monday 4 August 2008
my first (half) sock
There's a lot going on in our lives of late and few things are simple or
black and white. However there is one tiny, simple thing that brings me joy and happinesses. My first sock
My first sock has surprise elements like increases and decreases and
I love my first sock!
black and white. However there is one tiny, simple thing that brings me joy and happinesses. My first sock
My first sock is full of tension issues, pattern mis-reads and dropped
stitches.
My first sock has surprise elements like increases and decreases andeven the occasional ladder.
BUT my first sock......looks like a (half finished) sock
BUT my first sock......looks like a (half finished) sock
I love my first sock!it's coming
A-ha...the sun was up before I was today...just. Now I know that summer is a while away yet but this is a very good indication that it is coming.
Considering the fact that I've already done winter once this year I am holding on to this ray of hope with the strength and dedication of a knitter at a boxing day yarn sale!
Considering the fact that I've already done winter once this year I am holding on to this ray of hope with the strength and dedication of a knitter at a boxing day yarn sale!
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