October 31, 2012

Halloween



I love Halloween.  I really do.

16 years ago  I was enjoying the night as a sexy witch in Durango Colorado USA! 

It was so much fun and I loved how everyone in the town participated....I remember the ladies in the shops wearing beautiful costumes...big full dresses with hoops, gorgeous colours....lace and ribbon......

Tonight, we went Trick or Treating and it was so much fun!  There were lots of groups with kids all dressed up and parents walking with them, just relaxing. We had two zombie brides, two witches, two vampires, one zombie rocker and an astronaut!

The kids came home with bucketloads of chocolates and lollies and yo-yos and skeletons!



 
 

Chicago, Here I Come!


Breathe Farmers Wifey.  Just breathe.

I am so super excited to let you know that I am going to Chicago USA for BlogHer'13!

I can't believe it!  16 years ago, I was in America, and it seems I'll be heading back next year, to the place I love!  I am obsessed, yes, and to be able to combine my love affair for America with blogging, it seems almost too good to be true.

And the best thing of all is the support I have from The Hubbster....he said "you are going, start planning"......

Oh my...............

October 29, 2012

Sunday Instagram

 

This is my first time linking up with Tina so I thought I'd do a mixture of my favourite Instagram Images.

Enjoy!




October 25, 2012

I Heart My Body


This is the first year I've participated, and I just know it won't be the last.

So let's talk a little about my body. It's 45 years old, and it's done alot of things.

It's birthed three babies, bungee jumped from a crane, and posed nude in a rainforest.  I thought about posting that photo today, then I thought...silly me, I've already done that.

The thing about blogging is that it makes you honest.  It makes you accountable. What photo do I dare show today?

I chose this one because it's not perfect.  In fact, it's very flawed.  My hair looks like crap, I have my sunglasses on (what is it with me and sunglasses?), and my tongue is out!

It's not the perfect photo, but I like it.  It's me, it's cheeky, and it's a nude selfie on the deck of the house, so it's very appropriate!


I'm not quite where I want to be with my body, and I do feel like I need a little tuneup, an oil change, and some maintenance.

My back is always sore, and I get tired easily.  I'm getting older and my body is showing the signs. 

Some lines on my face, more freckles, an uneven shape welcomes me when I look in the mirror.

But my body has not let me down when I have needed it the most.  Carrying my babies, birthing and feeding them has been the most important thing it has done.  I have the war wounds, the stretch marks, the grey hair, and my body worked hard for these.

Thank you body.  I know I'm not always kind to you, and I promise to try harder, so lets work together.

I really do love you.

Stars and Stripes!


If you know me, you would know of my affection (obsession) with America!

16 years ago today, I was on a plane, excited about my first overseas trip....to the USA!

My fascination.....and love for America still sits with me today, and I think back to my holiday with fond memories of the most amazing time..

I am longing to go back..to rediscover, revisit......and remember.

BlogHer'13/Chicago......should I? 

October 24, 2012

Cooking with Gas!


Introducing my new Glem oven.  I"m totally in love with it.

I just polished it before we popped it into the space!

The cooktop is gas, and the oven is Bi Energy, meaning I can choose electric or gas!  I don't think I've even owned anything as nice as this!

It's so exciting at the moment.  We are on the final countdown.  Actually this Saturday is the official 4 year anniversary....of the first night we slept in the shed!  Can you believe it?  Four long years of owner building, of having most of our things in storage, and feeling very unorganised and unsettled.

We have the final council inspection next Wednesday, then we can move in!  We are already showering in the new house, and it will take a few weeks to transfer everything from storage.

But that's the fun part!  I actually forget what I have packed away in our big plastic boxes!  I may even find my slow cooker, which has been missing for all this time!

Alot of people ask why it's taken four years.  Time, money, kids, family, farm, sport, work, health...the list goes on.  This is our dream house, our country home that The Hubbster and I have always wanted.

Where we plan to bring up our children, and welcome our grandchildren.  I never want to move.

So we have taken our time (obviously) to build exactly what we want.  A classic but modern Queenslander, 550sqm under roof, wrap around verandahs, polished floors with timber from our property....

After four years of all of us sleeping in the same room, I can't wait for the kids to have their own rooms and their own space.

And my very own child free craft room.......insert happy dancing here!



 

October 22, 2012

Nerf Gun Wars

 




What's a brand new house without a Nerf Gun War.  The first and only time Mr C will be allowed to defeat the Universe inside!

October 20, 2012

I'm on the job.


Here I am hard at work.

I'm not sure why I'm wearing my sunglasses inside, but it seems the thing to do these days.

You see, I actually have a Day Job.

As well as living on the farm, building The Money Pit, kid wrangling three mini me's, and tending to their activities, I go to work.

I work part time as a Property Manager.  Or an Asset Manager.  Or a bringer together of a Landlord, a Property, and a Tenant.

I really love my job.  I've done this work for alot of years.  It wasn't the first career I choose though.  When I left school I worked with children as a child care teacher. I worked in Long Day Care Centres and Pre Schools and I loved it!

I've also worked in motel reception, at the Electoral Commission counting votes, and various other jobs in between.

I was a stay at home mum for 10 years while my babies were at home, which has been my most favourite job of them all.  Mothers Group, mornings in the park, tea parties and afternoon sleeps.

I really miss this. I'll always cherish the time I was at home with them, and I feel very lucky that I was able to do so.  Now I'm a working mother who enjoys adult conversations and I get to slide down carpeted stairs on my butt because it's fun.

I'm joking.

October 18, 2012

I am Rich.


Last week, the kids and I settled in to watch a new television show.

It is called Brynne: My Bedazzed Life.

I wanted to watch it for Brynnes shoe collection.  For the dresses and the glam and the wealth and the wow factor of it all.

Most of us (okay all of us) can't even imagine a life like hers.  Plenty of money, a wardrobe overflowing with beautiful clothes and shoes, and the time and accessibility to travel and to attend parties.

Material things.

I thought about the show later, and I realised that I felt as if I was looking at a rare and beautiful creative in an exhibit, sad and lonely and captured.

She doesn't seem to have any family close by and I'm sure she has alot of people on standby to look after her.  But something just didn't feel right.

Brynne spoke about her desire to have a baby.  To become a mother.

For this segment she didn't wear alot of makeup and the glitz was gone.  On purpose perhaps?

Who knows.

It worked.  She was vulnerable, and deeply upset at the fact that she wanted a baby so much and her husband not so sure.

I really felt for her.  I felt sorry for her.  I wanted to hug her and invite her to lunch.

I think she would be loads of fun.  She would lend me her shoes, I'm sure I take her size!

For all the wealth and the richness that she has, there is only one thing she wants - a baby.  Something that millions of other women strive for. See, she's really no different to any of us!  She's struggling.

She is rich, yes, but I feel I am richer.  A smug perception perhaps, but proof that one doesn't need gems and dresses and material things in order to be happy.

I am a mother of three children.  They are my wealth, my richness, my life.  I don't need anything else.

I kind of think that if Brynne could exchange everything to become a mother, she would.

And I really like that about her.

October 15, 2012

October 15th

 
Last years post says it all.....

You can find it here.

Crohn's Sucks.

 

October 14, 2012

House Update

 
 
I have myself a present. 

A new Glem oven.  Still in the box.  Still in the shed.

I'm terribly excited about this.  The plumber installs it on Wednesday.  It will be so shiny and new.  I won't want to use it.

Oh yes I will!

We have been installing the stainless steel wire around the verandah and we thought we would have this done in time for the final inspection this week.  Until we discovered that one section had been cut too long, so those pieces go back this week to be rectified and the inspection has been put back.


These last few weeks are the hardest!  I can hardly stand it.  We have been having showers up in the house and I even had to search the storage donga to find something to unpack!!


We have a tonne of cleaning to be done before we move in.  There is a fine layer of red dust from the floors, just everywhere!  There are a million! windows to clean, plenty of window sills and three bathrooms to spruce up!

But you know?  I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!
 

October 9, 2012

Embrace The Curls






It was my day off today, so I went to the hairdresser. As you do.

I enjoyed a cup of tea and a biscuit. As you do.

I flicked through fashion magazines wishing I had the style/hair/skin of the models. As you do.

And I walked out of there looking fabulous, as you do!

There is something about visiting the hairdresser that is just so good. A new style, a new colour, the covering of grey hair!

That cup of tea and the biscuit. And it's even better if it's chocolate!

I usually tie my hair back when I'm at work, but today my hairdresser scrunched the birds nest into something resembling a tousled, curly "do".

And I like it!

I'm forever trying to keep a slick and straight style, but my hair has other ideas.

Great. I have stubborn hair!

But today, I had an epiphany! Farmers Wifey, why not work with what you've been given?

Embrace the curls! Love the scrunch. Buy lots of mousse and love the "just out of bed look".

Because it's all I have to work with!!

October 7, 2012

The Money Pit. A Reflection

 

As we sit on the precipice overlooking the completion of The Money Pit, I find myself reflecting on the past four years, and I can't really believe that the time is nearly here.

Many times I've sat reading my country home magazines, dreaming of decorating my own home in the style that I love.

I stopped reading these magazines about two years ago, because at that stage, there was still so much to do, and I'd get frustrated and quite depressed that I couldn't see that finished product.

Well my friends, we are at the pointy end of the stick, so they say!

I remember when we first moved to the farm, the thought of exchanging my beautiful home in suburbia to a shed filled me with terror!!  We cleaned and sorted and moved our furniture into the five small "dongas" that surrounded our shed.


I hated it.

Our children were 3, 5 and 7 and I was scared of snakes, spiders, frogs, dirt and dust!  Most things went into storage and has been that way for four years.

So much has happened in the time we have been here.  The last of my babies went to school, I started working again, my flame haired nanna passed away, and I lost another most wanted baby....

And of course this year, my son, with his diagnosis of Crohn's Disease, shocked us all.

What a journey it has been! 

So many wonderful, amazing things have happened...

The kids could breathe in the fresh air, and discover the beauty of the Australian Bush.  We have learnt teamwork, patience, understanding, did I say patience? and the ability to have a dream and work towards it.

We will be forever grateful for the many hands that have touched our house, and our hearts! 

Although we are owner builders, we have been lucky to have the expertise of a number of tradesman including Don, Greg, Brendan, Jai, Scott, Bill, Bevan, Craig, Rob and Kane who have made our journey easier.

To Sparkmans Kitchens for my beautiful kitchen, and Northern Suburbs Timber Flooring for my amazing floors, and to Colin and Wendy, for just being the most amazing, inspiring and considerate family I could ever hope to ask for.

Of course not forgeting Gala Bathrooms and G James Glass.

And to my husband, the hardest worker and the one who has shared my dream of a beautiful country home for as long as I can remember.

Thank you x
 

October 3, 2012

Wordless Wednesday

 

Image credit Dale Taylor 

I love these goannas.....I think they are dancing....waltzing perhaps?

Linking up with Trish.

October 2, 2012

House Update - Floors


Oh do I have a treat for you today!

I am so excited to show you our gorgeous new polished floors, courtesy of Kane and Rob from

Northern Suburbs Timber Flooring.

To us, our floors were always going to be the crowning glory of our new home.  We used timber cut from our property, which is a mixture of Blue Gum and Spotted Gum.  I love that each piece of timber is different, with gorgeous patterns and colours.

We have this beautiful hardwood throughout the entire house, except for the wet areas.  We were lucky enough to have the services of Northern Suburbs Timber Flooring, who sent Kane and Rob, and we are so impressed with their work and the finished product.

We couldn't be happier!

The most exciting thing is that the final countdown is on!  We have until 20 October to finish....this is when our construction insurance ceases and our insurance will change. The Hubbster had the hide to say to me today "well, maybe we will need more time" to which I replied " we have 19 days!  I don't have any more time".....!

We need to let the floors cure and dry this week, then our painter will do the final touch ups, the stainless steel wire will be installed around the verandah, the door stops will be attached and I'll be doing the happy dance and possibly drinking lots of wine to celebrate.

Our move in date will be one week shy of 4 years.  Such a long time to be building a house, you say..and yes I agree.  But as owner builders, time and money and life gets in the way....we are proud of what we have achieved..although at times, I thought we'd never get it done!

Now we get to really enjoy it all.