Moving In!

27 Oct 2008 - first meal in the shed.

29 Nov 2012 - official move in date.

Actually, in true Farmers Wifey fashion, we are moving into The Money Pit slowly, taking bits and pieces up to the house and taking our time.  Why are you not surprised!

It is literally two steps from the shed to the house, and tonight we carried up our big timber table, and the eight matching chairs, the two cupboards for the pantry (as we haven't completed the built in shelving as yet), and all of the kitchen "stuff".

The kids sat at the table and did their homework, while I pottered around packing things away and then getting them out again and moving them to another place!  I have so much storage I have some kitchen drawers with only one thing in them and I love it!

So we are showering and will be cooking and eating in the house now, and next week we are buying the kids their new beds so we will be sleeping there too.  I think it will actually take weeks to get organised and sort through everything we have in storage...

I've been feeling quite emotional, and I think it is because we have been building this house for over four years and the shed has been our home.  We have such fond memories, and the kids have had four birthdays here and have gone from being three little ones to 7, 9 and 11 year old farm kids.

I think we will have to retrain them to not run in the house, use their inside voices, and absolutely under no circumstance will there be footballs allowed inside.  If only to prevent a repeat of the Football in the Lasagne Episode.

Loving the ebook

Okay seriously people.....I need an extra month before Christmas!  I'm totally not organised!  I'm overwhelmed!

33 days until Christmas!  No way!

When did THAT happen?

As I'm getting older, time is going quicker.  The days are rolling into weeks, and every milestone or appointment passes by without a second thought.

It's been a busy, at times stressful year but I am so excited for Christmas so I guess I just need to make some lists, check them twice! and get myself organised!

We are co living in The Money Pit and the shed, while we clean and get sorted, and we have started to move some things up to the house.  Next week we are buying the children new beds, as the ones they have are on rollers and we want solid beds on the timber polished floors.

And after the great bed throwing incident of 2010, Miss T's bed resembles a hammock and sags in the middle so when I lay with her at night I can't get out and I feel quite ridiculous!

Once the beds go in, we will be on the way! We will be cooking, eating, sleeping and showering in The Money Pit, washing away the trials of living in a shed for OVER four years!

The transition will take a few months, I guess.  And that is completely fine with me.

But guess what has me smiling this week?  I am lucky enough to have in my hot little hands a new ebook, courtesy of my bloggy mate Tork!

Now in the big sea of mummy bloggers we have Tork..the rose amongst the thorns...or the token daddy blogger.  He's cool, he's funny, and I like cool and funny!

This ebook is called The Very Best Dad Jokes and it is perfect for that pesky 9 year old..to add to the Christmas stocking perhaps!  It's full of short and funny "dad jokes", which are simply jokes that are so bad they are good!

My kids love it!  They shared the book on the way home from school in the car, and even my little one had a turn of reading!

And the best thing of all is this ebook is only $4.99 with $1.00 from each purchase going to the
Little Heros Foundation. See, I told you he was cool!

 

Sunday Instagram

 

Linking up with Tina again!

 

I couldn't wait to use my brand new tea chest!! / I think this hall table looks wonderful here.  I just need to find something lovely to put on the top! /  Two guinea fowl enjoying the morning sun / A huge collection of Nerf Guns! / My little girl and I spent the morning making jewellery / Dinnertime / I found these when packing up the kitchen, reminds me of the baby years.

Wiping out my brand new kitchen drawers / The Money Pit is finally finished! / A double yolk!

It's just around the corner!

It was my day off today, so I pottered around in the new house, cleaning, wiping and dusting.  That pesky builders' dust is everywhere!  Along with a healthy dose of red sawdust from the polished floors!

The house smells so clean...and new..and untouched!  We have so much to do, so much unpacking and arranging and organising...it's a bit overwhelming considering Christmas is just around the corner!

I can't wait to have Christmas in our new house....lunch on the deck, a real Christmas tree....I want the smell of Christmas wafting through the house...I'm so excited!

Christmas! Christmas! Christmas!  How I love that word!

When Mr C and I were in Brisbane last week, we did some shopping at the Myer Centre, and I just loved the displays and arrangements, I walked around taking photos just swooning at the beautiful decorations and colours and tablescapes!

Look!  Just look!

 What do YOU love about Christmas?

Wordless Wednesday

 

Tell me your heart doesn't melt seeing little orphan Dave sucking his dummy...or if you are in America, his pacifier!

He's a baby, so I'm totally in love x

Linking up with Trish today!

The Money Pit is Finished!

Oh my.  It's actually hard to believe.  After four long years it is official!

The Money Pit is finished!  I can hardly believe it.  It hasn't really sunk in.

There is still some little final touches to be done like replacing the white electrical covers with brushed chrome ones, and adding doorstops and bathroom mirrors.  And of course establishing some gardens.

I think there will be a big transitional period where we are living in both the shed and the new house.

Today The Hubbster and I cleaned the kitchen, vacumning the builders dust from the cupboards and wiping over the benchtops. We can now start unpacking and transferring all of our kitchen bits and pieces to the new house.

On Saturday we'll move our dining table and chairs and we can start cooking and eating in our brand new kitchen!  I said today that it hardly seems real - is this all really ours? 

After living in a dusty shed for so long, with most of our things in storage, it's just so lovely to have something brand new - all shiny and untouched and beautiful.  I want to unpack and decorate everything now!!!!

I really can't even remember what we have......all lovingly wrapped and packed away in big clear plastic boxes four years ago.  It's just crazy!

Instagram Linky

My week on Instagram!  I've added a few extras!

 

Linking up with Tina!

I am not The Garden Whisperer

I kill plants.

It doesn't matter how hard I try to tend and water, and love a shrub or a bush or a flower, it usually dies.  Give me a plastic houseplant and I'll kill it as well.

I don't know what it is.  I just don't have a green thumb.  Unlike my mother, who has ten green thumbs, or two green thumbs and eight green fingers.....are you still with me?

She has an amazing garden.  She can grow anything from a cutting, and has an abundance of beautiful flowers and shrubs and everything always looks so lovely!

Everywhere she goes, she manages to sneak a cutting, wrap it in newspaper and pop it on the floor of the car, to be lovingly replanted in a pot somewhere.

And that's another thing.  She has all manner of garden statues, and gnomes sacrebleu and wagon type wheels and sticks holding crazy looking plants upright, but it all looks so....together!

Don't even get me started on the ceramic frogs that I find, with their fingernails painted in bright colours!  Yes, she has a great sense of humour!

I love her garden.  I love when we both just walk around and she explains what each flower is, or where she collected that particular shrub or who she stole the cutting from.....

So what about my garden?  Well, at the moment, it doesn't even exist.  Which doesn't mean I don't have grand plans!  We have a section at the front of the house that we plan to use for some nice palm trees perhaps and some cute ground shrubs.

I think this garden gnome would fit right in....

Image

I also plan to organise my terracotta pots to feature some beautiful (hardy) flowers in all colours that are kill free.  I also want to "build" a fairy garden for my girls...somewhere they can sit and daydream and have pots of beautiful flowers surrounding them. With little paved steps leading into an archway of the most fragrant Jasmine (my absolute favourite).......

Am I thinking too big, perhaps?  Can it be done?  Do I have to call on Beth to give me some tips, because as far as I'm concerned, she rocks the garden?

I'll start slow, with this...I think it's a Frangapani....and so far I haven't killed it. 

Ha, yeah, I'm surprised too.

How pretty!

Do YOU rock the garden?

Debrief

 

So many things swirling around in my mind.

So much happening, my life is never truly dull!  We are this close to moving into The Money Pit!

Just waiting on that final piece of paper that says "Farmers Wifey, the four years you have lived in a shed, and coped with this neverending bad camping trip, is finally coming to an end"!

When I have that official letter in my hand, I will know that we have done it!  Our dream house will be finished!  I can unpack!  I can decorate!  I can have a bath!

But the house hasn't been on my mind this week.  Mr C (aged 9) and I have spent three days in Brisbane at the Royal Childrens Hospital.  You may remember that he has recently been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease.

He had two procedures scheduled, the first being an iron infusion, and the second, a pillcam endoscopy, where a small camera is placed, and travels through his body recording the images. 

We need to see if the 7 week liquid diet adequately rested his bowel enough to make a difference to the little ulcers throughout his small bowel.

Yesterday was very traumatic.  The doctor who "tried" to put the IV in his arm, needle pricked his artery, which resulted in alot of tears (me) screaming (Mr C) and too much blood running down his arm.

His arm went white and stiff, and his fingers were numb.  It was not right.  Mr C was in so much pain, and my heart just about broke in two.

In the end, the IV had to come out, and Dr Nick, who is awesome by the way, successfully (and painlessly) put the IV in Mr C's hand and all was well. 

I hated this.  I hated seeing my son in pain, and knowing that he trusts me completely......trusts that I make the right decisions for him.  If I could trade places with him, I would in a heartbeat.

Bushfire

It has been a stressful couple of days for several rural families here, including mine!

One of the most terrifying things that property owners have to deal with is a raging bushfire, helped along by strong winds on a hot day.

I was at work on Friday and I knew there was a fire very close to where several friends lived, and when The Hubbster rang to say it was quite close to our property as well, I felt a little uneasy.

I collected the kids from school and drove home through thick smoke, only to see two police cars monitoring the area, making sure the fire didn't jump the road.  We would have been in big trouble had that happened.

One police car continued doing laps up and down the road, past our turnoff, and every now and then we would hear a fire siren.

My friends had spent most of the day putting in more fire breaks with their dozer, and ensuring they were as prepared as they could be.

In the late afternoon, the wind changed direction......we could literally feel it, and the fire turned and raged back up the hill, away from us and back towards my friends properties...again.  The wind was really strong and we were okay, but worried for our friends of course.

 Images courtesy of Lynda N....

I texted my friend to let her know that The Hubbster was home and was on standby if they needed any more help.  Fortunately they were well taken care of by our Rural Fire Brigade and the bushfire was brought under control and thankfully no damage or lives were lost.

It sounds dramatic, I know, but when one lives in the country, and there is so much land around you, the sight and the smell of a fire, is just the most dreadful thing.