Category Archives: House

Cupid Stunts – NaBloMoPo eleven

Posted in friends, House, Journal, NaBloPoMo by

Wow. Day eleven of continuous posting. Just quietly, this scheduling stuff is working for me. Yay for planning!

Tonight is Pub Quiz night. It started a couple of months ago, when Si and a few of his fellow Dockyard apprentices got together at a pub to reminisce (we’ve reached that stage of life apparently!) and by accident came third in a quiz. Now we meet every second Tuesday, wives & hangers on included (do you know how weird it is to be at the pub watching one’s own child drink?!) and the best we’ve ever come? Third. That twenty buck voucher has our name all over it! And the title? That’s our team name. Try saying that ten times fast. Points if you know the movie reference 🙂

Also today I had a moment where I thought I might have to start a Give A Little page to pay for the rates. Our property value has gone up $170K in three years (cough, choke, this is freaking stupid money!!!). That’s probably fairly median for Auckland; it’s more than the MILs or SILs raise tho. I am not looking forward to paying the huge 2015/2016 bill and the accompanying loss of council services – as I am not naive enough to believe that increased rates mean increased services. So far we are a “super city” with increased councellor and mayoral salaries and an increase in overall staff members compared to when Auckland was five or six different regions. Come back, Bob Harvey (or even Tim Shadbolt) – anything would be better than this!

so it’s been a while

Posted in family, grateful, House, sport, work by

Until very recently, I’ve been using Facebook a lot. An awful lot. It keeps me in touch with 99% of my family & friends, it enables me (look, a book! must add that to my TBR pile) and makes me laugh. I can look back on photos and know what we were doing (altho I haven’t done much in the albums lately) BUT…


sometimes it isn’t as good as journaling can be. Sometimes I just need to write and write and write…

and as Dad and Mum don’t use facebook, they aren’t in the loop like they should be. HI MUM! HI DAD!

2013 was pretty good to us. Sold one house, moved to the MILs for a while, then brought our new house. Fast – listed Sat morning, we viewed Sun afternoon, we brought Sunday afternoon. We’ve brought looking at the long term – ok school zones, lots of new buildings (pushing up the price already), close to public transport, close to the MIL and our daughter. We have managed to kill one of the two plants (possibly one for each of the house’s birthdays?) but have gained back enough room for the massive trampoline down one end of the property and about the same at the front, just by filling in the drops where soil was dug out and moving the fences to the berm. I love how Si is so clever engineering wise. It will take a lot to move the new fence & retaining walls. I’m looking forward to selecting the fruit trees – proper plants, not just my roses and herbs!

2014 hasn’t been so bad either. I’m on a contract with a well established company, the creative juices are flowing, we’ve squeezed in a family holiday, spent time with friends, and the house is reflective of who we are (and yes, Bran’s room could rival a pigsty). All three boys are now playing league (Si & I are coaching Mase’s team, which apart from a few unrealistic parents is great fun) and all are doing well at kindy/school. Mase is about to start 4 days a week at kindy, in prep for school – the “lasts” are starting to catch up. Si is now road cycling to make up for the fact he can’t run (that achilles/plantar fascialitis is hell) and I enjoy walking with Zac. He’s great company. Louise has started her own baking/catering company with a girlfriend and YUM they are already getting word of mouth jobs. 

Anyway, the next posts will be more specific. And hopefully frequent.

Picture: Mase after “helping” Louise with her fabulous chocolate cake 22 April 2014 – a preview of his pirate birthday later this year?

Flooring

Posted in House by

I can’t say that I recommend this type of flooring, but it looks awesome once completed. Next time I’m going to chose something that inter-locks easy! And bonus, the mother-in-law is so happy with it. So this is my “create” for the week.

Oooof

Posted in House by

Today was a creative void, apart from imagining the changes I would make to the house we viewed. Part one would be getting rid of the carpet – it looks like the Jolly Green Giant sneezed. A lot.

Photo inspiration: