Jem's day at Luna Park

We had a busy week and weekend.  Lots happening at work - very busy.  I took Jem and a friend to Luna Park on Sunday.  Alex and her boyfriend Damo came along too.  Here are some pics:

Jem and Anni on the Carousel

All 4 of them on this one - loving it!!!

It was a great day, very hot but I was the bag lady.  After the day, I dropped Anni off (Jem's friend) and the kids had a swim at Anni's and I had a wine and chat to her lovely parents.  Greg stayed at home with Michael and I'm glad he did as he wouldn't have enjoyed the day - too hot and busy for Michael.

Jem and Anni

Alex & Damo

THE ROTOR - the amount of times I went on this as a kid and felt so sick I had to go home.  I warned them but they didn't listen!!!  Jem was fine - she is a daredevil, but Anni felt sick after the Rotor

Mum came down on Sunday to mind Michael for me this afternoon as I worked my second job - Citizenship.  I quite enjoy event managment - although it can be very very very stressful and is a LOT of work.  The result is worth it but organisation is the key.  It went well tonight (I ran it) and even the names wern't too hard to say - sometimes we have names like Wymismacklezy Shuriramadanschra  - OMG I have to SAY a name like that to a hall of people!!!!eeeeekkkkk

The final coat of paint has gone on Michael's little bed and it looks great.  I will do a pic when it is set up.

We are renovating at the moment - it never ends.  We are moving Jem into Alex's old room, Michael into Jemmas room and making Michaels room into a study/spare room/Alex's room - when she is there............ummm never.

To start with is getting all the crap out of Alex's room - that girl has SO many handbags, clothes and "stuff" that she will never ever use it.  It is very hard to get a good pic but here is the disgusting room after Greg & I got the bed out.  Will update with progress shots.

So, this Easter break we will be painting and organising the rooms YAY - it will be so much better once it is done!!  Can't wait............

Working out the shock.....

Little Michael - sooo cute when asleep

Hi again,

I started the week on a very positive note and was feeling excellent!!!  Sadly this wasn't to last and I have spent today and yesterday reflecting on everything (in my life I guess)......................

The week started with me starting to paint the toddler bed for Michael.  We are going to be re-vamping the kids' bedrooms and I didn't really like the stained pine - it was a bit daggy and not in good condition.  So let the sanding begin!!!!!

To follow on from the sanding, came the undercoating.  Two undercoats actually............ and WOW it looked great!! 

To follow on from the undercoating (OMG don't I lead an exciting life???) is the gloss white.  Here is the first coat:

Looking good eh?   It actually has been quite cathartic doing all that work and the results are worth it.  Mr Michael will have a beautiful little bed!!!

We are also putting storage under the bed and got this bookcase on Ebay for $40.  Greg couldn't make one for that and it is mahogany which is lovely.  He will tidy it up, put wheels on and viola - underbed storage!!

I put my letter in at work last week to ask to work one day from home per fortnight (so going back Full time with 1 work from home day and 1 Flexi day and the rest in the office - so 4 days in the office per week).  I'm pretty sure my immediate boss (my very good friend) will support this, however I know that our Manager is maybe not keen???  So we will see.  I actually felt really good about it and am happy with this decision!!  All is good and I will await the verdict...................

I worked at a festival that we (Council where I work) had on Sunday.  It was a big day - started at 7am and finished at 3pm but the thing went on until 10pm at night.  It was VERY hot so I was stuffed by 3pm.  It was turning out to be a great day.  I helped bump in stallholders, which went well but a lot of running up and down the street (we closed part of the Pacific Highway down) in hot hot sun, telling people where to go etc.  After that it was just dealing with issues as they arose and it was all good.

Two sad events have occurred on the Sunday.  Firstly a very good friend of mine has been diagnosed with breast cancer - bloody hell, she is about 2 yrs younger than me!!!  She is a single mum and is just lovely.  Not sure how bad yet (well, it is an aggressive form so she will be in hospital ASAP) but my fingers & toes are crossed that it will be contained etc etc and not too bad.

Secondly, my Uncle died suddenly.  Mum and Dad got back from NZ on Sunday, where they have been for about a month and they let me know (they came back to Christchurch and the funeral was that day).  Honestly, I can hardly remember my Uncle (its my Dad's sisters ex-hubby) as we moved away when I was really young and they split not long after so I didn't get to see him after that but I feel very sad for my cousins (who sadly I really hardly know at all too due to similar reasons - they were a bit older than us kids and we didn't really catch up when we went back for holdiays much) but I do feel for them a lot to lose your Dad so suddenly and unexpectedly.

So, after those two things, I feel a bit shocked and sad again and just wonder what is going on in the world....................

Time will tell

Things don't go to plan all the time........

Boys and sticks??  What is the deal with that????  Here is Michael trying to whack Greg's motorbike with the stick (which he thinks is great - who needs expnsive toys...)

Hmmm, an up and down week last week really, I was a bit down but I am feeling better now - trying to have a positive attitude!! 

With work, I need to make a decision regarding if I want to continue 3 days per week or go back full-time.  My boss needs to know for planning purposes, which I fully understand.  To be honest I was leaning towards staying at 3 days per week as it is great for the kids, pretty good for me (read - getting housework done LOL) and although not really good financially - we were going ok.  I have to say though, it wasn't really working out all that well for the organisation.  I had a further meeting with my boss and in a nutshell, I don't really think continuing 3 days per week is going to be an option - sure, it's an option, but not one that I feel comfortable with.  Ahhh, so my plans to stay 3 days are out the window..................

This is a bit of a warrior pose - ready for battle!!!

BUT - instead of dwelling on the negative, I want to focus on the positive!!  So, I think my boss (who is lovely and I do love her a lot - she is also a very close friend who I have put in a very difficult situation) will support me in working from home 1 day per fortnight (other day a flexi-day off), so I will hopefully do this.  My kids will be fine!!  I am always much more organised when working FT and THE MONEY IS A LOT BETTER!!!!  Since I am the main earner - it is a good thing.

The unvarnished floor - Greg has sanded it tonight

The kitchen is going great - they still need to fix a couple of things but I love it!!!  Greg is fixing the floor up at the moment by sanding and then varnishing it.  Because we extended the kitchen out, this part was covered by cupboards when the floor was polished.

Michael having fun on his new bed

I bought a toddler bed on Ebay yesterday for $82.  New ones are about $180 not incl mattress.  I bought the mattress off her for $50 (probably too much but it doesn't matter).  So $130 for the whole thing is pretty good.  Michael LOVES it.  I am possibly going to paint it white and have plans for his bedroom reno, as well as Jemma too. 

He was so excited, he virtually ran over to it and jumped on lol!!!!

Not too much else happening.  I had a massage with my friend Kristen tonight and I feel soooooo much better.  I was starting to feel quite ill from all the tenseness (is that a word??) of the last couple of weeks - HEAVEN!!!

Have a great week..............

Jemma's Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday Jemma - 9 today. I can't believe that my little girl is already 9. Wow, time has flown. We had a little party at home tonight with Pizza for dinner (Jem's pick). She took Weetbix slice to school today for the class. We will have a kids party in a few weeks. Hope you had a great day today Jemma

Love you heaps xxxxxxx

New Kitchen YAY!!!

Well, finally the kitchen is finished!!  (except for a couple of things I will discuss below)

I think it looks fantastic, what a difference it has made to the house.  It has made it so much lighter and fresher looking.  We have heaps more bench space and the appliances can be sort of hidden behind the fridge part.  I have a lot more space too to fit all my crap in LOL!!!

Some pics:

Looking from the lounge room

The elcheapo ebay dishwasher, new sink, new oven and cooktop and my devine benchtop

Oven, cooktop and rangehood

Microwave cabinet, pot drawers, appliances hidden

where you walk into the kitchen view

Overall it went fairly smoothly.  The guy who put the kitchen in was fantastic.  The electrician did a great job and was reliable but the plumber was not reliable at all.  It was meant to be finished yesterday, but the plumber didn't show up.  He was meant to be here between 10-11am, then from 11am-1pm.  At 2pm I called the Kitchen place up and they got here at about 2.30pm (finally).  The plumber did his bit but when I asked them about the ducting of the range hood they said they didn't do it (hmm, after everyone else said they would).  Still charged me $750 to do what they did, which personally I think is quite pricey for 2.5hrs work - oh well.

Some things are missing - soft closers for some of the doors and opening mechanism for the cupboard over the rangehood.  Also, there is a small chip in the poly of the microwave cabinet.  I hope it can be touched up, but if not then it will need to go back to be repainted and we can't tile until this is done because the whole cabinet needs to come out.  These things are to be expected though and they are fixing it all up.

My big problem at the moment is where does my bin go???  I couldn't fit it anywhere so it has to go under the bench where the sink is.  It's not looking good, fit wise to get anything in there.  I am searching for something suitable but I only have about 300mm wide to fit and the bin I was hoping to get is 350mm AGGGRRRRHHHH!!!!!!

I didn't go to work today as daycare said Michael had gastro yesterday afternoon, so he is excluded for a day.  He seems fine to me so I'm not sure what is going on.  I did some work from home during the day.  It worked out well since the plumbers didn't show yesterday, but I am very busy at work so actually would have preferred to be there to be honest.

We are going to look at tiles over the weekend to see what we like, should be fun.  We can give it a bit of WOW factor then, as it is a bit boring at the moment!!!

So close to a new kitchen..............

Its the second very disruptive day to our new kitchen and I am in LOVE with it!!!  It looks SO good.... so clean and crisp and WHITE!!!!  LOL  very, very white... but OMG it looks so good.

Its amazing how much it has brightened the room up.

We totally made the right decision regarding the Diamondgloss Pure Mineralstone.  It looks FANTASTIC - like real stone but its laminate.  I totally love it.

Hmmm not the best pic but you can sort of see the flecks in it.  Gee it looks great. 

Sadly, the benchtop place made an error in the benchtop, they made one part too long (better than too short though).  They will have it back tomorrow so the builder can finish. YAY

Here is the rangehood and the microwave cabinet.  I decided I didn't want the look where all the cabinets are the same height as I was going to have to have too small cabinets if it was done like this.  I think that is the modern look at the moment but I would prefer bigger cabinets and it would be too low to have the size I've got.

Should be finished tomorrow - WHOO HOO

Then comes tile hunting - agggrrrrrhhhh

First stage of kitchen

Ohh it is looking fantastic, although it seems to be slow progress (well to me - who wants everything done yesterday).  Other than the electrician and the plumber coming VERY late, all went well.

Here it is so far:

This is where the dishwasher (L) ad sink (cupboard to the R) will go.  The hole to the R is where the oven will go!!!

This is looking out to the lounge room.  Its a corner cupboard and the drawers.  See the "handleless" look we are getting.  It really looks very modern and sleek.

We went to the pub for dinner tonight as I didn't want to cook (well its really hard with nil bench top and anything to cook with except a fry pan) - also it is pouring rain and cold.  They had a special of a rump or chicken with chips, salad or vegies for $11.  Not too bad and it was yummo.  Michael had nuggets as it is all he will eat **sigh**

Have to pay for this baby tomorrow...... bye bye lots of $$$$$

(yeah, but its worth it!!)