Goodbye 2017 - what a great year it was

The Family

Well, what a year it’s been!  In 2017 – I became a Nanni, I got on a plane 8 times in the first three months of the year, we sold our house in Berowra, left our jobs, moved to the Sunshine Coast, rented a house, started a new school, bought a house, moved into the new house, renovated the new house (continuing), Greg got a job, Greg left a job, I got a job, Greg is SAHD, he took 22 loads of green waste to the tip from our yard (continuing), whole family Xmas at our new house (so brilliant). 

 

Alex, Ben & little Summer

What a crazy ride it has been BUT I have loved (mostly) every minute of it.

 

Ben, Rhys and Michael's school photo

8 months on, after taking a big risk for us, we have absolutely no regrets moving here.  We absolutely made the right decision.  After 5 tough years, we seem to finally have turned a corner in 2017.

 

Jemma and Boo

I’m looking forward to another wonderful year in 2018, but hopefully a little less frantic!

To all my friends and family, I wish you all a fantastic 2018 and thanks for being a part of my life. 

Love Rach, Greg and family

xxxx

Merry Christmas 2017

Merry Christmas 2017

Sorry it's a bit blurry

We had Christmas at our new place this year.  The whole family came and it was fantastic.

My beautiful granddaughter Summer

I forgot to take any photos of all the wonderful food.

Greg and I were crazy busy.

The kids had an absolute ball - in the pool, heaps of presents and it was a great day.

How lucky am I!!!

Changes and finding rhythm

Everything is going well here.

There is a lot happening and it's all wonderful.

Some pretty flowers for Christmas

The boys just finished school this week and it is nice to have a break from all the work.

Last day of school

Ben received an award

And so did Michael

And here is a pic of Rhys because I can't not have one of him

I have one more week of work and then I am off for two weeks 😀😁

I have the family coming to stay for Christmas - it's very exciting and will be the first time some have seen our new house.

I scored this bed and mattress for $50 from Gumtree - in excellent condition.  I used my old bed linen on the bed and it is perfect.

 VERY THRIFTY!!

Speaking of which, Greg has been working his absolute butt off getting the place looking good.

He is up to about 17 loads to the tip at the moment and there are probably another 10+ to go.  We ended up buying a trailer!  Great investment.

We also had his 50th Birthday.

I don't think we both can believe he is 50! (but better than the alternative eh)

Daddy with his boys

A pav and chocolate cake - favourties!

Happy Birthday Daddy

I have changed my blog template.  I love this template and it was FREE.  It is time for a change (and I have had a lot of change over the past 12 months).

I am getting into a routine/rhythm now.  Still not 100% there yet, but very close.  I am thinking about goals for the new year and working on some new ideas.  

Our new kitchen

I'm very excited to say that we now have a new kitchen!

The old kitchen was okay.  It was quite dated and an awful brown colour.  After we painted the house a  modern grey colour (Tranquil Retreat) it looked even worse and didn't go with the colour scheme at all.

Our colour scheme is Grey walls, black windows and a very light greige tile with a greyer colour through it (hard to explain)

I debated - do I repaint it or refurbish it? 

The painters said they could paint it for us.  It would take approx a week for two of them @ $40/hour so approx $3K and then I would have to pay for paint on top of that.  Then I found a guy on Facebook who refurbishes kitchens and got him out for a quote.

He was $6K for the refurbishment and that was with changing a cupboard to a microwave cupboard and changing a couple of cupboards into drawers.

The negatives of painting were that I would have to keep the same cupboards as what I currently had, plus there were a couple of places where the laminex was swelling - that would show up and I wouldn't be able to have different handles of the doors (they had to be the same shape).

I thought the refurbishment would be a better option because I could get what I wanted.

We had a few dramas, but not huge.  The company who the guy ordered the kitchen from mucked up the order and it put the timeframe back a few days, but we got there in the end. 

Here is the end result

I love it!

We used the same appliances, except we had to buy a new range hood.  We used the same sink too (it was a good size and still in good condition). 

I want to add some pendant lights, a new tap and something to tidy up the area where the phone sits, then it will be fully finished.

Cupboards are in a gloss white.  Benchtop is Diamond Gloss Pure Mineralstone square edge.  It also has a waterfall edge.  We bought VERY expensive tiles from the Artisan range from Southern Cross Tiles.  We needed two boxes and have some left over.  I think they look fantastic and give the very white kitchen some design.  They go so well with the colour scheme as they are black and light grey in colour.

I think we got a pretty great looking kitchen for about $6.5K all up, which has really transformed our home.

Very happy.

Have a great week.

Recent happenings at Thrifty Cottage

Got some nice lounges for the outdoor area!

We have been up here in sunny Queensland for 5 months now.  It seems a whole lot longer to me.

In that time we have had some up's and down's, as we all have.

The down's haven't really been too bad thank goodness and really, I think that when something "bad" happens, it seems like something good is around the corner.

Love where we live <3

WORK

Jobs up here on the Sunshine Coast are a little more challenging to obtain than in Sydney and it is a different kind of employment situation - ie not a lot of permanent full time work - mainly casual work.  I also think because the market is so tight, employers/agency's believe they can treat you any way they like and you should be grateful.

Hmmmm.

After we were up here for about 5 weeks, Greg got work .  It was through an agency and he was a casual.  Unfortunately that job didn't work out - basically,  they really messed him around - but then didn't want him to leave because he is a good worker.  We are now in the position where don't have to put up with being messed around, so he left.

THEN

Me at work :-)

A rare as a hens tooth part time (temp) library job came up and I thought I would throw my hat in the ring for it.

I was lucky enough to get the job!!

It is 3 days per week - Wed, Thu, Fri

Government, 25 minutes from home and an easy drive.

BRILLIANT! 

I have been there for 4 weeks now and am enjoying it.  The contract ends in 2 February 2018 so we will see what happens after that - I would dearly love for it to become a permanent part time role (fingers crossed) but we will just have to see what happens.  I am extremely grateful and lucky to have been given this opportunity.  I am thankful.

So Greg is now at home, doing all the school help, speech therapy and fixing up the garden and anything else that needs doing.  I'm doing the cooking, shopping and working.  It is working out well and we will re-evaluate in the New Year what we want to do.

What we did with the RENTAL

Our lovely little rental at Beerwah was great.  It is a VERY tight market up here for rentals and it was looking like we weren't going to have anywhere to live (except at my sisters place) after we got out of Sydney.

The rental agent ended up giving me the Beerwah place to rent because she said she liked me (thank goodness).  We moved in with no issues and it was a great place to live.

Beerwah is a great little town. Council have done it up (the town centre), there is a great shopping centre in there with a Woolworths, IGA and other shops and there is an Aldi, Library, Aquatic centre, skate park, train station etc.  The estate we lived in is very nice, with a good mix of rentals and owners.  I think it is a great place and would live there again.  I think a good investment for property if you were looking too.

However, we found out forever home about 2-3 weeks after moving and so we needed to break the lease and try and re-rent the place.

The agent was absolutely brilliant and after being put on the internet and one open house it was rented the next week!  Yay - we weren't out of pocket too much money and we had time to paint the new place and get it ready for us to move in.

Worked out so well for us - we are so lucky.

HAPPENINGS THIS WEEK

We have had a number of snakes visit this week.  Probably due to the hot weather and low rain.  We relocated this fella down to the back of the property.  It was a bit scary but it was a nice, placid snake and eventually he got in the bucket for us!!!!

We then had a visit from 3 unidentified snakes, most likely Whip snakes.  They have moved on now (hopefully).

Baptism of fire for us in the snake department.

It's been hot so we have had some fun in the pool

Made some yummy sausage rolls and froze some for later

We are getting our kitchen renovated - will upload the photos when it's completed!

That's about it for now xxx

Our new forever home

Sporadic blogging!

I have said it once and I will say it again – I have been busy!

So much has been happening and I haven’t been blogging about it.  However, it is my plan to get into some sort of routine so I can keep up this family record that (hopefully) will outlive me.

Great news!  We have moved into our new home on the Sunshine Coast.  I am so very happy to be here, even if it was a bit stressful (as buying a home usually is a bit – LOT!!!).

Our new home

We had joked that we would find our dream house in the first few weeks after we came up (and then be stuck with the rental for 6 months)…….. and that is exactly what happened – of course.

SOLD!

Once we got the kids settled in school we went around to some real estate agents to let them know what we were looking for in a house.  We wanted – 5 bedrooms, 2 living areas, around an acre of land, in ground pool, double garage and a shed and close to the boys’ school.

The pool

More pool!

One of the agents indicated that he may have a home coming up that met our criteria, but I didn’t think another thing about it, because they always try and get you to look at homes that don’t suit.

We received a call on to look at the house on the Saturday and he said it met all our criteria.  So off we went.

It was 95% perfect.  We couldn’t believe it.  EEEEEEKKKKKKK!

At this point I had my stress attack.  I had been okay up until that point.  I had coped with deciding to move, selling the house, arranging to move, arranging somewhere to live (very stressful), arranging new school for the boys, saying good bye to everyone (omg VERY stressful), driving for 12 hours with the kids, setting up a new house, starting a new school……..blah blah blah blah blah.  Then:

MAJOR STRESS ATTACK 😱

Although I have always been a stressor, ever since a terrible workplace experience I had a few years ago, it permanently changed my stress levels into more of an anxiety attack situation when I am under extreme stress.   Unfortunately this happened.  But thankfully, I recognised that I wasn’t functional and said to Greg that he had to make the decisions because I wasn’t in a place to be able to right at that time.  So, for two days I wasn’t functional.  After the building inspection I was FINE.  My stress levels went away and I have been all good since then.  We bought the house with no issues – well kind of…………

The issues were –

TERRIBLE, I repeat TERRIBLE plastering/paint job.  Please don’t DIY plastering if you have no idea.  After Greg finished the plastering he was going to paint.  I changed his mind when I got some painters in to do it for him.  They took 7 days, he would have taken over 7 weeks.  Money well spent.

Garden neglect.  Yes we knew this. OMG it was/is BAD.  Farmers friends everywhere, palm fronds EVERYWHERE, mess everywhere – 17 years worth of can’t be arsed clearing the garden.  Work in progress (but looking a million times better now).

Hot water heater busted.  After we moved in the hot water heat pump started leaking water and rusty water marks were running down the side of the tank.  We also had yellow/brown hot water.  Long story short – it was stuffed (and had been for a looooong time – bastards).  They must have cleaned the tank and it was raining when we had our inspection so you couldn’t tell at the time.  Upside (isn’t there always?) – got solar tube system put in (downside $4K) and haven’t had water heating on since installed!

General YUK.  Yeah, so the place was pretty dirty and the general level of care was about zero.  I picked up a full shopping bag of dog shit from the small fenced yard area (thanks arseholes) and so much dog hair from the sliding door tracks, screen doors, aircon unit and garden that it almost made me sick.

This pile is about 10 x this size now!!!!

Current/future projects are:

Kitchen refurbishment

Fix up pool area

GARDEN!!! (ongoing for a long time)

Decorating and getting the place as I want it

We will have some other larger projects later but these are enough for now.  I will upload pictures of our progress so we have a visual reference.  The photos I have attached are of the previous owners/real estate ones.  More of ours to come!!

BUT, despite all the above, it’s a freaking big beautiful house and perfect for us.  We love it.

AND WE OWN IT!!!!!!!!!

😀FARK YEAH – so happy 😁

We have now been in the house for about 4 weeks.  Mum and Dad came to stay last week which was great.  I haven’t yet gotten into a routine but will do so very soon.  In this time, I also got a new part time job, which I am really enjoying.  More on all that later!

Have a great week.

Rach xxx

Turning 45!

Over the weekend it was my 45th birthday.  I kind of can’t believe that I’m 45 years old, but it’s better than the alternative!!! 

I had a lovely weekend.  Greg had to work on Saturday as they had stock take, but it was only for half the day.  The boys and I relaxed at home not doing very much.  We went over to my sisters place to chop some trees down and then came home and I had a very yummy laksa for dinner.  YUM.  

On Sunday we went for a great bushwalk around the Glasshouse Mountains Lookout.  It is very beautiful there. 

We also went to a park near the boy's school which was great fun

Then we stopped at a park at Landsborough, which has some gym equipment.  Michael had been asking to go there for ages as we drive past Landsborough school every day to get to the boys school.

As I reflect back on the last 45 years of my life, I think I have had a pretty great life.  It’s true,  I have had some truly terrible tragedies happen to me – and probably these things would not have happened to most people – but for some reason they did happen to me.  These change your life forever and they changed ME forever too.  But, from these terrible things, other things happen and we must keep moving forward and living our lives.  I have tried to do this to the best of my ability.

I am very lucky that I have a wonderful, supportive family.  Yes we have had our differences over time, but when it comes down to it, they are always there for me as I am for them.  I have also been very lucky to have had very good health too.  I have had a few times when I have been unwell but overall I am a healthy person.  You can’t buy good health so this is very important.

The twins class put on a puppet show for the Mums and Dads.  It was very cute and Rhys and Ben did the story Goldilocks and the three bears.  They both wanted to be the baby bear, but not together, separately, so this Goldilocks story had twin baby bears!!!

Very cute! 

I have great kiddo’s and I am also very lucky that I am a young Nanni to little Summer Rose.  I never, ever thought I would have 5 children – never in my wildest dreams (or nightmare!! LOL).  But there you go, another thing you just can’t plan for.  But at times like Christmas, when we all come together, it is absolutely FANTASTIC.  I love my BIG family!

I’m still learning about this thing called “life”.  I have done some things well and others not so well but overall I can confidently say that I am a nice person who is loyal and will stand up for things that aren’t right.  I will follow my dreams and do what I can to make things happen – even if it means going out of my comfort zone.

I look forward to the next 45??? years.  Whatever it may bring, because: