whatcha been doing

It’s been a while, hasn't it? I have been so completely busy and the internet connection is not real great here, so I have been avoiding the computer a bit. I am probably the most impatient person on the planet, so an internet service that drops out and is inexplicably slow frustrates me to the point of insanity.

I have been very busy though. I wouldn't have thought the home decorating aspect would take up MORE of my time than the initial unpacking did, but it has...or should I say IS.

Rugs. I am learning to hate them. I just can't seem to get it right in my, as yet, fruitless and completely failed attempt(s) to purchase a rug that actually matches the rest of the furnishings in the room. I just don't seem to have any memory at all for colours. I was SURE our bedroom walls were a dark bluey green - no, they are eucalyptus leaf green and rather light at that. I have returned two rugs for Missy Mopps room already, and would have given up the search by now, if she wasn't asking me every 10 seconds for something soft to play on in her room, perhaps we need carpet after all - NOOoooo. I bought a cream rug for the lounge today from IKEA. It didn't work in the intended room, and they told me that I wouldn't get my money back if I wasnèt able to get it back in the original packaging - yeah right! Thankfully the rug worked out in another, unintended room, so I guess I have had one win after all. Still have the ugly curtains up though, but we won’t go there....

We are having all the rellies over on Easter Sunday for a barbie and a bit of a house warming thing, so I have been trying to clear all the packaging away to get things looking semi-ok; should make it in time. I plan on tackling the garden tomorrow - raking leaves, sweeping and doing a general tidy up.

Must say, the last couple of days have not been too bad in getting things done. Our region has just come out of a fifteen day, record breaking heat wave - that is, fifteen days of temperatures over 35 degrees celsius - it was not pleasant, I can assure you. The previous record was 8 days straight, so I hope we don’t have a hot spell like that for a very long time, and the record remains standing for decades to come. Would not mind some rain now, we are well overdue for some. Hope you garden looks better than mine - shrivelled dust bowl.

Removed

Survived the move. A truck came friday to load up all our wares. It was such a hot day; 40 degrees. The poor removalists were dripping with sweat at 8 in the morning, and they hadn't yet had the fortune of tackling the goat track like slope of our new driveway. When they did, they needed to call in for back up to get the piano down without sending it crashing into the side of the house - ebony and ivory unhinged and splintered all over the place - can you imagine? Ha.


We are practically all unpacked, which sounds kind of miraculous, but we have spent the past two weeks couriering suitcases and boxes of brickabrack over by car and putting it away on the spot.


Ashley has spent his nights over here alone, painting the hideous colours out - fuschia pink replaced with a subtler greem; frog green replaced with ochre; paddle pop chocolate brown replaced with "dried herb". We got a guy in to fix the cork kitchen floor - it looks nice now - good as new, and we have also installed built-in wardrobes in the kid's bedrooms. Now we would like to get rid of the hideous salmon pink curtains that run the entire course of the family room; the brown curtains in the lounge room and revolting green curtains in our bedroom which are accompanied by this hideous metallic lilac sheer umm...thing that hangs like a torn web and should be thrown in the fire - it is shuddersome. I DETEST it.


Anyone need a couple of suitcases? We have enough to satisfy the luggage requirements of all inhabitants of a small nation. What do you do with these things? They are so bulky. Seriously, if you live in Adelaide and require a couple of large suitcases - give me a burl and I will happily pass on the excess- at the moment all 7 are sitting out on the back deck.


And on to the surprises -no new home owner can escape without them. Our new place in not exactly new and therefore, not immune to the nasty surprise factor - it is nearly 40 years old. The miserable previous owners have passed on their old place without fixing the dishwasher -have to get someone out for that tomorrow, and when we attempted to hook the washing machine up, the hose broke off in the wall, resulting in a day without running water while we waited for a plumber to come and fix it - on a long weekend. $400 later we have a sizeable hole in the wall and yet another job on the ever increasing todo list. I hope the house is just ridding itself of the old energy and will settle for us now.


Well, I had better get back to it. I want to kick this joint into gear by Friday so we can enjoy the weekend and give the kids a reprieve from house stuff for a while. Toodles.