Booking our kitchen makeover

We had a man from Kitchen Connections come last night and do us a plan and give us a quote for a new kitchen. Janet and Steven had their kitchen done by this company last year and were pleased with the work and the process.

Eeek!

Will have to spend late night shopping on Thursday and Saturday checking appliances and prices - we need an oven, stovetop and rangehood. Also on Saturday we will finalise colour of doors, benchtops and splashback tiles.

Glow Games

Have you seen this Fiona? It's Scottish so I wonder if the schools are using it over there? There are games for different age groups. Haven't tried it on Ishbel yet but I think she'll enjoy it.

Cool

Have a look at this. Fascinating stuff.

Booking our kitchen makeover

Ian, Ishbel and I were out and about early (comparatively) yesterday morning to have a look at some kitchen showrooms. Two we visited were closed, not good in terms of availability I thought but we have an appointment for one guy to come tomorrow evening and the other mob will ring tomorrow to make their appointment.

We attacked the huge amount of spider plant in the garden after we got back. We've barely scratched the surface of the problem and already have 4 big bin bags full of the stuff. We're still considering what to do with the agapanthus. Hugh from the Brigade who works in LandCare/bush weeding for a living hates agapanthus with a passion as it spreads so easily in to the bush but we've always kind of liked it! There are whopping great clumps of it were we are thinking of putting a veggie garden though.

We had Karen, Dan and Ben round for dinner last night before Ben goes up to his Dad for the holidays. Karen and Ben had popped in during the morning while Ian, Ish and I were out so we'd missed them. Hundreds of tacos, apple pie and lashings of ice cream later and we were all full up.

Today we are off down to town to see Cirque du Soleil - Dralion. Looking forward to it very much.

Too much fun . . .

Another weekend has bitten the dust.

Went to RFS training on Friday night. We went out bush pretending we were responding to a smoke sighting. We were divided into two groups and I was made Crew Leader for our group. We got dropped off at one end of a track in Blaxland and the other crew were dropped off at the other end and we walked towards a rendez-vous point somewhere roughly in the middle. En route we were asked for sit reps (situation reports) such as wind speed, humidity, etc. I failed at the first hurdle because I'd forgotten to bring the kestrel, the little wind speed, humidity, etc. measuring thingy.

I had Holly, Steve and Brian in our group. Holly was wingeing about having to carry a rake-hoe so I cut her a deal where I carried it and she carried the torch. This meant she had to go in front - and deal with any spiders!

We met at the appropriate place ok. It's sooo difficult to navigate and orientate yourself in the dark. We only figured we were in the right place because we had a GPS. Steve was convinced we weren't in the right place and almost had us tramping along further.

A steep climb up the hill and we were out of the valley and back to the shed - it was only 11:30pm by then!

The boys didn't come with me - it's rugby league semi finals time and they were glued to the TV.

On Saturday the boys and I spent the day standing about the town square with some other firies spruking for Open Day, handing out leaflets on preparing for the fire season and giving show bags to the little kids. Our shed is not worth looking at so we collaborated with Faulconbridge (Ben and Dan were there too) and Winmalee for the day. It was a roasting hot day (>30C) and hard work. Karen came down and joined us for some company.

Meanwhile Ishbel and Ian were trying again at the Boys and Girls Club. Again she refused to take part until one of the teachers took her on a one-to-one session. She's decided she doesn't want to go again.

During the afternoon Ian got a mulcher and got ripped in to the weeds in the back garden having a lovely time reducing them to tiny little chips.

Steve, Bec and David from the brigade joined us for dinner that evening, along with Bec's boys Jack and Scott who Ishbel gets along well with. They played DVD Twister and hide and seek - the latter lots of fun in a new house none of them are particularly familiar with.

It was a very successful evening because Steve got our oven working. It had been dead as a dodo and we thought we were in for a long stint without one before we can get the kitchen done. I'd rung the real estate agent to tell them but they said it should have been checked in the building inspection and if it wasn't working Defence was under no obligation to fix it although he would make a phone call and ask for me. We'd looked for a separate power point and Ian'd checked the fuses but we couldn't see any reason why the oven wouldn't work. I mentioned it to Steve who said he'd have a look.

Just by fiddling he found that what I though was just a bit of detail was a flap which when lifted allows the oven fan to work. As soon as he lifted the flap, the lights for the oven and grill came on. It was a great source of joy when I was able to make macaroni cheese with a crispy topping on Sunday evening!

On Sunday Rob did some homework. We'd been invited to a picnic with Marie, Leigh and Kieran but we'd had a letter at the end of the week letting us know he was 2 weeks late with an assignment. It all got a bit fraught and Ishbel and I ended up going on our own.

The picnic was at Euroka Clearing at Glenbrook National Park. The gang had been there from 10:30 am or so by the time we got there well after 12pm. They'd found a great spot at the top of a hill under the shade of a couple of big gum trees. Things got a bit silly by late afternoon with Leigh wearing BBQ sauce and Steve in a stand-off with everyone else, Steve with a bottle of water and the rest of us with BBQ and tomato sauce, coke, apple juice, capsicum dip and broken biscuits!!! Steve soon backed down.

Ishbel's dance performance

Last week Ishbel was performing at the Joan Sutherland Centre in Penrith. We didn't get to see it because I had no idea we could have bought tickets and completely missed out.

Today there was a performance at school which I did manage to get to (it's only 10-15 seconds worth).

Ishbel's up near the top right of the screen.

Settling in

Busy day today (what's new?). Ishbel's friend Ruby goes to gymnastics on a Saturday morning and she was allowed to bring a friend along this weekend. It so happened that we'd invited Ruby for a sleep-over for tonight. So Ishbel was invited. We went along and met Ruby and her Dad at the Boys and Girls Club. We also bumped in to Alison and her Dad, Philip who are the daughter and husband of my former supervisor, Robyn. Alison and Ishbel have had play days together sometimes. Ishbel, despite knowing Alison and Ruby and another girl that she knows from Tanderra, would not participate at all. Both Ruby and Alison asked her to join them, Alison repeatedly, but she just clung to me. We watched while the girls did bits and bobs and cartwheels and stuff on the mat and it wasn't until they moved off to the back of the hall to use some of the other equipment that Ishbel got up and was doing cartwheels. As soon as the class came back to the mat, she sat with me again.

It was local council elections day today so we went across the road to the Grammar School so I could vote while Ruby continued with a dance class after her gymnastics one. The gym teacher talked to us briefly and encouraged Ishbel to come again next weekend and perhaps take part next week. She says she'll consider it. Hmmmmmmm.

After a quick potter in Springwood we came home and the girls have been playing nicely all afternoon (it doesn't always turn out that way). They spent some of the afternoon across the road. Yesterday evening one of our neighbours, Jodie, came over with a bottle of wine and her two children to welcome us to the street. How kind was that? Her daughter is 9 and her son 7 so Ishbel is sandwiched between them age-wise. Jodie mentioned that they have 5 puppies at the moment. The girls were playing in the front garden this afternoon and was invited over to see the puppies. They are very taken with them and are trying to work out how they can earn the AUD$350 it will cost to buy one. I think we are fairly safe . . .

They are up in the bathroom now, screeching and carrying on. Goodness knows how much of the water will have stayed in the bath!

Bella has been growling and grizzling under her breath for the last half hour at least. She met one of the neighbourhood cats earlier. It didn't come with a bottle of wine. Bella came away yelping.

Ian is out taking Rob to Woodford. He got a last minute invitation to his girlfriend's house. That cured him of the headache he was complaining about earlier!

Jamie's upstairs listening to a new CD. The boys are really enjoying having their own space to hang out in in peace. Music was one of the few things the boys used to argue about, they don't have the same muscial tastes and Jamie likes to go to sleep with music on while Rob doesn't.

Our bed arrived yesterday. It's colossal! It's a good foot bigger all round than our old double bed (the new one's a king).

See the difference in the space they occupy? It's a good job it's a big room we have.









And the bed's heavy, I couldn't budge it - not even an inch. I've reassured Ian that he is unlikely to come home and find the bedroom rearranged as he's used to!

Last night we were joined by Ishbel who was complaining of nausea. At least there's room for all of us now, even with her doing her starfish impression in the middle of the bed, and I had a reasonably good night's sleep.

We don't get mobile reception here. I think we're in a bit of a blind spot, being in a bit of a hollow. When the men delivered the bed yesterday he couldn't get his wireless credit card machine to work. We had to go up to the top of the garden before it would work. While we were waiting for the transaction to come through he told me he'd been here a few months ago, dismantling the water bed for the last occupants!

Karen and Ben popped over to see how we were going yesterday. Karen's looking very big! She was saying she has 4 weeks to go, but that one of the doctors thinks it might be just 2 weeks (she might be right) while her boss is in denial and is hoping for 6 weeks more! I met one of the neighbours on our first night here. He's a teacher at the primary school just round the corner but his partner is a midwife up at Katoomba Hospital where Karen will be going.

Back online

Found all the bits we need and are now back online.

Moved!

I've got 16 more minutes on a Library PC so I'll be brief.
We're all moved but not by any means unpacked.
We were packing all weekend putting stuff in to boxes. Got lots of boxes from work and from the bottle shop - looks like we were on a six month bender to get all the wine drunk to get the empty boxes! We hired a truck for Sunday and set to filling it.
Catherine (Hosking) kept us supplied with food so I didn't have to think about that. She arrived at morning tea with home-baked chocolate chip cookies (my favourite), at lunch with home-made felafel rolls (my favourite) and at dinner with home-made lasagne (my favourite - anything someone else cooks is my favourite). I had recently given her several years back issues of the delicious magazine and she'd made good use of them.
By mid afternoon Sunday we realised we weren't going to have nearly enough room with the one truck and Ian went off to book another for Monday morning. We also began to run out of boxes. Catherine came to the rescue again, raiding the local supermarket.
The new owners arrived mid morning to do their final inspection. They seem a nice couple. Surname Camilleri - Ian discovered later Mr. C is Maltese. They have a 17 year old son and a boy-girl twin pair who are almost 10. Despite being determined not to like them because of the haggling over the deck (just kidding) we had a long chat which was reprised on Tuesday morning when we went back for some rubbish that we couldn't get in to truck (yes we filled the second one completely) or car.
Ishbel stayed at her friend Ruby's on Sunday night - she had a dance group performance on Monday. I didn't discover that until I was dropping her off at Ruby's and Carolyn told me about lining up for hours for tickets. I don't remember getting a note about buying tickets. Sounds like the organisation was a complete schemozzle on the school's part.
Finally it was Monday morning. Jamie went off to school - he likes school - and we just had Rob for muscles. We packed up the last of the stuff and cleaned everything. We were done about 12:30pm and went down to Springwood for lunch and to await the call about 2:30pm that the settlement had been completed.
We arrived at the house just after 3pm, about the same time as Jamie coming home from school. Spent hours unpacking into the garage. Made up the beds. Sent Ian out for pizza. We'd not long sat down when Sharon and Holly turned up along with a German exchange student, Inge. While we showed them round the house, Bella helped herself to the abandoned pizza! Good job I'd had a fruit cake in the freezer which had defrosted by then.
Carolyn then arrived with Ishbel. We'd thought she'd be late home because of an evening performance but (again the school had been rubbish at letting us know) Ishbel's group doesn't perform until Thursday evening (must not forget, must not forget).
Tuesday the boys went to school and Ishbel had the day off. We had to go to the storage place to fill up the trailer they let you use. I'd booked it to be delivered to the new house on Wednesday and they would pick it up on Thursday. When we arrived, however, it was a complete surprise to the woman. She had us booked for next week!! A few phone calls and some manoeuvering of the trailer ourselves and we were able to load up. Didn't think all the stuff was going to fit but it did and it was duly delivered this morning. Just have to go home now (8 mins remaining) and make a start on the unpacking. I have spent all morning making a space for the storage stuff in the garage. Can't believe the amount of STUFF.
We were supposed to be having a gas hot water system and a gas heater installed today but again there'd been a mix up. We thought we'd bought a hot water system with wireless water temperature controllers but that's not what they'd brought (and we discovered later that's not what was ordered) and the wireless controllers are over AU$300 each so the fellas went away without doing anything. We've sorted the mix up and have decided just to have wired-in controllers (the controllers allow you to set the hot water temperature so kids can't get burned - all you have to do for having a bath/shower is turn on the hot tap - no mixing hot and cold and adjusting the temperature - great). The men will come back and do that tomorrow.
Think that's enough for now.

Going offline for a little while

We are packing up today. Ishbel's room cleared of her stuff, now being piled up with boxes. Tomorrow we get a truck and pack everything in to it. We should get the keys to the new house about 2:30pm on Monday.

We are about to pack the computer away and we'll be offline for up to 7 days.

Byeeeee

Dance group festival

today i went to Joan Sutherland Arts and dance centre with my school Faulconbridge. ( only the dancers.) I am in the stage 1 dance group. I am in the pink panthers.

love Ishbel

Antidote to the wierd stuff

Found these by doing a search in YouTube and restored my sanity.

First are The Corries singing Ae Fond Kiss (just for you, Mum)

Next is Karen Dunbar reciting Tam O'Shanter. She's much criticised on YouTube for missing lines but I think she's done quite well and it certainly shows what an exciting story it is. Or at least more exciting than when we were having to learn it as punishment at school. Erm . . . so Karen and Fiona tell me!!

We bought a bed on Saturday

I'm blogging about this because Karen mentioned it.

I had us heading down Parramatta Road to the big Home something or other centre at Auburn or wherever it is. We’d been down at the RTA so Ian could renew his drivers licence which we’d realised only the night before had expired over a fortnight ago.

Taking a wrong turn, or rather, finding we couldn't turn the way we wanted to get to the M4, we ended up on the Great Western Highway and Ian thought we were heading for Homebase at Blacktown where Ikea USED to be and where the marshalling point was for the cleanup after the storms last December. I’d forgotten about it being there but said I was happy to give it a try.

We’d been trawling around for a bed in Penrith a few weeks ago and couldn’t find anything we liked. They were either cheap nasty or the solid ones were like Tudor Great Beds. Lo and behold, thinking we were on Mission Impossible, at the second shop at Blacktown we came across a nice sleigh bed in Sleep City. It’s made of recycled timber and is as solid as you’d wish.

Here it is:

The King size was only $569!!!!! Any of the Queen beds we'd been looking at thus far were over $1000 - on Sale. So we bought it and a bow-fronted tall boy (just out of picture) to match, plus a new mattress.

We are well pleased with our purchase.