More waiting...

Just to prove to myself (and of course you guys) that we are making some headway in this project.


Checklist

Approvals:
Plumbing approval  -            Yes!
Building Approval -              Yes! (though not formal yet as planning has to be approved)
Planning approval -    still pending
Tree removal approval -       Yes!

Purchases made for renovation:
Kitchen
Kitchen sink
Bath
Basins x 2
dishwasher

Furniture purchased:
Wicker rocking chair
2 x kitchen hutches
1 x antique meat safe
1 x cane outdoor setting
1 x new couch (pictures to come)
2 x cane decorative chairs


Purchases still to make:
Lighting
Taps
Shower heads
Tiles
Oven
rangehood
bathroom heating
ride-on mower
dining table - but we know which one!!


plus.....water tank, solar panels and solar hot water

So that is all I have for you currently. I am hopeful that we might have news at the end of this week :) Always good to be hopeful!

You win some and well you know.....

Yesterday we were informed that a Council officer did not proceed with our application to remove trees on the roadside for the truck to be able to access the site.

Why you ask?

Because this gentleman in his infinite wisdom did not believe we would be successful with our application.

However now the Building section has pre-approved (waiting on Planning) he had to back down a bit.

So Hubbie and I had a minor freak-out because we believed he had been working on this for 2 months, when in fact he had not.

But guess what? I had a little win.

I rang DERM (Dept of Environment and Resource Management) about the tree removal and they 'suggested' that because we can lop the trees at approx 1.6m it doesn't count as clearing them. So actually our removal company already have the document to allow them to 'trim' trees to access the site.

HOORAY!! Not another lengthy hold-up for this permit.

Now I am struggling because I have Karma issues about not telling the developer that 3 of his 6+ meter trees will just be sticks on the side of the road. But because I am so fed up with the process I am not telling him. He can always apply to remove them completely should he feel that is necessary.

Straight to hell for me, do you think???

A playspace for when we visit.

untouched

I showed you Miss R's gorgeous desk awhile back. It was $10 at our local charity shop, and got a couple of licks of lollypop pink to match her personality.

Well we moved it yesterday and it reminded me that I didn't get to post about finding the chair to go with it.
$2 for a chair, it was in the car very fast!
 No paint involved, although we will shorten the legs by an inch of so it fits under her besk with Miss R sitting on it.

Plus I picked up these curtains on a whim for the girls room, as we have a rose adoration.

The pic is overexposed but I kind of loved it.

Oh sorry I didn't clean up for you...... I'm not particularly good at it :)

Verandah dreams...

Today as the rain poured down, the vegies almost grew before my eyes, and the dryer misted all the windows I dreamed of this.


Source 1

Source 2

Source 3

Source 4

Not just to sit and watch the rain fall with a nice hot choclate and some super yummy, gooey choc raspberry muffins.

But also, ever practical, to sneak a clothes airer down the side and get some of this washing dried!!

Hope you had a nice dry weekend whever you are.

xxxx

Soil test back - the best we could hope for

Soil test is in and it says all the things we were hoping it would. So it is packed up and ready to given a good luck kiss before hitting the express post box on Monday!!

We are so hopeful that this is our last submission the kind of hope that is tinged with great fear at what they might find next for us to produce to there satisfaction.

We are undecided about sending a letter in with the report saying we will meet all the recommendations for the slope and listing them, or just letting the Council come back to us with conditions on construction, what would you do?? The only reason we don't want to do this is in case they don't agree with the report and we end up delaying the project further.

Anyway we are another step closer and a little bit poorer on the road to have our dream home on our dream landscape - wishing you all a gorgeous weekend xx

Awards - what to wear...

Well I am very chuffed to have been awarded the

award which as far I can tell is an award for up and coming 'lovely' blogs. Bungalow Girl awarded me this. I could only wish to be as light and chatty as her, and it has been delightful getting to know her family and Betsy online.

So three blogs from me now to nominate that are newish and delightful

Life in the Country - a gorgeous blog about her life in WA, witty and beautiful.

At Home - I love this blog, it has great style and is all about decorating her home. Gorgeous.

Autumn Blooming - a lovely blog that is about baking and her family life - very new and easy to read.

On a side note I have been Freecycling - it is a network where people can share things they no longer want, or ask for things someone else may be getting rid of.

I have always had a plan to minimise what we have to purchase new for the next house and had a few things I was hoping to pick up secondhand.

A heritage Hills hoist - an Australian Icon and it dries clothes like nothing else, which when you have that love to play in mud, and the city you live in has a lot of red dirt, is very important.

 Plus the kids love to swing on it!!!
The one we scored is 3.4m across, a few loads will fit on it.

A old cement laundry  tub for outside planting - this is just the style I believe mine is completely cement coloured. These curently go for about $70 so I was lucky to be offered this one!

Plus I was lucky enough to be offered a single tub laundry sink as the lady was getting rid of it, it is in good condition, and I can't say i really care what my laundry tub looks like :)

So all in all a great haul and I figure has saved us about $1000, with the added bonus of character and no waste!

Further chair inspiration

I was thinking more and more about the chairs so I thought I'd do a collection of my favourite cane furniture pics to give me a better sense of what I want them to be....

http://simplynaturaldecor.blogspot.com/2009/04/and-another-sister.html

http://www.homelife.com.au/home+ideas/home+help/paint+wicker+cane+rattan+and+bamboo,5450

I couldn't find many.
These were my two favourites.
So time to go white.
I did like the cane, but I hope that I will love it in white!

What do you think?

I made a start on the cane lounges. The rattan has been removed and the edges have been sanded. But I can't decide on whether to paint them white????? What do you think???

Also I am not 100% sure of the fabric. Will it look good on a verandah?? Is it too bright??
I was kinda hoping ti would fade nicely and look more worn as time goes on.

As you can see I haven't sewed them yet as I am just not 100% convinced. It definitely needs more scatter cushions too!!

Love some ideas for where to take this project.

Vegie garden

I have very little idea about gardening.
I am a 'learn as you go', 'trial and error', 'jump in with two feet', 'don't look before you leap' kinda gardener. If all else fails throw some worm juice on it - :-)
In our little house we have a small kitchen garden. It has been lovely to potter in, and the kids and I spend a lot of time ladybug and worm searching. I am getting more knowledgable, slightly, but basically we just all love it as a hobby and when it pays dividends we are thrilled!!!

So we have many tomato seedlings (out of season,) some rocket, and quite a few pumpkins. Plus herbs, basil and oregano currently.

So I thought today the kids and are would head off to Bunnings to stock the garden with some Autumn seedlings! What are we adding, hopefully some carrot, leeks (which we love and is great on Sue Dengate's diet more here http://www.fedup.com.au/) strawbeery runners, and spinach.

At least it will keep us busy instead of obsessing about how tiny our house is with 5 people and how we are a perfectly sized house that is in Brisbane in two pieces : )

Have a great weekend!

It's my birthday and I welcome......

Yep It's my birthday. NO we have not yet received planning approval!!

I have been blessed already with three children who constantly push me to learn better ways to parent them, good health, and a gorgeous smart hard-working husband.

I couldn't imagine being more lucky, truly.

But today I was.

I couldn't have dreamed when my hubbie and I started out, both students living on $60 groceries a week that I would be this spoilt.

Ok here it is 

Yep I'll be the envy of many, well in my mind at least :)

 But it won't be for decoration it will be used to the extreme

as we follow Sue Dengate's Failsafe diet

 www.fedup.com.au which involves doing a lot of baking ourselves.

Unfortunately there was a wait on the Pistachio so I have at least another week until I can caress the goreous green.

What can you do?

Well not a lot I can do currently on the house.
The soil test has been done and the report is being written.

This is all I have on request currently, so nothing I can do can speed up the process.

So I did what all stay-at-home Mums do, go out to coffee :)
Lol if only it were true that this was the life of a stay-at-home Mum.

We visited a place in the Darling downs called The Mill Outlook Cafe. It is a favourite.
Mocca who owns the place has a small amount of rural produce for sale (sma ll by rural standards) including    sheep,cattle dogs puppies, ducks, ducklings, alpacas, and many many chickens.

A great way to catch up with friends while the children beg for all manor of animals to have on the acreage!

I didn't take my camera but I found a link for anyone interested http://toowoomba.finda.com.au/photo/galleries/mill-outlook/#id=mill-outlook&num=2

I needed to rock a little....... and I got too

So I managed it. To rock a little. To feel a little bit great!

How , this is how.
After our Planning/Soil test problems we found out the new report would be extra, a lot extra. Money we realisticaly would have quite a lot of trouble finding.

So I got 4 quotes. I chatted to the company I liked the most and asked what leg work I could do for them to save costs, they cut the quote in half. That's right IN HALF!!!


So I am doing a little celebratory dance, well I haven't stopped my celebratory dance since I got off the phone. I soooo love to save money, and this was a good saving.

Oh I took some more pictures of our site for the Engineers today and thought you might like a look so here you go