Bathroom Renovation #10

Sorry I have not been blogging much over the last week. I have been busy painting and painting and painting and still painting. The walls are all done, the ceilings are all done and the glossing is under way.

The new look cool and calm hall. It is still a bit empty until I get round to deciding where my pictures should go.

The bathroom is finished, apart from the skirting boards and around the window, theoretically. More about that later.

New taps, sink and mirror are installed.

The new larder is painted and ready for its shelving.

The kitchen does not look so pretty. There is a lot more work to be done in there, before I can get down to the painting.

But there is a major problem in the shower. The tiles leak. Within seconds of us putting water on them, the water went through the glaze and discoloured the tiles. I know it looks like it is the grout, but it happens way to fast for the water to be soaking up from the grout. Also if you run your fingers over the tiles you can feel pits where there is no glaze. Soooooo, the whole lot have to come off. The nice new shower screen has to be taken down, the shower removed, the tiles removed and back to square one again. This time, we bought the tiles, so they are good quality and not porous. One day the new shower will be finished.

Oh and by the way my next post is my 1000th post.

The Mission Concert 2009

For the last four years we have bought tickets for the Mission Concert before the artist is announced. Its all part the fun Peter says. So far we have had some interesting outcomes. The first year Olivia Newton John and Chris De Burgh, not my cup of tea, but we had a great night. Then the year after that it was the brilliant Eric Clapton, I really enjoyed that. Last year after a few other artists cancelled we ended up with Tom Jones, which was excellent. This year we bought the tickets early again. The rumours have been flying for months - Paul Simon, Santana, Phil Collins and Bruce Springsteen were among some of the possible suggestions. Today the artist was announced, it is ............. Lionel Ritchie. Peter is not so keen, but I think it will be another great Mission Concert night, and I am ready to party all night long.

Today's Daisies #73

In the post today were some more birthday pressies for me from Peter's Mum and his Sister. A cute little owl for my phone I think, which is going on my key ring.

Another cute owl this time on a brooch.

And lastly some gorgeous earrings. Which were made by my friend Jan. I don't think that Peter's mum realised that when she bought them. So if you are reading this Susan, thank you very much and can you please pass my thanks on to your Mum too.

And just in case you are wondering where the daisies are, have a look at the owl brooch again. It has daisies for eyes.

Sunset - Moonrise

Tonights beautiful sunset.
And tonights moon rise.

And the moon later just because.

Guess Who

Yes, your right its me. Mum sent me this picture today. I can't remember ever wearing a cowgirl costume, but I guess I must have done. Thanks Mum.

P.S. This is my 995th post. Nearly there.

Another Cabbage Tree Snap

Sorry about this but I just had to include another cabbage tree and blue sky snap.

Bathroom Renovation #9

End of week 3 and we are almost there. The shower is in. Minus one essential part that they forgot to send, then sent the wrong thing. Hopefully the final part of the shower will be installed tomorrow.

The hall is plastered and ready to paint.

The new pantry is boxed in and plastered ready to paint.

And all the holes and weird empty boxes have been removed and filled in. Another area ready for painting. We have been trying out colours on the boards outside the house and have decided to go with white. The main reason is that we have had so much hassle trying to match up the existing colour when it needed patched up.

All that is needed now is the floor sanded and sealed, the final plumbing done and the final electric work done and we will be finished. I can't wait. It has been ok sharing a shower with the rest of the family. But I will jump for joy the day we get a toilet back in the newly done shower room.

Kind Friends

Keriann very kindly presented me the this beautiful notice board, for helping her out on her stall. It was not necessary I had a great time, but who could refuse such a brilliant pressie.

In fact I had such a good time, helping out on Keriann's stall, I am thinking of getting back into craft business myself. On a very small scale, just a few fairs a year, perhaps. Watch this space while I think this through.

Vote

Today was election day in New Zealand. My eldest son's first time voting. Although his choice of who he voted for was very different from mine, I am so proud of him. He researched the parties, read the manifestos and registered himself to vote. Its another one of those milestones, like seeing his first steps or his first day at school. In a few months time he is off to Uni down in Christchurch, another very large step and as it gets closer I realise that I am not quite as prepared as I thought I was.

Memories

Today over lunch time I was helping out my good friend Keriann, on her stall at the Holly Hospice craft fair. Every two years some of the big houses around Havelock North are opened up to the public. Two thousand tickets are sold and the proceeds go to the Cranford Hospice. At one of the venues they also hold a craft fair. Which is only open to the lucky two thousand, mostly Ladies, that have tickets to view the houses. This year Keriann has a stall selling her Lavender Hearts. I offered to come along and help out. I used to make children's clothes and sell them at craft fairs, so the whole experience has brought back some great memories and I feel very nostalgic for those days.

Don't you think her stall looks great. No wonder her sales are going really well.

The venue for this year is Te Mata House.

The craft stalls are set up around the edge of a square lawn in front of the house. A brilliant space for people to sit, have lunch or just coffee or perhaps wine and strawberries. Te Mata house is part of the Te Mata Winery estate.

I spotted this very Kiwi barn opposite the car park and could not resist taking a snap.

P.S. This is my 988th post, I think. So look out for the 1000th post coming up soon, with a giveaway I think.

Today's Daisies #72

Today Peter and I were meant to be having a morning to ourself and going to see the Sculpture in the Wildflowers. Unfortunatly our youngest ws feeling a bit off colour so could not go to school. Which meant that instead of the quite meander through the garden we ended up with a full scale march and a small head always inbetween me and the sculpures.

Below are some of the sculptures that I managed to catch with out a small boy in shot.


And some of the flowers including a daisy or two.

Some Fireworks

As its November 5th, here are some firework snaps I took on Saturday night.

Hope you said "Oh" and "Ahh"

Bathroom Renovation #8

Our bathroom renovations at the end of week two. Well actually a bit more than bathroom renovations, we have progressed on to the kitchen. The boxing in of the new pantry has started. At the moment we can't actually close the new pantry door, because the fridge is in the way. Bad planning you might think, but actually once the horrid grey old larder in the corner is removed, we can then shift the fridges further down. But we have to wait until the new pantry is finished. A bit of a chicken and egg situation. Keriann when she visited on Friday gave me a brilliant idea for our front door. It should be red she said and demonstrated with her cardigan, and she was so right. Below are the two reds we have picked out. Peter thinks the raspberry red would be best, I am not convinced yet, but will go with his decision.

And here is the front door complete with all the weather board in place, no hole abouve the front door. Once all the work is finished I will be able to paint. What do you think, will a raspberry red door and very very pale bluey grey weather board look good. I think so. It has got to be an improvement on the current undercoat patchwork and yucky blue door.

And lastly the painted bathroom. I could not get the paint I wanted in the colour I wanted. So went for the paint I wanted in Peter's choice of green. I think it will grow on me, at the moment it seems just too intense. Perhaps once the rest of the room is put together it will reduce the effect.

Today's Daisies #70

Today's daisies are on my birthday cards, thanks Mum and Keriann.

And on my birthday pressie from Keriann, thanks again.

And on my birthday pressie from Callum. Though I think Peter had a hand in this one. A really cool idea. Daisies from the garden, a bit of brown paper and greaseprof paper from the kitchen, looks great doesn't it.

And some beautiful roses from Keriann's garden. Thank you Keriann.

Another one of those sunsets

I rushed out to take this picture, when I should have been washing dishes. Cool I thought, then I turned round to see this.

Way beyond cool and into awesome I think.

Bathroom Renovation #7

Here are the changes today at the beginning of week two. At last the new bit of floor is laid and the big gaping hole has gone. The front door has been moved and the window is in its new position.

We do seem to have a new alfresco hole in the wall. Hope it is covered up soon.

And the best bit is the shelf is up and the basin is sitting on it. I think it looks great.

Oh and lastly here is the hole in the wall in our other bathroom. Just beside the toilet so you can bend over and see who is at the front door, isn't that handy, not.

Spring Clean

Above is what my youngests bedroom used to look like until this weekend. As it was the long weekend we decided to take the bull by the horns and clear out his bedroom. After a trip to warehouse stationary for boxes and a lot of junk removed, we turned the big pile of rubbish into the neat and tidy room below. Doesn't it look so much bigger.


Once we had finished my youngests room I got carried away and tackled the rest of the house. We removed in total 3 car loads of unwanted stuff and rubbish. Two and half car loads of stuff were recycled and only a half a car full was actual rubbish that could not be recyled. Now our cupboards are all organised, a really good feeling. My youngest is enjoying playing with toys that were lost in among all the rubbish, and he even tidied them up when he was finished.