BOXES.... YEP... MORE BOXES

Well... today I'm going to make a start on the sewing room boxes.  I did contemplate unpacking a few last night after dinner, but I just couldn't drag me sorry butt off me chair!

So... there's about 13 boxes and a few other smaller containers full of sewing stuff, and by the look of it, toys and odds 'n' ends.

ABOVE:  it seems daunting looking at them all!

ABOVE: Silly Tallulah all alert and interested... by a parrot on the TV last night.  She's so funny.   
We have Amanda, Andrew and kids coming for dinner tonight, so I better remember to get food out of the freezer. 

ONWARD...

10.17 am: ONE.... BOX..... DONE.  Phew!

11.00 am:  THREE... yes... THREE DONE NOW.

12.29 PM:   And I have lost count.  Maybe 5? 6?
Whatever number it is... I am slowly getting there!
I've stopped for a lunch break.  

ABOVE:  It looked so TIDY before I started on the boxes.  But ... ya have to make a mess in order to get it all sorted. 

AND... 8 hours later... It's done!

 ABOVE:  All my fabric is found and put away again.  I've not had a chance to drool.... yet.  I'm too busy... and tired.
Maybe tomorrow.

 ABOVE:  There's still a bit to do to make it tickety boo... but it's close to being totally finished.

THIS is why it's not quite finished:

ABOVE:  Ummm... Steve?  Stew?  Anyone?  I need more shelves!

On a whole, I'm cuffed with my new sewing room.  It is all I have ever dreamed of having.  And I can sit and watch what's going on outside while I sew.  LOVE LOVE LOVE IT.

And now... I have to turn around and get dinner ready.  *sigh*  It's the last thing I feel like doing... but as we have visitors for dinner, I better get a move on.

9.43 pm:  well dinner went well... the family liked my pie and veges.  The grandkids had fun with all the toys in the toybox, lots of happy noise.  They have gone home now and the house is quiet again.
Time to relax and head off to bed in an hour or so.

SEWING ROOM

Well... while there are heaps of jobs still to do around this new home of ours, most of them are ones that involve having Stew and Steve build sheds and the like.


My efforts have been concentrated on getting the inside of the house sorted.


I've finally got most things done, with just the sewing room to go!


That is my job today. I hope to have it finished by the end of the day. Fingers crossed I will find the few 'missing' things in that room too.


We have a garden waste 'bin' arriving today. It will be somewhere to put all the grass clippings and so on. Everything is slowly coming together. It won't be long now before we will be truly settled in. *smiles*


We are supposed to have wet weather for the rest of the week, so if it's raining at 8 am this morning, I will be driving the kids to school...

*sigh*... that means getting dressed early!


Shame I can't just jump in the car in me pj's! But knowing my luck and Murphy's Law, I'd get a flat tyre and end up on the side of the road in me pj's!


Nah, not a good idea. Clothes. I will wear 'em.


ONWARD...


OOOOh! I just remembered... the bedside drawer for the spare bedroom is being delivered today too.


10.22 am: I did end up taking the kids to school. Hopefully Griffin has a better day today. He's really struggling to adjust, he always has been like that.


He doesn't take big changes too well. I can remember when he went to Kindy, he used to cry and vomit EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. For 2 years! And he did the same at school till he was 5 and a half.


I HAD LOST ME MARBLES .....

 ABOVE:  But... I found them again in the sewing room.  Yaa, now I can SEE how much I lose each week in the marble jar.

ABOVE:  I am making some progress.  I have got most of the stuff that doesn't belong in there out... it's piled up in the hallway waiting to be put away.

Our garden waste bag has arrived, they put it in exactly the same place the previous owners had it.

The bedside drawer will be here within the hour... so the day is going great.

ABOVE:  How's that for a perfect match to the bed!  I'm very happy with it.  Now I need to find or make a little 'doilie' for it, and get a bedside lamp.

Right, back to the sewing room...

11.18 am:  And I'm taking a break from the sewing room.  It's quite daunting looking at 13 boxes waiting to be unpacked!

I will have to drag them all out into the hallway, and just do one box at a time, sorting out where everything will go slowly.  It's awesome that there's a double wardrobe to put stuff in as well as the shelving.

But OH man, I'm already tired.

ABOVE:  EVERY freakin' time I turn around, I run into a dog!  So, I got mad and yelled at them.  Poor girls.  They took themselves off to their bed in the garage!

ABOVE:  Well, it's 2.15 pm and the room has all it's furniture in it.  I was surprised I managed to fit in my BIG Horn Cutting Table in there too.

ABOVE:  Now to unpack the boxes!  But I'm taking another break.  It was bloody hard getting that table in there I can tell ya.

ABOVE: The 'business end' of the room.  

Ha ha!  I lay down on the couch at 4 pm and fell asleep till 6!  So no more work done on the sewing room today.
I will continue with it tomorrow.

Winding down... watching some TV. Then bedtime a bit later.

LINEN OR SEWING ROOM?

Today I can choose to sort out the linen, or my sewing room...

LINEN.... or...

SEWING ROOM?

Hmmmm... hard choice!  But I think it will be the linen.

Cos I want to do the sewing room last, and really enjoy doing it.

Though it's become a bit of a dumping ground for heaps of other stuff too.  *sigh*

Yeah, think I'll give it a miss!

I also want to get on the net and hunt around for a BIG rug for the family room.  We can see where most of the 'traffic' is, so want to protect the carpet from getting worn down in those places as much as we can.

Anyone know of any good rug shops in the Waikato?

ONWARD...

So far today, I've been into town (Cambridge) and sussed out where things are... walked through most of the shopping area.

Good for the step count... lol.

Then I came home and did the linen cupboard and tidied up the spare bedroom (all the same room).

 ABOVE:  What a shit job that was! My arms are aching from folding up that lot.
But, at least it's another big job done and dusted.  (Someone must have liked butterflies!)

ABOVE: Now the spare bedroom looks lovely again.  I found a bedside drawer in town this morning, it was on sale for 1/3rd of it's original price, so I bought it.  It will match the headboard and base of the spare bed nicely.

4.13 pm:  I've had a good break from sorting stuff out here, but now I'm going to make a start on getting stuff out of my sewing room that doesn't belong there.

Then TOMORROW I can start unpacking my sewing stuff!  Very exciting!

9.49 pm:  well another day done and dusted.  I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when I finally get to start sorting out my sewing room.

MONDAY

Today is the first day I get to spend ALONE at home.  Our new home.  Excited!

Stew is back to work and the kids are off to school.  

I'm going to tidy up after the weekend, then check the list of 'To Do's' and work on it.

I am dying to vacum and wash the floors!  We have done a bit of vacuming in the past week, but it really needs to be done thoroughly.  

I'm so happy to be almost at the tail end of everything.

Some photos taken yesterday:

ABOVE:  Steve and Bex putting the shelf up in my bedroom.

ABOVE:  Little Archer sound asleep at midday yesterday.  He was exhausted from running (toddling) through the house.

ABOVE:  Steve working on my clothes line.  I can't wait to use it... how weird does THAT sound?  lol

ABOVE:  The linen in the spare bedroom.  Waiting to be sorted and put away in the new linen cupboard (on the right).  A great way to use a 'spare' double wardrobe. 

ABOVE:  The girls using the dog door from the garage for the first time.  They are still getting used to it.  I think they are finding it weird going through a solid wooden door, because they are still hesitant to go through it.

OK... time to go.  I've got a list and I'm going to work on it.

ONWARD...

2.18 pm:  Well... today has gone to plan. I tidied up the house a bit, then I went into Hamilton.

I was on a mission.

To find the best garden centre.  I found two.

For pots and gifts, Palmers at Rototuna are great.

For plants, Wairere Nursery at Gordonton.

I like both of them.

I got some more blue pots for the front of the house, from Palmers.  And some garden bits 'n' bobs from Wairere Nursery:

 ABOVE:  two shell shaped pots, and a copper bird house.  

ABOVE:  This funky terracotta fish for the garden. 

I had a good time in Hamilton... but couldn't wait to get 'home' again.  HOME.  I really love this place!

It only took me 11 minutes to get from Cambridge to Hamilton... less time than it took to get almost ANYWHERE in Auckland!

I'm now going to relax for a little while, then do something about the house.  There is still heaps to do really... I have to sort out stuff in the garage... most of it is going up in the attic space above the garage.  But I want to know just what is there first.  I'm missing a few things, no idea where they are yet.

I've got WW tonight.  I have not done a blasted thing about my 'diet' yet...except to stop eating sweets/biscuits and the like.  Maybe it will show up on the scales?

I can hope eh?

SURPRISED!  I lost 3 kgs this week.  No doubt down to all the work I've been doing cos is sure isn't down to good eating!  I've been eating heaps of crap!  But NOT sweet stuff.  Let's see what I can do if I really try!

Winding down for the day now.  Chillin' out in front of the telly.  Everything else can wait till tomorrow.

MORE PROGRESS...

First up for the day, some photos of our outdoor endeavors from yesterday:

 ABOVE:  The front door area now.  When we bought the house there was NOTHING in the gardens or at the front door at all.  Now it looks inviting.

ABOVE: I had fun directing where everything went out the back.  I will be taking out all the buxus and camelia plants and putting in native grasses, agave's and succulents.

 ABOVE:  The back yard.  It's a gorgeous area.

ABOVE:  looking back at the house... there's more to the right but it wouldn't fit in!  I might have to invest in a wide angle lens.

ABOVE: To the right is our bedroom, with a concrete area where I've put the two chairs and a little white table.  What you can't see is the two racks of washing on the concrete too. lol

ABOVE:  His nibs taking a break.  It didn't last long before he was off doing the next task.

Now... today.

The guys have several jobs lined up.  Getting shelves in the 'new' linen cupboard, a dog door in the internal garage door, and hopefully they will get the new clothes line up.  

While all that is going on, Bex and I will do some smaller jobs around the house, while looking after the little boys.

ONWARD...

 ABOVE:  Pictures are slowly getting hung...

ABOVE:  working, working....

 ABOVE:  Yaaa... a dog door in the internal garage door.  Now we can keep that door closed to keep in the warmth, and the dogs can come and go from the house to the garage, to outside.  THANKS STEVE, you just earned your dinner!

 ABOVE:  Kelly gave me a house warming gift... the very cute blue star picture.  She used assorted blue buttons... very nice.  THANKS Kelly.

So grateful ... the guys got all of this weekend's jobs done. 

- The dogs can come and go from the house to the yard now.

- We will have a usable clothes line by tomorrow night.
  
- We have a new 'linen cupboard'.

- We have a lovely wood shelf in our bedroom to match the one that was already in there.

- My PC is up and running, but we need to get a booster so it will work faster.

I have hung 90% of the paintings and so on, so the house is really starting to feel like 'home' now.

4.36 pm and we are all winding down and relaxing for the rest of the day.
I'm cooking dinner, something simple like sausages and veges, then Steve, Bex and the boys will be going home to Auckland.

Dinner went well... I'm really enjoying the new kitchen... SO MUCH ROOM!
All quiet here now, everyone is in bed and I'm about to go too.

VISITORS

Well... today we are having visitors.

First up, Kelly and family are visiting in the morning/midday.  
They have been asked to not arrive before 10 am as we intend sleeping in!

We need it.  Stew and I are bone tired.

Then later on in the day Steve, Bex and boys are arriving.
We have a 'small' list of jobs for Steve.  Poor bugger, no weekend rest for him.

In a couple of weeks we will have more jobs for him, when the garden sheds arrive and the attic ladder.  He will be able to help Stew assemble them.

I can't believe it, but we have got most of the house sorted now!  I have lots of tittivating to do of course, moving things around, hanging pictures, sorting out the linen.

LINEN:  yep, that is going to be done this weekend.  Steve is making shelving in the spare bedroom for me. I can't wait for that to be done!  Right now all the sheets, blankets etc are piled up in a heap in the wardrobe.
OH and I can finally put the blankets under the spare bed!

I will show you once I've done that for sure.

Stew and I will be spending a bit of time outside today, sorting out the garden pots and so on.  That will probably take a good hour or two. 

I am 'saving' the biggest job till last.

MY SEWING ROOM.

I want to tackle that when everything else is done, so I can take my time getting that room 'just right'.
And so I can drool over my fabric!  *lol*

OK... time to roll over and continue sleeping in!

ONWARD... 

ABOVE:  Kelly and Rena are here for a visit.

 ABOVE:  Didn't take long to find the toy box.  *smiles*

 ABOVE:  Coco after her grooming.  They cut her ear hair too short, but she's still gorgeous.

ABOVE:  In her most favourite place, on her Dad's lap.

Time to head outside and sort out pots!  And bits 'n' bobs. 

 ABOVE:  The dogs are going ape-shit!!!  WHY?

ABOVE:  This is why... we have visitors from one of our neighbours!

ABOVE:  Chooks!  Aren't they beautiful?

ABOVE:  Our walk in wardrobe is finished!  Yaaa... another one ticked off.

3.25 pm:  we all traipsed outside and moved pots and garden ornaments for about 2 hours.

Now the front door area looks awesome, and so does the back yard.

There is more to do, like fill the gardens with succulents, agave's and native grasses etc.  But that will happen over time.  No hurry.

Kelly and Rena have just left and I'm taking a break.

One of our neighbours, (Sandra) called in to say 'Hi', and give us some hot, fresh muffins.  Also the forms to fill in for Neighbourhood Watch.

It sounds like it's a fairly nice area to live in, they have a street BBQ every now and then... so that's lovely.

Steve, Bex and the boys are now on their way.  So I will relax till they get here I think.  Or not!

I might just think of something else to do... 

8.46 pm:  Family arrived, then we had dinner.  After dinner the guys watched rugby in the lounge and us girls watched Britain's Got Talent and did our nails.

ABOVE:  My poor nails are shot.  Short, broken, but with some gel polish on they might be a bit more protected.  I hope so anyway.

Time to sign off for the night.  Time for little people to go to bed, and big people soon after.