FOOTINGS & PIERS

I've been so busy I haven't posted for weeks, but things are slowly getting done! We have had a weekend to Buladelah for my good friend Penny's 40th birthday party, lots of fun apart from me coming down with a tummy bug on the friday night so not feeling too good until the Sunday.

We also had Chelsea's 16th birthday which coincided with Mother's day this year so we had a lovely lunch on the block.


Chelsea getting some help with her candles!




Me & my big girl!!



Sweet 16, isn't she lovely???!!! (ohh, she'll kill me for that!!). ((I think that's champagne in that cup!!))


The kids wanted to know what I wanted for Mother's day so after a few days thought & not coming up with anything material that I really wanted I asked for help pouring concrete! We had the holes for the footings emptied out & squared off ready to fill. We all stayed on the block on saturday the 12th, the kids Dad Mario came up in his Combi & they all slept in that & Kim & I , Finn & Ivy slept in the caravan. Kim & I stayed up pouring concrete until after midnight, I filled the mixer while Kim filled the holes.

After lunch the next day we all got stuck in & got about 2/3 of the 120 hole filled.



We had a big party for Chelsea on the block the following Saturday (hence the rush to get those holes filled). We had about 20 of the kids sleep overnight & party until about 3am. We created a Chai Tent for Chelsea, her favourite hangout at the Woodford music festival where we go almost every year for the Xmas /new year holidays. We had a big fire & the kids danced, fire twirled & I think generally had a good time. Chelsea's old teacher Julie from Kinma came up on the train, she taught Chels for years 4, 5 & 6 & we hadn't seen her since Chelsea finished year 6.










DANCING!!! WHOO WHOOOOO!!!!



LARA FIRE TWIRLING WITH THE POI. GO LARA!!!!



CHELSEA FIRE TWIRLING, GETTING VERY GOOD THESE DAYS!



FIRE, FIRE, EVERYWHERE!!!




MUM HAVING FUN, FINN GETTING TIRED



IVY RUGGED UP TRYING TO GET SOME NEW MUSIC OUT OF THE CD CASE



The gang the next morning on the 'shed" floor: Chelsea, Tom, Jack, Brody, Nat, Merade, Warren & Stef.




The morning after , Brody & Finn chilling out in the Chai tent





kim got the piers for the shed built & the joists/bearers/floor structure up in time for the party . We rigged up a big tarp over it & it became a stage/kitchen & the kids slept there too.



THE FIRST BRICK GOING DOWN, AN EXCITING MOMENT. FINALLY BUILDING UP!!!



AND THE FIRST COMPLETED PIER FOR THE SHED. ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL!!!



Finn & Ivy in one of their more gorgeous moments ( :


and another one!



KIM & FINN HAVING A BREAK

HOLES!

There are 120 of them. Eddie used his auger to dig 30cm deep , 30cm diameter round holes & we turned them in to 40cm square ones. Luckily we had plenty of rain before hand to soften the soil but almost none once digging began. We had our 1st building inspection when they were all finished last Friday & all is good.
Kim has finished the outhouse, nice to have a loo!
The gas has been connected & the trench has now been filled.
George & Barb (Kim's folks) arrived from Victoria week before last with 2 lemon trees to add to our ever expanding future garden. We have the beginnings of a good garden bed between the parking area & the house with a defined pathway through it that will lead to steps onto the deck.
We had a truck load of road base delivered last week which will be a cheap alternative to gravel & sand for out concrete pier supports, it was $150 for 8 tonnes as opposed to about $50 a tonne for the latter. We will also be making a concrete retaining wall along the back of the building site to keep everything contained. That will all happen this week. Then the plan is to get the shed up as we need it up by the 19th May for Chelsea's big 16th birthday bash.
We've just got back from my friend Penny's 40th birthday celebration on their lovely property near Buladelah between Newcastle & Taree. They have built their most amazing house & it is always inspiring to visit them. We have had our corrugated iron cladding stored on their 30acre property for the last 18 months or so (we've been buying building materials for about 3 years!0 so we loaded that onto the truck yesterday & are off to the block shortly to unload it, 60 sheets @ 6m long. The truck is paying for itself.
Still not getting much work done but my photo girl Emma is back at it this week (she takes my eBay photos for me) so I should get back into the swing of things soon I hope.