Waiting...

We have applied for an extension on our mortgage. Not because we have run out of money, we're actually doing OK on the building front, but so I can stop working until we get into the house. Or maybe not quite stop, but slow right down, any work I do will be a bonus. We are trying to borrow the money we'd need to cover all our bills & loan repayments until the end of the year. This way we can just focus on the house. Kim can get over there early every morning without having to help me with either my packaging or the kids. We had the land valued yesterday so we are just waiting to hear from the bank if it is valued high enough to get the extra money. Wee only need an evaluation of $215 000 so it shouldn't be a problem.
We look at it as buying time, just like you'd buy a holiday. It will hardly be a holiday but it will be heaven for me! I have worked hard for the last 12 years. I am hardly daring to believe it might happen quite yet! I'm not good at waiting, I want to know NOW!!
The funny thing is that the loans manager at the bank has offered us a different mortgage so with the extra money our repayments will actually drop by $50 a month!
Come on phone....ring!

A Blizzard on my Birthday!

The following pics were taken on my birthday, August 10th & the night before when we had a party at the house. It was FREEZING but we had a fire & Kim put a gas heater on in the house. He went to such a huge effort for this party, I'm afraid I didn't take many photos at all on the night, I was too busy having fun (socially deprived I am!!). I had always wanted to have a 40th (last year) but we had nowhere to have a party (our current house is tiny & my business takes over half of it!) so I always threatened to have a belated 40th for my 41st, if we got the roof on the house in time.
We had such a great time. Kim made makeshift stairs to the front door & put plants either side, set up furniture in my workroom with the fire right outside the window. He put the BBQ in the kitchen & set up tables with flowers on them, etc, etc. The most amazing thing about the night was that our building site turned into a home! Everyone loves the house & the feel of it already, & it has no walls! It felt just great having people there with us. the kids ran around & had a ball, it all felt so "normal"!!! We need times like that to remind us of what we're working for.
The next day was Sunday, my actual birthday & I decided that I'd really love to go to the block & have some help building my vege patch. So Kim, Chelsea, Daniel (Chelsea's boyfriend) , Finn, Ivy & myself headed out for breakfast & then hit the shovels. The snow started while we were still at the cafe but at the block it really started to get heavy, it was magical. Because we were working we weren't cold at all & it was just beautiful. Our red roof turned white! Of course I've seen lots of snow when I lived in Canada but having it here is different, it is unusual & exciting. Finn & Ivy didn't know what to make of it!







Kim was yelling from 100 metres away, as he continued to get the garden together in the heavy snow " I LOVE YOUUUUU" !!!






You can see my little vege patch top right, we're just started filling it. I've since finished it, added a ton of compost & I'm just waiting for the last frost so I can start planting!




Chelsea, Daniel & Finn having a laugh to himself. Breakfast at the Common Ground Cafe on my birthday. I love this pic ( :



My friend Tracy snuggling with a tired Ivy at the party.




Not a great photo but one of the few I got. Mario (Chelsea & Brody's dad) with my friend Penny visiting from Buladelah. Penny & I went backpacking together when we were 18! Chelsea's friends in the background looking like surly teenagers!



Had to put this in as it's such a great shot of Kim!



I think this is a terrible photo, especially of me looking like the Michelin man (I was extremely rugged up as it was about 0 celcius but I have also put on a lot of weight this winter, working from a computer chair & no time for exercise) but it's the 1st photo I've had of all of us for so long now. Finn & Ivy were getting tired! Brody left for Canada the next day.

THE ROOF IS ON!

What a great day it was when our roof was completed! Our house is starting to look like a house!
The roof isn't actually complete but at least the house is now covered. The central part of the house that juts out is our kitchen. The long lengths of roofing iron you see will be cut up high & then a roof section will come out at 90 degrees to the rest of the roof. We just had the lengths to cover it for now so Kim left it as is until he gets to the next stage.
We are VERY happy with how it's looking ( :

isn't it lovely ( :
all our hard work is finally paying off & the rewards are becoming so much more obvious.

Looking from the east side.


this is the back of the house as seen from our neighbour's driveway.





We're really happy with how the house is discreet from the back due to the 900mm excavation we did. It's not much but it made a big difference. We are also delighted to hear from our neighbours Sid & Natalie that they can't see any of our house from any window of their house. This is due to the placement of their studio/garage which although small blocks us completely. We all appreciate privacy so are very pleased with this result. When you live on 1/2 an acre in the bush you don't want to look at buildings!


the back of the house Kim's very happy with his straight lines!


some wind shelter, it's been FREEZING!!





FRONT ON, HOUSE FACES NORTH

STARTING THE ROOF

The following photos were taken about 4 weeks ago (I'm slowly catching up!).
George (Kim's stepdad) helped Kim with the roof from beginning to end & they had it all done in about 9 days. Will post competed roof photos shortly!

Finn is 4

I thought I'd better pop this post in before months had gone past!

Finn turned 4 on July 23rd. He was such a happy boy to be having a birthday & he had such a great day! His birthday was on a Wednesday & we had his party on the Sunday. Grandma & Pop George were here for the week helping us get the roof on the house. Pete & Renie came up on the Saturday to give him a present & Pete helped with the roof. The weather was glorious & he glowed with smiles in the sun.
I had asked Grandma to bake a cake for him as she's more of a cake whiz than me & as usual I was flat out with my work, but he insisted on an ice cream cake. he's never even had an ice cream cake so I have no idea where he got the idea. He wanted "3 coloured" ice cream (which we never buy) & he wanted strawberries on top. So shopping we went & he got his ice cream cake.

Happy Birthday big boy! 4 year old now!

These photos were taken over the weekend. Pete & Renie bought him the cutest rocking chair (he wouldn't sit in it for a photo) & thoughtful as always, they bought Ivy a lovely present so she didn't feel left out. Finn was very impressed with such a huge present! They then proceeded to play peek a boo with the box for half an hour, even at age 4 the packaging is still one of the highlights of the day! On the Sunday for his party Jasper & Ziggy came along with mum Stef who babysits for me, Chelsea & Brody's & their friends came & we had a cheap Coles mudcake! I would never have stooped to this a few years back but times are tough! An old friend from Pittwater Steve Wells also came along with his 3 year old Christopher so it was nice to catch up with him. It was cold & we even had a little snow!

CEILING JOISTS

Oh my goodness, 2 posts in 3 days!! Amazing! How am I finding the time? I've been given yet another ebay suspension. I'm such a naughty girl! What did I do this time? I used a template with the dreaded wording "I don't take Paypal from Australian bidders". It was 1 of 450 listings & obviously done in error but they gave me 3 days off. Thanks ebay, I needed it. Of course our bank account didn't need it, but at least they didn't end all my listings this time so sales have still been good & I have caught up on my packaging.

We have sold our truck. We did a private trade with a chap from Orange, he was interested in buying the truck & had a dual cab Holden Rodeo to sell so we swapped (plus some cash). We're happy with the vehicle & even happier with our healthier bank account! We'll be paying some overdue bills & buying timber to build the veranda, timber for our kitchen, the ridge capping to complete the roof, amongst other things. Happy days!

Today we had Finn's 1st assessment day with the Child & Adolescent Development Unit (CADU) at Katoomba hospital. I was quite nervous as I was expecting them to ask lots of questions but mainly just play with him & observe him then turn around & tell us there's nothing wrong with him. I've just heard & read too many stories of this happening. We were there for about 3.5 hours. He was observed & talked to by an occupational therapist, a speech therapist, a psychologist & a lovely girl Rose who is doing her master's & "on loan" to the hospital, she was amazing with him, did lots of activities testing his IQ, drawing, plying, imaginative play, etc.
It looks like they are not going to give him a diagnosis as I suspected, although they still need to see him in a group setting with other kids. This is when they will see him in a different light as in a room full of engaging, interested adults he is in his element. He had a ball! I was not that happy with the outcome of today, I felt dismissed with a lot of things I raised, for example I said that I was somewhat concerned with some areas of his learning. Lyn asked what in particular & the 1st thing that came to mind was his counting. He still struggles to count to 10 at age 4. it's coming together slowly but I feel that he's not really getting it as well as he should be. I was told that that's not of any concern, it's within the "normal" range & nothing to raise any concern. I wasn't asked any more questions about his learning, the subject was changed. I could have gone on! After 3 hours it's hard to continue being pushy & assertive, even for your child. I am sure this won't be the last assessment we'll go through & I'm sure I'll get better at describing the situation but today I found it difficult to be heard. We told them that we'll be going home to a meltdown & we were told that that's to be expected, even "normal" kids would have a meltdown after a morning like his. Dismissed again.
The best thing that came out of today is that the psychologist, Lyn, feels that it's very important to get him into a preschool, as do we. He's been on the waiting list to get into the Children's Cottage here in Katoomba, for about 18 months now & we've been told that he might not even get in this year. It's an amazing centre, very small & intimate with a high level of care. It's very popular so people enrol their kids at birth. Once kids are in very few leave until they start school. Lyn agreed that this was the only suitable place in our area for him & she's going to try & pull some strings to get him in asap! They will follow programs to support him in learning to interact & feel safe with other kids. I'm not yet excited as it would be too good to be true to get him in, good for him & good for our finances. I don't dare get excited just yet! We've been paying $150 a week for private childcare for over 6 months now, I have to do it to get my work done but it's hard to cover the cost. And I believe that if Finn gets a place then Ivy goes to the top of the waiting list in her age group as a sibling. It would be so, so good for all of us! Fingers very firmly crossed at this stage!


The photos below were taken about a month ago with the basic frame complete & the ceiling joists going on. Kim powered through this stage! We had a great time with it, probably the best stage of the building so far, Kim really enjoyed it & I went over every late afternoon to have a beer with him & just admire his work & let the kids have some outside time. The weather was very kind to us & we had almost no rain & mild days. If only it was always like this!

Above is the hallway running from the kitchen/dining room through to the living room. We designed it nice & wide (6 feet) to avoid having any cramped narrow spaces in the house. The large opening on the right is the entrance to my work room, it is wide at the moment as it will be a double cavity sliding door with opaque paneled glass so the northern sun with come through into the hallway without us having to look at mountains of clothing!


had a bit of rain this day, pooling on the chipboard flooring. it's shaping up pretty well to the weather but at this stage we were looking forward to the roof.




my work room


looking down the hallway from the other end


the back of the house, the 2 bedroom windows


the man at work

so neat! I am very impressed with how it's all looking!













This is Kim trying to get the last joists up before dark. He actually ended up being about 3 short!

MORE FRAME--ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO!

This is the beginning of what I hope will be a quick catch up to get my blog up to date! These photos are about 6-8 weeks old. As usual I just haven't had the time for updates, we've been very behind with everything financially so taking time to "blog" just hasn't been justified.

These photos were taken as Kim advanced with the frame, he got most of the external & internal walls done in about 2-3 weeks. It was fabulous to see the rooms emerge as it went up, getting an idea of size & space.

Finn & Ivy giving a little performance for me






the beginning of my work room, a better view than I have now (not hard to do!)


looking out my office window, full view of the cubby & sandpit


pile of recycled hardwood ready to be used for the ceiling joists


taken from the east side of the house, our bedroom


looking from the front of the house into the living room that runs the full width front to back


taken from the West looking into the living room. French doors will be in the space at the centre of the photo, large window to the left.


Rosellas, our new daily visitors. They are shaded by a waratah. The marble frog was Kim's 40th birthday present. He wanted a frog as we have a species of endangered frog on the property, the "giant burrowing frog", we found about half a dozen when digging for the piers, trenches, etc. They live about 50cm underground, are quite big & ugly & have long claws!





Framed!


STARTING THE CEILING JOISTS.