ABOVE GROUND

I can't believe it's been nearly 2 months since my last post??!! Where does the time go?
People always ask, "how's the house going?" & we always say "great", "good", "OK", or however else it's been going but the fact is it's going SLOWLY!!!
Trying to build a house at the same time as make a living from home to cover both rent & a mortgage, AS WELL AS parenting a 1.5 & 3 year old & a 13 & 16 year old , well, all I can say is "what were we thinking?". No regrets, far from it, but it is soooo hard.
To make matters worse, Ivy has slowly shifted her waking schedule to begin at 5.15am. Like clockwork. So night time work has all but ceased, I just fade at about 9.30pm these days. Which means I need to work during the day, with 2 toddlers to keep busy at the same time. Kim tries to take them to the block sometimes but then he get's very little done. So we either build a house & go broke or pay the bills & make painfully slow progress on the house. We'd love to just borrow an extra $10 000 to cover bills for a few months, then I could slow down with work & just be Mum & Kim could soldier on & build this house. But the banks won't come to the party. Our accounts aren't impressive enough for them, so struggle on we will. We are getting there, we've taken on a nanny 2 days a week so I can work more. Lucy is an 18 yr old friend of Chelsea's from the circus group they are in, Finn & Ivy know her & look forward to their days with her.
At the block we have finally gone above ground & we have piers! They should be done by the end of next week, 108 of them. Then Kim gets to start playing with timber!! The weather has finally warmed up so that has made things a lot easier too. I hope things will start to progress at a faster rate now.
Finn & Ivy have had a cold for about 3 weeks now. It has gone to Finn's chest & he's not shaking it. Fever is going up & down & we've all had a strange rash, especiallyIvy. So we're off to the naturopath/herbalist tomorrow.
I don't get nearly enough time for my photos (apart from ebay ones!), I still haven't even touched on the workings of my new camera. It is great for my ebay pics, so, so much faster & the quality is great but I am not always happy with the accuracy of colours. Would like to figure that out.
The slideshow I added a few posts back doesn't seem to work??
Here are a few of the favourites I've taken so far:

You know what I mean?


Ivy at the park

Finn -Blackheath

little Lily -I love this pic!

Luca - love this one too!


Ivy modelling Baby Lulu


and again



Finally completed the footing holes & starting the retaining wall at the back of the house. Time to BUILD!!!!!







duck at the lake, wentworth falls


wildman


duck feeding


wentworth falls lake


Ivy at Cirquinox, getting into the spirit of things



checking out the talent



I'm so cool



Fire twirling at McCarrs Ck, Full Moon drumming







summer is here-well spring!


yum!!

happy snaps

I am enjoying my new camera! I haven't had a chance to sit down & learn how it all works but I'm having fun anyway. It's been raining, cold & miserable pretty much since I got it so I can't get the kids outside so that's a bit frustrating, we are all going nuts indoors.
Here a few of my 1st pics of them with it.








my fave so far! How cute are those chubby hands!!



\









I've got to remember to clean their faces before I pull the camera out!


this is one of Ivy's classic looks of feigned surprise, it always makes me laugh!

flooring, gardening & doors on the shed

We have progressed slightly on the building front but not a huge amount over the past few weeks. We've just had another couple of weeks of rain to delay things. Kim also went to Victoria & collected our flooring & was gone 5 days. It took a week before that to prepare the loaned trailer for the trip, saving money takes so much time!
Our shed is now pretty much complete & locked up & kim has moved a lot of stuff out of our garage here at the house over there so now I have been able to clear the house a bit & make some breathing room. We are planning a garage sale in a couple of weeks, going to garage sales every week enables us to find some great bargains for the house, to sell on ebay & for the kids but also to accumulate a lot of STUFF!!
The flooring is fantastic, a great buy. It looks great stacked neatly over on the block ready to go! It's nice to see all the piles of materials accumulating, it makes it start to feel very real finally.
Here a pic of the truck/trailer loaded up the day after they got home.

I believe that's about 4 tonnes of timber.


We also had Finn's 3rd birthday (July 23rd), here's a few pics of his party we had on the block that was a really great day, cold but not freezing & everyone just had fun.




getting some help with the cake, he wanted "a cake with strawberries on it".


His very own brushcutter to help clear all that tea-tree!



Mario & Brody helping Finn get a little more bounce out of his trampoline!

Talking to Grandma on the phone, & seeing her!!


Chelsea & friends


Still 40 holes to fill, they've been rained in so many times they need a bit of re-digging.


Ivy's 1st fairy bread experience, I think she liked it.

Today I got the kids outside & took my 1st natural light shots of them with the new camera (I think I'm going to nickname it "the toy", it's just too much fun!)
I couldn't chose which shots to add here so I made up a little slideshow but forgot to include a few a that I am quite happy with:

40 today!!

I wrote this 3 days ago on my birthday & saved the draft but didn't get a chance to add to it, so here it is:
yes, I'm 40 years old today!! A new decade beginning...Boy I hope it will be an easier one than the last decade which has been rich & rewarding but overwhelmingly full & way too busy to the point of chaos! I've lived in 7 different houses in the last 10 years. I have one more move to do & I won't be going anywhere for a long while!!

I spent the first half of my birthday at the hospital (life is never boring) with brody who woke complaining of a painful neck & looking like death warmed up. He also had put himself to bed at 10.15 last night saying he was really tired, this is unheard of for him, I always have to insist he goes to bed & never succeed before 10.30 at the earliest. He & Chelsea missed the bus this morning & while they were waiting for Kim to drive them to school he asked if he could stay home which I agreed to. Then at the last moment as Kim was leaving he changed his mind & went off to school. About an hour later I got a call from school as he was in the sick bay in tears. He had become so hot in 1st period that he said it hurt. I went & got him & took him to the hospital as my dr. was out of town today. A couple of hours later we finally saw a Dr who said the neck pain was muscular, couldn't explain the other symtems, gave him Nurofen & told me to keep him hydrated & watch out for rashes. He's slept most of the afternoon so he's definitely not himself but I don't know what's wrong. They went swimming yesterday following a trip to the national Museum, I think he may have caught a bug from the pool.

We came home & popped a bottle of champagne & Kim made us a lovely brunch of smoked salmon, capers, scrambled eggs, brie, sourdough & advocado, yum!! Chelsea arrived home too as she had a half day today, tomorrow is school open day so teachers needed time to prepare.

This afternoon I did a bt of work, we tidied the house a little, went out for some op-shopping (about the only shopping our budget allows for) & played with the kids. I have been hanging out for my birthday present to arrive but I knew it probably wouldn't as I ordered it too late. I have bought myself my long dreamt of SLR digital camera, a brand spanking new Canon 30D with 18-55 & 75-300 lenses. We can't afford it & it was paid for straight out of our building funds so it was a real indulgence but I am so happy about it!! I never buy anything for myself & I work so damned hard I decided I deserve it! I've wanted this camera for years now.