Finally an Update

Where does the time go???
Again, it's been weeks between posts, they should be at least be each week.
Heaps has happened since my last post.........
I had a birthday..............44

Things are really moving along with the house, I'm totally thrilled with the way things a going.
I did say that this was going to be a no stress project, and so far ....... fabulous!!
Here are some more progress photos.
the floor got put down................

the frame went up......................

We had a wonderful Easter, just spent the time with family.
Good Friday we had at the park with Theo's family, it was our turn to host Easter, but our home is not up to it yet so we, went to the park which is about 200meters up the road. We had a wonderful time........

After Easter the roof started to go up..................

and this week I even managed to do a little sewing on Wednesday when I went to my monthly SCQer gathering.
I had a wonderful time, and my sewing machine and I got re-aquainted.
There were about 11 of us doing this project, which made it so much more fun.
It's a Mystery quilt , so I only have a little to show...............

For now that's it. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Whatever you do, Enjoy it, Live it, Love it!!

We have progressed

Things are really starting to take shape.
Really feeling excited here now, its wonderful.Can I just say though, I never realized how physically demanding those first stages are. I watched a little before I went to work in the morning, the hole digger, by the time I left there were 56 holes in my back yard :-) That was the easy part!!

When I arrivede home they had just started putting in the concrete and stumps into the holes.
I watched a little and then went inside, feeling odd. The weather was warmer than expected, Our friend and builder Graham and my DH labourer worked like mad men to get those stumps in before the concrete set. 50 of them!!! When they were done I didn't know how to feel, excited, yes, because this project was really happening, but at the same time I was a bit emotional, because there were these two absolutely exhausted men, blistered hands, and I didn't know what to say. Talk about being wrecked.

Anyway, here are some progess photos.

This is Graham.....THE builder.

And the walls arrived today too (thanks for remembering to take a photo Laura)

DH Theo, the labourer.

Whatever you are doing, Enjoy. 

Busy times ahead

Goodness me!!! Where has the time gone?? Its been nearly 4 weeks since my last post and I was going to try and do one a week!!

With our holiday well and truly behind us things are really happening around here. Justin is back at school, Laura starts Uni this year and a new project has begun, so my stitching will be taking a back seat for a while .

The NEW Project...............An Extension to our house!! And I am the Project Manager??? roflol, DH Theo is labourer and our friend Graham is builder.

We've already started taking down/demolishing the back patio and deck and last weekend Laura's room and the study were demolished!!

All this will be replaced with two new bedrooms, Justin's existing room will become the study, I get a new little sewing room, a new family room and a new laundry and loo. And out the back a new deck area too. I am very excited.

Here's how the back looked about 4weeks ago, the deck and Laura's Room back wall.

Patio and part of the garden.

Laura's room!!

So now, just waiting for the real construction to begin. Hopefully the stumps will go in this weekend???

Just waiting for the surveyor now.

Whatever you do today, ENJOY!! 

Holidays are over..........

The holiday is over, and we had the most wonderful time. We've been home for a couple of days now, the washing is done, most things are put away, but I have beautiful memories.

The weather was not on its best behavior for us this year, but we still had a ball.

We've been going to the same spot for 14 years now, its our little piece of paradise, sadly

our 'neighbours' of as many years are opting out next year, and it won't be quite

the same (won't you reconsider, pleeeease :-(   ).

We have lots of fun, did lots of reading, sewing, walks along the beach, played games in the evenings,

went to a couple of markets,  The best thing is we don't take a TV, so we  have plenty of family time.

I frittered away many hours on the beach some evenings, there were some absolutely divine sunsets.

I took heaps of photos, but I'll just put up few.

This is the view that for the last 14 years I can't get enough of, it just hold my breath as we drive up over the hill and then ............... that first glimpse of the beach/ocean that tells me, it's holidays. BLISS, no matter what, for the for the next 2 weeks!

a few km's further along at Kilcunda, this. When the weather is moody you should see the waves through here!!

       Steven, one of our friends with our daily visitor, a blue tongued lizard.(I wouldn't be picking it up!!)

This is what makes Barney (another camping neighbour) happy, he goes fishing!!!

aaaah bliss!! It was a beautiful evening.

Little gifts scattered along the beach for us to admire,

maybe be inspired??

The end of the first week brought us a couple of cold, wet windy days.

We went out for dinner to the local pub, and this is the view I had right in the middle of dinner!!

Even on the worst day there was something beautiful.

Hubby tells me that there is definitley the pot of gold at the of the rainbow, this photo prooves it!!! lol

These next photos are taken just a few minutes apart, but the change is just breath taking.

(The shadows belong to Millie, Eoin & Laura)

the evening before we left

 

Simply beautiful ......

this taken directly over our campsite, quite scary don't you think??

I'll leave it at that for now.  I hope you've enjyed them. I have a few more to share with you, but I'll leave those for another day.

Whatever you do in the meantime, Enjoy it, Love it, Live it.

Holiday Time......soon

Its that time of the year............HOLIDAYS, Well half at least. I'm on holidays form my supermarket job at the moment, and as of the end of the week from the Post Office too. Then its off to the beach for a little R & R. I've tried really hard to catch up on some sewing - mainly Butterfly Garden, but I can't get motivated. Justin is working on some jigsaw puzzles and I can't help myself, I have to join him. It's a 2000 piece and I just have to have a little dabble. Even DH can't keep away.

and as I had a stroll around the garden this morning, look what I found, a ??Tiger Lily. I'm not a gardener by any stretch of the imagination, but I do so enjoy a stroll around it.

That's it for me for a week or so. Hopefully I'll have lots of photos for you when I get back.

Whatever you do in the meantime, Enjoy it, Love it, Live it.

Happy New Year

Happy 2010 to everyone.
I wish everyone, all that's wonderful, happy, healthy and peaceful.

2009 went out a little bit damp, we had a lovely evening, spent it with wonderful company (Thanks Sandra & Graham and Happy 18th to Millly!! we did that too) and we welcomed in 2010 with some lovely well needed rain. Hopefully its a sign of things to come and we won't have a repeat of last summer. I personally like the cooler weather, it keeps everything fresh looking........me included :-D

I've started the year with a little sewing, but I know its not going to last long as there will be a big project happening this year. We're going to extend!! Yep! BIG project!! And I'm going to get a little sewing room just for me too. The kids a new bedroom each, a new family room and a new laundry. I'll do some photos soon before it all starts some time in March/April. I'm going to hold on to the wise words my friend Glenice
said when I mentioned what we were planning in an email.
"Extensions are fun, exasperating, fun, drag on forever, fun, messy, fun and you will be so glad when it is done." I'm going to focus on the word 'fun'.

That's it from me today,
Hope whatever you are doing today is lovely.

Its over again

Well Christmas has once again been and gone!! How fast was that. All the hype, running around like loonies, the preparing and everything else that sent us mad.............But it was fun wasn't it. I wouldn't have it anyother way.

We have all the Christmas festivities at Mum and Dad's. It starts on Christmas Eve, my brother and his wife who live overseas (currently in Sri Lanka) were here too. Though this year my sister and her family were at her inlaws as they too celebrate on Christmas Eve. We have a special dinner, I would say this tends more to the Swiss side. A fondue with special sauces, dried fruits and nuts, a salad and a few other yummy bits and pieces, not to mention lots of Bubbly. We then open our pressies and towards the end of it all, usually midnight-ish we try to fit in a coffee and some of those yummy cookies.

 Christmas Day we have a simpler day, Rose (my sis) her DH and the kids mid morning  and we do the rest of the Pressies with them. We then have a much simpler lunch, this tends to lean more towards the Spanish(mum) side. Starters is Huevos Rellenos (translation- filled eggs, a tomato, tuna and boiled egg filling). Main is some Spanish ham (Jamon) and smoked ham, spanish chorizo (the cured variety), spanish tortilla and a salad. Then coffee served with some Turron(Spanish nougart) and of course the cookies. (I'll get some food photos next year!!)

The rest of the day is usually spent playing cricket playing with the kids or just plain out doing nothing.

Then on Boxing Day we do it all again!!. This year there were 24 of us, as we don't have any 'real' extended family here, we do have some friends that are close it. We have been celebrating Boxing day with them for as long as I can remember. And on this day we do the Turkey!! Mum makes the bestest Turkey and filling in the world...........well we think so!! My brother is in charge of basting while the rest of us prepare all the other yummy things.  Then the everyone relaxes, watching or playing cricket or both, or just relaxing with a glass of bubbly.

So that is Christmas with me, 3 days of festivities, family and food and I love it. I hope  yours was special too.

Now I'm one holidays from one job, that gives me a little sewing time, which I

am off to do now. Might do a little project first and then I may work on my Butterfly Garden quilt for a bit.

See you all in the New Year.

Have a wonderful New Years, stay safe, and above all Enjoy.

 

Counting Down.....

Only a few more days to that wonderful day we know as Chistmas. Why do so many thngs need to be done BEFORE that day?? We have a whole year to do things, but no, it has to be done BEFORE Christmas.

No matter, I'm as guilty as the next person, but for some reason all this hype makes me Happy.

I work in 2 areas (a checkout chook at a supermarket & at a Post Office) and I can assure you they are both absolute mayhem at this time of the year.

My life at this time of the year is no different, I've been busy too. I managed to do 2 stitcheries for swaps,

this one for my Patchwork group CottonTales our theme this year was Santa's Helpers.

It's a Natalie Bird Design that I rearranged.

This one was for the swap at my local shop Foothills Fabric and Threads.

It's from a stamp I had, I don't know where it got to, but I blew it up ages ago with the intention of doing a stitchery one day!

We've managed to put up the Christmas Tree, decorations and lights,

and I mustn't forget the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

I bought this Manger when we were on our honeymoon in Europe 21 years ago.

My Grandma gave us some money as a wedding gift and I wanted to buy something special,

back then you couldn't find a decent manger scene here so that was what we bought.

I tuck it into the fire place with some lights put some real straw around it, i'll get to that this week..... I hope.

As our family is very multicultural (Swiss dad, Spanish mum, Dutch my hubby's family, my sister is married to Polish/Czech, brother is married to Japanese) we try have a few different Chirtmas traditions. My family do Christmas Cookies as one our traditions. We spend an entire day baking a few weeks before, we turn on the Christmas carols to get right into the spirit of things, the kitchen starts to smells amazing and we have loads of fun.

Here is Rose, my sister with a load of  Totenbainli (Dead Men's Bones) dough.

Dad and Julia grinding up some nuts, and Hermi a close family friend who has been part of our family for years doing the Aniseed cookies

Mum and Rose shaping the Aniseed.

And after an entire day of baking this is the final result.

At the back left to right

Dead men's Bones(hazelnut and cinamon), Aniseed, Chocky(dark chocolate and almond),

Mailanderli(lemon and butter cookie), front Cinamon stars(Almond and cinamon), Coconuts(Coconut and almond)

 

Wishing you all a Happy, Blessed, Peacful and Memorable Christmas with those you love.