Single one minute ...

Nagging bitchy wife the next!!!

Amazingly this is not John blogging .. this is Andy!! I've come to realise that as much as I never wanted to be, I'm just as painful as any other wife ... 'pick up this', 'do that', 'don't do that'. :-))

Anyway ... I just hope that these moments of naginess don't send him packing in a few years time!!

Today is my last day of work ... well, last 'day' is an overstatement. Last couple of hours more like it :-)). Tomorrow is cleaning house day, finalising the packing and lunching with friends then we head off to the Whitsundays on Wednesday morning.

The road base is still in a pile in the driveway and the backyard is once again full of tiny swimming pools, but never fear, upon our return this is the first thing we will get sorted out.

So I bid blogging farewell for a couple of weeks, in preparation for an inundation of crap upon my return.

Catch ya later alligator

Progress is slooooowwwwwwwww

Well I think I posted a pic a couple of weeks ago that showed a pile of road base in the driveway that needed to be moved to the side of the house.

Aaah yes .. I recall now that I posted when my beloved was FAR too ill to move from the bed with the only movement being his hands (to enable him to play X-Box 360) and his mouth to call for refreshments.

Anyway .... or ... anyhoo for some people ....... I'm embarassed to say that the road base is still in the driveway and we have done nothing about it! This weekend we are going to have to get off our ample rear ends and get it moved before we go on holidays.

Now ... at this point in the posting, I would advise all men to stop reading and to look away as the next section is wedding related. .................

(pause)

OK .. I think the boys have gone ... amazing how the word 'wedding' can scatter the male species.

I thought I'd post some pics from the lead up to the wedding day (which is now only 13 days away).

Here is Sarah in her outfit ... I call her a junior bridesmaid but I keep being corrected and told that she is a 'flower girl'. personally I think she's too old (10) to be a flower girl so I'm sticking to Junior BM. How gorgeous is she?? She's really looking grown up. I'm not sure if she actually looks anything like me (I think she looks more like her dad) but probably a good thing if she doesn't have any of my looks as she gets older!!!!

This next shot is me at the hairdresser getting my hair done ready for a hair trial (before and after shot)

This last shot is of Melinda's dress (my BF and BM). She made the dress herself and I'm so impressed!!! I must admit that I was very nervous as I didn't want it to look like it was hand made, but she has done a fantastic job. I think the colours are beautiful and against the beach, they should look awesome!!!

And here is Min and I .......

Sing it with me ...

Spider pig, spider pig
Does whatever a spider pig does
Can he swing
From a web
No he can't
He's a pig
Look ooooouuuuuttttttt
He is a spider pig

See what I put up with?

Now you see why I haven't let him add blog messages previously!!!

Well the path is ready to be paved ... well, almost. Just need to lay some paving sand and then the pavers and pebbles. At least you can walk on it now without getting muddy feet.

This sunshine has been fantastic and has dried out our multiple pools in the backyard. I just hope that when we get back from the honeymoon the ground is still quite soft to dig!!!

FYI - 3 weeks today we will have arrived at Airlie Beach!! woo hoo

hehehehe - revenge is a dish best served cold :)

Hi there everyone, its John here, Andys other half.

I managed to get a hold of geek girls password and thougth I might have a crack of putting up a bit of a blog entry myself.

I started to suffer the effects of the flu on Friday. It got so bad that I was wearing my motorcycle dryrider jacket and a beanie in the office and I was still shivering. I rang Andy and told her of my intentions to go home. She said she would come home to as she had the car and house keys and I met her on the train home.

BOY did I some crap on the train. Aparently Andy told a work mate (another woman) that she was going home to look after me. This other girl says 'is he sick sick or is he man sick?' to which The love of my life replied 'hes man sick' and and the first woman replied, well youd better go home and look after the poor dear.

But was I looked after dear reader ???

Oh no. Instead of the call bell, sponging of my feverish brow and general pampering I was expecting, she threw some cold and flu caps at me brought me a jug of water and a glass and left me to it....... all afternoon.

On saturday I wasnt much better. I was berated again for being 'man sick' and I stayed in bed feeling guilty as hell while Andy boxed a path in front of the front garden bed and shifted about a meter of road base. I had to make do watching double impact, a movie where the only thing dodgier than Jean Claude Van Dammes acting was the 80's hair styles and fashion

Sunday I was feeling quite a bit better and I was still feeling guilty for not being able to help her on saturday so I took her out for breakfast at your fav breakfast place, sassy's in nunawading.

Anyway Sunday night Andy started to feel a bit off colour herself, we were sitting on the couch when she told me so I gave her a list of symptoms, headache, limb pain, back pain, 'frozen' eye balls etc and she nodded to each of them. I told her that I thought she wouldnt be getting up in the morning to go to work. 'bullshit' was the reply and I was given a run down about how she was a healthy as a horse and hadnt taken a day off in 3-4 years through something as minor as the flu.

Well the alarm went off this morning at 5:45am, I got up, showered got ready and said to Andy 'well what are you doing?' and she told me to take her car.

I couldnt resist and said 'whats the problem, feeling a little man sick this morning are we?'

I didnt receive an answer, but in the half light from the ensuite, I saw a hand snake out from under the doona, and a middle finger thrust straight up towards the ceiling before going limp flopping on the bed and retreating back beneath the covers.

:)

Poor dear, I hope shes ok when I get home tonight (she needs to cook my dinner).

Who needs Jamie??

Who needs Jamie Durie?? (well, other than for his biceps). I've been playing around with a garden design for the front and backyard. You'll see from my previous post that the front yard has started (hopefully it looks a little bit like the drawing!!)

The mini swimming pools we have in the backyard at the moment will have to dry out before we can make a start but I figure that if we have a plan before we start, it should make life a whole lot easier!!

I reckon the puppies are going to love running on the grass, ruining all my plants!!! :-))

Note; drawing not even remotely to scale!!

A garden bed, some roses and a wobbly hedge

The Gardening Guru

ok .. so I'm no gardening guru but I'm definitely loving this idea of having a garden to play with.

Made some great progress on Saturday while John was away finding his wedding outfit (duly noted that he did not return with a puffy shirt and an eye patch!!). I'll post photos when I can work out how to get them from the camera to here but it's starting to look really pretty in the front.

Next weekend we are going to complete the next pathway and I'll hopefully do the other garden bed .. then it's just getting the dirt ready for the grass and the garden bed along the side of the boundary and we are all done!

Fingers and toes are crossed that the plants grow now!!! After I had planted my roses I was told that they will not grow there as it is too windy, but, I'm going to leave them there and see how they go.

Planting the hedge was a pain in the a*s ... 40 tiny little plants that will take an eternity to grow!! The line that I have planted them in is a bit wobbly when you look at it down the side, but I'm hoping that when they grow you don't notice it so much :-))

Baby it's cold outside ...

But never fear ... in 38 days we will be here ..................



And then flying into Whitehaven Beach by this ......



Then honeymooning on this ....




i can feel the warmth now :-))

Aaah stuff it .. it's only money!

Well ... all is not lost! We've come to the conclusion that it's only money and you can't take it with you when you go, so it looks like the driveway might be getting done!! Woo hoo.

Actually, I won't woo hoo too quickly just in case it doesn't happen. John's job is about to come to and end which means he has to look for something else (being a contractor and all). Very bad timing due to upcoming nuptials and I am just hoping that he doesn't head interstate for work. This is a strong possibility as there is loads of work for him in Queensland at much better rates than here in Melbourne. Anyway .. cross your fingers in the hope that he doesn't go away again! Imagine coming back from my honeymoon with no husband!!!!!!!!! One that I hadn't killed anyway :-))

It was a beautiful day in Melbourne today and I was working from home (yeah right .. 'working' from home) so I took the puppies out for a walk in the sunshine. Had to drop off some gardening tools to Sarah so she could help out in their garden and I was amazed to see how everybody's front yards are changing. Some people have really put effort (and money) into their front landscaping and they look fantastic. Even those that have simple front gardens look fantastic so it bummed me out a bit that it's going to be at least 2 months before ours is looking decent. Good thing we are at the end of the street I guess!!! The plus side is that we get to see what plants do well in the area and what plants don't (although I've pretty much decided what I want .. I can always be persuaded to do something different!!).

The estate is looking really busy though with more and more houses popping up every day. It really is a lovely place to live.

:-))

39 days to the wedding

Need a second job!!!

40 days to go :-))

I promise I won't count down every day until the wedding!!

Well the minister for finance has put the kybosh on all spending on the house until after the wedding. Where is that never ending money tree when you need it??!!!

I have permission to put some garden edging into the front garden bed so that it doesn't collapse into the path we have dug out, but that's about it!!! Boooooooo.

So will just have to bore you with wedding plans until the big day ... :-))

Always remember to plan!!!

OK - so normally I am pretty organised, have a plan in place before I commence anything and do a lot of research before purchasing stuff (from previously living with a 'research king' for 10 years :-)).

As you know ... we were sick of the mud so made a little path to the front door. Decided on black polished pebbles in between the pavers etc etc. On the weekend we started to dig out the next stage of the path (that will run across the front of the house and around to the gate at the side).

Big mistake .. HUGE ... getting these black pebbles that is. It's going to cost around $800 just in pebbles if we continue with these black ones.

So ... plan B.

I'm going to pick up all the black pebbles that are currently in the path (yep ... that's going to be a great job) ... and we will use them out the back for the feature that is going to go around the paving area. Once we've dug out the path completely at the front we'll have to go for something a little more budget conscious. Not sure what yet. Maybe those browny coloured river pebbles?? Will start investigating that next weekend.

After learning the hard way yesterday we watched Backyard Blitz (why was this show cancelled?? I watched it for years when I had no garden to tend to .. now that I need some ideas the blasted thing isn't on anymore!!!). Anyway .... BB stated last night "it's important to plan ahead ... don't just do a bit .. then decide to do a bit more'. Yeah OK, maybe they saw what we were doing!!!!

Anyway ... we made fairly good progress yesterday. Saturday it was raining virtually
all day so nothing got done. Just had a very lazy day indoors.

41 days to the wedding!!!

:-))

44 days ....

UNTIL I GET MARRIED!!!!!!!!!!!

Correction ................ before WE get married :-))

I know that this isn't a house related blog but this afternoon has been about googling plants and finalise wedding arrangements. Wedding arrangements have won out!!

On a more housey front however, this weekend we will be starting the horrible job of digging an 18m drain ready to put some pipe and bits and pieces so that there are no more pools of water for the puppies to drown in!!

we have started the planning of the backyard which is pretty exciting .. now it's just the hard work of getting in and doing it!!

And because it's so cold here in Melbourne, I thought I'd warm everybody up by showing the location of where we are getting married (in 44 days ....) :-))

The gardening bug has bitten

While our front yard will not win any awards, we are pleased with our efforts so far and can definitely picture how it's going to look.

The money tree has run out this week so I was unable to get the pebbles to finish off the path (probably a good thing anyway as the plumbing association is going to check the depth of the water pipes as we believe they are way to high up).

I have started to dig up the garden bed under the windows and have added gypsum and mushroom compost to get the soil ready. Hopefully in a couple of weeks (ie. after pay day) this area will look better.

There is a small 'black' strip down the left of the pathway .. that is a compost/gypsum bed at the moment and in a few weeks will add some topsoil and plant some mondo grass down that side.

Still wondering what to put in the black pots by the front door ... you can see that they are a bit wonky!! i need to level out the ground there a bit. Don't want to muck around too much in that area as that is where John will make a little deck/step type thing from the front door to the top of the pavers.

Anyway ... it's starting to come together. Would love a driveway but ... want to get married more!!!

God bless landscapers

After the weekend, I have a new found respect for people that are insane enough to do landscaping as a profession!

Saturday and Sunday were spent making a path from the footpath to the front door. John is going to build a small walkway/deck type thing out from the front door to meet it so the entry is still not done.

Will post some pics later but we are pretty pleased with the result. I didn't buy enough pebbles to fill in between the pavers so will have to finish that off on the weekend. At $30 a bag the pebbles are currently the most expensive thing in the path!!!!

At least now you can walk from the footpath to the front door without having to worry about your shoes getting an inch of mud!!

Next weekend i'll finish off the path and start getting the soil ready for the little garden we are going to do in front of the windows. In front of that will be another path around to the side gate and then in front of that, just mulch.

One disappointing thing we found was that the water pipe is really close to the surface so we are concerned about digging around too much and hitting it. John was REALLY annoyed about that as he was sure there are plumbing codes and this doesn't meet it!!

Anyway, we are really pleased with our efforts.

Yesterday we thought of a few reality TV shows we could do "Couples landscaping: How to get divorced before you are married" or "Why are you doing it that way you idiot" or "How about you stop being a bitch and telling me what to do!!".

:-))

Give away - 2 dogs to good home

Dam dogs!! yes I know they are hating their new backyard - no grass, no trees to hide and play under .. cold and wet on their little paws. But at 1:00am this morning when I was in my dressing gown scouring the fence line for where they had just got out, I was ready to kill them!!!

No I wouldn't ever give them away but I sure feel like it right now.

I'm going to hit the nurseries on the weekend and see if there is anything we can do to alleviate some of their hatred of the backyard. Might get some mulch delivered and see if that helps them a bit, maybe even buy some trees and leave them in the pots for the moment. At least they have something to look at and play around I guess.

Also on the agenda for the weekend is to buy some gum boots!!!

We are also going to have a go at the front garden .. start to clean it up a bit ready to do some planting. We'll attempt to level it out and give it some form, then investigate the soil type and what we need to put on it to break down the clay.

Unfortunately money is tight so whatever we do, it's going to have to be cheap options for the moment. When wedding is done, we'll get stuck into putting money aside for the landscaping and see if we can't have something decent by christmas.

The street is really looking full now with so many houses almost finished. At this rate we'll be the only house in the street with no driveway and no front garden!!!

We drive past one of the houses in the street (Dave & Bec - for those that have been reading the blog from the start you'll notice that Dave was once referred to as 'knobhead Dave'. A term of endearment only :-))) and feel envious every time!! They have a beautiful looking home with a gorgeous front garden. Very simple yet elegant. They are spurring me on to get stuck into ours!!!

Will post pics over weekend of any successes!!!

The mud ... oh the mud

Even the dogs are struggling with the mud!!! It's awful to have this lovely house surrounded by horrible mud. Cash flow is tight (due to upcoming wedding) therefore we can't afford to get the landscaping done .. not even enough to cover up this %&%()%* mud!!

We did stretch the budget however yesterday and had the concreter come out and give us a quote on the driveway. He said that he could scrape it out and lay road base until we can afford to get the concreting done. We took him up on the offer as it will be better walking on road base than the other.

Wish now we had of added some additional funding to the mortgage to get the outside done, but I guess in a year's time I'll look back at this stage and smile fondly :-))

It's a good thing that the frustration stops the minute I walk in the front door. Still can't believe that the house is ours. Currently feels like I am on holiday somewhere and any day I will be told to pack my bags and move back again.

We are really enjoying the extra space (although I'm tipping our gas bill is going to be enormous for the heating over winter).

John got the plasma up on the wall in the bedroom ... looks absolutely brilliant and he's enjoying playing his X-Box games on a bigger screen!!!

Curtains and timber blinds have gone in .... just need to find some for the bathrooms. Every morning we have little doggy faces at the window while we are showering ... bit freaky having them gawk at you while you are showering!!!!

House pics

Yippee - pics of the house. For those that are interested I'll be updating with the backyard (aka the 'bog') and the front landscaping.

For those with a good eye you'll see that the couches are two different colours! Yes, they are actually navy blue and it was really bugging me seeing the navy blue against the red wall. While they don't look so great from the back, it doesn't look to bad with the cushions and throws. The good thing is that while I'm been going on and on about needing a new couch (which has fallen on deaf ears until now), the big fella agrees that we need an upgrade!! Woo hoo. Couch shopping here we come.

Thanks for sharing the journey with us .... but it's not over yet!!!!!! Got a wedding and a garden to plan.

;-)

The happiness fairy has been

Well I'm feeling much happier today :-)). I think it's sometimes good to have a big vent on paper (or in cyberspace as the case may be). Kind of like therapy this internet thing.

The house will be a hive of activity today in preparation for our move tonight/tomorrow. Each time I go back to 'old' home I can't get my head around how much there is still to pack up but I'm sure once all of the furniture goes, it may not look as bad.

Water tank gets installed tomorrow so I'll be happy if there is no rain in the morning but it can pour in the afternoon to fill our little tank!!

We have our first dinner party on Sunday evening so the race will be on over the weekend to get the house in a reasonably orderly fashion. Actually unpacking is the good part ... packing is crap!

Looking forward to displaying all of the little things I have bought over the last few months. John mentioned the other day that he will be interested to see how much new stuff pops up, lol.

Happy days!! :-))

What's up with the tradies??

OK .. so I'm about to have a bit of a rant and rave about tradies. if you are one, please don't take offence as in general, I love you all.

Quite a few times in the last week I have been amazed at the service that tradies don't give.

I give you example 1.

paling fence installed. looks great, however a billion little pieces of wood strewn across the backyard with quite a lot of rubbish (from the fence) on the block behind us. 7 days after it still hasn't been cleaned up, even after putting a call in to the fencing place asking them why they didn't clean up. Fortunately they stuffed up the gate (made it too small) so the guy they sent to fix it did the cleaning up (might I add, complaining about the previous guy while he did it).

Example 2.

Floor boards installed. Not a cheap exercise I can assure you. You will no doubt (hopefully) understand my fury when we checked his work and noted that he had indeed finished his work, however the floors were covered in dust, muddy foot prints and dust also all over our cleaned kitchen. Upon calling the installer I was mocked by the person on the other end, virtually asking why I would expect that they should have to clean up after they have installed it. Can you believe that??!!! I was most unhappy and fortunately the better half but a rocket up their backside, and made it very clear that we would not be happy (read: you will not be paid) until the floor was cleaned. Was it too much to ask to have a freshly cleaned floor after installation? Perhaps .. I don't really know as I've never built before but logic tells me that you present a quality product to ensure a happy customer who will pay your bill.

Example 3 (not really a tradie problem but an annoyance factor with PD).

I'm pretty positive PD would be making a sizeable profit on the building of our house. Again, while not being a builder or a person that owns a business, I still think that maybe it's the little things that keep a customer happy. Like providing light globes in the 5 rooms that have batten lights!! What's up with that??!!! We have a zillion downlights ... all of which have been provided with a globe so that we can see at night. The very few rooms that have battens (ready for something lovely to go in there) are not provided with globes. How much is a globe do you reckon .... $1 each? Blimey charley .... maybe I'm just expecting too much.

Anyway ... anyhoo ...or any bloody way you want .......will be glad to get home and have an ale or three. Not having a good day as you have probably figured out.