Friday 30th October

I have finally got the main room looking the way I want it, more especially having my Stampin' Up! cards & projects on display but not taking up half the room.  This sideboard used to be in the lounge until we had the big change around of furniture.  I have always wanted the sideboard where it is now but I'm not sure why we didn't have it there originally.  My guess is that as the kids grew things that are in it are now no longer ripe for the picking & it is "safe" to have it in the main room.  It also makes sense to have it in the main room, where our dining table is, because the drawers hold the good cutlery, the placemats & the cupboards hold the good dining set. 

Tuesday 27 October - Creating something Christmassy

Is Christmassy a word?  Oh well it is for me.  I managed to carve out some time yesterday to create a new project using Stampin' Up! product.  Should I show you a photo or just ask you to follow this link & then click on projects?

If you click on the link it will give you the list of what I used to create it & maybe I will make one up at my Christmas Extravaganza workshops that are happening in November.

Monday 26th October

This photo really belongs on Sunday because that is when it was taken but we had 2 different events happen on Sunday so I thought I had better document both.

Erin, Neil, Robin, Phyllis, D & M came back from Sydney & had a stop over in Christchurch before heading on their way to Invercargill.  We don't often all get together so it was a perfect opportunity to have a photo of the whole family.

New Website

I have a new Stampin' Up! website that is up & running, so I have been working on getting it looking more like my own.  If you would like to take a look it is here:  http://www.stampinup.net/esuite/home/katscraps/

Wednesday 21 October - Our Birthday Present

Happy Birthday Scott!

We decided to buy a joint birthday present for ourselves this year.  My much loved Canon 300D is starting to get a bit the worse for wear.  The external flash mount is a bit out of shape & with the advances in technology it is getting to be a very "old" camera.   So out with the old, not really we have kept it for the boys if they want to use it when they are older, & in with the new!  I went into town this morning to have coffee with Scott & while there we picked up our brand new camera!  The lenses we already have fit this one however the memory card & the battery unit are different. 

So now my photo numbers are going to start back at number 0001, I got up to 8936 on my other camera.  This photo is actually photo 8933 so not quite the last one I took.

Saturday 17 October

We are still moving stuff.  The reason it is taking so long is that we are doing a weed out of all the stuff that we no longer want or need & hopefully we'll be able to sell some of it for a dollar or two on Trade Me.  At the moment I am selling some of my retired Stampin' Up! stamps on there & shortly I'll be adding books & cds.  I am thinking that a great big purge of my craft room is in order too so maybe some of my scrapping papers & cardstock will end up on there too. 

Another room that needs a good purge is the boys' play room.  See that big white container it is full of lego & then there is another the same size also full of lego.  I am getting to a stage where I really hate lego, I hate finding it all over the house, I hate standing on it, I hate it getting sucked up the vaccuum.  However it is one toy that gives James so much fun.  James is a different child to Brent.  Brent will happily watch tv or play on the computer, but not James really.  Give him some lego & he can be amused for hours.  I realise it is good for him but there is only so much lego a mother can take strewn through out the house.

Friday 16th October - Battery Charger

Well I thought I had better take a photo of this little fellow seen as he caused so much heartache recently.  I lost him & it meant i had to resort to Brent's little oint & shoot camera that seemed to be difficult for me to hold still, I always had blurry photos.  Scott found the battery charger in amongst the "stuff" that has been pushed from room to room while the house was getting fixed.  I guessed it would be somewhere but there were so many boxes to search through.  I am so glad that we have found it, now I can use my big camera again.  Yippee!

Wednesday 14 October - My early birthday present!

A couple of months ago I signed up to get the Club Scrap Retreat in a Box.  It was shipped out of Wiscounsin last week & to my great surprise I received it yesterday.  Wow!  Was the first thing I said when I saw the size of the box.  It was big!  I then spent a couple of hours unpacking it & oohhing & ahhing over everything in it.

There was a cake box that had a small personalised pink hand towel rolled up & encicrled by paper that made it look like a cup cake, even with a plastic cherry on the top.

There were three different scrapbook kits, a crop in style photo organiser (one of the big ones that holds photos in one section & then in the other there is room for 12 inch paper), a thermal water bottle (with the Club Scrap logo) and 6 projects for me to sit & make.

It really was like Christmas & now i just have to find time to make the projects & maybe I'll be able to show you them or even make them again in Stampin' Up! paper.

Tuesday 13 October - Freesias

These freesias have just decided to start blooming, they are actually bulbs from Grandmother Crigs garden so they are almost a family hierloom.  They also have the most fantastic scent.

June 4 - Junior School Cross Country

Well after several postponements we finally got to have the junior school cross country.  Mum was able to come & watch.  James had to race against the year 4 boys so he was a bit annoyed that he only came in 12th but that was a great run.  This photo is of him nearly crossing the line & as you can see even at the end of the race he was smiling.  Got to love my little smiler!

 

Monday 12 October - Wisteria

I've only just noticed that our wisteria that hangs over the pergola at the entrance way to the house is starting to bloom.  It looks so pretty when it is in full bloom, but gee do those little flowers go everywhere including inside the house.  It looks like my daily sweep of the porch has to start up again.

Friday 9th October - Rearranging Furniture

The good thing about having the carpet done is that really big peices of furniture have to be emptied out so that they can get moved out of the room to be carpeted.  What this means is that when we finally got to put things back in the various rooms it wasn't such an effort to try to rearrange rooms differently.  The "blue room" is a good example of this.  We used to have the entertainment unit sitting against the wall opposite the large window, with the 3 seater couch underneath that window, a 2 seater couch where the entertainment unit is now & a chair against the doors that open out to the patio.

We've decided to change that around so that we can fit a desk from mum's in the same room & we will be able to put a laptop on it.  The boys now have homework that includes internet use so it is best if they have their own computer that is linked to the computer but right beside Scott's computer so we can monitor what the boys are doing on the internet.

Thursday 8 October

The in laws were all flying out to Sydney via Christchurch & Wellington so the boys & I took the opportunity to go & see them while they were at Christchurch airport.  As we arrived at the airport we heard the "wok, wok" of a helicopter.  I was quite surprised to see not 1 but 3 Iriqouis helicopters coming in to land at the Defence area of the airport.

We went inside the airport & found the in laws & the boys had a lot of fun playing on the playground pieces with Danja & Magnus.  Once we had seen them to their gate we went past the Antarctic Base & were lucky enough to see the last helicopter fly off down the runway. 

Tuesday 6 October - Carpet is Done!

We only had one man in to finish off the carpet & I have to say I was worried that it really wasn't going to be completed in the day.  It was finished at 4pm!  The carpet looks fantastic, it smells of that nice new carpet smell & because we bought the thickest underlay it is beautifully soft.

This photo is an up close view of the carpet.  We opted for a textured but multi coloured carpet.  It is primarily brown but it has blue running through it.

The house looks fantastic all carpeted & is a mile away from what we had on February 11.

This is where we started from:

We cracked open a bottle of bubbly (lemonade for the boys) to celebrate the end of our very long & at times arduous 8 months.  It still brings tears of joy to my eyes today when I think that it is all over apart from moving everything back into the house.

It has been a very emotional journey for me, not at all helped by having other family issues occurring at the same time.  I am sure that this has made me stronger somehow & I am hoping that it has also brought Scott & I closer.  I know there were times when we were biting each others heads off, but we got through this together & he has been a tower of strength for me & I hope I was for him.

Next time I complain I have a boring life, you all have my permission to remind me of 2009 & how life is sometimes a lot more pleasant when it is boring & predictable!

Here's hoping this is the last post with the label "fire" on it!

Monday 5 October - Carpet laying Day 1

Monday was the first day of carpet laying.  Carpet Court arrived at 8:30 & immediately the 2 men got to work ripping up the old carpet & underlay.  They got both big living areas plus a spare bedroom & the hallway up to that room all done by about 2pm & then they left.  Apparently they didn't have anymore carpet with them so they weren't even interested in lifting the carpet in the other rooms.  The good thing is that we were able to start shifting all the things from one end of the house down to the other end.  I left at 7:15 to go to a craft creations meeting leaving Scott to move the rest of the stuff.

Geocaching Layout

This layout was created with all Stampin' Up! product.  If you want to see a larger version or find out more please visit my Stampin' Up! blog post here

Sunday 4 October - Moving Furniture

In preparation for the carpet layers coming on Monday we moved a lot of belongings to other storage places.  Spare beds have been taken to the storage unit, a lot of my craft supplies etc have been taken up to mum's & a lot of the more essential furniture got taken out to the garage.

I have to say the whole refurbishment of the house has been a long tiring & madening process.  I am getting to the end of my tether with it & it drives me nutty when I can't find things, for example my camera battery charger.  I know I have had it at our house, but I can't tell you when I last used it or where I put it.  I'm upset I've lost the thing because the other cameras don't take nearly as good photos, & of course as much as I would love to go out & buy a new one I know that somewhere between the storage locker, my house & mum's house there will be my charger.  It just annoys the heck out of me that I can't find it.

It seems like a lot of work but I will be so pleased when we are finally back to rights in this house.  This house has been topsy turvy ever since the fire in February so it is the light at the end of the tunnel that is shining now.  I have to keep reminding myself when I get upset when I can't find things that we are so nearly there.  We are so close to the end, I've just got to hold on to that thought.