More eye candy

And here's a picture

Yep I've been slack. And here's a picture.
Once I find the rest of them, I will post them as well. Eventually I might even put up some house photos.

(with thanks to Raman Dhillon for writing to Icon with a tip on how to automatically resize photos, cause I was too lazy to look it up for myself).

Oooooh Splinter

I was watching husbang dig some splinters out of his finger last night. He had gotten to the point where it hurt to touch anything, so he thought he'd better get them out before they got any worse. They didn't look too bad to me, quite little really, but he was really in pain. I had a bit of a go, but these things are always more painful when someone else does them, so I provided moral support instead. Or maybe I'm just a weirdo who likes watching things like splinters come out. Anyway, he finally managed to break the final layer of skin over the splinter, which was in quite deep. Then he squeezed and it rose to the surface. And rose, and rose and kept coming. It was at least 4mm long and deep into the pad of his thumb. No wonder it hurt so much. I've had a couple of the rotten things, just under the skin and they hurt like hell.

Then we went on to splinter no. 2. which was in his index finger. I should mention that he was doing this all left handed because he's right handed and so the splinters were all in his right hand. I gave more assistance this time because this one was more tricky and managed to get under the splinter but couldn't budge it. Husbang got hold of it and about 2mm broke off. He then managed to squeeze out the other 5mm of splinter which once again had been straight in deep into the finger. Gross but fascinating.

The worst bit, for him, is that he's only finished one short side of the all round verandah that's going on the house. There are a lot more splinters to come.

Apart from that building is going well. The frames have been put up by Harkaway's crack team of frame erectors, some of them were even good looking which was a bonus. Husbang and FIL managed to get the garage frame up as well and hopefully we will be at lock up in about 3 weeks. Then the inlaws can go home. Yay!

Screaming down the learning curve

So we've begun. It's not until you start a project like this that you realise how much you don't know about what you are doing. Take digging pier holes for example. We got the man in on the bobcat thingy with the drill on front to drill the holes. So far so good. He then points out that all the dirt that accumulates around the holes and then falls in has to be cleared away so that the council can inspect and approve the holes you've just had dug. So rather than have a fairly relaxed day telling the guy were to dig, husbang had a very hot and dirty day scraping dirt out of holes with a tool not really designed for the job. In the end it was about three days in total, as there were about 90 holes. The cleaned out holes were then fallen down twice by the toddler, (who was immediately rescued and is still talking about it), filled with concrete, drilled and piers put on and screwed down. Bearers and joists have been put on top (after much discussion and arguing) and the floor insulation is ready to go. So far there have only been about ten fights between father in law and husbang, so everything is going as expected. Things that cost money keep cropping up, but now we just pay and worry about it later.

So things we have learned so far: it always costs more than you think it will, there will always be something you hadn't thought of and it will cost money too, there are always plenty of jobs for people who are silly enough to offer to help, FIL is never wrong (even when he is), and toddlers and building sites don't mix but they do have lots of fun together. Especially in specially bought bright yellow gum boots.

LMH and Harry came down to help with the first week of building. They were immediately hard at work, playing in the pier holes. Their help has been invaluable, and it is only due to the unfortunate need for them to work so they can eat and pay rent that they were forced to go back to Sydney with husbang's mum. However, they seem to have survived the frequent retelling of stories they have heard many times before, so well done lads. You should know that she is planning on coming to Newtown with the express purpose of coming to the pub where you work to see you. She thinks you are lovely.

If I can find a good photo of LMH and Harry hard at work I will post it soon.

Can you paint while pregnant?

It was a hopeful question from my husband, as he tried to work out when he was going to fit in painting doors as well as 600m2 of walls (not counting ceilings). I didn't know, so I did what every expectant mother does and googled it. Unfortunately for him the answer is no. Well, the answer more correctly is we don't know but we think it's best if you let someone else do it. I hope his mum likes painting. In fact there doesn't seem to be a hell of a lot I will be able to do around the work site. I can't carry anything, I probably won't be taking the toddler out there often because I won't be able to run after him to stop him getting into everything, including the dam, and so there really isn't much point being there. I guess my job will be to keep the home fires burning and have meals ready.

That is going to be the other big problem. The bigger I get, and after the first one I know I get BIG, the more tired, okay lazy, I get and the more likely I am to have a sandwich or takeaway because I couldn't be stuffed cooking. As I see it I'm already doing enough cooking up a baby so who wants to do more? But now I'll have to keep up with feeding at least two extra mouths with husband's mum and dad helping build the house and provide lots of sympathy to tired and sore husband who has been doing his darndest to get the house finished before he goes back to work. It's going to be an interesting time. I think I'll designate one day a week where I get sympathy for my tiredness and aching back and he can have sympathy on the rest. Of course I reserve the right to change my mind at any moment, because not only am I a woman, I'm pregnant and I'm allowed. I am also extremely lucky to have married a man who can grin and bear my mood swings.

Because we like a challenge

Fie on this quiet life he cries, striding in from single handedly building the house (well single handedly project managing it anyway) I want work! Well dear, she replies, how about we're 16 weeks pregnant, and I want my house ready?

Actually it's nothing like that. Except for the sixteen weeks pregnant bit. We haven't started the house, we haven't even left Alice Springs yet. So we'll be about half way through the pregnancy by the time we start earthworks on the site. Of course that depends on everything going to plan.

We didn't plan to be having another baby now, but we can't get the goofy smiles off our faces. Anyway, what's a little pressure between friends?

So, anyone know a really cheap plumber/electrician or tradesperson in Canberra or Yass?

Only 4 weeks to go

Only 4 weeks left in Alice Springs, then we're off back East. To begin either the greatest adventure or biggest disaster of our lives. Or perhaps both. Either way it will be an experience. At least it looks like we will have somewhere to live, all going well, and hopefully our stuff delivered before Christmas. But who knows. If it doesn't happen you can be sure there will be a bitchy blog post about it. But that's what you're here for after all, and I'd hate to disappoint you.

So, things I will miss about Alice
1. All the great people we've met here and have to leave behind
2. Those rare but really lovely 30 degree days that make you glad to be alive
3. Eastside Fish and Chips
4. American Ribs at the Firkin and Hound (if you ask nicely you can have them with chips rather than mash)

and that's about it. I won't miss the dust, the flies and the, ahem, smell. Or K-mart. I'm so looking forward to being able to shop in Myer, and Target and Big W and all those crappy little chain stores that you can wander through for hours, unless you have a cranky toddler attached to your leg wanting to be carried. Must train him out of that habit, he is soooooo heavy now.

Anyway, stay posted for the big move. Although, may not be able to post for a while, since the computer will be in transit, so you may have to be patient. But fear not, I'll be back.

A.W.R. E.

These initials are those of a local real estate agent in Yass. Lately whenever anything (everything) has been going wrong with getting the plans together to put into Council we have been looking at each other and threatening to call this real estate agent and just sell the block now before we even start. Some days I don't think we are really joking.

Sometimes I wonder if we will finally finish the house, stand back for a moment, then dial ... "hello is that AWRE? Are you interested in listing a brand new house, on about 5 acres, 5 minutes out of Yass ..."

But anyway, it looks like we might be almost finally ready to submit the plans to Council. We were hoping for approval before Christmas, and it takes 12 weeks, so basically we could be stuffed. It just depends on what the Council wants us to do. But unfortunately you don't know what you don't know. So we shall see if we get a nice Christmas present from the Council, or if we are twiddling our thumbs waiting for everyone to get back from their Christmas holidays.

So now we wait

Well there are less than two weeks of August left, we are waiting for the final plans to be drawn up, then we have to submit them to Council, which could take 12 weeks to approve them, that's assuming they don't have any issues with the plans of course. Will we make it in time to start work in January? The worst part is that it's out of our hands and there is diddly squat we can do to make it go faster. So when does the fun start?

Yeah maybe we'll lend you the dosh

We finally have conditional approval to borrow money to build our house. Conditional on the bank deciding that our block is worth anything of course. Then we get to play the guessing game.
Which consists of:

Bank: so how much do you want to borrow?
Us: Well how much is the block worth?
B: well, you tell us how much you want to borrow and we'll tell you if we'll lend it to you.
U: Why can't you just tell us what it's worth?
B: because I'm not allowed to.
U: okay, can you tell us what 80% would be.
B: no, because then you'd work it out for yourself.
U: Dammit, saw right through that one didn't you. Okay can we borrow X amount?
B: yes. In fact we could probably lend you a little more if you wanted it.
U: okay, how about a million dollars?
B: no.
U: okay, half a million?
B: no.
U: okay, how about X + 5?
B: I'll just have to do the calculations on that. Yep that should be okay.
U: cool, but we don't want that much, we just wanted a better idea of what our block is worth, without having to pay an extra $600 on top of all your other fees and charges.

Sometimes it feels like your dealing with McDonalds. So do you want mortgage insurance with that? Except McDonald's can't insist that you take the dessert if you buy the meal. Unfortunately banks can.

Mortgage Misery

Two words most likely to make a mortgage broker laugh in your face - owner builder.

Bastards.

Kitchen Conundrum

Well it has begun. We've started the long process of building our house at Yass. Our first step was to disagree on the design of the kitchen. Then I decided that I didn't want an Ikea kitchen. They just didn't do anything for me. So we are back to square one on the kitchen. We have a vague idea of what we want, and it's two completely different things. Things are only going to get worse from here I can tell.