Every day's an adventure

After so many years when the same thing happened every day, we are having different days all the time. Nothing exciting by any objective measure, but always something I personally haven't done before. We finally got out into the garden which was super exciting. And overwhelming. The weeding alone is going to be months of work, let alone anything more adventurous. 

We took to a banksia rose that was blocking the line of sight as we turned out onto the back access road. A full trailer load to the tip of prunings! It was well out of control. The new reciprocating saw is great, as are the hedge trimmers. Battery operated, but by the time they run out of power so have we. I can't do hours of hedge trimming with my weak little arms.

It was a beautiful morning and a lovely outlook onto the frosty cows. Sunday we went back into Canberra to clean for another open home - a few more people through but none of them bought it - and to look at the new carpet we had put in. It's a terrible colour (we didn't see it in person, just a photo) and they did a bad job so we've given them a rousing and they've apparently come back in and fixed it up a bit. Very disappointing ... but the carpet we had was seriously gross so at least it's not that. Then we had lunch with friends and picked number one up from the girlfriend's flat - dropped home via the grocery store - such unusual parental concern was because of a back strain! Fell over while skateboarding home from uni! This is a new pastime and I'm not sure it is an entirely good idea. But I'm glad we were in town and able to help.

And we are a big step closer to proper unpacking with the completion of the kitchen bench. We had to get the cupboard guy around to cut the wooden benchtop - we don't have the proper tools - and he did that, and attached it properly, and then suggested he could finish it off if we wanted him to ... which we absolutely did. And it took him and his offsider most of the morning - he said we would have found it a bit tricky - and because he is a perfectionist it looks amazing, and he put a lip on the back to try and compensate for the fact that the floor is completely not level in every direction, and the wall is also not level but in a different way. 

Cupboard guy's supervision dog was helping as well - she wasn't allowed inside because of the cat so followed my husband down to the shed to make sure he got the right size drill bit. So helpful. Anyway we are delighted with the unit and consider the cost of outsourcing the tricky bits an investment in our marriage, because there would have been bickering. We put three coats of varnish on the top and the knobs, then put everything in, moved the kitchen stuff out of the bookcases and moved the books in. Or at least some of them ... despite our very best culling efforts we do not have enough shelving and now have to either buy more shelves or lose some books. We can't decide.

Little things

We've unpacked and sorted most of the big things (except those kitchen cabinets, that could be a loooong process) so now it's just the endless little things to try and figure out.

This is the wi-fi extender - our house is kind of a capital-T shape, with the modem at one end of the top bar, and the bedrooms on the long upright - so the bedrooms didn't get any wi-fi at all. The extender has fixed that, and wasn't too painful to install, but the sewing room is right at the bottom of the T and still doesn't get any signal. I won't worry about it for a while, it might not be a problem! Depends what I do with my time perhaps.

I'm not sure if this photo shows it but the sunniest spot at the moment is mid-afternoon on number one's bed. The house itself is mostly quite dark with small windows but the two kids' bedrooms are west facing and get this wonderful sun patch in the afternoons. I have been having a coffee and a little lie down there ... often with the cat. Magnet for any sort of comfort.

The shadows are a bit longer and the nights are getting a bit colder but the fire is good. The washing line isn't in a very sensible place for drying clothes, but we did finally figure out the hallway light. It's a motion sensor! This is the hallway all the bedrooms come off, and they thought it was a good idea to have a sensor light that automatically goes off after a couple of minutes, and which doesn't come on at all if you approach it from the bedrooms. It turns out the oven is electric even though the hobs are gas, which we think is a true marvel of modern engineering. It's still turning out fabulous loaves of sourdough.

I went to quilters again on Tuesday, which was lovely - ten ladies this time. And cake for Carol's 80th, so double winning. I had lunch with my old work team in Canberra on Wednesday where I heard about all their adventures leading up to the end of the parliament. I feel a bit bad about leaving them to deal with it without me ... but also felt quite good about not being there. It sounds like chaos, but it was lovely to see them and catch up on the goss. 

We also took the opportunity to re-paint one of the rooms in the Canberra house and we are getting it re-carpeted. It looked very grotty with no furniture, so we're hoping fresh new carpet will tip the balance. Someone must want it, surely.