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Category Archives: house

Packing time again

19 Sep

With school holidays looming, we’re headed off once more. The cat-sitter (and house-sitter) is booked, the rooms have been paid for. All that is left is to finish work, clean the car and pack. Oh, and write a 1500 word essay.

I have blogged before about trying to pack for game conventions. It’s fair to say, though, that that is the easiest of these tasks. Because when it comes down to it, we throw lots of clothes into a bag and then put games into the car until no more fit. And then trade them out until we have a decent set.

But to do that requires us to pack the car. And the car is still full of stuff I bought at IKEA a couple of months back, when I was going to clean out the Bigster’s bedroom. I got 60% of the work done, then stopped, and now it is around 20% more messy than it was, with 100% more floorspace covered. And I don’t want to move the new stuff in while the floor is still kinda incognito. So that’s a challenge, especially as the Bigster’s response to anyone going into her room while she is there is to go kind of Chuck Norris on them … and she’s there pretty close to 24/7 at the moment.

No-one cleans Chuck Norris's room

Courtesy memegenerator.com

And before that can be done, there are several days’ worth of work to do (because going away just brings all of that week’s deadlines forward by a week) as well as a 1500 word essay on internet censorship to be written.

And I don’t think the meme generator can do either of those things for me, more’s the pity.

 
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Posted by on September 19, 2012 in decluttering, games, study, to-do, travel

 

School holidays aka The Curse of the Working Parent

18 Jun

Hard to believe it’s nearly school holiday time again.

It’s unfair, really, to call them a curse – I enjoy school holidays, and I remember enjoying them a whole lot more when I was the one who got a break from school. But it does mean a lot of juggling at times.

Once we’ve allowed for drama classes and Otto’s bonus holidays, we end up with a single week of nothing, which isn’t all that much when you factor in a couple of outings with or without friends. I’m hoping that will help the Bigster get her health back in order. Was a little unsure about the classes, but she is so keen to do them that I think they’ll do her good. We might go away for the week of nothing, or we might just unplug the phone and stay home. Either is good (although one is more Financially Responsible, sigh).

But the best part – the very BEST part of all – is that somewhere in the middle of all that, Fraser is going to take the girls away somewhere for a couple of days. And leave me at home.

And it is ridiculous, completely and utterly, but I am so excited.

Because I am going to DO SERIOUS HOUSEWORK. And Rearrange the Kitchen Cupboards. And buy – and implement – new Storage Stuff. I even have a guy coming on Friday to wash the rubbish bins.

And if I get really excited, I might even Get A Skip.

 
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Posted by on June 18, 2012 in decluttering, family, school

 

Extension progress? Not much.

05 Jun

The title really says it all. Fraser is still enjoying his “long precontemplative stage”.

Meanwhile, I am trying to clear barriers, so that we will be ready to go when he emerges. Three big steps forward this week.

I went up to our local council on Friday, having paid $65 for them to retrieve a copy of the plans of our house. “Oh, congratulations!” said the guy at the building counter. “It’s exactly 15 years since these plans were approved!”

I frowned. Thought. Counted on my fingers, to be sure.

We bought the house on 13 June 1996. Renovated.

We had visited the house several times, over several weeks.

It was renovated then, too.

And the plaster panels in the walls were dated March 1996.

I decided it was best not to think about it any more.

Then I had a long chat to the building counter guy, which was mostly about him trying to say things without saying them. Which I am not very good at understanding. Essentially, we have to have a car space at the back of the house, even if we don’t use it. Which is bad news. The good news is that putting a big double gate on the back fence would count as off-street parking even if the only parking was on the back lawn. But that’s not really the greatest idea ever.

His other advice was to get EVERYTHING specified, even before we talk to builders. Which makes our probable upcoming meeting with an architect a good starting point. It also means that I can really work on the “fun” stuff during Winter – choosing tiles, floors, paint colours, sinks, etc – really working up that spec. I explained to Fraser that I am happy to do it, but that after I do that work it would be VERY bad not to go ahead with it. I tried to be stern.

As for timing, we have 19 months. Building Counter Guy says that’s do-able. Much more do-able than the many people who turn up when they find out that (a) they are pregnant and (b) they have nowhere for the baby to go. In his words: “In a race between a baby and a house, the baby always wins.” It is, however, not entirely generous.

Meanwhile, I’ve seen our accountant to get my tax on the way to done. A little homework and by the time you are reading this he will be working his magic. As a Self-Employed Person, I need lots of tax returns to show that I am Responsible and Income-Earning when we go to the bank to ask them for a (really very modest) sum of money to pay for these renovations. I slightly suspect that my LATE tax returns only demonstrate 50% of these properties. But I brought my accounts up to date and in the process (I have already admitted this to Fraser and he was justifiably scathing) discovered a bank account that I’d squirrelled some money away into and then forgotten about. Mortifying. But also, fabulous. I can deal with that.

On Sunday, I decluttered the Cupboard Under The Sink and discovered scary amounts of duplicates and of things I don’t want and a Lifetime Supply of Oven Cleaner. More than that, really, because there were 4 cans of the stuff and when we renovate we will get a pyrolitic oven that doesn’t need it. If anyone in the local area needs a can of rather old oven cleaner, please let me know. You even have a choice of brands! And then I cleaned out the plasticware cupboard and sorted all the lunch containers so Fraser can’t complain that we have no lids.

And I enrolled Otto at the IKEA childcare place. Because I foresee quite a few visits there in the next few months. And she loves going there to play.

Next steps:

  • Meet with architect for preliminary designs (we have an agreed trigger point for this).
  • Work up specs (Isn’t that what Pinterest is for?).
  • Pay taxes (ugh).
  • Swedish meatballs.
 
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Posted by on June 5, 2012 in children, decluttering, extension, tax

 

Decluttering many things. A bit. Also, rambling. And some shopping.

27 May

With the amount of work I have done in the last 12 months, I’ve not had a lot of time to myself. Too many long days and late nights have not only sent my stress levels soaring, they’ve also seen our (always cluttered and messy) house really deteriorate.

Last Friday, I made a stand. But instead of cleaning THEIR rooms, I cleaned mine. I dragged things out of cupboards, put shoes back on shelves, made room for some of Fraser’s shirts in the cupboard (first time in years). There’s more to do, and the funky layout of our bedroom coughTooMuchFurniturecough doesn’t help, but it’s better than it was. And one more Friday should get it to where I want it to be.

My side of the room, that is. While I feel strongly that we should share the blame responsibility for the rest of the house, there is a clear demarcation line in the bedroom.

I have a history of trying to declutter. A few years ago, I hired a Professional Organiser to help me and I learned some stuff about how to throw things out. And then she spent a session working with Fraser and I really think it is a miracle that they didn’t come to blows. But that was expensive and really I need to be able to do this stuff myself.

The best attempt I ever made at decluttering was when we refurbished the study. By which I mean, got rid of the old crappy bookshelves and moved things around to make room for my desk and Fraser’s poker machine. And an armchair. The good part was that we paid a couple of students to come over and just pack everything in the room into boxes. No matter what it was. The boxes all went into the Bigster’s room, we cleaned the carpet and put in the new shelves, then we started unpacking. And we threw out (or gave away) roughly a third of what had been in the old study. It was time-consuming, but everything had a place. And when we renovate, I am going to do the same thing. And then give myself a month off to unpack everything!

Anyway. After last week’s bedroom decluttering, yesterday, on that day off where we ended up going ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE (and enjoying it), I sorted some of my tax stuff, opened some mail that had been frightening me (our accountant is lovely, but show me anything related to tax and I am completely paralysed), updated some of my accounts and logged some expenses and OMG MADE AN APPOINTMENT TO DO MY TAX. Which is just a huge thing because see my note about paralysis? I really mean it. Tax and dentists. And heights. Not things I can think about without serious, terrifying terror.

And then Fraser and I sat down and had a conversation about money. Which I think is hugely productive and helpful because we have such different attitudes to money – he is much more cautious and anxious than I am. And he wants me to tell him EVERY SINGLE TIME I use our joint credit card which drives me batty because it is like he is CHECKING UP ON ME and WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS MY DAD OR SOMETHING and it all goes downhill from there. And I don’t reply to his emails about it because to me they are a low priority and then he gets more annoyed because I am being IRRESPONSIBLE and I get annoyed because he is being UNTRUSTING and – yeah. Downhill. On wheels. So instead, I suggested that we sit down every two weeks to talk about Money Stuff and he can go through the VISA card statement then if he wants to. It’s how we found out that Otto had somehow signed up for Club Penguin. She doesn’t quite understand that the bit about “ask your parents” isn’t just for children who can’t read yet. And that was a useful session and I think quite productive. And next week we will talk about Family Stuff. I have even scheduled time in our calendars for this.

ANYWAY. I did more Accounts Stuff today to try to get ready for our accountant meeting next week. And then I cleaned under my desk AGAIN which was annoying because (a) there was lots of stuff that Fraser & the kids had kicked through from under his desk AGAIN and (b) there was some of my stuff that was hiding under my desk which probably means that Otto had got it down there to play with and (c) I discovered (EWWWW) that I was not in fact Incorrect and Imagining Things in thinking that the cats had been wizzing somewhere in the Study and it is in fact just under where our desks meet (but on Fraser’s side – ha!) and then I had to clean up catwizz and carpet and it really was more than just a little bit disgusting.

And now I have cleared my desk (well mostly). Suffice it to say, my next trip to IKEA involves much-needed cable trunking.

So that was my two big (OK medium-sized) decluttering efforts in the last week or so. Three, if I count the accounts and invoicing and stuff – which is definitely mental clutter.

And now I want to make Sweeping Grand Plans like “I will declutter the whole house, watch me, I can do this” – but common sense and the voice of experience suggest that this plan is Doomed. So instead I have a short-term goal: This week, I am going to do a little bit of decluttering Every Single Day. That feels like enough of a challenge for now.

 
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Posted by on May 27, 2012 in decluttering, grand plans, shopping, tax

 

Renovation tools and rules

15 May

As I make my grand plans for our home renovation home extension Palace of Us, I’m looking for tools to make it easier. And I have come up with a few simple rules to help me along the way.

Rule 1: Everything is better with the right stationery.

This is a rule that I apply to pretty much everything in my life. You can do anything if you have enough pens and paper clips (Thank you, MacGyver). But in this case, it’s the My Dream Home binder from Kikki-K which lets me file all the important things like the name and business card of the builder I liked, and the laminate sample chips. With post-its on them that describe what they are for, if I am keeping track.

And a little notebook which I keep in a zippered case in my bag, where I can jot down ideas, thoughts, addresses, brands etc if I run across them.

Tools: Binder, Recycling bin (for the bits I am not keeping), plastic pockets, pen, post-its, notebook, zippered case.

Rule 2: There’s an App for that!

Otto and I have had a lot of fun playing with the Home Design 3D app on my iPad. It’s great for sketching out floor plans and even for simple 3D visualisation. I find it easy to use although restricted in what it offers (and in the range of furniture it has). You can even paint the walls! It’s turned into a fun hobby for Otto, who likes designing houses, schools and improbable structures with no doors. If only it would let you do multi-storey designs, it would be idea.

And then of course there are the myriad budgeting and note-keeping tools that you can get. I suspect that I will use one of those to track the project once we get started, but for now I keep coming back to trusty Excel. Or Google Docs, so Fraser can see them too (but he’d be happier if he didn’t).

Tools: Home design app, budgeting apps, spreadsheets.

Rule 3: When in doubt, ask the Internet.

This is right up there in my rules of life anyway, or so Fraser believes. And for sussing out what the Internet thinks, I am loving Pinterest. I can scan what other people are posting and can post my own stuff – or repurpose someone else’s pin – and I can collect things that are relevant to the extension in one central place.

Actually I’ve raved about Pinterest so much that Fraser joined it too. Except that he uses it to share things but not to view them (Because he’s DOING IT WRONG). So I told him that anything posted to my House Extension board can and will be considered Agreed By Him if he doesn’t explicitly say it’s not. In writing. On Pinterest.

Turns out Pinterest is good for consensus-building, too. At least in theory.

Tools: Pinterest. Oh. And this blog.

Rule 4: Trust me. You’ll love it.

I think this should actually be Rule 1 of my life. Or of Fraser’s. Because much as he may shudder at my grand plans and ideas, by the time I have obsessed about them enough for them to become reality they are actually pretty good grand plans and ideas.

And sometimes he will even admit that.

And I think he’s happier if he doesn’t have to know the detail.

Tools: Us.

 
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Posted by on May 15, 2012 in extension, grand plans, house

 

Home Show

04 May

A quick Google quickly finds the following unmissable events for the wannabe renovator on the Melbourne Exhibition calendar:.

I tried the HIA Melbourne Home Show last Saturday and that list already exhausts me. But if we are thinking renovation (or more specifically, if I am thinking renovation) then the name of the game is Research

Of most interest to me were the builders and extension specialists, some more pushy than others. I spoke to one very nice builder who is only a couple of suburbs away. (Those are my criteria right there. He was nice and he is close by. And he won an award.) There was a free design service where you could take your plans and show them to a designer for advice. The guy thought my plans were good and achievable within the budget I have. Suck-up. And there was a bank you could discuss your loans with. They gave me free inflatable hands for the children. Otto spent a good fifteen minutes smacking herself in the head and saying “Ouch” when I gave hers to her. Who says banks are evil?

Everyone I spoke to asked which Local Government Area we are in. When I told them, they said “OH. You’ll need a lot of lead time then”. Which is what I hear from friends and family as well. Not reassuring.

There were a range of products on show. Some were awesome. I know because the people demonstrating them told me so. Lots of other people seemed to think so too because they were wandering around with AMAZING INDOOR OUTDOOR BROOMS and GRATE PLATES and various other awesome things. Fortunately, there were no shoes. I resisted.

In the middle of the very big exhibition hall was a display of beds. This was very good product placement. I did not try one because I would have fallen asleep and drooled on the covers. Also because I was on a deadline – I had to get back to talk to the free design advisor. (I made it with 20 minutes to spare and was very glad to have somewhere to sit while I waited).

Also in the middle of the very big exhibition hall was Telstra. Not very interesting for what I was looking at but they had free bags of jelly beans. Mmm! Telstra!

I also found AMAZING EUROPEAN WHITEGOODS! NEVER BEFORE SEEN IN AUSTRALIA! I fell a little bit desperately in love with a fridge which was actually not white at all but stainless steel. Which is the trap of a home show, given that I was not really looking for a fridge at all. And it would not fit in our current fridge cavity.

Overall I was disappointed in the show. I am not sure what I wanted – not mystic lights and a voice over saying MELISSA! WE WANT TO GIVE YOU A FREE RENOVATION! – although I wouldn’t have knocked that back – but maybe a more cohesive feel to the event? I didn’t feel I could navigate very efficiently. Would have preferred to see builders in one area, kitchens in another, tat demonstrations in another. And definitely fewer MAGIC BROOMS.

Time not wasted though: I left with some specific information that I needed. About builders and doors and decking and such like.

And some that I did not realise I needed, like MAGNETIC RETROFIT DOUBLE GLAZING. There is a reason it rhymes with AMAZING.

 
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Posted by on May 4, 2012 in grand plans, house

 

Of Peg boards and Nannas. Both mine.

19 Apr

I bought a sheet of pegboard today. That white, unfinished stuff with holes punched in it, that lots of people use for hanging tools in garages.

I’ve been looking for something to hang my jewellery on. I thought about those cheval mirrors that you open and they have storage inside, but they are big and bulky and I don’t really have anywhere for them. Then I was going to use a spare shelf from one of our BILLYs, but I am a bit useless with a cordless drill and I don’t think that “make me a jewellery hanging board thing” was going to cut it with Fraser. I contemplated stick-on hooks but ideas like that don’t last long, even for me.

And then today I was driving past Bunnings and my meeting was cancelled and circumstances conspired so that I was in the left lane at the time so I could just pull in to the carpark and I thought oh well why not see if they have something you could use? And I saw a sheet of pegboard and had a moment of OMGTHATISAWESOME and then a moment of WHOA THAT IS BIG. But there was a guy there with a big saw and before you could say PLEASECANYOUCUTTHISPEGBOARDFORME (or at least not long after), I had not one but THREE pieces of pegboard, all smaller than the first. And some hooks.

And as I drove home, I found myself thinking of my nanna, who died when I was seven and of whom I have not very many memories really. She was my mother’s mother and was not in the best of health, but I used to go and stay with her sometimes and I thought her house was wonderful because she had an old 1950s-style caravan out the back (we never got to play in it) and a piano and this amazing dark green hairy scratchy lounge suite. And a teeny-tiny wood fire, and plates with PINK FLOWERS which I loved desperately and which my aunt and uncle used for years (I think they disappeared years ago, although maybe I should ask whether there is a plate left that I could have in remembrance – they looked a lot like this plate, at least in my memory, although they were definitely not Limoges).  And a toilet with blue water, and a laundry and drying room that was out the back of the house and you had to go outside to reach it. And a milk bar up the road which she would take me to and we would buy twenty cents of mixed lollies. These days, that wouldn’t buy you a jelly snake. And a blue tongue lizard that lived outside the kitchen and terrified me one day because I thought it was a snake.

And when I got home, I realised that it was the PEG BOARD that made me think of Nanna, because she had some in her kitchen (I think a wall, or maybe just above a bench) which she used to hang her soup ladles on. And if I close my eyes I can still see her kitchen, and her chairs with stripy red and white floral fabric – and I could tell you which cupboards she kept the plates in.

And I’m going to experiment with spray painting my spare peg boards with high gloss paint and think about maybe incorporating peg board into my plans for my kitchen. If it was good enough for Nanna, it should be good enough for me.

 
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Posted by on April 19, 2012 in family, grand plans, house

 

Financial Planning, my way. AKA Mature & sensible. Really.

12 Apr

I want to spend, Fraser worries

 
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Posted by on April 12, 2012 in grand plans, house, travel

 

Being Mature, Grown-up and Sensible. It’s a stretch, believe me.

11 Apr

After a weekend of gaming (LOTS of gaming), Fraser and I had our much-heralded Big Talk on Monday.

On the agenda: Would we or would we not go to Essen this year?

Now I don’t know about your Big Talks with our partners, but ours never go well. At least, not when we are both being Mature, Grown-up and Sensible. Frivolous and Irresponsible are much more charming.

Really, this talk was about a lot more than Essen.

[Imagine here that I wrote lots of serious stuff about Bigster and school. Actually I did but I deleted it because it was boring. Upshot: She can't travel in October for the next 3 or 4 years.]

The stuff I deleted demonstrates that 2016 or 2017 would be the next time we could actually all go to Essen. And there’s a family consensus that, whilst cheaper, it would not be fair anymore for some of us to go and some of us not to. This is the down-side of being in a family that shares your hobby. Meh, Germany, what’s that? NOBODY wants to go to Essen *cue weird hallucinogenic music and lights*.

And after that, we have to wait till around 2020 for Otto to be done with exams. That’s forward planning for you! In fact, Fraser and I have a date in England in 2021. If we have done being Mature, Grown-Up and Sensible by then.

OMG IN TEN YEARS MY BABIES WILL BE ALL GROWN UP. << This way lies madness. Do not think about it. It does my head in. Frequently.

Anyway. That’s why we wanted to go this year.

Sadly, we overspent last year and – while we have reduced spending dramatically this year already – we are still spending too much. Which fails that Mature, Grown-Up and Sensible test by a LONG way. So the prospective trip has been cancelled.

BUT – and because it is never that simple in our lives:

Bigster wants to do a school exchange program in 2013 or 2014, spending April to June in Germany. Which would be awesome and exactly what she needs and I think she MUST DO IT – except that we would have to host her exchange partner and we just don’t have room. We always expected to renovate our house but it hasn’t happened. YET.

That’s right. MORE PLANS TO SPEND OUR MONEY. Which would involve re-mortgaging the house (ugh) but would improve our quality of life out of sight. At least until someone tells me what all my wonderful plans & schemes will actually cost.

But – again – this has to happen SOON. Because I don’t think it’s fair to renovate while your kid is doing their final years of school. (Note to self: Life would be much easier if I worried less about being fair.) And because the exchange partner would be here at the start of next year or the following year, and we need somewhere for her to sleep (apparently the cubby house would not be acceptable). And because our house gets messier by the day because we have already thrown out or given away most of what can be thrown out or given away and we just keep collecting games books shoes stuff. We need the extra space. And because my brother & his wife live in the same municipality as we do and their house plans have just been rejected after the Council spent ten months considering them. Which I prefer to call NOT considering them. SERIOUSLY. TEN MONTHS. SO RUDE. With similar stories from other local friends, we have to get started soon or we will be in our nineties before ANYTHING gets done! And the kids will probably have left home by then.

But also because I want a game room and a hidden door and all the awesomeness I am planning for. (You can see some of it here, on Pinterest, if you are interested). (Aside: OMG! PINTEREST!!! What a time suck!)

Cue much Angst and Obsessing from me.

Also, betting odds. To wit:

  • Go to Essen this year: 678,755:1 (Coincidentally, this equates to the odds of winning the lottery with a 12-game ticket. Must ponder that.)
  • Go to BorderCon this year: 1:785 (unless something dramatic happens, we’ll be there)
  • Renovate house this year: 2:1 (I think the odds are good but I always do. Note: This does not include allowance for time-wasting by municipal staff.)
  • Go to BGGcon this year: 364:1 (Still a VERY slight chance of this as there is a work-related conference the week before.)
 
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Posted by on April 11, 2012 in grand plans, house, travel

 

Bought less today (I think)

14 Dec

Just

  • little Christmas thingies for the girls and my work’s potential KK ($38)
  • Lunch with colleague ($24)
  • Apps ($7 or so) (oops)

NOT glass for our front window, because the *(*#@#% glazier who Fraser contacted did not show up. Yeesh.

Oh – and I made F get pizza for dinner because I was so tired by the time I got home that I literally could not stand up any more.

I took Bigster to school late today, because the police were coming. In my parent wisdom, I judged it more educational for her to watch them fingerprinting our front door than to go to the first half of her double Art class. I’m comfortable with that decision.

Oh yeah – and the whole fuss for 16 hours or so about NOT TOUCHING THE DEADLOCK? Apparently it’s really really hard to get prints off a deadlock so they didn’t even try. Aarrrgh – we had been going out the back door to avoid having to touch it.

 
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Posted by on December 14, 2011 in house, shopping, Uncategorized

 

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