Busy Creating OTP?

Do all these count as OTP projects? Can't get any more off the page than a bed!

Nicola got a new bed for her birthday & wanted it painted rainbow.  So each draw is a colour of the rainbow & the base is her fave pink.  I think it worked well & she is very happy.  She has even made her bed properly every morning since she got it.

I saw this rose iron candelabra on the footpath outside work & had to take it home. 

 It is now the centerpiece of our dining room table.  Thanks to Louise for the birds.  The paper roses are Kaiser & the bird cage is Twiddleybitz.  The velvet leaves are from Spotlight.

 While I was a Spotlight looking for something unrelated i saw that patterns were on sale.  I accidently collect fabric but it just sits in the cupboard.  Baby needed a new sweat shirt & pants & when I saw the patterns.  She chose which patterns we were buying & what I made. I wanted a sweatshirt, she wanted the poncho.  She loves the  trackpants & barely takes them off.  The dress fabric I bought when we lived in Napier.  I finally made the Creeper face for the back of D's sweatshirt.  He is very happy.

 I made this little Teddy bear from a Scrapbooking stencil, it is felt.  It is small enough to  be posted to my B.I.L. for his baby. Don't tell them, it will be a surprise!

 What is this? A Layout???  I know I am shocked too.  I have been trying to finish sewing before I start on scrapbooking again. (shhh...I still have I more teddy to make)   I took these photos of my boy when we were away last school holidays & I love them.  They are just so him.  This LO came together quiet easily as I have heaps of stuff i have got over the years for his gaming pages.  The paper is DCWV Generation Tech & the stickers are Jodie Foster.

.......sigh.........

....shower leaking into new study ceiling........guess we should ring the builder..........but I don't want them taking over the house again.............but we do have a guarantee..........

February already!

As you may have noticed I have not been going to well with the photo a day thingy. I have been taking more ordinary photos than usual trying to catch some normal things that we do. I was really upset when they demolished a local landmark building so now I have no reminder of the many hours I spent there as a child, you don't think of buildings changing when you are a kid. So I took a pic of my messy desk at work (must take one of building too). For those of you who saw the pic of the fence fallen over & have voiced their concern, here it is after Scott fixed it. Good as new :)

Anyway school is finally back!! The kids are happy with their new classes & teachers. I bought Nicola the new school uniform dress today, she is very excited & didn't want to take it off. It was expensive but all the rest of her uniform as been hand-me-downs (except the new polar fleece) so overall she has been cheap. I just couldn't stand the state of some of her tops anyone, I hated sending my beautiful baby to school looking like that..... Daniel decided he wanted to be more organised this year, so we made 'mini' pencil cases to fit inside his big pencil case. Red for red pens, blue for blue pens, etc.... Hopefully it works for him, he was very pleased with our results.

The second week of Youth Town went really well too. Nicola made a new best friend & Daniel traded Pokemon on his Nintendo with some of the other kids. The had Laser strike & a trip to West Wave pools also.

Nicola has decided she doesn't want go to Pippins this year, she wants to wait until she is 7 & go straight to Brownies with her friends. Pippins is the same time as the Hip hop dance lessons she wants to go to. I don't mind her skipping Pippins, our one is pretty lame, they only play for an hour a week, no badges or anything.

I went to the Mega Crop at NZScrapbook last weekend. I am making a mini album of our alterations while it is still fresh in my mind & people are still interested in it. I met Louise & her mum there & we had a lovely time with not alot of scrapping done ;) I found a cool new OTP project too, cos I need more UFO's!!! LOL! Here it is coated in gesso & ready to go....

Talking about unfinished projects & the house.....with all the crap weather the other week our house has developed a leak. It is downstairs in the old bit, not the new. The new mdf skirtings have swelled & the new carpet in our bedroom & wardrobe got rather damp (stinky being wool). One of the tiles in the en suite had water coming up through the mortar joints when you stood on it :( So where is all the water coming from?????? Today Scott dug up part of the garden outside the wardrobe. There seems to be no waterproofing or drainage, the dirt is hard up against the bricks. Bricks are not water proof so this could easily be tracking dampness inside, however the dirt that Scott was digging was surprisingly dry for all the rain we have had lately. So we have come to the conclusion that this would cause dampness, but not the amount of water we had coming inside. So now what? Guess we wait till the next down pour & see if we can see anything then. We should still dig down the bricks & fix that, but it is not a nice job, it has to be done by hand, & it is too hot today.

No-labour weekend

What a glorious long weekend we have had! Beautiful weather :)

It started well with dinner at the mall with our friends. Then the daddy's took all four kids home & the 'mummys' went shopping!!!! & then to the movies. We saw "Life as we know it" with Katherine Heigl. It was sooooooo funny.

On Saturday Scott took Daniel & a friend to the Armageddon expo, Daniel was very excited. The 'girls' we to see 'Despicable me' & then went to Pumpkin Patch :) Nicola was so cute, she was posing in front of the mirrors in each outfit & basically chose everything herself. Mum deiced she needed shorts under the dress she chose tho cos it was so short (even tho it was a size 7) so off to Farmers we went. She was a perfect angel, the only thing is she wouldn't let me look at anything for me ;P

On Sunday Scott went fishing with a mate. Nicola & I did some tidying & sorting in her room, clothes, books etc. & I did heaps of washing, it was perfect weather for it. Then Nicola went to my brothers with nana & papa to look after her cousins while they were busy building a deck. I painted some more scrapbooking shelves.

Today Nicola went back to my brothers, she loves her cousins & being the 'big' one. We have had a nice mix of working & relaxing, it has been good.

House update.....we failed our final last friday cos the extreior wasn't painted, which was annoying cos the builder told us not to paint it!!! So Scott spent last weekend painting in the rain & we passed our final on Tuesday!!!!! The valuer has been so it is all looking good & we might finally be finished with builders. We still need to get all the rubbish out of the front lawn & plant grass, but hey, the end is in sight :)

Trademe rocks :)

But first things first...

House update. Bathroom is finished & looks really nice, just some minor paint touch ups needed to be done now.

We did the Trellis fence last weekend, so thought we were pretty much done. However we failed our final inspection because the exterior wasn't painted!! The builder told us not to paint so that the inspector could see all the sealant. So guess what we did this weekend?Picked up the shelf I bought off trademe for $1 from out west, it is perfect for my paint & stuff. I also got these awesome bins to put my ribbons & flowers in. So pretty i was just looking at them & feeling inspired last night, but i can't see my desk yet. So I am going to do some more sorting & tidying now.....

boxes?

The kids had been doing really well sharing a room during the renovations, but it was starting to get to everyone. So we moved Daniel into his new room last weekend, put his bunkbed back up, etc; the funny thing is he hasn't slept in his bed once! Scott got a new toy & Daniel has been playing & sleeping in the box ever since! Not to feel left out of anything Nicola had to have a box too. Tonight is their 4th night in a row.......

In other news...we have finished the wardrobe system & it is installed, yippe!! No more getting half dressed upstairs & half downstairs. We haven't seen the builder for a few days, but we think that is because he hasn't got the new iron for our carport roof yet. Scott has taken a few more days off to finish the ensuite, then we need to do some work outside. So we are almost done :)

busy bees....

Since I last blogged we have been very busy, to busy to blog infact.
I had the weekend off at Megan's Scrapbooking retreat which was awesome!! It was so lovely to have some time out with friends. I did about 5 LO's that all need journalling. Louise's class was great, I am thinking of giving it to mum & dad for Xmas as I did a LO of them. Lianne's class was cool too, learnt a new technique which shall be used over & over again :) I unpacked into the new study, sort of, it is all stacked in the corner so I can't show yet.

While I was away Scott wallpapered our bedroom & half of the wardrobe; & he tiled half the ensuite floor. He also finished painting all the skirtings & architraves. I don't think he slept at all!
We finished wallpapering downstairs last night & it looks good.

They FINALLY laid our drivway on Monday. Our lovely neighbour was home for the day & took photos for me.

Today the carpet arrived! He finished the bedroom, hall & wardrobe, but not the stairs. He is coming back tomorrow to do them. Scott & I are so excited we just finished moving our bed down there. we are going to sleep in our new room tonight!More drama, but I don't feel like talking about it right now. Night all xx

one room complete!

This is the study/laundry on Sunday. Builders finished, it's our turn now! The cost of vinyl for the floor was astronomical & the stupid guy was having a fit about the ramp, I would think it was easy in lino, but no. So we decided to do it ourselves with that laminate floating floor, it was heaps cheaper!
Here it is all finished on Tuesday with the laundry tub installed.

And what is that? Wallpaper???? Isn't it awesome!!!!

We stayed up until 1am Wednesday morning finishing it, but it looks fantastic! Even put my new desk up in it on Wed afternoon, woohoo!!! What's that through the window? The builders starting on the carport! The driveway was supposed to be laid today but the weather was to crappy :(

crisis number 3 & 4

......sigh......I hate building! I know what you are thinking, why are you in the building industry if you hate building? Because I love drawing houses, but actually making them real is a nightmare! So the latest is.....

Crisis Number 3: The inspector came to look at the retaining wall post (this is dude #3 on our job) & he decided he didn't like some of the stuff that has been signed off by dude #1. So he is making us redo it! Can they do that? they both work for the same place! Apparently they can :( Dude #3 explained & I agree with him, so why was it signed off by dude #1 a few weeks ago? And who is gonna pay for the drain layer to come back & replace the cesspit?

Crisis number 4: The builder promised he would have the interior finished by last Wednesday, that was moved to yesterday, but I looked at it & thought that there is not enough hours in the day to do everything, but they kept saying they would do it. So Scott has taken Monday & Tuesday off work to do the painting & flooring, but guess what? they haven't finished! Scott is really mad. We have the paint & flooring ready to go, but the builders are still down there.

...sigh...

What do we have here......

Yes that is Gib Board & a WINDOW!!!! It is finally looking like rooms. & what's this???? an internal door????? So exciting! Nothing has happened outside of a few days because of the weather, but hopefully tomorrow it will be all go again.

We have a Ranchslider!

It is difficult to take a photo of a ranchslider, so here is one of the digger through the ranchslider. The rest of our driveway was ripped up today & lowered, now the base of the existing green retaining wall is showing so they are gonna have to fix that too. They passed the preline inspection this morning so we have some new gib board up! It is very exicting having a newdouble glazed ranchslider, it is definately quieter & warmer than the garage door.At school tonight Daniel did a performance in his Kapa Haka group. It was really good seeing him up on stage & he really enjoys it.

1 step forward, 2 steps back....

....well it's more like 2 steps forward, 1 step back. Failed our pre-lining inspection this morning. The inspector is making us cut out panels of building paper & fix between each existing nog & stud to keep the insulation out of the cavity. So why did they not ask for that when it was in for consent? I must say I was surprised at how easily we got consent, but it would have been easier to do changes then rather than now. So the builders have pulled all the insulation back out of the walls......

Did someone say insulation?

Sorry I can't hear you! hehe. It is quieter & warmer already & we don't even have windows yet. Isn't it pretty? Personally I would have preferred pink, but this was cheaper so yellow is fine with me. The front lawn a mud bath but we passed our drainage inspection today, yay! Our private drainage was not actually hooked up to the public line so they had to fix that too. In other news....Nicola has lost 2 bottom teeth (need another pic of the other one missing too). And my cousin Amye in Oz, got married over the weekend in a beautiful Burgundy dress.

Man with digger....

Yay our horrible driveway is being ripped up!!!!! It was really interesting watching him using the laws of physics to break the concrete, well I thought so. See where the old garage door is lying down, that is our new courtyard where the spa is being moved to. Man with digger now scraping earth off for new carport & driveway. we found a garden gnome in the dirt. Also my hateful mound of dirt is finally gone along with the last of the Camellia's.

concrete!!!!!!!!

Yay!!! The concrete was laid today!!!!
So here it is waiting for the concrete guys to arrive at 7:30am!!! Yes 7:30!!! So I was up & dressed so we could watch. They still hadn't arrived when we left for school & work.

But they arrived just after we got home so we could still watch. The kids just about died when they saw the fake tarantilas on the side of the concrete truck, they thought they were real, hehe. This is the first barrow load of concrete!!!!

Nicola, the builder & I watched the concrete men at work. It was quiet amazing how acurate they were & how level & smooth it was. Unskilled labour - my ass!

Almost finished, but they ran out of concrete so they hand mixed the extra barrow, or 2, that they needed.
Then they came back at 7:30pm to do another smooth thingy (& remove cats foot prints) Dunno how we are gonna keep the cat off it tonight......

Day 4

Plumber has been!!!!! We had to move the plumbing wastes from the upstairs bathroom to the other wall so we could cut out our new door. before.......

After......We came home yesterday from school/work to a house full of dust. It was hanging in the air & every surface is covered in it. The reason for the dust? our new study/laundry door was being cut out. Before.......

After......Hiccup number 1........There is supposed to be a 50mm step between the new & old floors (like in this pic of bedroom doorway) However as pic above, there is no step in laundry/study door. This is cos the original garage slab is not flat :( So the builder & I have been trying to figure out what we can do. The council wanted us to rip the whole floor out & relay it!!!!!!! We are already over budget!!!! That would add at least $5k & put us back at least a week. So we have a solution, it in not ideal, but is ok. We are going to have 50mm step/ramp up into new laundry. This will keep everyone happy & not cost us any more.

Day 1 of Renovations......

We finished clearing out he garage & moved Daniel up stairs over the weekend. The kids are now sharing a room (this should be interesting) We bought our carpet at the Hills flooring sale over the weekend, which was good. we still need lino, tile & a vanity, but we still have time for them. This is the last night my car spent in the Chinese laundry/garage.

So today started fine with the kids & me being ready for work/school early. However when I went to take them to school the garage door spring broke; broke, not came off or anything fixable. The kids walked to school in the rain, but I was stuck! I waited for the builder to come & help me. He had to break the rest of the door to get my car out & I was late for work, but at least I was out We were very lucky that it was today & not last week or anything. The builder wasn't gonna take it off today, but sometime this week, so no biggie. But then I slammed my little finger in the car door, oooooowwwww!!!!! It really hurts. So not really a good start to the day/week.

At the end of day 1 the builders have ripped up the old carpet, taken the garage door off & taken some of the bricks down. Its really exciting!!