Thursday:
I designated today as housewife day and tried to get some things done around the house. Laundry, filing a year's worth of paperwork (we need to do our taxes), making phone calls I've been putting off, that kind of stuff. Not very exciting, but good to get done. Of course I didn't get everything done!
After school the kids had Acrogym (acrobatic gymnastics) then we had a quick dinner then off to Jasmine's musical soiree. Every term Jas' school puts on a little concert for both Primary and High School; the school band, African drums, a few little girls singing with squeaky voices, piano and violin solos, very talented teenage boys playing Metallica etc. It was supposed to go for one hour but went for two! I could see a lot of improvement in Jasmine's group (High School band - she plays clarinet which she only started last term, in the past she has learned violin and trumpet). Most of the evening was quite enjoyable.
Showing posts with label housework. Show all posts
Showing posts with label housework. Show all posts
Thursday, September 8, 2016
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Housework day
Wednesday:
I was home all day today, dealing with this and that. Ever since we got our new internet set up here, we've been able to receive emails but not send them except by an inconvenient roundabout method from the provider's website. I spent two hours on the phone with them this morning and finally got that fixed. Then there was the tree out the front, at the end of last week a big branch split from the trunk but wasn't quite separated, it was draped across the sidewalk and blocking our mailbox and people walking past. Today someone came out and gave me a quote to get that dealt with, and they are coming back tomorrow. Even if I knew where our gardening tools were, we don't have a chainsaw or anything hefty enough to deal with issue.
I also had to wait most of the day for a delivery. As well as the dining table (which I called about today and we expect to get a couple of days before Christmas!!! I hope!!!) we bought a couple of other items of furniture, like a wardrobe for Aiden as his room doesn't have one. I ordered a bright red flat-packed kid's wardrobe from the local hardware store, hopefully that will come soon. He doesn't have anywhere to hang the few items that need hanging, like his school shirts. But anyway, today was a "lamp table" for the lounge. It is going to be our recharging port, at night all recharging technology sits on that table, plugged in nearby. I wanted to make sure everything was out of the bedrooms, and also kept where it wouldn't get lost. Now it all has a specific place to live. And a drawer to put spare bits in. But that didn't come until mid-afternoon so I couldn't leave the house most of the day.
Aside from that it was housework day. Urg. What fun. I don't have a specific day of the week for housework, and of course some things need to be done every day, but sometimes when I don't have anything scheduled outside the house and I can see the laundry piling up or whatever, I just say to myself "today is housework day" and get it done. Well, some of it anyway.
Despite any grumbling I do here, I am actually very happy at the moment and content with my new house. Especially on a lovely cooler day like today.
I was home all day today, dealing with this and that. Ever since we got our new internet set up here, we've been able to receive emails but not send them except by an inconvenient roundabout method from the provider's website. I spent two hours on the phone with them this morning and finally got that fixed. Then there was the tree out the front, at the end of last week a big branch split from the trunk but wasn't quite separated, it was draped across the sidewalk and blocking our mailbox and people walking past. Today someone came out and gave me a quote to get that dealt with, and they are coming back tomorrow. Even if I knew where our gardening tools were, we don't have a chainsaw or anything hefty enough to deal with issue.
I also had to wait most of the day for a delivery. As well as the dining table (which I called about today and we expect to get a couple of days before Christmas!!! I hope!!!) we bought a couple of other items of furniture, like a wardrobe for Aiden as his room doesn't have one. I ordered a bright red flat-packed kid's wardrobe from the local hardware store, hopefully that will come soon. He doesn't have anywhere to hang the few items that need hanging, like his school shirts. But anyway, today was a "lamp table" for the lounge. It is going to be our recharging port, at night all recharging technology sits on that table, plugged in nearby. I wanted to make sure everything was out of the bedrooms, and also kept where it wouldn't get lost. Now it all has a specific place to live. And a drawer to put spare bits in. But that didn't come until mid-afternoon so I couldn't leave the house most of the day.
Aside from that it was housework day. Urg. What fun. I don't have a specific day of the week for housework, and of course some things need to be done every day, but sometimes when I don't have anything scheduled outside the house and I can see the laundry piling up or whatever, I just say to myself "today is housework day" and get it done. Well, some of it anyway.
Despite any grumbling I do here, I am actually very happy at the moment and content with my new house. Especially on a lovely cooler day like today.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
An endless parade of strange men in my house
Wednesday:
Another couple of days of various things getting ready for moving. Today we had a handyman here fixing a final couple of things, then the building and pest inspection man to do his inspection (no major issues there). An endless parade of strange men in my house! That sounds more exciting than it is. I did a bit more housework. I cleaned under the sink, where the bin sits and exudes nastiness, and wiped down all the walls and doors around the inside of the house. Also did a lot of research about houses to potentially build on this empty block we are considering buying.
I don't think that is going to work out. It is quite a small block, and the house I want just won't fit on it. There is a "carriageway" (right of way, presumably in case they later build in what is currently bushland) down the side that you can't build on and that takes up a lot of space, and the block is at the end of a cul-de-sack so it is an odd fan shape, very narrow at the front and wide at the back. I have a copy of the plans for the house that the previous owner planned to build, they obviously had architects work out the optimal floor plan for the space instead of going to one of the big building companies. We would have to get something very similar, and it's not exactly what we want. Do we go to all the trouble (and waiting up to a year) of building for ourselves when it's not perfect, and might be really expensive to organise? If we're going for close-enough, we might as well buy a pre-built house. Still thinking about it.
Luckily I have found about ten houses to look at this weekend. We really need to find and buy in the next couple of weeks if we want to avoid renting for a while. Kinda stressful. But we'll find somewhere eventually. What I find stressful is that it's not just a matter of finding a house we like and can afford, but then we have to go through the whole auction process and probably not get it anyway! Some of those we'll look at this weekend have a listed price instead of going to auction, maybe we'll like one of those.
Another couple of days of various things getting ready for moving. Today we had a handyman here fixing a final couple of things, then the building and pest inspection man to do his inspection (no major issues there). An endless parade of strange men in my house! That sounds more exciting than it is. I did a bit more housework. I cleaned under the sink, where the bin sits and exudes nastiness, and wiped down all the walls and doors around the inside of the house. Also did a lot of research about houses to potentially build on this empty block we are considering buying.
I don't think that is going to work out. It is quite a small block, and the house I want just won't fit on it. There is a "carriageway" (right of way, presumably in case they later build in what is currently bushland) down the side that you can't build on and that takes up a lot of space, and the block is at the end of a cul-de-sack so it is an odd fan shape, very narrow at the front and wide at the back. I have a copy of the plans for the house that the previous owner planned to build, they obviously had architects work out the optimal floor plan for the space instead of going to one of the big building companies. We would have to get something very similar, and it's not exactly what we want. Do we go to all the trouble (and waiting up to a year) of building for ourselves when it's not perfect, and might be really expensive to organise? If we're going for close-enough, we might as well buy a pre-built house. Still thinking about it.
Luckily I have found about ten houses to look at this weekend. We really need to find and buy in the next couple of weeks if we want to avoid renting for a while. Kinda stressful. But we'll find somewhere eventually. What I find stressful is that it's not just a matter of finding a house we like and can afford, but then we have to go through the whole auction process and probably not get it anyway! Some of those we'll look at this weekend have a listed price instead of going to auction, maybe we'll like one of those.
Sunday, September 6, 2015
Auctions and Fathers' Day
Sunday:
Well we didn't get either of the houses we wanted :( It was a long, exhausting and exciting - if ultimately a bit disappointing - day.
To start with, on the drive to Sydney I suddenly realised we were nearly out of petrol. I noticed it just before the warning light went on. The problem was we were on the highway in the middle of nowhere. We pushed on and made it to the next petrol station, but the needle was pretty low! That was a bit stressful. Then we looked at one new house, didn't appeal to us, then went to the auction for our favourite house.
We still loved it and I think we nearly got it. Tim went one bid over our maximum, just in case, but the other remaining bidder went higher and we just couldn't. Actually the other guy then tried to bid again, not realising he had it, so I guess he had even more to spend. We were disappointed but know there are more houses coming on the market every week and we'll find one.
We had a quick lunch then saw another new house, nope, then the second auction. This house, we weren't so sure about. We looked around for a long time and only decided to bid at the last minute. But it went way over our limit almost straight away. I'm not upset about that one, it was a lovely house but didn't really suit us perfectly like the other one did.
If we don't find a house to buy very soon, then we'll have to rent for a while in Sydney while we look after Tim starts work there. In some ways that won't be a bad thing, it means we can sell this house first and not have to borrow so much money. But it's tricky not knowing which school to send the kids too. And a pain having to move twice. I guess we'd keep most of our stuff in storage. But it would be so convenient being on the spot to go look at houses, instead of having to drive four hours each way.
One funny thing was that every list of auction hints we saw suggested we dress well, so we did. I think it's supposed to intimidate other bidders into thinking you are rich, so they don't bother to bid against you. But at both houses the winner of the bidding was dressed in ratty dirty clothes. I'm sure it makes no difference at all. It depends on how much money you have to spend on the house, not your clothes!
We dropped in for a quick visit to Tim's brother, then the long drive home. Tim was already exhausted from the stress - he did all the bidding - and I collapsed when we got home. Such a big day. We both still felt pretty tired this morning.
Today was Fathers' Day, but we had a lot to do today as we had a skip bin sitting out the front ready for our final load of rubbish, including the old trampoline that we had to dismantle first! We have to concentrate on getting this house ready for sale.We spent hours clearing all the junk we'd collected. Tim took apart the trampoline and I trudged up and down the driveway with the wheelbarrow full of parts, and other junk from the garage and garden shed. How many plastic pots does one person need? Really physically exhausting.
It turns out that the trampoline, and the posts that held up the safety netting, were a spider condo. Nothing deadly, but none of us are keen on spiders. And this is Australia, so some of them were pretty big!
Tim had mentioned at work that he was throwing away a treadmill on the weekend (they are impossible to sell because so many people buy one and never use it and then try to get rid of it, the world is already full of second hand treadmills for sale) and one woman asked if she could have it. Of course he said yes, so she and her husband came to pick it up today. Hmm, he never mentioned to me he had such an attractive co-worker... She gave us a box of chocolates as thanks which was lovely, but also a bit ironic considering it was a swap for a healthy device! Maybe it should have been a bouquet of kale.
It wasn't a very healthy day food-wise. I made French Toast for breakfast, Jasmine cooked burgers for lunch, and we had roast lamb for dinner followed by lemon meringue pie. All delicious Father's Day fare, but I hope I burned off all the calories with the work I did!
Well we didn't get either of the houses we wanted :( It was a long, exhausting and exciting - if ultimately a bit disappointing - day.
To start with, on the drive to Sydney I suddenly realised we were nearly out of petrol. I noticed it just before the warning light went on. The problem was we were on the highway in the middle of nowhere. We pushed on and made it to the next petrol station, but the needle was pretty low! That was a bit stressful. Then we looked at one new house, didn't appeal to us, then went to the auction for our favourite house.
We still loved it and I think we nearly got it. Tim went one bid over our maximum, just in case, but the other remaining bidder went higher and we just couldn't. Actually the other guy then tried to bid again, not realising he had it, so I guess he had even more to spend. We were disappointed but know there are more houses coming on the market every week and we'll find one.
We had a quick lunch then saw another new house, nope, then the second auction. This house, we weren't so sure about. We looked around for a long time and only decided to bid at the last minute. But it went way over our limit almost straight away. I'm not upset about that one, it was a lovely house but didn't really suit us perfectly like the other one did.
If we don't find a house to buy very soon, then we'll have to rent for a while in Sydney while we look after Tim starts work there. In some ways that won't be a bad thing, it means we can sell this house first and not have to borrow so much money. But it's tricky not knowing which school to send the kids too. And a pain having to move twice. I guess we'd keep most of our stuff in storage. But it would be so convenient being on the spot to go look at houses, instead of having to drive four hours each way.
One funny thing was that every list of auction hints we saw suggested we dress well, so we did. I think it's supposed to intimidate other bidders into thinking you are rich, so they don't bother to bid against you. But at both houses the winner of the bidding was dressed in ratty dirty clothes. I'm sure it makes no difference at all. It depends on how much money you have to spend on the house, not your clothes!
We dropped in for a quick visit to Tim's brother, then the long drive home. Tim was already exhausted from the stress - he did all the bidding - and I collapsed when we got home. Such a big day. We both still felt pretty tired this morning.
Today was Fathers' Day, but we had a lot to do today as we had a skip bin sitting out the front ready for our final load of rubbish, including the old trampoline that we had to dismantle first! We have to concentrate on getting this house ready for sale.We spent hours clearing all the junk we'd collected. Tim took apart the trampoline and I trudged up and down the driveway with the wheelbarrow full of parts, and other junk from the garage and garden shed. How many plastic pots does one person need? Really physically exhausting.
It turns out that the trampoline, and the posts that held up the safety netting, were a spider condo. Nothing deadly, but none of us are keen on spiders. And this is Australia, so some of them were pretty big!
Tim had mentioned at work that he was throwing away a treadmill on the weekend (they are impossible to sell because so many people buy one and never use it and then try to get rid of it, the world is already full of second hand treadmills for sale) and one woman asked if she could have it. Of course he said yes, so she and her husband came to pick it up today. Hmm, he never mentioned to me he had such an attractive co-worker... She gave us a box of chocolates as thanks which was lovely, but also a bit ironic considering it was a swap for a healthy device! Maybe it should have been a bouquet of kale.
It wasn't a very healthy day food-wise. I made French Toast for breakfast, Jasmine cooked burgers for lunch, and we had roast lamb for dinner followed by lemon meringue pie. All delicious Father's Day fare, but I hope I burned off all the calories with the work I did!
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Housework workout
Thursday:
I read an article in New Scientist today (from Australian issue no3010) about a big predictor of obesity being the mother's activity level during pregnancy.
"When pregnant women are physically active, the increased energy demands redirect nutrients to her muscles and away from her fetus. This competition between the mother's muscles and the developing fetus's fat cells produces leaner, healthier babies. Their genes and food intake are irrelevant to the process.
This competition doesn't happen in inactive mothers. Without having to struggle for energy and nutrients, the fat cells in the fetus increase in both size and number..." (p32)
So it was all our mother's fault! But seriously, it says a lot about the importance of staying active and healthy during pregnancy. Giving up smoking and alcohol, and controlling gestational diabetes, are not enough any more. They now say that the health of the father's sperm (related to his age and health) are very important too.
I lay awake a long time last night thinking about all the changes that need to be made to my novel. I was buzzing with excitement and ideas. A little bit embarrassed about the all the (now obvious and glaring) faults in the version the critique group read. But eager to get started. When I finally got to sleep I did get some good dreamtime.
But this morning I couldn't work on my novel. In a "just in case" move, yesterday I arranged for a real estate agent to come to the house today to give us a valuation so that we would have an idea of how much money we had to spend on a new house. So I spent a solid three hours cleaning the house so that it was to a semi-decent level, enough that I could let someone in to see it. I didn't even attempt to clean the kids' rooms except for making the beds. But I did a lot of other stuff, I was literally dripping sweat and got a workout worthy of a trip to the gym. I am not much of a housekeeper, I like a clean house but it just isn't my top priority. But I could let the agent in at lunchtime and have the house merely looking like I hadn't had much time to tidy up, rather than its usual state of looking like a bomb went off during a tornado in a rubbish tip. He gave an estimate similar to what I had been expecting, and some advice about replacing the carpet and repainting and whether to auction etc.
We have decided to look at "the castle" in person. And I have lined up an interview with the loan officer at my bank to talk about the loan we'd need if we bought a house before selling this one. Just in case. We have 100% equity here now so I think that would be ok. And Tim is looking for a way to make the work thing happen.
I don't have my heart totally set on this house I haven't even seen "in the flesh" as it were, but if we do all love it, we're as ready as we can be to outbid the competition. And we do all like the look of it, and we're all keen to move to that city and that area. So you never know.
I was really tired in the afternoon after all that housework and had an energy slump and turned to food. My afternoon snack turned into a 500 calorie meal! Including three chocolate biscuits, leftover from what I took to the critique supper last night (and resisted then!). I had a light lunch and small dinner so I am still ok for calories but I don't like that out of control element. Yet again it was due to tiredness rather than hunger. I think there was a lack of mental focus too, I'm so distracted by having my novel critiqued and the thought of moving house in a hurry that I'm finding it hard to think about healthy living, and I'm not yet in autopilot on the food and exercise. I have to concentrate to make it happen!
Report card:
Diet: Ok. Good for most of the day except mid-afternoon.
Exercise: Good.
Water: Good. Finally!
Sleep: Good, once I eventually got to sleep.
Mental health: A bit overstimulated.
I read an article in New Scientist today (from Australian issue no3010) about a big predictor of obesity being the mother's activity level during pregnancy.
"When pregnant women are physically active, the increased energy demands redirect nutrients to her muscles and away from her fetus. This competition between the mother's muscles and the developing fetus's fat cells produces leaner, healthier babies. Their genes and food intake are irrelevant to the process.
This competition doesn't happen in inactive mothers. Without having to struggle for energy and nutrients, the fat cells in the fetus increase in both size and number..." (p32)
So it was all our mother's fault! But seriously, it says a lot about the importance of staying active and healthy during pregnancy. Giving up smoking and alcohol, and controlling gestational diabetes, are not enough any more. They now say that the health of the father's sperm (related to his age and health) are very important too.
I lay awake a long time last night thinking about all the changes that need to be made to my novel. I was buzzing with excitement and ideas. A little bit embarrassed about the all the (now obvious and glaring) faults in the version the critique group read. But eager to get started. When I finally got to sleep I did get some good dreamtime.
But this morning I couldn't work on my novel. In a "just in case" move, yesterday I arranged for a real estate agent to come to the house today to give us a valuation so that we would have an idea of how much money we had to spend on a new house. So I spent a solid three hours cleaning the house so that it was to a semi-decent level, enough that I could let someone in to see it. I didn't even attempt to clean the kids' rooms except for making the beds. But I did a lot of other stuff, I was literally dripping sweat and got a workout worthy of a trip to the gym. I am not much of a housekeeper, I like a clean house but it just isn't my top priority. But I could let the agent in at lunchtime and have the house merely looking like I hadn't had much time to tidy up, rather than its usual state of looking like a bomb went off during a tornado in a rubbish tip. He gave an estimate similar to what I had been expecting, and some advice about replacing the carpet and repainting and whether to auction etc.
We have decided to look at "the castle" in person. And I have lined up an interview with the loan officer at my bank to talk about the loan we'd need if we bought a house before selling this one. Just in case. We have 100% equity here now so I think that would be ok. And Tim is looking for a way to make the work thing happen.
I don't have my heart totally set on this house I haven't even seen "in the flesh" as it were, but if we do all love it, we're as ready as we can be to outbid the competition. And we do all like the look of it, and we're all keen to move to that city and that area. So you never know.
I was really tired in the afternoon after all that housework and had an energy slump and turned to food. My afternoon snack turned into a 500 calorie meal! Including three chocolate biscuits, leftover from what I took to the critique supper last night (and resisted then!). I had a light lunch and small dinner so I am still ok for calories but I don't like that out of control element. Yet again it was due to tiredness rather than hunger. I think there was a lack of mental focus too, I'm so distracted by having my novel critiqued and the thought of moving house in a hurry that I'm finding it hard to think about healthy living, and I'm not yet in autopilot on the food and exercise. I have to concentrate to make it happen!
Report card:
Diet: Ok. Good for most of the day except mid-afternoon.
Exercise: Good.
Water: Good. Finally!
Sleep: Good, once I eventually got to sleep.
Mental health: A bit overstimulated.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Dust and creme brulee
Thursday:
Library and shopping this morning. This afternoon I tackled the laundry. Not the piles of clean or dirty clothes, but the laundry room. I took everything out and threw away a lot of broken pieces of this and that, swept seven years of dust off the walls and shelves, vaccuumed and mopped the floor, put back the things that deserved to go back. It was a filthy, unpleasant job, but with the reward of having a clean and tidy room at the end of my work.
Yesterday evening I started to cough again, woke this morning full of phelgm and spent the first hour hacking up a lung, felt fine all day, now it is evening again and the cough is back. I just can't get rid of this stupid virus. But why doesn't it affect me during the day?
It's our monthaversary today. Tim and I have always tried to have a special night once a month to celebrate our wedding (and before that, our first date). Since having kids it has changed from going out to a restaurant to trying to remember to say "happy monthaversary" at some point during the day. Today I cooked a nice dinner and spent some time this afternoon cooking creme brulee for us to have for dessert. But of course he wasn't home to have dinner with us. I waited for a while in case he made it home for dessert but no. I don't know why I had any hope he would be home before 8 pm. So his lovely dinner sits cold on the plate, his dessert is in the fridge, the wine stayed unopened.
Library and shopping this morning. This afternoon I tackled the laundry. Not the piles of clean or dirty clothes, but the laundry room. I took everything out and threw away a lot of broken pieces of this and that, swept seven years of dust off the walls and shelves, vaccuumed and mopped the floor, put back the things that deserved to go back. It was a filthy, unpleasant job, but with the reward of having a clean and tidy room at the end of my work.
Yesterday evening I started to cough again, woke this morning full of phelgm and spent the first hour hacking up a lung, felt fine all day, now it is evening again and the cough is back. I just can't get rid of this stupid virus. But why doesn't it affect me during the day?
It's our monthaversary today. Tim and I have always tried to have a special night once a month to celebrate our wedding (and before that, our first date). Since having kids it has changed from going out to a restaurant to trying to remember to say "happy monthaversary" at some point during the day. Today I cooked a nice dinner and spent some time this afternoon cooking creme brulee for us to have for dessert. But of course he wasn't home to have dinner with us. I waited for a while in case he made it home for dessert but no. I don't know why I had any hope he would be home before 8 pm. So his lovely dinner sits cold on the plate, his dessert is in the fridge, the wine stayed unopened.
Monday, June 18, 2012
The germs spread
Monday:
Today the husband and the boy child were home sick. I am mostly better except for a fierce sore throat, but hopefully it is nearly over. At least I am no longer blowing my nose every few seconds.
Obviously I didn't take the kids to Club Gecko after all, we'll have to wait until another day. Jasmine was disappointed.
I've been keeping up with the housework still, in the kitchen at least, tidying after every meal instead of leaving it to do all at once when the piles of dirty dishes start to topple. Also folded laundry and reorganised the pantry -- throwing out two bags of out-of-date stuff -- so I am doing well.
I did sit at the computer and try to write today, as my next editing job hasn't come in yet, but no inspiration came to me. I did a couple of starts on a short story but it didn't lead anywhere. I think I am definitely an architect not a gardener -- I need to plan what I am going to write not just expect it to grow from a seed of an idea as I type. So I need to do some serious thinking.
I had really fresh healthy meals today. Pity about all the chocolate biscuits in between.
Today the husband and the boy child were home sick. I am mostly better except for a fierce sore throat, but hopefully it is nearly over. At least I am no longer blowing my nose every few seconds.
Obviously I didn't take the kids to Club Gecko after all, we'll have to wait until another day. Jasmine was disappointed.
I've been keeping up with the housework still, in the kitchen at least, tidying after every meal instead of leaving it to do all at once when the piles of dirty dishes start to topple. Also folded laundry and reorganised the pantry -- throwing out two bags of out-of-date stuff -- so I am doing well.
I did sit at the computer and try to write today, as my next editing job hasn't come in yet, but no inspiration came to me. I did a couple of starts on a short story but it didn't lead anywhere. I think I am definitely an architect not a gardener -- I need to plan what I am going to write not just expect it to grow from a seed of an idea as I type. So I need to do some serious thinking.
I had really fresh healthy meals today. Pity about all the chocolate biscuits in between.
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