My mum posted this on Facebook – thought I’d pass it on! 😀
Turn On The Lights….
It’s that time of year again!
I waited till December 1st, but now the tree is up and the Christmas decorations are distributed around the house. There’s less space here than I had to work with last year, but I like the new combinations I’ve come up with…
Tree!!
Last year these were on my treadle sewing machine – that’s got a computer on it at the moment…
I like the bookshelf look..
Some of the decorations will probably stay up after Christmas..
I got this string of lights in last year’s sales… they’re battery operated, and I have yet to get some batteries… I think they look OK as they are..
Snowmen, reindeer, and a bear on top of the world!
TV angels… they’ll also stay permanently…
… and here’s the outside display – something pretty to look at while I’m having my morning cup of coffee 😀
How’s your December going?
Home
So, we are now in a permanent home! 😀 All my Facebook friends know the story, and we have called others to let them know, but just in case you missed it, here’s the story!
Part 1 –
Signed up for NRAS (National Rental Affordability Scheme – an Australian Government scheme) about two- two and a half weeks ago, after looking at a property, applied on the morning after, heard back less than a week later that we got it, scrambled about for rental bond/grant/paperwork etc, moved in last Friday (9th) (with final boxes etc Monday)!
It’s a 3 bedroom brand new semi-detached house in a new complex, back in the suburb we moved from in February…(from our bedroom window we can see the back yard of the house that’s directly opposite our previous house) We have air conditioners in every room, a dishwasher!, rainwater tanks, everything energy efficient… I don’t think we’ve come down to earth yet! (We have had to “evict” five jumpy huntsman spiders of varying sizes since Friday…) Still unpacking boxes so haven’t stopped long enough to celebrate properly (although we went to Sizzlers – the boys were ecstatic. And full)…Â Â
Here’s some photos – we’ve put in more furniture since then – and books! – lots of books 😀
The lounge
Dining area (now minus the futon 😀 )
My beautiful kitchen!
The stairs leading upstairs… and guest loo to the left. There are three toilets in the house – Practical Me had a bit of an inner grumble about three times the cleaning… Fairy Princess Me danced around Ms Practical, scattering glitter in her path..
Boys’ bathroom
Our bedroom…
….and ensuite (isn’t everything beautiful and white?)
Part 2 –
We were looking at a hefty debt for the mortgage of the last house – it sold a while back for about $185000, where the mortgage was about $285000+ …we’ve just been waiting for the final figures from the bank. We got the letter last Friday… seems, somehow, that on October 31, just over $96000 was repaid (how and by whom, we don’t know), leaving us with a debt of just under $5500… went to the bank Monday to check that it wasn’t all a computer glitch, they called up the home loans department… the bank’s wiped out the remaining debt – we are free and clear, with no black mark on our credit rating! I didn’t mention it on my Facebook status (because it was pretty obvious to me…) but God has been so amazing in all this, and we have been praising Him for everything! We would never have even thought to ask for all He’s given us just in the last week (furnishings and whitegoods that we needed at reduced prices, good things happening at the speed of light… 😀 ) but we have been abundantly and thoroughly blessed!
A large and unpayable debt, completely wiped out by someone else…. where have I heard that before? 😀
Action!
Hello, all! 😀
Here’s a quick post to show off my biggest boy’s creativity… he loves doing stop motion animation, and can spend hours on it..
This one is not one of his longest (and it uses some video recording as well) but it’s for a competition he’s entered…
Enjoy! 😀
Out On The Front Verandah..
So we’ve just had our third move in about nine months, with another coming up in two-three weeks… I’m a bit over it 😀 Thankfully, in every place we’ve been, there’s been a verandah, or it’s closest equivalent… Somewhere to take a cup of coffee and talk over the day…
Here is a post in honour of verandahs..
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Have a peace-filled afternoon, with coffee, and a rocking chair or two! 😀
9
It was my sweetest not-so-little bean’s birthday yesterday… he turned nine. How did he get so tall? 😀 We had the birthday party on Saturday at Joseph Brady Park, at Barellan Point… obviously shaping up to be a popular party spot, since we shared the space with three other parties…
We sort of had a plan… I don’t know what happened to it.. The boys played happily on the play equipment, then spent time sliding down the steep hill, then ate, then back to playing. Simple, and fun…
Here’s the hill… you can’t quite see the extent of it.. someone kindly left some cardboard, which was well used… 😀
The largest piece of play equipment. I was wearing a skirt on Saturday, but next time I might wear jeans, and have a go..
Candles can be hard to light when you’re at a windy park by the river.. got there in the end!
*note to self – when making buttercream icing, caster sugar does not equal icing sugar.. adding milk to try and smooth it out may not be the best solution… still tasted good, though!
Happy birthday, Sweet Boy, to whom the whole world consists of friends waiting to be met, and who can’t get himself a biscuit at his party without counting to make sure all his friends will get one as well…. You have a beautiful and loving heart..
…even if you are still a cheeky monkey! 😀
Out On The Town
We went to two festivals a couple of  weekends ago – one on Saturday (a Home/Alternative type thing at Kangaroo point), one on Sunday (the re-opening of a park by the Brisbane River) The first one I found interesting, but the boys were a bit bored (littlest Bean got a free drawing class, though), the second was aimed more towards kids – we all had fun! 😀
 The computer’s not letting me write between the images 😦 so here’s a run down of the photos below…
1. Making a smoothie using bicycle power – you pay for your smoothie, then get to make it yourself! 😀
2. The wallpapered van – decorated with bits of material/wallpaper/whatever else seemed to be around…
3. Playing a cigar box guitar, with tamborine played with a foot – later a coke bottle slide was used, as well..
These were at the park opening on the Saturday..
4. and 5. My littlest bean decided he’d tackle the rock wall – he tried very hard, but didn’t make it much past the height in the second photo… not being able to feel the next foothold easily made him nervous. He kept trying, though 😀
6. There were free temporary tattoos… why not get a purple frog?
How D’ya Like Them Apples?
We’re finally able to do some experiments, and have access to a TV as well! Combine the two… we watched Backyard Science on the ABC last week, and wrote down the experiments that appealed to the boys…
We still have to get some bits together for the mini diver/submarine, and possibly the volcano, but we were able to quickly put together the “apple measuring” experiment, to illustrate displacement theory…
The equipment
Guessing at the “biggest-to-smallest” order..
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Water displacement..
measuring the wsater
The results (which were soon eaten…)
In Honour Of Roses
It’s been a long day…
… and I haven’t been here in ages..
Just popping in 😀 while I have the chance – hopefully we’ll soon have our internet sorted…
I don’t have anything amazing to say, so I thought I’d just do a pinterest post about roses.
Enjoy!
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