Room Reveal

A while back I told you that we were in the process of beginning the changes to our country home.  It's only a small change at this point, certainly not the finished room reveal that the post title touts (but it got you here, didn't it?)  I do promise to do more down the track but at the moment all spare money is being saved towards our trip to Europe which is coming up in 3 weeks and 5 days.  And, argh! that is creating it's own stresses writing that here because that is really NOT LONG AT ALL.  More on that another time though.

So we've painted the main living area of the country house.  It's a big backwards L shape and we've painted the long sides.  The short sides are the kitchen and we still need to get to that.  We have the paint (it's going to be the same white that the wall on the left side of the finished photo is) but the main thing we're lacking there is the time.  MR is currently busy promoting the family business at the country field days around WA and I'm only there about once a month for two nights and relaxing, spending time together and socialising seem to take up all of that time!  We'll get there.

The house is the one MR spent most of his childhood in.  His parents were still in it until last year when they retired to the coast.  Their colours are a lot different to ours, as you can see from the pictures below...

The room's original colours

We sanded all of the walls, I actually did about half of it *proud moment*

First undercoat of white on.  We ended up with two undercoats and two topcoats.  I did most of the cutting in and MR did the rolling.

Finished!

We were so amazed by how different it looks.  Even looking at it now in the photos, I'm astounded by how much of a different vibe I get from the room.  The turquoise was quite hard to photograph, it's more of the greeny colour down near the chairs than the blue up near the sun shining in through the skylights.  The colour is Tempted Turquoise from British Paints if you want to see the real deal. (6th across from the bottom right of the colour panel).  The white is from Dulux and is called Peplum Quarter.

This was our first experience of painting walls ourselves (other than helping out others) so it's certainly not perfect.  The paint tape didn't stick down very well (even though we bought the good blue scotch stuff) so unfortunately a bit of turquoise paint has seeped under it onto the lino floor.  Any tips on how to get the tape to stick properly would be greatly appreciated experienced painters!

As you can see, this house has amazing, wonderful, glorious amounts of natural light.  Up above that wooden paneling is a raked ceiling with windows running the entire length of the dining and kitchen area which lets the light into the south facing side of the main living areas.  MR's parents designed and built this house so they were definitely well ahead of the typical type of house built twenty odd years ago.  I'm really looking forward to moving in to it, which is going to be at the end of this year! I've told my principal and put in my transfer with the Education Department last week, so it is fairly official!  

I think having such a beautiful home to move into is really helping my excitement levels about being back in the country away from the clothes shops and the shops with large varieties of food and the cafes and pilates.  That and it will be the first time in our seven year (almost eight by the time I move) relationship that MR and I will be living together, properly.  That is the part I am looking forward to the most.

Small touches

MR and I have been making a few changes to our country house, now that his parents have retired and moved and we are getting ready to move in.  We haven't yet bought it from them but have been given free reign at changing whatever we like.  

Originally, the first thing we discussed changing were the curtains in the master bedroom.  They are a lovely pink floral number.  Followed by painting the bedroom, which is white but has a wallpaper strip running around it about three quarters of the way up the wall.  A bedroom is such a personal thing and we thought that by changing that it would feel more like our place.

Instead, we've ended up painting the living area.  It's finished but that post is going to have to wait because MR rolled the walls after I have left, so although I have seen a photo he took, I haven't seen the entire finished job.  It'll be a bit of a surprise when I head up there in a couple of weeks.

So for now, I thought I'd share a small touch I made.  

Seeing as we are currently running two households, half of the furniture at the country house is MR's parents; stuff they didn't want or can't fit in to their temporary place while they consider what they are going to build.  This makes it so difficult because it means the place doesn't really feel like ours.  But we can't go buying new furniture for it because 1) we have a houseful of furniture here to fit in first and 2) we can't afford it. 

So little things it is.  But only little things we don't already have in the city house.  The country house has a little powder room, which had a horridly stained pink towel and a soap dispenser that has been decoupaged with a decorated serviette.  Need I say more?  

I went to Myer and they had 30% off bathroom stuff so I bought a nice new soap dispenser and two lovely dark navy hand towels that will not show up dirty hand prints when MR comes home from work with diesel and dirt all over him.  All for less than $40.  And doesn't it look so much better already?  The basin colour is more of the cream in the left photo than the pink in the right (those photos were taken about a minute apart, goodness knows why the colours are so different).  I'd love to be able to paint and get a new tiles, basin and bench in here as well, but those small touches make it more acceptable until we can get to that part.

 

Home regrets

Back when we were looking for a house to buy for the very first time, I did a bit of research about what to keep in mind while looking. You know, check faucets, mould, reticulation etc. We already knew we wanted a quiet street or cul de sac, a garage and a shed, space for a veggie garden and at least 3 bedrooms. 

What we didn't know to look for, and I didn't come across anything about this in my research, was north facing houses. 

Our house is west facing, and obviously, you can't always have north facing but the house could be designed to fit the block. In our house the master bedroom is on the south west corner so gets a bit of afternoon sun. The main living area and kitchen are on the east side, and the east and south sides of the house have a big verandah running around them so they get absolutely no sunlight and are always quite dark, even though there are a lot of windows. The main bathroom, one spare room and the laundry are on the north side and get beautiful natural light and warm sunshine. Totally useless! 

It really is my biggest regret about buying this place. It's like we live in a igloo all Winter. 

Thankfully, MR pruned the big bush outside our bedroom window yesterday so the afternoon sun can get in and warm it up and I'm lying on my bed typing this at 4pm without the need to be in pyjamas, uggies and a dressing gown, my usual household attire. 

Luckily, at the end of the year I'll (hopefully) be moving to a house that is filled with beautiful natural light and warmth and is a big long north facing rectangle. Thank goodness!

What's your biggest regret about your home purchase? 

Tulips

These beautiful tulips from MR are on my tallboy in the bedroom at the moment. Catching the afternoon Winter sun. Looking amazing. I could lie here all afternoon smiling at them. They make me happy. Just what I need after a few annoying days stuck in hospital. 

I am not really much of a flower type girl. Many of them are too pongy and give me a headache. But Spring bulbs I could have in my house any day. Tulips, Snowdrops, Bluebells and Ranunculus particularly. I love how you can gently pull down the tulip leaves a little bit and they go all curly. It's like hair styling for flowers. 

I often think as I am looking at photos of flowers (or trying to arrange a bunch myself) how do you get them looking so beautiful? I never seem to get it looking quite as nice. The only thing I have learnt about arranging flowers, or anything really, is that odd numbers grouped together look better. It is something I did a little bit instinctively without really realising and then when I read it, it was a bit of an epiphany moment. 

Are you are flower arranging queen or have you done a flower arranging course? I've love some more tips. 

And what flowers would you have in your home year round if there were no climatic restrictions? 

  

A facelift is as good as a holiday

What? No, no not me.  Our house.

As mentioned previously, we recently got a bit of work done on the house.  We got our gutters replaced and the fascia painted.  It's been on the list to happen since last Winter and we finally got onto it. 

Previously they were both a particularly unpleasant shade of pooey-red which (in my opinion) did not at all go with our grey roof.  I am not overly fond of warm colours either which never helped the situation. 

BLERGH!

We wanted blue gutters and seeing as there is only one shade of blue, Deep Ocean, in the Colourbond range, we went with that.  Nice to have an easy choice.

We had discussed getting the facsia painted at the same time but hadn't quite gotten ourselves sorted with a painter which we mentioned to our gutters tradesman when he was doing our quote.  He said he would bring a painter he knew over with him to give us a quote.  Brilliant, we thought.  So the day comes and they both arrive.  We get a Really Good quote for the fascia painting and ask when he might be free.  Today?  Excellent, but we haven't chosen a colour yet!

Luckily, when I was collecting colour samples for ideas for our walls I grabbed an outdoor colours card too.  We had about 3 minutes to make a decision (at 9am on a Saturday morning) before the painter was heading down to the get the paint and get started.  Sometimes, that pressure and limited lack of choices is a good thing or I would imagine it would have taken hours.  I chose a colour I liked, MR liked a different one.  I coaxed him around to my choice because his blue had green undertones and mine had grey undertones which would suit the roof better.  He thought it would be a bit light but let me have my way.  Looking at it all finished he says he likes it and I hope he's not just humouring me!

The gutters are off and the fascia has had its first coat.

All finished and looking SO much better

It really does look like a whole new house.   MR gave the bushes out the front a good pruning as well.  Our bedroom is to the right of the front door and that bush was blocking all the light which is fine in Summer but having it pruned right back in Winter makes such a big difference.  Afternoon sunshine comes in and lets the room warm up just a little bit.  Perfect!

Now we just need to get rid of the horrible red driveway and path.  Unfortunately it does not feature anywhere in the near future on our list of things to do!

  

Looking forward

Right now there's lots of good stuff to be looking forward to and about.  Both event wise and life moments.

I saw my haematologist today and my Leukaemia cells are at their lowest ever.  Last month they were at 0.057 and this month they are at 0.022 which is an excellent drop for a one month period.  My next test is in three months time now so I've got my fingers crossed I'll get another zero on the right side of that point mark.  Either way, I'm feeling very positive right now!

There's two days left of Kindy until I'm on school holidays.

I'm heading to MRs home town this weekend for a bit of time with him and his family.  He had his first week of work at home and enjoyed being busy and working with the tools again after being office-bound management for quite a while on the mines.

On the weekend there will be some quilt finishing by me and some quilt starting by MR's Mum who is making us a quilt which I think I have finally finished selecting fabrics for.

I've made plans with four friends for four different catch ups over the holidays.  Movies and lunches and afternoon teas.  And hopefully I'll manage to fit in a few more catch ups along the way.

And super exciting, we had some work done on the house this weekend just been.  It's not entirely finished so no photos yet.  The workman is back tomorrow to finish it off and I can't wait to show you what we have had done.  I am so pleased with it and it is our first big change to the place since moving in two years and three months ago.  What a long time we took to get to this point!!


Have you got some lovely things on the horizon? 

Organising your life

I realllllly want MR to make me one of these door tidies for inside our linen cupboard!

So I've been wanting to organise my life for, well, pretty much my whole teenage and adult life.  It just does not come naturally to me.  My sister inherited all the genes in that area and I managed to get all of both Mum and Dad's clutterbug genes, Dad's especially. 

I've been looking at decluttering sites and organising sites, pinning ideas to my 'I need to get organised...' pinterest board (a lot of which seems to revolve around pretty ways to store my ribbon collection...) and generally just making many lists and checking them off - somewhat slowly.  But it is progress.

I've liked the idea of a declutter your home calendar which lists a task to do each day.  I could do that! But all of the ones I have found seem to aimed at the northern hemisphere and just don't suit our seasons!  So I've decided to make my own.  In fact, I started tonight while watching a dreadful movie, continued it while watching the next movie which was only slightly less dreadful and did some more after that while watching some Olympics.  I would say I have got about three quarters of 365 days filled.

Some of the tasks repeat themselves fortnightly, like 'spend twenty minutes in a room that needs attention' and 'clear off the dining room table', some appear monthly like 'sort through and file one stack of paper work' and 'catch up on some ironing or handwashing' whilst some only appear less often like 'go through a craft supply pile' (which in actual fact should probably appear a lot more regularly) and then there's a few that only make their presence known once or twice a year such as 'clean out the gutters' or 'clean the oven'.  I decided to extend my calendar to a Home and Garden organising calendar mainly because gardening is something I am still learning about and I need reminding when it is time to fertilise, prune, plant etc.

Now I must pay credit, a lot of my inspiration has come from this helpful lady and her decluttering calendar.  But now I am asking all you lovely people out there for your ideas.  Not your everyday cleaning jobs like vacuum, washing and so forth, more those things that keep on getting put off or fit more into a declutter and organise category.  Things that you look at and think, gosh when did I last do that?  Or if you are already an organised person, things that you schedule in to your Spring cleaning each year. 

Do you have any tips that work for you?  I have found that the twenty-minute-tidy works quite well for me.  I set the timer on the oven for twenty minutes and then tidy until it goes off.  Sometimes I even set it for a second lot of twenty minutes!*


I'm really looking forward to hearing your ideas!!





  
* I know, I know, even I astound myself sometimes!
 
 

Framed

I love having a productive man around the house.  Even though he is only home every two weeks, when he is home, after a bit of a rest, he is a weapon of 'doing stuff'.  The lawns get mowed, he washes his ute (I'm still working on him washing my car *hint hint*)*, he chops down ugly palm trees and digs out stumps, other gardening stuff gets done, he makes me breakfast in bed, cooks me dinner a few nights and also any odd jobs get done too.  Like putting a hook in the wall so I could hang up my framed poppies drawing in the guest room.

I'm really happy with how it looks on the wall, all framed up and pretty.  I got the frame from Ikea but the matting was too small so I attacked it with a stanley knife and thankfully it doesn't look too uneven.  Why do they not make standard paper sized frames and/or matting???? I'm sure it is some sort of ploy to try and get us to get things framed professionally. 

I've had a bit of an obsession with poppies lately, I keep pinning them on pinterest and favouriting them on etsy.  There were some beautiful poppy fabric patterns in the recent fabric8 contest on spoonflower as well.

I made another couple of ATCs recently to send off to a couple of people and of course, one of them had to be poppies.  These were done with watercolours, on my carpet.  I also seem to have a thing about sitting on the carpetted floor and painting.  Painting at a table just doesn't work for me for some reason.  This can only lead to bad things, although thankfully it has not yet...

I've decided these little mini art works are quite fun, although I really have no idea what to do with them.  Putting them in plastic pouches in a folder just seems a bit of a waste really...





* MR has taken to occasionally reading my blog on a quiet night shift at work (hi honey x)

Moments in time

It was my blog's first birthday a week ago today and I completely forgot about it.  Poor little blog! My mind has been busy consumed with other dates and events.  A housewarming party, my sister's birthday, numerous doctors appointments, and two very other significant dates.

Firstly, yesterday it was MR's and my first anniversary of moving into our new home together.  So hard to believe we've been here a year, it feels like so much longer and yet so much shorter at the same time. The house looks much the same as when we bought it, we haven't done any renovations or painted it or changed the gardens majorly.  Hopefully now that MR is home for two weeks at a time there might be a bit more time for handyman jobs, which he is very good at! We need new gutters and I think that might be the first Big Job.  They are a yukky reddybrown colour at the moment and I do not like it one bit.  I want a nice dusky blue colour.  And then after he has done that I can have a go at painting all the decorative bits outside that are that yukky colour the nice dusky blue colour.  That seems like a job I could manage.  But before we do any of that, we need to buy a ladder!

Like the blue around the window and under the roof, but certainly not the copper gutters!

The second significant date is tomorrow.  A year ago tomorrow I was diagnosed with leukaemia.  I had a big cry last week when MR was home about the unfairness of life and how nice it would be if it never happened because if that never happened then I would have never needed a liver transplant.  The I Wish Beast struck big time as I thought about all the things we could have done to the house with the extra money we would have had with me working and healthy and MR not having to take all that time off to look after me.  I felt like I was grieving for the old me, because I am now so different from the person I used to be.

I feel like I have been dunked in a bowl full of medical jargon and come out overflowing with terms I had never heard of before but now are everyday; medication names, blood test terms, which vials they need to take blood in for each test, what tests need to be done even though the doctor forgot to put it on the blood test form.  I know the phlebotomists by name.  And I also now know what phlebotomist means.  Words with funny letter combinations that used to sound clunky now roll off my tongue with ease - imatinib, dasatinib, encephalopathy, phlebotomist, endocrinologist, azathrioprine, pretty much all my medications really.  Numbers pour out of my ears, relating to levels of liver function, kidney function, adrenal gland function, lung function, percentages of leukaemia in my body.  They change so regularly it is hard to keep track.  I should write them down, or make a spreadsheet to keep track of it all.  But that would be organised, and I am not!

Now when people say 'how are you?' I wonder if they are asking for the 'good/fine/not bad' response or if they are looking for the medical details of how I am.  How is my liver? How are my kidneys? How are my lungs? How is the leukaemia? It's not that I mind if they are asking about my health, that is fine and I am happy to share and explain all the big clunky sounding words to them, it's just another social uncertainty to add to my list.

I was hoping MR would be home for tomorrow so we could go do something fun to take my mind off it all but he isn't so instead I have invited Sarah around for a sewing afternoon.  Can't mope while you're sewing!

The Great Outdoors

  
Well, it's not quite great yet, but it is certainly taking shape.  My garden and back yard is finally beginning to develop some personality.  I'm quite pleased with how it's going so far.  We got all of this done in time for the housewarming party, which by the way went brilliantly well, all the different groups of friends chatted to each other which is always my worst fear about hosting parties.  Lots of yummy food and hardly any stressing by me at all.  I ended up only making two potato bakes and my trademark chilli con queso dip.  The weather was a little bit warm but not too bad and when the afternoon breeze kicked in it was lovely.  I didn't even feel too tired afterwards, although after a busy Monday of  appointments I was well and truly ready for a quiet day on Tuesday.

 One wagon wheel, as mentioned here, with passionfruit vine growing up it on the left.  We think we might remove those agapanthus in front of it, maybe move them to the front yard.  They are blocking my pretty wagon wheel! 

 MR's mum gave this candle holder to me a while ago and I hadn't worked out where to put it.  We don't have any very wide walls in our outdoor area, just lots of windows!  So I was thinking of putting it in the bathroom.  But then MR's dad had the brainwave of bending it slightly and putting it over this about 150` corner.  I think it looks fantastic there!

While pulling out the candle holder I found this wind chime I got in a secret santa a couple of years ago, I really love the colour of it and the little birdie hanging underneath.  We found a bolt sticking out in the patio to hang it on but it isn't catching any breeze there so it is going to have to move when MR is home next.

The weather is finally just reaching that stage of beautiful, warm and sunny without being stinking hot.  Cool evenings but not too cold to sit outside and enjoy the fresh air.  This morning I got up at five to take MR to the airport and I had to put on a jumper.  Isn't that first jumper donning an exciting moment? MR is away for 3 weeks this time, boo.  But then he goes onto a two week on two week off shift!! Squeeee, very exciting! I will have him home with me half the time instead of one third of the time.  He is looking forward to it as well.  He is moving sites and becoming a supervisor too.  Clever boy!
 

Out of hospital and health update

  
I'm out of hospital, they let me out yesterday, a day earlier than I was expecting!  Super yay!

I've got some new drugs to try and help my lungs, as they have gotten no better and a little bit worse in the month since I started treatment for them and if the drugs don't begin to work in the three weeks before my next check up with the pulminary docs they want me back in for some IV treatment.  So fingers crossed big time there!! I am planning to not be back in hospital Any Time Soon.  I can now also add endocrinologists to the gamut of specialists dealing with my case as the tests they ran show my adrenal glands are working and yet my cortisol is low so my hepatology docs want to consult with them to decide what to do about it.  Also, my BCR-ABL results (leukaemia concentration in blood) have come back from the February tests and show they have risen a little bit, from 5.6 to 8.8%  Not good, but not toooooo bad either.  My haemotologist said she wants to see two spikes in my levels before she needs to put me back on meds but they want to get the lungs and the adrenal glands sorted out first anyhow.  My liver count is finally back under 35 (where it is meant to be) after over a month, very excited about that and my kidneys are almost back to normal too.  They are attributing their rise in numbers to a mixture of my immunosuppressant and antifungal medications so they have lowered the immunosuppresants slightly while I get over all these stupid fungal and bacterial infections.

And that's the latest in my health news.  Ahh, I miss the days where I could wrap up health news in a sentence.  Oh, I had a cold last week but I'm better now. If only.  Now I just sound like a contender for the World's Biggest Hypochondriac.  Please God, don't let that become a new reality TV show. 

Anyhow, just a quick post from me today, I'll probably be absent for a few days because I have a housewarming party to organise and hold - whee! It certainly won't be anything like the spectacular parties I see hosted on some of your blogs.  I am making a coleslaw, a potato bake and perhaps a plate or two of nibbles.  MR is in charge of BBQ duties with whoever else that volunteers on the day and I have had six very kind and helpful people offer to bring more salads for me.  I am trying to be very casual and not my usual crazy over-catering self who thinks of lots of yummy things she could make that take many hours of preparation.  There will be no bunting, no rainbow cakes, no fancy colour themes, no themes at all for that matter.  Just a typical run of the mill Aussie BBQ.  And that is fine by me.  It will just be nice to spend time with friends and family.  MR's parents are coming down Saturday night and my Mum is coming around a bit early on Sunday to help us to get everything organised without me getting worn out.  And then all I have to stress over is making sure all our different groups of friends interact and no one gets left feeling lonely!

Looking forward to catching up on everyone's blogs when I'm back. x




A Year of Good Things
73/366 ::For Transplant Australia::
My Run for a Reason fundraiser page reached and passed it's target of $1000, I'm now up to $1045, two whole months before the event! Time for a target raising!  Thanks to those bloggy people who have donated, you know who you are!! 

74/366 ::For me::
Out of hospital on my liver's five month anniversary - yay!

75/366 ::For my meow::
Lots of cuddles and attention after being left alone (the neighbour fed her) for 3 days and 2 nights

1 + 8 = 1

 Take one very messy bathroom cupboard

 Add 8 ikea zip open storage boxes

And you get one, nice tidy organised cupboard.

Yay!

 

Preparations

  
For starters, I didn't cave! Woo! I really did think that I would but I pushed past the yawns and droopy head.  This time - can't make any promises on my staying power next time!

I mentioned in my last post my list of things to do.  We're having a very late housewarming party the weekend after next, just shy of a year of being in the house, so there's lots to be done to get things organised and looking pretty and more home like.  The poor house has had a double whammy in neglection, organisational wise, firstly because I suck at organising and secondly, because I've been ill.  But no more!  (well, for now) I am determined to get things looking wonderful for the party.  Determined.  MR did lots of outdoorsy stuff last time he was home like mow the lawns, dig out a dead bush and plant some roses in its place, lift the heavy Christmas tree box and put it out in the garage and the time before that he tidied his shed so well, it was tidier than the house (woops) and blower vac-ed the paved areas.  Unfortunately that has left me with all the inside light weight stuff.  And I am just not good at organising.

So I started with some fun stuff.  On the weekend I went to Ikea for storage items and some frames for my art works.  I've got all my prints framed now, just have two more of the blue box frames to fill and then I can work on the display!  I also have really wanted some bedroom art for a while but I want something good and nothing has caught my eye that was not $1,330,482 (or so it seems to my pitiful budget).  I was doing a bit of shopping on kelani fabrics with a voucher I had and saw this gorgeous Haga fabric and thought how nice it would look on my wall.  So I got a fat quarter.  I wanted a white frame but the options were a white frame for $39.95 or this black one for $7.95.  Easy decision. This one doesn't have glass, it has plastic, which is fine because I just wrapped the fabric over the plastic and held it in place with the back of the frame.  No gluing or anything needed so that when we get some proper art, I can take the fabric out and use it.

Now I've got to get cracking on the rest of the list.  It keeps getting longer as I think of more things to add to it, and this list is just for getting the house organised, not getting the party organised!

- tidy off kitchen ledge
- reorganise bathroom cupboards (not really necessary for the party but they were annoying me!)
- finish tidying craft room (still a mammoth job, even with all the bits I've done over the past months)
- put up frame cluster
- reorganise bookshelves
- hunt gumtree for a nice bed frame for our spare mattress
- do massive amounts of weeding
- sort through the rest of my teaching boxes and stack them neatly in the garage
- do the filing

It doesn't sound like much, but that craft room will take a lot of work.  I hate finding homes for things, I never know where to put it and just end up making little piles of stuff scattered all over the floor and everything looks messier than before. 

Thank goodness I have a Meow to help me.  She has a strange obsession with getting into open drawers and digging through them to see what's underneath and behind.
  

My Place and Yours: On the Wall

A little while ago I posted about a display of bits and pieces I was getting ready to put on the wall in my craft room.  It still isn't on the wall because I haven't filled all the frames or found frames for the things without them.  But I have had some fun since then deciding on what to put in a couple of the nesting aqua frames.

Lots of buttons and some stickers from kikki k.

One sweet little tiny frame filled with lovely tiny things.
I am well known for enjoying little things!

I'm going to stitch these buttons onto some fabric and then pop them in the frame.

I'm looking forward to getting my little display up on the wall.  MR and I are having a very belated housewarming party in March.  8 days shy of our one year moving-into-our-first-home-aversary.  10 days shy of my one year since being diagnosed with CML.  I'm sure you can understand why we hadn't got around to our housewarming yet.  By the time I adjusted enough to the meds and the new me and it got warm enough to have a party outside, my liver went caput.  It's been a crazy year of shitty health!  So I'm hoping to have my craft room all finished and tidy and perfect and my cluster of frames up on the wall with my pieces of art in them.  Nothing like a firm deadline for getting some motivation to do stuff!

And now, onto the stuff that is actually already on my wall, seeing as that is the theme for My Place and Yours this week.  There's not a lot to show yet.  We are still working on purchasing/creating art works for most of the walls.

This is the first thing you see when you walk in our front door.  It is a photo printed on canvas of Circular Falls in Karijini National Park in WA.  MR has been there, it is near where he works.  We have a (much smaller) old camera phone (pre iphone days!) photo of him sitting under the falls.  I got this for him as a combined birthday and Christmas present a couple of years ago.  It was Very Expensive!

A pretty frame bought on a holiday and photos from that holiday (Dunsborough, WA) inside.

MR bought me this for my birthday a couple of years ago.  It is my first piece of OOAK original art work.  It is a tissue paper, paint and charcoal collage and I love it.  It is only small, about 25 cm square.

As I said, not too much yet.  But half the fun of getting art on the walls is finding or creating just the right pieces!

Head over to Punky and Me for more on the wall stuff!
 

Things I'm loving...

  
A long, long time ago (maybe a year or so) I saw a picture of some cute bookends in a magazine and ripped it out.  It eventually ended up in a stack of "paper stuff" that I sorted out recently and when I came across it I gave it to my sister as a birthday present idea (my birthday is in August).

Instead, she surprised me and a parcel arrived today holding these two pretty items...

If you can't tell, its a mouse sitting on a stack of books to the left and a cat peering over the top on the right.  If you love them just as much as I do, you can get a set here.

Very apt seeing as last night my Meow brought in an alive rat and decided to let it run away into the spare room.  I attempted to catch it but when I moved the bag it was hiding behind it jumped over the towel it was supposed to run under so I could pick it up and scared the absolute shit out of me.  I went from a crouching down position to a standing up a metre further away on tiptoes screaming position and my poor tummy muscles, which are still recovering from surgery, gave a great big lurch of ouch. 

So I called MR and had a cry over stupid rats and stupid cats and stupid tummy muscles and stupid no emergency-rat-disposal-flights home from Newman at 10.30pm and then I realised I could call my Dad so I did and he very kindly drove half an hour here to get rid of the rat for me.

So, I'm loving my book ends and my Dad for emergency rat disposal but the Meow is definitely in the bad books!

More loving at Paisley Jade's!
 

Framing it

Now that the old chest of drawers has moved to the craft room, as was planned to happen back in about June last year, I can start to think about how I want to display the bits and pieces I've collected over the years.  I've been playing around with a few combinations.

 

Do I want them in a nice neat line?

 

Or perhaps a bit of a triangle?

 

A cluster?

 

A cluster with a fabric-ed hoop?

It's all just a bit too hard to decide! And of course, first I need to fill the four blue nesting frames and the white scallopped edge one that I got for Christmas.  And find frames for the belle and boo prints and the sewing meow print before I can really work out how to set them up but it is fun playing!

  

 

What sort of shape do you think I should go for?

 

Decisions, decisions...

Now that I am Oh-So-Close to finishing the pink granny blanket (I have woven in alllllll the ends (which took a lot less time than I thought it would) and done an edging but decided that I want the edging to be a bit wider so am going to do another couple of rounds before taking final photos) I am starting to think 'what next?' 

I haven't quite worked it out yet but I have narrowed it down to something from one of these books, two of which I received Christmas 2010 and the other Christmas 2011, and all of which I have not made a Single Thing From.  Dreadful!  The other components I have narrowed it down to are a) something which is quick and not too difficult and b) something which does not require much/anything to be purchased.

I know one thing... I am going to have fun deciding!
 
 
 

In other Very Good Thing news - we have bought a matching tall boy (second hand from gumtree, so excited to find a matching one listed!) for its brother in the bedroom so the unmatching old one is going to be shifted to the craft room for fabric and bits and pieces storage.  Craft room Order and Organisation, here I come!  Secondary Good Thing - new display space!  Yay! (The other tall boy in the bedroom has a TV and a playstation on it... very attractive display that)

13/366 ::For the craft room and MR's sanity::
A new set of drawers for the bedroom means an old set of drawers for the craft room.  Time to finally finish setting up the craft room and making it beautiful! (hence easing MR's mind at my insane levels of clutter)

12/366 ::For myself::
I've started to see a kinaeseologist in an attempt to work through my issues (along with the help of counsellors at the hospital) and get my body back in working order.  Fingers crossed
 

Looking back : 2011 [ups and downs]

  
Well it was certainly not "My Year" as I had planned at the end of 2010 but neither was it all bad.  Really, apart from some rather horrible shittiness in the health department, it was quite a good year.

January saw MR and I heading down south for a holiday in Denmark.  It involved berry picking in the rain.  So much goodness, one of my all time favourite dreams.

At the beginning of the year I started up a Perth Brown Owls group with Sarah and have had a wonderful time at the meetings each month this year.  It started off small but now we are up to around 30 members with an average of around 8-10 people attending each meeting.  Nice size for quiet chats but we're always happy to have more members!  We are off to Knit on the Beach on January 21 as a part of the Summerset Festival.  Would love to see some more crafty types down there for a fun arvo out!  Knitting and crochet skills not needed - plenty around to teach! All you need is a hook or some needles, easily picked up for cheap at a second hand shop if you don't have some lying around already!

In February I started my new job, a dream job since uni, and loved it.  Working with some lovely ladies and making new friends.  Very important - 2011 was to be the year of being more social.

In March MR bought a house and we moved in together.  Our first home.  Very exciting and also on par with the plans, 2011 being the year we were to move in together.

Unfortunately in March I was also diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia.  Two days after moving into our new home.  Slight dampener.

There's a bit of a blur between March and September, what with dealing with a new health reality, settling in to a new home, budgetting for two, buying furniture, discussing plans, beginning to do up gardens, new job, tired from leukaemia medication.

April was our four year anniversary and we celebrated with a visit to Cirque du Soleil, another dream of mine that fully lived up to its expectations.  MR also enjoyed it enough to say we would definitely be going to the next show to come to Perth.  Yay!

August saw me turn 30.  Eek.  A slight ick moment for me, thirty feels like official old and adulthood.  Responsible styles.  Kids, marriage etc.  Not dealing with leukaemia.  But MR, my family and his put in to get me a very cool present (which has unfortunately only had a couple of uses since - I'm blaming illnesses...)

 

September 21st saw me out at Light the Night for Leukaemia 2011.  I was quite proud of myself, I raised $500 for the Leukaemia Foundation, something I want to continue on with this year.  

 

my sister and I

September 22nd saw me admitted to hospital with advanced liver failure.  Quickly upgraded to acute liver failure.  Complications from my leukaemia medication were apparently to blame and unfortunately my liver was too far gone to regenerate itself. So off I went to be added to the Liver Transplant List.  Pretty scary to go from 'tired, but dealing with Leukaemia' to 'you need a liver transplant' in the space of about 2 weeks.

Positives from that situation is that MR was truly the most awesome boyfriend a girl could ever ask for.  I am truly spoilt in him.  My family and his really pulled together to look after me, making sure I had decent food and keeping me company, even when I was a total bitch and utterly crazy from the toxins in my brain.  A few friends really showed their colours with their support as well.

And the major positive, I got a liver.  Not a day too soon.  How do you write a letter of thanks to a family who donated their loved one's organ to you?  This is something I am still struggling with and in fact, any thoughts of hospital before bedtime make for an entirely sleepless night so moving on for now.

I was out of hopsital at the end of October and geared myself up over the following two months into having Christmas at our place.  This was my plan at the start of the year and I was sticking to it!! Our first Christmas in our home together, there was no way I was handing over the event to someone else in the family!  So it wasn't the big extravagent affair I would have liked.  But it was good.  Relaxed, easy, plenty of food, plenty of rest.  Not too much caring about the things I didn't get finished in time and enjoying the things I did achieve while recovering from major surgery.

From L-R, top - bottom

I made Apricot and Vanilla Jam, as well as Summer Berry Jam :: the gorgeous squirrel ornament I received in the mail from gnome angel as a part of the Christmas ornament swap:: Cherry Meringue Mess, our Christmas dessert, also occasioning to be the first baking since leaving hospital ::  our Christmas tree alit and in daylight :: bunting and some pretty lanterns I received as an early Christmas present from MR's mum :: a cute Christmas plaque I picked up at the shops for $15 :: a selection of Christmassyness adorning the top of our speakers

Which leads me to now.  There are up days and down days.  I feel like I need to make a difference in the world now but I don't know where to start.  Small starts.  I'm looking at courses I can do at UWA summer school, I'm entertaining ideas of other options.  I want to volunteer more, raise money, sew, crochet, blog, write, read, sleep properly, get fit.  How do I fit it all in?  How do I narrow it down?

Starting off the New Year slothing on the couch seems ominous to me.  Is it a sign I am going to have a lazy year? Starting the year without MR - is that a forboding as well?  Surely not.  I shall quash any drama queen thoughts and jump up and down on them for good measure.  Likewise, all hypochrondiac inklings shall go the same way.

2012 is going to be my year.

Now if only I could convince myself.

Tomorrow I promise there will be some looking forward, some resolutions, goal setting and planning happening...

 

Look, a room!

Well, wonders of wonders I have a room clean and tidy enough to show you!*

And perfect timing, our new rug for the the lounge room came today.  On a side note, when I say rug, do you think of a smaller measurement of carpet for the floor or do you think of a throw rug for the couch?  I can't seem to call it a mat because then it feels like I am at school and saying 'sit on the mat' to my students.  And a mat is thinner (in my mind) this one is nice and thick and plush and squooshy.  I have tested it out with bare feet (briefly, before jumping back into the uggies).  Anyhow, back to the lounge room.  It is not finished my any means and needs a lot more colour injected into it but at least it is presentable.

 Lovely recliner couches, the big one is a a 2.5 seater and the two sections are really wide and both recline.  MR insisted on recliner, I insisted that no one had to miss out on reclining action.  I don't like it when only half the couch reclines.  Our new grey rug, hard to see but it has little dots, plain but not too plain.  My cheapy teal herringbone throw rug from coles for $15, how could I resist and a cushion I made last year. 

Please ignore the mess on the bottom shelf of the coffee table (an Ikea one left over from my old place until we can afford/find a new one) and the calendar picture of a snake which I am pretending is a lizard.  All the other months have lovely green rainforest type pictures.  Stupid snake. Need to find a new home to hang the calendar.

 

My first ever piece of original one of a kind art work.  Its a tissue paper, paint and charcoal collage, I love it! I got it for my birthday a couple of years ago from MR.  It doesn't fit in with the colour scheme but it is awaiting a new hook somewhere where it does fit.  (Notice a trend with the randomly hung things on the wall?)

 The requisite for a boys house, a humongous tv and sound system.  And a car.

 

We got these owls on our trip down south to Denmark at the beginning of the year.  They are handcrafted in WA woods.  Hopefully one day they will signify our little family.

 

This box was made my MR's grandad.  Very clever.

So there you have it, one presentable room.  Hopefully in the coming months there will be much more to show off, next week I should have a dining room photo to display after some more new furniture got snuck into the house yesterday as a surprise for MR when he is home next week.




* We'll stay quiet about the fact it is only clean and tidy because my new cleaner came for the first time today and I had to tidy up enough for her to clean...