From That to This.......

I have been itching to show you all the transformation that happened over Christmas, our new out door entertaining area. This is the back view of our house & the start of it. My Darlin' busy at work ok so note the back steps, the window on the left is our *little lounge*, the one on the right the laundry!

Getting closer to being put up, boy cannot believe the end result! Stinking hot day this was done 38 degress!

Not a very photo but posts are up & roof is on getting ready to pour the slab, finally somewhere solid to sit!

Rio laid waiting for the concrete to arrive, very early in the morning! No steps into the back of the house for the past few days, that was a lot of fun especially when doing the washing!

Our friend *Spike* getting the first wheel borrow ready for the concrete truck to deliver our Chrissie pressie!

Slab down at long last, still no steps! Lattice needs painting.

How good does this look, an even slab of concrete to put everything on YES!

Finished result, I painted our old oak table *White* Hubby lacquered the top for the true *French* look! Love the candle holders, so chic. LOVE this table!

This old bench used to belong to our neighbour. When she gave it to us all that remained was a couple of rotten slats. So my trusty Darlin' knowing our much I wanted this, made new slats up for it & I stained them. It has been sitting down the back under our Mulberry Tree for I don't know how long until I found it & had a brain wave to paint the slats white. Yeah right, painting went fine until I had to put the thing back together, the whole neighbourhood heard me, I was not a happy chappy! The thing kept falling apart & all the paint chipped off, which I am not complaining about now, just need to make some new cushions for it!

Our new back steps how good do they look, my Darlin' made & stained them himself!

So above & below show the finished result Or should I say near finished result. Still have a few thing to do until its completed, just LOVE sitting out here in the cool unless the neighbour from hell is home, another story you really do not want to get me started on that one.

Ok so Im outta here, got some serious partying to do this weekend, so gotta go!
Have a great weekend everyone & hope you like my new entertaining area

Lyn xxx

Saying goodbye to a first home.....

So the reason I was soooooo late in posting my Mums birthday ( I do have a VERY good excuse here) was that I have spent the week helping my son Ryan & girlfriend Chloe - pictured above at a fancy dress party as *Postman Pat & his Little Black Cat* - pack up their home & clean through out in preparation for the couple who will be renting from them.

I have to admit here that I am a tad worn out, nothing to do with my new age of course, I am blaming this squarely on the heat, after all even Chloe kept saying to me *How hot is it*? I think they are very glad it is all finished, after working all day they were back round there until round 9pm every night, so made it long days for them.

I was quite teary the last time I was there, I mean come on this is not even MY home but it is very special to me, the first home our son bought! my Hubby had done quite a lot of work round there so that makes it even more special.

Ok enough babbling here, I kinda think you all get the message how proud we are of Ryan! So until the next post, hope you all have a FANTASTIC weekend & to all of you either in Victoria & South Australia I really hope this heatwave goes soon, am thinking of you guys.

One more thing as I am going away tomorrow so might not get the chance to post, I want to wish my gorgeous niece Rachel a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY, have a great day Sweet heart. Love yah heaps xxx

Oh & by the way Ryan does not wear glasses & that is a wig not his normal hair! He is not a postie either, thought I should let yous know!

Lyn xxx

Im late, Im late, for a VERY important date......

I have to admit here that I am very late for the posting of my Gorgeous Mum's birthday. Margaret Rose Burleigh (nee Adair) was born on the 26th Jan 19??, sorry the year is a guarded secret, at Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand. Her beautiful Mother Mary Tasker Adair, brought her three children up on her own, quite a feat back in those days. My Mum, like her Mum grew into an amazing very elegant *Lady*. After meeting & marrying my *dashing* Dad, they both built their first home, cycling many miles after work & during the weekends, putting in long hours to accomplish their dream. My Mum also bought three children into this world, first my sister Sue, then myself & lastly a long awaited son Deane. A very talented Seamstress I can remember my Mum making up beautiful dresses from *burda* magazines (in those days you had to trace all the patterns out & there were no seam allowances) & selling on consignment to a shop. I can still remember the beautiful black velvet dresses with stunning trimmings that Mum made & I used to wonder just who wore these stunning creations . In 1975 our family minus my elder sister moved to Nelson, located at the top of the South Island, where my parents started managing a motel. Eventually they bought the Motel & put many long hours without a day off, which to be honest was nothing unusual for them. I think the hardest day of my life was in June 1981 when I left New Zealand to come to Australia for *6 months*! I can still see the look on my Mum & Dads face as I said goodbye to them, I know now that they realised their *little girl* would not be returning home! Since I have lived over here my Mum has suffered Bladder Cancer, lost both breasts to Breast Cancer, & from this has become an even stronger person than she was before. She truly amazes me!

Happy Happy belated birthday *Margaret Rose Burleigh* I LOVE you HEAPS my Sweet!

Lyn xxx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME PART TWO.......

I had a great day yesterday & first off I wish to thank everyone of you guys out there who wished me a great day, it made my day even more special!

Ok so why the Part Two you may be asking yourself right about now, well I had a very upset Hubbie last night after reading my post & finding I had made no mention of him on my special day! What this over reacting Darlin' did not realise was that I wrote the post while he was at work, I had only seen him for about 10 minutes first thing in the morning & had intended to do a follow up today on how my night went! So my Darlin', this post is of & for you, OK.

I mentioned that my BIG pressie yesterday was a trip back home in March, what I failed to mention however was that this gift was from my Hubby. When he arrived home from work yesterday he also gave me a large bunch of beautiful flowers & cooked a yummy meal for me helped by Taska our daughter. Our evening was spent sitting out the back in our new Entertaining area (which you will see in a future post) which has become the coolest part of our home. First course was Prawn Cocktails, followed by Steak cooked on the barby with 3 different salads & finished off with a very very yummy birthday cake. The remainder of the evening was spent sitting around the table in the cool breeze just relaxing & talking over a few drinks. The perfect ending to a perfect day I kinda think.

So my Sweety, sorry for not mentioning you yesterday, have I been forgiven yet????

Oh & nearly forgot to mention (I do not want to get into anymore trouble here) that our son Ryno & his gorgeous girlfriend Chloe (yep their the ones moving to WA) came around in the arvo & bought me a beautiful necklace, so I really was spoiled!

Today life is back to normal & the housework that I did not quite get around to yesterday *because you do not do anything on your special day* has been started, although not with a lot of enthusiasm I must admit.

Better get back to it before I find another excuse to put it off until tomorrow!!



Have a great day



Lyn xxx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME........

Ok so today is MY birthday, I have turned the ripe old age of ummmm, 22! as good a number as any I say. No to be totally honest this is my last year in the 40's, the dreaded Five OHHHHH is coming up next year, well of course one year from today. I did not want to turn 40 as 50 just seemed so much closer & I have to tell you the past nine years have flown, but hey cannot stop it so have realised its time to get over this age thing & just get on with it.
The best thing about birthdays of course is the pressies you receive, boy did I do really well this year. From my Mum & Dad I was given a beautiful jade & gold ring, my daughter Taska bought me a silver & gold bag for my Pandora bracelet, Dylan bought me a birthday cake with 3 candles & happy birthday written on it, also for my bracelet, my sister in law bought me a beautiful glass etched jewelery box, & the best pressie was a trip home in March for a couple of weeks. (Mum you cannot let Dad see this post)! I even received an email from my eldest son why still is not talking to me, so at least that was something huh? I went to my local RSL club this morning, had a small win on the pokies, was given a $10 voucher as it is MY birthday & received a free drink... Vodka & Dry thank you very much!
So all in all it is turning out to be a great day. I keep looking at my very messy house & think I should really get on & do some cleaning, but I keep hearing my Darlin' Mums voice inside my head...*You do not do ANYTHING on YOUR birthday*... what a great excuse, yep I think so to.
Ok so that's it for now, think I might shout myself a glass of wine or two as I kinda feel that 49 is a VERY special age, this time next year I will be half way through my life, not such a scary thought after all.

Hope you all out there are having as great a day as I am, & if you are lucky enough to have been born on 22nd January (love love love this date) HAVE A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY from the birthday girl (ME)

Oh & before I forget I found out the other day that my son isn't going to WA until Feb 20th, so I get to spend some extra time with him, yeehaaa.

See yah's

Lyn xoxox

How I wish it was.........

Ok this time time last year on 19th Jan I was on a plane flying back home to surprise my gorgeous Mum for her birthday. Our birthdays being only 4 days apart it was the first time in 27 years since I had spent both my Mums & my own birthday back home. How I wish it was this time last year! I just cannot believe how fast the last 12 months have gone, I can still remember the count down to this very special occasion, it seemed to take forever like anything really worth while does!

These photos were taken when I was home at a place in Nelson called The Flounders. All the old original buildings have been moved to here from different locations in & around Nelson & restored to their former beauty. The photo below was once a Bed & Breakfast that my Grandma Burleigh (my Dads Mum) used to own.

I am probably going to get into a LOT of trouble here from my Mum & Dad for posting these photos but I think they look as beautiful as ever. This one of my Mum & Sister Sue (Sue was the one who got all the brains & looks) was taken at the front of my parents home early this month when she went up for a visit.

I love this photo (they reckon their pooku's are rather big but all the more to cuddle I say) & looking at it I just want to give them both a big kiss & cuddle!

To be honest I have been putting off doing my first post for the new year as I REALLY wanted it to be a good one, I had told myself after the rather bad patch I went through last year that 2009 was going to be a bloody good year for me, I really didn't think it could be any worse than 2008. Yeah right. Christmas was a shocker, we nearly lost a very close friend & then his father had a massive stroke & died. Jan 6th saw us going to his funeral, at 65 he was tooooo young. Another friend of my Hubbies died in his sleep at the age of 39 last week leaving a wife & 2 kids, where the hell is the fairness in that???

Our 2nd eldest son & his girlfriend are leaving for WA on Feb 1st, I'm not even letting myself go there at the moment, that one is really going to hurt. Just to really top things off I spent days preparing my application for my dream job, only to be rejected (their words not mine) after the first 4 questions which were only yes or no answers, because I am not an Australian Citizen! Not going there either at the moment, it left me feeling so bloody useless & unwanted, do the people that come up with this *red tape* realise that??

So for today anyway I can sit & pretend I am back on that plane flying home to Aotearoa & feeling the safety I feel when my feet touch my native soil & the never ending love from the two people who mean more than anything to me, who I love & miss so so much.

What a great giveaway...

Kathryn from http://ourshabbycottage.blogspot.com/ is having a great giveaway for her 100th post. Pop on over, make a comment & you are in to win. Good luck everyone.
I will be back later to do my first post for the New Year.

Lyn