Sunday, April 19, 2009

From spring cleaning to repainting.... good grief what have I started....

OK so here's the go... after arriving home after the floods up here my poor little P&CC is going mouldy from all the water laying under the house. So I had the bright idea it was time to spring clean (even though it is Autumn down under) my house. I started in the smallest room in the house.. the loo, & have I was washing down the walls I decided they needed repainting! So it has started, I have completely redone the loo, painting walls, door, (white of course) bought new toilet roll holder (which by the way was very hard to find) pulled down the old scabby cupboard even though it was PINK, hung a large picture of my boys (U2) to hide where the old cistern use to hang even though I gave it so many coats of paint, put a calender on the other wall, new hanging toilet brush on another wall & the finishing touch a cane basket painted white to store the extra toilet rolls & air freshener & have to admit it is now a pleasure to *sit* in this little room & while away the hours! There is paint all over the REAL scabby lino which is going to be pulled up by Mr MP&CC & fresh new tiles laid but not before the new LOO is installed!



The piccie above is the old door handles which I had kind of hoped would be brass after I cleaned up one of the handles to find was brass, but these & the other handle are steel so decided to paint them white & then distress them. Photos are not the best but you get the idea right...?



One brass handle & the other painted whited & distressed... lookin' good. So next onto the laundry no repainting here just a thorough cleaning then onto the *little hallway* leading into the kitchen. I honestly have NO idea what possessed me to paint this room yellow (along with my sewing room & bathroom) as I have never been a yellow person so when I started to clean the walls I realised I just could not live with this colour anymore. Friday was spent painting yet again, this time cream instead of white & boy what a difference! Yesterday I got in & removed some of my endless amount of fabric that I store on shelves in this hall, cleaned the shelves down & today when I put the fabric back, colour co-ordinated all neatly stacked have found that what came out does not necessary fit back in! So the left over fabric is now sitting in my laundry waiting for me to find room in my sewing room..yeah right.




Some of my fabric....





And some more...







And even more.....


Now I just have to find room for my boxes of lace, old doilies, ribbons, etc that once all fitted in here!







OK so the photo above is the yellow that once was, if you look very closely you will see the cream round the edges, it really has made such a difference!
I didn't get around to finishing this post have completely cleaned the large hall & repainted the bathroom. Have started on our bedroom so am getting there! Leaving the two worst rooms until last.... the dreaded kitchen & lastly my sewing room, lord only knows where I am going to put all the *stuff* that is in there while I repaint it, going to be a nightmare I think.
Today my Sweet & I went to a Auction (after going to a 21st last night & only getting 2 1/2 hours sleep & with a rather bad hangover) it kind of took the shine off it a bit. Anyways ending up with a brand spanking new *loo* & vanity for the bathroom so although we were both suffering a tad what with all the noise was really chuffed to get a couple of real bargains.
OK so that's it for now had better post this before I forget .. again. Hope everyone had a great Anzac day, the one day Kiwi's & Aussies remember just how lucky we are to live in a free world.


















Saturday, April 18, 2009

Please spare a thought......

On March 31st 2009 the skies opened up around Coffs Harbour & surrounding districts & swallowed it up..... the second time in 13 years. I was over in New Zealand & just could not believe what I was seeing on the news, we were told in 96 that we had had a one in 100 year flood, boy one hell of a quick 100 years! My family was very lucky the water only went into our garage & garden shed although quite a few thousand dollars of damage was done. People further down in my street lost everything. The other night I was looking at the photos people had posted on Facebook & cried for the damage that has been done to this beautiful part of the world, & can only imagine what they went through trying to keep the water out of their homes & businesses. So many of them do not have Insurance & like my husband & I the ones who do are now left wondering if we are going to be able to replace what we have lost as news is coming out of Insurance Companies not paying out in full. I don't think I need to say how I feel about this.... to me it is just disgusting, the amount of money paid into insurance polices & there are a lot of people like us who have never made a claim before. I will find out next week if the company we deal with have a heart!
These photos were taken up at Dorrigo, the road is very aptly called *Waterfall Way*!






The photo below was taken by one of my neighbours, cannot even imagine how this poor lady must have been feeling....



Down the side of her house...





Looking toward the back of her house....




The street behind us, the house with the picket fence is directly behind us.....







The street behind us, at the far end is my street.....






In 25 days Coffs Harbour had 2 days without rain, it has only been in the last day or so that we could walk on the front lawn without sinking in mud, we still cannot go down the back yard without gummies on. The water stopped short 4" coming into our house if it had been high tide far more damage would have been done. My Darlin' went to pick Dylan up from school (in the next street) & was up to his knees in water, Dylan was up to his waist. That amount of water was dumped on Coffs in 10 minutes, Dylan was lucky to get home Taska had to stay at a friends house over night as our street was cut off.
We are seriously thinking of raising our house, think after being lucky twice in a row the third time may be pushing it.
So please spare a thought for the people up here who now are living in what has been termed *A natural disaster area* the one thing we can be thankful for there were no loss of lives.....

















Monday, April 13, 2009

Flying away & 18 years of Wedded Bliss........

Good lord..... it HAS been a while, long time even since I have posted on here truth is have been busy, been away visiting my family. I didn't realise just how much I needed to *go home*, yah know sort the old head out, get rid of the cobwebs & come back home feeling refreshed & eager to tackle the *to do* list I had written last year & seemed to get nowhere with it all. This time it was Dads turn to be surprised & just wish I had my trusty camera at the ready to capture his face!

Ok so the above photo was taken at the airport just before I flew out....... I'm on the left, Dad, Mum, my sister Sue & brother Deane. Normally do not like having my photo taken but suppose it could have come out worse! Came back to Coffs after the BIG flood & cannot believe it is still raining, out of 21 days have had 1 day without rain.
Have to make this one short, today my Darlin' & I have been married 18 years so a very special day & looking forward to going out to Dinner tonight.
Hope you are all having a great Easter & talk to yah tomorrow.