its sinking in

Posted on by
Reply
Ok.

Deep breath.

I think I’ve narrowed it down.

I realised that whichever way I go, I need a sink with the space to put in two taps. See, we have rainwater tanks. And those tanks only work when the pump is working. ie if there’s a blackout we have no water in the house.

Or we wouldn’t have water in the house if we didn’t also have a gravity feed from the bore water tank.

Sure, the water isn’t the nicest to drink, but you can use it to wash up (to save rainwater) and cook with. For that reason we have 2 taps in the kitchen and in the bathroom. The mixer tap for ‘real’ water, and a regular cold water tap for the bore water.

So, after all that stuffing around yesterday and the tossing and turning last night, the conclusion I’ve come to is that NONE of those sinks I’d narrowed down to my list of 3 will do. None of them have enough space around the rim for 2 taps.

I now have a new list of 3, two of them are economical in price and come in shiny stainless steel, one is more expensive (but cheaper than the Franke) and comes in brushed stainless steel.

Needless to say I’m leaning towards the most expensive, brushed stainless one. Its called Posh. That’s so me… (not). Its got a bigger, deeper large bowl and a 1/2 bowl and overall size is 1050mm.

Next on the list are the Squareline sinks. Those are pretty much a tie in as much as bowl sizes, one has a 3/4 2nd bowl, the other has a 1/2 second bowl. Those are 980mm wide and 1080mm wide. If they done have the Posh in stock I’ll chose one of the others. They’re sold at the hardware store and they have plenty in stock. Or so they told me.

I choose to believe them.

So, I’ve made a decision. On Monday when the girl from the plumbing store calls to let me know if they can get the Franke in for me in time I’ll tell her I want the Posh instead, find out if they have one in store and go pick it up after work.

If they don’t I’ll just go buy one of the others.

Get the darn thing done and over with.

Now, on other news, I sit here while Handyman and significant other pull out the pantry in the kitchen. They already pulled out the corner unit so the electrician can put the wire in for the dishwasher. I’ve spend most of the day till now moving stuff from the pantry and rearranging things in the kitchen.

This is the bit I dislike about renovating.

The good news is that we have floorboards under the lino and under the masonite!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we rip out the rest of the kitchen cupboards we’ll lift up the flooring so the new cupboards can go on the floorboards!

That discovery really made my day!

Now I’m pondering whether to risk painting a bit on the porch rails. Will it rain? They said chance of early afternoon showers… Yesterday it poured and thundered. But the sun is playing hide and seek… The potato vine is saying ‘please paint so I can grow upwards’ but the sun is saying ‘go on, I dare you to paint’… decisions…

z

sink-ing…………

Posted on by
1
 
Today I spent the entire day looking at sinks. our kitchen guy said the cabinets would be ready in 3 weeks. A week ago. So I went shopping for a sink.

I started out unsure about what I wanted. By the end of the day I was unsure of who I was.

See, I thought I had the sink sorted.

Firstly, I wanted a double bowl sink. But I’ve managed for 3 years with a single bowl and it hasn’t killed me. Then I decided I won’t need 2 bowls. I’ll have a dishwasher.

I planned to go with a laundry tub – single bowl, big, deep. No drainboard, but my sink in Fentonbury didn’t have a drainboard and I managed for 8 years with no permanent scars. I still have the plastic white drainboard I bought for there. We could use that till I find something prettier.

Then our kitchen guy recommended a Franke sink, single bowl, with a bowl almost as big and deep as a laundry tub, with the added bonus of drainboard as well. Yay.

Today I found out that they need to order that sink from Melbourne. They say 7-10 days delivery.

So, do I go ahead and order it and risk the sink not arriving in time for the kitchen installation?

Wayne doesn’t want to risk it…

I spent the day looking for alternatives. Prices vary wildly from under $100 to over $1000.

I’m not insane. I’m not willing to pay more than the cost of the Franke sink ($396) if I’m to pick an alternative. The idea would be to find something cheaper and save money, right?

This is where things started to go downhill.

Single sink? One and 3/4 sink? Drainboard or no drainboard? Bigger, deeper sink or shallower and smaller overall?

WAH!

I’m surprised I’m not still lying in the middle of the hardware kitchen aisle in a fetal position sucking my thumb….

I did what any normal (slightly OCD*) person would do.

I made up a comparison table.

Hey. It worked for me when I was buying my first new car. It should work when I find myself unable to make a decision for something that costs 1/100,000,000th of that.

By making a table, doing hands on research, pushing Google to its limits and driving a good friend to drink, I managed to narrow it down to a choice of 3 single bowl sinks. The Franke and 2 others which are smaller overall but still with good sized bowls and nice designs.

Too rounded?

Better?

Then I realised the bench top won’t be ready for installation in two weeks. If the kitchen is actually being installed in two weeks. We are talking about tradesmen here… We could put the old sink in the temporary bench top till the new bench top is finished and the sink arrives… I can still get the Franke.

Easy.

It should be easy. Right?

z

*Tell me… is it normal to count everything? Is it possible to be ‘slightly OCD’ or have OCD tendencies? I count everything. I count snips when I trim pom poms. I count mugs as I rinse them. I count brushstrokes when I brush my teeth.

Basically, I count when my mind isn’t busy doing anything else.

Is that normal? Should I have my head examined?

close encounters of the lion kind

Posted on by
1
 

I did something amazing.

I visited Zoodoo with a friend to play with the lion cubs!

It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it. I justified it to myself by saying its not every day you get to roll around on the grass, hug, kiss and play with two gorgeous 6 month old white lion cubs. Its a once in a lifetime thing!

I mean, here we are, at the start of a very expensive exercise (renovating the kitchen – don’t ask) and I’m spending money on lion cub encounters.

Everyone needs a lion cub kiss at least once in their life.

The park had two 6 month old cubs, Zuri and Araali, and a litter of 3 week old cubs. We had a choice: wait 4 weeks to go play with the baby cubs, or go play with the older ones. I thought big bear hugs with big cubs would be better – more ‘lionlike’.
The cubs were so different. Araali was the quieter, more aloof of the two. Zuri was more playful and a bit devilish. And Araali had mismatched eyes. This is Araali as a baby.

This is Zuri and Araali as a babies.

This is what they look like now.

Just a bit bigger.

This is their dad – Bakari. A gorgeous, huge, white lion.

And their mom, Kiara. Obviously also white.

So much for ‘once in a lifetime’… I want to go again. Soon. I want to work there… I think I’m addicted to lion cubs…

Of course there were other animals and I patted as many of them as I could. Obviously, not this guy…

Or these guys.

Though I’d have loved to pat this baby.

I love these guys!

Apparently they’re trying to get government approval to have encounters with meercats, where you can book to go in and feed them and let them climb all over you. How great would that be! But apparently the Tasmanian government thinks that its safe enough to have an encounter with lion cubs up to 9 months old when they’re bigger than 2 newfoundlands, but its not safe to get in a pen with meercats.

Well, they have been known to maul people to death with their little teeth… Vicious little critters.

I so would love one.

Of course, they have plenty of other, calmer, sweeter animals. Like these wallabies…

and plenty of white wallabies.

But the most dangerous animal of all is this…

Hey, it IS dangerous! Haven’t you seen The Holy Grail with that monster with the big teeth… It was a bunny! I was lucky to escape with my life…
z

a special find

Posted on by
1
 

I found the most gorgeous step ladder EVER.

I was picking up Wayne at work when I noticed this beauty in the middle of the training room.

You know me. I have an eye for special things. And this is special.

I had to have it. Turns out it belonged to a good friend of mine so I made an offer and this gorgeous stepladder is now living at my place.

Its in great condition considering its very old. There’s some staining on the timber and the middle step has broken off. Nothing a bit of sanding and gluing can’t fix.

(You don’t want to know what I paid for it, but I think it was worth it.)
I already have a spot planned for this baby. I’m going to put it in the entry/pantry.
This is the plan:
The entry to our house is a tiny little area which holds the fridge and the pantry cupboard I moved from the living room. (Minus its doors as the space is too cramped for doors.) Eventually I’d like to build a custom pantry which will go over the fridge to maximise storage space. 
This is what I’d like to build (from DIY Showoff).
The main problem, however, is that any pantry will be high and I can’t easily reach things on the top shelves.
This is where the step ladder comes in.
With a custom built pantry cupboard I’ll have a spot for the ladder to sit, keeping it handy for when I need to step up and get something from a top shelf…
…With the added benefit of looking pretty and being one of the first things I’ll see when I enter the house.
The custom pantry is a long way away, especially since I’m told that making it out of galvanised pipe will 
cost me an arm and a leg, so there’s no rush to fix this beauty up, but I’m sure glad I have it!
z

goodbye to some dear friends

Posted on by
Reply
I have some dear friends who’ve been there for me through thick and thin, through the good times and the bad… I’m really quite attached to them.
I’m talking about my Blundstone boots.
Tasmanian made, all Australian, tough and comfortable. 
I love them. They’re the first boots I bought after moving to Tasmania in 2003. They’re 10 years old now.
All in all that’s a pretty good run for boots… They’ve been failing for a while now and I’ve been planning to throw them out every time we go to the tip, but somehow I can never bring myself to take that final step.
Sometimes you just have to face facts and admit that its time to let go.

When I had my first litter of standard poodle puppies they chewed off a pull tab so its been hard to get one of the boots on for years.

Then last year something in the vamp seemed to collapse and make them uncomfortable to wear, but I persevered and we got past that hickup.

They have scuff marks from kicking weeds, scratches from having things dropped on them, dints where I used them to prop up doors when screwing in hinges. They have at least 3 different colour paint splotches on them from when I wore them while painting my house in Fentonbury first, then here later…

When the soles gave way I knew it was time to say goodbye.

*sniff*

To make matters worse, the boots I bought for riding are starting to smile. And they’re only about 3 years old and nowhere near as comfortable for all day wear as the blunnies…

On the upside, I can now buy myself a new pair of Blundstones…

🙂

z

getting there slowly – kitchen update

Posted on by
Reply
Not much has actually happened in the kitchen yet, so the title of this post is misleading. However things are going to be happening. Soon, I hope.
This is where things are at.
Handyman has been over and worked on the end of the porch till he ran out of wood. That’s semi enclosed for now and already making a difference when its really hot, and today when the wind picked up and it rained horizontally.
Yesterday evening we sat on the bench at the end of the garden and looked back at the house and I’m loving how its looking. I love the enclosed end of the porch and the way the retaining wall frames the house.
Just squint a little and picture the painting finished… perhaps with some decorative corners on the posts…
Meanwhile the electrician has put in the new meter box and the gooseneck thingy where the power comes into the house. We’re waiting on the electricity company to come move the power before we can put the new window in the kitchen and finish lining the walls.
All the power points have been moved and we now have a power point outside for those times when you need power outdoors. Power has been pulled to where it’ll be needed for the new stove, dishwasher and rangehood.
My kitchen maker has been to confirm measurements and will be placing the order on Tuesday (Monday is a public holiday here) and thinks the new kitchen will be ready to install in 3 weeks.
That means that the week before we need to rip out the old kitchen bench and cabinets, lift the lino and masonite on the floor and hopefully find floorboards in decent condition. If so, I’ll need to give them a sand in preparation for the new cabinets to go in. If not we’ll be putting the masonite back and organising vinyl for the new floor.
I really hope we have nice floorboards.
Soon as I get the precise measurements for the new benchtop I can give them to Handyman so he can start making it. Then it can go in soon as the cabinets are in place.
I’ll have to organise delivery of the stove, rangehood and dishwasher so the kitchen can be put together at the same time. I think… The timing of this still kind of stumps me.
I know I need to organise a plumber gasfitter to come get everything ready for the stove and sink before they’re put in place, then come back to connect them up…
Ditto with the electrician when he puts in the bits he needs to wire in.
Remind me never to do something like this again…
Meanwhile I found this little beauty at the tip shop while looking for something else. I think it might be the perfect mobile island bench for the new kitchen. All it needs is new handles, a bit of TLC, a shelf and castors. Oh, and a new top to match the benchtop Handyman is making.
On another note, the garden is going well. I’m waiting for 3 of the 4 of these plants-who’s-name-I-have-forgotten to bloom so I can decide if and where I’ll put them in the garden. I love the pink but I don’t want red.
Wierd, but I don’t remember planting these seeds… Remember, I never wanted yellow flowers in my garden and now I have plenty of yellow flowers.
Oh well. The garden is a work in progress. I can always dig up, pull out and move things I don’t like.
Yesterday I planted a ton more seeds in pots so hopefully they’ll start sprouting soon and I can add them to the garden. There are already a few things which are ready to be put in. Its just a matter of deciding where they should go and put them in.
I’ll have a pretty garden yet!
z

barbed wire hearts

Posted on by
1
Its been a long time since I shared any creative projects.
I’ve been busy OK?
Anyway, here are a few (bad) pics I took of some barbed wire hearts I made not too long ago.
I found some barbed wire at one of the tip shops and collected it to make some hearts. Once the basic heart shapes were made (thanks Wayne, you’re a wire genius and not afraid of barbs), I used finer wire to decorate the hearts.
First I made a spider web. I used some craft glue blobs to create a dew-drop look on the web.

Another is a bit more random in curls and webs.

Last is an extra curly one with pink wire highlights.

One of these days I’ll get creative again. Meanwhile I’ll be better off diverting my creative energy to clean out the guest room. And the office. And paint the railing on the porch.

Strangely enough I’m actually looking forward to actually doing all that. I just can’t seem to find the time!

z

the holes in the wall – kitchen update

Posted on by
Reply
The kitchen renovation has stalled. I already mentioned this before but haven’t given an update of where we’re at.

Handyman has been here and has been working but he’s been diverted cause we realized that the power points had to be moved before he could finish pine lining the wall. I mean, he could only work on the 2 walls as it was as we’re waiting on the power company to move the power so he can put in the new window before he can pine line the front wall…

Its all about doing things in order.

Usually I realize I’m getting ahead of myself after I’ve already made plans for something, then I have to stop it to backtrack and get something else done first.

And when I say “I” I mean Handyman. I plan, he has to do.

So for over a week now this is what our kitchen wall looks like.

A bit more rustic than I’d like.

Meanwhile, we’ve kept Handyman busy. He’s put the ceiling and insulation in the mud room (I should take pics huh?) And he’s started enclosing the end of the porch as per Wayne’s instructions.

See, when it rains here the rain comes in at an angle and almost everything on the porch gets wet. If its wet and windy simultaneously everything on the porch gets wet. So having part of it enclosed, especially near the door, will provide a bit of protection from the weather. We won’t have to worry about soggy boots this winter.

The windows removed from the kitchen are going into this new enclosed area.

So far only one side has been done. Eventually I’ll be painting this all the same colour as the house so it won’t look this dark.

This could be the right place for my plastic chandelier… though its too long to hang there unless you’re only as tall as Chipmunk.

I wonder if Chipmunk would like a chandelier in his little stable shed? He’s a special boy, he deserves a special home, right?

z

redlands – dream garden

Posted on by
Reply

There’s a place just outside New Norfolk which I’ve always wanted to visit, and last weekend Wayne and I finally found the time to go and have a look around. Its called Redlands and used to be a huge farm with lots of outbuildings like its own blacksmith, bakery, distillery, etc.

It still has a distillery where they make their own whiskey and schnapps. Good stuff. Oh, and the bakery is also a going concern now – its not open for visitors but it bakes artisan bread which is sold through some local shops.

You know I’m a sucker for old signs.

And old buildings. The distillery shop is inside what looks like it may have once been a dairy, wonderful stone floors and thick stone walls. Unfortunately the photos I took inside suck.

This is part of the distillery.

Then of course there are tons of old buildings, some in better conditions that others. I’m not sure if they’re in use or not.

This is the old oast house.

This is the workers’ quarters. Amazing. There’s talk they want to restore these rooms as tourist accommodation. 

I love it all. Especially the garden. Its the kind of garden I dream of… the kind of garden I would have loved to grow up with. Its the kind of garden fairies flit around in and leprechauns live in.

There are trees with branches which hang down to the ground, creating ideal secret hiding places… love the sitting area comprised of tree stumps under these birches.

The ducks enjoy a bit of shade on a hot day.

No garden is complete without a cubby house!

And the flowers! Huge trees with hydrangeas growing happily underneath them.

Stone wall fences and more hydrangeas… old fashioned and new varieties. Beautiful. And much happier than mine in the shade of the big trees.

If I had this canopy over my garden I’d spend more time sitting in the garden reading or just relaxing.

I love Redlands. Our garden will never look like that. But hopefully I’ll soon have a garden full of pretty flowers and interesting corners. And an area to sit and relax in the shade.
z

dancer is home!

Posted on by
1

Our girlie is back!

Dancer’s been away for a long time… we took her to be broken in to saddle before I went to Greece last year, then, for one reason or another, her return was put off again and again.

Over the last few months I’ve been going down to visit her and having a few rides to get used to her (and her used to me and my clumsy ways). But now our girlie is back home, finally.

She’s looking gorgeous. She’s such a sweet-natured girl. But she’s green. And I’m not the best rider in the world. I mean, I never was the best rider in the world, but I had balance and I could stick to a horse back then.

Makes sense that after many many years of not riding, many many additional kilos, compounded with middle age, that I’d get myself a green horse to ride. I got myself a pair of sticky-bum jodhpurs but I’d need superglue-bum jodhpurs to stay on if Dancer jumps sideways suddenly…

Anyway, Jenny has done a wonderful job in schooling her. If you have a horse you need broken I highly recommend her. Dancer is responsive to a light touch, a shift of weight and a squeeze of the thighs. Suits me perfectly in one way as I’ve always had soft hands. Doesn’t suit me at all (yet) in another as my balance is still off… I’m still riding like the sack of potatoes my first riding teacher used to accuse us of being.

That will improve with time and more riding.

I hope.

Gotta go.

I have a horse to ride!

z