An Assortment of Events

Yikes! I had intended to post through our Christmas break but I guess we were just too busy actually doing stuff. New Year's resolution (hah!) is to post more frequently rather than clumping everything together. I'll strive for brevity here for the sake of your eyes and my fingers.

Another Toowoomba Christmas

No surprise that we spent another year in Toowoomba with the family. Food was superb as expected and it was nice to have a little break before the big renovation push over the Christmas/New Year hols. It's been tradition as of late to break into a recital of the 12 days of Christmas after dinner, though I don't know how much longer we can convince the ageing cousins to join in.

A New TV for John

We helped John buy a new TV not too long ago. It didn't take long after setting it up to realise that we could have gone for something a little bigger (which as far as TVs go is always better), so we braved the boxing day sales at JB Hifi to get an upgrade.



Striking while the iron was hot, I not only picked up a 42" LCD, but also got two Topfield PVRs (another one for the 'old' TV up back now) and a blu-ray player. I'm pretty chuffed with the whole arrangement now, though at some point it would be lovely to have an amp added to the living room. I reckon that might be a bridge too far unfortunately.

Gardening and Jobs in Brisbane

Our yard had turned into a jungle by the time we returned from Toowoomba so it was time to get the mower out. This would be the first time since starting the renovation and laying down turf so I was pretty excited. Even Alsie helped out with the little strip of grass out the back.



The little garden bed next to our patio was planted with alternating variegated and red backed gingers. Rather tropical I think and it gives the area a lovely resort feel to it (which came in useful later as you'll see)



We got a handyman to help install some Elfa shelving, which was a step closer to getting some use out of the new utility room. I toyed around with the idea of installing the top track myself but I'm glad I didn't given how much trouble the poor guy had. The modular design of this system is great as we'll be able to buy more as we need it.



I had an excuse to get the drill out to put together some vegetable beds. Not sure what we'll plant just yet, though we've been very happy with the tomatoes we grew in a pot. I'm thinking of some eggplants and courgettes as well, with some herbs and perhaps a passion fruit vine in some of the smaller barrels.



By the weekend we were joined by John and Sheena to attack the back yard. It's amazing what some root barriers, wood chip and a little raked soil will do. The turfing would have to come a week after.

Resort del Chua

Uninspired at the thought of returning to work, we decided to do something a little special on the last day of our break. Of course we were also exhausted from a full week in the garden and didn't want to travel too far, so we checked into a charming little resort in the area. We felt pretty relaxed after a lovely day of nibbles, freshly blended smoothies, outdoor movies, boardgames and BBQ prawns. Two storms rolled on through in the late afternoon but I was adamant that we stay outside under cover rather than retreat indoors. Had a great time and felt very much at home so we'll definitely come back.

Alsie had a birthday

My baby girl got a little older on the 7th of January. The lucky thing was showered with presents in the morning from friends and family.



I've had one of the presents burning a hole in my desk drawer at the office for about two months now. It's a gorgeous pendant from Christine's new store, so I got to support a friend and get Alsie some bling at the same time. Win! Alsie also got some matching earrings and a lovely complimentary bookmark.

It was hard keeping the site a secret from Alison but I managed to hold my tongue in the end. I think Christine's done exceptionally well and would recommend checking out her wares. This is a lame photo taken on my phone and hardly does the piece justice so head over to her site for better idea.

A fence came down

Renovating neighbours Joel and Katie haven't had too much luck lately. They've tried their best to help fix the last shared disaster with the paint on our car port but it just refuses to budge.

Bad luck struck once more when they were excavating in their backyard. While driving the digger past our fence, the earth gave way and knocked over our fence which in turn popped off the sleepers of our retaining wall. The dodgy fence was hardly reinforced so it's not surprising really.

They had fixed the fence as best they could by the time we came home, though there's still a little more to do.



We could have gotten all flustered about it but I guess these things happen and they're keen to help us fix the problem. It's just a bummer as we thought we were done with that side of the house. At least we managed to save our liriopes, and have temporarily planted them in one of the vegie patches until we can backfill our retaining wall again.

More Turf

The turf was delivered the week after we prepped the back yard, so John and Sheena had to come down once more to lend us a hand. Thankfully there was only half the area this time compared to the front yard so it didn't end up taking all that much time.



Not content with an easy task, we decided to tackle something else while help was handy. The target turned out to be my old nemesis, the stump around the under side of the house, so the Arborator had to ride once more. It took a lot of digging, pulling and levering but we got that sucker out in the end.

Toilet Tiled

The new toilet has also been tiled by a friend of John's, and we're pleased with the results. This was another job I'm glad I didn't have to do after seeing how fiddly it was to get the tiles cut and level.

What next in 2010?

Phew! Seems like we've been a little busy, but there's still quite a bit to come. We're getting quotes in to have the new utility room carpeted soon which will be the last functional change to the house. There's also some roofing work that needs to be done to spruce up the existing house to bring it in line with the new roofs. At some point we'll also have to figure out what we're doing on the eastern side of the house where the bins are.

Lots to look forward to as the year goes on. A trip back to Malaysia to see mum and family will be most welcome in late March, where I'm also hoping to take advantage of arbitrage and pick up the hotly speculated Apple Tablet. One hopes that I'll have more details about my impending purchase on the 28th of this month should Apple make an announcement.

Towards the end of the year I'm hoping that mum will return the favour and come out for a visit at Christmas. That's certainly going to be incentive for us to have the house complete for her visit. With luck the garden will be nice and established by then.

2009 was great, but roll on 2010!