We are nicely settled into our new home. That is we are moved in and comfortable! I still have lots of boxes in the garage that need unpacking that I will do as time permits. Our old house sold fairly quickly after our third contract on it! It sold quick but the first two contracts fell through, but we were third time lucky. Unfortunately the bank wanted more of our equity than we expected so we don't have as much left over as we were hoping.

We were planning on using some of it to buy a new car, since our old one has died.. the engine is kaput and it is still sitting in the back yard. We need to get it to the wreckers but we haven't got to that yet. We got lucky because my brother bought a new one, and didn't need his old one any more and it wasn't worth selling so he let us have it. It will do just fine for the time being especially since….I am no longer working outside the home!!

That's right, if you haven't already heard, I am no longer working as an Admin Manager. After 3yrs in an accounting firm as the admin manager where I did payroll, in house accounts amongst other things, it was time for me to start putting my health first. My health was making it very difficult for me to maintain my work standards and I was finding it harder and harder to manage working full time with set hours.

So what now?? Well since I already have the best job in the world designing for DSP, which I was already doing on the side, I am now doing it full time, well full time with the added benefit of working when I am well and taking it easy when I am not. My hours are as flexible as they can get, I can work at 2am in my jammies, or 9.30am when the kids are at school or 8pm when the kids are in bed, or pretty much any time I feel like it. I love designing and am so lucky to be able to do it as a job now even tho I am unwell. I couldn't have a more suitable job for my illness which at this stage still looks to be Mixed Connective Tissue disease according to my Rheumatologist.

I have symptoms of several Auto-Immune diseases which may later develop into a specific one or may remain overlapping. Auto-immune diseases are notoriously difficult to diagnose even when the symptoms are clear but in the meantime at least I am being treated and now that I am no longer working outside the home, I can put my health first instead of my job but still earn money while doing so! YEAH!

The kids are doing great. Jasmine is about to turn 8 and is such a lovely young lady! She just got her ear's pierced today as an early birthday present. She is starting year 3 this year… boy it goes fast!! Kyan (my baby!!!) is starting prep this year! It will be good to have them in the one place instead of one at school and one at daycare. Although for the first time they have both been enjoying the entire Christmas break at home, and getting to know the kids in our new neighbourhood. I love that I can work even while they are home from school! Although maybe not as efficiently!!!

I think that is pretty much all of it. We had a lovely Christmas and new year and the kids are looking forward to going to school. I am loving spending more time designing although I think it will be easier when the kids are at school! I get so many interruptions at the moment while they are home, which is fine of course, I am enjoying spending so much time with them at the moment.

Oh nearly forgot! Dean has moved the workshop to home now and is now working at home which works well because if he wants to work extra hours, he can do so without feeling like he can't see the kids while he is gone. And now we don't have to waste rent on a shed and can put that money towards our house instead! We still in the process of organising curtains. We have some roman blinds on layby for the family room and have ordered some fabric for the kids rooms and will have them made very soon. Ours will be next after those I think. Yes, we just have sheets on the windows at the moment! It will take time to get it all done but it will happen bit by bit.

We need to get a ride on mower too because we don't have a mower and our block is an acre, so it is a bit expensive to have someone else mow each time! So that is on the priority list as well at the moment.

Anyway, so lots of changes for us, but hopefully all for the better! I think life will be a lot less stressful and much simpler now, and hopefully Dean won't have to work too many extra hours!! How else will he fit all that triathlon training in???

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The kids are really enjoying the house. Kyan’s favourite thing is the automatic roller door. He loves that it opens automatically when we drive in and out. Jasmine loves that her new room is nowhere near as cold as her old one. She had the coldest room in the house before because it is a wooden house and she had windows on two walls that let in lots of cold air.

They are both also loving their new play room which will eventually be a lounge/theatre room. At present we are content to watch movies and tv in the main living area although the kids have our old tv in their play room so they can at least watch different stuff to us. The new kitchen is my favourite part of the new house. It’s big enough for two or even three people without running into one another all the time. I am also loving the walk in pantry. I have been wanting one of those for the longest time.

The ensuite feels like such a major luxury which I can’t quite get used to! It is such a novelty to only have to walk a few steps to go to the toilet in the middle of the night!

I am the only one who hasn’t tried the spa yet! And now it turns out the pump for our tank isn’t wired up like we thought and so I won’t be having one till it is now. We have been watering the turf diligently (trying to get it going) thinking we were using tank water! Not happy! What a waste of the town water!

Dean rang the builder about it yesterday so hopefully they will fix it soon!

I am struggling with work at the moment. I have had to take lots of sick days because of frequent flare ups which I now think are being triggered by stress.  It looks like there might be changes happening on the work front as I am just not handling it anymore. I can’t say too much now as nothing is official yet but suffice to say I need to make changes to reduce stress so that I can stop being so sick all the time! Fingers crossed it works out like we hope it will.

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Here it is, our new home finished at last. Ok, I admit I cheated a little and photoshopped the grass as it is brown not green, but it will be green eventually! He he Especially if Dean retains his enthusiasm for watering it. He went over at 5am this morning to water it.

We will also need to do some seeding because we only got turf for the area immediately around the house. There is no way we could possibly turf an acre block unfortunately. I dread to think how much that will cost!

There are LOTS of weeds in the rest of the block so we will need to do something about that as well.  I think we should hire someone to seed and spray as we have no idea what we are doing.

Oh and we need to buy a ride on mower. Better sell our old house quick so we can actually afford one. Oh wait that means we have to actually get it ready to go on the market! We have decided to just sell it as is. We don’t have the time, inclination or money to do the finishing touches. It really only needs some paint and touch up work and a new laundry tub.  It will sell quick regardless because it fits into the first home owners market which is in high demand at the moment here.

The cleaners are over there at the moment cleaning away ready for the handover tomorrow. Wonder if they will pick up all the crap the workmen have left outside. Old drink bottles and cigarette buts all over the yard. I suspect they will only do the windows outside. Oooh which reminds me, must organise bins from the council!!!

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Jasmine is so excited and couldn’t wait to tell her friends. Kyan is mostly concerned about whether we would still be able to find Sizzlers and his ‘Preschool’. He is having a little trouble getting his head around the whole concept and thinks we are moving to Brisbane. ROFL He KNOWS where the house is, and apparently it is in Brisbane. Anything that is more than 2 mins out of town is apparently Brisbane. LOL

Our turf is a little sad looking at the moment but hopefully will pick up once we get a chance to water it some more. Fingers crossed it doesn’t die on us!

So this weekend is going to be rather busy packing etc. The gas bottle doesn’t get installed till Wednesday so the first night we will be without hot water and gas for cooktop but we still have a gas bottle on our BBQ so will be able to cook dinner on that the first night.. or maybe even go to Sizzlers just to reassure Kyan! LOL

It is SO exciting after all this time to finally have a new house with space.

I will go out and take photos on the weekend. The driveway looks fabulous with the stencilling, it really finishes the place off. I may have to photoshop the rather brown looking turf tho! LOL

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Entry, door has been stained too

Lounge bi-fold doors.. great for shutting out the kids mess while it is a playroom, and the light when it is eventually a theatre room.

Gotta love the sign they put up.. abuse of this home will not be tolerated.. he he

The family room looks so darn big at the moment.

yeah I know a boring garage but I am loving the doors. LOL

LOVING how good the kitchen colours look!

Progress on the shed is a little slow, but they have a few weeks yet.

No idea when the driveway is going in, they have done some of the electrics, can’t wait to see more of what has been done!

The kids are just itching to move into the new house! I suspect if we get the keys mid week we might be sleeping on mattresses the first night! LOL Should be fun!

Our van finally kicked the bucket last week. It was a very rusty bucket and long overdue but we were just hoping it would last a few more months till we sold our house. Luckily we have found a good replacement at a good price so hopefully by next week Dean will be driving around a new van if all goes well. Fingers crossed! Now we just need the Camry to last a few more months! It is not quite so rusty but is ready to kick the bucket any time now… knock on wood!

My MRI the other day went well, it appears I am definately not claustrophobic! It was a little noisy in there but the whole process wasn’t too bad at all.

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Front Panorama of house - stitched a couple of photos in photoshop for this one. Pity about the mini skip!

Panorama (photoshop stitched) photo of the SW corner of the house

Panorama of SE side of house - Patio roof is now up! YAY!

I can just picture us having dinner on that patio in Summer. We have a gas point to hook the BBQ up to, too which will be great! Sunday Morning BBQ breakfasts here we come!

Here is our kitchen, I am SO loving the colours, it is all a bit dusty, can't wait to see it all complete!

Different view of Kitchen, colours look closer to actual here.

Dean, as always in the way when I am trying to take photos, sink, bin, dishwasher space...

Really happy with the door handles, very swish! Just a standard inclusion too!

We will have a gas stove and electric wall oven, all new appliances will be stainless steel.

Should have taken a better pic of the pantry! Wall oven and microwave behind open door.

Family room full of STUFF right now, but you can see the patio cover, just

LOVING the linen space, Mum was a tad excited when she saw it too. LOL

Lots of shelves for the office, gotta love cupboard space!

Can't wait to see the front door stained.

The step in front of the spa is going, there is not enough leg room in front of the vanity

Looks blacker than it is in the photo, has a chocolately slate grey colour.

WIR, rails still to go in for hanging space

Main bedroom

Main bathroom, shame you can't see the texture in the laminate

The broom closet is to the right. Dryer will be mounted above the washing machine

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Garage Door is in!

Entry & you can't see it but the glass is acid etched

Front - I am loving the entry and the gables. We are both really happy with the colours.

Western Side of house from rear

Panorama of back of house, stitched in photoshop. There will eventually be a cover over the patio.

The slab for the shed has been laid as well. I forgot to take a photo of it, so will do that soon as well.

It is coming along so quickly! We really need to get a move on with packing!!! We have barely started. EEEK I have been too crook to do much, although I have done more than Dean! (I have done a whole box ROFL) He has been too busy training and triathaloning….

I have put my back out, so won’t be doing much this weekend either!

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They have put up all the gyprock on the internal walls and have done most of the plastering (more done since photos). Still no further progress on the bricks.. fingers crossed they might finish that this week.

Family Room - Kitchen high top to left

Kitchen

Lounge Room

Kyan's room

Jasmine's Room

Master Bedroom - Left Wall

Master Bedroom - back wall

Master Bedroom - right wall (Ensuite & WIR)

Ensuite - check out the spa.. heaven for my aching joints!!!

Main Bathroom - kids are going to love having their own bathroom!

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We have half a wall of bricks and we are both really happy with how it looks, so that is good! We are loving the colour choices so far and glad we spent the teeny bit extra to get the teeny bit nicer version of the bricks we chose. These ones have slightly flattened edges on them, the cheaper ones didn’t. But over the cost of the house it didn’t make a huge amount of difference so we went with the nicer dearer ones.

Anyway, some more pics for you…

The insulation has been installed in all the walls, & Jaz with her Barbie car.

The cornices have been delivered also, you can sdee them on the floor there.

Front of house, gyprock delivered in garage and brickwork on side.

The start of the brickwork, a whole half a wall... almost

More photos of bricks..

First wall taken from rear of house

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