Speaking of bleedin' obvious

Well, what's wrong with this picture? No it's not a trick and there is no knife set for a prize.
The toilet roll holder is so close to the cistern that there's no way in hell a toilet roll will fit on that thing. If they turn the hook around the other way, it's a slight possibility that it may squish between the shower screen and onto the hook, but I didn't have a toilet roll handy to try it out. What I can't figure out is that there is so much room on the other side of the toilet, why not put it there???
SH** hey?

What have I learnt from the building experience?

Well this question was posed on HomeOne and this was my answer. I thought I would share it with the rest of you...

Well I have one week to go.
I have learnt to be manipulative, cry on queue, demand the bleedin' obvious, trade errors for other things more important and expensive, get myself so confused I want to sell the damn house the minute we get it, accept what I cannot change, produce facts from reliable sources that cannot be disputed by anyone, ask for help and advice when I need it, allow myself to BLOW UP in frustration every now and then, accept less than what I had hoped for, choose my battles, go neutral colours even though it is against every inch of my actively creative brain, accept being broke, throw my hands up and say "I don't care, I just don't care if my kitchen cupboard handles are all on the wrong way" and look like I mean it, and yell at my husband frequently (well that's par for the course anyway.)

There are others but I have also learnt to shut up when necessary. (well sort of, maybe, well sometimes, well only when really necessary, I guess)

Gotta love this building experience it's so enriching.

Waiting, waiting....tap, tap, tap

Well we've been sitting around tapping our fingertips on the desk, while the grass keeps growing on the block. Tap Tap Tap... I managed to pack a few more boxes. We have one week to go before we get our hands on those shiny keys. Our SSS (Super Site Supervisor) is on a very well deserved holiday.
Meanwhile we haven't noticed too much going on at our place. We did our inspection with the SSS, so we know the list of things that need to be attended to.
We still have our Powder Room vanity here in the box sitting in the rental house, there is a saga attached to that if you care to read a few pages back.
SO when all else fails, GO SHOPPING! Miss C has a new Doona Cover for her room. She is indeed very happy. The Writer is quite happy also because it is a lovely design and not a Pony, Fairy or Cartoon Character in sight. It will fit in nicely with the rest of the house and make a beautiful and exciting splash of colour in her own new room. Now all we need to do is buy the Bunks for the doona to go on...*eyes rolling again*
There is another HUGE tile issue happening but I won't bore you with it. Needless to say that we will have to PAY (looking at the Quote and shuddering as I type) to have whatever dips that exist in the slab filled to make sure that our beautiful tiles are laid on a truly flat surface and give them the platform that they deserve. Ridiculous that we have to do that. Don't get me started...We also have the Quote for the driveway and the Colourbond Fence to replace the one that is almost down. So we need to gear ourselves up for the psychological rollercoaster of getting the keys which tells us the build is over and then opening the door to a whole heap of work before we can move in (whatever can be done after moving in WILL be). Carpet, tiles, garage floor sealed, driveway done, backyard and side levelled, fence replaced, retaining wall built with drainage etc., appliances delivered and installed, Air con box motor thingo installed, Glass splashback, clothesline bought and installed, turf laid to stop all that dirt being traipsed in, landscaping, rangehood installed, some sort of window coverings, furniture removalists (who will probably *sigh* and *uh oh* when they see us again), rental inspection and...well that's enough for now, I need to take a break I'm exhausted.
We are standing at the door with our suitcases waiting for the Starters Gun to POP...

Too funny...

I borrowed this from a Homeone buddy. I'm sure they won't mind me sharing the laughter around...

We've been working hard..

It's looking great isn't it?...and you thought we hadn't moved in yet!

Tiles and Tribulations

Well the SS told us today that Handover is set for 1st Feb... yiippeee, but there is a stackload of work to do after we get those keys. So volunteers now is the time to earn your brownie points for sausages on the barbie. We were actually working on the 28th Jan so our time line is a little squew-if now. We have a tile problem (so what's new?). The short story is, the tiles being 60x60cms should be laid on a bed of cement,not glued. The glue for such a large tile is unreliable due to the levelness or unlevelness of the slab.(yes, I made those words up, so what? that's female building speak, just like "thingo" and "whatsy", not to mention "ugly" and "what the hell is that"??! and the ever popular "I'm telling you it's NOT straight!"). If they are laid on cement we need to take off all the painted and neatly put on skirtings on the bottom floor, then lay the cement and then the tiles, then replace the skirtings and touch up the paint. PAINFUL. Then we have the problem of the tiles being too high as it will raise the level by 3.5cms so then the problem with the carpet butting up lower than that and then the appliances will be too high probably to fit under the bench etc. Not to mention trip step hazards into and out of the tiled areas. Oh hell. SO if it is glued on the slab, there is no promise that the slab is level (most probably not) and there may be areas where they will sound hollow when you walk on them as they may not have contact with the slab. The other drama is that when we call the Tile company tomorrow to ask if we can get 45x45 tiles instead (smaller and easier to contact the slab) they will probably tell us we need to pay $500 paperwork fee and whether or not they are available is another matter. Oh hell. Did I say that already? Oh hell.
Why didn't somebody tell us this when we bought the damn tiles in the first place.??
Other than this major drama, I am very happy with the colours and the feel of the house is relaxed and lovely. When the tiles and carpets go in, it will be gorgeous.
Also need to get the garage floor sealed and the driveway done, we think we have chosen an aggregate driveway in white, browns and a dash of black. Nice. The painting of the portico was not a problem. It will be done. Also need to do the retaining wall, dig out and level the side of the block, landscaping (mine, mine, mine), plus the services to be connected, appliances delivered and fitted, along with the mini vanity for the Powder Room. We have bought it and think it will fit fine in regards to the door opening and not smashing into the vanity. It's cosy in there, hate to be locked in there with a fart for more than 3 secs, you'll be engulfed and knocked out imminently. So if you visit and we find you blacked out on the floor in the Powder Room we will KNOW that you farted. BUSTED. Fart upstairs in the REAL bathroom if you must please, then for God's sake open the window.
Yes so lot's to do. Will let you know how long the argument/phone call with the tile people goes for tomorrow. There are lots of other jobs to do after handover but i don't want to discourage you from applying as a volunteer. Oh did I tell you there are 50 downlights to be wired up? No I didn't think so...hey! come back, where are you going? no don't click on that...

Brain draining vanities

OK, well you might be saying, do we have to see this picture AGAIN. BUT...it's actually been photo shopped and the other colour has been added to the front facade around the Portico, or doorway area. One of my HomeOne Forum buddies kindly did that for me. So so clever. It looks like it's been painted already dosn't it? Vundaful! hehehe (private joke sorry) Anyway, we are going to ask the painter tomorrow if he will paint it for us because I THINK it was actually in the contract to have the portico painted anyway, which we have not done. SO, I hope it will be ok.
I have asked my H1 buddies, and my real life buddies and as per usual they have all come to the party (there will be a real one soon) and they mostly all agree that it is a better look than just the upstairs in one colour and the downstairs in another colour. It sort of adds interest and drama to the entrance. Hope that's all the drama we'll ever see at the front door...not likely with 2 girls. Now if you have to go back a page or two to see how it is at the moment then you just have NOT been paying close enough attention have you? What's going on? Snap out of it, PAY ATTENTION. You could be called upon at any time to give your valued opinion and what are you going to say? Well, I had more important things to do? uh uh *she wags her pointy finger*
We also have another hiccup with the vanity basin, oh what a saga. Nearly as good as the Bold and the Beautiful. Funny how we ask for things and they say no and then we end up having to do it anyway, because basically it all works out to be a bit of damn common sense. We have been given permission to choose the vanity we wanted in the first place in our own home.Gee thanks. The vanity will be unavailable until Feb through the builder. No, we wouldn't like to wait to move out of this sweatbox rental for the sake of a bit of white ceramic with a hole in it called a sink...so off to Harvey Norman we trudge, with the very bored children. Pick a vanity/cupboard I say to the child, the brown one or the white one...well she says...I like the brown one but not with the white sink. Oh geez, what colour sink would you like dear? NO NO NO DON'T answer that. Fancy asking a kid to chose a vanity? What was I thinking? Just wanted them to have some input. I think we have one, just need some taps to go with it and a waste drain. Draining alright...indeed. Oh forgot to add we had to go BACK to HN because vanity child left her Nintendo cover and Brain Training game (obviously it's not doing the job, maybe it should be called Brain Drain, it goes in and straight out again) on top of one of the vanities. They can't go 5 minutes without electronic entertainment can they? I mean how can looking vanities for the
50th time NOT be entertaining, all that laminex, all those cupboards, oh, riveting. They are so unappreciative of the simple thing some times *eyes rolling again*.

That's it, another movement, luckily a number 1

Whoever is peeing all over my new toilets seats had better STOP! This is the 3rd time. We put THREE new rolls of toilet paper (the soft, quality stuff and all), they are now gone. No idea where to. Anyway this extreme graffiti style peeing has to stop. If I catch you, you won't be peeing anyway, anytime soon...WHACK.

Rumble in the jungle

Rumble in the jungle indeed. Well it feels like it anyway. A little stir in the underbrush, the palm leaves are rustling...yes there could be a way out of here, a small dot of light can be seen. We have been watching back to back episodes of Man versus Wild with Bear Grylls, former SAS guy. We KNOW we can get out of here alive. Just a little further. We were told today by our fearless leader SS, that we MAY be given the key to the magical kingdom around the
28th January. So that sounds good huh? The Real Estate agent, from the opposing tribe has actually said if we want to leave camp early that's great as the camp owners wish to resume their place at Tribal Council campfire. So we have our torches ready to hand to Jeff Probst and hopefully the game of Survivor should be nearing an end.

Now, today we have organised by drums, the carpet tribesman and tiler tribesman for the first week of Feb. We have visited the glass tribe and they have shown us a great colour Jarrah for the splashback. I love it, BUT it will have a medium metallic as one has to have *sparkle* especially after a year in the jungle. The cost was quite suprisingly good. A few stumbles have occurred with fittings but they are actually not so bad so we will accept them as is. We have noticed a bird has been in the camp as it has left it's crappola on the windows and goodness knows where else inside. eeewwwww. The new campfire will be see Sydney wide as we have 50 downlights, oh how bad. One of my HomeOne Forum buddies 'justcamping' says she will have to put her sunnies on to put the bins out...bahahahahaha, funny girl that one! They should get their keys about a week or so after us. Double immunity idols for us two. It's been great to have support in such a testing environment.