My Year of Living Dangerously (also known as My Year of Painting Trim)

So I have been labouring most weekends with Polyfilla, sandpaper, masking tape, Primer and glossy white trim paint. It is a labour of love as I have been able to slowly update the 1980's Mission Brown skirting boards, door and window frames.

As with all things DIY, there has been a learning curve. I have discovered my preferred brand of paint, size and brand of masking tape.... and most importantly, my favourite size and brand of brush. What they say is true: Your tools ARE important.
With the exception of the laundry room, which will be torn up for a bigger renovation down the track, the entire ground floor is now trimmed white.  2015 will be the year of painting all of the upstairs trim in white.

The back door in the kitchen in process:

After: (the security screen door was replaced by a far more attractive screen door. 

In process in the master bedroom:

After:

Still life of masking tape after the last coat. 

Best paint ever!

Mission brown on the window sill, white in process on the floorboards in the family room. 

After:

Treats for New Years

Another road trip to visit USA FOODS, a grocery store which imports only American and Mexican grocery items. We went originally to get Jets marshmallows and Graham crackers for our S'mores dessert tonight, but we got distracted!

Still, we kept the madness under $100, and we will very much enjoy our sugary, preservative packed taste of North America as we cheer in 2015....

Wannabe Australian Pickers

Scott and I  took EJ and Jack on a road trip to Geelong to the Vintage Market for a fun day of picking. There was a lot of junk, but much of it was cool and trendy! The markets are houses in the old woollen mills in industrial North Geelong. There were at least two other vintage warehouses in the area, but there is a point you reach when you can no longer take in any more visual information.... and we still had to drive home... so, next time. 

Random stuff no one needs, but might want....

Antique I am.

Buy me you will.

It's always good to refuel at a yummy hipster cafe, and The Pickers Union at the Market  is just that!

Xmas 2014

Merry Christmas, all! We had a lovely and quiet holiday here. I made Salted Caramel Fudge to take along to the Taylor Family Xmas Lunch, and Ella-Jade, Jackson and I made the now traditional Ninjabreadmen. 

Peace. 

Advent Calendar 2014

We've been collecting toilet paper rolls for the whole year so we can create this cute advent calendar. This year, we had it made before December 1st. They are small containers, so less lollies fit into them, but there was more scope for creativity. Ella is the artist responsible for all the elves' different personalities.

Real tree

It's rather impractical in Australia to have real tree indoors at Xmas. With warm days, trees dry out quickly and can become fire hazards. Last year, we got a live Charlie Brown tree...  

This year, we decided to go real, so we ventured out to the Dandenong Christmas Tree Farm and chose our tree. 

The guy cut it for us....even though Jackson was really keen to.

It got netted for the ride home. 

We put it up ( It doesn't matter who you are: the worst part is  putting the tree in the stand and making sure it is up straight.... and ours is not completely straight!) 

 Jackson and I proceeded to decorate it. All in time for Ella's Christmas themed sleepover. 

End of year madness

It's been a busy year at work. Lots of fun, often.... but now here is the last push before we finish for the Christmas/Summer  Holidays.
Whilst my senior students have sat their final exams and are finished for the year, I still have 5 classes of junior students for another 2 weeks of classes. That means 130 assessments to mark, 130 criteria sheets to type up and a couple hours of data entry to complete before I can sign off on these classes and start formalising the curriculum for next year's classes.
...but who's counting, right?

I am.

The Rhodo is Alive!

The glorious bloom on this rhododendron has now faded and we've pruned it back hard for next year, but this was what it looked like earlier this Spring. 

Beach walk

You can walk from Coogee Beach around the coastline to Bondi. Nadia took us from Clovelly Beach along the way to Bondi. We saw amaziing headlands and shiny beaches. The swell and the wind were right as well, so we saw heaps of city surfers in the waves.

You'll notice Scott is faithfully applying sunscreen! 

We had a tasty lunch at Bronte Beach alongside beautiful people wearing small yet stylish bathers. 

We motored past drunk British kids on Contiki tour, past careful German tourists in Teva sandals and cotton socks, and sometimes past fit and stylish Sydneysiders. 

And before we turned around to head back, I bought new bathers in Bondi. Altogether: amazing company, weather and scenery. 

 Oh, I beg to differ! 

Around Sydney

We had a cultural day in the CBD where we wandered around Circular Quay and in and out of galleries and shops.  Sydney is such a gorgeous city! We saw this stuff:

Iconic!

Super Yum!

Cute!

She's a sexy town, Sydney.

Hey Nadia, there's a Rubik's Cube on your beach

So there's this cool thing on the beach at Maroubra! 

Enough said. 

Beach time with Cocoa

In the first week of Spring holidays, we took Cocoa for her longest roadie since we drove her home from the rescue farm when we first got her.... Not massive, but a good solid 30 minutes down to Brighton to the famous Brighton dog park, a fenced off section of beach; looking out at the marina and the city.

She ran like a mad dog, and we traipsed after her hoping she wouldn't crash through people's picnics or beach towels in her crazy dash for new friends. 

She swam for the first time and drank heaps of salt water, wrestled a few dogs and played heaps of chasey. 

We put her back on leash once to take her out in the water, and actually, she did really well...generally speaking. 

Maroubra Holiday

Scott and I took the week to go and visit Nadia and Benny in Maroubra.

Their view.

One of their home breaks... the super local one.

They live just a few minutes from the beach, and Sydney turned on the great weather for us during our stay! 33 degrees on our first day there: obviously the designated beach day! 

We started most days with a morning swim. The ocean was about 17degrees.... So you knew you were alive when you stepped in!

We also checked out the Rock pool, which was fairly unpopulated when we went. Only old, leather-skinned walrus men doing laps...this is Scott in this pic though...not someone old and walrus skinned!

Springtime Contradictions

The weather in Melbourne is tempermental at the best of times, but it seems to be even more unpredictable in Spring. For example, last week, a massive storm rolled over Melbourne on Tuesday night, after a few days of sun and temperatures over 18 degrees.

 It was quite exciting.... there was thunder, lightning and an unexpected dump of several inches of hail.  

We lost new leaves and flowers off our Magnolia tree out front, and paint was chipped off our fence as hailstones tore through stuff.

Our front yard mid storm. 

The view of the road from our upstairs window. Hail and Rain!

And then, on Sunday... we had a glorious sunny day of 20 degrees. Grass grew, flowers bloomed and it was a definite blessing to be out and about. Here's a tulip in our garden.