The Never Ending Lists

Lists are starting to move beyond being "good" to being "necessary".

Lists help me sleep at night. I write down what I need to do, see, talk about, look at, re-think. Then when I climb into bed at night, my heads slows down surprisingly quickly, and I fall asleep - though it might also have something to do with the near constant state of tiredness that I'm in too...

I put more stock in the lists than the tiredness, having had my share of insomnia moments.

BabyCakes and I seem to be spending surprisingly small abouts of time together, due to our diverse schedules. The time we do spend together we cling to, sometimes making parting very hard. I think we are both longing for our honeymoon holiday, and having a chance to just be us for a while.

The play is progressing well. As with most rehearsal schedules, now is the time when people don't really want to be there, but when they need to be there (myself included). We're dangerously close to the tech and dress rehearsals, and I feel under-prepared. I have deliberately stepped away from a lot of the organisational aspects both because I don't have time, and because I don't want to step on the Stage Manager's toes. Unfortunately, I've just discovered that the SM has never SMed before, and it shows in her confidence level, and her understanding of her role. I might need to have a quiet sit down with her and give some advice.


Tomorrow I go to Sydney and the US Consulate. I'm nervous as heck too. I know it shouldn't be a big problem, but it is off putting. I'll be glad to have tomorrow over and done with, be back at home and a lot more settled. Hopefully I'll also have a corset for under the big white dress too - that's been a stumbling block, given it is a FOUNDATION garment, so far I've not had the foundation required for building the rest of the garment! Before the corset aficionados out there get too carried away - the corset will be more of a girdle than a classic corset... I need a 50s look more than I need a new toy.

We're moving into the stage of organisation for the wedding where people are wanting their money... it is very nerve wracking to see so much money going out, with the money coming in not even close to matching it! Don't get me wrong, we've saved up to money to be spent.. but I don't like seeing so much go out when it has taken so long to save it! I guess that will probably stand me in good stead to save up for the next project and the next...

Life Gets in the Way

Hiya,

Lots has happened since I last posted. The house purchase has gone unconditional. YAY! The tenant has given notice, and we have a moving date. We don't officially know that though until the house is ours.... and that will be next Wednesday. Double yay! Moving day is set for Saturday 10th of November which is almost more exciting.

The flat looks awful at the moment - we reclaimed everything from storage in an effort to save some money we didn't have to spend and we quite literally have boxes stacked up all over the place, and some messes arising from not having items that all completely fit into the boxes that have been packed - lots of "half-a-box-fulls" - that is what most of the mess is.

I started organising the services to be disconnected and reconnected which definitely makes things feel a lot more real, realer than the packing boxes everywhere.



For me, the last couple of days have been tough. Ever have moments that undermines your confidence so completely that it scares you? I do.

Up until a few days ago the working plan (always room for possible change), was that we get married and start not trying to not have kids. (re-read that if you have to, it will become clearer)

A couple of comments from different sources have made me feel scared and insular, and made me want to be selfish and safe. Walking round shopping centres and hearing parents and children, and children and children interact is also undermining to the tenuous desire to accept that I might do ok as a parent, that we'll find a way, that we will cope with parenthood.

Signing documents like a shared mortgage, thinking about what happens if something happens to one of us, life insurances, those looming mortgage payments... HUGE. Just plain huge, in anyway you look at them. A large part of me wants to hunker down, shut out the world and concentrate on making our home safe and secure for the two of us. I think that is quite natural. But I can't focus all my energy on that. We're planning a wedding, a honeymoon, thinking about kids.... I can also tell you that if we'd had that magic one dependent on the mortgage documents, I don't think we'd have had such a smooth loan application process.

I don't know.

I wanted to get some of my thoughts out of my head, to purge them. I have no idea what is happening next, I think I need to just concentrate on the next step, and do as best I can with that.

Oficially a Tenant

Settlement went as planned (except for some fees I hadn't noticed), and the bank balance is looking healthy.

I'm very happy that we can move forward now. the fact that I don't have a mortgage anymore is somewhat novel too!

The bank manager has also indicated that it looks like we have been approved for the loan to buy the house but he couldn't say 100% that we have - hopefully that will come tomorrow or Friday.



YAY!

More Steps

Our offer was officially accepted last Monday. This means that a week from today, we will either have an unconditional contract, or be looking for a new house to get excited over!


As testament to how excited we are, here is a (rough) floor plan I made up last night, to help describe it to people and to get an idea how furniture we have (and don't have) will fit.

Last Wednesday we had the pest and building inspections, and both men were quite free with their praise for the house. "They don't make them like this anymore" type comments were heard, and the pest guy seemed quite infatuated with the house, saying that he himself would buy a place just like it.

The completion of the building and pest inspections signified the start of my real excitement for this purchase, and we just got more excited over the course of the weekend as we went to the auction for the other property we had been interested in. The run down "fix-er upper" went for $505,000 - well over what we would have paid for it, and well over our budget for a house in general. The feeling of absolute relief and confidence in the price we offered for our new home was very satisfying as the auction bids went higher and higher.

The flat is due to settle on Wednesday afternoon, so it seems all our checks and balances are falling into place as everything gains momentum to our goal. (I'll also be without a mortgage then... and have a fantastic looking bank account for a while too!)

The only blemish so far in the ease of all these transactions is that the house has a tenant in it, and legally she's allowed to stay until the 23rd of November. That leaves us with 6 days we don't have a home! Additionally, her contracted rent payment is less than we have to pay to stay on in the flat!

We will wait until the house goes unconditional before we start negotiating with the tenant, to make sure she knows there will be no penalty for breaking the contract early. I just hope that the fact that every time we have been to the property there have been more boxes packed is a sign that they are looking to leave sooner rather than later. I can't imagine that anyone would plan to live with packed boxes for 2 months or more. Fingers crossed she finds an ideal place to live and can't wait to get there!



Now comes the time to seriously contemplate packing and the move.... I'd love to be in our new home at the start of next month.

A Verbal Acceptance

We've had a verbal acceptance of our offer on this house. The owner didn't want to sign anything without her solicitor being present, so we won't have a signed contract until Monday.

I'm excited but wary.

We have to get the building and pest inspector through too, to make sure there are no hidden nasties.

A new house, a new home, a new reason to go to Ikea!

BabyCakes has never had a mortgage before... an exciting but nerve wracking process.

Now to arrange the furniture....

Step Four?

Today we put an offer in on a house. It is not the one that we spent a lot of time thinking about, but one we've had on our radar for a while.

This is a smaller house than the one up for auction in Nundah, but it is in a much quieter location and far more of a "just move in" proposition.

We will just have to wait and see if the owner accepts our offer - a nerve wracking time to be sure.

We made an offer that BabyCakes and I feel comfortable with, and I doubt we'll negotiate further. We made our offer significantly high enough that we do not expect that there will be negotiation, it's more of a yes/no proposition. I'm not sure if this is where the market is at at this time, or it is the culture of the real estate offices we have been dealing with recently, but it was like this when I sold the flat too.

The house does need some work - the guttering is holey, obviously damage wood work in places and tree stumps left in the ground. There is also a tenant in place until the 23rd of November. With any luck, given they won't be able to stay on after that date, they will want to move out sooner...

Hopefully we should know tomorrow if the offer is accepted. I hope it is, it would be very exciting.

Step Two

If step one in our plan to move into a house was to put the flat on the market, step two was signing a contract accepting an offer on it.

It was a busy weekend, our first open inspection (and hopefully our last one too). We had an offer on the flat on Saturday afternoon, after one person from the open inspection brought their partner back to look at the flat later in the day. They wanted me to make a decision within a couple of hours which was very stressful, and in the end they didn't get. The real estate agent went back to them on my behalf and told them I wouldn't accept any other offers or let anyone else see the property until I had made a decision on their contract. The called the agent the next day having "cooled off". It was our first big taste of the fact that a signed contract does not equate to sale.

On Monday the agent brought an interested buyer through, and they subsequently made an offer too. the contract offer and terms were very similar to the first one, so it was a much easier decision second time round to accept the offer. I actually got to sign this contract, so that was a step beyond where we got the first time. Now we just wait the 14 days until the contract is unconditional, and then we wait the next 16 days to make sure the money goes into the account! Realistically though, an unconditional contract is the next step.

The ad has been removed from realestate.com.au, so the property does not appear "stale" should there be a need to re-list it due to a contract crashing.

In two weeks, we could possibly be in a position to seriously hunt for our new home!

Sunday was a big day, trying to squeeze in some laundry on a day we could afford to leave it hanging on the line (not a good look when "showing" a home), more driving by houses, lunch with my family and dinner with BabyCakes' folks. Lunch was fun with three toddlers racing around trying to not let the others out do themselves, and another baby looking on. It certainly changes the dynamics of the group interaction.

Dinner at BabyCakes' parents place was much more low key (much needed at the end of the weekend), but equally as enjoyable. I wouldn't have thought that a crossword scratchie could be a group activity.... but it can!

Saturday night was an impromptu outing to the AFL. BabyCakes was offered the tickets on Saturday morning and so we invited Mr & Mrs C to join us, as they are the only friends I have who really mention AFL, and Mr C hails from Geelong, so I thought he might enjoy the nostalgia. Mrs C had to unfortunately leave early to make it to work, but it was a nice shared outing. We had to battle the crowds to get there (Riverfire plus Gabba event = busy Brisbane), and I accidentally spilled half a beer down the back of two chairs in front of me, and the occupants of them.... oops.

All up, a busy busy weekend, after a busy busy week... but it's been nice to have things to do. I'm just wondering if it will every calm back down to a mildly busy weekend...

How the World can Change in a Short Time

On Friday morning I looked through realestate.com.au as I sometimes do and sent BabyCakes some links for houses in our area (some were just for the giggle factor).

We had been planning to leave things as they are until after we were married, staying put here for another couple of years. It seems though, the nesting drive induces us to look for a house sooner than that. We've even talked to our Credit Union Manager, and he didn't laugh at our aspirations either - which is a great start!

We looked at a lot of open for inspections on Saturday morning. The market is booming, despite all the promised doom and gloom. Real estate agents are having trouble maintaining a "stock" of property, and they have given us very promising guide prices on what we could possibly expect if we sold the flat - to the point that I fully expect to have a couple of agents through to give us a firmer guide on what to expect, and if we could expect a bit more if we did some work.

We can't afford to keep the flat and buy the type/size house in the area we want, so selling the flat would have to happen before we could be in a position to make offers on houses. Houses don't tend to stay on the market much more than a week, if not a weekend before they have offers. Which makes the process feel a lot like a lottery... jump in, sell your home and hope that there will be one you want when you do... I guess we should also be prepared that we might have to have an interim home for a while, or with any luck, get a longer settlement on the flat, and a shorter settlement on a house, in that window where the Credit Union has an idea everything is all spoken for.

All up, it is a scary process, but so very exciting too.

The simple fact that it is possible to afford a house makes it much more alluring to look for one. The fact that it seems like a very impulsive market makes it scary.

It is feeling like gathering all the information we can now will make us more powerful as we start this process.


EeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekkkKKKKKKkkkkKkK!


Wish us luck!

I'm Getting Really Excited!

This week I've been looking at (in some detail) two big ticket items for the upcoming nuptials - the honeymoon, and the photographer.

For the honeymoon we are going to go on an Alaskan glacier cruise up the inside passage (not as rude as it sounds people!). I found this news article today, which has made me pretty much wiggle with excitement. I think that because I have been in contact with travel agents, and BabyCakes and I have settled on an outline itinerary that things are finally seeming very real.

It turns out that if one wants to cruise in May, now is about the time one should investigate them for the best (earlybird) prices. We've picked our cruise (best value for money for us), which fits into our schedule and now, I think just about all there is left to do is give someone money for it!

We'll also have a few days in Vancouver before we cruise, to hopefully catch up with my wifey and see the sights.

Yay!!!



I met a photographer at the weekend wedding expo I went to, which was really cool, till I read what his fee was! After much deliberation and to-ing and fro-ing I have come to the conclusion that I think I will regret skimping on this, despite how much I want to come in on budget for it. The budget has already been upgraded once to accommodate photography (not an initial priority), but the more time goes on, the more it seems necessary to get the *right* photographer for us. That's not the cheapest one, nor the most expensive one, but the one that will give us what we want, in a way that works for us.

Jason seems like a good fit, and a guy who has similar value structure to me when it comes to weddings! He shares copyright with the client, so we can get them printed anywhere, and he will have prints done for us, virtually at cost price. He and another photographer will be in attendance till the job is finished (no clock watching), and each picture supplied on disk will have time spent on it for colour correction etc. He has some spectacular shots on his website, and his corporate site has amazing photos too. I think the time involved alone will prove value for money, before the artistry of the shots are taken into account. I look forward to having some spectacular photos of our own.

May the 4th Be With You.......

My brother sent it to me... I couldn't help but pass it on! (get it??? May 4th... that's today's date har har har!)

Yesterday was a big day for BabyCakes and I - it was our minus one anniversary... 12 months to the day of our wedding - how very exciting!!

We had also inadvertently booked in to meet with our celebrant yesterday, to make sure he was the right one for us, which on having a more in depth chat, he is! It seems quite serendipitous that our first official meeting was one year to the day before the wedding.

We filled out our Notice of Intention to Marry too, so the government knows we want to marry!


The day got bigger too.........




BabyCakes is now a one car man! Someone finally came up with the money for the Commodore. He's a young guy who works for an upholstery company, so he can fix up the interior which was starting to show how old it was... The guy was very excited by the work BabyCakes had done on it, saying "Everything I would have done, you did do!".

I hope he enjoys his new car, I know BabyCakes did. He's done exceptionally well seeing it go; some sadness, but overall, mostly happy... especially to have a big cheque in his hand!


Oh, and Happy Birthday for yesterday Carbs!

Fingers Crossed Still

BabyCakes has been given a deposit for his car. They guy who gave him the money has had his Mum and his Dad around to look at the car. They say the money will be in the bank on Thursday or Friday.

I won't be able to relax till I see the money in the account. Once bitten, twice shy.


We had our first money "discussion" on the weekend. It was weird.

Happy St Patricks Day.

Last year this was one of the most stressful days of my life. Solicitors and bankers really do forget that they are talking about one's live and usually the biggest financial commitments one can make. My mortgage is one year old today!

I remember being very nervous, sitting in a flat full of boxes, hoping like mad that everything would go ok, and that I'd eventually get the phone call to say I could go pick up my keys.... MY keys... ones that no one else would have a copy of (in theory).

As soon as I did take delivery of those keys I was around here in a flash. I slept on a matress on a floor of my lounge room, with BabyCakes to share the moment. We'd had a bottle of bubbles and a fantastic floor picnic, it was very exciting. The move was left until Saturday morning, and my brother came to help. It was a relatively stress free move, except for the sofa bed - the boys tried to talk me into buying a new sofa, and leaving that heavy and over sized monster downstairs in the garage. I stayed strong, as my budget required, and they got help from my Dad and step-brother, and together, they got my sofa bed over the balcony rail (from the back of a ute) and into my lounge.

This year, "my" flat is now "our flat". BabyCakes and I are getting married and planning a life together. Congratulations BabyCakes, you are now half responsible for my mortgage!! Once we're married we can make it all legal like, since I'll be changing my name on the accounts anyway.

I've had a year of owning property solo. Today I publicly acknowledge that it is not solely mine any longer, but ours. Welcome to the I've-got-a-mortgage-which-means-I've-got-huge-scary-debt-club BabyCakes! It's fun!

The Things We Do To Save Money....

I'm contemplating making (at the very least) our engagement cake.... I plan it to be a test run for potentially making a wedding cake.

I've been looking at wedding cakes, and they are beautiful but expensive. Most of it has to come down to the time it takes to make them.

When I was in high school I decorated a Christmas cake and it looked fantastic. I figure I've actually learned some patience since then, so I have a hope of making a cake that looks pretty good.

I think where I started from was contemplating the cupcake tower and figuring that it'd have to be cheaper to do it myself.... making and icing 100 cupcakes has got to cost some dollars, whereas if one keeps it simple and does it oneself, it has to be a chance to save some dosh! The problems with cupcakes is the freshness factor of a spongey type cake - mudcakes (BabyCakes doesn't like fruit cakes) are a bit more forgiving as far as making them ahead of time.

I wouldn't contemplate it at all if I thought I would do a half arsed job....

If the engagement cake does not work out I will probably be talking to The Cheesecake Shop to see how they can help me.... If I can control the decoration, then we should be able to get a simply elegant cake from there...

I figure I can buy and make a lot of cake for $300 - and forgive a simpler design if it is a lot less!

I've also been thinking a lot on bouquets, and flowers in general - I'm really glad we set our desired wedding date more than a year out - I can have a look at what happens this May!

Getting Engaged is Life Altering...

and not just for the obvious reason. I knew a while ago that I wanted to spend my life with BabyCakes, have a family and grow old together.

What I didn't know was how much the act of organising a wedding and getting married was going to change me as a person. I've been thinking about so very much in the past few weeks, lots of it life changing.

I've had advice from all over the place that ranges from "Get eloped" to "Don't be afraid of picking what you actually want rather than what you think you can afford" and everything in-between. Mostly it has been at the elopement end of the scale - and usually from people who are married. There are of course two ways to read where this advice comes from.... those that have long had their weddings and have forgotten what it meant to them to have a wedding, or the voice of experience, those that have had the wedding and regretted spending that much money.

I never though I would spend a lot of money on a wedding, especially now that I have a mortgage. I did a "worst case scenario" budget last night, managing to find a way to keep the spending under $10,000. That doesn't include any honeymoon, photographer, car hire, favours or extended family at the wedding.

My Dad is one of six children, my Mum is one of four, my Step-Mum is one of six, I have four brothers, a stepbrother, a stepsister and a half sister.... nothing about my family is small. BabyCakes is one of four, his Mum is one of about eight (or more - lots of step brothers and sisters there), and his Dad is one of three. I have three grandparents still alive, BabyCakes doesn't.

Even without friends (and I think we're allowed friends), we have a lot of people to invite. It is confusing.

I grew up being taught how important family is. Not in a didactic way, but very very subtly, until it snuck up on me and it took someone else to point out how close we were for me to realise we were (thank you Wah!).

We moved a lot when we were kids, all across the country, and very regularly. Our family was our biggest constant growing up, sometimes that felt good, mostly as kids, that was bad......why couldn't that brother really get lost in the move? Now we (for the moment), are all over the country and even on the other side of the planet from each other, we've gained members since those bonding times, through marriage and relationships, but on the whole, we even socialise together.

I grew up to even like my family!

I'm joining another family, BabyCakes is joining mine yes, but I'm changing my name in commitment to his, to be a family ourselves.

I see that it is a big deal.

I want it to be a big deal.

Yes, it is money that doesn't seem very productive...

but it is important.

I don't plan on getting married again. I plan to get old and grey with BabyCakes. I plan to fight for our marriage. I plan to work it out, even when it hurts, and I plan to make my family with him the basis, the foundation of the rest of my life.

I want my friends and family to be there to witness this huge step in my life.

I want a kick arse party, the likes of which I'll never host again, and strange but true, I think I want that more than I want a new kitchen.

I don't think my tastes are so extravagant as to send us into debt for the start of our new life (well, not much more than we already are!).






Last year I wrote BabyCakes a poem for Valentines Day, the first time I'd ever sat down, brainstormed and wrote a poem. This year I felt bad that I had not done such a thing. I don't feel so bad now that I've cried through writing a post and found peace, but BabyCakes does that for me. I find peace with him often, and laughter, sometimes tears, but mostly laughter, and peace.


I'm glad I found BabyCakes, and I'm glad we're getting married.

How quickly everything can change!

BabyCakes and I went to the Wedding Ideas Centre at Southbank yesterday and it was quite useful. It is basically a big room with displays from different wedding suppliers with number on them. You walk through and circle numbers on a card of the displays that interest you, and they give you brochures/contact information of all the stuff you liked the look of.

One that might be getting my business is a Wedding Broker... you tell them what you want, and they do the work - and get kick backs from the suppliers, I assume. If it means they find what we want for the right price, I'd be happy to work with that.

The budget is scary though. We have to do some very hard thinking on how many people and what style of wedding reception we want. I don't think we can afford the grand plans we had at the start. Realistically, I think our potential guests would be horrified at prices we've seen and the budget form I just guestimated. If fact, I'm quite horrified. I didn't want to get into debt over this party, but I'm not sure that I have much choice if we persist with what we actually want.

Today I did manage to find a venue which looks like it might suit our needs. I hope that in the next few days/weeks I can pin this down and we can move on and start saving!

Maybe I won't need the broker after all.

I also went to visit friends today, and have a girlie day discussing all things wedding... it was fun looking through magazines and picking out styles of dresses, I think my MOH (Maid/matron of Honour) understands what it is I'm aiming for. Now I either have to find a seamstress, or find one ready made... and once again, for the right money!

I'm feeling a little more in touch with the budget for the moment, but it's still a big outlay of cash.

I guess I'll have to see how it all pans out.

No flies on us.... ?

On the weekend BabyCakes and I made fly screens....

It doesn't sound that exciting, but being able to keep the cat in and allow a bit of airflow - that's magic! There is also the added bonus that we should be able to expect that flies, mosquitos and bugs should stay outside...

It was satisfying to have a half day project that involved both BabyCakes and myself, that also makes a HUGE difference to our lifestyle. (The fact that it was a reasonably cheap project too also helps!)

Admittedly, it hasn't been 100% successful, yet. At the kitchen window, the cat has worked out a way to use her weight (presumably), to pull the fly screen away from the frame. The first night we discovered this, the second night we shut the window, the third she escaped again, but fortunately I managed to find her and bring her back inside (the neighbourhood is surprisingly quiet at 2am, and the cat surprisingly trusting...).

I think the problem can be solved with putting the screen in upside down from how it was previously installed, and hiding the spline join in a spot that a cat can't leverage easily.

Yesterday, BabyCakes' first day back at work after the Christmas fun, I had fun looking at the Ikea website, and I think I found the dining table I want. BabyCakes prefers this one though, so I guess we'll have to take a trip to Ikea soon (what a shame!). I think the light wood will be a mistake against the wood look floor I plan for the whole flat (that picture seems to indicate that it might though. I just wonder if it might all be too much wood), and the white table also matches a coffee table we both like - it has a display drawer under the glass top.

I have plenty of time to make all those sorts of decisions, not much of it is going to happen any time soon. The bills are making light work of the impressive bank balance I thought I had! Rates and Body Corporate fees have come in again, with Body Corporate finally working out that one bill cycle had been lost, so that doubles the amount due... BabyCakes bought a new (second hand) car before Christmas, and forgot/didn't realise the stamp duty cost when changing over registration, so I helped him out and covered that lump sum till he can afford to pay me back.

My youngest brother and his fiancé announced during their Christmas visit that they are expecting a baby, so their wedding plans have stepped up a notch, and it looks that trip to Perth for a wedding is imminent before the birth of my next niece/nephew.

Babies, babies everywhere!

Yesterday BabyCakes' cousin gave birth to the first child of all his siblings and cousins (who are so close in age and grew up so close to each other they might as well be siblings). There is a new baby boy who weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces, and is 50 cms long. He doesn't yet have a name, but proud parents and baby are all happy and doing well. The father of the new baby boy is also BabyCakes' boss just to make everything that little bit more circular!

BabyCakes gave me a bread maker for Christmas, and I can smell that a loaf is almost ready, and, I think that this might be my best one yet - it is looking quite spectacular. It has taking a fair bit of trial and error to get the balance of all the ingredients right (most of my loaves have been on the dense side). I have been making them all from scratch though, no pre-prepared mixes, which is quite satisfying.

This loaf looks like it'll be fantastic for my lunch!

I want a Kitchen = Only the Chillens Get Christmas Presents This Year

Don't get me wrong, I have one, but it's just not a very good one.

In the mid-seventies (when my flat was built) people needed a sink, a stove, a fridge, some benches and some cupboards. They didn't have a microwave, a blender, a food processor, a rice cooker, a breadmaker, an electric frying pan, a wok... their kettle probably was on the stove top.... so the single fridge power point and one double point for the toaster and hand mixer when required by the good little hausfrau was plenty! The good little hausfrau seemingly was much tidier than I too, back in the days when a 45cm deep bench was big enough!

What this means for my little flat is the now standard 58-60cm deep cupboards and benches are going to make my kitchen feel like an aeroplane galley...

I'm going to need some serious thought to design and look into some space saving type gadgets, which I'm sure basically translates to "I'm going to need to spend a heap of money on a tiny space, and no one will realise quite how much will have been sunk into it".

Oh, and I think I've decided on plastering pretty much my entire flat... my ugly walls are driving me nuts, and I want to paint!

I have finally decided on colours too - I think. I needed/wanted to get colours sorted out before my door eventually gets delivered. It will need to be painted to protect it, and I'd rather paint it right the first time.

After some bad experiences with sample pots looking nothing like their chip colours on display, I now know what colours I want, but they are from all different paint companies! I plan on taking the samples to one of those colour matching mobs and get them made up with the same paint, but in the colours I want.

Basically it will be pretty much white (with a hint of blueish purple to it, but just a hint), then the master bedroom will have a very dark blue feature wall, the front door will be the same colour, and it will be the accent colour for the bathroom. The lounge room and second bedroom will have burgundy feature walls, and it will the accent colour for the kitchen. I think two strong colours are more than enough for such a small space. The doors, architraves and window sills will be in a very white white gloss.

So while I have a fair bit of work to do before I can seriously expect it, I really want a new kitchen....

Eloping Has its Charm

Do I really need to say much more?

Dad found some wedding book things at his work, and he brought one home for my sister and I to look at (or put ideas in our heads... neither one of us is engaged). I've had a flick through, and combined with my recent dress buying trip... I get a title like the one above.

Weddings are starting to scare me - a far cry from the romantic idyll women are supposed to expect/want/crave. Despite knowing that elopement is not really an option, I can understand how it happens, and I'm not even engaged!

I do know though, if I ever get married, it is going to be as small and as un-fussy as I can manage it! Anyone that knows the size of my family might have their doubts about how successful I'd be.


All I know is that weddings are big business and big money... but for some reason marriage counselling/support/advice is not... the cynic in me wonders how long it will be until the lawyers start advertising in the bridal guides... (or am I so new to the industry that I just haven't seen it yet?)

I want my marriage to be a lifetime, and the wedding just a day...

I Would be a Happy Little Consumer!

Advertising works on me. Product placement works on me. I know how they happen, I know why they happen, and it still works!

I think I would be a tragic trend follower if I had more money. I think my lack of money keeps me from making some really big mistakes!

When I was a teenager, I detested my hair... my lank, lifeless, flat hair! It was the late eighties, early nineties, big hair was in. I was a depressed high school student, because there wasn't enough money to buy me the big hair I needed to be fashionable... I could tease my hair, use half a can of hair spray, get a look I liked.... for ten minutes, then my hair went flat again. The upside of the tragic (unfashionable) lifestyle I was forced to lead, I noticed at the turn of the century (my goodness doesn't that sound posh!). When looking at my high school photos, people would laugh at my highly fashionable and popular friends, whereas I (much like high school), managed to be hardly noticed in the background - at least I wasn't getting laughed at again!

I want a mobile phone with a camera on it, I want a new kitchen, new bathroom, a wall mounted widescreen TV, I want new clothes, I want a new hairstyle every 6 weeks (complete with colour), I want overseas holidays, I want a holiday destination every year with activities beyond dinner and a movie, I want a personal trainer... but I don't want the bills!

I will not have all those things, this year. I will have to see what fits into my budget, and in time, the less important things will slip by the wayside, and the more important ones will get paid for.

I do not have a credit card (not one that actually gives me credit anyway), there are more threats that my home loan will cost me more *again*. My loan is less than 6 months old... two rate rises so far, another one due if I believe the forecasts...

I'm glad that while I may fall victim to the pretty bells, whistles and sparkling lights of the advertising, I have known for a lot of years that what I want and what I can afford are vastly different, and the up sides of that fact. I've also learnt that saving up for the big things is worth it. Eventually, one tends to have to sacrifice less and one feels the benefits more - Roll on those days!!





........................... But wouldn't it be nice if that day could be today?
(Dang, now I have to get to work)

Bills are ouchy!

Bills, they arrive so innocently in one's letter box... I'm only just starting to understand my mother's sentiment of not liking mail, because it's most likely a bill.... I understand it, but I'm still not quite there.

Letters, any letters, are still exciting to me, more exciting than the fear that it is another bill. I think for me, at the moment, I'm more afraid that it's a damn electioneering letter than a bill! (We have recently had not only a state election, but a council by-election.... the candidates kept sending very personal mail to myself, Babycakes, and the two girls who used to live here before me!)

Thankfully, the electioneering is over, hopefully for quite a while now, and now, it's mostly bills that grace my letterbox.

I have 3 BIG bills due this week, 2 have come out of my account now, and one will be paid in the next couple of days. I knew the bills were there, I knew they had to be paid, and allowed for them. It still hurts to see so much money going out though!

I guess it is certainly better than not having the money to pay them... but I don't have to enjoy it.