Finally, a day of rest, It’s 8am Sunday morning and I’m having a coffee at The Glass Onion. I awoke at 5.30am. From my backyard I watched the sun rising through a partly cloudy sky. The liquid amber next door has gone through it’s colour change and is rapidly losing the last of the deep red leaves. Take a deep breath of fresh air….

My days have been very busy over the last 2 weeks with my job, photography work and the commencement of stage 1 of the renovation! It rained again last night, however I’m pleased to say that we have had at least a week of dry weather so the ground has had a chance to dry. I have dug a trench ready for to make an ag pipe drain. It’s not finished yet but it’s well on the way. After getting a quote from a drainage plumber I had no choice but to do it myself. I cannot justify spending an exorbitant amount of money on something you can’t even see!!!! This is just one of the many “things in progress”. I have also been getting quotes from builders for the front facade work. I spoke to a retired builder, now working as a handyman. His rates were reasonable and he sounded like he knew what he was talking about so I decided to give him a go.

I employed him for a day to replace the front fascia and eaves, and remove the awning over the front steps. Apart from the fact that he answered every single mobile call, chatted far too much on the phone and to me, swore like there was no tomorrow, and handled his tools like they were play toys……he was good. With nail gun in hand he was like a kamikaze madman – I quickly figured out it was best to keep right out of his way (in fear of my life)! At one point I watched him stretch across one extended ladder to another, angle grinder in hand! He actually lost his balance and fell off the ladder…or should I say jumped. Thankfully he landed on two feet (obviously quite the athlete!)

With all that said, I had a great day. We worked together from 7am until 5pm non stop. I learnt how to replace a fascia and install eaves and guttering. I was the apprentice and enjoyed every minute of it (when I wasn’t ducking for cover that is). The next step is to remove the fibro and replace with weatherboard cladding. I am hoping to do this this week depending on delivery of materials etc. We also discovered that the main front window of the house is crooked and needs to be reinstalled because once the boards go on the level will be really noticeable. The window is aluminium and doesn’t match the other front window which is white. It also has cracked glass. Dilemma. I decided to see if I could replace it. I knew it would take up to two weeks to have one made, and I didn’t want to pay for a new one so I thought I’d see if I could get one second hand to the exact size. I jumped on ebay and found one…only one problem. It was pick up only and located in Ingleburn. I needed to get it before we start the cladding or else the whole project would be delayed.

Seriously though, Saturday was my only option to get this window. I had photography work from 10am to 3pm in Sydney. The place I bought it from agreed to meet me there at 8am. So off I went to Ingleburn from Long Jetty at 6am Saturday morning. How the little lady and I lifted a 1795 x 1200 window onto the roof of my car I don’t know – actually I do know – muscle and determination. I even made little foot stools fro us to stand on because we were both too short to lift it! I tied it on with rope and a thousand knots, jumped in the car and drove off praying. I made it back for work and ended the afternoon with a tough game of netball, followed by the drive back up the freeway, dinner with my parents, home, shower and bed. Phew.

When you decide to do something. Just do it. Before you know it – it’s done. Here are some pics from this week.

More next time…from the Jetty x

I mentioned in an earlier post about the swimming pool under the house. My brother and I did a great job that day fixing the downpipes and drains on one side of the house however, the problem continued. I must look up rainfall statistics in Long Jetty as it seems I am more likely living in Tasmania!! Even last night, after a sunny day, it poured and yet I awoke to a surprisingly sunny day.

Mothers Day.

I spent the best part of my mothers day in the mud with a spade digging trenches while my gorgeous girl caught up on some much needed sleep in the cosy lounge room. Although the source of the problem has not yet been resolved, I did manage to drain the water from under the house, at least temporarily. I will solve this…….I will

Here are some glamorous pics.

Mother’s Day was not all hard work. We had a lovely breakfast cooked by my dad and my Sophie in the morning and later in the afternoon we grabbed a bite to eat at The Entrance. Beautiful! Sophie even stayed over for two nights in a row. Yippee for me x I am happy.

I must admit I wasn’t keen on The Entrance when I first arrived. Not so nice things were being said about it as a suburb and I have always found touristy destinations such as this pretty unappealing. To me it is a bit like a mini Gold Coast. Steer clear. I am changing my mind somewhat though. When it is not holiday season it is a lovely place to be. The Entrance has hidden treasures, loads of photographic opportunities and lots of things to do like grab a bite to eat by the sea, hire a boat, go fishing……under the bridge, off the bridge, beside the bridge, on the beach….where ever you throw your line basically. There is a lot to be discovered in this little pocket of the Central Coast.

My ideas for the renovation are becoming more solid now that I have been here a few more weeks.

(OMG! It’s raining again!)

I have chosen the interior wall colour and am very happy with the results after painting the first room. I wanted a neutral grey/stone for the walls, with natural white on the timber. Normally Dulux Grand Piano works perfectly but for some reason it was just a little too much on the warm side of neutral. Neither warm nor cold. It had to be perfectly balanced. The colour I have chosen is called Rumour. I think it is a generic (wattle) colour.

It is fabulous.

The first pic shows Grand Piano, with Rumour as a tester next to the Natural White. The second pic shows the room finished with Rumour.

I told Muffin (our cat) that Sophie was coming for the weekend…and so she waited patiently by the window for her arrival!

The other job I have managed to achieve is the window furnishings. After much deliberation over the expense of shutters I decided my money would be better spent elsewhere. So i opted for the less expensive shutter look blinds. Timber look 63mm slat venetians in white ordered online and installed by me. Saved a fortune and they look great!

My reno has been divided into 3 stages. The first stage will be the front exterior of the house. More about this next week.

See you next time…..from the Jetty x

P.S. It’s the little things that count!

When you’re on the wrong side of 45 and rapidly approaching the big five 0 it’s nice to know you’re not alone…..even when you are.

I don’t know why I’m writing this blog. Is it my diary, a way of keeping track of myself as my memory starts to fail me? Is it a creative outlet? Is it because it’s a trendy thing to do or am I trying to prove something? Maybe it’s to give myself a purpose, or to have a routine and to teach myself to be disciplined (both of which seem to have evaded me all of my life!) Or is it just for fun? I don’t know. I do know that I enjoy writing and love taking photos so why not? Comments like “you can’t even keep your blog updated”, and text messages saying “your blog needs an update” are not conducive to what I want this blog to mean to me. I am enjoying making my weekly post, however the last thing I want is to feel guilty, pressured or judged by those who read it.

I heard a great line in a TV interview today. The person, who was the operator of an antique street organ in a country town fair said ” I am on the cutting edge of obsolescence”. How funny is that? Maybe that is why I am writing a blog. Because I feel in some way I might be becoming obsolete! You see, we need to continue to reinvent ourselves, try something new, keep learning, accept the challenge of change, because if we don’t we will probably become obsolete. If you don’t upgrade, update, up-everything, you fall behind in the game of life. So please be patient with me. I am still finding my feet.

To balance working part-time in Sydney, working in my business, the house project, parenting from afar (particularly difficult), finances, living alone, familiarising oneself with a new environment, worrying about a cat that disappears for hours on end at regular intervals, entertaining curious visitors, missing my daughter and my friends, and a weekly blog is not so easy. This week has been particularly challenging.

After the most balmy April imaginable the weather turned bitterly cold yesterday into freezing, windy conditions. It just so happened that I was doing photographs, all day, outdoors. Charming. It even hailed at one point! Thankfully, the photos do not reflect the actual pain that was felt by the children being photographed. (Not to mention the photographer and her assistant!). Even so I was glad to be doing the work.

Now back to the house project…

I still have an ongoing issue with the swimming pool under the house. The rain has been relentless. It seems the new pipes my brother and I put in have not fully solved the problem. I needed to investigate the downpipes on the other side of the house where the gutters were overflowing. If I solve one problem at a time then surely I will eventually fix the problem. I borrowed a bigger ladder from my brother in law to take a look in the gutters.

Oh Dear! SEVERE BLOCKAGE!

Not just the side where the Silky Oak hangs, but the entire rim of the house. Cleaning the gutters was my next challenge. My dad came to help but couldn’t because when the new roof was installed, they left only a one inch gap from the edge of the roof to the gutters. My dads hand was too big to fit between the gap. I had to do the lot. We invented a tool which did the trick. We made an L shape metal scraper that I could fit into the gutter to lift the silt, leaves and muddy build up away from the surface so I could remove it with two fingers. Hmmmm. This took an entire day. I also found an endless amount of screws and bolts left lying in the gutters after the removal of the old roof and installation of the new. How can trades people be so irresponsible? Anyway, dad was happy because he collected all the lead washers out of the gunk and said they would make good sinkers!!!

Once the gutters were cleaned out we hosed them and tested the water flow into the downpipes. Thank God. They worked! Now we have to wait until the next downpour….

The little things count.

My friend Lisa from netball  (I play netball in Sydney on a Saturday afternoon – another commitment to add to the list), was asking me how everything was going. She told me about her friend who is living alone, renting in Sydney, and wanting to own her own place. Something she can work on herself to make her own. She couldn’t afford to buy in the North West suburbs of Sydney where she currently lives and works, and was not keen on moving to the more affordable Western suburbs but had mentioned the Central Coast as a possible option. She had the usual concerns and reservations about commuting and moving away from Sydney etc etc. I told Lisa about my blog and she passed it on to her friend.

Yesterday Lisa told me that her friend was now really inspired.

This makes it all worthwhile. To have inspired another person makes me happy.

Thank you for reading…..

from the jetty