Thank you lego.

Dont get me wrong....

I love gardening. So much so i was really really proud of my three native purchases yesterday night from a cute wee retired man in Petone who grows seeds he finds on his NZ bush adventures a a hobby. I was extemely excited about planting them somewhere special in the back yard, but wanted to make a good decision about their permanent location so i thought i would procrastinate a night until i was sure on where to put them.

What i don't like is FORCED gardening. Arriving home on a friday night ready to open a bottle of wine and chill out. Walking out the back door... and hello.... all 3 of my brand new favorite trees dug out of their pots, chewed to death and lying around the section with no earth around their poor little roots, just horribly left to die in the sun. Rude!

I was not impressed. I was a very grumpy person. And that puppy that decided it was such good amusement for her day at home to mess with my plants, she heard the end of it. I started talking politely to her as she sat and stared at me like i was crazy. The conversion became quite heated between us, because the more i told her about how she had ruined my week and that i didnt love her anymore, she barked at me like she had an excuse for every part of it. She knew she was in trouble... be still she felt she had to have the last word.

So silent treatment for the entire night it was. She did not like it. So i hope shes learnt not to get between me and my plants... and i have learnt... no procrastinating with planting new plants. Make a decision and run with it. ahhh shes more painful than a child!

One brew down

Gareth got a brewing kit for his birthday from his wife. She was very skeptical about how the first attempt was going to turn out... but he was quite good with the whole sterilizing bizo right throughout the process which surprised me a tad.

Anyway.. it was a bit more than skeptical really. I was SCARED! I mean if he stuffed it up, theres 30 litres of the crap to drink!!! 60 freakn bottles worth, so you can understand where my fear came from.

The moment of truth came after a good 4 weeks of brewage. Gaz poured the first ever sample of his brew into two glasses and we were a little concerned at the fact that instead of the froth gradually disappearing as the beer settled... it was getting mighty fizzy with the froth increasing by the moment. So in i went for a good sample gulp. My first reaction - i was completely confused. Were my taste buds being particularly bias or what the hecks going on here? so i took a second gulp... still quite unsure about the whole situation i gulped again... before long the glass was emptied because it tasted freakn awesome, Whewf!!


first cloudy pour - actually tasted good!

It wasnt just me being my normal supportive wifey self. ;) - the girls seems to down it ok too. So quite stoked about it being not only drinkable... but actually quite top knotch. Gaz had the pouring down packed by then too which may have helped. Gotta be a bit cautious not to get the bottom of the swapper in the glass as you get nice chunks of cloudy beer which cause the whole fizzing scenario.

Crystal Clear pours for the girls to sample

3 crates have been demolished and so its brew time again. The challenge now is to see if it was a fluke or whether he can better it! haha

Imagine a dining table and chairs here!

This might not look like much other than a pile of crap and some bank account breaking dog food... but thats not all, I'll educate you. The green floor and the ply wood part combined are our new dining room!! Up until now, we have had props holding the roof up right in the middle of this space. Progress has been made.. the ceiling is all strengthened and the props have removed... so its more real now. We can actually see where the table will go.



Dont walk in the middle of this room now Dad, or you'll be standing on my dining table.... Sorry just a little 'had to be there' kinda joke.

Weekend Creation

The windows ARENT painted... but i made myself a new skirt! & i quite like it :)



Vintage fabric came from our honeymoon secondhand shop find in Mayfield.

I quite like the Hutt

After years of wondering who on earth would ever choose to live out in THE HUTT, and the amount of times i have dished out endless abuse to anyone who had enough balls to admitted they permanently resided there (despite us being from Rotorua! But they didnt need to know that). I have just come to realise that i actually quite like the place.

Its probably the closest wellington gets to Rotorua, and maybe thats why i feel so at home. Lately, thanks to Lego, my bike and my legs... we have actually gotten out an about and found some quite beautiful places quite close to home.


Jumping river rocks in the Hutt River - Avalon



Gum Loop Track - Wainuiomata



Ridge Track - Eastbourne


Yet, my windows still don't seem to paint themselves... dammit!

Kitchen/laundry conversion is shaping up baby!

WHOOOP. Nothing to say... but.... look my fridge now has a home.... finally!

Summer

As you might have noticed... this blog has turned from house renos to jutes adventures... But its summer time!

I feel really guilty about not getting stuck into the house over summer!! In winter I attempted to paint one set of windows... & due to un-forseen wintery weather conditions this meant taking the windows out of the frame and painting them inside so they would actually dry. It also meant having the windows boarded up with ply for a couple of weeks while i painted them. Not so much fun as i distinctly remember freezing my butt off due ply boarded windows welcoming those freezing icy winds from the rimutaka mountains... right into my bedroom! On a number of occasions it was warmer outside than in because of this and I should have said to myself... "This is really a summer job", that didn't really cross my logical mind, but with Gareth's help i was banned from doing any more window painting until summer time.

Sooo... the plan was. As soon as summer rolled round i was going to get stuck in and paint one set of windows per weekend. 10 sets of windows, so i figured on the 10th weekend of summer all the exterior windows would be beautifully reformed!

I can see winter rolling round very shortly.... and...... NOT. ONE. SINGLE. WINDOW. HAS. BEEN. PAINTED. ahhhhh!

But i can confess, i have had an awesome summer, beaching, bush walking, taking lego on adventures, gardening, playing with cars, BBQ'n, drinking too much beer&wine and riding my bike. SO There Gaz, i think there is actually a reason why windows are winter work. Just might mean freezing our bums off with boarded up windows another winter! Wohoooooo!