Is kind of interesting right now. I quoted for eight jobs last week small to medium sized ones and have so far got three of them. I'm sure I'll have time to do them in between getting absolutely no sleep with a new baby, painting the complete outside of the house, and moving to a new office.
Anyone want a job?
Debbie is sitting here eating some ice-cream with sliced banana and chocolate sauce. It looks very good. I asked for a mouthful. She sort of scowled, but handed over the plate. I had just got the spoon up to my mouth when I felt her hand reaching over, grabbing the plate and the spoon from my mouth, and the muttered words, It's mine!
Builders, of course, are just like babies. They may have a due date, but when they come is entirely up to them. So the builders arrived at our place a little over a week ago about two weeks late. But I understand that's pretty good!
We now have a deck, and some french doors in our living room leading out to it. It's not quite finished yet, they still need to put some hand rails on it, but it's lovely. We can stand out on it and have a wonderful view down the harbour. Yes I know when it's windy we won't be able to, but on an evening such as this, with a dying southerly wafting up the bay, it's going to be quite stunning, and peaceful, sitting out there sipping a cold beer.
There's lots of other stuff going on as well. A new roof is being put on, a few bits of rot in the weatherboards are being replaced, I'm slowly burning paint off all of the weatherboards. Which, incidentally, is a very zen-like task. It's not something you can hurry. You stand there, holding a heat gun (basically a souped-up hairdryer) in one hand, and your scraper in the other, and push along the paint as it softens and crumples under the heat. Try and go too fast and the paint's not ready your scraper slides off. Go too slowly, and the paint catches fire and starts to burn. So you really just have to go at the speed it takes. So very zen-like. Ha. Next week I'm going to hire a student in at some ridiculously low hourly rate and get them to do it!
We're also having the backyard landscaped by a friend of mine. He's cut down hedges, and dug holes, and is in the middle of putting in retaining walls. We'll level off part of the section and have some small terraces. After nearly six years of living here and doing basically nothing outside, this is just wonderful to get things happening like this. I'm really starting to enjoy it. Oh, and I'm also getting our garden shed an old timber one at the end of the section with a very cool view out over the water converted into an office. This I'm looking forward to. At times it's near impossible to work in my current tiny office just off our kitchen.
Matthew was home today. He just loved it! He was outside most of the day, talking to the builders and my friend Brett. He had his gumboots on, and carried a piece of wood around. When Brett started digging some holes, he brought his plastic Scoop (see Bob the Builder) out. He'd walk around saying to the builders, You're not working hard enough!, and whenever they'd stop for a break or lunch, he'd be out there saying, Are you still sitting down?
Tomorrow my parents are taking him for the weekend. I'm hoping to be able to get some more stuff done around the house. As much as I can't wait to see the baby, I wouldn't mind if it held off until, say, Tuesday or Wednesday. Debbie, of course, has other views on that!
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Hippycritical
Udder
My Life in 12 Point Font
Journal of a Writing Man
Some Jingle Jangle Morning
The Last Girl Scout
Potatoe.com
Journallife.com
Window to my Soul
Chickybabe
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Fifteen Milliliters
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Photo of tunnel copyright Bernd Klumpp, available from istockphoto.com