Nearly Christmas!

Greetings All!!
Wow, we have made it to our first Christmas officailly living in our beautiful home! There are still lots of odd jobs to get done and aesthetically we might not be the prettiest place to look at but we love it! Since August (my last update) we've achieved quite a lot as far as animals go! We acquired our first three pigs, beautifully named Steve, Brenda and Windy. Steve and Brenda are Berkshire cross Large Blacks and Windy is a Saddleback cross Black. They're lovely, except that they just ATE, yes ate one of my chickens! I'll assume it just got trampled but it was very disgusting and very sad! That same night Waz locked one out of their enclosure (accidentally) and I think we may have provided Mr Fox with an easy dinner! So we're down to 23 chickens, yes 23! They are Isa Browns and very healthy and happy! I'll attach some photos of their house. Waz built it, with a few helpers on and off and we finished it and got the chickens just in time for our first farmstay!

We came across an ad in the paper looking for farming families interested in hosting International Students for Aussie Farmstays. We signed up and had our first two in November and it was GREAT! We had five 16yr old Japanese boys come and stay for 2 nights at a time and they LOVED it. Their English was not great but everyone had fun and got along. Jack and Henry had attention and playmates for two whole weekends and it pays well too. So it is something we'll continue to do, and a great way to introduce the boys to language, culture and hospitaility.

We got the footpaths to the house from the carpark mostly finished as well, we're still working on some drainage issues but we can now walk to the house without gumboots and as I look out at the pouring rain today I am relieved!
I've finally done some paintings and we've managed to hang quite a few pictures in the house which is lovely and we have also managed to acquire a few appropriate bits of furniture to fit out the hosue a bit better!

The current project is finishing the permanant pig pen and beginning the fencing project to separate the paddocks from the bush, among lots of little jobs in between. We're looking forward to Christmas, a few different ones with different family and a nice quiet New Year, after which Jack begins Kindergarten! I'll be a school Mum!! Should be interesting.
Anyway, many blessings to you all and please come visit sometime!
Mel

House Warming

What an amazing group of friends and family we have! We just had the best nigth on Saturday celebrating our housewarming and our birthdays (big fat 28). There was so much food (thanks Dad for the spit roast), an enormous bonfire, lights (finally) that Waz hooked up that afternoon and plenty of chatting and catching up! The house is just so well designed to host, the kids had their space, there were planty of places to park your butt, some chilled music and warmth! We were gifted wine to drink and cash for the garden and gorgeous cards from our special friends and family and we are SO grateful! I love that we've created a space that others can freel enjoy and feel comfortable in. I love having a house full of ppl and that we had heaps of help cleaning up and our home was respected and cared for. Thanks everyone! And for those of you who haven't had the pleasure of a visit you're welcome whenever you like, we can't wait to share our space with you.
On the practical side, we achieved a lot in the week coming up to the party. We had more curtains hung, carpet laid (finally) in the top bedroom, walls painted, tools tidied up, paintings hung, LIGHTS hung in the kitchen, laundry and entry, blinds finished, more fencing completed, paths built...the list goes on. The house was in very good order when everyone started to arrive. Huge thanks to Claudia for all her help and the boys for behaving reasonably well as Waz had a call out and didnt get home til 1pm (eek!)
SO I've finally uploaded some photos off the camera...here they are...

The roller we hired to get a start on the road

Waz & the Boys in the roller

The Housewarming Cake...upside down

Thom & Chan at the Housewarming

Pete & Sylv and Carolyn enjoying some red!

Uncle Neil & Mal

The bonfire...and an embarassing one of Ames!

Very serious contemplation of the bonfire :)

posers!

My newest purchases...Freedom 2 seater on ebay $20 and rug from 'Better Bits' in town $5!

Plants!! Thanks to some lovely gifts from friends at the party!

Getting ready to build the sand pit under the cubby house and the fence is finished in the background!

Carpet in the "spikey room", got laid the day before the housewarming!

Update...

So I know now why it was so hard to find other blogs and info on people who were building mudbrick or alternative housing...because it takes so much damn time and energy to get it done they couldn't possibly have time to write a blog! How silly of me!
Aside from the obvious fact that I've been absent from the cyber-world, we have acheived quite a lot in the last month or so.
Waz is outside today on this horribly cold, windy, sleety day spreading 100tonne of road base that was delivered this morning and we have a roller being dropped off this arv to compact it...thanks APE! We have a deadline of sorts in sight to get a few things finished...our HOUSEWARMING PARTY! SO excited...spit roast, bonfire, lots of friends and family coming! So we needed to get the driveway done because we didn't want everyone getting too bogged or muddied up, we have halfway done the paths from the car to the house which means NO MORE GUMBOOTS just to get to the car and we are also halfway done on the house yard fence, which means we can almost contain our wild boys, who have taken up the habit of disappearing completely only to reappear somewhere very far away! Won't be long and I know how to strain and tie wires, bang in star posts, join wire and keep my eyes out of the way in the process.
We have quite a lot of windows covered now, almost finished the ensuite blinds and putting the final touches on the loungeroom curtains. Its been hard because the mudbrick is a bit tricky to hang from so most of these recent additions we have mounted on the actual window frame which I guess is a bit unusual but it still looks really good. The curtains I got on ebay for $100 are just amazing! I just need to get to spotlight to get on more set and we'll about have them all. STILL waiting for the carpet guy to call me back about laying the 'spikey room" carpet, so named by the boys after they discovered the spikey carpet edging that runs around the room.
I have a couple more coats of paint to go in the study and it will be done too which means I can think a bit more about furniture, again not being able to just plaster the wall with artwork is frustrating but I'm thinking a big cork board in there and I can swap and change images as I like...?
Anyway, back to work, love to hear your thoughts and comments so keep in touch!
Mel

Henry helping with the path

Almost done

Our fencing job, not done yet!

MORE PICS TO COME!

Progress

Actually living here has meant we have achieved a lot less than when we were travelling to finish the place BUT we now get to wake up in our own space, eat a leasurely brekkie and plod along at a pace that is not frantic and insane! Waz has been home for most of this weekend and we've managed to get the grass seed out and raked in with some fresh turkey manure, marked where the paths will be, put up the clothesline (FINALLY) and got rid of the speed hump on the driveway.
We also managed in amongst that to have some family for afternoon tea and visitors for lunch and afternoon tea today so it's a very productice weekend!
During the week Dad was out here and we put in some more stays and posts, almost all done now thanks goodness! It will be nice to be able to contain the boys a bit better, although I'm almost certain they will find a way out somewhere.
I've been for walks with the boys twice this week up into the bush, checking out the fence line and making some new discoveries. We found where the wombats live, found the top pf the ridge behind the house, found a nice kangaroo trail that led us all the way up there and found where (some) of the rabbits are living under the "humpy" in the big dam paddock.
And finally I've uploaded some photos, some are a little outdated now but still worth a look...


This is how deep a post hole should be..about as tall as Henry a month ago!



Our first brekky at the farm!

Pa doing storytime!

Just after the Easter egg hunt

Henry with his (beautiful) Easter craft

Exploring the veggie garden with Thom & Chan, Zahra and Steffy

The front door...thanks Mal's boss!

The photo does not do justice to how spectacular this sunset was just the other night!

Winter is here!

So its only just May and we've already had a minus eight! Unbelievable! The up side to this is that I didn't even notice, I'm loving how warm our house stays, and still we don't have curtains in the living room.  \Watching a house full on ebay so fingers crossed that no one wants them more than we do!
We have just been pldding along much more sensibly since we moved in. This week I've spread some more grass seed, varnished in the boys bathroom, hung curtains in our bedroom (which need hemming), set up the guest room for our visitors this weekend, collected wood...
Oh and I rang the manufacturers of our floor sealer, asking why it is getting so scratched, and they said the concrete is super absorbent and we need to do 2-3 more coats of the stuff. The good thing about this is that we have a solution, the bad thing is that we have to move furrniture and keep the boys of a sticky floor for 24 hours.
Dad ploughed up the house yard a bit more on Thursday so we can start a bit of landscaping, mainly paths and grass to begin with. I'd LOVE y clothesline to go up soon, I just haven't washed any sheets yet because there's no place to hang them. It has been so windy that they'd be covered in dirt and dust if I hung them outside anyway.
So yeah as I said, visitors this weekend, Jeff and Johanna and little Braxton are coming for a night, trying to compile a list of stuff we need done, just for stuff to do not because I get free labour (besides Jo is super pergnant so she won't be doing much anyway). I think we might work at sealing the tree in the lounge room, seeing as its freezing outside and this will keep us in. If the weather behaves we've got vegies to plant, grass seed to spread, paths to dig...the list goes on :)
So in short, we're getting there. Our major source of cash flow has dried up so we're a lot more reserved in spending and just doing jobs as we can afford it. We have never had to live like this but it is kind of nice. I like going to the supermarket once a week instead of every day! I like that we're at home and it is a big effort to go to town without much reason to do so. I like that the boys have space and that we are a destination for friends and family. Come visit!!

Mel x

Here we are!

It has been two weeks plus already and almost feels like home! It's just so lovely to wake up and hear...nothing! Apart from a few birds and the wild boys already awake and running riot in their room of course! We have our heads around keeping the fire going, living without television (temporarily maybe) and adding jobs to the afternoon that include chopping wood, fencing, varnishing among all the odd jobs that will never end.
The floor has been my biggest erk, I need to get in touch with the manufacturers to ask if it really is supposed to scratch like it has been, i need LOW maintenance, I don't want to be precious about it. Also need to hurry up and get curtains sorted, as the Goulburn weather is cooling down. Mind you, the wood fire gets amazingly warm and there hasn't been a night yet that we've been cold.
I LOVE my kitchen! I love the space and the stove and the drawers and the breakfast bar (which we use ALL day). Still waiting to get the bins sorted but it won't be long and we need to get our heads around the recylcing stuff and how to manage it but again, we'll get there.
The boys have fun every day, they're still finding boxes of toys that haven't been unpacked and there is dirt and grass and rocks galore outside to play with. I caught henry outside yesterday afternoon completely nudie sliding down the biggest pile of dirt like a slippery dip! (He was hosed down shortly after I took a photo). I really need to put together a routine for them, just so I know what they're doing and so they're not getting up to mischief (which they do too often) including smashing an entire bottle of newly baked cookies and pulling my wet washing off the clothes airer and spreading it all over the house! *sigh*
I'd like to get my head around the tussock thing, which will need attention very soon I'm afraid, chipping or spraying, but I think its something I'm going to have to attend to weekly. Also I'd like to get a start on the house yard, paths etc, so that we're not asking visitors to tramp through mud to get to the front door. Dad has been putting in the hard hours getting the house yard fence done so at least I'll be able to contain the children very soon!
We still have no internal lights, except the two bathrooms, that's what I get for marrying an electrician! He has been SUPER busy though doing all the other more important stuff so no pressure Waz! It's kind of nice with lamps and fluros here and there.
I better go anyway, shower, attend children and off to Middle Arm Ladies Morning Tea this morning (how funny).
x Mel

Photo Updates

Thought I'd update you visually on what's been happening at our place...

Moving from Mum's Jack only just fit in the car

The boys vanity that I sanded back and re-stained...almost finished...much better colour!

Waz helping Dad with a gate mount for access to the dam from the house

The guys installing our shower screen today

Henry doesn't enjoy loud noises...tractors, chainsaws, pumps, trucks...

The frame for our solar hot water....still not completely installed...flamin plumber

That's all, more photos on the camera but still can't find cord to attach it to the computer
:) Mel