Wordless Wednesday- The first few weeks of building a house

Week 1- Demolition

Taken doing a drive-by out of he car window!!

Week 1- By Sunday it was gone

Week 2- A cut block

Week 3- Slab down

So hard to believe all this was happening a year ago!!  The second part of my look back on building our house.

Linking up with My Lttle Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday.

Wordless Wednesday- 1 year ago

I miss my magnolia and frangipani

One year ago we spent the last night in our old house before it was knocked down.  So hard to believe!!
8 years we lived in this house and looking at these photos I am so grateful to now have the house we do with its fancy things like a bathroom where all the tiles are on the wall and insulation!! 

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday.

FFS friday-a rotary hoe is the devils form of torture

Last weekend I volunteered to help the HOTH rotary hoe our yard.  Front and back.  FFS

Actually he said something like "this is so easy you could do it" being a smart ass. So I did.  FFS

I hoed like a boss.  I was actually pretty good at it.  FFS

That was on Saturday.  Sunday morning I could not move my arms. FFS

By Sunday night I could not lift my arms over my head.  FFS

Monday morning I was in agony.  Mondays at our place is swimming day.  It took me 10 mins to get into my cossie and rashie.  FFS

The swimming teacher decided we had not done enough humpty freakin dumpty off the wall (sit kid on the side of the pool and pull them in then turn them around so they grab the wall) for a while so we did an extended amount.  FFS

Normally the baby climbs out on his own but this week the gorgeous lump decided he did not want to climb therefore making me lift him out over my head and onto the wall.  FFS

I feel it should be appropriate to swear at a kids swimming lesson.  FFS

It would have been a funny sight watching me try to get my wet rashie off after we had finished.  FFS

The other downside to rotary hoeing is the dirt.  Its like sand only worse.  You know how sand ends up everywhere when you go to the beach well so does dirt.  FFS

And that is almost it for me.  I have had an injury/blood free week for a change.  I may even be back in the running for mother of the year.  FFS

Apart from the big one saying "for gods sake" constantly.  FFS

I have no idea where he gets it from.  FFS

One last thing I was stoked to hear Bon Jovi are coming out next year and come hell or high water I will be there.  I will not miss out again.  FFS

Unless tickets go on sale on a Monday morning which is the only time I cannot be at the computer.  FFS

Last time they were here I was 8 months pregnant and decided I did not want Jon Bon Jovi himself delivering the baby.  FFS  (the big one was 5 weeks early and I was told I would never have a full term baby, fyi the baby was induced at 39 weeks as I had gestational diabetes so in hind sight I could have gone.  ffs)

Please no hoe jokes I think we made them all on Saturday. Like when the kids needed me it was "bros before hoes".  I am hilarious I know!!  FFS

Linking up with Dear Baby G for FFS friday!!


I love the internet where you can find pictures like this!! Obviously it is not me as who the hell hoes in a skirt and smiles. FFS 

How to choose a Tradie.

I am lucky I have not had much to do with Tradies over the years of home ownership.  Basically we let our old house fall down around us knowing that we would eventually be knocking it down.  But more importantly the HOTH is a qualified sparky and will try his hand at anything if he thinks he can do it and my dad is a plumber. 

However we have been using people left right and centre the last few weeks and here is how I came to use them.

WORD OF MOUTH.  The amount of people you speak too even if they are not friends as such is huge.  And most people are happy to recommend or warn against.  My list of people I speak to has grown massively since having kids!!  Even our doctor weighed in on something one day!!  Plus I love to eavesdrop!!  Amazing what you can learn while being nosey!!

We have a great local paper that comes out once a month packed with a directory of local businesses and I can pretty much guarantee I know someone who has used them and can give me their opinion.  Also the same names are there month after month and the same vans/utes/cars.trucks are always around.

So here is my list from the last 6 months

• tree lopper- local paper
• plumber- local paper but is actually a family friend
• tv antenna- local paper but we have used him about 6 years ago plus I have heard good things before and after using him.
• vertical blinds- local paper and word of mouth.
• patio cover- word of mouth plus we had seen his work.
• concreter- local paper plus word of mouth

Some helpful hints with finding a good tradie

• First contact- do they answer the phone professionally?  I f you have to leave a message do they call you back in a few hours?
• Do not be afraid to get a few different quotes especially if it is a big job. 
• Do you like them.  Sounds silly but if they turn up and you don't get a good gut feeling I would go with your gut.
• Do they turn up looking and acting professionally?
• Do they offer advice or their own insight?  This can be helpful as it can force you to look outside the box.
• Do they know their stuff?  Things like needing council permission etc can be costly and time consuming if it is not right.
• Do they have examples of their work?
• Do they try to up sell something you don't need?  Eg when we got our new Aeriel the guy tried to get me to install a splitter as we have 3 tv points however we only have 1 tv and will only have 1 for a long time so I do not need a splitter just yet.  I see his point but unless we win lotto 1 tv will do just fine!!
• Ask as many questions as you like. 
• We always ask time frames, when can they start, how long will it take?

Another really useful tool is the website Product Review Australia.  I will do a separate post about this but basically type in whatever and see what people think.  Not everyone on there is a whinger but most people go on there to complain.  I don't think a lot of smaller businesses are listed but it cannot hurt to look.

I think that just about wraps it up.  If I have forgotten anything or you can think of something please let me know.  Thanks Mums take Five for the question!!

Wordless Wednesday- A sneak preview of "THE GREAT GABION WALL OF STUCKBURGH"!!

Fancy new letterbox and a finished part of wall!!

3 monkeys!!



My fave part with the croc!!

 This is the brainchild of the HOTH.  For months he has been planning and measuring!!  This is a little sneak peak as it is not finished yet.  He has done this all himself and is very clever but please do not tell him that as his head is so fat we should have built a house with wider doorways!! 

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for wordless wednesday!!

Bad Bad Customer Service

Inspired by this post from Mums Take Five on customer service I thought I would share some of my experiences both from a house building point of view and a normal retail experience.

The one I have had in my drafts for a while is a story of the day we went to a certain big name (may start with steg and end in bar) window and door company to pick a colour for our windows.  We had chosen our brick colour which is a really dark brown chocolatey colour and now needed to find a window colour in a bit of a hurry as the builders needed to order them.  We had the brochure of standard colours but we wanted to see how the brick looked up against them so we had to go to a show room. 

• The show room was great except most of the displays were "discontinued or unavailable"
• The first "salesman" the HOTH spoke too had no idea about anything he was asking.
• The "ahem" lady who ended up "helping" us was to be honest shocking at her job and needed a big lesson in customer service.  She made three important mistakes which in my book are a big no no.
• Firstly when we asked about a `certain colour we were interested in she said and I quote "  You have terrible taste in colours"  EXCUSE ME how freaking rude.
• Second she then proceeded to make me feel like an idiot when I asked the HOTH not her if we could just get a colour and paint it later if we didn't like it.  Turns out you can but its a pain in the ass.
• Third and final she then said it we could have any colour for the small cost of a few thousand dollars over a standard sized house.  Which annoyed me for two reasons.  1 "a few thousand" is a lot of money and 2 after all was said and done the builder told us we could have had the colour we wanted at trade prices which she should have told us as she knew we were building with a builder.

We walked out of there fuming as that had been a wasted trip and with time not our side we were extremely frustrated.  I could not believe the unprofessional and sloppy attitude of the staff and if we had not been locked in to use this company I would have looked elsewhere without a doubt.

I worked in retail for a long time and I know how to treat customers and how we were treated that Saturday morning was NOT how you do it. 

If I was in business I would probably be concerned with social media etc and be treating my customers like everyone knows thousands of potential customers.  I find it interesting that so many businesses now have facebook pages yet if people post complaints or anything negative the comments are removed. 

I am a big believer in word of mouth for the good and the bad and I  have no problem telling the world on my blog about both.

Yep really terrible taste!! 

In other news I am back finally after a hectic 2 weeks of moving!!  Still unpacking but getting there big time!!  So fill me in what have I missed??  Oh and if you are nice enough to leave me a comment feel free to leave a link so I can pop by and say hi!!  I have missed my blog reading in the last 2 weeks!!

Happy Fathers Day, Happy Birthday. I hope you dont mind that I put down in words!!

Dear The HOTH

Our house officially became ours yesterday after years of heartache, disappointment and most of all BLOODY OLD FASHIONED HARD WORK. 

Its a sign that all your hard work, crazy hours and trips working away have totally paid off.  It is the second best thing we have done as a couple/team.  The first being our 2 amazing boys.  Although in fairness I was the one who actually gave birth twice while you conspired with the midwives to not give me drugs!! 

I am so happy that you are such a handyman and are doing so much of the work around the new place.  While most dads were having a nice relaxed fathers day you were digging holes and making a retaining wall with my help I must add!!  Then came back and barbecued your own homemade burgers!!

This sunday being your birthday you will be installing the lights as you are a qualified sparky but I do not need to remind you of the bathroom fan debacle that I will forever hold against you.  So just warning you that any lights that do not switch on with the correct switch will result in my nagging.  You will probably be bbqing again but I may splash out and buy you steak!!

I am lucky you do not care about expensive presents as you got some lovingly handmade stuff from the boys for fathers day and you are getting an $8 tshirt, a lotto ticket and a book.  The book you picked out in target the other day when we were supposed to be looking at dinner sets and I had to call you and yell profanities when you had disappeared and I was left with 2 whinging kids in a trolley.  Oh yeah and you are also getting Sons Of Anarchy season 4 on dvd but its not here yet and if you think I am going to wait to watch it you are sadly mistaken. 

Now pull your finger out and get back to work so we can move in and more importantly finish the house completely so I can start squirrelling money away for Fiji 2014.  We will need a fair bit of cash as I plan on getting a massage everyday and only drinking that awesome Fijian beer we fell in love with until we saw the price!!  Not to mention the many cocktails in the adult pool and all the duty free stuff I will be getting!!

Seriously we love you and I CANNOT wait to take your annual birthday photo with the boys outside of our brand new house!!

Love from

Ann, the big one and the baby. xxxxxxxxxx

PS smart arse comments such as "you having a dishwasher is like me getting Jim's mowing" will be dealt with with violence from now on.

PPS please don't be mad about me blogging.  You did tell me to get a hobby!!

Whoops sadly this was scheduled for sunday afternoon but it did not work, stupid blogger.  We did not get the photo outside the house as the kids were rotten from partying the day before but we did get a photo before bed and no steak for dinner but here is a house photo anyway!!

not the best photo as it is from my phone and I am still to lazy to get the camera!!

linking up for ibot again after 2 weeks of sickness!!

FFS friday- still sick and over it and whinging about it

  Still sick here.  FFS   If I wipe one more snotty nose or buy one more box of tissues or see another child wipe their snotty nose on their arm or hand or dog I will lose my shit in a spectacular way.  FFS   I am sure I have infected sinuses but cannot be bothered sitting at the doctors for 2 hours to confirm my diagnosis.  FFS   I cannot be in bright light or sit at the computer or look at my phone as it makes my head hurt.  FFS   In other news sunday saw us driving around buying stuff for the house again with the kids. FFS   I went on strike and wore trackies and looked like crap but as it was "family day" was informed to have a cup of concrete and harden up  FFS   We saw 5 people we knew all of which were not in their trackies and looked at me like I was some diseased monster.  FFS   We stop for petrol and some guy pulls in front of the HOTH and steals his bowser  He says "FFS" and before I can go mental for his swearing 2 little voices are heard in the back.  The big one said "oh for godssake" and the baby said "blah blah sake".  FFS   The big one is having a massive growth spurt and needs a couple of pairs of pants which I cannot get as all the shops are now only selling shorts.  ITS STILL WINTER.  FFS   Thats it for me.  My head hurts and I have to now go and hold string lines and dig dirt.  FFS   I will be doing this all weekend.  FFS   The things we do to save money.  FFS   Speaking of saving money bloody Matchbox Twenty are coming out and playing near me and I am too damn responsible to buy tickets as we need to spend the money else where.  FFS   Apparently AC/DC are touring next year which means the HOTH has something to look forward too.  FFS   I missed out on Bon Jovi as I was massively preggas and did not want another early baby.  FFS   Spellcheck I like to make up words stop trying to cramp my style.  FFS   Also I cannot comment on a heap of blogs as I have the wrong browser.  FFS   Whinge over.  FFS                        

PART 1, You need a beginning before a happy ending.

IN THE BEGINNING

8 years ago we (me and the HOTH and the cat) were living in our first home which was a townhouse.  We always wanted a house with a back yard and a dog and he wanted a shed!!  Our sort of dream house/block of land came on the market and we grabbed it.  We knew the condition it was in and that we really only had about 2 years before we needed to do something as in knock it down. 

Time passed which will be Part 2 and 14 weeks ago we said goodbye to the "old girl"  I unashamedly cried on our last visit there  Even though we knew from the start that this was the inevitable and quite frankly I hated most parts of that house it was still OUR HOME 

It was where we had good times and bad times.  Good news and bad news.   We brought our babies home from the hospital, they learnt to walk and crawl and do all the baby stuff there. We added dogs and another cat  We froze in winter and sweltered in summer thanks to its uninsulation  I never had a bedroom door for 8 years.  The bathroom was disgusting with tiles falling off the wall and eventually a hole in the wall where a tile fell off.  The squeaky floorboards that could wake the whole house in the middle of the night if someone walked on them.  In fact it was nor even proper flooring it was just chip board.  The leaky roof which we even fixed 3 years ago but still leaked in the boys room.   Its kitchen was about the best part as the previous owners had only just put a new one in  The HOTH pulled most of it out and put it in his shed.  It never let in much light and it was really dark and dingy unless it was a bright sunny day.  It was always messy with no places for anything to go.  I could go on and on and on but I wont.

Fast forward 14 weeks and we are a week off handover on the new place and it looks a heck of a lot different but most of all has retained that feeling of HOME  We cannot wait to get HOME. 

Please feel free to contact me if there are any questions you may have about our experiences or if you need someone to bounce ideas off  help_stuck@hotmail.com