How renovating has made me a slightly better person.

Ok so we're not finished but if you use use a little imagination you can see the progress and  get an idea of where we headed with this project. Do you want to know something strange? When  we moved nearly 4 years ago, not long after we had settled in I was looking at the back section and suddenly and fleetingly I had a picture of the garden as it is now becoming. At the time I had no idea that this would ever be a reality and neither did I know that it would be someone else who would actually conceive and execute the plan.

 

It was that fragment of an image which helped me decide to use some of my share of my fathers estate to do the garden and not the kitchen which as you can see is small and awkward and you might think a hindrance in creating gourmet meals and almost certainly in need of a make over. But it works. I kind of like its awkwardness and many happy dinners are cooked in here. 

Along the way with my indoor painting project and outdoor makeover I think I've learned a few things.

1. It always costs more and takes longer than you think.

2. Living in chaos is not very fun and can be stressful. ( next time - move out for a while - or maybe just decide there won't be a next time)

3. Wood does not have to be sacred. My friend Jackie gave me that insight and freed me from my notion of not painting wood in case it lost it's integrity. ( She laughed at my ideas."Marg , don't you see the wood in this hallway has no integrity. It's not Buckingham palace you're living in"!!) The painted hallway is amazing!!

4. The end result if you get someone else to do the work is as good as it gets and good enough really can be good enough. Perfection is exhausting , unrelenting and never permanent. I'm happy to live less than perfectly.

5. When you start moving stuff around there's always too much stuff.  Less has the potential to definitely be more.

This is the last parcel for the year. Tomorrow Rosie will be home  for the summer , take a break of a week then start her summer work. So this week it was gluten free pizza base, cheese and bread from the otago farmers market ,( The farmers market is great and If you want to get a sense of just how corrupt the food industry is able to be, I would recommend you see FOOD INC. I truly felt sick watching it) some more gluten free coconut biscuits and a chocolate bar each.   It will seem a little odd not sending of a parcel every week for the next 3 months but it may feel equally odd having us all at home for 3 months.  Still as always this little house will expand and contract in the ways it so easily does to accommodate as few or as many of us as are here.   Well as Miriam can vouch for there's a lot of tidying up to be done around here. I will go and tidy up. ( later though - there's a coffee to be had first!!)

have a great week. Marg

On parenting and parcels that fail to arrive.

Here they are Tom and Rosie with Brooke , Tom's girlfriend on the right.  You can't see Tom's hands but I've long held a not so secret dream for these hands.I thought they could make him a fortune by becoming accessory models. You know modelling man- jewellery, bracelets, rings and wrist watches. Rosie and I have frequently thought it unfair that that the boy should have been born with the long slender fingers that tan at the slightest hint of sunshine.  This week those hands have been attaching cups to cows udders( as part of a practicum he's had to do) and apparently enjoying it!!! Now I have to admit to myself that the time is long overdue for me to release my children from the tyranny of my spoken and unspoken expectations and aspirations  for them.  And as the days for saying goodbye to school for the  last time approach he must be free to pursue whatever path his life intends for him. I will watch and see with interest.

A while back in moment of light heartedness we 3, made up a family motto.

"Don't tell lies.,don't steal and try to be a good person."

I guess if I can hang onto any aspirations at all for my kids it is that they would value their own human qualities beyond things, possesions and a career. Even then they will decide. I do think this is the hardest part of the parenting journey. The part that lets them go. So if you have little kids enjoy every moment of the experience!!

This is the errant parcel- who knows where it is malingering - maybe at the bottom of a pile of stuff somewhere or delivered to another address. I'm sorry Rosie it's not there. It's got a mini birthday kit in it for you to enjoy with your friends before you come home. The strange looking white photo is a pass the parcel complete with insructions. I thought you might have some fun with that. Anyway if it turns up enjoy and I will assemble the very last parcel for they year and hopefully it will get to you before you leave.

Progress inside and out is slow this week. You can see where the new fence is going to go and the gravel area is in preparation for the paving tiles which will go on top. everywhere I look there is something that is the beginning of something else. A layer of chaos has descended over every available space in the property. I am trying to maintain an inner calm knowing that it will all come together soon. Meanwhile I might clear out for a long walk on this beautiful day. Grab a coffee on the way and enjoy other peoples order.

Have a  great week.

Marg

Somethings are too big to go in a parcel

Some things just don't fit no matter hard you try to wrap them up and post them away. Like my new china cabinet from my current favourite secondhand shop , Wiers. It's a quirky  brother and sister combo who run the shop but luckily for me they have a crazy penchant for salt and pepper sets and disney stuff  and also lots of china cabinets which are going cheap because they are not popular at the moment. Now wouldn't you think if you were a savvy business operator you wouldn't be selling china cabinets by the dozen if they weren't popular. If it were me I'd hide all the china cabinets away in storage and just put one on display and still sell at a very fair price but the virtue of just having one on display would  signifiy high demand. A luxury item indeed! Quick let me buy the lovely last one. But they seem to do a roaring trade( with only a modicum of custom from me) so I'm sure they have the right formula.

Rosie if you are looking - I wanted you to notice my new raised garden beds -partly planted with beans, spinach and broccoli. The cat has ruined  any chance of the carrot seed coming up by digging the row up - even getting under the wirenetting to carry out that peice of gleeful revenge on me.Oh and did you notice the wall behind the china cabinet? That is the new wall just waiting now to be painted after the new gib board has gone up.

These will be gone by the time you get home. This rhodendron just yesterday was a bud - today after a night of rain it is open - in a week it will be gone. So lovely it makes me stop and look each time I go past. Actually Dunedin is beautiful right now. The Rhododendrons are all coming out fast and there is still lots of blossom and spring flowers around. I love my walk to work in the mornings. I find myself arriving late because I'm dawdling on the way looking into all the gardens as I go.

So what actually went away this last week? These ungainly looking things called coconut biscuits ( gluten free- mostly coconut with 1 Tablespoon only of rice flour held together with an egg and some sugar ) . I was sure they would arrive as crumbs but apparently not. And evidently very tasty despite appearances. Also some more brain food - nuts and dried apricots from central otago. And no junk from Wiers. Not one little thing. I got to thinking that maybe just a month out from packing up and coming home for the summer that perhaps adding to the possessions wasnt such a clever idea. Still I have walked past Wiers everyday and gazed in the windows thinking what I would choose if were going to buy.
Im sure my walk to work is almost the highlight of my day most days.

Enjoy the coming week. Marg