Happy Moments

My happy moments for this week...

* Keeping the house relatively clean again! This is going really well, and the happy result is that I have fewer chores to do on the weekend.

* Curling up on the couch and watching "Burlesque" all by myself on Friday night. MY choice of movie. It was a nice change.

* First issue of new magazine subscription arrived. God I love getting mags in the mail.

* Anticipating my work moving into the city - the move is getting really close and I cannot wait to be using the train again every day instead of driving to work.

* Window shopping at Invitation House yesterday. I adore stationery.

The week in pictures

A week in pictures post...

Bought a lounge. It cost an insane amount of money but I am so, so happy about it. Our current lounge is a 15-year-old hand-me-down from C's parents. Ours new one is getting made in chocolate suede, they said it will be ready in a few weeks! Bought from Fantastic Furniture at Morayfield. Great customer service, and I feel virtuous knowing I have bought Australian Made.

I actually baked! Some say a packet mix doesn't count, I say if you mix something with something then put it in an oven, THAT'S BAKING!

Bought these lovely plastic bangles from a jumble sale at work for $2. I think they look like jade. Might give one to mum.

Symapthised with our local pizza place - do hope prices stop "going nuts" for them. They're charging $1 more on a family-sized pizza so I don't really mind the rise so much.

Went to Invitation House at The Emporium - got a few ideas for the wedding invites.

Of course C's favourite was the dearest thing in the shop...

Absolutely HAD to get photos of myself in this corner - it's outside the Alex Perry Apartments sales office in Ann Street. That's astroturf I'm standing on folks. What a cool little niche.

Some may remember a few weeks ago I bought two tubs of Peter's ice cream and got a 6-month mag subscription. Well, first issue arrived on Friday. Hurray for home magazines! I sat and read this one this afternoon while having a cuppa.

AND...

I played far too much Tiny Tower. This game is so addictive!

The Mechanic

[Image source]

I've always thought it would be awesome to have a group of friends with useful occupations. Like the Justice League of America, except it would be called the Household Fix-it League of Suburbia. There would be Wonder Plumber, Mechanic Man, Green Electrician and so on. They would be those people that it was handy to know when things go wrong, and delete the need to pay expensive professional strangers.

So far, C and I have managed to assemble quite a few good contacts, but we are missing an electrician. If you want to be a part of our League, let me know.

C is Mechanic Man. He has this innate ability to understand how things fit together, and how to fix them to make them go again. This applies whether it's a jet engine or a lawn mower. There are distinct advantages to having a mechanic for a partner, but also some downsides.

For instance, we go through Solvol like it's going out of fashion. I get grease all over my towels, and the car port is always stained with oil. The patio is never not strewn with car parts (or parts of any other mechanical item, for that matter) and his clothes have to be washed in two separate wardrobe lots: working, and non-working. I frequently trip over spanners and bolts left lying around, and have mysterious items show up on the kitchen bench (this morning it was a calibration set). And I'm often called upon to peer into the depths of an engine whilst he explains unfathomable mechanical mysteries to me. After four years, I know how to change a tyre, but still couldn't explain to you how an engine actually works.

But all these small inconveniences are far, far outweighed by the advantages. I've never paid for a car service since I met him. He knows all the cheapest places to get parts, and installs them perfectly. If we break down, he can usually fix things without the need for RACQ or a tow truck (he once fixed a burst radiator hose using only his leatherman).

And best of all, he's unfailingly generous with his skills. Mention car trouble, and C will immediately offer help. Not a month goes by without him helping one friend or another with their mechanical dilemmas.

Yep, it's good to be Mechanic Man's partner. But I haven't thought of a League nickname for myself yet. I'm no electrician, carpenter or electronics guru. And Scrapbook Woman doesn't have quite the same ring to it.

Happy Moments

Image source: mine

My happy moments for this week:

* Realising that replacing stress and anger with love and understanding actually works. It's not just some New Age waffle like I previously thought.

* Buying our new lounge. It was quick, painless and I'm in love with it. Just waiting for it to be delivered now. And best of all, it's Australian made.

* Researching our honeymoon destination and daydreaming about lying on the beach in Fiji.

* Getting my partner hooked on Tiny Towers. He's hilariously obsessed with it now.

* Keeping the house reasonably tidy this week. Have some new strategies in place that seem to be working. Thanks in part to Fly Lady!

Out-Laws and In-Laws

[image source]

I haven't blogged in a while. Mainly because life has been very hectic with my future in-laws staying with us. Things have calmed down a little however the MIL will be visiting every few days. She's supposed to be staying with HER mother however she gets the shits with the wood-stove water heater and comes to our house for a hot shower. As you do. I suspect she also gets the shits with her mother.

There's been a bit of tension lately between the MIL and myself to do with boundaries. In my frustration, twitter was most helpful in making me realise a few things about my relationship with her, and the consequences of marrying her son. Won't go into the specifics here, but the bones of it I'm sure are universal - I'm going to be mistress of the house now, not her. I'll be the most important person in his life, not her (well, I hope I am already, but you know what I mean).

The problem is compounded by the fact that we now live in the in-laws old house, so there's a feeling of proprietorship there that can't be denied. Last week my cupboards were re-ordered so that the bowls and plates were in different positions. And I can't find anything in the linen cupboard, though I suspect that's C's fault as he admitted to stuffing towels in anywhere. The fact that he's actually putting away clean towels is enough to convince me that strange things are afoot in any case.

Last time the in-laws were here I came home to find the hedge had been trimmed to within a few inches of the ground and the oven cleaned. This time my fridge was defrosted while I was at work. Also the floors were moppped, laundry done, pool area weeded and roses pruned. Though I am extremely grateful for the help, I can't help but feel a twinge of guilt. Do they do these things to subtley point out all the chores that we never get around to doing? Or are they genuinely happy to toil away doing OUR yardwork and household cleaning tasks while they are staying?

What's the wackiest or weirdest thing your houseguests have done without asking?

Blogged at Surely a Bride

Did you know I have a wedding blog? It needs a little love. I just posted too, want to wander over and have a gander?

http://surelyabride.blogspot.com/2011/07/organized-oh-my.html

Happy Moments

My happy moments for this week:

1. Two glorious sleep-ins in a row this weekend. Thank you lord.

2. Getting the house looking presentable for pending future-in-laws visit.

3. Going for a fish-n-chip dinner at Brighton, then taking it down to the Shorncliffe pier to eat it on Saturday night. It was a nice date night.

4. Finally got C to buy a new pair of sneakers. Still haven't convinced him to throw out the filthy old ones though...

5. I finally booked my wedding reception venue, which means we now have a date! March 2012 people. Nine months to plan!

Housework and Loathing in the burbs

[image source]

This morning I am in a frenzy of cleaning. Why? Because my future in-laws are coming to stay for a few days.

I know, I know. It's silly. Why should I care what they think of my housekeeping skills (or lack thereof)? But I just DO. C's mother keeps an immaculate house, and I just want the place to look presentable. Last time she cleaned the oven while I was at work, then showed me proudly when I got home, proclaiming it to have been "so filthy!". You can imagine how that made me feel. The funny thing is - I genuinely don't think she did/said that to make me feel bad. She is just happy to be helping!

At the moment, the house looks like a brothel. Without the whores, obviously. Probably fewer bedsheets to wash too. Why is it that I can have the place looking fairly decent on a Sunday night, but by Friday I'm staring at piles of socks on the lounge room floor, junk mail scattered everywhere and dirty dishes piled so high in the sink I can't even fill up the kettle?

I know why. It's because what little "maintenance" cleaning I do during the week can't keep up with our level of untidyness. Tell you what though, even though C is pretty good, it wouldn't kill him to put his clothes in the laundry basket every now and again, would it?

So this afternoon I'm going to reward myself for a hard morning of cleaning showers, vacuuming, dusting and mopping. Not sure how yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something involving either chocolate or alcohol! Possibly both.

(By the way, the makers of those Viva shower cleaning wipes will be pleased to know I bought some after seeing not one but TWO bloggers review them. Blog PR works, folks!)