A Happy Week

We have four days left of feeling like we’re living in Antarctica. The heater man is booked to come Tuesday morning so unfortunately, we will still be ‘heater-less’ this weekend… However, the ‘end is in sight’ and I’ve had lots of other things that have made me smile this week…



Grace is really enjoying the new ‘toy’ in the lounge room. Every now and then it will catch her eye and she’ll go over and have a little ‘play’. It really is cute to see her excitement as she presses all the different keys.



Yesterday, I encountered a kind lady at Medicare whilst waiting amongst the 101 other people who were waiting there at the same time as us – she was very sweet and swapped tickets with us so I wouldn’t have to wait so long with Grace who was started to get bored and fidgety. If I had a pretty bunch of flowers like the ones above, I would have given them to that lovely lady for her good deed.



This helium balloon costing little over $1 has kept Grace occupied for over a week. She is obsessed with it and has been carrying it everywhere. It makes me smile seeing the little green balloon bobbing around like a homing device attached to her.



And finally making me smile is the fact that I don’t have to cook tonight – we’re going to order a pizza from the gourmet pizza place my brother-in-law has recommended so I am looking forward to having a night out of the kitchen… although if my kitchen looked like the one above at the moment without all the packing boxes and clutter, I wouldn’t mind so much.

What has made you happy this week?

Image sources: #2 #4

Sorting and Organizing

I am usually a reasonably organized person. However, somewhere in the last few weeks between house renovations, sick babies and day to day life, our place has lost its sense of order and tidiness.

Whilst hunting around in a flurry looking for the details of the after-hours GP when Grace was unwell, I realised how important it is that I gradually work to restore the orderliness at our place so I can put my hand on things easily rather than having to sift through boxes of paperwork. This week, my task is to begin sorting through the many boxes of belongings currently sitting in our living room. They are boxes of books and magazines from our study which need to be put back, baby clothes Grace has outgrown which need to be stored away and items still be sorted through of my Dad’s. I’ve decided not to simply hide these boxes away again in our spare room where they can be too easily forgotten about, but rather to keep them in full view where they will motivate me to actually do something about them.

So my task for today after playgroup is to begin sorting… for now, I’ll leave you with these neat and tidy homely images I’ve come across…

Image sources: #1 #2 #3 #4

Slowly Slowly

Here in our little household, work has finally started on building out our wall for our heater (which is currently waiting in its box on our patio). Mum's partner who is doing the job for us came over yesterday and started. I was so happy, I baked him his favourite dessert, apple crumble, to take home with him to enjoy.

All that is needed now are a few coats of sealer and Paul said as long as I'm willing to paint the wall on Wednesday/Thursday, I can book the heater man to come and finally install our long awaited unit anytime after Friday. Paul prefers to wait until next week but I'm desperate to have a nice glowing 'fire' next weekend and so I have volunteered to get out the paint roller. Fingers crossed all goes to plan and I'll be warm and toasty soon!!

What lovely things do you all have planned for this week?

New Carpet

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts on Wednesday – I found your comments very comforting to read throughout the day and those, together with the beautiful bunch of flowers I found on our doorstep from my lovely friend Kylie as well as phonecalls and messages from others, helped me to smile and remember all the happy memories I have of my Dad.

This week has been pretty full-on and chaotic at our place with our new carpets being laid. Over the last few days we’ve had to shift furniture around, sleep on our mattress on the floor in the lounge room and contend with our dining table sitting on its side in the middle of our kitchen. As I said, it’s been chaotic but well worth it as now our beautiful new carpets are in and together with our new white skirtings look lovely and fresh.

While all our furniture is back in place, we still have boxes of all the smaller items to put back and our piano is yet to be moved into place, so for now, here are two before shots and two quick after shots...

One Year Ago

One year ago today I received the news that upturned my happy little world - my dear Dad had passed away. At age 56, he had suffered a sudden heart attack.

One year later, I still miss my Dad's calls to check on us, his genuine interest in what we'd been up to and most of all, his big warm hugs. I know he would have shared with great excitement seeing Grace growing and changing and all the milestones she has reached. Not a day has gone by in this past year when I haven't thought about him.

The photo above from when I was a teenager is one of my favourite photos of us two and sits framed on our study desk where I can see it each day and remember how precious life is and how important it is to let our loved ones know how much they mean to us... I'm glad my Dad knew how much we cared...