The refurbishment begins

blog to come later - step one of the refurbishments complete

before ... and ... after

How this Summer our House Renovations made me Happy.

This summer for us was the real deal. Last summer we moved into our dream home, a 1960 ranch style house (made with pale pink silicon brick and enormous steel windows) but were too busy unpacking to notice anything until the boxes were unpacked.Living in Australia we celebrate Christmas in mid summer and this year we hosted the family Christmas - in our family that's 28 people. Everyone was so helpful and brought something to contribute; one family brought the turkey (thankfully sliced and prepared), another brought the plum pudding and so it went on. The host is in charge of decorations and sets the theme. This year it was gold, green and red with white linen cloths, fine china and my mum's silverware. I was so proud of the end result.

Getting to the nitty gritty of how my house made me happy this summer was the pride my partner took in getting everything ready. We have huge windows throughout the house and they were cleaned until they sparkled. The inside of the house was cleaned until it was gleaming and the yard was manicured and patio spotless.

Then three days before Christmas he decided to pull up the carpets and polish the floor boards. Three Days Before!!! What was he thinking? I imagined dust and debris and odours galore. Workmen in the house while I was trying to put the finishing touches on everything. I thought I'd go out of my mind. No workmen - he decided to do it on his own! Thankfully with the help of his dad (who built the house back in 1960) they set out pulling up the carpets. Meticulously working section by section they pulled, extracted pins nails and staples as they went revealing a beautiful timber floor beneath. The smile on my partners face said it all - he'd remembered from his early childhood how beautiful the floors had been all polished and the most gorgeous honey colour similar of that to the pale mid century Danish design timbers.(Danish design credenza pictured)

Wow - it was stunning - I had to eat my words. I didn't need the stress that close to such a large event but the end result was well worth it.
He was so pleased he decided to pull up the stone tiles in the entry hall and laundry too but that's another story ...

If I could find a picture of us on Christmas day I'd post it and you'd seen how ridiculously happy we were ... being the host and hostess leaves you no time to take happy snaps. Indeed this summer I've been very happy.

and this time ... it'll be alright on the night ... was true

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Caressa Cameron Wins 2010 Miss America Contest

Black Woman, Caressa Cameron Wins 2010 Miss America Contest
I think this is great but why the label? If I had won the Miss America Contest would it say White Woman, Dana McKenzie Wins 2010 Miss America Contest? Of course not. This article is written by Dr Boyce Watkins, and his web articles and website is worth reading. He is an African American and I don't want to come off preaching as it's not his writing or opinion that I'm out of sorts with - it's the headline label that grated on me; is this headline perceived as OK if it's within your 'labelled' type? Does it add more impact. Does Caressa even care or am I on my own.

This article aroused my point of view on labels; I'm sick of everything and everyone having a label, human beings in particular being pigeonholed that's all.

Am I a woman? or
Am I a mid 40's, mid sized, curvy, opinionated, well dressed, open-minded, flirtatious, large breasted, long legged, white almost pasty skinned, beady eyed, dog loving, contented in her relationship, average height woman?

Where is the line drawn?

There I've had my rant. Congratulations Caressa Cameron and I know for you it'll be alright on the night