It has been quite a while since I have even thought about writing a new blog post... Life has been hectic, wonderful, exciting, challenging and very full, over the last few months. I do plan to pick up the blogging again, and finally, things have slowed down enough for me to have a few thoughts percolating... but in the meantime, I thought y'all might like a glimpse of just a few of the things I've been up to over the last few months...
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| In full housework regalia (and by housework, I mean building the house - plastering walls, putting on cornice, architraves, skirtings, and painting!!) |
House Renovations - have taken a leap forward!! We have new STAIRS, I am now living in a proper bedroom with a REAL closet!! My daughter has moved out of the study and into her real bedroom, and the upstairs living area is now an actual living area - not a "temporary-bedroom-camp-tool-storage-and-makeshift-office-mess-explosion"!! What a difference it makes! There is still a lot that remains unfinished, but the living spaces are functional now, and I'm loving the sense of space and order that has provided.
It was worth the weeks of hard work to get it to that point. On the way - help from friends and family (my wonderful brother-in-law, Warren, came down for a week's "holiday", just to help with the plastering, and other friends helped with the clean up, shifting furniture, and other things that I really couldn't manage alone) made me feel very loved, and wonderfully connected.
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| Wazza risking life and limb above the stairwell! |
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| Reno - glam girl!!! |
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| My plasterwork... ready for painting |
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| Finished - Doesn't it look beautiful?? |
We celebrated with a "renovation-warming" party in January... Which was quite a spectacular celebration! For me, after not months but years of "makeshift living", to be able to welcome friends and family into my space and have them celebrate with me was something very special and memorable. We barbecued, ate, drank, laughed, sat around an outdoor fire, watched the kids running around in dressups, and playing with glow sticks and sparklers. My belly dancing buddies and I performed (whoo-hoo!!) & then lots of the other girls, from the ages of two, to seventy-two (as well as one adventurous boy - who some of you have met on these pages, so I will dob him in - blogging buddy,
Andrew Cook ) joined in just for the fun of it!
Since the renovation push, I've been concentrating on catching up some of the jobs that had been neglected outdoors, both because of the concentrated renovation efforts, and having been unwell for the last part of 2012. I'm enjoying seeing my vegetable garden re-emerge from the jungle of weeds, have been doing some very overdue (and enjoyable) Autumn pruning, and am working on building a hen-house for the beautiful Barnevelder chickens I have acquired, and which are currently "agisting" with a friend until their palace is complete.
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My beautiful Barnevelder Babies!
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On a personal note, there seems to be quite a poetical symmetry between these physical and practical developments and the emotional and relational shifts and changes I've been going through at the same time. During the time house renovations were being sorted, property settlement and divorce details were amicably arranged. As with the house, it is not all quite complete - but the important parts are in place, and all is well. I mentioned that I had not been well for the latter part of 2012, and this has also resolved, and I'm feeling better than I have in a very long time. On multiple levels, there is a sense of resolution and of moving on. It is a nice season to be in!
