Doing what you’ve gotta do, to get where you want to get.

Hiya peeps.

A few people have asked me how we can possibly afford to build a house when we both haven’t worked at proper jobs for 3 years.

The answer is simple, really.

Sacrifice.

Sacrificing lifestyle now for a better lifestyle in the future.
Sacrificing comfort now for getting into the new house sooner.

It’s no secret that we’ll be completely broke by the time this house is finished.

We’ve had to scrimp and save, take little bits of work here or there, lucky Kane’s had a few jobs along the way (he’s self employed), I’ve done market stalls and the occasional hair do from home… it definitely hasn’t been easy but I also think we’re pretty lucky to be able to do it this way.

One thing we’ve had to do is give up on “luxuries” to get to our end goal faster.
Not getting my hair or nails done, checking out sales and op shops for clothes, (lucky we both really like vintage stuff!) not buying the little things you tend to grab without really thinking about it; a take away coffee, a magazine or newspaper, always taking water bottles out with us (good for you, good for the environment, and you save money not buying soft drinks)

And it’s kind of impossible to have much of a social life with 2 kids, 2 dogs and trying to save money, and entertaining at the shed can be a bit hard. It’s ok in summer when the weather’s nice, but as soon as it gets cold – forget it!

A really hard one for both of us has been music.
We both have ridiculous cd collections and really love going to see live music, but hey – that’s what birthday and christmas presents are for, right?

And there’s absolutely no way we would be able to do it without help.

All kinds of help that have been absolute lifesavers, from something as simple as watching the kids for a couple of hours so I can help Kane do stuff on the building site, or some fresh veggies from someone’s garden to save us a couple of dollars on our grocery bill, or just a sympathetic ear to complain to when it all gets too hard. To huge things like helping to build stuff, chopping firewood ready for the winter, gifts and loans of cash to help us buy the next lots of building materials.

Doing this has really made me see how blessed we are with wonderful family and friends.

It does make me wonder sometimes though, when people say how they’ve can’t afford things…if you want to do something, if you really want it enough you’ll find a way. I would have said there was no way someone could do what we’re doing…but here we are!

What could you sacrifice to help achieve your dreams?

Till next time lovelies,
This is Beck xoxo

A Very Buggy Birthday

Both our little munchkins have January birthdays so this year we decided to throw them a combined “Bugs in the Garden” birthday party.

I don’t usually do huge birthday parties for the kids, but after the year we’ve had, I really wanted to do something special to celebrate getting through it all.

Here are a few pics of the day:

Party Yumminess

 

The birthday boy… already a hit with the ladies 😉

Sharing his cake with Mummy

 

And of course, the cake 😉

 

Of course I turned to Pinterest for inspiration, and got the ideas to make these:

 

It was a hot and sunny day, plenty of cold drinks were had, the kids had a great water-fight (led by the biggest kid of them all, my darling Hubby)

I was absolutely thrilled to see ALL of the kids playing fantastically together, ages ranging from my itty-bitty 1 year old, to a couple of gorgeous boys who started high school this year. The big ones play so well with the little ones and they all get along wonderfully. It’s really lovely to see.

A fantastic day was had by all, and my little bugs had a very happy birthday.

 

blank pages….

What is it about a brand new, blank calendar or diary?

It’s one of my favourite things, every christmas I treat myself to a pretty new diary and calendar and some new pens to go with it, it’s become a bit of a tradition for me.

I go through this year’s diary, reminiscing over all the important dates in our lives; birthdays, anniversaries, things to remember and carefully transferring them over to the new diary and calendar. Reminding myself of everything that’s happened over the last 12months.

The empty pages feel full of so much promise, they’re blank, these days haven’t happened yet, anything could happen.

We could go anywhere, do anything…a new year feels like a new start. 

In reality, I know most of them will be filled with shopping lists and doctor’s visits, errands to run, things to do…you know, all the boring stuff, day to day life.

But I remind myself, they will also be filled with so many firsts.

Carter’s first birthday, Scout’s 3rd, first steps, new friendships, so many new adventures for Polly, so many firsts with the new house; first meal in the new kitchen, the kid’s first night in their new bedrooms, our first night in our own bedroom away from the kids, first fire in the new fireplace, first time we invite people over to visit, first christmas….

I think I know 2014 is going to be an amazing year. Because I’m going to make sure of it 😉

Am I the only weird one who gets all excited over a new diary?

OMG, where have the last two weeks disappeared to?

This year is flying by at a seriously alarming rate.

I had several blog posts planned, but of course, life got in the way.

So…just what have I been up to?

Well, there was a few days of really gorgeous spring weather here in Victoria, so I spent them outside in the garden doing some pruning and weeding and starting to build a little yard out front of the shed. I wanted to make a little play yard so the kids have an enclosed space to play in, because our main yard is pretty big and includes the building site and lots of other kid-un-friendly stuff, and Miss Scout is a bit of an adventurer and if I take my eyes off her, for even a second, she’s very likely to nick off down to the building site or up the paddock to visit the goats! Also, we have a new four-legged family member joining us soon…

Can’t wait to go pick up our gorgeous fluffy girl, only a few more weeks 🙂

There’s also been a few more trips to the dentist (exciting I know, but I’m now making up for too many years of avoiding the dentist. There’s a whole lot of work that needs doing now before it gets any worse! Including finishing off the seemingly never-ending root canal that’s been going on for months!)

Kane has been making some good progress on the house, and we’ve also had a bricklayer making the fireplace, a renderer doing some of the outside walls, Kane’s dad doing some internal walls, and my uncle coming up the help with an assortment of odd jobs that we just haven’t had time to get to.

The house is starting to look really awesome.

Our new fireplace

I’m starting to get really excited now, it’s finally (after 3 1/2 years!) starting to feel real.

After so many set backs and dramas there was plenty of times I just thought “we’re never going to be able to do this” Now that we’ve come this far, the end is not quite in sight yet, but I’m feeling a lot more confident that we will actually be living in this house one day, that’s not just some far off dream but that it really will happen.

And then add to that some christmas shopping, running around picking up building materials, a bit of a “down” patch last week, and just general day-to-day stuff and somehow it’s been two weeks since I last stopped by this blog…

Oops.

Anyway, I made it back here eventually 😉

Do you find “life” getting in the way of things you wanted to do? How do you manage your time? 

Currently I am… (update)

Time for #listmania 15, an update on the first list of currently I am… to see what’s changed in 3 months. So here goes:

Currently  I am:

Reading: haven’t had time to pick up a book for a while, mostly been trying to catch up on the huge backlog of blogs in my reader.

Listening to: my Dad just gave me the new Will.I.Am album and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis albums, I’m only  on my first listen of each one, but liking them so far. (yes, my dad is WAY more into current music than I am! Most of the new stuff I listen to I get because he’s discovered it first.)

Laughing At: my little Squishy. He has the cutest giggle and you just can’t help but laugh with him.

Vintage Love

Swooning Over: the adorable vintage 70’s dress I picked up on our weekend away in the city. Great vintage find, so cute.

Planning: so many things, most involve getting more organised and ways to survive another winter in the shed without going stir-crazy.

Beef Rogan Josh with home made flat bread

Eating Lots of: homemade flatbread. I never knew how easy it is to make, I found a Jamie Oliver recipe that takes two minutes to make and you cook it in a grill pan or bbq. I’m addicted and making lots of curries and things with nice sauces so I can dip the bread into.

Feeling: A bit overwhelmed at the moment. A baby, a toddler, building a house, living in the shed. I try to stay positive but it gets a bit much sometimes.

Discovering: Spotify. I only downloaded the app a couple of days ago, so I’m just learning to use it but so far it’s pretty cool.

Looking At: Miss Snugglebug, wearing her pyjamas, with a footy beanie, ballerina skirt and fairy wings. And making the hugest mess, there’s toys everywhere but she’s having so much fun that I don’t care. (I tried to get a photo but she won’t keep still long enough!)

Wearing: My new boots that I got for my birthday. So comfy & so pretty, I know I’m going to be living in these over winter.

Cooking: Lots of curries and casseroles, the cooler weather has set in and I’m turing to my favourite comfort foods.

Wondering: how much longer till I can fit into my pre-baby jeans again. I miss my clothes!

Trying Out: Cutting down on caffeine and white sugar. I’m not ready to give either one up, but I want to see if reducing my intake affects my mood at all. (She says while drinking her 4th cup of coffee for the day….oops!)

So, what are y’all currently up to? Feel free to leave a comment or pop by the FB page.

Till next time,

Beck xoxo

p.s. I had a few issues with some of the links on last week’s #listmania: Music. I haven’t worked out how to fix them yet, but I will work it out eventually. (I’m very new to this techy stuff) Thanks to everyone that let me know 🙂

Update

How the hell did we get to April already? Where has this year disappeared to? Feels like just yesterday it was New Years Eve and I was waiting (very impatiently) for little Squishy to make his arrival. (Which he finally did, a week late.) Now, all of a sudden, it’s April and my little Squish is three months old, eek!

Snugglebug & Squishy

So, what have we been up to, you ask?

Work is still progressing, ever so slowly, on the house. The roofs looking good and the last of our windows should be arriving any day now. Hopefully we should be able to start putting them in soon, so the place will be essentially weatherproof before winter, then we can concentrate more on doing the inside.

I’ve completely given up on trying to set goals of when things are going to get done. I’m not at all happy about spending another winter in the shed. What was sold to me as one year, soon turned into two, and now three years. Hopefully it won’t turn into four. I keep thinking I can’t take much more of this, but somehow I’ve managed to make it this far without going completely bonkers, so we’ll see how we go…

Little Miss Snugglebug turned two in January and we’ve decided it’s time for her to move out of the cot into a proper bed. (Especially cos her little brother’s getting too big for the bassinette so he’s going to need the cot soon.) There’s some good sales on at the moment so we went shopping to find her a bed. I checked out all the catalogues online and had found the one we wanted. (Actually there was another one I liked more but it was more than triple the price of the first one.) Went there, looked at it, liked it, then spotted another two beds that were really nice too. Decided one of them was gorgeous but just too expensive for a little girls bed. So then we were down two choices, but one of them doesn’t come in the colour we’re looking for, so we’d have to paint it, and it was still double the price of the first one. So, in the end, we decided to go with the first one we liked. Then the sales lady says that it’s out of stock and won’t be back in till the end of June. So we thought “ok, we’ll go with the second, more expensive option” Nope, that one’s out of stock till the end of May. Seriously, is there anything in the shop that I can buy and take home, right now? How can they have stuff on sale if it’s not there to sell? Really disappointed, because we’d told Snuggle she was getting a big bed and now it’s going to be months before she does and I was really looking forward to taking her shopping to choose pretty bed linen and cushions and stuff.
Oh well, looks like it’ll be a couple more months of her wanting to go to sleep in my bed instead of the cot.

A couple of weeks ago Kane and I actually managed to have a ‘grown-up’ night out with no kids, to go to a concert. It was the first time I’ve left Snugglebug since the wedding last year, and the first time I’ve left Squishy, ever! It was lovely to have a few hours on our own to go to a gig, even though I was checking my phone every 15 minutes, just in case. We’ve got another kid free night coming up later in April too, for another gig, I think it might be nice to book a room somewhere and have a whole night to ourselves. (Even though I’ll probably still be checking my phone every 15 minutes, just in case!)

Apart from that, we’re just muddling through the days, trying to juggle the kids and get some work done on the rare occasions that either one of them has a nap that lasts longer than 5 minutes!

Hope everyone had a great easter long weekend,
Till next time
Beck xoxo

Listmania 10: A to Z of Now

Yup, it’s that time of the week again, linking up for #listmania10. 

This weeks topic was to write an A to Z of Now, so here goes:

A is for Anniversary. Hubby and I just celebrated our first wedding anniversary.

B is for my Babies. I have a gorgeous 2yo girl and an 11week old bubby boy. 

C is for Cleaning and Cooking, all the boring stuff that there’s just never enough hours in the day to get it all done.

Nandie’s 12th Birthday

D is for Dog. Thinking about getting another dog. We have a very spoiled 12yo Hungarian Viszla, who seems a bit lonely since our other dog, Phoebe, died. I’d like to get another dog but I don’t know if I’m ready to put myself through all that again, especially right now with a small baby. Maybe I’ll wait till next year? 

E is for Equality. Something that’s in the news all the time and makes me so mad that we live in such an ‘advanced’ society yet we can still treat people differently due to their sex, religion, skin colour or sexual preference. 

F is for F…., a word that I say far too often. I’m going to have to find an alternative before my little Miss starts repeating it!

G is for Garden. I’m not very good at gardening, plants don’t seem to survive all that long around me, but I’m learning and I find it very soothing to get outside and get my hands dirty.

H is for House/Home. Such a huge focus of our lives right now. It will be a huge relief to get finished just to be able to stop stressing about it.

I is for Indigenous Rights. Another thing in the news that makes me mad. Something that should be common sense but when politics gets involved it becomes something else. Just change the bloody constitution already!

J is for Jammin’, by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The song that’s on my Ipod right now.

Miss Snugglebug with Daddy, in a jumper I knitted her.

K is for Knitting. Something I don’t have time to do anymore. A pity, because it really relaxes me.

L is for Love. “All you need is love…”

M is for Music. I love my music. I really start to go a bit crazy if I go a few days without listening to any.

N is for Night. There’s always so many things I plan to do at night, after the kids are asleep, but by the time that finally happens, I’m usually ready for bed too. 

O is for Outside. Little Miss always wants to go play outside, sometimes I need to just go outside and do what she wants to do, everything else can wait.

P is for Patience. Something I don’t have nearly enough of most days. But I’m trying.

Q is for Quiet. Another thing I don’t have nearly enough of. On the rare occasions that the little ones are both asleep at the same time, I try to grab a few minutes to sit down and enjoy the peace and quiet.

R is for Routines. Something I’m not very good at,especially sticking to a bedtime routine, but it does seem to be good for the kiddies, so I’m trying.

S is for Stress. I stress over everything, the weather, the kids, the house, everything. I need to learn how to just take a deep breath and let go.

T is for Television. I never used to watch hardly any t.v. but lately it seems like it’s always on. (Especially ABC2, the best friend of a toddler’s parents!)

U is for Underwear. There is nothing pretty about maternity/nursing bras. And I refuse to go spend a small fortune on one just because it’s got a bit of lace on it. I can’t wait to go back to regular, pretty bras.

V is for Very Cute. I can always count on my little ones to do something cute to make me smile.

W is for Windows. The rest of the windows for the house should be getting delivered today.

X is for eXercise. Right now, for me, it’s a choice between exercise and sleep. I choose sleep.

Y is for Yes. I feel like I say no to Miss Snugglebug about a million times a day, so I’m trying to find more things I can say yes to.

Z is for zzzz’s. With two little ones, there is a serious lack of sleep around here at the moment.

Ok, that’s it for today. We’ve got a big week coming up this week, going on a 7hr round trip tomorrow to pick up a slab of redgum that’s going to become our kitchen bench, then it’s Easter, and there’s a couple of birthdays coming up too. Hoping to get another blog post up by the end of the week, but I’m not sure if I’ll get time.

Till next time,
Beck xoxo

Listmania 9: Favourite Places

Hooking up with Home Life Simplified again for #listmania.
This weeks prompt was to write about your favourite places around your home.
I found this to be a bit of a challenge because we’re living in the shed while we build and there’s really nothing I like about the shed. So I decided to write about my future favourite places in the new house.

My Library.
This is the mezzanine level above our new lounge room. This is going to be my hideaway. It’s going to have bookshelves for my many, many boxes of books, a cozy armchair to sit and read in and a nice lamp and coffee table. I can’t wait to have my own chill out space and I’ve always wanted to have a home for all my books.

My Wardrobe.
I am super excited about this. I have a shoe collection to rival Imelda Marcos. (Not that I get much opportunity to wear all my pretty heels up here on the mountain!) And I’ve always wanted to have the space to display them properly. My wardrobe is going to be bigger that the bedrooms in some of the houses I’ve lived in. I can’t wait to unpack my clothes, I haven’t seen them for so long it’s going to be like having a whole new wardrobe.

Fireplace.
This pile of bricks is one day going to be a huge open fireplace in our lounge room.
Is there anything more relaxing than sitting in front of a crackling fire with a nice glass of wine when the kids are asleep…?

Bathroom.
After 3+ years of a combined bathroom/laundry/toilet with a teeny tiny shower and no privacy, I absolutely can’t wait to have a proper bathroom, with a lock on the door!
As soon as I’m finished unpacking the first thing I’m going to do is have a long, hot bubble bath.

The View.
This is the view from our bedroom upstairs. There’s going to be a little balcony to sit and watch the sun set behind those trees and when it’s dark you can see the city lights
twinkling in the distance.

Pergola.
This pile of rubble is one day going to be a nice outdoor entertaining area. I can’t wait to be having friends over for a bbq here. It’s so hard to have people over when everything’s so cramped and crowded here in the shed.

All of this seems like an impossible amount of luxury, but I see it as my reward for spending the last 3+ years living in a shed. When we finally move into the house it’s going to feel like a palace! This is what I try to focus on when I get frustrated at living in the shed.

Well, I’d better go and do some work now or it’ll never get finished,
Till next time,
Beck xoxo

What I miss most.

What I miss most about living in a real house – or things you don’t appreciate till you don’t have them.

1. Doors. All kinds of doors. I miss having a proper front door. I miss having doors to rooms. I would especially love a bedroom door, with all four of us sharing a room, privacy is something I can’t even remember anymore.

2. Storage. Cupboards. Places to put things away. I miss having proper kitchen cabinets and pantry. Storage in the bathroom and laundry. Being able to put things away and not have everything out where you can see it. Wardrobes. Being able to actually find the clothes I’m looking for without having to pull everything out.

3. Appliances. I miss my oven, and microwave, and washing machine, and hair dryer, and ( I never thought I’d say this) vacuum cleaner. I can still use these (except the microwave) when the generator’s running, but it’s a serious pain in the a** to not just be able to do a load of washing whenever you think of it, I have to wait till Kane’s got time to get the generator going then I run around like mad trying to do everything at once. Hopefully I’ll have a microwave again when we get a bigger inverter, because it’s really frustrating to not be able to quickly heat up leftovers or sterilize baby bottles or even just to zap the cup of coffee I made an hour ago and haven’t had time to drink yet. It takes so much longer doing everything on the stove and makes more dishes too, and really, who needs MORE dishes to do?

4. A clean floor. Living in the shed with the four of us and the dog, it is impossible to keep things as clean as I’d like. Everything gets so dirty and dusty. I’m constantly telling Kane and Snugglebug to leave their dirty shoes outside, and don’t even get me started on the dog coming in and out a hundred times a day with dirty paws! Drives me crazy. I get tempted to lock them all out after I’ve mopped just so the floor stays clean for longer than 30 seconds!

I know, I’ll get to have all these things again soon (please??) and I’ll appreciate them so much more because of this. In the meantime I’ll just fantasize about having a lovely clean house (what is wrong with me? I think it’s because I hate cleaning so much that I can’t wait till I can do less of it!) So the next time you switch on an appliance or complain about having to put things away, just think of me over here, going a little bit crazy over not being able to.

The kitchen in our old house. I miss it so much!

Ok, enough complaining, got to tough it out for a little bit longer. Big thanks to everyone who helped cheer me up after my whinge the other day too. I promise the next post will be a happier one 🙂

Till next time.
Beck xoxo

November 20th, 2012

So, that brings us pretty much up to speed. I’m still pregnant, about 6 weeks to go, feels like my belly’s getting bigger by the day! Really looking forward to getting this baby out! I think it’ll be great for Snugglebug to have a little playmate too.

The house is still progressing, slowly but we’re getting there.

I have to say, I’m really proud of myself for sticking it out for this long, and now that the end is almost in sight, I feel like I can finally start to relax just a little bit. We still have a lot to do, it may still take awhile, but it will happen one day.

It’s starting to look like a real house!

We’ve been through some wild weather, huge arguments and some of my very darkest days have been in this shed but in the last 2 1/2 years there has also been some of my happiest ever moments and greatest achievements. Our marriage, the birth of our daughter, learning how to do things I never thought I would do, working at building our house, and just hanging out as a family, watching Snugglebug grow.

I never thought I’d say this,  but I wouldn’t change a thing.

All the tears and stress have been worth it and it’s really brought Kane and I closer than ever, I’m sure that if we can survive the last few years we can survive anything. I don’t think I’d appreciate things quite so much if we hadn’t had so much stress along the way.

There’s still a hell of a lot of work to do here and I have absolutely no doubt there’ll be more dramas along the way too, but I’m also excited to see what happens next.

Till next time,

Beck xxx