this crazy American life (with added summer heat)

We have a new fridge. New in the sense that it came straight from the factory to us but old in the sense that it looks, and is, exactly same as the old one. The new one however does its job cooling the food. The bar fridge ('compact fridge') will be moved into the garage and the deep freezer will be emptied in anticipation of a whole lamb we are planning to order (an organic dorper lamb from a NC farm). Interesting the fridge delivery guy thought our flag was the New Zealand flag. How would he know the New Zealand flag and not the Australian flag?? [No offense to our Kiwi friends and family]

Everyday seems to be crazy busy. This morning Lucy and I were out checking on our 'Hands on Wilmington' project for tomorrow and then went to mom's group. Andrew is at work and due to a power outtage is coming home a little early today. This is great as he has been working so much this week he has hardly seen Lulu. He is picking up the car from the mechanic (they are fixing whatever they broke last week) and then we are going to put the sprinkler out in the backyard. It is 85 degrees and I guess spring is over and we are into summer!!!!!

So we should have 2 problems fixed and hopefully some of the other ones will also be over soon.

On a side note Andrew got an Outback as the loaner car (he was so excited!) The tribeca is an awesome car but it feels like driving a spaceship. The impreza is also awesome but so small here that it feels like driving a go-kart. The outback is somewhere in between but it has a lot more shortcomings than Andrew could remember. I showed him that it has far less space than the tribeca (ie Lucy would kick the seat in front mercilessly), no GPS and no reversing camera (a luxury I know!). It also has a small boot. Anyway he is giving it back today and will drive the tribeca tomorrow so we'll see what he thinks. Personally I love driving the impreza during the day so I am enjoying it now as we when we get back to Oz there is no way we could have one (insurance cost, stolen every other week etc)

That's all, off to frolic in the backyard!

PS Why doesn't anyone comment anymore?? Take a minute and say hi!

Weekend renos

Yes after a year long hiatus and a general ban on doing household renovations whilst living in the US we did our first day of handy work. Andrew installed an exhaust fan in the kitchen (Lucy thought it was great that Daddy cut a hole in the ceiling) and Fiona sanded the gyprock around the door that was put in upstairs 6 months ago. Once Lucy was in bed we both painted the door and wall.

It was kind of fun to do something like this again and even more fun that it was just a small job unlike this time last year - Andrew finishing the deck and Fiona painting the rafters in the study! We had two dramas 1.Finding painting clothes as we threw away all work clothes before leaving Sydney and had to dig deep to sacrifice some older tshirts. 2. No equipment esp. googles which was soon discovered during sanding, so sunglasses had to suffice!

Unusually we did not go out to eat this weekend. Margaret, Daryl and Ava came over for a lamb roast on Saturday night and we went to church on Sunday. End of weekend.

Product of the week - Peppermint

This one is for you Kevin - a non-edible product of the week! This weeks product is my Williams Sonoma Holiday cleaning kit. The kit comprises of hand soap, moisturiser, dishwashing liquid and counter spray. And they all smell like peppermint! It is really good fun and the kitchen smells delicious. To add to the festive mood we have Christmas songs playing each night and we have a magnetic advent calendar that Lucy gets to open each day to discover a new piece to put on the nativity scene. Isn't Christmas a great time of year!

Autumn leaves

Everyone around has been telling us that we won't experience fall here in Wilmington. Summer bumps along nicely and then suddenly its winter. But I beg to differ as we've noticed many trees that have turned yellow and red before they start to lose their leaves. We have three trees in our yard turning red (the other 35 pine trees remain their usual green selves) and they look spectacular. Lucy is a little disappointed that there are not many leaves to crunch but she is making do with the available supply.

The other exciting part of the photo is that you can see part of our new fence. On this right side of the house there is a walk gate and a car gate. I can't express in words how good it feels to have this finished so that Lucy is now safe!

Home is where the boxes are

We have moved into our new home. It is our fourth move in 9 weeks and we are up to our necks in boxes. Yesterday UPS delivered 8 new boxes and Fedex 2 boxes from internet shopping and they keep on arriving on a daily basis. Some of you might be thinking that it is fun shopping for a whole house worth of goods but believe me given the time constraints it has been exhausting. When the cardboard settles I'll give you the run down on some of the fun stuff we have purchased esp. for Lucy. In the meantime I'll get back to the unpacking suffice to say I have been banned from using the new (very sharp) knives to open boxes after I sliced half my finger off [Exaggeration but I did require first aid] I hope we don't have to move for a very long time. Removal boxes anyone?

Temporary accommodation photos

The front of our unit block. We are on the second floor in the middle of the photo

The view from our lounge room. We look out onto a small lake. The road in front leads to the Mayfaire shopping centre.

The lounge room. It is Lucy's domain

View from the lounge room into the dining room and kitchen. Bedrooms down the corridor on the left.