My niece Sarah and her fiance Gareth. got engaged yesterday.

I'm not sure how many years they have been together but it's been at least 10!

This is my great nephew Anthony - taken by his Grandad on Christmas day. I haven't seen him since he was about 8 weeks old!

I was hoping the paving would be finished yesterday. But the paver didn't show..... Anyway I went out and bought 2 BIG charcoal coloured pots to put out there anyway! They will be delivered when it is finshed!

The main part is paved, as you can see, and there will be a step up to a small triangular area.

There is room for a lovely big table and a BBQ someday!

So is this to be my Christmas present?????? FInally a completed shower!!!!!

Well the paving got a little further today. The fence post that was taken out by the truck delivering the sand was replaced, and the gutter cleaned! There was an absolute downpour last night and the garage got a bit flooded :-(

FINALLY! I have shower screens .. BUT I wont be able to use it until tomorrow, when the door goes on.

Had a bit of drama the other night when the screens were delivered. They hit my splashback with the side panel. Look a sliver off the panel, but that can't be seen, but left a small mark on the splashback. He took $200 off the cost. The boss guy was furious and wants some of that back. I told him we would discuss it once my splashback is fixed.

I have been having trouble getting into Blogger the last day or teo. Here are some images of the backyard. No update today as it was 35C. Hopefully it will be finished on Saturday........................

Still no shower screens - maybe they will be dropped off tonight and installed tomorrow. I am so over this........

Jasmine was funny yesterday afternoon. When the guys finished clearing the backyard - she came out and she literally jumped off the deck, and then just stood in the backyard surveying the scene as if to say "what The.." As you can see from the first photo, the backyard had been like a jungle for her.

She spied a mouse and stalked it and made a run for it, but it got under the fence. She was there for a while with the paws under the fence. Whether she had it by the tail or not I don't know. But she eventually gave up!

You can see the state of the paws an hour or so later!

My backyard was started yesterday! I am hoping it will be finished by Christmas! Tomorrow it gets sprayed for weeds, lime goes down to annoy the ants - (hopefully enough that they packup and move somewhere else!), and the crushed rock goes down too. Next week the paving will start. I am going to have a big garden bed around the fence and the rest paved.....

Have a look in the photo's at the trees (in the distance above the fence) the uncleared was taken in the morning and the cleared in the afternoon. You can see the difference in the smoke haze.

Doesn't this look sensational! I have had it in for a number of years now, and every year I just lightly pruned it, hoping it would trail down to the ground. But it didn't really trail any longer, just got fuller and fuller. This year it was starting to spread to the roof, so I thought enough is enough! Quite late in the season I pruned it right back to nothing. But as you can see that was probably the right thing to do! I'll do that from now on ;-)

The damn shower screens were supposed to go in today, but the supplier has mucked up my order and about half the deliveries made yesterday to my screenguy.. The screen guy was almost out of his mind when he rang me last night.He had a builder expecting to hand over a house in the next day or so, so that builder was pretty mad. I was the third person he called and I think the first two had given him a pretty hard time. I didn't see much point. He wasn't the one to have screwed up. I have to put another coating of antislip sealer on the shower floor which I will do today. When that dries,I am going to put some duct tape (very strong) where the holes for the screen hinges are to go, so water doesn't get in behind the glass. And just start using the damn thing. I have a ton of old towels I will use to catch the splashes! I JUST WANT TO USE MY SHOWER!!!!

Well the bathroom is a little closer. There have been a couple of hiccups with the installing of the fittings. Nothing that can't be overcome, but disappointing to say the least! Still it is starting to look good. I'm glad I got the plumber back BEFORE the screens arrived. So hopefully the problems will be resolved so that when the screens arrive I will be able to use it.

The Bathroom splashbacks are in and it's just the fittings and screens to go. Nearly there! I ordered the new vanity today, it's only 900mm opposed to the current one which is 1200mm, but the current one is placed right against the bath which I hate, so the shorter one will give me some room either side.. The new one is wall mounted, so I am going to have to have the floor guys back to fix the floor. The image is the one from the brochure, but mine will be shiny white with a plain top, which will also get a glass top. I have a glass vessel hand basin waiting for a home. Anyway all of that will start next year unfortunately!

At last kitchen splashbacks! But not after some drama - half the wall underneath had been painted white and where the tiles had been was still beige in places, So when the splashbacks were installed you could see the line! So off they came again. I had to go and get some white paint and paint the walls. The glass guy came back in the evening and reinstalled the glass. It looks great. The photos don't really show it off! Kitchen now complete again...

Spring time in Australia! You wouldn't think that this town in Victoria was on Stage 4 water restrictions would you?

My shower completion is still be some weeks away :-( But the glass splashback has been measured and a template will be checked next week. Then once that is installed the shower screen guy will be back for final measurements and then it'll be another couple of weeks. So close.. yet still so far! ARRrgghhhh but at least it will be the way I wanted it ;-)I'm glad I hung in there....

The latest addition to my metal art collection from the celebrated artist Jenny Crossley- Somerset! Or is that Jenny Somerset-Crossley (as Somerset is really her middle name)

You can view her blog here: http://amarkintime.blogspot.com/

Jasmine is back in her kennel today. She LOVED her kennel last year, but lately would not have a bar of it. I decided to give it a wash today and found the reason why she didn't want to go near it! And as you can see she is back to enjoying it again.

It's that time of year again - the best Craft show in Australia! Unfortunately the purse strings will have to be drawn in a bit with the arrival of the Monaro. I have made a few atc's to swap.

And am looking forward to finally meeting the interstate girls from the yahoo group I host - arty_oz!

At last!!!! I am able to see that I will soon have a shower again. It has only been 21 months! The hard part was finding someone who could do what I wanted! After one false start I found a great builder/plumber.... Matt.

"We" went out today with the Monaro club. Not a good start - arrived late at the meeting point and missed them. Only missed them by a little as it happened. I was beginning to wonder how I was going to drive and also read the directions I had printed out via whereis? when suddenly I spied a Monaro, then another then another ... Much relief! We had a lovely lunch at the Erica pub and then most of us went on to Walhalla. There were some gorgeous roads. Coming back there was only one 4 wheel drive in my way and he must have thought the CV8R looked a bit scary, as he kindly pulled over and let us past! I didn't hoon too much as I am still getting used to my new wheels. I must say in the climbs up the hills the extra horses were great! So I had a really enjoyable day and found the club very friendly. Apparently there is another lady in the club with a car like mine!!!

I was down the beach early this morning to take some photos! I did take some yesterday but everything was blue! (note to self - find and read the camera manual)

My new Toy! Picked it up today, just over 27,000 km. I am in love!!!! Oh the hummm of a V8 :-) Hopefully I'll get some photos of my car uploaded soon

I started renovating my unit almost 2 years ago... 18 months ago my friend Pete and I ripped the shower out, but of course me being me didn't want any ordinary shower to replace it, so between having problems finding a tradey who shared my vision of what I wanted my bathroom to look like and the saga of my back problems - it has turned into the renovation-from-hell. But anyway i think it's back on track and when it's finished , it will hopefully have a big WOW! factor!

Hmmnn nice yellow - goes with my lounge suite! That is just the water proofing compund and it pongs!!!! It will be so nice to have a shower again. It will be a little way off yet as I want to have glass splashbacks...but at least progress is being made!

More of my renovations can be found in an album here http://photos.yahoo.com/mr2girl2001

Well my craft room is finally finished! All that remains is to finish organising it. i love my new tele!

I am trying to teach Jasmine to sit where she is sitting now, but she just LOVES to stand between the keyboard and the screen.

Note the step stool in the corner of the photo. I had a letter from the vet recently reminding me her shots are due. She is classed as a geriatric now! - not that I have told her that. I keep the step stool nearby as I don't like her jumping down on to the concrete. I have noticed that she is slowing down a bit and she is starting to get some stiffness. Well she is "70'!

In May, I went for my first trip to the West. I was lucky enough to do a days classes with Tim Holtz and share the experience with some great gals - JVO, Jenny Crossley, Jen Jones and Audrey Underwood.

While there, Jenny and I were lucky enough to enjoy dinner at JVO's with Tim! It's one of the rare moments that you wish you could capture in a bottle, so that every now and then you could open the cap and be back there again... The evening went way too fast!

This card I made for a 60th wedding anniversary.. married to the same person for 60 years - I find that very hard to imagine!

And now for some of my art..... here are a few recent pieces....
I had to put a coloured background as I have used acetate stamped with white stazon...

Well my blog wouldn't be complete without the Jasmine cat, so here she is.....
My towel basket was empty so she decided it would be a good place to sleep.....