It is the most precious time for me. My family. My children. My dog. There is only one of each of us, in one moment, in one space. Make life special.
Approach each second with loving kindness.
Day 19 – Celebrate how far we’ve come
Definitely some positivity in this prompt.
Look back but only to see how far you have come, how much you have grown.
Almost one year ago, we embarked on a new path in life. A year of new chapters and starts and of course,a few hiccups along the way.
I have never felt like making a #seachange has ever been a mistake. Perhaps others might disagree.
For me staying ‘put’ would equate to to stagnatation. In stagnation, disappointment and regret thrive and life ebbs away til the only thing left is routine or despair.
Be brave. You have almost nothing to lose if you embrace some change in your life.
If you do not have the luxury of changing your environment:
I’ve been working my way through this challenge mostly every day, but sometimes every second day. After all, life does get in the way of blogging challenges at times, doesn’t it?
Day 14 – Done Day 15 – disconnect from the phone Gosh so many of us seem to spend inordinate amount of hours on the phone. Either in scrolling social media, doing work, reading emails, reading books, scanning pictures or social media. It’s endless and the phone seems to take more and more of our valuable communication time. I have even seen older people are scrolling through phones at coffee shops, bus stations or on trains. Even my 90 year old mother in law sends texts and uses an ipad. Can a human race no longer tolerate boredom or sitting with nothing to do?
That valuable time to imagine, to dwell and to think.
Have we completely are we on the way to completely eliminating that from Society because we must be occupied 100% of the time?
Today I thought of it about that and read the prompt. I managed to disconnect my phone, no strike that, didn’t manage but chose to disconnect from the phone for about 8 hours at work.
It is not so hard to disconnect from the phone for more than that length of time, at work. However, I am still working on a screen.
When i have a social engagement the phone is away in my bag and ignored.
I do not check the phone while I am out with lunch with friends or having a coffee with a mate. Do you?
The workers have really ramped up the action a notch.
This is happening just outside our backyard, right now.
Perhaps the tradies are getting a bonus to finish before Christmas? the MotH asks.
Tradies or Tradesmen?
I’m not sure if other countries call workmen on construction sites:-‘tradesmen.’
We don’t either.
In Australia we always like to shorten things, especially names, so tradesmen and not called tradesmen, but “Tradies.”
If someone says they will, “See ya in the arvo,” or “See you thissarvy”– they don’t mean they will meet you in some seedy bar in town, they mean they will see you after lunch, in the afternoon. If I was to say to a friend, see you in the afternoon, I would almost sound British!
But I digress.
Tradies might be Electricians, Carpenters, affectionately also called ‘Chippies,’ Plumbers, Crane drivers, Tiler’s, Glaziers, Concreters or anyone that performs a trade and often this is related to construction.
These guys and girls, do a certain amount of study at a vocational college but most of their training is practical, on the job. It is usually an apprenticeship of three or four years. They are often very fit, strong and heavily tanned young men and their language is often colourful.
So whatever you do, when you visit Australia and the Home by the Sea, don’t ask for few ‘chippies’ with your meal! See you later on thisarvy!
The wind in your hair, the smell of salt water in one’s nostrils, and the laid back lifestyle. That is what we think of we most of us think of living at the beach.
Four weeks ago, we moved to a home by the sea, after more than 35 years living in the suburbs but that wasn’t the original plan.
The key to the Door
After selling the house my husband had built with his own hands, we went looking for a minimalist low maintenance lifestyle close to family and friends. We were, for quite some time, set on re-locating to a townhouse in the inner city and having a weekend flat at the beach. The Minimalist Inner city lifestyle. Close to restaurants, all kinds of services and facilities and unfortunately, the sort of place, workers and commuters all love to live. So it is busy, too busy for us now that we are nearing retirement and the quieter lifestyle that provides.
Sometimes, the universe intervenes. We searched and searched to find the right townhouse for us. It wasn’t there. Or, if it was, someone else got there first and outbid us. I must admit we had a contract on another, but it didn’t feel right and there were problems so the contract was terminated. We decided the townhouse hipster lifestyle wasn’t for us. All the time, the universe was sending us here, to the sea, where we wanted to be.
The city life Millenials love
The adult kids moved out, as there was no way that they were going to live up near the beach, some 20 kms away from the trappings of work, friends and the inner city lifestyle.
So it is quite a change – a sea change to move in to the house we have been designing and building for the last year.
The Moving process, of course, is not at all fun. Most of our old furniture didn’t fit into a townhouse – so we disposed of it. We had so many boxes packed away in storage, and a lot of new boxes for the new furniture. They all had to be unpacked and removed.
But that is all behind us now. The boxes have been recycled, the packing materials dumped and we settling into our new routine.
The Universe was right, and we were lucky to find the right piece of land, negotiated with a builder at the right time and voila, now our house is our home.
Now we are ensconced in our new house and we are happy. We’ve met many new neighbours, many in the same stage of life as us, and travelling to work hasn’t even taken near as long as I thought.
The MOTH is busy with little tasks around the house, and happy again, and the Schnauzer is thrilled she has a yard to play in once more.
Would I build a house again from scratch? Yes, most definitely.
Change might be disruptive and jolting, a shock to the system but it also heralds new possibilities and opportunities.
I will soon be moving to a new location. A new house, new area, new neighbours. It is exciting but a little daunting.
Some of you know that we have been prepping for this move for over a year and soon it will become reality. Add to that, I will be semi-retired- whatever that means?
Have you some moving tips for me? Last year when I moved to my current townhouse, I become stressed out and exhausted. I used to be an ace at moving house, when I was in my twenties and moving flats every year or so.
Thirty years on, I am older and need some tips on making it less stressful.
Can you imagine two billion litres of sea water? Well it is about 1000 Olympic sized swimming pools. That is size and volume of the lake created near our soon to be Home By the Sea.
The man-made lake which is about 14 metres deep, abutts another Quay development (still under construction), behind which is the sea, itself.
The seaside housing estate sits on 143 hectares of excavated soil that has been removed and re-distributed through the estate. On a typical day there are around 160 personnel on site and 60 earthmoving machines in operation. Mind-boggling statistics.
Meanwhile, at the Home by the sea, the tilers have been hard at work, and this coming week the painting and rendering will commence!
The painting will take about ten days, apparently. Three coats of Dulux Snowy Mountains Half. It will take a bit of paint to cover those walls.
selections
I chose a neutral colour to go with the Coastal Scandinavian colour scheme. Most of the colour and tones will come from the furnishings and fittings.
What a change a week makes. The Bricklayers are all but finished, so we can finally get an idea of what the base of the house will look like.
You might notice the bricks are different on the front of the house – a bit patchy compared to the rest. This is because there is rendering to be done on the front of the house. The rendering and wrapping of the corner of the house, abutting the two street frontages, meets the Estate developer’s covenant requirements – not so our wishes.
Clean smart lines on the rendering on the neighbours houses
I suppose it adds a level of interest and a certain look to the estate?
Internal Plastering
The plasterers are finished the walls inside and the waterproofing of the shower recesses and wet areas have been completed.
Plastering in progress
Cladding the Second Storey
The scaffolding that has now been erected is necessary for the builders to install the cladding to the upper part of the house.
Scaffolding in readiness for the upstairs cladding and completion of pier work
I was very excited to see bundles of vertical lined cladding and my treasured cedar roof arrive ready for installation on the next vacant block.
Of course the cladding is going to be painted.
I have chosen a Dulux Teahouse colour, at least I think that is what it was called. It is a bit hard to remember every paint selection, but in my head I have the colour hue itself, even if the name is wrong. It is a little bit like the cladding on this Stockholm house, (slightly different facade to ours).
Next week, the staircase will be installed and perhaps some cabinetry?
Progress has been slower in the last few weeks. School holidays might mean that the tradesmen have taken a break. But they were back at work early last week getting ready to lay the bricks.
However over the next week or two, the house will look a lot different as the external coverings are completed.
Weatherseal and windows have been installed. External and Internal doors to Laundry and Front of House. Now we could get much more of an idea of the ultimate size of the rooms.
The plasterboard and front door
I am being asked about window coverings. In building a house, you are required to think a long way ahead. Before you anticipate you need to do so.
The MOTH does not like shutters, yet everywhere we go – shutters are visible in many houses. I do agree I don’t want shutters everywhere, as it tends to look too much, but it does say Coastal, and we are at the coast.
Vertical blinds are out, and if it is curtains, they certainly have to be easily washable, otherwise they are major dust collectors, and blow about in the wind. And we do live by the water, when wind is a prevailing force.
A Home by the Sea 
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