Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Mmmm, donuts. And it rained a lot.

Vast swathes of Southland are under water but fortunately it hasn't affected us too much. Tyler was most intrigued to see two black swans swimming in the middle of a paddock where cows would normally be. Part of the main road home has been closed so we had a somewhat circuitous route home.

Tyler's school closed at 12:30pm today to allow the teachers to do parent-teacher review meetings and/or goal-setting meeting with the kids. (Tyler is doing just fine). So after our meeting we went home and decided to make some mini donuts. And after scoffing a significant number, Tyler posed himself artfully on the floor in his new 'jerwy' knitted by Great-Aunt Betty :)

Monday, April 26, 2010

Back to the drawingboard

We made an offer (low, as you do to kick off the negotiation process). They came back slightly lower than the listed price, we came up to the maximum we considered the place is worth, they came back with a tiny drop on their previous counter-offer. The agent offered to drop his commission to get the vendor to budge. He wouldn't. We've walked away. We're cashed up, we offered $20K more than the recent GV. Someone has their head in the sand. We are the only people who have even been to the house let alone made an offer. Chris told the agent that if we were still looking in a month or two and the vendor realised the error of his ways and wanted to resume negotiations, that our final offer will NOT be the previous top offer we made. So off on the house-hunting trail we go again *sigh*

Thursday, April 22, 2010

A Bloke Needs a Shed

Yesterday we looked at a house in Wallacetown. 1/2 acre section, house with internal 3 car garage totalling 290m2. Four bedrooms (or three and an office), formal lounge, ensuite (with heated tiles, aaahhhh) and.......wait for it.....A Big Shed. ABS is of course a prime consideration, even if other factors are not ideal. On the big clipboard of  pros and cons, it tips the balance a fair way :) On the other hand, what left the biggest impression with Tyler was....well put it this way, he asked me this evening if I liked the brown house with three toilets. Anyway, it ticked a lot of boxes for us, enough that the fact that it is still a bit out of town is not too much of a drawback. Watch this space.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Build? Buy? Put head in the sand?

Our house sale is confirmed, so we are definitely on the move! Luckily we don't have to panic buy as we have a friend with a house available for rent from early May. We are looking at all sorts of options and if we can't find what we want, we will build. Would be nice to have a brand new house but think of all the stress *shudders theatrically*

Tyler is settled back into school, Chris is off work until tomorrow with his bung knee, and I still can't sing properly.

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Mates

Tyler's wee mate from pre-school came over for a play-date. Fortunately the weather was ok and so they were able to be outside a lot on the quad bike, up in the play house and on the trampoline. 





Chris is hobbling around having hurt his knee at rugby yesterday. The joy of rucks. I did some singing at the Basilica this morning and my voice is still slightly hoarse now. Very, very frustrating. I'm worried I won't be right for the 'Armed Man' concert next weekend :(

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Happiness is a bouncy castle

Today we did some more open-homing. The first one is a small lifestyle block right on the town boundary which we had already looked at. If we could get it at the right price it would be good. The second place was right in town and was nice, but bathroom too small. The third...well we walked into the first bedroom and the strong perfume didn't quite mask the smell of cat or dog wee. And through the rest of the house, eau de dog. Don't even want to remember let alone describe the smell of the outside shed with the shredded dog couch. Eewwww.

Chris had rugby mid-afternoon so Tyler and I headed off to Chipmunks where he worked up a sweat on the bouncy castle and climbing stuff, and I laxed out with a coffee and book. Bliss for both of us :)  Took a couple of photos but the flash didn't go off for some so had to try and correct the light and colour. Not particularly successfully :/


Friday, April 16, 2010

Na na na na..na..na..Granna-time!


Today Chris was sleeping off his first night shift so T-man and I headed into town and bought a couple of items for his winter uniform. Then we popped in to see Granna and Richard. Tyler drew up a storm while I had took an amble down memory lane with the first couple of Mum's scrapbooks. 

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Holidays

Tyler has spent the last two days at OSCAR and had lots of fun with crafts. Here is a lion he made yesterday:


I have taken Thursday and Friday off work - tomorrow we will all be together until lunchtime when Tyler is going to go back to his old daycare and spend the afternoon. They have revamped the room he was in so it will be interesting to see what they've done. No doubt he will enjoy catching up with the teachers and seeing some of his old friends who aren't yet at school. While he is there, Chris and I are going house-hunting.




Here's the old bloke on the rugby field on Saturday, playing for the Hawaiian Delights. He started at No 8, and ended up on the right wing!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

The wee dude returns

As Chris had rugby in Mossburn on Saturday afternoon, we decided to carry on afterwards to Te Anau and surprise Tyler. We got cuddled and kissed to within an inch of our lives when we turned up :)  We all went out for tea (Chinese, delicious) where Tyler, along with Bruce and Ali, filled us in on the the week's happenings. Hopefully I will soon have a very cute pic of Tyler and 'Pop' having an afternoon siesta together.

We toddled home this morning and spent some family time together before I headed off for a 3GW meeting. The house is messy again....and I don't care, it's just great to have the wee man home.

Thursday, April 08, 2010

On the move?

Our farmlet is not officially on the market, but it is still on the books with one real estate firm. Every 5 or 6 months we'll get asked if someone can have a look through but so far nothing has come of it. A couple of weeks ago we had what appeared to be a very interested buyer, all they wanted to do before making an offer was arrange a builder to check if additions were do-able. But so far nothing has been arranged.

However, the real estate agent rang this morning and said he had a couple who wanted to look through this afternoon. We now have a very good offer sitting on the dining room table. Eep!

8:50pm UPDATE: After a bit of offer/counter-offer we have an agreement! The purchasers have to confirm finance and the sale of their own property (which is already signed up) by 21 April. So keep your fingers crossed for us. Now comes the question of what to do - buy or build??

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Wegtables

Tyler (in trembling, on-the-verge-of-tears-voice): Mummy I want to come home.
Me: Why darling?
Tyler: Because they make me eat wegtables!
Me: What sort of vegetables?
Tyler: That white broccoli stuff.

What is it with kids and 'wegtables'? I haven't yet told him about the time I ran away from home because I didn't want to eat swede. And then came back 10 minutes later because I suddenly remembered we were having Apple Crumble for dessert.

Anyway, the arrangement is that he is going to have a nice sleep and see how he feels in the morning. :)

Meanwhile, Chris is at work and I am feeling rather unnerved by the silence in the house. Perhaps a little bit of Prokofiev might alleviate that...

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Yeah, bye Mum

So we are now dude-less until Sunday. No morning dressing-gown snuggles, random kisses and hugs, snack plates, games of Candyland and Tag or "You're the bestest Mum". On the other hand - no interrupted Grey's Anatomy, no demands to join me in my bath five minutes after I get into it and no toys strewn from one end of the house to the other.

We left for Te Anau at lunchtime and Tyler was raring to go:


I left T and Ali heading off to find mushrooms and feed the new piglets. Not even a backward glance!

Artistry

Tyler loves to draw and write and becomes totally absorbed in what he is doing.




Monday, April 05, 2010

Easter Monday. My voice still sounds like I'm singing through a net curtain and I'm still grumpy that I couldn't sing at the Basilica yesterday. *pouts* Me me me me. So here's some Tyler to make you smile, after a bath, hamming it up for the camera:



Tomorrow Tyler heads off to Pop and Ali's where he'll stay until Sunday. I'm not sure whether Pop or Tyler will be the most tired by the end of the stay!

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Easter Egg fun

Here are the clues Easter Bunny left Tyler on Friday. He loved reading them and going on the hunt so much that I ended up doing another set this morning. Talk about chocolate overload!


We also boiled up some eggs, drew designs on them with crayons, then dyed them. Unfortunately the eggs were all brown-shelled ones, so the dye wasn't as pretty as it should have been, but Tyler thought they were pretty cool.




Friday, April 02, 2010

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny visited the Campbell-McLeod residence today. He left a neatly written note with easily-read clues (why waste the educational opportunity?!) on where to find eggs such as 'Look in the gumboot', 'Look on the piano', 'Look in the playhouse'. Tyler was quite impressed that the Easter Bunny knew how to write. He had great fun finding all the eggs and was very excited with his final find, a large chocolate Easter Bunny.


We had a lovely sunrise the other morning so I took a couple of photos: