Hello Autumn, I've missed You!

 

The past week and a half seems to have slipped through my fingers and all of a sudden I find myself waking up to the first day of Autumn, March is here.

 

Its dark, drizzly and cool...a completely perfect way to start the weekend. I'm curled up on the couch with a steaming mug of cinnamon tea and the boys are doing puzzles and watching Peppa Pig. My Builder with Benefits...he's enjoying a well deserved sleep in.

 

Over the last two weeks the Husband has been renovating. The rumpus ceiling collapsed after a heavy downpour and he has done an amazing job of gutting the room, insulating and laying new floor and walls. This weekend we'll start prepping to paint and hopefully we'll have the floating floor down and the room finished in the next few weeks. He's done the lion's share of the work on his own, putting in twelve hour days for ten days straight, then doing late nights once he went back to work. So very thankful and proud of his efforts. Am very excited that I get to create a beautiful, comfortable space once the hard graft is complete. It will no longer be 'the dumping room' where all manner of things is stacked and stored. It will soon be the Library...with a gorgeous leather sofa framed with bookshelves. Hubby is determined to outshine my sister-in-law in the Library stakes, (love you Margie, don't worry, we can't beat your Great Wall of Literature).

 

This week we also made the decision to take ourselves out of the real estate race and stay put for a little while longer. The places that we've wanted involve serious renovation to become habitable, have extensive heritage restrictions and are reliant on council approval which can take at least six months. Whilst we know we can take on such a project and could make a beautiful old home our own, we've had to acknowledge our limititations. We could buy the properties we've looked at, but wouldn't be left with enough in our budget to do what we want with them for a very long time. A couple of years sitting tight here and my return to paid work when Jack goes to Kindy will give us enough fat in our budget to take on such a project without over extending ourselves. We've always been conservative...never the type to take big risks, especially financial ones. I admire those who just take the plunge and somehow make things work as they go along. There's no doubt we've missed out on several opportunities as a result of our slow and steady approach but that's just how we roll and it works for us. I'm happy to be patient. I still long for Falklands, but practicality wins out in the end. Besides...apart from having to endure the feral behaviour of the anti social bogans at the end of our street, we actually love our current home and are quite comfortable here. So, that's where we're at on the house hunting front.

 

Jack and I have enjoyed a couple of mornings kicking back with a babycino at some of our favourite coffee haunts this week. He's getting so grown up and I do so adore this age, nuclear toddler tantrums aside of course.

 

My little right hand man...wearing his Thomas backpack and saying "Hello, my name's Jack, what's your name" to every passer by. Too cute!

 

Harry is charging full steam ahead at school. He's really enjoying his lessons and making some sweet little friendships. The first parent/teacher interview of the year went well. Roxanne is the perfect teacher for Harry and I'm confident that under her guidance, Harry will really bloom this year.

 

 

As for me...I've been struggling a fair bit with Lymphoedema this week. Physically it's been difficult and painful and I have to admit that I've been feeling miserable about it. Its something I'm going to have to force myself to accept and adjust to because I'm stuck with it for the rest of my life. I'm still doing everything that I can to manage it, including physio, compression sleeves & massage. I'm booked in to have my arm bandaged at the hospital in a couple of weeks. I'm hopeful that it will squeeze enough fluid out to reduce the swelling. Then it's on to a custom made compression sleeve which costs between two and six hundred dollars. Ouch! Not sure which of those two is more painful.

Anyway...that's life. The great balancing act.

Hoping to check out the Elighten Festival this weekend. Am so excited about all the beautiful things that Autumn brings. The turn of the leaves, wearing layers, hot air ballooning, Easter, the chill in the air, shorter days, snuggling under blankets...the list is endless.

Have a lovely weekend!

xx Em

 

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