Uh oh, Estate Auction time...

Well, this might be a mega post but I have a lot to share. This week we had continued attempt at unpacking of all our items both from the apartment, what we are inheriting as Grandparents downsize and our boxes from Australia. Unfortunately Buddha was a minor casualty losing two fingers, but I feel like he says to us "don't worry" but am sure it would be something more Buddha-like such as "Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment".

Saturday we went to an estate auction on the main street in town and bought a bucket, well, truck load of items. Now, we stare at them in the garage and figure out what can be repurposed, repainted, reused, and what could we get rid of for hopefully a profit at the Flea Market in town in a couple of weeks. Some of the boxes we bought for $1 and $2 were a pot luck and we hardly knew what was in them when we put our number 36 card in the air. I don't think we have any hidden treasures, or strike it rich items but hey, if we can make some of the money back, all power to us right? Here is one of the pot luck boxes ready to go back on sale at the Flea Market:

And here are some of the items we are more excited about. Our new gun cupboard for $5 will soon become a regular cupboard once I add shelving, Jerry's rocking chair needs a new coat of paint and will probably end up in the nursery, the bench that converts to a toy chest will also end up there, our potty chair was just a fun, novelty buy for $15, my old office chair for $10 might fit nicely behind that $30 desk I have in our room, and these 2 blue camping cupboards were full of junk, but I am going to try and repurpose them as a TV cabinet!

My two fave buys were this blue table with porcelain top and chairs and this retro tea pot. I am pretty sure I outbid an antique dealer for the tea pot....not sure if that is a good thing as it probably indicates I paid too much!

And now back to earlier in the week. I grabbed a bucket and sponge, the step ladder and our little vacuum that could, and hit the mud room. This is the room on the way from the house to the garage. The previous owner left us the storage shelves in there and I am looking forward to stocking them with excess food items. Now I have decided I am no TLC worthy extreme coupon shopper, and I don't think I have to be, have the time to be, or want to be. After wiping down the shelves, I moved all of the baking loot we found left here in the kitchen cupboards and what I shipped from Australia onto one of the two shelving units, lined them up all pretty and snapped this photo (sorry for the wonky-ness):

The carpet is as clean as it could be, but I think the vacuum started spitting stuff back out at my bare legs, hence the new name of the little vacuum that could, even though I think it couldn't.

While I'm down on that level of the house, just wanted to say that our plans for the basement space are to tear up the carpet and paint the concrete (am thinking black), paint the paneling white which will give it a cottage/country feel, paint the grid of the ceiling, replace the blown lights and maybe even replace the speckled ceiling panels with plain ones. I might even attempt to paint the brick of the fireplace. Can you picture that?

The first Farmers Market of the season was on Wednesday and I wish I had taken money. The vendors are really great, and I could buy meat, flowers, plants, giant red velvet cupcakes, honey, eggs, and all things vege and herb..or "erb" as they like to say here. Here is a pretty image I snapped and then played around with in PhotoBucket:

It was Jerry's 30th birthday on Friday and I was unprepared. So I left for Holyoke Mall at 9.30 and didn't get home til after 3. I managed to get everything I wanted for Jerry and a couple of things for me! I bought my first pair of maternity jeans. Gap Maternity had skinny leg jeans! Woo hoo. I have tried on some butt ugly pairs, but knew Gap would have the goods. They are super comfy and have the full panel, although I find them slipping down my waist a little. I guess I'll just keep hiking them back up! I had to stop by H&M as well as I know they have maternity, and who can resist H&M? I picked up a cute black jumper which will come in handy for my Australian trip in winter and a super cute dress and bloomers for my friend Megan's new baby Pippa. Good shopping trip!

And in more baby news, I have started to feel the bubbles popping, which is apparently the first signs of feeling the baby move. Pretty cool. I only hope Jerry gets to feel something before he leaves for his trip in two weeks.....

Oh, and Jerry's presents were Hugo Boss cologne he has wanted for ages, an old school Yankees cap, a t-shirt, the bi-annual pair of undies, a Patriots house key, and these 2 pendants I had made to replace ones he had lost in the surf a while back. My friend Brandi, who I met at University when she was a US exchange student and who now lives in Sweden, made these. You can see her jewellery and request custom pieces at her Etsy shop: www.brandiu.etsy.com

I was invited to join Pinterest by my friend Monique. Uh oh, addiction..... I love that I can pin all my fave things in one place. I had started creating powerpoint presentations for this....bor-ing and kinda embarrassing now that I have Pinterest! You can see the styles and things I love at http://pinterest.com/babapeach/

Capped off the weekend by some Walmart grocery shopping and a trip to Monson to visit our Uncle Tim and Aunt Kathy who are camping out there for Memorial Day weekend. We are up early tomorrow as Kirah is marching in the Memorial Day Parade with her Brownie troop. No sleep in for us.... 

What a week....

OMG...we have had a pretty crazy week of packing up the apartment, closing on the house (well I was just a witness as my status here in the US doesn't entitle me to much yet), last minute work on the Asparagus Festival, preparing for Kirah's 9th birthday party...at the new house, loading and unloading, cleaning, and on and on. Now it is Monday, it's just Patrick and I in the house, and although I have SO many items to move into homes, I just could do with a little feet up and relax day.

So, where to start? I'll start with a little class I am taking Tuesday nights, Cake Decorating! I've always wanted to do something like this so I signed up. After my first class, my homework for Tuesday's class was to bring in a frosted cake. In class we learned how to do pretty basic piping and experimented with roses and leaves. Not my style to be honest, but a nice place to start, and gave me some inspiration/knowledge for Kirah's birthday cake this year. Here is the before and after:

Thursday was hamster day, so as soon as Kirah was home from school, we went off to the pet store to choose Patrick. At first, he very quickly learned how to escape from his cage, so luckily Kirah was given a new hamster sized, to replace the guinea pig sized cage we had scored for free, for her birthday. Here are some not so fab shots of Patrick, and having fun in his ball:

Now I definitely was not a fan of the hamster idea in the beginning, but I have to admit he is kinda cute and I do enjoy watching him scoot around in his ball.

Friday was the first of the super BIG days. Boxes were packed and stuffed into two waiting vehicles, cupcakes were made for Kirah's class (I am so glad she didn't fuss over the weird shapes some of the cupcakes turned out as..that'll teach me for not using muffin pans and trying to cook all 26 cupcakes at once), and we began making some minor adjustments to the house. Jerry had painted Kirah's room, pulled up the carpet in both bedrooms the night before and installed a new toilet to satisfy this pregnant lady's fear of the toilet that had existed in that bathroom. Here are the cupcakes and Jerry's toilet triumph:

Friday also consisted of before and after-ing some of the kitchen cupboards, putting Kirah's room together and bringing in a good chunk of the furniture from the apartment:

I also remembered to snap before photos of all of the rooms. Here is hoping in the next 12 months I can post some dramatic and impressive after shots!

 The future nursery...believe it or not, complete with lockable gun cupboard...

As you can see, we have a lot to do but it is mainly cosmetic. Here are some after photos, just of Kirah's room and the living room - ones we had decided to work on in time for her party:

Saturday was the Asparagus and Flower Heritage Festival here in town. I have been working on the Committee since January, helping with the food vendors, publicity and the Maypole dance. Thankfully the rain held off and it was a really nice day. Here are some choice pics:

I have to say, I had the most delicious Asparagus Chowder that I know my Mum would l-o-v-e, but unfortunately the recipe appears to be a tightly kept secret....I'll try my best to recreate it!



The previous owner of this house was quite random in the way he moved out - we've come across a number of odd items he has chosen to leave behind, the best of which was one of the kitchen cupboards. I was actually quite happy with the score as it included many a rectangle baking tin in various sizes:

Oh, and the bed from heaven arrived on Saturday. Now I'm not complaining, but the mattress we have slept on for 5 months in the apartment was literally breaking my body down. For $350, this was a steal from Sears:

And for day three of craziness, Kirah's birthday party. I finally broke open my Kitchen Maid - yay!! Kirah had 5 friends over and we introduced them to Aussie birthday party traditions of fairy bread and pass the parcel. They all had a fun time and went home happy, and we were happy when they went home...

So thanks to our amazing US family, we are in the house and very grateful to be out of the apartment. Oh, and we opened our boxes finally!!! Can you believe Jerry let me bring an entire box of books?

And finally, our realtors gave us the best house warming present ever...freshly mowed grass and trimmed hedges! So now here is a before and after shot of the house:

Now I can plant my hydrangea in the flower bed that has been left behind from the hedge removal, and one day, yes, one day we can repaint the house. Notice the US flag already hanging? There will be a Aussie flag proudly hanging soon as well!

We'll see how far we get for the next post next week. Oh, one last thing! The baby peach is a Little Miss Czub and here are two final pics: