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: