More housey stuff

Cheryl and I met with a property agent this week. It was really good.. she gave us an estimate of what rent we could ask for, and then a break-down of all the various fees as well. It was better news than I was expecting to be honest. The ongoing costs aren't too bad, although every new tenant will bring with it about $1000 in fees, which kind of sucks. Hopefully we can get a nice family in who are happy to stay for a few years :)

We've still got a lot of work to do around the house.. more cracks to fix (in Ossie's room), painting, and the expensive stuff like updating the electrical box and fixing another broken roller shutter. If I could work out how to open up the metal container on the roller shutter I'd have a shot at fixing it myself to be honest. Oh and we'll replace the front door too - I've got a friend who's a carpenter who has offered to help us out with that.

We did a big clean-up in preparation for the agent's visit, although no doubt we'll have to do another before we leave. We've done a bit of packing here and there as well. Cheryl's family might be visiting after Christmas to help out around the house - I suspect by then we'll be in full panic mode and very thankful for the assistance.

Oh, and when Oscar found out we were selling stuff on eBay he picked a few of his (broken) toys to sell as well! What a team-player :) I think we'll chuck them in the bin and then say we sold them and give him some money. He can use it to buy more Lego :)

Happy Birthday Glenn!

Like the title says ;)

Happy Birthday, Damien!

Happy Birthday, Damien! Hope you enjoy your long weekend! (plenty of time to put together the Lego! :)

Lots of love from Os, Lil & me 

Moving Plans

So by now you've all heard that Cheryl and I are moving back to Bendigo. Our reasons for this are pretty simple - here in Adelaide we have each other for support, and while we're both awesome people and very helpful, it would be nice to have family around when we need them. Also as the kids get older we'd like them to have their cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents nearby.  The possibility of babysitting certainly doesn't make the idea any less appealing too ;)

As such, there are some pretty major changes to be made, and I thought I'd update you all on where we were at with them.

For my work, I'll be moving over to contract at GDD, which means I need to get an ABN, set up a home office and start learning words like BAS and GST (okay, they're both acronyms, but you get the idea). I've bought a MacBook Pro which is now my main computer for work, so when we do move I'll be well and truly adjusted to using it. I'm also planning on getting a widescreen monitor, an external hard drive to store work on, and a printer. I think that'll do me. I do like the idea that the "office" is pretty portable - if I want to I could always go outside or to a park for a few hours to work. We met with an accountant last night, and he'll be helping me out and handling the tax side of things for me.

Cheryl is going to quit her job, and see what pans out in Bendigo. Right now what with the cost of parking, petrol, child care and the like we're actually losing money with Cheryl back at work.. Originally the plan was once Lily stopped breastfeeding Chez could get more hours, but now she thinks she'll just finish up around November and be done with it.

Oscar and Lily don't work, so it'll be an easy adjustment for them ;) We are planning the move to give Os time to start Kindy, hence end of Jan/early Feb as a moving date. Lisa has given us some great links to look into on that front.

We've decided to keep our house here in Adelaide and rent it out, and then rent a place in Bendigo. Realistically if we can get as much in rent from here as we're paying in Bendigo we'll be in the same situation.. although we will have to account for agent fees and the like as well. In a lightning strike of extreme luck a friend of ours has just bought a house as an investment property. He's in the process of doing it up a bit with help from Cheryl's siblings, and he's happy for us to move in there. It's about 30 seconds walk from Edith and Landon's place.

Cheryl's been contacting a few removalists to get quotes (it's EXPENSIVE) so hopefully we can just pick a date and move all our stuff, and Cheryl's fam can meet the truck at the other end for us.

That leaves us with a fair bit of work to do in the next few months - apart from packing/selling everything we own (the selling is an attempt to bring down that moving cost, which as I said is EXPENSIVE) we've also got a lot of work to do to the house to get it tenant-ready - fix the door, patch up cracks, repaint, replace the dishwasher.. and fork out the $1,800 to fix the electrical box as well. We can't claim those as deductions, apparently, but we can use them to bring down the capital gains tax when we do decide to sell.

I've also got to register for an ABN, get a licence for my swords, and probably a few other bookworky things I've forgotten. Still, The Move continues it's inevitable rumbling approach like the cleaner from the Labyrinth, and each weekend brings it a little closer.  At least we look to have locked down the two biggest worries (my work and the house) so that's good.

But yeah, looking at the help provided us by Lisa, Rach, Daz, Edith, Landon, Mum.. I think that pretty much explains why we're making the move. We really appreciate having people we can rely on who can help us out with this big life change.

And the babysitting will be nice too ;)

Happy birthday Cheryl

Dear Cheryl,


The lucky third-in-a-row birthday. 


Hope you've had a wonderful day and your family spoiled you rotten.


Have a wonderful year,


*hugz*
-d&b-

Happy birthday Trinity

Dear Trinity,

Hope you had a SCARY birthday.
Your party looked like it was terrifyingly fun!

*big hugz*
aunty dayna & unkie bruce

Happy Birthday Mum

Dear Mum,


It doesn't seem like it was that long since you were over here with us... and it's been a month now! Time flies!!


Hope you had a lovely relaxed birthday. It was great to speak to you online the other day.


*big hugz*
-d&b-

Happy Birthday Daria

Happy birthday to you..

Happy birthday to you...

Happy birthday, dear Daria

Happy birthday to you!

And through the magic of the internets, this isn't even late. ;-)

Looks like you had a fantastic party!

*hugz*

aunty dayna & unkie bruce

New Bandwagon Header

Look up. Look down. Look up again. What you're seeing is that finally I've updated the Bandwagon header :)

I hope you're all happy with your illustrated avatars. As always if you want your own let me know and I'll pull it out of the fla and send you a copy. If you've got change requests please let me know, and I'll try to get to it at some point in the next 3 years ;)

I'll try to get a version sorted for tees and stickers and calendars and the like soon.

My animation

Hi all,

I'm in Bristol tonight for the Schools' Analyst Competition (Mum & Bruce are at home in Cardiff). The evening activity was a trip to At Bristol, the local science centre. They've got a Animation exhibition to play with.. Check out my 'film' (hope the link works!).
*hugz* to all

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <do_not_reply@animateit.org.uk>
Date: 25 Jun 2012 20:17
Subject: You've been sent an exciting film from Animate It!
To: <daynoir@gmail.com>

You've been sent an exciting film from Animate It!

Click here to watch it.

Animate It! is an interactive exhibition within Explore At-Bristol, developed in collaboration with Aardman Animations to give visitors the opportunity to create their own animations.

From creating stories and characters through 2D and 3D animating to the final edit, Animate it! gives everyone the opportunity to release their inner animator.

Find out about the exhibition here

Update

Greetings from rainy Adelaide! Time for our update...

The kids have been going well (aside from colds). Lily is loving being mobile and has great fun trying to keep up with her brother. She follows him to the table at meal times (and will sit underneath his chair or stand behind him), watches him while he has a shower and will "annoy" him while he sits on the potty ;) She likes to pull herself up onto her feet, but a couple of times she has got herself stuck and not known how to get down. Hehe! 

Ossie is doing well. He is such a good big brother! He enjoys playing with Lil and likes to make her laugh. It's very cute! We're still toilet training him, but he's slowly getting there. He gave up his dummy when we got back from our trip to Bendigo, so that's a plus. Oh, and he'll be in kindy next year! 0_0

Damien has been busy busy busy at work. Lots of work involving the red cross. His dojo seems to be going well.. about 6 regular students each week. As well as that, Damien has been doing an exercise routine at home.

And I'm returning to work in about 2 months! I've started getting things organised... In the process of working out hours with my supervisor and then childcare. I've also bought Lily some bottles. It'll be interesting to see how she goes with being bottle fed and being in care. We're together a lot of the time, so it'll be a big change for her. And me ;) I'm determined to enjoy the freedom though :) Damien and I don't often get time together without the kids, so we'll make the most of it and organise some lunch dates :) 

Apart from that it's all just the usual kind of stuff... We've been enjoying Skyping with Nanny, Dayna & Bruce. So good to hear that everyone is having a good time.We'll start organising a party for Lily's first birthday.We'll try to time it so that Nanny will be there for it! :) . We're also thinking about where to put our veggie garden (that my mum has so kindly offered to get started for us ;) And we're getting new tyres for the care this weekend... ok, well that is scraping the bottom of the news story barrel ;)

Better end here. The oven timer has just gone off, so dinner's ready!

Hope all are well!

A mountain jaunt

Hi all,
The bandwagon has been a little quiet lately, what has everyone been up to?

We're on the way to Birmingham (well, technically Wednesbury, but there's only 16 km between them - kinda like Bendigo & Eaglehawk but with more houses in between). Mum lands tomorrow. :-)

I've been keeping busy with work. Last month I spent a lot of time travelling around Wales; in the space of one week I went from Cardiff to Bangor to Llanberis to the far side of Anglesey to Caernarfon to Llandudno to Wrexham to Builth Wells to Swansea & then finally home to Cardiff again. I'll have to see if I can embed a map. It was a little insane but was National Science & Engineering Week and I had four Chemistry at Work events to attend.  :-)

It wasn't all just work, Bruce joined me for the weekend in Caernarfon and we wandered around the cute little walled town and explored the castle. However, the highlight of the weekend would have to be walking up Mount Snowdon.

We started a bit late (we had to make the most of the delicious breakfast at the B&B), so there were no carparks at the ideal starting point. Not to be deterred we drove to Llanberis & managed to find a free space. Off we headed, up the path in the direction of the summit.

We may have taken a wrong turn right near the start and had to cut across fields a couple of times to get back to the right path...  But eventually we were heading up the mountain. The walk was challenging - a constant uphill for 4 hours! - and for most of the walk we were under or in grey clouds. It was pretty amazing to come out of the top of the clouds - dazzling sunlight, peaks above us, white below us.

One of the drawbacks with climbing Mount Snowdon in the off-season is the lack of amenities. Admittedly, most mountains don't have conventional toilets - in fact you're lucky if you find a rock to hide behind. However, Snowdon has a train line with stations along the way & a cafe at the top. So when I needed to pee, I figured that there would be a loo at the top. And there was. But it was shut! If the trains aren't running, the amenities aren't available! I think that this is a big mistake on behalf of Snowdonia council - there were about 100 people at the top of the mountain and probably at least as many on the way up or down, just think of all the puddles that were created that day alone!

After admiring the view and taking photos to prove we were there, we headed along the railway line for a while, found a quiet patch away from the crowd & had some lunch. After a short relax, we set off back down into the cloud. About three hours later we were drinking hot mulled wine at the start of the trail. It was much easier coming down but you still needed to watch where you put your feet. And watch out for the sheep! They'd bleat at us and then run away. Weird!

It was an enjoyable day but I think next time we'll take the train. ;-)

*hugz* to all

Happy Birthday Jared!

Happy Birthday! Hope you've enjoyed your day so far and glad you liked your pressie :)

What are you having for your birthday dinner?

Love, Uncle Damien, Auntie Cheryl and your little cousins Oscar & Lily

-xxxx-

Happy birthday Bruce

Happy 32nd birthday babe.

I know we both had to work yesterday but hopefully you still had a good day. It certainly looked like you enjoyed the pudding platter. :)

We've got nothing planned for the weekend so we can just have a relaxing couple of days.

Love you.
XxoO

Happy birthday Os

Dear Oscar, 

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Oscar

Happy birthday to you! 

*big hugz and lots of love*
Aunty Dayna and Unkie Bruce
xxoo