Sunday 30th May, 2010

A day of mishaps....

It was a 'mini day' today, celebrating the fact that our washing machine has broken down again for the second time in a week (may as well look on the bright side, right?) and that my back is too sore to be moving boxes and things. Besides, Peter was busy clearing out the caravan to put it in for repairs and a service tomorrow, so he couldn't finish cutting the new shelves to the right length and I couldn't sort out the workroom any more either. I thought that by tonight I would be posting photos of Miss Marple's Cottage (MMC) with the walls up and the wallpaper on, and also some quarter scale flower kits made up. 

It all went quite well to begin with, the plastic brick on the walls and the plastic roof sheeting on the roof bits adhered well and the glue dried well overnight.  I cut the bits apart this morning and put them back in their little plastic bags, after I had photographed them.  Then I papered the floors with the flooring paper.  What a disaster!  I turned the pieces over to smooth the paper and it was all bubbly!  Efforts to remedy it just made it worse.  In the end I removed the paper, destroying some of it in the process - removed the remnants of glue from the pieces and dried off the wooden flooring.  Then tried to use the paper again.  I thought that if I was careful I could manage to re-cover the floors in the two floors of the main house part, if I pieced it carefully on the ground floor.  I have some 1:48 tiling that I could use in the conservatory section.  Well, I pieced it carefully and it looked terrible and there still wasn't enough to do the 1st floor anyway!  I do have some sheets of flooring but they don't come in a size big enough for the ground floor - they will need piecing together and I can't find them at the moment, with the move from the caravan to the house.  Sigh!

So I thought I'd check the folder again where I keep my quarter scale wall and flooring papers - and knocked over a glass of water, all over the desk.  Which was very cluttered at the time, with things that should not have been there!  Fortunately I have a container with household cloths in it on the desk and I grabbed a handful of those and stemmed the flow, and cleaned it all up.  Nothing got damaged, and I dried everything off, put things away, cleaned off the working area on the desk and washed my paint brushes that I had been using earlier.

I walked in from the kitchen where I had been doing that, with a fresh glass of water and my laptop.  Put the laptop on the nice clean desk surface, put the glass of water out of the way and decided to look up some items I want to order to go in Miss Marple's Cottage, moved the laptop - and knocked the glass of water over again!

All in all, my desk has had a really good clean down today lol.  I did do some more painting of stripwood, windows and door after that, and tried to work out how the fireplace goes together, but by then Peter was home again. 

So I joined him in the lounge room after tea with my supplies for flower making.  I was trying to decide which kit to make after I had finished the clematis and the daisy kits.  What a laugh!  By 10.30 I had assembled precisely six stems only of clematis leaves and four flowers!  I'd painted them earlier or wouldn't even have done that much.  The flowers don't take long but those tiny leaves are very temperamental and they are not co-operative at all.  My idea of the  size of the vine has progressively reduced as the evening has gone on! 

But the mishaps of the day hadn't finished yet.  I had started off working on one of those little portable tables in front of my armchair earlier in the night, then moved to a laptray. Peter brought me a hot drink before bed, lovely man, and moved the little table, which upset the balance of the lap tray - and everything landed on the floor: hot milk all over me and the floor, scissors, tweezers, flower and leaf sheets, paint tray, brushes, water.....the whole kit and kaboodle!  I couldn't believe it.  Three times in one day.  Plus spoiling the flooring paper.  What a day.  I think perhaps I should stick to stitching in the evenings vbg.

Saturday 29th May, 2010

Next time read the instructions properly.....

Friday afternoon I sneaked some time to start on Miss Marple's Cottage - at last!  I haven't posted photos of the Sea Shanty because I need to touch up the water a little bit, but it is basically finished.  Tomorrow (or today, it is half pst midnight now) I hope to do just that and take photos.  However, I was able to start painting the windows for the conservatory yesterday, before we had to leave for our appointment with the doctor to have our flu jab.  These windows are so beautifully cut and delicate, and take quite a while to paint but I did one side and left them to dry.

Tonight I did the other side and then it was time to join Peter in the lounge room and keep him company while we watched Midsomer Murders, one of our favourite shows.  I thought that the rest of that part of the instructions was just painting and when I was set up in the lounge room I skipped down to the next section, which is the actual assembly, without checking.  You'd think I'd know better, wouldn't you?

The first part of assembly went really well.  I glued the supports under the flooring and let it dry.  Then I did a 'dry run' and taped the walls around the floor. It all went together quite well and I was surprised at just how tiny this little building is.  The Sea Shanty is considerably more spacious. 

So once I knew just how it all fitted together I went ahead and glued it.  Big mistake.  Then I finally read the next part and realised that I had goofed! I had neglected to read through all the first part which didn't just deal with painting the wall trims and the fireplace etc, but also says to glue the walls to the brick paper.  Oooops!  So into the microwave with it, and dismantling it.

 Mind you, there appears to be an error in the instructions as well because it tells you to glue all the walls around the floor.  Then later on it tells you to wallpaper inside the front section and to hold wall E (which has the front door in it) against the front of the house.  So I guess you don't glue that wall on at all at this stage.

After taking it all apart I finally did the right thing and read the instructions more thoroughly, glued the walls to the brick paper and have left it all to dry.  And I have also glued the roof parts to the roofing paper.  So I will leave them to dry overnight, weighed down with some books. 

The conservatory will need more coats of paint to give it a really good finish, and I will do my usual thing and paint the inside of the walls before papering them as well.  When I was first beginning to do miniatures I bought all sorts of how-to books, because I didn't have a club to belong to and wanted to learn how to do things.  In one of them it said that painting the walls white shows the colours in wallpaper to its best advantage. 

I also do the walls with presanding sealer to even out the surface somewhat.  I think that's more important than ever in this smaller scale.  

I'm always very excited to start a new project, whether it's stitching or constructing and I'm excited to be starting this one.  Hopefully it won't be as drawn-out as the Sea Shanty was.   

Thursday 27th May, 2010

More forgotten treasures.....

Peter and I were trying to reduce the mess in the house yesterday - we had so much that had been brought in from the storage container and it couldn't be put away until the curtain brackets in the workroom were up!   I spoke about it a couple of days ago: the shelving units had to be moved to put the curtain brackets up.  So nothing could go on the shelving units etc.  Well, thank goodness yesterday it all happened - the brackets are up, the shelving units are back in place.  No the wall plate is not fitted - apparently that will be quite a job, Peter is willing to pull the shelving out later on to do that.  Or so he says at this stage......So I was able to put a certain amount back on the shelves, put containers into the workroom.  It was raining steadily all day so Peter wouldn't bring the new shelves for the other side of the room out of the car, and he certainly couldn't use the router to finish off the edges so there are still lots of things that can't go on the shelves even unpainted.

I was even able to clear off my desk and have a clear work area.

That made quite a difference to the lounge room and the workroom.  So we tackled other bits that we could now get to.  And then it was time to tackle our clothes .........

But among the things I was unpacking in the workroom I came across five more Counted Cross Stitch pieces.  None of these have ever been framed, and I had forgotten all about one of them.  So I laundered all of them and took photos, including the one I found the other day.  And here they are.

This 'House Rules' is a lot of fun.  I am going to frame it and put it in the kitchen.  Normally I don't put glass over cross-stitch, I am of the school that likes to see the texture of the crosses and the linen or the cloth.  But considering that our kitchen is so small and I don't want to have it ruined by grease etc, I will make an exception for this one.  And I hope it will serve as a gentle and humourous reminder to the menfolk in my household that this family does not come with a maid!    Sorry about the appearance of it having an odd shape - unlike my petitpoint, my cross stitch does not distort at all.  It is purely a result of the angle at which I took the photograph.

I love irises, and this piece appealed to me.  I can't remember the designer but I have several of her charts.  This is a little piece, only about 8" x 6" on 32ct linen.  I am looking forward to having it framed.  It is delicate and pretty.  Flowers are my favourite things to cross stitch apart from fun teddy bears and the Lanarte (I'm sure that spelling isn't correct!) pieces I have done which are all of girls: one which I haven't finished of a girl on a bike; and  one of two girls painting on a beach; one of two girls sitting on a grassy verge.

This long one is called 'Christmas Teddies' I think.  Again, it has never been framed.  I had forgotten that I had stitched it.  There are stars here and there, done in gold thread and it hasn't tarnished or anything - hope that's not because it's been packed away.  I think this is another one of the projects I did in 1993.  And again it reflects my love of teddy bears.  I know that it's companion piece 'Teddies on the line' is still in the storage container but I can't get to it at the moment.

This one is the picture form of the Christmas stocking that I did for our youngest daughter Kirsten.  I have mentioned that I did it while staying at the hospital with our son Nathan, over the Christmas-new year of 95-96.  It was about a 6  week stay and we had lots of anxious moments during this time so this was one of the projects I did while watching at his bedside.  When I stayed with him when he was young I didn't go home (except during school terms, when Peter would stay during the day and I would go to work, then I would come back after school and stay overnight then leave for school the next day).  But this of course was over the Christmas holidays (our long summer holidays) and I realised when I walked outside to say goodbye to one of our visitors near the end of the stay that I actually hadn't left the building for over 5 weeks vbg! 

This next one is again a reflection of my love of teddy bears.  I think the date on this one is 1993 as well.  It was a big year for cross stitch!  I also collect teddies and have lots of them.  At some stage I want to have them properly displayed, along with all my cross stitch teddies.  I had hoped to have room in my workroom for it but now that everything is combined in one room it won't be - yet!  The piece is called 'Cross Stitching Teddies' I think.  Again, I  can't check because my charts haven't surfaced yet.  Yes, I keep all my charts, they are filed in a folder along with everything that came with the kit.

This last one, which I found the other day, does have a frame.  It has been hanging in our hallway but came out of the frame and was packed away separately from its frame.  Now I can't get to the frame and the mount to re-do it.  I could at first and thought it was among the things I had retrieved from the container, but when I went to get it yesterday all the boxes have of course been re-arranged after our efforts at getting the clothes boxes out the other day.  So who knows where it is now!  It's such a pretty design, done on 32 ct ecru linen, and I really enjoyed every stitch of it.  I changed the colours in the vase - don't remember why now, of course.  Maybe because at that time we had a blue colour scheme.  When I find the chart I might even consider changing the colour back to the original but I don't think so - I really like the colour that it is.

So there we are - I actually have several more that I hung straight up again in the hallway.  I am going to take them all down again and re-mount them, so photos of them will follow at a later date.  Now if daughter #1 would only send me the promised photo of her Christmas stocking and daughter #2 the promised photo of her 'Dreams' wallhanging!  Of course, I have no record of the rest that I have given away over the years.  And more will emerge as I continue to unpack and sort....

Sunday 23rd May, 2010

Progress on our bedroom and my workroom

Baby steps, baby steps. I must be more patient! We finally found our new bedside lamps which were packed away in boxes in the shipping container.  Well, Peter found his first.  They hadn't been packed together.  They didn't have globes so we were very conscientious and bought the power-saving ones for them.  Peter started to put the globe into his lamp - and the attachment broke.  I was rather cross - he must have been rather careless, I thought.  Several days later we finally found mine. I very carefully inserted my globe - and the attachment broke! Ooops.  My apologies, Peter.  Today we bought new attachments - and normal globes.  And tonight I am quite chuffed with myself because I have replaced the attachments, re-attached the wires etc, and put the shade back on.  Nothing major but I've never done it before so it is something new.  I insisted on normal globes because they seem to be smaller in the throat or whatever you call it than the power-saving ones.  Besides, they are brighter and I want to be able to read in bed.

It took a long time for us to decide on a colour scheme for our bedroom.  We couldn't decide what we wanted.  We just knew we wanted to get rid of the pink walls and the floral border around the cornice at the top of the walls.  It was very pretty when it was done, but is now very dated and badly needed replacing.  A couple of years ago I bought a gorgeous off-white damask-type quilt cover with matching pillows etc - the whole kit and caboodle.  A very expensive one, that was on sale for a greatly reduced price.  Still very expensive for me, but so lovely.  But I refused to put it on the bed until we painted the room.  I'm so glad I did too because our idea of colour schemes has completely changed in the meantime.  The walls were going to be a vibrant blue, with this off-white quilt in contrast.  Then I pieced together a patchwork quilt in quite different colours and we both fell in love with it.  It is in colours ranging from cream to a rusty-burgundy colour and a mixture of log cabin and hand applique.  As you can see, it has been pieced but isn't quilted yet.  That is one of my patchwork aims for this year. 

So then I thought that maybe we would go for a pale colour for the walls, and Peter agreed.  We weren't sure whether to use the same green we have used in the rest of the house (it would go well with the green in the quilt, and look great with the damask set) or to choose another colour.  After looking at the colour chart Peter suggested a colour called 'True Sand' which turned out a bit dark but after lightening is the perfect match for one of the colours in the quilt (quite by accident).  So we are going to take a bold step and try to match the rust colour for a feature wall behind the bed.

Today we bought a new light for the ceiling and last night I measured the new curtain for the window.  So I feel the room is coming together bit by bit.  It would be good if we could find our new bedding in the storage container though vbg!

And as for the workroom, it might seem strange to be bothering about putting up a curtain rail in there, but we need to do that  as a priority.  Or at least the brackets for the rail - simply because Peter will have to move the shelving units a bit to do so.  Which means I can't put things away on the shelving until the curtain brackets are put up.  And that means that the workroom is rapidly filling up with boxes and containers that I cannot unpack.  And the lounge room is also filling up with miniature containers that don't have shelves to put them on yet, because I need more shelves put up on the opposite side of the room too.  Grrrrrr. 

However, while we were shopping for the attachments for the lamps today we did buy a television aerial and fittings for the workroom side of the house, and lights for the bedroom and workroom.  And a television that I can use in the workroom too.  We were supposed to get the timber for the shelving that I need too, but we left the measurements at home.  Clever. 

And now we have the light for the workroom we can get an electrician and have it installed, and get rid of the downlights that won't stay working for more than half an hour.  They have been trouble ever since they were installed and now won't work at all.  I have had to depend on two standard lamps for light.  And it will be nice to have an attractive light in the bedroom too.

So - as I said.  Baby steps.  But we will get there, and it will be lovely.  Soon I hope to go looking for some sort of artwork to go on the wall behind the bed.  Oh - and for a bed!  That would be nice.  Photos soon, I hope, to show progress - hopefully there will be progress soon lol.

Friday, 21st May, 2010

Shhhh - want to know a secret?

I haven't told Peter yet but along with the Flower Pot Cottage from Petite Properties I also ordered another house kit today - the Story Book Cottage from Suzanne and Andrews!  I wasn't overly impressed with this cottage at first; in its unadorned state it looks rather severe. But then I saw it decked out with a garden and such, and fell in love with it.  After humming and ha-ing for a long time, I relented and - well, there it is!   Yet another one to add to my stash. Sorry the photo is not very clear - this is how it comes when I copy it from the site.  Shame.  But the second one, with the rose vine around the door, gives a bit better idea.

 Again, as it seems with all of these little cottages, there isn't a great deal of room inside, so it is not a major project to decorate them like it can be with a 1:12th scale house - or like the Victorian semi-detached house that I will be building from scratch along with a friend long-distance (Hi Jan in Bundy!!).  But it is sweet and has the appeal of a quaint old-fashioned cottage.

 So now I had really better get a move on with my minis and instead of telling you what I have bought and plan to do, start telling you more about what I have done lol!

Wednesday, 19th May, 2010

1:48 scale Town Square Club

Yes, I have indulged again.  I really love Debbie Young's Town Square, and actually still have the calendar from one of the miniature magazines from about 2000 hanging in my workroom, when the Town Square was issued month by month in the magazine.  Now I have joined the Town Square Club run by Judith Dowden of 'In Some Small Way' and am looking forward eagerly to the arrival of the first of the shops.  I never did make up the paper version and will be much happier doing the more durable ones.  Due to shortage of room at this stage I'm not sure I will be setting them out on a piece a metre square like the ones pictured.  Doesn't it look great though?

Friday, 21st May, 2010

Number 4 in the Petite Properties range

I have been waiting for this sweet cottage to be released at the end of March and asked to be put on the waiting list. But for some reason I wasn’t contacted so I didn’t order it until today. Isn’t it gorgeous? Can’t you just imagine the base being extended, and a garden surrounding the cottage, with lots of flowers? 

I think it has real character, and I love the fact that it isn't just straight across at the front.

I can’t make the photo very big, but this is how the front of the book is shown on the web site. Fiona Broadwood is such a talented designer and she is so generous in sharing the skills needed to produce lovely finished items such as these.

I think that this project will offer quite a few challenges, so if any of you have it as well, and are willing to offer some hints, please feel free to do so!  I would love to work along with another person who is doing the same project.

I have no clue as yet what the 'story' will be for this house.  I guess that as I get closer to doing it, ideas will start to turn over in my head.  Period or contemporary?  At the moment I tend towards contemporary - it does give one much more scope to add whatever furniture and landscaping appeals, no matter what the period it belongs to.

The inside isn’t very big, but none of these cottages had lots of rooms and that makes them easier to furnish and decorate which suits me fine. I have also ordered the first of the books that Fiona has released on making 1:48 scale furniture. So I should be able to start on furniture that is quite different from the bought kits I have for the other cottages that I have.

So my collection of property is growing, even if it is in miniature!

Thursday, 20th May 2010

It's a frame-up

Going through boxes is a bit of a voyage of discovery.  Today I found two cross stitch pictures that I did years ago, and even had frames professionally made for them.  But for some reason I never did get around to hanging them up.  So I have washed the pieces, re-blocked and ironed them and re-framed them.  They are now hanging on the short wall that is actually the end of the built-in wardrobe in my workroom, just beside the doorway as you enter the room.

The frames measure approx 30cm square outside measurement, so the stitching area itself is only about six inches, I guess.  And all those years ago I happened to choose a green that goes perfectly with the green that we have painted our walls now vbg.  It is really easy to frame the work yourself, and you can take the piece off and re-wash it when needed.

It is so long since I did these pieces that I don't remember who did the charts, but they are stitched with DMC thread on Aida cloth.  And yes, they are full-size cross stitch, not mini needlework!

My mini needlework has not been neglected, however.  In the middle of the chaos that has been our life lately, I have been continuing with items for birthday swap items for the SaHMC.  Alas, I had probably better not post photos of them because members of the club follow this blog. 

But I can say I have completed another 12 of the items.  I did five to begin with, earlier in the year and posted the first couple of them off.  Imagine my dismay when I went to post more only to find that at some time the bag in which I kept them had got wet and all sorts of damage had been done.  Mouldy items, damaged chart - you name it.  So unfortunately several people received their swap late.  However now I have done twelve, so I am ahead for a while.  And I will do quite a few more, so that I have plenty to send and also some left over.

And on top of that, the large carpet on silk gauze that I started in 2008 and got half done then (on our Queensland holiday), and nearly completed last year on our round Australia trip, is now finally finshed as well.  It has languished since we arrived back, with just a small amount to go, while I did the birthday swaps and also had periods when I did no stitching at all.  Then I finally got down to it the other night and in just a short time over two evenings it was done.  But I can't show a photo of that yet either, until a little puzzle we are posing on Petitpointers is done.  So keep watching vbg!

Monday, 17th May, 2010

One step at a time......

We have been here a couple of days now.  We visit 'home' (our caravan at my brother's place) every day, while I continue the marathon washing.  While I was there I literally kept the machine going day and night, filling the clothes line, taking the items off when they were dry and already having another line-full ready to hang out straight away.  Fortunately the days are warm and sunny and things are drying quite well.  Today is the first day that rain has been forcast, and it is supposed to last all week, so it is fortunate that most of the linen has been washed now - finally!  Also my brother has a large carport with lines strung underneath so I can hang things there if needed.  I don't like to use the dryer unless absolutely necessary.

And those things I knew I packed?  Well, they were there at the caravan all right!  Peter had moved them from where I put them, and covered them over with other things.  Men!!!  So of course he didn't see them.  But now after several trips around there we have the basic necessities such as toiletries. 

We have located the everyday crockery in the shipping container, not all of it but at least enough to eat from for now.  When Mark (our nephew) started packing up our things while we were away he started on the easiest things first of course.  That included the kitchen china, our clothes and my miniatures, at least the ones nicely stored on shelves in plastic tubs,  among other things.  Unfortunately he didn't label most of the boxes he packed.  So to find things we have to open a carton and check.  But the things we need the most (like winter clothes) are packed right at the rear of the container, probably at the bottom.  That's a lot of cartons to move.  The container is about 20ft long and is packed to the brim, 3 cartons high right to the ceiling.  Did I mention we have a lot of 'stuff'?

So far I have put the linen back into the linen press, put lots back into the workroom, found the cutlery and sorted that out, found about 1/5th of my patchwork, located one of the three sewing machines and brought most of our things around from my brother's garage.  Most of those were miniatures that I have bought over the net since we have been back from our trip (all 1:48 scale) and tools and things that I took away with me, as well as some gorgeous things I bought from Kathy B in WA.  Also a lot of scrapbooking stuff that we took away with us and even more that we bought on the trip.  So already the pristine workroom is looking cluttered - I am sorting those things out.  I am trying to put things away as I bring them around, but that is proving harder than I thought it would since we tend to bring a car-load around late in the afternoon when I have run out of energy vbg.

It is still quite complicated to do simple things at times.  My brother bought some work trousers and was going to take them to get them taken up - and pay for it.  Not on your nelly, brother dear -  I will do it, says I glibly.  So I bring them to the house, along with the sewing machine.  I knew I had brought the little box of sewing accessories from the caravan back here several days ago.  So: first challenge, clear a space for sewing machine.  Done.  Second challenge: find sewing box.  Can't find it anywhere.  Okay, I have enough thread to circle the globe several times, so find some the right colour.  Can't find any thread anywhere.  Or for that matter, pins - bought some new pins just the other day, but they are in the sewing box.  Still can't find that.  So next day it's a trip to the shop to buy yet another box of pins and yet another spool of thread!  I need both like I need another headache.  Preparation time:  hours!  Time to actually hem the trousers: 5 minutes.  I was determined to do it by machine because they are work trousers and will lead a very hard life.

And I can see quite a few new winter clothes on the horizon too - the only time I am warm at the moment is when I am in my winter pyjamas and dressing gown (all newly bought, dressing gown is my Mothers Day gift from Nathan) and people do tend to look a bit askance if you go shopping in those vbg.

Meanwhile we are wading through the endless miles of boxes vbg.  It is a great feeling when I get one emptied and that particular space cleared.  It doesn't last long unfortunately because Peter immediately fills it with yet another box, but each one is one more done.  Perhaps I should draw tally lines on the wall somewhere vvbg?  One we haven't painted yet, of course!

Friday, 15th May, 2010

We're back at the house

We've moved back to our house, just this afternoon. Sort of.  And we want to go home!  'Home' being our caravan.  It feels really strange; the house is so empty, smells clinical and also of paint and of the pest control stuff,  and whatever we need doesn't seem to be here - it's either back at my brother's house or still in the caravan which is also back at my brother's house!

Yes, of course I packed everything we would need.  For the last couple of days before our expected day to move back I sorted and packed everything we'd need: toiletries, clothes for the next few days, etc.  Plus I have been washing and washing and washing for what seems like forever now.  First of all, we enjoyed a week with Kirstie and the children, and I was washing for nine of us (plus the four puppies vbg).  Nine people make a lot of washing!  Especially when you decide to change all the beds and do all the towels etc, all on the same day.  And have just a little front-loading machine to use (our big machine decided to die the day before Nathan's 21st).  Then I started washing every single bit of linen I possess, before putting it back in to the linen cupboard at the house.  Everything that has been stored in the shipping container reeks of napthalene, and because of that but also after being stored it will be washed or cleaned before returning it to the house.  I have a lot of linen and have barely made a dent in it.

But when we got to the house, it was mainly the washing I had been doing that Peter had loaded into the car.  Now I love my husband dearly, and would never want to be without him but sometimes............... We were supposed to be coming to the house on Thursday, and I had it all ready for then but Pete worked on Wednesday night and on Thursday night.  After sleeping on Thursday and then having a busy afternoon there wasn't enough time to get everything around here, so some of the things were taken out again and we stayed another night at the caravan.  Then we came here on Friday afternoon, again after Peter slept.

But what has happened to everything I packed?  My guess is that I will find it still at the caravan vbg!

So I don't have a hairbrush - or toothbrush, don't have clothes to wear tomorrow, don't have slippers (it's getting cold here overnight) or for that matter any warm clothers - they are still packed in the shipping container.  The remote for the airconditioner is nowhere to be found - probably still packed in the pile covered by a tarpaulin in the backyard, there is no heater, the house is an icebox, and every time we need something it seems it is still packed.  It's a bit frustrating but I suppose we will work through it vbg.  There's certainly a lot to do! 

Tuesday, 4th May, 2010

And it comes to us all!

Who would have thought, looking at that 833gram (approx 1lb 13oz) wisp of humanity 21 years ago who arrived 13 weeks early that he would end up as this charming, funny, loving young man!  Nathan wanted to have his 21st at our house, with his sisters, other family, our friends and some of his friends from the sheltered workshop he attends.  So we pulled out all stops to at least have the house and the back yard in a reasonable condition in order to do so.  The party was last Sunday, and was very successful.  Not a large gathering and unfortunately his oldest sister Kylie couldn't make it, but Kirstie was there along with her four children and four orphaned, two-week old Jack Russell puppies.  !t makes me feel old that our youngest is now 21 - but as the title says, it comes to us all.  As my mother reminded me, her 'baby' (my brother) will turn 60 this year.

Our friends Marilyn and Richard had spent a long and busy day with us earlier in the week, helping with painting; and Marilyn and I also planted a dozen or more large pots with flowering annuals and plants.  We put native violets under the jacaranda tree; they will eventually form a pretty ground cover hopefully.  The pots have pansies in bloom, some have snapdragons, and some have other pretty blooms.  They certainly added a nice touch to our neglected back yard!

Not all the painting is finished, but most of it is done and the major furniture is in place.  Nothing is in it mind you, but it is in place lol!  The carpets have been cleaned, the upholstery on the lounge suite has been cleaned.  The pest controlling has been done. 

The party went well, Nathan had a great time and it we really enjoyed entertaining at our house even though there is still so much to be done here.  We are still facing a long haul, but are encouraged and will take it bit by bit.

Meanwhile we are counting our blessing that after an extremely rocky start and many close calls especially over the first ten years, God has kept Nathan in the palm of His hand through it all and brought him safely to this point.  We are indeed privileged to have this young man as part of our lives.