They're back...renovations continue...

Lani and the kids have been back at home for a week now. It is good to have them home again. The car trip home from the airport was a bit funny. I had peace and quiet for a week while they were away and within a few minutes in the car James and Jazz were already arguing about something.

Earlier in the week I paid for a family membership down at the local tennis club up to the end of June. I took the kids down to the courts for a hit and they still have a long way to go. Hopefully they will continue to give it a go and improve their game.

We have arranged for the tiler to do our main bathroom and laundry floor tiles in 2 to 4 weeks time, depending on the weather. So I have been busy again this weekend pulling up floor tiles and the cement bedding underneath. Today I also cut and chipped away the cement casing of the pillars out the front of our house. All that remains is the steel poles that ran down the middle of the pillars. We plan to encase the poles with something else more modern. I will be glad when the bathrooms are all complete. It has been hard work and quite tough on my back with all the bending/squatting down. Next weekend I am definitely planning to go to the beach with the family and we might even get some fishing in. There is still plenty to do…painting…plastering…sanding…maybe stick up some wall tiles. All jobs which Lani is quite good at thankfully.

I spoke to Mum on the phone tonight. Mum and Dad are in Tasmania on a tour for 12 days. They caught a bus from Sydney to Melbourne, cruised across to Tasmania on the boat and after tripping around Tasmania on a coach and some river cruises they will return to Sydney on the Spirit of Tasmania.

Brief catch up

Been quite busy lately renovating the bathroom and doing some jobs around the house. The main bathroom has been a little bit harder to renovate. I had to replace some water damaged floor and pull the shower walls away because the tiles were really well stuck down. Unfortunately in the process of pulling one wall down, the edge banged into the ensuite wall and cracked one of our new tiles. Just a little more extra work to do.

Talking about extra work, I also planted a row of Murraya (hedging bush) out the front of our house and while breaking up the garden soil I smashed a hole through a drainage pipe. That resulted in a trip to the hardware store for some plumbing bits and another hour or so digging around the pipe and repairing it.

Lani and the kids are currently in Canberra staying with Krysti and her kids while John is in Japan for a week. Last weekend they went to Sydney for a bit of a Tang family reunion. Apparently they all had a good time catching up.

I was thinking of going for a paddle on my wave ski on the weekend but luckily I heard on the radio that the beach was closed due to packs of sharks chasing bait fish near the beach. I did give some consideration to going fishing instead and hooking up on some sharks but the weather looked a bit ordinary and I needed to keep working on the bathroom.

Got some bad news at our monthly company meeting last Friday. As part of a company growth strategy we are going to relocate in around 6 months time to a more up-market location somewhere between Brisbane city and the airport. Unfortunately that will probably mean a commute of at least 1 hour each way, plus double the travel cost.