Timothy's Room is done...

Displaying a small amount of his gems, rocks and minerals...

Must have lots of pillows... lol

Wow, how clean is that???

I have been doing his room for a while now. Little by little... Only problem is that there was so much dust in there that I kept giving up. Russell was kind enough last weekend to get all the stuff out of his room and off the floor so that I could slowly keep going. But with a more steady 'have a go' attitude. Well it worked and the end result has been fantastic.

I love his room and Timothy does as well. He keeps commenting on how beautiful it is. I am glad as an Asperger's boy it was very, very hard for him to let me in there in the first place. He wanted everything the way it was for the last six months but that just was not happening anymore. On the other hand I am glad that I did take my time in the end as he saw the little progress that I would make each day and get used to it that way, in his own way.

The last two days have had the most dramatic changes and I am glad that he has responded to the changes as well as he did. He is growing up, my boy...

I am also very proud of him for listening to me about where things go and what he needs to do in order for the room to stay in the condition that he now loves. He also loves to spend time in there now which is nice to see. :)

I am sooooo determined not to let it get the other way again. I think also that he is as well as he could see the huge difference it made. It was also great to go through the whole room, from top to bottom and redo it as though he had just moved in. Was very refreshing to do. Charity is also very happy with me. :)

Cheers Damaris

Celebration Time...

This is what my family looked like when we left Austria...

Today my immediate family and I celebrate our Arrival in Australia, 27 years ago... How the time has flown. My mum still remembers the rainy day we arrived. Had to circle for 20 minutes in the plane before we could land. Then once landed we had to wait for our 17 pieces of luggage... Oh boy... Then later the two huge crates arrived that my parents had shipped over via sea. Was like Christmas opening them up. Amazingly from what I remember only one thing got broken out of all our stuff in there... Was amazing. My dad did a fantastic job in building those crates and a great packing job was done. :)

Things have changed so much during that time... All five kids are now all grown up and are married. Amazing how fast it all changes. But wouldn't want to have grown up anywhere else... I know my heritage is from Austria and am very proud to be born there but am now an Aussie through and through. That is except Vegemite, don't get that stuff anywhere near me. Oh and jelly...

Cheers Damaris

New Freezer...

My new freezer... Loving it. :)

As you know from an earlier post a very good friend of mine, Adam, is moving to Melbourne this week. Well he had to get rid of a freezer that he had so I offered to buy it off him...

It will fit Sausage in perfectly when he goes to the butcher in early July. hehe

Cheers Damaris

Gettin Crafty...

Have had an itching going on at my place. I can't wait to finish going through the whole of Timothy's room and decluttering it madly as we 'speak' so that I can get on with my painting table. I can't wait to get it in order so that I can do more stuff like in my piccies... I love having these around the house to show me that I can do it but really, really need to get back into it all. I have not really done anything since leaving Brisbane so it is time...

Hopefully that will happen within the next couple of weeks. Only have a little left to go on Timothy's room and getting more ruthless with his stuff as I go along. Hope he likes the end results...

Cheers Damaris

Archery update...

Joshua doing his stuff, before the real target was completed...

Both the boys and Russell have really taken to the sport. They are off again this morning to go for more practice and lessons. They are enjoying it and finding it very rewarding. Timothy is turning out to be a little less interested then the other two though. Don't know what to do about that one. He was soooooo anxious to get his gear and now that he has it he is only interested for a little while and then just comes back inside. Annoying really.

Russell threatened to sell his gear this morning as he had asked if he HAD to go to Warwick with them to do Archery. He is wanting to be on the computer. I realise this is his safety zone but I need him outta there as well as I am redoing his room at the moment and don't need him under my feet. So what to do... Russell and Joshua are enjoying it immensely but Timothy is very 'whatever' about it. I know another trait of AS but is annoying all the same. We will see in time I guess and worst comes to worst we can just sell his stuff... So fickle. If only I could get into that head of his and find out what he is really thinking. So hard to get him to explain why he reacts certain ways. But is getting better all the same too which is good to see...

Cheers Damaris

Too many males...

This boy is going...

Coco has to stay, Timothy's orders...

Bantam rooster is going...

Proudy is going...

This one is a menace, going...

Bruce, our first and stayer...

Lion is staying for the bantams...

Spot, Timothy's favourite is a stayer...

So here are some of my boys. Many will go, only two large and two small will stay. They can do all the work and then I will have allot less agro. They are fighting allot and being rough on the girls I have noticed in the last week or two. Unfortunately I can only go to the Pig n Calf during the school holidays so the boys and I will be offloading quite a few this time. :) Can't wait for another three weeks and they will be gone. :) Come to think of it, the noise first thing in the morning will be better and allot less too. Another winner...

I have one last lot of four babies in the bathroom at the moment and then that is it till spring. Gets too cold otherwise from having them inside to going outside. Don't want them to have a shock.

The reduction of males should see the girls wanting to lay a bit more too. I have in total about 40 chooks at the moment and have some purebred pullets coming as well. Six of them I think. Don't know might get more yet... (Don't tell Russell, hehe) At the moment I am only getting about 8 eggs a day though. Not good... Doesn't leave me allot for bartering but getting there. :)

Cheers Damaris

200kWh Target has been reached...

My lovely solar meter. :)

Well there we have it. We have had 200kWh from the solar system that we had installed on 20 January 2010. And it only took 599 hours to get to that. How fantastic is that??? Really fantastic, that's what...

I am very happy that this week our meter would have been read. Yesterday in fact. Which means our bill should be about $175 which will be down from $208.75 last quarter. I am extremely happy with that. We have only had the system for six weeks and only just only two weeks with the new meter. And down $40 in our bill. And that is with most of that time we have had allot of rain and cloudy weather too. Woohoo...

Sorry to brag but very happy about it all.

With my aim to put as much solar into the grid during the day, I am getting used to washing only at night and making bread as the sun sets. All is working out well so far. Your whole thinking has to change and you have to remember that you can't just put on what you want when you want. But the way I look at it is that I am putting more into the grid and therefore getting more money for the power I do put into the grid. Gotta be happy with that.

I can't wait to get my electricity bill. :) Have also been advised that from 1 July 2010, electricity in Queensland will be going up by 13%. Only has to go through Parliament. Am very happy that I have my panels, that's for sure. Just hope that the solar kWh also goes up from 44c/kWh seeing power is going up... Doubt it but would be nice. :)

Cheers Damaris