End of week 12!

 Firstly I just want to send love and a special birthday wish to my youngest son in Australia, Jesse who turns 25 today.  I Hope to catch you on skype sometime over the weekend darling, miss you heaps, enjoy your day.

 

Where does the time go.... it has been 5 weeks since I last gave you an update on Gamla Pósthúsið renovations.  However during this time it has been mainly hidden work and not a lot of external changes to show until this week, although men have been here every working day...doing stuff!

In the last few weeks it seemed to be mainly electrical and plumbing that has taken up most of the hours in each day.

a lot of electric cables were going into walls

 and ceilings. 

 

Plumbing outlets installed in the walls, bathrooms and kitchens

and an air tunnel for the fan installed from the bathroom to outside.

 

Once all the cables were in the walls the painter came along 

filling and sanding in readiness for painting.

 Parts of the ceiling where the beams are

 were prepared 

 for boxing in.

In between all this the painter has been here everyday (even on public holidays, it is now 8am Sat and he is here now) sanding, priming and undercoating...

The framework for the ceiling was added whilst waiting on the electricians

Once the electricians were finished the ceilings could be put in place.

 

 View from apartment 1 entry

View from bedroom of apartment 1 through to the bathroom.

View from main entry to apartment 2

View from apartment 2 to the main entry

View towards entry door from apartment 1

Kitchen area of apartment 2

Lounge dining area of apartment 2

Each bathroom has space to eventually house a washer/dryer

the shower recesses has been waterproofed

The bathroom tiles have been delivered in readiness for tiling next week.

The end to the renovations I sense are not too far away...it is exciting but scary at the same time...so much to do and prepare for.  I am pretty sure there will be plenty to reveal next week.

So until then enjoy your weekend!

A Black Pearl

Firstly a birthday wish to my youngest, Jesse turned 24 on Thursday, we had a great chat via skype and I got to talk to his lovely girlfriend Michelle who he met not long after I left for Iceland...hopefully she will be able to visit here with him at Christmas and we get to meet in the flesh.

This is a gorgeous photo of Jesse and Michelle at the Premiere of Little Sparrows in Perth (not often I get to see Jesse in a suit). source

 

 I have a new friend, her name is Perla, (pronounced something like per-dla) Icelandic for pearl.
She is staying with me for the weekend to see if we are a good match together....so far it is looking good.  Perla is a black Labrador, has a very gentle nature, is friendly, well mannered and quiet...a good companion.  Her family are moving to the big smoke, Reykjavik, (which is as big as you get in Iceland, only about one eighth of the population of Perth, West Aust) they will be renting a house and sadly unable to take her with them and have asked me if I would like her.  She has grown up with babies and children, so will be fine when I get to babysit Henry (hint, hint Olga & Ross) and she gets on well with Nina (her sister, different litter), they play boisterously but nice and friendly together.

Perla

you can definitely see the family resemblance in her little sister Nina

Perla and I went for a walk to the beach yesterday, it was such a beautiful sunny day with just a few clouds here and there.

 

 Perla had a good run fetching a bit of driftwood as we walked along the shore.

I have pretty much always had a dog in my life.  From when I was about 4 years old I remember my dad's dog (Stumpy) a Blue Heeler cross, then the Corgies my mother had (Penny and Soxie), and once I left home and married I picked up a stray Rhodesian Ridgeback cross (Rupert) and then had 2 more Rhodesian Ridgebacks later on (Mica and Peggy) plus also throw in a couple of Jack Russell's along the way (Jack and Buster). Then add my very favourite of them all, my last dog Teresa, a Keeshond, she was from the pound and approx 5 years old, I initially got her for the children who were inconsolable after their Peggy died, but Teresa was really my dog from the start, there was a connection between us that was pretty special...when I collected her from the pound she just ran straight to me, jumped up and said, 'what took you so long'...that was about 1995...after she died in 2000 I could not bring myself to get another dog...it just would not be the same, so I decided that if I ever did end up with another, the dog would have had to find me.  Perhaps she has...

Happy Birthday Jess the Mess!

Whilst I certainly loved the times when my four children were younger, I have to say I have really enjoyed watching them become young adults...it is such a joy to quietly observe them discovering who they are...the 20's are fast becoming my favourite time.  I have learned so much from them along the way...they inspire me and I hope keep me young at heart.

Today the baby of my flock turns 23.  Happy Birthday Jesse!

As often happens with the youngest child I don't seem to have a huge collection of paraphernalia of Jesse's,  not that I think it is all my fault...he was not one to sit quietly and draw or write stories like Ross...and school was never his preferred choice....Jesse is a doer...he was always an outside boy in the dirt, in the mud at the local clay pits, digging holes, creating mayhem, falling out of trees or re-landscaping my backyard with jumps for his neighbourhood BMX bikeriding friends!

 Mud is obviously still a winner!

Jesse from an early age was quite an entrepreneur and in first grade created a few quick drawings and together with his cute smile and fast talking ways was able to make quite a tidy profit selling these 5 minute masterpieces to his teachers.  They all succumbed and bought off him the first day but were not quite so willing to part with their money the next day when he tried the same tactics again.

He was always a bit of a terror, the cheekiest child in a cute way and got up to a fair bit of mischief but he always learned from these mis-adventures and has a real sense of who he is and what he wants out of life. 

Although he does not suffer fools easily, if you earn his respect...you will have it for all time!

 As he has matured he's learned that you can't have your cake and eat it...although he will give it a jolly good try!

Jesse is a young man who likes boyish things, having fun and partying hard.

But he is also a reliable, hardworking, sincere and sensitive bloke, who is maturing into quite the young man!

This year I asked what he wanted for his birthday and was expecting something to do with music or his car...but no... he asked for new bedlinen! WOW I wasn't expecting that one!  But he insists on picking it out himself as I have never been forgiven for buying him a doona cover a few years ago that he says is pink...however I disagree...it is multi coloured stripes...and just one of the many stripes happens to be pink! 

Jesse has always been an independent being, as soon as he completed his apprenticeship and became a fully fledged mechanic he moved out of home (about 2 years ago) and now shares a house with good mates from primary and high school days...Mitch being one of those neighbourhood BMX bikeriding friends and Will who's birthday is also this week...Happy Birthday Will!

However Jesse is always available if I call and need a hand, he is the man about the house when something needs fixing, undoing or assisting me in the garden and he is always willing to bail his sister out of car trouble if the need arises...like he did a couple of weeks ago when her power steering belt went and she thought it had something to do with her having the heater on high!!!!

Creativity is an important part of a balanced life and all my children explore this in one form or another, Jesse mixes his own music...I call him the DJ Mechanic...I know he is groaning now...sorry Jesse!

This is a fuzzy grainy little video that Jesse took of himself last year, the first night he was in Iceland for his brother Ross's wedding, it was the early wee hours of the morning (remember 23/24 daylight) everyone else had managed to fall asleep except Jesse, he is just so cute and now until the day I die the song Mint Julep will always for me be associated with him....be warned there is a little swearing!

Tonight Jesse and I will have dinner together...it will be just the two of us (a bit of one on one time) as older brother Dom is in Melbourne, sister Eva is at the Cannes Film Festival and Ross is in London...I am giving the man meat and cooking a roast as I know he loves that...and tomorrow night we will go bedlinen shopping together. 

Happy birthday darling...see you tonight!