Some photos
Wool soaker (nappy cover) for baby
Caleb's new jumper. It's got a bit of growing room. 
Caleb's Duplo bridge
So just how hard is it to get your lawn mowed?
It's been ages since I blogged. I had to take it up again just so I could tell this long, twisted tale. And it ain't even finished yet!
So a friend of mine started a gardening co-op group on Facebook a few weeks ago. Basically we all go around to each other's houses and do some gardening work together and get heaps more done in one day than one person could get done over a longer period of time. And I volunteered to have the first one here, because of so many reasons. I'm pregnant again (did I mention that?) so I haven't been able to do much. And Darrin's driving a bus all the way at the other end of the city, and away from home for up to 15 hours a day sometimes, for 5 days a week, so he can't do much either. Things are seriously falling behind here. The grass is up to 40 cm high in some places, and the dandelions - you don't even want to know. And now the sour sobs are starting up for the winter too. So something seriously needs to be done.
I didn't think it was fair to have everyone come over and make them mow my jungle of a lawn, so I started looking for lawnmowing services to come do it. On Friday the 8th, I contacted one that slashed the lawn about a year and a half ago and was told that someone would contact me. And several days went past. So I emailed them again on Thursday the 14th, and the guy said that someone would contact me soon, and he did. He left a message on my phone to ring him back. Rang back immediately and got voicemail. Sent an SMS. Next morning I still hadn't heard anything more from him so I rang again. He said he could come over Saturday just after lunch.
Now here's the problem. My gardening day was supposed to be Saturday at 11 am. The mowing has to be done before anything else can be. So I postponed the gardening day till Sunday. So far, so good. Sunday actually worked better for some of the people who were planning to come.
Saturday came. I went out in the morning to do some shopping, came home, and we had lunch. And we waited. And waited. And waited.
The guy never turned up. Never even rang or texted to say he couldn't/wouldn't be here. I've heard NOTHING from him at all. That company has lost my business (and if you're in Adelaide and ask me nicely, I'll tell you who they are so you can avoid them too, but I don't want to post their name here in case they decide to sue me for libel or something).
Anyway. So that evening I looked up a few other local businesses. I contacted three of them and heard from two almost right away. One said he could come to do a quote Sunday afternoon, and I told the other one Monday morning. The Sunday guy texted me early in the afternoon to ask if he could come Monday instead, so I said that was fine, but it would need to be afternoon. No problem - at least he bothered to contact me.
And now it's Monday morning. About half an hour ago, I was sitting here at my computer, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walk past the window. WHAT THE?! My first thought was that the morning guy forgot/neglected to text me before he came over, because he hadn't rung the doorbell or knocked or anything first. I went to get my keys and watched him write something on a piece of paper, just outside the lounge room window, then walk down the driveway and stick something in the letterbox before crossing the street back to his vehicle. I waited a couple minutes, then walked out to check what it was.
It was NOT the Monday morning mower guy. It was the third one of the three I'd contacted Saturday evening, the one I never heard anything from. He thought he could just turn up at my house, look at my lawn, leave a note, and it would all be okay. Yeah, because I like random strangers walking past my window and freaking me out.
Not that I'm going to hire him after the lack of contact, but his hourly rate is lower than others I've hired in the past. But only by five dollars. And he said to ring him after Wednesday NEXT WEEK. Okay, so he wants his Easter break, fair enough. Doesn't help me now though.
Now the original Monday morning guy turned up, and sent me a text beforehand! and came to the door! and told me a really low price! and said he could do it this week! Very tempting indeed. I think it's because he's just starting up and trying to get known - a general handyman business. I had to tell him I'm waiting for one more quote so I'll let him know later today. But just between you and me - I think he's going to get the job.
It didn’t look that nice when we lived there…
125 Glynburn Road, Glynde, SA has NOT been torn down. Very much the opposite. And that price tag is over 2.5 times what we were paying when we left there.
Not completely random, but close enough.
I keep getting really weird, almost-legitimate comments posted on my blog. And then I look at the URL they've entered and yup, spam. Thought I'd share a few with you just for a laugh.
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Huh?
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Too much information.
See you in 2012.
Not if I see you first.
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Uh, thanks, I think.
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I'd be grateful if you learned how to spell. And use proper punctuation.
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Yeah, and...?
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Lost in translation?
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That one makes my eyes hurt. A LOLcat could write better than that.
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This one was on a Farm Macheenery (exploding) issue. Nobody's ever called it beautiful before.
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Move on from spam? Yes please.
The Commode is dead. Long live the Commode! *
Yep, you read that right. The car we bought four and a half years ago has finally bitten the dust. Or near enough. Darrin was driving back from orienteering yesterday afternoon and the radiator sprung a leak. (Hmm, our last car died coming back from orienteering too. Coincidence? Anyway....) So he crawled back to Riverton after adding more water (we were staying with his mum for the weekend) and he & John looked at it this morning. Yep, there's a leak. And now comes an interesting little tip for a leaky radiator: pepper. Pour it into the radiator and apparently it plugs the hole long enough for you to get it home/to a repairer/somewhere you can deal with it. So they poured pepper in (and I could really smell it when I was out there!) and with that, or the cooler day, or both, we were able to get it home in one piece without anything exploding.
It's 20 years old, so really not worth fixing. So now begins the process of talking to the bank to see how much of a loan they'll give us for a new(er) one. That or refinance the house, because the land value at least has gone up since we bought the property. We've currently got our eye on a 2007 Suzuki SX4 AWD. Caleb said we should get a red car, so, you know, we're not ones to disappoint our son.
Of course, if we get that one, I'll finally have to learn how to drive a manual properly....
* Intentional typo. Because it's, well, crap.
Our next big home improvement project
Ripping out the carpet in the lounge and the linoleum? in the dining room, sanding down the boards underneath, then painting them.
Approximate cost:
24 hour hire of a floor sander: $95
24 hour hire of a 2 cubic metre skip (dumpster): $130
10 litre can of floor paint: $60 (may need 2)
But I'm afraid I don't know when exactly we'll be doing it, because it depends on a) when we have the money, b) when we can get the equipment, c) when we can be bothered.
Knee high by the fourth of…December?!
Yes, we have sweet corn growing in our back yard. And despite the temperatures rising to as high as 44.1, it's doing really well. A couple of the plants are already knee high.
Also have some capsicum plants and one (out of six planted) bean plant. The cucumber plants all died within a couple days of planting. And there's a couple new potato plants coming up as well.
And...somehow a peach seed managed to find fertile enough ground within a metre of my compost heap. So I've got the one I planted last autumn, and now another much smaller one. Go figure.
Writer’s block
Day 5 and I've already got it. Pretty pathetic. I even had something great I thought of when I was at the shop across the road tonight, but can I remember it now? Of course not.
Ah well.