Yodl-Ay-EEE-Ooooo

Yodl-ay-eee-oooo its of to Switzerland we go! Yay!!! As you all know we are off on our skiing holiday on Friday. Last night we decided to get our gear out and see if it still fits. I was very relieved that mine was still fine and Chris' a bit big for him - all that training has certainly paid of one way or another.

We are going in a group to LAAX, which is a small village outside Zurich. It is near to the village Flims, where Chris enjoyed his first skiing holiday and learnt to ski with Eleanor 3 years ago.

This year, Europe has had a particularly bad snowfall but in recent weeks the snow has been good and we have all agreed that there is certainly something to be said for skiing toward the end of the season. For those of you that would like to see more about it visit www.laax.com

I must admit than amid all the excitement, I am also a little nervous... the whole theory that its "like riding a bike" - once you know how, you'll will always be able - I have yet to prove this theory to myself........

We will be staying in 2 adjoining apartments at Cassa Bella - this is a short walk from the ski lifts and best of all, we have a ski-in option. This means that when you have had enough skiing for the day you can go down the slope straight home with no waiting for buses etc.

Well done Shaun on all the organising!

Its a Jungle out there

One of the problems with "having your head in the clouds" is that you often forget what you have intended to do....

Whilst sorting though my photos to be printed I came across this photo taken on the 11th Jan! To take you back in time and paint the picture around my intention for the photo and supposed post on the blog here goes....

We have been away from home since the 26th Dec, Jhb has had a lot of rain, the Londoners get stranded in Jhb on their way home with Leo's measles. So we come back to Jhb to enjoy the bonus time with them and some unexpected time around the house. We have also not mowed the lawn since before the wedding pending a quick fix to the new lawn mower which on its highest setting still cuts the grass too short. Brett and Chris got stuck in doctoring the lawn mower while Lara and I did some grocerey shopping. With Emma to chivvy him along Chris decides to get stuck in and sort the jungle out. He soon realised that what we thought may be a small garden is plenty big enough especially when you have to do the mowing. Leo was also most intrigued by the lawn mower and for the duration of his stay with us if we asked him where Chris was he would imitate the sound of the lawn mower. Also, while we were away, we think the pool overflowed and this has caused some irreparable damage to the grass that was looking so great before we left.

Solution : buy more instant lawn and relay it and be ever so careful to keep the pool at the right level!

Back to Reality

We have been married just over 6 weeks now and although my head is still somewhere up in the clouds I realise its probably time to come back down to earth and face the real world again.

After the wedding, we came home so that a) Chris could get back to work for "close-out" & b) we could spend some time with the Smeetons (Chris' sister)

We had a lovely week at home with the family and an exciting Christmas. Santa made a brief stop here for Oliver & Xavier but thought he had better leave the bulk of their gifts in Bloomington due to luggage constraints. On boxing day we flew down to Durban for an extremely rushed 2 day visit with my family. We also got to meet the newest member of the tribe, Little Riley and she stole our hearts immediately! We spent a lovely day on the beach with the Londoners and Parnell girls.

On the 28th it was back to JHB and then off to the undisclosed honeymoon destination. I was convinced we were heading east to Thailand or Bali and Chris very cleverly managed to get us checked through to our final destination without spilling the beans. It was only when we got to the boarding gates that I found out we were of to MAURITIUS! Wow, we had an absolutely magical time. We stayed at La Pirogue and spent 10 days sunning/sleeping/reading/eating and drinking. Now you can understand why its so hard getting back to the real world. We got back to SA and still had a week of holiday time. We spent another 2 days in Durban and came rushing back to JHB when Brett & Lara were stranded here due to Leo getting measles. As horrible as it is that Leo wasn't well we were all too happy to have the opportunity to see a bit more of them.

Since the 15th its been "business as usual" I have had a slow work month but have taken the opportunity to get really settled at home, getting all the relevant parties have my name change details etc..........So here's to a less frantic 2007!

You better not doubt...... Santa came to town

We have been married for just over a week and been living in our house just over 2 months and stil Santa managed to find us.

For the first time in about 12 years all the Atkinson's are together for Christmas. We have been fortunate enough to spend our first Christmas in our new home with the Smeeton's (Chris' sister and family) and his folks.

Sadly Santa was not able to bring all the boys gifts over but he left them a note saying he had made a stop at their home in Bloomington as well.

Looks like he made a feast of the treats Oliver set our for him..........

Rumble Tumble

Last night after we had opened all our spoils, I got stuck in to pack it all away and turned around to see Rum Tum nestled into my wedding dress on the kitchen counter.

Now, I have never seen him on the counter before - even if there are dirty dishes around so I was very surprised and although it was a very sweet sight, it was most certainly not to be encouraged....

I quickly snapped the shot and then chivied him off the counter and covered the dress properly. (I had left it out with the full intention of taking it off to be cleaned)

Ag Shame!!!! Not allowed to attend the wedding and then chased off the dress and its just oh so comfy - what can I do MOM!!!

Spoilt Rotten

Well I think the pictures say it all!!!!!
We have been so spoilt and will thank you all appropriately when we return from our honeymoon in January

The Dust has Settled

Wow, what a year we have had! This past weekend we finally got married. What a fantastic weekend with all our nearest and dearest. The weather was really kind to us and we had a few drops of rain at the rehearsal on the Friday as well as on arrival to Moolmanshoek after photos. It is said that rain on you wedding day is a blessing, and we have truly been blessed by the rain at all the appropriate moments so to not disrupt the proceedings of the day.

No wedding is complete without a few minor hiccups.....
* Chris and Dion almost missing the service due to a flat tyre
* Brian O not having a tie from Euro Suit
* Max sticking her finger in the fan during the ceremony
* Mark & Jo shredding a tyre on the way home
these are just a few that we will all giggle about in years to come.

Plato said that we are born half a circle & spend most our lives seeking out our other half. Together we have found our other half and completed the circle.

Tree Frog ..... NOT

With Christmas just around the corner and us finally living in a free standing house with a garden with gigantic jacaranda tree, we decided to get into the Christmas spirit and put some lights in our tree. While at Makro today we deliberated on the length of the lights and felt that maybe the 45m would be too long. Eventually we decided to just go with the longer length and this afternoon Chris reverted back to his childhood and climbed into the tree to string the lights. We soon realised that in actual fact 45m is not that long but will do the trick for now. So a jolly HO HO....

Pamper time

Last Saturday, I was truly spoilt!!! In fact, not only once, twice but THRICE.

While in London, Lara, cooked a special breakfast and she and Emma then presented me with a lovely gift.

Then after Kelly & Rory's wedding we went through to Durban for the day. Shortly after we arrived at Mark's, the doorbell rand and low and behold there were the Hewisons and Merv. Melanie had managed to secretly get hold of some of the Durbanites and have a little get together for me. I was hugely surprised!! With hindsight, I must admit everyone had been a little out of character leading up to the weekend while making arrangements to get together for lunch, but never would I have thought that's what was cooking!

Finally JHB....With my bridesmaids so far away, Jeanie & Tracy K offered to organise a pamper party for me. Poor Jeanie had been given so many "DO NOTS" that I think she regretted her offer. I was adamant that I was not be dressed-up or made a fool of. When it came to reveling my spoils, I was to take a piece of paper from a bowl. Jeanie then read what had been written and I was to guess who it was from. The idea behind it was "remember when". Once I had successfully guessed who's remember when had been read, I was allowed to open the pressie. This is truly the nicest way to break the ice and for some of the girls to get to meet each other before the wedding. I am so blessed with fantastic friends and we had a very civilised afternoon-even though we had a little stripper. Thanks Luke for being the cutest bare body we could have wished for!

Homely bliss

I know it has been a while since our last update. Things in the "gonnabe" Atkinson household have been somewhat hectic to say the least. We finally moved into our mansion just over a month ago and have settled in rather well. As with all new builds and renovations we have had a few teething problems but fortunately nothing to drastic. I think the most amusing teething problem was the discovery of our heated toilets Thanks Shaun for finding it) The plumbers had somehow managed to plumb hot water to our 2 downstairs toilets. While the idea of how hygienic it could be we also realised how costly it could be. That has been rectified..... Other than that we had the odd leak etc.

During our first month here we have had little time to enjoy the fruits of our labour. With yet another trip to London for the Odendaal wedding, a trip to Natal for the Lindsay wedding, a trip to Ficksburg to organise our wedding, bachelor and pamper parties etc etc. Whilst we have been here, there have been odd jobs to perform around the house. Chris has got quite good at delegating others to use his tool box.

I will endeavour to try post some internal photos soon.....

Friend or Foe

Two weeks after we moved into our house we dashed of to London for Brian and Lisa's wedding. We had a fantastic trip albeit all to rushed with merely 2 nights there. We also had a lovely time with Brett, Lara and the kids. I have been especially lucky to have seen them 4 times this year. Shortly after we got home, I noticed some glass on the floor in my studio. After a little investigation, I discovered a bullet hole through the window. This is rather disturbing as it seems to have been deliberate rather than an accident. Why I say deliberate, is that there were in actual fact TWO shots fired. The first only damaged some plaster/paint work but the second has gone through the window, hit the ceiling and then wall finally landing on the floor. Our basic CSI has determined that it came from across the road at a slight angle. As far as suspicions go, we feel it may have been a disgruntled subcontractor who admitted to misleading me in his quote and then proceeded to overcharge us. As you can expect, Chris has refused to pay and hence this debacle.

STILL NOT

Well as you have by now guessed, we have once again moved the "move-in"date. Originally we were due in by 30 September (2006) and were assured that this was possibly right until the eleventh hour. We then set a new date as 13 October which has come and gone. The next date was to be the 19 October which will also come and go. We have set another date which we will now keep private in the hopes it doesn't get jinxed. So once we are in and life returns to some for of normality I will update you again.

As you can see, we have a garden and swimming pool. I must admit we were very excited on Friday when the grass was done as it transformed the place from a building site to a home. We have the sprinkler system up and running and hope to see the grass taking soon. As far as the interior goes, the kitchen still has 1 or 2 outstanding issues, the carpenter is just about done with the skirting and architrave. We need to seal the screed floors and the painters have a rather large snag list to work through.

In the meantime we have 7.5 weeks till our wedding. In these 7 weeks we need to

1. pack-up, move-in and unpack.

2. airdash to London for Brian & Lisa's wedding

3. airdash to Natal for Rory & Kelly's wedding

4. roaddash to Ficksburg for our wedding stuff

5. work/live/stay away from TARA/sort the wedding

so, if you can, please spare us a thought and send some positive energy to 42 Sixth Ave, Parktown North

Move IN ???

Here is the latest view from the north-west side of the house. We are so excited that in a matter of days now we will be able to move. As you can see, the majority of the paint work is complete and we expect final coat to be done by Friday. Most of the earth moving has been done already and we intend having all the levels sorted by the end of the week. Over the weekend we will get the irrigation system installed in anticipation of the grass being laid next week. The pool people have assured me they will also be done by the end of the week. Other activities lined up for the week are : garage automation, security and carpeting on Wednesday. Paving and balustrade on Friday,Saturday and Sunday. Final floor sanding and skirting by Friday. Snagging/patching/fixing next week and then move-in on Friday the 13th!!!!

For all the skeptics out there, our last move was also on Friday 13th and look at the luck it has brought us! (a beautiful house/engagement/new business venture/wedding & the promise of plenty happy days ahead)

3 Phase

There are many ways to "skin a cat" and yet another one of our debatable areas was what to do regarding electricity. Some advise we got was merely to stick to the current single phase and others was to upgrade to 3 phase. This didn't help us much as you can imagine and one may question consumption vs size of house etc. In light of the recent shenanigans in the Cape & the electricity "shortage" we have opted to use natural gas on most of our appliances (geysers/heaters/cooker). AND just in-case we in the process of installing a small generator. Despite all this we also decided to upgrade to 3 phase electricity. This become quite a task. They have had to dig up the pavement on both sides of 3rd Ave and push the cabling under the road. Thankfully, Vickus our "sparkie" did the majority of the leg work dealing with and chasing City Power and instructing us when to make the necessary payments.

Last week, Chris and I were at the house late in the evening, well after 5pm, most certainly not a time any contractors are usually on site when we saw movement near the electricity mainsbox. We went around the corner to find the chaps for City Power still working. They had committed to Vickus that we would be ready to go live by Friday and they kept their word. On Friday when I got there at lunch time the electricians were as pleased as punch as we now have POWER!

So, who do we thank? Not Boland bank....... Vickus and City Power!

The Countdown Begins

and you "all" said what's the panic you have a whole year ahead of you....

Well look at us now - 3 months to go till we are married! and the year has been a HECTIC one, with renovating, new business ventures,wedding planning etc etc etc.

The excitement has truly started. I managed to get the invitations finished during this week and amazingly enough got some help from the groom. I was so pleased with myself that I had to photograph the scene. We have also started delivering / mailing them. Before any of you get any ideas about lecturing me, we have been reminded time and again how busy December is and THIS is the reason for early invites.

My dress was pretty much on the back burner until I got the call to say the fabric for my bodice had arrived a few weeks early. I phoned Talya, who is making the dress and she said we can start as soon as she has the rest of the fabric. The littlies are on track, bar our shoe catastrophe for the girls. I had found beautiful shoes and ran around to get the various sizes only to find that not 1 pair is std sizing and therefore doesn't fit any of the girls. Never mind plan B has been set forth and alls well that ends well. The boys gear is basically sorted as well - thanks to woolies boys dept. Still on the hunt for little Leo's outfit but on top of it. Chris need a rev to himself and his guys organized.

Other than that, church is confirmed, the venue is booked and Chris & I are still mad about each other and our excitement grows daily as the countdown begins & we anticipate the fun we going to have with our nearest and dearest.

Swimming Pool

As you can see we have had a really busy week at 42 Sixth Ave! On Thursday, we started digging the pool. In the 2 days they have pretty much finished the digging and will place the steel on Tuesday and on next Thursday they will gunite. The gunite then has to cure for 10 days and with the rains on the way we will have to see when we can marbalite. We have tried to place the pool as close to the patio as possible. This will hopefully allow pool action and shade seekers to still socialise easily. I have watched the sun over the last few weeks and we seem to get sun on the pool for most of the day. The soil that has been removed from the pool will be spread around the garden to level out the fall of the land as best as possible. We have opted for smallish pool - 5x3m and 1050-1700 depth.
To summarise the rest of the action - rinolite, plaster and ceiling work continues at a slowish but steady pace. The stone work has made no progress and this has caused plenty aggravation. Electrical work continues and security ires etc all in place. The screeds are looking good and we all set for the painting to start next week. The doors are due to be installed on Thursday and Friday and we should then have a property that more resembles a house. The end is in sight....

The Wine Cellar

One of the things Chris has been "obsessed" about is his wine cellar. As you know, some months back, we dug out +2m underneath bedroom 3. The only problem was that we never settled on an entrance/access point. Many ideas have been thrashed out over the months but with completion time creeping closer, action had to be taken. An important factor to consider is that at this particular part of the house we have 3 levels.

1. The wine cellar under ground

2. Bedroom 3 at ground level

3. Main bedroom upstairs

Foundations and retaining walls are not to be tampered with or we may have an "all fall down"

There is light at the end of this tunnel though - we have decided to access the cellar from the patio outside bedroom 2&3. There will be a trap-door in the corner of the patio with some stairs leading into the 3x3m room. We have built shelving and a bench in-situ and before the stairs went in we had to put Chris' old desk inside. (Our home PC is now on the dining room table). Thembe - who works for Errol - and his team finished the stairs and cast the patio slab on Thursday. We now need to source the trap-door and alls well that ends well.

Simply Screed

One of the things we have always had our hearts set on is "tinted screeds". This has however proven to be a rather complicated process. A few Sundays ago we spent a few hours testing out different oxides as well as different application techniques. I was not convinced with the out come nor the colours, so during the week phoned around to try find out what the correct technique is. Greg and Mel also tried to help by explaining the technique they had used. I tried to explain to the "men" and my words fell on deaf ears. Naturally, this sent me back to the drawing board. I was starting to get desperate so I phoned around to get prices (labour & material) per m2 and was shocked to hear quotes ranging from R180 - R260 per m2.... I can get good Italian tiles for that. I also know that the labour only subies charge around R25 m2 and materials come to no more than R30 m2. I like to think I am not a fool and I am not prepared to be taken for a ride with such astronomical profit margins. Martin the plasterer has the technique but we had to get the colour right. All the oxides just didn't seem to suit the house. We wanted to try get a grey/white marbled effect and tried to find a white oxide - NO LUCK! I then had a brainwave - what about a mix of white & grey cement. In theory this would give that marbled effect. So off to the hardware to buy a bag of white cement - yes, you do get white cement, however it costs more than 3 times the price of standard grey cement. Anyways, I bit the bullet and loaded the 50kg bag into my car. The urgency was that on Thursday the cabling for the under screed heating was being laid and the screeding had to be done super fast to prevent damage to the cables. Martin got stuck-in and we are both very happy with the result. His rate is a far cry from the person who wanted to charge me R260 m2. Now we need to let it cure and seal it with a polyeurathane finish.

Before and Now

With the carport gone I am now able to get back into the north west corner of our property and show you what we have managed to "grow" in the 6 months since we started. There is still a huge pile of rubble in front of the garage which will all be carted away by end of Wednesday. The last column on the patio has to still be cladded but this will only be done once the gutter box, down pipe and solar heating pipes are in position. Thank goodness the cladding will cover all of that as they are not the most attractive features on the front facade of the house. We are still on track for starting painting internally and on the roof next Wednesday. Garden wise, our short term intention is to clear the mess, level the land and lay the grass just before we move-in. In time we will build up a garden that will hopefully be low maintenance.

My Sanity !!!

As we all know, renovating/building is generally a stressful task to undertake. Having heard many stories from many friends, Chris & I realise how fortunate we have been during our renovations. To date we have only fired the first project manager and this was only one week into the job. This doesn't mean that we haven't come close to firing others. Using labour only sub contractors is trying at the best of times and they tend to want to do the easy work first and pretend to not understand what you mean when you want the more challenging tasks completed. I must admit that on Monday last week was the first day that it all got too much for me and I had my first good drizz. This was when Errol stepped in again and lived up to his other nickname "Wilde Builder". There was a fair amount of shouting and many unhappy faces, but it seems to have had the desired effect. Of course there has always been the question of my sanity but one thing is certain and that is without Errol it is almost guaranteed that I would be in Tara and the keys chucked away!

All the commotion got the guys got going and by Saturday the majority of the plaster work was done and the only other brick work is the wine cellar entrance as well as the wall between the garden & garage. This wall can only be built once the pool has been dug.

So as it stands for now this is the short term programme:
plastering to be completed by Wednesday
rinolite to start on Wednesday
prep for roof painting started today
pool digging starts Thursday/Friday
underscreed heating to be laid on Thursday
floors to be screeded on Friday onwards
internal painting starts next Wednesday
all doors/windows to be completely installed by next Friday
kitchen cabinets start 28th

This leaves us with a month till expected completion date!