Men are from Mars!

Now it has been a while since my last post - so much has happened.

We have had visitors from the Mainland and all sorts of Soccer and Family stuff.

In between all that I have been trying to convince my husband to buy a home.

So far the only response I get is <Asbestos>.

Yes I know Asbestos is bad for you.

But really, is that an excuse not to buy a home?

We had a building inspection on the home we looked at - see previous post.

It was an ok inspection - things came up that I knew about - but Asbestos wasn't one I had expected.

The home does need renovating - it REALLY needs kitchen and bathroom makeovers. So that is a major cost when you factor in the Electricity box needs to be moved outside and the asbestos needs to go.

There isn't that much Asbestos - just in the Laundry, a couple of panels in the rear of the house and under the front porch.

I think the issue isn't just Asbestos but all the other stuff that needs doing as well.

The other night as I lay snuggled up to the Martian I was (in my mind) positioning the furniture in the new home. I was working out whose bedroom was whose and where I would put the lounge and dining furniture, how I could accommodate my business without impacting on living space etc etc.

I was musing on paint colors, how I could improvise in the kitchen short term using the furniture from the period so we didn't have to redo the kitchen straight away.

How I would change the name of the business to the name of the house and improve on the quality of stock.

I am a great stretcher of money - amazing - I can make it stretch even further when I have a task or goal in mind.

I am happy to get my hands dirty and am not afraid of hard work.

I think the Martian is the opposite - he doesn't want to partake.

I look at the positives, the potential, the ability to improve.

He looks at the hard manual labour he may be subjected to. The disagreements we may have when I want to him to do things - now. He is a Nyoongar so he works on Nyoongar time.

He will do it ..... it may take a week, a year or even longer.

Thats where the frustration on my part kicks in.

So the Martian would prefer to abstain from anything that may mean he has to physically do something. Ask him to do soccer related or AFL related tasks and he will move mountains to do them.

Ask him to vacuum and he will go walkabout. Literally.

So as I drifted off to sleep snuggled up to his back, I realised that while I was renovating the house in my head he was thinking about football.

I did the unthinkable yesterday......

I went to an open home!

I have always just stalked a house on the net preferring to ogle from afar but yesterday was different.
The inspection time suited me - I dropped the boys at soccer and went for a chai latte at Swamp cafe then visited this home.

It has all the "I wants" in a house. It has 2 bathrooms, air conditioning, character, it is low set (single level, no stairs), brick, no lawn to mow, off street parking, big shed, polished floors.
It does need work - painting, kitchen, guttering and some minor alterations to get it to how we could best utilise the space.

It is on a main road, and that is not a negative either - I could run my business from there..... it is close to Mackenzie's school, bus route and shops, with a walk to the markets or Aurora Stadium.

Invermay has always been on my list of places to live - providing it is the dry side of Invermay.

So now I just have to convince Michael that this house is it..... hopefully he will get a look through this week.

If you saw Mackenzie you would wonder if he is mine.....

My children do not look like me. 

Madison is so much like her father - I didn't get a look in.

She has his legs (lucky for her), his eyes and nose and chin and widows peak (even though I have one), the only thing I may have contributed to is her boobs (and they are really hand me downs from her Nana).

Mackenzie is so much like his father - the only thing I

 may have had anything to do with is his nose!

He has gorgeous olive skin, dark eyes an athletic figure

 and ability (I joke and say he got this from me).

One thing both the kids seem to have got from me is their personality.

Madison can be quite shy sometimes (so can I - although some of you would be laughing right now) and other times she can be very confident and capable. She is happy to argue the point and can hold an adult conversation. She is the eccentric one (another hand me down from Nana) and comes up with some weird and wonderful ideas. She is forever telling me of her crazy dreams and is able to recall them in vivid detail.

She is brave enough (or stupid enough) to take off to Hobart without really knowing someone and makes friends and stays there for weeks. She has no idea how gorgeous she is and has the ability to look good in anything she wears.

Mackenzie is so much like me at times it is quite frustrating!

He is a Soccer Boot stalker on the internet. 

So he will spend hours trawling the websites of ALL Soccer Boot shops who deliver to Australia..... and I mean ALL. Then he will make you look at all the pairs he has picked out hoping you will buy a pair for him.

Last night on the way to the shops we went past a house that is for sale in Invermay. 

I said to Michael - "thats the house I have been stalking." He asks "how can you stalk a house?" 

Mackenzie answers - "on the internet Dad - just like me with Soccer Boots." 

We had to laugh. 

Michael said " I keep telling you that he is so much like you!"

Anyhow I had better do some work.... I may continue this theme later!

Letter to the Editor No.3

Amazing! So you have to pay someone from Sydney to assess the clock? Just because you have some complaints from a few Quest guests? I live in town and yes I have already voiced my opinion on this matter but I am also a business owner who relies on the tourist dollar to earn a living. The tourists who visit my shop always complain loudly about parking, the lack thereof of free parking and the cost to shop when you park in the city. So if you are going to consider silencing the clock how about stopping the parking fees that stop the many tourists visiting my shop and the CBD! Don't stop the clock for a few Hotel guests - stop the parking fees for the many hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit our City!

So.... in this market - is Rent to Own an option?

Just putting it out there!

I am so sick of the rental roundabout. Not that we have been doing it long but I am frustrated with the inability to improve the property.

On the mainland there are many options to Rent to Own. You can pay a high rent and a percentage of it becomes your deposit when you eventually purchase the property. I have been reading up on it a bit and I have devised my personal wish list of "Rent to Own"

• The house has to be habitable
• Pay market rent plus $1000 per month (as deposit)
• Agree on a purchase price and sign a contract accordingly (could be slightly inflated to reflect increases in property values)
• Settle within 2-3 years.
• be able to improve the property as we live there - achieving two things 1. hopefully an improved value creating more equity later and 2. making it ours
• be in Launceston or within an easy commute to the CBD

As previously confessed I am a realestate.com.au addict. Over the months of trawling the site I have seen regular homes remain on the market and are still on the market today. Some have been empty for all that time. There doesn't appear to be anything "wrong" with them ..... maybe they are a tad overpriced or lack some of the wanted space or convenience the buyers want. Maybe they need some TLC or are missing a perceived necessity like car parking - who knows but why isn't there an alternative to remaining vacant and unsold???

I am putting it out there because I want the opportunity, NOW, not in 3 years time when the business can show the figures the Banks want. Not when I have paid out more than a deposit in rent year after year and have nothing to show for it, surely there has to be a way.....

The last straw!

My weekend was going along fine till my 17 yr old daughter went out Saturday night.


To say we have been having issues with her is an understatement. If you call dropping out of school, running away to the south of the state and existing on no funds, food or shelter is normal then I want the not normal, thank you! 


She was going to come home on Saturday night (97% sure according to her) and would probably start heading home around 12.30am, so I text to see if she would like a lift, but no she was walking with a friend. Friends are all nameless too BTW. So I went to bed and did the one eye open, one eye shut thing until 3am when she let herself in, put the hall light on..... walked around, turned the light off and then I heard the clunk of the back door..... she let herself OUT! So I text asking what she was up to and she said she had come to get some clothes and would be home tomorrow. No point arguing or replying on my part.... I don't matter, she doesn't care. 


So I get up and start to get ready for work on 5 hours sleep and guess what?? My make up is gone!! Some may say this is trivial, but to those who do their face every day, it is the last straw!! I tried calling (no answer) I tried texting (no reply), called again, got a text back saying she did have the make up - sorry. Asked her to bring it back, so sorry was the response. Asked where she was so I could go collect - sleeping sorry bye xo - came back. Sent her a swearing text (I don't normally swear) telling her to answer the f.....g phone and she did. 


Then I lost it. 


I burst into tears and told her I wanted my make up back (really I wanted my daughter back) and how unhappy I was .... and how I needed my make up to go to work (really I needed her to come home). She hung up on me, switched off her phone and went back to sleep.


I rang my husband, still in tears, and told him she had my make up (sounds funny now) and how could I go to work without my face on. He was ready to come home and help me (don't know how) but fortunately I found some leftovers in a box I was supposed to go through and throw out 5 yrs ago. So I regained my composure, applied my professional face and went to work.


She arrived home around 4 pm as if nothing happened. Amazing! 


I know in the face of all that is going on in the world this may appear minor and it is in comparison to other things we have gone through with her but sometimes you can only take so much when you have already been hammered with the lot before. 


I know now, today, that my reaction was hormone induced. I had an idea it might be, but tough, I am over her disruptive ways.

What came first the Hotel or the Clock??

"Does Ivan Dean have the experience of hearing the clock after midnight? 

We live in town and are just 2 blocks from the town clock and after midnight the clock only chimes on the hour.

If you come to visit it is part of the Launceston experience. Surely the Hotels have the ability to reduce the "noise" levels by double glazing, heavier window furnishings etc, and shouldn't this have been factured in when they were originally developed? Has the noise levels of the town clock been measured? And if so what was the result? And while you are at it can you also do the local Niteclubs, Pubs, loud cars etc that DO wake us up? This is a waste of resources and council time, when there are more important issues that need addressing in this city ,than the toll of a bell!"

I get on my soap box every now and then - this week it was the town clock and last year was the assault of my 16yr old daughter in broad daylight in the Launceston Mall (a story for another time). But if I feel strongly about an issue I will write to the editor of our local newspaper.