Thursday 31 October 2013

October report

Today is the last day of October.  For the past 31 days it has been busy in this household with normal
start of crochet blanket
commitments, appointments and keeping this property respectful for protential buyers to inspect the place.

My evenings have been busy, crocheting up some granny squares while watching TV. I am now half way of a bed size after joining 36 coloured squares together. Hopefully I will finish before real summer arrives. Also I managed on a weekend to do an ATC jam swap for an online group I am a member at. 

Because I haven't regularly visited the local craft store to do my casual sit and scrap for two months now, it was time to call in to visit as the ladies missed me. On 22 October I visited the store for two hours for a good catch up and let them know what's been happening in my life.

After a two week school holiday, QLD students resumed back to school for term 4 on 8th October. Yesterday I received a surprise postcard from school.  Apparently my 13yo achieved well academically in two subjects in term 3.  I don't know what assessment piece of work was involved.  All I know she got a B+ in SOSE and an A for English. I wasn't sure if they had the right student in their records!  An A for English is abit hard to believe, consider she struggles with writing and reading at school.

Due to the moving arrangements, I will have to change schools for her too.  But because it's so late in the year to changeover now, it's better to make a new start in a new environment in 2014.  We found a new school which we feel it will suit her for her needs.  The enrollment number of students attending to this school is alot lower compared to where she is currently at. For the past two weeks we have been going here one morning a week for a transition program.  Normally this is for year 7 into year 8 but because we are moving to an area where she doesn't anyone, the school recommend for us to attend as well.  Most teachers take her as a primary school student because she is quite short for her age.

After the protential buyer had a change of heart and terminated the contract in September, we had 5 more protentials came in to inspect the property.  We may finally success in the sale as we signed the contract on Monday. The building and pest inspection was redone again yesterday.  The buyer was here at the time of the inspection was done and he seem to still be interested in buying this property.  I did overhear some parts of the conversaton between the inspector and the buyer on what changes can be made.  I take it's a good sign we found the buyer!!  At time of departure the buyer did ask if we could leave the birds here as his son loves them!! But I will wait until the two weeks under contract deal passes before I believe the sale is for real!!

At the beginning of the month, my 15 yo had bowled her perfect game "300".  It's the highest scratch game you can bowl.  For non bowlers it means she bowled 12 strikes in a row.  Generally male bowlers with close to or over 200 average came bowl 300 games more then a female can.  I was told she is the first female junior to bowl an extreme high game at that centre.  Also she is recorded at the bowling organisation. Go to http://www.tenpin.org.au/index.php?id=1019  to view how many bowlers have bowled the perfect game this year.

On the first weekend of October she had a major bowling tournament played in Brisbane for two days.  There were ten centres from Brisbane, Toowoomba, Logan, Gold Coast and Bundaberg competing on 20 lanes. The centre she represented for came 8th overall. She didn't do really well that weekend to win anything individually.  I only went on Saturday to watch the juniors played for a couple of hours.  It was long days for everyone!! Check in was around at 7am each morning and the day ends over 12 hours later. I am sure everyone was thankful Monday was a public holiday because they all needed a day to recover.  For some they had a long way to travel home too.

Have an enjoyable November!  It will be the last month of spring in Australia. I know I will be busy! I have the final weeks of season play at bowling. The break up party will be held at the end of the month. I will have to get my act together to make up small affordable Christmas gifts to be given out at the league's party. Only have 28 to create and I think I just came up with an idea to do.

My 15yo will have her final assessment work to be completed for year 10.  She finishes her school year, two weeks before her sister does. Report cards will be issued in December!

If this house sale contract passes the under contract stage our settlement day will be later on in the month.  Which means everything will be packed and moved out on the weekend before. Why do settlement days happen during the weekday??

Saturday 26 October 2013

Is it lucky number seven?

Hi everyone!  How's your week being going?  Only another five days to go and October will be gone out the door like the rest of the previous months.  November might be the busiest month to finalized all the packing and move if the house gets sold successfully.

Good news came in this morning!  Looks like our last protential buyer decided to buy the house. The same couple visited the house to inspect the property twice. I had the phone call from the real estate agent before lunchtime, asking when we can come in to sign the contract. We will go there on Monday as the real estate closes early on Saturdays.  If this contract passes the cooling off period our settlement date will be in late November. 

Generally it's a good sign we may found the right buyer if they inspect the same property twice. But because we have been through this before I am not going to have high expectations until after the second building inspection is completed and reported.  The second time they had a relative over who is an experienced builder to see what changes can be made for downstairs.  The future female owner of the property has a home based business so I think she like our property for more space of downstairs to deal with her business.

The house has been on the market for seven weeks now and it was the 7th protential buyer who decided to buy the house (after the protential buyer no 2 terminated the contract within two weeks of signing).  We weren't the young family first choice to buy as they had signed another contract before.  But the after the pest control inspection was done to this other property, it was a no no!! Apparently this dwelling of their first choice was infected with termites. Don't worry we passed successfully in the pest control inspection with flying colours. 

It's more the building inspection I am more concern about. Due to the age of the house, it does require some general maintenance work to get the house freshly good looking again.  We did say to the real estate at the beginning this property will be sold as it is. Because of this situation we won't get the full valuation we hoped for at the beginning.We lose about $20K because of the work it needs to be done.  Now it's up to the buyer if they want to spend the extra money to get the maintenance up to scratch before it gets too badly run down in about 10 years time. I was hoping it would be an investment buyer who wants to buy for protential rental tenants to move in. From the type of rental tenants I have seen in this area, I wouldn't buy a rental property in Logan. The house will be destroyed by bad mannered kid/s with behaviour problems.

Will this couple will have a change of heart as well after building inspection gets done?  The relative that came over with them yesterday is an experienced builder so he should of noticed the faults on the house himself. We don't really know why the protential buyer no 2 had a change of heart in their purchase.  It happened after the building inspection was reported. I just taken it they didn't have the extra cash on getting the maintenance work done as listed.

Stay on this channel to find out if our sale was successsful in two weeks! 

Friday 18 October 2013

Last 17 years

Two weeks of Term 4 has passed so quickly.  Only another eight weeks to go and the end of the school year will approach us.  Year 12 will be the most busiest term yet as they finalized their educational needs and exams before their school life ends in November.

Like other weeks I have been busy this week.  As some people know we have this house on the market to sell.  We thought we had one protential buyer happening last month but they pulled out after the building inspection was done. This week we had the real estate agent over twice in one day with more protentials but no........ they weren't interested for one reason or another. I think our buyers don't really want to spend more money then they want. The real estate agent did say our market price might be abit too high for some people.  We might have to reduce the price again now!!  We have her over again in the morning with another potential buyer. Well.....we only hope they are!! I am trying my best not to get too hopeful at this point of time. I don't know what the deal will be if the house doesn't get sold by the end of this year. 

On Tuesday and Wednesday I caught up with two friends for afew hours. It was good to catch up with both.  Yesterday I was at home catching up on afew things from my to do list.  Well I was trying my best to remain busy as the day I wished it didn't exist.  It was the anniversary of my baby I lost 17 years ago. Alot of people aren't aware of this as I didn't annouce such tragic event back then.  Over the years I learnt it was something I had to deal with by myself as I didn't really get the family and friends support I hoped for after miscarriaging my first child (at 15 weeks pregnant). The true duedate would of been around Anzac Day. Today my child (which I suspect it was a boy) if alive would of been 16 years old and in senior high school. I have my off days (especially if I see or hear a death of a child on TV) but I am getting better compared to afew years ago. I now believe he is my little fairy angel out there!! Seventeen years is a long time and I sure have done alot in that time...Raised two children, deal with sick or death of afew relatives and friends, introduced to scrapbooking and rubber stamping, casual work here and there and moved twice!!

Today was a long day!  My day began at 7:30am. Left the house with my 13yo.  Go to the petrol station, fill up my car with top fuel and then drove to Brisbane, along the SE freeway in peak hour traffic to the city.  The purpose of this trip was to send my child to her new school that will she commence at in 2014. It was a 2.5 hr transit program for year 7 SEU students into high school. But because my child is new to the area, the staff suggested for us to come along as well. So it help to make a decision to which school to pick for her.  After her first morning, she said she likes it and wants to go there next year.  She made two new friends and hanged about in the last hour.  This program goes for four weeks but the students go once a week over four weeks. On the last week, the parents are invited to have morning tea with the staff. But because of the current travel distance I am allowed to stay with my child during these transit meets. Also it will help me learn more about this small populated school that was in the media news earlier in the year. Apparently it was one of the schools on the government's list to close down but after a huge fight from the local community they were lucky to make the government to change their mind by remaining open for another 4-5 years. The school has only an enrollment number of under 300 but they are hopeful to try to get more new enrollments for next year.  I happened to overheard today they have 18 new enrollments for 2014 so it might be a good sign for them if the new enrollments continue to grow before term 4 ends.

Better go and get my family dinner prepared and serve.  Have a good weekend!

Saturday 12 October 2013

Term four started

School holidays are now over until December!  The students returned to school on Tuesday for the start of Term 4.  It was a short week due to the public holiday on Monday.  The girls seem to be happy to go back to school to see their friends as they haven't seen them in two weeks.

I had a busy week with normal commitments.  From Wednesday to Saturday I was mostly out with afew places to visit. 

On Wednesday I had my morning appointment at the hospital. It was just a routine check up of my surgery scars. All's good!!  Being a public hospital I was amazed I was out of there within 30 minutes. The crowd started rolling in as I was departing the building at around 9am.

On Thursday I watched a friend prebowled for a league.  While I was in that general area I thought I would check out spotlight for curtains.  I was in there for an hour seeking which way was cheaper to do for two rooms. One ready made curtain was on sale for $20 but it needed to be shorten as it was well too long for the purpose needed.  Don't worry the leftover wasn't wasted!  I use that extra length for the same rod.  This curtain wasn't intend for a window.  It was more like an area to close off for privacy.  I have posted photos on facebook. The next curtain was for a bedroom window.  It was cheaper to buy the fabric then pre-made.  This fabric was only $6/metre.  There was just over 2 metres left on the roll and the lady gave me an extra 30% off.  It meant this fabric piece cost me under $10.  On Friday afternoon I sewn up both curtain projects and done two other projects. I was pretty tired last night!!

This morning I was off to the shops with Rachel to use her gift card she won at school just before school holidays started.  What a disappointed to find out the card was declined at two shops.  Rachel wanted a couple of items for her ipod so we went to Dick Smith store first.  After a hiccup there, the sale assistant asked us to visit the customer service for a new list of shops to visit with this card as they now declined on using them.  Once I told the customer service lady she wasn't happy!  She set them straight!!  First she told us and did check the card was valid and can be used as the details of the list hasn't changed.  Then she phoned Dick Smith store and ask them to contact the correct people about their terminal as there could be a fault there.  Anyway the customer service lady recommended another store to buy earphones at a cheaper price.  They except the same gift card too but guess what...it was declined too!  So in the end I just paid cash for her coloured earphones.

While I was in the shopping centre I enquired about wi-fi devices for the internet as I plan to use one after I move.  I asked four places and only one company (who deals with telestra) was the most helpful one.  She gave me some brochures for a prepaid and a monthly plan offer.  Got home to read them and here I was confused about MB and GB.  Well...I'm not a computer geek!  I was told MB is the lowest for the internet.

I think I will go down for a nap because I had a late night for afew nights this week. 
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Friday 4 October 2013

School Holidays ending

How's your last two weeks been going? Two weeks of school holidays are just about ending here in QLD.
It has been fairly busy (more on my part) these school holidays with my two teens. My eldest girl has been out socializing with her boyfriend on most nights of the week.  They have been together for six months now!  They just had their six month anniversary this week.  He got her this big teddy bear!! I wonder what kind of present she will get if they survived to their first anniversary of dating.

Besides packing boxes and making a couple of trips to store them, I managed to have some time catching up with two friends and had a day out go karting with the kids.  Supposely had plans to see a movie with my best friend today but I woke up with a severe back pain.  No idea on how it happened but I suspect it might of been the way I slept.  I didn't sleep well last night as I was tossing and turning which may led to the waking of the pain before daylight this morning.  I knew my plans for the day went out the window as I had struggles walking. I had since use a hot water bottle on my back for about 30 minutes and taken some strong pain relief which has ease the pain abit for the past two hours. But I will go back to bed shortly as it's starting to get uncomfortable sitting up.

As it's a long weekend this weekend, due to an unneccessary public holiday on Monday, I am not sure what I will get up to. It all depends on my back now.  My 15yo is probably glad to have Monday off school as she's got a big tournament to play at a bowling centre in Brisbane this weekend. This week she bowled the perfect game (300).  I am not sure if she will be entitled to any prizes as she was only subbing for this league on the ngiht she bowled the third game. I only dream of bowling that perfect game as I haven't done it myself on both real lanes and a computerized game.

Have a great weekend!  If you have travel plans, make sure your destination is a safe one. 

Wednesday 2 October 2013

September report

Goodbye September!  I can't believe 30 days of spring have gone out the window.  Also it's six weeks since I had my surgery.  The healing process went well and finally can have my life back to normal. 

At least I can go back to bowling league this Sunday to resume play after a 6 week break.  I had a sub bowler in during this time but the bowler wasn't that great! Got worse each week. Like most bowlers they blame the lane conditions but after observing how these people play, they only got themselves to blame on the technique they use.  Only last week we dropped down one place on the standing sheet but no female has beaten my 200 game yet.

September was a busy month.  It was decided to get the house on the market to sell.  Within the first week it was sold but after all the pool fencing, building and pest inspections was organised and done, the buyer decided to terminate their contract within two weeks of signing.  Apparently our building and pest inspections wasn't satisfactory but we were never informed why??  Is it really the truth about the inspection or just a lie about the buyer changing their mind as they may found somewhere better? Right now I am more annoyed as we already started packing and some boxes are at a storage unit.   

There was another buyer who was interested in buying a similar property like ours but they have to sell their house at the Gold Coast first.  About a week ago, I heard the house market down there was booming again so we might get lucky afterall.  There is a possible third buyer who could buy this house but doesn't want to go through a real estate agent so that might be the opinion to take if others failed. But first we need to know why the inspection wasn't satisfactory. 

It's almost the ending of spring school holidays for QLD students.  As I said earlier we have been busy packing and cleaning up around the place but I did managed to catch up with a couple of friends these holidays. I caught up with a friend who's currently visiting in Australia.  She used to be a permanent resident of Oz, but she moved to European countries about 12 years ago.  It was nice to see her again after 8 years and she seems to be enjoying her lifestye overseas. I am thankful for social media so we can remain in touch.  I have known her since our early childhood years!  She's the longest friend I have known and stayed in touch all these years.

Last week I taken the girls to go karting as there was a school holiday deal on for local kids.  The weather was perfect and the girls had a great time driving go karts.  This week I am hoping to catch a movie or two at the cinema.

Now its October and hopefully it will be a pleasant month.  So far it's a good start for my 15 yo! She bowled a perfect game at bowling last night.  She's the first female junior to bowl a 300 at that centre. 

Happy October everyone!