My Apartment Before and After

So the tenants I picked didn't need the apartment to be furnished after all so there goes my furnishing ideas out the balcony doors! I thought I'd share some before and after photos of the apartment, from when I lived there with splashes of blue and green walls to how it looks now freshly painted and ready for the tenants to move in - I had someone else do the painting and install the blinds, I have my hands full enough with the Jarrah Jungle without taking on more work!

Before - Kitchen / Dining Area

After - Kitchen / Dining Area freshly painted

Before - Bedrooms with grey blinds and plum walls

After - Painted neutral and new white vertical blinds

After - Even the trees have grown and funky new blue lights in the pool

Its like a clean slate now, fresh and neutral and ready for the tenants to move in and turn into their own abode.

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Withdrawal Symptoms

I have been coming home from work lately and feeling a bit restless
Check the mail box
Walk inside
Pour a glass of water
Turn the news on
Sit down
Stand up
Put some washing on
Sit down
Look around thinking somethings missing .....
and I finally figured out what

My magazine subscriptions have all expired - Real Living, Australian House and Garden, and Delicious they no longer greet me after a hard day at work with their glossy pages and bright ideas

So thanks to the man for leaving his credit card laying around I signed up for another year with Real Living (3rd year in a row) and I get 3 bonus mags of Australian House and Garden.

The cost of the bundle was $44.95 a fair price to pay to keep me content for another year!

Do you have any magazine subscriptions?

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Book Review: The Devil's Garden: The Claremont Serial Killings by Debi Marshall

I was scouring my bookcase at home for a change of pace from the romance style books I’ve been reading lately and came across The Devil’s Garden by Debi Marshall.

This book is written by a crime journalist from Tasmania who become interested in the unsolved Claremont murders and other missing women in Western Australia. In 1996 and 1997, 3 young women went missing from Claremont nightclub area - Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon. I was 17 when stories of these girls disappearing were all over the news and I remember my parents wouldn’t let me catch the train anywhere near there, come to think of it to this day I've never been on a night out in that area either.

I found this book really interesting to read because it named a lot of high profile police, lawyers, etc around Perth my hometown. It opened my eyes to how secret squirrel the WA police force is and how backwards they were in their working - not matching DNA databases to the rest of Australia, not using lie detector tests, not discussing full facts or sharing information, countless internal reviews and crys of corruption. The book also touched on how many innocent people have been sent to jail for crimes that didn’t commit – makes you wonder if they can find guilty people if they lock the innocent ones up just to close a case. 15 years on the killer has not been locked away and could be wondering the streets of Perth still preying on women. These crimes should not go unsolved with the technology we have nowadays – I agree with Debi’s plea: someone somewhere must know something.

I would recommend this book to anyone who lives in Australia, its an interesting insight into the workings of how crimes are solved. I give this book 4 stars and hope someday they find the person that did this so the families can have closure and try to move on with their lives.

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

[Image via Random House] Pin It Now!

The Garage Extension Is Approved

Holy moly I don't believe it over a year of waiting for the Council to approve our garage extension,  lots of back and forth corrections, our patient architect friend helping us through the whole process and I'm pleased to say the Council has finally given the go ahead for the extension and issued a building license valid for 12 months to get the extension done by December 2012.

YIPEE!

WE HAVE A LICENSE TO BUILD!!

I can't wait to improve the look to the front of our house it's in desperate need of kerb appeal. We've been waiting for this extension before doing any of the gardening and design so sadly its been a barren landscape since we moved in 2 years ago. Apart from removing the huge pine tree that overshadowed the front of the house and moving our power underground we haven't done any landscaping or improvements out the front but now we have the license that's about to change.

Before - this dangerously large conifer tree overshadowed the front of our house



After a warning from the power company saying it was too close to the power lines

we started to cut down the taller branches

Where's Pete? Yep he's in the tree! Can you see him?!

Then we decided to remove the tree completely and called in the profession tree loppers

After - Tree be gone

See what I mean - barren, open, dry and hot front landscaping. But at least things can start moving along now and essentially it's given us a blank canvas to design the front which in some ways is easier than trying to work around existing gardening.

The other major job we did in August 2011 in preparation for the extension was to have the power put underground, this involved an electrician running a new line underground to our house and then the power company coming and snipping the old power line that was attached to the carport and the power pole. They upgraded our power box to electric as well.

Before - The power line attached to our carport and running to the power pole

After - Line snipped

No longer attached to the power pole

After - Power put underground running through this pipe into the house

Shiny new power box

This is the basic list of what needs to be done for the garage extension in the next 12 months:-

  

Roof restoration and paint job to make it look pretty (this is what we got the extra roof tiles for)

Remove old chimney and solar panels

New gutters

Remove the single carport

Build new brick double lock up garage

Build new storage room

New driveway
New pathway to the front door

Retaining walls
Front fence and letterbox

Lots and Lots and Lots of plants and flowers to make a new front garden

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Foxtel Addict

It took 2 solid years of nagging (me? nag? never!) and watching the standard 8 TV channels until I couldn't bear it anymore - and finally subscribed to Foxtel. Oh yea pay TV baby it's all it's cracked up to be - endless channel surfing, limited ads, and recording entire series of TV shows that I had never heard of before but now I can't bear to go without!  By accident or not (I'd say not buddy!) we somehow ended up with the entire SPORTS package but it only took an hour and I changed the subscription to the LIFESTYLE package. Hmmmmm are you kidding me, mistake, not likely buddy!?

It goes without saying what I love most about Foxtel is the Entertainment Channels - there are so many English/American/Aussie home style shows with stacks of ideas, inspiration, renovating dos and don't, design, building, cooking, entertaining, I seriously sit there for hours and hours just taking it all in I can't get enough. What I fear most about it is me watching them do it all and me sitting on my butt doing nothing! So long as that doesn't happen, I will be a lifelong subscriber. Here are some of my favourite shows ...

Selling Houses Australia

This show finds houses on the market that can't sell and transforms them into something amazing - I think the owners probably want to change their mind and keep their home after these transformations



Grand Designs Australia

People who dream big and then build bigger - this show proves that with determination and hard work you can get the home of your dreams

Sarah's House and Sarah 101 and Sarah's Design Inc

Sarah Richardson is one talented and bubbly lady who designs complete homes (sometimes with a noticeable baby bump!) with impeccable taste and style

Design Star

These young designers are competing for their own TV show and is full of fresh fun ideas for home design (and kind of similar to Australia's The Renovators)

Colour Splash

David Broomstad is the first winner of Design Star and this is his TV show where he decorates a room and it always includes one of his signature pieces of art - this guy is so smiley and cute :)

Come Dine With Me

The English version of this show has the funniest voiceover guy

The Aussie version is good to see if I recognise anyone!

Restaurant in Our Living Room

Yes as crazy as it sounds these guys invite strangers into their home and cook for them in the hope to make the most money and win a holiday

Cake Boss

I was surprised at the number of cake TV shows there are - but this one has got to be my favourite with loud and extravagant hosts and incredible cakes
Even better Buddy and the team are coming to Perth this weekend to film a show
... how exciting!

What is your favourite show on Foxtel?
What am I missing out on!

[Images 1 and 2 Lifestyle 3, 4 and 5 Lifestyle Home and 6, 7 and 8 LifestyleFood Channel]

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Book Review: Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen is a book narrated by the memories of an old man in a nursing home flashing back to his life as a young vet on a travelling circus. Its based in the 1930s when the circus travelled by train into towns, to show off sideshow freaks and animal shows.

What can I say about this book, it just didn’t grab me really and was a bit of a disappointment. The way it was written was very plain English and didn’t hold my attention or amuse me with the words. The talk about the animals and circus life was interesting and well researched. But the love story just wasn’t believable – the beautiful starlet falling for the pimply red headed virgin boy – nope don’t buy it sorry! Another gripe I have is why are there so many covers printed?

I’ve heard the movie Water for Elephants is very good and I’ll be watching that next week with the Bookclub girls so I can compare the two.

I would recommend this book for animal lovers, young teens and the older generations as it has a mix from both sides of the story. I give this book 2 stars guess I'm off to watch Ramsey St re-runs!

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

[Image 1 The Book Depository, Image 2 here] Pin It Now!

How To Make Orange, Lemon and Mint Ice Bowls

The next time you make a bowl of punch or want to keep a large quantity of drinks cold without little blocks of ice watering it down, try making these Orange and Lemon Mint Ice Bowls.

You can change the fruit and herb flavours to suit the drink you make. 

Orange Lemon and Mint Ice Bowls

You'll need:

1 orange, sliced and cut into quarters

1 lemon, sliced and cut into quarters

Few bunches of mint, washed and leaves pulled off (don't cut the mint or it will go black)

Jug of filtered water

4 x cute bowls, approx 5cm deep

Method:

Cut up the orange and lemon and pull leaves from the mint

Place the orange and lemon pieces and mint in a bowl

Fill bowl with filtered water

Place them in the freezer and leave for a couple of hours to set

These little babies not only look funky but they add a fresh taste to the drink once melted. 

I put them into a delicious party punch and they kept it cool without watering it down too much. Or maybe we were drinking it faster than it had a chance to water down too much! 

You can find my Copacabana Punch recipe here.

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[All images my own]

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