2009 Demolition Derby

Monday 20th Mark started putting in the floor joists. I soldered my leadlight. I didn't do a very good job, so I'll have to go see Bert to learn how to fix it. Tuesday 21st I didn't do much as I was sick with a throat infection. Mark finished the floor joists and started working on the ceiling joists. Wednesday 22nd Mark finished the ceiling joists in the ensuite and I rendered the vanity wall. Mark smoothed and leveled my rendered wall - looks great! I helped Mark attach the aircell insulation to the ensuite ceiling joists & roof rafters. Thursday 23rd I went to Design glass to fix up my leadlight window. Turned out that I didn't have the iron hot enough, so it was easily fixed and yes the soldering did cover up the most of my leading mistakes. I spent the afternoon cementing my leadlight. Mark spent the day cleaning out the garage so we will have somewhere to store the gyprock when it arrives tomorrow. Wow I haven't seen the garage this clean in ages! But no...

Monday 13th Easter Monday....another day of leisure. Yeah. Tuesday 14th It's been so long since I updated the blog...I can't remember what we did today. Wednesday 15th Mark cut out the bricks between the ensuite & our bedroom & I went to pick up the timber for the door frame. Nephew David dropped in to use the gargage & tools to do an oil change & helped me carry out bricks as Mark knocked out the wall. What a mess! Thursday 16th Mark built the door frame for the ensuite, screwed it in and bricked up the wall again - well most of it...only 3 bricks to go, but had to knock off because the kids came over for a BBQ dinner. I went to ECU Joondalup for a meeting & printed out all the work I've done for the past 4 months. Had a great dinner with Tara, Nick, Bree, nephew David & niece Kacey. Thanks for the desserts Kacey! Friday 17th Mark was not a well puppy this morning...I think it must have been something he drank (?). He got up late & then went ba...

Thursday 9th 5am wakeup for our flight to Sydney. Dan was at the airport to pick us up. Went to Camden for a late lunch then Dan dropped us at Jim & Michelle's. Had a quiet dinner, chatted & an early night. Friday 10th Slept in (wonderful). Dan & Fisher arrived and then Ben - all the family is here. We had a lazy day and then a big family dinner to celebrate Dad's 80th, Katie & Fisher's 14th, Marks 53rd & Dan's 47th birthdays. Lots of good reasons to celebrate! Saturday 11th Saturday is race day...and Dad is always pissed off with people having birthdays, wedding etc on HIS race day...so we went to the races with Dad. Unfortunately it was not a winning day but we had fun critiquing the ladies outfits & shoes (a very amusing pastime). Sunday 12th Another late morning...isn't that what holidays are for? A big BBQ breakfast and a lazy afternoon trying to beat the kids at pool (snooker or whatever). Then back to the airport for our flight home.

Wednesday 1st - Friday 3rd Mark went to Esperence with his brother, Ken & his mother, Joyce for Aunty Rita's funeral (Thurs 2nd). The Downsborough clan farewelled Aunt Rita in style (& alcohol). It's a shame that funerals seem to be the main reason to get together at the moment...we need a few more weddings, birthdays & christenings! I sent my condolences & stayed home to try & finish my ECU work. I'm on the last unit - hooray! Saturday 4th Mark was jet lagged from traveling & was moving very slowly today. Not much progress to report! Sunday 5th Day Off. Monday 6th Dad & Tim's birthdays - Happy Birthday Guys!!! Mark ordered the ridge cap & put up more roof sheets. I handed him tools, clouts, tin etc thru the study nook so he didn't have to climb up & down the ladder. Knocked off early to go to dinner with the LuClay family to celebrate Tim's 15th birthday. Tuesday 7th More roof sheets went up - yeah we've finished ev...

Monday 16th - Thursday 19th Mark spent most of this week working out what timber he needed for the roof rafters and then commenced building the roof. He bought 2 new toys - a pipe cutter and a pipe bender. There's not much I can help him with at this stage, so I spent my time writing modules for ECU. Friday 20th - Sunday 22nd We spent most of the day cleaning as Mark's mother is coming over for the weekend. Saturday night a crowd of us (16) went to The Indian Garden Restuarant in North Perth to celebrate Mark's birthday. Sunday we had a quiet day! Monday 23rd Back to work. Mark on the roof and me on ECU stuff. Tuesday 24th Mark worked on the house and I took his Mother to the Dr's. It's Mark's birthday today...so I cooked a roast dinner. Bree, Tara & Nick came over to help us celebrate. Wednesday 25th Same story...more roof & ECU work. I knocked off early to pick up Tim & Andrew from school as Aunty Jayne & I took them to see Cirque du Soleil. ...

Monday 9th I went to the hairdresser in the morning and Mark phoned around about hiring scaffolding. Finally located some at a reasonable price that will be delivered tomorrow so we had a quiet afternoon. Kacey dropped in to visit so Mark sat & chatted and I painted the window frames ready to brick in tomorrow! Tuesday 10th We spent the morning waiting for the scaffolding to arrive. It finally got here about 1pm. The new doors I ordered were also delivered today...so everything is starting to happen - yeah! We assembled the scaffolding and started laying bricks about 2pm. I also cleaned another 20 bricks...an hour at a time is all I can handle. By 7pm we had half of the side wall done. We were very happy. Wednesday 11th Today we moved to the front wall. Every brick in the wall needs to be cut (about 10mm) so this wall is very tedious. We only got a few courses done but Mark also shaped the lintel ready to put in tomorrow. Thursday 12th Finally got the front wall up above the wi...

Monday 2nd A public holiday over here in the west...so like Sunday's we're not supposed to work. However it's Labour Day...so we laboured in other areas. We have a verge collection for general household junk this week, so we put out the old timber that we don't need. It was gone by lunchtime - some lucky man scored it for firewood. I did TADA & ECU stuff for the rest of the day and Mark serviced Tara's car, dropped the car back & put up some shelves for her. Then went over to Murray's to try & identify the source of his electrical problems in their new home. Tuesday 3rd Mark went shopping for timber and then commenced constructing the window frames. We can't brick any higher until the window frames go in and once they are ready we will need to hire some scaffolding as Mark's arms won't reach the ceiling! I phoned Midland brick about recycling our old broken bricks and then did ECU work. Wednesday 4th Mark is still building window frames.....