Yes! we have flooring... and peonies too!

Hi girls, well we were determined to come back with something last Saturday and we did. We finally found timber flooring that pretty much blends in with our old stuff. It is a little darker than I'd liked but I knew trying to find a perfect match was going to be impossible.  We even started it on Sunday and have been doing a little every night after Fred get's home from work.. I have to hand it him, my Fred's a work horse and a jack of all trades.. ofcourse, I'm his handy assistant, picking out the timber and handing it to him! Each piece is glued and then nailed down.

This is the hallway from where we started.. which joins on to our family room..

It is finally coming together but there are quite a few things I need to paint now like the french doors leading into the lounge and also some furniture that I keep putting off.  So hopefully I will have some nicer pics for you in the future!

My peonies arrived too.. wasn't sure what to expect.. I bought them from a website here in Australia, in Victoria actually called   Misty Downs..  they have a lovely range of peonies and an unbelievable amount of gorgeous roses!! They were so nice and sent me a free dahlia too.

I my haste to plant them yesterday I forgot to take pics but if you can imagine a twig about 6" long with a few pink buds at one end.. that's pretty much all they were, hiding in all that packaging. I am so looking forward to seeing them grow come spring.

bye for now, take care, Maryann

Lisa's party pics..

Hi girls, this Saturday Fred and I are going to look for the flooring for our extension and I am determined this time to come back with something!  I can't believe it's been a year already since we finished our extension and I still haven't done the floor. (We are walking on chipboard at the moment). 

To cut a long story short I have had a lot of trouble trying to match something to my existing flooring as it has been discontinued and no one stocks it anymore. So unless I can find something pretty close I will be going for carpet. I still have enough timber to do my hallway but not my lounge room and bedroom, so it will only be these 2 rooms that will be carpeted. I think it's time to get this thing done as I'm really over not having my house in order. Anyway, I'll let you know how I go.

I have been seeing some gorgeous pics from you girls out there in the USA of your peonies growing in your garden! I just love them and had never heard or seen them before so after a little searching on the net I found a website here in Australia that sells them. I ordered 6 of them ( 'cause of course 2 wouldn't do) and should get them any day now. I'm curious too see what they will look like!!

It's winter here now and I'm trying not to complain too much about the cold. Thank God for camellias, they really brighten the garden up in winter...

and I've been putting them on my kitchen windowsill..

and finally here are some pics I promised of Lisa's 'country and western' 18th...

                                            These are her 2 cousins..

Lisa and me ..my hair looks like a fuzz ball.. we had it outside in a large tent and it started drizzling that night!

Lisa's cousins.. brother and sister together..

Lisa and Fred...he looks like a drunk cowboy in this pic.. but Fred doesn't drink, this is how he always looks... lol!

Me again, with 2 of my 'workers' .. um, I mean nieces.....don't they look gorgeous!

I had to put this one in again.. the cake..

Lisa fell in love with her cousin's cow outfit and kept pinching it from him!

So I will leave you with that, hope you have all been well, take care, Maryann