The calm before the storm

For those of you who have ever bought property or are in the process of buying property can you tell me, has it always been this frustrating or am I doing something wrong?

Sarah and I are in the process of looking with the intent of purchasing a house, we have been looking at houses for going on 4 weeks solid and in the 2 months before that we would occasionally venture out on a Sunday to get a feel of what we wanted and could get for the price bracket we are looking at. As you can gather we have done our research and have a good idea of where we are. However nothing can prepare you for when you actually put an offer in on a house. Suddenly a whole new door opens which contains many different items that need to be arranged and completed within a 7 day or 14 day period after contracts have been signed. This is not including solicitors, insurance, conveyance's more insurance which you should have already sorted out.

Needless to say we put an offer in on an house and the circus began for 24 hours there just seemed to be endless phone calls and collecting of quotations from different companies for the necessary services. It was hell for about 24 hours.

Unfortunately or fortunately the offer didn't go through as the sellers had some friends show interest the same day we made the offer so it didn't go ahead. One good thing it has done though is that we feel like we have had a dry run at the property and though we were prepared it is a different animal once you get the green light. After a stressful 24 hours which were hell at the time have made us a lot more prepared for what will be an exiting time in our lives.

Though I am sure there will be more surprises and stress in the next venture we should also get some pleasure from it.

There is nothing like your first time!!!!!!

P.S: Remember to add your pins to the world map in the links in "Bravenet Guestmap"

Sign the Guestmap

OK at last the guestmap is up and running so please put your name on it and leave a comment. You need to leave your name and a comment or it won't register your pin on the map. It is on the right hand side of the blog in the links "sign my guestmap", so please leave your mark-It may be your only chance!!!!

Highs and Lows

Well it has been a hell of a two weeks with the FA Cup final going to those lucky wank..s from up north, the semi finals of the Super 14 rugby where I went from being overjoyed at the Sharks being guaranteed their rightful place in the semi-finals as surely not even the Stormers could possibly lose by 33 points to the Bulls in their own backyard!!!! Well I guess after being away so long you just forget what a bunch of soft, spineless pretty boys just happy to collect a wage they are at the mountain-and I am being polite right now. I think the Bulls caught them in their usual post match positions with their pants down and their heads through the fence......... Needless to say the Bulls have just been given the same dose by the Crusaders so once again we have an all New Zealand final to look forward to. Think I will start following AFL (where they bounce the ball as they run and punch it to each other-yes that really is the whole game the Stormers could play it!!! Well maybe not)

As for us it has been two weeks of action and planning, we are in the process of purchasing a house and going through all the finance options and meetings along with the endless viewing of property. This is fun to begin with though as we enter our 5th week the novelty has well and truly worn off. Hopefully it all wraps up soon as the right place turns up. Sar's and I have bought a new tv "for the house"and over the last couple of hours I have managed to set up my laptop to play through the tv. This means with the advantage of having downloaded a few movies we will be spending the rest of this evening watching "Walk the Line", a movie based on the life of Johnny Cash. Should make for great viewing through my ever darkening black eye...

This came about playing Action Cricket-yes really. The ball was obviously very well struck because even with my greased lightening reflexes it managed to pin me. To add insult to injury being only my second game in 6 years I arrived at work on Friday barely able to move due to being seriously stiff and with a black eye. Needless to say my boss found this pretty humourous as it was him I was filling in for on the court. I am in the process of trying to link this all together to try and claim some sort of compensation for office brutality or bullying-any lawyers out there keen to take my case on for me? pro bono of course call me now.

In the middle of all this I have seem to have taken on the added responsibility of keeping my sister company during her 12 and 3 am feeding of the twins. Never before have I seen a time zone difference of 8 hours come in so handy. So I am getting all the news on a regular basis from sis regarding the family and the twins who seem to have learnt the art of text messaging at the early age of 1 month as some of the messages are directly signed off from them, anything to keep sane at 3am I guess and I really enjoy all the news at a reasonable hour for myself. Keep ém coming sis and I hope the twins don't sleep through for a while yet.

I will add more info this week as right now I am off to watch the game where they bounce the ball and punch it to each other thrown in with a little Johnny Cash.

Been a long time

It has been a long time since the last blog and I apologise. This will be a short one as the weekend is calling though I will fing time over the next 2 days to detail what has been happenning in our little Edtv lives. A little taster will include house hunting, more golf alot of work, financing houses, midnight text sessions and a lovely black eye of which I will include a photo of in the next blog. I will also be updating the humour in the links so be sure to take a look.

Until then

Australia Immigration Options

Sign seen outside Aussie immigration offices says it all.

Bad Golf, Houses and TV's

Well what promised to be a fantastic weekend where I asserted my dominance over the Gold Coast Country Club Golf course during round 1 of the club champs turned out to be a disaster and what with another 3 rounds to go I will clearly just be making up the numbers for the next 3 rounds. Whoever said a bad days golf is better than a good days work is talking utter cr.p . In this instance the way that I played felt like it was a long days work in a hot office without aircon, a nagging boss and ugly secretary. You get the picture. We will no longer discuss the golf.

Other than the unmentionable above it was a good weeking starting with the Anzac league test on Friday night where the Kiwi's got a real smack with the Aussies going more than avenging their 24-0 defeat last year with a massive 50-12 victory up in Brissie.

After the unmentionable above Sar's and I did a little house hunting and product pricing for when we eventually buy a house. As you can gather this was purely reconnisence mission. Can someone please tell me then how did I end up arriving home with a new TV and a bank balance that at the start of the trip resembled my golf score and by the end of the trip resembled what I would have liked my score to have been!!!!! So we spent Saturday evening watching whatever was on so long as we were in front of the telly. We did however have time to reflect on our purchase over a few beers out at the barbie.

Sunday was spent with an early (7am) stroll along the beach followed by breakfast on the beach and more house hunting. We stumbled upon a real gem though with our finance a little way off we can only hope that my ploy to move all the For Sale signs from outside the property pays off and it is still on the market in a month-after all we need a house for the TV now!!!

Now it is another week at the office-beats golf- and it promises to be good with a game of Action Cricket on Thursday evening, time to get the competitive juices flowing and the old shoulder loose in what will hopefully become a regular outing.

Not Arnie and Danny but Kelly and Kirsten

Well at last I have managed to track down a photo of the new additions to our family, Kelly and Kirsten as the photo says. The little tykes are doing well and are now home with Mom Dad and Megan after spending their first week in Parklands hospital. Mom assures me all is ok and the twins seem to be quite good in that they tag team their feeding. Meaning mom gets an hours break after the 2 have fed before it all starts again.

Judging by this photo Kirsten looks alot like her sister Megan and Kelly we will have to wait until she looks at the camera before we can see who she looks like. Just hopefully not like her uncle Mac!!!!

Well done again to Robyn and Mark, they are beautiful.

New Jokes and a classic oldie

I have added some new humour for the week in the top 4 links on the left. Some are some real classics and I still can't help but cry everytime I read the curry joke-it is an absolute cracker, for the sporto's there is the cricket sledging that always brings a smile to the face. I have to admit that these 2 items have been stolen from a mates website (see Guy Laister link on the left) though I am sure he wouldn't mind!!!!!! The other 2 are complete originals and part of the blog that will be updated weekly.

Enjoy and make sure you are sitting down when reading the curry joke

South African Stats and Crime Solving

Here are some interesting stats regarding South Africa for your interest

Two reasons why it's impossible to solve a Mitchells Plain murder:
1) All the DNA is the same
2) There are no dental records.

and

"The latest market research found that 90% of the population in South Africa work in the iron and steel industry. Some of them iron but most of them steal.

Beer Tasting

A whole new experience last Friday night, when Mac and I ventured into our first beer tasting event. Set in a large room with 6 tables of 10 at least all sorts of people arrived ready for some sampling of the amber nectar.

We sat down, my apprehension soon dissipated as the sponsor Coopers (an Australian brewery) rep started to tell us about the evening, we were to sample 7 different beers, starting with a light moving to a pale ale ending with a chewy stout. When I say 7, I mean 7 schooners!. They kindly placed a bucket in the centre of the table for us to poor our unwanted beverages, though I have to say all those on our table seemed to appreciate them all.

We learnt about the yeast, the length of the process, where the hops comes from, about the amount of preservatives and additives in light beer (that’s where the head aches come from). All in all it was a very enjoyable evening and I have never meet so many people with such a deep appreciation for beer before.