Tuesday; We took our time packing up to drive back to Herbert. Our stay did not feel long enough in some ways but felt like it was in others. I definitely feel more relaxed. On our way out of town we lay down the wild flowers plus a lot of tiger lilies we got on the roadside on Leona’s family graves. Both graves were in good tidy condition, but it is nice to add some flowers for them. Looks like my flu was a quick 24hr one and now I just have a blocked nose. Our first stop at Gore op shops and then Balclutha. We arrived at Taieri Mouth around lunchtime. We had a few things to pick up from a trademe seller. We ended up with quite a few things. The main reason was I got a cool old butlers sink which I hope to use in the kitchen at Till Street. I got it for a whopping $100, what a bargain. Rowan also got a whole lot of building supplies from him and a sturdy stainless steel shelf for $40. I got a few decorative iron items for a song too. When we finally hit the road again it was pretty late. Herbert arrival around 6pm and still had to unpack. By the time we had dinner got organised we were pretty tuckered. Tomorrow Cory will be working and we plan to be at Till all day.

Wednesday; Off plan we go. Cory didn’t end up working as he had a few jobs he wanted to tick off first. I checked on my plants and watered them etc. At 11am Rowan and I had a meeting with James and Ryan from Survey Waitaki. First a quick stop at Placemakers to talk kitchens with Shannon. Our quote from them is cheaper than Mitre10 plus they are built for you. No fafing with flat pack is always a bonus. I still can’t believe we pay so much for kitchens when they are made out of crap that doesn’t last. Let’s take a moment to appreciate the old solid wood kitchens of the past.

We got a few questions answered by Ryan and James, they are helping us with the Otago Regional Council, seeing if we need any extra consents. Ryan is going to draw up a couple of quick 3D rendering to make it easier to explain. Rowan and I lost our stamina after that. It is pointless trying to work through as you won’t achieve anything. We ended up back at Herbert where we went for a motorbike ride and got more organised for tomorrow. I have been taking my bike for a spin each day. I still let the clutch out too fast. My brain can’t compute hand is clutch haha.

Thursday; I got a job done today I have wanted to do for weeks. I shined up the copper cistern, it was incredibly thick with patina and it took such a long time. My hands absolutely ached. It is full of dings and is in no way brand new, I didn’t want to get it all the way back just in case it looked stupid. I like it so far, once it is installed I may shine it further. Rowan tackled the toilet and put GIB up on the inside. We have decided to get the toilet done, wow a large room completed haha. But we shall see, it is a secondary job. Rowan also tackled the windows, we made the decision to not bother for the shed and just use polycarbonate. The studio and workshop also need a lot of window or glass replacement. Outside is more important right now. The weather has already gotten colder and who knows how many paint days are in our future. Cory attacked the outside with the paint stripper the whole south wall is now complete. The neighbour popped over to ask if they can put a sign on our lawn as they are selling their house. Well we have across the street, two doors down and now behind us for sale. Maybe we are scarring them off. The one down the hill sold in a matter of weeks so that is a good sign for our neighbours behind us and I hope they get a fast sale. They put an offer on another house subject to sale of their house. Now what to do with my garden, the weeds have taken over and I feel like they won’t stop. I have painted on some weed killer and tried to avoid my plants. I guess we will see how that goes.

Friday; huge achievement from Cory, he got the front completed. Our house looks like a naked baby animal. Rowan and I worked as a team today, we fixed the GIB in place (we had no screws yesterday). We found some old wood around the place and did the frame on the inside of the window. We haven’t got a clue what to put on the edge of the GIB as the door gets in the way but we will work it out. We installed the main bedroom lead light window. That has been a big job we have avoided. Rowan picked up some roof flashing new from Placemakers. It worked perfectly, together the roof is now looking flash. Ba dom domp. We finally dropped our washing machine off to get repaired, it has been a job we have needed to do for weeks now. All in all we got a good amount achieved. Our new goal each week is to spend at least two days at Till one day at Herbert and the rest of the week is a mix of a day off and paperwork. I am hoping this balances us out a bit better. Jim popped in at Till and wants to borrow our trailer to get his digger to Ngapara. Not a problem but there is a bunch of iron on it. Rowan gives him the key and he says he will get the iron off wherever we want. I think he is doing us a favour not the other way around.

Saturday; Our day is to be at Herbert and it started off quite well. We headed into the Hampden dump shop and got quite a bit of building materials. We got back and had another coffee when Gerry and Margaret arrived. I think they thought we were still in bed. Well I had jumped back into bed to read my book and drink my coffee. Also we are in the habit of taking off our dirty dungarees so we don’t make our house dirty haha. It was really nice to see them both. Margaret had some veges for a community swap at Maheno. Unfortunately the date was wrong, but also fortunately because we got the veges haha. I divided them up with Sylvia and Jim next door. Rowan found an awesome Catherine Holm preserving pot on Facebook but we will get it next week. Our neighbour Laura called me for a favour to pick up a bed for her. So we came into Ōamaru to help her out and ended up picking up the large pot too. Rowan said our day at Herbert hasn’t really happened so we should spend tomorrow there too. So I spent the rest of the day sorting jewellery and reading my book. It was wonderful haha. Rowan made us a table out of stuff we got for free! Perfect for us to use. The chairs were also free! Here is a funny for you. Rowan went to cook dinner and ended up with half frozen mince all over the bed. Luckily it was his side of the bed haha. It was so funny, I had just begun to chop the lovely beans Margaret had left us, and plonk! It was everywhere. I guess the sheets need changing. I don’t care if they are stained, it is not a big deal at all. Kind of annoying having to change the sheets though haha

Sunday; a slow and easy start today. Rowan definitely did more than me around the property yesterday so today I should pick my game up. I planted a whole heap of tiger lily bulbis and bulbs. Apparently they can take a few years to come out but hopefully they do. I really wanted to sort out Camele a bit more. I have dumped stuff in her that doesn’t belong so I got to taking all that out. Then I attacked the container. Now that we have those wardrobe shelves and drawers I may as well use them. I put all our extra woolies in there and then I methodically took all the crap we dumped and put it in its rightful place. It took some time but now we have heaps of room in the container. I hope to actually organise the shelves properly next day at Herbert. Rowan loaded up all the building materials into the trailer and he cleared a whole heap of space. Then he took it to the other side of the land where we want to keep it easy to access, but well out of the way. All packed for Monday, we headed off in Camele for a late lunch at Kiwiana Kai. We ate at the beach then headed up the hill to our favourite spot and stayed there the night. We sat and talked about tomorrow’s game plan and I wrote us a list. I am feeling all relaxed and ready for tomorrow.

Monday; Cory started on the back, two small walls and she is all stripped! He got that done and started on fixing up the garage walls. I started working on the bathroom, removing fixtures and I found that the hinges were all rusted out. As I looked through our stock pile I found someone used the bible or something like that to pack out their windows. I have heard of people using the bible for insulation. I got all organised and I went to plug in the orbital sander and it was turned on. It started falling and my instincts was to catch it. Ouch! Rowan came to my rescue pretty fast. It cut quite deep in between my pinky finger. Rowan said we should go to the hospital. So I quickly wrapped it up in the cleanest cloth I could find. The adrenaline ran through me and I struggled to breathe for a while and felt very light headed. I am surprised I didn’t lose my stomach. A nurse cleaned it all up and ended up giving me a tetanus shot. I can’t remember the last time I had one, maybe as a kid? Nearly two hours later we were out of there. What an idiot I am, I think Rowan doesn’t trust me with power tools anymore. Back at the house it is pack up and home time. We pick up some free ornate trim that a fella is giving away. Then I get a message from a carpet layer that he can come now. So we head back to the house to meet him. Then another guy says between 6pm and 6.30pm. I guess we are here for a bit longer. We fill in our time by going to Leona’s office to do paperwork. Instead we chat and redesign our bathroom and kitchen at Till Street. I think we need a plumber now. By the time we meet the next tradie who is late and have dinner in town we get home near 9pm. What a day! My hand aches a little bit it really isn’t too bad.