Changed da house,
Changed da look.
BTW, my bathrobe's usually pink
and we don't have a fireplace.
Other than that,
it's pretty accurate...
Psst...click the words above to navigate.
Best viewed, unfortunately, in Internet Explorer.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
~ They put the TAX in Taxing ~
I am married to someone who plans way ahead, and likes to get all the bases covered. It is for this reason alone that I found myself this afternoon with the unhappy challenge of putting together my tax return to meet the deadline in... October.
Apart from finding out inadvertantly how little I earned last year - or more correctly, how little I lived on as a student - the rest of the many pages in the Tax Pack turned surprisingly quick.
It was new territory, however, to declare myself as Spouse and Family. And with that, the many new levies I now have to be mindful of.
Nothing like the tax department to remind you how easily they can suck the joy out of family life.
Saturday, September 17, 2005
~ 4 hours in a pseudo-yuppie existence ~
9:05 am
Phonecall made to Colin, the Friendly Real Estate Agent
9:06 am
Tony leaves phone message as Colin the Friendly Real Estate Agent fails to pick up his mobile.
9:45 am
Colin returns the call; Tony makes the offer.
10:30 am
Colin calls Velle in between eyebrow wax. Counter offers on behalf of owners and asks if we're willing to settle for a price in the middle of both offers. Velle says a tentative yes, and resumes other half of eyebrow shaping.
11:15 am
Velle text messages Colin, giving revised offer price while Tony sips mug of flat white.
1:00 pm
Colin calls to formally congratulate us on our first successful house purchase.
We're going to buy a house, people! Pictures to follow...
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
~ Tony in Adelaide ~
Last night was the first night I've spent alone in Canberra since we got married.
That's not to say we haven't been apart since the wedding; there was the month I was in Singapore and the weekend I spent in Ballarat for work. Still, I was the one travelling those times, leaving Tony behind. It's actually quite different when you're the one staying at home while the mate's away. Somehow the house is a lot quieter, the bed a lot bigger.
More electric blanket for me, though. But I found myself this morning back on my side of the bed again.
9 months and already I have Married Habits. Goodness.
Sunday, September 11, 2005
~ When it rains... ~
... it also hails in Canberra.
And driving through hail with your windscreen wipers going crazy is not my idea of fun - especially on a Learner's Permit.
I don't suppose anyone really cares, but just in case you're wondering why on earth it's taken me yonks to get my license, here's it in a nutshell: it's the law in Canberra to have your Learner's for 6 months before you're allowed to take the final test and get your license. A little preventative policy there to rein in young 17-year-old lead-foots who can't wait to drive Daddy's car (and subsequently Daddy) around the bend.
Driving around with husband these few months has seen its ups and downs. I think Audrey got a whiff of what happens when tempers are short in the car.
When Tony was in America for two months, I got a lift from a young family every Sunday morning to church. The wife was learning to drive an automatic, and the understanding was that I remained absolutely quiet while she took her instructions from the husband. After 8 weeks of getting lifts to church and being privy to - and sometimes reluctantly involved in - the crazily heated spats that resulted from such a learning arrangement EVERY WEEK, I told myself to try NOT to lose it when learning from Tony while giving people lifts to church.
I held out in May and June and July and August. It's September and today I snapped because of something minor and irritating and sort of built-up. (It's really not worth explaining beyond that, because it's so stupid.) I apologised later in private, but a part of me is still upset. And then of course another part of me is upset for being this upset.
I'm immensely thankful to God that I can be highly articulate when incensed, and He's blessed me with a husband who listens very quietly. I rather wish I don't blow up so quickly or have a tongue that lashes so eloquently or have long legs that turn and stomp off so huffily - if that's even a word.
It really is true what they say, that it's rough times when a husband teaches his wife how to drive. But I still think it's an excuse for rather bad Wife behaviour.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
~ Pipe Dream gone rusty ~
Saw the Mortgage Broker yesterday.
Offered him cheap-but-yummy brandless stripey chocolate biscuits.
Showed him the compound with the 4+2 bedroom house(s).
He thinks we can afford it, but we're not so sure; the bank will lend us oodles of money but truthfully, we think we missed by, like, $30,000.
Had a heart to heart yesterday about the Grand Scheme of things, and noted that we had pretty different ideals on housing. Australians, in general, put a lot of energy into their homes. They have a stronger complex about living space that us Singaporeans, having lived in pigeon holes for so long, really can't be bothered with. Tony's typically Australian need for "one master bedroom, one room per offspring, and a separate study" is quite a far cry from my "one family in one bedroom, one family in another" upbringing I've had. I guess Singaporeans tend to spend more dollars on accessories than actual real estate because he's all for the house and minimal decoration.
We'll find our way.
slept way, waaaay too late last night.
Sunday, September 04, 2005
~ Stuffing... The Game of Life ~
The last time Tony and I had dinner at the Jennings, we found out we had similar issues confronting us. As fellow newlyweds - they were the ones who got married two weeks before us - they too are confronted with the quandary I face. (I think Tony has a better idea of where he wants to put our money than I initially did.)
To stuff the house, or not to stuff the house... that was the question.
House prices in Canberra are ridiculous; considering the population size (330,000) and the amount of land we have (potentially a lot, if we get rid of the sheep velcroed on the countryside), we have ridiculous rent and housing prices. We are SECOND to Sydney. That's just stupid. Granted, we have the highest income per capita in the whole country... but that still doesn't justify crazy house prices.
Not while I'm living here anyway.
Kate mused that while there is immense pressure to start saving and house hunt before the 2.4 kids come, she's been told to stuff the house and go for the holiday. Tony, having been on his Great Pan America Baseball Adventure, is quite content to house hunt and stuff the holiday.
I haven't quite decided. I think the impetuous, romantic, adventurous side of me wants to travel the world with hubby and get some good photos outside of Singapore and Canberra. The sober, growingly-practical side of me has done the elementary math and knows that unless I intend to attend my children's graduation when I'm a geriatric, I need to get the house now so I can have babies within the decade.
Further exploration on the husband's home-grown home loan calculator has revealed more depressing statistics: as it is, with house prices the way they are, and future plans for mother to migrate, we can only start surviving on a single income while paying off a house loan AFTER 5 YEARS.
Which means I'll be 31-32 before I start a cloning shop in my mid-drift.
(Why single income, the Singaporean might ask. No Filipino maid here will work for AUD$300 a month, which means we cannot be a dual income family for about the first 7 years. Which might be a good thing. But there goes the holiday to Polynesia.)
I don't know if the Jennings are going to house hunt anytime soon, but we started dabbling a little last week and by yesterday, we were going around Gungahlin district with clipboard and home-designed fact sheets in hand, intimidating housing agents. It was actually fun, and rather romantic amidst the dust and the construction around us.
I know we already have a rather ghastly street name as our address, but there were a few here we knew we'd never live down. I mean, "Lizard Lane"??? I particularly enjoyed "Kopi Lane" because it had a Singaporean flavour. And then there was "1 Kangaroo Close". Don't think you can ever say that's UnAustralian.
We fell in love with about 4 houses out of the plethora we visited and each of them have their merits. The first one we visited on Friday, and has terrific resale value. Unfortunately, the house has a very open plan and most of the floor is tiled so I don't know how future-kid is gonna enjoy crawling around ankles in winter. (The image is comical now, but I suspect I won't be as amused later.)
The second one we fell absolutely in love with because it was big, apparently cheap, and had a fully bricked wood-fire barbeque/oven thing in the pergolla at the back! Upon closer inspection today however, we discovered it's also right next to the highway. (A competing housing agent gave a lively impression of a 10 tonne truck braking at the lights outside the house.)
Resale value is a curiosity, to say the least.
House number 3 is located in a new suburb called Harrison - which incidentally is next to an even newer suburb called Forde. Heh heh. House number 3 is brand new, promises to be super comfortable with high resale value... except we'd have to survive without public transport or broadband for at least a year, maybe longer.
House number 4 isn't built yet. But there's the land, there's the blueprint, and there's the possibility of getting it JUST RIGHT. House number 4, however, is situated in Whoop Whoop for now, although the city is a 15 minute drive away. A primary school and high school will be built in future; buses will run past, and the suburb is replete with its own pond, park, and the unmatched view of the mountains. But for now, it's a giant construction site.
So much to think about.
