Fun stuff!

It's all been doom and gloom around here for so long, it's time to break the mood. Well I'm feeling a lot more calm and in control and while I'm not bounding around with energy, everything feels manageable again. So hurrah for that!

In the midst of all the depression, some cool things happened but I didn't write about them because I couldn't get excited about it. Which is really sucky, because the things are lovely things!

The catalyst for all this is money. I don't think I have a love of money in the way the Bible warns against, but the truth is it is a useful tool that allows you to do stuff. Mum and I talked about it, and prayed that we would have the right persepctive about it, and decided we would apply to refinance our mortgage and borrow a little bit more so we could do a few things around the place. I prayed that God would help me be content with whatever the decision was, whether yay or nay.

Our excellent mortgage broker, Paul, was not too optimistic and was very careful to try not to get our hopes up. But as with when he got us the original mortgage, everything just fell into place and all was approved quickly and with no fuss. It was quite something. So people if you need a mortgage or anything mortgage related, get in touch with Paul, he knows his stuff.

So now here are the amazing things I get to do:

Cabin in the corner of glory land my backyard
I've held this dream since we moved here two and a half years ago, to build a little studio type cabin in the backyard, to be a place where I could do work/creative stuff and not be doing everything from the clutter of my bedroom. We have a long block and it's got lots of trees right down the back, which we don't want to get rid of (they screen quite nicely from the neighbours). But the yard isn't used that well for all the space we have. There's a deck right in the middle, and a little courtyard.

So now we have some money, I'm going to build a little cabin on the deck. I did a bit of research but the one I kept coming back to was from Cabin Kits Galore. Made of wood, quick to assemble, under 20m2 so don't need council approval (it's considered a shed at that size) and reasonably affordable.

So very soon, I'll be set up in something a bit like this, to sew and work and do massages in:

Speaking of massages, I was also able to buy a new table which will be a bit over 2m long so my taller friends won't be hanging off the end of the table. On track to finish my Certificate IV by the end of the year!

Bathroom

And once the cabin is in with its little ensuite bathroom, we will make some changes to the house's bathroom. We have a stupid little bath that I try valiantly to relax in, but it's too short even for me. We're going to see if we can reorient things in our tiny bathroom to fit a longer bath under the window and a walk in shower, instead of the shower over the bath (which mum is worried she won't be able to manage climbing into forever). But if that won't fit, we'll just do a walk in shower and fix up the walls and window sills which are starting to show water damage issues.

Big Hearted Business Bali retreat
I was excited to hear about the BHB retreat in Ubud and applied for it, not knowing how I'd pay for it, but thought it was worth a go. It sounded like something that would be a proper holiday and also nourishing and fun at the same time (as opposed to travelling somewhere and just looking at touristy stuff). It was limited to 20 places, and they were going to be specially selected to try and create a harmonious group of people that would get the most out of the week. Unfortunately I didn't get in.

But a little while later I got an exciting phone call from Lisa at the BHB office - they had had so many applications they decided to run a second retreat in November. And because I was on the original short list, they wanted to offer me a place! Hurrah! And then we got the refinance and so I could pay for it! Double hurrah!

So I'm going to Bali in November. With Clare Bowditch, Pip Lincolne, Jesse Neave and 19 other excellent people. We're going to relax, drink coconuts, swim, have massages, do yoga, and learn/do a whole bunch of creative stuff for a week. Oh I am so looking forward to it.

This is where I'll be - at the beautiful Villa Gaia

It is so exciting! I know we're in debt to the bank, but my thought is you've got to pay someone, whether it's a landlord or a bank. I'd rather pay the bank and be able to do things to make our living space how we need it to be, and for it to be useful and welcoming for people. And to be able to go on a fun trip is just the icing on the cake.