A crash, visitors and mozilla

Well my laptop crashed on Wednesday - so far as I can figure out I've lost everything (and no - I didn't do backups). My own silly fault I suppose but I have been so underwhelmed by the tech support from HP. The basic problem is that the computer gets to the Windows part of the boot and falls over and restarts again and goes round and round and round in this continuous loop. The helpful email support sent me a microsoft page telling me how to fix the problem - all very interesting but as I commented - I don't even have a way to get to the DOS prompt let alone do anything else. When I emailed this back the ever helpful 'Sam' told me how to get to the DOS prompt. Apparently you click on the "Start" button, click on Run and ....... Well yes Sam, that would be terrific but if the computer actually got to the windows screen with the Start button - I WOULDN'T HAVE A BLOODY PROBLEM!

Oh - that Sam-I-Am, that Sam-I-Am. I do not like that Sam-I-Am.

Haven't heard from Sam since I pointed that one out. The resolution appears that the only way to fix the problem is to wipe the whole computer and lose all my data which is not a very acceptable result to me. They do this really clever thing now where they partition the hard disk and set aside a portion that allows you to recover if your PC fails. This is very clever and saves the fifty cents it would cost them to provide you with the software ON DISK. The problem is when you are in a position such as the one I am in - you have to wipe out the entire PC to get it to work again because you don't have any disks to boot from. Brilliant!

Did I mention I hate that Sam-I-Am?

So now I am on my husband's old laptop which runs Mozilla Firefox. I use to use Microsoft Internet Explorer (call me a weird but I actually quite like using it as I've had problems with Mozilla Firefox).

I am now horrified to learn that my blog is a great big mess when I look at it in Firefox with things all over the place. Quelle horreur! I shall attempt to fix it up - but if you are looking at it in Explorer and it goes haywire in that let me know won't you - you know like you'd tell someone that their skirt is tucked up in their undies before they leave the ladies restroom?

So it's been a fun couple of days - I've lost every photo from my PC (family ones - the kids - argh) although fortunately I have a few on this blog so I will have to screen scrape them off even though they will be low res).

Had a couple of virtual visitors to the new house - Judi and Erica (friends from the doll world although I do also know Erica in "real" life) and Jodi who has a wonderful blog called Cote de Texas. She is an uber doyenne of stylish decorating with fab taste in everything. I left a comment on a post in her blog - so she popped in for a visit. Kind of wish she'd waited till I'd done something about the brick walls, pink paint and green carpet - feeling like a bit of an Aussie dag (which I am but - well - you know).

So that's it for now - autumn has come to Sydney early -it's cool and crisp today - beautiful and sunny - that terrible February humidity didn't come for once (yay!) No doubt we'll get a couple more hot ones in the mix - but it's kind of exciting to know that summer's over.

Some more of the new house

Ok - so last post was about the backyard - you might notice that we have a pool (yay) - the girl's will really enjoy it in the summer (I think it's got solar heating too which is good!)
Here's another shot across the deck - you can see all the bushland we own - it's nice and peaceful and yes - we'll be repainting the railings!
There are lots of birds that live in the gum trees - so it will be nice to sit out and enjoy the privacy (or as Claire calls it Privatsy).
The kids are looking forward to having their own rumpus room (complete with bar - won't be hiding the booze down there!) It should be easy enough to run water into the space to make it a wet bar - maybe even a kitchenette! The vertical blinds and the brick walls are another thing that will be going - I hate both with an equal passion - can't stand that Australian colonial look with brick walls, pine furniture or brown leather couches - brown, brown, brown and drab, drab, drab. (Sorry - getting a bit passionate there!) Here's the family room and the peach walls, vertical drapes and the tiffany light shades are going as is the slate tile. It's going to be so much brighter and paler!
Here's the formal lounge - yes the pink walls and green carpet will take a bullet as well as those very unattractive light fittings and curtains. I am tempted to put built in display/bookshelves on either sides of the open fire - not sure if there is enough depth there - I'd like to use the power to the unattractive sconces to have illuminated cabinets.
Sitting above the formal lounge is the master bedroom with equally tasteful light fittings and curtains and paint and carpet with the addition of a wallpaper dado. See - this makes it easy - you just think - bullet - it's a no brainer. I do like the double doors though I'll be painting the wood stained door trims white too.
Last but not least - the kitchen. In it's day I'd say that it was the top-of the line on offer - look at the granite benchtop - it's at least 2 inches thick. It's a bit heavy looking and ultimately I think I'll install a new kitchen based around my choice of appliances (I loathe Smeg with a passion - anyone with me on that?) I think the current oven is a Westinghouse - so I might actually be able to cook with it. In the interim I may well paint the cupboard doors white to lighten the mood a little and maybe change the doorknobs. The slate floor may stay till I decide exactly what I am doing in this space. There is a breakfast room and the family room in a straight line from this kitchen - if possible I'd like to take out the walls and open it up into one large communal space - but that will largely depend on whether the walls are supporting walls or not and implications of beams etc. to span the space.
Well that's it for now folks - my life will shortly be about nothing else but packing boxes.

Home Sweet Home

Ok - so the good news is we sold the house - for $6000 more than the asking price in two and a half weeks. How good is that? The unfortunate downside is that of course the rest of the family has gone into anti-keep-the-house-clean-for-potential buyers (grrrrrr........)
Just to add to the general merriment - we also bought the new house last week - here it is from the front. The tree ferns will be the first thing to go as they block the light into the front windows - I shall either sell them or move them into the bush at the back. We will also get the roof restored - repointed, cleaned, sealed and re-sprayed an get a soft wash and high pressure hose done on the driveway (we were so impressed by what a difference it made to our house!) I am also thinking of repainting the bluewall and trims - but can't decide on a colour - so it may stay the same for a while as I contemplate!
Here's around the back - it's a big block - 1910m2 but mostly it's bush - no garden to take care of which I am feeling slightly ambivalent about. Part of me wanted to buy an acreage and put in some totally splendiferous garden (probably had something to do with seeing a show on the ABC about Sissinghurst - but in reality I am not an upper-class English heiress with a husband interested in garden design - so I am probably having myself on - (you know - just a bit). However - I do have a genetic predisposition for gardening - my grandmother's grandfather was a self educated man who worked at various times as either a groom or a gardner. Apparently he use to go around the Botanic Gardens and point out all the incorrect classifications on the various plants to the gardeners.
Dad's side of the family has an even more impressive gardening history - his great grandfather was head gardener at several big estates in Scotland - he even worked at the Archbishop's Palace in Armagh, Northern Ireland. This is pretty funny as Dad's gardening ambitions have only ever stretched as far as mowing the lawns (and then having a nice refreshing beer soon after).
I remember one time when the grass was about knee high and Mum begged him to at least mow a path to the washing line. Which is exactly what he did - once around the Hills Hoist and back again. She was not amused.
We of course thought it was hysterical - until I saw Muriel's Wedding some years later (which is the most poignant and tragic comedy ever). Remember the scene where the mother had asked and asked for someone to mow the backyard so she could hang the washing out? She ends up committing suicide and when Muriel returns home the backyard is a smoking ruin as her mother set fire to it - evidently she was not amused either.
OK - wow that went off on a tangent didn't it? So I will do another post showing the rest of the new house and I will jot down other notes to myself about things I want to change.