House Renovations - Loungeroom

click to enlarge

Take me back to the thrilling saga about the curtains.

More photos of my House Renovations: 
House Renovations - Bedroom

Photos of me mucking around during House Renovations:
During House Renovations - Flipping Underlay Residue
During House Renovations - Scrubbing Day with Pippi Longstocking 
During House Renovations - The Varnish Discovery

Finding a Photo of Dad

To match my unfinished driveway and unfinished floorboards, I have an unfinished display of family photos.  It has been particularly bothersome that for the past few months I have had portraits of my Mum, my sister and me next to half a dozen empty picture hooks because I couldn't find a good photo of my Dad and therefore gave up finding ANY other photos.

The 'N' key on my keyboard has almost completely worn off.  What is up with that?  Do I have an inexplicably exuberant usage of words containing 'N'?

In my recent search for a photo of Dad I discovered a veritable treasure trove of photos I have taken of Dad taking photos.

Some great shots I've taken of Dad:

Clockwise (from left):

• Dad lying on the ground photographing a light house.
• Dad standing up photographing a light house (different light house, different holiday).
• Dad and a light house being very tiny (they are in the distance) while Mum sits on a park bench looking out to sea, or possibly having a nap.

I remember that moment well because it was immediately after I almost stepped on a snake and my first instinct was to take a quick happy snap of it as it slithered back into the long grass.  Then I looked at the photo I'd taken.  Then I looked to where the snake had disappeared.  Then I stood still for half a minute trying to remember if you're supposed to stand completely still if you see a snake or if you're meant to run as fast as you can. 

Then I remembered the very useful fact that in order to escape a crocodile you need to run in a zig-zagged line.  Apparently the crocodile has a very wide turning circle and will not be able to co-ordinate itself to follow your haphazard escape route so will not succeed in catching and chomping you. 

Then I remembered I'd seen a snake, not a crocodile.  I checked the photo to make sure.  Then I speed-walked (in between running and standing still) to the park bench.

I can't be bothered posting ALL the sensational photos I've taken of Dad but here is a quick summary of the gems I had to choose from when looking to frame Dad on the wall with the rest of the family.

• Dad squatting in the dirt of a runway photographing glider take-offs and landings.
• Dad (with cap on backwards) leaning on the permapine railing of the meerkat enclosure in the zoo photographing the meerkats.
• Dad (with cap on backwards) leaning on the permapine railing of the meerkat enclosure in the zoo photographing the giraffes whose enclosure is behind the meerkats.
• Dad (with cap on backwards) leaning on the permapine railing on the edge of a cliff to photograph some dogs on an island in the distance, or maybe it was migrating birds on a rock, or a light house on a distant shore.
• Dad carrying a camera tripod ready to photograph the information displays inside a slab hut.
• Dad about to enter the slab hut with his camera tripod with the top of the light house from the TV show 'Round the Twist' peeking over the roof.

If you've ever seen 'Round the Twist' you will now have the song stuck in your head.  That is, of course, if readership of my blog increases to more than just me.  Mind you, I HAVE seen 'Round the Twist so I DO now have the song stuck in my head so that renders the clause useless. 

"Have you ever?

Ever felt like this?

How strange things happen,

Are you going round the twist?..."

 Just in case you've never seen it or you've forgotten.

I was well and truly spoilt for choice.  It was hard to decide which photo of Dad went best with the ones of my sister and I in formal dresses.

• Dad perching precariously on the back of a motor boat photographing kneeboarders being towed by a different boat than the one we were spectating from.
• Dad balancing in his motor boat photographing the cliffs along the River Murray, taken by me when I should have been driving the boat.
• Dad taking a photo of me at the beach taking a photo of him taking a photo of me.
• Dad standing on a jetty taking a photo of me snorkelling taking a photo of him taking a photo of me.

In the end I got one of my sister's wedding photos, cropped my sister out and voila! a photo of Dad for my lounge room wall.

Flawed Floors & Licence Loss

Eeyore and the Giraffe: Adventures on the High Seas.

The above picture probably has nothing to do with what I'm about to write, but I don't know because I'm yet to write it, or not write it, as the case may be.  It is now that I will decide what I'm going to write about in this blog.  Not just this post, the entire blog.  It seemed unnecessary to trouble myself with such trivialities before I created it. So, recently I had to surrender my driver's licence because I was still falling asleep at the wheel and I imagine that my daily struggle to stay awake will form part of my writings. I'm still attempting to fix some things around the house so this could be a good place to post my before and after photos of such thrilling aspects as the driveway and floorboards. My little project before I commenced ripping up carpet and sanding floorboards was to repaint the wooden giraffe above and make little hooks where I now store cables.  The leap from sanding small pieces of dowel to sanding metres of wooden floorboards was slightly greater than anticipated and I am left with some very 'rustic' surfaces which I am yet to sand and/or varnish. As for the driveway, which I originally thought I could remedy by filling in with some old laundry tiles, I am now left with a landslide of old crumbling slabs which used to constitute the walls of the swimming pool.  Not that it matters, seeing as I'm not allowed to drive anyway. Advantages of not driving: The discovery and subsequent delight in the noise a 600ml coke bottle makes when you hit things with the curvy bit.   Finding that the ticket validating machines on buses no longer make an anxiety provoking 'you are a terrible person because your ticket doesn't work' beep but instead they sound like a jolly bouncing frog.  Disadvantages of not driving: Getting a cold from visiting a doctor 5mins drive away because it took a few hours of travelling and waiting in the freezing cold night air.   I can't blame that entirely on not driving; it would have been more sensible to visit the doctor during daylight hours.  Unfortunately, I felt too sick to go to the doctor. The sickness I had before and the sickness I have inherited since have nothing to do with the reason I went there in the first place.  Much like this blog.  Much like my life in general. Well, that explains it. The main themes shall be:  Largely irrelevant photos Staying awake Not driving House renovations Things that make funny noises Complaining about my own stupidity Trying to figure out what I'm writing about