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Bad Day

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
21

Yesterday afternoon I was reflecting on what would have been my worst day at work when I was a plumber. Most of my bad days were at Tafe when I was doing my apprenticeship but there were some classic work days where I got splattered with crap or would have to deal with unreasonable clients or trades.

The last few days being a mother has tested my emotions. A defiant and disobedient three year old has brought out the worst qualities in this mum.  On Tuesday at playgroup I was talking to another mum about how great my Esther was at playing with her sister and helping me.

By Wednesday, I had a different child on my hands. Tantrums and talking back were as consistent as the ad breaks on TV.  No was screamed back at me when I asked her to do something like pick up her toys. Complaining and nagging when I wouldn’t give into her demands of chocolate for breakfast. You don’t imagine these days when you plan to have a baby, but they are all part of the package of being a mother and raising a child.

I’ve yelled. I’ve screamed. I’ve dragged Esther to her naughty chair. I’ve given her time out in her room.

By 5pm I’m exhausted and I know in my spirit that I haven’t been the mum that I have wanted to be and I’ve cried and thought how the blank am I going to cope with THREE children?

I don’t want to say that Magdalene has been an angel. The thing is she has and I don’t want to jinx her behavior. But she’s also been laughing when Esther has been throwing a tanty and I worry that she is going to learn her sister’s bad behavior.

Yesterday morning was going like a dream. The girls were happy to play while I vacuumed, washed the floor and cleaned the bathroom. I feel so much better when I have a clean house even though I know it won’t last for long. But it wasn’t good for my back or my belly.

By the afternoon, there was butter popcorn thrown all over our leather couches while the girls were meant to watch Frozen. The kernels and little white popcorn bits stuck to the rug. They created an oily mess on my clean floors and on the black leather lounge the girls were sitting on. I yelled at Esther to stop throwing the popcorn and being silly but she continued to throw it as if she was creating her very own snow scene from Frozen.

I chucked both girls outside and told them to play in the jungle (our back garden) which they had played quite nicely in the day before. I sat on the couch for a couple of minutes and indulged in the silence and closed my eyes.

The next thing I heard was my Magdalene about to crawl into the family room from being outside and she was black from head to toe. I cried NOOOOO.

Magdalene covered in dirt
The throwing fiesta had continued outside. Both girls had flung dirt high and far from one of our bigger planter pots all over the alfresco area and all over my clean washing. The dirt was EVERYWHERE. Esther came in and could see my fury and she looked at me with scared eyes. ‘I’m sorry mummy. But I just wanted to play in the dirt’.

dirt everywhere
I bundled both girls in towels and carried them to the bath wishing I could see the funny side of the drama but I couldn’t. At that stage Jacob arrived home and he went outside to clean up the mess.

My beautiful clean floors were covered in popcorn and dirt. My back ached. I wished I could afford a cleaner and I wished that I could be one of those carefree ‘go-with-the-flow’ type mothers but yesterday I couldn’t do it.

We had Vietnamese for dinner and I took a gamble and ordered something different to what we usually ordered and the gamble didn’t pay off. It sucked. I made up for it by making a chocolate pudding in a cup with ice cream. I wished I hadn’t wasted money on bad takeaway.

By the time both girls were in bed all I wanted to do was lie on the couch. I scrolled through Facebook and realized there were many women in the world experiencing worse days than what I had experienced.

The 8 month pregnant woman in Sudan who has been sentenced to death because she believes in God.

Various blog posts of mums struggling with illness or their baby in hospital, not knowing when they will be able to bring their bubba home. Perspective met my reality and I realized my day had been bad, but not as bad as many others in the world.

Today has been a good day. This morning was relaxed with both girls coming into bed for snuggles and cuddles. There was no rushing to swimming and trying to fit in cleaning a house because I’d done it yesterday. (Jacob vacuumed the floors while I bathed the kids when he got home from work.)

Esther’s defiance is a challenge that Jacob and I face as we bring her up. She’s strong. I don’t know where she gets it from.

There will be more challenging days ahead and I just hope that I don’t miss the opportunity to grow fruit rather than a thorn.

How has your week been? How do you cope with bad days?

Poo in the bath

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
43
Vanity Storage Space is a must as well as neutral colouring.

If you’re a parent, you will know all too well about poo in the bath. A mixture of warm water and relaxation can be all that is needed for babies and toddlers to release unwanted elements in the bath. I’ve never seen Esther jump out of a bath so quick when she notices a brown floaty in the water. Produced kindly by her sister.

We seem to have had more of our share of this type of incident, in fact it happened again last night.


Poo in the bath
Often many parents will empty the bath and hope that the poo will drain down with the water, but this is a bad move. The reason for this is because most bath wastes are connected to the floor waste and if the poo settles in the floor waste without adequate water behind to flush it out, it will create an open sewer in the bathroom. Sounds gross hey?

So the best way to get rid of poo out of the bath is to scoop it up. Sometimes the water turns the poo into a sloppy putty, so use a small ice cream container or plastic cup to scoop up the nuggets and flush them down the toilet. Release the water out of the bath after the retrieval and give the bath and the toys a good scrub with disinfectant.

If the poo has completely disintegrated in the bath, you may have no choice but to let the poo drain out with the bath water, but make sure you have a shower or run a small amount of water down the bath to flush any poo water from the floor waste.

I’ve talked about smelly drains before and what can be done to fix them. The last thing you want is to add poo to an already smelly drain.

Have you ever had to scoop poo out of the bath? Any funny stories to share?

I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for I Blog on Tuesdays.

When life gives you lemons

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
14

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, but what if you had the hope of receiving an apple but it was taken away from you. Like a child or a mother?

I am currently writing this blog post due to pregnancy insomnia. There is so much that I want to write about being a mother. The joy of becoming one, and the heartache of not being one. Yet.

There are some beautiful posts being shared on Facebook about remembering mums who have lost children or children losing their mums and my heart is weighed deeply by this because while I will be enjoying Mother’s Day with my two darling girls and the impending birth of my third child, there are others that will be choosing not to celebrate this occasion.

Everyone’s choice is different. Motherhood is worth celebrating because it’s such a privilege and it is hard work. It’s a status that many women in the world will never attain because of a range of different circumstances.

In a perfect world every woman who wanted to be a mum would be one. Our bodies would do what they needed to do in order to create a new life. But we live in an imperfect world and our bodies don’t always work how we want them too. Who’s to blame? Why can a sixteen year old girl fall pregnant unexpectedly from her first sexual experience when a 26 year old young woman who is married and looking forward to becoming a mum, have to look at IVF because her body (or her partner’s) just won’t allow it to happen? Why can a woman have an abortion for a child she doesn’t want to have yet, while another miscarries a child that she really wants?

I ask God why? Why do these injustices happen? And then I am reminded that we live in a fallen world, a world that was created perfect in the beginning, but marred by deceit. We blame God, but he is not the one to be blamed. It’s the deceiver, Satan who takes delight in our pain and enjoys watching our heart harden towards God when we don’t get what we want.

But I know that my God is a good God. A God that can restore. A God of hope.

And it is when I practice hope, that I learn to turn a lemon into lemonade. By practicing faith and having hope, it opens the door for God to restore a body that can’t fall pregnant, or a body that is fighting cancer. Many mums are facing the reality of today being their last Mother’s Day.

And then there are the mums that have lost a child. What would their child look like now? Where is their spirit residing?

I have a firm belief that Heaven is full of children. It’s full of the aborted, the miscarried and the stillborn. It’s full of the children who were taken too soon.

I don’t know if what I believe is theologically correct. Has anyone gone to Heaven and come back to tell the tale and reveal what Heaven is really like?

What I do know is that God has a heart for everyone and every soul is precious to Him. He has a sure understanding of whatever circumstance we are going through. He knows the pain of losing a child and it weighs heavily on His heart when a woman is unable to fall pregnant. Hello new bodies in Heaven!

So you may be facing Mother’s Day with a disappointed heart and a soul burdened with grief, but life is a gift and when you celebrate other’s joys, by not dwelling on your own, it opens the door for remarkable things to happen in your life.

I want to leave you with a very special testimony that I was able to witness through my blog and have chosen to share it with you today this Mother’s Day.

Last year on my blog I ran a Mother’s Day giveaway. It was a gold crane necklace that I loved the design and meaning behind and I wanted to bless a mum or mum-to-be with the gift of a necklace to restore hope in a mum’s life. You can read about Fleur Envy – A Mother’s Day giveaway.

Anyway, I had a few entries and it was hard to choose a winner. I chose my winner and organized for the delivery of the necklace to the winning entry.

There was one entry that didn’t win but really burdened my heart. It was a reader (let’s call her Rose) who had a sister who was finding it hard to stay pregnant and had suffered from miscarriages and had had another one just before my giveaway. The recent miscarriage was another major blow to her dream of becoming a mum. Rose wanted to bless her sister with the necklace to restore her hope that her dream would be a reality.

The gold crane holds so much meaning, That I wish to share, One of hope and better luck, To show my sister I care!

I decided to buy another necklace and have it sent to Rose. Rose was lovely and replied to me saying I would probably have more pressing things to spend my money on. She was right. But I couldn’t ignore my heart so I paid for another necklace to be made and sent to her.

A couple of weeks later I received an email from Rose announcing her sister was pregnant again (around 5 weeks pregnant), but she was petrified that the pregnancy wouldn’t be viable. I knew in my heart that sending that gold necklace was the right decision, hoping that it would bring comfort and restore hope to a broken and fearful heart.

The point of sending the necklace was not to bring good luck to the recipient. The point of the necklace was to restore hope and faith when reality kept knocking it down.

I was delighted to receive an email at the beginning of this year to say that the Rose’s sister had given birth to a healthy baby boy on Boxing Day last year. The necklace did its job of restoring hope in another person’s life.  It filled my heart with joy to see that when faith is actioned with a symbolic step, it opens the door for a miracle to occur.

It’s hard celebrating with other mothers when you are yet to be a mother yourself or when you have suffered loss, but the lemonade happens when you use your own grief to be a blessing to others.

Don’t let the Mother’s Day hype bog you down with grief. Acknowledge the grief and then practice hope by being the mother you were meant to be.

Mother the mothers that are finding it hard to be a mother. Mother the mothers that have lost a child. Mother the soon-to-be Mothers who are waiting for their turn to be one.

Life is hard. But when you rise above your own circumstances and look to the needs of others, while it won’t take away the pain of what was lost, it will produce hope. It will open doors of remarkable favour.

Happy Mother’s Day to all my readers. For those readers whom I know are struggling with the reality of becoming a mum or suffering from a life threatening illness, know that your name is never far from my lips when I pray, and that I stand with you in hope and faith.

God Bless.

What is needed to build a quality client database?

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
10

This post is in collaboration with Cordell

My first real job was as a telemarketer in a sales team for a transport company. My role was to ring Warehouse Managers and organise appointments for our Sales Reps.

To build the potential client database I would search for different industries on the Yellow Pages and print off the listed phone numbers. The other way to build the database was to go ‘eyeballing’ with a Sales Rep in their area. The rep would drive up and down every street in a particular suburb of their area and I would write down every business name on the street. When I’d get back to the office, it was my job to search for the company details on the internet and give them a call.

When I started working with my Dad in our plumbing business, I was surprised that he did a similar thing when building up clients for our interior fit out work. Due to his past experience in the commercial fit out niche, he knew most of the main builders that also worked in that niche. But dad learned from a previous past experience that you couldn’t have all your eggs in one basket, so he would always keep an eye out for new shop fitting builders and would give them a call to find out if he could provide a hydraulics quote on any future fit out jobs.

Dad didn’t know how to use the internet so if he saw a builder’s name on a work site he would look them up in the Yellow Pages or call Call Connect.

Tenders would be sent by Australia Post or by courier to my Dad’s home office or he would pick them up on the way home from a builder’s premises. Sometimes if work was slow, Dad would look at the tenders section of the Courier Mail. Eventually snail mail was replaced with email. Builders and hydraulic consultants would email plans and my mum or I would print them off. The year we decided to focus more on maintenance was when tenders became available online. For a small fee a contractor could download any plans they required for tender as well as see any other tender opportunities to quote on.

Cordell Tenders Online is one such company that keeps their customers informed of the latest tender opportunities across nearly every industry sector. The Tender notification gives the contractor access to a huge array of potential opportunities from small local jobs right through to some of the largest Government contracts. It saves time cold calling builders for new tenders, although I don’t think a contractor should stop ringing their builders for new tender opportunities as not all jobs are advertised online.

An open minded approach is what is needed to build a quality client database which will form the foundation of future work contracts.

How has building your client database changed over the years? Do you find technology makes it easier to find tenders and get new work?

This is post has been written in accordance to my disclosure policy.

Welcome to the third trimester

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
34

I woke up at 4am on Sunday morning. Actually, I’ve been waking up at that time most mornings this week because I generally toss and turn during the night as I can never find a comfortable position to sleep in.  Welcome to the third trimester! The weight of my belly is making it difficult for me to sleep on my side and I constantly find myself lying on my back (thankfully with my wedge pillow under my right hip).

I’ve found that I’m becoming slower at getting ready in the mornings. After my initial 4am wake up, I will go and put the heater on and then let our dog out for a whizz. Sometimes I crawl back into bed, hoping my body will succumb to my exhaustion. I eventually fall asleep because I wake at around 7.20am.  Jacob lets me sleep in because he knows that I need my sleep and he’s noticed my acrobatics in bed during the night.

I’ve been feeling guilty about not getting up early and putting pressure on myself to get certain things done before the baby arrives (like have a couple of weeks of blog posts up my sleeve) but I haven’t done any of it and I don’t have the motivation.

Where does this guilt come from? Who cares that I’ve been having later mornings?

I weighed myself two weeks ago and gasped that I had hit triple figures. I remember hitting triple figures on my birthday when I was pregnant with Esther and still had 4 weeks to my delivery date.  I weighed myself this morning and the scales said I was 224kg. I think my scales are way out.

I’ve been relishing the time at home with my girls. I haven’t missed work. I’ve missed the money, but not the work. And while our money has been as tight as a fish’s butthole, we have managed to get by.

I can’t believe that in ten weeks we are going to have another baby. My belly is well defined now and apparently, so has my butt. Yesterday I had to go and buy the next size in maternity jeans because my current ones are getting quite snug and there is nothing worse than sitting down and feeling restricted under the belly and in the nether regions.

I have constant heart burn and I’m sure I could create fireworks the way my thighs rub together when I walk.

But I am content and I know that my size and weight is not only for a good purpose, but it’s also for a season. I know it will take me at least 18 months to lose my baby weight and I’m not worried about numbers or sizes. I just want to feel healthy. And lose my butt shelf.

So no plumbing post from me today. Just a post from a pregnant woman who is excited about nearing the end of her pregnancy and the challenges that come in the final weeks before delivery.

How did you find the third trimester? Guys, how did you cope when your partner neared the end of her pregnancy?

I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for I blog on Tuesdays.

A walking sewer

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
19

Whenever I see the Nickelodean Slimefest Awards I am reminded of a really bad job at work where a similar scenario of being slimed played out on me.

Nickelodean Mark Wahlberg

 

Dad and I were contracted to make a floor good which meant removing all unnecessary plumbing fixtures and pipes back to the waste stack and seal up the hole in the main sewer stack that travelled from the base of the building to the top.

The building we were working in had been unoccupied for a while but the property owner was able to source a new tenant, hence why work was being done on the floor. We had to disconnect an old sink located in the corner of the floor, which had a 20 meter run of 65mm PVC pipe back to the opposite corner of the building where the main sewer pipe stack was.

The sink was on level 3 and we had to work in the Level 2 ceiling to remove the waste pipe. The long stretch of waste pipe had little fall which meant the pipe would be full of water and since it was an open ceiling, as the ceiling tiles had been removed, we put plastic down on the carpeted floors to prevent wetting the floor when taking down the pipe.

At the time I was around 20 weeks pregnant with Esther. I found it difficult to climb and keep balance on a ladder, so my dad stood on the ladder to disconnect the pipe and I would stand underneath to catch the pieces of pipe and then use a hand saw to cut the pipe into manageable pieces to be transported off site.

Unfortunately, both dad and I underestimated how much water was in the pipe so while dad was cutting the pipe and started to lever the pipe out of disconnect socket, black sludge sprayed over the walls, on the plastic flooring and all over my head and shoulders.

The sludge smelled like fermented yogurt with a touch of sweetness and then the most nasty smell of poop. I knew it wasn’t poop because we were disconnecting a sink after all. Unless someone hoisted their butt over the sink and let a number 2 rip… which I sincerely hope and highly doubt, a person could or would.

Anyway, I continued to be sprayed with the black sludge because even when I wasn’t standing underneath the pipe, dad’s constant yanking of the pipe out of the brackets caused the sludge to be flicked everywhere. There was nowhere for me to hide.

My pregnant nose was on high alert and I prayed that I wouldn’t get sick from getting covered in black crap.

Unfortunately I didn’t have a spare shirt to change into, so I cleaned as much of the crap out of my hair and shirt as I could.

Once the sink waste had been disconnected and sealed, another trade arrived to do their demolishing work and I remember the tradie walking onto our floor and shouting, ‘F**k, the plumbers got here before we did and the place smells like Sh*t’. I wanted to advise him that the floor wasn’t the only one that smelt like crap. I was literally a walking sewer.

After dad and I cleaned ourselves as much as we could with our towels that were solely used for mopping up brown messes when disconnecting toilets, we met my mum for lunch at McDonalds at Albion.

Mum said she could smell us a mile away. I won’t repeat what she told us we smelt like.

I was very grateful for my shower when I got home. And upon inspecting my shirt I found that some of the sludge had been hiding under my collar, covered over with my dark hair.

No wonder I smelt that crap all day. Some of it was still caked on my shirt!

Have you ever been sprayed with something nasty?

I’m linking up with Laugh Link.

Nickelodean Image Source

Mother’s Day Gift Guide for 2014

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
22

My dad never forgot Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, his Wedding Anniversary or his wife’s (my mum’s) Birthday when I worked for him. I would always remind him about a couple of weeks before the said event and ensure that he had a gift already thought out and a card.  He would generally leave it the day before to buy a gift and I would mark in my diary in amongst the plumbing jobs of the day to get dad to a shop to buy something for my mum.

While I was great at reminding my dad of the date and event, he didn’t need any help in purchasing a gift. Most times I would sit in the truck or go and do an errand while he would browse at a jewellery store and pick something out for mum. There were times when dad would say ‘Your mother said we aren’t doing gifts this year’, and I would shake my head and say ‘No, you are still going to get her something.’ And he did. 🙂

When I was working with our commercial plumbers during my apprenticeship I would ask the plumbers if they had bought something for their wives for Christmas or Mother’s Day. You see the tricky thing about Mother’s Day is that children are the ones that want to put a gift together for their mum but they need their dad to take them shopping.

So since I’m not working and my analytics tells me I have more men reading my blog than women, I am going to do you a favour and remind you that you have just over a week to organize a gift for your own mum and your wife if she is a mum. Mother’s Day is on Sunday the 11th May and I have put a gift guide together and the most expensive item is $165.

As a side note, Mother’s Day is a day where mums are appreciated for what they do through out the year. This is not a time to feel pressured into consumerism, but a gift and a card is a lovely way to bless a mum.  And a sleep in, breakfast in bed… sorry I’m getting carried away with myself.

Here is The Plumbette’s Mother’s Day Gift Guide for 2014

The Plumbette's Mothers Day Gifts 2014

1. Home is where my mum is Tea Towel $24.95 Hard to Find

2. Pastel Rose PJ Set $99.95 Peter Alexander

3. Bed Socks $14.95 Sussan

4. Mercer + Reid Shiloh Throw Rug $69.95 Adairs

5. MUM Chocolate Freckle $6.95 Lark

6. Plunger Wine Stopper $9.95 Australian Gifts Online (partner this with mum’s favourite bottle of wine or non-alcoholic beverage)

7. Japanese Cherry Blossom Picnic Case $49.95 The Body Shop Australia  

8. Eco Vessel Hot and Cold Water Bottle with tea strainer $34.95 Shop Naturally

9. Shimmer Sequin Ugg Boots $165.00 Down that little lane

10. Neckwarmer #26 $50.00 Erin Louise

11. Tahiti Jade Teething Necklace and Bangle Gift Set $50.00 Tiny and I

12. Mum Gift Bath Treats $39.95 Lush

Have you got a gift ready for Mother’s Day? If you’re a mum what takes your fancy from my gift guide?

The Best Mixer Tap for a Young Family PLUS Giveaway

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
22

The Winner is Lisa Gray.

Do you find your kids are inquisitive about taps in the bathroom? My kids are. Even as a 14 month old, my Magdalene likes to swing the gooseneck spout on our bath from side to side. That’s why it’s so important to watch your kids while they are in the bathroom to keep them safe and prevent an accident.


Gooseneck Spout
I was sent the Lindoni Scald Guard Basin mixer manufactured by Fix-A-Tap Australia for a review. The mixer has a scald guard technology which means it has a spring loaded cartridge that enables the handle of the mixer tap to flick back to the cold position once it’s finished being used in the hot position.

Lindoni Scald Guard Basin Mixer Tap
I don’t have mixer taps in my house because it was a display house and the designers chose to install the Capstan style hot and cold handle taps. However, when I have done maintenance on bathrooms where a mixer has been installed, it is usually turned off in the hot position – especially in the shower and bath.

The consequence of turning the mixer off in the hot position can mean a child can lift the handle and be hit with hot water. Every household in Australia should have a tempering valve on their hot water unit to ensure that a maximum of 50 degree water is released through the spout but there are some houses that still don’t have one installed. This can be catastrophic and illegal if a bathroom has had a renovation and the hot water unit hasn’t been upgraded to meet the current plumbing laws.

The idea behind the mixer tap came after Daniel Gadd (Category Manager from Fix a Tap Australia) had a close call with his own three year old son who snuck into the shower while Daniel was shaving. His son was able to reach the mixer handle that had been left off in the hot position. Daniel was able to retrieve his son just in time. It was after this incident that Daniel learned he wasn’t the first parent to experience this kind of problem. In fact, approximately 1500 children under 5 years of age are taken to the Emergency Department for the treatment of scalds in NSW alone, thus the Lindoni Scald Guard mixer range was created.

Due to my pregnant state, I got my dad to install the basin mixer into one of his basins at home so that I could try the mixer out for myself. The mixer is solid and was easy for dad to install. (This mixer must be installed by a licensed plumber) The handle works exactly as designed and flicks easily between cold and hot and when I turned the mixer off with the lever still on the hot side, it automatically flicked back to the cold side.

Lindoni Basin Mixer Tap Installed
I was able to donate the mixer tap I received to an old client who is opening a family day care center and is in the process of fitting off a new bathroom specifically for the children’s use. The new bathroom also has a shower and will be fitted with the Scald Guard shower mixer not only to keep the taps in the bathroom uniform but also to prevent accidents like the above from happening.

The basin mixer won the Australian Design Awards in 2013 for its innovative quality of reducing the risk of scalding to young kids and the elderly. It also can save on gas and electricity bills because it flicks back to the cold water position.

For its design purposes and economical purposes, I recommend all plumbers have a spare Scald Guard basin mixer and sink mixer on their truck for those situations when a mixer needs to be replaced and a client isn’t fussed by what it’s replaced with. This is the best mixer tap for a young family.

The mixer taps are economical and retail for $75 for the basin mixer and $79 for the sink mixer. The Scald Guard range of mixers are available in all leading hardware stores and from May they will be stocked at all Tradelink stores. They also have a 10 year guarantee which means you are getting a quality product for your dollar.

Give Away Time

Fix-a-Tap Australia have offered one of The Plumbette’s readers a fabulous Scald Guard Mixer tap Giveaway worth $154.00

lindoni-scald-guard-mixer-taps
Included in the giveaway is

One Series 1 Lindoni Scald Guard Basin Mixer tap Curved AND 1 Lindoni Scald Guard Sink Mixer in the choice of either Retractable Food Spray, Gooseneck or Standard Spout.

Enter the giveaway via the Rafflecopter form below and leave a comment in the comments section by telling me why you would like to win these mixer taps.

 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I received a Series 1 Scald Guard basin mixer for editorial consideration for this blog post. All opinions are honest and my own.

I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for I Blog on Tuesdays.

Terms and Conditions

These terms shall apply to all giveaways and competitions run on this site, www.theplumbette.com.au

1.            This is a game of skill. Each valid entry to be judged on creativity and originality, not by chance.

2.            There is one prize pack including 1 Series 1 Scald Guard Basin Mixer and your choice of either 1 Series 1 Scald Guard Sink Mixer with Standard Spout, Gooseneck or Retractable Food Spray Spout worth $154.00AUD.

3.            Entries open from Tuesday 29th April 2014 12am Brisbane Time to Friday 9th May 2014 12pm Brisbane Time.

4.            Prize is not transferable or changeable

5.            Prize sent out by Fix-a-Tap Australia will not be replaced in the event it is stolen, lost or damaged in transit.

6.            Additional entries if you share on Facebook or Twitter, but you must comment a second or third valid entry.

7.            A valid email address must be included in your entry.

8.            Entry into any giveaway or competition is deemed acceptance of these Terms and Conditions

9.            Entrants must be Australian residents and aged 18 or over

10.          The winner will be notified by email and has 5 days to reply and claim the prize. The winner will also be announced on Facebook. This giveaway is not endorsed by Facebook.

11.          The decision on the winner is final and no dialogue will be entered into otherwise.

12.          These terms and conditions are subject to change at anytime without notice

 

The Last Post

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
22
the last post header lest we forget

My dad has been playing the Last Post for Anzac Day and Remembrance Day for 48 years. He plays an Antique World War I English Bugle that my grandparents brought back from their trip to England many, many years ago. My grandparents found the bugle in an antique shop in Greenwich and brought it back for my dad. The red, blue and yellow tassels on the bugle represent the bugle was used by the Royal Regiment in the British Army.


World War 1 Bugle
 

I always get emotional when I hear the Last Post being played. It’s such a profound piece of music. Whenever I hear it played, I remember the diggers that lost their lives, and then I reflect on my own childhood memories of watching dad play his bugle.

When I was in primary school, I was given the opportunity like most kids my age to learn a musical instrument. I tried a few instruments before I settled on the clarinet. I remember Dad teaching me the technique on how to play the trumpet. I would purse my lips like a fish bottom and blow into the trumpet mouth piece only to create a sound that resembled a fart.  After mouth farting like a trooper I realized the trumpet or any brass instrument was not going to be the instrument for me.

Having experienced playing a trumpet, I know how hard it is to play the bugle because the different notes are created by the pursing and blowing of the lips into the mouthpiece of the bugle.

This morning, we headed to the Salisbury RSL memorial park to attend the 8am Anzac Day service. Esther loves watching her Grandpa Colin play the bugle and she was in awe today when my dad played. I wanted to get a photo of him playing, but I didn’t want to put him off because we were in his line of view. He told me that he wouldn’t have worried if he saw me take the photo. I will try to get one on Remembrance Day in November.

 

My Dad and His Bugle
 

Magdalene has heard the Last Post played twice since she was a newborn. She made quite the spectacle of not wanting to be in Jacob’s arms while the service was going on. Eventually my mum got up and took her away from the service to calm her down. She really just wanted to crawl around the people gathered for the service but she wasn’t happy when we wouldn’t let her.

I was surprised by the amount of people that gathered for the service and my mum told me that there were more people at the dawn service which is wonderful to see and know, especially since the First World War happened nearly 100 years ago.

Anzac Day Salisbury RSL

Were you able to attend an Anzac Service today? What is your favourite part of the Service? Do you get emotional when you hear the Last Post

Is unused education a lost cause?

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
34

Yesterday, Jacob and I moved my office into the lounge room to make way for another bedroom for our baby. We rarely used our lounge room so it was the perfect room to make useful while creating a room for Magdalene’s big girl’s bed.

As a result of the move, I went through files of stuff and filled two garbage bags with clutter that I no longer use or need. Moving furniture to new rooms is good for de-cluttering!

I found a lonely toilet seat (brand new!), washers of every shape and form, a million Allen keys and my backpack still packed from the last day of Tafe when I finished my plumbing apprenticeship. (I was thinking of sharing the contents with you on blog post.) I finished Tafe in 2009 and 5 years later the bag is still sitting intact with my logbook that never got checked when I received my plumbing license.

A lot of my past has caught up with me lately. Thankfully I have a good past! I got to catch up with a friend who I was really close to in high school and on Good Friday, my favourite English teacher from years 11 and 12 was rostered on to care for the young toddlers at church where Esther and Magdalene were being looked after while Jacob and I enjoyed the church service.

I got to catch up briefly with my teacher who hasn’t aged since the day I graduated from high school and she kindly said the same to me although I’m around 30kg’s heavier.

But our interaction gave me food for thought, especially after what I have shared with you on this blog in the last 6 months.

My teacher asked me what I had done when I left school and I told her I became a plumber and she laughed, not in a horrible way, but in an incredulous you became a plumber? She asked me about my music ability… had I done anything with it? You see my English teacher was also the Head of music and conducted the orchestra that I was a part of.

I played clarinet and the moment school finished, I never put my fingers on the keys of that instrument again. English was also my favourite subject in high school and while I wasn’t the best student in the class (that honour was held by the school friend I caught up with above) it was a subject that I did well in.

I have no regrets from the decisions I have made about my education choices and working life since I left school but for some reason I have had this ridiculous pressure on myself not to waste any education that I have acquired to get where I am when it comes to work. For example, since I’ve done a plumbing apprenticeship I must now be a plumber.

I have Diploma’s in Business, Marketing and Fashion Styling. I have Certificate III’s and IV’s in Public Relations, Advertising and Plumbing and Drainage. I don’t want to waste any of my education and as a result have walled a box around myself on what I can and can’t do.

It was while eating Easter Eggs with a close friend on Good Friday afternoon that I discussed how I felt about my education and work and she wisely advised me that she too had degrees for different occupations, yet all that she had learned was not a waste because it could be drawn upon in her current career choice.

And isn’t that what life is all about? Making choices and taking risks? No education I’ve gained has been for a lost cause. It can be drawn upon in future circumstances even if it’s not completely drawn upon for working in that particular career.

This thought process has been liberating for me while I navigate being a stay-at-home mum writing a plumbing blog and working out where to from here or once my babes are in kindy and school.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about education? Is unused education a lost cause? How many career changes have you had since you graduated from school and has any of your education felt like a waste?

I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for I Blog on Tuesdays.

WAR method for finding a plumber

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
2

Sponsored Post

Since I’ve stopped working on the tools, I have had a lot of calls asking for plumber recommendations. I have two plumbers that I am constantly sending referrals to because I know that they will look after my old clients.

But what happens when the recommended plumber is unable to get to you in the timeframe you need? I’ve had two situations recently where I was left in this predicament and both were emergency plumbing situations. I used the WAR method to find another plumber. Sounds violent, but it’s not. 🙂

WORD OF MOUTH is the first strategy I recommend when finding a reliable plumber. If your favourite plumber is too busy to help or unable to assist, ask them who else they would recommend. Put a shout out on Facebook to family and friends to find out who they’ve used in the past. If every recommendation falls through, ring your local plumbing supplier and ask them for some names and numbers of plumbers who they would recommend. If you are in an emergency situation and time is of the essence you need to head to my second strategy which is:

APPEARANCE and by appearance I mean do a google search for plumbers in your suburb and check out their website. I get a feel for a plumber from what their website looks like. Capital Plumbing on the Gold Coast is the perfect example of a plumber with a positive appearance on the web. They have been in business for over 11 years, they understand my frustrations of ringing a plumber and not having one show up, they service over 3000 clients, they run a 24 hour service and my favourite benefit is they are a part of the Master Plumbers Association which means not only are they licensed but they keep up to date with what is going on in the Plumbing Industry. The next thing I look for online is:

REVIEWS. When I did the google search, Capital Plumbing was rated through Google Reviews as 4.9 stars out of 5. On their website I read that the Cromwell Property Group and PRD Property Management use them for maintenance on their properties. I know from experience that property management groups use high quality tradespeople to maintain their buildings (dad and I used to work for them) so from these reviews I have a good gut feeling about using this company.

The WAR method for finding a plumber is a great tool to use when looking for other trade services too. I’ve explained my concerns about using online trade directories to find a reputable tradie here.

I was forced to use the WAR method for a friend when they had poo and toilet paper floating out of their ORG from a blocked drain. I got the call on a Saturday afternoon and both of my preferred plumbers were unavailable. I used the WAR method from A down and was able to get a plumber there within 2 hours to unblock the drain.

I thought this post would be timely to publish before the Easter long weekend because without a doubt a lot of plumbing emergencies happen on the weekend or on a public holiday. I hope you don’t find yourself in this situation but if you do, you know what you can do to source a plumber in your area fairly quickly.

I hope you all have a blessed and safe Easter.

Have you had to deal with any plumbing emergencies and how quick were you able to source a plumber?

This is a sponsored post and has been written in accordance to my disclosure policy.

Peace like a river, Doubt like a rapid

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
19

I have learned a lot about myself in the last 6 months since dealing with all the changes in my life. I have had peace like a river and doubt like a rapid. Peace that everything happens for a reason and then doubt about my dreams and abilities. I’ve been praying since the day I lost my job that I would get divine signs on my next move. And then I would worry that I would miss the signs.

The day I wrote the post about How to stop worrying, I woke up at 2am in the morning, and searched for a job on my Iphone. Jacob asked me what I was doing and I told him that I was looking for a job and he reminded me quietly that I was pregnant and insane.

I remember placing the phone back on my bedside table thinking how ironic it was that I had just written a post that day about how not to worry and here I was doing NONE of the tips I had offered in that post.

I’ve cried a lot. I’ve been angry and sad. Most of all I have felt like an utter failure even though the decision to close our family business was not because of my ability, but because of life circumstances.

I realized the devil was having a grand old time sowing seeds of doubt in my heart and in my mind and I was blinded to see the ministry that was staring right in front of me.

It wasn’t until I wrote Pregnancy doesn’t make you invincible and received wise counsel from family and the blogging community that I realized my focus had become a bit skewif.

My family need me more than ever right now.  I’m pregnant. I AM PREGNANT! I have a darling husband who works hard to provide for our little family and I have two precious daughters that are so beautiful inside and out, who have made my world a better place. I would be lost without this little family of mine.

I love being a mum. I love watching the interaction between Esther and Magdalene. My eyes well with tears when I see Esther break a biscuit in half so she can share it with her sister. I smile as they play in the bath and compete with each other on who can create the biggest splash. And daily I am lifting my heart to God with gratefulness that he has bestowed on me the ability to have children and be a mother. But this blessing also has incredible responsibility.

How blessed am I to have these cherubs as my daughters?
How blessed am I to have these cherubs as my daughters?

Since my focus has shifted less on myself, interesting things have happened. I have been offered more sponsored post opportunities to work with brands on my blog. I haven’t chased for these opportunities, they’ve just presented themselves to my inbox. The ability to earn a small income from my blog has started to become a reality.

The next interesting thing that occurred was my nomination in the Kidspot Voices of 2014 for the Top 100 Bloggers. In my naivety, I thought every blog that linked up with Essentially Jess on Tuesdays would be in the top 100 because I’ve always seen myself as a little blogger. And it was a huge surprise to me that that wasn’t the case and that reaching the Top 30 for the Personal and Parenting category was a big deal. Hello divine sign!

At this present time I am peaceful about where my life is headed. There will always be rapids, but I feel like I’m floating down the river rather than fighting against the current.

I know that there are many of you who are still searching and still trying to look for signs that you are travelling in the right direction, but trust me when I tell you that you won’t miss the signs and that it’s important to focus on the eternal rather than the temporal.

God cares for the little worries in your life. He cares for you the same way He cares for me. Doubt kills more dreams that failure ever will and the dream that God has for your life is so much bigger than what you can see yourself fulfil. Don’t be scared to dream big or allow doubt to compress your hearts desires.

Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.

The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man’s foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher. Thomas Henry Huxley.

How are you travelling at the moment? Are you fighting the current or peacefully floating down the river? Is there anything I can pray for if you are looking for a breakthrough in your life?

Poo Catchers

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
17

When I was a soft handed apprentice, I always wondered why our commercial plumbers would occasionally have to start work early in the morning. I’m talking about 4am or 5am starts onsite.

The job of the morning would involve our plumbers cutting into the existing sewer stack of a multi-storey building to run waste pipes for a new fixture.

One reason was to abide by the noise restrictions that the building management would have in place. All noisy work had to be done before normal business hours would start at 8am in the morning.

The other reason (and usually the main reason) was to ensure that no effluent was running through the sewer because we all know that the toilet is the first place one visits when they get out of bed or arrive at work. The last thing a plumber wants is poo and wee flowing down a 100mm (or bigger) pipe while they are cutting into it.

Our plumbers would have a bucket or two on hand because sometimes the buildings we worked in had apartments upstairs and some of the residents were early risers. A well experienced plumber would hear the flush of water run through the pipe and would quickly whisk a bucket under the opening to catch someone’s morning business to prevent it from splashing on the floor. Or their pants. Usually it was the apprentice’s job to catch the poo. They would be the designated poo catchers.

Plumbing can be a dirty job. But someone has to do it.

I will forever have ingrained in my memory the time when dad and I had to cut into an old cast iron sewer stack. I held the pipe while dad used a sabre saw to cut out a section so that we could install a branch for a new sink waste.

The vibration of the sabre saw through the cast iron pipe caused the inner remnants of decade-old semi-congealed urine and poop spill over my hands and wrists creating a cesspool of crap at my feet. I remember thinking this is crap.

And it was.

Changing pooey nappies are nothing in comparison to having someone else’s crap run through your fingers. And splash on your clothes.

Have you handled anything crappy lately?

I’m linking for Laugh Link with Em from Have a laugh on me… although some of you may cringe after reading this post. Sorry. x

Underdogs and Design

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
12

Were you surprised by the outcome of The Block on Wednesday night? I was. But I was also happy to see an underdog like Steve and Chantelle take out the top prize. I’ve been one myself and it is the most humbling of experiences to feel.

The impression I got from my interactions on Twitter and Facebook showed that many didn’t think Steve and Chantelle were worthy winners, or that they didn’t work as hard as the other teams which I think is complete hogs wash because I think they did amazingly despite their lack of renovating experience.

In the end all the teams were winners because they made mega profits on their properties. I was pleased about this aspect of the show because in previous auctions, this hasn’t been the case.

What dawned on me after the show had ended is that when it comes to design and practicality, the value is held by the buyer, not the designer.

Steve and Chantelle’s rooms didn’t always rate highly with the judges, until towards the end of the show and yet they still got the highest amount for their property.

This is interesting don’t you think when many of us are inspired or sometimes envious of beautiful pictures shared on social media or in magazines? Pictures of beautifully styled rooms with décor that is designed to impress and inspire. But beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder.

I’m often itching to change a room once I read a magazine to incorporate a trend and I have sometimes fallen victim to feeling envious of ones wares. But I live in a different reality with little children and my obsession to keep my house styled and cleaned to a display house level is a standard I cannot healthily maintain.

I love reading the ‘keeping it real’ posts from friends and bloggers about how messy their houses are to counteract the beautiful pictures we get graced across our newsfeeds but I think it’s important to exercise a healthy balance of self. And by that I mean knowing what one does and doesn’t like and not coveting what one shares on social media. Be inspired and appreciate was is seen.

My bedside table consists of a lamp that works, a few cheap wares from Kmart, my bible and a little people figurine (or two). My décor shows it’s got soul and at the end of the day décor are just things. Things that can enhance beauty and be appreciated, but they are still just things.

With that in mind I’m organizing Magdalene’s new big girl’s room. I figure it is one less thing to organise and worry about when the time comes to introducing Magdalene to her new room with a newborn in tow. I have been inspired by beautiful girl’s bedrooms on Pinterest and Facebook but I nearly faint at the expense people have gone to when designing such a room. I may have to write a post on how to set up a girl’s bedroom on a budget.

Anyway, underdogs and design… I’m happy to embrace and appreciate both. Have you ever been an underdog and do you get envious of designs shared on social media?

Main Image Source

I’m linking up With Some Grace for Flog Your Blog Friday.

Does this toilet seat make my butt too big?

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
10

I don’t think I’m particularly funny. I’ve had funny things happen to me which I’m happy to share with friends and family. But I have never seen myself as a funny person.

I love the challenge of writing a humorous blog post for the laugh link up that has been organized by some of my favorite bloggers in the blogosphere. I decided give it a try because surely a plumber would have a few funny tales to tell.

I do. But sometimes they are a laugh-in- the moment kind of tale and may not be humorous at all. This story is borderline humorous and borderline unprofessional. I recommend all plumbers to think about what they say when they’ve had enough for the day.

A couple of years ago when Dad and I started our maintenance division, we were head hunted by a designer bathroom supplier in Sydney. They had a fault with one of their toilet seats where once someone sat on one, the seat would come off the toilet pan.

Due to our high reputation in the commercial fit out niche, this Sydney supplier was given our name. He was looking for a reliable maintenance plumber that would replace the toilet seats with a new toggle that would prevent the seat from loosening off the pan after use. He was also looking for someone who could handle his niche of clients.

These toilets were expensive. The people buying them were high class people and lived in high class areas around Brisbane. Some were friendly, some were not.

My dad didn’t particularly like changing the toilet seats by himself because he would have to deal with very shirty housewives so he made sure I would be with him so I could keep the peace.

There was one particular job that I wasn’t able to assist with so Dad decided to do it by himself. The house was in the high class suburb of Sherwood.

This particular housewife was very abrupt with my dad and he couldn’t wait to get out of the house once all three toilet seats had been replaced.

Our job was essentially to take off the old toilet seat and use a different toggle to install a new toilet seat. Once the new toilet seat was replaced, it would stay in place and we wouldn’t hear from the home owner again.

A week later, we had a very curt message left on my dad’s mobile that 2 of the replaced toilet seats wobbled when they were sat on and that we had to fix the problem immediately.

It was a hectic day and I didn’t call the woman straight away. An hour or so later after the left message, dad received a phone call from the husband. He was much nicer but requested the toilet seats to be fixed promptly for his wife’s sake.

My dad was flustered. I was fed up. So when dad answered the call from the husband he replied curtly ‘I have never been back to a toilet seat I have replaced so someone in your household has a big butt and is rocking on the toilet seat when they do a number 2.’

I looked at dad in horror. Dad shrugged his shoulders. I could tell he was over it.

There was silence from the other end of the phone. I thought here we go, we are going to get roasted for being unprofessional, and then this will go back to Sydney and we will lose this contract.

But the husband replied,

‘Yeah, it’s my wife, mate. Her arse is the size of the Titanic and she uses the two toilets that have got the loosened seats’.

Dad and I burst out laughing. The conversation could have turned really pear shaped but the husband’s response was so unexpected.

We went over to the house late that same afternoon and the husband let us in. I made a note to look at his wife’s butt to see if there was any truth to what he said. The Titanic was much bigger.  😉

We retightened the toilet seats and showed the husband how to do it himself if it happened to come loose again.

The wife was happy and we left happy knowing the job had been fixed. We never heard from them again. And we kept replacing toilet seats because the all the clients who had been affected by the manufacturing fault highly recommended our customer service.

Have you ever said something you shouldn’t have but it turned out ok in the end? Do share.

I’m linking up with Five Frogs on a Blog for Laugh Link.

If you liked this post and any posts by The Plumbette, I’d love for you to vote for my blog in the People’s Choice Category for the Best Australian Blogs Competition for 2014. You can click on the link below to vote. The form brings up other blogs too which you can also vote for.



Sweet Smelling Dish Washing Experience – Palmolive Ultra Divine Blends Review and Giveaway

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
24

Sponsored Post

THE WINNER IS NATHAN RUSSELL.

One of my pet hates is washing up. It used to be one of my chores when I was living with my parents.  Even though dad was a plumber and would plumb in dishwashers at work, we didn’t have one at home. I was the chief dishwasher.

When I moved out of home, I still washed the dishes even though the house Jacob and I had bought had a dishwasher in it. We eventually got rid of it and put in a mini freezer.

Our next house had a brand new dishwasher and once we had kids, we started to embrace the ‘new’ technology. Of course, as you know, not everything can go in the dishwasher and so washing and scrubbing by hand is still a chore that can’t be escaped in any household.

For a sweet smelling dishwashing experience, I try and buy floral or fruity dishwashing liquids. Jacob and I have been trialing the Palmolive Ultra Divine Blends with the Vanilla and Berries scent. It has a unique aroma that I can appreciate in my current pregnant state and it is certainly a rich formula that cuts through grease and leaves our pots and pans clean.


Palmolive Ultra Blends Vanilla and Berries
Jacob put it to the test by scrubbing a pasta bake dish that had baked cheese on the sides. There was little force in getting the baked cheese off. He was impressed and his hands smelt like a dream afterwards.  😉

Palmolive Divine Blends Dishwashing Liquid comes in two variants;

Vanilla and Berries 700ml for $4.99

Violet and Apple Blossom 375ml $3.49

Both are available in leading supermarkets.

GIVEAWAY

I’d love to turn your dishwashing experience into a sweet smelling one too by offering one reader 3 full size packs of the Vanilla and Berries dishwashing liquid. All you need to do to enter is leave a comment below and tell me what your favourite cleaning fragrance is and why. It would also be nice if you could follow The Plumbette via Facebook, Twitter or Google + .  If you find it difficult to comment below, please send an email with your answer to bec@theplumbette.com.au.

Entries open Friday 4th April 2014 2pm Brisbane time and close Tuesday 15th April 2014 2pm Brisbane time.

I have received a complimentary product to facilitate this review. However, Digital Parents Collective covered the administration fee to host the giveaway. As always, all opinions expressed are my own and this post has been written in conjunction with my disclosure policy.

Linking up With Some Grace for Flog Your Blog Friday.

Terms and Conditions

These terms shall apply to all giveaways and competitions run on this site, www.theplumbette.com.au

1.            This is a game of skill. Each valid entry to be judged on creativity and originality, not by chance.

2.            There is one prize: 3 Bottles of Palmolive Divine Blends Vanilla & Berries Dishwashing Liquid RRP $14.97.

3.            Entries open from Friday 4th April 2014 2pm Brisbane Time to Tuesday 15th April 2014 2pm Brisbane Time.

4.            Prize is not transferable or changeable

5.            Prize sent out by third parties will not be replaced in the event it is stolen, lost or damaged in transit.

6.            Entry is via commenting or emailing.

7.            A valid email address must be included in your entry.

8.            Entry into any giveaway or competition is deemed acceptance of these Terms and Conditions

9.            Entrants must be Australian residents and aged 18 or over

10.          The winner will be notified by email and has 5 days to reply and claim the prize. The winner will also be announced on Facebook. This giveaway is not endorsed by Facebook.

11.          The decision on the winner is final and no dialogue will be entered into otherwise.

12.          These terms and conditions are subject to change at anytime without notice

Renovating Versus Building

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
5

Sponsored Post

Purchasing a property to live in is one of the biggest decisions a person can make. There are so many factors to consider. Starting a family is often the main reason many enter the property market and there are two choices that families need to consider: renovate an existing home or build a new one with a contractor like Coral Homes. There are advantages and disadvantages to both scenarios and there are many factors to consider when choosing to renovate or build. The three main factors to consider are Location, Budget and Design.

1. Location

One of the biggest advantages of renovating a home is that you don’t have to buy land and if you are wanting to live closer to the city or in a particular suburb that is well established, purchasing a home and renovating may be the best scenario for you. If you rarely travel to the city or if the commute doesn’t bother you, building out in a newly developed area maybe best for you. The cost of land can be more economical if it’s purchased further out which brings me to my next point.

 

2.  Budget

Purchasing a home towards the city center can be expensive and then when you add the costs of renovating or extending the home to suit your needs, your budget may not cover all the expenses required. The best advice I can give in relation to this predicament is purchase a home that requires little renovating and suits the needs of your family. Or choose to renovate one room at a time to assist with the budget. Another cost factor with renovating is you don’t know what is behind the walls and sometimes, the whole house may require new water pipes and/or new electrical cables. This can be a hidden expense that many don’t factor in when renovating. If you want to avoid renovation headaches like these and prefer to have a new house in one go, building a new home would be the better option. There are often great house and land packages that can be suited to any budget.

 

3. Design

Sometimes you are limited in design when it comes to renovating a house because you are working within an existing structure. You may have a grand design in place for an older property but you can come across headaches like structural walls or beams that can’t be moved or a kitchen or bathroom that needs to remain in a similar location to reach the existing plumbing services. Whereas if you build a house, you are generally free to design where you want each room to be or choose a house plan that has a layout you prefer. You can also take advantage of opportunities to build in a way that will maximize a great view or a prevailing breeze which can assist with climate control in the home.  If you do choose to build a home, there will be regulations on how far the house has to be built from the footpath which may hamper some of the design process.

I have a number of friends who are in the process of purchasing a new home, renovating their existing home or looking to build a new home to meet the needs of their expanding families.

What did we do? We bought a new display home that ticked all the boxes of what we required in a family home. The best part was the house had been built in an area we wanted to live in and the property itself had extra features that we probably wouldn’t have been able to afford had we chosen to build the same house in the same area.

There are advantage and disadvantages to renovating versus building a new home, but it all comes down to what is going to suit your current and possibly future lifestyle and how much you can afford to spend on getting what you want.

What have your property purchasing experiences been like? Do you prefer to renovate or build a new home?

This is a sponsored post and has been written in accordance to my disclosure policy

Pregnancy doesn’t make you invincible

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
30

I am 24 weeks pregnant this week and for those of you who want to see a bump picture, here is one that I took last week while on holidays at Coolangatta.

Plumbette

Yesterday I had a routine check-up with my Obstetrician.

We bought a new car a month ago and I’m not confident enough to park it on a hill where I go for my appointments, so I ended up meeting my parents so my mum could look after the girls and my dad could drop me to the hospital.

Before I left home to meet my parents,  I checked out my social media pages and got quite down about an aspect of my blog that I’m struggling with but can’t quite fix because of various reasons which I can’t share online yet. (Don’t you hate when people write this kind of stuff and it leaves you hanging, I know I do!)

It got me so down I cried in the truck to my dad while he drove me to my appointment. I couldn’t stop the tears and emotion as I told dad how I’d been feeling.  Of course my dad was great and reminded me that I was in limbo because I was having a baby and my focus should be on my family and the various issues with my blog and work would be made clearer once I’ve settled with our new family routine.

Of course it was the perspective I needed to hear and be reminded of but sometimes I let my emotions get the better of me.

I heard an amazing sermon at church on Sunday about change and it all made complete sense with what I have been dealing with personally. I’m open to change, but I don’t like the process of changing and the question I have been plagued with since December last year is this: I’m open for what God wants me to do, but what the heck does He want me to do and do the passions in my heart align with the awesome plan he has for me?

Even if you aren’t the God fearing type, the same question can be asked in your own life. Are you doing what you’re meant to be doing? How do you know if you’re on the right path or when you’re flogging a dead horse and need to change direction?

My appointment with my Obstetrician went well (the bub is good, and I’m good). After Easter I will need to do a glucose test. My little cry in the truck made me feel less sad about my situation. Dad drove me back to where mum was looking after the girls and when I packed them in the car to drive home, I got lost in my thoughts, reflecting back to when I had to do my glucose test when I was pregnant with Esther.

I was working full time as a plumber when I was pregnant with Esther. I remember dad and I would do big days at work and I’m not sure how I did it.

When I was 28 weeks pregnant, dad and I were working massive 12 hour days. On one particular day I was booked to get my glucose test at QML to test for gestational diabetes which is a routine pregnancy test.

I remember after the test was done, I went to the toilets and noticed that I had a bloody discharge and I remember shaking violently and becoming emotional because I knew that this type of discharge was not a good sign.

My dad picked me up outside the QML pathology and I burst into tears telling him he had to take me to see my Obstetrician because something was wrong. I hadn’t felt the baby move for 3-4 days which made me even more scared.

I had a wave of emotions wash over me while I was on the phone to the hospital. I was told to go straight to the labour ward and my obstetrician would meet me there.  Being told to go to the labour ward did not help with my emotions. I remember dad holding my hand in the truck and reassuring me that everything would be ok.

When I got to the labour ward, a midwife did a swab test and it tested positive that it was from my waters.  I was hooked up to a machine to hear the baby’s heart beat and it was slow and rhythmic. I was thankful that there was a heartbeat.

Once my obstetrician had finished doing a c-section on another patient, he came into see me and asked me what I had been doing. He did a scan to see how much of the waters were left to support the baby in my womb.

The scan was positive as I hadn’t lost my waters. Instead he explained I just had a small leak. I was given steroids to build the baby’s lung strength if the baby decided to come early and I was kept overnight for observation.

It was after this horrible scenario that my 12 hour plumbing days ceased. I really wanted my baby and I didn’t want to take any more chances that could bring on premature birth.

When I was 38 weeks, Esther was still in the breech position which meant I had to have a cesarean. I had a few thoughtful friends tell me to do all sorts of things to try and get Esther to move around, but because of what I had experienced at 28 weeks, I wasn’t going to take any chances and was happy to have a cesarean.

As I reflected on this moment in my life over 3 years ago, I had to remind myself that pregnancy doesn’t make you invincible. I thought I could handle anything whilst being pregnant, but the body has other ideas and they need to be respected.

So while I am questioning some parts of my life, the parts that really matter are the little people God has entrusted in my care and the little soul that is growing inside my belly.

Rather than let my emotions get the better of me I’m going to sway to the music of my limbo and hope that the answers I seek will come to me when I’m ready. I’m willing and waiting.

Have you ever wondered if you’re travelling on the right path? What did you do to seek clarification?

Our Mixed Weather Holiday on the Gold Coast

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
6

Last week we went away to Coolangatta for a holiday at the beach. It ended up being a mixed weather holiday on the Gold Coast. The moment we arrived we had great weather. I knew that Brisbane and the Gold Coast were going to get rain from the middle of the week, so we made the most of the gorgeous clear skies by spending time down at the beach. It was Magdalene’s first experience on a beach. She preferred to be held while the waves lapped her feet which ended up being a perfect depth for Esther to swim in.

Greenmount Beach

Sisters at the Beach
I love the beach at Greenmount because it is perfect for families. The waves aren’t rough and there is a sand bar that keeps the shallower part of the beach easy to navigate with little kids who aren’t quite confident with their swimming. A typical morning included a swim in the beach, and then I would take Esther and Magdalene out to make sandcastles while daddy could tread into deeper waters.

Baby in Sand

 It started to turn overcast on Tuesday but we still headed to the beach. You can see the sky in the background of this picture with myself and the girls. We stayed at Reflections on the Sea which is the building directly behind me. It can be quite pricey during peak seasons, but we got a good deal staying in low season. You can also see that my legs blend in with the colour of the sand. My skin doesn’t tan and I have never had a successful experience with tanning cream so I go as I am. I had one retired lady who was brown as chocolate with extremely wrinkly skin laugh at me and ask me if I was from down South? I laughed back and replied nope, I’m from up North. Both Esther and Magdalene inherited their dad’s skin that tans quite easily. I still slapped the SPF50+ sunscreen on us all because I’m pretty anal about skin protection because my family has a history of skin cancer.

Mum and Daughters

By Wednesday the rain had really set in on the Gold Coast as you can see from the picture below, so we headed to Robina for some shopping and morning tea at Max Brenner. My parents and my grandparents came down from Brisbane to meet us there and we had a great morning.

Rain on the beach

On Thursday, it really bucketed down and we didn’t want to stay cooped up in our apartment so I did a quick Google search for Indoor Play Centers and decided to head to AbraKidazzle at Southport for some indoor play fun.  Esther had a ball and I loved that there was a section exclusively for the 1 to 3 year olds so that Magdalene could crawl and play to her heart’s content. The playground is massive and there is so much for kids to play on and entertain themselves with. There is also a jumping castle which means the kids can completely knacker themselves so they have a good afternoon sleep.

Kidazzle indoor fun park

After AbraKidazzle, we decided to head to Harbour Town to do some shopping. I was specifically looking for boots that would fit my size 10.5-11 feet. It really isn’t the best place to shop when it is raining cats and dogs outside because it is set up like an open mall. But I always seem to get a bargain there and since we were staying on the other side of the Gold Coast, I wanted to kill two stones with one trip. Both girls were happy to sit in the pram and be pushed while we went into the half a dozen shops we wanted to visit.

I got two pairs of boots from Joanne Mercer for $85 which I was pretty pleased with. We then headed to Donut King for an afternoon tea treat and while we were chomping away, I noticed the Seed Outlet Shop and told Jacob I wanted to have a look in there before we left. Esther followed me into the shop and Jacob pushed Magdalene in the pram because she was starting to get a bit whingey. I didn’t realize Esther had left the shop and gone out into the mall to look for Jacob.

As Jacob was pushing the double pram with one empty seat back up the mall, an older gentleman asked if he had lost a daughter. Jacob said no, but asked the man to show him what girl looked lost. And it was Esther! She had found a new pair of gumboots on sale in Seed, put them on and walked out of the shop to jump in muddy puddles. But she couldn’t find her daddy. She was only one shop down from where I was and I’m thankful nothing sinister could have happened. I didn’t realize she had walked out of the shop and I couldn’t believe the cheekiness of changing her shoes in the shop and walking outside in the new ones that hadn’t been purchased so she could walk in the RAIN! I bought the boots which were a bargain for $11 and surprisingly (and thankfully!) she had put on her right size. I let her jump in the puddles and get wet in the rain while we walked back to the car.

Jumping in the Rain Puddles
Both girls slept for the hour long trip back to Coolangatta. We decided to travel the coastal way rather than the highway. The rain was really heavy on Thursday night and the wind was so noisy. We ended up losing power in our apartment for an hour or so which totally sucks when you’re not staying in a place that has torches or candles. Thankfully our Iphones gave us enough light to walk around the apartment. Both girls were in bed asleep by this stage.

Friday morning turned out to be miserable too. Jacob took Esther to the movies to see Mr Peabody and Sherman, and Magdalene and I walked down the main street of Coolangatta and I bought a few homewares and jewellery. Creative Waves and Somewhere were two boutique shops that had gorgeous wares and I spent quite a bit of time browsing their store, eyeing off all the beautiful clothes and gifts. In the afternoon the rain and gloomy weather had finally started to depart but it was still windy. I went to Ella Bache for a facial and massage and when I returned we took the girls to the pool for a swim which was freezing.

Rain leaves the beach

Baby crawling through sand
By Saturday morning, the day was glorious and we made the most of our trip with a last swim and play at the beach before we headed home. Nothing beats the feeling of returning home and sleeping in your own bed. We had a great little family holiday despite the weather and I love that both the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coasts are easily accessible from Brisbane. The next time Jacob and I head to the Gold Coast will be for the Problogger Conference and we will have another baby in tow. Exciting times ahead!

What is your favourite type of holiday? If you live in Brisbane or the Gold Coast, how have you fared with the wet weather?

 

 

 

Calling over Comfort

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
28

I haven’t posted an Inspiration from the Carpenter post since the end of October last year. These posts were meant to encourage you while cementing what I’ve learned in my faith. I kind of hit a wall with them though.  I was feeling rather stagnant in my faith and didn’t really feel inspired to post what I was feeling because there’s nothing inspirational about a stagnant Christian.

Last year I had to be honest with myself and with Jacob about what was going on in our Christian walk. There was a period of 6 weeks where we prioritized everything over going to church together as a family. I knew this wasn’t how either Jacob or I wanted to live.

Having had kids, going to church and being a part of a church family was paramount for the growth of our own faith and re-energising our enthusiasm for life because sometimes the busyness and craziness of life can really deplete the heart and soul.

And so I found myself in a situation where I would go to church, not take anything in and go through the motions of worship and allow my mind wander during the sermon. I would walk straight out unchanged and disappointed because I had come expectantly, but didn’t feel like I had been fed.

I would internalize my thoughts about church, but interestingly I would regurgitate how I felt to my dad come Monday morning at work. My dad would listen and the only advice he gave me was to pray about it. So I did.

Through constant prayer I knew that I had to make a move. I talked to Jacob about how I had been feeling and whether he would take the step of faith with me to go to a couple of churches to see what they were like. We decided to step out of our comfort zone of going to a church that we knew so well to a church that was different and much bigger.

How did I decide on which church to go to? Ironically, a builder dad and I worked for went there with his family, our electrician went there and dad and I would do work for families that attended this church too. I don’t believe it was a coincidence that the name of this church kept coming up!

We visited our new church and were welcomed warmly. Esther was keen to stay in the kids church program and I nearly fell over backwards when she said to Jacob and I that we could go now!

The moment the worship started I cried because I felt at home.  The worship was inspiring and I happily joined in with the songs I knew.  My mind didn’t wander during the sermon and as soon as the service finished and we were back in our car I told Jacob, I don’t want to visit anywhere else. This is where I want to go. By the following week and attending another Sunday service Jacob shed a tear during the worship and he agreed that this new church was going to be our home.

We have been attending our new church for a little under 5 months. We didn’t make a grand exit from out other church or announce it because there was no scandal that made us decide to attend a new church. We were just hungry hearts that needed something different.

We noticed that we would rarely see our friends at church because they would attend a different service (there were 3 services a day). We would socialize with our friends outside of church and this made the move even more clearer because we weren’t going to lose our friends, as we were already seeing each other outside of church anyway.

Today I am flying down to Sydney with my mum and thousands of other women to attend the Colour women’s conference run by Hillsong. I have never heard a bad word about these conferences and women come back from them with hearts that are changed and nourished by wonderful speakers. This is my first Colour conference and I am excited. It was on my 100 Dreams list so I am thankful to be able to cross it off. With all the life changes that I have had in the last 5 months (new church, baby on the way, loss of job) I’m expectant and excited by what God has got in store for me and for every woman going down.

Our move to a new church has been wonderful for our family. We have started attending a connect group, meeting with other families in a similar life stage to us. I have been able to get reacquainted with an old school friend who has daughters like I do. The leaders of our connect group live in the same neighborhood as us and they have their daughter enrolled to the same Kindy next year as Esther.

While the church move has been a good one for us, my personal growth has meant that I have had to invest and put in quality time with God. One can’t rely on church to build a strong relationship with God, it comes down to how the individual chooses to spend their time during the other 6 days of the week. Going to a new church has given me a new hunger to read my bible and pray more throughout my day.

What can you as a reader take away from what I have shared today? Well firstly, prayer works and secondly, taking a step of faith means walking out of your comfort zone. You need to follow your calling over comfort. Don’t sway with the same motion and rationalize it in your head if you know in your heart that something doesn’t feel quite right.

Now it’s your turn. Do you go to church or have you ever gone to church? Ever made a change like our family has in changing churches? I’d love to hear your experiences.

Main Image Source

Be wary of online tradesperson directories

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
20
work

The idea of writing this post was sparked by an email I received on the weekend where I was sent a link from a very successful blog that had an online enquiry form ‘Find Tradespeople and Home Services the easy way’. The reader could fill in an online form detailing the job that would need to be done and the directory would send the contact details of three reliable tradespersons in the area. I think it’s a great service, provided the supplied tradespersons are reliable and do good work.

From a business owner’s point of view, this online directory scheme didn’t work well for us. My dad signed up to one of these popular directories when we started our maintenance division and sadly, it not only cost us money, it wasted our time.

How it worked

We paid a membership fee to join the directory service and I would receive a text message with what type of work needed doing.  I would have to sms back ‘yes’ if I wanted more details. If I replied ‘yes’ to the sms, we would be billed $15 for the lead. I was sent half a dozen sms’s in the year that we joined and the few times that I opted yes, the customers weren’t serious and the jobs would fall through. One example was a man wanting to get a quote to install a hose tap on a commercial property but was just wanting a ‘round about’ price over the phone because he hadn’t actually checked with the property owner on whether he could have a hose tap installed or not. All the jobs that I opted yes to were time wasters. They were people just wanting advice, with no commitment whatsoever in hiring us or any tradesperson to do the job.

For argument’s sake, plumbers and all tradespersons can get these types of calls anytime, but when you receive these types of calls through a directory listing that you have paid to be a part of plus a lead fee, you expect the leads to be high quality and legit.

From the customer point of view, it all sounds easy. You enter your details and the type of work that needs to be done and you are sent three quotes from companies interested in doing the job for you. The issue I have with this type of quoting is that it is inaccurate. For an honest and reliable quote, the tradesperson should come to your property and view what needs to be done. Choosing a tradesperson based on an online quote is dicey because it locks the tradie into a price that may or may not cover what needs to be done, and if the tradie realizes that he or she has been lean on the quote, they may choose to pull out or ‘disappear’ during the job, leaving you in the predicament of finding another tradie to finish what was started. The other reason I am wary of reliable tradesperson directories is that you can’t get a feel of what the tradie is like in person. Part of the elimination process of choosing a tradesperson should be based on how you feel when you talk to them or meet them. They are going to be in your house so you need to get along with them if you are allowing them into your home.

Honestly, the best way to find a reliable  tradesperson is through word of mouth, then ring each tradesperson and get them to come out to your property so that they can give you an accurate price on what needs to be done. I’ve had my share of no shows. And I’ve also had a bad gut feeling about some and have chosen not to hire them to do work at my house.  When it comes to making these types of decisions, you have to remember that you are the customer and you are the one calling the shots. Don’t be intimidated by picking up the phone and speaking to a tradesperson direct. While online enquiries can be convenient and less intimidating, you may not receive the service you expect.

Are you confident in calling a tradesperson or do you prefer the online method? I’d love to hear your experiences.

I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for I Blog on Tuesdays.

How to stop worrying

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
26

 

When I’m 30

Memories came flooding back

when I looked at my childhood photos

and re-read the letters from my school friends.

I’m so young, so innocent

yet my mind is always troubled

and worried

about

what should I wear to the party?

Who will I hang out with at lunch?

Which subjects should I study at school?

I know I’ll change

and I’ll grow up

but when I’m 30

I’ll wish that I were still that 15 year old girl

looking in the mirror

worrying about how she looks in her school uniform.

© Rebecca Jones 1999

 

When I was in high school I was quite the poet. I came across a folder of all my poems and songs that I wrote in my teenage years and some of the poems are quite deep. It’s interesting to read them and reflect on what was important to me at the time and the worries I had as a teenager.

I’d like to know when I learned how to worry. Did it start when I went to school or before?

As my life has progressed, my worries have increased and it’s a skill I have taken into adulthood. But of course their subject matter has changed. While I was once absorbed with myself superficially, my worries now include my family. I still have worries about my future. Common worries that I’m sure you may have too. I also have an undercurrent of peace in my heart knowing that whatever I go through, I will have the strength to face what I need to.

I had no intention of writing about worry for today’s blog post, but I had a great afternoon yesterday catching up with a  school friend who I have recently become re-acquainted with since going to a new church.

I always looked up to this friend and I even wrote about her in Dust Collectors. It was interesting talking about our experiences at school and life after it.

What I realized from my friend’s visit and reading back through my poetry is that worry is a normal response when the future is unknown. But life goes on and worry isn’t a great skill to acquire. It’s a burden.

I worried all throughout my plumbing apprenticeship. Was I on the right path? Would I be a good business person? Would I be a good plumber? How can I have children and run a business?

All those worries now seem like a waste of brain productivity, because I know I was on the right path, I know that I can be a good business woman, I know that I wasn’t a great plumber but I worked with my other strengths and yes, I can have children and run a business but it takes a lot of effort.

And yet even though I know all this, I still worry.

But worry can be the catalyst to look for answers. Or create them.

In order for me to stop worrying, I need to pray and release those worries to God and ask for an answer or wisdom to work through whatever it is I am worrying about.

Here are my tips on how to stop worrying and honestly they’re in no particular order.

1. Write down the worry

2. Ask if there is anything you can do to stop the worry

3. If you have no control over it and it hasn’t happened yet, pray about it.

4. Focus your mind on something positive

5. If the worry pops up again, pray again

6. Focus on what can be done, not what can’t

My life experience has shown me that all the things I have worried about previously have all fallen into place or have never occurred at all.

This should put a stop to the cycle of worry but I’m a creature of habit. Most humans are.

I’m not sure why I worried about how I looked in my school uniform nearly 15 years ago, because I was at least 20 kgs lighter than I am today. And interestingly enough, I don’t wish I was 15 again. I look forward with anticipation to what the next decade and beyond holds for my life.

What are you worried about right now and how do you stop the cycle of worry in your life? I love reading your comments.

Linking up with With Some Grace for Flog your blog Friday.

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