Home Blog Page 46

Missed Out

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
6

When I was in grade 7 a popular girl in my grade decided to have a party. She invited nearly the whole grade except for a small handful of kids. I was in that group of kids not invited.

I remember as our class sat at our individually named desks one Monday morning and opened the lid of our desk to find an invitation to this girl’s end of year school party. Most of my class had an invitation they dangled in the air, like a prize they had won.

I remember the burning in my cheeks and the embarrassment and shame of not being invited to a party that most of the grade had been invited to. I knew I wasn’t popular, but not being invited to that party just drove the message home even more.

It wasn’t the first time I missed out on something.

When I was five I was in a small musical with a dozen or more other primary school kids of varying ages at our local church. We had ‘toured’ other local churches and performed our little musical for them and I was often giggled at because I could never clap in time with the music when we had to clap in certain songs.

On the night of our final performance, we got a standing ovation at our church. The church was PACKED to see the show. When our final song was sung, the presenter told us kids to remain standing on stage and each of us would be given a prize of appreciation for our hard work.

So there we stood and everyone’s name was called out. Each individual received their prize until the presenter started his closing speech without realizing that I was standing all alone on the stage waiting for my name to be called out to receive my prize.

There was no prize with my name on it.

That was the first time I felt the burning sensation fill my cheeks and at five I didn’t know how to react. The presenter fumbled and mumbled on about whether they had a spare prize to give me.

All I remember was looking at my mum and flying off the stage running into her arms and she carried me away to the back of the church. At the time it was really humiliating for me to be left out and I thought it was because I was the youngest of the performers in the group and mustn’t have done a good job.

It was a great lesson to learn that people make errors and sometimes missing out is a disappointing part of life.

Christmas is such a beautiful time of year but for many, actually too many, they miss out on the cheer that comes with Christmas.

And I bet it breaks God’s heart because Christmas is the story about the birth of Jesus.  The birth of a baby who grew into a man and died on a cross to set everyone free from sin.

I know that there are many online who don’t believe in God or believe in an unknown existence. My belief is based on faith and the bible and having amazing things happen in my life that can only be explained by God’s divine hand.

The thing is, sometimes the church is seen as pretty crap at inviting people in. If a church is too focused on their own growth in the faith, they can miss the important beat of God’s heart in saving and giving hope to the lost. The outside world isn’t attracted to a stagnant, inward seeking church. That’s not God’s design for what church is all about.

I can put my hand up and say that I can be so focused on me and my family that I’m too busy to give a thought to anyone beyond my inner circle. But I don’t want to be a Christian with their eyes focused in on their own realm. I want to be a Christian that sees the lost and the ones that are hurting and even the ones that are not and bless them with kindness and acceptance. I hated the feeling of missing out when I was younger and as a Christian I need to be more proactive in ensuring others aren’t missing out on a life that gives them hope.

Back to my year 7 party invite exclusion, I had a good friend who got invited to the party and played the invitation down. Instead of going to the party herself, she took me out to the movies and invited me to a sleep over at her place.

I didn’t miss out after all and I am so thankful by the kindness of that friend. I knew she wanted to go to the party but saw my hurt pride and put her own desires aside to spend time with a friend who missed out.

Who’s missing out inside your zone of influence in your life? What can you do to invite them into the fold and bless them with hope this Christmas? It’s time to find the missed outs and bless them out so that they can know what the true meaning of Christmas is all about.

The best thing you can do before designing a house renovation

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
22

The best thing you can do before designing a house renovation is to meet with a plumber onsite to ensure the bathrooms and kitchen can be installed as per the intended design. It’s all well and good to decide on where you want your kitchen to be, but if it’s a fair distance from the main sewer into the house and is in the opposite direction of where the current kitchen is, the kitchen sink waste may not have enough fall to meet the plumbing code.

I would come across this problem quite a bit in commercial jobs because an architect or hydraulic consultant would draw up plans on how plumbing would need to be installed, but never visit site. It wouldn’t be until the job had started that our plumber onsite would find problems getting the installation done which would incur a variation because the work would have to be installed different to what was originally quoted.

Last week, I met with a friend who is intending to lift their house and build underneath. The design is to move the kitchen from upstairs to downstairs, add an ensuite and install a laundry.

She has made some good decisions in the design by placing the ensuite next to the existing bathroom. Her main questions were to ensure that the plumbing could be installed as per her plan. And that the design was going to cost the least amount of money.

I organized a copy of the drainage plan to be sent to me before I took dad out to the house for our meeting. The drainage plan showed exactly where the sewer ran on the property which allowed us to answer my friend’s questions.

Her design is going to work. There are two DT’s (disconnecter traps) where all the waste pipes run into before branching into the main sewer line. Because the house is going to be enclosed underneath, these will need to be directed outside.

The existing hot water unit is also plumbed up inside but will need to be relocated outside as well. It’s preferable to install the hot water unit closest to the bathrooms to prevent having to wait for hot water when showering  creating dead legs of water in the pipes.

We recommended getting any gal water pipe replaced with copper. Gal has a tendency to rust inside and leak on the joints. It’s best to replace pipes in walls and under floors where accessible.

The next thing my dad recommended (which shows you his wisdom from years of being a plumber) was the location of the toilet. He recommended the toilet be installed on the far back wall in both bathrooms upstairs so that the 100mm waste pipe wouldn’t need to be run in the ceiling causing problems with the ceiling height on the ground below. Installing P trap toilets with the waste stack running down outside the house would ensure not having to box out a 100mm pipe that would require fall if placed in the middle of the upstairs floor.

The last question my friend asked was whether they should start on their main bathroom renovation upstairs first before the house got lifted and renovated. Again dad recommended no, which made sense to me too, because lifting the house has the potential to crack water proof membranes and tiles. It would be best to renovate the main bathroom with the rest of the renovation works.

Hopefully you have learned something new about renovating. A qualified and experienced builder in these types of renovations is a must for a seamless installation. Don’t presume there won’t be problems. All house renovations have problems because no one can predict what’s behind the walls – or what’s in them. It’s best to have a buffer in the budget to cater for such issues. For great tips on how to finance your home renovation have a read of this post by my bloggy friend Shelley at Money Mummy.

Have you ever done a major renovation on a house? Or have you had a house lifted so underneath could be built in as useable space? How did the project go?

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

 

Kids and Planes

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
21
Phoebe and I just before take off.

I’m back. I had a short blog break because we went away to Adelaide for 5 days to spend time with one side of Jacob’s family. Two of Jacob’s brothers hadn’t met Magdalene yet and they hadn’t seen Esther for 2 years.

Going away on little trips with a 3 year old and a 9 month old can be fun but tiring. Both girls were so good. I mentioned on Twitter last night that if you have a fear of flying, take a baby with you because you’ll soon forget your fear and you’ll be focused on keeping your baby calm.

There was a certain level up in the air where Magdalene’s ears were affected or she simply didn’t like it because she started to winge. Thankfully, everyone around us on the plane were happy to interact with her and as soon as a new face played peek-a-boo between the seats, my gorgeous girl was all smiles and laughs.

I was mentally exhausted though after both plane rides. Gone were the days of sitting back in the chair, watching a movie with headphones and flipping through the Qantas magazine.

The Qantas flight hostesses couldn’t have been more helpful. On the flight down all the hostesses would stop to talk to Magdalene and Esther.  At one point one hostess took Magdalene to the back of the plane to interact with the rest of the crew. I didn’t mind at all and Magdalene was happy for the change of scenery.

Esther behaved brilliantly. She freaked me out at one stage when she pointed out of the window ‘Mummy, there’s another plane’, to which I quickly zoomed my head and could see another plane flying in the opposite direction a fair distance away from us. She doesn’t miss a thing that kid!

Towards the end of the flight to Adelaide, Esther needed to use the toilet and so I took her up to the back to squeeze both her and I into the cubicle. My first thought was how do the high mile club have enough room to do other acts in that room? The thought crossed my mind for a second because as soon as I flushed the toilet, the loud ‘whoosh’ sound frightened Esther and we were out of there pretty quick. As she walked back to her seat she said in a loud voice so all the other passengers could hear ‘Mummy, that toilet is scary!’ She held on for the flight coming home.

And home we are. I’m ready to tackle washing and catch up on sleep. I’m typing away and both girls are still in bed. I had a few tears down in Adelaide as I watched my girls play at the local park or interact with their uncles and grandparents.

I’m so grateful for being a mum and having two beautiful girls to parent and love. There were moments where I would stop and look at my little family of four and be overcome with emotion that God had blessed me with this.

When we landed in Brisbane, an older couple who sat in front of us turned to me and said ‘your girls were so well behaved. You must be so proud. Well done mum on a job well done.’ I may have had tears well up in my ears after that comment too.

 

Tell me, have you travelled on a plane with young kids? How did it go?

I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT

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How to convert a skew pan toilet waste

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
20

Two weeks ago I visited a client to give them a quote on a new toilet suite. The client told me they didn’t know what kind of toilet would suit their existing services. I was expecting to see either an s or p trap pan and give a quote accordingly. (Just a quick reminder, an s trap pan has the waste come up through the ground, a p trap has the waste out from the wall.)

But when I saw the toilet, I saw that it was a skew pan toilet. A skew pan is like a p trap pan but with a 90 degree bend. The waste was coming through the right hand wall so I made a measurement from the middle of the waste to the back of the wall to make sure that I could convert the waste to suit a p trap pan.

This was what I saw when I went to quote on a new toilet suite.
This was what I saw when I went to quote on a new toilet suite.
This is what the back of a Skew Toilet Pan looks like. I don't have to tell you what the brown marks are.
This is what the back of a Skew Toilet Pan looks like. I don’t have to tell you what the brown marks are.

The other issue was that the existing cistern was plastic and I couldn’t guarantee whether there would be a timber stud in the wall to hold up a ceramic cistern which the client requested.

So I talked to dad and he suggested we install a Caroma Caravelle close coupled toilet suite because the ceramic cistern would sit on the toilet pan, and not need to rely hanging off the wall.

The new toilet suite was installed last week and it fit in perfectly. We were able to convert the toilet waste to suit a p trap pan using a 90 degree pan collar which is an $80 fitting, but a much cheaper option that installing a skew pan which would cost just under $500 for the supply of the toilet pan only.

Toilet Pan Collar Bend
Toilet Pan Collar Bend
The new Caroma Caravelle P Trap Toilet Suite
The new Caroma Caravelle P Trap Toilet Suite

Skew pans are rarely used these days hence why they are so expensive to order one in. The cheaper alternative is redirecting the waste to the back of the wall so that a p trap pan can be installed.

It’s these kind of jobs that allow plumber’s skills to shine because they are out of the ordinary and they prove their expertise is worth paying for when they can provide a solution like this.

So if you have a skew pan in your home and you wish to replace it, ring a reputable plumber to give you a quote on converting it to a p trap pan.

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

Better than the rest

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
0

 

I love sales and marketing. I studied a Diploma in Marketing straight after high school and my first real job was a telemarketing and sales team admin assistant kind of role at a transport company. Being part of a sales team introduced me to the world of targets and building up and maintaining sales territories.

My role was to book 6 appointments a week for our two Sales Reps. Our niche was very secluded and we had to battle against our sister company to get new clients. Every year, even if we didn’t meet our target, the quota was increased because we had to expand our client base.

But trying to meet our sales quotas when being undercut by other companies and being super selective on which clients we would take on made the job incredibly stressful and the targets hard to attain.

There were some weeks I got my 6 appointments and there were other weeks where I was lucky to book one even though I had done many calls and tried different marketing techniques on the phone. If people weren’t interested in what I had to offer, they just weren’t interested.

But there is always pressure within businesses to meet bigger quotas and attain larger profits. There is little effort in being better at the service that is offered.

It was a big eye opener for me when I started working for my dad over 7 years ago. Getting bigger and bigger every year was not part of my dad’s business strategy. Being better was.

My dad realized that there was a stage where he could comfortably manage 20 or so plumbers and be happy to maintain it at a certain level. His goal was never to be the biggest plumbing company in Brisbane. His goal was to be better than the rest.

Interestingly though, when you focus on being better, your business naturally gets bigger because there is more demand for your services and price often becomes irrelevant. This is what I found with our plumbing business. Our builders knew they would get good service and good service would come at a price we set.

What made my dad well sought after was not just because he provided great plumbers. It was because of the extra work he did when it came to the paperwork side and every project manager can agree that the paperwork trail is a nightmare. Especially when you have to chase it from 20 different trades for the one project. My dad was generally proactive in providing the paperwork before being asked.

So when I look at businesses making bigger targets and expecting their reps to reach higher quotas, the one thing that needs to be asked is how can we be better at what we’re doing, not bigger.

Have you been in a job where you had to meet a certain quota? Did you always meet it? What did you do when you didn’t meet the target?

‘Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way.’

Booker Taliaferio Washington, American Teacher, writer and speaker. 1856-1915

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A Beary Merry Christmas with Mummy’s Wish

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
4

One of the many things I take for granted as a busy working mum is my good health. I’m thankful that my body enables me to live life to the full. Like any family, my husband and daughters rely on me a lot. Not because I’m a super woman, but because as a mum, thinking and planning ahead are second nature to provide a seamless and happy family life.

So how do families cope when mum finds out she has cancer? I know there are families who are struggling right now trying to fight this disease to keep their mum alive.

Being a part of a church I have been to too many funerals for women who have passed away before their prime time because of cancer. They leave behind a grieving husband and children. They don’t get to see their children go to school or graduate or go to University or get married or meet their future grandchildren. It breaks my heart when I hear and see this happen.

Cancer has no favourites and it can strike at any time to anyone and it doesn’t care if they have a family to look after.

Every day there are 13 families in Australia that find out mum has cancer. THIRTEEN a DAY!

Where do families turn when they get told the terrible news? I didn’t know until I heard about Mummy’s Wish.

Mummy’s Wish is an organization that believes in protecting the family unit when they get forced to face their greatest challenge of helping mum fight cancer. They don’t get involved in the clinical side of cancer care but they help minimize the stress mum feels when she’s diagnosed so that she can focus on her recovery.

Mummy’s wish offers practical support to families with mums battling cancer by offering financial assistance, house cleaning, memory making for mums who have terminal cancer, child care, free hire of Ipads so that mum and kids can skype each other from hospital to home. They also provide each young child with a signature Comfort Bear so that they can hear mum’s voice when they need comforting. Young children find it really hard to be away from mum when she’s getting treatment and these bears offer comfort to children when they are missing their mummy.

Mummy’s Wish assisted 250 Queensland families last year and by the end of this year they would have supported 730 families in QLD and NSW. By the year 2016 they expect to offer practical help to over 3500 families.

The costs associated with supporting each family averages to $2,500 so fundraising is a major part of bringing in the funds to provide assistance to these families. The easiest way to support Mummy’s Wish is to buy a voice recordable, cuddly Comfort Bear for someone you love for $40 plus $10 postage (1 to 3 bears can be sent with the one $10 postage fee within Australia). The money you spend on purchasing a bear will also buy a Comfort Bear for a little one missing their mum who is battling cancer this Christmas.

If you have no one to buy a Comfort Bear for, you can still make a $40 donation which will provide 2 Comfort Bears for kids who need some cheer this Christmas.

My hope is that Mummy’s Wish will be able to provide a Beary Merry Christmas to all the families they come in contact with whose mum’s are fighting cancer this season.  Your purchase or donation can make that happen. If you would like to get more information in relation to donations or if you know of a family that could use the assistance of Mummy’s Wish, head to their website for more details.

 

This is not a sponsored post. I was sent a Mummy’s Wish teddy bear and information about Mummy’s Wish.

My Mum

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
10
Grandma and Magdalene having cuddles

It was my mum’s Birthday yesterday and I thought it was fitting to do a post about my mum because she looks after my girls while I go to work. My daughter’s have a special relationship with their Grandma which you can tell from these photos. I’m linking up with Trish from My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday.

 

Happy Birthday Grandma. Esther helped decorate Grandma's cake.
Happy Birthday Grandma. Esther helped decorate Grandma’s cake.

 

Having cuddles watching Pa fly his remote control planes.
Having cuddles watching Pa fly his remote control planes.

 

Grandma and Magdalene having cuddles
Grandma and Magdalene having cuddles

 

My girls can't get enough of their Grandma.
My girls can’t get enough of their Grandma.

 If you have children, do they have a good relationship with their Grandma or an Aunt or close friend?

World Toilet Day

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
18

Today is my mum’s birthday. She shares her special day with World Toilet Day. Happy Birthday Mum and Happy World Toilet Day!

This is a toilet shaped into art or art shaped into a toilet. It was on display at the Musee d'orsay in Paris.
This is a toilet shaped into art or art shaped into a toilet. It was on display at the Musee d’orsay in Paris.

Did you know that 2.6 BILLION people in the world today don’t have access to a toilet? The majority of these people are in the third world. World Toilet Organisation decided to create a day where functions around the world could be held simultaneously on the same day to raise awareness and funds to provide toilets in communities where there is no sanitation.

This is a wall of old toilets that is meant to be art in China. It's been dubbed the "Great Wall of China"
This is a wall of old toilets that is meant to be art in China. It’s been dubbed the “Great Wall of China”

 It’s hard to believe that people don’t have access to a basic need – a toilet. But toilets and sewerage systems are things we take for granted in the First World. We complain about getting a cold because we caught the germs from someone else (usually from someone within the family). People in the third world get very sick or die because they drink and wash in the same water they rid their own waste or the waste from others that has contaminated the water from upstream. We sometimes forget how blessed we are to have our basic needs met here in Australia.

So today when you go to the loo, be thankful that you can sit down to do your business in private. If you want to help provide some dignity to the 2.6 billion without a toilet, you can donate funds to help the cause.

I’m linking up with Essentially Jess for #IBOT.

Know when to say sorry

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
2

No one told me parenting was hard. I was often warned that children would take up a lot of my spare time and that I would always be busy. But I don’t remember any mum or dad telling me that intentionally instructing and teaching my children would be one of the hardest parts of being a parent.

At the end of the day I just want to be a good mum to my daughters and I want them to grow up knowing they are loved, knowing how to respect others, and to give back to a world that revolves around self.

But doing this intentionally can be so hard. It takes time. It takes effort. It takes good problem solving because one discipline method may work on one child but not the other. And does the discipline method work in the first place if the child displays the same behavior again?

I haven’t read books on discipline because I rarely have time to read these days, but I am blessed to be able to talk with other friends who are mums with similar aged children about different methods to try.

My concern is not on how to parent.  I just want to be the best mum possible for my girls by teaching them right from wrong so they can make wise choices when they are older.

You never really know how good a mum you are until your child displays good behavior or they react in a positive way to a negative situation.

Jacob arrived home early from work one afternoon and Esther hadn’t had a sleep and decided to cry for no reason. She couldn’t be consoled. We asked her what was wrong and she just cried and cried. Was she sick? No. Was she tired? No (yes) Did she want us to put on a DVD or play with her? No No NO was her reply. I ended up getting frustrated and told her to go to her room and when she had calmed down and stopped crying she could come out.

Esther went to her room and still cried. But she did calm down and fifteen minutes later she came back out in the family room with tear stained cheeks. By this time dinner was ready and it was time to sit at the table. Just before we said grace, Esther put her hand on my arm and looked at me and said, ‘I’m sorry mummy for crying and being silly.’

I looked at Jacob and smiled because we had obviously done something right for our gorgeous little three year old to know how to apologise for her tantrum.

If I lash out at Esther in a moment of weakness because she has frustrated me, I will apologise afterwards and give her a cuddle. I’m not perfect, but I know when to say sorry, and so does Esther. My behavior as her mum is her greatest teacher.

Have you ever apologized to your child? What part of parenting do you find the hardest?

Pipe Freeze

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
9

Doing plumbing maintenance on townhouses and units can be tricky if the tenant doesn’t know where to turn off their water supply. We had such an incident yesterday, although, Dad and I had done work at this property before. Unfortunately, where we thought the ball valve (stop tap) was – in the store room, was actually the ball valve for the reticulated hot water.

We had to have the cold water turned off so that I could replace a dripping hose tap. When replacing washers or taps, the water needs to be turned off because one, you’ll get wet if you don’t and two, you can’t work under high water pressure.

So this situation called for an instant pipe freeze kit that we always keep spare in the back of the ute. The quick freeze kit from Rothernberger enables a plumber to freeze a copper pipe causing an ice block to form in the pipe for at least half an hour, giving the plumber time to replace the tap.

Each can has liquid nitrogen in it. To create a solid ice block in the pipes, the pipe itself needs to be wrapped with a foam cover and fastened at each end with a zip lock tie and then the long straw nozzle from the can gets inserted into the foam cover and sprayed with nitrogen. It takes approximately 10 minutes for an ice block to form.

Spraying the liquid nitrogen into the encased copper pipe
Spraying the liquid nitrogen into the encased copper pipe
You can see the ice condensation on the copper which means the ice block is forming inside the pipe
You can see the ice condensation on the copper which means the ice block is forming inside the pipe

The kits are only great for pipes with a diameter of 10-25mm. Anything bigger and it’s time to call in a professional pipe freezer. We would use these specialized pipe freezers in older high rise buildings where we were contracted to replace the existing ball valves for each floor level of a high rise. The water main going from top to bottom would be 40 to 50mm in diameter.

Before crimping copper became the norm, plumbers would weld copper together. We had to be so careful when welding onto an iced water main because the heat from the oxy torch could melt the ice block which would have caused catastrophic water damage. This was why it was imperative for all of our subbies and for us ourselves to have public liability insurance.

Back to our little job, once the pipe was frozen, the new hose tap could be installed and the foam cover could be discarded. The heat from my hands helped the copper to de freeze so that the water could flow freely through the hose tap.

We’ve asked the tenant to find out exactly where the stop valve is for her unit so that if she ever had a water leak emergency, she would know where to turn the water off.

Do you know where to turn the water off to your property if you have a water emergency?

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

Appreciation is a two way street

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
2

Are you thankful for your job? Do you appreciate your boss?

Christmas is the perfect time to reflect on being grateful for your job. You may hate your job or think that your boss is a tool, but the fact that you are still employed and have income coming in is something to be really grateful for.

Last week I was involved in a discussion on Twitter with a mum whose son had been trying for 8 months to get a job. I was horrified to hear that the system our Government has in place won’t help this young man because of his living circumstances.

I was immediately grateful for my own employment and that of my husband’s. Not that I hadn’t been grateful about it before but it certainly made me stop and realize how blessed I was to have work.

And this is the way we should approach our jobs. Grateful that we were considered and hired for our job because our employer could have easily chosen someone else. But appreciation is a two way street.

Employers need to appreciate their employees and there are so many ways to honor and appreciate employees. One of the best times to do this is at Christmas.

Unfortunately since the GFC, the Christmas parties and the thank you gifts are the first items that are cut from the budget.

But if you have hard working employees who know your business well, you can’t afford not to do something to show your appreciation.

I remember the years I was employed by a transport company starting in 2003. The first two years I received a Christmas Hamper and the social club would pay for a Christmas Party. Then the head office of the company that owned our company didn’t make as much money one year and the hampers went. Then it was ruled no Christmas parties were to be organized and the morale in that company went down-hill pretty quickly.

But our little Brisbane office would use the money from petty cash to have a great Christmas lunch on Christmas Eve. We would do Secret Santa and the Manager and Office Manager of our department would buy a 6 pack of beers for the men and a big box of Chocolate Favourites for the women – in appreciation of our work for the year.

Anyway, despite the big bosses saying we couldn’t do it, we did and the managers worked a way around to give a small gift of appreciation to each employee.

I felt appreciated and it made me stay. For a little while longer.

When I worked with Dad, in all of his years of operating his business he  would deliver a Christmas Hamper to every project manager he had worked with in that year. My dad viewed these managers as his employers because they gave him work and would sometimes choose use him over price.

And then the GFC happened and price, not reputation, was what won us jobs. I saw from the other side of the business why the hampers had to go. They were no longer necessary because there was no loyalty.

I would organise our Christmas Party at the Brekkie Creak Hotel for a steak dinner for our sub-contractors. But only one or two of those subbies would write a Christmas card to my dad to say thank you for giving them work.

So I have been on both sides of the employment street and seen appreciation given in different ways.

Here are some non-expensive ideas if you are an employer and want to show some appreciation to your employees.

  •  A personalized Christmas Card to each employee and a movie voucher or something that you can afford to give each employee as a thank you gesture
  • If money is tight, give an employee half a day of leave that doesn’t come off their accrued leave for the year to do some Christmas Shopping. If you can afford to give them a full day, let them do so but sometimes Christmas can be the busiest time of year for most businesses.
  • Instead of a Christmas Dinner, why not hold a Christmas Lunch?
  • Host a Christmas lunch at your premises and get it catered with hot chickens and salads or Subway sandwiches.
  • If a hamper is too expensive, why not a Christmas Ham or a grocery voucher to help with the costs associated with Christmas

If you are an employee, a simple card expressing gratitude for your job is a wonderful way to say thank you.  A personalized gift can also drive the message further.

Christmas is a time about giving and being grateful and if the appreciation balance is played out right it can set the company up with great morale to start the New Year.

How has your company appreciated you? Have you shown appreciation to your boss?

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Bonds is a Family Wardrobe Staple – Wordless Wednesday

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
19
Sisterly hugs on the trampoline

My most recent blog post for Bonds Family Wardrobe.

Here are the photos that didn’t make it on the blog post. My daughters are modeling the clothes they received from Bonds after I entered a blogging competition to guest blog for four months on the Bumps & Baby blog.

Sisterly hugs on the trampoline
Sisterly hugs on the trampoline

 

This is Esther's way of saying she doesn't want her photo taken, but it looks like she's trying to model
This is Esther’s way of saying she doesn’t want her photo taken, but it looks like she’s trying to model

 

Does this look good on me?
Does this look good on me?

 

Queen of the Garden...
Queen of the Garden…

 

Inquisitive and cute
Inquisitive and cute

 

I’m linking up with Trish from My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday.

 

Caught in the Middle

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
22

One of the misconceptions that plumbers often get lumbered with is fixture and appliance warranties. A plumber can supply and install a fixture or appliance, but if a fault occurs with the appliance itself, the issue needs to be rectified by the manufacturer. Plumbers aren’t licensed to fix appliances and in most cases will void the warranty if they try to fix them. If a plumber has supplied the item, it is their responsibility to organise a warranty call from the manufacturer to rectify the problem.

Unfortunately, over the years of being an apprentice and plumber I have had my fair share of issues dealing with manufacturers to rectify issues with a fixture or appliance.

Yesterday I had another classic example of terrible customer service. This time my dad was on the receiving end.

We installed an instantaneous hot water unit a little over 12 months ago. It’s an electric instantaneous hot water unit that has the ability to feed a shower and basin.  Over the last couple of months the unit has been temperamental. The water in the shower would constantly need to be adjusted to remain hot and if too much cold water was added to the shower, the hot water would instantly cut out.

My dad made the call to the manufacturer down south and asked if they could organise a service person to come and look at the installed hot water unit and find out why it was being temperamental. Because it was  just over the 12 months warranty period, he even suggested they send us a bill if it was our installation that had caused the issue. Dad gave the details of the client to the manufacturer so that they could organise a time to fix the hot water unit.

Well instead of organizing a service call, the manufacturer rang our client and asked them to do a series of water pressure and temperature tests to which the client had no ability to even measure. They advised our client that they didn’t have a service person to fix the hot water unit.

When our client rang my dad to tell him about the phone call, my dad rang this manufacturer again and  said again he would pay for someone from their company to fix the hot water unit. They didn’t want to help.  In the end they suggested installing a pressure limiting valve on the cold water line feeding the hot water unit. We installed this valve and it seemed to help the issue of maintaining the temperature of the shower, but if too much cold water is added, the hot water will cut out instantaneously.

The lesson from this story is that as plumbers, we can be caught in the middle of warranty or appliance issues. If an appliance has a fault and the manufacturer chooses to not provide a maintenance service, it can make the plumber look like they have done a bad job, when in reality they haven’t.

All appliance suppliers should have an after sales service person who is able to fix faults with their products.  Customer service seems to be lacking in some of our appliance suppliers. They are happy to make a sale, but they aren’t keen to keep a customer satisfied if an issue arises.

Having had this experience with this particular company, I will be cautious of recommending this brand of hot water unit in the future. I just can’t afford for their bad customer service to mar our company’s good reputation.

Have you ever had a bad customer service experience? Are there any plumbers or tradies that can relate to my experience?

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Days when jobs fall through

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
8

I only worked half a day last Tuesday because nearly all the jobs that had been booked in for that day went to crap. Sometimes you have days like that. Days when jobs fall through. I’m sure I’m not the only plumber or worker that has had days like that.

Our day went like this: Dad and I had just left my house and were on our way to disconnect a sink for a commercial job when the builder rang to say the sink had already been disconnected and capped.

We still had to drive down that way to check on another job.  We had to make sure that the concrete and bitumen had been filled in where there had been drainage installed.

It had.

The next job got deferred because the taps that were needed hadn’t arrived in to our supplier on time. They were going to take another couple of days to come in from Melbourne. So our third job for the day ended up being our first.

Having days like this doesn’t happen too often, but when they do it can frustrate me because now that I’m a mum, the time I’m away from my kids needs to be managed well. I’m thankful that my mum is able to look after my daughters because my half day at work wouldn’t have covered the cost of putting them into childcare.

Thankfully all three jobs that had been booked and rescheduled were loyal and repeat clients. I treasure their business and love keeping up with how their families evolve from my last job visit.

Our third job last Tuesday (the one that ended up being our first) was a client that had recommended our services to friends and family. They got our number through our radio ad campaign a couple of years ago and we have helped them with their bathroom reno, kitchen reno and last week, installing a new toilet suite and some taps for the bathroom downstairs.

We’re not meant to have favourite clients, but this client is in the favourite list because they ring us first when they need us and they trust us. Sometimes they may attempt to do something themselves or get the father-in-law to give it a go, but when it turns to crap, they give us a call. We don’t judge. We just get in and do the job. Sometimes their failed attempts may end up on this blog. Like this toilet pan collar that had been covered with a tube of silicone to stop it from leaking. It still leaked. As one of my Facebook likers commented, persistence does not always pay off. True right with this example.

This toilet pan collar leaked... even with the silicone
This toilet pan collar leaked… even with the silicone

While I’m on Facebook, I’m going to plug my page because I share all sorts of interesting plumbing fixtures, designs and tips that are different to what I share on the blog, so if you would like to follow me on Facebook, just click through here and like my page.

Today is going to be a big day for us. We are also working on Thursday. The work this week will be fuller days which compensates for weeks like last week.

If you are planning to get some plumbing work done before Christmas or during the Christmas and New Year holidays, it’s best to be calling plumbers now and booking jobs in. The construction industry generally closes over this period for two weeks. Some firms will start their Christmas break from Friday 20th December and come back the 7th January 2014. Some businesses may choose to work through. The reason you should ring to book your plumber is so that you can get it done before Christmas or check that they will be available over Christmas if they are already booked up.

If you know someone wanting to get a plumbing apprenticeship, now is the time to be ringing up plumbing firms and asking if they are going to put anyone on for next year. Some plumbing firms choose to start their apprentices before Christmas to help with the mad rush of getting projects finished on time.

Which brings me to Christmas. I’m excited about this time of year. Most people are focused on the Melbourne Cup this week, but once the racing carnival festivities are over, it’s the countdown to the time of year I treasure.

Hopefully the weeks leading up to Christmas will see me having fuller work days so I can help alleviate the cost of it!

Are you ready for Christmas? Have you had work days that have fallen through despite your awesome organization skills?

Hope you all have a blessed Monday. 🙂

 

How to fix a tap handle that won’t turn on

By
Rebecca Senyard
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4

Last week I went to a townhouse where the hot water tap handle wouldn’t budge to turn the water on. The owner had rented out the townhouse and was wanting to get the tap fixed before the new tenant moved in.

The reason the tap handle wouldn’t turn was because the spindle (the inner valve of the tap handle, see picture below) was jammed in place. When it was taken out of the vanity basin, it was green in colour and had a bit of calcification. The tap was in a bathroom that rarely got used and I explained to the owner that this was partly why it jammed in place.

TAP SPINDLE Explained

Taps need to be in constant use to keep them from jamming. If they get used and then are left abandoned, the spindle calcifies from the old water and stays locked in the off position. It doesn’t always happen, but I have come across this on hot water taps where the cold water tap is used more frequently than the hot.

To try and salvage the spindle, I got dad to spray a bit of WD40 to see if it would budge. But it wouldn’t. The only way we could fix the tap was to replace the spindle. We ended up having to order the spindles in so that the same tap handles could be utilized to match the rest of the taps in the other bathrooms.

So if you have a few bathrooms in your house, occasionally turn on each of the taps if they don’t get used to avoid them jamming up. If you’re trying to save water, next time you need to wash your hands, do it under a tap that doesn’t get used very often. The key areas to check are stand alone toilet and basin areas or bathrooms that are downstairs if you have a two storey house.

If you want to know how to fix a tap handle that won’t turn on, call a licensed plumber to see if the tap can be salvaged. If it can’t, the plumber will replace the spindle for you.

The Versatility of Candles

By
Rebecca Senyard
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22

Sponsored post for Air Wick

The bathroom is no longer seen as a place to just wash and groom oneself. It is a place of relaxation. The trends in bathroom design have incorporated features that you would experience at a typical day spa.  If men want their wives to get out of the bathroom quicker, creating a bathroom that looks like a day spa is not the way to go about it.

But these bathrooms are stunning and who wouldn’t want to relax in a bath, surrounded by stunning fixtures, exotic plants and soft lighting?

If you haven’t had a bathroom renovation and want to incorporate the day spa feel, the humble candle can make a world of difference to a drab bathroom.

Candles are one of those versatile décor items that can be pretty much placed anywhere you want to inject a bit of ambience or infuse a sweet smell.

I am a bit of a candle snob and have specific preferences to style and fragrance. I love candles that are in glass jars and produce floral and sweet fragrances. I usually buy my candles from boutiques or candle retailers but I was interested to test the Air Wick Multicolour Black Edition candles that were readily available at my local supermarket, Woolworths.

And surprised I was at the smell and illuminating glass when the candle was lit. The ambience the candles created from simply changing colour was just stunning. I was given Purple Blackberry Fig to trial and I bought Crackling Fire and Cinnamon Spice on my recent grocery shop. Both fragrances were exactly how I imagined they would smell and they weren’t overpowering which is another reason why I am particular in the type of candles I purchase.

Airwick Candles

I generally have three places in my home that I place candles. On the right hand corner of my island kitchen bench, the corner of our main bathroom vanity bench and in the main toilet on the window sill.

I was so thrilled with these scented candles that I styled them for a possible Christmas Table Setting using a black table cloth and some gorgeous coloured baubles and polka dot crackers. The changing colours of the candles worked so well, this may be my table setting on Christmas Eve or Christmas night.

Over to you, do you use candles and where do you mainly light them or keep them on display?

This post has been written in conjunction with my disclosure policy.

Five Toilet Aim Styles

By
Rebecca Senyard
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25

Keeping your toilet clean can be hard if you have little kids – especially if you have boys in the house. I haven’t had to toilet train boys but I have serviced enough toilets in households that have sons to know aiming straight is a skill. For some it’s a skill yet to be grasped. This is my list of five toilet aim styles.

First up we have Mr Squiggle. Their intention is in the right place and the outline of the toilet makes it obvious where the picture should be filled in but the strings are a bit sloppy. Sometimes the fill in part happens outside the toilet.  At least Mr Squiggles have their nose in the right place. 😉

The second aim style is the Coffee Perculator. They drip on the seat or the floor and walk away. Coffee Perculators can be both male and female. Drips cause stains and odours! If you see a drip, clean it quick!

The third aim is the rebound style where the top lid of the toilet is the target with the flow rebounding back into the bowl. Most often it doesn’t rebound and the wee pools behind the toilet seat where it sits and festers into green slimey stain. Gross. Rebounds are best left on the basketball court.

Five toilet aim styles1

The fourth aim is one that causes the most damage: the fire hose. As everyone knows, a fire hose will aim everywhere and anywhere if not held securely. You know you have a fire hose aimer because the evidence will not only be on the floor and the toilet, but also on the walls… and possibly the window shelf too.

The fifth and last aim is the bullseye and every mum wants all their aimers to be one of these. Bullseyes are straight-in-ones. No hosing around and no drips. Just straight shooting to the bowl and NO MESS.

So there are my five toilet aim styles. Can you relate to having any of these in your home? Can you think of any more? 🙂

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Wordless Wednesday – Me and My Dad

By
Rebecca Senyard
-
16

I thought I would share some personal photos of me and my dad since I speak quite a bit about my dad on my blog because we work together. I wrote a post about how dad would take me and my brother to work with him when we were little and how it was always a great day out during school holidays.

Here are some photos from my personal album starting with my wedding. Now my dad is always on time when it comes to meetings or needing to be somewhere. If he is late he always calls. Most times he is the first to arrive before anyone when he has to meet someone. He was so determined to get me to my wedding on time we arrived TWENTY MINUTES early. It was quite funny watching the guests walk down the hill to our church, ringing friends on their phone to say ‘she’s here, the bride is here!’

Dad and I on my wedding day. We were in a Bentley.
Dad and I on my wedding day. We were in a Bentley.

 On the June long weekend in 2009, we organized a family trip to Fiji to celebrate both of my parent’s 50th Birthdays and their 25th Wedding anniversary. My brother had to cancel at the last minute because of work  but mum and dad and Jacob and I still went. This photo was taken of Dad and I on a sunset cruise. The cruise and food were kind of ordinary, but the company was not.

Me and Dad in Fiji
Me and Dad in Fiji

 The next photo was taken at the Brisbane Convention Centre in the Grand Ballroom where we had booked a table to attend the Construction Skills QLD Excellence Awards where I was nominated for Apprentice of the Year. I didn’t receive the award that I was nominated for, instead I received the Judges Most Outstanding Achiever Award and it was one of the best nights of my (dare I say my dad’s too) life. This photo was taken before the winner was announced. Little did I know as I was drinking champers to celebrate, I was pregnant with Esther.

Dad and I at the Construction Skills QLD Excellence Awards 2009
Dad and I at the Construction Skills QLD Excellence Awards 2009

 

And this last photo was taken this time last year. Esther is two in this photo and I am 5 months pregnant with Magdalene. This photo was taken by my mum after a big day at work because I needed to send a photo to someone for an article that was written about me.

Me, Esther and Dad posing after a big day at work.
Me, Esther and Dad posing after a big day at work.

 

I’m linking up with Trish from My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday. Happy Hump Day Everyone. 🙂

Doing the groundwork saves money

By
Rebecca Senyard
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20

Don’t you love those working days where there are no problems and every job gets done smoothly with no hassles and no issues? I had such a day last Thursday.

Our first job could have turned into a big job had the client not done some ‘research’ before having us come over. His proactive investigation work meant he saved paying us to work out what he could do on his own.

This particular client lives ‘out in the bush’.  My dad joked that we may have hit New Zealand because the property was so far out of Brisbane. The property has a loooong driveway up to the house (might be 500m?). It feels longer driving on it because it goes up a hill through dense forest and winds around.

The house is run by bore water and tank water and the sewerage is connected to the septic tank. The issue this client had was various leaks had sprung on his main poly water pipe which serviced various hose taps on his property. To solve the leaking problem, he had run another poly pipe, rather than dig up the existing main and required us to make the connection.

Sometimes plumbing problems need a bit of proactive investigation and some initiation to create a solution. This client did right by doing what he could and then getting us as licensed plumbers to make the connection. Problem solved .

Our next job was installing new taps for a client. The client had been proactive in going to our plumbing supplier and selecting the taps they wanted and had them ready for us to install. The bathroom cupboard had already been emptied giving us the access needed to install the new taps.

The third job for the day involved replacing more taps in a shower and bath that would no longer turn the spindle so that the water could be turned on. Despite the fact the house was a rental, the people living there were very thorough in explaining the issues to ensure the house was maintained.

All these jobs went smoothly because the owners were organized and took their time to investigate solutions themselves. They didn’t attempt to fix the problems themselves but they wanted to help in some way.

Doing the groundwork saves money because it saves a plumber doing it all for you and while there are some jobs that plumbers are best to investigate and provide a solution, if the client can do this, the job is nearly half done.

I’m hoping this week will see more jobs like these.

Wordless Wednesday – My reason to work

By
Rebecca Senyard
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26
Magdalene loves looking up to her sister.

Today’s post is a bit more personal. My reason to work each week is to provide for these two gorgeous girls. I thank God EVERY day for blessing me with two beautiful daughters. It’s funny, when I was pregnant with Esther, I actually didn’t care what sex she was and it was the same for Magdalene too. And now having been their mum for 3 years and 7 months respectively, God knew what type of children would suit my temperament and I am so glad that he blessed me with daughters. My husband believed we would have daughters because he thinks that I am an inspiration to women being a female plumber and that our daughters have a great mum to look up to. These are his words not mine. I never looked at it that way. All I know is that I just love being their mum and they have brought so much joy into my life! I love my family.

I hope you have a blessed Wednesday. I’m linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday.

 

My Magdalene is very cheeky and her smile is just gorgeous!
My Magdalene is very cheeky and her smile is just gorgeous!
I can't get enough of Esther's giggles and smiles
I can’t get enough of Esther’s giggles and smiles

 

Magdalene loves looking up to her sister.
Magdalene loves looking up to her sister.

 

My husband, Esther, Me and Magdalene. It's the only family shot where all our eyes are open and Esther isn't showing her tongue.
My husband, Esther, Me and Magdalene. It’s the only family shot where all our eyes are open and Esther isn’t showing her tongue.

 

This shot was taken on Sunday. We were dressed for church in blue. It wasn't planned!
This shot was taken on Sunday. We were dressed for church in blue. It wasn’t planned!

 

I’d love to know what your family consists of? What are the ages of your children and do they get along?

 

Five Steps to Keep your Toilet Gleaming

By
Rebecca Senyard
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32

Sponsored Post

If there is one place in the house that we try to keep clean constantly it would have to be the toilet. The bowl needs to be white and shiny. No drips on the seat. The room and toilet itself should be odourless  and splatter marks should be scrubbed so the next person doesn’t see the left over crime scene. I say if you splatter, clean the matter.

I’m pretty stringent when it comes to having a clean toilet. And I try not to judge the toilets that I service, but I have seen every shade of green and brown and most are caused from mishaps or bad aim, but generally it’s from bad cleaning routines or lack there- of.

If you have kids, especially ones that are toilet training, the toilet may need to be cleaned constantly. So here are my Five Steps to Keep your Toilet Gleaming.

five steps to keep your toilet gleaming1

  1. Starting with the outside of the bowl, this is the area that is most forgotten when cleaning a toilet. Put your head under and around the back of the toilet pan and you will find a covering of dust, hair and heaven forbid green yellow dribble stains. I think you can guess what they are. For a fast and efficient clean around the toilet bowl, use an easy toilet wipe. Harpic White Shine Flushable Toilet Wipes are the way to go. One towel will do the trick to clean off all that grime. Please note that despite the wipes being flushable, you shouldn’t flush these down the toilet as they will make out water treatment systems work harder in removing waste from the water.
  2. Lift the toilet lid and have a look inside the bowl. Toilet cleaners are great at giving the bowl a quick clean and keep odours at bay, but occasionally there can be grime or calcium build up at the edges of the toilet bowl.  A bathroom product that can clean this out needs to be hard working. Harpic Oxi-Action Bleach Crystals can be shaken around the bowl, left for 10 minutes while it foams up and does it’s thing and then can be scrubbed away with the toilet brush to reveal a pure white toilet bowl. For harder stains, the crystals can be left in the toilet bowl overnight.
  3. While the toilet lid is up, clean the rim of the bowl and under the toilet seat with another toilet wipe. This is where the most common splutterage occurs.
  4. Continue to clean every surface of the toilet seat. Use a different towel or surface of the towel when cleaning the seat. You don’t want to contaminate the surface with bacteria you wiped from the previous surfaces.
  5. Wipe over the toilet cistern and buttons. The buttons of the cistern contain the most bacteria because once one wipes, they then use the same hand to flush!

After I’ve cleaned the toilet I spray some Eucalyptus or Lavender Oil to infuse a clean and fresh smell.

Have you got anything to add? What is your toilet cleaning routine?

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

Just Be

By
Rebecca Senyard
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10

Do you sometimes feel so organized, you wished that someone else could live your life and take your brain for one day so you can rest?

Being a mum is so tiring. I’m grateful that I am a mum, but the ball juggling can be so draining and the arms and brain can only manage so much.

I have found that my mind rarely stops now that I’m a mum. I’m always managing my time and trying to be as efficient and as organized as I can so that I can get everything done that I need to. I sound like a business owner. I’m one of those too.

But then there are moments where I get overwhelmed and can sit for 20 minutes feeling overwhelmed by my overwhelmedness (I know no such word but you get my drift) to then feeling guilty that I wasted 20 minutes thinking about my to do list and not doing a thing.

Can anyone relate? You must be a working parent too?

It’s tough isn’t it? And yet, I wouldn’t change my life for one moment because I thoroughly enjoy most parts as well as the beautiful people in it. So how do you make more time? You don’t. You just have to manage it better and work out what really works for you.

My time is limited to getting work and certain aspects of blogging done during the day so I try to organise writing at night after my daughters have gone to bed. I find I also work really well first thing in the morning but I just haven’t got the hang of willing my body to get out of bed before pressing the snooze button.

Now that I’m a parent I’ve questioned myself on what I did with all of my time before I  became a mum. But I do remember a few times where I had nothing to do and wished I had a child to play with or a baby to cuddle.

Now that I’m a parent, I wish I could get some of that free time back so that I can be more efficient. But just letting myself be is just as valuable.

Giving my mind a rest is so important. I know that I can fully rest my mind when I have been organized and gotten part of my to do list done. But sometimes the list will have to wait because if the mind gets too overworked and the soul feels too overburdened, I’m hurting myself and I’m not being the person my little family needs me to be.

So learn to just be. Rest the mind. Write down everything you need to do so that you remember to do it later and sit down so you can just be.

Have you ever let yourself just be? How do you quiet your mind now that you’re a parent?

 

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