Noren 暖簾

Recently, I bought two Noren 暖簾 (Japanese Curtain) for our house. When I open the entrance door, I could see the door (to alfresco). 

According to the Chinese believe or feng shui, door alignment will influence the feng shui energy at home. As feng shui is all about creating a balanced and harmonious flow of energy in your home, the direct alignment of two or more doors will create a harsh quality of feng shui energy resembling 'sha qi' 杀气. 

This is a one of the them with cute seven blowfish, fugu ふぐ.  Japanese said "Your (あなた）Anata smiling face(笑顔 egao） is（の） Shichifukujinしちふくじｎ（七ふ神） (the seven Gods of Luck)".  This is a good luck curtain!

 

On 23/05/2012, I received the noren and got that installed! (Still waiting for another one)

P/S:  Don't you think that it's kinda short. Therefore, I'm still seeking for a long one....

Parrots 鹦鹉

Check this out! There are heaps of parrots @ my backyard.

P/S: Just ignore all the conversation from my mum, sis, hubby and I.

Listening to LiteFM Malaysia while blogging in the middle of the night! :)

Heheh....I will be going off for a short-breakie as mum will be reaching Perth on 2nd May. I can't wait  at all because we have heaps of program and in the meantime, I just wanna stop thinking of my job for the time being.

Just recently, one of my sis visited Perth to attend business meeting. Unfortunately, I didn't spend much time with her as that was a last-minutes trip. But  still we managed to visit the Raeburn Orchard, that's kinda close to my house.Feel free to browse the photos here.

On the other hand, since our PR will be expring soon, my husband and I had discussed about  getting Australia citizenship or still keep holding the PR. Frankly, I really do not mind taking up the so-called "exam" (before you could apply for the citizenship). Definitely one thing for sure, I won't be renouncing my Malaysia citizenship.

I do have lots to share but I have to knock off...

Before I left, this is my alfresco area with the solar butterfly light!

 

Another solar display...

We bought the solar dragonfly lights just for AUD10. Plan to get another one!

It looks nice during night time..

Coffee Cake & My Plants

A quick question, are you a coffee lover? I just love the strong aroma every time I walked pass the coffee shop. Undeniable, I love the pastry, bakery or dessert that's made of coffee. Therefore, I would love to share the recipe with you here..

Ingredient

180g soft butter chopped

150g caster sugar

1/3 cup honey

3 eggs

225 self raising flour

1/3 cup strong espresso coffee (liquid)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Add honey and beat until well combined.

4. Add eggs one at a time. Beat well after each.

5. Lastly, add flour and coffee 

6. Bake for 45minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center.

---@-@-@---

Here are some of  the vegetables in my garden. They are purely organic plantation, only utilizing water with sunshine and horse-dung (and left-over fruits and veg. compose)

   

空心菜 Water spinach

大小洋葱 Spring Onion

番薯叶 + 胡萝卜 potato leaves + carrot

还在多多努力@番茄 tomato

也在加油@葡萄 grapes

Solar System

We thought of going 'GREEN' and after consideration (with discount of the solar panels), we decided to go for the Solar System. Since photos speaks louder than word, here you go...

1.5kw solar panels

 

 2.0 kw inverter

Something new to you & me!

We have a big window in our bedroom and we had been considering of installing a roller shutter. By installing the roller shutter, it will help:

i) increasing the home's security

ii) reduce heat transfer in and out 

iii) block out noise and light

Since yesterday I was not working, I thought of getting someone to quote me on that. I just submitted the web-form "request for quote" from their website and someone will buzzing me later on. In the late afternoon, I finally received a call from one of them, asking me whether I'm available in the evening. 

At about 4.30pm, the guy arrived and I thought he will be measuring the window and straightaway provided me the quote. Who knows? He wanted to present his company's' roller shutter before quoting. Luckily, my husband was around to 'entertain' him. Guess what? He is advertiser manager- main purpose is to hang his company banner at our backyard (because our backyard is facing main road) and of course,to have this business work (only he was allowed to hang that). At first, the price were so unreasonable (my face impression showed all and he realized it), wanting me to wait for another quotation!

Both of us could see that he's really making hard to wanting to have this business working - attempted to call his manager but his manager couldn't work out the price we offered. They then offered a new price and we decided to lock his price (on the spot, we called our friend seeking for second opinion) 

Perhaps some of you might not know what's a roller shutter? The picture below tells all....

(picture source: google search)

Relaxing Our Mind...

A very simple family area (with the LED TV on the other side)

Brand New

Today is our second day @ our home sweet home..

The house is much more organized compared to day 1 :)

Q: How I feel?

A: Absolutely GREAT!

Q: What are we doing?

A: Painting and cleaning up the house- 3 rooms to go!

Q: What's next?

A: Unpack all the furniture.

Q: Cooking?

A: Simple one- Steamboat!

Q: Photos?

A: No time.

That's all for day 1 and day 2.

Cheers >,<

A total mess

The house is (in) a total mess...

We're busy painting and cleaning..

I don't think 4-days off will be enough for me to clean the mess! :)

(even though I knew how tired it was, still I enjoy it a lot- because this will be my home in Perth at the time being)

Besides, we have not unpack the furniture- they are still nicely packed in bedroom3 

Right now, I'm waiting for the 'guru' to fix the brick-paving outside!

Finally, he is here as I'm heading to work in 2hours time.

It's better to show you our 'masterpiece'. Here's the kitchen...

It was painted in Pale Tendril (very light green)

Toward The End V

I did have some photos to share- taken on last Friday!

Blind and door knob installed---->

We are now waiting for the carpet to be installed on next Monday. If not mistaken, house inspection should be carried out next week as well. We should be getting the keys the following week! ;)

On the other hand, Laura (my future neighbor) will be getting her key next week and move in. So, we are going to meet up on next Friday to discuss about the fencing. Finger crossed that this  will be the most inexpensive one (according to Laura-she had 5 quotes with her)

***@*@*@*@***

We visited the house on Sunday and very luckily, we met up with someone from the cleaning company came to clean up the house and we realized that the carpet was installed already!

Yipee, we should have our inspection next week and handover on the following week...>,<

 GOD BLESS...

 

 

***@*@*@*@***

Planning stage

Hurray, just a month to go!

We were informed that handover will be in mid of July and we'll then carry out:

- Internal painting

- Crossover

- Landscaping

On 28 July 2011, we'll officially be moving to the  house. Even though we're now in western country, we'll still be following certain tradition- just to make sure everything smooth sailing. I am thinking of hanging the "ang chai" on the entrance door but I left it in SP. Not because I'm superstitious, just feel that it's a nice decor. My neighbor (in phase 1) hung it before (I saw that!). During my trip back to Malaysia, I had bought 2 small pineapples that will go to alfresco area/entrance ;)

What else to do? Ya, we plan to have steamboat on that day itself to celebrate our jolliest moment. Definitely, it will be the best day ever in my life in Australia.

Will I be taking any days off? I'm still thinking of.... Haven't even submitted the leave form yet!

Landscaping? We haven't decide which plant to go for (in front of our house)- Hydrangea or Bougainvillea? 

More to come- Stay tuned!

Toward The End V

Garage door is finally installed. There you go...

Not sure what is this yet! Controller... I guess.

Ours and neighbor's....

Toward The End IV

Yesterday, Keng got me to flip an email to our builder regarding the leftover brick paves in the garage. Guess what, we're able to keep them up for our own use. How blessed we are, right?

To be frank, we still need to work out on 2.7m * 3.6m of the crossover (that need to pay upfront)
Now, we do not need to worry about the bricks as we'll be paying for the labor only!

Toward The End III

Someone was working on-site, we then took the opportunity to 'sneak-in' the house (with permission this time >,<). Here's the progress...

 The front view-
still need to work out with the crossover!

that's the en-suite-100% completed

(supposed to close the lid of the toilet)

kitchen area- 100% completed 
fyi, table is white in color not green

closer look of  the cook-top and oven
(pretty small one)

 alfresco- 100% completed

laundry area- 100% completed

Progress Watcher

Here's the progress of the house in chart

* Due to the rain, there are certain job can't be carried out....

That's the reason, they have to skip and proceed with others! 

 

Toward The End II

Additional photos... (* We sneaked-in the house because it was unlocked on 15/6/2011)

so called "water-proof" socket and 

that's our brick known as 'Hamelin'

Electrical testing is finally completed!

closer look of the wall tiles and range-hood 

An even closer picture of the wall tiles and range-hood

Bath-tub is now completed!

Toward The End

It's almost toward the end of construction (completed at about 85%)

I guess they still left:

- Painting

- Brick paving

- Electrical Testing

- Carpet and blind installing

- Cleaning-up

NOTES: Neighbor just left brick-paving process, they will be moving in earlier than us even we started the construction first! Honestly, I can't waiting for the inspection and handover....

Water heater system 

 

That's the en-suite (still waiting for a closed bathing area)

This is the kitchen area (just a small one)

Still waiting for the cooktop(top) to be installed

It look weird (without putting the whole wall with tiles),right?

 As they had charged AUD1200 for this 'look'

It will be very costly to put the whole wall with tiles

Thinking of DIY later  (* 1 tile=AUD44)

Contruction still going on III....

Here you go...

Ours and neighbor one..

Still working on the tiles...

That's the food storage

The table was still covered (supposed to be white one)

The empty area mainly for gas cook-top(top)

and electrical oven (below)

Still working on the bathroom & en-suite...

Today, we visited Good Guys in Cannington (an electrical shop) because they are on "end of financial stock take sales". We went there 2 weeks ago, as they are having 40% off for selected item. At that time, we had decided to buy them but not allow to keep stock for more than 6 weeks. At last, we bought them and keeping them in warehouse:

- A 9.5KG washing machine

- A 610L side by side refrigerator

- A 47" LED TV

Moving to a new house is a pain! You'll need to spend lot of $$$.

I just love new house. What to do? 
LOL

Contruction still going on II

These photos were taken on 27 May 2011...

 This is my house...

 This is the laundry area

This is the bathtub (partially completed)

The house is finally locked up on 29 May 2011. Both of us are no longer able to access the premise. From tomorrow onward, we're only able to view the construction from the window. :(

Another thing to share out with you guys is that, we had finally bought our lounge(sofa). AGAIN, I ordered it online (ebay)- Sydney Lounge Specialist. This is what I'm going for (but GREY in color with chrome feet). The price is reasonable, just because we're located in Perth (the delivery charges is a little expensive!). Besides, it's a reversible chaise and the dimension just fitted to our small family area.

Did you realize that nowadays I've hooked to online purchase? Honestly, if I can't get whatever I need, my alternative solution is ebay.com.au! Most probably, you'll get what you want to. Recently, I bought a Doeromon 4GB USB memory stick too from ebay too. My husband wants to connect it to his car, listening to his songs instead of the repeating one from radio!  I used to pay them through my PAYPAL account. ;) and I found no problem of using it at all- in the sense of reliability and security!

Try it yourself and you'll know...