I nearly forgot to share the finished bathroom photos with you! The Snook spent the last day of his Christmas break painting the cornice and the ceiling. So remember, this was the Before. And here is the glorious After:

It’s just so pretty and pristine! (I can’t stop cleaning it. I even bought a shower squeegee.) By swapping the shower and the toilet, our shower is now quite a lot bigger. We’ve got more storage. We’ve now got an exhaust fan so it doesn’t get so steamy. We’ve got a fancy shower with both a rain head and a wand. We’ve got a 4-way LED light fixture that provides a lot more light. I love it.

In terms of styling, we’ve gone with grey, white, stainless steel, and glass. (I can’t believe I just said styling. I have a room in my house where everything goes together!  HOW GROWNUP IS THAT.) That said, most of it’s from IKEA: Grundtal Toilet Roll Holder and Door Hanger, Strapats Pedal Bin, Nordrana Hanging Storage and Set of 4 Baskets, Immeln Soap Dish, Kalkgrund Toilet Brush Holder, Toftbo Bath Mat, and Sinnlig Calming Spa Candles. From Costco: Charisma Bath and Hand Towels. From Aldi: Rubber-coated Ceramic Soap Dispenser. And our toothbrushes are in a mug from Rediscover Ceramics.

I’d say that overall this is pretty much 95% what I envisioned in my head when we started out. I didn’t get my black grout, and the toilet had to be moved forward due to an errant support beam. But other than that, it’s perfect. And not only that, but we also had gas installed to the house, two instant-on gas hot water heaters, a reverse cycle air conditioner (with units in the bedroom and living room), and our two old electric water heaters were decommissioned. This was a massive project, and I have to give all credit to the Snook. He pretty much project managed the whole thing, and he did a fantastic job!

* Okay, so we’re still going to paint the door one of these days as well as the grotty old window frame, but that can wait for a while…

First bike ride with the Snook in a very long time!

Saw it for a second time today with Kunaal and Kriti. So good!

Me : mangoes :: Kramer : Mackinaw peaches.

(Related life goal: have a mango tree, and when they’re in season, eat nothing but mango until I’m sick.)

How cool! The Free Universal Construction Kit is a set of adapters for complete interoperability between 10 popular children’s construction toys. That means you can connect your Lego up to your Tinker Toys and more. And you can download the plans for free to print on a 3-D printer!

Signalnoise :: The Work of James White – GASP. I want all of these on my walls. They’d go perfectly with our bookshelf Museum of Obsolete Technology.

Hmm.

Now I am envisioning a series of cross stitches with obsolete tech on them! All of these, plus an iPod and a Walkman and a Zip drive…

Happy Berry Crochet: How to Crochet a Spiral Granny Square – Not gonna lie – this blew my mind for like a full minute this morning. And then I watched the YouTube video which totally demystifies it. And now I kind of want to make a giant spiral granny square blanket…

Woohoo, my favourite end-of-year treat – the Best of Bootie 2015 mix! This year’s is kind of weird. There’s a Lion King song in there, and one that uses the Charleston?! I like the “Beverly Hills” mashup a lot though, as well as the “Girls” one. And the “Hello” finalé is friggin’ epic. Definitely worth downloading!

We spent the week before Christmas with the Snook’s parents up in Eungai. It was a nice, relaxing break. One day we went to the Gladstone Markets and  then had lunch at Smoky Cape Retreat, which we hadn’t visited since we stayed there when I ran my marathon four years ago. Another day we drove north: honey lattes at the Honey Place in Urunga, then lunch and antique shopping in Sawtell, and finishing with a choc-covered frozen banana at the Big Banana. The highlight of the trip for me though was definitely our visit to the Bago Maze.

The Snook somehow found the Bago Maze online recently and suggested we stop. It’s at a vineyard near Wauchope, and it’s meant to be the largest hedge maze in New South Wales. (It was only finished a few years ago, which is why we hadn’t heard of it before.) We drove down there on Christmas Eve, stopping off on the way for Fredo Pies and scones at Ricardoes. Bago Vineyard is pretty far off the highway, and we laughed nervously as we ventured farther and farther down hilly dirt roads through a forest with no other cars in sight. (“Maybe it’s all a trick to kidnap hipster cityfolk and steal their organs!”) Eventually we crested a hill and saw the most beautifully situated, practically hidden little vineyard complete with hedge maze. The cellar door is at the top of a hill with a stunning view out over the vines and maze. (It would be gorgeous spot to hold a wedding or party.) The sky was grey and drizzly though, and we were the only people there. We paid our $10 and headed for the maze.

It was raining a little bit as we took a selfie from the top of the hill, but thankfully it stopped for most of our time in the maze. We were given a code that unlocked the entrance gate, as well as a list of secret items to look for and tick off. It’s a very well done maze! You can’t see very far in advance, and it’s not at all obvious which turns will be dead ends. The paths all curve too, which means you can’t necessarily pick one based on which direction you want to head. We went with the strategy of trying the left-most option each time and backtracking where needed. We found our way to the first tower pretty easily, which includes a bridge and some fun recycled bells to play. We found the second tower soon after, and the Snook spent some time playing the “Thongophone” beneath it. (There’s also a large Chinese gong you can whack. Very satisfying.) We picked our way through the mud on the sunken path, finding some more secret treasures from our list. In under an hour, we stumbled upon the exit door… but we weren’t ready to go yet. We backtracked a bit to search for some more items from our list. The rain started back up though, so we eventually decided to head out. I think we were in the maze for about 45 minutes total, and we’ve still got a few items left to look for next time. Afterwards we tried some of the Bago wine and ended up buying half a case, as well as a platter of local cheeses and meats. The Bago Vineyards and Maze are well worth a stop if you’re in the area!

It’s soooo almost done! The shower screen went up last week, and then – FINALLY – the gas company turned up to hook us up. The new instant hot water system went in this week, and yesterday the builder turned up to hang the medicine cabinet, shower baskets, and mirror. (We have to wait three days before we can take the tape and supports off the mirror.)

Now all that’s left to do is paint the cornice and ceiling and finish moving all our stuff back in!