Committment

Those who play along at home will remember that I had back surgery on November 3 - almost 3 months ago - and in that time things have changed A LOT in the orange house.

In these last 12 weeks, Loz and I have between us lost a total of 28kg and have gone from complete couch potatoes to a minimum of an hour exercise each day.  We also used to eat complete garbage, with 3 (and I'm embarrassed to say sometimes more) take-away dinners each week. AND we used to buy our lunch every work day - sometimes brekky too.

We feel SO amazingly healthy and full of energy now, and while Loz has reached his goal weight, I still have another 8, maybe 10 kilo to leave behind.

So...(and this is pretty confronting for me to post here on my house blog) ...I have signed up & committed to Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation program, or 12WBT.

I am 100% committed to reaching my goals, but they don't just involve weight loss.  For me (us) this will reinforce the good habits we now have, and make sure we keep them for life.
I know this program will take hard work, but I am DETERMINED to see it through & give my back the best chance of a full recovery - by carrying around less of me!


If you want to follow my 12 week journey, you can find me over here.  We're currently in pre-season mode, with kick off in two weeks.  There's still time to join in you want to do something for yourself that could well turn out to be amazing.

Take care,
Reinsey, Raelene, RDub, whatever I'm called these days :)

Back yard - Aussie Style

We are two VERY happy campers as our back yard is 98% finished and EXACTLY what we wanted.  It's sustainable, all locally sourced, native & in our minds, unbelievably beautiful.

Here's a few before & afters...

This was a really low point directly behind the house which suffered from pooling water after only a little rain.  Beneath the creek bed, Andy has run some drainage and used the left over bricks, smashed up,  just under the dry creek bed.

Its a little hard to see in these pics, but our gorgeous Ironbark deck extends into a "jetty" which then juts out over a dry billabong.  This area used to be "Lake Cranbourne".  Now, if it overflows, it's channelled to the storm water.

This is our North boundary which we originally had lined with Blueberry Ash. The problem was I had nowhere to dry any washing & didn't want to plant a hills hoist in the middle of our yard or purchase a dryer. So Andy came up with the idea to span some tensioned wire between two railway sleepers to blend with the climbing frame we have outside our bedroom door.  We'll grow some jasmine along the wires too, so the clothes take on a little of its scent while they're drying.

We love love, love it.  I'll no doubt post many more piccies in the coming days.

The hugest of huge thank yous to Andy from Eskape Landscapes. If anyone wants work done, I'd happily pass on his contact details.

Back yard sneak peek

Long time no post!

We've been doing all kinds of fun things, but mostly just enjoying our new lives in this gorgeous home, oh + getting fit & healthy while recovering from stupid back surgery (more on this in a future post I think).

Our landscaper, Andy, who did such a brilliant job on the front has come back (under his own business name Eskape, as the previous company went bust 3 days pre-Christmas) and is turning our formerly flat, weedy, wet, yuk back yard into something we've already fallen in love with.

Here's a quick snap;

Fingers crossed the turf and planting will be done by Friday..YAY!!!

If any fellow Avenuers (or anywhere nearby actually) are looking for a landscaper - I give Andy two thumbs up.