aka R’acquel

Things have been going well with my workroom eversince i began tackle it tuesday late september this year - my workdesk was the first thing that i addressed. Since that tackle, i have begun to understand that a cluttered workdesk is a sign of procrastination & having too much going on in my life. If i start forming paper piles on my desk, you can bet that the most painful & procrastinated things are living burried right at the bottom of it.

The good news is that i haven’t allowed my desk to get too bad for quite some time. Life has it’s natural moments of “to do” things building up. My workdesk was beginning to feel a little overwhelming, so i chose to address the room again this week. Here’s the before shot:

I was very embarassed about putting a stack of things on top of my monitor to address later, but all up - things have still be going really well, i’ve been feeling increasingly better about it across the weeks. Here is the after shot:

It doesn’t look like a big difference, but the psychological impact has been fantastic for me. I went through my piles - looking forward to discovering what procratinated things might be living underneath it. It was surprisingly easy for me - in general, most of the stuff were things that needed to be filed - a very clean easy process.

The hardest bit was giving my desk a thourough wiping - finding myself regretting that i had bought this “Zed” Table, because there’s so much glass, which means wiping not only the top surface but underneath it all too - which has spaces that are hard to get into. Glass is difficult to clean & “polish” - and i’d welcome any tips if anyones got the knack for getting that squeaky clean finish all the time. I know newspaper can work well, though with the hard-to-reach spaces, you just have to make-do with imperfections (and it’s still gonna get all dusty with time anyway!) So, i did the best by rubbing with a lint-free cloth after the wet-wiping.

I regret buying the table - thinking “wood! wood!” so much easier to clean. The other problem with all this glass is moving house. We were lucky to have our move here sponsored by my husband’s work colleague, meaning professional movers with insurance - but i don’t look forward to moving this piece of furniture to the next house we have to find soon.

I spotted Karen’s Feng Shui site from Jessica Duquette’s blog the night before. Enhancing interior space & decluttering is one of my hobbies, so i took it on in my workroom.

The Fame & Reputation

The logic behind it makes perfect sense to me - the first thing which will catch your eye living in this space as soon as you walk in. A good idea to put something that i’m proud to associate myself with here.

I need more respect for my work, especially the unpaid work i’ve been doing for my husband. What surprised me about this was that i had already moved my “no-limits” sign a week ago - and my mind has been thinking about the uneasiness i’ve been experiencing about my “unpaid” working situation. After much thought on the matter, I had to make some changes to my sign;

My former attitude is not making any money - there has to be a limit somwhere right?! Yeah, this is what my life needs to aspire towards now - the “show me the bloody fucking money” way of life! A great symbolic reminder to myself :D The strangest irony of it all? This sign used to live underneath my monitor and i barely noticed it as much as i do now that it’s resting in the formal fame & reputation corner! I think it’s working and i look forward to seeing what happens in the next few weeks! :D

Career

I want business to pick-up, i want to make more money and i want direction in knowing with what i want to do in my life career-wise. A water symbol was suggested, so a plant was going to be ideal for me. I was thinking of my Bonsai Fig, coz i use that plant to reflect on the ‘direction’ of my life. It would have been perfect, but I was uneasy about a this sun-loving plant being indoors without access to strong light. That’s when the light bulb moment hit me - my plant Moses! It’s an indoor plant very sensitive to light! Yay!

This is bound to put a smile on my dear friend, Rambling Rose - who gave Moses to me about 8 months ago because she is STILL alive. 555. It made me feel so much better as soon as i brought her into my room. My bonsai fig is situated in the same “career” zone on my verandah, so it dawned on me that this plant was likely to stand for “Newtown Mums“, while my fig steps in for ”my general life”. 

After some further review, i got my 30th birthday card sent from NM this month. I later realised that there are 6 names on the card, this plant has 6 prominent stems, with a small 7th one beginning to sprout. Who knows, maybe it’s the new member we’ll be hearing from soon…

I also have my small “saving time” book there, to remind me that i will never spend another 30hrs of not sleeping in an attempt to deal with sunshine hating idiots ever again. There’s also the “Feel the Fear & Do It Anyway” by Susan Jeffers that’s been responsible for great changes to my life recently too

Skills & Knowledge

My violin naturally fell here. It’s perfect for the task of meditating to gain more wisdom. I learn a lot of things outside of music as i practise

 

Prosperity

A reminder of what i have in abundance. Ironically the space of my “emotional shelf” that i’ve recently converted into a money-making space - so that was a very nice moment of serendipity!

Here rests my unfinished painting of Frieda Kahlo taking on Nad’s Hair Removal Gel. Ironically, i need to save $$$ to get my teeth fixed with orthodontal work, so it’s a great picture to have here as i can see all of her teeth! I also have a bowl of spare change (there’s always spare change, even during the hard times) - along with one of those Chinese good luck boat things my mother gave me that’s supposed to help make money multiply when you let it sit with money.  

After further thought - i realised where to put my recently acquired bottle of cognac given to me for my 30th by the NM Gals. I’ve had this dream of buying a bottle no less that $1K, to celebrate a fantastic achievement with a huge party one day (i’m sensing this could be in 2 years time). For the meanwhile, i’m not going to open this particular bottle until the time is right - so it’s currently “appreciating” in value! (Here’s hoping that age will make it taste much better once it does get opened! :D)   

Helpful People

Oh - a powerful spot hitting me very hard at the moment. If i don’t do things, it won’t get done. Everything $$$ we get has been a big struggle the last few months. We have to move house. It’s supposed to be good to have angels present here - and i had the perfect token for it.

 

An angel playing a violin - it’s a piece from a charm given to me by a psychic friend of my mothers, who’s also a Feng Shui consultant. At the time of receiving it - it didn’t have much meaning to me until i got my violin. The poignancy of the symbol had amplified for me, and i knew there was something intense about it. I’ve had moments in life where it’s felt like this has been a token of someone looking out for me.

I’ve been very active in trying to find another place to move. The situation is bad in this region but i think the phenomena is nation wide with rising interest rates. Many people wanting to sell their houses, not many who want to invest - so there’s not much rental houses available on the market. What makes matters more stressful is that the owner of the house were in is selling the place - so if someone buys, we’d need to ship out in 60days. We don’t want to be forced into the neighbouring suburb, so it’s been important to keep the search effort up.

I’ve had my moments of complacency with the search, allowing a week to go by without popping into the agents here - however as the market is so slow, it makes my current pace with it seem over the top - providing either “none” or maybe 1-2 houses with some places that are still not up to providing for our needs.

I like how the angel sits above the exit of my door - it’s a good reminder to me that it’s important to keep looking. The owner is selling $50K above one real estate agent’s evaluation - so we have that as an advantage in our favour amidst the current market environment finding it very hard to sell property. Many houses have been listed for months & months with no bites.  

The really weird thing about it today, when my husband’s car got pranged by the old lady at the supermarket car park today - how the moment felt like a good omen to me. I only manged to read this again hours later, as this space is also good for;

“When you are in entanglements, you need to be treated fairly.”

I wonder if this is why my mind thought of this angel when it felt like someone was looking out for us at the time.

I have the feeling that we are likely to find another nice house that is going to be even better value & quality than this one. Only time can tell. In the meanwhile, i can’t afford to be complacent with it. It’s good to get reminded each time i walk out the door

Family

I am estranged from my own side of the family even though i get along well with them now. I’ll write more about this on thoughts about what “Merry Christmas” means to me.

This is the most poignant change in my room. I can’t believe how deeply it has impacted me. It’s a photograph of my grandfather (My Dad’s father). I’ve never met him as he’s been dead for as long as i’ve been alive. As my brithday was so miserable this year (which is why i treasure the bottle of cognac so dearly now) - i raised a virtual toast to my grandfather to celebrate his 30 years of death.

I’ve felt his presence with me ever since i saw this photo. Maybe it’s because his face has strong resemblance, but i just got the impression that had he been in my life, along with my other grandparents & extended family - things would’ve most certainly been very different for me.

This space is supposed to be good if you wanted to be treated as a part of the family, even though you’re not blood related. Good to put up family photos & pictures of ancerstors. 

All up - i’m surprised by how amazing my work room feels at the moment. It’s well organised. There are two corners that will need further review - but at the moment, the energy is really zinging in here!

Bathrooms get wet. It’s not a good idea to build vanity cabinets flushed to the floor out of wood - or other MDF-like (non-waterproof) materials that are going to expand upon receiving contact with water.

The water damage is not a complete eyesore yet - but it is bound to get very rotten with time. Even if the bottom of the cabinet is raised high up off the ground, non-waterproof materials still face the risk of warping. 

Another issue with regards to the design of the vanity cabinets, (even in the instances of kitchen bench designs too) are the small gaps that are left underneath the unit.

Gaps like these are doorways for vermin to crawl in and out of. If you end up with a cockroach rave beginning to form in spaces like these, it’s going to be hard to squirt the pest-control chemicals to get in there. I’ve had spiders, slaters & a centerpede come in & out of this gap pictured above.

Dishwashers face this exact same problem, due to the gaps in the design of the machine…

  

All it takes is a little gap in the machine like this one, and then it’s gonna be a serious bitch to address the problem of pest control within the unit. This has happened to me twice in two different houses. Dishwasher = cockroach mecca.

The only effective method has been to do a cockroach bombing - spraying around the back & sides of the unit is not enough - the animals are living inside the machine.

All buildings will face settlement issues, movement is bound to cause cracks & gaps to evolve. I’m really curious to read up on housing design utilised in earthquake prone regions. Perhaps there might be some ideas there.

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I’ve been window shopping online for the ideal toilet and i found one. The wall-hung toilet. I’m sure it would require some heavy going steel or something to mount such a thing without falling.

Oh, the easy cleaning for underneath it all - that’s my kind of toilet! Actually, this particular design is still too “dimpled” - I’d prefer a flat profile all around it to minimise the amount of cleaning in tight curly corners that you can only reach with a small toothbrush. Oh yeah - the toilet paper is in the wrong position too!

hmm - so what happens if the toilet breaks down - the cistern part? Do you have to smash the wall in order to fix it? Oh boy…

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Documenting some of the key problems that I’ve faced with bathroom design in the places I’ve rented.

Never use drain holes like these. They are terrible - you can’t clean it properly without a pipe cleaner. Flat profile would be much better. This is also a very poor example of installation as well - it’s not properly sealed/flush - dirt will collect around the edge because of this. Very bad design.

A better seal in the sink, but i can’t clean inside those holes easily. Very frustrating.

What’s wrong with this? The taps - there is not enough clearance to easily clean behind/around it. It’s a pain in the ass to clean - you need a toothbrush. The other serious problem with it is the colour - WHITE, shows all the dust. You have to clean it nearly every 1-2 days. My former appartment had a nice beige/cream marble surface for the vanity, it was a great colour and i didn’t need to wipe it down so much.

I am not a fan of the two-tap system either, prefer just the one tap to adjust hot/cold water temperature. It can get awfully annoying when you’ve got two taps that don’t have the equal water pressure thing too - makes it so hard to adjust the temperature in the shower here.

More examples of tight hard-to-get places for cleaning. I can’t stand this at all. Especially the sections behind the toilet. So annoying when the mop can’t fit - have to get down on your hands & knees to do it like Cinderella.

More annoying hard-to-reach space beside the vanity there. I can’t stand useless spaces like that. What is also very bad about these floor tiles is the colour WHITE! If you enjoy mopping down your floor tiles every single day to get rid of dust - yes, use this colour by all means.

Former appartment had tiny beige/cream coloured squares (2cm x 2cm) with grey grout. I’d prefer a flat surface with no grout at all, much easier to clean. Same with kitchen splash-backs - flat surface all the way. I can’t stand grout, especially when it’s white. It’s a bitch to keep clean.

This is the second time i’ve faced a house with the toilet-paper positioned in a ludicrously stupid place like this. Behind the toilet - it requires a contortion act to reach the toilet paper after a shit. The former appartment was the same in the guest bathroom. Good bathroom design definitely requires thoughtful placement of the toilet roll holder for me!

Adequate exhaust fan is a godsend for preventing issues with mould. Make sure it does a good job of sucking things out properly. The current ones we have seem to be pushing dust back into the room.

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Have i really been a country person at heart all these years? I can’t even remember what date i moved into Leura, but i think it’s been about a month. I love it here so much, that there’s no point in leaving any part of my brain to process this trivial information. I’m here now, which is all that matters. I’ve lived in appartments for most of my life. This is the first freestanding house I’ve ever lived in.

It’s a big sea change for my family. We’ve moved from the inner city Sydney suburb of Newtown, into the jewelled heart of the Blue Mountains. My heart is likely to skip a few beats whenever i see the road signs indicating, “Leura ~ The Garden Village” as we drive in. I catch myself holding my breath before the release of a deep sigh. I am surrounded by so much dirt. I tried counting the number of trees i have on my property, but lost count after reaching 25. My green thumbs couldn’t be more delighted.

I’ve always been a winter person. The summer heat of Sydney has been absolutely horrid for my body. I was enjoying a lovely 25ºC day yesterday, and could not believe that Sydney had to live with 35ºC. 25ºC again today, 31ºC for Sydney. [gags] We’re at an altitude of 985m above sea level. The sun is a lot more intense, crisp and direct up here, but rather than bounce and radiate off an amazonia of concrete, I can feel the ground and the trees soaking it all up like a sponge. The sun feels great up here.

Could Sydney do with more trees lined down Parramatta Rd?

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