Is this living or character building????

Bedroom & lounge / toilet

In the early days of living here (in the shed, cabin and caravan) was like camping and after a few weeks I wanted to go home.  My best purchase this year - an electric blanket. One morning getting up to venture off to work, at 6am I couldn’t have a shower for the pipes had frozen. I produced a full bucket of ice to Mr I want to build a straw bale house whilst he was in a snug bed.  Amazingly the whole bucket was frozen – never seen anything like it. Oh yeh now I have showers in the evenings. It seems the coldest and wettest winter for years.

Cooking on the other hand has been a challenge. We no longer have to unplug the fridge to put the kettle on. Cooking in a small toaster and a 2 hot plate element (one at a time) took its toll and not to mention stretching the imagination every meal. “Saved” - June sales. A new fridge, gas/electric stove and a few other things for the new house. The day before I went shopping Mr I want to build a straw bale house activated the joint credit card. I am now cooking. Yippee.

The cabin is the warmest part of our little compound, unfortunately there is nothing worth watching on the TV so the games on the ipad are in demand.

Laundry and the $15 dishwasher



This is something that we will look back and mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

House building update

Roof tiles

We had roof tiles delivered. Yep
you may think progress, alas tipped into two spots to be crushed(by our car) to extend the driveway so trucks can deliver house materials.

It's too wet to spread them using the tractor so a shovel is used or just throwing them is the go.

I said it was wet..........................

Mud bricks – The frames are made and ready to use.

House plans

We have 3 copies of the house plans with a 6.2 energy star rating, a slab engineer okay and I want to build a house has the documentation stating he is now able to be an owner builder. Does this mean planner, building project manager or saving money and experimenting with handy skills.

The future home - House warming / come 5oth birthday

Mr I want to build a straw bale house will either pay for 50 people to lunch with me on my half century birthday or the house warming party will be the end of November to coincide with my 50^th

I win both ways.

House Plans

Mmmmmmmmmm  its all about the plans at the moment. We had quick specific drawings made up a number of years ago. These drawings included the doors I got from my wonderful hairdresser and windows I bought through ebay.  To gain a building permit further detail of the plans was needed. 

About 2 years ago I engaged a friend’s friend who is an architect. Meeting with him over 4 times to ensure the first cut was nearly final.  This was over wine and phone calls to Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house.  We were ready to move soon, ready to build but plans were needed.  After several emails, leaving messages on mobile phone, the first week in January 2011, I finally talked to him. He was on holidays, suggesting to meet up the following week. Well …………………. 6 weeks later we finally made a time. The architect stated he had plans to go and had contacted the structural engineer for the design of the slab. Of course I was excited; turning up to his house only to find a message on my phone that he had to work so postponing our meeting. The next time I did not make it to his house he had given 2 hours grace of cancelling. The next time I spoke to him and suggested he email the plans so when we arranged the 4^th meeting I would have feedback. No plans still. Speaking to him a few days later he then sent the plans.

I got home around 10pm and straight on the computer to open the email up to find a completely different design to what was presented and discussed. Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house laughed and thought the design was in a ‘combie’ style. The walls were exposed, no veranda surrounding the house, not facing North to use passive heating, not seemly energy efficient, access to the toilet was through our bedroom or our daughter’s.

If you look hard enough you may find a spare bedroom or is it a space?  What about the simple things like somewhere to put our couch/heater/ TV and the 1^st room you see when you walk in is the Laundry.

I was in shock and angry and could not ring him for over a week.  I was calm when I spoke to him stating that it was not what we wanted and he suggested we find someone else.  He sent back the package full of duplication of documents that he kept requesting including 2 copies of the original planning permit documents.   It could be said that he did not look in the package or given he is an architect he has the right to make his stamp on our house. Oh no he doesn’t.

Relieved but still with no plans we have engaged a company of drafts people only about 25kms from where we live. They say the plans will be ready within 2 weeks – Since we are now sooooooooooo behind schedule we are going to spend winter in our temporary accommodation. I think doing time in the coldest area of Victoria could only add character and create more stories.

Moving onto the block - Temporary Accomodation

The day had finally come when plumbing and electricity was all connected and there were no more excuses to stall and remain in the warm comfortable house that we had sold not 8 months ago.

Mr I want to build a straw bale house’s cousin was adamant he was going to move us and would bring someone to assist with the heavier things. The day arrived and we still had mild and all the food in the fridge, empty boxes and the study full of things we had not got around to sort. I guess we are like everyone else who has to move out of a house they have inhabited for over 12 years.

Well the move went as expected, empty boxes were carried to and from the truck and of course placed in the middle of the rooms so double handling was a must.

The first night in the shed as a kitchen, bungalow as the bathroom / lounge and the caravan as the bedroom, was cold and there were different noises to endure.

Getting up and going to work the next day was interesting, given you have to step outside onto the cold bricks in the rain to walk to the bungalow to shower. Then return to get dressed. As you could imagine there is limited space in a caravan even though it is 24ft in length. Where do you put clothes and how do you make decisions on what to wear when you are shivering because the wet towel is no comfort.

Arriving home from work is not really inspiring when there is power cords all over the place. We had blown up the metre box. Well not that drastic but no power to the kitchen therefore to cook or do anything with electricity we had to unplug the fridge. We did this for a week waiting for a new switch for the metre. It is amazing how much you rely on power to run things like the phone, computers, cooking appliances and entertainment such as CD or radio. It was a tad like camping and early to bed for now it is dark by 8pm.

One of my stories is that Mr I want to build a straw bale house packed the pantry. Well that is overstating the task. In less than 10mins it seemed like everything had been thrown into this small cupboard and to get to anything to eat taking items out or letting them fall out was the trick. It took me a week to get up the strength to take it all out to label and pack it to a reasonable state.

It is now 2 weeks of bliss in the temporary accommodation. Electricity is restored, we drive to the clothes line, the dogs are not yet in a run, TV has not been connected, we replaced the dishwasher, (with an ebay special of $15) and its getting colder at nights. Do we plug the heaters in an risk further issues with the power board?

Bring on camping – We are now official Trailer trash.

The worm farm for poo control

 Searching for a ‘green’ septic tank is not so easy. You may ask how to turn your poo into useful material and reducing the carbon footprint. Well - Mr I want to build a Straw bale house and I have been to a number of environmental events that showcase building material, solar, fences, and 2 types of green clean septic systems. We picked the worm farm.  The worm farm company did all the permits and yes it rained the day of installation.

 The worm farm is a huge plastic container buried underground with a compost bin on top of it – This is for all our food scraps and paper.

Oh yeh when we were investigating the worm farm, Mr I want to build a Straw bale house asked if the tank could take dead cows. The answer was I guess so, I think it was sold then.  Given we are situated in a water catchment area the sand pit had to be one of the largest the company has fitted so far. Of course this costs more money than the average system.

The green living seems as though it is triple the cost of chemicals – we need more incentives, more rebates and a greater understanding of environmental impacts of the cheap solutions.

Mr I want to build a Straw bale house and I were on site when the 1^st phase was installed and the left it up to the company to do the 2^nd and 3^rd phase in the rain by themselves. Trucks entering and digging up bits of the land caused more slush.

We have not used it yet given the trenches have not been dug for the sewage. – its still raining.  We have fed some of the worms with compost so I hope they are not drowning for we have not got the rest of the system connected for we need electricity to pump the waste through the sand pit then through the pipes to water the paddock.

Our 2nd holiday – time off to prepare

Oh dear it is raining again. You guessed it not much progress. The 2^nd week off this year for Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house and I got addicted to the series "the Wire" of course the list is not done yet.

When in doubt collect wood. Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house and his daughter Claire seemed to be gone for ages. The txt message read, " The ute is bogged Help". There is so much to do on the property it is hard to decide what to do first, so why not go into boggy territory and chop wood, to keep warm for the next few weeks, while we rent our own house. Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house, tried to get the ute out by himself and by the time I arrived the tyres were well hidden by the moist ground and the tyres were smoking from spinning so much. Mmmmmm is this a good sign?, I don't think so, the tyres dug their own trench. Maybe we should try getting the ute bogged where the trenches are going to be dug and then it could save $$$$. The ute was full of wood we peeled off the bark and put some small bits of wood under the back tyres. This worked for about 5 metres until we hit the more soft ground. Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house jacked the back of the ute for the 4^th time so we could put logs under the tyres – The ute was driven by Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house's daughter Claire (14 years of age), who mind you has only driven the ute the past 8 times it has been bogged. She hates it. We got it out another 10 meters. Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house then took over the wheel to sway side to side a further 80meters to the crushed rock drive way.

Why don't we have a four wheel drive I hear you ask. – Well we did for about 8 years. This has also been bogged a few times but the gears went and it was stuck in 4wd for a year and then one day it would not start. Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house attempted several times to fix it, once again avoiding the huge list to prepare the property. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm not knowing what was wrong with the old blue rust machine we towed it out the front of our now rental property and within 2 days it was sold.

It seems as though Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house is unable to either abide by a list nor accept any job on the list. There is post it notes all over the house. I guess packing the paintings off the walls was the priority – They do get in the way – NOT.

I do consider myself as somewhat patient; however I do lose it on regular occasions. Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house leaves the 'planning' to the lap of the gods, (even though he does not believe).

The rain sodden ground has dampened the progress of moving into the temporary accommodation of a caravan, cabin and shed set up kitchen – I don't mind for the thought of getting up in the middle of the night to crawl over Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house, (our bed in the caravan will be against a wall so will only have access to one side) step down the temporary stairs to an uneven bricked paved area to the cabin, has given me strength to rent our own home.

As anyone who has moved home would know, the house is full of empty boxes and the spider webs are getting thicker. Why clean when you have to do it when you move. I think I have used that excuse for the past 4 years now but it is a downer. Red wine seems to work.

Holidays does not equate to achievement or relaxing. Raining days means more TV. I guess a list of things to do is like studying you can always see something else that needs to be done.

Access to the property - sometimes no access available

Can we get into the property – I say no but Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house says it’s a driveway to paradise. What is paradise anyway? I wish I knew maybe I’m already there!!!n mmmmmmm I think not if you see the photos before and after it still leads to potential bog.

After the winter we have had in Victoria – boggy is underestimating the real earth moving status of the wet underlays. Like standing close to the water’s edge at the beach and stepping up and down, this sodden land we have to drive over, build on and wait for it to dry out.

The driveway has been on the list for over 2 years now. We bought a tractor with a bucket so Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house could do the driveway himself. We had a cheap quote a number of years ago and Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house’s brother was going to assist – even cheaper – But No!!! Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house wanted to do it.

We had a week off early this year and still no driveway. Heading into winter I suggested Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house could order some driveway mix. Well the last day of the holidays Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house rang and ordered 1 truck load of the cheapest gravel mix you can get. I was around on the Monday for the delivery and the truck driver suggested he could not come back until Christmas. Of course Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house thought I was joking given he never hears the responses I get from the workman.

Mr I want to build a Straw Bale house continues to think his ute is a 4wd and has been bogged at least 3 times that I know of in the house paddock. Yes even I have been bogged trying to rescue him. My family car does not cut the mustard in the slippery areas nor does it like the driveway. It bottoms out every time I drive up to our potential abode. I must admit that the ute is getting bogged further up the property.

Well I now know the quarry workers by name and number of the truck. They also recognise my voice and like pizza delivery in the city they do not have to ask me the address.

A winter to remember.

Never put off today what you think can be done in 2 years time.