Restoring the Old Girl

Where was I?
Once upon a time, I left my job at a newspaper and went to work in an advertising agency/sweat shop. After eight months of working twelve hour days and pushing the salmonella envelope as to how many times one can reheat one's lunch at one's desk, I panicked and went back to my previous job.
It was a very big mistake.
Hopefully, my decision to resume The Old Girl won't end in tears. I decided to keep blogging because:
a) I feel like I'm going crazy writing posts in my head and never using them
b) I think I have a lot more to say
Originally, I started the blog to keep a record of our work on the house, and as the house is not done, nor should the blog be. I shall plod along at my own pace.
I hope everyone enjoyed, or at least endured the festive season. It's a lot of pressure to have fun at the press of a button.
Motherwell coped very well with a crowd of 20 on Christmas Day. Christmas night I managed to photograph Teddy sitting in the Christmas tree, the evil cat. He obviously presumed that the line up of empty champagne bottles in the kitchen indicated that I'd be off my game, and he could get away with anything.

My husband has been on holidays for a couple of weeks and has managed to build the awning over the French doors downstairs. This is how they looked before, being belted by the weather.

This is the new awning. As you can see it's not finished yet. We still have to paint it, and the concrete bases on the posts will be covered with stones.

The window hoods and battoning (or eyebrows) also need to go up and this will take away the starkness of the side wall.

We are still waiting to see if my father's property will be inundated with water in the Rockhampton floods. I check in with him each day, and each day he seems to be losing a bit more confidence that he'll be ok where he is. The next day or two will tell. There is no way we can get there to help him either, all roads, rail and the airport are closed. It's very frustrating.
On new year's day I received both terrible news and wonderful news from two different and very close friends literally within minutes. I'm going to be a bridesmaid in March!! Expect me to be very stroppy for the next couple of months while I subject myself to the 'bridesmaids diet'!!
The new year is certainly off to an eventful start, and I'll be blogging all the way.