Who, me?

I am Amanda. (Amanda please?)

I grew up in Aylmer, Canada - a small-ish town about 40 minutes from the capital. When I was 16, my family up and moved to the other side of the world: Melbourne, Australia. Due to this move, I did what any 16 year old would do and immediately began hating my parents.


Skip a few years and I'm in my mid 20's (over the whole hate thing) and completely used to Australia! I've made some amazing friends through school and Scouts that I hope to keep forever.


In July this year, I married the cutest Australian man in the world and then spent 7 weeks backpacking through Europe with him.

We bought a house in May 2007 and settled the day we arrived back from Indonesia. We promptly painted the walls any colour we could find in the mistints section of Bunnings and moved in with two friends. Eventually, these two friends would move out, but not before 3 other people moved in and then out! So, now, our house is filled with just the two of us.

Now that we're alone and the stress of weddings behind us, we finally had a chance to look around to see what we live in... Definitely not loving it! 

I work full time in administration at a lovely science facility and my husband works in the controls industry. We both work too much, but manage to make time for dinner and a movie every so often.

I'm eclectic, studious, crazy, blunt, caring, compassionate and a little too nerdy.

I will leave this for now, and any questions can be asked later! :)

One list to rule them all!

Enough nerd talk, I’m talking about a To Do list for around the house. Full of little upgrades, adjustments and complete overhauls. In my house’s case, the latter is probably the most significant...

Without further ado, here it is...

1. Re-tile the house

2. Carpet the bedrooms

3. Paint rooms – Living room, Dining room, Kitchen, Master Bedroom, Ensuite, Bedrooms 1 2 & 3, Hallway, Main Bath & Toilet, Laundry & maybe Office

4. Buy new couches

5. Make a cover for the couches to last until #4

6. Get a new coffee table & side table made

7. Find/make art for the wall

8. Make new curtains for the windows

9. Get a cabinet made for the “library”

10. Clean up current cabinet that is leaning so much it might break

11. Put up photo wall

12. Get new dining table & chairs

13. Get buffet made

14. Clean up extra furniture

15. Reorganise closet

16. Reorganise clothes

17. Buy small shelf for corner of master

18. Clean the office (papers in the filing cabinet, please)

To be continued...

I’ve also managed to make myself a to-be-done-by date: 1 year from today. I feel like I’m being too optimistic, but then I remember that I did extend it from my completely unrealistic goal of 6 months. High hopes, people, high hopes!

Go back to the start

First things first. Before introductions. Before pictures. I need to make a statement.

I am a bit of a shopaholic.

Nothing crazy or over the top, I just like to buy things impulsively! I tell myself when I buy them that it will be an investement. Whatever I'm buying will be worth more in the future, will look fantastic in 5 years time. You know, smart investements.


Unfortunately, this is not the case. As I counted the empty picture frames I have hidden around the house (26), I started to realise that not only do I buy too much, but I rarely know where I'm going to put/use the item. Like vases (14).

Clothes were something I justified as necessary. I'll always need clothes! Jackets (8) can never go out of fashion! White t-shirts (12) are classic staples. Singlets (15) can be used in any situation! Why on Earth wouldn't I want to make a good wardrobe for myself??


Okay. Honesty time again. These investements... You know how when you think of investements, you think of expensive things that can compliment everything and last for forever? Well, good news! I don't really buy expensive things. Bad news... Nothing I buy really lasts. So not only do I have some beautiful old tins (63) cluttering up my hall shelves, but they're not worth anything.


I guess we can move on from investements to junk.

I realised I had a bit of a problem when I start going through my closet and putting the ones I hadn't worn in a year in black garbage bags (3 - tightely packed). And I haven't even finished yet. 


Who knows! I might finally fit into those pants that are two sizes too small (6)! Who cares if I have been on a diet for 3 years since I bought those pants and have failed to lose any weight! It's just water weight.

So, starting this week (I have plans today, you know?), I'm going to clear out my house and prepare for the future. After all, I've been living with my husband for 3 years and it looks like we still have housemates (3). 

This week, I'll share more about me, my life and the horrible state my house is in! Be prepared!