Better to laugh than cry.

It is Thursday evening and school holidays kick off tomorrow.

I for one am looking forward to 2 weeks of commitment free time with my family- no lunches to make, clothes to lay out, after school activities to attend, camera words to learn...I could go on....I won't.
We will slum in our pj's, go to the movies, have milkshakes for lunch- be carefree...we don't get enough chances in life to be carefree and I desperately need some of that at the moment.

Not to go on about our trip to The States, but the entire process has gone on long enough for my liking. From conception to now it is has been 6 months and still nothing to show for it....my optimism is waning. I am exhausted mentally and emotionally...I just want our stuff please.

After paying our customs brokers a ridiculous amount of money on Monday, and knowing our boat had docked, we said to each other -"Ok- now the fun begins- this is it!". Surely after all the hard work planning, saving, travelling, lugging cart after cart to the van, cleaning, packing, logging, processing it all , scraping together more funds for shipping, surely now, we could relax and enjoy?

It lasted less than a day.....

Email Tuesday from the broker.."oh by the way, you do have a forklift don't you? Because you will need one and if you don't we are going to take a whole lot more money off you (basically).

After an afternoon of Simone and I texting swear words back and forth, we made some calls...we were lucky. The conreting plant next to the Vintage Shed have a forklift and would be happy to help us out (note to self- buy a slab of beer for the forklift man) Problem solved and running out of patience...on with the show please- give us a day- when is it coming?? Wednesday? Thursday? even Friday, although not ideal would be ok....Friday? Yes? Yes? ...............No!

Phone call today.

Unknown man:- "This is blah blah blah from  the shipping company. I'm ringing to let you know that your shipment has been inspected by customs and 1/2 of it has failed".

Me: "ummmm what does that mean exactly"?

Unknown man:- "I can't really say"

me: "well, when you say 1/2, do you mean 400 of the 800 things we bought failed, and what exactly did they fail?"

At this point to prevent myself from crying, I picture our boxes being given a polygraph test and a man asking an old milk bottle if it intentionally tried to smuggle dirt into the country and the milk bottle crumbling under pressure......I smile.....

unknown man" "Ok, so maybe not 1/2, but there were a few things that need more cleaning and they will be taken away now and cleaned and thats of course going to be $$$$$$ and thats all I am at liberty to say at this point"

Now I am picturing our boxes being taken into a small dark room and having a bright light flashed on them and being interrogated about just how much or how little detergent was used prior to packing.

It's all I could do to prevent myself giving up on this whole thing....Simone is ever the optimist and assures me whatever happens from here doesn't matter- we will get something and it will come soon.
She is of course right.

The funny thing about all of this is, and Simone and I both agree here...as harrowing an experience as it all was and has been, we both cannot wait to do it again and GET IT RIGHT...now that we know "WHAT NOT TO DO".

At this point we are aiming to have alot of the stock into the shed and ready for purchasing on Thursday, but will keep you all posted.

I hate to do a blog without pics so I will show you 2 pics and 2 things that did cheer me up today.

1) my new ottoman- made just for me by the lovely Lisa at Vintage Influence...
http://vintage-influence.blogspot.com.au/

It is Chairman Mao but in our house this will be affectionately referred to as
"The Communist Poof" (no disrespect intended)


2) After months of searching for dining chairs, I finally found something as close to what I want, without spending $400 per chair, and found in an op shop for $20 a piece- I am thrilled. Now to find the table...The room is desperately in need of some curves so a round table. I would be interested in your opinions though as to whether I paint these chairs and what colour or keep them as is.

Ok, time for some sleep. I always enjoy doing my blog posts. And equally I love reading others...

We are off on Sunday for a couple of days. My little family, my older brother and his wife and daughter, my mum and my younger brother and his partner...all off to the Comma House in Daylesford...I will definately post on this- supposed to be an amazing house with lots of lovely vintage touches....and some much needed carefree time.......


Bec xx