the saga continues.......

I'm about at my wit's end here!

You all know the drama we've had to deal with during this tenancy since september last year, right?

Not one but two termite infestations, one of which we are still being treated for

and will then have to endure major internal repair work when the treatment is finished.

The garage was turned upside-down for six weeks with the first termite drama and repair job.

We also had to live with the horrible swamp-like conditions in our backyard 

which became a mass of stinky slime and sludge for two months, 

not to mention the large population of cane-toad tadpoles that thrived in those conditions.

Okay, to the owner's credit,

the drainage installation for the backyard finally went ahead

and was installed and completed last Tuesday.

what our yard looked like for a whole day

  BELOW is what our backyard, and part of the front yard, looks like now.

Bear in mind that the pictures below ARE the completed job.

part of front yard from a roadside perspective

part of front yard from top level perspective

our side backyard

the area of backyard behind the house

Cody can't be given free reign of the backyard now and must be leashed to keep him on the grassy area otherwise he'd get filthy.  The plumber stated that top soil and turf was the owner's responsibility so, i forwarded these photos to the Property Manager asking what the next step would be because, as it stands, only one quarter of our backyard is accessible.  The rest is this mix of shale, clay and a little bit of dirt. The response from the property manager - "I don't understand what you want me to do just because you can't access some of your yard.  The owner did the drainage installation at your request."

   I replied and quite bluntly told her that top soil and turf in areas as needed would be the next obvious step!

We are still waiting to hear if they are going to approve our request for compensation in the form of rent reduction being for ALL the major problems we have dealt with since September last year. It  has not been pleasant living with termites or swamp-like conditions.

We have been advised by several sources that we have every right to ask for compensation. The ridiculous part to all of this is that the compensation we are asking for only amounts to a $10 difference in our rent each week which is only $520 over the span of twelve months.  It's not even two weeks rent!

I sent off another email to the Property Manager this morning outlining all our grievances yet again and she did reply and apologise for not getting back to me. Hopefully, we will hear some positive news soon but, in light of all this, we are seriously considering moving when the current lease runs out in July.  The irony is that, if they were offering this place to new tenants, they would have to offer it at a reduced rent because of all its issues anyway, plus the owner would be charged a new 'to let' fee from the real estate agent on top of advertising costs.  He would LOSE even more money going that way. 

MADDENING!!!

I'm sorry this post was on such a sour note but I feel like I'm beating my head against a brick wall over this situation.   

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Yesterday, I mailed off one of the Pay It Forward gifts I've been working on.

  It's making its way to merry England.....minus the note card.

I made a very quick note about it in my journal.

On that note, I wish you all a pleasant day!

~ Love, light and peace ~

PHOTO MONDAY - What's on my bedside table

I get to choose the weekly themes for the month of May and, for this week, I chose the theme 

What's on my bedside table.

Click on any image to enlarge

Well, as you can see from the pic below, my bedside table is quite crowded and, sometimes, I will even squeeze in a mug of hot green tea.  Now, let me see, I have a white metal hold-all where I keep my Lucas Pawpaw Ointment (used as a lip balm), remote controls for TV, VCR & DVD, pens, thermometer, nail scissors and emery board.  I do have a small TV, VCR, & DVD player in my room but I rarely watch TV or movies in my room at night.....they are there.....just in case.  Also, my water bottle which I keep filled with tap water.  The second phone extension.  My mobile phone. My clock radio.  My reading glasses for the book of the moment and, of course, tissues.

I LOVE BOOKS!!

I love to read in bed at night

as you can probably tell by the overloaded shelves of my bedside table
and, quite often, I will have piles of books or sketchbooks and pencils on the floor just by my bed.

I thought I'd play with the Colour Accent option on my camera for the pic below

Care to post  a pic of what's on your bedside table?

~ Love, light and peace ~

PHOTO MONDAY - textures i like

this week Vee chose the theme - textures that i like.

 there are so many interesting textures that i like but i will share just a few here

 i often can't resist the urge to go up to a tree and feel the texture of its bark

i LOVE trees and i love the aura of strength and majesty that they emit.

 as i've been sick the past few days, i've been pretty much house-bound so the

 tree images below were taken at different stages last year

CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

the rich, rough textural appeal is hard to ignore

i love, love, LOVE the textural look of paper-bark trees (below) with their many peeling layers

and then there's the almost smooth, dimply tree surfaces

i LOVE them all! 

i find trees to be visually and texturally beautiful and inspiring

another texture i love to get my hands on is PAINT!

wet, cool, creamy, luscious paint!

and i love snuggling into soft, fluffy cushions

as well as snuggling into this little bundle of fur

~ my dog CODY ~

what textures do you feel drawn to?

~ love, light and peace ~