It’s been a few years since I recorded my podcast and I received such wonderful feedback so decided to experiment with an audio version of this newsletter…let me know what you think…

Nelson Mandela once said, “I never lose. I either win or I learn.”

Losing is not final; it represents the opportunity to try again with more knowledge than you had last time.

We had a fortunate life as overseas expats. Like many other expats and locals around us, we had a housekeeper that afforded us more personal and family time. We lived in a country with a low crime rate. If we wanted to, when wanderlust struck we could travel frequently, affordably to other nearby countries and regions including Asia, Europe and other Gulf countries. We didn’t do it as frequently as other families did, but we took advantage of the opportunity when we could.

But it did come at a cost. Although we were fortunate to have taken risks to end up in such a privileged position, we were also heavily focused to squirrel away whilst abroad to give us more freedom on our eventual return to Australia. Living overseas for the past 16 years meant sacrificing life with our families and limitations in the style of education, health care, activities and lifestyle we wanted for our kiddos. 

And as welcome as we felt in our second home, ultimately we would always be considered ‘outsiders’ if it ever came to the crunch. A family friend recently who is an older immigrant in France has experienced complications in lifesaving healthcare. We didn’t want to wake up one day and find ourselves settled in a country that was not our country of birth and always be foreigners. We always knew our time abroad would come to an end.

Returning home to Australia was intentional but Covid lockdowns, mandates and enforced family separation for over a year, brought forward a year, and our plans to return to Australia for our kids to enjoy their teenage years at home. Having my hubby unexpectedly locked in Saudi for almost a year while I solo-parented on the other side of the bridge not knowing when we’d see him again. This was hard.

As you have likely read, we bought a home before returning, in our dream location, with the intention to renovate it to our family's needs. This is something we have been really excited about but have learned that is not as easy as renovation TV shows and Instagram make it out to be. 

Coupled with inflation and supply chain issues, as well as the fact that neither of us has ever renovated a house, makes it a slow process for us. As an action-taker, being patient is not one of my strengths.

This is our very first family home and we no longer have Compound Management to take care of our gardens and perform any needed maintenance on our company housing. 

In our minds, this is exciting and empowering, but also we are very inexperienced and learning everything on the fly and very slowly.

Only 2 weeks ago, Pat installed a dishwasher in our kitchen, by performing his own cabinetry and plumbing work - he has never done anything like this in his life. It took longer than I’d have liked (8 months and many family fights over who is going to do the dishes ha) but our carpenter neighbour was impressed with his eventual work, which says a lot.

Last week we had to clear some large trees for our tiny home/granny flat that will be arriving soon, and once again Pat, who has never worked a manual labour job, teamed up with our tree lopper friend and has been learning on the job. He was able to assist with our own tree lopping. Man, tree lopping is an expensive and dangerous business.

The tiny home will be where we live for several months while our house is being renovated - not sure how that will go down living together in such a small space but we’re open to the adventure and opportunity.

This past weekend, we also hired an excavator to do some earth moving to prepare for the tiny home.

In a bid to be as self-sufficient as possible, we are installing more rainwater tanks on our property for both our use and our upcoming vegetable gardens. This preparation also required our own engineering to set up flat pads for these tanks to sit on as we have slightly sloped land.

We plan to extend our home to better suit our family needs for now and the future, and in a bid to keep costs low while keeping the financial freedom of mortgage-free living and gain personal satisfaction, we’ll be doing as much DIY as YouTube and friends and experts’ guidance will suffice, engaging experts where we don’t have the skill.

As much as we’re complete newbies to this whole world, we’re learning so much, acquiring new skills and understanding more about ourselves. Today I spent the afternoon moving crusher dust to prepare the pad for our new rainwater tank and moved some mulch resulting from our removed trees that we chipped, around the garden.

Tonight I’m shattered physically and exhausted but I feel extremely satisfied with the home and life we’re creating with our own hands. We might be slower than others more practised than us, but we’re learning along the way.

I’ll share more of the progress as we move (slowly) forward.

What also captured my attention last week…

• My Soul Sister, Kristen Helmstetter has launched her Coffee Self Talk (originally self-published) through Penguin Random House. This book is life-changing when it comes to mindset and manifestation. and I’m so proud of her. She works hard and is super smart and fun.

• We’re all feeling the pinch with inflation, I’m loving the Savings Whiz podcast - check out Top 5 Kitchen Habits That Waste Your Grocery Money

• Alice Nicholls All Rise Up Podcast - Be the Un-professional. Break the rules.

• Slowdown Farmstead - What happened to our daughter because I don't want it to happen to anyone ever again. Parents of teens (or any parent for that matter) I urge you to listen or read this. It’s dark but it’s a warning that perhaps this tragedy can be avoided for other parents.

  TW: this involves suicide however it also involves education that may help prevent it from happening, as well as helpful links. I’m so grateful for this woman’s bravery in sharing her story. May we learn and protect our babes.

• Three Birds Renovations - if you’re into home Renos and decor you’ll know all about these 3 mates from Sydney. I enjoyed watching a retrospective visit of a house they renovated 5 years ago. Lana's Forever Home, her slice of 'Santorini in Sydney' to see if it's everything she hoped it would be and you'll hear Lana's answer to one of the most popular questions she’s been asked: "Does she have any reno regrets?"

• Love of Dirt Podcasts - been blasting this in my ears while working. I signed up for Nicky’s Dirt Lovers; Learn to Grow Your Own Food membership to help me with my setting up the veggie garden. Love that she’s also in the subtropics like us but she covers other climates also. Check it out.