New house first garden pics

today is the last day of a truly amazing year in which i learnt so much, loved so much, grew so much, laughed so much

today i have felt a calmness, living in the now, enjoying this moment, every moment left of the year

i have been feeling proud of all the things that i have achieved

and thinking of the times that sung to my heart

love love love this little apple tree. it was a gift from a special family who's kids i used to look after. a really cool family who between them love kombis, veggie gardening, opp shops and garage sales (sound like anyone you know? like ME perhaps?) i look forward to years to come, eating apples off it and thinking of my old life eating 'happles' off my old tree with my favourite little kadina babes. what a sweet memory for a sweet little tree to hold. this tree will forever sing sweet memories to me

please share with me, what in 2008 sung to your heart?

finaly gettin in the making spirit

its about time (because it sure didnt happen before christmas)
Hope you all had a very merry christmas!
with all the packing, shifting, unpacking i was sooo not into christmas prererations, it sadly just didnt happen. next year. but we did have a fantastic christmas, getting together with my family christmas eve and bennys family for christmas day.


this is my new favourite photo, ben, me, dad, mum, aj &kane

anyway,
ive been obsesed with mosaic for years thanks to my aunty helenas many beautiful mosaic pots that she's made over the years and various mosaic murals ive seen. every time i see something mosaiced i think to myself 'wow, im deffinately going to do that soon. well i saw a particularly cool mural here while i happened to be writing a christmas wish list. i got given mosaic glue and gem stones (those around me has DEFINATELY heard all about them and every mosaicing idea ive had) so today i set off opp shoping to find some cool coloured plates etc to smash (well for benny to smash, this was the part he excitedly volunteered to do)

im planing to make mosaic stepping stones for my veggie patch (which is starting to look like a veggie patch!)


well i did good. there were some great plates and bowls in wonderful colours. that im realy not sure i can bring myself to give up...

these are my favourite pieces, not that the pic does them justice. a happy yellow bowl, and a set of four glasses with little trees, houses, rainbows and birds.
i deffinately couldnt part with them!


look how big the chickas are, and more to the point, check out the mohawk! two of them have a natural mohawk and i only hope it stays (because who doesnt love a chicken with attitude:)

settling in nicely

ive had lots of great visitors and lots of great fun. my favourite part of having my own home is having friends and family gathered around our little kitchen table (if there's enough of us, some one will be sitting on an esky topped with cushions, another on a lounge chair) for a meal, a chat, some making or baking.

my visit with lil didn't go quite as planned, i was sick, but we still made ourselves lots of fun. mostly lazing on a mattress in front of the tv, catching up on what each other had been up to. and we made the greatest crumbed chicken together!

these pictures are from a while back, opp shopping and garage saling in kadina together, oh the good times we have together:)

by the time aj came over i was thankfully feeling much better. we invited mum over for the day and made the yummiest cadbury chocolate rocky road ready for christmas. we also went wondering in my new town and found a beautiful little stream and waterfall, perfect for dipping our toes in. later we went looking at christmas lights

trust me, it tastes just as good as it looks!

me and benny are loving the extra time together, adjusting and figuring out who does what and most importantly making sure we have fun together. we've been to a beach close by (which made me breath a sigh of relief as its much nicer than 'our' beach!) gone for night walks and have been generally goofing around, singing and dancing in our kitchen together.

ive been living spending lots of time with kylie, its so fun that she lives across the road! pancakes is a way happening thing

the hardest part for me was my first day at home by myself, after everyone had gone home and benny had left for work. i was struggling a bit, plenty of things to do, even all the craft materials i could want but no motivation to do it all. luckily dad popped in unexpectedly on his way to adelaide and we had a good chat about fear, insecurities and other lovelies and it helped me get back on track. i am now happily lazing my days away with daytime tv and gardening. the garden is looking better every day especially with chooks now pecking about the place. the house is slowly becoming more and more our home. infact, im at kadina right now and i miss the place. deffinately a good sign!

this chooky pic was taken last week but i swear the chicks are twice that size now, they grow so quick!

exciting news

guess who might be getting a job in port wakefield? the mother of my favourite-in the-world twins!!!! (or as miss aj likes to call them, curly and straight- because one has tight ringlets and the other dead straight hair)

in which case i would still look after them at my new house! would that not be the most awesome thing in the world?

my fingers are so incredibly crossed, please cross yours too for me

gosh the thought of still having them is exciting.

so anyway, it appears that photos of the house will be in dribs and drabs as i seem to get there and be so buisy cleaning, arranging, decorating, gardening, hugging benny in excitement and daydreaming of new house adventures to come (mostly the garden, i have some good plans forming:)

which will work well because the longer i wait to put pics, the more pretty the photographed space will be!

heres is a back view of the house

as you can see the most important piece of furniture is in, my craft table complete with paints, sewing stuff, pic of two nuddie beach bums (me and lil aprox 18 years ago. my favourite photo in the world, oh our free spirits..and free everything else he he ill show the photo when it and my scanner are under the same roof again)

im making a veggie patch behind the other plants. slowly scabbing rocks from a rubbish pile at the back of the property to make into a spiral pathway.

i am looking so forward to some sleeping over guests, my awesome cousin lil is coming for the weekend and then hopefully aj early next week.

i am also excited to have family day care visit next tuesday to let me know what needs to be done to approve the house for day care.

hopefully not too much. as much as ive been looking forward to time off work now that its so close im not sure what im going to do with out crazy fun toddlers running about and making the fun. and the money, i like that too:)

i am so in love...

with our new house!

so, i went prepared with two cameras so that i could have lots of pics there... only to realise that BOTH cameras were on low battery! so this is all i have to show off so far. ah weal.

here's our kitchen (its not that messy now, i promise lol) fairly lights were one of the first things to go up

we had such a fun time getting settled in. on saturday the owners were still cleaning and putting in plants out the back (which was disappointing because it meant we couldn't move in fri night as planned but it was so worth it as we have a garden now)

we were able to head over sat night, had friends over and had a lovely time hanging out in our furniturless house (nothin wrong with good ol fashion simplicity right) sitting on cushions on the floor and decorating with a few things id taken over.

heres our empty lounge room complete with sleeping benny. after these photos were taken we got lots of things from bennys and my parents brought some furniture etc. tomorrow is my day off so i will be going home (i smile every time say 'going home' now!) and taking plants for the garden and getting all things sorted.

id better go so i can get some more packed before kids wake up

i look forward to sharing more soon

good times with good friends

well, friday we start moving into our new house! all week ive been excitedly tucking bits and pieces into boxes and planning what will go where. i am seriously jumping out of my pants in excitment, yippe!! last weekend we checked out my new local opp shop. it is the little building next to the church. you go through the white picket fence and down a winding pathway through a mini garden to get to it, so cute.


sat nite we got together with friends for a barbeque at sams, lots of fun was had by all! (me benny and kara cooked, you can see in the middle pic how yummy it looked:) the first two pics from the left are bare feet and hand massages that took place at the pub, the rest are pics of us all being our dorky wonderful selves:)

ive been spending lots of quality time enjoying the wonderful little beings i have the pleasure of looking after for the next week and a half. there has been extra baking, playing, singing and making together while we still can. i am happy to say i am out of my little sadness funk and am now enjoying and living in the moment with them.
our favourite activity at the moment is finding catterpillars. a few of the plants are quite damaged by them so we look underneath each and every leaf, pick off fat green catapillars, have a lovely little play with them and then feed them to the chickens as a tasty treat. the chickens love this game!
i hope your having a happy week too:)

my new favourite jeans

look what i accidently got from the wallaroo opp shop this morning, benny jeans!!! for some reason i spotted these jeans and fell in love with them even though its almost summer (they have realy cool buttons!) i didnt even try them on (you dont wana know why, lets just say that it was washing day) so when i got to the beach and tried them on i was so pleasantly suprised to find that they were a PERFECT fit and had my man beautifuls name in them. oh boy was i happy!

so i cristened them in the water. while wearing a dress that i got also .dont worry, i wasnt trying to make a fassion statement in my dress and jeans combo, just desperately had to wear them both 'right now' because they were new (to me)

here they are dripping away and looking pleased to be my new faves

and here is my dress that makes me feel like twirling

ive had such a fantastic day off work, one that just makes me breathe deep and smile

happy and sad

its officially 3 and a half weeks until i finish work. after this i will be living in my new home and have time off while i set up for day care in Wakefield. i haven't had much time off since last Christmas so im really excited and sooo excited about setting up my new house, living with benny.

im really getting impatient but also feeling like I'm not making the most of my time left here. I'm going to miss these kids here so incredibly much and i doubt ill see them very much. the saddest thing for me is that i know if i see them when their a little older they probably wont remember me. I've spent so much time with them, they are such a big part of my life, they are all so special to me. there not work for me they are honestly like family. how could i play such a big part of raising them and not get this attached? its different when one or two leave to start school or move, i don't think about it so much and just hope i see them around, but all of them at once is so hard for me.

i guess this is another reason why I'm so eager for the next few weeks to pass by. in a way i want work to be over so i don't have to spend each day with them knowing that their aren't many left. i look forward to meeting my new kids and starting again so i don't have to think of how heartbreaking it is to leave. I've been struggling a bit this week, not wanting to have them because it hurts.

but I've been trying my best to have fun, we put up the Christmas tree with mum today. and they love love love the chicks (there are 5 now, their so cute!) we even had a few little holds

this is what I've been up to in the garden this week. this used to be the bins spot, a huge waste of shade now that the weathers getting warmer. we've been shifting all my pots over to be in a cooler spot. their looking much happier already. and i can see just how many plants i have ready for our home. i cant wait to put them in the ground

the last few months Ive been growing lots of things from seed rather than getting seedlings. prior to this id always been too impatient but I'm really enjoying it. i love checking on them daily and watching them slowly emerge from the soil. i love that they teach me to be patient.

i feel like i get so much more for my money, not because i get more plants for cheaper, but because i spend more time on them which means more relaxing time. i get to see and enjoy and learn about their entire life cycle. as i nurture the seeds they nurture my soul.

and here are a few of the chickies. there are now 1 yellow, 2 white, 2 black. any name ideas?

we have babies!!!!

so, i went out half asleep this morning to feed the chooks. while they eat is gennerally the only time to collect extra eggs without a crazy little lady trying to swipe my arm off, so i went and collected 5 beautiful eggs. and thought to myself oh no, one of the eggs is broken, i guess thats one less chicken (yes embarassingly i realy did think that in my just-woke-up state).
rubbed my eyes and noticed this beautiful gal/guy nearby!

isnt s/he just the cutest?:)

what im loving right now...

1) a big sweet, extra juicy pear

2) four silently sleeping little girls (who are just as sweet but seemed to be soooo noisy this morning!)

3)memories of a fabulous weekend of visiting, picnicking, barbecuing, opp shopping, knitting, chatting, laughing, with family. we went to adelaide to see my oma, opa and aunty helena who have just got back from holidaying in holland (lucky them!) and managed to see almost everyone (levin and family, you are at the top of our visiting list for next time. we were hoping to come over sunday after tea to say hello and see your cool pin wheel quilt but unfortunately ran outa time)

4)and of course the start of christmas crafting with the little gals. pics to come

we love it!!!!!

the house is absolutely perfect, we are so in love with it! we didnt see the owner, just had the key so i was unable to ask if i could take pics but i will show it of when were in it.
i so cant wait to move in, were going to move in within the next month, perhaps in two weeks or so.
i already have it all planned out where everything will go, the kitchen overlooks the 'garden' (lack of at the moment, but wait till i get there, that will change!)
there are cute blue and white tiles in the laundry(the first thing i noticed, they are so pretty i will almost want to do washing just to hang out in there. almost...) it is all very new and neat. best of all its only $160 a week because the owners are good friends with bennys parents

so in cellebration we planted lots of seeds in trays yesterday so by the time we get there they will almost be ready to go in the garden. lots of poppys, callifornian poppies and marigolds to brighten our days and veggies to get a veggie patch started (the back yard is HUGE! so i have plenty of space for the chooks to have a yard and as much veggie patch as i like!) i am so incredibly thankfull today!!!!!!

my happy place

the garden is my absolute happy place. I've been spending too much time inside and starting to feel a little stressed so yesterday afternoon i went into the garden... and honestly would have stayed there forever if the sun didn't disappear. the veggie patch was looking a little unloved so i swept the paths, pruned away dead leaves, discovered many caterpillars munching on leaves (the chickens got a tasty treat). i feel so relaxed in the garden, everything is slow and has a soothing rhythm.

i dug up potatoes, gathered basil for pesto, lettuce, nasturtium leaves, garlic chives and beetroot for salad and we made a yummy little tea and ate it outside

this morning i got up and just felt so fantastic. i need to spend more time in the garden. just being.

where is your happy place?

looking forward to tonight, 5.00 we go see the house, fingers crossed it is just perfect for us, i cant wait to check it out! and then we are going swimming, i bet the water will be so warm after the last two days!

weekend knitting

while i was knitting the ben was doing this... (putting spare sock knitting needles through his earing holes. strange man but i love him:)

i finished knitting my pair of socks

and then an arm band as requested for benny. hes a bit in love with the softness of bamboo yarn. me too

hope you had a great weekend xo

we found a house!!!!!!!!!!

i am so relieved, we have a house that will definately be ours if we want it, thanks to one of bennys mums friends. they are doing a few things to it (including putting in a new lawn, yippe!) and it will be ready for us mid december, which is perfect timing for us.

we had just started realy getting into the idea of buying as nothing quite what we wanted was up for rent so we are still going to keep looking into buying, but have this as a back up plan. its soooo comforting to now have a back up plan. its such a weight off my shoulders. not that i was too worried, but i just smile all over now that i know we have a back up plan.

we are going to have a look inside on wednesday night, fingers crossed we love the inside as much as the outside xx(they are my crossed fingers) ill ask if i can take and share pics.

until then, here are some pics of what will be in our house, i got some great garage sale finds-$5.00cupboard (i know, the handles must go!, $50 pine table and chairs, and because i just love them, had to share th funky draw liners, love love love them!

thankyou!

thankyou so much levin for introducing me to mixtape magazine, i love it so much, its green and crafty and what more could i possibly want in a 'zine'! also, one of the first things i found in one of them was an add for made it, which is like etsy but in australia!!!!! a while back i set up a shop on etsy but with the converting to american dollars and overseas postage it was all to intimidating so sadly i gave up. i looked for something similar in australia but couldnt find anything. now that ive found it im setting up a store to sell little bits and pieces made of natural materials, i plan to make hemp tea towels with binding made of funky quilting fabric, natural toys, things knitted with natural fibers (i have bamboo, cotton and soy to try out) and who knows what else

today i was making some little birds for my tree and i decided to make a few for the shop asweal. but that would mean parting with them and their so darn cute! i think perhaps id better whip up a few more:)

and a close up of my favourite little sleepin babe

food dying play silks

today we had a go at dying the kids play silks. ive heard of people dying them with food dye but havent heard how.
heres what we tried:
*we put a playsilk in microwave container, added aprox 3 tablespoons vinegar
*add enough food colouring to have a strong colour
*microwave for 4mins, take out and stir
*microwave 3 mins, take out and rinse until water runs clear.

colours came out great but have no idea how many washes they will last. never mind, kids thought in was great fun so im sure they wont mind if we have to dye the again!

weve been having lots of fun with them as capes, blankets, dancing cloths for twirling and swooshing (listening to jack johnson, i luvd it too!) peekaboo, and their favourite is me gentlydrifting it over their heads. and cubby houses (where we all squeeze under 1, cozy fun that gets hysterical laughter)

remember these from your childhood?

these are my two favourite books to read the kids at nap time. admittedly sometimes i read even after they've fallen asleep if its 'getting to a good bit'. I have so many memories of mum and dad reading me Enid Blyton books as a child, drifting of to sleep and having sweet imaginative dreams inspired by the adventures id been hearing about as i fell asleep

water babies is a nice one i found at an opp shop recently. beautiful pictures and beautiful story.

what books do you remember from your childhood?