Simple Womans Day Book

I found the simple womans daybook's blog (click header above to take you there) recently and love the idea of reflecting on the simple things in life. At taking time to look at these things.
FOR TODAY JANUARY 4TH...

Outside my window... the sun is shining, washing is drying on the line

I am thinking... how much nicer the house looks after spending abit of time cleaning this morning.

I am thankful for... my health, my lovely children

From the kitchen... I'm wanting to cook some recipes form new vegetarian cookbook I got for christmas. I made a really tasty mushroom, sun dried tomato, green bean and cream fettucini this week.

I am wearing... Jeans, barefeet and a singlet top

I am creating... a book of photos for january 09, a photo each day documenting our lives.

I am going... for a bike ride this evening when it cools down... some me time, some down time.

I am reading... The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

I am hoping... that the shop front i am looking at this week either works out or inspires me to move my work out of the home environment.

I am hearing... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtqjmuUaYXA

Around the house... am doing a lot of decluttering, sorting and rearranging! Today though I vaccuumed the enitre house, did 3 loads of washing and soon to do a HUGE pile of dishes, need to get on top of it all before going back to work tomorrow.

One of my favorite things... relaxing in the tub with a good book... which is something I actually did first thing this morning!

A few plans for the rest of the week: plan to visit my grandmother, she is respite care as my dad who lives with her normally has gone on holidays. start cleaning out the front lounge room and knock out the current bar in there.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Foxes in suburbia

Yes foxes are found in suburbia everywhere. Aparently they say there is 1 fox minimum per sq km in melbourne suburbia and urban areas. So many people living in the city/suburbs feel 'safe; from foxes and don't realise the risk.
We unfortunatly learnt the hard way 7 or so months ago when we forgot to lock the chooks up one night and we lost 1 (Marg) we were very thankful it was just the one, the fox had access to all 6!

So we have been much more vigilant with locking the chooks up every night, though it is the hubby's job, its mine to let them out in the morning. (the chook shed/house is behind the garage shed, if we leave it til after dark its pitch dark down there and to be honest I am a bit scaredy cat and hate going down there after dark so thats why it is his job for night and mine for morning)

So last night I couldn't sleep. I sufer insomnia on and off. It was 2:30am as I was watching the tv thinking I should probably go to bed and try reading. I heard a few funny noises outside, one was like a cat squealing, then rustling about. I thought at first 'oh cats fighting'
so ignored it for a bit, then after a another minute I heard louder noises and then I heard a chook clucking nearby.
I raced to the window and saw the chook first, fapping about in the driveway... then i saw it.... THE FOX . I hit the window and yelled out. It froze and looked at me.
I raced to the nearby cupboard grabbed the torch and went bursting out the backyard. the fox ran off as I went running into the drive.
The chook was no where to be seen.
My heart was pumping, I raced next door and woke my fther in law so he could come help me check the chook house (was too scared to go on my own) so went and checked and all fine except one chook missing. We hunted round the yard with torches and found her eventually, hiding under a bush. She seemd unharmed so we locked them up for the night. Was then really worried about the bunnies as they live under the deck at night. and my mind kept going back to the squealing noise I heard... bunnies can squeal when terrified or being attacked. Otherwise they make virtually no noise.
I hunted everywhere and realised the bunnies were not going to come out from under the deck and just hoped they were fine.

I hopped into bed by this time it was around 3:30am. I couldnt sleep after all that and kept hearing noises and getting back up to check. Eventually I drifted off around 5am.

The hubby came home form work at 6:30am and I woke then and explained what happened, he had thankfully spotted one bunny on his way in so I felt a little relieve and went back to sleep.

When I got up finally today I went and did a check and asked everyone what animals they had seen so far in the day. Both bunnies had been spotted at some point in the morning happily munching hay out the back....phew.

I went down and checked the chook house and nearby. You could see where the chook had been grabbed and where the fox has tried to drag it over the fence... there was a trail of feathers... thanfully chook must have struggled and got free and then ran to the drive where I heard it. Lucky chook.

We discussed today that we need to make a plan for lock ups for weekends when hubby is working, we cant risk losing them over something as silly as forgetting.

A couple of the chooks taken today.



In happier news! We recently got 2 new kittens. Meet Ablett and Bartel (yes the hubby and son are Geelong fans and are responsible for their names!)

ABLETT


BARTEL


and a photo from today of our dog Tiny. Tiny is getting quite old now, she'd be pushing 15 years old. She is still spritely and in very good health, though a bit deaf and a bit blind.


and while I'm here, some photos of the kids from today.
Tiahna, who is 9... I love this, she talks with her hands all the time.

love this of her too


my 2 tree climbing monsters!
Liam (he's off to school next year, can you believe it!)

and Jaime

and Miss Tiahna pushing her sister round in the wheelbarow. Its a gorgeous day outside so am glad they are out playing. Think I might go join them again!


then lastly this....

look closely. Its my daughters bike up in the fig tree. I'm not impressed. The father in law has thrown it there.... why? well she must have left it in the driveway. thing is she has been looking for it and hasnt found it for the last 2 weeks. I had no idea, thought it had to be around somewhere. What annoys me is a few things.
- he could have asked her to move her bike.
- throwing it in the tree is a grown man having a tanty and setting a bad example.
- not telling us he did it even after he knew we knew her bike was missing is silly games.
Now I know my daughter should also learn to put her things away but I strongly believe this is NOT the right way to teach her. Her reaction to finding it in the tree was 'oh wow look, never knew my bike could fly'

now I have no idea how to get it out, its high and all tangled in small branches!

another month on!

I havent done an update for quite a while again!

I will get back to regular blogging here eventually!

I took a month off work and spent lots of time wiht the kids which was good, also went away to the beach for a week which was also relaxing (or as relaxing as 6 plus kids in a small 3 bedroom house can be!)

I'm still going along with most things.

The chooks are giving us lots of eggs and boy are they yummy! I think 2 are still not yet laying, but the rest are and we get 4 eggs most days. I'm having alittle bit of drama with themlaying where they please at present instead of in their house as they free range from sun rise til sun set!

Our bunnies and guonea pigs are great, all healthy and thriving and all the animals are giving us loads of mulch and manure for the garden. I have been heaping it below the lemon tree and the tree looks healthy now. I'll have to take a photo.

I'm participating in FebFast
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/Susan_Darcy
If you wish to sponsor me you can but please don't feel you have to. I just think its a good idea health wise for me and also to raise funds for youth drug and alcohol users.

The vegie garden is going OK. The lettuce/silverbeet bed has mostly gone to seed so i am hoping to get a fair amount of lettuce seed for future use as the guineas and rabbits love it all.
The tomatoes have been great though the chooks stole a few! I have a few plants I planted later that are just coming in to ripen now and the other ones are nearly ready to pull out.

We've been enjoying plundering the potato patch and feasting on home grown spuds! This is first time I have had success with spuds!

The garden does need a bit of work though. I need to plant more and start preparing the front beds and try to improve he soil. Everything out the front stayed stunted all season, very weird! I need to do a soil test still, I just didnt rush due to holidays and being busy.

I'm still knitting, still only dish cloths though i did knit wrap to use for photo sessions for newborns!

thats it for now. Lots more to update but will do it later :)

Far out!

I think I have to accept i wont be able to keep up wiht blogging land until I have finished all my xmas rush work for my business! I just havent had time to update.

There has been lots going on.

We have the chooks, 2 to start with,m they have been named Belle and Marg. They are fab! They are laying nicely. The brown one hadnt laid any eggs at the past house for quite a while so we are pleased she is nowlaying again for us. They seem quite content though, they have come form living in a an aviary where they didnt get out in the yard mucvh at all to having a huge space that is all theirs! We've left the gate open for them to come out further into the yard but they are funny, they stick their beaks out and look then go scurrying back to their own yard!

am loving the eggs they are sooooo deliscious!

Vegie gardens are booming, picked my first tomatoes this week, jsuta few grape type cherry ones. all the plants have lots of fruit on them now and I put in some more seedlings a week or two ago. Also picking zuchini pretty regularly and ofcourse lettuce has been being picked for a while. My cucmbers have stunted and are going nowhere, might try some seedlings and see if they growe!

I had to fence of one of the garden beds as the rabbits were enjoying it a little too much. it has recovered well and is now thriving.

Christmas! My gosh when did it come round so soon!

I am so disorganised!
We are going easy on the presents for the kids thisyear. Both my girls want digital cameras. I picked up[ a bargain wiht one today and got a 7.1 mp for $115 as it was the shop stock one! Now to hunt for one for the other! I also got them high school musical on ice tickets as they are huge fans of the show. other than that they will get a couple of little stocking fillers and thats it. Liam I have no idea! I had some stuff picked out on laybuy will have to go check what it is. He is right into pirates and anything to do with sport and cars so he is pretty easy.

I hosted our big family xmas do here last week with all the cousins, aunts uncles etc and we do a zkris kringe. i gave some knitted dish clothes i made and a bottle of wine for mine. Would love to make more xmas presents but honestly dont think I have a lot of time left@!

anyway I havent eaten tea and am hungry! Promise to come back some times soon and post photos of the chooks!

echo echo echo.......

Yes yes I'm here :)

Thanks for the messages asking after me :)

The biggest reason for my absence in posting is that this time of year is the busiest for me business wise. I am behind business wise also which isn't at all good. Everyone wants photos in time for xmas, every year I say I will organise it better and havent managed yet again. I will rectify it though and I will get on top. Plus I am shutting up shop for 6-8 weeks over december/Jan to be ready to start afresh all organised in the new year.

Now lets see, other than work.

Queensland:
It was really great! I worked but most of my jobs finished by 10am so I had the days to explore. I drove all along the coast (from Brisbane down the gold coast) and also drove inland and through the part of the hinterlands and Mt Tambourine. I loved tamborine it was gogeous!
I sipped wine with new friends often and ate fabulous often too and I made the most of my child free time but just enjoying the peace.
Poor Husband at home ended up haivng to deal with 2 sick kids with gastro! Oh well, he definitely had a new appreciation for me once I got home!

The Garden:
Out the back is growing great! My Tomatoes are thriving, I also have them self sprouting everywhere form lasts years crops so have transplanted some and given some away.
One chilli plant died but the other 2 are going really well. zuchini, pumpkin, cucumbers, beans, lettuces are all going great. some of the capsicums are thriving too.
Out the front is a different story.
I think the soil sucks! I used mostly a heap of dirt we got from someone who mulched a tree. The father in law brought it home and I didnt really want it at the time but hoped it would be OK. I added manure and compost and blood and bone to it but nothing wants to grow in it.
Everythign is turning yellow and dying and just stunted in growth. I am now adding lots of the animal litter to itin the hope it improves in time. i am going to transplant heaps of the self seeded tomatoes to it and just see what happens. I focused more out the back this year anyway.
Oh my potatoes out the back are booming too as is my passionfruit. I have recently planted a heap of seed too - radishes, silverbeet, spring onion, parsnip, carots and some lettuce out the back beds too and they have all sprouted now.
My lemon tree seems to have coped so far wiht the heavy prune I gave it and is starting to show alot of new growth. I pile most of the animal hay and litter under it all the time too so maybe thats helped.
I reconnected the hose fomr the washing machine this week too as the grass is already starting to really brown and die, earlier this year!

The house:
is CHAOS!!!!!!
Because I am snowed under wiht work the house has been sorely nelgected!!!! I just aim for the bare basics each day and am happy if that gets done. I think I might to get osme paid help in to get back on top :(

The Kids:
are all great!

The animals:
are all growing! Stella the rabbit is gorgeous. she free roams out the back now as well as the house. she eats form the vegie garden but doesnt demolish it, probably because there is plenty there. The guinea pigs are all gettign bigger and healthier.
The dog is the same old same old. actually we realised she is getting old! she is about 13 or so now!

The worm farm:
takes care of itself mostly :) I just add every few days and they are multiplying well now!

Op shopping:
I still go most weeks, if not more than once a week. Its my release! I've picked up loads of great books and stuff for the kids. When i have more tiem I'll start reposting my bargains!

Oh I am still knitting, still basically, nothign fancy but i am building a collection of dish cloths now and I find it really relaxing!

NEWS!
After much discussion we are seriously considering selling in a year or so and moving into the Dandenongs! very exciting!

I am sure there is heaps I have forgotten but will try to get back to more photos and updates :)

Just so you have at least one photo here is my Bunny Stella, taken this morning in one of the vegie gardens.
isnt she pretty :)

Knitting, gardening and more new pets!

I haven't been a very good blogger recently!
I've been a bit flat emotionally, need to see the doc to discuss my meds. But then again it is also that time of the month so maybe thats all it is.

I have been busy again though and have lots to update on!

The wrom farm is coming along well. I havent set up the second one yet but will soon. I give the worms food every few days to once a week and they are getting it though most of it now. You can see a mouldy apple in there the kids add to it sometimes too!


I planted tomato plants and some basil and chilli and a mini capsicum in the front bed of the new beds. Yes they are bought seedlings, I am going to grow more by seed though too, we just eat loads of tomatoes in the summer season and I magaed to grab quite a few different varieties including some heirloom toms and some diggers toms as seedlings.
My parsely self seeds each year and i always have an abundance with our new animal friends enjying it I have made sure i am transplanting the constantly emerging seedlings as they grow so we have an even more plentiful supply.
The radished are coming up more each day!
The snow peas are coming along very very nicely.
This is the potato bed and I also planted parsnip seed at the far end.
Last weekend the girls and I went to the market shopping for new pencils and a visual diary for them to make into their 'nature diary'
Each of them decorated their books and are journelling some of the things we are gorwing, writing about our pets and writing about any projects we do.
This week are growing carrot tops!



and here is my beautiful bunny Stella again. She has settled so well into our lives. we love her dearly :) She is a indoor house bunny mostly though she has a run outside she goes int for some sunshine and grass munching.
nibbling parsely leaves, one of her fav snacks!
and yes I am a sucker! We have 2 more new additions ot the house!
Meet 'Puss'
and 'Boots'

our darling new guinea pigs. Puss is just 5 weeks old and Boots is 12 weeks old.
The kids adore them and they are much more kid friendly than the rabbit so Stella is happier too :)
Plus I have so much more animal manure and hay for the compost and garden beds now.
I found a good cheaper produce store yesterday too and I will be growing a lot of their food for them.

Oh and my sugar n spice yarn came in so am part way through knitting my first dishcloth!

busy busy.

I haven't posted an update all weekend!
I'll try to keep it brief.
Saturday:
was spent doing a lot of cleaning round the house, a bit of catching up. No work in the garden, just lots of sorting and tidying inside. Joey also took the kids to see the Simpsons movie and I got a few hours peace!
Sunday:
More cleaning was done (some days it feels like it is never ending!) then it was out into the garden!
The kids helped build one of the top vegie beds and turn the dirt.
I then emptied the compost and moved it and gave it a good turning as I refilled it. i also was able to get quite a few buckets of it to use on the garden beds. I then trimmed the lemon tree, it has some strange growth happening, bulbous bits? might have to look it up and see if its something bad or not!
Here are the girls hard at work.


Jaime loves helping in the garden and seeing what friends she can find.


My little man and his cheesy grin, gone are the days of natural images of him, you have to fast or you get the cheese!Monday:
Went op shopping with my sister. Got loads of great buys. Havent taken pictures but got loads of books, some parenting ones, some cooking, some gardening. Got some great outfits for the girls, skirts and dresses. I got myself a new handbag (will take a photo during the week and post it) I also went shopping for an outfit for jaime for book week parade.
I picked up some seed potato too for planting, 1 kilo of it. Now need to get that bed ready down the side of the house.

Today: The girls had a bookweek dress up day at school today. They had to choose a character form a book and dress like them.
My eldest Tiahna, dressed as a netballer as she is reading the 'netball diary' and jaime dressed as 'Holly Hobbie'
Jaime's book is actually my book form when i was a child, It was one of my favs. I still adore the illustrations in it.
with her teacher who was dressed as 'puss in boots'


I so want to learn how to sew. We had to buy a hat for Jaime as I can't sew so couldn't make her abonnet. The apron and dress we scored dirt cheap at the op shop though.

Rock Paper Scissors

Joey is an only child. He has found the dynamics of 3 kids interesting at times. One thing he struggles with at times is their squabbling, fighting and mostly their inability at times to take turns without it being a blow up.

So he introduced them to
rock-paper-scissors.
IT WORKED!

Now when they get in the car and want to fight over who sits where they rock paper scissor it out instead of fighting and they accept the outcome (ok some sulking sometimes ensues!)

found this silly quiz online

You Are Paper

Crafty and creative, you are able to adapt freely to almost any situation. People tend to underestimate you, unless they've truly seen what you are capable of. Deep down, you're always scheming and thinking up new plans. Your mind is constantly active. You are quite capable of anything you dream of. You can always figure out a way to get what you want. You can wrap a rock person up in your sheet of trickery. A scissor person can sneak up and cut you to pieces. When you fight: No one can anticipate your next move If someone makes you mad: You'll attack them mercilessly when they're unprepared

Are You Rock, Paper, or Scissors?

Saturday

On Saturdays I usually work, its the nature of my job, weekend work. For those that don't know I am a photographer, I photograph pregnant women, newborns, children families etc. I specialise in black and white and used to be a darkroom junkie, but have now entered the digital age.
So because I photograph children and families I often work weekends. The great thing about working for myself and the type of job i have means I am not usually gone long when I do go to a shoot and I do only do 3 shoots on average a week so I can be around at home more and be there for the kids etc.

So yes when I have a complete weekend off it is special, so today i decided to NOT sit inside all day!

This morning we all went down and watched my daughter play netball, then afterwards we participated in some local tree planting!
They were planting at the reserve next to netball so we stayed and planted for an hour and grabbed some great info on the local environmental group and also on more plantings in the coming weeks that we will go along and help out on.

Then I dropped everyone off at home and I ducked over to pick up some match box cars that had been offered up on Freecycle. Freecycle is great. I wouldn't have bothered with these cars if they weren't in my same suburb , just round the corner and my son is car crazy so he was most impressed!





Once home I took the kids out the front and let the other half sleep as he is working night shift tonight, we got stuck right into shovelling all the dirt onto the main two front beds. (ignore the smaller ones, that was my 3 year olds help, they need completely reshaping and redoing, but hey he tried to help!) we then added some blood and bone and some organic fertiliser and mixed it all in. Have to get some manure to ad to it then mix that in then lay a nice thick bed of straw over the top then we can think about planting!!



My girls, such pretty little sweet things they are!

Progress!

It's been a productive day!

My eldest child and youngest were out all day as was the other half so it was just me and jaime, my middle daughter who is 5yrs old and loves helping me!

So today I was going to sit and do computer editing work for work but once the sun shine came out we decided it was a good idea to get outdoors!

I found a use for all the bluestone we were given! They re going to edge our vegie beds out the front! The 2 larger beds will be no dig gardens and the smaller ones will be dug and will be for shallow rooted plants like lettuce etc. The rocks arent in their set places, just laid out to give me an idea of the shapes of the beds, we still have loads more bluestone if I want to change their size/shape etc.There is still obviously alot of work to do but it took ages to move all this stone!

I planted a pittosporum out the front too, I chose this as it should grow and fill that gap and hopefully deter vegie thiefs!


Meet jaime, my helper, pretending to drive daddy's ute.


After all the hard work of the fornt yard I wanted to do somethign abit more fun wiht Jaime, so we grabbed the paints I bougth this week and we decorated the worm farm. it looks much brighter now :)



We then went to the shops and got some bits and pieces and have cooking some yummy scalloped potatoes and we're having kangaroo tonight wiht them.

all in all a good day

addicted

I think I am becoming addicted to OP SHOPPING!

I have picked up some good bargains over the last week!

I got my daughter some great jeans for $2, a gorgeous poncho for my middle daughter for $2, a stack of books all for under $1 each. I got a great jacket for me for $4, and some cute pink metal pots for planters outside the kids cubby house.

Then today I got a few dinasaur books for my 3yr old son, a book to resell, and this great kids kitchen buffet/dresser thingy for just $10! Have popped it in their cubby! I also got a wine rack to sit on our bar. I'd been trying ot find one second hand for a while and this one suits where it sits and was just $3!


and to compensate I have finally paid my ebay account and have started listing the stuff we no longer need here:) Have some bags ready to go back to the op shops too so all is good!

Had a nice day in the dandenongs yesterday wiht the kids too, visted William Ricketts sanctuary and found some nice places to stop to eat, the Mt Dandenong bakery first off, then a cafe overlooking a great lookout in Kalorama. The cafe was sweet, we sat outside and had coffee and hot chocolate and cake and the even had rugs to put over your lap to keep you warm!