Day to Day

Happy, happy, happy

Yesterday I treated myself to a $12 bunch of carnations, then came home and set them up on our kitchen table, threw on a pretty tablecloth, baked a lemon meringue pie (the second this week!) and admired my new apple cosy that I crocheted the night before.

You know what? It felt so good too!  Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the 'blah blah blah' of the world, but those carnations really set the scene for my day.

My fabulous vase was just a mason jar from the shed that I wrapped some string around to look all fancy schmancy, the doily was an op-shop find (50 cents), the tablecloth and placemats I sewed myself.  

You know what? I need to set the table up like this more often AND I'm so going to whip up some more placemats too.

If you would like to keep your own apples warm and cosy this winter, then the pattern can be found in issue one of Mollie Makes.  You know what else?  If you don't have issue one, then get your crochet skates on and hop over to the Mollie Makes website - because the issue is now available for electronic download, for FREEEEE! Yippee!

Did you do something this week that made you happy?

Around the home

Yesterday afternoon I called into the local DVD store and picked up two movies, came home and made apple pie and then pulled out my tapestry from the cupboard ready for some evening craft time.

I put on my pyjamas, warm ugg boots, ate apple pie and snuggled on the sofa for a night of movies and stitching.  

Today I went back to the DVD store and hired another movie.  After dinner tonight I'm going to repeat the same sequence - pyjama snuggling, warm leftover apple pie and tapestry on the sofa.

I think sometimes it's nice to have a little down time, yes?

Around our home

Baking, crocheting, sewing on buttons, cups of tea, cleaning up and other nice indoor things.  It was really chilly today - there was snow on the mountain!

How was your day?

Filling in the days

It's been a quiet couple of days here - James has been away on a 3 day end of year school camp.  We've been filling in our days with all those boring jobs such as lawn mowing, cooking, final present wrapping, house work and a little bit of last minute festive shopping.

Only 17 more sleeps until the big day!

Outdoor building

Our backyard seat building is coming along nicely. There's not a lot to go before we're all finished - some extra limestone for the ground, a few more boards and a bit of tidying up.  Yesterday we bought a new barbecue, because our other one was feeling a bit worse for wear after 17 years.

There's nothing like a spot of sunshine in air to get you moving with outside jobs. We seem to add/build something every year in our backyard and I really like how it's shaping up.  

Oh and that's James helping with the construction - how is it that my boy is nearly 16 and helping with the building?  Sometimes I feel like shrinking him down a bit.

Cooling down

Yesterday it reached a sunny 29 degrees, which I can safely say is the warmest temperature that we've had since here since last summer.  The beach is only a few minutes away, but Bella cooled off after school in our blue camping tub.  So much fun when you're ten, only I did notice that she's grown remarkably since her first camping tub bath at 5 years of age!

It's a bit harder to squish in there now, but it's still possible!

Store bought ice creams, ice blocks in drinks and juicy oranges - three little ways to know that summer is just around the corner.  Although I do wish it would stay around the 24 degrees mark, 29 is just a little bit too warm for me.

Do you like a toasty summer or enjoy those 'just warm' days more?

Weekend planting

I'm not a gardener.  Sometimes I have big ideas for veggie gardens, fruit trees, spring bulbs and cute flowers, but let's be honest - if something can't survive in our yard entirely by itself, then it dies.  Weeds come up and sometimes we pull them out, sometimes we don't.  Don't get me wrong, I'd love to say that I have a really immaculate and pretty garden and maybe I will one day (ha!) but right now we like to spend our spare time with the kids and doing fun things together.

But, thankfully we have garden minded kids that get us sorted now and then.  See those two massive terracotta pots, two photos down?  Seriously filled with dead plants and foot high weeds for the last year until James wandered out on the deck last weekend and asked if he could weed them.  Um, yes!

Weed he did, with Bella joining in on the planting action too.  Then it was replanting time - some of James' cactus plants that he had growing in the front yard.  I love that I have garden minded kids and you know the funniest bit?  Half way through, James told me that he was using cactus plants because he thought they'd be a great choice for me - no watering involved.  You know what?  He hit the nail right on the top of the head!

What about you - are you a gardener or a plant killer, like me?

Around the home

During the weekend:

• Some crochet was squeezed in.
• I finished the peg bear, just in time for the birthday party:

• We had wood fired pizza for dinner on Saturday night & a wood fired roast on Sunday. I'm loving that the days are lasting longer before the sun goes down.
• Mr Kookaburra dropped by for a visit.

• There was much puppy love going on.

And today:

• I baked two vanilla cakes with sprinkles on top.

• Watched Bella snuggling under her (still!) unfinished blanket, while she nursed a headache.
• Cooked tuna casserole ready to pop in the oven for tonight's dinner.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, fingers crossed for happy days and sunshine.

 

Dreaming of Green

On our final day of the road trip, we had a whirlwind 3 hours wandering around Melbourne city.  We stumbled upon a little shop that was selling all sorts of treasures, including some prints by one of my favourite artists - Heisuke Kitazawa.  

I studied the prints for a long time, but just couldn't make up my mind which one to take home, so we decided to head back to the car.  As we were leaving I spied this one in the window and nearly let out a mini squeal.  Rich saw me looking, glanced at the print and said "That's the one you want, right? It's very Alice in Wonderland - I knew you were going to choose it" and choose it I did.

The print is actually called 'Dreaming of Green' but I like to think of it as my 'mad hatter tea party' print.  I'm still obsessing over all the little details on it too- the apple, bees, cactus garden and the mini rainbow is my favourite.

The print (when we hang it) will pretty much zap up the last bit of free wall space that we have in the lounge/kitchen area, which means no more wall art!

P.S.  Now I'm back home and settled, I'll be sure to announce the SodaStream winner by the end of the week.  Thanks for being patient, my inbox is a little bit crazy at the moment but I hope to be back on top of things shortly.

Happy Sunday

Today we are:

• Enjoying: sleeping in
• Cooking: pancakes for breakfast
• Taking: rubbish to the tip
• Buying: fresh fruit & vegies
• Reading: Real Living magazine
• Creating: adventure album
• Painting: part of the kitchen
• Making: a home video of sorts
• Doing: vacuuming out the car
• Blogging: Kids in the kitchen - mini meringues, a little later in the day.

What are your Sunday plans?