Kelli In Wonderland

Moving my blog

2010-09-04T10:41:00.001+10:00

I have decided to move my blog to Wordpress. I have had a Wordpress blog, a Typepad Blog and a blog here at Blogger and I have decided I like wordpress the best so I am going back there. Right now I am fooling around with it making it pretty but come along and see what I have been up to :) http://stillinwonderland.wordpress.com/

Last day of vegetarian month

2010-08-31T10:04:00.001+10:00

Giving up meat for a month has been really easy. I haven't even been tempted. I did have a craving for anchovies but that was all. I accidentally broke my vegetarian diet twice. Once when I took a bread roll out of the freezer and toasted it and after I ate it I had something in my teeth which I discovered was ham and I realised it was one of those rolls with cheese and ham on the top.

I also ate some chocolate which had marshmallows in it and I realized that the marshmallows would have had gelatin in them, still I didn't stop eating it. (It was Cadbury's Rocky Road)!!

Gelatin is in a lot of stuff. Yogurt, lollies, thickened cream, sour cream, although you can buy brands which don't contain it. I'll be doing that from now on. I am also not going to eat any processed meat anymore and I am only going to buy locally farmed meat. One day I hope to be able to farm all our own meat. We currently have two years worth of organic beef in the freezer which I farmed humanely here on our farm, next year we will have lamb, chicken and pork as well.

I cant say I feel any better or worse from giving up meat. I have lost one kilo but I ate a lot of carbs and cheese, a lot more than usual. I ate a bit more junk food like fried chips than I usually would have and I skipped meals because I couldn't be bothered making something different for myself than the rest of the family. Scott would NEVER give up meat!

I am not especially looking forward to eating meat again. I am looking forward to being able to cook easy meals and not have to think of something separate for me to eat.

Next month I am giving up dairy. That is going to be a lot harder.

Sisters

2010-08-24T10:08:00.000+10:00

I'm voting for the Australian Greens on Saturday

2010-08-19T10:42:00.000+10:00

I was most unimpressed by the attitude of Koshi on 'Sunrise' this morning with his comments about the Greens. Yes, I am voting for the Greens and I have done so for most of my adult life. YES I have read their policies even the ones where he tried to misguide people into thinking the Greens want to ban people from fishing. If you care about our country and the people in it then the Greens are a valid party to receive your vote this weekend.

Gruen Nation | Ep. 3 | The Pitch: Republic of Everyone | Wednesday @ 9pm...

2010-08-19T10:40:00.000+10:00

Winter is almost over

2010-08-18T12:19:00.000+10:00

I have the pigs out in the paddock free ranging today. We currently have a visiting boar here (Romeo), to keep Juliet company. She took about a week to get used to him but now they a star crossed lovers. They are out digging up the paddock which is going to be ploughed up for potatoes soon.

Our house cow Daisy is in the backyard eating the grass which is so long now. I cant mow it because it has been too wet.

There are a few small signs of Spring emerging though. Some daffodils are popping up. There are baby lambs in paddocks, although ours will not be born for another couple of months.

Soon I need to start working on the gardens. The fruit trees all need pruning and the vegi garden needs getting read for planting. Soon I am going to be very busy.

We currently have a steer in a big freezer outside waiting for the butcher to come on Friday. That will be a years worth of organic and humanely farmed beef for us. The animal was killed last week on our farm while it was eating some hay. It died in the paddocks it was born and raised on. I am happy to have meat from an animal which I know suffered in no way.

Since I have been on a vegetarian diet I have found it a lot easier than I expected. Although I wont give up meat in the long term. There is too much great food I would hate to give up. I am going to be very fussy about what meat I eat from now on though. I am no longer going to eat any meat which hasn't been farmed locally, which means I will no longer buy any meat products from supermarkets and I will ask questions about meat in restaurants. Take away meat products and processed meat products I will no longer indulge in.

My goal is to produce all our meat products here on our farm, a goal I am not too far away from.

I am a little more than half way through my vegetarian diet experiment. I cant say I feel any better or any worse from giving up meat. I haven't lost any weight or put on any weight. I probably have eaten more since giving up meat. I feel fine but really no different. I haven't had any cravings except for anchovies but I have been a little disappointed I have been missing out on all the fresh fish Scott and Dustin have been catching in our new boat. Really though, I cant say I miss it very much and it has been easy for me. I suppose I didn't eat that much meat anyway.

Dustin is back eating meat again. He decided when I tried to feed him tofu that being a vegetarian wasn't for him :)

Kids rooms almost done!

2010-08-17T13:07:00.000+10:00

The builder is here putting the new door on Dustin's room. He is also going to fix Ruby's door which has grown since Scott put it on a year or two ago. I am also going to get him to put the skirting boards on Ruby's floor. He is very slow. He owes us money and is working it off as slowly as possible. The shit!

Dustin used his blackboard for the first time yesterday. He was waiting for me to finish the last coat of paint and now his blackboard is covered in his and Ruby's art. It looks great!

Dustin's room is mostly done now. I still have half his curtain to hang now that I have enough hooks, and I'll have to paint his door but that is it. Last night they both slept in their own rooms apart for the first time. The last couple nights Dustin slept with Ruby to keep her company in her new room and prior to that she was sleeping in his room while hers was getting done.

It is going to be great to be able to send them to their rooms to have a break from each other when they start fighting, which happens way to often for my comfort.

Other than the skirting boards the painting is done in Ruby's room and she has begun to move in. She needs some new furniture though and I have only begun painting the butterflies she asked for on her walls.

Yes, it is very pink!

Best friends

2010-08-15T14:35:00.000+10:00

A couple more houses

2010-08-14T11:49:00.000+10:00

I embroidered a couple more houses this week. Yes, I do have big plans for them when I have them finished. Whether those big plans are a success or not is yet to be decided. I'll let you know later!

Today I have been working around the house. I painted over a few marks which I made on the freshly painted walls in Dustin's room, which I made while painting his owl. I've just painted some more pink in Ruby's room. I'm getting there. It is taking me a long time to get these kids rooms done.

Scott and the kids have gone out to do a job. It is nice to have some time at home alone. The quiet is wonderful.

Gloves, hats, mittens and scarves

2010-08-12T09:49:00.000+10:00

Gosh, we need them all today. It is cold and windy. Icy cold winds coming up from Antarctica. All the animals are hiding away and I don't plan to leave the house for the rest of the day... at least until feeding time. I might boil some potatoes and carrots for Juliet.

Yesterday it poured rain all day. I stayed inside reading and working on some little art and craft projects. An ATC for a friend which required a lot of glue so it is taking a while to dry. Of course because it is sitting there I had to add to it with a touch of gold paint.

I also finished a little 3x3 which is being sent to the USA.

I really am enjoying small art at the moment.

I have also been working on some real estate.

I have to admit a lot of my spare time has been spent reading lately. I am really enjoying books again and seem to always have one or two close by. I don't watch TV anymore so I have more time to spend with books. Right now I am reading an old favourite trashy horror writer, Dean Koontz. I still love his books after all these years.

You don't need expensive toys

2010-08-11T09:15:00.000+10:00

I used to buy my kids a heap of stuff. It is so tempting to want to give them everything but now they are at an age where I want to encourage their imagination and scale down on all the usual toys. Since doing up their new bedrooms (almost done now) I took all their toys out to the container outside and now that it is time to bring some of them back I am thinking very hard about what I want to give them. Especially since I have seen the valuable use of imagination since they have not had many toys inside.

I don't regret giving them a lot of toys when they were little. I think it is important for toddlers to have toys to help their with motor skills and to help them develop their imagination and also to give me a break from constant entertaining, but now that they know how to share, they have great imaginations and they have developed their own individual likes, the toys I give the kids will be selected a lot more carefully.

We bought the trampoline before winter last year so they could get some exercise during the cold months and they spend a lot of time on it. The only mistake was buying all the netting that went around it because our place gets too windy and it kept blowing away.

Not a very cold Winter

2010-08-10T09:44:00.000+10:00

I was disappointed when I heard on the long range weather forcast early this year that we were not going to have a very cold Winter. I love snow and ice and cold rainy windy days where you can snuggle up by the fire with a cup of tea and a good book and a kitten. Still, August is usually the coldest month here in our part of Tasmania so there is still more to come.

Rosie likes to lick

2010-08-07T10:16:00.004+10:00

The kids are moving out into the lounge room tonight. Ruby is still sleeping on her mattress on Dustin's bedroom floor because I haven't finished her room. Today I am taking both their mattresses out and putting them on the floor in the lounge room so they can have a 'slumber party' tonight by the fire while watching DVDs.

I have to do the last coat on Dustin's floor and also spray paint his bed because the silver I painted on his bed first didn't take very well for some reason. That shouldn't be a huge job providing I can spray paint his bed without getting silver paint everywhere. We'll see! I have drop sheets. I should take the bed apart and put it outside but last time I did that I broke it.

Tonight we have friends coming around for pizza so all the kids can lay down and go to sleep on the floor while watching 'Alice in Wonderland' our new favourite movie. I have a lot to do today. I have to go and buy stuff for dinner (I am out of flour), make pizza bases, chop up stuff for pizza, tidy up the house and paint Dustin's floor and bed. I also want to try and mow the lawn later.

AND, I am reading the second book in Charlaine Harris' Harper Connelly series and I have to find SOME time to get a few chapters of that in!

Last night we had hot dogs and Monopoly night! I made everyone hot dogs I had the vegetarian variety and then we settled down by the fire to play Monopoly. Ruby got bored first even though she was buying all the good real estate and cleaning up on rent payments! So we packed all our money and real estate up and put it in paper bags for next time.

A peek in Dustin's bedroom

2010-08-06T11:49:00.007+10:00

It is really hard to get good photos in Dustin's room because it is on the south side of the house and is quite a dark room. I am working on making it a cosy room rather than a bright room. I tried to take these photos yesterday while the morning sun was still shining in but they are not the best photos but you can get an idea of what I have done in there.

I really love how his blackboard turned out.

The glow in the dark stars look great at night.

I really don't know how I managed to get the owl so big! It should have been half the size but he just turned out BIG!

He loves it!

How can anyone NOT love a kitten?

2010-08-05T14:08:00.010+10:00

Vampire bunnies and other scary rabbits

2010-08-04T13:12:00.003+10:00

I have joined a group swap on flickr where we set a theme for a set of embroidered pieces and the other people in the group embroider us something for our theme. For my theme I chose 'Vampire Bunnies'. I cant wait to see what the people in my group come up with. First I have to do one for myself so I need to get out my sketch book and do a design later today.

I have just sent off this little piece of art for a swap on swap-bot.

This one is heading off to Georgia, USA.

I am also working on my first ATC (artist trading card) which has to be sent out in a few days as well. It is currently drying on the windowsill of my art room.

I'm never going to buy that again!

2010-08-03T10:08:00.007+10:00

Thickened cream! I didn't know it has gelatin in it, although it makes sense. Why do we need our cream thickened anyway?

Here are my placemats. I have only made two out of six so far.

Had some problems though.

See!

I put my bobbin in the wrong way.

That's better!

Today I think I will mow some of the lawn. It is sunny but it sure was cold last night! I think tonight I will have to light the bedroom fire.

So far so good

2010-08-02T10:14:00.010+10:00

Day one of my month of being a vegetarian was easy. Nothing to tempt me except fresh fish that Scott and Dustin brought home from yesterdays fishing. I didn't mind because I had three lovely ripe avocados so I made an avocado bruchsetta while everyone else had fresh fish and chips.

Tonight I think I will make a vegetarian gnocchi for everyone. I think I will have to give up butter as well. This morning we had toasted crumpets with butter and honey, so good but the butter has to go, at least from my diet anyway.

There are a few signs of Spring popping up lately. This morning I spied the first daffodils out along the driveway and the flowers are coming up in the old cream pots.

In a few weeks all these lovely green paddocks will be ploughed up for potatoes and we will see the whole process of ploughing, planting, fertilizing, harvesting and resowing all over again.

One of Dustin's chores is to collect the mail. Sometimes Ruby goes with him. It has only been recently that I would let them go up to the mail box by themselves. The dogs go with them. It isn't very far but we get logging trucks on the road up there so they have to stay away from the road. The road is windy so at least the vehicles are going slow and the kids a pretty sensible.

I received some new fabric in the mail. I LOVE it. I am making place mats out of this for our dining room table and I have decided to buy more and recover the dining room chars and make some cushions for the couches out of it. I love it!!

I love the idea of covering my chairs with little chairs :)

Tomorrow I will post some photos of my place mats. I had a little trouble with them but I have sorted it out now. I blamed my poor sewing machine but alas, twas not the machine, twas me!

August is a good month to be a vegetarian

2010-08-01T09:49:00.002+10:00

For the month of August I am going to be a vegetarian! Dustin is a "vegetarian except for bacon and sausages" so since he is refusing to eat meat (only because he doesn't like it) I am going on a vegetarian diet for a month to discover some new recipes and ways of cooking without meat or anything from a dead animal.

I am also interested in monitoring how I feel, what I miss, any serious cravings I have or any kind of withdrawals I get from not eating meat. I know a month isn't very long but I think I will get an idea of whether my body does well without meat and whether it is something I can live without permanently.

I don't think I can be a vegetarian for ever because there is so much great food out there in the world I wouldn't want to miss out on, however it may be possible for me to become a 'part time' vegetarian. I'd like to be able to refrain from meat products unless it was farmed in a humane way or unless it was farmed by me. I think that is highly possible.

I was right!

2010-07-28T09:15:00.003+10:00

Julia Roberts did play Liz in the movie version of 'Eat Pray Love'. I should move to the USA and become a casting director!!! Cant wait to see the movie now that I have read the book.

I finished the book yesterday when I should have been doing my housework. I loved Bali. India, not so much. LOVED Italy. I want to learn Italian and move my family to Ubud for a few months. India... not so much. I wasn't particularly interested in her most deepest spiritual feelings and I was disappointed when she gave up her plans to travel in India to spend more time at the Ashram.

Still it was a good book. Lisa bought me 'Committed' the follow up book and I am going to read that soon. First I have to read Charlaine Harris' 'Dead in the Family' for a Sookie fix. It has been a few months since I finished the series and I've just received the newest book in the mail last week. Yay!

Nothing like a pile of good books to get your through the Winter.

Making a present for their dad

2010-07-27T11:00:00.007+10:00

Last week they were busy making a good luck fishing necklace and a matching key ring for Scott's new boat for his birthday. Dustin also made one for himself and Ruby made herself a tiara.

Tomorrow they are having a sleep over at a friends house. It is Scott and my ten years anniversary. The anniversary of our first kiss. Cant believe it has been ten years. Ten very busy years. We bought three houses and lived in three different states. Sold two of those houses. Bought a business and sold that. Had two kids. Travelled around a lot of Australia, although we still have a lot more travelling to do.

Five of those ten years have been here on Willowdale where life has quieted down. The plan was to move to Tasmania to simplify life and we haven't quite achieved that yet. But we have done alright and we are happy and looking forward to the next ten years. We might even get around to getting married some time in the next ten!

A weekend away

2010-07-26T11:56:00.010+10:00

We are back from another weekend away. It is good to be home again though. The weather while we were away was wet but today at home it is warm and sunny. Not that the weather stopped us from having a good time but it wasn't quite as relaxing as our usual trips away. I think I was just pissed that I didn't get much time to embroider and crochet and draw because there were too many people to talk to and so many little children running around squealing, mine including. Also, I didn't sleep all that well because I hurt my shoulder a few days ago and it still hasn't gotten back to normal.

Still, it was a good weekend but we probably should have made it a day or two longer because Strahan is a little far to go for only two nights. I had three novels in my bag and didn't have time to read any of them :(

The weekend was for Scott's birthday so we went to Strahan which is six hours away from us, but instead of driving for six hours straight we decided to break up the trip by staying a night up in the mountains on the way. We stayed at the Central Highlands Lodge. Which isn't as nice as the website makes it out to be. I was annoyed because when we went to check in we discovered that our cabin was actually five kilometres away from the actual lodge. This turned out to be a good thing though as our cabin was actually a four bedroom house and there were tonnes of room for some rowdy kids and two cars with boats and trailers to fit nicely.

After we unpacked we headed back to the lodge for pizzas and I gave Scott his 'Emergency Shipwreck Box' to put in his new boat, for his birthday and the kids gave him his lucky fishing necklace which they made for him.

The service at the lodge was soooooo slow but the pizzas were good and we were all in good moods so we didn't mind so much.

After dinner we went back to our cabin and listened to music and sat by the fire and drank wine and laughed and stayed up way too late. The kids and the fathers played a game of 'bowls' where the kids were the bowling pins and the balls were pillows from the couches and the hallway was the lane. The fathers would hurl the cushions down the 'lane' and see how many children they could knock down. There was a lot of squealing and excitement and I was glad we were five kilometres away from the lodge then.

In the morning it was icy cold but no snow. That was one cold boat.

I'll share more of our trip tomorrow. Right now I have some very exciting housework to do :)

Hey! That is my pillow!

2010-07-21T09:41:00.004+10:00

I am doing a 3x3 inch art swap and the theme is 'Red'. I think three inches square is such a fun little size for my ladies. Here is mine ready to go.

I am a bit annoyed that I smudged the outline on this though. I am already working on a blue one and I think I might do a few more swaps for this size so I can have a small collection of miniature art to frame and hang up in Dustin's new bedroom.

Today I have to get ready for our weekend away to Strahan. It is Scott's birthday tomorrow and we are taking his new boat to the other side of Tasmania for some fun. Three families all together so it is going to be a great weekend. Get ready for LOTS of photos when we get back.

Don't worry! Someone is coming to take care of the kittens :) Although we will miss them while we are away.

Poor me

2010-07-19T11:43:00.002+10:00

I only have one step in my house but yesterday I managed to fall down it in spectacular You Tube footage fashion. Fortunately no one was here to see and laugh but unfortunately since no one was here and I was having problems breathing, and on the verge of blacking out, I had to call Scott who was with the kids doing some work on his boat, and have him come home for a while.

Turns out I was OK. Just winded and very sore. Today I am even more sore and feeling rather sorry for myself but I will live. Might go and get all my chores done so I can lay in bed this afternoon and play with the kittens while the kids watch movies.

They are so cute and so distracting

2010-07-17T16:13:00.004+10:00

These little kittens whose little lives have come to join ours.

That is Rosie, Ruby's kitten. She is totally inlove with her.

Vintage linens and brand new kittens

2010-07-16T14:09:00.000+10:00

A little while ago my kids asked for a puppy. We had been at a BBQ and a little boy had the cutest puppy in all the whole world. A little white fluffy thing that eventually grows into a very large white fluffy thing.

Problem is we already have two dogs which we had before we had the kids and we have decided (Scott and I) that we would not get another dog because we have plans to travel and dogs make it really hard. I suggested to the kids that I may get them a kitten one day. Cats are a lot less trouble (unless they pee in your slippers but that is a story for another time). So Dustin and Ruby had their future kittens names already picked out and they have been talking about them for months so when I heard about a women who had two litters of kittens which all desperately need homes I fugured now is as good a time as any. Therefor, here is Pepper, Dustin's new kitten.

He looks really sad in this photo but he was actually just tired and ready for a long sleep on my bed.

Ruby has Rosie (photos tomorrow). The kittens were just running wild in the house everywhere so the kids went running around finding them and eventually picked out there favourites. I thought they would have chose the fluffy kittens but they likes the smaller ones with "little heads" better. They are so sweet with them. A little impatient though.

They now have chores to do in order to save up for the "operations to stop them having babies" I said I will pay half if they save up the rest.

I received these lovely vintage guest towels in the mail this week which I purchased from Ebay. I have a big plan for these.

Eat Pray Love

2010-07-14T13:58:00.005+10:00

So a friend raved about this book and loaned me her copy, protectively looking for a pen to scribble her name inside. I assured her I would not only remember whose book it was but also I will return it in perfect condition. She loves this book and wanted it back. Of course I forgot it and left it on the table of another friends kitchen who rescued it and brought it to me. Phew!

I cant say I was all that interested in actually reading it. I was curious because usually I want to read books which come highly recommended, but I wasn't actually looking forward to it like I would say, the new Sookie Stackhouse novel. Still, the other day when I finished another Charliane Harris novel, I picked it up and started reading it.

It didn't rock my soul at first. I found it kind of depressing. I didn't particularly enjoy reading about her broken marriage and the devastation of the break up of her "true love" and especially the depression which was all too familiar to me. After reading such epic novels like 'Pillars of the Earth' and 'World Without End', and fluffy teenage vampire series (Team Edward thankyou very much) and the entire series of Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris (in a row) followed by a few more obscure novels about death and the occult. The memoirs of a neurotic American women was probably not a welcome change to my literary (? perhaps) interests.

Still I have persevered and I am glad I have because I am now quite enjoying it. I have only read a third of it and I find myself not only wanting to learn to speak Italian I have considered the possibility of gathering a couple of girlfriends and suggesting our own little Italian Adventure. Unfortunatley, all the friends I have in mind including myself, have small children with whom we would have to neglect and leave behind with our men in order for us to indulge ourselves in the perfect pizza dough in Naples.

So perhaps instead of going to Italy I might be able to convince them that we should all learn Italian so we can practice together in the hopes that one day we might make it to Italy after all. That, and that the friend whose book I am reading called me this morning to tell me about a movie night another friend is hosting for the movie version of the book! There is a movie!? I wonder who is playing Liz? Julia Roberts perhaps? Jennifer Anniston??

So it may not be possible to go to Italy right now but I am neglecting my children anyway while loosing myself in this women's travels as she has now left Italy for India and I am eager to hear more about her adventure.

My new favourite breakfast

2010-07-13T09:58:00.003+10:00

Toasted English muffins with cream cheese, smoked salmon, poached eggs and capers. Yummmmm!

Make this for breakfast. It is soooo good!

Almost done

2010-07-12T14:34:00.003+10:00

Dustin's new bedroom is almost finsihed. He is sleeping in there and Ruby is sleeping on a mattress on his floor because I have started her room as well. All that is left to do in Dustin's room is another coat of paint on his bed and the floor which I plan on doing the day we leave for our trip to Strahan in a couple of weeks.

I also need to buy some hooky things to hang up his other curtain. He currently has half his window covered in purple velvet. I'll probably go to Launceston to get them this week.

I also have to scrape off the paint which is on the glass on his window and that is about it, other than his new door which needs to be cut to size and painted. I'll paint it after it is done. The cutting is Scott's job of course.

It is all looking really good. Very cute and cosy with a kind of retro feel. I'm loving it and so is he.

I'll take some more photos when we get some light. It has been dark and rainy for about a week. Not good photo taking weather.

On our way to school

2010-07-08T11:45:00.001+10:00

It was such a beautiful winter's morning I stopped along the way to school to take some photos.

I stop at the baby cow shed where they were all waiting for their breakfast and this little black one was so excited to see me she jumped over the fence and tried to get the others to follow her. She thought I was the food lady.

I really don't understand why people don't love winter.

I'd love 90 days in jail

2010-07-07T10:22:00.000+10:00

Away from the general population in your own room. Think of all the books you could read and all the wonderful sleep you could have. Are you allowed to bring a crochet hook to jail because I'd do that and heaps of lovely yarn and some embroidery supplies and paint supplies and some good music... I suppose they wouldn't let me have any wine though but if I had my own kettle so I could make a cup of tea it would be OK. I don't know what Lindsey Lohan is crying about.

I am getting an iPhone 4 too!

2010-07-06T15:35:00.001+10:00

My house is a mess and I'm running way behind.

2010-07-05T10:32:00.001+10:00

There is still so much to do before Dustin and Scott come home. The house has been neglected during all the painting. It is a mess! There are paint sample cards everywhere from Ruby trying to choose two or three colours out of ten million. There are blankets everywhere because we are having problems with the fires. I think both our chimney's need cleaning out and the wood isn't burning very well.

The dining room has been converted into a sewing room and I have to get everything out including the old dining room furniture because Scott is coming home with our new vintage dining room furniture and I wanted to clean out the carport area to make room for Scott's new boat.

I also have to clean out the old buffet so I can give it to my friend Lisa (who always liked it better than I did)... I really don't have time for blogging so GOODBYE!!!

A peak in Dustin's new bedroom

2010-07-04T17:47:00.000+10:00

Dustin is away on the mainland with Scott so I have been busy trying to get his room ready for when he comes home on Tuesday. I am almost there. Right now I am waiting for the first coat of paint to dry on his bed. I have about an hour and then I can recoat.

The colours look really good. He picked them out himself. The floor isn't as red as I would have liked it to be. We let the paint man at Bunning's change our mind about the red paint we had and suggested we buy a red pathing paint. It looks OK but isn't as bright. But I think it will do. When everything is in and he has mats down I think it will be fine.

He wanted an owl in a tree on his wall. He has a HUGE owl on a branch which couldn't possibly be strong enough to hold him. Way out of proportion, but I suppose there are not many huge purple, blue and red owls with glittery wings in the world anyway!

I have to hang his curtain's tonight, paint more of the floor and finish painting his bed. Tomorrow I have to move his fish tank in, do a few touch ups and paint the rest of the floor. I might get it don't before he gets home.

Next week we will get him a new door. I also want to get him a bedside table and a loungy chair so we will still be adding to his room even though we will be starting Ruby's pink and purple bedroom.

I made him a mat today to go beside his bed but at the last moment I stuffed it full of cushion filling. It is now a 'fat mat'. It is all cushiony. When he gets out of bed in the morning he will have something warm and soft for his feet to land in and he'll also have something nice to sit on when he is playing on the floor with his Lego and trains.

While the cats are away... the mice work really hard trying to get the little cats new bedroom ready for him.

2010-07-03T15:04:00.000+10:00

Just got home from shopping in Launceston. Found a cute little desk for Dustin's new room in a thrift shop for $12. I also bought a few other fun little things while we were there. I got a haircut and we did a little bit of other shopping including new sheets sets for all of us and at Bunning's Ruby picked out eleventy billion paint colours for her bedroom which we will do as soon as Dustin's is finished.

On the way home we stopped at Myrtle Park to pick up some stones for Dustin's fish tank which I will be moving into his room tomorrow. That cute little basket Ruby has is one of my thrift shop purchases from today so it has come in handy already.

I made Dustin and Ruby wheat bags for their beds yesterday. The kind you heat up in the microwave and put in bed with you on cold nights. Dustin liked the chicken fabric I used on the shopping bag so I used the rest of it for his wheat bag. The red will match his room nicely.

I have also started getting fabric ready to make him a mat for his floor. I'm wondering if I'll need to put something non-slip under it. But first I have to paint his floor. The old floor boards are a bit old so we patched up the gaps and are painting it red for him (one of his colour choices). I need to get his floor painted by tomorrow afternoon but I think that will be a fairly easy job. I'm hoping a paint roller will do the job.

Right now though I have animals to feed and heaps to do before dinner time. We are going to a friends house for dinner tonight :)

Finished!

2010-07-02T12:38:00.001+10:00

My new shopping bag! I tested it out last night at the supermarket. I fit in 2 litres of milk, cheese, sour cream, corn chips, avocados, salsa, refried beans (I made nachos last night), yoghurt, chocolate, and a few other things I cant remember. It fits about the same as the ugly green bags but is pretty. The pocket is large and deep and was a great place to put my car keys.

I still need at least five more though.

First this spot needs something...

It held together well. It was pretty full when Ruby and I left the store.

And I got to use up some vintage buttons.

The tea staining was easy and went well with the country chicken fabric which I have had for ages.

Today I am making wheat bags for the kids. Dustin really liked this chicken fabric so I'll use up the rest of it for his. Next week I'll have to try and find time to make another bag.

Hmmmmm... I think I will make a shopping bag.

2010-07-01T07:39:00.001+10:00

I did make a shopping bag! I gathered together some supplies from my craft room (which desperately needs organising) and improvised a shopping bag together on the old dining room table.

First I decided to tea stain the white doylie and lace. I did it in my brand new old teapot which I bought in a little cafe/vintage wares shop in Bothwel on Ruby's Birthday Adventure a couple of weeks ago.

So I spent all night cutting and sewing and chasing kids away and in the middle of that I made omelettes with spinach, ham, tomato, mushrooms and cheese for everyone's dinner. It turned out cute but I'll have to take a photo later today and show you tomorrow.

I found this photo of the vintage tablecloth I have draped over the old buffet. One of the kids must have thought it was pretty. It is pretty but it is coming off because I just bought a new 1950's dining room setting which includes a dining room table, six chairs and a buffet. I cant wait for it to get here. The old buffet is getting passed on to a friend who has always liked it more than I did.

Dining out with Ruby

2010-06-30T12:42:00.000+10:00

Other things we saw along the way

2010-06-29T07:01:00.001+10:00

OK so these are the last of my photos from Ruby's birthday if you are getting sick of them. If you are enjoying seeing a little bit of Tasmania hang in there for a few weeks because we have 'Scott's Birthday Adventure' coming up soon!

So this is a picture of a thing. I'm not sure what it is called but it is like a 'road' from a dam to the power station. We drove up here because usually you can see a heap of trout swimming along but on this weekend there had been a lot of rain and so the water was too deep to see the fishes.

The water was running quite fast. We thought it would be fun to jump in and go for a ride but we would probably drown when we got to the end so we just threw rocks in instead.

We saw a rainbow and a lake. Actually we saw a lot of lakes.

We saw lots of farms. Tasmania is mostly farms and wilderness.

I made Scott stop so I could make friends with these lovely ladies.

This one was my favourite.

"Oh hello, you are beautiful! Come over here and talk to me"

"Ooooh! I LOVE you. I want to take you home and your nose is so soft and sweet"

"KELLI!!!! LEAVE THE PONIES ALONE AND GET BACK IN THE CAR OR I'LL GO WITHOUT YOU!!!!"

"Bye bye"

Our kids travel well.

We see lots of stuff like this.

Next destination = Strahan, in a few weeks! Cant wait!

Ruby's birthday party

2010-06-28T12:36:00.000+10:00

We all had to dress up.

We had Superman (with baggy pants) a fairy princess and a couple of Spacemen.

... a couple of trolls

This photo was taken before the devestation of running out of wine.

We thought the kids would be tired and go to sleep early after the big adventure in the rain forest...

... but no

Ruby appropriately stole my costume. It took us all night to get around the Monopoly board once and Jesse drank all the wine!

Nothing beats an ancient rain forest and a waterfall

2010-06-27T11:19:00.000+10:00

Russel Falls in Central Tasmania :)

BEAUTIFUL! This is why I vote green.

Nothing much in Hamilton

2010-06-26T09:06:00.000+10:00

This weekend we are home doing some work around the house and farm. Last weekend was Ruby's birthday weekend. I chose Hamilton because it is a quiet little town with cute historical cottages. She loved the little cottage we stayed in. The town itself doesn't have much but it is pretty.

Wednesday is art and craft day

2010-06-25T10:10:00.000+10:00

I bought these particle board mirrors from Spotlight. They cost between $8.00 and $12.00. Dustin chose a bigger one so his cost more to make. We chose our own paint colours and came home and painted them.

Dustin chose 'marine blue'.

I chose 'egg shell'.

Ruby chose 'voilet'.

Doesn't matter how well the paint job is because most of the paint gets covered up so if you don't mind the mess they can enjoy doing it themselves.

We covered them with these.

We used some 'tacky' craft glue that dries clear and glued the buttons on. Easy and they were dry the next morning and ready for hanging up.

Dustin's is my favourite. He chose the blue buttons and they look great with the 'marine blue' paint he chose. I love how this turned out.

I hung this little one up in the bathroom for the kids so they have a mirror they can see in without having to climb up on something.

As much as I tried to convince Ruby that pink paint would look better with her pink buttons she insisted on purple paint for her background. Everything has to be pink and purple now.

These little mirrors were fun and easy to make and only cost about $25 to make. I think they will make good gifts for the kids to give friends and family members so expect to see more of these in the future.

Do you want to see the inside of our cottage?

2010-06-24T07:48:00.001+10:00

You don't have a choice :)

We loved staying here :)

Outside our cottage in Hamilton

2010-06-23T09:49:00.000+10:00

It was only our cottage for the weekend but we loved it!

The garden was all wintery but I bet it will be pretty in spring.

We had a sheep. See him poking his head around the corner.

I really want a cottage garden now!

I wanted to pinch one of these. I refrained though.

These were so pretty. I don't know what they are???

At the Great Lakes

2010-06-22T10:18:00.000+10:00

Last weekend was Ruby's 'Birthday Adventure Weekend'. We had a great time and have eleventy billion photos to share!

We went the long way to get to Hamilton and drove up to the Great Lakes in Central Tasmania.

We were expecting it to be snowing but it was only raining. Not quite cold enough for snow yet. It was still cold here though, despite the lack of coats, scarves and mittons.

We went to the 'Highland Hotel' for lunch and warmed up by the fire.

And had a game of pool.

Ruby got a rainbow for her birthday!

2010-06-17T10:38:00.000+10:00

It was an amazing morning.

For an amazing little girl.

I love Mondays

2010-06-14T12:45:00.000+10:00

Mondays we rest a little. Our weekends are usually pretty busy, either working around the farm or on the house or out adventuring around Tasmania. Even Scott gets to rest a little today as it is a public holiday. He has gone to work but should be home around lunch time... which is soon!

Usually I encourage laziness on Mondays. I let the kids watch TV and lay around. Their weeks are busy but Monday is quiet time. I don't give them chores. I don't cook a lot. I try and take some time to just read a book or listen to some music. Mondays are for staying in your pyjamas until late and laying on the couch... Hey Bridge!

I finished the owl tea towel over the weekend. I like how it turned out as an embroidery pattern. There are a few mistakes and bits that need changing but as a tea towel it turned out OK.

Dustin liked the owl embroidery and asked for one to hang on his wall so I have already finished his and it looks good.

I haven't got an actual finished photo of it yet but it should be hanging on Dustin's newly painted wall in a day or two if I get my act together and finish his clouds.

I want an iPhone

2010-06-13T12:06:00.001+10:00

I am pretty sure Apple do subliminal advertising! Ever since all the iPad hooha I have wanted an iPhone. Not only that, I have decided I also want an Apple Notebook! Not all that interested in an iPad but I wouldn't say no if someone decides to give me one.

They are expensive little buggers though and I don't want to get sucked into one of those forever contracts that have you paying it off for eleventy billion years so I decided to save up for one. However, since I personally don't really have an income I have to make some money or convince Scott of a really good reason why I need an $800 phone. Not an easy task since I actually don't have any idea myself why I "need" an iPhone. I just do!

So I decided to open an Etsy shop and make stuff to sell and save up for one. Just in case I cant convince Scott why an iPhone will greatly impact our lives.

I am starting with a little set of vintage inspired kitchen aprons. I am making the first one out of a vintage bed sheet which I have started prettying up.

I'm going to over dye it as well after I line it so it is a bit of an experiment and if it doesn't turn out nice enough to sell I'll give away to someone I like.

I've also been busy with owls. Dustin wants an owl in a tree painted on his wall in his new bedroom so I have been drawing little owls. I thought the one which we are putting on his wall would make a good embroidery pattern so I am trying it out on a tea towel.

A granny scarf

2010-06-11T09:40:00.001+10:00

I am making a scarf out of granny squares with this really fine yarn I bought from Ixchel. I have used two different colours and I am thinking of adding a third, since I have ran out of yarn I need to buy some more.

Really pretty yarns. Charly really has a talent. It is hard to believe this was all hand spun it is amazing. My spinning is well... dodgy. But I have fun doing it.

I'll have to wait a week or so before I buy more yarn though. I've spent all week paying for EBay purchases including vintage dolls house furniture for Ruby's new doll house which we are having built for her birthday. Then I bought canvases and paint brushes for a little collection of art I have planned. I also bought some doilies for some textile projects as well. It will be exciting when it all starts arriving in the mail!

Bake a chocolate cake

2010-06-10T09:29:00.000+10:00

I baked this chocolate cake a couple of weeks ago. It was very rich and full of real chocolate so if you like chocolate you need to try this cake but read the *secret at the end of the recipe!

Rich chocolate cake

Ingredients

185g butter
250g dark chocolate
1 3/4 cups of self raising flour
1/3 cup of cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups of caster sugar
3 eggs lightly beaten

Chocolate top

20g butter
125g dark chocolate

Reheat your oven to 160 degrees and grease a 20cm spring form cake tin and line the bottom with baking paper. (Boring boring)

Melt the butter and chocolate over a a saucepan of hot water.

Sift the flour and cocoa into a large bowl.

In another bowl combine the chocolate mixture, sugar and egg with 1 cup of water and mix well. Then add this to the flour mixture and combine well.

Pour that into your spring form tin and stick in your oven and leave it there for one and a half hours (yep it really takes that long). Check it though with a skewer or cake tester and pull it out as soon as the tester comes out clean. Then leave it in the tin for 15 minutes.

Turn your cake out onto a cooling rack and wait for it to cool down completely.

I cut the top off my cake so it was pretty but you don't have to if you don't care about the prettiness, but it gives ~~you~~ the kids something to eat while they are waiting for the cake to finish.

When your cake is cool melt the butter and sugar for the topping in a bowl over hot water and then spread it on your cake.

*Now for the secret! This cake was good until I put it in the fridge and then it went really hard and kind of dry and wasn't too good. So I put each slice in the microwave oven for a few seconds and OMG! It was soooooo good warm!! AND in the fridge it lasts for ages... unless you live with Dustin. This would be a great cake for taking somewhere, like when you have to take dessert to a friends place. Because it isn't delicate or anything. It is pretty solid. Just serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and some fresh raspberries or strawberries. Yum.

My cows

2010-06-08T08:57:00.000+10:00

Sunday on the farm

2010-06-07T09:23:00.012+10:00

We stayed home yesterday and did some work around the farm.

That is Juliet's new house. It is all finished so we didn't have to do anything to that. I might paint it with wood stain one day but for now it is done.

I moved the sheep into the chook yard to eat the grass. No one lives in there at the moment as we only have Sylvester until Spring when I am going to hatch a new flock of chooks.

Sylvester is a pure bred Sylkie rooster. I am going to get him some hens in Spring. For now he is an only chook so he is going to be living in the orchard next to the house so the kids can feed him through the fence. He's a bit aggressive and chases Ruby so I am hoping if she spends enough time out there feeding him he'll start to like her and not be so mean.

Problem was he jumped up onto his house, then onto the fence and then went home to the chook house as it was getting dark. I expected he would do that but he isn't very bright so I was hoping he'd just go to bed in the little house. Today I'll have to clip his wing so he cant jump up onto his house (it doesn't hurt).

Having your testicles removed does though and unfortunately two little bulls had to have the 'operation' yesterday.

Jimmy has a new coat! Isn't he handsome?

Scott worked on our new entrance.

We had a happy day :)

A new house for Juliet

2010-06-06T12:12:00.007+10:00

Last weekend Juliet finally got her new house built! it is great. Jesse came over to help build it with Scott and Dustin.

About halfway through the construction Scott came inside to have a look at the plans I drew up and scratched his head and confessed he stuffed up and built it facing the wrong direction.

Still, I love it. It looks great!

I think they enjoyed buliding it too. Lisa and all her boys came around as well and hung out with me and helped with lunch and stocking up wood for the fire. Mostly we just hung out and played with all the kids.

So far I haven't taken a photo of the house all finished. I'll do that today but here is Max!

Lazy school holidays

2010-06-04T09:18:00.003+10:00

It is school holiday time and although Dustin only goes to kindergarten two days a week we are still in holiday mode which includes sleeping in and lazy mornings. Our mornings go like this:

5.00am Scott gets up and gets ready for work (no holidays for him).
5.01am I wriggle over into the middle of the bed and go back to sleep.
5.45am Scott comes and kisses me goodbye and wishes me a good day. I grunt and go back to sleep.
7.00am Dustin comes in and crawls into bed with me and gives me a kiss and a cuddle and goes back to sleep.
7.30am Dustin gets up goes out into the lounge room and watches cartoon/news/porno movies? I don't have a clue because I am still asleep. (For the record we actually don't own any porn that I know of).
7.40am Dustin comes in to tell me he is "STARVING" I tell him ok I'll come and make him breakfast then he goes back to the TV and I go back to sleep.
7.50am Dustin comes in and says "MUUUUUMMM!" I'm STARVING". I say "OK Honey I'm getting up right now" he goes back to the lounge room and I go back to sleep.
8.00am Ruby comes in and gets in bed with me and gives me a kiss and a cuddle and goes back to sleep.
8.10am Dustin comes in getting mad now and I tell him I am coming. I lay there for a second thinking about what a bad mother I am and then go back to sleep.
8.30am Ruby wakes up and asks me to make her a hot chocolate. I say OK she goes to join Dustin and I go back to sleep.
8.40am Both kids come in and jump on me and put their cold hands on me and plead for breakfast.
8.41am I contemplate giving them permission to make their own pancakes for breakfast but am deterred the the mess I will inevitably have when they are finished so I reluctantly get up and make them hot chocolates and breakfast.

So yesterday I finished my lady in the storm and put her in a little vintage Italian brass frame. I'll hang her up in my art and craft room when I buy some little nails in town today.

I've kept the little silk print that was in the frame and put it in a draw for future use. I love these little Italian frames and will have to get some more. They are great for little embroideries like this.

A freaking TORNADO!!??!

2010-06-03T09:54:00.005+10:00

I didn't think it was possible for Australia to get tornadoes but apparently this morning there was one on the New South Wales north coast. It was breaking news a little while ago. Some massive water spout came out of the sea and tore rooves off houses and some poor bugger is missing :(

I have always been fascinated with storms and fancied myself a storm chaser one day... maybe not, but I do like storms. It is the only thing I miss about my home state of Queensland, the great storms... and mangoes and warm ocean temperatures!

Other news I was glad to hear about this morning is the mother of the two little boys who were found dead in their house this week was cleared of suspicion. It seems they were poisoned by carbon monoxide coming from a faulty heater. As sad as that is I am so glad it was an accident and not the mothers work which the media was speculating. Still, how horrible for the poor mother. I don't think I would survive that. I wouldn't want to.

I watch too much news. It is all bad lately. This oil spill in the US is depressing me and if I have to hear Sarah Ferguson's voice one more time I am going to put my foot through the TV!

Yeah, it's new!

2010-06-02T09:15:00.008+10:00

I thought for Winter I'd have a winter themed blog! Although it isn't very Winter-like down here in Tasmania right now. It is still very much Autumn, with the last of the Autumn leaves still hanging in there and the warm sunny days. It is really lovely and I need to take advantage of it and get outside more.

And mow the lawn!

My herb garden needs a clean out too. The curly parsley has taken over and gone woody. I'll probably pull it all out and feed it to Julia and grow some more. I still have plenty of harvestable continental parsley, thyme and sage. I should plant a bunch of coriander seeds as well.

Yesterday I was thinking about the 2012 conspiracy. My old friend Rob would probably argue that it isn't a conspiracy and he would probably be right. He has read everything ever written about the Mayans predicting the end of the world in 2012 and has a blog dedicated to it. I was reading some of his blog yesterday and it got me thinking. I wonder if I should do something to protect my family... just in case? But then having just read Cormac McCarthy's, 'The Road' I kind of hope we all just quickly get knocked out.

Honestly, I don't believe anything will happen at all. I prefer to be happily ignorant of any future Apocalypse and blend into the beliefs of the masses. Rob's blog is interesting though and he has some good points and I cant deny I believe Mother Nature is pissed. I believe that is why we are having so many earthquakes, severe weather activity and volcanoes. I read a book years ago by horror fiction writer James Herbert called 'Portent' and I think about it every time masses of people are being destroyed in natural disasters. It is uncannily proving to be a little less fiction for my taste.

Rob's blog helped me to realize what happened in 'The Road'. McCarthy never actually tells us why the Earth is covered in ash and why the majority of life has been wiped out. All of the way through that book I kept thinking 'why bother'. I really don't think I would want to live in a world reduced to that. I certainly wouldn't want my children to suffer like the little boy in the book. Although part of me wonders if I shouldn't maybe stock up on some bottled water and canned food... but then I'd be contributing to global warming which is probably a bigger threat to the Earth than a super volcano.

So basically, were fucked aren't we? We have been treating the Earth like shit for hundreds of years and now we may very well have to sleep in that bed.

I really hope the Earth isn't destroyed in 2012. I rather quite like it!

Oil paint and embroidery

2010-06-01T09:46:00.006+10:00

I pulled out my oil paint a little while ago and have been working on a painting in my art room. It is the first time I have tackled oils since having the children. Now that I have a room I can leave it out to dry and not have to worry about my little helpers touching it.

Yeah, I'm a little rusty but it has been fun. I also forgot I had given the kids most of my brushes for their art so I am fumbling through with what ever I can find.

This little lady in the red coat has turned up in another little project I am working on.

This one is embroidery and water paint on linen.

I've been doing a little bit everyday on these. I always seem to have several projects on the go at once. I'm also working on another one like this.

The weather is looking great today. Hard to believe it is the first of Winter. We haven't had much rain, hardly any wind and the weather report this morning said we are not going to have a very cold winter. I'd love a cold Winter but all the animals don't. Today I have to set up a little house for Dustin's chook Sylvester who is officially moving into the orchard.

We played masterchef at home

2010-05-31T09:47:00.008+10:00

We watch Masterchef sometimes and I like the mystery box challenges. So I thought it would be fun to have our own cooking challenges at home so last night I put an array of ingredients out for Scott and his job was to cook our dinner with them.

He had fresh broccoli, tomatoes, mushrooms, leek and bananas. Some kangaroo fillets. Poppy seeds, pine nuts, sour cream, short crust pastry sheets, some dried dates and a jar of sweet tomato relish.

I was a bit concerned about how my dinner was going to turn out because he stood there scratching his head for a long time and then he had two little apprentice Masterchefs helping. I sat on the couch with a martini loving not having to cook dinner.

After a while the cooking smells coming from the kitchen were really good so I suspected dinner was going to be a success and it was. He cooked a kind of thick chunky sauce with the leeks, mushrooms, tomatoes, dates and relish and served the kangaroo panfried and very rare. A little bit too rare though. You are supposed to cook kangaroo rare because it is very lean but I'd have preferred he cook it a fraction more because it was pretty much raw in the middle. It was still good.

He also made a very nice cheese sauce to go with the broccoli which was good but kind of clashed a bit with the sauce for the kangaroo. Don't look at this next picture if the thought of very rare meat turns you off!

I think he did a great job. Yeah, it didn't look pretty, the kangaroo was undercooked and the broccoli was as well and it was cold, but still a very nice dinner. He did a great job. It is my turn next Sunday :)

I used some of my new yarn and crocheted a head band which turned out really nice. I love the colours. This colour range is 'Plum party'. I bought the yarn from Ixchel.

While Scott cooked dinner I started making granny squares out of the rest of the yarn. I'm going to make a scarf next!

Autumn colours in my backyard

2010-05-30T10:53:00.006+10:00

Yesterday I was admiring the little crab apple trees I planted last winter. Their Autumn colour is really pretty. They are going to look lovely next year after they have had another whole growing season.

The lavender is blooming and looking really pretty. It grows well here in Tasmania.

I particularly love the cherry tree this year. Usually there is a lot of wind and the leaves blow off too fast.

The Japanese maple is looking mighty fine too.

All alone

2010-05-29T09:36:00.003+10:00

Sylvester is our last remaining chook. The others have all gone to live with friends of ours. Now for the first time in about seven years I am henless. It is strange. Yesterday I forgot to buy eggs because I am not used to needing to. There have always been so many we feed them to Juliet the pig and the dogs or back to the hens.

Now I have the winter to get ready for new chickens. I need to buy an incubator, set up the chicken brooder and clean out the hen house and maybe plant a few more trees and a forage crop in the chook yard.

Sylvester is Dustin's chook. I bought him last year at a garage sale! I had a pet silkie hen, Sylvia, but she died last summer. She was quite old but I was devastated. I have a feeling Sylvester shagged Sylvia to death :(

So poor Sylvester is wandering around looking lost and wondering where all the women are.

No bunny right now :(

2010-05-28T10:43:00.003+10:00

I spent ages yesterday looking online for an angora rabbit to replace the spot in our hearts left by the passing of our dear Jasper. I found only one little baby bunny available for sale in the whole of Australia. Unfortunately, the cost of having him shipped to me from the mainland is more than the bunny himself and although I would happily pay it, since I already have Scott building a pig house this weekend for Juliet and we need to buy materials to finish the garden shed I asked for and I just spent over $200 buying paint for Dustin's new bedroom, $260 for a bunny after Jasper only lived for a few months, is just too much to expect Scott to pay for right now.

So, we are going to wait a while until there is a litter available in Tasmania and in the mean time focus on all our other many animals. It gives us something to look forward to in a few months time, hopefully!

On the look out for a new bunny

2010-05-27T09:17:00.004+10:00

Since we lost sweet Jasper I knew right away I had to get another angora rabbit. I called the breeder who I bought Jasper from but she only has older rabbits. I could take Jasper's brother and I was tempted but I went to the trouble of house training Jasper so that he could come inside and play with the kids and jump around the lounge room. Rabbits are very clean so having him in the house was less trouble than even the cats, who insist on leaving dirty foot prints on everything.

I was told about a lady here in Tasmania whose has a litter of kits so I expressed interest in them. So far I haven't heard back from her though, so I will contact her today. I am hoping to get one from her, otherwise I'll have to keep looking. Angora rabbits are rare in Australia so it isn't easy to always find one.

I am thinking about becoming a breeder myself, except that I am kind of busy and they need a lot of grooming. I also don't have a lot of room,but maybe in the future I might set up a rabbitry here on the farm. Maybe when the kids are both at school full time.

I was planning on opening a shop in our closest town when the kids go to school but since living here for that last five years I realise Scottsdale isn't a very good town for business. Scottsdale isn't really a very good town for anything. Unlike some of the other pretty historical towns in Tasmania, Scottsdale is commercial and ugly. I am glad we live out here in Springfield where it is only farms and bush.

Now I am planning on a home business when the kids are at school. I cant wait to have that freedom after being a stay home mum for more than five years. I miss making a substantial living, although Scott does pretty well in his business I miss having that independents of knowing you work hard for everything you have.

I have the farm and I make a little money from that. Mainly from leasing out some land. I am due a cheque any day now from the potato farmers who have been leasing some of our land for the potato growing season. Most of that money will go towards house renovations.

Yesterday we went to Launceston to pick out paint for Dustin's new bedroom. He chose red, blue and silver. So this weekend will be busy painting. We also have Juliet's house to build. As soon as we have an appropriate house for her she will loose her virginity and hopefully in Spring we will have lots of little baby piggies :)

Bunnies, sheep, goats and a yak

2010-05-26T15:10:00.006+10:00

That is where my new yarn and fibre has come from. I bought these two lovely hand dyed and hand spun yarns from Ixchel. They are made out of yak, angora bunny and merino sheep fibre.

From Ebay I bought some uncarded natural mohair and I am just amazed at how soft and white it is. Mohair is usually itchy but this stuff is beautiful and soft.

I wish I had some more spare time so I can play with it all. Today I have spent most of the day in Launceston buying paint for Dustin's new bedroom, shopping and having lunch. Now I have a tonne of housework to do. Bugger!

Roast your tomatoes

2010-05-25T09:32:00.001+10:00

I bought a bag of tomatoes that were over ripe the other day so yesterday I made roasted tomato sauce with them. Sooo yummy! You have to roast some tomatoes.

Quarter them and sprinkle them with some good olive oil, salt and pepper and some balsamic vinegar. I ran out of balsamic (OMG!) that NEVER happens. I usually always have a few bottles in the cupboard... so this time I used red wine vinegar which worked really well. And then sprinkle them with sugar. Into a moderate oven and take them out when they look like this:

Your house will smell delicious! You can put them in salads, or with some goats cheese or on some toasted sour dough (yum), but I blended mine up into a pasta sauce with chorizo and cauliflower and it was delicious!

If I was a chef I'd probably skin them and core them but I'm not a chef, just a plain old family cook. Of course if you can grow your own they will be even better but all my tomatoes are finished now :(

Those are not tomatoes of course. They are tamarillos which I think kind of taste like tomatoes. These were growing in the Hobart Botanical Gardens the other week. I didn't know they could grow down here. I always thought they were tropical. Maybe you need a brick wall to grow them near (to keep them warm). Of course now I have to grow tamarillos too.

Here are some of the tomatoes I grew last summer.

The prickle garden

2010-05-24T10:08:00.000+10:00

When the kids and I went for a walk in the Botanical Gardens in Hobart a couple of weeks ago, Dustin was excited to discover the "prickle garden".

Got out of going fishing

2010-05-23T13:26:00.000+10:00

We were all going fishing today. I'm not fond of fishing and I rarely go but I thought today I would make an effort to something that everyone else wanted to do. So I was all thinking about going fishing and hoping we didn't have to stay out there for too long, and then Ruby announces that she doesn't want to go fishing. Bugger! So Ruby and I stayed home and baked a chocolate cake and Scott and Dustin are out catching flathead for dinner tonight. Yay!

Cold this morning

2010-05-22T09:04:00.000+10:00

This morning we are having the first heavy frost of the season. I called Scott who left home this morning at 5.30am to go to a State Emergency Service training day a couple of hours south of our place, and he said it is minus eight there. Outside it is only zero here and most of the frost has melted around the house because it is lovely and sunny, but the water from the main tank is not working so that means it is either frozen in the pipes (which happens all the time) or a fitting has blown somewhere (which unfortunately also happens more than we would like it to). For now all I am doing is turning off the pump and waiting to see if it thaws out. Living in the country does have a few disadvantages.

I finally received my drum carder! That is a machine that you use to turn fleece from messy and knotty into nice smooth usable batts or roving. I am loving it! I have a few bags of wool from my sheep to process and a fleece from a spotty merino a friend gave me. It all has to be washed though which is a long and messy process and since I do it in my bathtub it means my bathroom smells like wet sheep.

This is wool from my sheep which I blended with some coloured curly locks from a different kind of sheep.

You can see the difference in texture between the natural wool which is my sheep and the dyed locks from the curly wooled sheep. The wool from my sheep isn't very good quality because they are a cross breed of sheep bred for meat. I adopted them as lambs when they were a day old. I think they were going to be culled because it was during the drought and there wasn't enough feed for them.

This is the same blend in green after it comes off the drum. I love the curliness.

The wool from my sheep is course and not really suitable for clothing, but it will be great for art, home wares and bags. It is also really easy to spin. I have found that the better the quality the fibre is, the harder it is to spin. So far I have carded up a bunch or roving in natural and these two blends.

This post reminded me I had a dream about my ram Sneazy last night. He is very happy at the moment because he is out of his small paddock and in with the other sheep making babies which will be born in the spring.

I made a mouse pad

2010-05-21T09:18:00.000+10:00

I think it turned out nice. It was easy to make. I sewed the strips of fabric together and then ironed them onto an iron on stabiliser which worked really well. Then I cut out the backing fabric and put them together and sewed lines across them. I had planned on making the lines straight and even but I buggered up my first one so I made them all wonky instead.

I decided not to do mitred corners, partly because I thought they might make the corners stick up but mainly because I don't know how to make them and I didn't have time to sit through a tutorial. So I bound each end separately and it looks neat. Doesn't stick up and I liked it so much I made a coaster for my cup of tea to match.

Finding stuff to do

2010-05-20T06:23:00.000+10:00

We are trying to make the most of the not so cold and wet weather. Our winters here are wet, cold and windy so outside play is not so common. Living by the seasons as we do, it means we take up more creative and academic activities, like art and reading and of course movies, which we all love.

However the weather has been quite dry this season and not as cold for late Autumn and we have hardly had any wind so there is still a little bit of outside play left.

It is almost over

2010-05-19T10:42:00.003+10:00

I think Autumn is my favourite season because growing up in South East Queensland we never really had Autumn. It was just hot and wet. The wet season. In Tasmania the Autumns are awash with colour and it is a time to make the most of the last of the warm days, mowing lawns, chopping fire wood, getting animals ready for the winter, crocheting or knitting blankets, scarves, and mittens. Stocking up on red wine and hot chocolate and lots of baking.

Last weekend we took a walk through the Hobart Botanical Gardens to enjoy the last of Autumn.

As I am working on this post, a minute ago Ruby came running into the house with her pants around her ankles and her hand on her bum squealing "I have to do a POO!" Talk about leaving things for the last minute :)

My kids are so depressed

2010-05-18T06:35:00.002+10:00

NOT!

Coming to an end

2010-05-17T11:48:00.006+10:00

Autumn is almost over. We sent it off with a party a couple of weekends ago. We celebrated Autumn with good seasonal food.

Good friends.

And good fun!

Feeling better

2010-05-13T06:51:00.002+10:00

The lady who I bought Jasper off just sent me an email about some new bunnies which were born last week and I have asked her to organise one for us. She also offered me Jaspers brother and I am thinking about taking him as well. I was planning on getting a female for Jasper in the Spring time. So I feel a little cheered up this morning.

Today I have to get ready for a trip. We are off to Hobart for the weekend, a long weekend. We leave after Dustin finishes Kindergarten this afternoon.

I'm so sad :(

2010-05-12T15:14:00.003+10:00

My beloved angora rabbit, Jasper, died last night suddenly. I don't even know what happened but we think he may have contracted a deadly disease that takes rabbits quickly. I called the breeder who I bought him from and she had the same thing happen to some of hers recently too.

I am so going to miss that little nose. It is going to be so hard to go into my craft room and not be greeted by his fluffy little bouncy personality.

We buried him in the garden with his little green stuffed bunny a little while ago and put flowers and carrots on his grave :(

Travel well sweet Jasper. We will miss you terribly.

Cats and dogs

2010-05-03T12:22:00.003+10:00

Last night I got up in the middle of the night (to pee) and I noticed on my way back to bed Karma was in bed asleep with Dustin, Bridge was in bed asleep with Ruby, Amrak was in our bed asleep, Shaggy was asleep on the couch and Gretel was asleep on a rug by the fire.

Then this morning I realised there are more animals sleeping in our house than there are people!

The dogs are only allowed in at bed time and Shaggy isn't supposed to sleep on the couch but we turn a blind eye to that because he has bad hips because Scott ran over him a couple of years ago. Usually the dogs sleep outside except for really cold nights, however, the bedding in their kennels is wet due to some windy rain we had recently so I let them in the house.

I have to move their kennels this week to under the carport where it is more sheltered.

The cats have a 'bedroom' set up in the laundry with a bottomless tub of dry cat food, water and beds, but we let them in to take care of the seasonal mice problem and now they will probably stay inside until Spring.

I also have my birds and my rabbit living in my art room during the night time. We love animals at our house :)

I cant believe I agreed to this

2010-05-02T12:52:00.001+10:00

Freckles

2010-04-30T13:29:00.005+10:00

Dustin still hasn't been brave enough to catch the bus to school in the mornings but he has caught the bus home in the afternoon. His problem is not so much the bus but walking into his classroom on his own because he is so shy. At least until he warms up :)

I've been busy crocheting a blanket to throw over the back of the couch. Our couches are dark brown leather and our lounge is dark and dingy. We are planning on painting it and putting down a new floor, new plastering and even a new window and that will help to brighten it up but in the meantime I am making some furnishings to add some colour and comfort.

Karma has been helping me with the crocheting.

The potato harvesting has stopped due the the wet weather. They are hoping things will dry out enough to come back next week. We still have some harvesting of our own so we wont need to buy potatoes for a while. I might have to find some good potato recipes because we have a LOT!

I have found homes for all my chooks now. They are all going to friends. I have delivered a couple and might drop a few more off today. I am looking forward to getting new ones in Spring. It will be strange not having any hens. I haven't been without hens for about seven years!

Crocheted blankets everywhere

2010-04-28T11:11:00.003+10:00

So finally I can make granny squares and of course now I cant stop. I started this one a few days ago and I have no idea what it is going to turn into but it is now twice the size. I've never really liked the huge granny single square quilts much. I like the small squares which are all joined together. I am making one like that but I have a feeling this one is going to turn into the former kind.

I am also making a granny square bag which I plan on felting. That is two granny rugs and a bag and I am also part way through making three double/single crochet blankets. I really need to actually finish something.

In addition to all the crocheting projects, I am also trying to finish off some quilt squares I owe some friends in an international quilt square swap I am very late on. Then there is the other felted bag waiting to be lined.

I better light the lounge room fire and clean up the house so I can settle down tonight to some serious crocheting!

No bus trip this morning

2010-04-27T09:57:00.003+10:00

We went up to catch the bus this morning, well Dustin did. It was his first time on the bus. When the bus came and stopped at the top of our driveway all the kids on the bus were so excited because they were stopping somewhere new and they all looked out the window to see who they were picking up and there was just too much pressure.

He went all shy and jumped into my arms. He said "everyone was looking at me". Poor baby :) So he is going to catch the bus home this afternoon. I hope. I think he will do better when I am not there and he is with other kids already.

He is only five. I thought five was too young to catch the bus by himself but half the kids in his kindergarten class catch the bus and a few are even on his bus so I guess it is OK. Living in a rural area where everyone knows each other makes some things easier. Scott even knows the bus driver.

A surprize on my camera

2010-04-26T12:20:00.002+10:00

Every now and then I find surprize photos on my camera. Often they are self portraits of my kids but today I found photos of Ruby's latest painting.

It's me!

Last day of Green Week

2010-04-25T10:30:00.013+10:00

The sun is out again. My animals are grazing in the sun and the potatoes are slowly drying out. The harvesters are not here again today but we are going to go out later this afternoon and pick up a few bins full of the rejected potatoes to boil up for Juliet our pig during the winter.

I have been reading 'The Road' and it is really good. I'm almost finshed it and I only started it yesterday. Scott has taken the kids to work two days in a row so I have some spare time.

I am going to post some of my favourite photos to end my Green Week. I'll leave my green Etsy favourites up top for a while.

Green Etsy

2010-04-24T11:21:00.005+10:00

I have posted some of my favourite green Etsy items at the top of my blog. My favourite is the lovely green hand knitted shawl which is perfect for weather like today (rainy, windy, cool), but how cool is the moss ring??

I buy a lot of my craft items from Etsy. It works out cheaper in a lot of cases to buy from the US and have it shipped than to buy the same thing from Australia. Then of course there is the selection which we miss out on in Australia, particularly Tasmania.

This is 'Budgie' my green and yellow budgie. Isn't he beautiful. I hate birds in cages but I needed someone to keep Whisper company as he was getting lonely. This is Whisper.

Whisper is my long time buddy, We have been together for about fifteen years now. He used to travel around on my shoulder. He likes to stay in his cage these days though. I liked it when he used to have a perch and when I got home from work I had to call him because I never knew where he was. I'd find him sitting on a book shelf or on a curtain rod.

The Lost Book of Salem

2010-04-23T16:31:00.006+10:00

I just finished reading 'The Lost Book of Salem' by Katherine Howe. I liked it but it wasn't great. It had the potential to be great so I was a little disappointed but it was OK.

It is a good day for reading. It is rainy and muddy outside. The potatoes are half harvested but they cant do any work today or else they will get bogged in the mud.

Tonight we are off to some friends house for dinner. Yay!

Green Flickr

2010-04-22T10:55:00.003+10:00

I can spend hours looking at everyones georgous photos over at Flickr. Click on the corresponding credits below to check out these great green shots. I'll also link to my flickr page at the bottom of my blog.

1. brown trout under water green river 2, 2. Green Python, 3. Untitled, 4. Green with Envy, 5. red, yellow, green, 6. Wellington waterfront night 2, 7. Untitled, 8. Kensal Green - April 2010 (22), 9. Baktus, 10. Hide-and-seek, 11. Lucky Shot of the Day!, 12. green bag - closeup, 13. green bling, 14. Day 20-Green, 15. The Eyes Have It, 16. american cemetery, 17. He posed for YOU :), 18. Black line, 19. pea palm, 20. Smile #2, 21. 3 fern leaves, 22. Vampire Season, 23. Green & Green, 24. Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 25. green ON green

My first grannies

2010-04-21T12:19:00.003+10:00

I learnt to crochet about two years ago because I wanted to make a granny blanket. My crocheting skills haven't progressed very quickly though because I only just made my first granny squares the other night.

So now I have two granny projects on the go. I am finally making that blanket and I am also crocheting up a bag which I am going to felt. Yes, I know I still haven't finished the other bag that I just felted but I'll get to it :)

Spin or Felt?

2010-04-20T09:53:00.005+10:00

I cant decide?

I have this dilemma every time I buy wool.

I also have a nice little bundle of pretty green fabric waiting for me to create something out of and since it is 'Green Week' I might even put it to use.

Green week!

2010-04-19T10:54:00.003+10:00

I don't have a favourite colour. I go through stages where I like particular colours or colour combinations. Lately I like green. So this week all my posts are going to be green!

It is pretty green around here lately. We haven't had as much rain this Autumn as we usually do but it is still looking a lot nicer than the dry brown summers we have.

Pumpkin season

2010-04-18T11:01:00.000+10:00

The last of the pumpkins will be harvested today plus a friend of a friend has offered us some of theirs so there will be pumpkin cooking non stop for a while.

This one is about to become pumpkin soup for tonights dinner.

Smokey skies

2010-04-17T08:25:00.001+10:00

The forestry are burning off again and the skies have been full of smoke. The industry in our area is mostly wood plantations and farming. There are a couple of big mills here except they are all closing down, or have closed down. I'm not up to date with all the local business politics.

This time every year after the forestry have harvested the wood they burn off all the left over stuff. They were burning off on the other side of the hill opposite our farm and it looks like the fire may have escaped because on Thursday there was a helicopter delivering water beyond the hill.

Yesterday there was a strange mix of smoke and clouds and it seemed to insulate us from the cool weather and it was very quiet.

The last time they burnt off a few weeks ago the wind blew the smoke all over the place and it was so smoky you could hardly see the hills.

Today I cant tell if it is cloudy or smokey or both. I am hoping for rain!

Doing their chores

2010-04-16T09:43:00.002+10:00

Working hard for their pocket money :)

Walnut Cookies

2010-04-15T09:33:00.004+10:00

Not surprisingly the kids didn't like the coffee and walnut muffins I made, so yesterday I made them some walnut cookies.

These were really yummy but they still were not impressed. I guess you have to like walnuts. I LOVE walnuts. Scott doesn't but he even liked these cookies. I found the recipe at Madam Kwong's Kitchen.

Just click on the link for the recipe and check out some of her others. Her foodie photos will have you drooling.

Walnuts and mohair

2010-04-14T08:15:00.013+10:00

A friend of ours has a walnut tree so he brought over a big bag full for us. Yesterday I showed Ruby how to crack them with a hammer. I have funny memories as a child cracking macadamia nuts from my grandfathers tree that way. The walnuts don't run away from you as much as the macadamia nuts did and their shells are a lot softer.

After we had a cup full of cracked walnuts we made coffee and walnut muffins. This was a baking experiment and it turned out alright so here is my recipe.

Coffee and Walnut Muffins

1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 free range eggs (please don't ever buy caged eggs they are yucky and very sad)
1 cup of light sour cream
1/4 cup of milk
1/4 cup of espresso coffee
2 cups of wholemeal flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 1/2 cups of roughly cut walnuts

Beat the butter and sugar together until it is soft and creamy, then add the eggs, sour cream and milk and coffee. The mixture might be a bit lumpy because the milk and coffee wont blend well with the butter but that is OK.

In another large bowl sift the flour and baking powder. Then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix with a spoon until only just combined. The mixture will be quite lumpy but don't mix it anymore (or they won't come out fluffy).

Then add the walnuts and carefully mix them through. Over mixing and over baking is what will make them dry and you will loose that lovely fluffiness.

Put the mixture in a greased or non stick muffin pan. You should get a dozen medium sized muffins but you can also make the larger ones or the mini muffins if you prefer. Into a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees C.

I don't time my muffins. I keep checking them with a skewer every few minutes when they start to brown on top. The best time to pull them out is when the skewer is mostly clean when you pull it out but there is still a bit of moisture inside the muffins. Usually this takes 10 - 15 minutes.

When you take them out leave them in the tin for at least ten minutes. If you take them out right away they will fall apart. Then you can put them on a rack to cool or eat them right away.

These muffins are not very sweet and so are perfect as a breakfast muffin served warm with butter.

When I was away in Hobart last weekend I bought some pretty mohair yarn from a fancy knitting shop. On Monday I crocheted it together with a wool and alpaca yarn into a bag.

I chose the colour because it reminded me of early Autumn but this bag is looking more like Spring now.

Some mohair is itchy but this is very soft. I thought of crocheting a scarf out of it, but I really need a new handbag so that is what I am making.

Yesterday I felted it. It didn't felt as well as I expected but it is alright.

It is a little wrinkled but I'll get that fixed up after I have sewn in the lining and the shoulder strap which I am probably going to do today.

Italian Restaurant

2010-04-13T06:00:00.002+10:00

I went away to Hobart last weekend with my friends Lisa and Dino. We had a lovely weekend of dining out and shopping and being wheeled around in our pram. Well only Dino got the privilege of being wheeled around but then again he did sleep through the most fabulous pasta meal I have had in ages, spaghetti with artichoke pesto, prawns and truffle oil, and a glass of chianti.

Anybody want a free chook?

2010-04-12T15:09:00.004+10:00

I have decided to give all my chooks away... I think. I made the mistake of feeding them in our backyard a few times and now they are forever in there scratching up my herb garden or pooing on the back door step.

I'll give all these ones away and get some more new ones. I might even buy an incubator and raise my own. I would like some faverolles and silkies.

Wet

2010-04-08T06:37:00.003+10:00

Yesterday we had the wettest day so far this year. It poured rain so hard at one stage our poor old house started leaking. We really need a new roof!

It rains a lot this time of year. The brown summer paddocks turn green and the mornings are cool and foggy. The smell of wood smoke lingers in the air, a sign of the winter to come.

Almost Moon

2010-04-07T16:08:00.003+10:00

Last night I finished reading Alice Sebold's 'Almost Moon' and I really hated the ending. I read 'The Lovely Bones' and liked that but 'Almost Moon' was quite depressing. I suppose 'The Lovely Bones' was too, but it was different. I kept reading 'Almost Moon' because I wanted to know how she gets away with it, the murder of her mother. I am not sure if I missed something at the end or what? I think I'll have to ask my Facebook friends!

Not so well

2010-04-06T15:44:00.002+10:00

I've been crook for the last week. Not very sick, I've been managing to do most of the things I usually do, just not as well. I really want to stay in bed and hide under the covers but having children doesn't afford you that luxury. BUGGER!

I hope I feel better by Friday. I am going away to Hobart for the weekend with a lovely lady and a very special little man :)

I made a chook

2010-04-05T10:50:00.003+10:00

I throw all my small fabric scraps into a bucket in my sewing room. Sometimes I use them for small projects like making fabric covered buttons but when the bucket gets full I use the scraps as stuffing for something. Yesterday the bucket was full so I made a chook.

More night

2010-04-04T07:46:00.003+10:00

Daylight saving ends in Tasmania this weekend. It will be a nice change from the long summer days. I'm looking forward to spending more time relaxing at night instead of working outside until dark. Yesterday I lit our fire for the first time this season.