Gloves, hats, mittens and scarves

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

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

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

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

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?

Vampire bunnies and other scary rabbits

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!

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

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

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.