Goodies

Nothing like a nice basket of goodies delivered to brighten your day! We purchased another property this week, and the lovely real estate have us a thank you basket!

Please Pray

for this beautiful family

http://themourofamily.blogspot.com.au/

Not long to wait now ...

TWO more sleeps until our holiday! We are all so looking forward to it!

First of March

  

Sorry I haven't been around much! Life here has been flat chat, so I'll give you a brief rundown!

• Kate is currently dancing 6 days a week in preparation for her part in this. She is part of the pre-entertainment. A fantastic opportunity for her. After the show, she'll be back to dancing 4 times a week.
• Kate was one of 15 chosen at school to play an instrument after sitting an  aptitude test at the end of last year. Her chosen instrument is clarinet.
• Both girls are dancing at the Corymbia Festival again this year.
• We've had a few tradies here lately. Alot of electrical work had to be done, a new security door to be measured up for and quotes for the remaining roller shutters on the back. 

The garden is growing well. Currently we have growing:

• lettuce
• beetroot
• pumpkin
• zucchini
• snow peas
• carrots
• broccoli
• silverbeet
• sweetcorn
• capsicum
• raspberries
• boysenberries
• cauliflower
• lemons
• limes
• feijoas
• passionfruit
• parsley
• mint
• basil (purple)
• chives
• rocket

• I help out one morning a week in Ella's class with maths. 
• I help out a lady who collects children, one day a week.
• We've booked a holiday which hopefully doesn't coincide with Kate dancing competition (date for comp is not out yet!)
• Ruby is enjoying being back at our dancing school. She's doing ballet and jazz. We love getting to see her and Jonah every week when they come up!
• I've had some awesome OP shop finds lately.  

Sickness

It's been a week of sickness for Ella and I. Sore throats, tummy bugs and headaches.

I hope everyone else is fine and dandy!

Blogging Holiday

I have lots going on for the rest of this month, so I don't think I'll be around much until December. I'll try to pop in when I can but otherwise this is what we will be doing!

• First day of stage rehearsals today. Will need to pick the girls' up early from school. Finish at 9pm.
• Tomorrow - work for me
• Saturday dance classes as usual in morning, Finale practice in afternoon 3-4:30pm
• Monday - excursion with Ella's class to the Zoo, dance after school
• Tues - dance after school
• Day Two of stage rehearsals - 3:30pm to 9pm
• Friday - work then full dress rehearsal 5-10pm
• Saturday - dance class
• REST
• Monday - extra ballet class practise for 2 hours due to teacher being away
• Tues & Wed - concert nights, YAY

Also, I want to get a bit more Christmas shopping done. I hate leaving it all till December, plus we still have a few things to get for our camping trip.

So, whatever you do, have fun and take care x

Medicine Box

photo source

When I got up in the middle of the night to find some Paw paw cream for a sore on my face I got really frustrated that my first aid kit was such a shambles.
So I decided to empty it all out and check what we actually used and what was expired and narrow it down to what we really need inside. I also have one in the car that has things like bandages, a sling and a blanket in it. I don't keep all those things inside as they are not needed regularly, and the girls would always be playing doctors and nurses with them and I would never know where they were.

These are the must haves at our place:

invaluable - so many uses, very gentle for babies and sensitive skin

a must have for all scratches and cuts

great for chests and stuffy noses

the only pain relief I use now, fantastic for migraines

the night strength one

bandaids - of course

pain relief for the kids. I found Panadol never worked when Ella was small and having multiple seizures and I needed to get her temp down

the best relief for a sore throat

for muscular and joint pain

a thermometer is a must have - especially if you have kids

we grew up with this and now we have some, so many uses

great for indegestion

emergency night time relief, for something like earache

must have for cold sores

cream for coldsores

this stuff is wonderful for coughs - great for kids and adults

Please share what your must haves are in your medicine cupboard, you never know what other useful lotions and potions are out there!

Rugby World Cup 2011

To say I am looking forward to this is an understatement! One more sleep!

Wow - how cool is this dollhouse?

Decorated by a lady in New Zealand. Just to die for.

See it for yourself and read her story about how she made it on Mousehouse.

A nice way to start the day!

It was hard to show up in this photo but if you look closely one says "Eat Me" and the other " I Love You". The girls think they are great and a bit of fun for the mornings! (or anytime you eat toast) There were a couple of others as well that I didn't get - "Good Morning" and "Smile"

On My Mind ...

Today I'm joining in with Rhonda over at Down to Earth and posting about what's on my mind.

The school bags await for the last day of Term Two.

We can hardly wait for today to be over!

Little House on the Prairie

I would love to visit this one day!

http://www.ingallshomestead.com/

We are huge fans in this house of the series. I remember watching it on telly when I was a little girl and wishing I could be Mary! When Amie was 10 I bought her the first two books, and over the years and with two more daughters, our collection grew. We have a few of the dvd's too, which come out of the cupboard regularly!

We are actually currently making our way through the first book at the moment. The girls snuggle in their beds while I read to them, then they read to me!

Tuesday

Outside at 7:30am this morning, right before the storm hit!

Making the most of the Winter sunshine

Today is our one fine day in amongst two weeks of rain. The next lot is forecast from tonight until next Wednesday. We really need it though after a long dry summer. The lawns and garden are loving it, everything is growing and turning green. The washing machine has been busy all morning. The windows and doors are all open and a nice breeze is coming through the house. Short sleeves are all that is needed. I'm off outside again to enjoy it while it's here.
Hope everyone is having a good day!

New Fridge

After our old fridge being on the blink for a couple of days, we got up yesterday to it having gone altogether. So after we dropped the girls to school we went fridge shopping.
We actually only went to one store where there were some massive specials on. We opened and closed what seemed like a hundred fridges until we settled on this one.
We only needed a small freezer space as we have an upright freezer as well which used to sit in the dining room, but now lives in the shed. So we have more room in the dining room as well.
We couldn't get over how fancy some fridges are now, we didn't need one that delivered crushed ice and cups of cold water. And I can't believe that some people would spend $3000 plus on a kitchen appliance! Ours was a third of that in price and will do us nicely.
Off to fill it up a bit more today!

New Find

I found this gorgeous tin this morning at the garden centre. It's perfect for the bench.

We are just about to start our own composting, so this was a great motivator to get us going.

Even the girls were excited, and because they already have vege gardens at school and know all about compost, they told me what can go into the bin!

And plenty of more gardening books from the library today! Fun and interesting to look through.

The end of autumn

Gordon loves to snuggle up in a small space

The end of another season (my favourite) is here

the mornings and nights have a chill in the air

Winter veges plants have been planted

there are late flowering rose buds

time to dust off the heater

hot chocolates with marshmallows

snuggled up in bed with a good book

Early morning sunshine filters through

We nearly lost this peacherine tree in windy wild weather. We are happy it looks like it is recovering.

Simple Fun

The girls raced in the door yesterday and saw a container on the table and immediately asked what it was for. I said it's for all the buttons. We use buttons for craft, and of course sewing back on clothing.

They sat there for ages sorting, picking out favourites and setting them aside, chatting away. They didn't even ask for afternoon tea for a good half hour.

After they had sorted about half the buttons, they had to stop and get ready for swimming lessons. They do love swimming, but today they were happy to sit and sort buttons. They ended up finishing when we got home.

I remember my Mum having a button bag. It was green and lived in a draw in the dining room. I recall as a small girl often asking my Mum if I could play with the button bag. Such fond memories.

Just plodding along

Not much has been happening around here. Well, just the usual everyday things - housework, homework, taxi-ing the girls around to dancing and swimming lessons and school. Phil is going away to work tomorrow, not sure how long he will be gone, but the groceries were a bit cheaper this week with one less adult to feed :) The days are still nice and the nights are nice and cool. Great sleeping weather. The girls have been busy with birthday parties and playdates. Kate is busy planning her 10th birthday next month :)