New-ness!

We have been flat out these last 2 weeks with Phil home and me working 60 hours a week instead of 6!!! We are all pretty tired to say the least. Today we managed to finally get a blind for the front entrance that I have been wanting for a long time. I love it!

Dining & Kitchen Clean-Up

I started early this morning with the dining room, major declutter and clean, then moved onto the kitchen. It took a long time, but I am happy to say it is done! I scrubbed fans and lights and ovens and windows! , filled bags for the OP shop and bags for the bin. I moved furniture around, and appliances. Now I am so tired, but it's a good tired! Here are the results.

Study Nook

 A few weeks ago I spied a room divider on sale at the shops and bought one for the purpose of hiding some of the computer cables at the back of the desk which are somewhat visible. I brought it home, set it up and it looked so good, so I went back and bought another. Now I have made a little study nook that feels like it's on little space, even though it is in the corner of the lounge room. We do have a spare bedroom, but I don't like offices in bedrooms at all. Kate has a desk in her room but she often studies at the (large) kitchen table or uses her laptop in the loungeroom where we all are. I like to be part of what is going on, and being tucked away in a bedroom wouldn't do it for me. This would work well in a conservatory too. Anywhere you have some space. I like to open up the back curtains and see the chickens in the yard, the veges growing and the sun blowing the washing dry! I love my little space!

Thursday

I've spent a couple of productive days at home getting a few jobs done that I've been putting off. The girls have been happy playing on their ipads and dressing and styling their American Girl Dolls.

They have really enjoyed each others company these holidays, being really nice to each other. They have been a pleasure to have at home. Tomorrow is kind of the last day, well at least for activities as dancing starts back this Saturday. School goes back on Tuesday for Ella and Wednesday for kate.

With tons of eggs in the fridge at present, I made a vegetarian quiche which was a huge hit.

Gordon has been inside alot more due to the cooler weather. His favourite place to sit is on the ottoman.

It's been nice to unwind from our regular busy days. Kate has been sleeping in late (as they do at this age) and going to bed way too late. Ella has been sleeping until about 8am which is good for her.

It's been good to find the time to dust properly and change things around a bit. I love to move bits and pieces around the house. It keep things interesting.

I really love this lampshade. I bought it on Mother's day for myself, and at first I wasn't sure, but now I really love it!

I roasted some veges while I cleaned the kitchen. We ate half tonight in a stir-fry and kept the rest for tomorrow night.

While cleaning the kitchen, I decided to move the microwave down from it's spot to the bench so the girls are safer to start using it themselves.

I popped some jars in its place. Not sure if they will stay yet or not.

My desk got a good clean too. I know the calendar says 2011, but I just keep it for the picture. One of the girls made it for me (I can't recall which one!)

It feels good to get to the end of the day and get rid of some of the clutter and go to bed with a clean and tidy house!

New Furniture!!!

Finally after almost 2years looking, we found a lounge suite that suited us perfectly last Thursday. It was delivered today and we love it!

Sorry the pictures aren't the best!

Loving ...

fresh flowers in the house, the aroma is just magical!

Great Finds

These are two great finds I've had in the last week. Aren't they fabulous?

Ella loves this little stool I found to go with her dressing table

I had been looking around for a hat/coat stand for the front entrance way for awhile, so I was delighted when I found this gorgeous one.

I love having older pieces to add to my home! Even though I don't know their history, having an 'assortment' of pieces makes my home more characteristic to me.

New Things

Girls test put their new lunchboxes

New outside wall clock

Night Time

I love this time of night when all is quiet in the house. The girls are tucked up in bed (well on top because it is so hot!) the dishwasher and washing machine doing their thing, the retic watering the lawns and gardens, the cat sitting at my feet purring because we are home after a night out visiting friends.

It's been another really hot day here, so we hibernated for most of it, only venturing out to pick up a few bits and pieces from the supermarket and then tonight to catch up with friends.

We spent time this morning labelling all the school books and stationery that we purchased earlier in the week.

And now it is time for me to go to bed too. Hope you all had a lovely day!

At home

We got up early one morning recently (5:30am!) and straight out to the garden (after a drink) to get a head start before the heat came. We stopped for breakfast around 7am, and then went back out until it was all finished around 10:30am. It's been pretty warm lately, so we either have to get up early to garden when we have more energy or get out at the end of the day when we are all pretty zapped. The girls love gardening (especially Ella) so I'm really lucky.

 

We put our first lot of home-made compost on the rose garden. It was just enough. We really need another composter to have a continuous supply making/ready all the time.

We added a misting system to the back patio, it's not quite finished yet, but Phil ran out of time before he had to go away again, so it will have to wait another week. It makes such a difference out there now.

 

 

I also got a new temperature/rain gauge for the garden. The girls have excitedly been checking the temperature at intervals, and hopefully we will get that rain we've been promised soon. The garden could do with some extra.

The middle-of-summer garden is still looking okay. If only we got some rain. The kids have been in the blow-up pool a bit, so the water when finished with gets bucketed on the garden. It takes awhile though.

 

Our lemon tree that we almost lost is still s-l-o-w-l-y recovering. It's getting stronger all the time, so glad I stuck with it.

 

Finally we woke to a massive storm today. Gosh I love a good storm during the day, not so fussed at night when the power goes out.

It was a great day to head to the library. I didn't get a photo of what the kids are reading as they were in the middle of looking at their books and had then spread out everywhere.

The rain didn't last long but it was good while it did last. The sun came out after lunch and it went from 23 deg to 36 deg in about four hours. We measured the rain in the new gauge and it measured 20mm! Yay!

 

I'm looking forward to the autumn when it gets a bit cooler and I can get outside a bit more. I love being out there, but my skin does not, neither does my head (the heat gives me headaches) We still have the hottest month to come yet, so will just have to pace myself through to the end.