Friday night ( and a winner announced!)

Hello! 

How has your week been? 

It's Friday night and we are unwinding from another week that seems to have flown! 

Another sure sign of the change of seasons is the start of the football season, we have the first match of the year on tonight and have sent our footy tips through (we have an extended family footy tipping competition that my mum runs each year - fun!).  The cooler evenings with the football on the telly are perfect for some relaxing crochet action.  I don't really watch the football, Gary likes it though, so it is more like a comforting wall of background noise to my Autumn/Winter nights.  

I have been working on my Harlequin Blanket and I think I should be able to get it finished by the end of the weekend or maybe Monday.  I am pleased with how it is looking, lovely and cosy with the richer colours of Autumn.  

These balls of luscious yarn are my next project to start, I totally love all the beautiful colours in this Malabrigo wool, I haven't used it before so will be interested to start.  They are supposed to be the same colourway, but I think there is a distinct difference in the two balls.  This is due to the dyeing process I think. It doesn't worry me at all, I just think it is interesting the variation from one dye lot.

I am planning a simple scarf for these, I think I will alternate between the 2 balls to even out the colours, can't wait to get it started!!

...And because it is Friday, it is time to pick the winner for my yarny giveaway! 

Firstly, WOW over 200 entries, thank you so much for your yarn suggestions for the shop, there are lots of yarns there that I'm not familiar with at all, a lot of the US and European yarns are not freely available here in Australia, so lots for me to think about!!  I wish I could send you all something, but I'm afraid a big virtual hug will have to do! :)

Thank you for leaving your lovely comments, I appreciate all the support and interest shown in this blog, I have fun writing it for you and I am glad you can find something of interest here. xxxx

Anyway, without further ado, the winner for the March give away is Jacqui Calvert!

Drop me an email Jacqui with your postal details and I will pop it in the post for you!

( I have a very high tech way of picking a winner, the boys yell out a number between 1 and 203 and I count down the list till I get there!! :) )  

The next give away will be in early April, I promise not to forget! 

So have you got a busy weekend planned?

Doing something fun? Relaxing? Taxiing children around?

We are doing a bit of all the above. 

Have a good one!

Talk soon.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yarn Along.....

Hello.

I'm joining in with Yarn Along today.  

(Sorry about the poor quality photo, I had to take this after dark)

This week I have been trying to get a few rows done on the stripey blanket so I can update the crochet along.  I'm slowly getting there, I like to have a bit of a chunk done to post on the crochet along, so am madly hooking away most evenings.  Except that this is a time of year when there are lots of things happening in the evenings, eating into my crochet time!  Tonight we had an information night at the high school for Max who is starting there next year, it's the end of primary school for him, and for me the end of 11 years of being involved at that school, quite a milestone.

There is also night tennis finals to play in, award nights, a graduation dinner and various other commitments, all good things to be involved with, but I am missing my down time! 

As my boys would say, first world problems mum. Laugh.

Anyway, back to the yarn along, I have started 'Hidden Empire' by Kevin J Anderson, the first book in a big sci fi series. I think this will be a good one for the summer holidays, it has nearly sucked me in, I need to read a bit more to really get involved.

I enjoy a good sci fi, so if anyone has any recommendations I'd love to hear them.

One of my favourite sci fi authors is Sheri Tepper, has anyone read her books?  

If you like sci fi and haven't read anything of hers, give her a go, I love her stories!  

She used to publish a  new book each year around my birthday, and Gary would give me a lovely hardcover edition as a present, but I think she might be getting very old now as I haven't seen anything new from her for a few years, I hope she is still alive!

And for something completely unrelated, we had a glorious sunset tonight after a beautiful day, I think tomorrow is going to be very hot, so a bit of slothing in the shade keeping cool might be in order, and very likely a swim in the evening.  Looking forward to it already!

Stay cool if you are in Melbourne.

Have a great day!

Things I have noticed this week.....

1. It is lots of fun shopping for little girls.  There are so many seriously cute things around these days, it is hard to choose what they would like best!  

 A new toy shop has opened in our town and it has 

soooo many things that  I would have loved as a child, I bought my niece a super cute marionette puppet ( I loved puppets when I was little) and quite an ornate heart stamping set and a few pretty erasers for her birthday tomorrow, but there were so many things I could have chosen!  

Oh, and I came home with these Russian dolls for me, just because I love their colours and couldn't resist!

2. I think we are going to have plenty of apples this year if the amount of blossom is anything to go by. I can't remember the trees being this laden before, they are really stunning.

3.  The scent of lilac is starting to be noticeable as you walk in the front door, so lovely!  The bushes  are flowering above the roofline, so you don't really notice the flowers until you look for the source of the scent.

4. My craft space is in need of a big clean up again!  I am not really using it to make anything in, just to dump materials and then whinge that I can't find anything!  Must do something about that!

5.  There are lots of interesting swaps around blogland at the moment, many to do with Christmas.  I think I will join up with a couple maybe.  Do you do swaps?

Ok, I could go  on and on with this, but I had better stop there and go and do something constructive, like clean up my craft room!   Might do some more tomorrow....

Have a lovely weekend!

Starting with good intentions

Hello!

How is your day going, great I hope!

Well I can't believe how fast the new month has come around, September kind of disappeared in a whirl of busyness and action.  

I'm hoping October will be a little less frenetic!

So, it's October, and that means Blogtoberfest time again!

Are you joining in with the Blogtoberfest fun?  

Have a look over here at Kat's blog I Saw You Dance for all the info if you are interested, there are lots of bloggy type joining in this year for a month of posting every day (yikes), and other bits and pieces that make for a good bloggy experience . 

I am joining in as away to try and get a bit more consistent with my posting, I am really going to try and post something every day of October,  can't promise that it will be very interesting stuff, but every day it will be here!

Anyway, we had a few friends around for lunch yesterday, and in typical fashion I did a mad run around tidying surfaces and moving all the crap useful stuff we have covering any available space to other spaces that are out of sight. I don't want to open any of our cupboards at the moment, as they are now just about overflowing with Very Important Stuff.

So with my nice clear bench and tabletops I could set up cute little flower displays! Yay! 

(picked from my own garden too, if I do say so myself!)

A nice reward for housework.  Then I had to take some photos to document said tidy space.  I might actually paint the photo above, I think it's quite a calming still life, and if I scrunch up my eyes to get a painterly effect, it looks pretty good!  haha....

More flowers, how I do like my stripey red vase!

Then I got on a pretty picture roll, and had to take a few of the dying poppies in the sun.

Great colours.

I'm thinking of using these nice warm colours for a bit of inspiration for a new blanket.  I don't use many warm hues, so it might by a fun change.

What do you think? 

Are you a warm or cool person?

So, I am looking forward to the new month and all it will bring, lot's of good things I hope!

I think I will do a bit of a list of things I want to complete this month, there are lots of unfinished projects staring at me, waiting patiently for my interest to be rekindled, so now is the time!

You know, seize the day and all that.....

Ok, until tomorrow, I will say bye for now!

sunny day....

Hello!

We had a fun day today, very relaxed and ordinary, but just what you need in holiday mode.

The weather was lovely, so I took lunch outside.  We had popcorn, chocolate chip bikkies, sausages and berries, very yum!

 My mum and dad and one of my sisters and her girls came around for the picnic too.

Max and Andre were pottering around, doing their own thing, their favourite holiday pastime.

My photogenic nieces.

There was some ball  throwing action, cousins playing nicely together is always great to see.

There was some fun with papa....

...and an afternoon egg to collect.

 ...... Josie had to check the photo of herself on my last post......

.......my lovely mum......

this one likes to pull the odd face here and there, this is 'extra happy face'

......all in all, a very pleasant afternoon sitting in the sun and enjoying some time with the family.

These holidays have been so good so far, I have had lots of time to potter in the garden and really get some jobs done.  Jesse has been doing work experience at Gary's work, so it has just been Max and Andre and I around here, we went to the movies yesterday and saw a family of ducks with tiny little ducklings crossing the road on our way home, so cute!

Ok, I'm off to do a bit more on my blanket, hoping to have an update for you all soon!

Happy days to you all!

Round here...

Hello!

It feels like a while since I have posted here, so I thought I'd do a bit of catching up with what has been happening around these parts.  

A couple of weekends ago we went down to Inverloch for the weekend, just the 5 of us, it was a lovely family weekend, we stayed in a great self-contained cabin (it was a really flash cabin!) at the RACV Resort down there.  There was hardly any people there on the Friday, the boys had the pool to themselves, very relaxing! 

There was a cool playground with a flying fox and a big climbing frame that the boys had fun on, we were lucky with the weather, it was cold but didn't rain much so we could still get out and about.

The boys had a lovely room that they quickly felt at home in!!

The next day we went for a drive down to Wilson's Prom and had a walk on the Tidal River beach, such a beautiful area, there was no one else there (probably because it was super freezing!), and we had  fun walking down the river bank.  That part of the coast is very scenic and it really is a lovely drive through the National Park.  I am not really fond of long drives but I am getting better at it I think!

Did I mention it was cold???

So anyway, we had a great weekend, and then it was back into normal life for us all.  

I have started a new job as a cooking teacher at Max's school one day a week.  They have a kitchen garden program that has not been running for a while, but now the cooking side of it is going again! Yay!  Hopefully the garden side will be reinstated too and the kids will get to grow the food we cook with, there is a big vegie garden that is a bit neglected but full of potential!  

To tell the truth I am finding it quite stressful adjusting to working so much more than I am used to (I have also taken on 2 more days of gardening work recently, so have 5 days of part time work now), I am sure we will all get used to this more hectic routine, but the kids are already complaining about the lack of home baked treats! ( my baking time has taken a beating).  I think they have been a bit spoiled, time to get them into the kitchen and cooking some treats for themselves!

Anyway, enough of that stuff, I am not whinging really, I am just feeling the change from my nice open days where I could do as I pleased, to a much more structured week.  Busy, busy, busy!!

Last week Jesse partnered one of his friends to their Deb Ball, she lives down the street from us, here he is as he walked down to catch the limo from her place. (I went too, had to have a sticky beak at all the girls' dresses and take a heap of photos!) They all looked gorgeous, and had a great night, Jess had a few mates staying at our place, and they all rolled home around 4.30am the next morning, the after party being even more important than the actual event, me thinks!

Sooo......that's a bit of what's been going on round here, lots of family stuff, but I have found a little, tiny bit of crochet time too!  

Slow Living July 2012

Hello, I can't believe another month has rolled around already!

It is almost scary how quick this year is going, I was looking at some photos this morning of the boys when they were little and it really hit home how fast time is going and how quickly the years rack up, it doesn't seem that long since they were cute little toddlers happily smiling for a photo, but the reality is they are all much closer to adulthood and independence than to their younger, needier days. 

 It has made me a bit melancholy today, my life is going too quickly!

 I want things to slow down so I can savour  these great days just a little longer!

 Wishful thinking I know.

And perhaps I have the rose coloured glasses on, looking back at all the good times we had when the boys were little, I am sure we will continue to have lots of new good times as they grow older and move on with their lives.

It is hard letting go though, I guess it is just another phase to adjust to in the big scheme of life, it is a bit sad to think that my baby days are well and truly over, but relating to our boys as adult equals will also be an exciting, interesting change in our family dynamics.  I still think this is a few years off yet!

But I digress, back to the Slow Living report for July........It feels like Spring is on its way! My almond tree has burst into flower, always a good sign.......

Nourish - I had a go at sourdough bread this month.  I was gifted a jar of starter from my boss who got it from a sourdough bakery, and managed to keep it alive and thriving, quite a responsibility!  The results were good, actually very good!  Also been making quite a bit of soup as it has been freezing around here!

Prepare - Still not great with this one.  Can't really think of anything other than collecting some dried bean seeds to plant out in summer.

Reduce - I have been recycling a lot of my seedling punnets and trays, refilling them and sowing many peas in them.  Also made a very effective bread prover out of an old polystyrene broccoli box with a lid, perfect thing to create a warm humid environment.

Green -  Got on the bike a bit more this month, also tried to eat more out of the garden.

Grow - Did quite a bit of preparing in the garden.  (My new gardening job is really helping me stay enthused about my own garden and motivated to get on with things that need doing)

Cleared out 4 old fruit trees, and made a new garden bed for peas.

Sowed lots of beetroot and carrots in lots of colours (red, yellow, white, purple and orange)

Cleared, manured and mulched about half of my vegie patches ready for Spring planting.

Bought 8 different tomato seed varieties in preparation for summer, and ordered 6 types of potatoes too.

Create - Started a mini square crochet blanket, and made some mini flowers for a necklace, (yet to finish).

Discover - Read up on sourdough baking on the internet and in books, tried to combine all the best bits when I baked.

Enhance - Helped out at the Crib Point Community Garden, Made gingerbread for a school fundraiser, Joined up with the Ravelry group A Year Of Projects, also did more linking up posts on this blog.

Enjoy - The school holidays were a good break, we had a few family birthdays and went to the drive in to see Spiderman, spent a day in the city and went to the football, and finished the last one in the Game of Thrones books, such a good series!  Flowers in the gardena to pick, yay! Also enjoyed nights by the fire with my crochet and a bag of Twisties ( a guilty pleasure!), oh and the family were there somewhere too! haha..

Joining up with Christine to see what everyone else has been up to in July.

Feathered friends

Please excuse messy, weedy garden beds, I have big plans for them very soon!

Hello.

How's your weekend been going?

We have had a good one, Andre had his friends around for a birthday gaming marathon on Friday night, they did manage a few hours sleep so it was all good.  

Last night I had dinner with a bunch of local girls, lots of food and chatting and a great evening catching up with some lovely ladies.  Also had a few glasses of some delicious pear cider, think I've found my new poison! haha...

Anyway, we went out today for fish and chips in Sorrento, and when we arrived home I found we had a feathered visitor.  This gorgeous girl had flown into our backyard and wanted to make friends with our chookies.

She took quite a while figuring out how to join the girls in their yard, but eventually she gathered her courage and flew over the fence....honking loudly...

 ..... unfortunately my girls have very bad manners and did all they could to stay as far away as possible to their exotic interloper.

Such a pretty girl! (at least, I think she is a girl)

Look at her beautiful feathers and such vibrant blues ...........

her tail feathers were spectacular.....

 ....my chookies were feeling a bit like the country mice in their brown speckled feathers, and were most put out as our colourful friend outstayed her welcome.  There was much disapproving clucking.

They retreated to the hen house and answered her sad honks with ignore.  I had lots of fun taking pictures of the pretty thing.

 The penhen (I think this is what she is) was a lovely bird, wandering around the chicken yard until the girls were locked up for the night, I think she got lonely then, so flew up onto our roof, maybe to roost for the night.

I hope she is still around here in the morning, such a welcome visitor, she really brightened up our garden.  We have been here for 15 years and have never seen a peacock fly in before.  I wonder here she came from.

 I hope you have unexpected visitors brighten your day too!