The Birthday Reveal

 MEET SMUDGE  !

 MEET MILO !

I have to say these have been the best and cheapest presents ever

The kids absolutely adore their new pets !

And I do have to say they are pretty sweet little creatures.

They are having their first bath today, should be interesting.

 I bought the Wiggles (that's my nickname for them) from here

So if you are in the market for some piggies, Miss Piggys Guinea Pig Lair is the place to shop.  She has the most amazing collection of the sweetest and cleanest guinea pigs I have ever seen. 

MAMIEJANE !!!!

YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE TIME TO POP ACROSS HERE .   MamieJanes space is AMAZING - I just had to share it with you immediately.  I want everything that she has in her Studio - she has taken photographs and described everything - her storage ideas are fantastic.  I'm inspired.  Maybe one day my studio space will look half as good as this ?  Here is a sneak peek................








I would probably have a room like this if I did not have to justify why I need it all to my husband.  Oh well. 

Here they are at long last !!

Well my CASCADING VIOLETS are finally worth photographing to put on my blog

This photo was taken a couple of weeks after planting

WELL now they look like this (photo taken 13/11) - I am very happy with the use of this $2 watering can found at a local market

A close up - I was playing around with the portrait setting on my camera

 

And this one was playing around with the intense colour setting

And to finish off, a snapshot of my Heirloom Beetroot - this is the first one I have harvested, I love the pattern on the inside, pink with white rings. 
This little fellow is going into my salad for lunch today - yum!

It was Mst O & Miss L's 7th birthday last Saturday - they got their special birthday surprise present on Friday when we returned from our weeks holiday.  I will load photos of the "Special Surprise Present' in the next few days. 

I have to say they were a huge hit with the kids (and me !)  

Latest buys

 Recently I was at the Paddington Antique Centre and stumbled across this set of old hand beaters.  They were so irresistable to me that I paid way too much money for them.  The memories it stirs in my mind and my heart was well worth it though I reckon. 

I used to cook with my Nan a lot when I was little (well she cooked, and I licked the beaters) and it was special times for us both.  If it wasn't lamingtons, it was jelly cakes or lemon slice or trifle.

This kitchen where I cooked was inside this home, the home where my Dad grew up and I spent lots of time being looked after by my grandparents before I started school.

I love this house, this is a recent photo, taken in June this year.  My Dad had passed away and I had rushed home when I knew he had only a few days left on this earth, said my final goodbyes and bid farewell to an amazing father, I was so blessed to have him in my life. 

So this house is very special to me.

(4 Andrew Street, Kerang, Victoria)

Something else I bought recently is this little blue colander, especially sourced to store the eggs laid by my girls, Poh, Louie and Sofia.  There is nothing nicer than a bowl of fresh free range hens eggs on display on your kitchen bench in a cute old colander.  I bought a silver one also to keep my pegs in at the clothesline.  It's a perfect storage solution, if you leave them out in the rain then the water simply drains through the holes and your pegs don't rust.  Also the container won't perish like those silly plastic peg buckets which only last a year or two in the weather.  I highly recommend one of these as your next peg bucket.  They look great too ! 

SPRINGTIME DESIRE

Right now I am wanting lots of new plants for my garden, both ornamental for decoration and vegetables for eating. I could write a huge long list and never run out of wants or ideas.  Maybe it's the Spring in the air that is fueling this, I am not sure.  However, my suspicions are that these desires have been lurking since long before this Spring arrived.

Digging a little deeper, I find myself pining for a move, not too far away, to a small acreage (1 - 2 acres would be enough, I think) with a gorgeous old farmhouse that has a large country kitchen, one with a big old Aga Stove. They ooze character, and transport me back in time to my days as a youngster visiting our great grandparents family farm. There they had a beautiful yellow Aga stove in the kitchen that kept us warm when we ventured inside from playing outside in the chilly winter weather that Victoria is known for. It looked something like this one below.

I want to be able to put my old farmhouse dining table smack bang in the middle of the kitchen, hence it needs to be a BIG kitchen.  But I also want a breakfast bar and a little office nook to the side where all the mail and paper mess can go, instead of on top of the kitchen bench (like what happens at home now).  I want a lot of other things too and I'll try not to go on too much, but something in particular right now, and possibly quite achievable is a couple of Abutilons, to plant in my side garden. 

 They flower for most of the year which is ideal - and they just look so good

 They come in a beautiful selection of colours and shapes

 So what's not to love about Abutilon

I was actually wanting to put some Japonica Camellias in as they are another favourite of mine, but sadly the flowering period is quite short for camellias.  

This candy striped one is just gorgeous, but, it's such a long time between flowering.  So I have changed my mind, Abutilons it is.

Also I would love some hydrangeas for out the front, and lots of foxgloves,not sure where, just anywhere would do - I love foxgloves

Look at these beauties !!!!

Whilst I am on a roll, I wouldn't mind a cute birdhouse painted white. 

Like this one from Meadowbrook farm blog   Go check it out. Her garden house is stunning and she has the most amazing garden - see below

(See I told you it was stunning)

 and her barn is to die for, god don't get me started on the barn

 When you pop across to Meadowbrook (link above), check out her old washing machine filled with Petunias cascading all over the place, it's gorgeous.  Remember the old fashioned washing machines with the ringer attached - I remember feeding the washing through my Nannas ringer washing machine back in the early 1970's.  So, as I don't just happen to have an old washer hanging around (just yet) and a husband who would kill me if I bought one (from god knows where - he has tried to put a stop to my opshop and antique collection recently) I did just happen to have an old watering can I bought recently at the market for $2.

  

So

I went and bought myself a punnet of cascading Petunia seedlings from my local nursery, punched some holes in the bottom of the watering with a hammer and a nail, and planted it out with the Petunia seedlings.  Hopefully it will flower soon and look pretty sweet.  Like these pics from Meadowbrook Farm blog. 

 (Images of washing machine courtesy of Meadowbrook Farm Blog )

 Belive me, there really is a washing machine under there.

So this is my watering can

 And the punnet of spreading Petunias purchased from said nursery, hopefully multicoloured like the label shows

And Ta Da !!!! one planted out watering can,  not looking so impressive just yet, but I  do hope to have some beautiful blooms soon. Will post some pics when it's worth looking at.  

Fairytale Ball

Mst O and Miss L had to dress up as fairytale characters for school last week.  They had a ball in their school hall and then it was back to class for a feast fit for a King or Queen, or Robin Hood or Tinkerbell in our case. Parents were invited to come, but sadly I had to work.  So I tried to make it special for them by putting in special effort to hand sew their costumes, not bad since I did some for them a couple of weeks ago also for their Book Week celebration.   I made Mst O's hat from a pattern I found here, thanks crafty stacy,  it was great, I reduced the pattern down to 90% of the adult size, Mst O does have quite a large head for a 6 year old, but it was just perfect. 

Daddy made up a quick bow for Robin from the bamboo in our garden, we have lots.

Mst O's shirt was recycled from an old mans shirt I had in my sewing stash, I cut it up and remade it to fit, with new sleeves and some black wool sewn in criss cross fashion at the front.  His cape was made from velvet in a chocolate brown.  So handsome !  The green jeans were from the op shop, United Colours of Benetton no less, Robin Hood likes designer labels. 

Daddy also helped with attaching the glitter encrusted star to a stick, collected from the garden, to complete her wand. 

Tinkerbell was in heaven in her little costume, she really played the part, dancing around waving her wand. 

 Mst O was so taken with his costume when he dressed up and saw it on himself complete for the first time, he had no words, just big hugs.  I think I did good.

Recycling at its best

My god this is so clever.
I think just about everyone at some stage in their life has owned one of these pretty ugly TV cabinets.  I'm now thinking I want to go to the secondhand store and buy one just so I can transform it into this beautiful play kitchen.   It's a brainwave.  Go here to Giggleberry Creations to see Millas kitchen, wish I had of thought about this idea a couple of years ago when my little ones would have really enjoyed it.

BookWeek Costumes

It is bookweek around the world this week, and my kids school had their dress up day yesterday.  The theme was "One World, Many stories". 

This was my inspiration, a photo from the internet - Miss L asked was she as beautiful as this Pocahontas - my reply, "of course, you are even more beautiful"

Miss L went dressed as Pocahontas.  Mst O went as the lovely Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.  I had the week off work which was fortunate, so I had a bit of extra time to get back into the sewing room and get creating.   I had all the right stuff in my stash for both costumes, plus a trip to the op shop to get some jewellery so we could try to recreate Pocahontas necklace, it is not exactly as she had but Miss L was very happy all the same with what I made for her.   It was so lovely to see them parading around on stage at school with their classmates in costume.  Mission accomplished !

Test Post

Not sure what has happened lately, but my blog has changed, and I have lost my sidebar, it has relocated down to the bottom of all my posts - and it is not good.  So please bear with me whilst I try to fix it.   Thanks so much.

Backyard Damper - Take Two

Last weekend saw us out in the backyard cooking damper in our brazier again - it is becoming a yearly tradition, and one that we all enjoy very much. We were joined by our neighbours again and I have to say it would not be the same without them. The more the merrier as they say. I have photographed and posted the recipe for you - it comes from Julie Goodwins "Our family table".

The kids all got really involved, and the damper tasted much better than last year, thanks to Julies recipe. We followed up as always with a bag of marshmallows and then a bit later we had a bbq dinner, sat around the fire and ate lamb and drank red wine. What a way to enjoy a cool winters evening.

The damper would not be complete without the golden syrup and butter, when you slide the damper off the stick you simply fill the cavity with the syrup and butter and wait for it to melt.

I do have to say it was "finger lickin good" and I can't wait til next winter. What's your familys' favourite winter tradition?