It's a Sunshiney Day

Gentle Breeze & Sunshine

A lovely day to get everything out on the line for a good airing. 

After the floods of the past week the house has that damp smell. 

Fantastic weather today, threw open the windows & doors like a women possessed and invited the wind to whirl through & through.

Caroline :) 

Some Changes

Remember a few weeks ago I talked about a few changes we would

(or was already) making in our home. I wrote about it here & where I mention my furniture shopping here. 

A while ago somebody dear to me gave me some money, not a lot mind you but a little that I have been able to add to if I've had left over housekeeping money,it is so true that every little bit adds up. 

So a few weeks back when the January post Christmas sales were on I was able to buy a few new pieces of furniture that were very much needed. Outstanding sales this year, all the pieces were under half price.

(With all the furniture out of the room it was easy to give it a good clean, lots of (nasty) surprises lurking under the old furniture) 

We needed a new lounge as we had always had a Sofa bed in this room but it had seen better days -please read getting icky! & like most sofa beds had never been the most comfortable of things to sit on but oh so practical when you have 3 kids & always having the mandatory sleepovers, kids laying around watching movies etc.

With only one child left at home things are a bit quieter to say the least, than the days of three teenagers. So this time around we decided to get something a little nicer -isn't that what you do when your kids grow up??

We managed to get an Italian Leather double recliner & a Lounge at an awesome price. I can highly recommend waiting till the sales we literally saved thousands, & remember don't forget to bargain even more if you are interested in buying several pieces at the same time like we did :)

With a little left over from our outstanding bargaining skills Lol! we were then able to buy a small new 5pce timber dining room suite. This will replace our big one & will allow more room as there are only three of us most times for meals now. We got this for a crazy $300, reduced from nearly $1000. I had to ask the sales person if the price tag was correct(it was)

I won't be getting rid of my big dining room suite though as I hate to think what it would cost me to replace now, it was nearly $3000 many years ago. When we finish redoing downstairs we shall set it up there & will use it when we have people over. 
One of the happiest bits for me was the new one is exactly the same style only smaller, so all the chairs etc. match.

Teenage boy liked removing all the furniture, kinda

 ties in with the destructive nature most teenager boys

 acquire for a few years ;)

I would like to get rid of the feature wall in the first photo, and also remove the wallpaper border then paint a very light colour through out, it will lighten the interior and add a nice contrast to all our furniture that is dark & rustic.

The trouble with our house is that one room flows to the next so that you've got to repaint the whole interior at once not just one room at a time. I don't think that will be happening any-time soon but something to add to the To Do/cum Wish List. 

Ditto, with removing the two blinds. I've been so disappointed in these blinds & the quality of them right since new & they weren't cheap. I made a mistake by purchasing them hastily when my curtains that were hanging were showing wear after I had them cleaned. I still haven't removed the old curtain rods (another thing for the list)

I would like to replace them with either White Timber Shudders or White Timber Slat Blinds. I think I will put a little more thought into it this time.

For the moment I will be giving this room a good going over -Cleaning, de-cluttering, sorting etc. 

Should keep me busy for awhile. 

Have you been doing anything around your home??

Tell me.... I want to know, I may steal your ideas! HA Ha!

Have a great weekend & a great Australia Day(to my Aussie bloggers)

Caroline xo

Around the Yard

Planted this gorgeous Bougainvillea, hopefully it will grow up & over this old gate that I've put in the garden. 

Water Chestnuts are doing well, they are so much bigger than this already. They seem to grow before your eyes. I've never grown them before. So I'll let your know the end result!

Should be in for a good crop of Lemonade fruit this year. Although the tree is looking very heat stressed the last couple of days. Over 40cdeg & high humidity most days is playing havoc with the garden.

YTD we have only had 1.0ml of rain - not even a teaspoon.

Every other morning I pick my chooks a basket of this.....

they love it......

then they lay me these. I'm so thankful to them.

Not like Mother duck who likes keeping them all for herself.

Thinks there may be some little ducklings  to start this new year.

New Year, New Life

Hope you enjoyed your morning walk around the yard with me. I'm off to have a cup of tea & a piece of cold meatloaf (left overs from last nights dinner yum!)

Caroline xo

Another Job done!

3 Doors + 12 Windows later all upstairs fly screens have been replaced. Not exactly an exciting job but alas one more job crossed off this years 'To Do List"

Now only the downstairs windows to do, plus a new security screen for the downstairs door & we're done!

Keep Calm and Carry On

Caroline xo

I Love old Houses but.......

.......they can be a lot of work.

I have lived in a lot of houses (about 25 by memory last count)

Brand spanking new, some where in the middle & the old. So I think I can pretty safely say I know what I like....give me an old house any day. 

You know the one's where the heart & soul of the house is held in the walls, where if they could tell tales there would be many to share. Where the floorboards creak one day in one place then another time in a different place. It's almost like some of these houses have minds(ghosts) of there own.The only drawback is that they are a lot of work maintenance, and this place is just that.

my yard looking like  the local council dump shop lol!

So what have we been up to?? 

Resealing the slab of the house.

Over time the slab has slowly began to leak moisture. If you happened to pick an item up off the floor it was most likely going to feel cool or even damp/wet during the flood season we experienced a while back. 

However we have had to wait this long for the extremely dry weather we are having now to dry out the slab right through and therefore the surrounding ground as well. When they concreted under these old hours years ago concrete wasn't like the super blend that they use these days likewise they didn't lay the plastic down under the slab either. 

Result...rising damp,moisture etc.

High pressure cleaning the slab before sealing

We started by taking the entire contents of downstairs out into the back yard, I swear it looked just like one of those council junk shops, you know the ones where they take all the things out of the tip, sell it to you for a ridiculous price then tell you what a good deal your getting. 
Seriously though I think it was a ploy by partner & Son to remind me of how much junk we have. 

Removing the carpet was fun yuck BUT really not as yucky as I thought(thank goodness) Straight into the Ute and to the dump it went. Next we had to clean the slab with a high pressure water cleaner (Gernie) & Chlorine. 

Then waited & waited & waited some more for it to dry. Of course a storm was brewing by this time and everything was dumped out into the yard. We started to prepare for the worse and gather the tarps. 

Finally it was dry enough to start applying the sealer, sweeping it in so we could fill any nicks or crevices in the concrete. Letting it dry between coats. Continuing this process three times over.

All sealed and dried AGAIN... and still no storm. Carried everything back in and piled it in the- I don't know where places as I haven't been able to find anything since. 
Never mind, it all needs to be transported back out into the yard again when we lay the new carpet.

New carpets will be a while yet though as Steve wants to replace some of the timber trim and we want to repaint. 
My daughter painted the orange feature wall(2nd photo) one Easter several years back. She had a lot of fun doing it but I think I'm going to go neutral this time around and open/lighten the place up a bit. Along with a fair bit of de-cluttering and organizing it should look good.

We will be doing it all ourselves through out the year. We normally do this as financial and time constraints allow. It ended up costing us around $150 to do ourselves with some product left over. In comparison a lady I know paid for this to be down and it cost several thousand. Better in our pocket I reckon!

So here starts my year of simplifying, de-cluttering, maintaining and hopefully organizing. 
Years ago when the children were young we used this area as a playroom, it has been used as a teenage retreat & as bedrooms for my eldest two when they wanted some independence before moving out. 
My office is down there too but since sealing the slab I have moved it upstairs to one of the spare bedrooms(but that's for another post)

Now, to go and sort some of this downstairs STUFF. 
Me thinks it would be a good idea to mark a Garage Sale somewhere into the calendar this year.

Interesting to see if I'm sitting here this time next year eating my words? Seems like we're off to a good start though.

Caroline

Daughters, Dogs and other Ramblings

Received a sweet little text tonight from my darling daughter saying

she's glad I'm back blogging. 

In the age of Face book being so important in people lives, I'm so happy she takes the time to check in at her Mumma's "OLD" blog.

Mmm...she never comments though ;)

So of course after that, I had needed to put some darling photos up of her and her gorgeous Border Collie Stevie.

Despite 2012 being such a hard year for me this year I am endeavouring to move forward with my life. Last year my home suffered greatly & so I feel did many of my close friends & family as they supported me through what was such a difficult time in my life. 

I've always been a person who thrives in a neat and organized environment & after a year of merely just "EXISTING" in my home I think it is well in need of an overhaul. I'm bursting with excitement at some of the plans and changes I've got spinning around in my head. Just to wet my appetite a little in advance of things I have just come back from an afternoon of furniture shopping (Whoops)

Another exciting thing I plan to do is nurture and develop some new friendships I made in the past year. As you get older I found that you rarely make "new" friends and we all become creatures of habit as we tend to move around in the same circles. Have any of you found that true for you as well?
When my children were young I found I was constantly meeting new people in various ways- the school, sports and other community and social groups that I was involved with through my kids. 

With last year being what it was I felt I didn't embrace my new friends caring, kindness and friendship that they gifted upon me BUT this year I fully intend to return that favour x 10 :) 

z

Also, last year I joined a small community group in our little town that is full of like minded people. I must say I was most pleasantly surprised when I joined as in many ways I had struggled with some aspects of this town :0

You see it wasn't a place I would have ever personally have chosen to live in given, the choice that is but desperate times made for major adjustments to our life and the way we lived so when I moved here (many moons ago now) I never really expected to stay!! As a young widow at only 26  with 3 very, very young children I had to move where there was a decent job that would support us, then I met my partner and dare I say- I think it was all "written in the stars"

Anyway it was such a blessing to have found this small group that when I continually came home at night raving about it my partner decided to join, it's all the more lovelier as it something we share together now. Finding things to do as a couple becomes more and more important, I feel as the children grow up and fly the nest spreading and testing their independent wings.

I have a few new projects that my darling partner helped me start last year. His part in my journey by helping & supporting me (& selflessly putting his own feeling aside despite them being as deep as mine)was helping me find new hobbies to learn, explore & enjoy. 
I hope to be able to share a few of those in time here, at my blog. 

So, I hope you all will continue to join me in my journey throughout the year as I regain(hopefully) my strength after 2012 the year that was!! 
Thank you to those few kind bloggies that sent me awesome messages/emails & to my faithful followers.It was encouraging to see in my absence I didn't lose any of you and that I fact in gained some newbies :)

Enough rambling, hope you all have a lovely Sunday, cheerfully spending quality time with those that you hold dear.

Caroline xo


  

Winter Sun

I love this time of year when the winter sun swings around swamping my dining room with it's warmth.
I sat here the other day enjoying my morning cuppa, and it was so wonderful compared to my cold dark office that I lugged all my bookwork upstairs and sat doing it all warm and cosy in my pj's, it was so good that I didn't mind doing it nearly half as much as usual.

Have you got a nice spot where you enjoy in winter??
Caroline xoxo

January Egg Count

One of our beautiful Barnvelder hens-these are the chooks

that lay the lovely brown eggs.

We had 10 chicks hatch this month (naturally- no incubators here)

This sent our egg count down as we had 2 hens that were sitting.

Our egg count was from 14 hens & then from the 9th January was from 13 hens.

Total eggs for the month was 188

I thought it was okay seeing as some hens are now on there 3rd year of lay & also the big variation in weather we have been having.

and this is the Daddy. Our Barnvelder Rooster who has just the quietest temperament but still looks after his ladies well.

Caroline ....

I Heart This.....

Why?

because I do rustic REAL well

AND

if I ever have a kitchen that it can be put in, it will be there before I can say

"I LOVE rustic butcher blocks"

Caroline xo

They've started.....

Schools holiday's have begun at our house

so this is what I will be letting my boy do come tomorrow morning.

He's just at the age he needs no encouragement to have a sleep in.

The age of hollow legged boys, tired in the morning but can stay awake all night type of boys.

With just a little but enough back answering to let you know

they have spirit :-)

He's my youngest.... gee I'm going to miss this when it's gone.

Caroline xo

Making things with old horseshoes

We have a LOT of old horseshoes lying around so

The Blacksmith & The Soldier Boy got put to work in the shed to make me a new boot pull. So quick & easy for them to make, with virtually nil cost as the shoes are of course being recycled.

Soldier Boy made one to take home to his place then we had a friend visit the next day that took a liking to mine that I had put by the front door so he then took that home to his place & before you know it I am once again without a boot pull.

I think the boys will have to venture down to the shed again to make some more as we now have a couple of orders for them as well.

Meanwhile back at the house little old me has been searching the Internet & found many nice things that I would like made out of old shoes including one VERY large outdoor table.

But alas it's the time it takes dear always the time.....

Have a great day all

Caroline xoxo

Winters end

The last of the peas from my little garden

Caroline xox

Sunday...

relaxing & reading

Reducing Plastics in your Home & Thrift Shopping

For many many years now I have been trying to reduce the use of plastics in my home. This came to the forefront of my concerns when my last child was born with Autism. These kids are and/or very likely to be overloaded & effected by chemicals.

By the way Lego is one of the most stable plastics you can get, thank goodness -my last born is obsessed with it.

Most people know of the nasty chemicals used in the making of plastics and how these can leach into the products contained in them. Plastics contain molecules called Phthalates (which effect the endocrine system) they infiltrate everything they touch as well as this they are by-products of the petroleum industry which makes them a big pollutant.

Usually the cheaper the plastic container the more chemically unstable it is. For example pharmaceutical plastic is much more stable than say your cheap plastic container from the dollar shop.(Have you ever walked into one of these dollar shops and smelt the plastic chemical in the air? my youngest used to go troppo in those shops) this is because the harder the plastic the more chemically stable it is.(hence leggo being ok)

So please, if you do have a lot of plastics please make sure they are not the soft variety and avoid vinyl's which are highly unstable. Leather is a good alternative to vinyl and yes, I know of the price difference but the initial outlay is nothing compared to the years of use you will get out of leather if you maintain it well.

The photo above of the ceramic pumpkin container is what I picked up at the op-shop for $8. I was going to use it to store my homemade Laundry Detergent in but the shelf in my laundry isn't big enough for it so I am now storing my dog treats in it. Unfortunately the lid does not seal well enough to store food stuffs in it. Still a great thrift shop bargain though which I am sure I will use for many years to come.

I certainally can not eliminate all plastics from my home but I do try to find alternatives if it is at all possible.

Do You??

Caroline

The Pumpkin & Gourd Harvest

The cold weather we have had has just about killed off the Pumpkin vine and the Gourd vine has already finished.

SO......time to harvest. I am in-visioning Hot Pumpkin Soup on a chilly night.YUM!

But...the gourds does anyone know what to do with them??

Caroline xo

MORE RAIN & OTHER STUFF

It's been a wet old year for us to date, with the promise of a wet Spring & Summer to come. We have had 30ml in the last day with more rain predicted until Friday.

It has been great for the garden. I have not had to water for 4weeks now, which is a big saving. I did use a bit of water today though as we washed the exterior of the house. We use a high pressure water cleaner so we don't use as much as we would otherwise but I still try to be concious of it. We usually wash it down every spring, today though I also had to clean down the driveway & front path as with all the rain we have had it has become slippery & dangerous with the green stuff!!

Also had a call from the Soldier Boy which was lovely & Emerald cooked a delicious meal of Meat Balls 'n' Sauce with Pasta. She even cleaned up the kitchen afterwards, BONUS!!

Em was over the moon today as her new cowboy boots arrived from the States. We only ordered them 10days ago, so someones been doing their job well. I don't know what the Australian Air Express man thought though when he pulled into the drive, Emerald dived out the front door screaming "There here" before he even got out of his van.

No doubt we will be doing lots more photos with the new boots. I still have some more Cowboy pics from the other day when we were mucking around taking photos so I will post them soon. The Soldier Boy has asked to see them, so if I put them on here it's a job easy & done.

Caroline xoxo...

PS-Not long now Soldier Boy. Love Ya!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY-Cowboy Kidz

Yeh I know it's Wordless Wednesday,

but I'd like to say one little thing.......

Geez I wish we had of moved that trampoline out of the background ;-)

Have a great day

Caroline

HOMEGROWN & HOMEMADE

I picked this basket of citrus off our trees recently.

There are Lemonade fruit, Oranges & Mandarin's for the picking at our home at the moment. I find growing some of our own fruit saves quite a bit as some of my kids are real fruit bats. I also make freshly squeezed orange/mandarin juice & freeze some. While I know the skins are blemished & they don't look as "Perfect" as the shop bought ones, I also know they have not been sprayed constantly with all the nasty chemicals (citrus are sprayed alot) All we use here in our home is horse & chicken poo, a certified organic fish/kelp spray (which incidentally is produced only 20Min's from here -YEH!! for local) and occasionally some Epsom salts in warm water when the trees are looking a little magnesium deficient, due to our soil Arghh!!

(Oh and many thanks to blogger who refused to load the photo the right way)

I saw this idea of making little teacups & saucers on someones blog recently. I am sorry that I can't give that blogger credit as I can't remember where I saw it, but please leave me a comment telling everyone where I did see it. Must be old age it's Birthday time for me again.

They are the sweetest, easiest things for the kids to make and as it's school holidays in our neck of the woods, a great activity for the holidays. No cooking all you need is some Tick Tok biscuits, a packet of marshmallows, a tube of pink musk lifesavers, some sprinkles and some icing to stick it all together.

Have a great week

Caroline xoxoxo

CROCHETED GOODNESS

On my last thrift shop jaunt with my lovely friend Carolyn I found this little bit of crocheted goodness. It wasn't an easy find, as with most good thrift shop finds it happened to be tucked under a rack of trench coats in a box labelled dog bedding!! I mean what is wrong with these people to put something like this in a box labelled "Dog bedding".

This clearly is a rug/blanket that has never been used in fact I would go so far as to say that it hadn't even been made up for long. The wool still smelt new and any of you good thrift shoppers must know how quickly things take on the smell of mustiness & mothballs, or as my kids describe it "Dead Grandpa's"

They started to say this many moons ago after we had to clean out my Grandpa's (their great grandpa) flat after he passed away. Oh what delights they had discovering that yes he really was young once and DID once lead an extraordinary life.

Anyway this lovely blanket has found a good home here & will be well used in the coming months as the weather starts to cool. (it's a GOOD single bed size even hangs over the edges a little)

I can't help but wonder what lovely dedicated hands took the time to crochet this and WHY was it sent to a thrift shop.

???????

Is the lady still in this life, was it hard for her to knit - although I don't think so it looks so well done BUT were her hands crippled with arthritis & did she give it to someone as a gift who clearly doesn't appreciate homemade goodness.

I will never be able to answer these questions but what I can do is use & lovingly care for this beautiful blanket. Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Caroline xoxo.......

HERB UPDATE

Remember back on November 6th I said I had decided to move my herbs into tubs because of the water situation. (Photos here)

Well these are the photos of those seedlings only 1 week later. Boy do they love growing in these tubs, I think I will be growing them here all the time now.




Yeh I know I'm late posting them, but blogger wasn't being kind to me and wouldn't let me load the pictures. Even now it has loaded the photo above sideways despite my many attempts and some Choice! words directed towards blogger to right it.

Meaning no that frypan in the first picture really isn't defying gravity. Oh and in case you are actually even wondering what I do have a frypan in my garden for, it is filled with water for my Guinea Pigs that run loose throughout my garden.

The tubs I have them planted in are actually old concrete Wash(Laundry) Troughs that people were throwing out of an old house they were renovating. So in keeping with my recycling, frugal living philosophies they were of course destined to come live with me. A lick of old green paint some potting mix mixed with Organic Booster & Compost and there you go herbs near my back door.

Anyway today I am going to make some fresh Pesto with all that Basil I have growing (Yummy)

Caroline xoxo...