Op shopping and puppies

 Meet the latest additions to our not so small family, this is Jedda and Murphy. After losing our beloved Bull earlier in the year we had not felt the time was right to get another dog, but as you can see that has all changed, and because we don't do things by halves we got 2 - brother and sister. So far they are very good, not toilet trained yet but getting there and the thing I am most happy about - so far they are very tolerant of not so gentle small children, fingers crossed it stays that way.

 Some very successful shopping at the local lifeline this week. I picked up this cupboard thing - no it does not match anything else we own but I really liked it and for $10 how could I say no. i am sure it will be put to good use.

 My next op shop bargain - this wardrobe, destined to contain the new babies things, it needs a bit of work but the bones are good and I just love the shape and again $20 how could I let it go? Other bargains obtained this week are a commercial grill/cooker - just perfect for a large family - i can't help but picture the amazing hamburgers we will be cooking on this. Also although i have no idea if it works or how to use it - a knitting machine, I will have to try and download an instruction manual, it looks very confusing with lots and lots of little pieces. it may sit here gather dust for a while before I muster the courage to try and work it out but at $8 again how could I go past it.

And finally - do you think the dogs were a big hit, they are very much loved already, a great addition to our bunch!

birthday girl

I really should have posted on Friday because that was Delaney Rose's 8th birthday, but we had a great time and I am only just catching up with this today. As you can see one of her gifts was this guitar and she loves it, she got some amazing gifts and is really growing up. Where has my baby girl gone?, but I really can't complain, she is growing into a beautiful, young girl.
Isn't this just brotherly love at its best? I love this photo.

And I finished another knitting project that has been on the needles far too long. My second pair of socks is finally complete :) . I love love love my homemade socks, they are the best socks I have ever owned. I have cast on another pair of socks but I suspect they will be on the needles a very long time too because after I find out the sex of belly fruit this week there will be some serious baby knitting happening. Still keeping my fingers crossed there will be pink knitting happening - so keep them crossed for me too :)

no news is good news

I seem to be suffering bloggers block or somthing along those lines at the moment. It seems to be a combination of time, motivation and quite frankly nothing to say. I am sure my life is not that boring....okay who am I kidding it is definitely that boring and I guess I don't need to inflict that boredom on everyone else by writing about it :)

Finally I have made something for the belly fruit - a little colourful blanket, a little smaller than I would have hoped but I had no other ideas for this wool.
and speaking of the bellyfruit - here is another action shot, not too much different from the 13 week shot. We are now at 18 weeks and doing well. Ultrasound next week will hopefully tell us if it is a boy or girl belly fruit so we are madly trying to come up with a boys name just in case, girls name is sorted but we are really struggling with a boys name.

will endeavour to be back more frequently, in the mean time stay dry and bring on the spring weather. I am very much over the rain....

and we're back

well it seems I have had nothing to say lately, life has been moving along as it does with no major changes. Been doing a little soul searching and I think I have come out better for it with a better idea of where our family is headed

Speaking of family - well ours is about to get bigger again, yes baby number 6 (and last) is on its way. I am 12 weeks along and already huge. I am very much looking forward to getting a look at this little bellyfruit on Monday
Look at these bathing beauties aren't they gorgeous, although I may be a little biased. Macallum has finally worked out what the camera is for and now performing happily when one appears. And even more surprising is that Hudson seems to finally be happy to have his photo taken too, and doesn't he take a nice pic too!!

For some reason the older 2 didn't seem so keen to have their pictures taken in the bath - hmm, I think they are growing up

September is nappy hunt time , much time is spent searching for that elusive icon, and shopping too, although I can honestly say I have participated in 6 nappy hunts now and never bought anything - maybe this time will be different. There are some awesome sites to discover, not all nappy related, so its fun for everyone.

cheers

things to remember

some things I need to remind myself of more often

• open your arms to change, but don't give up your values
• be gentle with the earth
• a loving atmosphere in the home, is the foundation for your life
• silence is sometimes the best answer
• learn the rules, so you know how to break them properly

I know there are more but these are the ones I was thinking of today - they have struck a chord so thought I'd share.

feeling blurgh

well today i feel yuck, tired, cranky just plain flat:(. So today I am going to grizzle about a few things, I don't whinge often so be prepared!!!!!
first off I am mad about the Gold Coast birth centre being closed down, well yes it has been reopened for the weekend but well!!!! Birth Rights are a little bug bear for me, I just don't understand why men in suits think they can do this to women time and time again. First they target home births and independant midwifes now apparently its birth centres - this birth centre is in the hospital grounds really - how dangerous can it be - apparently it has been associated with three deaths and yes I totally agree this is tragic, but how many babies have died in the hospital itself? You'd better close all the hospitals down because people die in them all the time!!! Anyway I thought I'd include a little quote which says things quite well I think

"First they came for the unassisted birthers,but I did not speak out, because I do not free-birth.Then they came for those who birth at home with lay midwives,but I would would not speak out, because I would not have a home-birth with a lay midwife.Then they came for those who birthed with Certified Professional Midwives,and I would not speak out, because I would not have a home-birth with a CPM.And then they came for those who birthed in birth centres and with Certified Nurse Midwives,but I would not speak out because I would not have a birth in a birth centre or with a CNM.And then they came for me,and there was no one left to speak for me. "

My number 2 gripe for the day - what is so wrong with the way we do things?, why do we feel like outcasts? Is it wrong to believe it is more important to love our kids than give them everything they want? Am I wrong to believe it is impotant to teach the value of money, how to care for the environment, about where our food comes from and what is in it? Okay so I am not doing the best job in the world, but we are trying and while trying to teach my children these things I also am trying to raise independant, free thinking, questioning little souls. I do not want them growing up to believe everything they read in the paper or is on the tv. I want them to ask why, how and who? I want them to stand up for themselves and their brothers and sisters, to be able to have a fight amongst themselves and be able to work out a solution for themselves. I do not want to be a helicopter parent.

I could go on but clearly some people have really rubbed be up the wrong way this week so I will leave it there today

A bit of this and that

Lets start with the cute.... of course they are, aren't they. A rare occasion - these 2 playing nicely together, probably because 2 of their 3 other siblings spent a couple of nights at Nans. I always seem to be posting pics about these 2 but with BJ and Tman gone for a couple of days it was amazing how many times I went to say "Beej, how about.... or Tman do you think...." etc . Little lightbulbs moments like this remind me how much I love and miss my kids so much when they are not around and reminds me why we have such a big family. I wouldn't have it any other way. Sure it may be a little out of the ordinary but hey it works for us.
And we bought a new car, well not new but new to us. Its a loooong way from new, but its in such good condition and only 43 000 km's on the clock and best of all its a 10 seater so room for a few more in there :)

T o say that Darren loves her would be somewhat of an understatement. She has been dubbed old Bessie.

And last but not least my craft for the last couple of weeks. First off - a Shalom cardigan http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shalom-cardigan for me. Its my first ever adult size garment and I love it, I do believe i may be knitting for myself more often

And a handbag and matching purse for a swap. Yes it is the bag style that I seem to make all the time but I did decide it was time for a little makeover and changed the handle as I did think the other style handle let the bag down a bit. I may change the handles more as time goes on but I do quite like this style. The purse I did as a little challenge to myself. I have had the pattern and frame for ages and because the pattern was quite hard to read and understand I had never attempt it, but hey you gotta start somewhere, so it worked out ok, not perfect but not bad if I do say so myself. In fact I think I may have to make one for myself soon.

New Life

Guess what, guess what...... we have new babies.2 brand spanking new baby chicks, well a week old now but you know :). Aren't they just the cutest things ever, we think so. For those of you that don't know Darren has somewhat of a chicken fetish, he loves them, we have heaps of many different varieties like, silkies, frizzles, buff columbians, polish, feather feet and honestly because I don't love them as much as him that's all I can remember LOL. Anyway Darren has an incubator so not all but a lot of eggs go in there and lo and behold amazing for a couple of amateurs we managed to hatch a couple. We have had a lot of failures too but fingers crossed this is the beginning
the yellow one is a regular garden variety chicken, but the black one well to be honest we are not sure what she is, except that it is a bantam of some description, hopefully time will tell. And we may have baby ducks soon too as we have a clucky duck sitting on some eggs. We have 4 ducks - Donald and his girls - Daisy, Daphne and Delilah. Donald is one happy duck :)

And for a baby (or rather toddler) of a different kind, he is pretty cute too if I do say so but growing much too fast. He is developing such a personality, its fascinating to watch and be a part of, he is so funny and happy, just a joy to be around.

And another artistic photo from the photographer extroidinaire Delaney. She is good, isn't she!

Stay tuned

Bull the dog

I have avoided writing this post, I think because I was in denial, well the time has come to accept it :(
My gorgeous, loving, beautiful natured, loyal dog is gone. Darren and I got him when we first moved in together, embarrassingly I do not remember his exact age but suffice to say he was about 13, which is pretty old for a rotty x heeler. On this day 2 weeks ago i was giving him his last belly rub, that was the last time I saw him. Darren saw him later that day when as always he followed Darren around while he fed the chooks, Monday morning he was nowhere to be found.
I suppose I will never know what happened, people have said maybe he went away to die as dogs sometimes do and since we have 17 acres we can't find him. All I know is he is gone and no amount of crying will bring him back. The pounds have been searched, lost/found adds scoured and the roads in the area have been driven and walked many a time in these last 2 weeks
I/we miss him terribly, not a day has passed that I don't think of him, whether its the left over food scraps, or a shadow I catch a glimpse of by the front door in his favourite spot that reminds me.
So today I have decided to remember him with a smile instead of a tear when I think of him and hope that he is happy/peaceful wherever he may be

We Miss You Bull

Lost

Lost - thats a little how I'm feeling right now.I'm not sure about anything at the moment.I knew exactly what I wanted and what my goals were and now a little curve ball has been thrown and I'm not sure what to do. Is it possible to have it all? Can I juggle my family, work, study, craft/ hobbies for me? I don't know - my inner voice says " sure, you can do anything you put your mind too " but my other voice says " yes you can, but will you do any of it well?" and that is the problem, I want to be good at everything I do mmmm - much more thinking to be done I think!!!
Now some pics just for fun - this is a self portrait shot from Delaney - isn't she clever, I think I've said it before but she takes great photos, much better than me - really!
A happy shot of my littlest man, he has been unwell this week with a nasty case of conjunctivitis but as always is happy and smiling

Here is my garden harvest, some very odd shaped baby carrots, along with some baby beets.

And and awesome giant egg - these three are all regular chicken eggs - the middle one weighs an amazing 102g - poor chicken!!!!!!

A Crafty Weekend

As some of you can probably tell there has been a distinct lack of craftiness around here lately. Partly due to the hours I work at this new job seem to leave very little time for any crafty pursuits, also the location of my sewing machines is not good ( read a cold dark corner of the garage) and most importantly my complete loss of sewing mojo - well in an effort to bring back the mojo - I moved machines to the kitchen table and got to it.
First up is a bunch of headbands I have been working on for ages, tweaking the design and so forth, still not 100% happy but I'll get there

next up a side snapping nappy for my little peace lovin' hippy LOL ( back view above, front view below). This has been sitting half done on my sewing pile forever, I think I have lost the addiction phase of my cloth nappy love, while I still love cloth and that will never change, I have moved on from the must have this, that or the other brand just for the sake of it - I have truly beautiful nappies from some amazing talented ladies in my stash and in all honesty more than we really need, so not only have I stopped buying them * shock, horror* but I have also stopped making them. Must be time for another baby LOL

Also on my to do list forever was to make myself a new bag - well here she is, a little understated perhaps but she'll do, roomy and practical and of course some green in there too - what more could you want :)

And below another long awaited project - new tea towels - these were the cheapest ones we could find - can you believe the price of something to dry your dishes with? Well they were just plain white towelling but I decided to spruce them up a little - as you do. 2 are tie dyed and 2 are embroidered - not bad huh?

It helped that I had a 4 day weekend that enabled me to actually get some craft done. I could get used to this 4 day weekend business - hopefully sooner rather than later thats what I will be doing - can't wait!!!!!!

Cheers :)

This weekend we.........

went to our favourite little Lifeline shop - its at the dump just near us and we nearly always find ourselves a little bargain there and this weeks bargain was this little beauty above. Do you know how long I have been searching ebay for one of these? - its an Fowlers Vacola electric preserving steriliser if you didn't know LOL and all the ones I found on ebay have been far too expensive for this little stingy duck but this little baby was ..... wait for it ......$20. Admitedly it was a risk when we bought it because they couldn't tell us if it worked or not but we bought her home and tested her out and yipppeeee she works . Now all I need is some cheap fruit to make some jam and what fun we will have :)

made an awesome home made wooden toy - do you like it? Made by Darren who had been telling me for years that he would be able to make some wooden toys and well wouldn't you know it.....he can!!!!!

This is a first attempt and its not quite finished but I think it rocks, so much so that I think he could sell some at the markets. He has plans for some different types etc and I think he would do well. What do you think - would you buy one?

cheers

Achievements

Achievement number one - garden harvest - I can honestly say I have never grown a thing in my life, well do weeds count? Darren had a little vegie patch when we lived on the coast but to be honest it was not a great success, but this little vegie patch ( see pics in previous post) is pretty much all mine, I have fertilised ( picking up the cow poo and watering it down), watered ( carried out bucket after bucket of the kids baths water) and even made my own pesticide ( see a previous post on this too) and now harvested my first ever food. Yes I am little proud of myself - can you tell?

The kids helped me pick the beans, peas and snow peas, this is whats left of the peas and snow peas after we sampled them along the way.... Well you have to try them - thats the rule isn't it?

So tonights dinner will be zucchini slice with our own zucchini and our own eggs - how great is that.

Achievement number 2 - socks - yes finally I finished my first ever pair of knitted socks. They were started about a year ago and I quickly finished one and then lost the urge to do the other and well as you know a sock is not much use on its own so I finally bit the bullet and decided that since most of my socks are decidedly holey I should finished this pair and VOILA - here they be!!!

And I feel so happy with myself that i have cast on another pair, hopefully they will be finished a lot sooner.

Stay tuned

Cheers

a learning process

Well here I am again, let me tell you this gardening business is new to me. i have never grown a thing successfully in my life, not that i haven't tried. But here i am giving it a go once again and touch wood I can manage to keep these gardens alive :)
Above are my tomato plants, there are 17 - one didn't make it. We got the seedlings from Bunnings, punnets of 6 marked down to $2, because they didn't look so crash hot but ever the optimist I thought I could rescue them and so far so good. Because I am new to this area I am not sure when to plant what and what will survive the frosts that are coming from what I am told but its all learning.

this is another lesson learned here - I had no idea how big zucchini plants grow, if I did I would have given them a row to themselves but hey live and learn, in this row there are zucchini (obviously), carrot, onions and some cauliflower.

in this sad looking area are my cabbage and baby beets, as you can see the garden is not finished its just baby steps.

I discovered the other day that my cabbage and cauli were being eaten by cabbage moth so I googled ( as you do) for a natural pesticide that I could make myself and here is the recipe I came up with

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsn veg oil

let these steep for about 24 hours and then drain the garlic off and mix the oil with 2 tsn dishwashing liquid and 1 lt of water

i then liberally sprayed said plants with this mix and will keep you posted with the results

Also on a side note just to show how I am getting the hang of this simple waste not want not way of life, I then used the garlic that I drained off the oil in a herb and garlic loaf that we ate with plenty of butter for lunch mmmmmm - it was good :)

peas and beans here, which are all doing well. Darren built a trellis type thing above them out of some metal we had lying around. Gotta love a handy man.

And this slapped up chicken coup is very very temporary - these girls and boys are getting the ground ready for stage 2 of the vegie patch. I think I will wait the winter out before planting anything here though - I am hoping for some pretty special things from this patch of well turned and fertilised dirt

thanks for looking

Cheers

getting up close and personal

with Freckles the pig. Delaney took this shot on the weekend and I loved it too much not to share it. And just quietly she kicks my butt in the photo taking department. I can't believe how fast my gorgeous little piggies are growing, we will have to separate the boys and girls soon as we do not the girls to get pregnant the first time they are able because pigs have large littlers and having them when they are too young can kill them :(

And on the subject of growing too quickly - here is my baby boy Macallum who has recently learnt to walk. OMG slow down boy where is my baby going. He is such a cheeky devil - can't you tell in this photo.

anyway 2 posts in 1 week what is the world coming to - better get back to it - cheers :)

my journey

The dream is self-sufficiencyor I should say as close as possible because I don't believe it is possible for me in entirity ( there are things I like too much - coffee being one) and the journey is beginning. We have been making baby steps and I have tried off and on with making my own bread but this weekend I decided I will never be self-sufficient if I can't make my own bread so i thought I better get practising. So here one of this weekends results and while I have to admit they are improving every time they are not yet "perfect" but I will reserve my judgement on my bread making ability until I get my hands on some Bread flour and not just regular flour.

The simple life is the life we are aiming for, make what we can, buy second hand, repair, recycle and generally make do. This is something that I/we are particularly passionate about and we are trying bit by bit, baby step by baby step weave it into our lives. We have our chicken for eggs and soon some for meat, trying desperately to grow vegies which is not easy given my black thumb, some pigs who we will breed to sell and some to eat.

Some time in the future I hope to have a dairy cow to milk for milk, cheese, cream all the natural milky, dairy things I can create.

So the journey has begun, and I hope we can achieve this slow, simple life we dream of. We have a set of values we are trying to live up to and still we need to change some of our mindsets and its not going to happen overnight but you know the rest.

will talk more on this journey at a later date - so much for trying to slow down i seem to be always in a rush still LOL

edited to add - I just ate fresh bread for lunch and mmmm mmmm is all I can say - I am definitely getting there in the bread making stakes if I do say so myself :)

this weeks happenings

first off - some craft. I have rediscovered my love of crochet after being inspired my an awesome blog that i read http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/ . I just love her creations and so I broke out my crochet hooks and whipped up this hair clip for flossy and I have also started a granny blanket but I have run out of wool so that project is on hold.

A random photo of Hudson - it is so rare to capture of pic of him smiling. As soon as a camera appears out come the funny faces and coy behaviour but today i caught him - so showing it off was definitely necessary LOL.

Also belated Happy 5th Birthday wishes to my Tanner man. This is his much prized gift - a built by dad billy cart and lovingly painted my Tanner and myself after much deliberation at the Bunnings paint counter over colour choices. It was always going to be green ( his favourite colour - takes after his mother does my boy :D), but the shade of green was quite the dilemma but the little man finally decided on this lime shade, with some red trim and gold wheels of course. Still to be added are some red lightening bolts to complete his aptly named GREEN LIGHTENING.

I am so pleased with our efforts on this, totally handmade with some recycled items as well. There were 2 reasons for this - yes we are a bit skint at the moment but my main reason is twofold - i believe strongly in the value of a handmade with love gift - i know myself i would rather have something lovingly made by someone i care about than a thoughless, mass produced, made in China, throwaway gift. Not saying that all store bought gifts are that but I hope you understand what I am trying to say here :), the other aspect is that I want my children to be satisfied with this type of gift and not be demanding and wanting all the time, ( this is what I want for them - not in anyway am I there yet ). I want them to recognise the value of a good quality handmade gift as in my experience this seems to be lacking in todays world. Anyway I seem to have lost my train of thought so I will shut up now LOL.

And last but not least this is Codycalf. One of our ( well not our but residing here ) new tenants. There are 3 cows - this one, a pregnant black Angus called Dora. Dora also has a male calf here as well but he is unnamed as he is to be killed at a later point. Please no comments on that - it just life I'm afraid, and anyway its not our cow so not our choice. And I for one would rather know just what is in my meat and be confident in its quality and freshness - well that or become a vego - and just quietly thats not going to happen.

Also no photo but it was my mums birthday this week - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!! and I must say we had a lovely lunch out and a visit from some relatives I rarely see from Adelaide - so it was an awesome week - one far too good not to blog about.

so I hope I haven't bored anyone to death with this massive blog post but thats the week that was in our house

cheers

Nadine :D

new additions

say hello to the newest family members :).The 2 boys ( the black ones) are purebred Berkshires and their names are Barry and Mr T. The girls are Tamworths/Berkshires and the really red one is Penny but the spotted one is as yet unnamed :(

So any suggestions for this little ones name would be appreciated, they are all around the 8 week old mark and so so cute and already getting used to the crazy lady who comes and talks to them every day LOL.

hmmm - help me with a name please - I need to call her something!!!