The Big Green House

Easter marshmallows

2010-03-24T20:04:00.004+10:00

S1 was given some cute Easter shape cookie cutters this week from his Nana. So we put them to good use making Easter marshmallows! A wee bit messy but a lot yummy :) and the result???...

A new nappy forum :)

2010-03-22T10:58:00.002+10:00

There's a new nappy forum in town. Join up and find out how to be in the running to win a custom Cherub's Kiss nappy up to the value of $60!!!

Check it out here - Cloth Nappies Made Easy.

Previewing!

2010-03-16T22:12:00.002+10:00

Put on my photographer hat today and managed to get some stock up and previewing on SewSpunky. Here's one of my favourites...

A new venture!

2010-03-14T09:19:00.004+10:00

Apparently being a bookkeeper, doing TAFE, raising kids, having a baby and the general duties of running a house just weren't enough to keep me busy... so I have started a new venture! Introducing...

My mission is to bring vibrant, unique, hand dyed and hand crafted pieces for babies and children to the Australian public.

I have been busy busy busy learning web development skills (in my own true style I have to do it all myself :p ) while also trying to get stock levels up ready to launch.

I hope to have the website ready for preview this week and a launch date before the end of the month. Wish me luck!

In the meantime you can find a sneak peek at what will be on offer at the SewSpunky Facebook page. Become a fan to get updates on my progress and store events :)

A weekend of landscaping

2010-01-10T20:10:00.003+10:00

We made another step forward in the landscaping stakes this weekend with an attack on the Western front.

I forgot to take a 'before' picture, but here's what the area looked like end of April '09.

We cleared out all the weeds and levelled off the yard yesterday. Then today we had the stones delivered. Here's what was done before it got too hot in the morning.

The 'almost' finished product. Need to give the vegie gardens some attention... A closeup of the little garden at the end of the yard.

Lots of baby boys' clothes for sale!

2010-01-07T20:37:00.003+10:00

I've had a cleanout and have started up a blog with all the boys' baby clothes listed for sale. So far I've done sizes NB - 6mths.

Check it out, tell a friend, etc etc!

Here it is!

Little House Pouch

2009-11-07T10:59:00.003+10:00

Made this today for my neice's 4th birthday (which is this afternoon!). It is from The Long Thread (same with the cape I did the other day).

Now to find a little something to pop inside!

Mummy, you make me a...

2009-11-04T17:26:00.002+10:00

... magic cape?

Ummmm okay...

So off to Spotlight we go where S1 picks the world's hardest to sew fabric for his magic cape. 38 swearwords later and we have...

Some photos of the boys at Cousin Amanda's wedding

2009-10-25T13:14:00.002+10:00

A new Tshirt

2009-09-20T15:31:00.003+10:00

Today's project has been converting an old Tshirt of hubby's into a brand spanker for S1. Here's the results. It's made to size 4 measurements so still a little big around the chest, but all in all it turned out well.

Hmmmm......

2009-09-19T13:58:00.002+10:00

I'm pretty sure there was a nappy on that butt when S2 went down for his snooze!!!

A bib for my little grot

2009-09-02T16:50:00.003+10:00

S2 seems to go through bibs at a rate of knots. And they never seem to cover the bits that need covered! So I made him one myself. It is nice and big and has a waterproof layer to stop him getting soaked during watermelon season.

And here it is again being modelled by S1 who would probably benefit with a bib during watermelon season too!

And having now seen the bib on S1 I can see I will probably need to put some more snaps on the neck to make the neckhole a bit smaller for S2. But he's sleeping so that'll just have to wait.

A snuggly pillow

2009-08-31T11:34:00.002+10:00

S2 is a touchy feely boy who keeps taking off with my pillowcases. So I made him one of his own with extra snuggly built-in touchy feely bits!

You've heard of 5min mug cake?

2009-08-31T11:27:00.005+10:00

Well it didn't fit in my mug... so here's my 5 min Rock'n'serve cake LOL! Tasted great.

Tasted great with icecream too.

Sew I've been busy

2009-08-23T19:37:00.002+10:00

S1 has curtains.

S2 has curtains.

One of Hubby's ugly old shirts is now shorty-shorts for S1.

And S2 is half-way to having his very own touchy-feely pillowcase to cart around sookyrag style.

It's EKKA time!!!

2009-08-13T17:34:00.007+10:00

After much debating we finally made the decision to take the boys into the Exhibition yesterday. On People's Day. Luckily the threats of dreaded Swine Flu and an impending thunderstorm prediction kept the crowds away.

S1 had a great time force feeding the baby animals. At one point a goat gave him a headbutt when he tried to shove stuff in its mouth, but it didn't seem to deter him!

At first there was a cautious distance kept.

The nerves had to give way to a determination to make these damn animals eat though!

Then it was on to the cows. Apparently straw and droppings etc off the floor in a plastic cup aren't that appealing.

Little boy fingers on the other hand...

And well S2 was just unimpressed that randoms kept getting in his shots!

The Govt pavillion gave S1 a chance to try his hand at some future careers..

but in the end he settled on Rockstar! (again with the Peter Garratt moves!)

It's not the Ekka without a Dagwood Dog. Granted these were crappy Pluto Pups, but we did have a real Dagwood Dog earlier in the day...

Then some colouring-in in the rain (and a shot of our pre-hailstorm setup)

Not long after this the storm hit. We managed to cover up, but were then ordered out of the stands due to impending hail. So we lugged everything down, found cover for 5mins while the 'storm' hit, then lugged it all back up the stands again. Thankfully it wasn't a cold night so sitting soaked on wet seats while we waited for the fireworks really wasn't all that bad afterall!

S1 wasn't such a fan of the fireworks, but S2 couldn't get enough of them. Should make for an interesting time come Riverfire!!!

A Day at Seaworld

2009-08-05T10:06:00.005+10:00

We recently purchased QLD VIP passes to Seaworld, Movieworld and Wet & Wild (from here). We've been to Movieworld already, but took photos on the crappy camera and I have no idea how to get them onto the computer.

This weekend just gone was Seaworld's turn. Here's our day in pictures.

Looking for edible food (hard to find at Seaworld!) we ran into Bert & Ernie who were kind enough to pose for a photo. This is also my proof that S2 was there for the adventure too.

There's always time for a merry-go-round ride!

Apparently we weren't cool enough to sit with at the Sesame St show. S1 insisted on sitting up the back on his own.

Oh so cuddly!

Not so cuddly!

S1 doing his best fish impersonation.

I was very excited to discover S1 was tall enough to go on the Flume Ride with me!

It was all fun until we got wet at the end. Then there were tears, and sobs of "have to need to go again with Daddy"!

Hard work on the way up...

But all fun on the way down!

S2's a big boy now!

2009-07-16T13:39:00.003+10:00

My little man had his first birthday on the weekend. We had an awesome party to celebrate with friends & family. The little guy slept all day while we prepared, was awake just in time for the party to start, then promptly fell asleep again after the cake was cut. Typical male huh?!
S1 the baker - in action!

The Cake

Grandma's been busy again

A couple of the vegie gardens now have stuff trying to grow in them. We also filled the side garden and Dad has since been over to fill it with strawberry plants.
If you look hard you might spot a vegie

Not much else going on. If anyone's looking for a job, there's a distinct lack of paediatric gastroenterologists working in private practice in Brisbane....

Drink walking

2009-06-26T14:31:00.003+10:00

S2 has a new 'thing'. He likes to save time by multi-tasking so has been practicing both his walking and drinking from a cup at the same time. Lots of 'grunt grunt' 'slurp slurp' 'thump'.

And here's S1 posing for something new.

Don't forget to eat your greens, and purples, and yellows...

2009-06-26T13:56:00.003+10:00

Finally went and got some vegies to go in the garden today. Of course it promptly started raining the moment we got home so planting has been delayed... But here's our stash.

I got some seedlings to give us a headstart while we wait for the seeds to catch up. Hopefully with all this variety something should grow!!! Amongst all that there is:
Seedlings - Snow peas, cauliflower, celery, beetroot, carrots, sweet corn, brocolli, cherry tomato, normal tomato, dwarf beans.
Seeds - climbing purple bean, butter bean, snow pea, green pea, carrots, cauliflower, zucchini, watermelon, rockmelon and pumpkin (qld blue).

Oh and I made my herb garden a couple of weeks ago. I forgot to take a picture then though so here it is a few weeks on.

S2. Angel? or Enforcer???

2009-06-22T17:31:00.002+10:00

Butter wouldn't melt in my mouth.

How DARE you suggest otherwise!

For that you must pay.

UNLEASH THE ENFORCER!!!

S2's Baptism

2009-06-21T20:06:00.005+10:00

Last Sunday was S2's Baptism. It was a really lovely day. Perfect weather, perfect ceremony, perfect company and perfect baby!

My aunty made the cake. My request was "something with a train maybe?". I think she got it pretty spot-on! As usual it tasted awesome!!!

The view from outside the church.

The view inside the church.

The boy being dunked.

S2 and his Godmother/Aunty.

Family photo!

S1 blowing out the candles.

Land(scaping) Ahoy!!!

2009-06-01T16:18:00.004+10:00

OMG! We have a fence. It's a little 'creative' in parts - but it'll keep the kiddies in so that's the main thing!

Hubby also managed to get the retaining wall/planter box thingy almost finished too. Apparently a bench seat is going to go along the top of it. There's always something more to do right?!

Meanwhile up in the kitchen...

Sunday saw us off to a Pirate Party. Here's my little pirate doing his best pirate 'arrrrrr'. Or perhaps he's channeling Peter Garratt...

And my little maestro (with a glimpse of the new lounge too!).

Progress

2009-05-25T08:49:00.003+10:00

All of the rain sadly put a delay to our retaining wall/garden bed completion over the weekend. So instead we made a start on our verandah orchard. We are trying our hand at dwarf fruit trees and have started out with a Lychee, Bowen Mango, Rincon Avocado and a Lemon/Lime Splitzer (both fruits grafted on the one tree). I'm unsure how the avo will go as everything I've read suggests we need 2 varieties, but the lady at the nursery insisted we didn't so I guess we'll see!

Here's some pics of the orchard and our little 'helper'. Mum & Dad came over yesterday arvo and did some gardening and ironing for us (thanks!). Dad also gave me some strawberry plants which I have put around the base of some of the trees. Apparently he approves of the location so has half a dozen more to give me. YAY! Nothing beats strawberries straight from the garden (except maybe mulberries straight from the tree... which is coming closer to Spring).

Mum has also been busy. I purchased some hand-dyed wool on a whim, then presented it to her to create something. It was a challenge as I could only buy 200g and it was 12ply, but she found a pattern in an old old book (some may say Vintage) and has made a start on a jumper for S2. Here's a progress shot. You can't see clearly in the pic, but the centre panel is pretty cabling. The green jumper is one she made earlier - the colour really suits S2.

Oh and we're very excited as the fenceman finally showed up this morning. I've heard lots of noise outside and can see some holes for posts. Hooray!

Goings on

2009-05-18T07:16:00.007+10:00

First up a name change - it was overly optimistic to think there would be a daily tale to share! So welcome now to The Big Green House.

Another busy week behind us with some internal organising and some more fort work completed. I finally found some time to make a start on my craft room. After moving it it became the dumping room for all things homeless.

It's still obviously a work in progress but it's getting there...

Here's what the boys did while I cleaned...

And having found my sewing machines under the mess, here is a pincushion and a mattress protector pad for S1 that I have managed to make.

Hubby made some progress on the fort also. Not too much left to do now - the monkey bars, rock wall, picnic table, awning on the sundeck and some fiddly pretty bits. S1 was helpful as always, and demonstrated why he is constantly covered in bruises and dinged up ankles - look Mum no hands!

Finally some fun on the swings with Dad

Here's what S2 thought of it all.

Whoops - been a while!

2009-05-11T16:02:00.000+10:00

Well it only took a week for my true colours to show, but here's an update of some of our achievements.

Hubby made some progress with the fort. Now just the rest of the roof/awning to put on, attach the slide, ladder, monkeybars and rock wall, put on the picnic table, and build and attach the swings. Should be all done for S2's Baptism in June!

This weekend saw my Uncle and Hubby starting work on a retaining wall/planter box to tidy up the strip down the side of our neighbour's house. They did a great job and have booked in a future weekend to finish things off. We have decided to put a flat plank along the top of the whole thing to create a little seat-type feature. Not sure how great the health & safety was for the project though - S1 managed to do himself a pretty good injury while out with them!

A productive day

2009-05-01T21:58:00.000+10:00

Managed to get a fair bit of work done today. The best part about that is that it means I don't have to stress about not having it done for the whole long weekend! Hubby had today off and got some more fort construction happening. With a bit of help from a 2nd set of hands tomorrow he should be able to finish it off. Which means hopefully we can get stuck into the vegie gardens.

No sign of our fence man. He was meant to be here last week, then promised this week. Guess there's always tomorrow...

It's going to be a busy weekend...

2009-04-30T10:39:00.001+10:00

The no-dig kits arrived... The picture really does not do justice to how much there is here! The kits are designed to fill the top half of the beds, so we have to fill the bottom half ourselves first. We have heaps of cardboard boxes to go in there - and putting them in there sure beats cutting them up for the recycling bin!

Hopefully we'll be ready to start planting some vegies by the end of the weekend. YAY!!!!

The health kick begins!

2009-04-29T18:42:00.000+10:00

With only 6 and a bit weeks until my little man's Christening, I thought it time I got out the maternity wear and back into normal clothes!!! So diet time it is! Check out the haul of fruit & veg to get us on our way!

The landscaping has taken another step. The no-dig kits for our vegie gardens are due to be delivered tomorrow. Hopefully we can spend some time this weekend getting them all set up and ready to go.

I also bought some half wine barrels that were delivered last night. My hope for these is to get some dwarf fruit trees growing up on the decks. Very excited about that! I'm also going to use one to have a little kitchen herb garden outside the kitchen on the deck which should be very cool.

Oh and I learned today that when it says WARM water in the bread recipe, it doesn't mean water that's been boiled 10mins earlier in the kettle... today's bread was more of a Damper - but tasted great with some golden syrup :)

Bread

2009-04-28T14:38:00.000+10:00

Check out the bread I made yesterday. I was pretty impressed with my efforts (even if the breadmaker did most of the work LOL!!!)

S2 wasn't so excited about it - here he is enjoying his vegemite sandwich...

The Fort - day 2

2009-04-27T11:02:00.000+10:00

Day 2 of fort building, and Hubby was able to find a friend to be his 'adult helper'. The boys did some good work and the fort now has some sides and the 2nd storey floor.

The piles are diminishing...

The floor boards going down. Probably should have hired this mob to build the house. They're doing a much better job than our 'builders' did!

The foreman looking somewhat bored...

The Unfortunately Meme...

2009-04-26T17:39:00.000+10:00

I read about this here. The idea is you google "unfortunately yourname" and get funny one-liners. I thought I'd have a crack but put a positive slant on it. So after googling "fortunately Linda" I got:

"fortunately - Linda never came back"...

Not quite the positive angle I was going for!

Here are some others that came up:

Fortunately, Linda had VIP access. As a professional dog walker and pet sitter, she hung out with celebrities in their bathrobes every day

Fortunately Linda's premonitions and her visit from the wise man on Bali have proved correct and there is something seriously wrong

Fortunately, Linda is patient (I laughed out loud at this one!)

The big bed swap

2009-04-26T08:58:00.000+10:00

S1 had a bad night last night. He went to bed nicely, but had a bit of a freakout about midnight. Long story short, he was extremely restless but after a good dose of teething tablets (he's not teething but these things work great for irritability & restlessness too!!!) he settles in to a good sleep. On my pillow. In my bed.

I figured two can play at this game and headed in to his room for my sleep. He has a really comfy bed so I was ready for a good sleep. What I didn't realise is how horrible the plastic protector on the mattress is. It seems to suck the moisture right out of your body. I now have a massive alcohol-free hangover!

I'm glad we did this little bedswap as I now understand why he needs to drink so much in the mornings and why he often wakes up so miserable! I'm off later to get a handful of cheapish mattress protectors to go over the plastic to see if that improves things for him.

Oh and huge kudos for the teething tablets - worked a treat to stop his restless legs.

The Fort! and other backyard shenanigans...

2009-04-25T20:12:00.000+10:00

The Fort

We decided to get the boys a fort for the backyard. Today Hubby decided he would start building. According to the instructions it is to take 12-16hrs with 1 adult + 1 adult helper. Hubby is still searching for an adult helper as I told him I'm more foreman material than helper.

Here is how it was delivered:

After the boxes were opened:

So far he has assembled the ladder, monkey bar and rock climbing wall. He has lined up a mate to come over tomorrow and be 'adult helper' so hopefully he can get stuck into the nitty gritty of it.

The backyard:

We spent Easter weekend levelling our mudpit and laying turf. Hubby & I did this on our own, and keeping in mind it rained most of the weekend and we have 2 kids, I'm pretty impressed with our efforts getting it done in 4 days. The turf is doing well - the photos were taken today so only 2 patches that might need replacing out of 150 isn't too bad!

Before (okay so the water wasn't that bad, and we had a side fence. This was the only unturfed pic I have on this computer):

Here are the afters... The tank looking things will eventually be vegie gardens. As you can see that's another weekend's work yet to be done :)

Fingers are crossed that the fence will be going in next week. Life will be so much easier when we can take S1 down with us and not spend the whole time retrieving him from the top of the retaining walls!!!

Wow how new am I?!

2009-04-25T17:41:00.000+10:00

Well here I am. My first ever blog. I've never even kept a diary before so this is a whole new kettle of fish! Despite the optimistic name, it's unlikely I'll get daily posts happening - but you never know your luck.

We've just finished building a house so over the next couple of months I'll be updating the world on how we're going getting all the finishing touches done. Other than that it'll be whatever's on my mind.

Cheers for reading!