Merry Christmas!

No, I haven't gone completely loopy. I'm off to a Christmas In July dinner with a few of the neighbours tonight. There are five households involved and we 'made' the couple with the biggest house play host. Sounds mean but theirs is they only place we'll all fit comfortably into (and they volunteered for that very reason!). We've divied up the menu to come up with five courses and are taking/making a couple of things each - I've made two new recipes which is a bit risky so I'm hoping they'll be well received. The first is a Moroccan Sweet Potato, Carrot and Chickpea soup that, from this afternoon's taste test, is delicious but rather spicy. The second is a Sticky Date Cheesecake. That's the one I'm not sure about. It can be served warm or at room temperature and has a warm caramel-y sauce to pour over it. Fingers crossed it's going to come out of the tin okay otherwise everyone will be getting a scoop of gloop in their dessert bowls!

We've got enough food to feed a small nation, Christmas Crackers, Secret Santa gifts, drinks on ice and kids spending the night with their grandparents. Now I have to get myself showered and prettied up and then it's across the road and down a bit for FUN FUN FUN.

A Lovely Day For A Picnic

We caught up with some friends today for a picnic up at Mundaring Weir. The weir provides water to pretty much all of Perth and, because of the lack of rain in these parts, is looking very low.

Miss Charlotte, who attended my morning tea a few weeks back, was there in all her sleepy, cuddly, 7 or so week old glory. She is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous and my friend C and I fought over cuddles throughout the day.

We had a yummy bbq picnic lunch and the kids played and kicked the footy, explored and even found kangaroos. Sorry, we didn't get photos of them but I'll head back later this week and get some special kangaroo pics just for those of you who I know will be eager to see them. After lunch we took a walk across the weir wall.

And then climbed steps, steps and more steps on the way back.

And we made sure we crossed the road at the safest spot!

And just to prove that sometimes I do manage to be on the other side of the camera... here's me, looking very glamorous (NOT!) on the drive home.

It was a lovely, if freezing cold, day (16C today, but blue skies and sunny for the most part) and a terrific way to start the school holidays.

PS: Don't forget the giveaway. It's open till Thursday.

Catching Up

Whoa, has it been over a week since I was last here? Where did that chunk of time go?? Life here is a little hectic at the moment - with the work we're doing around the house taking up pretty much every spare minute and leaving me worn out at the end of each day, combined with work, running around after the kids and all the other things that being a wife, a mum and running a house entail I just haven't had a whole lot of free time. And the next couple of weeks look set to be even crazier as I'll be working pretty much every day. A totally insane decision that is already making me a little stressed but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Besides, after that I'll have two weeks holiday (at home, working on the house and yard!) to relax and catch up.

So what's been going on?

Offspring #1's thumb has pretty much recovered so at football today be managed to land on his shoulder. Yes, his shoulder. Luckily it doesn't seem to be more than a pulled muscle. His birthday is later this week and he's on a pretty big warning that if his behaviour at home doesn't improve there won't be a birthday at all. That said, I'm actually getting worried that his birthday present isn't going to arrive in time.

Offspring #2 has had a little leap in learning and wants to write every word ever spoken, written or thought. She has me making lists - parts of the body, things in a house, things we can see, etc, and then copies them all out, colours them in and generally has fun playing with letters and language. It's amazing to watch and so much fun seeing her little face light up when she works something out.

The reno work is progressing nicely. We've started the wall at the back of the house and I've been busy pulling out plants, ripping out the old coffee-rock retaining wall (it's hell on the hands and nails), pulling up brick paths (also hell on the hands and nails) and over the weekend I've put new plants into the tiered garden beds at the front of the house. As a result of all that I've not been doing quite as much baking and cooking as normal but I have tried a few new recipes. I'll try and get them up during the week.

And finally... I roasted a leg of lamb in the slow cooker for dinner tonight and decided to go the extra bit and do roasted vegies and cauliflower and broccoli gratin. I had plans to make a delish new dessert that a friend had shared with me but the kids vetoed that suggestion - they wanted marshmallows cooked on the fire that Hubby had going in the front yard. I said no, #2's asthma has been playing up and there was no way I wanted her out in the cold smoky air. Hubby to the rescue...

They simply toasted their marshmallows on the inside fire. And loved every single sticky mouthful. Thinking outside the square? Who knew it could be so much fun?

Oh, hello!

Sorry, I've been a wee bit busy this week and by the end of each day I could hardly move enough to deal with dinner, baths and bed never mind about such things as blogging. What have I been doing? Well, I think I'll make this one a bit of a photo essay.

Remember the turf we laid last weekend? We ended up liking it so much we thought we'd do some more. So we had another big pile of dirt delivered...

Then I ordered the turf and arranged for Hubby to collect it after work on Friday. Which was kinda dumb because it meant I had to get the dirt spread during the week. So I hopped to it and got to work...

The turf was duly collected and we had to do a few last minute bits of preparation, including compacting the soil so that the turf could be laid upon it. As with any job, safety equipment is vitally important...

As is shadowing the person whose jobs you would like to take over...

And by mid-afternoon on Saturday we had us some new lawn. And some aching bodies.

Never Trust A Man With A Chainsaw...

Hubby headed into the backyard with the chainsaw last weekend. There were a few big wattle trees that had become somewhat overgrown and needed some trimming and thinning out.

"Don't worry," he told me. "You'll hardly be able to tell the difference and you still won't be able to see the back fence. I'll just thin them out a bit to make room for the new apple tree and see if we can get some sun on the passionfruit."

My reply was something along the lines of a grunt and a nod and away he went.

Upon completing the job he wandered in with a slightly concerned look on his handsome face. It seems the trees covered quite a bit more of the back fence than he had thought and, "ummm.... well, it looks a bit different now."

Yeah, you can totally see the back fence, the back neighbour's water tanks, sheds and privacy screen (which he really put up for our benefit so we didn't have to look at his collection of junk outside his shed - he's a very nice man).

The positives in this? Hubby is pretty terrific to have done all that work so he could plant MY apple tree. The passionfruit actually get some sunshine now instead of being in the shade 24/7. Yes, we do see the back fence but it has really opened up the yard and it's not that bad. Hubby's concern that I would hate what he'd done. Gotta love him just for that one alone.

Merry, Merry King of the Bush Is He

Here's one of the loud, laughing kookaburras who likes to hang out in our yard. They seem to be having a bit of a territorial war at the moment and there's a whole lot of fairly aggressive laughing going on, a bit of flying at each other, the odd tactical retreat and then they start all over again. If they're not doing that they're very busy taking fly-by dives at the fish pond and stealing the baby gold-fish.

And yes, I do get fed up with the noise because they can be loud. Like seriously bloody LOUD. Like loud enough for people on the other end of the phone to ask what the heck all that noise is. But then I pinch myself and think about how lucky I am to live on an acre block with lots of trees, in the metro area. And how I totally take that for granted. And I think about how so many people never get to hear a kookaburra laugh and I hear it just about every single day. And how that's kind of unreal and spectacular.

Timberrrrrrrr!

We've had the tree-loppers in again. Before you get all tree-huggy on me let me tell you we've got a bunch of trees all over the block so it's not like we can't manage without one or two. Especially one that's right at the corner of the house and leans slightly in its direction.

First off, it's a fire hazard. Common thought is that there should be no foliage within 20metres of the house. We haven't quite managed that but by the end of all this work we will have cleared the trees from the direct circuit of the house.

Second, while it was in no danger of falling over anytime soon... anything that leans towards the house rather than away from it is always worrying.

And third? Well, it's where the new carport is going to go. Yeah baby, I'm getting carport that's attached to the house!

Reno's. Part 1 of About 39,000

The real renovations and extensions won't be happening for some time yet but the preparation work has begun and that in itself is worthy of a celebration! The retaining wall that surrounds the house is mostly made up of timber sleepers and they are crumbling and falling down. Besides being really really ugly as they fall down around the place they're very attractive to white ants (termites) which is not terrific normally but really not great when you're got a cedar house. So the sleeper walls have to go. The question of course is what to replace them with. In our previous house Hubby discovered the joys of limestone blocks. He also discovered that he could make them himself a whole heap cheaper than he could buy them. The back-breaking labour was kind of beside the point - he likes to keep busy - and after some experimenting, a changes or two to the 'recipe', and a few second opinions he decided to go with limestone blocks again.

So, how do you make them? To start, you order the first of many truckloads of crushed limestone. It looks like this...

Then you get your kids shovelling (while the wife stands around taking photos), add some cement powder and water and swish it all around in the cement mixer. While that's happening you dig out the old sleeper wall, clear the trench, measure depths and widths and angles and all sorts of other stuff and finally set up the mould for the first brick.

Then you pour the first brick and make the woman with the camera come take photos of it.

And then you make a block or two each night after work and slowly build yourself a wall.

He's got to go around the entire house, with several tiers at the front of the house. And because of the planned extension he's got to go further out at the other end of the house. And I'll be following along behind him replanting the garden that needs to be ripped out as we go. And taking lots of photos. Lots. Don't worry, you'll get to see a heap more pics as we go along.

A rose by any other name...

Look what my lovely Dad sent me home with on Friday.

We dropped in for a cuppa and a quick visit on the way home for work/school/day-care and after the grown-ups had caught up on the news and Poppy and the kids had played in the front yard my Dad (aka Poppy) cut some gorgeous roses and sent us on home. I've got the roses on the dining table and the window open a crack. Each time there's a breeze the scent of roses wafts through the living area. Lovely.

Right At Home

Here's a picture of part of the back garden. Hubby calls this spot the rain-forest. I usually call it the jungle. It's full of ferns and bits and pieces that like to be warm, damp and in the shade.

It's one of the areas that I've been working on over the past few weeks. Clearing out some of the undergrowth, thinning out some of the plants, finding some hidden treasures buried away underneath the bigger, showier things. While #2 and I were admiring our hard work today something caught our eye.

We crept a little closer for a better look.

We crept a little closer still and found this frog snoozing on an old log.

He was quite big for the back garden - a bit bigger than my palm I'd guess - and though his colours don't show up well in this photo he had splashes of pale, almost translucent, blue and green across his back. We have a couple of resident frogs in the pond but we haven't come across this little froggy before.

He stayed on that log for ages, just enjoying the dappled sunshine, and wasn't at all perturbed when Offspring #2 and his buddy tumbled out of the house to look at him.

In The Garden

My whole entire body is aching today. In fact, it was almost a relief to have to go to work just so I could have a break! We've had a long wet winter and even on the few days that we didn't have rain it was freezing cold and, let's face it, I'm not a fan of the cold. The wussy side of me says that I couldn't go out and play in the cold because Offspring #2 would want to join me and with all the dramas we've had with her asthma and a trying winter of ill-health I didn't want her out in the cold. The more grown-up side of me just says I'm a big wuss and to get over myself!

Anyway, I spent the past three days out in the garden raking and weeding, sweeping and cleaning up, planting and potting, and I AM EXHAUSTED! My arms ache so much I can barely lift my tea-cup, my legs are in serious pain, my lower back is screaming at me and my butt muscles... well, let's not go there.

I filled the trailer twice with pruning offcuts, raked leaves, pulled weeds and general garden debris. We used the last weekend of the burning season to get rid of some undergrowth and while it's not real pretty right now at least we feel better about our preparation for summer.

I weeded the vegie garden, pulled up the scraggy broccoli and cauliflower plants that were finished and then replanted the whole lot for summer - we've got... silverbeet and beetroots that have been in for a month or so, the English Spinach that is doing really well and a bundle of different types of tomatoe seedlings.

a heap of corn

and some leeks that are taking their time but getting there verrrrry slowly as well as more broccoli, cucumber, zucchini, a bunch of mixed lettuces, some french beans and a couple of capsicum plants (that's bell peppers for the Americans amongst us). I'm planning to fill in some of the spaces in another six weeks or so in order to keep us going through the summer.

I tidied up some of the flower beds straight out from the back of the house and was left with this pretty display of spring flowers.

Remember a few weeks back when I showed you my first Camellia flower? Well, the tree is looking beautiful now.

Oh and I dug up and separated one clump of agapanthas. I ended up with about 30 plants and, in the interests of not having my arms completely fall off, left the clump in the backyard that is about 4 times the size for next weekend.

When Life Hands You Lemons...

Take photos of them!

These beauties are on the lemon tree down the back of the yard. They are a gorgeously bright yellow with thick waxy peel and smell divine. Darn shame I'm allergic to them and this is about as close as I'm willing to get.

Making New Friends

Offspring #2 arrived home from daycare on Wednesday and, after rummaging about in her backpack, handed me an envelope. "This is for you," she announced. "It's from K's Mum. K is my friend at school and her mum sent you a letter!"

I took it from her somewhat dubiously. Bear in mind that I don't get to meet the daycare Mums. We all drop our kids off at different times and, while I know some of the kids by sight, I generally wouldn't have a clue who the mums are. From time to time she has received birthday party invites from various kids at daycare and besides not knowing the parents, I also tend to think that birthday parties for two, three and four year-olds (as the kids she mixes with at daycare are) are for family and close friends rather than random kids from daycare. Generally I tell #2 it's a picture for her from her friend and then call the parents to politely decline the invite.

To my surprise there was a note for me in the envelope and it was indeed from K's Mum. She introduced herself and went on to explain that K thought #2 was wonderful and kept badgering her Mum to invite us over so she and #2 could play. K's Mum, Mel, provided her phone number and asked me to call her if I was interested in arranging a play-date. I took a deep breath, told myself to act like a grown up and made the phone call.

Long story short. I called and Mel was just lovely on the phone. She seemed so pleased that I'd rung and we arranged a play-date for that afternoon. #2 was just about bursting with the excitement of having K come to play so when the appointed time rolled around it was something of a relief to have them pull up in the drive-way. K is the same age as #2, in fact their birthdays are barely two weeks apart, and she is so sweet. Mel is just as lovely in person as she was on the phone and we seem to have lots in common. The girls played together beautifully - they played cooking at #2's toy kitchen, they ran around the yard, played on the swings and took very good care of all the 'babies'. When it was time for them to go neither K nor #2 were particularly happy but they shared a big good-bye hug and promised they would see each other at school (ie daycare). Mel and I also agreed that we would organise another play-date soon and #2 and I are both looking forward to it.

The funniest bit? K's family live behind us and down one. Our back corner lines up with theirs. I can see two little girls hanging out at the back corner just about as soon as they work it out. And, as the girls will be going to 'big' school together before too long I'm kind of guessing there might be a step-ladder across the corner fence with two little girls, grown a bit bigger, running between houses in the years to come. Yep, that's the kind of thing that happens up here in the hills.

Back From The Dead

No, not me!

This time last year my lovely little azalea was withering and dying as it was under attack from the ribbon plant that had overtaken that patch of garden. I don't know what the proper name of the attacking ribbon plant is - it has long variegated leaves, dark green edges and white-yellowy-green down the middle, that resemble a ribbon hence the common (around these parts) name of ribbon plant. It's an insidious little bugger that looks quite pretty until it takes over the garden, spreads further than you could have dreamed, and strangles everything in its way. It's also not especially easy to remove. Brute strength and a good shovel are about the only measures known to work.

During the summer I spent many hours with that shovel digging and digging trying to remove the tuber-like roots and rid one small patch of garden of the plant. It took a good couple of days, and a heck of a lot of pain with some seriously big blisters, and I managed to fill up the trailer but I cleared the area I was trying to salvage, put in some agapanthas and attempted to sweet-talk my azalea. To be honest I didn't hold out too much hope but she (yes, the azalea is a she) held on and even appeared to rally a little. Then she faded and, last I checked, she wasn't looking too good.

Then... we had weeks of rain. Weeks. Of. Rain. Finally the rain cleared and as I wandered down to the clothesline to hang the out the sheets earlier this week I saw this.

She's back from the dead and looking fabulous.

Normal Transmission Will Resume Shortly

I promise!

We've had a busy few weeks with coughs and colds, school holidays, the follow up to Offspring #1's birthday and life in general.

#1 had a fun birthday party with his school-friends and, in keeping with the new birthday cake rules as laid down by me, had a number 7 cake with the decoration of his choosing. He selected an airport runway and I did my best to meet his expectations. Luckily, he has very low expectations when it come to my cake decorating skills!

We've done lots of baking and I have a bunch of new recipes to share with you. Here are a couple of the highlights - a banana caramel layer cake I made for last night's dessert and some new choc chip cookies.

We've had some wild and woolly winter weather. You already saw the tree that fell on the woodshed a month or so ago. Here's the tree that fell on the boat, trailer and caravan just a few days ago. It came right out of the ground, roots and all, and landed across all three. Luckily there wasn't any real damage and even luckier that Hubby's car wasn't parked in it's normal spot - right where the trailer was!

And the camellia tree has just started blooming. It has literally hundreds of flower buds but just two flowers so far. It's one of my favourite things in the garden so I can pretty much guarantee you'll be seeing more of it.

Tim-berrrrrrr!

Hubby was working in the yard today when he heard a massive "crrrrr-ACK!" and then the ominous sound of branches falling. He raced past the back door checking that I knew where the kids were as last he'd seen them they'd been playing all over the yard. After assurances that they were safe and sound in their rooms playing he headed down the back to investigate.

A tree that is technically the neighbours but overhangs both yards had had enough of the rain and wind and literally split in half. Half was in the neighbours yard and the other half was draped artistically across the woodshed.

So Hubby did what he loves to do - solve problems - and used used one of his favourite 'toys' to do it - the chainsaw - and cleared away the mess. And, if you look hard, you can see his little buddy was there to lend a hand.