DIY - on a budget

When we first viewed our house, we fell in love with it the minute we walked in the door... but we also knew that we couldn't live with the kitchen for too long...

So we bought a new {to us} kitchen off trade me a few months ago... and the results were perfect...

Before:

 

And After:

We still have to decide on a splashback and do the floors, but other than that, it's finished... it's so nice to have a dishwasher after 13mths without one... and the cupboard space is amazing!!!!

Proud Mumma

Cammy has played Rugby this year for the first time... he didn't quite grasp the concept of the game, but he kept on playing... he went every to every game bar 2 where he was sick.  He scored 1 try over the whole season in his 2nd to last game, and still believed that he was just playing one great big game of chase.

But, his perseverance didn't go un-noticed by his coaches and at prizegiving he was awarded the 2013 Sportmanship award. He was so very proud of himself, as was I.

Happy 5th Birthday

A massive happy 5th Birthday goes out to my most adorable darling boy Cammy... it's hard to believe that he is 5 already, and due to start school in a little over a week.  His birthday was last week and was celebrated with many a friends and family.  Here are a few photos

Daycare Cake

the two brothers side by side for the last time at Daycare

Opening some of his presents at his party

The cake he designed and I had to make

Blowing out the candles

Working out how to work one of his many new transformers

Abandoned...

Thats how my poor blog must feel these days...

Sometimes we all have days of feeling abandoned... and I've been feeling this a bit lately... see for no reason at all, I'm missing my dad... it's been nearly 7 yrs since he passed, and just lately, it's really hurt...

I have no answers still, and perhaps thats why... you see, my step-mother did an amazing disappearing act with the funeral insurance, and has never been seen or heard from since... and thats cool, I don't need her in my life, but what I do need, I believe is closure... I have no idea what the coronors report said about my fathers death, or the name of the heridetary heart disease he suffered from... I have nothing of his, except for a ring that my aunty gave me... I should have his hundreds and hundreds of pages of sheet music, I truely believe that getting those was my right, as I would have treasured each and every page.

I know I will move on, I have before, and I will again, but for today, and yesterday, and most likely tomorrow, I am feeling hurt and abandoned...

these are a few of my favourite things....

Go on, I know you sang the title :)

 

Ever since we moved in, I am been trying to figure out where to hang some of my most favourite things... and it's kinda tormented me not having them up in sight, but I didn't want to hang them anywhere less than perfect for them and for me...

 

I finally found that place, and I think they look awesome

 

 

Everyone Loves a Discount

especially on Petrol... And this is why I absolutely LOVE my AA Smartfuel Card

 

You see, everytime I put $40 in my car, I get an automatic 6c per litre off my petrol.  Now, I have taken to saving this up, so that on the occassions when I put $80 or more into my car I use up all the points I have... which the other day amounted to 30c per litre off!!!

Helpful

The other day Cammy disappeared into his bedroom for quite awhile... He came out very proud of himself exclaiming "Mum, come, Come see my bedroom"... so I toddled off into his bedroom, to see what he so badly wanted to show me...

I was surprised to find he had cleaned his own room... I then asked him if he wanted to vacuum it, he replied "yes, by myself", so I left him too it...

Then I took some pictures...

So proud of himself

 

Of course, when I tidy his room, you can actually see his book shelf, and his books

 

And of course, when I tidy his room, you can actually see his bed

BUT - he tidied his own room, and I was soooo proud of him... I gave him $1 pocket money

And speaking of birthdays

My work held a morning tea for my birthday... We do these for everyone's birthday, we all bring a plate to contribute to Morning Tea and a present to put in the box for the birthday person.  I was so spoilt by my workmates.

My 2 boys

My how my baby boys are growing

 

Axel aged 2yrs 3mths

Cammy aged 4yrs 9mths

 

 

 

 

 

 

Birthday Blues

Yesterday was my Birthday... I celebrated turning another year old, by having a Pot Luck dinner at home with family and good friends, I had a lovely evening and I even made my own cake.

I have been wanting to do this blossom design on a cake for some time now, so what better opportunity than for my own cake, and Blue is my favourite colour.

Don't you just love the polka-dots inside the cake, I thought they were just a little bit fun

Photo Wall

Ever since I rented my first house, I have dreamed about owning my own house, and creating a photo wall in the hall way...

We have been in our house for 10mths now, and on Sunday I finally started working on my photo wall...  I hope to add to this over the years and one day full the whole wall with pictures that I love

 

 

This of course means, that the heat is now on for me to start sourcing cool frames in op shops :) tehe... like I need an excuse to go op shopping more often

RUGBY!!!

I love to encourage my kids to play sport... so have been gently guiding Cammy into the world of hockey {with it's 12noon games for littlies, no play on long weekends or school holidays it seemed like a no brainer to me}... but, he had different ideas... RUGBY!!

WHAT!!! Where did that come from...?? so I joined him up with a club and a team, and took him to a few practices... all the while I was thinking, "he won't like this, he will change his mind, and I go back to saturday morning lie in's"

He didn't... In fact he LOVES it... and after getting used to the idea of early Saturday morning starts, so do I...

So now, I am looking for a pair of gumboots, and a REALLY warm, waterproof jacket...

 

 

 

Oh... and a whole set of circumstances came into play which meant I would NEVER have gotten a sleep in on a Saturday morning over winter regardless... but moer about Paris and her sporting achievements another day...

Firewood

Well the colder days and nights are upon us, and so it was time once again, to order the firewood... We got 3m3 delivered... The job I hate the most is stacking it all somewhere dry {in our case, the new house came with a wood sheed WAHOOOOOO}... so I did what any parent who doesn't want to do a certain job does - I offered money to the teen to do it instead...

Paris - not so keen, and had a hockey game so didn't even want to start with the helping
Josh - jumped at the chance to earn some extra dosh

Now, although I love my kids, they don't normally stack wood in a very tidy fashioned, so I wasn't expecting much when I said to Josh "it would be great if you could stack some up on this side, and some of that side and leave a path in the middle"

I left him to it while I took Paris to her hockey game... it took him 3 hrs, but he completed the job and I was happy to hand over some cash...

This morning, I headed outside to get some wood from the wood shed, opened the door, and just about died from shock...

I am in heaven... finally a wood shed I won't actually mind having to collect wood from...

A new Header

This header will have to do for now... I have to sit my kids down and get a real good pic of them all together...

The taller boy at the back of this picture, is my eldest Step-Son Ben... Ben isn't mentioned much on here, as he is 21yrs old, and last lived with me when he was 16... He lives out of town and has his own life, which doesn't include much chillin with the olds lol

Makeover Time

Rightio... I need some help... perhaps just step by step simple instructions on "how to" could possibly work...

My blog needs a make over... after all, I have 4 kids now, and my cover pic only show's 3... and it's about 3yrs out of date...

I have no real idea what I want to do... or how I am going to doing it... I just know I need to make the change...

Childhood Dreams

All through my childhood, one of my biggest dreams was to have a Feijoa Tree... Weird dream to aspire to I know! But, ya know, everyone has one of those dreams... you know the ones, small and un-substantial, but you still want to achieve it anyway...

When we bought this house, my dream was about to become a reality... not one, but two Feijoa trees {of, course you actually need two trees to get fruit}... and then as Autumn crept into our lives, that dream became even more real, because the fruit started dropping... and didn't stop... I'm in heaven

This was the first yeld we got... we only pick up off the ground, none directly from the tree... the shopping bag has all had the flesh scooped out, and has been frozen ready for baking

This represents approx how many we collect off the ground every couple of days

Hard Road...

We have had a bit of a rough time lately... Our boy Josh {my step-son} said goodbye for the last time 2 weeks ago, as she lost her 10yr battle with cancer.

Josh is coping very well... too well to be honest... we have him seeing a counsellor through school who is very good, and used to specialise in grief counselling.

It's hard enough to lose your Parent as an adult, I can vouch for that, but I couldn't possibly imagine what it must be like for a 13yr old. My heart just breaks for him over and over again.

We were all booked to go on our honeymoon 3 days after she passed, but unfortunately our travel insurance wouldn't cover us in changing our trip, and we couldn't afford the $2,000 it was going to cost to change it ourselves, so at everyone elses insistance {incl, Josh} we headed off as planned and missed the funeral.

We have been told by our families and friends, that Josh was amazing at the funeral, and that he got up and spoke beautifully of his mum.  I am so proud of him.

Cotton...

My grandparents have moved into a rest home... it's sad, and it's been a hard week as we have sorted through their house and their belongings that they no longer want or need... but there are always gems to be found... And my nana's cotton stash is one of those gems... I thought long and hard about where I was going to store them, and then it dawned on me... left over preserving jars...

 

 

What do you think???

 

 

 

new {old} toys

My grandparents are going into a rest home... and while that is sad, it is also time... my grandparents have decided that their grandkids get first dibs on all their stuff... so I went over to their place in search of retro tupperware and baking items...

I scored on the baking items front...

They don't make these like they used to... thats for sure

As for the retro tupperware... sadly my nana appears to have thrown most of it out... she doesn't remember doing so, but her mind is not really with it anymore, so who knows...

Sleeping Arangements

Sometimes when your child ask to sleep someone different to usual, it's not worth the fight you are gonna have if you say no... so here is Cammy's bed for last Sunday night...

and Monday night, and Tuesday night, and Wednesday night and Thursday night... I packed it up on Friday night when he wasn't here...

Delightful Suprise

I love Op-Shopping... and I have now gotten my mother hooked also... we do go op-shopping together 1 friday every month and have a few regular shops we visit.

A few weeks ago, we came across this awesome sewing desk for $25 so I bought it...

To be honest, it isn't much different to my current sewing desk, but this one had the doors at the front, and the top drawer, isn't a drawer... it actually lifts at the top and is a great place to pop your overlocker.  Only I don't have an overlocker... Or at least I didn't... till I got this desk home and had a decent look through it.... and in that great place to pop your overlocker, there actually WAS an overlocker...

I squealed with delight when I discovered this... and then squealed even more when I realised it was a WORKING overlocker!!  My mum couldn't believe it... especially considering I only bought the desk so I could convert my old one into a study desk for Paris and Josh.

 

 



A day of Fun

My sister got some tickets to Rainbows End given to her the other day.  She asked if Cammy and Me wanted to join her and my niece when they went... of course I said yes :)

so yesterday was the day we went... Cammy was sooo excited... and he went on all the rides her was big enough to go on...

he didn't like the Pirate Ship, loved the Gold Rush, enjoyed the Log flume, loved the Motion Master, loved the Family Karts and enjoyed all the rides on offer in the Kids Kingdom

Here are some pics of our day

Domesticated Me

our new house has fruit trees... lots of fruit trees... and the plum crop is a bumper one... so I thought I would try my hand and making plum jam... I was a bit nervous so I halved the recipe to avoid too much wastage if it didn't work... but I shouldn't have worried... the jam turned out awesome!! I'm so proud of myself...

I had some cast off jars that didn't make the cut for the wedding, but gosh they were perfect for Jam :)

After the jam turned out so well, I tried my hand at making lemonade scones to go with it... they too were a hit.. such a hit, they were all gone before I could take a picture lol

that was yesterday...

Today, I headed to the fruit and veg shop as usual, and this time decided to buy one of the boxes of speckled fruit for $2.99... currently I have a mix of apples, plums and apricots stewing on the stove... the peaches will be done next... these stew mixes will be frozen and used for muffins and crumbles throughout the next few months...

I also got a pack of bobby banana's for .79c so will make a couple of banana cakes also...

Yup... this is the new, domesticated me... {also the new frugal me}

Learning New Things...

This morning I attended a course on making Fondant figures... Here is what I made...

New Tricks

 

Over the holiday's Axel has discovered DVD's... one thing he has yet to figure out is how to stay awake to watch a whole one... here he is, 5 mins after hoping on my bed to watch Ice Age 3

 

 

 

 

Cousins

 

Axel and my niece Kaylee are only 7mths apart in age... they love each other sooo much, they hug everytime they see each other, and then proceed to immediately swap dummies... they also can't be trusted together lol..