Love it! SO this is what weekends are for!

Please excuse the photo quality - I didn't want to carry my SLR so they are all off my camera on my phone!

visits to Brisbane, Southbank and the sciencecentre!





Bushwalking with my family at Queen Mary Fall's. The falls look AMAZING with actual rain occurring!! So much better than a waterfall in drought!






We did a lot of pottering around the home, a lot of playing, relaxing and just having fun. These are the best times! I love my little family!~

I feel like a grown up!

OK - why did no one tell me how empowering this could be!

Today .... I bought .... my own power tools!

Specifically I got sick of not being able to get the garden done when and how I want and having to wait ... I like to get what I want now!!

So I went looking. I was going to buy some hedge trimmers. That's all. And look what I found!

BOSCH has a new range of garden tools!!! Including these amazing hedge trimmers. Light weight. Easy for me to hold. Oh - and rechargable thank you!!!!




And then I splurged. Lookie lookie!!



A line trimmer (whippersnipper for you aussie folk!) that is light enough that I can actually manage it. And it doesn't use that horrible plastic line so it doesn't get tangled (I guess it isn't a line trimmer then ... but you get what I mean)

Oh - and it is RECHARGEABLE too!!!!! No power cords. No petrol. (or whatever you put in those mower type things)

I am in LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! Look out garden! Here I come!

Next thing you see I will own my own cordless drill :)

Now - if someone could buy me a rechargeable lightweight lawnmower and I will be in power tool heaven!

I HAVE A WEEKEND OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK - might not mean much to most of you ... but when you have worked every weekend in forever (unless you had the day off for your sister's wedding or hen's) you are REALLY REALLY excited about this!

I have analysis paralysis. Can't decide what to do. Well, part of me wants to jump in the car and go to the coast for the weekend, but I doubt that is practical when I just though of it Friday morning!

I just cannot wait to spend some time with my family and HAVE some adventures with them rather than just hearing about their adventures.

FUN!

Quarantined!

No - I'm not sick! And nor is anyone else in our home. Everything is fine! Well, everything except for the fact that our home is trashed and I don't seem to be getting anywhere!!

One thing no one tells you about having a school age child is just how much the running around interupts your day!
Just yesterday we had drop off, pick up, helping with school swimming and then ballet after school! And amongst all that it is SO hard to get things done!

I work best first thing in the morning. Problem is, first thing I am not at home.

So today I have quarantined myself. I have asked Paul to drop Miss E to school so I can get into the housework and get some order back! And it is working great! Without those interuptions I have gotten the kitchen, bathroom, lounge, toilet and spare room tidy. And am onto my third loud of laundry.

So I'm about to break for a coffee before starting the rest of the house.

I seriously should do this more often. As in every week! I feel so much better and more in control! And it isn't even 10am yet!

Veggie garden update~

We are having so much fun in our garden! For the first time in forever we are getting regular rain - and our vegies are going mad!

Our tomato plants have started flowering ...



We planted another bed today (this year we are using raised garden beds (these were from aldi but hardware stores have similar items) and they have been fantastic. Much easier than digging the ground, and much easier to keep on top of the weed situation.)
The bed we planted today has dwarf beans, zucchini and some spaghetti squash in it (which I am SO excited about!)




This is my "greens" garden bed. Heaps of salad greens and a few veggies which make preparing a fresh salad so easy. I just pick what I want as I need it. No more lettuce going limp and sad in the fridge. Our radishes are in here too ... and should be ready to start using next week.



Paul helping me stake our tomatoes. We are planning an overload of tomatoes this year if we can keep the stinking fruit flies away! Most of the tomatoes we have planted are heritage tomatoes from the diggers seed company. These are unusual, traditional varieties, that taste like tomatoes are MEANT to taste. They actually have flavour. I am beyond excited about these!




This is the sort of gardening I enjoy. And I am having so much fun this year! Only decision is what to plant next ...

Makes me SMILE:)

Gran always told me to count my blessings.
Problem is - I have so many!

So many things made me smile this week :)

Right now I am loving ...







The flowers from my bouquet from my sister's wedding. I love that the silk flowers will continue to brighten my home ...



Cackleberries (eggs) from our chooks! They taste so good and are so fresh! Our chookies sure earn their keep!



My nursing registration FINALLY through! And what a battle it was!



Reading books I loved as a child with my girl! She just soaks up the chapter books!



My new spice holder I bought at Aldi this week! No more searching through the cupboard for what I need! I just need to fill and label it!

Ribbon storage

I found this at Big W this morning and it makes me happy. No more tangled ribbon for us!



It's in amongst the Christmas supplies ... but since I buy plain paper on markdown after Christmas for birthdays etc through the year, it's nice to have an easy way to store our ribbon to dress gifts up.

There is plenty of room for large rolls, and room to store spare rolls and scissors at the back.




Love it!

Plotting and scheming ... and wondering ... will it work?

I've just been at a friend's house. And she shared with me what works for her. And I must say I am intrigued.

You see, now that I am working a little bit more, I am trying to work out any way I can to save time, so I can be doing the things at home and with my family that I love.

Now that I am eating so well, I am trying to work out ways to make it fun and easy so we can stick to the plan and do great things for our health!

Now that I am trying to get our finances back on track and save a little bit more, I am looking at all those ways money seems to filter out of our lives and out our door, and reign it back in.

Which leads me to this idea.

I KNOW that when I plan our food for the week it saves us a bucket load of cash and we eat so well. It is when we try to go by the moment that things get out of hand.

I KNOW that when I go to the shops, whether it is for one thing or many I ALWAYS end up with something extra, something that we don't need. (and often a coffee and a magazine since I am downtown anyway!)

And I KNOW that any trip to the shops is a massive time waster. If I go to the shops I would much rather it was an occasional trip for fun than a routine trip for those "few things" we have forgotten.

So here is what I am thinking.

Menu planning ... and grocery home delivery.

Yes it costs to get the groceries home delivered. But it is $5. That's it. I'd spend that on those "extras" that end up in the trolley easily!

But what the online shopping let's me do is make and save lists to order. So I can plan four weekly menus and save each week's grocery list under a separate name. When it is time for week 1's menu I can select it, add or delete any items we may need and make sure we are home for delivery time.

I must say, I would not trust someone else to choose my fruit and vegetables. And we eat a LOT of fresh produce. But this can be solved by my weekly trip to the fruit and vege farmer's markets. One trip, and I can choose what is fresh and seasonal.

I'm still not convinced. I love the convenience factor. I love being able to see exactly how much we have spent before we get to the "checkout".

It's just the inital preparation and planning for the menus and setting up the shopping cart.

I do think I may give it a try tho.