Our Here and Now

Things are changing here

2009-06-17T19:57:00.002+10:00

Head on here to find our blog - changes were needed. Head over to
Our here and now - Life with Special Needs for more information!

Followers - update please :)

Snowed in....

2009-06-10T09:12:00.004+10:00

This is what we woke up to this morning!

Apparently it hasn't snowed this much in 20 years! Lucky me.....

Power has been off. Luckily we have wood heating - I usually HATE wood heating but today....I LOVE IT! No school as buses are not running and we couldn't drive in the snow anyway. No preschool or daycare either. BUT the worst thing is we have NO MILK! There are probably no shops open down the street anyway - I will ring them soon and see.

I was going to do some cooking with the kids today but that will only happen if we get some milk....and eggs too.

Its still steadily snowing, looks like Brett will get a day off!

All I can say is - COME ON ITS ONLY THE 10TH OF JUNE!!!

___________________________________________________________

Powers been off again.......now back on but for how long????? Going to run off and get the vacuuming done before we lose power again.

Brett just went and got milk - yippee!! We can now bake and ......clean.......

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Ashlee played netball on the weekend! Kicked butt winning 27 - 9!! Broke her finger in the process....more to come soon

Check this out!

2009-06-07T10:45:00.000+10:00

You HAVE TO head over there and check it out - Amazing!!

Well actually...

2009-06-02T19:40:00.004+10:00

I don't really want to tell you all about this because I want it all to myself but I'm going to because those are the rules (and because really this is a pretty cool blog to check out!).

In celebration of her first blogoversary Actually Laura is giving away:

ONE WEEK OF HER GRAPHIC DESIGN SERVICES OF THE WINNERS CHOICE!!

Be it a blog makeover or help with HTML or even ads and banners!

So go on, head on over and say hi! BUT be quick because times running out!

This cracks me up a bit

2009-06-02T19:30:00.004+10:00

Images from here

And the winner is!

2009-06-02T12:09:00.004+10:00

Sorry for the delay - things got a little weird around here but we are back on track now! I was going to do the cute kid holding up the winning name thing but really don't have time so instead I used the random number generator thing.

So here we go....the winner of the Pendant from the lovely Dani is:

Comment number 5!

Taking out the double posts it came down to:

Angelique from No life without Wife! (Hows that for weird - Angelique will know what I mean!)

Congratulations Angelique! I will be in contact with you shortly.

Everyone one else - Head over to Pendantic and buy yourself one :) (Ashlee got one for her birthday and loves it!)

Happy Birthday first born!

2009-06-01T12:35:00.005+10:00

ASHLEE!!

My little girl, my first born....just one more year and you are a teenager! I can hardly believe it.

So enjoy your birthday, I love you and you make me prouder each day.

And now just to totally embarrass her - This is Ashlee, about 30 minutes old...

(this a scan as this was pre-digital days)

And now!

Check back soon for the winner of my giveaway!

The day is over..

2009-05-29T20:24:00.007+10:00

...my babies are 2!

Fun was had all around!

Present were wrapped in plain old brown paper, because really where does it all end up anyway?! $1.70 for a large roll of brown paper that will last ages compared to up to $4 for one sheet of wrapping paper.

We made cupcakes the night before. Some to take to preschool with them. And they were loved by everyone. Thomas the Tank Engine for Zachary and Fairy ones for Anna (although she found Thomas more interesting, she really is my little tomboy! I guess what so you expect with two brothers!)

They slept in a little for me - little sweeties! Then we opened up some pressies. Not to many, because you know these kids have way to much stuff already! Not in need of ANY clothes and definitely didn't need any more toys. So we just got a few things for them to celebrate this special day.

(Zach showing me his new book)

Anna getting her new bike - so they don't fight over the one we have!

(excuse the bum! Little Miss has decided she doesn't really like nappies and spends most of the time at home nappy free. Good sign I guess)

And she LOVES the baby doll rocker that Nanny got her!

Opening books...

Then they coloured in their new books until it was time to go to preschool

(Mitchell)

(Zachary)

(Anna)

Anna had zonked by 5:30pm and Zach went to bed after a feed not long after. A long day but a fun day. I still can't believe they are two!

Good bye for now....make sure you check out my giveaway!

Happy Birthday to you and you!

2009-05-28T12:17:00.004+10:00

Today our precious little miracles turn 2!

Happy Birthday

Zachary & Anna!

{The Early Days}

Zachary - just days old

Anna - just days old

{First Birthday}

Look at us now!

They had a lovely morning opening pressies and getting lots of love! I'll be back later with a full birthday run down (and probably photo overload!)

Make sure you head over here and enter my giveaway!

Stunning Giveaway!

2009-05-28T11:42:00.000+10:00

I came across this awesome giveaway over at The Art of Indecision thanks to Sew, Mama, Sew Giveaway day!

I {love} Holly Hobbie so this is right up my alley! Makes me want to pull out my old Holly Hobbie Bedspread, cut it up and make my own!

GIVEAWAY and 200th post!

2009-05-25T23:40:00.001+10:00

I have written 200 posts and I want to celebrate, so I'm having a GIVEAWAY and EVERYONE is welcome!

Have you heard about PENDANTIC?! Well, its an awesome online store over at Madeit.com! Just something about handmade that really sets me off - in a nice way!

Dani from Pendantic over at Madeit has kindly offered this beautiful pendant to be put up for grabs!

{ Summer Citrus }

Dani has a beautiful range of handmade scrabble tile pendants in her shop at an absolutely wonderful price! Perfect for gifts or even just grab one for yourself! I'm considering buying one for everyday of the week!

From Sweet

To Sassy

To Creative

To Naughty

Or just plan Yummy!

There is something here for everybody!

All you have to do is make a comment telling us your favourite item in the Pendanitc Shop & your email address, that's it! I will choose a winner and notify the winner by email as well as announce it right here!

Contest ends Sunday May 31st at 8pm EST - that's Australian Time.
The Winner will be announced on Monday June 1st! Just in time to celebrate my daughters 12th birthday!

Good Luck to all of you and get posting!!!!

EDIT: I really apologise to everyone! The last link was wrong, I have no idea where the esty link came from as I hardly ever go there - prefer the Australian Made It :) Link is now fixed and everyone already entered is still in the running.

DO NOT...

2009-05-11T11:58:00.004+10:00

I REPEAT - DO NOT leave your children unattended and accidentally leave the toilet door open!

You may just end up with 4 - yes 4! - rolls of toilet paper in the toilet. But that's not all! After you remove the 4 rolls of toilet paper, all wet and soggy, your may just find a dozen ' women's ' products stuffed down there. And when I say stuffed I mean 'take the toilet brush and jam them down there' stuffed!

No pictures of this disaster. I wasn't thinking of that at the time - although I should have been! I just wanted it out of my toilet and all I was thinking about at the time was just how much 4 rolls of toilet paper costs these days!

My two little ones looked quite impressed with themselves really but if you ask Anna - 'Zachy did it!' I can laugh now and I blame myself, I really should close the toilet - I normally do and I'm always on everyone else's butt to close the door!

So please make sure you close the toilet door if you have little ones! I wouldn't want you to have pull wet and soggy toilet paper out of the toilet.....yuck! Hahahaha.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T10:42:00.004+10:00

.....to all you over worked and under paid Mummies
(and of course Mummies to be) out there!

"Happy Mother's Day"
to my beautiful Mum!
Love you!

My morning so far:

Breakfast in bed - tomatoes on toast, with a sprinkling of sugar (yummy) and a lovely cup of tea.
Lovely pressies and plenty of cards (photos to come)
Lots of kisses and cuddles!

So far I have done very little. Ashlee has gotten the kids breakfast, changed their nappies and sorted them all out - Thanks Ash!

(Brett has gone wood carting......no comment on that!)

Now I'm off to do a lot more of nothing!

Have a great day!

WFMW - Linky love

2009-05-07T14:50:00.004+10:00

I have so many things saved in my bookmarks that have found through blogs and other places. I really want to get into some of them! There are just sooooooo many of them (and I'm talking hundreds) that its hard to pick where to start!

I'm also incorporating this with Works for me Wednesday - Frugal edition.....

So - this weekend I'm going to start trying some of them out, hopefully with the help of my lovely daughter Ashlee. Tomorrow I'm going to spend doing my usual Saturday clean and make sure my washing is all up to date so when Saturday actually comes around I won't have anything to do.

Lets move onto some linky love now. Here are some things I would like to try out this weekend:

Stop using plastic zip lock bags!

We use so many lunch bags around here. You know those little snack sized ziplock bags. I'm really need good with washing and reusing them, I really can't be bothered...I know I know such waste. So here is a great tut about making your own reusable snack bags. I think they are a great idea but will probably add a little snapable flap to it so that it can be closed up for the lunch box. This is a maybe....

Don't buy them a bag for preschool - make them one!

Zach and Anna are in need of a little bag to take to preschool. Something that will just hold their lunch box, drink bottle and a change of clothes. I thought this would be a good idea consider I have a ton of ton of towels around here.

Make your own kids clothes and save money!

I wouldn't mind giving this a try either. I actually have a couple of pretty tea towels in the fabric cupboard that I kept just for something like this.

Then you have Shorts from tea towels! This also appeals to me. Tea towels can be picked up for very little in your local Sam's (or dollar store).

I love Baby Legs but we only have 1 pair each for the twins because the cost so much. Now I can get out the old stockings of Anna's and cut them up to make these. Great idea I think and would be a huge saving!

I think that would be it. I don't even know if I will get through them! We will see what the weekend holds.

For more frugal ideas head over to We are THAT family and Works for me Wednesday!

Just maybe I'll get one of these

2009-05-07T14:36:00.007+10:00

I happened across this site that sells funny t-shirts (among other things), please don't ask me how....

Some of my favourites....

Wouldn't it be funny to walk next to some un-named person (those that know me know who I'm talking about....) in this T-shirt!

For my Brother!

For my SIL!

For my daughter....

Check out this giveaway!

2009-05-07T11:16:00.001+10:00

This giveaway is incredibly awesome! Want to win a STUNNING sterling silver ring?! Head on over to Missie Krissie who has one up for grabs!

Missie Krissie makes the most stunningly beautiful jewellery. Unfortunately I didn't come across these in time to put in a Mother's Day order but will definitely be getting one of these some how!

I have actually wanted one of these since I first saw them here after following a link from another blog. So, a necklace with all my sweet babies names on it......anyone?! (hahaha)

Funnies!

2009-05-06T20:42:00.002+10:00

This picture nearly had me wetting my pants! Hahahaha....

Sorry if you don't find it amusing - but I did!

Please Pray

2009-05-05T12:29:00.003+10:00

While reading blogs this morning I came across some sad news.....

Sweet little Elizabeth who was born at 28 weeks just 2 weeks ago went gently into the arms of Jesus Sunday night. Please pray for her family at this time.

This brings tears to my eyes and really hits home. Having my own babies at just 29 weeks it really makes me remember how close we came to losing them and just what miracles they are!

Also keep in your thoughts and prayers:

Noah and his family - At just 5 months old, little Noah was shaken by his daycare provider. Can you believe that?! And is now in hospital with what is suspected - serious brain damage.

And little Kayleigh and her family - Kayleigh was in June last year, 3 months early. She is now 10 months old and is still in hospital. Read her story here. Things are not looking great right now and she will probably be brought home soon with nursing care until the time comes....

Thank you.....

Menu Plan Monday!

2009-05-05T10:27:00.008+10:00

(On a Tuesday - but its still Monday somewhere!)

Click above to head over to Org Junkie for more Menu Plans!

For Christmas I received '4 Ingredients #2' by Kim McCosker & Rachael Bermingham and for birthday I received '4 Ingredients'. Great books! Highly recommended!

All these recipes are from those two books but some have been slightly modified for the slow cooker/crockpot. I will be adding some links and recipes later today but now I have to run off and get some grocery shopping done! Come back - they are all super yummy and super easy recipes! There is a lot of Lamb this week as we have a lot of it in the freezer and I want to use it up before the next lot of meat comes in (from FIL's farm).

Tues 5^th May – Sun 10^th May

Meals with recipes in BOLD - Recipes Added Below!

Mains:

Easy Casserole - with mashed potato

Chicken Casserole - with rice

Balsamic Glazed Lamb - with garlic potato and honey carrots

Chinese Style Lamb Roast - with roasted vegetables

Irish Stew - with mashed potato

Lamb & Bacon Parcels - with zucchini hash browns

Sides:

Easy Fried Rice

Garlic Potato

Honey Carrots

Zucchini Hash Browns

Kids:

Bugs in a Rug

Fish Cocktails

Vegetable Lasagne

Baby Meatballs

Sweets:

Jam Drops

Custard Tarts

RECIPES:

Easy Casserole

Serves 4 - 6

1kg round steak, cubed

500g bag mixed frozen vegetables, thawed

(or fresh vegies of your choice)

2 cups V8 juice

Place steak and vegetables in a slow cooker, pour over V8 juice, covering contents well. Cook for 3 - 4 hours or until meat is nice and tender.

NOTE: I will be using fresh veggies this time. I'm also making double and freezing half for another meal.

**********

Chicken Casserole

Serves 4

440g can condensed cream of chicken soup

8 chicken pieces

4 rashes bacon, roughly chopped

Vegetables of your choice

Fry bacon, place chicken, vegetables, bacon and soup in slow cooker and cook for at least 4 hours.

NOTE: Again I'm doubling this one for later meals

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Balsamic Glazed Lamb

Serves 4

12 lamb cutlets

1tbs. Balsamic Vinegar

1 tbs. Honey

2 tbs. fresh Rosemary Leaves

Heat fry pan, grill or BBQ. Mix last3 ingredients. Cook cutlets for 1 - 2 minutes each side or until just brown. Brush with baste and cook a further 3 minutes each side, basting occasionally. Drizzle some juice over cutlets once served.

**********

Chinese Style Lamb Roast

Serves 4 - 6

1.5kg lamb roast

375ml can evaporated milk

1/2 cup hoi sin sauce

Place the lamb into an oven bag. Combine milk and sauce. Pour about half over lamb (remander can be frozen for another time) and seal the bag, piercing a few holes around the end. Roast the lamb in a 180c oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes or until desired doneness.

NOTE: Left over meat is great on sandwiches for lunch!

**********

Lamb & Bacon Parcels

Serves 4

4 loin lamb chops

2 rashers of bacon, cut in half

4 tbs. wholegrain mustard

2 sheets puff pastry

Cut meat off the bone and trim fat. Cut puff pastry sheets in half and spread each generously with mustard. Place the lamb in the middle of the pastry and top with a half rasher of bacon. Seal edges and bake in 180c oven 20 - 30 minutes or until golden brown.

NOTE: Haven't tried this one before, maybe cook the meat before putting it into parcels?

**********

Zucchini Hash Browns

Makes 4

1 cup zucchini, grated

2 tbs. oil to fry in

2 eggs, beaten slightly

Mixed seasoning to taste

Heat oil in a heavy pan. Mix all ingredients together in a medium size bowl and gently drop 1 tbs. of mixture in hot oil. When brown on one side, turn over and cook on the other side. Stack on a plate and keep warm until whole batched is cooked.

NOTE: Kids love these!

**********

Bugs in a rug

Makes 12

3 slices brown bread

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1/4 cup butter, melted

12 cocktail frankfurters

Preheat oven to 180c. Pierce frankfurters all over with folk. Spread tomato sauce on bread, then cut into quarters. Place frankfurter diagonally on each quarter of bread. Bring up edges and secure with a toothpick. Brush with melted butter. Place on greased baking tray and bake for 10 minutes until bread is crisp and lightly brown.

**********

Baby Meatballs

250g lean mince

1/2 cup mashed potatoes

Preheat oven to 180c. Combine ingredients. Roll into little balls and place on baking tray. Cook for around 20 minutes. Drain excess liquid before serving.

NOTE: I serve these with a side of greens.

**********

Custard Tarts

Makes 12

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

500g premium vanilla custard

3 tbs. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 200c. Cut 6 rounds from each sheet of pastry and line a non-stick muffin tray with them. Place a circle of baking paper with some uncooked rice on each and blind bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove paper and rice and cool. Spoon an equal amount of custard into each and sprinkle with brown sugar. Place tarts under a preheated grill to melt sugar before serving.

NOTE: Another yummy filling is Caramel Top 'n' fill! Just beat caramel well before spooning into tarts and top with fresh whipped cream - delicious!

**********

Also posted over at Chive talking Menu Plan Blogroll! Check them out!

I'm selling it all!

2009-05-04T11:03:00.004+10:00

I've decided that I'm selling my bike and my twin pram and buying this!

What a BRILLIANT IDEA! Its costly, costing around $2100 (including postage though!) in Australian dollars. I personally think, for me, it would be a great investment. When you take into account that my bike cost $800 and the pram was $600, that's $1400 anyway. It would really be great to take the kids for a ride. Both Zach and Anna can fit in the front.

Oh, I want one, I want one, I want one!!!!

That is all......

Eye Spy.......my new favourite blog(s)!

2009-05-04T09:46:00.005+10:00

I'm back! Again participating in the Cindy's Eye Spy Sunday (on a Monday). This weeks theme is thanks to One Red Robin.

I have a real problem with blog reading - I'm hooked on it! I have hundreds and hundreds of blogs on my reader and if I don't read regularly it turns into a real disaster! BUT I can't stop, its hard to unsubscribe so usually I don't. I do however get many brilliant, awesome and excellent ideas from all these blogs and I love the insight into other peoples lives.

I am always finding new blogs to read. Reading one blog that links to another and another - whats a girl to do?! Here are just a few of my more recent finds....

Holly Hocks

My Black Cardigan

I {heart} faces

Living Locurto

ModKid

fortuitous heart......

2009-05-03T13:38:00.005+10:00

–adjective
1. happening or produced by chance; accidental: a fortuitous encounter.

While making a cuppa yesterday morning.......

Check out more fortuitous heart's here

What happens when.....

2009-05-03T13:26:00.003+10:00

...you leave one inquisitive 23 month old alone in the kitchen for a few minutes with the cupboard ajar.....

You get an entire bag of raw sugar all-over-the-floor!

.....you drop easy hints right before a trip to Canberra, right before Mother's Day.....

You get what you wanted - early - and he gets a great sale price! (Loving my slow cooker!)

And he also gets a great meal with meat so tender it melts in your mouth!!

.....And his favourite Cold Meat Fritters with the left over lamb roast from the other night!

See it all worked out for everyone! More on our trip to Canberra soon and how Zachary went with this check up.

Wow, thank you Nicole!

2009-05-03T08:36:00.007+10:00

{Firstly, photos have now been added to my organization post! }

Well this morning I've been completely humbled!

This post could turn into a really long one but I'm just going to cut the story short for you all.....I have been award 'A Sisterhood Award' by a lovely lady who's blog I read, but that's not all. Nicole from The Life of Us (who awarded me) is the partner of Luke, my eldest Ashlee's Dad, and the mother of Ashlee's two half brothers! We got talking a while ago after Nicole contacted me through Facebook. I bit of a shock but no Nicole I didn't think you were a loony :) Then a little while later I came across her on a forum I frequent, Essential Baby. We have never met IRL but its been nice to have contact with her. Maybe someday in the future we will meet?!

So there you go, a bit different but such is life.....now on to the award.....As Nicole puts it....

What is this Sisterhood Award I hear you ask?

Its an award that you pass on to other women whose blogs you read that you find encouraging, uplifting and inspirational.

Did I say yet that I'm extremely humbled?!

So I have choose just a few blogs that I find encouragement and inspiration from? Geez, that is going to be hard......lets try though.....

Firstly, super crafty CurlyPops! I tell you this woman makes me jealous! So many pretty things. So much talent! I have A LOT of her posts saved with awesome ideas on things to make, bake or just admire. I really look forward to her posts!

Next up, Retromummy! Another mummy to adorable twins. Lots of wonderful inspiration and adorable cuteness on this blog! Making, baking, fabric, knitting. Its really nice to peer into the life of another mummy of twins and see that you are not alone in your trials and tribulations :)

Then, Many Little Blessings. I find heaps of information and inspiration here. I started reading when she was the host of Works for Me Wednesday (which has now moved to We are THAT family). LOVE love love her Organisation posts. She always has so many great ideas and I have used a lot of them around my home.

Moving on, if you need a real pick me up check out [I] LoveLife! You can't read this blog, daily, and not feel happy. She is so up beat, happy, organised and talented! Not to mention those two ADORABLE little girls, Pilot and Penn! Aren't they just the two most original and gorgeous names?! Large, daily, happy photos to put you in the right mood. She is the first blog I turn to if I'm feeling a little down.

Oh I could go on but just one more.....I could not received this award and not pass it on to my beautiful sister in law Melissa at Remember to Live, Laugh, Love! Have I mentioned that she and my brother Dan are expecting?! Can you tell I'm soooo excited?! Melissa is a number one girl, and I'm not just saying that because she is my SIL. I have known Melissa for quite a few years and in that time she has never been anything less than a beautiful person. I can truly see why my brother waited so patiently for so many years to win her over. Melissa is crafty (when she's not under the weather with morning sickness! - hope your feeling better Mel!), talented, happy, beautiful and most of all a devoted Christian. She really gives me inspiration to live a better life. Melissa also has a online shop! Heart and Home, check it out!

That will be it for now. I could list HEAPS of blogs that are truly inspirational and maybe one day I will.......off now for a shower, I smell....hahaha. Zach and Anna also need a sleep. Anna was up again last night with Croup and her ever loving brother decided he needed to with her! Keep Anna in your prayers as we head into winter. Anna suffers quite badly in the colder months. Lets hope this year she doesn't have to spend most of it in hospital! Mitchell is at the farm today with Daddy so I'm going to try and make the most of it!

What a day already!

2009-05-01T13:22:00.008+10:00

Today I didn't really have a plan. Was just going to go with the flow. Fridays are usually pretty hectic as all 3 little ones are home and its the end of the week so everyone is a little tired and grumpy. Woke feeling a little blah but soon got my organisation groove on and got stuck into it. Well as much as I could with 3 little ones to help out. I spent most of the morning picking up toys and reminding everyone that you don't need all the toys out at once and you couldn't possibly play with them all (and God knows we certainly don't have the room!). Once I admitted defeat it was time to move on......

I opened the Pantry Doors and discovered something that resembled this...

Pic from {here}

Ok, that's not my pantry but I forgot to take a before photo so that is going to have to do. After pulling everything out, tossing things out of date, finding boxes to use to organise and 2 bags of rubbish later! We ended up with this.....

{after} - its here!

Of course not with out some super help from Zach and Anna and with Mitchell playing with Thomas toys around my feet! There was cereal mess all over the floor and I started to wonder why I had ever started but its done and feel a little better now.

The cardboard boxes I used are not very pretty - yet (although you can't see them very well in the photo). I used chip boxes that I had been saving up for something like this. I plan on covering them fabric and a little mod podge like I did with Mitchell's special books box....and also labeling them.

{made last year to put Mitchell special books in
that we don't want the twins into} - here it is!

I also got into the extra food storage cupboard and tidied that up in the same way. Again using empty cardboard boxes that I will pretty up when I get a chance.

I usually do a bulk shop of most used items when I am in Canberra or going through Canberra as groceries here are sooooo expensive. $4 - $5 for a loaf of bread! Up to $5 for 3 litres of milk! Not to mention all the school and cooking supplies we go through. I also bulk buy my baby wipes - almost $10 for a packet of wipes here that I can pick up at Aldi for about $3. While I use cloth nappies 100% of the time - ok not 100% as I send disposables to Daycare, for now - I still use disposable wipes but I have all the material sitting here to make washable wipes, just need to find the time to sew them! (I currently use flushable liners too but I think I will stick to them for now.) Alright, that may be a whole other post there so more on my cloth nappies later.

My next task is to empty the freezer (the one in the fridge - we also have a chest freezer but that's tomorrows job!) and organise that. I plan on listing everything I find and doing my upcoming meal plans from that. Between the fridge freezer and the chest freezer its going to save me hundreds I tell you!

{ Added: Here is the result of Brett's effort in the chest freezer! I'm quite impressed! Plenty of room now to stock up on meat! Thanks Brett! }

And also a HUGE thank you to Brett for this effort!

Underneath are the baskets I use to store my nappies in, on top of the lowboy.
- they are over flowing a bit at the moment. I need another basket!

In the house we are currently staying in there is absolutely no hanging space in the kids room. All of the things that needed to be hung up were hung in my wardrobe leaving that very cluttered! Then I came up with the idea of adding a hanging rail from the roof! I purchased the wooden wardrobe doubler from Kmart when I was pregnant with the twins - Its hard to explain so this is it (except mine has a wooden rail)

Its brilliant and adds the extra hanging space I needed in the corner of the room. Now all the kids clothes are hung in their room and I have my wardrobe back!

For more Pantry/Wardrobe/Cupboard Organizing checkout Organizing Junkie!

*********

Yesterday Zach, Anna and Mitchell were all in Preschool/Daycare and boy did I get a lot done!

* Bathroom/Toilet thoroughly cleaned, vacuumed and mopped
* Kitchen cleaned and vacuumed and mopped
* 5 loads of washing done, along with a pretty through clean of the laundry
* Beds made, bedrooms dusted, wardrobes tidied and floors vacuumed
* Lounge room thoroughly cleaned, dusted and vacuumed. Toys sorted and re-organised
* All the sheets/towels etc folded and put away
* Odds 'n' ends that usually end up stacking up on the dreaded piano in the hall put away

By the time everyone got home I had had a few minutes to enjoy my thoroughly clean and sparkling house before all hell broke loose again!

Now I'm off to put anybody under 3 to bed and get the 5 loads of washing off the line and folded before beginning my freezer task. Wish me luck!

Happy May!

2009-05-01T12:00:00.000+10:00

WFMW: Conditioning Body Wash Double Action

2009-04-29T20:01:00.005+10:00

I have decided to participate for the very first time in Works-For-Me-Wednesday! I am a regular reader and have gotten so many great tips I thought I would add some of my own......

As the title suggests this week its about another use for conditioning body wash.

I find that I have to wash my hair daily other wise it really looks a little dull. Having 4 children including the Delightful Two @ nearly 2, I find just getting in the shower is hard let alone having time to wash my hair every day! This is where Conditioning Body wash comes in.....

Considering most body washes are made from a shampoo base anyway I decided to try it out on my hair and boy was I quite impressed! I found my hair was definitely softer and shinier and the best thing is that I can now get 2 or 3 days out of one wash! So even though body wash can be slightly more expensive I am using half the amount of body wash compared to shampoo and I don't have to actually condition either so saving even more! My next goal is to make some homemade body wash and tailor it to me!

Would love to hear from anyone who has any Soap-free body wash recipes!

Well, this was a pretty simple Works-For-Me but it Works-For-Me! Check out We Are THAT Family for more WFMW!

Where does the time go??! {The Organisation Edition}

2009-04-29T13:58:00.005+10:00

This week I think the terrible is beginning to happen! NOOOO! My delightful two are no longer a dream to put down for their day time sleep......I have been dreading the day.....How in the world am I going to get anything done now?! They don't even seem to need it - most days. So today I did spent a little time reading some posts in bloglines that I saved because I wanted to sit down and read them later. I thought I would share some with you....

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Firstly we have some Organising and Cleaning posts:

: Simple Mom has one great post about Starting your day off right and also these great post on 4 Simple Ideas to Help you Clean a Messy House, Weekly Home Managment at a glance, 40 Tips to go Greener in your home.

: Simple, Green, Frugal has 20 uses for Vinegar. What about giving the gift of an All Natural Cleaning Supply Basket! Or this post about living Frugal with Children.

: Jolly Mum shows us how to make Homemade Cleaners at a fraction of the cost!

: Organising Junkie has some brilliant information including this Free Grocery Template, or this Menu Planning Template,

: Virtually Organized has Bedroom Storage Tips

: Some Wardrobe Organizing Tips - and here!

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Decorating Posts:

: How about some Wall loveliness with A Sassy Affair

: Etch some glass with Create Studio

: Add some Silhouette's your walls with Home Sweet Home

: Domestic Fashionista teaches beginners how to get started in furniture painting

: Some DIY wall Art with EightCrazy Designs

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How about some Gift Giving Ideas or Just fun Crafting:

: Sew a Burp Cloth and Dummy Holder with Create Studio

: Diamonds, Fur and Laundry shows you how to sew a crayon and notebook cosy

: Make some lovely Bath Salts to give to Mum with Three Peas in a Pod!

: This is a fun idea! Rubber Band Prints with Pajamamama

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Lets Cook!

: Find out how to cook once and eat 10 times at MoneyWise Moms

: So many things to cook here at Fabulessly Frugal!

: A year of crock potting! Brilliant, what more can I say!

***

My delightful two are getting up to some mischief so I better step in before someone gets hurt! Ashlee is back to school today and Mitchell is in Preschool. Think I better go and get something else done before everyone gets home.

Went to Canberra yesterday for Zach and also received my Mother's Day Pressie early so more on that soon......

Time for that promised....

2009-04-26T13:09:00.020+10:00

Update I think.....

I will get straight into it then....

Firstly, Ashlee:

Mummy's girls {heart}

Not to much going on. Still a few days left of school holidays. She looking forward to going back to school but not. Just to have some time with friends and no 'little people' around. They get a bit tiring sometimes for a nearly 12 year old. Other then that she will start netball this term. Her big love. She has also been chosen for the district team too so that means a lot of driving and training.....something I'm not looking forward to much.

While away for Easter we stayed at Mum's/Nan's and Ashlee decided to have a bit of fun one night and play a bit of 80's dress ups. Oh so funny!

What she was on?......No idea?! Hahaha. Also why she even owns the clothes that enabled her to do 80's dress ups......?!

Mitchell:

Nearly a big 5 years old! Loving preschool and has a wonderful best friend Max. Those two are just nuts together! He would go everyday if he could but at the moment he is only going 3 days a week. Can you believe he will be starting 'big primary school' (as he puts it) next year! Just 10 short months away! My little baby - where has the time gone?!

Mitchell is also really keen to learn to read at the moment. We read ALL THE TIME! I love it (most of the time) and I'm sure he will be reading away before he gets to school. They do say that if I child can read before they start school they have a brilliant start and do a lot better than if they can't. He still adores Thomas (and friends) and has gotten both Zachary and Anna in on the obsession too!
Mitchell loves riding his bike.....

And being a TOTAL boy, he loves playing with trucks in the dirt.

Alone....

Or with company....

And of course....

He loves his Mummy!

Now, My sweet little Zachary:

Everything with Zachary at the moment is pretty stable. We have put in our application for funding for his Kaye Walker and should have it very soon. Kaye Walkers are not all that great for outdoor, uneven ground use so Brett made up a little walking frame for him to use outdoors. He loves it!

For some reason we don't have one of him walking around in it so here is Anna doing a demonstration on the same day.....

Brett has since added a curved rail a bit lower so it is easier for him to use at the moment. Mitchell even has a ball pushing it around so we know it will do him till at least 5 years old. Brett is going to give it a bit of a paint job too - soon.....

We are having a bit of a break from therapy over the Easter period but will back into it from next week. MEIS (Monaro Early Intervention Services) starts back on Tuesday but we will be in Canberra for Zach and Anna's 2 year check up with the Paed and also a review for Zachary. Only for the day this time so thankfully we don't have to pack up half the house to go!

Overall, Zachary doesn't let anything get in his way and if he comes across something that does his ever helpful and loving twin sister is there to help him!

And he just loves her :)

He is the happiest little man I've ever met.....its truly hard to get a photo of him when he is not like this.....

Or this....

He loves hanging with his {little} sister....

What would we do with him?! Love you little man!

Last, but definitely not least.....

Our little Princess, Anna:

She has so much sweet, sweet love for Mummy....and everyone else!

Talking at the speed of a freight train! She really is a laugh a minute! Always saying some thing cute and has a 'Hello!' for everyone. Dribbles like nothing else at the moment while cutting those 4 eye teeth but it definitely doesn't take away from the cuteness!

On a more serious note.....We have been referred from our eye specialist in Canberra to the Eye Clinic at the Children's Hospital in Sydney. He thinks she will most definitely need surgery to fix her eyes now that it is starting to affect her vision. Unfortunately she has gotten to the stage were she just doesn't see things and either runs into them or trips over. Oh, my poor baby, its the last thing we wanted for you. We will take it one step at a time though and see what they say in Sydney.....

Both Zachary and Anna love Preschool (daycare). Adore it really. Sometimes it takes a bit to settle them down in the beginning but they settle in ok.

Anna has a few odd pass times....

Like standing on her head?!

Or just laying in odd positions?!

But loves to 'cook' with her brother...

Your are beautiful though.

And I adore your hair!

And your pretty (chubby) face

Now.....my crafting Mojo?! It's still here! Really it is. The problem has been my Organising Mojo - now that seems to have taken a little walk. I haven't been able to get into my Office/Craft Room lately as it currently looks like this....

And my 'craft space'? Like this...

That there on the desk is a fairy floss machine....?!

Oh wow, did I just post those photos?! Now there is no turning back is there!

All those boxes contain a hoard of clothes that I have cleaned out recently from the kids wardrobe and mine also. Oh, ok. Maybe my organizing Mojo isn't gone! Its just been put to use somewhere else...... Yes, there is A LOT of clothes and I'm currently sorting them out to give to my SIL who is expecting number 1, the op shop and some of it I will sell. We have in those boxes Sz 00000 to Sz 10 clothes in both girls and boys and also Maternity clothes and clothes I have come to be sick of. Some day soon I hope to have them gone and Crafting back! I'll keep working on that. On Monday and Thursdays mornings when the twins are in Daycare.

I'm also hoping to get back into these:

Well, that is some post! (For me) So I'm off to try get some more house work done before the delightful two wake up. Glad you have beared with me this far :) See you all later!

OMG OMG OMG!!

2009-04-22T13:42:00.003+10:00

This year I again participated in the Great Down Under Nappy Hunt - for the third time.... AND it paid off!

I WON GRAND PRIZE #1 !!!!
Worth $490!

Belly Bumps to Baby Hugs is donating a breastfeeding cover, a booboo buddy & a drop buddy.
Baby Soft Landings is donating Embroidered Berry Plush Cover.
Booroi is donating a 3pk of Booroi Bamboo Prefold Nappies.
Cinderella's Stash is donating Large Funkies Carnival Shorties.
Hurphy Durphy is donating a Hurphy Durphy seat belt buckle guard.
The itti bitti nappy co is donating a yellow bitti d'lish snap in one.
Mamma Bellah Kids is donating a Kids Eurotrike.
Poppy Bean and Bloss is donating an Art Folder.
Ollie Rose is donating a Sock Monkey Bib, washcloth set and ribbon blanket.
Scamps Eco Boutique is donating Creamy Cream.
WAHM Naps is donating a Size 2 Rainbow Night Nappy and a Soy Wax Candle, Goat Milk Soap & mini Cupcake Soap.
The WeeWuns is donating a Large Very Baby Natural Bamboo.

I'm sooo excited!

The best thing is that Mitchell has been at me for sooooo long to him a Scooter and now with his birthday coming up in July he will definitely be getting one.

This one in fact....

Shhhh, don't tell him though...hehehe

Ok, better go now. I am planning on an update but today I'm just enjoying not having to run off to appointments, run anyone to school/preschool and also the peace and quite now Zachary and Anna are having a nap :) And loving some time with Ashlee while the school holidays on on!

Away for Easter....

2009-04-15T08:52:00.003+10:00

I'm enjoying staying at Mum's in Canberra over Easter. I have LOVED the break, thought I would have more time to blog....not true. In between kids nap time, keeping up with our 2 loads of washing a day (and that's while we are in disposables!), eating chocolate and making time to shop for an outfit for a wedding on the weekend I haven't really done a lot. But I must say it has been enjoyable!

So, not to much to blog about........I received my lush Cushie Tushies last week - it's LOVE! - Pink and Blue camo Minky, can it get any better?! I have also have a brown with green spots so have indulged in a Pink with white spots to match for Anna - should be here soon. Wanna see my latest 'stash' pics?! Maybe not, but if you keep reading your going too!

[Insert Pics Here] - just realised that they are still on the camera so I will add them later.

Here, however, are my Zach and Anna's new Cushies.....

Sorry about the sideways photos, I'm going to have to fix that later. Anna smells and is not happy about it......Maybe I'll get the chance to blog later this afternoon. For now, I'm off to change nappies, get dressed, get everyone else dressed, kick Ashlee out of bed - come on it 9am already! - and head down to get a hair cut and do some more shopping! Heading home tomorrow, just in time to re-pack and head to Bairnsdale for 4 days. Oh the joys of travels with 4 children! I will do an update on the little ones soon. With photos! Yes, Zach and Anna are 2 in just over a month! Can you believe it?! Or that Ashlee is 12 in June! Mitchell 5 in July!! My babies are growing up [insert huge sob here]. What are my chances of adding another babe to our clan?! Not really promising......just going to have to make do with a new Niece or Nephew arriving in October/November......I can't wait! Better run, the smell is getting the better of me really and I don't think the children are going to get themselves ready or that my hair is going to miraculously cut itself.

Hope you all had a lovely Easter!

PLEASE PRAY!

2009-04-08T08:35:00.003+10:00

Little Stellan is not doing so well. He needs your prayers. Click the button above to head on over to Mckmama's blog and read the full story.

Its been awhile...

2009-04-06T12:17:00.004+10:00

Things here are looking up. We are working towards a new house! All I can say is 'it can't come quick enough!'. I'm going nuts in this house!

More updates coming soon on the little ones and also as my mojo returns there is some more crafting!

BUT...

Last night: I had the BEST sleep ever!

Today: Kids at school, preschool or in daycare so I baked!

Firstly this......

Than a chocolate mud cake....yummy. Camera flat so pics to come! Also some serious cleaning has been going on this morning with more to come as I still have an hour and a half till I pick up Zach and Anna from daycare.

Not a lot else to say right now, but I guess I'm back! And 'Operation Organise' is back on track!

See you all again soon!

It's been tough...

2009-03-15T22:13:00.005+11:00

I haven't posted in a while because truthfully.....I haven't felt like it. Things around here have been tough. I'm coping but I'm not if you know what I mean.....

Wednesday March 18th, 11:52am

I started this post the other day and as it says, I just didn't feel like posting at the time. I was sad. Sad because we had just gotten back from our appointment in Sydney with Dr Lowe who told us that in Zachary's future he doesn't see him walk on his own with out the aid of a walker. Why my son, why my little boy?? He is such a happy little man, he doesn't let anything get in his way but why should this be in his future? I've had a few days to process it now and I'm feeling a little better, I guess maybe coming to terms with it all. We will hopefully be getting Zachary's Kaye Walker in the next few weeks but it should be by next week. He had a go of a little boys this week at group therapy and just took off. It is what he needs, it is what I need! Dr Lowe was happy with his hips this time and we are not considering Botox at this time but we are looking into AFO's for the future once he is up and about in his walker.

Today is the first day in a long time that I have gotten up and not had to rush off anywhere. I'm still in my PJ's and it feels great. Although the twins have just gone down for a sleep so I'm planning on jumping through a shower and getting into some house work. Fun, I know......

Also Anna has been diagnosed with Exotropia. Not such wonderful news but treatable. Its has pretty much been a terrible week. First Anna's diagnosis then Zach's long term prognosis then yesterday I was getting wood from the wood pile and the whole lot fell on my leg - OUCH - I'm now sporting cuts and some pretty nasty bruises as well as an extremely sore leg all over. Today I was getting a knife out of the drawer and someone put a knife in that was sharp and I cut my finger. That was a few hours ago and it has only now stopped bleeding......

Some good news to end on though....I'm going to be an auntie! I'm soooo excited! Congratulations to my brother Daniel and his wife Melissa, we can't wait to meet this little one!

I have also been involved (addicted to) the current nappy hunt. I do it every year. I've recently gone back to MCN's and I'm yet again a complete addict! Zach and Anna have out grown all the 'sized' nappies I had so they are going up for sale and I am replacing them. As well as the fitted nappies. I'm not keen on covers anymore. Recently I have brought:

2 x 'Oober Baby' Large AIO - one in this pink and one aqua

This ' Rollicking Rascals' Rainbow Onesize AIO

This 'Rollicking Rascals' Purple Onesize AIO

This 'Caterpillar Cuties' Retro Robots Onesize. Its actually a fitted but I could resist.

These 3 'Whizz Kidz' AIO (one not pictured)

A super cute soaker...by Woolly Bottoms

As well as these 5 'Daddle Doo' AI2's that I love!

Now I have a pretty decent 'stash' again and have cut down a lot of work by eliminating most of my 'fitteds'. All the nappies I have now will fit until they toilet train and thanks to the nappy hunts discount code I have made some savings too!

Buying nappies has cheered me up....lol! Thankfully I'm making back a decent amount of money from the nappies that I am selling. Now just to sort out the covers and get them sold!

Ok enough about that. I best head off and actually do something! Looking forward to getting back into some sewing soon too. I have a few UFO's to get to and some other things I would like to try. I also have some PIF items to attend too - watch out! ( I also want one or two more people so let me know if you are interested!)

Good Bye Summer....

2009-03-01T22:50:00.003+11:00

Welcome Autumn...

Even though we have had a tough time this year I'm still going to miss you.......see you again next year!

Its late and I'm tired but tomorrow I will be back with photos and updates....

Another year older.....

2009-02-26T22:13:00.005+11:00

Wow what a day! It really didn't feel like my birthday and the numerous times I had to sign and date today, would you believe that at least three times I actually asked the date before it 'clicked'!

Its late, I'm tired and I'm going to bed. I'll do a longer post tomorrow but the day in short -

Zach got his xray but not before we had to reschedule at another hospital 1.5 hours away because our local doesn't print film, they only give out disks.

Brett hurt his ankle at work earlier in the week and is now on work cover. After an xray today we find out that its not broken - this time. He does have two old breaks though that he pushed through without being seen by a doctor - Men!

Today was a long day, a lot driving. We were out from 8:15am to 6:30pm. All for a bit of shopping and an xray. Thankfully the kids were all pretty good but I'm sure glad to be home and out of the car.

Tomorrow, back to Bombala for an appointment each for Zach and Anna with the MCHN. Zach is not gaining weight like he should, he needs to be checked monthly. Mitch at preschool so one less child to chase around tomorrow. I might even get a break at some stage!

Good night everyone!

P.S Happy Birthday Luke for tomorrow - Love Ashlee....

I've made some.....ummm

2009-02-24T13:36:00.003+11:00

supposed to be charges but I stuffed up somehow. I saved my template {check}, uploaded my new template {check}, lost all my things {check} - that's ok I'll just reload my old template and sort it out later, ummmm....no sorry, blogger doesn't want to do that and instead kept throwing me errors. Damn! Oh well, so I'm starting fresh. All my posts are still ok but all my side bar things are getting revamped - not by choice!

I like it (for now). I have spent the morning doing some major house work and now I'm going to park my bum at the computer while Zach and Anna sleep and Mitchell is at Preschool and make a few side bar headings and maybe even a new header - still trying to sort the size out for that one.

In other news, Anna is ok. Still not 100% but home and happy. She spent a few days on Prednisolone (a type of steroid) and has needed her Ventolin as well as being back on Flixotide (a preventer). She sounds like a freight train when she breaths but apparently that's just the congestion in her chest that (being a virus that you can't treat with antibiotics) will clear up in time. Anna also has her appointment next Thursday with an eye specialist in Canberra. Fingers crossed for that one!

Zach has an appointment for an xray for his hips this Thursday. He has migrating hips (the muscles on the inside of his thighs are so tight that they are pulling his hips out of there sockets. If not sorted he will require surgery) and he is just getting tighter so fingers crossed everything looks ok - still. He is seeing Dr Lowe in Sydney on March 13th.

Mitchell is not well, he has the same virus that the rest have but is handling it well and on the mend. Today he is at Preschool, he LOVES preschool!

Ashlee has registrations for Netball this afternoon in Bombala so we are off to that and I'll get some shopping in while we are there. She is pretty excited to be getting back into some sport again. She has been doing any since we left Bairnsdale.

Me, well my headaches - or migraines - have gone, YESSSSS! Dr thinks it was a combination of blocked sinuses and stress. I totally agree. I have caught up on some sleep and feel a little more normal now.

Right, times ticking by so I'm off - see you all later!

Sick...

2009-02-20T17:01:00.003+11:00

Anna is sick, last night we had her rushed to hospital in an ambulance after she turned blue. Scary to say the least and the fact that our 'local' hospital was a 40 minute drive away!

Diagnosis: Severe Croup - oxygen sats ranging from 75% to 80%, struggling to breath, not eating or drinking.

She was put onto a neb and also given oxygen. Right now she is doing ok. I'll keep you updated...

Me: Awake since 5am yesterday until 11am today when I manage to get 2 hours sleep. So tired, haven't eaten but not hungry. Longing to curl up in bed. I've also had a migraine on and off for the past 6 days which doesn't help.....

Well....

2009-02-13T17:03:00.016+11:00

....I made promises and haven't kept them. I'm soooo behind that its getting out of hand! I'm just feeling really blah. Not sick or sad or unhappy or anything like that just going insane living in this tiny house! 6 people have a lot of stuff - what I am saying, two 20 month old's have a lot of stuff, than when you add the other four people its mayhem! I've been trying to keep on track with 'Operation Organise' but I have seriously run out room. We have our house in Bairnsdale, Victoria forsale at the moment (well its actually been on the market for over 12 months!) and until that sells there is not much we can do. I want more room, I NEED more room! At least the dishes are done and the washing is up to date ~~but we will not mention that I have 2 baskets of washing to fold and put away though~~.

I really meant to do a post yesterday (and the day before) but having no time to even get the photos off the camera to add to the post is making it a little hard. I don't really like posts with out photos. Today was meant to be 'catch up day' but that didn't happen. I got a few things done but then decided to sit down and scrap a page. I haven't scrapped in ages. The result? ......

{Credits to come}

Nothing fancy, just a quick one. Time I should have spent cleaning the bathroom or folding the washing but you know how it goes.

Tomorrow we are off to Bega for the annual show - meaning another day I will get nothing done. Should be nice to spend Valentines day as a family though.

This afternoon.....hanging out more washing, folding washing, dragging three filthy children through the bath and then there is dinner to prepare and also getting snacks and bags ready for tomorrow. I also need to clean some of the ~~crap~~ toys, etc out of the car and do a quick tidy up of the office (that the kids trashed - pencils and paper, chairs and stuff all over).

Hopefully Monday will be my day. Zach and Anna in Daycare for a few hours and Mitchell in Preschool all day should give me time to piece this house back together. Brett will be on day duty next week too which will mean I can get more done - do you get less done when the other half is around or is it just me?

So for a quick run down on what we have been up to.....

We baked!

Big ones....

and little ones.....

and some in between.

And they were yummy! At least Zach and Anna thought so...

I did get those drawers sorted...

And labeled too!

Zach got his new 'standing frame'

and at the moment is spending about 30 minutes a day in it, building it up until he can spend at least an hour.

He has also been spending some time outside with his trolley. Mosting in the evenings because it has been sooo hot!

And Mitchell, his usually amusing self....

Better run now, children running wild and in need of taming. See you all again soon!

Sorry All

2009-02-10T00:06:00.003+11:00

~~My lovely sweet little baby girl decided to spend hours crying - poor baby :( - over what? I don't know~~ Things came up. I didn't get time to blog but I did take a few snap shots - they will come.

I We did bake this afternoon though. Mitchell helped and Zach and Anna licked spoons, their favourite pass time at the moment. Rainbow cupcakes (50 of them!) for all!!!

Lastly please keep these families in your thoughts:

The Macs - who recently lost their 10(?) month old daughter, Cora to cancer.

The Whitt Family - Little 2 yr old Tuesday has gone to be with God after a battle with neuroblastoma.

Brook, Jake & Family - sadly their beautiful sweet twin girls, Sydney & Carynne were recently diagnosed with Werdnig-Hoffman Disease - Children rarely survive to age two with this form of the disease.

Lastly, please continue to pray for the victims of the Victoria Bush Fires. Also lets not forget those affected by the flooding in QLD.

Welcome Back!

2009-02-09T13:34:00.009+11:00

Hello all. All that are still reading! Please excuse my little bloggy break. I really didn't mean to or want to, its all my internet providers fault. Due to a few problems I was unable to connect to my broadband and thanks to their totally incompetent sales/accounts people - who I might mention are not even in this country and who I can hardly understand! - I was unable to access it for quite a few weeks. To tell you I was angry would be an understatement!

Things are all back up and running now and I have so much to say but that is going to have to wait until this evening as I have a bit of a busy day today - a home, a life and 4 3 little ones and a big one there is so much to do, my washing never seems to end I tell you - along with the piles of dishes that seem to mount up every five seconds (I really really miss my dishwasher, I really really do!). Thanks to my non scheduled bloggy break I have been able to get a lot done. My 'Operation Organize' is still definitely running along smoothly and I have been able to get quite a few things crossed off my list - does this tell you I spend way to much time on the net, course not! So make sure you check back soon for some dates - Zach's progress, 'Operation Organise' update, sewing update, as well as digital scrap booking are just a few of the things I want to mention.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, on to a sadder note. I'm sure many of you have heard or read about the terrible bushfire's happening in Victoria and NSW. My heart goes out to all the families that lost someone and to the families that have lost all there worldly possessions.

I can hardly believe that most of these fires have been deliberately lit! The Prime Minister said 'there are just no words to describe these people' but what I think he was thinking - these mass murderers are the scum of the earth! I certainly don't believe that 25 years in jail would go anywhere near what they deserve! Bastards!

We have some amazing people fighting these fires. I want to thank each and every one of them. They really are hero's and they are risking their lives to help others.

The look on his face says it all I think....

Please pray for those that are now homeless, those that are injured and of course for the friends and families of the 128 people (at last count) that have been killed.

Please donate what you can...(link above clickable)

Edit:

Firstly - Please keep Rachael in your prayers.

Mike's is welcoming handmade donations via the shop. Check out the info here.

Sarah from With A Cherry On Top and Bianca from The Toy Society are going to try to find an organisation who will take handmade toys to distribute to children who have lost everything in the bushfires. Rach from Grandy and Baa had the same idea too.

Sparkly Green Knickers is going to donate the proceeds from her Etsy Shop to the Bushfire Appeal...

Menu Plan Monday

2009-01-19T15:16:00.002+11:00

Again...no day allocation. This my plan for the week.

Roast Lamb - with roasted vegetables (again, yum!)

BBQ Beef Stir-fry - with rice

(Leftover) Lamb & potato bake - with vegetables

Creamy Chicken Pasta - with salad

Steak casserole (again because it was quite hit!)

BBQ Lamb Chops - with vegetables

AND lastly, we will have take away one night because I can if I feel like it! hehehe!

Make sure you head over to The Organising Junkie for more menu plans!

Another day.....

2009-01-14T18:03:00.003+11:00

Yesterday for those of you who are interested, I did the dishes, wiped down the bench, picked up a few toys that were laying around (you know because I had to do something...) and then parked my butt on the couch and watched LOST. It was great! When Zach and Anna woke up I felt quite refreshed. They had a play, then some dinner, then it was time to toddle (and crawl) their bare bums to the bath where they stayed until I got sick of it and got them out against their wishes. A bit more playing, a story, then off to bed. What a lovely afternoon/evening!

Today, much of the same. Mitchell has decided he wants to spend another night at Aunt Linda's, Brett's at work and ASHLEE'S HOME!! Mum is here as well for a few days which will be nice.

This morning I made a Vanilla Slice too! Yum indeed!

The power went out at about 5pm - it is so hot and we couldn't even have the air con on! So we sweated it out for a bit and I cheered when I heard the quiet were of the air con again. Anna cheered too. Quite funny really but I guess you had to be here. Now its time to go get dinner ready. We are having Ham and Cheese Chicken Rolls. Its making me hungry just thinking about it!

I will come back after the twins are in bed with the Vanilla Slice recipe. It is sooooo easy and sooooo delicious you have to try it. It only takes about 5 minutes to make!

WOW!

2009-01-13T13:54:00.004+11:00

I'm sitting here not knowing what to do with myself.

The twins have decided to change their sleep from 11am to 1:30pm so they have just gone down and Mitch is spending the night at Auntie Linda's so he has just left with Brett who is working night shift this week! So from now until about 4:30pm its just me.......

I don't know whether to do some more sewing, maybe a bit knitting, ~~some baking~~ - no its to hot for that! - some more organising or housework or just curl up on the couch for a little while and watch a bit of LOST! What to do, what to do?! Well, I know what I really want to do.....but should I?!

Until I make up my mind here is some photo love for you....

All images from here

Etsy Love!

2009-01-13T13:08:00.004+11:00

I [heart] this print

I [heart] this Zip Pouch

I [heart] this wall decal

I [heart] these washcloths

I [heart] this 'Heart'

And....

I [heart] this absolutely beautiful sunny weather today!

Eye Spy....Something I want to try in 2009!

2009-01-13T09:29:00.002+11:00

Image from here
Image from here

In 2009 I want to try quilting. It is something I have never done before, but I think I may just start with a dolls quilt.....

'Thank you' to Cindy for your meme and
to Bek of Red Chocolate for the theme.

Not Me Monday!

2009-01-12T19:36:00.004+11:00

Head on over to MckMama's blog for me Not Me Goodness!

This week there haven't been a whole lot of Not Me's (which I guess is a good thing!). I am having to really think to come up with something to put here, but I just need too.

It definitely wasn't me who curled up on the couch and snoozed yesterday while Brett and Mitchell were at the farm because what they don't know won't hurt them.

I don't know who hung Brett's work clothes on the line only to have them rained on and then hope that he could source something else to wear to work for the night because I was not running the dryer! That certainly was not me!

It is not me that has gotten the twins up again 1 1/2 hours after bed time because they refuse to give in and sleep. I wouldn't give in them.

And it is definitely Not Me that is sitting here eating a box of Kraft Crispy Potato in a Biskit instead of dinner because I just couldn't be bothered making up a meal for one. Thankfully it is Not Me who is on a diet!

Its Not Me who is going insane listening to the kids fight but it is me that is going to put them to bed again now!!

See you all next time!

Menu Plan Monday

2009-01-12T15:57:00.004+11:00

This week I am not allocating days to my meals as I really just want to go with the flow - is that ok?! My meals this week all come from 4 Ingredients 2 and are all cheap and easy.

This week we will be having:

Shepherds Pie:

500g lean mince
1/2 cup fruit chutney
6 potatoes, boiled and mashed
3/4 cup grated cheese

Brown mince, season and mix thought chutney. Pour into casserole dish, top evenly with mashed potato and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake at 180c for 20 - 30 minutes or until cheese is nice and bubbly. Serve with salad.

Cheese and Ham Chicken Rolls:

2 chicken breast fillets
2 pieces of Swiss Cheese (I'm just using tasty cheese here)
2 pieces sliced ham
1tbs wholegrain mustard

Flatten chicken breast before smearing with mustard. Lay a piece of cheese follwed by a peice of ham on each. Roll up and secure with toothpicks. Bake for 20 minutes at 180c or until brown and cooked through. Cut into rounds and serve. Serve with steamed vegetable.

BBQ Lamb Chops: - we just got half a lamb from the farm so must include lamb in the menu!

8 lamb chops
2tsp soy sauce
3tbs sweet chilli sauce

Mix soy and sweet chilli. Cook chops for 1 - 2 minutes on each side. Reduce heat and continue cooking for 2 - 3 minutes while brushing with baste. Cover loosely with foil and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve with steamed vegetables.

Creamy Chicken Pasta:

4 chicken breasts
4 shallots, finely chopped
4 rashers bacon, chopped
200g button mushrooms, sliced
200g tub cream cheese, softened

Brown chicken and set aside. Combine shallots and bacon in large frying pan, stir until bacon is crisp. Add mushrooms, stir until softened. Add cream cheese and a third cup of boiling water, simmer until cheese is melted. Add chicken, stir through and simmer until chicken is cooked through. Serve with Pasta.
(We are not mushroom fans so I'm not sure if I will be adding those.)

Steak Casserole:

1kg round steak, cubed
500g bag of mixed frozen vegetables
2 cups V8 juice

Place steak and vegetables in casserole dish, pour in V8 juice, covering contents well. Bake at 180c for 1 1/2 hours or until meat is nice and tender. Serve over rice.

Lamb Roast: - again use the lamb from the farm.

Chicken Vol-au-vants:

4 large vol-au-vant shells
485g bottle Chicken Tonight, honey mustard
1 cup shredded cheese
2 double chicken breast, diced

Dice chicken and cook in pan till lightly browned. Turn down heat and add chicken tonight, stir to heat through. Place vol-au-vant shells on a lined baking tray and fill each with chicken mixture. Top with cheese and place in oven at 180c for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Serve with salad or vegetables.

Other things we will be baking this week:

Apple Slice

Choc-Caramel Ravioli

Lemonade Scones

Rainbow Cupcakes

Head over to Organising Junkie for more Menu Plan Monday!

There's more to the day

2009-01-12T14:36:00.003+11:00

then just organising. So yesterday (and this morning) I took some time do some sewing and a bit of baking.

I've nearly completed the shirt I am sewing for Ashlee. Just down to sewing on the sleeves and a bit of hemming. I really hope it fits (it would be to large rather than to small) but more to the point I hope she likes it! Here is a peek....

Ashlee will be home on Wednesday!! Yippee!! (And I'm also looking forward to having Mum here for a few days) We have all missed her hugely here. Mitchell has even taken to sleeping with one of the teddies from her bed at night. He regularly asks when she will be home. Sweet.
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We have been doing a small amount of baking too, Mitchell and myself.

First we made some Yummy Apple Slice....

Image from here

Easy Apple Slice

340g pkt Vanilla Cake Mix
3/4 cup Melted Butter
400g Tin Pie Apple
200g Sour Cream
Cinnamon to taste

Preheat oven to 180c. Mix butter and cake mix to a dough. Spread evenly in a lined rectangular baking dish and bake for 15 minutes. Combine apple and sour cream. Spread evenly over base, sprinkle over cinnamon and return to oven for another 15 minutes. Cool in fridge. Serve cold.

Divine!

(You how I got that great Cook Book for Christmas - this recipe is from there.)
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This morning we made Devil's Food Cake. A packet mix this time but equally divine!

At least Miss Anna thought so!

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On a side note.....see this...

Little Miss got her very first hair cut (thanks to me!). Her fringe was just annoying me hanging in her eyes, so off it came!

Children running riot so better go check it out. Monday Plan Monday up next!

Post Chrissy Round Up!

2009-01-10T21:24:00.003+11:00

Firstly, Thank You to everyone that left those lovely comments.....the craft table I use was my MIL's until she passed away about 18 months ago. I love it too. It is nice and big and just the right height to sit and sew at. The little shopping trolley is kinda cute isn't it. That was actually already here when we moved it! The kids used to play with it but there are soooo many fights over it all the time that I ended up taking it to my craft room. Mean aren't I.

Now on to the pressies.......

What did I get for Christmas???? I was a bit spoilt I think.

My biggest gift was this 1TB external hard drive. So so cool!

An absolutely lovely 3 tier stand - I just wanna use it!

Complete digital photography Book - this is great, some excellent tuts and great tips.

My SIL Melissa (and my bro I guess...hehehe) got me this lovely clock. Thank you :)

I received this cute knitting bag that is currently over flowing with, well, knitting stuff

I looooove my new Laundry Powder Tin! It also comes with a little tin scoop. Now all I have to do is pick up one of these (all in pink of course) and this

I am a LOST JUNKIE! I have every episode so far (Mum gets me the new DVD set each year) and have watched them a few dozen times. I can't wait until LOST starts again this year but in the mean time this will keep me going!

My lovely PedEgg! I have wanted to get one of these for a while (see what happens when you have to watch midnight TV while breastfeeding!). Mum really does listen as I mentioned it in passing a while ago. (And yes, it does work!)

I got a nice soy candle and some soy melts. As well as some super yummy smelling hand cream!

Again from Mel and Dan, isn't this pillow cover stunning!! It currently sits on my bed during the day because I'm to afraid the kids will wreak it!

Mum got me a little sewing organiser. It really is brilliant. Isn't it great to receive all lovely, thoughtful gifts that you actually want and will use?! My family really does love me!

Image from here

I also got this GREAT cook book (that my entire meal plan for the next week is made up from - check back for Meal Plan Monday)

Image from here
Lastly, some lovely coasters.

I'm pretty sure there was other things too but they are not coming to mind at the moment.

So there you have it. Brilliant Christmas but the best bit, the bit I loved the most was the time I spent with my family. The two weeks I spent at Mum's house was so incredibly relaxing and fun. I just didn't want to go home! Now I miss them all terribly too.

Ok, its late...better get to bed. I am rather tired. Good night all!

You know....

2009-01-09T21:42:00.002+11:00

I have just realised that I really look forward to every post from One Pretty Thing and it actually excites me to see that name appear in my bloglines! The things we do, huh!

Some other sites that 'excite' me when they appear:

This Young House

CurlyPops
Three Buttons

Scrapping with Ikea Goddess

Fail Blog - Funny!

My Creative Space

2009-01-09T11:24:00.003+11:00

Kirsty has come up with another great idea that will replace On My Desk!

Welcome 'My creative space' - brilliant!

This is 'my space' currently. Getting ready to finish off Ashlee shirt that I have been meaning to get around to for quite a while now. Hopefully I will get this completed over the weekend! I have been a bit preoccupied with my new project 'Operation Organise' but I think I need a few minutes off from that - I have already got some much done! - and do something else. Just for a little while, I still have so much to do.

Head on over to Kootoyoo and take a look at who else is participating today!

Another BIG day

2009-01-09T09:42:00.007+11:00

Good Morning All!

Today is Day 4 of 'Operation Organise'! We have another big day ahead of us - or should I say I have another big day ahead of me!

On Today's List we have:

* Clean off the top of the Pantry and re-organising it

(Which currently looks like this)

* Clearing off, culling and reorganising the Fridge top

(Which unfortunately currently looks like this)

* Clearing off and reorganising the top of the office cupboards

(They currently look like this!)

* Filing the paperwork from drawers and making room for the kids craft things

(These are the drawers I was talking about)

Lastly, here is a GREAT idea that I can't believe I haven't blogged about yet!!

My wonderful Mum made this for me - it was a little while ago now.....

A roll away pantry! The double door pantry we had was just not big enough so in her usual wonderful and handy style she constructed it for me. It holds all my baking things and all my extra stuff that over flow from the other pantry. I love it!

It rolls away nicely between the pantry and fridge and looks great too! Thanks Mum!!

Another great storage idea that I picked up from Aldi on clearance while in Canberra for $2 for a pack of 4 (I got a few packets) are these plastic drawer organisers.

As you can see I'm not using this one as a drawer organiser but to store all our stationary things (i.e. the staplers, calculators, my Dymo Labeller) on the computer desk. Keeps them all in one place!

I also got a 4 pack of larger ones - $3 and this I am currently using this one to store some smaller books and notepads on the book shelf that always seem to fall over.

So 'Operation Organise' running along nicely, I would love others to join in! Big or small it doesn't matter.

Check back later for a Christmas Present post!

A big success!

2009-01-08T21:25:00.003+11:00

That's what today was!

The kitchen cupboards are done, the linen closet is clean and organised again and the clothes are folded and put away. Dinners over, kitchens cleaned up, toys are cleaned up, kids are sleeping and I'm pretty happy (and so much more organised). Although I didn't get it all completed before the Twins woke up and it ended up taking me a bit longer due to the 'help' I still got it finished. Tomorrow I will be tidying up the fridge top and culling a few kitchen items, for example a toaster grill that was given to me quite a few years ago and I have never used.

Also on the list for tomorrow is:

* Put away filing
* Empty plastic drawers and move all the kids craft things in
* Reorganise craft cupboard

I want to get some sewing done too. During my cleaning today I found these lovely tea towels that are to thin to really be useful for tea towels but they definitely have a use in the sewing room! What will they become??

Now I'm off to do a little sorting in the pattern and recipe department while I sit and watch a bit of LOST. I'm a LOST addict!

Link Love - Organising Edition

2009-01-08T12:34:00.004+11:00

Check out some of these great 'Organising' Ideas:

1. A perfect place for all your patterns (or recipes or anything really!)
2. Cord Keeper
3. Thrifty Organisation Ideas

4. 18 Five Minute Decluttering Tips
5. Clean up the Bedroom in 15 minutes
6. Furniture Rehab - Blackboard dresser

7. Make a laundry Loader
8. Make a chalk board organiser
9. No-Sew Fabric covered boxes

10. A hidden Cork Pin Board
11. DIY Spice Rack

Lastly, not really an organising idea but I just had to show this! I love it! What a brilliant idea! I can just imagine my daughters room with this set....

Or this one....I love the wardrobe under the bed idea!

Check them out over at Tumidei

Operation Organise

2009-01-08T11:36:00.007+11:00

Since I returned home from my lovely, relaxing trip away over the Christmas/New Years period I have decided to do some major reorganisation around the house. We have a lot of 'stuff' we just don't need anymore - or never needed to begin with....hahaha. As this house is only small I need all the extra space I can get!

On the first day of 'Operation Organise' I began with the Office/Craft Room.

This room does become a 'dumping ground' for a lot of things unfortunately. Thankfully we have recently added two double door cupboards to the room that has given me a lot more storage and things that were sitting around on shelves and the (ahem...) floor are now nicely stored away. Notice I didn't say neatly - well that's because it is not all that neat at the moment. OK, not really true. It is kind of neat but the arrangement of things could be a little better and I do have a couple of 'gotta sort that out later' boxes in there too. You know, those little things that just don't have a place to go - yet. I'm working on it. I also need to tidy and sort out the things on top of the cupboard but being short I can overlook that for a little while. Some other small things like cleaning out the plastic drawers need to be done too - I'm going to use them to store the kids craft things (e.g.: pencils, paints, paper, etc.) Currently they are full of 'need to file' papers and the like. Over all the room is much better and much more usable too. I'm loving that I can sew when ever I like as 'my craft space' and neat and tidy.

Day two on 'Operation Organise' was a little less productive. I did get some major cleaning done though which I guess will help in the long run. The bathroom/toilet got a good scrub, the entire house got a through vacuum and the wet areas got a through mop. I reorganised the toys in the lounge room a little better too. Other than that I folded and put away clothes, did 3 loads of washing (including the couch covers), did dishes, organised dinner, went for a walk and scrapped - again!

Today is day three of 'Operation Organise'. The Twins have just gone done for a sleep so on today list we have:

* Firstly, go and jump in a shower while I can!!
* ~~Reorganise the hallway linen closet/storage cupboard~~ done this morning :) !!
* Clean and reorganise the kitchen cupboards (next on the list after I'm finished here)
* Fold the washing and put away

If I get time:

* Sort and organise my sewing print outs (patterns etc.) and my loose recipes in the folders I have purchased for this job.

That is probably something I can do tonight while I watch TV I guess.

I better get moving! These things won't do themselves and I need to get as much done while 'my helpers' are sleeping.

I'll leave you with a page I scrapped last night. (I don't know if I am completely finished with this but thought I would show you anyway. I'm also in the process of doing a similar one for Zach.)

Click to enlarge

(Credits to come)

P.S I'll also add, check out Works for me Wednesday over at Rocks In My Dryer! I'm a regular reader of this and there are always some great hints, tips and ideas with Mr Linky. One day I might even be able to participate!

Oh no!

2009-01-06T13:47:00.002+11:00

The first thing I saw when I uploaded this was the spelling of surprise! I've spelt it wrong!!! Please over look that for now, I will go back and fix it soon but I have spent long enough scrapping today - yes I have done other things too! Enjoy!

{ Christmas Surprise }

Click to enlarge

Akizo Designs - Xmas alpha2
Trixie Scraps Designs - My Christmas Gift Mini Kit
Small Twill tags from Gunhild-Storeide

Angel Eyes....

2009-01-06T09:49:00.003+11:00

Well, well I scrapped again!

The kids have been so good to me this morning and have just been playing quietly and nicely together so I thought I would take the opportunity to scrap a page with a new kit I recently downloaded. Now I'm off to dress children, shower, do dishes, hang washing, as well as fold some and put it away. Then I'm back in the office again today to try and reorganise a few things; like the craft cupboards that are just bursting at the seams! I will be back later with some photos of a few Christmas presents I received this year, spoiled as always. Everything I loved!

See you later!

{ Angel Eyes }

Click to enlarge

The warmth of friends Alpha - recoloured - Enchanted Studio Scraps Collab kit
Love Letters Kit - Oscraps Collab (in Scrap 'N Art Jan/Feb issue)
Template from Youandi (Designs by Fryske)

I'mmmmmm back!

2009-01-05T21:17:00.002+11:00

I finally feel like I'm back in the swing of things post Christmas so I am going to participate in this weeks......
Time to get real and fess up to all the things I absolutely positively DID NOT do this week:

Sunday while Brett and Mitchell were down the farm and the Twins were sleeping I totally did not lay on couch for just a few minutes waking up 2 hours later. No way would I do that, there is just so much to do around here! And then I did not proceed to ~~run~~ move quickly around the house to get everything done just so that they didn't know I was sleeping. No, that would be stupid. (No, really it would be stupid!)

I most certainly did not lay in bed last night thinking about things that I should of added to my last post, and I wasn't up at 3:30am this morning feeding Zach and have an over whelming desire to catch up on blogs. Not at 3:30am! I didn't give in to that desire and finally get back to bed at 5:30am only to have the Twins up at 6am.

I down right didn't let Mitch have a muesli bar before bed because he wouldn't eat his dinner and was really complaining that he was hungry! I would not give in like that - no way!

And lastly.......I mostly definitely, most certainly, really didn't pack away all the MCN's today because keeping up with them, the house, the kids, Zachary's therapy and appointments and just 'me time' in general is just to much (that and they have grown out of 99% of them and I don't have the time or money to replace them right now). NO WAY! I didn't fill up the shelves formally known as the 'nappy shelves' with Christmas toys either. My kids didn't get spoiled so much that they don't have room for it all - never! I didn't shed a small tear over it either...... (Modern Cloth Nappies for sale everyone!)

So there you have it - Head on over to MckMama's blog to play along!

See you all again soon!

OPERATION ORGANISE BEGINS!

2009-01-05T09:51:00.005+11:00

This New Year I have made the resolution to GET THE HOUSE MORE ORGANISED. So, I have decided to start 'Operation Organise'. You can join in with me if you want!

Below I will list what needs to be done and cross it off as I do it (or add to it if I feel like it too!).

Kitchen:

~~Empty, Clean, Sort, Cull and Re-organise the Kitchen cupboards~~
Clear off, Clean, Sort, Cull and Re-organise the top of the Fridge
Clear off, Clean, Sort, Cull and Re-organise the top of the Pantry

Bathroom:

Empty, Clean, Sort, Cull and Re-organise the bathroom cupboards

Laundry:

Not to much to do in here other than a really good clean - like under the washing machine.....

Office/Craft Room:

Re-organise Craft cupboard
~~Re-organise Storage cupboard~~
~~Put away filing and empty plastic drawers~~
~~Sort and pack away into (above) plastic drawers kids craft things~~
Re-distribute things to the rest of the house that does belong in this room
Organise photo and files on the external hard drive - started

Hallway:

~~Empty, Clean, Sort and Re-organise the Linen Cupboard~~
~~Clean and organise the top of the Piano~~

Lounge Room:

~~Re-Organise Toys~~
~~Tidy and Re-organise the TV Unit~~

Our Bedroom:

~~Sort through Clothes and cull anything not worn or that does fit - my cupboard~~
~~Sort through Brett's Clothes and cull anything not worn or that does fit~~ Would you believe he had about the double the clothes that I have in my cupboard! About 85% of these clothes I have never seen him wear in the 7 years we have been together! We were able to donate 3 large garbage bags of clothes to the Op Shop and a completely pack shopping bag of coat hangers that we just don't need anymore as well as getting a small bag of older clothes for rags!
Sort out the boxes of clothes under the bed - started

M, Z & A's Room:

~~Sort through Clothes and cull anything not worn or that does fit~~
~~Re-organise books on bookshelves~~
~~Tidy and re-organise the top of the wardrobe~~
Sort out 'daycare clothes' from other clothes

Ashlee's Room:

Hmmmmm.....where do I start?!
Edited: Ashlee has been doing a brillant job on this herself! I'll keep you updated.

Oh My Goodness!

2009-01-04T21:06:00.008+11:00

I'm actually blogging! Who would have thought.....a lot has been going on around here, some of which I won't go into. Blogging hasn't been top priority but now here I am at 9pm blogging when in all honesty I should be cleaning up and getting ready to hop off to bed!

I'll start by saying.....

I hope you had a lovely evening and a great time bringing in 2009!

I have been home since the 1st. Still trying to get everything unpacked and put away from our time away - what fun! Ashlee stayed with Nan in Canberra for a few more days which was good because we had the car absolutely jammed packed full coming home (plus we had to leave a couple of things there until next time) and I know we wouldn't have had any more room for Ashlee let alone all her stuff! HAHA. Ok, its getting later so I'll try and keep this short.

Here is a small look into some of the favoured Christmas presents the kids received....

I also got some crafting in while I was away. Here are the finished pencil cases Ashlee sent off to her friends for a (belated) Christmas present. (I printed out some birdies, ironed them on, stitched around the bodies and stitched on the legs.) They don't look to bad.

These are some little bags that I made up for Mum to store all her leads, cables, etc from her DSLR, external hard drive, camcorder, etc. I made the boxy ones using this tutorial from Three Bears.

And some how I was actually able to sew up this bag on my very last ~~day~~ night in Canberra. (That's what I was doing at 12 midnight!) I used a combination of this tutorial from Ric Rac and ideas from this post over at Twelve22. Its not the most wonderful bag (making wise) but its great for a very first try and I actually REALLY love it! (Don't look to close!)

Its even lined!

This idea I took from a bag my Mum has that I really love. Its a little zippered side pocket that holds my purse, keys and phone. I no longer have to go searching for things in the bottom of the bag.

And inside there is another pocket that holds dummies and things and I add some slots for a couple of pens because I'm always looking for one.

I also made a lovely little pillowcase dress for Anna too. I think it is so pretty and she really loves it too!

I did some shopping at Spotlight and was able to pick up a Knitting Loom similar to this. I have wanted one for a while and now I'm blissfully happy knitting away with this. And nearly finished my top that I have been working on for months.

Ummm, a bit more went on but my mind is blank so I will come back for that. I hope you all had a lovely Christmas break.

Until next time I will leave you with a page I scrapped today (yes! I scrapped - Its been a while)...

{Sweet Precious Baby Girl}

Credits: Hugs 'n' Stuff Kit by SJTowers - Random musings of a Scrapaholic

(Oh and I changed internet providers too! Good Bye Forever BigPond!! Hello super fast and super cheap TPG!)

........we wish you a......

2008-12-25T06:32:00.003+11:00

Its 6:35am, the house is quiet and I'm the only one up! Think I might go back to bed......

Some progress made!

2008-12-24T10:20:00.003+11:00

Firstly I finally got some pencil cases (kinda) finished as presents for Ashlee's school friends. I still need to embroider some birdies on the front but other then that they are ready to go.

Mum - don't read from here on...........

I was able to complete a zippered travel pouch for Mum. These pouches only take about 10 minutes and are super easy!

Lastly, nearly completed some appliquéd t-shirts for Zach and Anna. I might get around to making matching shorts/skirt but I doubt it, we will see.

Ok, kids call better go......Merry Christmas

I'm sooo ready for bed!

2008-12-19T18:51:00.004+11:00

Up at 4am to feed Zach then back up again at 6:20am to be ready to go to the hospital. Zach was extremely hungry on rising so it was almost impossible to get anything done (while still holding him) and I ended up going to the hospital without brushing my teeth - yuck! Self conscious all day about it. Anyway, we got there about 7:30am and waited, played, got hospital tags on, blood pressure taken, temp taken, talked with the anaesthetist (sp?), played some more, got into some super trendy hospital jammies and waited some more. Went into the MRI about 9:30am. Zach didn't like the idea of laying on the MRI bed so I cuddled him while they gave him some laughing gas and he drifted off. Out I went to get something to eat as I hadn't eaten breakfast yet. Just wouldn't do it to the poor boy. I was also able to pickup my very first copy of Frankie Magazine! In the hospital store! More on that later.....

Lovely food, some time sitting in the sun and at 10:45am Zach is done and heading to recovery. Poor little man looked so small laying on that big hospital bed, oxygen mask on, fast asleep. He took a bit to wake up but when he finally came around he was fine. Had a breastfeed and was a little unhappy but after we headed up to the ward he had some juice, biscuits and a sandwich and was laughing and smiling like the old Zachary again. Bruised hands from the half dozen tries they had at finding a vein for the drip. (Apparently he has what's known as NICU veins - his veins are well prodded from his time in NICU at birth.) They ended up finding a vein in his foot so he has a little bruised foot too. All the staff were lovely but I'm glad that is over. Watching him go off to sleep against his will was a little hard. We will have to wait for the results now until after christmas and probably new years. Bad timing I guess but at least its done.
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This afternoon was spent at DFO. Went there to buy christmas presents and came away with heaps of stuff but unfortunately not much of it was for christmas. By the time we got home I was ready to curl up on the couch and sleep. My back was killing me and my feet hurt. I spent most of the time carrying Zach - boy he gets heavy! Mum pushed the pram and I ended up strapping Mitch in bedside Anna just to keep him still. Didn't come away with anything for me now I think of it - out of all the 'stuff' we got! Tomorrow will be spent braving the shops again to pick up some more things for christmas. Kids in toe - maybe. Man I'm a brave woman!!!
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On to other stuff. Thanks to Claire over at Loobylu & MixTape Zine I have discovered Frankie Magazine and I'm in love!

Photos originally uploaded by Loobylu

I spent an hour reading it while sitting in the sun outside the hospital and I must say I am hooked! Brilliant articles and bright cheery photos. Very addictive, so much so that I am even considering a subscription to this awesome mag (scrap that - I just did). Its the only way I would be able to access it - living in a VERY small town. See you all tomorrow folks!

No witty title right now

2008-12-16T22:45:00.004+11:00

Things are a bit slow here at the moment - sorry. We are heading off to Canberra on Thursday (via Cooma for Zach's Physio appointment. We are also picking up his standing frame and a few other items) because he has his MRI on Friday (please keep us in your prayers). We - or should I say I need to be packed and ready to leave the house by 12:30pm at the latest on Thursday - I feel sooo rushed even though I started packing yesterday! I need to pick Ashlee up from school in Bombala on the way and be in Cooma by 2pm. Thankfully its only another hour or so to Canberra from there. We will be staying until about December 28th too! Looking forward to spending some time with my Mum and family without being rushed and needing to head home. Also if anyone is in Canberra and would like to catch up while we are there please feel free to drop me a line! FYI - this will be the first year we will be celebrating with Daddy......he is staying home this year.

I will have plenty of time to play some bloggy catch up, sew, craft and even get some digi scrapping done while I am away so watch out!
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In other news.....I have recently discovered this...

Graco Quattro Tour Duo Stroller

And quite frankly I {love} it! - It is only marginly longer then our current model, which is this one....

Steelcraft Enigma Twin 3 Wheeler Pram

And as you can probably guess is definitely narrower! I hate (with a passion!) pushing a twin pram around a shopping centre - you would not believe how many inconsiderate people there are out there! I don't really need it but it doesn't make me want it any less! I would have to sell my Steelcraft first before I would even consider buying it though.
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I am currently preparing for a 150th post give away too! Not long to go now!

Signing off at 11:13pm - tired, looking forward to preschool tomorrow and also doing a HUGE suck up for yelling at my dear sweet little boy tonight (feeling so guilty!). He did wake Zach up and then proceeded to make things worse - my yelling how ever woke up Anna and Daddy too! Things were settled down with in half an hour and Mitchell is now sleeping soundly snuggled up with.....Daddy.
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Oh and before I forget - Nicole - just wanted to let you know that I did get your message through facebook. Thank you for your kind words and great advice. I will get back to you very soon - things are a bit hectic. But again thank you.

Night!

Oh and ......

2008-12-11T16:11:00.004+11:00

You can pass over this post if you want

2008-12-11T15:29:00.003+11:00

I just wanted to put a few of my feelings down in writing and what better place then this?!

As you know we have now had our appointments with Dr Rosier (Our Paed) , Dr Lowe (Our Rehab Specialist) and most recently (On Monday) Hilary (Our new Physio from DADHC). These have all happened quite fast in the scheme of things, people usually wait 4 - 6 months plus to see these people . We have been very fortunate in that respect. Today I got the phone call from The Canberra Hospital that Zachary will now have his MRI on Friday December 19th. I guess with everything moving along and with Christmas etc I haven't really taken much time to sit and ponder but after the call today I think things started to sink in and really hit home.

'My gorgeous little boy has Cerebral Palsy'

Things started going through my mind.....'Why him?!' 'How will this effect our life?' 'How will this effect his life?' 'What would have things been like if.......'. You know those questions that we all ask ourselves at times. I know no one really has any answers to any of these at this time. Being only 18 months old it is still quite hard to predict how life is going to go and how things will pan out. After seeing Dr Lowe the feeling is that he may be 3 or more before he can walk on his own and he will have life long problems with co-ordination. This makes me sad and if I sit and think about it for to long it makes me very sad. I am now adding to the stress by thinking about the MRI. Zachary has to go under a general for the MRI because he stay very still - try asking an 18 month old to 'stay very still' at any time! I really don't like the thought of him 'going under' even for the short time it will be - what if he has a reaction? Silly I know but the thoughts are still there. What if they don't find anything? Then what? At least if they find anything then we will sort of have a concrete answer and more of an idea of the severity of things (or mildness I hope!). I have to wake him up at 4:30am and feed him because he can only have breast milk after 2am and nothing after 5am. We have to be at the hospital by 7am for admission and hopefully they get the MRI done soon after as I can imagine he is going to be very hungry! Ashlee, Mitchell and Anna will stay at my mum's as I'm not sure how long we will be there. This will be the first time Anna has gone anywhere without Zach too. How will she go?

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. On Thursday December 18th Zach has an appointment with Hilary again to do some more physio and we will also pick up some equipment that will make things a bit easier around here. A standing frame (so he isn't hanging off my legs constantly), a bath seat (because he is now to big for the baby ones and tips it over) and we are also looking into getting a weighted trolley for him to practice some walking. We will be seeing the OT (Occupational Therapist) soon too.

All these has just been on my mind and I needed to get it out so if you have read this far 'Thank You'......

Bear with me please

2008-12-10T15:56:00.002+11:00

I'm trying to make things a little more festive around here but I've run out time right time and, well, it doesn't look right. I will be back soon to fix it up but in the mean time I hope you can still read my blog.....

Tomorrow is.....

2008-12-10T14:36:00.006+11:00

my BLOGOVERSARY!

And I got ....... nothing.......

I have been so busy with travelling, trying to get the computer fixed, Zach's appointments interstate and his local appointments for Physio and now Anna is sick :( She has had to put it nicely yucky nappies for about 4 days now (and today I think we had gone through about 7-8 by 10am! Panadol is my current best friend and with Brett working nights this week time is very stretched) that I haven't had time to do anything! I feel really bad as I too let my 100th post pass by unnoticed too. I really wanted to be able to do something.....we can still hope for my 150th post give away though.

On Monday we had our first appointment with DADHC. It was more of an information appointment and needs assessment but in this appointment I found out that I am eligible for Respite Care for the Twins and and also HomeHelp too! These are also free of charge. I have chosen at this point to not take up the services but I am definitely keeping them in the back of mind as the kids get older. At this stage I am just treading water but able to keep up with things and I really want to keep the services for when I really need them.
Last night we also had Mitchell's Pre-school Christmas Party down at the park by the river. We had a visit from the man in the red suit who handed out pressies and sat for photos. Sadly we got rained out at about 7:30pm but we had been there since 5:30pm so the little ones had had enough anyway and we headed home to bed.

Alright Zach is trying to climb on me and Anna has just woken up, not in a good mood it sounds like, so I better head off. See you all again soon!

Eye Spy.....Something in my garden....

2008-12-09T22:48:00.000+11:00

Since This is and On my desk have said their farewells I have been looking for something new to have fun with. Wonderful, I have come across this!

Welcome to BugandPop's new 'Eye Spy'! This week we are 'spying' something in our garden!

I'm spying the beautiful flowers of Spring/Summer. This is my first Spring/Summer in this house with this garden and I'm loving it! Everything is so alive and bright and lovely.....

Thank you to BugandPop for hosting and to CurlyPops for this weeks theme!

You may also be wondering where I have been - more on that later but just quickly it involves a computer and a mother board crash - darn computers! (but thankfully nothing was lost on the computer) On top of that because we have Vista on the laptop we had 'issues' connecting to our network so I could access the Internet - without having to be in the office. Thankfully my brother is a computer genius and he was able to sort everything out. Now just need to buy a new mother board and get my PC back!

LOVE Fridays!

2008-11-28T22:42:00.000+11:00

No pictures today. I am currently in Canberra seeing my Mum and the rest of family after spending a day or two in Sydney.

My LOVE today is answers!

Speaking of Sydney......today we saw Dr Lowe! In just a few words: brilliant, lovely and just what we needed. I will do a more detailed post when we return home on Sunday but we have a few more answers and have made a bit more progress. Really worth the loooonnnngggg trip to Sydney with 3 (of the 4) small children. We did establish that it is not just affecting his legs but his right arm to and most likely his mouth - more on that later. We are due to go back and see him again on March 13th. In the mean time; the MRI, more X-Rays, hearing and sight tests and more therapy. Dr Lowe feels that we need a bit more time before we start with Splints or Botox (we are really hoping that we don't need to go to this extent). Zachary is only 18 months (today!) and starting on these things to soon may actually send him backwards rather then help him right now. We are happy with the current situation there. Now we just have wait for (the government red tape) our local DADHC branch to make an appointment with us for our needs assessment visit and start our therapy with them. Things are moving along slowly I guess.

We also have Anna's appointment at the Eye Hospital on March 5th. Why oh why is our health system soooo bad that you have to wait sooooo long to get into these doctors?! We have also been told that their is no Paediatric Opthamologist in Canberra so if we need to see anyone else we will need to travel to Sydney for that too! It is just one thing after another - please keep us in your prayers.

I really should head off. It is really quite late and I really should rest up for some shopping tomorrow.

P.S I also just made some lovely purchases over here - excited! hehehehe

Menu Plan Monday! (yes I know.....

2008-11-25T22:19:00.002+11:00

its not Monday, but you get that sometimes).

This week I'm doing something a little different. Since we are going away on Thursday until Sunday I really don't see the point in doing a meal plan this week. I am looking forward to eating with family especially my Grandmother and Dad who I haven't seen since March.

This week I am going to share with you some of my favourite recipes from around the Web:

Mains:

Beef Casserole
Chicken & Potato Bake
Chicken & Vegetable Pie
Egg & Bacon Pie

Sides:

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

Desserts:

Baked Cheesecake
Coconut & Jam Tarts
Trifle a la The Happy House Wife

Baking:

Banana Bread
Anzac Biscuits
Cupcake Pops thanks to Bakerella - you really have to try these!
5 minute Chocolate mug cake - I've heard good and bad about this recipe but I've gotta say if done right it does turn out quite well!

So there you go, just a few recipes that I love for you to try out.

Make sure you head over to Organizing Junkie for more Menu Plan Monday's!

Not Me! Monday

2008-11-24T22:16:00.004+11:00

Welcome to another edition of......

Did you miss the last one?! Oh, hang on....no it definitely was Not Me that totally didn't even post a Not Me last week (or the week before now that I look!) because I really didn't feel like it. I really did not have so much going on that posting a Not Me just wasn't high on my list. I would never!

It is Not Me that is going to do Menu Plan Monday on Tuesday. I would never use the fact that it will still be Monday in the US when I do it as an excuse.

It was Not Me that was sitting on the couch with my laptop on my, well, lap at 2am this morning (when Brett got up for work) catching up on blog reading because I couldn't sleep. No it was not. I was sleeping like a baby at 2am - Not!

And....Anna is not laying on some pillows on the lounge room floor right now, asleep. She didn't wake up cry, again! I did not give in this time because it is the 3rd night in a row she has done this and I really don't want Zach to wake up again. Now I would never let my children do that when they have a perfectly good bed!

I most definitely did not almost cry out loud this afternoon when Mitchell went to spend a few days with Aunt Linda and I am not feeling a little teary right now thinking about it. He is a big boy and loves having sleep overs at Linda's. I really don't miss him so much I don't know what to do with myself. Not me.

I also am not sitting here writing this Not Me post right now at after 10pm when I should be finishing up (or should I say should have already finished up) cleaning up. No way.

It was Not Me that TOTALLY enjoyed an hour and half to myself today with no children, not even one, here to hang off my legs while I'm trying to do the dishes or climb all over me when I try to sit on the couch for 5 minutes. It was Not Me that turned the music up loud and sang while making the beds. That terrible voice you heard today, well it wasn't me!

And lastly, it was Not Me that just left a mess on the office/craft room floor after Anna knocked over the ironing board with all my pins and thread sitting on it. It was Not Me, I swear! Not Me that decided I would pick it all up in the morning while the twins are in their highchairs eating breakfast. It is also Not Me that is using that as an excuse not to do Menu Plan Monday today!

Head on over to Mckmama's to read some things that we all haven't been up to this week! Maybe even join in yourself!