Tuesday, September 27, 2011

3 Things:: Making me happy today

My new baskets on my kitchen shelves which are helping me to sort the clutter and make the place look a bit nicer too.


My teapot which I found while decluttering.  It always makes me happy.


A cup of tea in my new Cath Kidston mug my sister brought home for me from her recent trip to England.


I hope you're finding happy things today too.

xx Susan

Sunday, September 25, 2011

A higgeldy-piggeldy scarf

I've finished the first scarf for one of Little Miss R's teachers.

I used a similar pattern to one my sister used recently to make a scarf for her Danish 'daughter' Katherine but tweaked it a bit and made it a little wider.

I also used different yarn so instead of an amazing array of blues, greens and other delicious colours from the Noro ball of yarn, mine was a lot more muted.

It looks like a bit of a mess all piled up doesn't it.  All layed out you can see the colours more and I know that the teacher that it's for likes purple things so hopefully she'll like it.


Because it's quite thin it needs to be wrapped around a number of times to provide the effect.  Excuse my bad hair day but I wasn't expecting to model it right then, the opportunity sort of presented itself.


So another little project is completed and the next one is well on the way.  I'm not sure when it will be completed though because it's still school holidays and hubby left this morning to start his new job. 

He'll be driving for most of today, then has two days of inductions before we find out which shift he'll be on so we won't know his roster for a few days yet.

xx Susan

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Treasures

I've been doing a lot of decluttering lately and things are starting to look a bit better in my house.  Maybe I should say in the cupboards because that's where I seem to be decluttering most.

While cleaning out a cabinet in my bedroom yesterday I found a plastic bag full of treasures, including an old wooden jewellrey box that had been missing for I don't know how long.  (Years in fact!)

The below photo shows just a few of the things I found but they're the most precious to me.

 

This little hedgehog was a gift for my 24th birthday from friends in England when I was travelling there with my sister.  I had my birthday in Edinburgh and our friends had given my sister a couple of little gifts for me so that I had something to open on my birthday.

It was really sweet so this little fella reminds me of that time.


These small perfume bottles are beautifully decorated and if anyone's been to Venice then they'll probably recognise them. 

 I was given the middle clear one by my sister as a gift the first time she went to Europe and the others I bought in Venice myself when I went there about 8 years ago.  I can't believe it's been that long!


Now I'm not really a doily person but when I was living in Airlie Beach in my early 20's, my Grandma came to visit and whipped this up when I was at work one day.

I've always kept it because I was amazed that she could make some cheap thread that I'd bought to hang up Christmas cards into something like this. 

It's got a sparkly thread to it which makes it look quite pretty and it's something that always reminds me of my Grandma, especially as she's now no longer with us.


Finally there's some jewellrey which I had been missing for quite some time (obviously) and which I had been searching for lately.

The small round diamond was a gift from my daughter for my first ever Mother's day when she was a baby. 

The second necklace watch was a gift from my Uncle for my 21st birthday and I just LOVE it. 



I can't tell you how happy I am to have some of my treasures back.  I'm wearing my Mother's day necklace now, am planning to take the watch to the jewellers to get it working again and now have to clear a space on my dresser to put my other treasures.

More decluttering to come!!

It makes me wonder what else I'll find when I'm clearing out the cupboards.

Hope you all have a great day.

xx Susan

Friday, September 23, 2011

Christmas is one blanket closer!

Can you believe I've finished another blanket already!

This one has been quite fun to do.  Lots of stripy clusters and a sweet little pointy border that has made this into a lovely little blanket.


I wasn't quite sure who I was going to give this one too and I'm still not entirely sure.  It's either for Nephew J (older J as I have two nephews beginning with J) or Nephew S.

Originally I was making it for J but now that it's finished I'm starting to think that it may be better for S.  I'll wait until I start the other blanket and then I'll decide who I'll give it to.

I think the colours have worked really well on this blanket and I know I've got pink in there for a boys blanket but the nectarine colour I was going to use hadn't arrived and I didn't know when I was going to get it. 

There's lots of blue and light green too so I hope that makes up for any pink.

I did a little pointy edge as I didn't feel like doing a full shell edge and the picot edge I started just didn't look right.

So I hope you like this one too and you probably won't have long to wait until my next finished project as I've got a couple on the go. 

One is the blanket for little Nephew J and the other is a scarf which I'm making for one of Little Miss R's teachers at school.  Both teachers wore scarves all winter so I decided that would be a nicer Christmas present for them rather than the usual mugs and chocolates.

Hope you all have a fantastic day.

xx Susan

Monday, September 19, 2011

School holiday routine changes

As anyone knows, when it's school holidays sometimes you really need to change the most basic routine. 

In this case I decided that we'd do a treasure hunt for morning tea.

I made up a map of our backyard drawing a little treasure chest in 3 places.


I then made up some little 'treasure' boxes filled with morning tea.  Some biscuits and a popper juice for the final treasure to be found.




I then went and hid them in the places I'd marked on the map (the sand pit, under the barbeque and on one of the outside tables).


Then the hunt was on and the kids had so much fun looking for their treasure. 

My nephews will be here tomorrow morning for a few hours so I'm thinking of repeating the process but hiding the treasure in some different spots.  Maybe the top of the slippery slide will be good and once they find the treasure they have to slide down before heading onto the next spot.

I wonder how many times I can get them to run around the clothes line?

It's still really hot here and very smokey as there's a few bush fires around the place.  I'm spending my late afternoons in my usual spot, outside on my lounge with my crochet.

I've just started on the above blanket for Nephew J.  I've never tried this pattern before and I'm loving the way the shells all link together.  It's so easy and lovely.

Afternoon snacks are nearly always the same.  Cheese, crackers, apple and carrot. 

I just hope we get a storm or two over the next couple of days to go with our afternoon snacks. 

Enjoy your day everyone.

xx Susan

Sunday, September 18, 2011

A family outing

It's the first day of the September school holidays and building to be another hot day so we decided to get out and do something as a family before the heat REALLY hit.

We haven't been up to Skippy Park to ride our bikes for awhile and the kidlettes have really been hassling us to go so that's where we went.


We loaded up the bikes then rode around the track on this gorgeous day looking up towards Mt Mellum.



There's been some work at the park earlier in the year so now there's a few extra play spaces and not just the bike track and toilets.

They've added a playground area and a couple of picnic tables and barbeques which has made it just a perfect spot to go with families now.

Little Miss R just loved making music.  There's sandpit areas, rocks and logs to climb...



...and grassy areas with lots of bumps to run over.

The gardens are done out beautifully with lots of native plans including these gorgeous bottle brush trees with their bright red flowers.

I love the fact that in animal friendly park areas these days they're putting in a drink bowl just for the dogs.  So handy and it was well used in the time we were there from a few different families that had their dogs there.

Of course, when you have this fantastic playground and bike track area, what is it that the kids really want to play on. 

The big pile of dirt at the back of course!!!  So much fun.

Hope you all have a great week and if it's school holidays in your family right now then enjoy.

xx Susan

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Where did Spring go?

Or for that matter what happened to Winter?

Excuse me for talking about the weather but the days are pretty amazing around here at the moment that I just have to.

Winter officially finished just over two weeks ago and the last few days have been sunny and quite warm.  In fact yesterday got up to 30 degrees celsius (that's 86 F to my US friends) and was quite muggy in the afternoon.



This is NOT spring weather, it's summer weather so I suppose we really have to say that we didn't have winter.  That's pretty normal around here as the weather doesn't go by our official calender dates does it. 

Even though the nights have been really cool, the days throughout winter were quite lovely and warm with just a few exceptions.

Now I'm not a big summer fan.  It's way too hot and muggy for my liking so I'm sure I'll soon be lamenting about the hot, humid weather and wanting some cooler days which I'll probably have to wait until next April for.



There is one thing that I love above all else in summer and that's late afternoon

I sit outside on my old, crappy, falling to pieces lounge that is really very comfy.  I either do some crochet, read a book or watch the kids play in the backyard and enjoy the beautiful afternoon with it's lovely breeze.

A glass of chilled wine doesn't go astray and then we start up the barbeque to throw something on for dinner to have with a salad.  Easy, light meals and lovely relaxing afternoons.  That's my favourite part of summer and we did that yesterday afternoon.  It was a very happy time.

xx Susan

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Cyclone M


Yesterday afternoon Master M was playing happily in the sandpit outside while I was inside dealing with Little Miss R who wasn't feeling very well.

He came in after awhile and happily had dinner, bath, got in PJ's and into bed without much fuss at all (rare).

Then Lovely hubby arrived home about 9.30pm after his few days away and asked if we'd had strong winds recently (with a funny little grin on his face).

That's when I went outside to inspect.....


Master M (while I thought he was in the sandpit), had got hold of a toy box which had been on top of the camper trailer and tipped it out everywhere.



He'd climbed up onto the camper, walked all over the top and it even looked like he'd had a lovely time rolling around.  It's pretty high so we're lucky he didn't fall off.


The toys were spread all around the car.  Even under it.....





...and there was one sad, lonely little toy sitting on the roof of the car.

It didn't take him long and I bet he had lots of fun making the mess.  Cleaning it up this morning was another matter, that took a LONG time with lots of tears.

Hope you have a great day.

xx Susan

Saturday, September 10, 2011

An undulating week

It's been a bit of a up and down week here in our household.

It started with the sad passing of my cousin Glen on Sunday and then his beautiful, but sad funeral yesterday (Friday).

I've had a couple of lovely moments to myself with Lovely hubby looking after the kids while I've been able to escape for awhile.  It doesn't happen often but when it does it's just bliss.

I've been doing bits and pieces of crochet, trying to get the next blanket finished for Christmas.

I received this yarn in the post a few weeks ago amid much squealing and excitement.  The weather was pretty rubbish at the time so the colours haven't come up as well but it's all just so lovely!


Then during this week I received the last two balls of wool that were on backorder.  The maize and nectarine colours are just so deliciously yummy, I can't wait to start working with them.

Things have been happening on the home/work front too.  It looks like we probably WON'T be moving to Chinchilla after all.  We're shifting gears in our minds about that one as we have sort of been planning for the past 6 months or so to move out there.

Hubby has heard from a mine in Central Queensland near Dysart and heads up there tomorrow for an induction so he'll be gone until Thursday at least.  He'll find out this week definately if the job is his and if he does get it he'll be working 4 days on / 4 days off. 

That will definately change the way things have been in our household lately and I'll really have to step up in looking after the kidlettes and being a lot more consistent in my dealing with them.
We'll see how things go before we decide if it will be better for us to continue living where we are or if we look at moving north.

I'm really struggling with blogging this week, probably because it has been such an up and down week and I haven't been in an entirely happy place.

Hopefully next week things will be different and I'll be back to blogging some more.

Until then, pop over to my sister's blogsite at Heartslandscapes and see what she's up to.  She's just been to Denmark and is currently in England so will update her blog about her travels when she can.  I'm full of envy as I haven't travelled overseas in nearly 8 years!!!!!!!

xx Susan

Monday, September 5, 2011

Hubby's blanket ta-dah!

Lovely Hubby's blanket is now finished! 

Actually I finished it before we went away on our little break but didn't get around to photographing it until now.

It's a single bed size, just nice to cover him up completely while lounging back in the recliner!  (Visions of comfort)



I've decided that I really LOVE to make granny stripe blankets, they're so easy and there's something quite mindless about doing them.  Perhaps that's why I like them as I'm constantly interrupted by the kidlettes and it's so easy to pick up where I left off.

The edging was 3 rows of treble crochet in plum then a sort of a scalloped, wavy edge in the pale green which really sets the blanket off.



I have to say that I really do like this blanket so I'm glad this one's staying in the family.

I'm still working on more Christmas blankets for the nieces and nephews.  The next couple will probably be granny stripe ones too as they're quite quick to do and I want to get them completed well before Christmas so I can concentrate on other things.

Will update you on my next blankets and projects when I get the chance.

xx Susan

Sunday, September 4, 2011

A candle lit....


...for my cousin Glenn Crittenden.

He passed away on Father's Day just 3 days short of his 31st Birthday.

To Uncle Ian and Aunty Glenys, Damian, Angela and Monique.

We are thinking of you at this time and send the love of all our families.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Cania Gorge:: Part 5 - In Camp

Camp was where we spent a lot of time in our 4 or so days at Cania Gorge.  The main reason for that was because it rained so much but we did have moments when we could get out and about to do some outdoorsy things.

Making campfires is one definate things that you have to do while camping.

We got one night in all the nights away when we could actually light a campfire because it wasn't raining.



It was so fantastic to be able to sit around it, stoke it up, chat and watch the kids enjoying it.  Thank goodness we had one good night!

There was plenty of bird life around the camp as well which is not unusual.

 The birds love to see what they can scavenge from campsite and the Currawongs are no exceptions.  We had plenty of them as well as magpies and kookaburras around trying to steal from under the tarps so we had to keep everything packed away pretty well.



The kids were entertained by riding their bikes, kicking balls and running around with sticks and making up some interesting games and imaginative roleplays which was quite cute to listen into.


We also had a night when there was a sausage sizzle put on by the park owners.  It happened between downpours and the snags were cooked to perfection over the communal campfire in the middle of the park.

We got to meet other lovely campers who all knew about us mainly because of the kids.  We were the only one with kids in the park (middle of the school term and not holidays), so everyone pretty well heard where we were.

We were intending to be away for nearly two weeks but in the end we left home on Thursday and arrived back home on Monday afternoon.

Why?

Lovely hubby got a bit ill with a middle ear problem called Vertigo and we ended up at Monto hospital on Saturday arvo because we had no idea what was going on.

He couldn't stand up straight because he kept having head spins and falling over so we thought it best to get it checked out at home.

So we were so looking forward to spending nearly a month away going up to
Cape York.

Because of Lovely hubby's work that ended up having to be cut short so we decided on a couple of weeks away to Cania Gorge and we would decide where to go after that.

In the end we were away for 5 days and two of those days were spent driving.

I had to drive all the way home from Cania Gorge to home on the Monday because Lovely hubby is not allowed to drive.

We left at 11 am and got home about 4.45pm.  I did a bloody good job if I say so myself pulling a heavy trailer and quickly learning how to tow things up and down hilly ranges.

It was great and has given me a lot more confidence although I know I couldn't do it by myself in future, I'm just too short and not strong enough to set everything up so I'll always need help.

Back to normal blog stuff soon as our holiday is definately over (sigh.....).

xx Susan

Cania Gorge:: Part 4 - Bushwalking


Now there's two reasons to go to Cania Gorge.  One is for the fishing as the dam is on the other side of the Gorge, the second is for the bushwalks.

We love getting out and about and going for a bushwalk and the ones at the gorge were great for the kids.  There were some reasonable walks that the kids could easily do without getting too tired and grumpy and we got to see a variety of things including creeks....

...caves (this one's the Dragon's cave)...


...and plenty of amazing formations in the sandstone.

 

We got to check out the views when we walked to the top of the escarpment below.

Then there were some more caves to explore.  This one's the Bloodwood cave.....

....so called because it has the roots of a bloodwood tree growing down into a corner of it.

There's plenty of interesting logs and other things to look at on the way.

One walk started at the place where we stayed and just 50 metres away from the main building (you can see it peeking through the trees)...

was Big Foot.  This was a natural picture of a foot on one of the sandstone walls.  The kids loved seeing this one and being so close to camp meant we could come for a quick walk to look at it when they were getting a bit full-on (which was most of the time!)

I just loved the difference in rainforest, to open forest in a small area.

Some of the shapes made by the rocks, not to mention the peep holes, caves and paths through the rocks was pretty amazing too.  We could let our imaginations run wild and pretend lots of things out there with the kids.





So even though it rained a lot of the time and we had to come home early (more on that another time), we still got to get out and about and see some of the beautiful things that Cania Gorge has to offer.

xx Susan