So proud of

I am so proud of and happy for Mr B. On Friday he got his dream sustainable job and to make it even better it's part time. So work / life balance will abound. This is a bit different from his current job but we are very much looking to more family time together.

I also know he is very excited to apply his knowledge and background in sustainability and renewable energies to a new industry.

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Inspired by soulemama

Advent Calendar #2: Paper Chains

 Today's advent calendar goodie was a little note, "Today we will be building christmas paper chains to decorate Granny B's house". It was so gorgeous watching Little B do a happy dance when we read it out :-)

So this morning we crafted! Granny B's work gets hand me down magazines for their waiting room and in the last lot there was a series of magazines that had different kind of double sided decorated paper for craft. She saved them all and brought them home for us.

We cut them up this morning (which Little B loves to do) and glued our chains all together. We also made a few paper lanterns. I then finger knitted some cords to hang the lanterns. This was from thrifted wool from the op shop (I love that you can often find wool in baby colours like white, pale pink and pale blue). I then used some thrifted ribbon to make little handles for them.

And then we got to decorate the house.....

Garden Update

Our veggie garden went beserk while we were away. I found the growth in 8 days almost mind blowing. Our tomatoes doubled in size, as did our beans and broccoli.

I’d had my doubts about our spinach before we went away but the heat and sun made them flourish. Perfect as baby spinach for salads and sandwiches.

I spent most of Sunday re-staking everything, stringing our bean frames and snipping back our regular garden which was overhanging the beans in a big way. I think everything loved a week of warmth and sun.

The only thing not growing super fast are our cucurbits (zucchini, pumpkin and Lebanese cucumbers). But these are in a veggie bed we’ve had our doubts about in the past. Despite great sun and good soil, it always has “issues” growing things well.

I’m wondering if it is a drainage issue (given our abundance of rain this spring)? It’s a raised bed but I cant think what else could be wrong. Other than the possibility of bad bugs in the soil…hmmm… will have to keep experimenting and see what happens.

Organics Bin

I was impressed when I found this organics bin at our holiday house. It's a service provided by the Alexandrina council as part of their Zero Waste Strategy. Basically it replaces your compost bin and it certainly made me happy not to have to bin food scraps while we were away.

Whilst I'm personally happy with our compost bins at home, I know their are some people who view it with an ick factor. So I think this would be a really great alternative for councils to offer. All the standard conditions apply like no meat or dairy.

Alexandrina Council also offer separate bays at their tips (waste depots) for compostable green organics. This is separate from trees and prunings from gardens. Interestingly they also discount depot fees if you already have your rubbish pre-sorted for recycling.

It's lovely to see some councils going to extra mile to encourage people to be more sustainable.

Hmm phone anyone??

Well we were greeted with a storm on Saturday afternoon, after we arrived home. And said storm knocked over a tree, which in turn took out our phone line. So we've had no phone or internet until lunchtime today!

Now I can live without the internet but have found it incredibly frustrating to live without the phone. We have terrible mobile reception where we are so cant rely on mobiles. So it's been very silent and my to do list has grown to immense proportions.

We are having Little B's birthday party soon and I still have a few things I'd like to organise. And yay now I can :-)

Road Trip

Well we had a wonderful trip to Adelaide. The days ranged between 29 and 35 degrees, we spent most mornings and evenings at the beach, we saw the sights, we chilled out and relaxed at our holiday abode and most importantly had a fantastic time catching up with my extended family.

Little B especially loved spending time with his great grandparents. They in turn enjoyed chatting and spending time with him. My grandfather is a well known painter in the area and really enjoyed painting and drawing time with Little B. My grandma just loved sneaking kisses and cuddles with him.

It was quite poignant for me as it will probably be the last time that I see them. Our final day involved a lunch with all the relatives and the two gorgeous great grand kiddies with their Great Grammy & Great Grampy centre stage.

As much as I love having a break, coming home has been lovely too. Not least because I got to see my gorgeous husband!! We’ve moseyed our way through this afternoon chatting, playing, unpacking and baking – bread, a lovely veggie stew for dinner and a Mr B’s favourite pudding as he has been super looking forward to some home cooked loveliness.