this saturday i'm grateful for holidays

Cowes Beach, Phillip Island 2011

Back from five glorious days at Phillip Island, this Saturday I'm grateful for:

* holidays - it was only five days but it may as well of been twenty. I feel invigorated, refreshed and ready to tackle the oncoming reno that begins in two weeks

* weather - the forecast was for cool wet weather but instead we had five days of sunshine and warmth. Think tshirts and shorts weather (drawback when you only took one tshirt *giggle*)

* audiobooks - no tv, no phones, no internet - sheer bliss. We took along some audiobooks (as well as real books) for Little B to listen to during the drive and for some down time. Our current favourites are Sparkle Stories - this storytelling family is really lovely. We havent found a story yet that Little B doesnt like and they impart some great growing up wisdom.

Check out Maxabella loves for some Saturday gratefulness...

Beachy keen

Horseshoe Bay, Goolwa 2010

The beach is calling us (again) so we are off on holidays to Phillip Island. Here's to lots of sand, frolics and fun. Looks like the weather might be against us but Little B is super excited and looking forward to the beach, penguins and seals in all their glory!!

Late Spring in the Garden

The weather has been so changeable of late - cold, warm, rainy, windy, sunny - you name it, we've had it. But spring has been quite kind to our garden.

I'm so glad I planted our tomatoes early because they are growing beautifully. Those few extra weeks when the weather was warm and mild have really made a difference.

This is my best bunch of potatoes yet. I'm absolutely sold on using the growing bags and will get a few more next year. During the worst weeks of rain and a few storms, we've been able to move them under cover on our back deck to stop them getting waterlogged.

I'm still having an ongoing battle with snails and slugs. I lost all my lebanese cucumber seedlings, my first batch of pumpkin & sunflower seedlings and nearly all my carrots to snails and slugs. I gave up on the carrots in the end (we have two that survived LOL).

But my 2nd batch of pumpkin seedlings are doing well along with the zucchini. I dont think Granny B's yard has enough sun for these but we'll see. We are going to plant in conjunction with each other next year once we have the new house, and will plant what works best at the appropriate house.

And we are trying watermelon this year for Little B (seeds courtesy of Bec at Eat at Dixibelle's - thanks Bec :-) They seem to be growing really well. We've put them in half wine barrels and so far the snails have left them alone. Also means we can take advantage of the seriously sunny spots in the garden which are too small for vegie beds.

Our first pear is growing. It's only been 5 years in the making but we nursed this tree through some seriously hot droughty summers, so are very proud :-) We finally ripped out our dwarf peach tree - it's had leaf curl no matter what we did over the last few years and it was starting to affect our other dwarf trees. Now it's gone the nectarine especially seems to be recovering all on its own.

And last but not least, my beans. This seemed to be the only plant that would grow for me when we first started vegie gardening years ago and they get better and better each year. I love my beans xx

No Stuff Motivation

I really love Bec's recent post on "No More Stuff Until Christmas". Over the last few years we've really tried to focus on being no more stuff kind of people. And on a side note, after having to get rid of all our belongings, it's amazing how unimportant stuff really becomes.

But stuff has risen it's ugly head again recently in of all places with Little B's physio. Physio is hard at the best of times and getting a nearly 5 year old to do it every day is shall we say a challenge. The answer I'm told is to bribe him with toys. This is heartily encouraged by both therapists and in the words of one "buy him whatever it takes to get him to do it". Now with both of them encouraging this, it would mean that I would be buying Little B 2 toys a week or 8 toys a month. Seriously, what child needs 8 new toys a month? And even if I was buying secondhand - that's still 8 new toys a month!?!?!

Needless to say I have found this attitude grating rather than encouraging and it has more than ruffled my feathers (not helped by a crankypants child who doesnt want to do physio everyday). So our answer has been to create our own reward charts. Working with Little B we have created two rewards charts - one for outdoor rewards and one for cooking rewards. Each week, he gets to pick something from one of these lists as his reward. We then alternate the charts so he picks outdoors one week and cooking the other. He chose the things on the list so that they motivate him to get through his daily exercises.

As you can see from the list, they arent earth shattering but they are things he really likes to do with the undivided attention of either or both parents in tow. He loves to cook and while this list isnt complete yet, we are already looking forward to making cattle cookies this weekend.

I'd hate to think where we would have put Little B's 36 new toys if we'd gone down that path - to be honest the mind boggles.

Solar Tracker IRL

We had a great time away. One of the highlights was seeing Lake Eildon full to the brim. People could touch the bridge as they went under it on boats :-0 I remember not that long ago when it was dry dry dry.

I also finally got to see a community project that Mr B worked on for a number of months earlier this year. He designed and installed the solar tracker and static solar as part of a Eco Living Sustainable Communities Project by the Rural City of Wangaratta. I'd seen many photos but it was really impressive up close - you can see from the pic the sheer size of it compared to Mr B. The tracker currently generates enough electricity to power 3 houses.

And my SIL's 40th was great fun. A beautiful balmy warm night, lots of fun people and my BIL has built a wood fired cobb oven by hand. And provided the most delicious home made wood fired pizzas on the night. Needless to say Mr B was instructed to take a very close look as I soooo want one of those at our new house :-)

And last but not least we noticed quite a few houses in the area from the art deco era. Which allowed us to take pictures and get ideas for the outside of the new house. Especially this roof which has the original terracotta tiles in situ. We're not that lucky but now have a colour that we can at least try and match to.

 

Now that's what I call a thoroughly enjoyable weekend :-)

this saturday i'm grateful for long drives

It's been a long and rainy week but the sun waits for no man :-) So this Saturday I'm grateful for...

* long drives - me, my man, some great tunes and a long drive. We are off cross country to my SIL's 40th birthday party today.

* bravery - I say this tongue in cheek (kind of) but this is the furthest distance I will have been away from Little B since he was born (3 hours). He cant wait for a weekend of the sole undivided attention of Granny B and me?? I have to remember what I'm like without an appendage for 2 whole days LOL

* doctors who listen - we needed to provide a strange and abstract letter to Little B's preschool next year about his allergies (in order for them to change a few things). Problem?? It takes 6 months to see his allergist. Solution?? A divine allergy friendly GP who listened to our story, read his food diaries and provided said letter...hooray!!

Checkout Maxabella loves for a grateful dose this weekend xx

Mister Maker

After what seems like days and days of rain, Little B and I have become a tad stir crazy :-) So we whipped out a Mister Maker book that Little B got for his last birthday. We are going on holidays soon which involves a 2 hour drive to the seaside, so what better than a making a toy for the car.

We settled on the sticky picture box, found an old shoe box and some felt remnants from sewing. Then went to work cutting out shapes. Little B decided a blue background was best as it could be either the sea or space (two current faves).

And in a short time it was done. I had great fun cutting out pieces that could be used for either theme. Seaweed upside down becomes rocket fuel. And our mermaids face becomes the moon. And as you can see above Little B decided to turn a fish sideways and give it some hair (which was a clam).

It was a cute quick project and has already proved to be an interesting diversion in the car. The box sits well on his lap and contains all the pieces. I'll definitely be giving some more projects out of this book a go, especially since we seem to have fallen back into winter somehow!?!?