A Christmas Round up....

Well Christmas has been and gone for another year.
Lots of presents were had by all.
We had a very quiet Christmas this year as most of the family were away with there in-laws.
I am still having trouble with blogger.
It is adding all the photos in some weird format that I don't understand.Also not letting me write between the
photos. Has any one else had this problem at all. Makes blogging hard when you can't see the photos.....

I have used the quietness of Christmas to learn to crochet and do lots of sewing. I have made a few differant pillows, my faverite is the trees.

Enjoy your new years eve.
We are staying home and then going for a drive New Years Day.

Blessings to all
Mandy

Merry Christmas.

Hi All I am having a lot of trouble with blogger I have tried so many times to blog over the last weeks and I continue to loose every thing. Merry Christmas from all of us here at the Storey household.... Blessings Mandy

Reclaiming My Space.....

Happy Monday and 1st December

Yeahhhhh December is here!!!!!!!!!

  The Christmas Decorations are up.

Sadly there was only Robbie and I putting them up, but we enjoyed it.

OK so I did most of it and Robbie took photos.

We had our Market Day again on Saturday, more stalls and 

lots more people. I am so enjoying the atmosphere of them O  and the selling as well.

Mind you the kitchen has looked like a candle making factory.

I admit it is a messy business but fun.

 So I decided (well Bruce said so really, sick of a messy house)

to reclaim my Old Dairy.

Yesterday afternoon I made a couple batches of soap and when I finished

I came back to my clean house.

 Zena helped me as well.

The best part is I just unload everything in here until the next market

and it is all together.
I have often toyed with the thought of having a shop here at The Old Dairy.
The problem is it is set back of the road and I don't know how that would go.
For now though I am happy doing markets.

I am only using one room and there is still a guest

room that is nice and tidy, so still room for when the kids come home.

Hmm just went to check my blog and realized I didn't publish it

So technically it's Happy Tuesday....whoops

ABusy Week end

Hello All

yes I am still here.....It is a busy time coming up to the end of the year.

This week saw Emma, Bruce's youngest graduate

year 12. 

This is Robbie's last week and then Will finishes primary school the week after. 

Then Christmas Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have been busy making lots of soy candle, soy melts, soap and lots of other goodies.

Boy my kitchen has been a production line but sure does smell good.

 Saturday saw me have my first market stall for many years.

Our local hall at Stockyard has started having weekly markets until Christmas.

I had a great morning and did well, sold lots of soap, candles and dishcloths.

Sunday saw us get our newest member of the family.

Her name is Zena and she has  stolen my heart. Zena thinks she is a dog

and sleeps at the back door through the day.

We also got our new chooks on Sunday, I will show you them later in the week.

Monday Mum and I went to the Bush Christmas display in Toowoomba.

I loved this window below and really want to make something similar to this.

I also loved the Christmas tree next to it.

Now I'm off to read what you all got up too on the 

week end.

Blessings

Mandy

Boy Time.......

Guess who has come home for a visit???

David and Mason have been here since Saturday.

A week with two 

what fun we are having

Lots of swimming has been going on with cousins and Uncles.

David and Chloe just because its a great photo.

                                

See what I mean? Hard to get a good photo

Nice one of Chloe's baby bump though. Cassie has her rat face on hahaha

 Cousins sharing food 

Lots of food and fun and mess what with there being a over supply of boys here.

Mason and Harry have had a wonderful time getting to know each other.

Most of all I am so thankful having this week with my son and grandson.

Getting to really know Mason has been so much fun, this little man has stolen my heart just like his 

Dad did 30 years ago.

Thanks for coming home boys....

Monday Blues....

I have a case of the Monday Blues..

All started good this morning, I 

got  up for a walk in the cool of the morning, then some watering to try and keep the plants alive.

Then down to feed and water all my chooks....That's when I realized there was something wrong,

There wasn't any chooks just poor Rocky the rooster, surrounded by feathers.

All of my hens are gone my sweet girls taken by a fox.

So my week has not started well, on top of that there  is

a very hot wind blowing just sapping the energy and life out of the vege garden.

These photos were all taken in the cool of the evening yesterday but already things are looking wilted.

I am saving seeds at the moment but this garden is nearly ready to come out.

If this heat keeps up I'm not sure if it's worth planting anything else.

Some days I wonder if it worth all the heartache that comes with having animals 

and trying to grow your own food.

Mandy

Laundry Day.

Happy Monday everyone.

My morning started by having to make Laundry Liquid before

I could start the washing, so I thought I would share the recipe with you.

10 Litres water

1 cup lux soap flakes

1/2 cup WASHING soda

1/2 cup bi-carb.

Heat 2 litres of water on stove with soap flakes, until dissolved, then add washing soda

mix  until mixture thickens then add bicarb.

I then pour the  hot soap  liquid into my plastic tub and SLOWLY add

water to make up to 10 litres. I use my stick blender to continually mix while adding water

other wise the mixture can go lumpy. I also like to add a fragrant oil at this time. Today I used peppermint.

One liquid is thoroughly mixed I pour it into my empty vinegar bottles. How easy is that, 5 mins that all it takes to make 10 litres of laundry liquid, quicker than running down to shops.

Tip- Leave a gape in each bottle so you can shake the mixture as it sometimes gets thick.

My laundry is a small room but it works for me, one side is the washing machine,

and the other is a bench that I fold the clothes on into piles for everyone. Above

the bench is my vases as I also bring my cut flowers from the garden here. The basket on the 

washing machine has my gardening gloves  in it.

I love my clothes line, I went from a hills hoist to this about 6 years ago now,

a great old guy built the deck and line for me. What I love most is it doesn't swing around in the wind.

Do you line dry your clothes? I love the smell of sunshine on my clothes.

I know a lot of countries only use a clothes dryer and have no line.

My laundry isn't big enough to iron in so i do that here in the 

family room next to the laundry.

So the washing is done and not yet dry so I'm off to do some gardening.

We have a student free day in in QLD today so I am going to put 

my boys to work helping me in the garden,

 They don't know that yet and I still have to get Robbie out of bed but that's the plan. :)

Have a great Monday what ever you are doing today.

Mandy

Boys room.....Keeping it Real.........

Rooms are changing around here again....

This time it is the boys room.

Now I would love to show you some 

wonderful glamor shots of  these rooms, but that just isn't

going to happen.

So here is real boys rooms.

This room is Robbie's room, 

Robbie has the larger of the two rooms with a spare bed in it for 

when guests come. Both rooms have great storage with built ins, and a built in desk in this room.

This is Williams room

This room needs a bit of work  as it just has all

the spare furniture in it.

William wants a animal theme with deer heads all over the place if I let him.

William is 11 and still loves to play with toys, so he now has the room to spread his Lego out

and play without Robbie tripping over it. I'm sure there will still be fights but at least now when I send them to their room they are separate and won't be able to fight. :)

Nothing flash or fancy just real boys rooms.

Not that I don't have plenty of ideas going around in my head as what

I would like to do, my pinterest is full of boys rooms.

But for now I'm going to settle for happy boys.

Thanks for coming by

Mandy

Hello From The Road............

Hi All

I have a reason for not blogging as I have had no service.

Bruce, Robbie, Cassie,William and myself have been on the road to met up

with some special people.

We headed out to Carnarvon National Park.

We went up and David, Karen and Mason came down.

What a great few days we had, eating, hiking, eating more hiking

some of us went swimming then more eating...hahaha it's camping lots of eating going on.

No camp  food here, David cooked the roast, then we had potato bake fresh beans

and carrots, corn.

But we did do more than eat.......

We went on some great hikes, it is so cool and beautiful in the gorge.

Some people (Cassie) needed a little bit more of a hand than others.

To get into the high places, well worth the the pulling and pushing to get up there

(I'm talking about myself now :)

Even Mason enjoyed his rock climbing and tree walking. He was such a good little man running and walking most of the way and went where we went.

We found the swimming hole and the boys went swimming, it was so cold I wasn't going in. 

After all that swimming and walking Mason crashed up on his Dads shoulders,

and yes he slept like that while we walked back.

So that's what we have been up to over the last week of Spring holidays.

I hope you have enjoyed your break those of you with school age children..

Blessings to All

Mandy