More birthdays....

Happy Birthday Karen....Today is my daughter-in-laws b/day, I hope you are enjoying your day today Karen. With David at work I'm sure it will be relaxing....make sure he cooks you your favorite meal for tea tonight.
That's 2 Birthdays down 7 more to go.....

I have been busy mowing since I got home, above is the block I have been slowly getting on top of. I have so far been through 1 set blades and had to get a new tube as I had a flat tyre, and I'm only half way through it!!!! I am looking into getting a slasher as this will make things a lot easier and quicker for me.

Do you remember the photos of before I went away of the where the deck was to go, well it's all done. What a good handy man I have as it has tidied this area up as I hoped it would, I love it....What a great clothes line I have now and a wonderful deck as a bonus...and yes I have already sat out there and had a glass of wine.

I need to put a few plants out there and pretty it up a bit and all will be done.

Tomorrow I will be heading back to work, I should be there today but I have the electrician here and it's getting late now..Never mind I will be able to get the rest of the mowing done instead...

Blessings

Mandy

The flow of life....

Two weeks into the school holidays already and we are all surviving JUST.....no, things are going well and we are getting into a routine around here now..I am only going to the workshop for a couple of hours from 11am to 1:30pm every day..This is working out well as Alanah is here to mind the younger children and I am not gone for full days. I miss not being a full time Mum and the simple life that I had being here at home..I have realized I have to stop looking back at how it was and start living in the now, this I can do!!!
It is so hot and dry here as it is every where, above you can see my birdhouse is falling down because the ground is all cracked and dry. I have given up on a vege garden until at least March when the weather will start to cool down. All the new fruit trees are doing well as I am putting every bit of water onto these to keep them going. Robbie is out in the garden earning pocket money for holidays by mulching the fruit trees and other gardens..

Above is my new project that I have Handy Andy building. The window above the wheel borrow is the laundry window, this side of the house has always been untidy. I have tried to have a garden here but it is so dry that nothing will grow. The Plan.....I am having a small deck built here with my clothes line on it. This will tidy the whole area up. So here is the before photo and in the new year I will show you the finished deck..

Well I had better go and get some housework done before I head to the work shop.
Blessings

Mandy

Easter Break......

After many hours of unpicking and resewing the top is finished.

I didn't mind the unpicking though, it is one of those things that your fingers do

on their own and your mind wonders and you can dream.

This quilt will be Robbie's. The blocks were done many years ago and have been sitting in the cupboard waiting to be put together. When I did the class I wasn't able to get to the last one which explained how to assemble a quilt.

Now I have done those two "stack and whack" quilts I felt more capable of putting it together..

Now comes the part I love QUILTING. Later today I am going

to town to get some wadding and material to back it in and by tonight I should be quilting..

Then again judging by the grass around the place may-be I should

be mowing this afternoon instead....

The grass around the yard is green and growing, but, you can see on the hill behind

it is still looking rather dead....

With the rain we got over the week end though things

in the paddocks should start greening up as well.

We got about80mls all up.

We have a large spotlight on the veranda that Hubby only

turns on when its raining. I tried to get a photo to show you how pretty the rain looked

in the light, but this is all I could get and it not very good..you get the idea I hope...

Today is the first day of our Easter

break.

Two wonderful weeks of school holidays.

So the children are busy earning spending money.

Instead of Easter eggs the girls get tickets to the

Easter fest here in Toowoomba.

Alanah camps for the 3 days with friends

and this will be the first year I have let Cassie go on her own

with friends.Not that she will really be on here own as there are other parents there and her 2 oldest sisters, but she thinks that being able to wonder around with friends is on her own....

Alanah is cleaning the windows in the house. Boy did she get a shock when she realized that it's not just cleaning the windows but washing the curtains cleaning the fly screens and the window sill.

O! That means cleaning inside and out!!!!

She is defiantly earning her $60 as there are 23 windows in this house!!!!!

I have been out digging out weeds in the yard this morning as every thing is so wet.

I will go back out for awhile and keep digging.

I can also plant out my seedling they have grown so much..

All very exciting watching all the new growth..

Have a great day all

Mandy

Lots ToDo

This morning I woke up remembering muscles that I for got were there. My goodness I don't remember the walk yesterday being that difficult. There was a lot of climbing up and down rocks................
I do a lot of walking but on the flat so may be I should go up the mountain once a week to use different muscles..sounds good in theory any way.





Now to you this may be just a picture of a bed room!!!!!!!!!I see a clean bed room and look a floor! been a while since we saw that. Boys are to busy to worry about taking time to clean there rooms, but every now and then I have a spak attack at them and they listen..Then Mummy is happy again.......

I had to get some soap made today I should have done it a week ago. I want to get a good supply made to use as Christmas presents this year, as well as having plenty for us to use. I put some eucalyptus and ceder wood essential oil in this batch. It is the first time I have scented my soap so we'll see how it goes.

If you go to Rhonda Jeans blog at down-to-earth she has an excellent tutorial. Her blog is in the side bar...

One thing about having a big family is there is always plenty of washing to do. There is a good breeze blowing today so the washing will be dry in no time. Got all the folding done and put away makes the laundry so much cleaner when the clothes are all away.

While I was out hanging the washing on the line a noticed the pool needed a good clean.....School holidays start next week and the children will want to be swimming. Even though it will be to cold but I have found that it is easier to let them get in and find this out for themselves, cause really, what do I know lol.

After giving the pool a good vacuum I found the filter was not working that well. I think it needs new sand in it, I rang around for the best price. $ 15 for a 20k.g bag and I need 60 k.g, I was pleased with that as I got $ 40 for doing some child minding on Monday so I only need to put $5 towards it.....

After finishing the pool I went down to see how the handy man was getting along with the new project........This is the back fence line and we have to keep a drain around the shed so that it doesn't flood. Well I had a great idea!!!!!!1

To turn the drain into a dry creek.....It is a real eye sore as is. So my handy man has been bringing these rocks down from the paddocks and building me a creek. Once it is all lined with smaller stones (a good job for the boys through the school holidays) it is going to look just like a creek

The above photo is the back of the choock pen. This is where I want to plant my loofah vine when I find one. This is the last area to clean up and plant. It is a hot area as it gets the sun most of the day, I'm yet to work out what I'm going to plant here. Any ideas...............

I'm of to get the mowing done now , well at least make a start on it, as it takes me 4 hours to mow my weeds I mean lawn, good exercise though and no one annoys me so I find mowing very peace full..............

MANDY