Busy times

Not just for me but for everyone I'm sure. If it's not sports day it's excursion day, or cub break up or art class break up. Or dance break up. Or school sleepover. Or friend's sleepover. Dance concert. You get the picture, busy busy times! We went camping over the weekend with friends, that was a good break, will post pictures when I get them off the camera! We've also had a pet explosion at our house, much to my husband's disgust! Indigo is a sensitive child who feels things deeply (read tantrums and challenging behaviour) so I thought if she had something to cuddle and care for it would be a good outlet for her. So Esther the guinea pig came to our family. I didn't want her to be lonely and I didn't want Crystal to be left out so we also got Poppy the bunny. Then the next day the place I ordered chicks from months ago rang and said they'd hatched, so Tiger, Speckles, Cutie and Freckles enter the picture. By this time my husband was saying "NO MORE PETS!" which I was happy to agree with, but I wanted a bigger cage to house them so I put a 'free cage wanted' ad on www.Melbourne.Gumtree.com.au and the very next day was generously offered a free large cage - with a free large rabbit. Welcome Bella! We already had two dogs and six chickens, so now at 15 our pet family is complete. (For now.)

The Market!

It was hot, it was deserted, our gazebo kept falling down. Not a good start! Because of the heat not many people came in the first place, and those that did wandered listlessly around not buying much of anything. We were discouraged. BUT in the end we did sell a few things, meet a few people and get a lot of experience about what did/didn't work, so I think the day was a success! We've decided to stick with more established markets rather than school fairs, our next aim is Torquay or Camberwell, there's sure to be people there!
Our first customer! I had to take a photo! And no, she didn't see me take the photo. And no, she didn't buy anything.

We have a display!

Crystal modeling the mehtai hanging out with her cousin Lily
Ribbon twirlers and capes are so much fun! I love the twirlers, they have a little bell attached that tinkle as you run around waving them (yes I know this because I run around waving them, Crystal and Rainbow were lucky to pry these ones off me)
Re-useable sandwich wraps - so much better than clingwrap!

After a lot of hard work and preparation, Treehugging Tots has it's first display up at my niece's kinder! Now I'm just nervously waiting to see if anyone will actually order anything, I'll be so upset if out of 56 families there is not one single order. I know if I saw our products I'd want to buy them, I'm just hoping other people feel that way too. We have cloth nappies, wands (with real crystals as the tip) ribbon twirlers, capes, crowns, pencil rolls, fairy skirts, mehtais and re-useable sandwich wraps. At least if no one buys it I have Birthday and Christmas presents for the girl's friends for a while!

10 things I'm loving

1) Thunderstorms washing away the heat. The girl were playing in the street with the neighbours' kids when suddenly it was bucketing down, the kind of rain that instantly soaks you to the core. Hearing them squeal and laugh and watching them splash in the water, what a simple joy, especially after such a hot few days!

2) Spending time lounging around with friends without watching the clock

3) Having the weekend off work. I always end up wondering why every weekend can't be like this. I seriously need to retire!

4) Having a project - the market is next weekend! I'm slightly stressed because I have more sewing to do than I have hours to sew, but it is nice to have a reason to be creative, and I'm learning so much by sewing consistently every day rather than in my spare time

5) Watching the girls with their new pets Poppy the rabbit and Esther the guinea pig. I love watching the care they have for them, they are so gentle. Indigo is going to bed happily for the first time (her bedroom is at the other end of the house away from all the action so she pretty often jumps into bed with Crystal and Rainbow) because she has Poppy and Esther in her room at night

6) Eggs. The chickens are laying up a storm at the moment and I love having an abundance of eggs to feed my family and to give away to friends. Is there anything an egg can't do? It's the basis of so many meals! As I can type I can hear one of the chooks proudly declaring she has just laid an egg!

7) Re-arranging. I just rearranged the play area and things that had been in containers in the cupboard are now out in view. It seems so obvious I don't know why I didn't think of it before! Rainbow now actually plays with the trains and blocks and Mr Potato heads because she can see them! So she's been having lots of independent play time while I've been sewing up a storm, much more fun to build a block tower than repeatedly flick Mama's sewing machine on and off!

8) De-cluttering. Similar to re-arranging, it's so cathartic to rid the house of excess, although I still have a long way to go! We're having a rack of second hand clothes at the market and I'm trying to be ruthless with the girls' clothes - they have more than they can possibly wear and they usually end up in piles around the place.

9) Family. Of course! Having 3 sweet (sometimes) girls and a husband who loves me, how can you not love that?

10) Blogs. I've been spending a lot of time reading other people's blogs and I come away feeling so inspired and refreshed, I love having a little window into people's lives! The stickybeak in me is feeling very fulfilled!

My last post had a bit of a tantrum when it came to loading photos, so here's some pics of our holiday!

Holidays

Feeling a bit sad and sorry for myself after having a tooth taken out (well, almost taken out, after 2 hours of drilling and yanking the dentist gave up and has referred me to a surgeon, so the ordeal is not over yet) I've decided to transport myself from this world into memory lane, and think about the school holidays that have just been a few weeks ago. My husband had to work through them, so I decided to take the girls camping by myself, I just needed to get away from life for a few days, and what better way than pitching a tent by the beach? It made me think about what life would be like if we didn't have the relentless school machine 5 days a week, I know it wouldn't be all beach walks and playgrounds, but I loved not being aware of what the time was all day, playing until we were done playing rather than until we had to start dinner/bed proceedings.

I've given a lot of consideration to whether or not to send the girls to school, which I'll talk about another day, and although I'm so very happy that they are at the right school for them, I wish we had the freedom from having every day set out for us! Surely part time schooling isn't too much to ask - say 3 days a week?

Anyway, we decided to holiday in Portarlington, mainly because it isn't too far from home - 50 minutes by car - and is near my sister-in-law so we could spend a day with her and my nieces at the beach and the park and eating chips, which is a must do for lunch at the beach (haven't really figured out why yet) And that's pretty much all our holiday was - beach, playground and food! I love how when you stay at caravan parks the kids instantly find a best friend to hang out with, which gave me some much needed reading time, I arrived loaded up with books from the library, and read two novels in the few days we were there, one at night by torch light with a block of chocolate I'd managed to keep hidden. Mmmm, hidden chocolate...

We also collected sea glass and shells that we can turn into something amazing to remember our trip by. We saw countless jellyfish, crabs and fish, and a banjo shark when we walked along the pier. We took long walks along the beach, the girls swam naked, which is more than I can say for me, I waded up to my knees but it was way too cold for me to swim! It's hard to find photos to share actually, because so many of them are naked shots! Best of all we spent time together, enjoyed each other's company and created some lasting memories.

What's growing?

My usual answer would be not too much! A combination of living in a hugely windy spot plus being over committed and so not spending the time needed out in the backyard, plus being indecisive about what I want out there have meant not a lot has been done out there! Not to mention the heatwave we had over summer, the lemon and olive trees were burnt as if they'd been in an oven (47 degree heat will do that) and they've only just started to recover now with new leaves on the olive tree and new flowers on the lemon tree.

But finally I have said enough! No more excuses! So over winter a dozen or so tea trees were planted, along with some wattle that are all growing well and will hopefully turn part of the backyard into my own mini native bushland, while the rest of it has been given over to vegies and a cottage garden. Originally I wasn't going to put in a cottage garden, I wanted all natives, but so many friends and family members have given me cuttings from their own gardens and I felt like it was a gesture I couldn't turn down, I love the thought of little pieces of loved ones gardens being carried over to my own. So I have a garden with daisies, roses, lavender and geraniums. I'm going to try and use as many of the cottage plants as I can in recipes for around the home, I'm looking forward to making lavender lollypops!

The vegie garden is still a bit sparse, but I've got basil, rosemary, thyme, mint, apple mint, oregano, parsley, tomatoes, lettuce and strawberries. So basically a salad!