gonna need a p.a.

As much as I'm ready for the new "year" of kid happenings to start so that we can get a rhythm... I am shitting myself wondering how I am going to manage it all.  I've pulled out my amazingly large calendar from the Melbourne Design Market and stuck it all up so that we can be prepared for what is going to hit us in just over a week.

Karate, 3 year old kinder, 4 year old kinder, Dance, Swimming Lessons, KVS Homeschool/playgroup, yoga, markets, Melbourne egg delivery, egg processing.........

I will be a slave to my car. I think that'll pretty much sum it up.
I will certainly be declaring Sunday family day and rest day.

Believe it or not - thru the planning process of organizing this "year" I have actually learned to say "no." If you haven't tried it - please do. It feels okay. Just go with your gut. My gut is now telling me that I should indulge my children and take them to Warragul to see Play School. A girl can change her mind, can't she?

What's the "year" ahead got in store for you?

xx

a whole bunch of randomness.

Howzat for a self portrait!

Here I am in the "hoodlum's" humble abode keeping them away from sparks.

Yes, Husband needed to make a little hatch door on the other side of the Aframe so that the youngest of hoodlums would be able to exit safely without being bullied at the doorway from the older more "pubescent" hoodlums.  It was terribly loud to cut the metal - as Baxter will let you know...

anyway - the door was made...

there was a lot of help to be had...

...and a lot of curious on lookers...

You would think I would learn not to wear my birks in the paddock..
but I never doo... and I always step in poo...

a couple of days later we went blueberry picking at a local spot.

17+ kilos of fat, plump, sprayfree blueberries to store away for the year.  

I think we all ate at least a kilo along the way while we picked!

Yummo.

We started our Australia Day 2011 out with blueberry pancakes this morning.  

The kids are having a play-date with a friend and Monty is helping dad in A frame #4 retrofitting the nesting box.

Triple J's Hottest 100 is about to start... Must be about time to end my auction! I think my momma is winning at the moment - get in while you can and save me postage to the states! Ha!

Happy Oz day. Hope you are able to celebrate all that is good and Australian.  I am - we're being pretty relaxed and cruizy today.

xx

cheezy goodness

We've been experimenting with lots of cheese, yoghurt and ice cream from our beautiful Organic BioDynamic milk that we have here on the farm.  Needless to say we eat A LOT of eggs and milk products - besides just cool, ultra fresh creamy milk.  This cottage cheese recipe was D to the vine.

I've just bought an electric cream separator from the Ukraine. Cannot wait to be making fully raw ice cream and butter. I must admit I go thru fits and starts on Ebay - and I'm a little too addicted to finding those unusual things at the moment. It's a bugger that I cannot sell my brand new HTC Desire cell phone tho.  Do you have an Ebay relationship like that? One day you are obsessed, the next year you can't bear the thought of it?

Thanks everyone for the lovely comments on my 7 things post..  However, I've only had one bid for the yellow pillow (mind you - I'd be only too happy to send it to Jodie!)  If you are in need of a purty little yellow birdie pillow - dig out a bid here. Finishes on Australia day (Wednesday for all you oversea'ers)

Otherwise - have a wonderfully happy day. I'm off to chop and colour my hair. Yay!

superb auction & 7 things 'bout me

Hello there! 
First things first - I'm holding a raffle for my yellow pillow! Hooray!
I think it might miss it's mate, yellow pillow #2, but I think someone else will love it and give it a good home.
100% handmade by moi.

Here's the deal:
-open to the entire universe - I'll post it anywhere.
-online auction starting at $5 winning bidder to donate to the Grantham Flood appeal. This is a town that had it's guts and people ripped apart during the flood, and will go directly to that community.
-leave a comment with your bid.
-bid as many times as you like.
-Auction closes on Australia Day at 4 p.m. Winner to be notified by email.
-GET IN IT TO WIN IT.
-handsome big boy is not included in the raffle. (sorry.)
-any questions - email me.


And...
Sophie over at Red Dust Love has given me an award!

awww. how sweet! In order to receive this award I must release 7 secrets about myself that you may or may not know, but I am presuming that most of of you will not know these tiny details!.....


right. here goes...


1. I'm 6'3". That's right. I wear VERY long jeans.


2. I'm a bit obsessed with making food with what we have. Eggs, Milk, veg, fruit. Actually, I'm quite obsessed.


3. I sing really really well. Especially Laura Marling. However, I was not allowed to sing solo  "Away in a Manger" for my church Christmas Concert when I was little. I think I butchered it.


4. I've never been to New York, but I'd love to go for Christmas - I don't know why.


5. I think I'm done having babies.


6. I am an awful sleeper. If a frog farts, I'm up and looking to see if it's okay.


7. I could spend a day nibbling and loving on my baby. I would require no food or drink. Just nibbling and smooching. Unfortunately I have a business to run and children to feed and laundry to do and schedules to keep and bills to pay and EVERYONE elses's needs to be met - therefore I do not spend the day smooching on my baby(s). (I could choose any one of the three, but the little blond haired fellow just MELTS my heart at the moment.)


There you have it.


So, now I'm passing it on... to a blog I've only just stumbled into - This lady makes the most best hairclips for girls. Kelly has her blog.. Messy Freckle (whose name I lourve.) and it is truly stylish! 


Have a happy day and put a bid in. I'd love it to be a smashing success.
xx

flood of love

Is the love flowing harder and faster than the water did?

I think it is! 

There are auctions and raffles all thru my friends in blogland to support the families of the floods.

Firstly, Good on ya. My favourites at the mo are: Foxes Lane, Mrs Guldie, and Flossy P's prints from the Art4Heart auction. Take a peek. Get in while the gettin' is good.

Have a happy day.

xx

P.S. I will still be posting an auction for my yellow pillow. soon. have patience - blogging with a baby on your lap ain't always easy.

RURAL flood relief funds

I have located RURAL flood relief donation details.
The $150 raised by auctioning our hens on the weekend will be split between these two accounts:

Grantham
Lockyer Valley

Many of you have asked me to forward rural appeal's details - so there they are.  These accounts are fair dinkum from the regional councils. They have set up separate accounts from the Premiers Account to help the specific local area.

Without doubt - Brisbane has been hit heavy, but the two above regions in particular have endured horrors that I cannot even begin to fathom and they have a long long road to recovery.



They need tremendous help. Give generously.
If you are holding an online blog auction - consider giving the proceeds to one of the above in addition to or in place of the Premiers account.

and.. spread the word.

xx

P.S. There are credit card facilities and Paypal for overseas readers to make easy donations.

pencil-skirts and forklifts and feed

ever tried driving one of these..

...in one of these? 

Pencil-skirts are not good forklift driving attire. Nope. 

I will die if the trucking company that I broke and entered into this morning has security cameras.
Not for breaking and entering, but for the fact that they will be able to clearly see my yellow undies while operating their forklift. Okay - I had permission to break into the shed....

my husband and my hens are thankful however that I hefted these 25kg sacks of Organic Chook feed into my car this morning. 

We get our feed from a very good Certified Organic processor in Toowoomba... well, usually.... this is emergency feed from a depot in Melbourne. Our $3500 order of feed arrived in the Toowoomba depot last Monday in the morning. By that afternoon, all hell broke loose and the water rushed in.  Fortunately, our feed was safe, and is now in Melbourne for pickup.  Way to pick up and dust ourselves off, eh Australia?? Tremendous efforts made by all to clean up and get back to business.

Have you been driving forklifts in a pencil-skirt lately?

auction ended.

3 chooks - auctioned.

After only 4 bids - we raised $50 each for a grand total of $150 dollars. 

A small drop in the bucket to what Queensland will need to clean up and restart their lives after such destruction, but every little bit helps.  

We are researching a fund that will help rural Queensland in particular. The media focus has really been on Brisbane, and though our hearts go out to the City, the scale of epic proportion to the north, west and south of Brisbane is particularly horrible - especially Toowoomba and surrounding areas thru the Valley. If ever there were a time for the Queensland Government to do the right thing by the bush - the time is NOW. I'm putting it out there that they will do the right thing and help the farmers and rural areas get back on their feet quickly and effectively.  

Our old hometown of Goondiwindi has fared better than most, but isn't out of the clear yet.  Our thoughts are with those that have been affected. Especially those with missing loved ones.

xx

we've got a problem here. a big one.

This does not seem real. Not at all.

Queensland is in dire need of help - and the worst may yet be to come.

A lot of my US readers have been asking about Toowoomba.

There was an inland instant Tsunami there in the Central Business District. It wiped out people, cars, livestock, shops, trucks, you name it - and it was fast. One minute it was raining heavily. The next minute there was a wall of water - some reports of 8M high headed right thru the middle of town.  

It boggled my mind to see where I used to do my shopping under a siege of raging water. People, families caught in cars and on the roads - swept away. People had to refuge on their rooftops overnight. Small children have died.  There is going to be years of recovery, and the mental recovery might just be bigger than the physical flood damage. Many people have seen stranded people without being able to anything to help them - then watching them being ripped down the raging water.  

Queensland is in DIRE need of help.  Help how you can. 

Dig deep.

Donate here. Red Cross might be the best and easiest way for International readers to donate..

I will be auctioning chooks at the Foster Markets on the weekend to donate to the Queensland Flood Relief.

I will also auction one of my yellow birdie/doily pillows I made the other day. Stay tuned.

And on another note...

Happy Birthday, my dear wonderful husband. I will go slather your cake together right now!!
I love you more than you will ever know. And I thank my lucky stars for you.

xx

It happened!!!

...now don't pass out, but... I actually created something yesterday in my 4 hours of spare time sans kids!

Pillow & Monty - Cute and Cuter

then I went crazy and made a mate to match.  I picked up this birdie canvas when we were in the States last year (OMG - it's already "last year").  

I've been collecting vintage doily's from all sorts - these 2 happen to come from my neighbor at the old house. I really enjoyed the silence of stitching while sitting out in the sunshine.  It has been TOO long!

so then I thought I should do another doily - but I'm not so sure that this one turned out too well.  I ACTUALLY stitched this while sitting down in the kids room with Gretta and Monty happily playing.  I really had no idea that it would be possible!

and just to add to the crazy creativity - I made a heart garland. 

For pure fun. 

After the kidlets were in bed.

My boys have been very creative lately too -- have a look at this contraption! 

One very proud Big Boy with his billy cart. 

Oh yeah - and Baxter thought it was good too!

as much as I love these little people - it is SO necessary to have a break from them once in a while too.  They are all at the "quite consuming" ages and stages. There really doesn't seem to be too much time left over for Nic & I - let alone myself!

at 5 a.m. I tackled the ever so daunting project of the 2011 schedule.

It's been on my brain and haunting me for the past month at least.

I had to fit in SO much for the little people and for the business, but it's starting to take shape - I fear that I'll be doing A LOT of driving here there and everywhere, but hope to share a bit of that with some of my local friends once we all know who is doing what and when.  

It all went down a lot better with a few cups of tea.

The madness commences 1 Feb. Look out!

xx Amy

little treasures

Bliss.

Pure Bliss.

I have stolen a late morning and lunchtime ALL to myself.

Quiet.

Peace.

QUIET!

Bliss.

Okay, so as any mother does, I set a limit of 1/2 hour of cleaning up after they left. 

An hour and a quarter later, I made myself stop (still in my nightgown, cleaning like a madwoman...).

I'm now staring down my beloved little sewing machine - that has been sitting idle in this home since we've moved here. Well, not anymore... Here I come.

Do you love my new little treasure - my coffee cup? It's delicate and beautiful and says:

"Know first who you are:
and then adorn yourself accordingly"

I love it to bits. It came from the Melbourne Design Market. 

It also has a takeaway lid. Which I love. 

I really love drinking coffee like it's a takeaway one - even when I'm at home.  

For some reason, my coffee tastes so much better in it.

And especially right now - in the quiet of my own space and company.

P.S. is it acceptable to eat brownies alone for lunch?

Squeaky Beach

Does it get any better? 

Nope.

Holy Crap. We live here!

I still have to pinch myself sometimes.

I've just added an article written about us on my other blog.

Hope you've been out enjoying your slice of this wonderful world. We have been.

xx