Observations from being out and about

Wow, haven't written a post in a little while, it is amazing how time can get away from you and all the days seem to blend in to one. Twelve days it has been in fact.

A mouse is back in the little red house but hey I have written about that enough so onto something new.

I love noticing different things when I am out of the house, some attract my attention because they are weird and wonderful, other things because I just like to wonder how or why it is happening.

Some of the interesting things that have caught my attention of late.

A man riding his bike along the local main road, nothing new here, but running alongside him was not one but two dogs that he was holding onto via two leads. Check that out! How is it possible to do that, I can hardly even walk Zorro on a lead let alone ride a bike holding the lead beside me.

Then there was the young man, riding his bike into the local supermarket car park, attached to the back is a little trailer with a sub woofer powered by an adapted car battery of sorts. His choice of music was not my style but her certainly attracted attention.

Then there are the bike riders with strange spokes sticking up off their bike helmets. Why, I asked? To ward off the swooping magpies of course.

So next time you are out and about, open your eyes and wonder at something new.

Jen

FAIL mummy; time for action

Picture says it all really!

Cut Emily's fringe, not a good job, lucky poor child doesn't realise how awful it looks!

Long term solution; start going back to the hairdresser or grow out the fringe

Short term solution; wear hats, pin it back with clips etc

Please forgive me Emily

Jen

We love morning tea!

Most days little Joshua is asleep over morning tea time so those two hours are good time for Emily and I to do some things together that might be challenging to achieve when he is awake.

At the Little Red House we love a good morning tea, there is something about a yummy treat to tide you over to lunch. On the rare occasion we will cook piklets! So simple and easy.

Yesterday with all the rainy weather it was a good time to have another crack at perfecting them. I think I have finally mastered them, not that it is hard right but for a while my technique was all wrong but this week I have it sorted.

I think the two things were adding a bit of baking powder into the mix to puff them up a bit so they are more like a hotcake than a pancake and adding some butter to the pan when cooking them so they brown up beautifully.

We also like to add some frozen blueberries or sultanas for some extra nutrition and flavour.

This is the end result, the photo doesn't do it justice of course, trust me they were yummy!

Only thing to improve is may be a little less burnt bits, pan was way to hot! And trying to do half white flour / half wholemeal for the nutritional benefits

Emily loves to help make them and to eat hers sharing a cup of tea with mummy. Well, the little people's equivalent which is a proper tea cup, a smidge of tea and the rest full of milk.

So what do yummies do you enjoy for morning tea?

Jen

Backyard Dreaming, it begins

After much thought, reading, discussion, opinion gathering and several sketches I think I finally have finished the design for the backyard project; feeling very excited and nervous.

To kick start the project I went out on a limb and picked out 16m2 pavers for the entertaining area on the weekend. Ash was away on a man's weekend so it was up to me to make the choice, not easy let me tell you. There was a big range in price, colour, size and type but I hope that what ended up with will fit with the theme / style of the backyard which can best be described as natural and informal. And of course I hope Ash likes them!

Now I need to source a contractor to lay them as we have decided that laying pavers is a bit above our DIY skill level, after all somethings are better left to the experts.

So it begins, there is no going back and I couldn't be more excited.

Jen

Max is alive!

What do you do with a little girl who needs something new to play with?

Turn Max to "ON"..... let me explain a little more.

When Joshua was born Emily received her only baby boy doll named Max. We picked him up from ELC. At the time and throughout the past year he has been well loved and one of Emily's fav companions, recently when we were looking for something to do for the afternoon I decided that Emily was old enough to enjoy playing with Max on another level. So, I switched him on and put his battery in. What a delight for her, not only does Max's mouth move in and out when he sucks on his dummy and bottle, cries and babbles but the best bit for Emily is that Max burbs!

It has been so much fun for her and she has taken delight in showing any friends and family the new and improved Max.

Jen

Do you see what I see?

Give a little girl a camera and see what happens? Pictures captured at a whole different level, check these out as taken by Emily recently



Little Joshie boy



And again




Sesame Street on TV




Another one of Josh

And looking up at Mummy making dinner

We will have to do this again, Emi enjoys taking pictures and does have a kids camera but it needs a new battery

Jen

My green thumb and experimenting with seeds

Yay, it is springtime and I couldn't be more excited. Although it is rather gloomy outside and all but nonetheless it is indeed spring. I love that springtime encourages more outdoor adventures and lots to do in the garden.

I have a confession, I am a green thumb. Never thought that I would be or could be but spending more time at home and in the backyard has sparked a passion for learning more about my garden and more specifically about growing veggies, herbs, fruits for the Little Red House. It is good to finally have something of my own to do, a hobby you might say.

In fact I have started watching Gardening Australia at 6:30pm Saturday nights for info and tips. When I was younger my Mum & Dad used to watch it and I thought it was torture! Ahh how the years make you mature.

We have had one veggie bed for a year and that has been a good experiment. Our most successful crop would have to be silver beet and lettuce. Currently we also have onions, garlic, leeks and beetroot.

I am getting more confident in what to do and as plans for our Backyard Dreaming project continue I am hoping that we can expand this to a few more. I have had my nose in a few books at the moment. Two which have provided some interesting reading are Backyard Self Sufficiency by Jackie French and Harvest by Meredith Kirton.

Emily has been helping me get some spring and summer seeds on the way,

We started them off on the 18th August and finally are getting some little buds of life sprouting up. I have experimented with a few different approaches of what to put the seeds in to see what works best and what is most economical.

We have tried homemade newspaper pots, peat pots, toilet rolls, egg cartons and recycled nursery pots.

It will be interesting to see which provide the best start for the seeds.

I am obsessed with going to check on them every day and give them a drink. It is amazing to watch them come to life.

Jen