The safe

Any guesses as to what the food is doing in the microwave ?

Unfortunately it is the only secure place in the kitchen where a new mousey visitor can't eat the food!

For the past week or maybe a little longer we have tried to capture it but alas it is not tempted by peanut butter, cheese or bread. Emily suggested banana but I didn't think it would have the taste for it as it seems it's favourite food is always inside something plastic that it needs to rip open.

Ashley and I have named it the iron mouse as it seems that nothing will tempt it....time to consider some hard core stuff like bait or perhaps we need to borrow a cat for a night!

In the meantime excuse me while I go and unload the microwave of the bread so I can make some toast for breakfast.

Have a great day!

Jen

The start of a market garden, perhaps?

Since first starting my vegie garden last spring I have come to enjoy spending time outside playing around in the little square. Of late I have grown beetroot, garlic, silverbeet, onions and lettuce. As part of the backyard project I wanted to incorporate some new garden beds to expand my planting space enable a bigger and more varied type of crop to be planted.


So after another day spent slogging it out Ash constructed 2 of 3 new beds for the expanded vegies. This is what they look like, 1.2 x 1.2 constructed out of ACQ treated pine (arsenic free) and stained in merbau. Looks pretty good hey! I will have to repost another photo in 2 months time when it is full of green growing goodness.

Whilst I will never have the time or resources to have an actual backyard market garden I am looking forward to increasing our produce to share more with family and friends.

Now to start planning what to plant! That is tonight's job.

Jen

Some firsts for little J

Around 8 weeks ago at 16 months Joshua learned to walk so I figured it was about time for some shoes. There is something so adorably cute about shopping for a pair of first shoes, I decided that these were just right for a first pair. I like the idea of keeping the first ever pair of shoes as a bit of a keepsake. I kept Em's first pink pair and I know that my Mum kept my first shoes.

So here they are! Already broken in after a play around at the park this afternoon



Emily joined in as well, having always wanted a pair of sparkly shoes I decided that she was old enough to appreciate them and they do look like cinderella slippers which is what she has nick named them. Perfect for wearing with dresses and skirts for summertime fun.



But the most exciting activity of the day was Joshua's first haircut. Some passer bys were heard to confuse his gender in the past week due I would imagine to the length of his mop which has been growing at some rate since his birth so off to the local men's barber to see if they could help.

A lovely lady spent a good 10 minutes cutting it away and we are left with this. Short enough but with little bit of a wave remaining. And yes I did keep a lock or two as a momento.

Photo is not the best but hey you get the idea!

Jen

Oh man, that is one huge pile of dirt!

Check this out!

What was once a bare patch of earth is now a few tonne of dirt that Ashley spent last weekend cutting out of our backyard. Not with a fancy tool or much help from me but with good old fashioned hard work. I have realised that DIY really should be called DITH W an abbreviation for Do It The Hard Way, it doesn't quite have the same ring to it but you get the idea right.

All this was necessary to create this

A level 4x4 area for our new paving to go on. Due to start late next week I hope to have some pictures of the first main part of our backyard reno to show next weekend, so exciting.

This weekend we need to find somewhere to move all that excess dirt to so Ashley will be constructing several new garden beds that form part of the design.

It is great to see it all coming together, super effort Ash!

Jen

Polarize play around

I would love to take the time to learn more about using Adobe Photoshop to improve my digital photos but at the moment I am making do with a few iphone apps that allow you to play around with photos taken on the phone and then save them.

A free one I came across called Polarize gives the photo a look I really like, I thought you might like to see a few of my latest iphone favourites with the Polarize application.

And indeed they are all of Joshua, the last is my fav, taken a few weeks ago he looks so peaceful sleeping and much more like a baby than the active toddler he actually is.

Jen

Daddy's Little Helper

In the interest of recycling Ashley has taken an old gate that was previously hung around the side of the house and is turning it into a potting table to use in the garden.

To get the project started little Joshua wanted to play Daddy's little helper and share in the action. He enjoyed playing and looking at the hammer and drill, so cute

I love watching how inquisitive lttle people are in exploring new things.

Jen

Help, I'm stuck in the mud!

Why is it that it is always raining when you have something really important to do outside?


Case in point Mr Weather man; this weekend we hired a rotary hoe. Check it out, that is some serious machine for a backyard

Whilst a little bit of rain was helpful to soften up the ground a bit, there might have been a bit to much and we had to give it away on Monday until next weekend as the yard became a mud pit in parts.

Alas the rotary hoe was money well spent and it did a great job tearing up our old, half dead lawn and loosening up the hard compacted ground.

It feels great to have started our project and I am confident that we can get it completed within the next two months, especially with daylight savings allowing for some early evening work when Ashley arrives home from work.

And I will need some gumboots after all, just to make sure I don't get stuck in the mud during the next few weeks.

Jen