Happy Australia Day

To all my Aussie readers, I hope you had a great Australia Day, to those of you that aren't Australian, I hope you had a lovely Sunday.

Our afternoon was spent playing backyard cricket (doesn't get more Australian than a game of backyard cricket!)

Followed by a barbie with pavlova and lamington cake for dessert, of course!

Can you tell my lot don't really like pavlova (tee hee)?

xoxo

Rain - please stay!

Around here we are having a horrible dry spell. Very little rain in months.

And our new home is on tank water, so instead of just worrying whether the gardens are getting enough water, we now also need to worry whether we have enough.

So yesterday morning I was delighted to see this.

And whilst the rain didn't eventuate from this cloud, this morning I have woken to slippery steps, the sound of frogs and the whoosh of cars passing on the road out the front.

Rain, sweet rain.

Hope it is raining where you are, if you need it to be.

xoxo

We're In!

Well, it's been just over a week since we moved into our new home and things are almost settling down, almost. To be honest I don't know if they ever will settle down again!

Our pre-settlement inspection showed us just how much work we have ahead of us. Given that we had spent just a few minutes inside the house before buying it (the previous owners were there making it a little awkward) and not much longer outside (before it started raining), we really weren't able to get a grip on how much work the place required.

So as overwhelmed as we are feeling right now, we are also terribly excited.

I'll post more photos as soon as I have a few minutes spare to take some!

xoxo

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a lovely holiday season and are filled with exciting plans for 2014. As usual I have a head full of intentions for the new year, no doubt almost none of them will be followed through!

What is definite though is:

2014 will see the biggest change ever for us as we move to our little acreage in just over a week, squeal! Big plans there, which also means lots of work for the next 12 months or so (I think we are being very optimistic there).

Miss 10 will head back to school as one of her school's captains for 2014, we are all terribly proud of her and know she will have a great final year at her school. Her best friend is also moving back here after nearly 4 years in England and we are all beside ourselves with excitement over this.

Miss 14 is heading into year 10 (where did that time go????) and will no doubt have lots of work to do as well as having lots of fun with her friends whilst she is there.

Hope your new year is all that you hope it will be.

xoxo

Changes

Wow! What a few weeks it has been.

Mr Homespun was unable to work for several weeks due to a cave in at the mine he was working at. During that time off he developed numbness and loss of strength in his hands so it was off to the doctor's, then the neurologist's and finally the surgeon. As a result he had surgery to one hand a couple of weeks ago and will have surgery on the other sometime down the track. And of course, right when he had the surgery was when work was to go back.

In the meantime our long time wish of buying acreage was back on our minds, driving a large part of the region searching for the perfect property (something we do on and off but never find anything). We found a fantastic block in a sleepy little village not far from Miss 14's school and made an offer. Unfortunately the vendor wanted a ridiculous amount and wasn't prepared to budge. So we let it go.

And what happened three days later?

THE perfect property went on the market. It is even closer than the last one, twice the size, and already has a liveable house on it. And did I mention it was cheaper? No? Well what about three doors from Mr Homespun's sister (who also happens to be my bestie)?

So the last few weeks have been full of sleepless nights and appointments to try and secure it. Until finally just this week... it is all ours!

Now we are dreaming of big vegie gardens and orchards. More chooks. Cousins close by for the kids to play with. Extensions to the existing house and all that comes with that. Maybe a roadside stall later down the track.

What started as a far away dream all those years ago has come to fruition.

And we are terribly excited.

xoxo

Springtime!

It's been a while, but I haven't had much to say. Lots of things going on as is the norm at this time of the year, with dance concerts and drama performances along with school exams. And lots of other things that I may share later down the track (don't want to jinx myself).

After many months with little to no rain the last few weeks have brought many downpours and storms. As a result the gardens are flourishing.

So in just 6 weeks our vegie garden has gone from this:

to this:

And the silverbeet in the photo now looks like this:

possibly the biggest silverbeet we have ever grown! Monstrous!

Love spring!

xoxo

Happenings

I know I haven't been around much lately, but here's a little of what we have been up to:

• Having the front lawn relaid - this meant digging up the old (which we got someone to do) and then shovelling 28 tonnes of dirt and spreading it out evenly, done with shovels and wheelbarrows. In just 2 days. Did I mention shovels? Yes? Well did I mention blisters?

• School holidays - just the usual dentists appointments, trips to the cinemas and the odd One Direction concert (that last bit is whispered because if they hear me say it they might start screaming, yes I have a teen and a tween!).

• Working (not much) on my Etsy shop and considering (a lot) whether to change to Zibbet after the recent announcements by Etsy. And after realising that Zibbet is an Australian company I am even more convinced that this could be the best option for me.

• Getting the summer veges started in the greenhouse.

• Buying new bedroom furniture for Miss 14 who is growing way too quickly in her mama's opinion.

• And celebrating Mr Homespun's birthday and our wedding anniversary.

What have you been up to?

xoxo