Marching March & Glamping

Well we are fast approaching the middle of mad March. In our Family this means 8 birthdays which include hubby's and both of Boo's grandfathers and 1 wedding anniversary, another reason I would like Bean to await arriving until April which is a far quieter month for us.

 Our family have spent the previous weekend Glamping at a lovely educational campsite called Wollangara. I made it through Labour Day Weekend (Vic.) without it becoming labour day, thank you Bean. Hubby has discovered the joy of camping in the simplicity of just being surrounded by nature, sounds odd but it really does wonders for ones sense of wellbeing.

On camp we consumed copious amounts of food and cake as it was a working bee/birthday weekend. Boo had an absolute ball in his new gumboots, chasing chickens, riding in wheelbarrows, being adored by his cousins and being bathed in a large cooking pot. We also had some day visitors including my Grandparents for a sit down Lunch on the Sunday. It was lovely that they were able to come and join us even braving the flying fox across the river which is the Wollangara access point (this was Boo's least favourite thing)

Boo keeping warm of a morning in a snowsuit

A sit down family lunch Glamping style including homemade bunting

The last cake of the camp was a cut your own piece Mum cut the heart out of the centre

I enjoyed spending time with my extended family, helping prep meals, watching hubby enjoy the Australian bush and watching Boo in his adventurous element. I am sooo very proud of the way he wants to help, be with people and trusts that they are there to assist him. He is so willing to play with cousins rarely seen and aunts & uncles infrequently visited as though they were in fact an everyday part of his family life. This just thrills me as it is what I enjoy  most about having such an amazing extended family who warmly welcome and embrace me and mine when we are together as though no time has passed since we were last together. 

Today I also had the lovely experience of visiting a friend and her boys for a BBQ where we sat for a delicious lunch and then had our boys playing out in the yard while we relaxed and chatted. I was also delighted to discover that she too is reading The Wife Drought by Annabel Crabb. So had a lovely discussion about the book (we have both just started) and the international women's day Q&A as well as other political and cultural issues. So nice to share briefly on our children then converse as adults. I am greatly enjoying Annabel's book so far as I do adore her humour, wit, intellect and perspective on life in general.

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February trip to NZ

Once again it is February meaning it is time for our annual trip to New Zealand. It actually become a tradition by accident that we spend almost every Valentines in NZ. 

So here is a brief history of our visits:

In 2010 we visited for our first Valentines and so I could meet hubby's darling mum. We enjoyed cocktails and a delicious meal at the Matterhorn on Cuba St, Wellington. I also baked hubby the first of many batches of brownies.

In 2011 we visited to celebrate our engagement with hubby's family and friends once again over Valentines. We had the flight from hell boarding in Melbourne at 6:30, remaining on the runway for 3hours for various reasons related to storms, refuelling, the smell of smoke through the cabin and finally a change of staff. Hubby watched all of his movie before we took off (he was concerned he wouldn't see it all as it was so long) we then detoured by air over Sydney, arrived in Auckland where we were given food vouchers and 1hour to change to a plane that would finally take us to Wellington some 10+hours after we left Melbourne. We were very tired travellers that day. We also took our first road trip in New Zealand to do Blackwater rafting in Waitomo  and play at the Playground in Levin

In 2012 we visited once again for Valentines as it now appeared to be tradition, and flights are consistently cheap then :)

2012/2013 Visit Kumara Chips with L&P at Devonport, NZ

2012/2013 we visited in December/January with my maiden aunt, an amusing tidbit as I returned from the trip pregnant with Boo, making her the worst chaperon maiden aunt ever. But our trip was amazing we visited Auckland, Devonport, The Kauri Forests, Te Aroha (means the love, hubby and I were upgraded to the honeymoon cabin and ta-da baby Boo), went caving at Waitomo and caught up with Hubby's family there who had driven to meet us.

2014 Hubby took a month off work and we took our darling 3 month old Boo to meet his Kiwi Family. We had a lovely time and had him christened there. My dear friend Phoebe was visiting her partner (my brother in law, yes they met because hubby and I Married) so I was able to have an Aussie Godmother. For our valentines date we left Boo with Nanna and headed to the delightful Roxy Cinema  for lunch at Coco's (delicious) and watched Frozen (delightful). 1 month was a little long but better than the 1 weekend visit we did for Boo's 1st birthday later in the year which was entirely too busy, too short and too tiring.

2015 and finally we make it to our most recent trip, a perfectly length well planned week long visit in which plenty of time was spent with Nanna, all family was seen at least once for most twice and hubby and I managed once again to leave Boo with Nanna and abscond for a date at Coco's before watching that romantic film 'The Imitation Game' at the Roxy. The film was excellent if not exactly the classic choice for a valentines date :)

As occurs on all our NZ visits Whittaker's Chocolate, RJ's liquorice and other NZ specific treats were purchased. Having learnt from our 2012/2013  trip we avoided purchasing L&P and TipTop ice cream because while both are extraordinarily delicious over consumption can occur in epic proportions because hubby and I are children with credit cards on occasion, my aunt also participated in our over consumption. 

We also made sure to consume another NZ peculiarity we wish we got here by ordering Kumara chips (sweet potato chips) when we had Fush and Chups :p

Overall the visit was a delight as has the entire month of February been. In summary I have become slimmer and thus more pregnant looking. Hubby has greatly enjoyed some much needed family time especially with his mum and our little man.

This is Kiwi

 Boo has started playgroup and taken to it like a duck to water, abandoning Kiwi (his lovey toy) within seconds of first arrival without a backward glance for me or Kiwi. I do adore his fearless, adventurous and independent spirit and was especially proud when on our second visit to playgroup after returning from NZ  he managed himself beautifully throughout the session sitting for singing and story. ( a feat he is yet to repeat) 

 Boo's NZ cousins disputed Kiwi's authenticity as he is not brown but we think he is truly fabulous. Kiwi is  a flamboyantly french interpretation from the toy company Moulin Roty, a gift from Boo's grandma that has quickly become a favourite and ever present companion in Boo's  daily life. 

Bean is growing well, if a little round around the tum (all concerns around possible gestational diabetes have now been allayed) as we approach the close of February we are mere weeks from full term and due dates though I hope he/she is happy to stay where they are till playgroup term concludes in the last week of March :)

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January

Firstly can you believe month 1 of 2015 is over??!

So this month we have had a busy one, once again I think one day I will become accustomed to the idea that all our days will be busy. After our lovely visit to Queenscliff we had a week at home resting. 

During the hot days Boo and I stayed about the house trying to keep cool. During the second week spent many an afternoon on the verandah where I read or listened to the lovely Annabelle Crabbe  or reading a book. Boo was thouroughly entertained and cooled down by a water table, brilliant toy especially once he got the hang of not pouring water through the holes that went on to the verandah. Needless to say a very cool and wet way to spend a day.

Bean and I had a midwife check up and all is going beautifully. Hubby has painted the nursery ceiling and we have assbled the cot. I have also been through and sorted out baby clothes from the stored clothes. I have also cancelled the baby sprinkle as with all the upcoming trips and painting I really won't have time and would much rather spend the time as just the 3 before we become 4. 

I am really excited as one of the things I want to do with my little clan is camp and we have received an invite to a camping birthday on Labour day weekend. ( there are only minor jokes about labour day becoming you know labour day) The best bit is that it is a soft intro for Hubby as it will be glamping in bunk accom with a communal kitchen. I am really excited. 

For the last week of January Boo and I headed back to Queenscliff to stay with my Grandmother while the doors in our house were painted. We had a lovely visit though once again not quite warm enough for a swim. Grandma has declared boo a delightful boy who is welcome back any time. 

I hope you are all well and would love to know what were the highlights for you this January? 

Regards Andii 

A new Question

As someone who constantly self evaluates, I often find that in itself  leads to fairly self critical reflection. 

So I wanted to share a new question. I have decided to ask myself if I am proud of who I am? 

This allows that I may slip up or have less than ideal moments but that as a whole I am proud of who I am and what I do. 

I am proud of the way I care for and interact with Boo. I am proud of my home and the way I care for it, of my appearance and taking care about that. I am proud of my role as a wife and mother and that I am always striving to improve.

This week I am concentrating on putting my knife and fork down between mouthfuls and having a glass of water with all meals.

December in review and happy new year

 Hello All!

Baby brain and I are back after a small hiatus to celebrate Christmas, New Year and visit family (Beach Holiday YAY!) Realistically it has only been three weeks but man it feels like longer so  big post today. Soooo because I deal better with plans here is everything in order.

December in Review

Boo is happily careening around, falling and getting up and is totally on board with walking holding your hand which is fantastic. Bean is growing well and I am keeping my size under control so all going well there, currently discussing plans for a small sprinkle for baby number 2 (Bean) which hopefully really low key as we still have everything from Boo. 

Christmas Day

Having begun the day with the traditional stockings, presents and breakfast at my parents. We gave Boo a beautiful Glockenspiel by Choroi which I bought from my mum's business Mercurius Australia (the link goes to the Auris version which is an octave higher). It is fantastic as he can hit any combination of notes and because the scale is pentatonic it never jars your ears or has any off notes. (I am mentioning this by my own choice as I love the company and their products) Darling hubby also bought me a surpriser gift of a picnic basket with real crockery and glasses something I have always wanted.

Can't wait to use it.

I also received a house warming/Christmas gift from my parents that is just amazing as my dad made the board and mum sourced the hooks, plus as you can see we use it

Such a beautiful thing, sorry about the lighting it is night

a close up of the hooks 

Well I got to host my first ever Christmas lunch, and my first Christmas in our house. Lunch went off without a hitch which was nice especially since it was my family (3) plus my mum and dad so nice and small. I served a haloumi, cherry tomato and basil skewer as entree (it seemed appropriately festive in colour). Followed by a main of Roasted Duck breast with a cherry & brandy sauce and accompanying salad of asparagus, zucchini and pistachio, again it seemed festive plus I adore cherries.

 Mains were followed by a white chocolate, nougat and vanilla Ice Cream Pudding topped with raspberry sorbet. Yummm! I also baked fruit mince tarts doing all components from scratch as i know they are one of my dads seasonal favourites.  Tarts recipe was from this Coles recipe and fruit mince was based on this recipe

I substituted dried sour cherries for raisins in my fruit mince and topped with raspberry coulis, so even mum was a fan

Boxing Day - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

On Boxing day morning we had a lovely breakfast of homemade cooked at the table waffles with fruits, cream and Ice Cream at my darling friend Phoebe's house, a perfect start to the day. we then drove the 2 hours to Queenscliff  which Boo kindly slept through so impressive effort Boo. We then had a casual lunch at Grandma's house followed by the more formal seated dinner which this year required a table for 34 which Grandma achieved. I am always impressed at how many we can seat, and how smoothly it goes. I feel blessed to be with a family where we do all get together, celebrate and enjoy each others company throughout the year but Christmas is certainly the highlight. MY homemade gifts went down a treat and even my Grandma was excited about her foot scrub, I know this as she thought she had lost it and was seriously disappointed, it was found again so all good now.

A happy snap of about 3/4 of the table. Photo by Jes

8 of the 9 dogs who were there ours is the lovely black one near the centre,
they like the family got on well all day too. Photo by Jes

We then spent a lovely week doing a variety of family gatherings and outings, sadly it was a little cool for the beach overall but we did take Boo in for a quick dip. He was fine until he was on the dry sand which he hates for some reason so we will work on that. Hubby, Boo and I headed home a day early after a wonderful New Years eve at my Aunty's as while we had a fabulous time we were also exhausted. I felt greatly complimented to hear from my Grandmother, via my mum, that she is amazed and proud of little Boo and what a delight he is which certainly made me feel proud of him and our little family. He certainly had a ball with all the people constantly about and my cousins who were all totally taken with him. (I am the oldest cousin the youngest being 3 years, he is slightly less impressed with Boo than the rest)

Finally to the .....

New Year 2015

So in true Melbourne style after a milder Christmas we have started our New Year with about 5 days of 35C or above, not fun if you are pregnant, or small like boo, or generally adverse to being hot all the time, but oh well lots of sleep and rest was had with multiple cool baths to play in for Boo. So as a constant planner and Domestic Goddess in the making I love any excuse to make a plan, set goals or generally assess and improve oneself. so here are my 2015 Goals some of which are refining current practices such as being present at meals and others are stretching myself such as my habit goals. Overall my focus is on creating quality experiences and uses of my time and focusing on my personal well being and being present with my family. So apart from welcoming Bean to our little clan here are my... 

2015 Goals

Nutrition

This year in Nutrition I will record my food, focus on whole foods (grows in or on the ground etc.)  and drink a glass of water with all meals. This will increase my hydration levels and my accountability about what I eat, i have a friend who is doing this too so that is helping with the accountability too.

Sleep

No Technology in the bedroom, that is no phones, laptops etc. bedrooms are for S's sleep, snuggling and Stories (I had to get reading in there) . I bought darling hubby a wood look alarm clock for Christmas to allow him to leave his phone outside the room and 

keep our space calm and natural looking. I am also a chronic offender of phone browsing and list making before I sleep. This is actually a re-establishing of an older rule we have but have fallen out of living in really small spaces prior to this move. 

Health & Fitness

Create Habits and a Lifestyle that supports me re-establishing and maintaining a healthy weight. I am feeling pretty proud as I have already got a jump on this by managing my nutrtion and fitness through my pregnancy with goal of minimising my weight gain throughout and then having a plan in place for postpartum health and exercise.

Run 5km 2-3 times a week. I used to be someone who ran regularly then through surgery, moving from  school to uni and life generally getting 'busy' (great excuse hey) I fell out of the habit so I am getting a jump on this by walking carrying Boo, and strength training until Bean is born and I am given the all clear to get running. I seriously miss the routine, fresh air and habit of regular running (I was never fast but it makes me happy).

Ways of Being

Sit for all meals  whenever I eat and be present without distractions i.e. phones etc. This means no on the go snacking, no standing in the kitchen nibbling and no car eating. This is a Madame Chic habit that I find does wonders for increasing your enjoyment of meals as well as your experience of satiety. Cinema going will be a challenge for me.

I also want to practice being present with Boo and (when he or she arrives) Bean so am working on only answering calls and text and doing all web browsing blogging etc. while they sleep.

Habits

I am taking the year of my 2 biggest time sucks which are Facebook and Candy Crush a real challenge for me but highly refreshing as a goal as these two are also things I unconsciously find myself doing when i have picked up my phone to do something else.

I am also taking 5 minutes first thing to just breath, have a glass of water etc. before I start my day or open my phone.

Household

Concentrate on saving whenever I shop by always taking a detailed list (I love my shopping list I can be in and out of the supermarket in under 45mins for a weekly shop). I am also taking on asking the question do I need this if I am going off plan and generally researching purchases before I make them to ensure best price and product.

Habitual cleaning which will be working with and adjusting my cleaning schedule so it works for our household. as a quick update this is so far going well and I am loving how easy it is to stay on top of keeping everything clean, especially my beautiful shiny oven.

So there it is the end of 2014 and the plan for 2015, I would love to know others goals and plans and hope i havent bored you but it really helps with my accountability to have it all written down.

Write again soon Andii

Home care and cleaning

I finally  got around to both creating and starting a cleaning schedule. I have always kept a tidy house with things that live in particular places and a weekly vacuum, regular mop and generally clear kitchen benches when I go to bed but this has been a revelation so here is how it is going.

A Panorama of my beautifully clean kitchen

Firstly creating the schedule, using At Home with Madame Chic (treat yourself to either or both of Jennifer's books they are fabulous) and a quick Google search of Cleaning Schedule pictures and I was able to workout what I needed to do and break it down over the course of a week. Here is the finished product:

Hand drawn as the printer was out of ink

You will note Laundry appears a lot this is because I use cloth nappies so I wash everyday. This week as it is massive I am doing everything but generally hubby does bathrooms and Vacuums and I do mopping and everywhere else :)

Super powered elbow.

So we are still 2 days from the the end of the week but here is what I have found so far.

Everything has taken me longer than anticipated. I spent all of yesterday cleaning the kitchen starting with the oven. (It is pyrolitic so it cleaned itself, I just had to clean 8mths of buildup off the glass, plus cleaning all the racks, I got distracted last time I attempted this) thankfully darling hubby did come in with super powered elbows and save me at least 2 more hours of scrubbing.

I happily get carried away. I know that the task is clean the kitchen so while on a more standard day this's oils be a wipe of cabinet fronts and benches plus I good clean of stove and sink this time being the first I took everything out of the pantry, readjusted shelving (this took 30 minutes as my pantry was not completed well by the cabinet maker, the only hiccup in our build, but we got there again hubby came in handy) and rearranged all my containers and food stuffs. So by the time I went to bed, at midnight, everything was sparkling and fit for the queen (I had to vacuum/mop kitchen floors this morning as we have ducted vacuuming so can't use it after 9pm) it was a highly satisfactory day.

I know when a job is going to be done so it is easier to leave other tasks and focus on the task at hand. Such as while cleaning the kitchen I got rags and noticed the laundry needed a clean but knew that was tomorrow's task so was able to leave it. I got it cleaned and re-organised in an hour and a half, it is much smaller than the kitchen, in fact it lives in a large cupboard, one of my favourite features . The box on the bench is all my homemade Christmas gifts packed and ready to go.

Now you see it

Now you don't

My house has never been cleaner everything looks shiny and new especially my oven (can you tell how thrilled I am) as we moved in when Boo was around 7months old having lived underneath while the build was happening. We were so keen to move in that we didn't give it a final clean after the builders finished just cleaned as we went meaning there have been a few dusty residues I have discovered.

I love reorganising I already knew I loved this but there is a whole new joy in facing individual spaces at a time, such as seeing a way I could improve my pantry while I was cleaning. Which is awesome. 

Lastly some pics of the pristine kitchen. Unfortunately I didn't do before pictures as I hadn't realised how into it I would get. So you will just have to trust me when I say the oven particularly was filthy :D

On beautifully clean oven, yay for pyrolitic cleaning and the wikihow on cleaning oven glass. 

Below is my pantry/appliance cupboard closed and open, inside I have all my cup & spoon measures up and available with an awesome conversion chart, as well as attachments for my mixer. this was one feature that i had been dying to put up so was in a month after we moved in. The top shelf is now higher meaning i can stack containers in the middle shelf, it was worth moving.

The Cabinets for the fridge are the next thing I want to build just have to save my pennies

Thanks for reading have a great day and I hope you are leaving inspired.
Andii

Gifts for a crowd

So how do you manage gifts for an extended family of 30+ and friends on top of that, while on a single income.

The answer is with plenty of planning, research, confidence and handmade love. Oh and time.

Each year I bake for my family always trying a new recipe or two. However this year inline with my own health consciousness I am altering that slightly. I will still bake my traditional reindeer with green and red noses for the kids. This year as I am giving gifts to little ones I made it possible to hang them on a  tree incase people didn't want their child to have biscuits.

For the ladies I have made an Energising sugar based foot scrub using grapefruit, bergamot and peppermint essential oils. Thanks to this lovely recipe for an Easy Sugar Scrub. I made a bulk scented base oil then measured and mixed each jar individually. I used 10mL Bergamot and Grapefruit to 5mL peppermint for 1L of oil.

. The foot scrub smells divine

For the gentleman I have made sweet and spicy nuts, using this BBC Good Food recipe. I only added 1Tbsp of honey as I found that sweet enough and saved me an additional step. I chose this recipe as it contained the fewest ingredients with no egg or other ingredients I would be concerned about storage wise.

Gifts when I ran out of jars for nuts. For those who are not Dad's I named their
 labels i.e. AJ's Sweet & Spicy Nuts

To ensure the gifts feel special I always make an effort to package them nicely. To achieve this I generally purchase cellophane bags from my local party supply store. However this year I purchased jars from a lovely company called just jars. My package was delayed due to the postage provided but was promptly chased up and delivered when I brought this to their attention. I also purchased Christmas cord at spotlight, twine at my party supply store and made ceramic tags in pottery to dress the gifts.

A new thing I did this year was create and print product labels using Avery labels which I got from

Officeworks. I found the online software easy to use and the end product looks really great. If purchasing labels head to the business label section as they are better value. I bought 180 labels for $16 where as the exact same labels in a differently presented packet containing 90 was $15.

Labels I used i have 8 sheets of labels left to use
another time.

So the moment of truth lets do the cost calculations. I have omitted cellophane bags and twine as both are bul purchases of 100bags for $12 and 10metres of twine for $10 meaning what I used this year is negligible.

So excusing my awful writing here is the break down.

So in summary, the girls gift was $6.79 per person. Gentleman work out as $4 per person ( slightly cheaper as I used bags for friends as I only had enough jars for family.) and kids work out as 60cents each. Meaning in total for gifts for 47 people I have spent $175.96 avergae of $3.74 per person. Definitely the most frugal way of going.

Have a Merry Christmas and I hope you find some inspiration for your own homemade gifts. My thoughts are with those in Sydney who are experiencing a hostage situation, hopes for a resolution with no injuries or fatalities.

 Andii

All opinions expressed are my own, about my own property and are not sponsored in anyway links are not sponsored but are provided for your convenience.