Preparing for Summer

Organising Craft items into boxes and up out of the way in my wardrobe.

 Hope having the craft items out of the way will help not have the children make a mess anytime. But have to ask if they can. Helps me to know when there is going to be a craft mess then have a surprise mess on the floor. The colourful boxes are the kids boxes for school reports, certificates etc.

Vac packing the winter sheets away.

 Now is the time to get summer sheets on the beds. I vac pack the winter sheets and blankets as I find they store better and save on space. Have also been making sure I have one bag to go to clothing bin or rubbish bin each day. When the bag is full out it goes. Feel like making progress with having the house more clean and organised for the coming Summer Holidays.

Had to share my little $3 find. Have it over my veggie garden. As the veggies are a blessing to us.

See how well they are growing. With some more to plant out soon. Will be moving the chicken run one more time on this veggie garden. Then they will go to our other raised garden bed, and prepare that for more plants.

 Our dear neighbour gave us lots of tomato plants I have a couple in big pots, and some waiting to go into the rest of our veggie garden. Looking at the price of tomatoes, I'm so thankful for growing our own. Same with courgettes, we can't afford to buy them in the shops.

Look how well my green courgette plant is growing. I grew this one from seed. See how big the leaves are. This one leaf is 38cm across. Some of the courgettes are going to be ready soon to pick. Can't wait :)

Better go and get another load on in the washing machine :)

Too Many Clothes

Thought it was about time to got through DD11 clothes. She has just turned 11 year old, and it's  good time to declutter. Boy was I in for a shock.

This is just a small pile of my daughters clothes.

Her drawers were packed with clothes, as well as her washing bag. And I also found more in her wardrobe. Since last years declutter my daughter clothes have multiplied. Maybe they have bred in those drawers. So the decluttering begins. With empty drawers, and a black bag for the clothing bin, the sorting began. Some were easy to sort, some needed to be washed first, and some needed my daughters opinion. But by the afternoon I have almost filled a bag ready for the clothing bin.
How freeing it is.
Now DD11 has more space in her room again.
Another thing that I'm happy about, we don't need to buy her any clothes.

Office and Garden

More like an office now.

The office is becoming a more useful space, and more peaceful. Have a light coming to make the place brighter. Also need to work on the door so have a handle on the other side and even better would be to put a lock on. The seat is very comfortable, but I can't spend all day in  there. We had a moment of fine weather and moved the chicken coop along to the 3 stage of the vegetable garden.

1st stage garden growing well, 2nd stage has soil ready for planting seedlings

Chickens are enjoying some free range time in our garden as we prepare their coop for them. We are pretty happy with how the plants are growing in our veggie garden. Will be having radish's soon and lettuce. Yay salad time :) bring on some more good weather.

Mum's Office

With the wild Spring weather we have been having, gardening was not an option. So our home became my focus and getting that cleaned up and organised. So got to work on my office space.
I need an area for me, and the dinning table is not ideal.
So.....

Here was our junk closet, a large space under our stairway.

Took everything out, and gave the place a quick clean.

Moved a writing desk in. This desk has been in my bedroom, taking space. It wasn't in a good spot and didn't know where else to put it.

This desk was my dear Nan Nan's desk. She left to me after she died, because of the memories we had together with it. Visits to Nan Nan's house and the treasures in this desk she would share with me.

That's all I have done so far, since I want to give careful thought as to what else will go in. I would like to get a small office chair on wheels. I have a pin board, but need a few more pins. I will have my cards kept in here, and stationary. I have a little basket for my bin. I don't want to be buying things for this little office, but reusing what we have.
I will share more photos after I get some more done.

My Camera Is Broken, and My Garden is Blooming

Would love to share the happenings of my garden. Even though it is cold and wet, so much has been growing. Our mandarins are still coming, sweet with a few seeds. Our garlic is planted :) We have more herbs in pots like Lemon Balm, Parsley and Coriander. More fruit plants like Crab apple tree, Tamarilo, and Blueberry. We have Pak Choy growing, can't wait to use for our stirfry dinners. Pea plants are away, climbing up their framing. We will be able to use our colourful Swiss Chard soon.

I made a windfall fruit juice, after a stormy day knocked fruit off the trees. Added some honey and sugar with the juice and water. It has been a good pick me up drink. Also made a Waste Not Want Not Soup, with leftover veggies from other dinners. With some garlic, and rosemary YUM! Have also been making cupcakes for Birthdays, and a batch of mini cupcakes for DS12 shared lunch today.

Now the next challege is to stay out of the shops during School Holidays. The temptation to have takeaways, and ready-made snacks is so much stronger in Winter School Holiday time (well for our family). But not this time! Firstly it's time for a clean up, and declutter. The problem with a little home and 4 children is how easy it is to fill with stuff. It's felt more overwelming lately due to not been able to go outside as often.

OUR PLAN OF ATTACK!

• This coming week my DH is also home for a week long holiday, so this is going to be a TOTAL family working bee.
• We will be doing a room a day, till it is all done. There are 7 rooms in the house, we have 9 days. But with 2 of those days being Sunday - Day of Rest, means we will have 7 days to do 7 rooms.
• Motavtion is we work in the morning together, so we can have the afternoon or evening to do something fun. Ideas are MOTAT, Libaray, Park, Family Games Night, Visit Grandparents, Op shops, and Friends.
• We will be declutting items we don't need. By giving them to those who can use them, clothing bins, or selling online.
• We will have some homemade snacks ready, baking, sandwiches, popcorn etc.

Hopefully with the home clean and sorted we can all enjoy our home again :)

Catching up on Cleaning

Arrrrrr! what a mess, but with a bit of time and effort

Ahhhh! much better and ready for when the kids come home.

Dinner tonight is Steak with mushroom sauce, sweetcorn and broccoli. I was able to pick up 5 steak pieces for $6.38. DS7 has aspergers and wouldn't eat the steak, but will eat sausages.

Monday - Washing Day

Love my washing machine.

But no so happy with my clothes line. Mainly because it needs a tidy up around it. That wood is from the old deck, some of it we hope to reuse. The grass needs to be cut and I'm sure it is covering some of the concrete under the washing line.

The biggest job near the washing line is the fence. we have 2 types by the washing line and one of them take a bit of our land, and is mostly covered with jasmine. It's on the one day list to put one type of fence in place and recover some of our land and have less jasmine to prune. But for now I don't use most of this washing line, as I should.
Today I need to catch up on washing, and bed making. With lots to catch up on (thanks dear children for cleaning your rooms), I better get started. But first today's dinner.

Something fast and easy for today, pasta with corned beef, carrots and courgettes. Will grate some extra cheese on top, and serve with silver beet.