First garden bed in.. veges on their way!!

The first garden bed was finished on the weekend. A mighty job by Aaron and the boys. Slowly making the new house feel like our own.

Looking good. Paving for the path started on the lefthand side.

The reality of the mess!!

This is what it looked like just as we started to remove beds that for some reason were plonked in the middle of the lawn. Weird.

Gingerbread castles

We are very blessed to have some amazing friends who are happy to let us use their farm to camp on, their company to tramp with, and their daughter to boy sit in the holidays.

School holidays and it was a boy sitter day. But the boys and Arial spent the entire day at her Mum's house making the most amazing gingerbread concoctions. 

When I went to pick the boys up after work their day had been a blast. A delicious gingerbread recipe and real chocolate melted to hold it all together. Do you see the Roman Chariot in the front of the photo. Lovely Tracey had not only had our boys around but lots of other teenagers too. The creations were amazing. 

Then the next week they spent the whole day out tramping with them all!! 

Making a homework station

We are slowly settling into our new house. The last box was unpacked in the weekend. Now I am starting to look at how the house is organised.

We had a lovely piece of Rimu which had been taken out of a house being renovated. Then I bought two old pot plant stands which (for some odd reason) had the top pieces taken off. I found them at our local second hand barn. Haggled a great price as they were in the corner covered in dust.

Aaron was dubious about my plan so I set it up to show him how wonderful it would be.

A few days later the skillsaw came out and the wood was cut to the correct size - Yes in the middle of the dining room just after I had vacuumed - need I say anymore?

Then instead of using dowel etc I used heaps of L brackets to screw the legs onto the Rimu shelf.

 And voila we have a very handy homework station. Still a bit of work to do to get it how I want it exactly. But in working order with a laptop, monitor and keyboard as well as all the essential pens, rulers etc.

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Not snowing yet

We are told too expect snow. The boys are all settled and ready for it!!

Turning bottles into glasses

So it is school holidays and the boys are older. Now we can try some of the more dangerous activities.

Get some beer and wine bottles and try a bit of upcycling or recycling. I remembered doing this when I was a child. First we tied string which had been dipped in methylated spirits around the bottles and set it alight. Once it burnt then the bottle went under cold water. It definitely broke but it was very jagged and will take a lot of grinding.
So then we did a bit of research. Green science were great. A good explanation and Utube video and we started again. Using a glass cutter we scratched around the bottle and then poured boiling water onto the scratch only. Then under the cold tap and the crack would appear. Then one more time and boof - off comes the top of the bottle. A much smoother cut and easier to grind down.

This was all completed over a couple of days as we had to walk the dogs into town to get a glass cutter, do research, try and try again.

Great fun
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On the needles at the moment

Yes, I have started yet another project. I love knitting but the boys don't wear home knitted things now that there is merino available. Aaron had too many jerseys and I don't need any more. But I had over 1kg of my mother's home spun wool and it is light and lovely. I ransacked the local library for more Biden knitting books and find a very funky pattern.

So on my needles are two stands of wool at the same time imported on 8mm chunky needles. A textured shrug. An really enjoying sitting in front of the fire knitting in the evenings.

From Farmers Market to my plate

We went to the Riccarton House Market on Saturday morning after doing a lovely walk or run or scooter or skateboard (depending on who in our family you are!) around Hagley Park.

Oh the amazing new juice we found. Organic apple and lime made locally. 1 litre for the price of a cup of coffee. Heaven.

From these gorgeous ingredients we made dinner fit for those who are into food miles and organics and mid winter vitamin C shots. Bake Potatoes in a super hot oven until crispy outside and soft in the middle then add your toppings as you desire. Hugh "fearlessly eats it all" eat your heart out!!

This Is my favourite possie

Full of the most hideous cold I have had in a long time. Had to take days of work. Sofa bed, feather quilt, friendly dog, coffee and fire.
Wow could not have done this week without the fire or coffee! Both make me feel better!

Thankful for an abundance of lemons

At our new house we have two citrus. One had only just been identified as a Kaffir lime, taller than me, when the first frost -6 deg C hit it and it has just kept dying ever since. But the other - the lemon tree - is doing stunningly well and we have masses of fruit that make you feel healthier just looking at them.
Well I have needed that health. I have been struck by a gale force cold. It came on fast and it hit hard. I should be under the bulldozer by now. I even had to have some days off work.

Divinely restorative Lemon ginger hot drink.
Three of those lemons, a thumb of chopped fresh ginger and some honey from the hives of our friends. Added four cups of water and muddled it all with a wooden spoon. Oh the heavenly aroma (if I could smell!!), but boy I can taste. The pungent heat of the ginger cuts through my cold and I sit in front of the fire (Yes finally permitted) and sip this restorative drink.

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Mad Hair Day - "I never want to be a girl"

For Mad Hair Day at School the boys wanted hair colour and lots of tufts all over. Jakob got 11 tuft but Eli screamed the whole time. "It hurts", "I can't move my face with all the bands pulling tight" etc etc..... 

They decided that being a girl was  horrific and went to school asking all their friends how do they manage to put their hair up every day. It was a whole new outlook for them.

The day was organised by a few girls in Eli's class. Having gone through some pretty horrific experiences in our Christchurch earthquakes, the Nepalese earthquake being 8.something just resonated with everyone. We understand. The girls wanted to do something so the principal approved a mad hair day with gold coin going to Nepal. Well done to a bunch of 9 year old girls and yet again proving why we chose to put our boys into the school. 

Whipping up some Merino Kids trousers

My brother in law and all the family came over on Saturday. After a bit of discussion about how difficult it was to find trousers that fit wee Alex, I decided to jump on the sewing machine.

Only 15 minutes later he had a new pair of Merino trousers. Get an adults jersey - this was a old fashioned cardigan. Cut the arms into leg patter shape at the top. Do not cut down any other seams and make sure the cut leaves enough leg that it becomes the hemmed bottom of the trousers.

Cut a waistband and sew it on with the appropriate length of elastic. Voila. A very happy three year old.
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A couple of glimpses from Rarotonga

A very small glimpse of Rarotonga. Lots of beach dining, cocktails over looking the water and snorkelling. Did a lovely 4km walk up the beach at dusk to one of the best dining experiences we had. The Castaway at Wilsons Bar. Very unexpected to have such consistently good food from the tiny unassuming place.

Back Friday night and then on Saturday we went sledding in the snow!! What a temp shock 26 deg in the tropics to -2 deg in the snow.

Moro bar slice

Moro bars were only $1 at the supermarket so I thought I would try the craze of a few years ago. Bringing the good old honey crackle (rice bubble slice) up to modern times and make it with a Moro bar. I melted two and put them into two cups of rice bubbles. Wow it set quick but was not enough liquid to set it all so had to add 30g melted butter.

I was given a recipe a while ago but have lost it and it must be better than this. I mean this was amazingly yummy but did not make anywhere near enough for the fact that I use that many Moro bars.

So am asking for help. Who knows of a recipe? I wondered maybe if Pru from Crafty Cake Creative might know?

Your help please.

A Unique way to cook breakfast

On the hot tub fire!!!

Winter has set in and we are still without a fire in the house, thanks to the useless council who have so far taken 6 weeks to process a resource consent to replace an existing fire with a new eco emission fire. I mean how hard is that? 10 minutes work? Grrrrr

So the hot tub was lit last night and I wanted it fast so I really cranked it up. Which meant it stayed quite warm overnight and just needed the quickest of fires this morning.

We had often talked of cooking over the fire as it gets hot. Last night we roasted marshmellows while sitting in the tub. Mind kept falling into the fire as they melted quickly. This morning we tried a flatplate from the BBQ and hash browns.

Upcycling - Gorgeous 100% Cotton Duvet Cover

 Eli has a new bed (our old Queen bed) and I found a feather duvet at a Thrift Shop for just $10. It is a good brand but looked yucky and I knew it would wash up well. The duvet is just a king single so sits nicely on top of the bed.
Then there was the problem of a duvet cover. So I rummaged through my stuff and found two 100% cotton single sheets. With a bit of trimming in length these were perfect. Sewn together and then domes put on. I like a crisp finish to things so I completed the edges as French seams.

One of the sheets was $4 from a Thrift Shop and one was given to me by my sister. An old (1950's) sheet set that had never been opened. So gorgeous feather duvet and cotton cover for just $14.


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Hmm - family photos

So the Parents-in-law are taking photos of the family to take back to show all the relatives when they visit Holland in July. Hmm our picture taking is not so good but at least the picture in front of the computer is pretty accurate. I would say that was the hottest seat in the house.

A new sport in our house

The boys have been on at me for over a year to learn how to be a trampolinist. Trampoline classes are probably the most expensive sport there is where we live. Not only has the cost put me off but the travel too. Now we have moved we live only 500m from the trampoline centre. So this term they finally started lessons. Three weeks later and they both earned their first certificate. Eli also did his second certificate (blue) but they did not have spare ones to fill out so he will get it in a couple of week.

They already can do complete flips and land on their feet. I am hoping that it may mean the end of Eli cracking his head open as he learns to control what he does on a trampoline.

They insisted on goofy photos too.