Lazy Days at Home

Time here has slowed almost to a stand still.

This week has been pretty much a week spent at home. There has been the occasional local outing and play date for Rhianna but otherwise it's just been doing stuff around the house.

Today Rhianna had a friend over to play and I realised I had almost nothing in the house for morning or afternoon tea.

I quickly whipped up this chocolate brownie from a recipe I found on Melissa Godsells Day to Day blog.

So easy and most of all yummy.

Yesterday we got stuck into some store bought craft projects. What I love about these projects is that I can leave Rhianna to complete them on her own while I get on with other things - mostly housework.

Rhianna has been begging me for pocket money this week so I have assigned her a list of jobs to do around the house.

Yesterday she cleaned the bath and vanity and swept the front drive of leaves.

As it was such lovely cool weather we also took Finn out for a walk.

Rhianna loves to hold him on his lead especially as we pass the house of her latest love interest.

This week Rhianna tells me she is going to marry Jedd.

Boy, I hope not. I can't imagine having a son in law called Jedd.

We learnt the fine art of tea making later in the afternoon.

Followed by a DVD before dinner.

Wasn't this on at the movies in the last school holidays? I can't believe how quickly movies come out on DVD now. Why would you bother blowing all that money to see these movies on the big screen when you only have to wait a few months and they are $5 at the local DVD store?

Of course, there has been a bit of op shopping now and again. But it seems there are no bargains to be had at the moment.

On the down side, we went to the local pool the other day to swim some laps and when Rhianna got out her chest, arms and back were covered in spots.

We had a trip to the doctors to rule out measles and chicken pox but the Dr said she just had a reaction to something in the pool.

I think we'll just swim in our own pool from now on.

And that's it. Just plain, boring old Christmas school holidays.

We Love the Eastern Suburbs.

Probably because my husband Bill grew up in Paddington and I lived at Randwick for many years, our family loves the eastern suburbs of Sydney. And there is no better time to run amok out there than in Summer when the vibe is great and the scenery to die for.

We headed out there last weekend for no particular purpose - just to take things as they come.

We had an extra passenger this time - my niece, Hayley who is the same age as my daughter Rhianna - very handy.

We headed first to Paddington where we trawled through the Matt Blatt furniture store.

Very retro pieces as you can see and as you can imagine, I was in heaven.

Rhianna and I loved this this egg chair. It was only $1000!!!

We had a quick walk through Paddington markets but have been here plenty of times before so really only stopped for coffee and handmade chocolates.

Then it was across the street to the pub for a toilet break and a drink.

Most pubs look pretty much the same so I didn't take a photo but I thought this was an interesting idea in the the girls loo.

For $2 you can straighten your hair.

Now, I may not get around very much but I have never seen this before and think it's a brilliant idea.

It would also save you $300 on a GHD.

Bill then took us to Redleaf pool at Double Bay. He spent many boyhood days here and was thrilled to be able to bring Rhianna here.

Isn't it picture postcard perfection?

The girls couldn't wait to get in for a swim.

The best bits of this pool are the large platform that surrounds the pool which is great for jumping off and the 2 pontoons in the middle of the pool which are fun to swim out to and pose on.

That's Bill in the middle and the 2 girls off to the left sitting down.

Love, love, love doing this kind of stuff in Summer.

Happy 2012

Boy, are we ever in holiday mode around here.

We usually get up around 9am or sometimes closer to 10. We muck around doing not a lot of anything before eating around 11am. We spend some days kicking around the house and then we go out for an adventure the next day. Today we stayed at home, lazing around.

Rhianna got caught up on some of her favourite blogs and games.

She has a mini "study" set up for the holidays in front of the telly.

Much creative work goes on while Hannah Montana blares out across the room.

God help me....

There has been much discussion about whether we should drink or save these bottles of marketing genius.

We've had a few very heated rounds of this new board game that we got as a family for Christmas. So much fun. I can highly recommend this game.

Rhianna has found some unusual ways to entertain herself including a bucket bath.

No idea why she would do this when she has a perfectly good pool right next to her.

We've spent a lot of time opening new Christmas presents such as this pottery wheel Rhianna received from her brother Broc.

Thanks Broc!!!!!

It was lots of fun to try and produce a pot from the damn thing though.

It wasn't long before we realised we needed to have our hair tied back and some sort of apron on.

Silly Mummy!

Rhianna and I tidied her room, put the new toys away and did a huge declutter. Looks bare now ready for the new year and all the junk that will bring with it.

And lastly a quick trip home to check on my parents, who along with myself, had a horrendous 2011. It was quite an emotional time (for reasons I won't go into here) so I spent a bit of time walking up and down this old childhood beach.

Looking forward to a wonderful 2012. Hope you are too.

Weekend Away in Kiama

Our second weekend away in the new camper. I have to say that practice is making perfect as it took a lot less time to set up and put down the camper this time.

We stayed at the Big 4 at Kiama on Easts Beach. We have stayed here before so we are pretty familiar with the set up and amenities.

As well as being right on the beach, about 20 metres from our van, they also have a pool, tennis courts, playground etc. All very nice.

Rhianna took a little friend with her on this trip which was lovely for her. They had great fun trying out the new boogie board in the surf, making friends at the pool and setting up the hammock.

Umm girls, the idea is be OFF the ground.

Right next to our camper was the best fun the girls had all weekend - 'rockclimbing' on the retaining wall.

Sure, it looks dangerous but when you're stuck in a campervan with two eight year old girls all weekend, your definition of dangerous becomes very liberal.

Here is our little camper all set up and sitting very happily in the 28 degree sunshine.

The caravan park was almost full this weekend. We had a very lovely couple next to us who also had a little girl. She quickly made friends with my two and there was much rockclimbing happiness.

On Sunday, most people packed up and left which was fantastic as we felt we had the place to ourselves and played a few ball games and such on the lawn next to the camper.

In between times, I read magazines (of course)...

....and painted toenails. Just look at those little fat sausage toes will ya!!!!!

Bill took the girls off for a scenic walk around the coastline and onto the rock platforms. They were gone for hours and came back with lots of "treasure" - which I can tell you will be in the bin by Tuesday at the latest!

Sunday afternoon we had a catch up with one of my online friends, Libby from one of my favourite blogs: Life is a Journey not a Destination. She brought her lovely husband Kevin and her 2 girls Amy and Kristy with her.

Unfortunately the weather turned nasty in the afternoon and we didn't get to do too much besides watch the girls in the surf and huddle beneath the awning trying not to get wet.

Monday morning, the girls were very disappointed to be leaving . They dawdled over their breakfast and begged to stay another day. We might have been tempted if the weather was nicer.

But no, we packed up and headed home. All in all a very successful second camping trip.

New Beginning Part 2

A lot has happened in the past 6 months while I have been absent from blogger land. Most of it good, some not so good and some of it tragic. Rather than try and cover all the projects, cooking and events that I was involved with during that time I have decided to maybe just refer to past things as they relate to the here and now. Clear as mud.....alrighty then!

On the home front much has been happening. I am really into the Spring renovation mood at the moment and have decided to fiftify (Look, I just made up a new word) my kitchen a bit more by painting the cabinets.

Luckily my husband allows me these crazy flights of fancy and so off I went with my retro green and antique white paintbrushes.

This, unfortunately is my pantry. Tiny isn't it?

But now looking oh so retro.....

I've started, but not finished the kitchen cabinets.

I have a few health issues with my parents lately and just get done what I can when I can.

I am also onto a new craft project and it's a big one.

I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew here.

I decided to do something with some of my retro fabric stash. I'm going to make a queen sized quilt cover for my bed. Now I've never made one before so it will be a steep learning curve I'm sure.

Today after dropping Rhianna at school I got all my equipment out......

After much cutting, ironing and fluffing about I laid the squares out on my existing quilt cover to see what it was all going to look like. Well, firstly it looks nice which is a relief but I can foresee a lot of sewing coming up.

While I was still feeling a lot of love towards the project I packed it away to do a bit more another day.

We are off on the weekend to sunny Kiama. It's on the south coast of NSW and it's one of our favourite spots.

We recently purchased a camper trailer and this will be it's second outing. The photo below is of our first outing to Narrabeen on the North shore of Sydney where we went to catch up with one of my best friends who has just moved to Mona Vale.

So I shall not be back to blog until Monday at least. I've got a great, cheap and easy Christmas present that I made to share.

Holiday Tea Party

In the relative calm of the school term, I agreed to a holiday tea party for Miss Rhianna.

Staring down the barrel of another half a week of school holidays I have to wonder what the hell I was thinking.

As my place already looks like a fairground there was no decorating to be done just a few nibblies to provide...oh, and around 2 hours of entertainment for some 7 year old girls.

We managed to get the table looking pretty spiffy. I let Rhianna use all the vintage crockery and glasses from the "good" cabinet. I mean, they are there to be used...ummm, right?

Our centrepiece was a bunny egg holder bought at Hot Dollar for $2.

I threw on the grapes at the last minute for all the attending parents who might care about how much junk their child may be consuming today.

The girls get stuck in soon after arrival.

After a couple of sedate games such as whole house hide and seek and musical statues, I was, I mean the kids, were exhausted and wanted some down time on the monkey bars.

Then back inside for colouring in. A nice quiet, not to mention - clean, activity that uses up lots of time.

How silly to think I could hold these creativity geniuses in check!

No!!!!!, before long most of the craft cupboard was out and there was glue, glitter and pom poms as far as the eye could see.

It didn't help that one little girl got her hand stuck in the glitter star jar. When I eventually managed to reef it out, about 200 glitter stars came too.

It did look colourful though and I do so love a bit of colour.

Well, I'm off now for a cup of coffee and a good lie down. I'm sure you don't blame me.