Stuff

The last thing I want is for this blog to turn into a mummy blog of every minuscule detail of the bubba-doo’s movements... problem is they are kind of all consuming little creatures! So here is a list of things I have done in the last 6 weeks that don’t involve little people and/or domestic chores!

• Read the following books; Cinematherapy: the girls guide to movies for every mood, Me Cheeta, The crowning glory of Calla Lily Poynter, Why men want sex and women need love, it’s my party and i’ll knit if I want to, Our Girls, The autobiography of a fat bride: true tales of a pretend adulthood, the Australian guide to self sufficiency, The lost art of sleep, Veggie patch, Lighten up: 365 ways to lose weight and feel great, Loaded (re-read), Kidwrangling, Weekend knitting, You'd better not cry.

• Started Christmas shopping (coz I’m a girly swat!) which is consisting of approx. 95% books.

• Finished knitting the handle of my super-cool shopping jeep and started the inside lining... just need access to a sewing machine! Knitted two rows of my Cardi that I started about a year ago.

• Got this super cool bag as an early Xmas present from my brother.

• Cleaned out my cupboards/drawers but only actually threw out 2 items of clothing!

• Been to the Doctor, Dentist and had some long overdue waxing attended to!

• Been to my favourite cafe twice.

• Made it into the library three times.

• Watched lots of DVD’s including; Bruno, Dark Knight, several Laverne and Shirleys, Gonzo: the life and work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, Annie Lebovitz: Life through a Lens, A lion called Christian, Head On (after re-reading Loaded), LA Ink season 4, Dogs in Space special features disc (where you can hear me ask a question in the popcorn taxi interview bit), Howard Sterns Private Parts, Bucket List, Secret diary of a call girl season 2, Juno (again).

• (Tried to) go for a walk (almost) every day.

• Got rejected for a scholarship.

• Found out I have my first trans-gendered friend and didn’t even know it!

• (Re) planted my veggie patch.

• Had the Flu.

• Had my email account hacked and spammed.

• Discovered Parma Violet lollies in the Gifts from home store.

• Got up to F on my ipod by playing it in song title order.

More chooks...

Meet chook #2 AKA Soup, AKA Brown One... Sorry i've been a bit slack, we've had her about 3 weeks now and she's lovely (unlike Ms. Roast who is still not very friendly). She lets you pat her and pick her up, comes running when she see's you coming and checks out what you are doing through the kitchen window. We are also starting to get some eggs (not sure which one is the producer as yet) so given that they are starting to make themselves useful I am thinking of re-naming them scrambled and poached!

Trouble in the henhouse... AKA You stupid #%@*^$! chook!

What a calamity has befooted our backyard this weekend! We have had our chook (named Cookie by my daughter who cannot yet say her CH's) a week now and felt, perhaps she was suitably comfortable enough to let her have a bit of a roam in the garden, stretch her bits and all that, which was all fine and dandy until we tried to put her away!

My partner was having a lovely old time watching me chase her around the garden, trying chook psychology and good old bribing! eventually he came out to help corner her which just made her head up. Onto the roof of the shed. Our shed which adjoins the neighbours house roof. So up the ladder he goes to chase her down, instead she flys into the only tree in our backyard and nothing was going to get her down from there!!! (and believe me we tried!)

10pm last night when we got home from dinner, still in the tree. Figured she was safe enough there and there's not much we can do about it.

Got up this morning for chook search and rescue. No sign, not dead or alive. I hunted around her hiding spots from the day before, still no sign. looked over the neighbours fence and what do I see... a confused chookie, looking back at me. There was no sign of anyone awake at the neighbours house and I don't know them well enough to go getting anyone out of bed. And me, home alone. So here I am, in my jammies, overcoat and the boys workboots, sneaking around the neighbours driveway area (probably looking incredibly suspicious) chook chasing. seems the chook is not as dumb as we had been assuming, could not be cornered or tricked into a box, even with the bribe of food.

So chasing it was, eventually into our (unfenced) front yard, up a tree (again) and me, who, despite growing up in the country wouldn't really have any clue about catching chooks trying to coax it down before it ends up back on the roof. I was eventually able to pull the branches down far enough to grab miss Cookie, which was straight back into the henhouse for her, and no stretching her bits for a very long time!!!

I have renamed her Roast.

We have two more chooks ariving (maybe) today which I have named Soup and Korma.

Anyone want to come over for dinner?

New addition to the family...

Eggplants!!!

I thought the veggie garden was pretty much dead and buried, I have totally neglected it since most of it died off during February's heatwave. I ripped up some of the Zucchini plants which had totally taken over the other day and look what I noticed the other day, my Eggplant plants must have finally been able to flourish!

This means I will have gotten to eat 2 Tomatoes, 1 Zucchini, a (small) handful of beans, 3 potatoes and hopefully now some Eggplants from my experimental Veggie garden.

I tell you what, it's all gonna happen this spring, now that I actually have some idea of what I'm doing!! Its all part of the plan to become a self sufficient hippie! Next stop... Chooks!

Scratching at the surface...

The other book I have just finished was Jenna Wogiarich(of Cold Antler Farm fame)'s Made from scratch: discovering the pleasure of a handmade life. I loved it, it's such a gorgeous little book. It made me very jealous! she's living this wonderful simple life at home, contrasting that with being a 9-5er. Most of the practical info was not really relevant to me as it was very U.S. based, but the stories were lovely. It was kind of weird reading about going sledding with her snow dogs when it's supposed to get up to 43 degrees here for the second day in a row!!! (the poor veggies are not coping!) And I don't think there is a risk of a bear getting into the Beehive if we ever have one! I want to move back to the country and be a hippy with some chooks and a cow, and the older I get, the more appealing it is. In fact I would go and do it now If I didn't love my job so much!!! Curse being happy at work!

Veggie garden update...

We got to eat the first tomato from the veggie garden the other night, it was quite palatable... and I don't even like tomato's!

Check out those zucchini flowers!

Not bad considering we didn't think anything would grow in our crappy soil and I only put a few things in as an experiment!!

G is for...

Gardening!

Not something that I have ever really done a lot of before, and certainly never successfully. But something I have always wanted to do, and when we bought our house this year could finally, was have a veggie garden. I am loving it! I am finding it immensely satisfying as I can see the fruits - literally!- of my labour...

Check out these Roma's!

This in the industry is called a Beanstalk!

I am even trying to propagate some of my own Cacti for my front garden!!!