Christmas and the last week

My titles are quite boring aren't they?! It's because I just want to get started writing and I'm too impatient to spend time coming up with something witty.  Nevermind!

So, Christmas was 2 days ago now.  We had a VERY wet day, preceded and followed by wet days! We started with getting Daddy out of bed, which took me, Little Miss, Daddy's sister and her boyfriend.  I bossed, Little Miss tried being cute with her aunty's help, and her boyfriend flew a remote control helicopter around the bed.  I think it was the helicopter that did the trick.  We then passed around presents while Little Miss ate breakfast and started saying 'ta' for the first time.  Daddy and I got some really great presents and Little Miss was absolutely spoilt.  

Waking daddy up

Testing out a present

We then had breakfast with some of Daddy's family which involved more present opening, followed by lunch with some of my family and even more present opening.  We drove through a lot of water that day and I even had to get out and wade through some water over the road and Daddy followed behind me in the car.

The evening was spent with more of Daddy's family and was a great way to end a lovely day.

Little Miss was a bit cranky for her first christmas, but she has 2 new teeth to show for it! Christmas day was the first day Little Miss took more than one step, and since then she has started walking about 10 metres at a time with no help at all.  I'm trying to think what her favourite present was, but I don't think there is a specific one.  She loves her tricycle from her Uncle and her xylophone from mummy and daddy.

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On boxing day we went to one of Daddy's aunty's for lunch.  (She lives about 1km away from our shed!) We popped into the shed to see how it was going and found it almost flooded due to so much build up of fallen leaves and rubbish, so Daddy, his sister and her boyfriend took shovels down and dug a trench.  I'm yet to see this, but they assure me it worked.  

After trench digging

We also have some new doors on the shed, but I don't have photo to share yet.  If the rain ever slows down we will get back out there and I will take some photos.

I hope anyone reading this had a lovely and slightly drier christmas than we did.  My next project (other than the shed) is Little Miss's first birthday party.  Any ideas? (don't forget to consider the rain)

The Move

Well, here we are one week after the move and I am starting to feel something.  For example: I went shopping and wasn't able to buy 3 of the 4 things I needed and my phone supplier doesn't even have a store in the town.  BUT, I am with family, which is what I wanted and it only takes 10 minutes to get anywhere and it's easy to find parks.  It will still take a bit of getting used to, but for now I have lots to keep me occupied.  

The move went smoothly, but it took a looooooooooooong time to get here.  For some reason what should have been a 12 hour drive took 16 hours, so even though we left Brisbane at 7am, we didn't' arrive in Mackay until 11pm.  Daddy's brother stayed with us after our trailer left and helped us clean so he was driving with us.  The plan was that whoever wasn't driving one of the 2 cars would be in the car with Little Miss to entertain her, however, she was an absolute angel all day (from what Daddy and her Uncle tell me; I spent most of the day driving the other car on my own) and played on her own or slept.

There's a baby in there somewhere!

Dinner in Rocky

As I'm writing this I realise I'm skipping bits out and I want to add them in, so it's a little bit random and perhaps not very chronological.  

Something I missed is that Daddy's sister and her boyfriend also came and helped us clean on the last day and stayed the night where they slept on our bare loungeroom floor (for the 4 hours that we actually got to sleep!) 

We spent the last day in our house cleaning, taking loads of rubbish to any bin we could find and packing the cars.  It rained the ENTIRE day and I was so glad the day we packed the trailer was fine.  By the time we had finished packing the cars (11:30pm) the front yard had turned to a horrible mush and we had a lot of wet towels to travel with.  

The next morning we were up at 5 to finish packing, check everything was in order and get some breakfast before leaving.  Daddy's sister and her boyfriend went home when we left to get ready to catch their plane to Mackay where we would be seeing them later that night.  We headed off and had a lovely clear day on the roads with no incidents or obstacles.  The only problem was that one of the cars was so full that the driver (and also the only person that could fit in the car) couldn't see to change into the left hand lane so we had to stick together and 'lane-spot' for each other.  There were a few nerve wrecking moments, but all turned out ok.  

Our stuff unloaded into Daddy's parents shed until ours is finished.

We have been to the shed twice since arriving and there has been more progress, which I will post about shortly (it is difficult when staying in someone else's house).  

Christmas was yesterday and I also want to post about that.  Hopefully tomorrow there will be time! 

Fabric

Two posts in less than 5 minutes.  Anything to have a break from the cleaning!!!

Anyway,  a few months ago I bought a sewing machine.  In those few months I have grown quite a collection of fabric and this collection continues to grow at a speed that far surpasses any skills I may have developed.  By this I mean that I do a lot more purchasing of fabric than actual sewing of fabric.  I'm sure I'm not the only one out there with this problem (I'm not, am I?)

Like anyone, I love giveaways (hopefully one day I'll be able to make something I would deem worthy of giving away and offer one myself) and here is the link to a fabulous giveaway of LOTS of fabric from Retromummy.  Thanks Retromummy!!!

It's happening.

Wow, it's really happening! In less than 2 days I will be living in Mackay.  I have been so busy or overwhelmed by it all that I haven't had time to get sad, excited, nostalgic, or anything else one might feel when they decide to move their family to live in a shed that currently has 2.5 walls and is a long way from all the friends we've made over the last 4 years.  There are so many friends I'm leaving behind and so many friends that I haven't had a chance to see before I go, and I don't mean acquaintances, I mean really good friends and I haven't seen them.  I'm so shocked by this, that I don't even feel sad about it yet.  We didn't organise a going away party, which we intended to, so it became really difficult to find time to see everyone, what with work and so many other end of year functions happening.

Today was the day our stuff was packed into a trailer and left for Mackay.  Daddy's dad, uncle and brother drove the 12 hours down the coast so they could tow the trailer back for us and we will be forever grateful for the enormous amount of help and effort they put in for us.

The emply trailer

Our full trailer on its way!

Just to make this next bit very clear, I am not complaining about Daddy, but merely documenting events, just incase I forget! As I just mentioned, today was the day to pack the trailer.  Last night we went to a friends place for dinner and came home at 10:30pm.  Quite a reasonable hour to get to bed and be bright eyed and ready to work in the morning.  However, due to our (my) own stupidity we were locked out of the house for a bit when we got there as we had given one set of keys to Daddy's brother and someone left the other set at home.  Our neighbours were having a bbq and they asked to come over for a bit, so even with a VERY tired baby, we didn't really have anything else to do and agreed.  We went over for about 20 minutes before we were able to get back into our house.  I came home and put Little Miss to bed and raced back over to say goodbye to everyone (little miss was home with her uncle and grandad).  Well, within minutes I heard screaming and jumped the fence to find a little girl who was so overtired she just could not get herself to sleep.  Daddy came home and put her to sleep and popped back over for what he told me would be a drink or two.  At 1am they cranked the music and woke me from my 1/2 hour sleep. I did not get back to sleep even a little bit, until Daddy came home at 4:45am!!! Daddy then showered, ate and did goodness knows what else before coming to bed at 6:15am.  At 7 I woke him and he went with his dad to pick up the trailer (which took them an hour to find).

The good thing about all this is that Daddy was still very helpful all day and pulled his weight, and Little Miss was soooooo tired from her interrupted sleep that she slept for the entire 3 hours it took to pack the trailer!!! She's now having another nap while I type this.  I didn't get grumpy at Daddy, because he works so hard and is so busy that he rarely (maybe once a year) gets to have a night like this.

Little Miss having some lunch and supervising after a looong nap!

Anyway, that was long! All that's left to do is the cleaning and dropping stuff off at lifeline.  That will all be done tomorrow and then we are off the next day.  Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! In my head we are just going home for christmas and then we'll be back.  I'm sure it'll sink in soon!

The first of the cleaning - tidying the yard and mowing.  I will miss those trees.

It is now the next day and I have finally gotten a chance to add pictures and post this.  The update is that it is 7pm the day before we leave. It has rained ALL day, which is making packing the car a very cold, wet job.  I still have to finish cleaning the bathroom, kitchen and verandah and pack the car.  Daddy is at his last gig for the year, Little Miss has just gone to bed and has been amazingly easy to deal with all day,  just following  behind and keeping me entertained with her 'stories'. Daddy's sister and boyfriend are both staying here tonight and are helping with the cleaning.  I'm shouting everyone dinner, which they are picking up right now.  I'm about to write another unrelated post, then I will see you next from my new hometown.

Shed update

Well, our family have been working very hard for us over the last few months to get things ready for our arrival.  Not only have they been busy cutting timber and building walls, but so many people have offered furniture and other things we need.  We were given a kitchen sink and cupboards by an Aunty of mine who recently renovated her kitchen.  We have been given copious amounts of furniture, which will be fantastic because, although we already own a lot of furniture, we have decided not to build internal walls to begin with, so we will need all the furniture to build rooms with.  I am hoping we will be able to do this in a way that doesn't make the place look like a second hand furniture store! My dad is a house painter and he has sourced a few things for us as well.  Another relative even found a rainwater tank for us!

Needs some work, but it'll do the job!

Things 'we' (all we did was organise, everyone else has actually done the physical work so far) have done to the shed so far include - cleared the block of fallen trees and overgrown weeds and guinea grass, cleared away a LOT of rubbish from previous tenants,  moved the tank and kitchen to the shed, had all the wiring checked and fixed (powerpoints and ceiling fans still to come), worked on fixing the pump for the bore, and finally, built a ceiling and walls halfway up the inside of the shed and put in a double glass sliding door.

Putting up the frame for the walls and ceiling

The ceiling and walls were only done this past weekend and it is very exciting for us! The rest of the walls are still to come and will probably be a job for us to do when we get there, but it is snake proof the way it is and that's all I care about for now.

The ceiling going up

You can see how far up the walls go in this photo

There are still a few things I haven't told you about the shed and I will do so now.  The shed is on quite a large piece of land (I don't know the exact measurements, or even an estimate, but there's quite a bit of land) and there is a creek that runs through the property.  One section of the creek runs quite close to the 'Shouse' and is apparently swimmable, but I haven't checked this out for myself yet.  The 'Shouse' is about 20 minutes drive from a supermarket or shopping centre, which will take a bit of getting used to as I currently live in Brisbane about 5 minutes drive from TWO major shopping centres and have gotten used to the convenience of it all. It is a very short drive to the nearest beach. There are lots of snakes, but they won't be able to get inside and we will keep the yard cleared.  Lastly (and this is the best bit of all), we have relatives of Daddy's within 3km of us in both directions.  Oh, and there is already a bush lemon tree there! I plan on having lots of fruit trees.

My mum picking lemons to make cheesecake

Part of the creek looking a bit unloved

There is officially only one week until we leave Brisbane and there is so much to happen in that week.  Good thing Little Miss is so well behaved and 'helpful' while Daddy and I are packing/cleaning.

Favourite things to do...

My baby girl is growing up so fast! Every day she learns something new or surprises me with a new skill. I also can't believe how much personality she has already at 10 1/2 months. Not because I don't think other babies do, just because I haven't spent too much time with babies of this age before and didn't know about it until now.  Here a few of her favourite things to do at the moment:

1. Eat arrowroot biscuits and read books.  She loves 'touch and feel' books and quite often I notice she has gone quiet, only to discover she has crawled off to her room and is 'reading' a book.  The one in the picture is called 'Wooly's Walk' and it is her favourite at the moment.

2. Squeal at the birds in the yard. She loves watching any kind of animal at the moment and even tried to catch the ants that crawled past her in the backyard while I was hanging out washing yesterday.

3. Eat fresh summer fruits. This particular delicacy is a white flesh peach.

4. Play with and pull out wipes from the container. This is fine if I remember to close the lid, otherwise it's very messy!

5. Play with her 'dollies', made by Laura from sip one, stitch one for Little Miss's christmas present.  She absolutely loves them and has she has recently learnt to put things 'in' I find them everywhere from random boxes, to the filing cabinet.

I hope this post didn't bore anyone reading too much, but when I look back on this in a few weeks/months/years, I know I'll be glad I recorded it and I will keep doing so as she develops new 'favourites'.  I hope you enjoy her journey with me!

Thanks for visiting!

The week in review

It has been a busy week what with moving cities in a week and christmas approaching.  As we get closer to our departure date I realise how many more people I wanted to see before I go, but have left it too late to organise anything.

In the past week I have managed to pack up most of the house with help from Little Miss, but not Daddy, who has been working like crazy these last few days.  There is now only the music room and a few odds and ends that we need to use over the week left to be packed.  This means it's time to start the cleaning. BORING!

Other things that have happened this week are:

I gave in to the need to craft and unpacked some crocheting to indulge in at night.  I learnt to crochet when I was pregnant with Little Miss and suffering from lots of swelling and high blood pressure.  I needed something to keep me occupied from the couch and there's only so much DVD watching and online crosswords one can handle.

Daddy and Little Miss played in the rain.

I witnessed Little Miss stand up without using anything to help her!

And I baked this interesting dish that actually tasted pretty good. It's tuna mac and cheese with chicken as well as tuna and an ensemble of other ingredients. With only one saucepan, one frypan and only a knife and fork it took a long time to put together, but I enjoyed discovering what I could do with what we have left in the house to eat.

Finally, this afternoon when I got Little Miss up from her nap there was a nappy in her cot.  I could not for the life of me figure out where it came from until I picked her up to find she was no longer wearing one! Now if only she could learn to put a clean one on and the old one in the bin!

I have just been on the phone to some of the very hardworking relatives in North Queensland and should have some photos of the latest developments to show you soon! Can't wait to see them myself!

Thanks for visiting! I'm off to play with a lovely little lady.

Crafting

Even though I have traded in the crafting for a lot of 3D tetris (packing boxes) this last week, I am itching to post about something I've made.
The problem is I can't put anything new up, because it's all to be gifted as christmas presents and I don't want anyone to see their present early.  I suppose I could put them up and everyone can just try to guess which one is theirs! What a fun game.  Anyway, here's a few things.

Owl appliqued onto a homemade cushion cover

This little owl cushion is currently flying in a post pak to Western Australia. The photo is a bit blurry, but you can still see how cute he is! (By the way, I based the owl design off one I saw in Notebook Magazine and just changed it a bit as I went along).

Dress to wear on Christmas day.

This is the first piece of clothing I've ever made.  I made it in about 2 hours last week and it was so easy. It's far from perfect, but it's wearable and I learnt a few things whilst making it. HERE is the pattern and instructions.

Cushion cover

I love this fabric, purchased HERE!!! I made 2 of these and I am keeping them for myself.

Nappy wallet

A wonky nappy wallet I made for a friend.  This design kind of happened as I worked.  It was originally going to have squared corners and no binding and velcro to close it, but with each new step another idea would make it's way into the project and Tada..............this is how it ended up.  I'm loving a lot of the new fabrics at Spotlight lately.  That's where the lining fabric came from.  I have heaps left that I'm thinking I will turn into another dress for Little Miss.

If I did have time to craft at the moment I would make these cute tree decorations. I think I will make some throughout the year to add to everyone's present next year.

Packing Packing Packing!!!

We have come to that point in the packing where you don't know what to do next and it comes to a standstill.  We have packed all the things we can easily go without for another week such as books, dvd's, linen, and random items, so we're up to the things like clothes and the kitchen.  I seem to be unable to make decisions about what I will need to cook with for another week, both in terms of food and dishes.  I just want to pack it all and start the horrible task of cleaning, but if I did that we would have to eat takeaway for a week.  I don't think the budget or our bodies would like this plan too much, despite what our tastebuds say!

This is what the lounge room looks like right now! 

There is a small cleared spot where Little Miss plays and a path to the front door.  Little Miss is loving all the boxes to climb over and hide behind and has been quite the little helper since she has learnt to put things into other things ( a much needed skill for packing boxes!) 9 days to go until our stuff heads North and 10 until we do. 

My little helper

I can't believe how quickly this has all happened and how much it hasn't sunk in yet.  In less than a month the shed will be our new home.  Just cannot get my head around that thought right now.  I suppose I'd better stop trying to and just get on with the packing!

The Shed

There is a bit of history with this shed so I think I should write about it.  The shed is where daddy lived until he was about 3 years old.  Daddy's mum then rented it out to people on and off for a few years, but after a while it was forgotten about.  It hasn't been lived in for about 18 years and therefore, it was not well looked after.  As teenagers daddy and I ventured out there (the first time I'd been there) to find that previous tenants had left a lot of rubbish (white goods, etc) and the walls had been eaten out by termites.  There was a time when a friend wanted to do it up and live there, but it never happened and was forgotten about again.  About 6 months ago daddy and I were seriously discussing our plans to travel overseas, but we really wanted Little Miss to spend some time living near her family before we left, as we both grew up around extended family and think it is important for her to have that opportunity as well.  We discussed renting a house for a bit and then the shed was mentioned.

Well, we got excited about this thought  very quickly and made phone calls to see if we could.  Daddy's mum still owns the shed and the property it is on and was very excited that we wanted to live there.  Of course, we had to inspect to see how much damage the termites had done.  To cut a long story short, the shed was going to be liveable with a bit of work and so we very quickly made the decision to move back to our hometown.

For the past 6 months we have been organising and getting things done from far away and we should be able to move in not long after we get there.  Just a few more things to be done first!!! (like hot water and walls!).

Testing

Ok, I'm learning how to use this so I'm going to try and figure out how to add a photo...............I think that worked, but I don't think it's in the spot I wanted it to be.  If it did work and you can see the photo, this is the shed untouched. Weeds have since been cleared!

Oh, I just dragged it and now it's where I wanted it. How easy!

Now for a link.............I'm going to try and link to a yummy rocky road recipe by retromummy.  I think that worked too!

Hello!

This is my first post ever and it has taken a lot of self encouragement to get over being shy and just get started.  There is no plan for this post, but seeing as though I am blogging about our move I'll tell you what's happening at the moment....  well, I'm blogging when I should be packing, daddy is at work and Little Miss is sleeping.  If I knew how to upload photos I would show you the shambles that is my lounge room, but instead I'll just tell you that it's full of boxes, baby toys and goodness knows what else. We leave in less than 2 weeks and I'm feeling very overwhelmed, but I know it will get done.  Especially now that I have finished making and wrapping all the christmas presents.

I have really enjoyed learning to 'sew as I go' with the christmas presents this year.  I only started sewing a few months ago so everything is a bit wonky and a bit 'higgledy piggledy' (most things I bake or make are), but wonky or not, they were made with love and I enjoyed every bit of the process.  I have had to pack the crafting/sewing kit so that I can't get distracted with new projects when I should be packing/cleaning and I will miss the comfort and feeling of accomplishment it gives me.

Well there are boxes to be packed and a baby that is calling so I'm signing off.  I'm glad I took the leap and wrote this first post.  I'm looking forward to writing the next one now!