Happy new year

I'm still blogging over here... come and find out what has been happening chez moi!

I've moved... come and say hello

Hello readers


I have decided to start a new blog which follows my adventures towards a more sustainable lifestyle along with my day to day ramblings.  For the time being, I will not be adding to this blog - there just isn't the time!  I hope you'll pop over to the new blog to have a look


Thanks for following Life's too short to...


Clare

preparing for seasonal festivities.... part two

one more sleep... 2 little monkeys tucked into bed hopefully waiting for Santa to arrive. 


Today's festive fun included:

decorating christmas cookies

baking and decorating a traditional chocolate christmas log

Not quite as perfect as my Mum's yule logs but given that I have relocated 10,500 miles (16900 km) away I have no option but to attempt to bake one myself.  Not too bad a result given that it is at least 10 years since I have dabbled in making a yule log..... and the proof will be in the tasting tomorrow!


I'm finding it hard to believe that another year has almost passed.... and what a year it has been.  Already the new year holds promises of excitement and challenge... a post for the new year no doubt!  I hope that everyone has a truly great festive season and a fantastic 2011.  I look forward to sharing my year with you all, whilst following the experiences of my fellow bloggers out there.  

preparing for seasonal festivities

So, only 2 more sleeps until Christmas day.  Did some last minute shopping today with little imp in tow.... not the easiest or lowest stress option when it comes to whizzing round the shopping centre!  Still, we survived and she is happily playing with her reward for being good.... sparkly cupcake stickers.


We spent a happy hour adding to our christmas decorations with traditional home made paper chains.  The perfect use for the pack of holographic card that we have had in the art box for what seems like forever!

Later today I have plans for a baking session: gingerbread christmas shapes, a chocolate yule log and some mince pies.  Yum!!  If there is a spare moment, I should really start to wrap some christmas gifts, otherwise I may still be up wrapping them when Santa arrives!

The first day of summer....

... after what has been described as the coldest wettest Melbourne spring in a lot of years, today heralded the arrival of summer.  Shame that no-one had mentioned that to the weather as it is still decidedly spring like but at least the reservoirs are filling up nicely - as are my rainwater storage tanks which will mean that we will be able to keep our veggie patch well watered when the summer finally arrives!


The garden is bursting with life which has given me the opportunity to indulge my love of (sometimes very) amateur photography. Here's a taste of what is going on in my garden....

 

 

 

Bursting into life and full of promise of the harvest to come.  Sometimes pictures can say so much more than words.

the last 3 months...

Oh my word, I have just noticed that it has been 3 months since I last posted.... oops!  Life sometimes gets in the way of the good intentions to keep up with my blog.  


In my defence, I have had a LOT going on in the last 3 months - I have started working full time again so have had to get used to a new, more organised routine and so have the rest of the family!  Unfortunately, this has meant that any spare time has rapidly disappeared and once the evening pantomime of getting 2 children fed, watered and put to bed is over there is the never ending list of chores to get on with.... sandwich boxes to be prepared, laundry, clothes at the ready for the next day, paperwork to be dealt with... oh and better not forget to actually have some dinner before crashing on the sofa in front of the tv, way too tired to do anything more than maybe check a couple of emails.  Blogging.... in my dreams!!  But, I love being back at work - most of the time ;-)


Going back to work has also helped us to move into our own house which is all very exciting.  I am particularly excited about having a lovely big garden with heaps of space for growing all kinds of veggies!  We also inherited a big chicken coop with the house and popped out today to get 3 new chickens so looking forward to having lots of eggs soon.


Today has been perfectly warm and sunny - great sign that spring is here again.  Got out and about with my camera taking photos of the lovely flowers in the garden - will post some here soon but we have a few technical issues at the moment so can't get the pictures from the computer onto my blog.


Hoping to find time to get blogging more often now that life is settling down.

my creative space...

This week I have been getting creative with old clothes that are not good enough to go to the opp shop (or charity shop as they are known back where I come from!).  With a toddler and a 5 year old in the house we often have clothes which are stained or ripped which are desperate for a new purpose in life.  So, inspired by my success last week, I decided that I would repurpose an old furry shawl and a t-shirt in an effort to complete one of my overdue projects.  

Deciding it was time to push the sewing boundaries a little, at the beginning of May I signed up to the monthly project on Carolyn's blog - inserting a zip!  So, it is now well into June and I really should have cracked on with this last month but have been putting it off as it is a long time since my rusty sewing skills were anywhere near to a zip.  I don't know what I was worrying about as over the last couple of days I have whipped up a new pencil case for the ever increasing number of pencils that are lying around the house.  

I am feeling rather proud of myself and can't stop thinking about ideas for giving our other old clothes a new purpose in life.  Just need to finish hand sewing the lining first before I start another project!

Thanks to Kirsty for hosting the addictive creative space on her blog - why not have a look at some of the other inspiring creativity that is going on around the world?