Monday, December 29, 2008

Christmas at our place

Here are several photos of our lovely Christmas-time....

We didn't get the kidlets Christmas Eve this year, so it was a lonely old time with just the three of us. We sure missed em! They were back Christmas morning, after my parents and sis arrived. We had pressie time and a fabulous lunch with a ham that D cooked to perfection - picture below!

Pressie time! Lolly got a xylophone from Mum, same as I got my first Christmas! She has had a great time playing with it since, she really gets going!


Snail got a Leap pad, here she is going over to show my Mum! (I think she likes it :-))



Here is Smash with the now-traditional hide-behind-Elmo Christmas shot (We already owned Elmo, he wasn't from Christmas).


Christmas dinner was delish - thank you D!

The Ham of excellence!


Lolly's Chrismas dinner! Some potato, asparagus tips, and some ham - Yum!


Lolly tries a little ham bone...


The wreckage of a good meal.


In the afternoon, D went to collect strawberrypot, my SIL, for more xmas fuds (D made pork belly that was to DIE for!) and pressies. Here is Snail with her new Bunny, Millie.


Kidlets went back to their mother's on Boxing day, and we've had a quiet time here since then. I'm getting used to having D at home! He has 3 weeks off starting Friday, which we are both looking forward to - kidlets back Friday as usual, too.

In Lolly news, she has 2 !!!! teeth! The first cut about two weeks ago with our colds and sore tummies from Sydney. It's the bottom left. Its neighbour has also poked its head up in the last couple of days!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Christmas preparations!

Some photos from the last few days I thought I'd share :-) First, our collection (okay, so only two so far) of foolish and annoying singing Christmas animals! The penguin was D's choice for this year, to join last year's gobble gobble turkey.


Christmas is very tiring. Snail needed a little rest while putting up the decorations!


View from a sling, Lolly in the Maya Wrap ring sling, out in the garden while D was planting the old Christmas tree out in the yard.


The old tree in a new home! We had this one for three years! It looks short here, but is actually down a level.



Here is our new one....



Our gorgeous girl - 9 months old!


Our other gorgeous girl, 9 years old!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Meet our demands or teh mouse getz it!

Strawberrypot, we have teh mouse.

Meet our demands or teh mouse getz it!


We mean business!



If you want to see teh mouse alive again, be at our place for Christmas dinner, with presents! And possibly pudding!

Or the mouse is for it!!!!!

We mean business!!!!

Christmas Lolcat...

Monday, December 15, 2008

Sydney!

Bub and Smash and I went on an adventure to Sydney last week! There was a festival weekend there with some friends, and we went down early and came back late to see some family and some sights.

Lolly and went down on Thursday, with a dear friend and her gorgeous girl. We stayed right in the city, in a nice apartment just off Oxford Street. Okay, so it could have been airconditioned in the bedrooms and had less drunk people walking past at 3 am yelling abuse at each other, but hey, it was okay. Well, we were completely lacking in sleep for the first couple of nights, but we lived... Here is Lol in her 'Security' shirt when we arrived.



On the Friday I took Lolly out to meet her great-grandmother and great-uncle! It was a fun train ride, and we had lunch and went back to Grandma's for a bit, then trained home. It was lovely to see them!! Lolly liked the train and slept most of the way.


Saturday morning Lolly and I went to pick up Smash from the airport, then we all went on a bus adventure to a Sydney online friend's to meet up with the festival people! It was so great to meet everyone in real life, and to see all the lovely chidlers and bubs, a really wonderful day.

The group met up again at the beach on Sunday, a lovely small netted beach on the Harbour, with a great cafe to provide much needed caffiene! Lolly had her first dip in the sea, though I had forgotten to charge the camera, so no photos :(. We had a lovely day all round.

Sightseeing on Monday with friends on the Harbour. Here is Smash doing some street theatre!



Taronga Zoo on Tuesday, which was great fun (though I was a bit sick) - here is Smash and R watching the bird show.


Smash and Lolly outside the reptile house.


And, thanks to M, who took most of the wonderful photos that day, some giraffes!


We were all very tired and happy to be home again Wednesday. It was a wonderful trip, lots of good friends, nice food, good chats, and fun times.

Lolly and I have been sick ever since with a tummy bug and then a cold, so no news since, really. Snail is on holidays now too, Lolly and I are home recuperating in front of the telly.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Green memes #1 and #2



I got tagged with 2 green memes by my friend anastasia_wolf at Live Dreaming :)

1) Link to Green Meme Bloggers. (use image if you like)
2) Link back to whoever tagged you. (no need to wait to be tagged!)
3) Include meme number
4) Include these guidelines in your post
5) Tag 3 other green bloggers.



I tag Strawberrypot at Postcards from the Hedge,

Pagan Rach, whose lovely blog is at left of the middle,

and Possum, whose consumption challenge is blogged at Possum's Journey.



So here goes!

1) Name two motivations for being green?

Common sense. We are clearly living in an unsustainable way. There is a limit to what the planet can take.

Responsibility. When you know better, you should do better.


2) Name 2 eco-UNfriendly items you refuse to give up?

TV - and it's a biggun!

A car. We live a fair way out in the sticks.


3) Are you at peace with or do you feel guilty about number 2?

Currently at peace-ish. We are looking to minimise our impact and offset the less sound aspects of our lifestyle, so there's definitely guilt too!


4) What are you willing to change but feel unable to/stuck with/unsure how to go about it?

Locally grown and bulk food. Convenience still wins the day a lot here ;)


5) Do you know your carbon footprint for your home? If so, is it larger/smaller than your national average? (http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx)

Don't know, but it's about average (don't have the figure...). Looking to lower it, definitely!


6) What's eco-frustrating and/or eco-fantastic about where you live?

Eco-frustrating - distance to things, we do a lot of driving and have 3 vehicles.

Eco-fantastic - acerage! We have great plans for sustainability here, and the space to do it!


7) Do you eat local/organic/vegetarian/forage/grow your own?

Some local, are starting to grow our own.


8) What do you personally find the most challenging in being green?

At times it feels like a constant guilt and constant struggle that will never be "done". It also seems insurmountable. So many issues, just the one family!


9) Do you have a green confession?

I love driving! Oh yeah...the open road! I feel bad about petrol, but fervently hope that some substitute is eventually widely available so we can all keep our cars!


10) Do you have the support of family and/or friends?

Yes, family and friends are supportive and/or green themselves.


------------------------------
Geen meme #2

1. Do you use baking soda toothpaste or baking soda shampoo? If not, would you consider it?

Nope to both of these, would probably try the shampoo.


2. Do you make any home cleaning products?

Yes, I've made "smelly disks" from baking soda (use in nappy buckets/stinky zones/bins). I also use plain vinegar and baking soda for a lot of jobs.


3. What is your top green issue at the moment?

Growing our own food. We have the motivation, and the space, and we've started out, but time is against us. It takes ages to set this up, we are moving slowly.

4. Given unlimited cash, what is on your fantasy green wishlist?

Permaculture gardens all done (that is, Dave no longer has to work, so can garden more!), solar power, solar hot water, more water tanks, some cool bikes to tow the kids in, more land and trees to plant on it!

5. Have you implemented any new green act/behaviour/product this month?

We had a water tank installed in the past few weeks. It's plumbed to the loo, and also will water our vege garden.

Photo Op

Well, D and I were out Christmas shopping on Saturday and accidently bought me a new camera! Apparently, despite protestations to the contrary, Dave was planning one as my Christmas pressie! So I am now the proud owner of a Canon EOS 40D!!!!!

Here are some shots...





In other news, Lolly and I are off to Sydney tomorrow! A friend and I are going to a festival there over the weekend! Smash is flying down on Saturday. We are staying for a couple of days sightseeing, and seeing my Grandma (Lolly's Great-Grandma) as well. Gotta pack!