Miss 10 turned 11. Don't tell her that though lol. She wants to be 10 forever. She's tired of growing up, physically and emotionally.

All 3 kiddies had 24 hours vomiting bugs in the space of 5 days. I'm not a good mum when it comes to vomiting kids. I can't handle it and need to distance myself from it all, i am ever thankful hubby was around to clean up. 2 out of 3 took the oppertunity to make sure we had to wash the floors and bedding after lol

We had a couple of fleeting trips across the border for various Dr appointments, catch up with family and to tidy up the farm in readiness for selling. It's an exhausting trip for all of us when we go back to our home town. We're on the go non-stop trying to fit everything in. I'm looking forward to July when we will finally be able to stay put for more then a week lol.

We did manage to do a bit around the church as hubby had the last week off work (he's glad to be back in the truck now though, he was fearing for his sanity lol). The front wall is 3/4 finished, we have a new front door and 5 gorgeous chooks are happily clucking around the place. I'll blog about all that later.

The bus is still 1/4 full of boxes we grabbed out of the storage shed. The girls were doing a wonderful job of clearing it out until they'd found all their belongings then promptly stopped lol We are struggling for space for everything but we'll get there, slowly :)

Well that's all for now.

Until next time
~x~

Miss 9 for the very first time in her young life has a room all of her own! She's super happy about it too :D

We had an area in the church that was partitioned off where I wanted to knock the wall out to make the kitchen bigger. Hubby wasn't too keen so he suggested we turn the smaller "room" into a walk in pantry (yet to be done) and because the ceiling is high we were able to build a snug hideaway bedroom on top, using the pantry ceiling as the bedroom floor. In architectural terms it's a mezzanine :)

Apart from the floor boards, once again all materials used are recycled. The "balustrade" is from an old picket fence used upside down.

We’re yet to build a ladder. At the moment Miss 9 is using a normal builders ladder. It’s safe but not desirable. Not sure if a rope ladder, an attic ladder or a straight up and down timber ladder is what we want. We certainly don’t want a huge staircase taking up a lot of precious space. Miss 9 reckons a firemans pole would be funky! Not sure how she’d get up though lol

So, she’s set up her space just how she wants it. Her bed for now is a thick mattress on the floor. A normal bedframe is too big for the area but something small like a camping stretcher would be ideal. She’s only a petite child. She’s filled the bookcase, has bedside shelving with her precious mementos, posters on the wall and ceiling and plenty of room for her beloved my little pony collection and other horses. Lucky she’s not into any other animals otherwise she’d have a zoo happening up there! lol

She only moved up there at 3pm this afternoon and already there is a big difference in the mood of all the children. Master 5 is playing happily in his area, Miss 9 has invited Miss 10 into her corner of the home and they’re playing quietly which is unusual as they’re usually at each others throats at this time of night if they were sharing a room! It’s just a happy home for the moment :)

Until next time
~x~

I'm really getting into the whole blogging lately :) I have to hold myself back from posting multiple entries per day lol.

I've been quite an erratic blogger since i started. I can go a month without posting an entry! Now it seems my life is going forward and although some things may be repetitive in a way, it's all fun and games for me.

When i first started this blog it was for my benefit only, to have a record of my family's happenings. I found it easier to write here then in a paper diary. Now, nearly 2 years on, it's still for me but i do so enjoy my readers input :)

Until next time
~x~

My neighbours have a fantastic vegetable garden. One i wouldn't mind playing in lol

The last 2 nights as they've been going about their nightly chores in the garden they've passed over the fence some wholesome homegrown vegies. Silverbeet, pumpkin and carrots. I've had to be quick in getting them off the kids as they like to sample fresh produce straight from the garden! In return for the harvest, i've given some vegie seeds to replenish their already overflowing beds.

I can't wait to get my fruit and veg garden built and producing. The soil here is crap to say the least lol so no planting direct into the ground until we start working to get it up to scratch. Hubby will have to get creative and build some more planter boxes and a trip to the local rubbish tip to find an old rainwater tank or something similar will do the trick too.

We're going to ask the local duck farmer if we can have a trailer load of duck castings and i'll scout around at other farms for old hay for mulch and other types of manure. I'm all for recycling and bartering :)

Until next time
How does your garden grow?
~x~

I've been without you for 7 looong months. Everyday i've had to cook meals from scratch for the family. No lifting your lid when feeling slack to find a quick meal to heat up.

I bet you've being feeling hungry and all alone in the shed too but the rest would have done you well.

Now we can look forward to filling you with loads of scrumptious sweet and savoury foods.

1st on the menu is pumpkin soup (homegrown pumpkins from the neighbour) to see us through the chilly winter months. Cookies and cakes are a must too, to have with the endless cups of tea i'll be drinking to keep myself warm. A big casserole pot full of vegies and meats, simmering ontop of the wood fire will be coming your way too :)

Until next time
Happy freezer filling
~x~

Although the bus renovations are not complete, on Saturday we set up camp at Lake Hindmarsh for the night with the inlaws and their caravans. Not too far from home, a short 15kms down the road lol.

The lake is just lovely. It's Victoria largest natural freshwater lake, around 22km long and about 11km wide and for the past 10 years it's been dry. When the floods went through late last year and earlier this year the lake was revived and tourism skyrocketed. Over Easter alone, more than 800 campers took advantage of the semi-secluded campsites. Gosh, i sound like a tourism brochure hey lol Unfortunately the water is evapourating with all these glorious Autumn days we're having, so rain would be muchly appreciated. My kiddies walked for miles out in the lake and the water only just reached the shortest childs waist!

Anyways, we set up camp which was a matter of parking the bus, plugging the power cord in, making the beds and turing the kettle on for morning tea :D

I didn't get any photo's of the inside of the bus set up for the night. I was too busy being snap happy outside and enjoying the down time. I can say though, the beds were comfortable, it was warm, everyone slept well, everything works well. We have a list of items that need to be permanantly put in the bus and possibly some stabalizing legs at the back as the bus wobbles a bit when walking in it but this is only a slight problem when someone gets up during the night. Being a light sleeper doesn't help lol

We had an enjoyable time paddling, pretending to fish, sitting round the campfire, attempting to play the guitar and sing and having a catch up with my inlaws.

All in all it was a good camp out. Looking forward to going somewhere further for more than 1 night :)

Until next time
~x~

All set up

The view from my bed. Lovely :D

To some this may sound unexciting but to those who live in a part of the country where the paddocks and backyards are dry and near on barron, the sight of greenery poking it's head out of the ground is uplifting :)

Our backyard is sandy, dry and full of cracks. Prickly stubble and ants reside here with pleasure along with a flowering plant i quite like, Statice. This plant grows anywhere in any weather condition! We've discussed digging the yard up, adding a nice topsoil, fertiliser and seed in the hope of growing a lush lawn. It would be ideal to do this before the winter rains but i can see time being a problem.

This leads me to my laundry. It's situated under a makeshift shed behind the house. I quite enjoy doing the washing while listening to the wildlife go about their day and i'm recycling the used water at the same time with no effort whatsoever. We have a couple of old, cracked, not perfectly joined polypipes laid out on the ground and as the washing water runs through them the ground is being watered. I usually do 2 loads a day so a fair amount of water is being used.

This morning i noticed a green patch around and under the pipes. GRASS!! It looks so nice :) I've moved the pipes and hopefully this time next week i'll have grass popping up in another patch. I wonder if i can make a T junction or crossroads of pipes so the water covers a wider space lol.

Until next time
~x~

Sandy Ground

A patch of grass!

Pretty Statice