Home ownership

Our last rental place had some problems with mould and we always said to one another that when we bought our own place it would be dry, dry, dry. We thought we'd managed to do a pretty good job with that part of the checklist (having realised during the process that most of the stuff on our checklist didn't seem to be in our price range :-) ) but the past month has shown us otherwise. I have just cleaned the skirting boards and lower walls in G's closet with a bleach solution again. Hopefully this will help. It's a shared wall with the shower so that's probably the source of the problem. But there's also mould on the cornices in our bedroom and the kids bedroom, as well as moss growing on the outside of the house - ack! It could be the water vapour that the gas heater we use produces so maybe we need an alternative, maybe we need to pay to have the heater flued externally, maybe we need to have underfloor ventilation installed, maybe we need to buy a dehumidifier, maybe we need to cut back the trees that are close to the house and keep out the direct light. I just hope we can fix it!

Before and After

I have to get that photo of me and my stained shirt off the top of the blog so today I bring you a little diy project. It's so junky I just know Better Homes and Gardens are going to be all over it, if they haven't presented it already as something you can spend a sunday afternoon on.
We have a climber in this house, C can't help herself and must conquer anything that has a platform or a foothold. So, the bunkbed in the room she shares with J has been an irresistable temptation. As soon as she could walk she's been trying to climb it. More than once I've walked into the room to find her sitting on the top bunk grinning like a chesire cat. That's a heartstopper, let me tell you! For a while we had the ladder detached, then I had a frame leaning up against it until she figured out that just needed a little push. The solution that worked well for several months was tying one of those reusable shopping bags around the bottom two rungs but she discovered that she could get a foothold through the fabric and was back in business so I took myself (and all 4 children, what was I thinking?) off to Bunnings (a.k.a. the world's largest and most malodorous walk-in refrigerator) and bought a $7.49 piece of masonite. All it needed was a couple of holes and 2 cable ties and I now have what I am hoping will prove to be an impenetrable defence.
Of course, 1 1/2 year olds have ingenuity to burn so I am still keeping my eye on things.

An Apron Week post just for Eleanor

The delightfully named Eleanor from the Comment Box doesn't think we've been giving Apron Week the attention it deserves so this post is just for her. This, my friends, is a cautionary tale about what happens when you don't wear an apron. It starts slowly, you think not wearing one from time to time won't make much difference, you could start wearing it again anytime you wanted, you're just a social non-apron wearer, but don't fool yourselves people because this is where is leads -
Sitting on the couch with unwashed hair, no make-up, pulling strange faces and wearing stained clothes. How long had I been walking around like that?! I try to hide it by using the baby as a screen, but that's not fooling anyone. You all know an apron would have saved me from this grubby fate. If I had been wearing an apron all these years I would look just like Esperanza Spalding. This is what I like to think I look like when I am collecting the children from school,

You'll have to squint a little and try to make the double bass look less like a double bass and more like a double stroller but I am sure you'll agree that's the inner me trying to bust out.

And so the moral of this tale is clear, self-improvement is just an apron away.

Blog Magic

Posting about the baptism candles yesterday may have nothing to do with JW's arriving in the mail today but I like to think that there are certain forces at work that made it so. I had been wondering if the Abbey had even received my order. I emailed the form last week and hadn't heard anything from them so I was planning on calling them today but after getting home from the school run this morning there it was sitting on the porch waiting for me. C tried to feign enthusiasm but even at 18mths she's a bit bewildered why mummy would be so thrilled to receive a candle, LOL.

Perhaps I should post about JW's birth certificate in the hopes that it will turn up in tomorrow's post. I sent the birth registration forms in a month ago so it should arrive soon, surely? I could swear it didn't take this long with the other children.

Hm, I just heard the words 'bounce on the bed!' coming from down the hall... I should probably go check that out. Hopefully no-one will sustain a serious injury before I am able to break up the party!

Leche-vitrine

We have ordered all 4 baptism candles (here are G, J and C's) from the Benedictine sisters of Jamberoo Abbey and I am looking forward to receiving JW's in the post sometime soon. They make the candles, decorate them (aren't the handpainted natives on C's beautiful?) and personalise them making them a lovely keepsake of a very special day.
Now I need to organise invitations, usually we print something up ourselves but we no longer have a printer so I'm thinking about ordering some online. However, I'll probably end up buying a 'fill-in-the-blanks' invitation from the newsagency because I hate spending money :-) but I am having fun window shopping in the meantime.
I like this
this
and this
all from http://www.invitingkids.com.au/
Which makes me wonder, can you call online browsing window shopping?

Wet Weather

Wet weather is not good news around here with small children to entertain. Cabin fever sets in quickly when they can't get out in the yard to explore and burn off some energy. So todays cold, wet weather and the forecast of rain stretching out ahead of us across the weekend and into next week has been a little disheartening. It does look beautiful through the trees though, doesn't it?

It's not good weather for embarking on my post-baby weight loss endeavour either. But, I only have a few things that fit and vanity is a strong motivator so the good ship Cadbury is leaving these fair shores. Ah, how I shall miss that litigious purple goodness.