Playdoh comes here to DIE

10AM ... freshly made playdoh.


Introduce Indi ...Add some kitchen implements, puffed rice, chilli flakes, milk, and a mother with a natural learning philosophy (and obviously lots of free time to clean up mess) ...
And you get this ... playdoh murder. I mean rainbow cake.

We've been busy ...

and that's how a retired dog house becomes a (potential) chook house.

oh, and the vege patch got a bit bigger too.
It's actually been a really busy and productive day, but I'm too fucked to be bothered typing about it right now!

Indi's photography exhibition

I turn my camera on to upload some photos to the computer, and this is an example of what I find ...



Love it!

Just because she's little, doesn't mean she isn't a person

Lately, I have been a shitty parent.
I'm sure I make my kids' lives miserable on several occasions throughout the day.
I've been falling into bad parenting habits, the worst of which is creating power struggles with Indi by trying to 'put it over' her. There are really no excuses. I can say i'm tired, I can say that I'm overloaded because Craig's gone 5 days at a time, I can make a million stupid excuses, but deep down I know that I know better, and this is certainly not the person I want to be, and certainly not the parent I want to be. I know that fighting and screaming at each other acheives nothing. I know that deep down.

But unfortunately, deep down is not where I go searching when I've asked her to do something about 80 billion times and she seems to be ignoring me.
If I did stop and think rationally, I would realise that she is not ignoring me. She can hear me just fine. She just has more important things happening at the moment. I would see that this is a very familiar situation. The only difference is that I'm usually the one 'ignoring' and she is the one asking me to do something. Except when it's me, I don't call it ignoring. I'm doing something that is important to me, and I want her to accept that, and trust that I will give her my full attention when I'm finished whatever task it is. I expect her to wait patiently until I'm finished.

So why the hell do I think that she should to jump to attention when I demand something?
Because I am an idiot! She is like a little mirror of me ... and most of the time, the reflection is not what I want to see. So here I make a conscious decision to return to my respectful parenting ways;
To respect her as a strong minded, beautiful, unique individual capable of kindness, love, respect, and courtesy, not expect things from her that I wouldn't expect from myself, and not repress her ability to know what is important and meaningful to her.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

a step in the right direction

I cleared up a debt today, a Centrelink one.
Not a massive one, but one that has been dragging on for the last 6 or so years. It's the first one to go since we sat down and consciously decided to be debt free.
We still have a way to go, but it feels good.
One teensy step closer to buying some land and/or travelling bus!

It's been a busy few days for us all. We had a trip to Wagga Wagga to visit my eldest stepson, who is training in the army. It was a nice day down there, suprisingly. Last time we went it was absolutely freezing, but this time it was quite pleasant. In our wanderings about town we discovered a 2nd hand bookshop and spent too much money as usual. But I did manage to score a copy of a Bill Mollison permaculture book. Haven't read it yet though; I've been a bit greedy lately and have bought lots of books, so it's in the queue!
We planted a few more things in the garden ... some zuchinni seed (mmmmm I love zuchinni), and some sugarsnap peas to grow up the fence. I chucked some more silvebeet into an old pot to keep near the door. Hopefully it will grow big and strong, and be easy to pick in a hurry when I don't feel like running own the back for greens.
I planted some eggplant seeds into some little pots to sprout before I put them into the ground.
Indi planted her cherry tomato seedling into a big pot out the front ...
We mulched it wth some straw, and now the cat keeps sleeping on it! I'm sure it will bounce back though. I spread a bit of stinky used bedding from the guinea pigs' cage over the top, hopefully that will keep her off (and won't burn the plant!)
Spring is definately approaching. I've decided that I am a descendant of the bear family. Winter is hibernation time! I never feel like doing anything when it's cold, least of all going outside.
We have had some gorgeous days over the last few weeks, and I feel so much more energetic. Starting to defrost I guess. I love going outside and smelling the jasmine and buddleias.
The horseradish that I planted the other week is starting to pop some little sprouts out of the soil. I've never grown horseradish before so I'm interested to see how it goes.
We have been eating little bits and pieces out of the garden, not a lot; a pumpkin that became a delicious soup, steamed silverbeet, some shallots, chives and basil. Enough to keep us wanting more, and keep us keen to expand the gardens.
Oh yeah, and in my quest for cool green areas around the spa and pool, I planted this tree fern ...Risky, but I'm hoping it will pay off. I planted one the same size six months ago when it got full arvo sun for about 3 hours a day, and it is thriving and double the size now. This one is getting midday sun for about 4 hours or so, but is in crappy soil. It's looking good so far, and it's raining at the moment. If it can just get a hold in the heavy clay, it should be right.

I just checked the mail ... got an assignment back ......................................................
HD! And a letter from my new tutor saying that it was a joy to mark!
I'm very happy with that, because we are all still trying to get into some sort of rhythm with Craig's new job and I have been finding it hard to sit down and get into that 'assignment' frame of mind. This one was actually completed a week late (the college doesn't set completion dates, but I set them for myself), and I was hoping to have the next one completed by yesterday! Oh well, life gets in the way sometimes.
Anyway thats probably enough of my ramblings for now. I'm going to get this next assignment finished ... right after I finish crocheting that rug, clean the kitchen, research what fruit trees i'm going to plant, finish reading that book, start crocheting a new pair of swimmers for summer, look online for some new fire twirling equipment, finish doing the tax returns ...

And just like that ...

... Kellie got her groove back!

OOOOOOhhhhhhh yeah!

Don't you love the way you feel after being outside in the garden?

As you might have guessed, I did as promised and got started in the garden today. And what a glorious day it was (yep, i'm wearing a singlet top!)

I planted Broccoli, silverbeet, lemongrass, and comfrey.

Then I mulched the gardens.

Granny had a great suggestion re the watering problem. The garden is in a great spot for sunshine, but the hose doesn't reach because it's right down the back. Luckily for us, there is an overflow drain for the pool close to the tap that runs out right near the garden. So we put the hose in the drain, and put a watering can at the other end and voila problem solved!

I feel so much better for being outside this afternoon.