Preparing

We got our first ever load of firewood delivered today. It wasn't cold, but we had to see how it worked. 

I wonder how long L11's enchantment with fire will last.

Good Holiday Things

P8 has such perfect hair to play with. She doesn't let me do it much though, but today I did wheedle my way into having a go at my first fishtail plait. I'm in love with it. 

and my second go (in daylight it's a gold fishtail) was less wonky:

While L11 was busy we went to a cafe together and took silly pics of each other:

and although I've blogged it too many times, the sourdough improvement is so amazing I have to document it. Today's was the best yet I think.

Sitting

Parenting can be a repetitive chore. I wonder how many times I've told L11 to put his feet on the floor while we eat. Yet still, this is his default position.

Just like my very own personal gargoyle.

More Bread

I hereby promise myself that I'll make more of an effort with my blogging pics. But for now, the most pic-worthy thing in this whole lovely lazy Sunday, is my

latest sourdough effort. 

Starter is looking good and surviving hanging out in the fridge every other day.  Rising is getting good. Taste is getting good. Aesthetics are even on the up. This one I glazed with one of our chook eggs. 

Loving giving my children real bread with no mysterious junk in it.

Exploring

Checking out our new locale.

Anzac Day

P8 and I bottling our first attempt at ginger beer.

Asleep

It's pretty sneaky to take a pic of your child asleep eh? But if you look up, you'll see the real focus of this picture. We love the skylights, but we're just not early morning people. Not that early anyway. 

Enter blinds. Hurrah. I was planning on rigging up some dodgy sewing, but what do you know? Velux sell blinds you can retro fit. In fact, I can retro fit. They arrived today and I managed to get both installed this afternoon, despite some freaky pictorial instructions.

Looking forward to the sleep in tomorrow.

Lego Day

Went to see the Lego Movie and now P8 is singing Everything Is Awesome until it's driving us all insane.

Afterwards, there was lego. Unsurprisingly.

Homemade Sourdough

I think I cracked it. 

It was a kneading issue, not a starter problem. My kitchenaid came to the rescue.

Easter

Easter surprise from the chickens - the second one started to lay today, and the first one laid this whopper for us:

 Yep, it was a double yolker:

 Happy Easter!

Catching Up

I'm getting much slacker on blogging I know, but yesterday I really had a good excuse. We had Miss M over in order for her Big Surprise - a trip home that Aunty Iz knew nothing of. I couldn't blog in case I gave the game away. Here we are having an early Easter chocolate brekkie. Miss M spoiled L&P.

And it's a bad phone pic, but had to be blogged for posterity - dropping her off at the airport. That is one excited girl.

We'd spent a very domestic day, and made our own hot cross buns. We have crosses for Jesus, noughts for the atheists (plus it is great for tic tac toe) and P8 insisted on making a couple of stars, which I imagine are for the wiccans. All inclusive easter around here. 

While I was searching for the airport pic I found two reasonable pics of me on my phone. Unheard of! Quick, I have to blog them immediately. Selfie with skulls:

 Selfie with offspring:

Lovely Ladies

I think I forgot to blog these lovely ladies. . . 

Mental Health Day

We got our flu jabs, so it was physical health day too. 

Growing Stuff

Despite a promising start, my sourdough starter is nothing to write home about at the moment, and I sank my kombucha scoby when I was trying to check its readiness, but the ginger beer bug - now that looks reasonably healthy. Five days old and we had some bubbles on top this afternoon. I'm hoping that's good. 

 And what would that be behind it? A new blackboard wall. A kitchen really needs a blackboard wall.

There's lots of other painting and painting plans going on around here, but that will have to save for another day. 

Another Knitter?

P8 asked me if I'd teach her to knit today. She's asked to learn before, but got bored pretty quickly. This time she seems determined to knit a scarf for one of her toys. 

I think she's doing an amazing job for her first proper knitting.

 (There's been painting going on too - hence the purple leg.)

Sunday Morning Bed Hair

Angry Red Pepper

 Not good. Geeky Husband made curries, and five minutes before the jocular poker boys arrived he managed to spill the yoghurt like this:

Good. Chickens are all good. One of them even lays.

Not Invisible Today

I actually remembered to take a pic of a day with My Invisible Friend! Spent a lovely day sewing:

and despite some weird thread issue on my new machine (which she very impressively didn't even swear about) she completed this awesome quilt top from old t-shirts:

I made a cage tidy for Bobbity Bob from a $1.50 remnant.

We're not only crafty, we're frugal too it seems.

Making and Doing

Contrary to (what seems to be) popular belief, you can have too many white walls in a house. There was something cold about our lounge, and it's looking much happier now one wall is painted Tangaroa. It's a rocking colour. 

 Despite the strong beginning of my homemade sourdough starter, and the fabulousness of the sponge this morning, I had run out of the good flour and used some old crappy stuff, and completely botched it. The loaf didn't rise at all, which is why it looks like a warty toad. Rather than throw it, I decided to bake it anyway, and while there is huuuuuge room for improvement, it does taste sourdoughy, and is quite bready in there. The next one will be a charm I'm sure.

I also started my first kombucha brew today after a scoby (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts) arrived in the mail. I'm thinking it probably won't cure baldness or save the world as is pretty much claimed if you google it, but it tastes good, and I hope will make a good treaty drink that we can all share.

The material and string isn't because I'm being all homesteady and precious, but because I didn't have a chux cloth or a rubber band anywhere.

Lowering The Tone

Today the poo man came to educate me. Okay, he's the clearwater system servicer, but I'm a little childish. I can't not think of him as the poo man. He was awesome, and I learnt a lot. Most terrifying, that I can no longer put hair dye down the drain. We agreed that was a problem to be solved, given the greying the poo man noted on my head. 

I took a picture, because I knew the boys in my family would want to see. I'm sure you do too, but I'll restrain myself from all the explanations. It's not as technical as us townies would like to imagine. There was lots of talk of 'liquor', but sadly not the good sort.

And some happy chickens, to raise the country tone again.

Noooooo!

Do you think husbands sometimes do stuff like this just so they don't have to do the dishes?

Yes, that would be the stonkingly fancy lid of my birthday-present-frying-pan just there.

Whack It With A Stick

seems to be the latest game around here. 

I'm so down with that.

Volunteering

L11 and Geeky Husband signed up as volunteers for the local fundraising run. We're not really runners, but pointing the way - that we can do. Turns out that to drop people off and collect them, they had to be driven all through the forest with the Red Cross and Search and Rescue peeps. Some of the time they were in a big old four wheel drive off road thing through the rough. Needless to say, they had a blast.

Hanging Out With New Friends

Excitement

 As we walked home we came across a hugely exciting vision - someone was releasing water from a hydrant a few houses up. Since we are getting used to tank water and viewing water as a precious commodity, we were keen not to let it go to waste. Yes, we began to scavenge for our dry old garden.

There was much splashing, dam building and frivolity. A neighbourhood child even walked past in togs.

 And a chicken pic to finish. These girls are getting more friendly by the day.