Things Spun

Here are some of the yarns I've spun since getting my wheel in July...

Merino/silk, sooooft.

BFL, there's over 200 metres of this one!

Some very tightly Navajo plied merino (all a learning experience!)

Masham still over plied but better than the previous!

This one is superwash merino and is super smooshy, it's also my first Navajo ply that I didn't overply Yay!

Whiskey in the Jar Merino, the colours in this make me feel warm inside!

These ones are fresh off the wheel and sparkle in the sunlight, the fibre was in batts so that was a new spinning experience for me.

I'm looking forward to spinning a lot more in the next year, my goal is to spin enough yarn to knit a garment for myself!

Jen

We Survived Christmas!

Christmas has been much easier for us since we decided not to try to be everywhere in one day! Coen left out some milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer and was thrilled to find them consumed! Lego was the toy of the year, which is brilliant because we all like to play with lego!

Merry Christmas!

Jen

What can you get for $5?

Lots!

This is what $5 can get you from one of my local op shops: 4 metres of fabric, a silk scarf, half slip, short sleeved jacket, 3 knitwit patterns (swimmers, raglan t-shirts and undies!), tights with diamantes still in their pack and a darning mushroom! There were also a couple of matchbox cars, and there was still room for more in my bag - Fill a bag for $5 is one of my favourite sales!

Jen

Another Christmas Party!

This time it was my work party at Funfields, which has changed a bit since I was there last. I remember basically a toboggan in a paddock and that was about it! We all had a go on the toboggan and I got in trouble for making the pirate ship ride more fun, but I think the most fun was had on the go carts. The severely speed limited, backfiring, stinky little vehicles were a blast!

Coen thinks that his uncle Tim is super cool!

That made passing him in a race very exciting!

Tim and Beck were very brave and had Coen for a sleepover the night before the party! During the party they learned that playing mini golf with Coen can be a bit tricky!

It's nice to see Santa in climate appropriate footwear!

Jen

The Plan

This is The Plan: Darron and I will not buy any new clothes for ourselves in 2010!

The Rules:

• All clothing and accessories must be hand made by me, bought second hand from a charitable organisation, or borrowed/stolen from the wardrobes of friends and family. This includes, hats, bags and coats as well.
  
• The exceptions to the above rule are: underwear, namely bras because once you get over a certain size they're less a garment and more industrial scaffolding; tights/stockings because I can't make them and the thought of second hand tights is just a little off.
• Shoes will only be replaced if they are broken beyond repair (little bit of a loop hole there).
• Essential athletic equipment (running shoes and socks) are an exception for Darron as he needs them for the miles and miles he runs!

This is going to be a challenge!

Jen

I'm probably going to regret saying this

but I'll do it anyway... I don't need to buy new clothes.

I have the skills and knowledge to make my own, I have had great success finding 2nd hand bargains at the op shops (including heaps of fabric for a dollar a metre!) and there are far more important things to be bought with the money!


So in an effort to stop emotional spending of the "All my clothes make me look huge, new jeans will make me feel better" variety, I have a plan. It will save us some money, and challenge me to be clever and creative and think about what I really need rather than what I want want want!

Lots of people are doing it. I've been reading blogs and articles about it for a while now, thinking "yeah, I could do that" and then proceeding to not do it!

In 2010 I will not buy any new clothes!

Details of The Plan coming soon!

Jen

Girls

Bumper cars and egg fights! These girls know how to have fun!

Jen

PS - Dear Dayle, please stop growing up so fast, you're making me feel a little bit old xx

Coen is a Thrill Seeker!

This time last year we would have struggled to get Coen on any ride with a bit of speed or bounce.

At the Maryvale Christmas party he rode everything he was big enough to get on!

He loved the bungy trampoline, rode horses and a donkey, had a go on the 'dodgy cars',

ran a race, rode the rollercoaster, quad bikes and kiddy rides and went down the giant bouncy slide! I can't wait til he's big enough for theme park rides!

Jen

Oh Christmas Tree...

Oh Christmas tree, something something something something!

Does anyone actually know the rest of the words to that Christmas tree carol?

Anyway, ours is up!

Let the silly season commence!

Writing

For a few weeks now Coen has only drawn one kind of animal. If anyone would like a picture of an octopus let me know, he'll draw you one in your favourite colour! To encourage a bit of variety I had a go at showing him how to write his name. He picked it up very quickly!

Jen

Unsuccessful Christmas Shopping

The new DFO at South Wharf is super! We went to check it out and get some tops for Dags for summer and some Christmas presents for the 5 thousand children we're buying for this year. Seriously people, this breeding is getting out of hand!

In the new DFO there is a Mimco outlet. Usually Mimco is way out of my price range, light years out of my price range, and to be honest most of the stuff in the outlet was still a bit pricey. However the wallets were really quite reasonable, and coincidentally I was in need of a new wallet, purse, anything that didn't pop open at inconvenient moments and spill my cash out onto the foot path! There was one in particular that caught my eye. I love it!


Incidentally, we didn't end up doing any Christmas shopping. I'm usually done by November, but this year I keep getting distracted by shiny pretty things!

Jen

A Taste of Things to Come

We're finally starting to get something edible from our little veggie patch! We've been flush with broccolini for a week now and this morning while we were watering, Coen and I noticed that some of our snow peas are ready!

Our little 4 square patch has been an education! We lost half our sweet corn to frost when they were tiny, but the rest (up the back) is getting tall fast! It looked like we lost our eggplants too, but I fed the little sticks and kept watering them and now they've sprouted leaves again, I hope they make it, I love eggplant! I need to spread out the leeks a bit more, I noticed that mum's had more space and were much bigger and they came from the same seedlings (a little bit of garden envy!). We've also got onions on the go and lots of different coloured capsicums which would be doing better if Riley would stop running over them.

Tonight's stir fry!

Jen

A Different Way of Looking at Things

One of the great things about travelling is that you always have your camera handy to snap every pretty thing you see.

One of my favourite things about having the camera handy is that it changes the way I look at things.

I look at things more closely,

and from a different angle,

and notice things that I would not have otherwise seen.

Jen

To What?

Livestock... the wind... imaginary vehicles travelling on an imaginary road?

Adventures in Tasmania

I am a super slack blogger! Rather than a catch up, lets just go with most recent happenings and I'll try to be a better blogger from now on... I promise...

Tasmania. We just got back from a wonderful week in Tasmania. I was a little worried about how Coen would behave while we were waiting in airports and flying in planes. I really didn't want him to be one of those annoying shouting, whingeing, horror kids because that has a tendency to turn me into one of those horrid shrieking, nagging mothers. It turns out my fears were unfounded. Aside from a couple of fatigue induced whinges he was wonderful!

He managed to keep himself (and us) entertained!

We stayed just outside Launceston in a great little unit.
On our first day we checked out the museum. Free, and awesome! Coen did some scientific experiments on viscosity and we played with the whisper dishes.

They had a fantastic dinosaur exhibit!


At Tasmania Zoo they have goats, bowls of goats


with freaky robot goat eyes that try to get through the fence to steal your soul!!! I have goat issues alright.

Of course they also have the all important and exceptionally cute devils.



We went on a cruise up the gorge, some of the houses perched on the hillside are just stunning!


We rode the chairlift over the First Basin,


then we walked back down again, stopping on the way to chat to a skink.



We took a drive in the hills and visited Tasmazia...

Turns out Coen's not the king.


Across the road form our unit we noticed there was a big old house. It turned out to be Entally House which was built by Thomas Reiby. Grab a $20 note, that's Thomas' mum Mary, a horse thief and convict turned shipping magnate.


The house and grounds are beautiful, I could have spent hours wandering around.



At Beauty Point there is a place called Platypus House. If you're ever in the area, go there!


You can get up really close to the platypuses, see them frolicking and eating giant worms and yabbies!

You can get even closer to the echidnas,


close enough to get echidna spit on your chucks!

Everywhere we went Coen managed to pick up another toy animal. Here he is with one day's haul!
We had a wonderful trip, ate way too much, came home and went straight to the gym!

Jen