Vegetable Garden Update

Well I have been spending just a little bit of time every weekend looking after my new vegetable garden. I have propagated everything bar the blueberries from seeds and although there does not look like a lot of progress I am pretty excited about things to come from this area of the house.

The blueberry bushes are chock full of baby berries, I have three types of tomato, two types of capsicums, carrots, baby peas, beans and zucchini, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, spaghetti squash, 2 types of lettuce and asparagus.

I have also started cultivating some herbs too just to keep things in the kitchen interesting, Spearmint, Coriander  Chives, Basil, Rosemary and Thyme and I'm so excited to get things started.

I am also trying to go organic means a peaceful drowning in beer for my little snails and a lovely mix of soil to keep everyone happy.

Its only the beginning of the wonderful new adventure but I have to say .... its a pretty exciting one. Every day I see something sprouting and cant wait till the whole place is helping to save us money on buying our produce.

The Grass Is Always Greener ....

That's right, the grass is always greener when its artificial. 

Ha ha ha, Oh yes I realise I have a weird sense of humour bit that's funny right?

So I am extremely pleased to announce we are now the proud owners of a patch of green.

We have replaced the extremely fashionable carpet for synthetic turf!

A very exciting moment for us because we have been living with the dogs dragging sand inside for what feels like forever.

It doesn't look real but it does look nice ... It's soft underfoot and easy. No watering, no mowing, no weeding and no stressing when it doesn't grow in patches.

Overall its perfect for our lifestyle, still a little bit hesitant about dealing with the dogs on it, will the pull it up, how will it stand up to 2 little terrors wee'ing and poo'ing all over it. Apparently you just add more pegs where they are pulling and hose it down once a week.

Will this be enough .... we shall see. Was it worth it ... I think so!

Apparently It Runs In Threes .....

Obviously I have been MIA for quite a while now and people have been asking "Where Are You"

In response I have been so very busy and stressed and emotional I decided to take a bit of a break and just work on getting my head back in the right space.

You see it has been a fairly traumatic August. Starting right after my holiday post with Tilly the Terror eating my dining chairs. Oh yes, the chairs I obsessed over for months finally went under my dining table and almost the next day she systematically ate every single bit of trim off all 8 chairs. A few weeks later she discovered she can jump directly onto the dining table and proceeded to spread a kilo bag of icing sugar liberally around the house just in case we wanted any when we arrived home.

If that wasn't bad enough a week later I lost my wedding and engagement rings. Police Reports, Ads in Newspapers and plastering it over Facebook and I have since come to the sad realisation that they are gone for good. Its surprising how much emotion and love those rings actually contain and I will admit to mourning the loss for a good week or so before eventually contacting the insurance company and trying to deal with the whole valuation / replacement process.

Finally two weeks ago my darling if slightly stupid husband hurt his back during an ice hockey game, instead of being a reasonable human being he kept playing and eventually got hit again causing all sorts of stress and drama. The loss of feeling in one leg for a week, not able to stand for more than 5 minutes and he is still not able to sit. Hours in Dr's surgeries, MRI's, Stacks of drugs, more ice cream in one month than I have ever eaten in my life and a whole series of episodes where I break down into tears in the kitchen because I just can't cope and I'm starting to see just a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.

Amongst this there have been some great moments, a holiday booked from bed, a vegetable garden started, synthetic turf has been laid and an amazing new candy buffet. Overall I have so much to tell you and I have to say, its so nice to be back.

Stay tuned for an update.

XOX - Miss V

Holiday Withdrawals

It has been nearly 8 months since our last holiday and lets be honest .... im going through some serious withdrawals right now. 

So holidays bookings are back on the horizon even if only a teeny tiny baby holiday and I'm thinking tropical, relaxing and even a little bit romantic!

What do you think?

My Truth About .... Love

Let me start this post by saying I'm not a young starry eyed teenager who still equates love to the earth shattering, passion filled Romeo and Juliet, Titanic ect style tragedies.

Because of our lifestyle I'm a fairly independent type of a girl. I spend large chunks of time alone and instead of pining and counting down the hours until he comes home I try to live my life to the fullest I can and him coming home was a highlight instead of the be all and end all.

Now this has worked fairly well, until recently. If you told me 5 years ago, before I got married it was only going to get better I wouldn't believe you. I mean, in my head everything loses its shine, and that's not saying its all going to go downhill but it will settle and become comfortable. Instead, what I have found I is that I have fallen even more in love with my husband now than I think I have ever been before. My feelings towards him seem to get stronger every time he gets in the car to go to the airport and when he comes home its as though I can finally breath again.

I also need to stress that I am certainly not a romantic so for me this is not only a bit surreal but a little bit scary. He makes me happy, he keeps me happy and when hes not around im just that little bit less happy than I was. Is it bad that I rely on him so much? Is it scary that he can change my mood just be being or not being around?

I do realise how very lucky I am to have him, he is to me, absolutely perfect (well not perfect, he still can't hang washing out correctly)  .... and here comes another cliche ... he makes me a better person, a happier person, my life is fuller because of him. Even though our lifestyle is difficult, I wouldn't change a thing. 

The butterflies as I wait at the arrivals gate and the feeling of joy when I first see him is something to be so so thankful for and I am, because without him life wouldn't be quite so bright and I wouldn't smile quite so much without him.

So there you have it, a revelation for me when it comes to my version of love. Just like a good wine it seems to just get better with age, stronger and more potent. I just have to cross my fingers and pray that neither one of us lets go of that bottle.

The Book Unpacking Begins

It was three and a half years ago that I packed my books into boxes and haven't seen them since.

Its silly something so small can be such a big loss but wandering around my bookshelves, reading the titles and remembering the stories gave me such joy, I didn't realise until now when I unpack them what I have been missing.

Each book is a small bit of pleasure, a place, a history or a piece of someone's imagination that I get to keep, take out and re-imagine whenever I want.

The problem is books are not pretty, they are not all colour coordinated, they are books so while the book loves eyes light up whenever I see them I have to say, the designer in me wants to arrange them into colour coordinated groups which really is ridiculous.

So im going to let them sit, to settle and hopefully learn to live with the crazy differing sizes, shapes and font that make up my library.

Dual Fabric Chairs

So everyone knows I have a little bit of a crush on a good accent chair. 

What you may not realise is that im seriously digging the new trend of dual fabric chairs.

Its great when an all over pattern would look just that little bit too much but you are dying to use it anyway!

So here are a few I have found, some I love, some not so much but the idea is great. I just cant wait till I'm finally ready to put it all together!

.... and then Someone Helps Make It Better.

So while I still think that everything sucks today one good deed helps make everything suck just that little bit less.

A coffee on the house by my local coffee shop almost brought tears to my eye.

Sometimes its the little things you do that can make a big difference to someone.

The Reality Of Life .....

Every so often I like to do one of these dark depressing posts about how on occasion life just sucks.

The funny thing about this one is that on Sunday I was on a high, you see I had managed to avoid a very nasty hangover, I cooked 2 different healthy soups, found an amazing new fresh fruit and veg shop, organised my fridge and managed to sort out my dining room so the chairs can finally go under the table, did six loads of washing, hosed down and cleaned up outside and cleaned all the inside floors till everything shone with clean.

 

I had a great weekend and felt great about my house and just overall how things were. I finally felt on top of life and on top of everything. Its a good feeling to know you have control over things.

Obviously this feeling didn't last more than two seconds because .... lets be honest .... life just sucks sometimes.

Coming home last night I find darling little Tilly has disemboweled yet another toy and the stuffing was spread from one end of the house to the other. Further to this, they had managed to pull up the carpet which we are using outside to keep down the sand and dig a huge hole dragging sand throughout the house. 

Finally Tilly does 2 inside poo's and a wee meaning she was banished downstairs for the night and made such a racket i don't think I got to sleep until well at 2am!

So lets be honest about the reality of my life. There is nothing clean, organised or on track in my life at the moment. Its just one disaster running into another and if there is just one moment of great organisation its purely to trick me into relaxing my guard before it snaps down like a mouse trap and proves that I am fallible and tend to fall 99% of the time. I Haven't got it together, I don't know how I could ever consider adding kids into the equation because to be honest i don't think I can cope on my own.

The reality is - Life is one big crazy mess and the aim shouldn't be to wrangle it, to control it and try and make it work for you, no no no, the reality of life is you should be congratulated just for coming out the other side of each and every day without going totally insane!

Vegetable Garden Planning

Hundreds of years ago people vegetables were one of the most important parts of a household. People would rely on these to eat and because of this the planning and execution of these would be all about the details. 

 

Now it is tempting to just dump a set of seeds in the ground and hope for the best but for long term vegetable gardens you are hoping to rely heavily on year round I do think a bit of planning is required.

 

So ... the soil is sorted, a lovely mix of nutrient enriched vegetable garden specific soil and horse poo. That's right, the natural soil conditioner. Even better the garden has a water source, we keep the pipes above ground so we can control where and how much water each section of the garden is getting. Its wet and happy and just waiting for its green dressing.

So the planning begins and while I'm slightly intimidated with exactly HOW I should plan the garden I'm determined to get there slowly ... to make long term decisions and get the most out of this exciting space!

Garden Progress ....

Its amazing how quickly a yard comes together, one minute its one giant sand pit and then the next we finally start getting a bit of potential.

We have a structure, we have finalised out levels and are now working towards grass..... ok perhaps not real grass but a nice version of artificial turf. That will be sorted next trip but for now we had to find a way to hold back the mounds of dirt that separate us and our neighbours block. The answer was rough treated railway sleepers. They are textural, they have character and the colour looks amazing with green.

So now are nearly there, well not even close but we are one step closer to a non sandy backyard.

Obviously with all our weekend work neither hubby or I can move without wincing but hey .... just look - it was worth it!

Just so you can see how far we have come ... the before picture!

Storm Damage

So I have been MIA for the last few days and the main reason is .... storm damage.

Nothing so common as lifted roof sheets for us .... oh no, the damage to our property was much more insidious. The fence we really don't want to deal with is trying to fall down.

Major cracks appeared in the ground holding it up, sever leaning and ominous cracking mean we have spent the last few days digging it out and reinforcing it so that it doesn't fall down before we are ready to deal with it.

Not to much writing today, my hands and arms are dying but a few pics to keep you going.

New Purchase - Black Lacquer Chinoiserie Side Table

That's right, Miss V has been shopping yet again and this time she is actually jumping up and down with excitement.

Why .... because she found the most AMAZING side table ever. Think black lacquer, think beautiful detail, think hidden compartments and finally think lions feet!!!

Such a cool piece and I'm desperate to find out details. Only I can't seem to find anything on-line.

However .... slowly slowly, I will discover it secrets but for now, I'm just happy to admire it!

Blue and White Candy Buffet ....

I have a booking this weekend for a lovely woman for her son. Its his 1st birthday / Christening and I am pretty excited about this one.

Designing for kids is great fun! Designing something sweet and beautiful gives you so many opportunities to be creative.

Bring on Saturday .... 

Garden Dreaming ....

So the garden plans continue and it seems to be a lot of backward and forward - planning levels of garden beds, trees and even the ground levels seems to go around and around in circles. 

Hubby and I negotiate, we talk, discuss and then argue our point if necessary. Deciding on a particular species of tree or plant in the garden centre was almost humorous with both trying to sell their favourites to the others with no success.

Now during all this we are mindful that the block is small - the gardens are tiny and every decision we make is vital. I sometimes imagine it would be both easier and harder to have more space. 

Would we still agonise over the smallest detail or would we be a bit free'er with our design? 

These gardens certainly give the impression they just sprung up without might thought? This is a future dream perhaps .... a far distant future dream!

Vegetable Gardens ARE Scary!

That's right, I'm putting it out there, the whole idea of having a vegetable garden is scary as hell. 

Firstly, it makes you environmentally responsible which is a great thing. Your feel empowered and able to do your bit, your going to save yourself money on food shopping and what you eat will be fresh and preservative free. You will be a healthier person, you will be looking after the environment .... everything is good.

And then you look at the space, the big blank canvas .... the area looks daunting, what if it doesn't work, what if its too much work, how can I look after a space this big ... hell I don't even know what to grow.

So yes, right now I'm not feeling empowered I'm feeling scared, such a big space, such a lot of responsibility to get it right. 

I might go buy a book but even that's going to confuse me .... I need a plan, I need a way forward and I need whole lot of courage!

Garden Design Begins ....

This trip with Hubby home we seem to be on fire when it comes to getting things done.

Our latest work .... the gardens begin.  That's right, 3 trailer loads of bad soil removed, 2 trailer loads of good soil in so far and we have a few plants to start with.

Our inspiration comes from the picture below - a soft yet formal garden in vibrant colours and lots of texture.

What do you think so far .... do you see the potential we do?

Ikea Hack ... Billy Bookcase turns Library

So last update on the Library was us painting .... oh the joys of painting.

This weekend we finished the bookcase and boy are we happy.

We started with placing and spacing all the units - Starting at the wall we worked our way outwards we with temporary spacers being screwed into place to keep things accurate.

Next we plaster boarded up the end - necessary because we needed a moulding on the edge and the bookcase was to thin itself to hold onto it.

Skirting was then fitted with the bookcases being raised so that the skirting ends where the bottom shelf begins.

The hard part was the top moulding with us needing to have the perfect join at the corner.

Finally the front moulding panels, we went with something fairly bulky and plain to counteract the ornate skirting and top moulding.

Overall we are nearly done, a bot of no more gaps, putty and repainting and it will be all book ready but for now I cant say how proud we are of how it has turned out!