i see condemned tree, my children see . . .

Greetings all,
Today we headed down to the Kingston Foreshore on Lake Burley Griffen, thinking it would be 'done up' by now (it wasn't) but i parked & let the children run free ahead of me.  I saw this condemned tree, must have fallen due to the endless rain, landing over the storm water canal.  I knew what would happen next . . .

 like they were in a trance, being pulled by the lure of the Bridge to Terabithia & adventure.

 Great way to work off the muffins, cup cakes & macarons we had just bought at Old Bus Depot Markets. 

 I wish we had a climbing tree at home, we have a sad solo stick tree, it's pathetic.

 Shoes were kicked off . . . climbing high & far out of sight, eaten up by the branches.

 Like this shot, carrying her ballet flats like her life depends on it!!  I love listening to their games & imaginations going wild.  Twigs were broken off & made into wands, spells were cast & they had a ball. 

 Tee hee, always a sister lurking behind your back!!

 See, look closely, behind the orange Tshirt on the right!!

 How amazing is this bark??  Stunning, but it's has rubbed off all over their new jeans!!

 Yes, that is a child about to fall on the right.

 Here is one landing & laughing it off!! 

People often tell me that their children can't/ won't climb trees.  I don't understand.  When we lived in Darwin we inherited 3 neighbourhood trampolines (neighbours moved or upgraded) & my 4 children, aged 8 & under, positioned the trampolines so they could leap out of the Jacaranda & Palm trees - landing on a one, then bounce to the next.  No broken bones people, sometimes you have to trust their ability & judgement.

 Oh delicious, lavender & honey macaron, mmmm. 

Such a lovely day out, free park fun in glorious weather!!  Home to gobble down our market olives & ride bikes, then we munched on the most delicious wholemeal sour dough bread with soup for dinner.  I bought some pizza bases from the market too, for lunch tomorrow (not quite up to making my own dough yet) as it's a public holiday - Canberra Day, partying like we're 99.  Love Posie

Spring cleaning in Winter

Greetings all,

Hands up who does the psycho clean in the school holidays??  Not sure why i wait until the break & always kick myself that anything gets out of control, but each quarter i do a traditional Spring clean. 

On Sunday it was the pantry & under the sink which were my target areas.  While i was doing the pantry, i rediscovered my beautiful Nigella Lawson mixing bowls . . . why don't i use them daily?? 

Of course when you have a big cleaning job ahead, you need at least one distraction/ procrastination . . . da dah, i'll make those DIY Donna Hay Macarons/ Macaroons - whatever you want to call them, they are easy & delicious. 

 I was fine with the macaron part but i'm well known for burning chocolate so i tasked my husband to make the chocolate ganache filling.  Look what he left me, ahhhh . . .

 Yes, he's home & he cleaned the stove!!  Soldiers get an A+ for scrubbing, cleaning & polishing shiney things.  The macarons were delicious, i quickly took these snaps (poorly) before calling the children.  I think i'll give Donna's from-scratch recipe a go, i can bake a mean meringue & pavlova, macarons are nothing to be scared of.

 Now with a belly filled with sugary delight, i tackled the pantry.  I'm talking . . . disinfect every single Tupperware lid . . . sort all those things i never use to the very top (frying pans, coffee plunger, hand mixer) & sigh, the Nigella glass dome cake stand to the bottom . . . i may or may not have lit a fresh smelling candle in there afterwards??

 There was a heated discussion on tossing all baby-related Tupperware.  Handsome soldier actually said these words "can we hand it down to Posh Spice" - the fact he even knows who Victoria Beckham is was surprising & he was simply using the fact he just found out she was pregnant, 9 months buddy (& i'm pretty sure i made a fuss about how fabulous she looked at the Royal Wedding!!)  Ok, we did toss the chewn baby sippy cup lids & all the drink bottles from under the sink & a few old tea towels + broken containers = 2 garbage bags.  I have such a strict policy on junk not coming into the house, what/ how/ why/ when 16+ extra drink bottles (those free ones you get from your bank/ health insurance/ fairs)??  Argh!!

We did have a superior conversation about our new home - only using homemade cleaning products as the way to go.  Why not, with 4 tweens/ teenagers & their enthusiastic, healthy attitude to helping around the house, it's just a no brainer punishment chore.  As i made my own baby wipes, when i had babies to wipe, i never knew the cleaning power the commercial ones had.  We use them at Shop Handmade, they are magic, i forgot i even bought a packet earlier this year, but used a couple on the weekend, pretty handy for dirty-finger-mark-removal-on-walls.
Any green cleaning secrets??  Do you wait for a break to psycho clean too??  Love Posie  

things i'm loving 'snow day' & i'm grateful for 'love'

Greetings all,

Oh finally, it's school holidays for Canberra!!  To celebrate the last day of term, my 3 primary schoolers were invited to dress for Snow Day & dress for snow they did!!

Check out the beautiful weather, it was still -1C when we dropped them at school (yes WE, my husband flew in 30 hours early, yesterday afternoon).  He was thrilled to leave warm & sunny Brisbane to arrive just in time for a -6C Canberra night.

 Very Scooby Doo outside in the thick fog.

 I had my leather gloves on & enjoyed the car heating.

 A nice surprise waiting at the post office - my on line orders from my head-cold-shopping - just in time for my husband to see.  As our fabulous post office lady said "you can't exactly hide 3 giant floor cushions & smuggle them into the house like shoes".  I say fabulous as she is equally as excited about my orders of fabric, twine & vintage wax paper stripey straws as i am!!  Ooppss, i ordered 450 straws, my head cold did last a few days, i was delirious & they have been a huge hit with the children.

 Oh why thank you Donna Hay, these DIY brownie & macaron mixes will do nicely as i perch myself on your indulgent floor cushions (FYI cushions reduced from $140 to $69.95 + $9 shipping each now - i've been told we're NOT visiting her General Store when we visit our parents in Sydney) & every order comes with a box of pencils.  I left a little note saying 'if you have any spare pencils, i have 4 big Donna Hay fans who would make good use of them' & da dah, 4 boxes of free pencils were beautifully wrapped up in blue tissue paper with the order.  What a treat!!

 Mmmm . . . for more Things I'm Loving, go visit the lovely Paisley Jade today.
Now to double up this post with I'm Grateful For with Maxabella Loves, as i have one busy weekend (looking at farms, yippee) . . .

 As i mentioned, yay, my husband is home - 2 whole weeks of fun & games with the school holidays.  To celebrate i treated myself to this beautifully embroidered heart by Plushka (hi Katia, gorgeous to see you here in windy, blustery, blizzardy Canberra this week) which will sit nicely with my heart collection (red one by Plushka, linen one by Red Stitch Designs, hi Brenda!!)

 Handsome soldier sent me flowers mid week, i've been pretty run down, exhausted & desperate for some time off the school run & homework judging, what a lovely surprise!!  Oh the joy of sharing the parenting, if only for a couple of weeks. 

What do two lovebirds do after 2 months apart - that's right, turn out the pantry, pull out the fridge & clean behind it + sort out all the bits & pieces which found their way to the top of the fridge.  We were heading to our favourite restaurant Poacher's Pantry for lunch, after a spot of shopping in the city, but handsome soldier felt a bit heady & unwell (no doubt frozen) so we picked up a movie (RED) & enjoyed crusty BBQ chicken & salad rolls, mmmm.  That my friends is how you keep 15 years of marriage alive.  Next we're changing lightglobes!!
Finally back on regular internet speed, yay, blogs here i come.  Love Posie
Thanks for the super encouraging comments on my talk to the high school girls about a career in design . . . they were a mix of nervous & shy, keen & so totally not interested.  I was teamed up with 2 former students who were studying Industrial Design & Engineering, we all had very different angles to discuss from 'the panel'.  They were impressed by different things - famous clients, glossy magazines, published books - each group of girls was completely different.  I did give away surprise prizes to the girls asking the best questions & handed around copies of Handmade Living for them to flick through, something tangible & the teachers loved that too!!