Success!



I have successfully made yoghurt!!! wooooo!! Ok so i wasn't putting enough water in the canister but i finally got it figured out and made some delish strawberry yoghurt.


I've also redecorated my lame-o kitchen. New curtains and decor. I found that awesome green vase for $9 at Lifeline. It was MADE for my kitchen.

Before -

After -

Still not quite finished. I need to put this pic in a frame and hang it up above the power plugs there on the left.

Feeling Crafty

I'm not sure if it's motivated by wanting to save money or just sheer boredom. The first thing i decided to do was make my own baby wipes. Instead of paying almost $5 for 80 wipes i get 180 wipes for just over $5. I searched for a recipe that i already had the ingredients for. No use making my own wipes to save money if i have to go and buy a heap of stuff that i don't usually buy, right? I found this recipe - http://www.essortment.com/all/howtohomemade_rhjg.htm and it's perfect! I added lavender oil and tea tree oil. I read somewhere that tea tree oil helps then keep longer. Who knows really? I just know that it smells good. So i had all the ingredients except for the paper towel. I found Viva paper towel for $3.49 for a 2 pack (120 'wipes') You need a good strong paper towel that won't fall apart once it's wet. I had an old Huggies wipe container which i reused. I unrolled the towel and refolded it back in the container. This takes some time and effort but worth it imo. I also experimented with a cylinder container i bought for $4. Both ways work really well.

Yesterday when i was at church i used some store bought wipes. I didn't like them! I prefer my own wipes. So much nicer. The store ones suddenly felt slimmey and didn't seem to clean as well. I'm sticking to my own from now on.

My next project involved a lamp. I am revamping my bedroom. I wanted it to be more inviting. I got new curtains, new bedding and de-cluttered the room. I needed a new lamp. I went to Target but nothing jumped out at me and said 'buy me'. Then i was cleaning up Lachlan's room and came across an old lamp from when i was a kid.

It's shade was long gone but it stilled worked. I thought maybe i could do something with it. Only problem is that is was pink. Very PINK. And it had no shade. I then happened upon a cane basket at the op shop. PERFECT for the lamp shade. It was $1.

I painted it in a reddish-brown shade and spray painted the pink bottom black. I think it's now perfect for my room!

The rest of my house is going to get a makeover because it's horrible. I need cute lamps for my boys rooms. And my kitchen needs a complete makeover. So stay tuned for that. :)

Also on the 'crunchy' side of things, my mum gave me a Easyio Yoghurt maker. The only thing i've successed in making is sour milk. I've tried it twice and still - curdled sour milk. I'll give it one more go before declaring yoghurt just one of those things i cannot make.

Just a catch up...

Just thought i'd catch up whats been going on lately. I have been fairly slack with my blogging.

First up - i have allergies. Sucks. Last year i had 'hay fever' for the whole spring and summer. First time in my life i've ever had allergies! This year, same thing. Except now i've got itchy, gritty eyes aswell as the itchy throat, sneezing and runny nose. Joy. It's like having a cold for 6mths. Graham has it too. So we are both not feeling the best. Tomorrow i'm going to buy some Claritin and drug myself up.

It's been school holidays. We went to Brisbane for the first week. A dust storm blew through while we were there. It was pretty cool...until we came home and discovered i'd left some windows open. There was fine layer of dust over the kitchen and our bedroom...oh and my exercise bike. We had another dust storm a few days later but it wasn't as bad. Yesterday was dusty too. All the dust sure isn't helping with the allergies either! So it was school holidays, we went to my nieces Nija Turtle Birthday party. That was fun. Then we went to Natural Bridge. Unfortunately we didn't see any glow worms. We also when to the Koala place...can't remember the name of it...saw some Koalas and the kids ran around the bush while my sister and i sat and talked and Graham went off to find geocaches. The weather was nice. Sunny and hottish but nice.
We've also been to the movies and we saw UP. Great movie! I really liked it and so did the kids. I love going to the movies and eating popcorn, lollies, m&ms, drinking fizzy. Fun!
On Saturday just gone we went out to the Oakey Amy Flying Museum. That was cool. There were lots of planes and helicopters on display. The boys got to go in one. It was dusty and HOT but good.
Tomorrow we are going on the bus into the city. The boys love the bus so we are going in. I'm sure we'll have to go to Target and then there will be much wailing and nashing of teeth when I try to leave WITHOUT buying toys.

I've also been trying to lose weight. calorieking.com.au is my friend. LOVE IT! I really hate dieting but it's a must right now. I had 17kgs to lose after having Lachlan. I've lost 1.5kgs. lol But i'm sticking to my calories(mostly ;) ) and exercising 6 days a week. Tomorrow is weigh in day. I'm sort of nervous. I want to have lost another .5-1kg this week. I've only gone over my calories ONE day. Pretty good. for me. I'm an emotional eater and i tend to binge. Not my best quality obviously. I love food. I just need to eat less of it.

Graham got another job. Promotion i guess is a better word. He starts at the beginning of November. His new job is Admin 2IC. cool as.

I have to get my licence by the end of the month because i'll need to take over school duties when Graham starts his new job. I need to practice my manouvers and parking. Lots of lessons coming up!! And plus Ethan starts swimming this term. I'd like to be able to go and supervise. At least to start with. I'm very nervous about my boys and water. Ethan has almost drowned twice. I can't let him out of my sight in a pool again.

Nicholas started talking. About TIME!! He turns 3 on the 12th October. And he can finally speak! He went from saying a few words like mum, dad, juice and blabbering noises to constructing a sentance all in about 2 weeks! It was amazing really.

Lachlan is getting big. He was 7.15kgs at his 4mth weigh in. He's SO cute. SO CUTE!!!! He is almost sitting up by himself. He has started eating food too :) I wasnt going to start him until 6mths but he was grabbing everything and looked interested so i tried him on some pureed potato and he loved it! He's 5mths now. He's a pretty good sleeper too. Doesn't seem to be getting any teeth just yet.

Will post some pics tomorrow....i better get my boys to bed!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

So i decided to do some sewing. I didn't think there was actually anything that i wanted to make for myself. I found a tutorial for a very cute Very Hungry Caterpillar. So i had to make 2. One for Ethan and one for Nicholas. Aren't they cute?! Ok so mine don't look exactly like they should..but the boys LOVE them and that's all that counts. :)