Dyson V6 Absolute Vacuum Review - My new baby

* I was given a Dyson V6 Absolute Cordless Vacuum to Review, but all opinions are my own.

A few weeks ago, our new baby arrived. And by baby, I mean, my new Dyson V6 Absolute Cordless Vacuum. Yes, I might be slightly exaggerating about it being my new baby, but this new appliance has captured my heart...or perhaps just made my days just that bit easier! 

As a Mum of two small children,  it is safe to say that before this new cordless vacuum, our old vacuum pretty much never got put away, except maybe when we had guests coming over. The big lump of a thing sat in the middle of the lounge, because who really can be bothered lugging a heavy vacuum back and forth multiple times a day, to clean up every pile of crumbs. So it became a choice, crumbs everywhere, or the vacuum became  permanent lounge room decor. And so, it had found itself a nice little home, basking in the warm sunlight, streaming through the lounger room windows. And in the middle of the night when we were getting up and down with kids who are waking at all hours of the night, for all manner of thing! Our vacuum laid in wait, planning its attack, the plug always curiously landing underfoot in those dark wee hours, causing under the breath cursing from its victim.. usually me.

But, that has all changed. There is no bulky vacuum looking ugly in the middle of the lounge, tripping up unsuspecting victims. There's no bending and lugging, especially now, with my baby belly getting bigger, the bending and the lugging sure was a pain! And best of all, it really sucks!! I mean, it REALLY, REALLY sucks! The power in this little machine is amazing, it takes the pain out of cleaning up mountains of toddler crumbs, that are constantly accumulating throughout the day. Or helping me zip from room to room for those 'quick vacuum' run arounds before people turn up at the door!

With its 20 minute running time after a charge I can't really do the whole house in one shot (we have a big house) but, lets be honest, I never did that anyway. It comes with two different exchangeable heads, one for hard floors and another the direct-drive cleaner with some serious bristles for carpet. Plus a range of other fun accessories! Our big vacuum doesn't have a beater head, and the amount of dust that the Dyson V6 Absolute sucked up on its maiden voyage through my bedroom made me shudder! The carpets looked amazing afterwards, and obviously a whole lot more dust was sucked out of them! I was recently informed, by my husband, the carpet guy, that many carpet manufacturers won't actually honour any warranties on your carpet if you don't clean it with a vacuum with a beater head!! Good to know, and now I can see why!

Our new baby lives in our pantry, nicely hidden away, with on its wall mounted charger/docking station, it really leaves me with no excuse to have dirty floors. Big crumbs or fine dust this can tackle it so easily.  And it has a HEPA filter to capture allergens and keep the air clean too! Goodbye dustpan and broom!!! 

The Dyson V6 Absolute is also pretty great at cleaning up the worlds most expensive sand (the kinetic kind). I'm so sick of crawling around picking it all up bit by bit! So, I've told them, this is it.. once its gone, its gone!

You can check out all the amazing features and sucking power of the Dyson V6 Absolute HERE! 

All Moved in: sort of!

So moving day has come and gone, and with some help from good friends we got all the big stuff in without much drama at all, it's all the little things that take forever when it comes to packing, part of me just wants to throw everything in the bin! In the midst of it all we have been painting, laying floors, building fences and prepping our old place for its new tenants. In fact, tonight, I've ducked back to the old place to get another car load of stuff and to let you know I'm still here!! But... our new house doesn't have an internet connection yet, and won't for awhile, I've been told I need to wait for the NBN to be ready in our area, so, until then, I'm trying to get by on the oh so slow wifi on my phone. But, really I cannot complain, I can live without internet, after all, I'm in my new house, and I LOVE it and I am so, so grateful!

We're Building A House: The HOME stretch

Proving that I'm working, I was sooo sore after that day! 

We are almost there! I can't believe it has taken me this long to do another house building update! So much for regular posts. So, so much has happened since the last time I shared about our progress (HERE). Tomorrow we are meeting our site foreman, at our house, to go over the final defects list and we get out Certificate of practical completion (or something like that)! Meaning; all the major work is done, and we just need to go over it and list out any defects or anything that needs fixing, which I don't think will be too much because we have gone pretty thoroughly through the house and mentioned any issues to our site supervisor along the way. We then make our final payment to the builder, and get the keys in our hot little hands! And BOOM Homeowners again!

My Favourite Art Prints for Girl's Rooms

I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for Willow's room, there are just so many gorgeous things out there for baby girl's nurseries, it is really so hard to narrow it down. I am such a bad decision maker when it comes to these things, I mull over the options forever! So, seeing I can't have ALL of these, I thought I would share. I am a little obsessed with Scandanavian style and prints for kids, if you can't tell! They have such a keen eye for design!

So these are my favourite art prints for little girl's rooms! And, if you only have boys to worry about, don't fret, the options are just as great, I'll get those to you soon. But until then, feel free to swoon over these! 

Lemon Poster, Darling Clementine / Jessica Nielsen: Soft Green Lemonade / Large Folkloric yellow 

pear poster / In It Together, Ashley Goldberg,  / Omm Design: Be nice to the world. / Laura Blythman, Bunny Love /Little Design Haus, Scanti Flowers / Depeapa Koala Print / Rachel Castle, Tulip 2 Teatowel / Omm Designs, Fur and Glasses

A Whale Inspired Retro Boys Room for Ez

Ez's New Room by yellowdandy

Oh Monday, I love you

I know I'm going against the trend, but I actually love Mondays. But, probably because I don't have work to go to, and we aren't in the school-run stage yet.Monday is our down day, our day at home to rest and recover from generally pretty busy weekends. The kids miss naps, or go to bed late on the weekend, so on Monday they are moving pretty slow.

 So we stay at home, we enjoy the quiet and we just catch up.Often we will watch a movie, go for a walk on the beach or head to a nearby playground for a short play and get some fresh air and then head back home for lunch and the kids nap time. I catch up on the housework that I didn't get time for over the weekend. Or, I just laze about, or write a blog post and feel guilty about not doing housework, but not guilty enough to actually get up and do it.

On Mondays we restore a bit of order, I don't push the kids too hard, they are already exhausted, and exhausted kids can easily turn into disaster.I'm so grateful for these quiet days, when we have nowhere we have to be and we can just move at our own pace. 

Today, we walked down the beach, its hard to beat the sweet salty air and the cool breeze, a baby in the Ergo and a toddler running up and down the sand throwing rocks into the water. Everyone was well behaved it was a little slice of perfection, with days like this, I can deal with the chaos that is to come, I feel a little recharged, inspired and energised. My heart feels full and I reflect on how extremely blessed I am to have these amazing little people in my life. Yep, Mondays are good. I feel sorry for Joel, he's so tired from the weekend too, but he has to go to work, he doesn't get the catch up day. He just has to keep powering on, oh bring on the Christmas break!!

So, how do you recharge for the week?

(and because it is actually Tuesday by the time I got this posted, I'm linking with Jess for #IBOT)

The Best Darn Iron I have ever owned: Review Philips PerfectCare Aqua Steam Iron

I am officially an ironer, I never thought that I would ever be able to say that, but, turns out that one crazy, awesome iron can do that to a person. Its hard to believe I actually like to iron now. I've always liked the look of ironed clothes, but the whole process of getting everything out, waiting for the iron to heat up and tediously trying to free my garments from wrinkles whilst inadvertently putting more wrinkles in it, was just something that I could not motivate myself to do. I was more than happy to look like a wrinkly slob to avoid doing the ironing! Although in the spirit of honesty, I still don't iron Joel's work shirts, because he is skilled in the art of ironing, he loves the new iron too and I'm a firm believer that a man can iron his own shirts!!

Things I miss about Freo

 

It's always strange going back to a place that was once so familiar. Things change, and you feel very disconnected from it. You feel like a stranger in a place that you once felt so at home. It's amazing that it can feel that way in only 6 months.Yesterday we spent the morning in Freo, our old stomping ground, it's been just over 6 months since we moved away. We didn't move far, just an hour south. We drove past our old house, and had a bit of a sticky beak, we noticed the new owners are just as bad at maintaining the front yard as we were! That made us feel a little better. We noticed the council still is terrible at maintaining the verges!

Going back reminded me of all the things that I miss about Fremantle.

I miss all the facilities and programs for kids, like Buster the fun bus, I miss having an almost endless choice of restaurants and cafés, I miss Run Amuk hotdogs and Missy Moos Burgers. I miss meeting my Mums group down on South Beach, I miss our favourite patisserie that was on the street behind our house, I miss the IGA and all their hard to find food selections, I miss the great Drs surgery just across the park, I miss Little Creatures and their awesome frites, I miss having so many great shops so close, I miss walking to the toy library, I miss having grocery stores within walking distance, I miss our friends.

But, I don't miss the crazy people walking in front of our house and having domestic disputes and having to call the police multiple times, I don't miss the busy road, I don't miss the drafts in our old house, I don't miss only having a gas heater in one room, I don't miss having a shared driveway, I don't miss the weekly teenage parties at the hall across the road, I don't miss our neighbors, I don't miss the busyness and the run down places.

I'm glad we made the move, we are more 'country' now, still very much in a built up area but without the atmosphere that Freo has. I still often miss so many things about living in Freo, there is just something about it! It's nice to spend the morning wandering around, even if the weather was fairly average. I would visit more often if it wasn't just a bit of a mission driving a two hour round trip with two small children!

Karen xx

Linking up with Jess for #IBOT

PS. Gooo Dockers!!

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

One Little Drive

One sunny day last December, on a bit of a whim we decided to take a drive. We went to have a look at blocks of land. We didn't really have much of a plan, apart from just to look, to ask some questions and try to understand how the whole building and house and land package process worked.

By the end of the day, to our surprise, we had put an offer on a block.

We were (and still are) so excited.

It is funny how one seemingly small decision, like going for a weekend drive, can catapult your whole life into chaos.

What did we just do? What does this mean? Are we really sure?

From here we went into a mad dash to get the house ready to sell.
Painting, plastering, gardening, cleaning.
We met with builders and spent hours researching house designs, tweaking details and dreaming of things that our old cottage couldn't provide (aahh an ensuite sounds glorious).
We met with multiple realtors and discussed all our options.
Within three weeks of putting our house on the market we had an offer that we were willing to accept.
Another few weeks later and we were packing and moving out of our beloved first home.

All because we went on a drive.

We moved an hour away. To a new community, that we didn't know that well.
We moved in with my parents, to help save some extra money while we build.
Everything has changed so much.
We've been scouring magazines looking for inspiration for flooring, kitchens and bathrooms.
Dreaming big dreams, and then realising the big price tags are a little out of reach.

During this whole time we've been in the process of finalising the house and land contracts. Waiting for the developer, for the land titles, for the final house contract, working things out with our broker, waiting for the unconditional finance approval.

It feels like it has been a long road to get here.

But, on Friday, everything was finalised. Everything was approved.

Soon we will have settlement, we will own a little patch of land again, and we will start the process of building a house that we love, a house that will be our family home for a long time to come.

Its funny how one little drive can change everything. What if we didn't go on that drive? Would we have missed out on the few blocks that were still left? Would we have decided not to sell, and just stay and renovate?

Some days slip by without anything of real significance happening, seemingly just another day.
Others, however turn everything upside down. They cause you to make big decisions. Enable you to turn some of your big dreams into reality.

That day in December will always be a special day for me. We picked out our little plot. Our place where our family will grow up. It felt right, we knew it as soon as we drove through.
This is where we want to be. This is our new home.

Have you had a day recently that caused a chain of events to follow?

Karen xx

This is the house we chose, it was love at first sight for me!

Linking with Jess for #IBOT

I love a little Retro

I tried my hand at making up my first Etsy Treasury yesterday. It is a pity that a lot of this stuff is overseas and I can't get my hands on it. I really do love a little retro in my life and in my house. I need to go out scouting for some more in my local area. For now, I can just look and dream!

Click on the pics to take a closer look!!

New Project: Baby Nursery!!

This is my very, very cluttered office and soon to be baby's room. This is a massive job, as you can see there is a lot of big bulky stuff in here that will need to be sold or moved to another part of the house, and well to be honest, there isn't a lot of room in the rest of the house!
The plus side is that at least it is in the right colour scheme, although I am debating painting the hogsbristle wall (window wall) a nice dark grey. I want to say that I am not really panicking about getting everything ready on time, but that would be a lie. I think about it constantly!







I have been trying to brainstorm about what sort of theme or style I want to go for in this room. I don't want anything too babyish, because he will be a big boy very soon. I don't want it over the top or too cluttered with junk. I am inspired by the ideas of retro furniture and design (except for the cot which obviously needs to be up to Australian safety standards) because our house is a cottage built in 1949 , bold colours, fun and organized! Here are some of the fun things I have found that inspired me, and are helping to guide my ideas about what to do in here:

This is from the gallery at Project Nursery: I think I have that same chest of drawers already! Bonus. What I am really in love with is that amazing retro rocking chair. I would LOVE to find one of those, amazing.
Seeing I am all about Embroidery! This room from DesignDazzle takes my breath away. I actually think I will do this, and I already have recruited a couple of volunteers to help! Would go so well with a retro theme as well!
Project Nursery: Blackboard Paint!! How fun.. kids (and Mums and Dads) can drawn on the walls and then wipe it right off! I love this idea, I am not sure about a whole wall, but it needs to be incorporated somehow!
TEEPEE!!!! I saw this in a magazine a couple of months ago and really thought it was a fantastic idea. I guess it wont be used for a little while so there is no rush, but what a fun D.I.Y project for later on. I can imagine little boys loving their own indoor teepee!
This is another Project Nursery idea. I saw these little dog tails at Ikea a while ago, I always wanted to buy them because I like them so much, but never had anywhere to put them. Then I saw this fabulous idea! I also like wall decals, this is a cute little poem, and something that I can easily make at home on my Cricut Create! Through my hunting these are just some of the ideas I have found, I really cannot wait to get started. Unfortunately I have to clean out all the old stuff first, and that just does not sound appealing...

The Flooring Installers!

This weekend was all about home renovations, seems like that is what every weekend is about anyway, they joys of owning an old house, good thing we love it! It feels so good to see things changing and coming along so nicely, and to be able to dream about the potential. It helps that my husband is really handy, and is a ex- tile installer and knows a whole lot about floor prep.
Our back room, ex back-porch with the newly installed door and window. We are covering up the jarrah floorboards. "Oh the horror" but what you can't tell by pictures is that the floor boards are weathered, there a major gaps and chunks out of them in certain places and they slope.. a lot. So first step before we lay tile is floor prep, and a whole lot of it.

This is only phase one, securing the floor so it doesn't move, which meant putting about a million screws in it. Phase two, was pouring concrete to level out the floor so that when I sit at my soon to be new office/studio that I am not constantly rolling forwards. That was hard work, as you can see, yes I worked too. It was fun, although I don't think I am great at manual labour. The best thing is that next weekend the tile will be down, and this room will look amazing! Then to the paint!