Why I love where I live: Freo

Although we live in Perth, technically, and more specifically we live in Fremantle.
Or Freo as we all lovingly call it. It is pretty laid back, there is an interesting mix of people, and it has some character to it! We like to differentiate Freo from Perth, because they really are two different cities.

The weather on Sunday was perfect, not too hot, not cold at all. The lovely breeze, the Fremantle doctor, as it has been dubbed, because it comes in most afternoons to bring a cool relief to it's residents, was gently blowing.

We decided to head into town , and because I am usually at home with a baby and not to up with what is going on around town, I forgot that it was the Fremantle Festival. What a nice surprise.

My boys!!

This is a sticky tape maze!

Fair Trade Coffee for a $1 donation! (although I think I'm one of the only people in the world that doesn't like coffee)

Street performers

This was my favourite, the street filled with kids and adults alike making massive bubbles.
I don't know why but bubbles always make me smile, maybe they just remind me of great times as a kid.

I spent 7 years living away from "home", I have now been back for just over 4 years.
I love where I live!

What did you get up to this weekend? I hope it was fun and relaxing!

Heart Attack Moment

After having our Solar panels installed a few months ago, Western Power finally came around to change our meter over. About an hour after they left,  I let Angus out the front for a few minutes before I was going to take off for my weekly Mothers group.  I went out the front to get him,  and I couldn't see him. I looked at the gate on the side of our fence, and my heart sunk.

The electricity people had left the gate wide open. I knew then, that I should have checked before letting Angus out, and now he was gone. The yard was dogless.

We live on a fairly busy street, two lanes going each way.

Every terrible scenario ran through my head. He could have gotten hit, or taken, or maybe he's lying hurt somewhere. He wasn't even wearing his collar (but he is micro-chipped). I called Joel in a panic, he said he would be on his way. Ezra was asleep inside so I couldn't venture far. I ran down the footpath, and tried to catch a glance of him at the oval across the road. After no luck, I went inside grabbed Ezra, plopped him in the pram and took off on a frantic search. Empty collar and lead in hand. I was distraught, I needed to find my Angie dog.

I went to walk back into our suburb, but instead I changed directions and decided to head across the road towards the park. As I was waiting at the road to cross, who should I see but Angus, oblivious, running toward the house (but on the other side of the four lane road), he probably got thirsty and decided to come home. Panic. I needed to stop him, or there was a pretty strong possibility he would get hit by a car. I frantically ran across the road, trying to stop cars, waving my arms like a crazy person, but I knew I didn't have much time,  finally I made it and ran straight down to the park, pram and Ezra in tow. Angus heard me yelling for him, veered away from the road and ran to me. Just in time. I grabbed him, got his collar and lead on and made sure he wasn't going anywhere. He was just happy to see us, he loved his adventure in the park.

He was a very lucky dog, he made it across that road once alone, I'm not sure if he would have been able to do it twice. He has no road sense, and he likes to chase trailers.

You know those moments when you realise that something really terrible could have happened. That you are so lucky that everything ended up ok, and it makes you so grateful. I know that the same scenario doesn't always pan out that way. I love my Angus, he is a massive part of our family, he was our baby before we had a baby. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost him.

So the moral of the story is.. Leave a gate the way you found it!! Simple really... then you won't cause people like me to have a heart attack moment.

It is beautiful: In my mind

Source: online-gardening-courses.com via Fred on Pinterest

In my mind my vegetable garden looks like this.

Fresh, green, organised, weedless, and just plain beautiful.

In reality, right now, it looks like this

Not so beautiful, also take note of our depleted grass.

Our garden needs a lot of love and attention.

Oh remember the days when we had "spare" time. It wasn't that long ago.

Is there some things that you are dreaming about tidying, fixing up, renovating, beautifying?

This is just one of the many things in my house that need some attention.

D.I.Y Rocket Ship Nursery Mobile

I really wanted a rocket ship mobile for Ezra's room. I figured it wold be easy enough to make.

I took some pictures along the way, so if anyone wants to make a rocket mobile for themselves or as a gift, it is really easy, and looks soooo cute!

What You Need:

Felt: I used blue and white for the rocket, and red for the fire. You can use whatever you want, but you'll need three colours

Embroidery Thread, three colours

Embroidery Hoop (8-10")

Tools:

Paper

Scissors

Needle

Pen

 Draw  your rocket ship template on the piece of paper. If you are horrible at drawing, you could download a picture and print it out.

 

Cut out your template pieces

 Take the template of the body of the rocket, and attach it with the needle to a piece of felt and cut around. I did 3 sets of one colour and four of the other, but you can choose how many rockets you want

 

 Cut out your circle for the window in the other colour and stitch it on using the back stitch

  

 6. Cut free hand, or use your templates to cut out the wings of the rocket.

Cut the fins (this is what Joel told me they were called, blame him if its wrong) for the front and back of the rocket, attach the front as shown in the picture below.

 

Front: Stitched on with back stitch 

Then the back is stitched on its side as such

 

This is the shape for the side fins cut these out next, two for each rocket

Turn the rocket inside out and begin to attach the back and front together as below. Once you get about 2cm from the bottom, you will want to insert your side wing (see photo)

Also leave the bottom of the rocket open.

 

Put the fin inside and fold the pieces back together stitching the wing into the body as you stitch both sides together. Do this with both side fins.

Once you have attached both fins and tied off the thread at the end, you can now turn your rocket the right way around, and stuff it with the stuffing.

Make a template for the flame, and then attach it to some red or orange felt and cut it out.

Put the end in between the two sides of the rocket and use a running stitch to seal it all up.

 

And there you have it, a lovely finished rocket ship.

 I made 7 of these alternating colours.

Then I made a moon for the middle. Make a moon shaped template, I did a 1/4 moon but you can do whatever you want. 

I used a different stitch for this, as demonstrated below.

Put the needle through both sides of the moon, then pull the thread through, before it is completely pulled tight, loop the needle back through the loose thread, and put it back in the same side you just inserted it. It gives a nice finished off look, so you don't have to turn the moon inside out.

I just stuffed it as I went along, and then finished it up.

Now to hang it all.

So first cut the amount of thread you need in varying lengths. I used red thread and attached it to the rockets just in front of the side fin.

Then use the inside hoop of the embroidery hoop, I used a 8" hoop.
You might need an extra pair of hands for this bit.
Tie all the threads in a knot at the end, and have someone hold them and the hoop.

Tie each thread around the hoop, equal distances apart. Except for the moon let that dangle in the middle shorter than all the rest. It should then look like this.

Phew that was long, if you made it all the way here good on you! I am debating making starts for it as well.. we will see.

That took a while, I hope you like!


xx Karen

Something amazing happened last night

Something amazing happened last night, something unexpected, I was so excited I had to share. When I woke up I could hardly believe it. It was in fact morning, and I hadn't been up through the night. Wait, what? The first time in 3 months that I haven't stumbled down the hall to find a very hungry little baby waiting not so patiently for me to get my act together.

He had some trouble falling asleep last night, and we didn't get him to drift off into noddy land until 8pm (his bedtime is 6.30pm). For the last week he has been a bit unusual in his night waking and waking twice instead of his usual once. I thought it was maybe a growth spurt, or teething, or just some type of sleep regression, but I wasn't impressed! Twice a night is so hard when you have gotten used to just one night waking.  Anyway, the little mite didn't wake until 7.30am, I was up well before that wondering what was going on, and feeling rather full if you catch my drift.

I was astonished, it seems rather early for a 12 week old to sleep 12 hours straight, but it happened, and I am hoping that it may happen again. If I figure out what I did to make it happen, I will share the secret, but I really have no clue right now, but I will enjoy it.

 

Here he is this morning, looking rather pleased with himself, and so he should!! 

I think I found my dream house!

Images from http://materiadesigns.wordpress.com

 How amazing is this? This isn't my dream house, but I thought it was pretty fab anyway. Plus the outside is made from burnt Cedar planking. The entrance is a ladder. Have fun getting the groceries up there!

I was browsing a real estate app yesterday, as I do from time to time, and something caught my eye.

I texted hubs right away with the link.

He sent back immediately that he was going to ring the realtor. 

It was under contract. boo

The whole process got me thinking. We haven't really been thinking too seriously about moving, selling or renting our house out. Seeing this great house, made me so ready to move. It had a massive block, and a pool and was only 500m from the beach, and was so affordable.

I love our little house. It is very quaint and old. But what if I could have what I really wanted in a house, and a bigger house to accomodate a growing family. 

My dream house, or at least one that I can see ourselves in for the next 10 or so years, is a wood framed Cedar home (which isn't common around here). I would love an ensuite (our house is 1 bathroom) and a big backyard instead of a big front yard where the whole world can see what your doing. I would love to walk to the beach (we only live about 3kms from the beach now, so technically I could walk there). We might buy a block and build our own some time.

We might be at the beginning of getting this house ready for the next step. 

It kind of makes me sad. I love this old house. After 4 years, sadly I think its time might be up.

A little something new

 Just a little quickie, something I am excited about! This month I am sponsoring the blog of the lovely Leigh-Ann at Freckled Nest. If you pop over there you can see a little Yellow Dandy ad on the side.  That also means that later this month Leigh-Ann will be doing a giveaway, where you will have the chance to win one of my embroideries! Here is the link. www.frecklednest.typepad.com

This is the first time I have done something like this, so we will see how it goes.

I am also trying to teach myself some html and other computery things so I can spruce my blog up a bit. So if you see some crazy things happening, just try to ignore it! ha.

If you happen to have seen the ad and found your way to my blog, or if you have found your way here by other means.

Sit down, relax, grab a cup of tea (or coffee) and please take a look around! If you like what you see, and want to see more, please connect in someway whether it be Facebook, Twitter, Following on Google Connect or on Bloglovin. And stay in touch, I would love to hear from you!

It's Moustache Season

So if you didn't know, today is the 1st of November! 

It is a big day in Australia. 

1. It is the day of the race that stops the nation! The Melbourne Cup! 

2. The time of year when all the men seem creepy and weird, and you try to keep your children away from them. At least it is for a good cause!

The point of Movember is to grow a moustache to support men's health. Specifically raising money and awareness for depression and prostate cancer. 

If you are unable to grow a moustache, well then just jump on board and support those who do.

www.movember.com

 Yeah.. I just had to do it!

He's too small to grow a moustache.. but he can still join in.

 Joel is undecided about growing a moustache this year, because it would mean shaving his beard, although he has talked about just doing the fundraising part of it. He does look like a bit of an 80's cop with a moustache.

One of my favourite burger joints Grill'd also gives free burgers this month to anyone who has raised over $40... how awesome is that!

Finding my Blog Voice

I have been thinking a lot lately about finding my blog voice. I feel like I am a bit all over the place and I need to hone in and figure out exactly what I want to do.
Do I want to join the masses of Mummy bloggers, or do I want a crafty diy focus, do I want to be about home decor and renovating, or the myriad of other things that interest me. How do I want to continue to go about this blogging thang.

The bottom line for me is that I want my blog to be encouraging.
To be helpful and to serve some sort of purpose.
Because even though it is about me,  I want it to be  so much more than that, it is about connecting and communicating in a way that heartfelt and honest, because sometimes that can be hard to come by.

I think about what I like in blogs, and why I continue to keep visiting them.
I like blogs that are real, and are not trying to 'impress' anyone.
I like blogs that are pretty and inspiring and have lovely pictures
I like blogs that make me laugh and that I can relate to
I like blogs that make me feel like the writer is a real person.

I want to blog about what I love, and what I am passionate about, rather than blogging about things that I think will get more visits or followers. Because I feel that being genuine and true to myself is important.

I know that a lot more people read my blog that just the people who publicly follow, of course I would love everyone who is a return reader to 'follow', because I am a sticky beak and I want to know who reads my blog. Also because I love comments and communicating with people.

These are my thoughts on my blog.
As a new stay at home Mum I feel I have a bit more time to focus on my blog now, than when I had a million things on my plate with uni and work and everything else.  So, I really want to improve it and keep moving onwards and upwards.