Day 84 Is it a Find or is it Rubbish? (see previous post)

Is it a Find or is it Rubbish? (read all about it here)

Well I found these in a basket under the spare bed. Treasures made by my sons in their early years of kindergarten & school. I actually have quite a few of these from over the years. Some of them I thought might make good garden ornaments. Anyway so back to this little pile tucked away for safe keeping.... I am probably a not a very sentimental mum so I have decided that these will have to go to the rubbish pile. Knowing that I have already kept quite a few that each son has made over the years I think tough decisions have to be made and out they go! Imagine if you kept everything your children made, drew, wrote, painted etc over the years you would have to build a special room to house them all.

Day 83 And the cleaning begins...

Well yesterday I went and picked up some boxes from the local IGA and I also bought some extra plastic storage tubs. Today I plan on making a start on sorting and clearing out. We seem to accumalate so much over the years. Normally since we have moved many times, we have managed to always clear out each time but the last time we moved we were really pressed for time and so it just did not happen. So over the next week expect lots of pictures of

• finds - things I forgot we had
• rubbish - things we kept for no good reason
• a tidy space at the end of it all.

Day 82 Clean up time...

This is a small table that sits near our dining table that my older son uses for his artwork. As you can see it is a tad messy. In the holidays I plan on doing a huge clean up (I can't see the bed in our spare room!) and this is one of the areas that we will tidy up. I will also swap the desks around and give him a slightly larger table with some drawers. I know, I know all that will do is give him more room to spread out his mess! But it's worth a try!

Day 81 With Joy we greet you...

This is an old sign that was originally framed and hung at the front door of my fathers childhood home. It says " With joy we greet you". It has deteriorated and the frame has gone but I plan to clean it up and frame it and as corny as the saying may be I would like to hang it at our front door as well. I found this in the old family home that still stood on our farm. It was very run down and when I was very young it was used as a shearing shed. There were a couple of rooms still intact and I remember hauling back all these things that I would find - books, old hat trunks, and this sign.

Day 80 Something I don't have to look at for another 3 weeks

Yeah!! The last day of school. Arrived home and was greeted in the kitchen with the usual array of bags, tennis rackets, polar fleeces, sports bags and trumpet that I usually am and know that after today when the boys put all of this away I do not have to see it again for 3 whole weeks (yes they get an extra week of holidays in the June/July break) and I am over the moon about that!

Day 79 Getting ready for the school holidays

Today at work I browsed the shelves to choose a few books to read over the holidays. I like to read some of the books that the boys might like so I can recommend something when they ask. I have just finished reading Paper towns by John Green, who is the author I went to listen to at the State Library a few weeks back and would highly recommend it. I have another book A novel about my wife, that I have had sitting by my bed for some time and not been able to get into, so I am hoping the holidays will give me time to finish it. The other books in my photo are a couple of young adult fiction from work that I wanted to read. The house of power is book 1 of a new fantasy trilogy Atherton (always popular), the other Fearless is a sequel to a futuristic action book that I am looking forward to.

Last but not least, is a new book by Marshall Browne one of my favorite authors. He has written a wonderful historical thriller set in Melbourne during the Marvelous Melbourne era. The novels are quite rich in historial detail of Melbourne and its geography. If you would like to read about the authors ideas and reasearch for the book take a read here which is the transcript of a talk he gave discussing his trilogy. I could also highly recommend his Italian detective series Inspector Anders. His latest books have been historical thrillers set in Germany during WW2, which introduced the German bank auditor Franz Schmidt. The first book is The Eye of the abyss and the book I have bought to read in the holidays is the sequel to that The iron heart.

So I am looking forward to that..

Day 78 Vampire Fad

Vampire fiction is in at the moment.

The Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer has reignited an interest in this genre. It has always had its followers but it's popularity comes and goes. I for one loved Buffy the vampire slayer (I know it was a TV show) and there were many books before Twilight that were great vampire stories and well written. It's a bit like Harry Potter, there were many excellent fantasy books before Harry Potter that had enjoyed succes. But Harry Potter and Twilight seemed to be in the right place at the right time and have enjoyed a huge success and a fanatical following.

So at work I have been working on a publishing a reading list called Books to sink your teeth into.. . It lists our fiction about vampires, demons, ghosts and the supernatural to introduce the boys to other authors especially if they have already read the Twilight series. Those that haven't will probably have a sister who has or perhaps they have been to the cinema to see the Twilight movie. Today I finished it and put a display up about our Fang Fiction and Ghosts, demons and the supernatural and this is a photo of it.

Day 77 Op shopping

My younger son needed something to dress up in for school (raising funds for Amnesty so they are holding a Peace day - dress up like the 60s, flower power, hippy). So today I spent a few hours at the op shops. It was so much harder than I thought. I could not find much at all maybe the shops are getting a bit more selective about what they keep! Anyway found a couple of things as pictured and we made a large silver peace pendant for him to wear as well.

Day 76 Noisy morning

When we first bought our block of land over 7 years ago, the adjoining block was a huge 1 3/4 acre block with one house on it. A few years ago it was sold to a developer who wanted to subdivide it into a total of 4 blocks including the one with the existing house. Myself and a couple of neighbours protested the application and we went to VCAT and won! The plans were eventually resubmitted by him for 3 blocks including the existing one which we did not fight. In our case even if he had subdivided with the minimum of 2 large blocks we would still end up with the bush next to us cleared and a house being built there so we did not bother. The blocks have since been sold and we have met our neighbours closest to us but they are yet to start building. The other block that is further away has also sold and they have started some excavation work. This morning the hammer drill on the excavator was going for some time and was very noisy. There is a large rock vein that runs down the hill and I think they may have discovered it!

Day 75 London Plane trees

We have 3 huge London plane trees running along the western side of our house. They are great therefore in summer as they provide us with lots of good shade. But they are incredibly messy - huge leaves everywhere in autumn. The upside is they have beautiful bark and trunks and ours are in the process of shedding their bark to reveal a lovely mottled trunk. So even when the trees are bare they are still quite wonderful!

Day 74 Roadside stall

There is a roadside stall that is just outside of Lilydale on the way to Coldstream and the Yarra Valley. We have stopped before mainly to get the apples (delicious from the apple orchard nearby) and I have always meant to go back and check their hours and get some of my weekly fruit and veg. Today I went out and came back with this beautiful box of fruit and veg. If all good then I think I will make the effort to visit more often as it is really only about 15 mins from home.

Day 73 Figure drawing

My son is very creative. However he comes and goes with his art - sometimes he is really into it other times not. Or he finds something that he loves (like his paper toys) and runs with it for awhile. And then influenced by what is happening at school he may then return to a more tradtional art form. This semester in art he is studying 2d & 3d art and is quite excited about it. He asked me to bring books home from the library where I work relating to figure drawing, anatomy etc. He has been 'practicing' all week but tonight armed with the books from work sat down to redo some figures he had drawn earlier. I love to see him so engrossed in something he loves! The end result is a character from a game hence the weird head!

Day 71 Living lamp...

Today stitting at our desk I thought I would show you our lamp - great lamp, very sturdy and can be bent to many angles and positions. BUT sometimes when I am sitting here it reminds me of the Pixar lamp (even though it is not the same type of lamp) and I expect it to get up at any moment and start dancing to the music and talking to me.. Yeah I know... I have strange thoughts.

Day 70 Daily routine

Everyday like clockwork my younger son goes out to the front of the house and kicks around his soccer ball. Somedays he might go out 2 or 3 times. He always goes by himself and seems quite happy to do this. I think it is a good thing to do and he seems to burn off some energy.

Day 69 What's for dinner? .... this seems to rule my world!

What's for dinner - I am either thinking about it, being asked about it or making it most days of the week!

So tonight it is hard to avoid another cooking pic, although I thought I would at least change the tone of the photo for something different.

I am half way through making cannelloni. I have made the spinach and ricotta mix and it is in the fridge cooling down. I am about to start my least favorite part, filling the cannelloni tubes. I use a bakers quality piping bag without any piping fitting on the end. I find this is the easiest and least messy way of doing it. I really don't mind so much as it is one of the boys favorites and I know it is appreciated.

Day 68 Clear skies accross the Dandenongs

Again caught out without my camera and having to rely on my phone camera. It really was too far for me to get a decent photo but I could not resist. It was a beautiful day and today from the shops at Croydon there was a great view up to Mt Dandenong. The photo looks hazy but is was clear skies across the Dandenongs and beyond. I must remember to throw my camera in more often. It is not a small camera and so I cannot just put it in my bag. But I have kicked myself too many times now when I have been out and not had it with me and so I am determined to now try to remember more often... missing a few grey cells so we will see....

Day 67 "Deseo"

This is a picture that I bought along with a couple of others from a market in Barcelona, Spain in 1982. It is one of my favorite treasures that I brought back with me from my travels over a 14 month period to Europe and the US, and Spain was one of my favorite countries that I visited.

It is titled "Deseo" which in English mean desire. A few years later I would meet and marry the man that I 'deseado' who just happened to be from Spain!

I sometimes wonder if this picture was telling me something? Or maybe not...

Day 66 Doo doo doo lookin' out my back door....

I really probably should stop with the song lyrics but I can't ...

This photo is taken (literally) from my back door looking into the neighbours back yard. Our yard is in the front of this but I omitted that and concentrated on this yard as it is a beautiful garden which we get to enjoy as well. We have recently landscaped our garden and we will soon have trees growing along our boundary fence so later on when they grow we will only get a glimpses of this. The gum trees in the circle garden bed are really beautiful although I am not sure what type they are. Must ask.

Day 65 Home early from work & just staring at the ceiling...

Went back to work today but still not 100% so I left at lunch to come home. Now laying here staring at the ceiling as I do not feel like doing much at all....

Day 64 Many trips down the hall

Still at home unwell and I have been up and down this hallway to our bathroom too many times to count...

And your eyes see correctly our walls are unpainted (still)...

Day 63 Unwell and only a photo of nothing

Not well and home from work - this photo is of nothing in particular and looks a bit like I feel...

Day 62 Some more art work at the local community centre

This time it is mosaics and a painted old tree stump. This is one of the many that are on display around the local community centre. The different artwork really gives the place something special and it feels like there is some ownership from the local community which I think is great.

Day 61 New sandwich press...

Not sure if I really needed this but ....

Something we have thought about getting for a while now is a sandwich press. Mainly as it gives our boys something they can use to make themselves a snack with. So today I bought a snazzy new one. So far pretty happy with it but we will see - I hope it does not end of languishing in the cupboard.

I am usually very careful about what small appliances I buy and all of those that we have are well used. So we will see...

Day 60 Green, green, green courtesy of my guest photographer

Looking out from our back verandah it is so beautiful and green green green! The rain just freshens everything. These were taken by my son as my guest photographer for my blog. He is quite enjoying take photos for me on the weekends. Mind you he takes about 50 photos and then I have to decide on one or two. Usually this is fairly easy.

Day 59 Calculator + Mountain drive = Story behind a photo

I had a discussion with a friend about how it is not always easy to write something to go with the photo posted on your blog. (she has already discussed this on her photo post about day old cake tasting better!). What is the story behind the photo? IS there a story behind the photo? Sometimes you have to look for one and sometimes it just happens....

I came home from shopping early this afternoon to my son complaining how he could not find his calculator (scientific one from school). He is doing revision at the moment for his end of semester Maths exam next week. We then searched the house for the calculator to no avail. A few weeks before this we had discussed the idea of buying a second calculator and leaving it at home for my sons when needed. Anyway back to the story ... I had not of course managed to buy that second calculator and so I thought well now's as good a time as ever. So I then called another family from school to check which calculator they use at school. At the time she offered us a spare one that she had there but I said no I really should go buy one (and I honestly did not feel like driving up the mountain to their house to collect it).

So 45 minutes and 10 phone calls later we could not find one. Everyone we called was out of stock. They had others (the $210 ones) but decided against that option. We double checked at school in his locker and no luck. So I decided that I would have to go up the mountain after all to borrow the calculator from friends. Up the mountain is up to the township of Sassafras in the Dandenong Ranges which is lovely but a long and windy road to get there. Anyway on the way up you travel through the Dandenong Ranges National Park and through some eucalyptus forests which are always beautiful so I had to pull over and take a photo. Unfortunately only on my phone camera (again)

Day 58 Snazzy red boots..

These boots belong to the Teacher Librarian that I work with. She is my friend who also has a photo blog Three Hundred and Sixty Five days. I tried to take a photo of her at work but she absolutely refused. That's OK I can relate as I know I would not want to either - I dislike (immensely) having my photo taken as well. So I took a photo of her boots - red snazzy ones - looking a bit crooked here but she is not crooked just being a bit crazy!

Day 57 Cooking pic again - one of our favorite desserts

Golden syrup dumplings is a well loved dessert from my childhood. It was very popular with all my family when I was growing up and my mum would often make it when I was older and I returned home for a visit as she knew it was a favorite. Now I make it (every now & then) and my boys love it as well and it has become a favorite in our house as well. Made these tonight as we had soup for dinner and thought a dessert might be good to fill them up! 

Day 56 The calm before the storm

I work in a library in a catholic boys secondary college. We close the library at lunch for about 15 minutes and then we let them in. This photo is just before - quiet, tidy, serene.... A few mintues later we had lots of noisy boys hanging out - which is great and just what we like to see! These red cube seats were introduced last year and they have been a big hit.T hey are very popular with the boys and are well used.

Day 55 One of my favorite things

This is one of my favorite things. It needs a good clean. I bought this a long time ago in Queenscliffe and I really like her. I had gone away for a weekend with friends and it caught my eye in a small gallery shop. 

Day 54 Big hairy visitor...

He doesn't look very big but he was...

We had a big hairy visitor in the kitchen - a huntsman. I think it must be too cold for him outside. It's funny what things bring back vivid memories of childhood. I grew up on a farm in the bush and so we had lots of huntsman in the house and one time or another. Whenever I see a huntsman in the house now I hear my Dad saying " leave him be they catch all the flies and mozzies for us" as we would run around the house scared silly. Now of course what do I say to my kids when they do the same thing? Yes funny isn't it how you sometimes end up so like your parents.