Score!

Here's the reason my husband is so ingenious at saving us money (and the reason our neighbours often regret moving in next door.)

One tractor which didn't go a week ago, now noisily restored and ready to finish our landscaping work (when the rain finally stops.)

Toowoomba

I've been working in Toowoomba this year and was lucky that my October visit coincided with the Carnival of Flowers. The whole family tagged along for the weekend the last time I was up there and I convinced them that 5.30pm on a cold, wet, windy Friday afternoon was perfect flower viewing weather. Not surprisingly there were no crowds to contend with.

 That's a train hedge, or a hedge train whichever takes your fancy.

Glorious home across the road- what a magical view they have for a few months each year. In typical Toowoomba fashion the house next door is a weatherboard 'let's turn our house into four units' house complete with mattresses in the front yard.

Gardening for dummies

Tiny Girl and I have been making the most of the wonderful weather the last few days. Typically, now that the holidays are over everyone is finally well. So to make up for being shut inside for weeks I've been pottering around the yard and enjoying the sun.

I love the garden and I have tonnes of creative ideas in my head for what I would like it to look like. Unfortunately that doesn't transfer into practice as I am rarely able to create what I imagine. I'm also often frustrated by my lack of strength. If only I had the strength to be able to dig out some plants, move things around and lay turf, my garden would be a lot nicer than it is.

So this week I've done what I could to live a little of my vision.

I started with digging out two of my neglected roses and re-potting them.

I swept the concrete and cleaned up the door as best I could.

And I carried these two garden chairs down from the front yard so that we all have a nice little corner to sit in and have a cuppa.

I'm happy with the little I was able to do but some days the pile of tasks still seems way too high.

One man's trash is another man's cubby house

The Gas Man was busy over the weekend trying to transform the half-built cubby into a functional play area for the kids. It's come up very well and will soon receive its finishing touches including a bit more paint, another window and a sandpit landing area for the bottom of the slide.

The entire structure is built from recycled materials including parts of our old pool ladder, a bulk lot of scrap building timber, old paint we found in the shed, our neighbours' old garage door (the roof) and a second hand slide which cost us $10 and was covered with graffiti. (For those interested chlorine removes graffiti on hard plastic surfaces.)

It might not be 100% level and it might not ever have any requisite kitchen equipment or shelving but our kids love it and that's all that counts for us.

Garden handiwork

I was browsing through our old pictures and came across this one. It's an old piece of farm equipment that The Gas Man and a neighbour pulled out of a run-down paddock. He then cleverly crafted up this piece of wood to serve as a seat. I call it our bush chair.

It's a lovely thing to have in the garden and I think it's turned out fantastic. It would complete the story nicely to tell you that this neighbour is a now a great friend and we regularly enjoy his company, however that's not the case! The neighbour in question fell out of favour pretty quickly once he invited us to join him on a risqué weekend away he had planned with his wife. The Gas Man learnt a valuable lesson that day- never, ever joke about being swingers because you never know what extra-curricular activities people might really be into!

(Neighbour in question is also from our old house, not this one.)

Bits and pieces

It's been a while between blogs and I'm feeling very lazy for not having posted before now. Here are a few of my excuses:

• Croup (not me)
• Reaction to croup medication
• Tonsillitis (me)
• A very special birthday (and equally special cake)
• Sea World
• Movie World
• School holidays
• Tonsillitis again

I have accomplished a bit of an Ebay spend up though and have some great items to share soon. I also managed to get out in the garden and transformed our fountain into a lettuce and strawberry garden. It's a much better use of the space and I doubt water restrictions will ever allow it to be used as a fountain again. At least this way it's no longer a breeding ground for mossies.

Garden inspiration

I have a few garden projects planned for tomorrow so I thought I'd share some of my inspirational pictures. I adore formal gardens, there is something really homely about them don't you think?