Monday 26 November 2007

TV QUIZ =Nightmare!

LOL have you ever sat and watched tv quiz shows, know the answers and been so frustrated when the person on the show has a hunch and their hunch is correct, but they waste all their lifelines because they are not sure themselves. You feel like screaming at the tv. lol no wonder i try not to watch these shows often, they are not good for my blood pressure I am sure!

Now often they have phone in competitions for the viewers at home to have a go for some quick cash as they say. DS often tells me i should enter these and its true, i havent yet gotten any of them wrong, so tonight, being the last night of the show for 2007, i decided to enter. Hell I should KNOW the answer to the phone in question, the amount of times I have heard Kelley mention MOVEMBER!

Problem is, I am absolutely freakingly terrified that if they do pick me, that i will go totally blank when they ask me the question. You still get $5000 for getting the phone in question correct, but the other question, also worth $5000, well everyone and anyone will see the show, see the persons name on the screen and hear their answer. So to get it wrong on national tv, there is my worst nightmare lol.

But then, even $5000 would make my life so much better at the moment, so lets hope they call me and lets hope i dont make a total fool of myself lol, cause God only knows I could do with that money badly (as could we all in this day and age I am sure) to fix the car, pay off debts, stock up the pantry properly etc etc .

I think I should enter a few more competitions that involve email or mail lol, so much less stress, so if you know of any legit comps to enter, let me know lolol.

Edit: LOL well it wasnt me, but lol if anyone in australia didnt know the answer to that question there is something wrong lolol.

Tuesday 20 November 2007

To Sleep or Not to Sleep

Lol well sleep has always been an issue for me or for people around me. For the most part, its more of a problem for other people who seem to think that me being awake all night is bad, simply because it isnt the same as the majority of the population. Doesnt matter at all to them that my best work is done at night, my housework is more consistently up to date when done at night, and that I am by far a safer driver at night, not that I am unsafe during the day, but you try getting up only 2 hours after you went to bed at night and see how safe you feel you are, are your reflexes slower? Thats what I worry about when dragging myself out of bed at 8.30am to do a school run.

My lack of sleeping to societies ideals of acceptable hours is not from lack of trying.

My father apparently tried his damndest to get me to sleep each night, reading book after book, using all the tricks like warm milk, dimmer lights etc, apparently in the end he gave up, fitted out the loungeroom with a comfy chair for him, plenty of toys and books for me and locked the both of us in there so he could doze in the chair secure in the knowledge I couldnt dissapear or harm myself whilst i ran round him in circles all night, building towers with blocks and "reading" to myself. This is what has been described to me as my nightly activities as a toddler.

As a child and older teen I spent most nights awake, reading or simply laying there. For many years terrified of the dark, so totally unable to fall asleep without a light. I would fall asleep shortly after dawn and then have a full on day at school to come home and nap somewhere during the afternoon (anywhere in fact, i fell asleep in a tree and rolled out of it, only a metre to the ground, but I still remember the shock of waking up hitting the sand in the sandpit face down).

After having children, my nighttime wakefullness was useful, with my first child not being able to wake himself to go to the toilet until he was 8 years old, I spent many hours either changing wet sheets and wet sleeping child or carrying (and then puppet walking as he got bigger) a still sleeping child to the toilet as well as catching the errant sleepwalker to make sure he didnt pee in the dishwasher or next to the toilet etc. My daughter while being able to toilet train herself quite early, often needs asthma reliever medication during the night and the errant sleepwalker was quite severe with his night time asthma as well as night terrors, so being alert and awake all night was much easier than trying to sleep and getting broken sleep.

This however was not "normal or acceptable" in the eyes of my ex, and got me quite a bit of harrassment, put downs and even punishment (having him not speak to me for days etc). It also went against the grain of family members who considered me lazy and abnormal for sleeping during the day.

Currently my night time wakefullness serves a purpose, the study for my degree, which is not easily acheived with kids awake and asking questions or bugging each other, or even just playing and occasionally requesting snacks, so it is much easier to study after they have gone to bed.

My dbf is more accepting of my sleep patterns, although gets irritated when he wants company and I cannot keep my eyes open no matter how i try. He does accept it helps with the study but at the end of the semester, when i am on "holidays" expects me to be around more during daylight hours.

This is where the tricky bit comes in, Sleep Retraining. It takes several days to turn my pattern around at the best of times, often it takes longer. This time around it is taking longer, it appeared to have worked after just 5 days, and then after 2 nights of "normal" sleep, my body reverted (partly in blame is the power failure that turned the fan off, which woke me early and then I couldnt go back to sleep that night).

So at the moment I am getting tired at 11pm, but cant actually sleep. Lying down is restful for the body, but my brain goes absolutely haywire which eventually ends in me having to get up. The worst part is, that this is the first time in years that I havent HAD to be awake most of the night due to Mr Moo having nightmares, asthma attacks, sleepwalking, bedwetting, toileting or anything else and I STILL CANT SLEEP!! It is totally unfair lol.

To this end I am about to retry a naturopathic/homeopathic remedy, one which covers hormones and a few other things, I can't tell you exactly what is in it, other than it was personally made for me based on blood work, history etc and was meant to try and help balance things like pms, but had the shocking side effect of knocking me out within 20 minutes of taking it (something that none of the heavy duty sleeping tablets ever managed). This unfortunately happened right before exam week in june, so had to be stopped, but now that I dont HAVE to stay awake and study, I shall be once again becoming a guinea pig to see if it can help me sleep, and fix the rotten hormonal imbalances that have been plagueing me for years.

I will bore you all with the details of its success or failure at a later date. At the moment I am heading back to bed in the hope of 2 hours sleep (I did spend until 5.30am in bed, I just havent managed any sleep). Thankfully DBF can take DD to school for me this morning. LOL now I just have to work out how to get housework done on a regular basis during the day without getting sidetracked.

Monday 19 November 2007

Menu Planning

Aye Aye Aye what am I thinking??

LOL well Lightening's weekly organisation is rubbing off a little (only just a little mwuhahaha) so I figured I would take up her challenge and attempt a menu plan, BUT don't expect any fancy restaurant labels, lol I have a hard enough time working out a single meal each night that all of us can eat. If I plan for all meals to include DBF, then I have three of us that cannot have wheat/gluten and two that cannot have dairy and one that cannot have egg, two of us that cannot eat fish other than whiting or cod and there is only four of us in total!

SO,

Tonight being Monday, we are having a Corned Silverside (from a butcher who DOES NOT USE WHEAT AS A PRESERVATIVE! UNLIKE COLES & WOOLIES!!) Added to this we will have some zuchinni (bought from farmer charlies as my plant only has baby ones just yet), Cos lettuce (from the garden) and maybe some tomatoes if there are any ripe (i am lazy, i just look out the window and direct DBF as to which vegies/fruits I might like this evening).

Tuesday, hmm well we shall be having Snags (coles does wheat free ones in their normal bbq snag range) and jasmine rice and frozen vegies steamed and then cooked with a drizzle of honey for taste.

Wednesday is no kids night, we are having steak, rice and cooked zucchini with some herbs added and homemade gravy (meat juices, water and a titch of salt thickened).

Thursday, well I will be going shopping as by then we are out of all meat, chicken etc.

So, most likely to be diced Chicken Thigh fillets, Jasmine Rice, zuchini, carrot, Green Thai Curry Paste and Coconut Cream.

Friday, well depending on the weather, we will be going to Little Athletics in the evening, so it will need to be a nutritious afternoon snack when Boo gets home from school, so baked beans for Boo (her favourite lol)and an Omellete with cheese for Moo and Myself. After we come home, we will have a smaller snack, maybe some diced cheese, apple and carrot and some sultanas. Accompanied by a glass of chocolate Milk.

Saturday Diced Chicken Thigh fillets, steamed veg with honey glaze and jasmine rice, all stirred in together to look like fried rice.

Sunday meat of some description (steak or mince if its cheap enough), garden salad with vinaigrette dressing.

Ok well thats the plan, will see how we go at sticking to it. At least tonights will be ok as the corned meat is currently cooking away.

Which Harry Potter Character ARE YOU??

Ok well thanks to FrogDancer for the link,

Apparently I am


Which HP Kid Are You?



Mwuhahaha I should have known really Aye?

Sunday 18 November 2007

THE BIG 8 MEME

Tagged by KELLEY over at MagnetoBoldToo!

8 Things I am Passionate About

  1. My Kids - They are parts of me, they always come first.
  2. My dream land & home - I want to just pack up and disappear into the outback, no traffic, smog, noise (well there will be natural noise, that i don't mind), no blaring street lights all night.
  3. My SEXY MAN - who will read this and get cranky that I called him that :P
  4. My degree - I will be a Registered Nurse by the end of 2009!
  5. My Country - WHY DO WE NEED TO DOWNGRADE OUR HEALTH SYSTEM & EMPLOYMENT SYSTEMS JUST TO BE MORE LIKE AMERICA MR HOWARD???
  6. My environment - Why do we need to use and abuse our planet?
  7. Good Hygiene - I was born to be a nurse lol cause i cant stand people not washing their hands after toileting or playing with pets or gardening etc.
  8. NO SMOKING - it doesn't just hurt you, it hurts people around you, like me who cant (and hasn't other than 10 mins the night i turned 18) go to nightclubs without a trip to the hospital just because other people smoke in enclosed spaces or in front of the only door into the shops etc, causing people like me to have asthma attacks etc. If you must abuse yourself with chemicals, choose one that only hurts you - eat heaps of apple seeds or lick a toad/frog etc!

8 Things I want to do before I die

  1. Get my 100+ acres & live in a big shed home with no close neighbours or traffic
  2. Give my kids what i didn't have - nice weddings, help getting their first home, grandparents to babysit or help with sick kids, someone to confide in.
  3. Visit Ireland, England, Scotland to drool over accents and quaint architecture
  4. Visit Ethiopia to see the archaeological wonders and to eat really hot Dorowot with traditional Teff Enjerra's.
  5. Visit Egypt, see archaeological wonders and visit one of my friends from high school.
  6. Find Tammy Dunstan and say sorry for standing there and not stopping the so called popular girls from humiliating her when we were 14.
  7. Have my dream wedding, before the eyes of god, family and friends, but no idiotic govt paperwork.
  8. Tell centrelink (the system, not the staff) to go shove their paperwork and regulations cause i don't need them ever again!
8 Things I say often
  1. SHUT UP!!!! I can't hear myself think!
  2. I told you to GO TO BED!
  3. WASH YOUR HANDS!! WITH SOAP!!!
  4. What part of NO do you NOT understand????
  5. Hurry Up or you will be late for (school/soccer/athletics etc.)
  6. (said to DBF) It's YOUR fault I'm a hormonal mess, You didn't give me enough Sex today!
  7. I NEED MORE CHOCOLATE!!!
  8. Please please please .. make me a coffee??

8 Books I have read recently

  1. The Man in the Brown Suit - Agatha Christie
  2. Murder in Mesopotamia - Agatha Christie
  3. Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
  4. Concepts of Altered Health States - Porth
  5. Pharmacology for Professionals - Bullock
  6. Anatomy & Physiology - Marieb
  7. Anatomy & Physiology - Martini
  8. Pharmacology - Bryant

Currently reading one of the Xwing series in the StarWars sagas.


8 Songs I could listen to over and over

  1. YOU - Evanescence
  2. You are the wind beneath my wings - Bette Midler
  3. Summer Rain - Belinda Carlisle
  4. Can't Fight the Moonlight - Leanne Rimes
  5. Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy - Big & Ritch
  6. Welcome to the Jungle - Guns & Roses
  7. Enter Sandman - Metallica
  8. Anything Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, The Corrs, DIXIE CHICKS!, Faith Hill etc

8 Things that attract me to my best friends
  1. Honesty & Openness
  2. Friendly personalities
  3. Down to earth attitudes
  4. Willingness to help friends & family
  5. Loyalty and devotion to their children
  6. Acceptance of me the way I am, who I am etc
  7. Interesting, intelligent, enquiring minds (they don't have to be rocket scientists, intelligence comes in many forms!)
  8. Able to chat about anything, whether it be religion, poo, kids, sex experiences, the weather, men, politics, money, clothes etc and be OK with each other having their own opinions, sharing opinions but not forcing them on each other.
8 people who should totally do this meme
(if you don't have a blog of your own feel free to do it in my comments section!)
  1. Robyn
  2. Kirstie
  3. Nicole
  4. Chookie
  5. Precious 1
  6. Lightening
  7. Meg in the Mountains
  8. Anyone else who would like to!

Saturday 10 November 2007

Holidays Here I Come!!

Well today was the last exam for me, for this year anyway. I am soo tired mentally and physically that it was just a huge weight lifted to finish that exam. I still dont have my results, will be checking madly until December 3rd when they are officially released (but i still get unofficial results via unit assessors and also my essay will be posted back to me with marks and comments, and hopefully these will be soon).

I was thinking today that "i just have to get this exam done and then I am on holidays" over and over as my mantra to stay calm before the exam and while waiting for everyone to be seated and ready and for the start to be announced. That was thanks to one of the girls who wrote a repeated mantra in one of her emails to FIA last night.

So now i have at least 13 weeks with no study needed (might do some anyway just as prereading for next years units) so time to destress, start eating more regular and consistent meals (and hopefully lose a few kilos along the way), decrease my caffeine intake (*lol Kelley dont fret, its just for the holidays while i try to shed kilos, as soon as uni starts back it goes right back up to keep my from falling flat on my face during classes) oh and maybe get some more sleep.

I would also like to fix up the hallway cupboard, move linen back into it from my wardrobe, which would then allow me to fit my clothes in there (instead of the floordrobe). I then have to empty my room, get an electrician in there to rewire the lightswitch (which i have to reach above my head to turn on and off) down to a more reasonable height, install a new ceiling fan (because mine on high is like anyone elses on lowest speed and we dont have aircon) and install new ceiling lights (because the one on the fan shits me when trying to read with fan on and the light sways back and forth lol). Then I can patch and paint the walls and trims and get the carpet people to come do my room (hallway and kids rooms already carpeted for nearly 2 weeks now, its lovely) and then move everything back in, culling and sorting the chaos as it goes back in so that I can have a nice clean tidy uncluttered room too (and maybe have somewhere to put my sewing machine for easy use).

Then I have to empty, clean, patch and paint the loungeroom and dining room and the few little bits of wall in the kitchen (its all one big U shaped room really) as well as all the window trims before getting the carpet guys back again to put carpet in the loungeroom and one of those little crossover doobies between the carpet and the dining room tiles.

This I hope to get completed before christmas lol, not that there is any rush as there is no parties here, no family to drop in and noone but the kids, DBF and I to notice, but then it is for us to enjoy, so doesnt really matter if noone else sees it. The only reason I want it done before Christmas is that I also need to empty, patch, paint the laundry and retile the floor (and at least two tiles high along the bottoms of the walls) and build myself a broom closet in there, before moving to the bathroom.

The bathroom is half done and driving me crazy. I havent had a bath or shower in my own home since April 2004. It is a long saga, but it has come down to me doing all the repairs myself, and so far i have removed all damaged and rotting walls, supports, bathframe and bathtub. Rebuilt the supports and bathframe and installed the bathtub.

This however doesnt mean its yet useable, it needs to be plumbed into drainage which requires two people, one in the bathroom and one under the house, and then the gap filler sprayed in to stop the spiders, roaches, rodents from getting under the tub. DO YOU KNOW HOW OFFPUTTING IT IS TO SIT IN THE BATHTUB WHILE A RAT CHEWS ON THE DRAINPIPE FROM UNDERNEATH YOUR FEET AND THE WHOLE TUB VIBRATES!!

Then i have the lovely job of cutting all the cement sheeting (waterproof fibro stuff) to size and walling in the underneath of the tub and replacing the walls around the tub. They need silicone beading between the bottom of the sheets and tub, membranes in the corner and all coated in waterproof, nonpermeable membranous goo.

Once that is done I can look at the tiling of all that sheeting. I CAN do it myself BUT I DONT WANNA!!! My grandmother and Aunty have helped with the cost of the materials i already have and have offered to help towards tiling, but so far the only quote i have (tiles and grout included) is for well over $1000. Considering I can buy all the tiles and glue and grout for $400 max, I am having conniptions about paying over $1000. Will be getting more quotes when I am closer to that stage.

the final stage is getting the glass screen wall made and fitted for the end of the tub as it is a shower/tub combination, fitting a rod for the curtain to go from the wall to the screen and finally putting all the taps and shower head etc back into their places.

THEN I CAN HAVE THE MOST LUXURIOUS EXPERIENCE IN THE WORLD _ A LONG SOAK IN MY BATH IN MY OWN HOME!!!!

Right, well off to bed early tonight, going to start my holiday health kick with trying to get more sleep.

Happy Weekend Everyone!!

Whats in Mr.Moo's Head??

Whats in my head? What a strange quesiton. Well what I think thats in my head is all of my nine and the quatar (3/4?) life expirense and all my thoughts but who really knows. Who really knows whats in my head. Ther could be millions of trees of infomation or there could only by one gigantic evergreen tree that sprouts infomation every day. Or ther could be a ginte manshon with lots of little rooms. Each room has its own thing licke a room for vidio game memorys and another room for other memory. I have absolutly no idear what is inside my head. Ther could be a ship load thresnur boxes full of memory or maby thats just my amaganation working over board. Not that its my amaganation that is inside my head.

Parental Note : LOL couldn't resist, had to share this with you all. When i asked him to write about what is in his head i expected answers like brain, grey stuff, water, blood, eyes etc as he is quite interested in my physiology and anatomy posters and loves Mr.Bones - our resident loungeroom skeleton. The mind of the 9 year old is quite amazing, I loved all his analogies and the fact that he uses them together, ie a ship load, treasure boxes and overboard in the one sentence and a mansion with rooms and a forest compared to a single tree. I am blown away literally with this page.

Why Happy Mums are more preferbal.

Happy mums are preferibal over angry mums because thay will smack when there angry but thay will give gags (pn : i think this is meant to say hugs??? lolol) when ther happy. When thay are happy thay might allso give you privilges and treats. Mums arnt usually angry exept when your grumpy and when you are naughty. We all love our mums and our mums love us but when we be naughty our mums just hate it because they think everyone who is around us is thinking what badly behaves children thay must have a teribal mother. So thats why thay get cranky with us & thay love good behavior and might try and give you a resonble sise present if you are good for a long peiriod of time just like me Mum said she might hire Transformers tonight. Thats why I love Happy Mums.

Parental Note : PMSL I HAD TO SHARE THIS ONE. DS was bugging me and driving me crazy on monday just after my exam and my brain was just too tired to think of an exciting journal topic, so I growled out that he could write why he would prefer a happy mother to a cranky one. I must admit to not believing that half the stuff I tell him actually sinks in, but apparently the good behaviour when in public lecture took hold in there somewhere, now if it will just put itself into action the next time we go grocery shopping!!

For Precious_1 from Mr.Moo aka DS9

Playing Fire bugs is very dangerous because you could burn your self with the stick you are using to play fire bugs. Or you could set your clothes on fire and that is defenetly not good or you could burn the trees around you while you are playing fire bugs. Or you could set some dry grass or sticks on fire. Never Ever Ever play fire bugs without a perant or gardions permition and super visrtoion. Allso never ever ever put a smoldering stick on the ground unless you put it on a peas of cement that close not and wont be any.


Parental Note : I havent corrected the spelling mistakes and the last sentence had me straining my brain and eyes trying to work out the last six words in the chicken scrawl it was presented in. BUT it seems DS got the general message about playing Fire Bugs (he says it as buggies).

Thursday 8 November 2007

Feast or Famine - part 02


(left) my clivia finally flowered
(right) my table arrangement, all from my gardens.

Vegies, fruits, edible natives. We have loads of them and the front garden is such an ecclectic mix that most people dont believe it til they see the pumpkins snaking their way through and over the calistemon, the citronella geranium, the gooseberry bushes, up and over the 3 metre tall moonlight grevillea, getting tangled with the nasturtiums and lavenders and the leaves of the strawberry plants popping up from inbetween.







Add in my favourite herb, a kaffir lime, rocket, more gooseberries, some more grevilleas in a few different shades, a very mature lomandra, and many many other plants as well as some little rock paths, a garden seat hidden between the lomandra and the beautiful and fast growing melaleuca and my favourite little purple flowering seaside daisies.



Feast or Famine - part 03



Then the fenceline right at the front, well it was built as a brick retaining wall when the house was built, to cover over the septic tank (long since out of use) and then one of the previous owners decided to put a rustic wooden farm fence up. He was going for the OK CORRALL look (according to another neighbour) but thankfully didnt manage to find (or took with him) the metal nameplate to complete the look. This i have masses upon masses of the most gorgous bougainvilleas growing. DBF doesnt like my Bougs, but he works around them (and he does admit the flowers are very spectacular enmasse).




These were taken during one of the recent hail storms, poor garden.









Feast or Famine - part 04

The back garden is different, it is one backyard but garden wise it has several different sections. First there is the original garden wayyy up the back, it goes the full length of the back fenceline, which is reasonably long and borders three different houses from the next street. This original garden has a mature macca tree, mature mulberry, a number of banana trees (mainly ladyfinger variety), several palms (that i forgot i had because the macca had grown around them lol) and one golden penda tree that has NEVER flowered in the 7 or 8 years since i planted it, yet it is most definitely a golden penda and very healthy.

You can see the frames that will eventually be my chookhouse. Its just taking me a while between renovating the inside of the house, kids, life, uni (exam week this week) and all the rest of the stuff, let alone the rain and getting the materials together (the posts and small concrete pats were new, but the rest of the frame will be wire, corrugated iron and other materials i already have lying around (literally cause i dont have a garage or shed to put them in yet).

Feast or Famine - part 05

That garden originally did have a mature orange and a massive mandarin tree, but those were both systemically poisoned with malathion by a previous neighbour (who thought he was helping) and the future fruits were not only bitter to taste but caused the eater to vomit uncontrollably for hours, so both trees were totally cut down and destroyed as there was no way i was having my then small (toddler) son eating one of those fruits. See the pic below, well the massive big tree in the top left of the pic, that was the mandarin tree, it was at least 5 metres tall and twice as wide.




It also now has a heap of golden canes that are slowly thickening up and growing taller and will eventually screen out the houses behind us. Also up there are two old variagated ficus trees that along with a few others in the area, all died off at once (age?) and are now in the role of trellis to support my choko vines. Whatever chokos drop from the vines the cattle dog eats, she is very self sufficient in this way and we dont mind her eating the chokos when she seems to enjoy them so much. As well as the slab which at the moment is used for storage of materials such as tiles and the kids like to build shanties whenever we have large sheets of cardboard.

Feast or Famine - part 06

Then there is the east fenceline, that originally i couldnt see past as the neighbours yard was full of mature plants, until she passed away and the new owners levelled the entire yard. Now i can see at least ten houses i never wanted to see, including one whose occupants drive me up the wall, caterwauling the most horrendous songs and destroying even the best songs all day and night and in summer with windows open, it makes it a nightmare to spend time in my own yard.


So we prepared and planted a LARGE section with different citrus fruits, several oranges, several mandarins, a bush lemon, another lemon (unknown species, it was $3 from the nursery as it had lost its tags, so they knew it was a lemon but not what kind and therefore couldnt sell it at normal retail cost), a variagated cumquat (i love these things and so do the kids, best form of sour lolly ever lol) and Dear Sons pride and joy, his Lemonade Tree, that he paid for out of his own money and this year it had its first ever fruit, just one, but for a 1 year old plant, hey thats not bad (we nipped all the other buds off to get it to mature better before bearing too heavy a crop). Intermixed is the rampant sweet potato, the line of lavenders, and some acacia/golden wattles (which i managed to kill most of the first time round by planting them in the manure rich soil that the citruses like, so the survivors were moved a metre out into the yard and are slowly getting back to normal).





Now this "screen" isnt blocking things out overnight, but by next year, they should be tall enough that i dont have to see the singing freak (see my profile for the type of songs this guy sings and you will know why i dont like my kids hearing him) AND even better, they will have nice crops on them, providing further hail this summer doesnt strip all the flowers off.

Feast or Famine - part 07





In the centre of the yard is our mango tree (getting close to 3metres tall and going on 3 yrs old now as well as being grafted, so we are in hope its about to fruit) and our nectarine and peach trees (they had such lovely flowers and masses of fruit til it hailed, then all the fruit hit the ground and before we could rescue said fruit, our blasted cattle dog ate the lot of it (lol last year she ate all the pumpkins off the vine and the year before all the roma tomatoes). There is another citrus in that little configuration too, but for the life of me i forget what it is. There was also the chocolate sapote that had been transplanted there to try and save it (was originally with the citrus acacia line but suddenly went downhill) but it didnt survive.


Feast or Famine - part 08



Just below this center garden is a small row with a few lillypilly trees (the survivors of the original six, which the border collie decided to dig the rootballs out of the ground one hot summer day) and a couple of calistemons. These are just behind my retaining wall (which i designed and built when DS was 4.5yrs and DD 18mths). This retaining wall then has a small row below it with my "WHITE GARDEN/SCENTED GARDEN" that contains my three gardenias (presents from DBF) and four chinese star jasmines.





Feast or Famine - part 09

Infront of the Scent Garden, I had a flat area that housed the kids swings and trampoline, until DBF decided to turn it into a vegi garden (tramp and swings now on slope between the mango garden and the slab). He made quite a nice garden really (DD then 5 helped trench it and dig in around 100kgs of well rotted horse manure, she is rather handy with a shovel and gets very upset if she isnt allowed to help, unlike DS who would rather lay on the trampoline with his latest book lolol). It has had quite a few successful vegies in it and then it was overtaken by his sunflowers, which for some reason he didnt expect them to strike or grow (old packet) and ended up with around 100 fully grown sunflowers. He has just recently cut all but one of these down to the ground and chopped them into inch long peices and thrown back into the garden (he cuts all his mulch by hand with secateurs, lol even palm fronds end up having this done to them).





Now as the title says, We have feast or famine here at the moment in this particular garden bed. At one stage we had soo many bok and pak choys that half of it was given away to friends, i used roughly 1/4 of it and the rest was added to the compost as extra fuel (and the compost ends up being used back in the garden anyway, so very good recycling lol). Then we got hit with bad hail (well our place did pretty good in consideration to downtown where a lot of cars and buildings got written off) but it hit our tomato plants so hard that rather than growing they all started dying back, but as with natures self defense mechanism, they decided to bear as many offspring as possible and we ended up with zillions (i literally had to sort through 8kg of tomatoes from one days harvest) that went from green to ripe to rotten in one or two days. This kept going over a week or so period and we couldnt harvest them fast enough let alone give enough away, so there were at least 10kg that were recycled (and plenty that i threw out the window randomly into the vegie patch while sorting rotten from ok to reclaim my kitchen sink back again, which means there will be multitudes of new plants sprouting soon).







Feast or Famine - part 10

And last but not least, there is beside the west end of the retaining wall, two large areas meant to be steps/path to where the doors of the garage will eventually be when i can afford to put one on the slab. However, at teh moment the top stair is full of parsley, carrots and potatoes as well as weeds i was informed the other day. Well not my fault lol i cant even see that garden anymore, because the one below it now has 3 metre high sunflower forest (yes more sunflowers lolol).
Before they grew




and two weeks ago when we nearly lost the dog in there and take into account, this is a fully grown, normal sized, 6 yr old NZ Border Collie, NOT A PUPPY!





Taken tonight (its raining) with back spotties on and these are all viewed from my kitchen window lol.