Shorts: The Sewing Nook's First Produce

A sudden turn in temperature at the start of Autumn prompted me to clean out the girls wardrobes again. Having done so, there were obvious gaps that needed filling. Sophie had gone through a major growth spurt and suddenly only had one skirt that fitted her any more, and no shorts.

Needs must, so I got out some fabric and started to sew.

The sewing nook worked admirably, and having the shelf above meant I could easily store the work in progress during the day and knew exactly where it was when it came time to sew again.

I used the Clover Shorts pattern, because the material was so pretty it deserved to be a really nice pair of shorts. Dinosaurs are so awesome right?

Those unicorn shorts are almost identical to the pair I made last year for Rachel. Too bad I accidentally sewed the waist band on upside down this time.

It's in the Details

We added a little something to the new toilet.

With the sliding doors, it was a little hard to see where the light switch was from the door way. I drew the idea on a paper and then copied it to the wall in pencil before I painted it.

Everything is oh, so clear now, and it glows in the dark, which is extra helpful.

Renovation Update: Epilogue

So I realized after my last post, that there were a few things missing of our final renovation that I didn't get to share with the world at large. And that I really should redo the video walk through so that people get a better idea of what happened and where everything is.

So I did, and here it is:

The most notable thing that I missed talking about was my sewing nook. Probably because it is insanely hard to get good photos of, because sewing nook, is an extremely adequate name for it. But I am super excited about it.

We weren't originally sure what to do with the space. It was across from the laundry, next to a linen cupboard. We floated the idea of a bench with storage underneath, and then a vague notion of giving Steve an easily accessible space to store tools inside. About two and a half months into the renovation, I realized, as I walked around the sewing cabinet that had been stored in our bedroom, that it was just the right size for that little area.

It grew to be even more perfect when I realized that during the week, I could use it as a change table, thus removing the need for a change table in our bedroom. Hallelujah! The final moment of perfection came when I realized that being next to the ironing cupboard and a linen storage cupboard meant that I could store my material close at hand (again, out of the bedroom) and I would have no excuse not to press seams given the location of the iron.

Almost too good to be true.

But it is true. It's small and will take some juggling if I'm working on a bigger project (like a quilt), but it's an area that is all for me and for sewing; and I love it. What an unexpected bonus of renovating a house.

Renovation Update: The Forth and Final Chapter

This is it people. The builders officially left last Friday. We are done.

I spent Friday, in between looking after children, painting these windows. Luckily I got them done (two coats!) and back in before the big storm hit in the afternoon. Otherwise we might have seen a lot of water damage in the laundry area. These were the only existing windows that we didn't repaint in the window project of 2014.

When the builders cleared off the deck of all their stuff, it suddenly seemed a lot bigger. So great to have it done!

On the weekend, Steve mattocked up all the bare ground that had been compacted by the excavator at the start and weeks of builders walking on it. Thankfully the rain made it a little easier, if also a lot muddier. At last the grass as something to grow into again.

We still need to oil the deck. The list of things we need to do seems to get bigger before it gets smaller. Inside the house we keep finding extra things that need seeing to, and I'm still unpacking the kitchen. There are cupboards in there that I haven't even touched, even though they are full of who knows what. But slowly, we are working it out.

It's hard to fit the whole house into a photo from the back yard now, but we still feel like we've got enough lawn.

I am also spending lots of time making the house "officially safe" again for work. I'll have to put a gate on the bottom of those steps, because of, you know, danger and stuff. I also wonder if the powers at be will ask us to cover up under the stairs there because of entrapment issues, but fingers crossed they don't.

Look, an outdoor setting we can actually use! We've only had it for, I don't know, six years maybe? It's been under the house, waiting. We've used the chairs before, but the table was too big to get out often. Here is it's time to shine!

The bay window cushion was the last thing we got. I love the purple colour adding some fun to the room. I feel like I could have taken better photos and made everything look super swish and professional, but it was enough trouble to keep the kids out of an area for just one photo that I didn't feel like I had the energy for any more.

This is the only photo I have of the bathroom. I wonder if people want more? Should I, for example, take photos of the laundry cupboard too? I don't know! I did take a walk through video, but I got a little rambly in my explanation in it and think I need to redo it. Do people even want to see that? I have no idea.

The bathroom is shiny and clean, and the girls love the bath. The faucet swivels out of the way, which is also super cool.

Anyway, that's a wrap! House renovation complete. We are looking forward to having people around and making use of our space to welcome people.

Nailed it

Today's Bento were so good.

Except that Rachel ate all of hers by 11:00 at Playgroup.

I wonder how quickly Sophie ate hers?

Renovation Update Three

The painting begins! 

This is the inside of our house, standing from the corner near the new bay window. The painters got in here and painted all the walls and ceiling before the floors got sanded and polished. The second day of painting, the painter asked me what I thought. My response was a little uninspiring, so he thought I didn't like the color now that it was on the walls. 

It wasn't that; the new part of the house just seemed so classy, modern and shiny. We had been living in the older part of the house, that, despite the paint lift we gave it when we moved in initially, still had molding on the walls to hide the joins, and shiny ceilings because we'd never bothered to paint those at all. I was used to that old house, with it's old style and where I didn't mind if the children got paint on the walls, it was comfortable. I was not used to this shiny new part of the house and I am still not sure we will ever belong there. Maybe after the kids have made it dirty though, it will start to feel a bit more like home.

Anyway, here is a night time shot post floor polishing. We weren't walking on it, so we weren't home much during the day, but it was too exciting not to have a night time visit and photo. You can see the bay window seat had been put in, with spaces for drawers too!

While the floor got sanded and polished, the painters moved outside and began work on the exterior of the house. Here is a progress shot.

And another, given that the side window there still has an unpainted windowsill, but mostly everything else is done. I'm so looking forward to when the scaffolding is gone and the sides of our house feel large and spacious again.

Round the back, the deck was getting built and the roof put on. Every time we opened the bifold doors, we could feel the breeze coming through and longed more and more for the day when we could just walk out onto the deck. I think we will be spending a lot of time out there when all is done.

Here is a panorama shot of the inside out onto the deck. You can see the kitchen is back together, but not quite, as our dishwasher isn't in yet, and the microwave is still on the bench. Actually, that wall that moved out to make space for the dishwasher was without power for about two weeks, so we used a camping stove to cook on and an extension cord for the microwave.

Moving around, there is a linen cupboard on the other side of the kitchen, and the laundry. Down that hallway behind the living room wall is our second toilet and bathroom. The holes in the walls were waiting for the electrician to come along and join up the wires with power points. Leaning up against the bay window are the laundry doors that were painted too.

Coming round onto the deck you can see the old toilet (about to be thrown in the bin) and our deck! The roof posts were up, but they didn't put the roof on until the next week.

Tada!

Such a change, but so exciting. Inside I was using all the baby gates ever to remind the children about where they could and couldn't be. The regulars were good, but my one-day-a-week kids definitely needed the reminding. That said, I never had any explorers try to investigate any dangerous building equipment, so I'm really thankful for that.

While the outside was being painted, the inside got electricity and plumbing. The bathroom/toilet/laundry were all tiled and the other bits went in. We ordered our new couch (first one we'eve ever bought) and put the old one out for curbside clean up (such handy timing). When the dishwasher got put in, I really started unpacking kitchen things and putting stuff away. And cleaning. So much cleaning.

Shout out to anyone using Norwex. Such great cleaning products, I don't know where I would be with out the enviro cloth and my container of cleaning paste. Ask if you want to know more, but I've had a really dirty house and I've cleaned it all with just Norwex: no chemicals or paper towel. Amazing.

Yesterday, Steve and I hung this indoor plant in our kitchen. It's so full of life, I really hope I don't kill it. We got the hanging pot from my friend Katie who works with Lorraine Lea. So pretty.

Today as I type this, the builders are finishing the deck balustrade, and mounting the dryer in the laundry. Nearly there (just two more weeks?) Even if the builders finish by Friday, I know there is still a to-do list for us to tackle when they are gone. For now though, I hope you've enjoyed the update; I thought there would only be three, but stick around for a forth and let's hope that's it!

Renovation Update Two

When we left off last time, the outside of the house was built, and things were starting to look very different. At this point, we were pretty excited by what we could see on the inside of the house, so I took a video to help other people visualize what was going on and even see what was happening. 

It is pretty cool to be able to look back at that and compare it to where we started and where we are now, so I'm glad I did take it. The next thing to go in was the windows and doors, and then the floors! 

Here are the girls and I on a lovely new floor! That bay window area that we are standing in will eventually have a seat in it. You can see the inside of the house walls are not yet covered, and the ceiling isn't in yet either.

We  had to move out for the next bit, because we were at the point where the old back wall of our house had to come out. For that to happen, the kitchen had to be taken apart too, because, as you saw in the video, the kitchen wall was moving out so that we could fit a dishwasher in. Here is a photo of Steve with his dishwasher.

He was very excited about this, and still is.

A week or two later, and this was our house! The lovely new floor was covered up with cardboard to protect it while the tradies did their work, putting pipes and cables in all over the place. You can see on the floor next to Sophie in the picture below where our old kitchen used to be in that un-polished area of floor (that was were the old stove stood when we initially bought the house and had the floors done. When we had the new kitchen put in, the cupboards went straight over it).

Everything felt roomy and spacious in the house now, and the outside was finished cladding all the way around, so it was beginning to look pretty spiffy.

We were out of the house for about three weeks, which was pretty tough, even with the sweet accommodation my parents graciously provided for us. That in-between state is hard to live in for an extended period, so I'm glad it was only three weeks.

Our neighbors remarked on the house a lot too, and we had a lot of compliments about the new color, which was literally just the unpainted cladding. I guess we could have saved a bunch of money and not painted it, but it didn't seem worth it.

Here is a final inside shot now that the walls are all covered up and plastered. The cornices were yet to be done and the kitchen cupboards were still all over our front living room, but it was really beginning to feel like it was almost there.

I commented to Steve that the renovation was similar to having a baby who was crying. Bear with me, I'll explain. Sometimes when you put a kid to bed, they have a grumble, and if you go in straight away, it's actually not going to help them sort it out themselves. They need to learn to do it themselves.

So you say to yourself; "I'll just give them two minutes, and then I'll go in." And sometimes that's all it takes, but other times, the two minutes is a little bit perpetual. After the first two minutes, you say "I'll just give it two more minutes", and twenty minutes later when they have finally gone to sleep, you feel fine because you only gave it "two minutes".

Now, to the renovation. As we got closer and closer to the end, if felt like we were saying "just two more weeks", and after those two weeks, we would say, "Oh, yep, just two more weeks." So there are only "two more weeks" to go, but it's been at least six weeks thus far. 

I wonder when it will really be done, and I think it will be actually long after the builders have left, because there are still things to sort out, and put away, and find new homes for, and clean, and clean and clean. So much cleaning. Hopefully we will get there though. Stick around if you are keen to see the final installments of our renovation.

Renovation Update

So many people have been keen to know the progress on the extension of our house. You can read snippets here, but thus far we have been pretty tight lipped. Something about making sure that the internet doesn't know we are doing it so that we have less of a chance of getting robbed in the process.

Anyway, we are nearing the end, so I've started trawling through photos that we took (systematically documenting every change seemed like a good idea at the time...) to find the best way to give people a snapshot of what has happened.

So here we go! Starting with a lovely big shot of our enormous back yard and what the house originally looked like. The bit on the right hand side where the roof slopes down was our existing laundry and second toilet, which were on a lower level that then house itself. That was demolished on day one and everything was built out on the same level as the house from there.

The children were easily entertained by the digger and construction that they could see from the back bedroom window. In the above photo, they are in the room on the far left of the house (the set of three windows). These windows got moved early on to the other side of the house because otherwise they would be looking straight out onto our new deck.

And at the end of week one, or maybe two, here is where we are! The back cladding is gone, the stumps are in, the foundations are laid. We can no longer use our back door.

The external wall frames did go up after this pretty quickly, and then the back of the house kind of sat there for what felt like a long time, because the roof trusses were getting made and were taking their sweet time doing it. Our builder was great though, and used the spare time to start re cladding the house at the front.

This is what the front of our house looked like:

With the renovation happening mostly at the back, we had relocated the trampoline (which I'm technically not supposed to use with out proper soft fall and spring protection) out to the front yard. The kids have loved it. Anyway, back to renovation talk.

That plain creamy stuff is actually made of asbestos, which is fine except if you break it off and crumble it up, it can kill you, so it's best to get rid of it. While we were getting the extension done it seemed like a good opportunity to do so. An expensive opportunity, but an opportunity none the less.

After the asbestos was gone (hallelujah!) the builders insulated and wrapped our house up in this attractive blue stuff before cladding it with some lovely weatherboard look-a-like cement fiber stuff. The insulation made the world of difference to the overall temperature of the house, which was super exciting because we don't have air conditioning.

And then, the trusses arrived and we retunred to the back of the house again! 

Just before Christmas the roof was on. It was pretty crazy to think from the first of November to mid December that so much had changed. What you see building before your eyes here is a laundry, toilet and second bathroom (essentially running down the right side of the house towards the yard). A living area with a bay window (straight out in the middle there), which has bi-doors out onto a large deck (left hand side of the house (where there is currently no roof)).

In this shot, you can still see the old "back wall" of our house is still existing in there. The builders had been so considerate of us and my work, and built all of this other stuff with the original house still intact. That wall stayed in until mid January, when the extension part of the house was all wrapped up and secure and it finally came time for it to go. 

We are really stoked with how things are going along so far, and excited to share some more of the renovation journey, though I suspect this is enough for one post. I feel it's important to mention though that this snapshot does not show how cramped things can be inside a house under renovation, and how the loss of easy yard access really impacted all of us, the girls and my work especially. I've spent the last three months essentially taking four children on excursions most days of the week. Some days we leave at 7:30 am or 8:00 and don't get home until 4:30 pm. Which is a really long day.

But, on the plus side, knowing that the house was going to get smaller before it got bigger, meant that I packed up a lot of kids toys in preparation. And I culled a lot on the way, not just toys, but other things as well. It's been really good to have a reason to do a thorougher clean out. I even did my material stash! I don't know that I'm up to holding things and seeing if it sparks joy, but I've definitely enjoyed the purge, and the kids have done really well with the lack of toys.

Seriously, I'm talking one tin of cars, a tub of duplo and a drawer of soft toys. Even their books got put away, and we have been reading about an eighth of their usual library. That's been the hardest part.

Anyway, I'll tell you more about the joys and tears of renovation, next time. Stay tuned!

She's Older Now

I didn't want to make a big deal about this, especially after seeing so many posts on Facebook in that first week of school. "Just like that he's in prep!", "Where did my baby go?",  "Looks so big in this uniform." Blah blah blah.

Sorry. I'm not trying to be negative about people celebrating their kids, but it was all just a bit same same. Did you not know that your child would one day reach an age where schooling would be the next step? I'm not exactly sure how it would take you by surprise.

Anyway. All that said, it feels wrong to not recognize in some way that Sophie too, has joined the ranks of school aged children. And I've had enough people ask me "how's she going?" not to let you know.

She's doing fine. School is hard. It's a change. It's exciting. It's lonely. It's fun. It's long. There is lots of sitting. It makes her tired. She's excited to go. She's made friends. Can't remember their names. Can't remember the teacher's names. She knows she loves Library day. And running. And that morning tea is not long enough.

All in all, she's doing fine and we couldn't be prouder. Nice one Sophie. May you always be as confident and thoughtful as you are now, and realize that every challenge is able to be overcome.

Tiger's Birthday

Is it going too far when you are celebrating birthdays for soft toys? I'm not sure, but I confess, it's been done.

Three years ago, Sophie's birthday present was to go and see The Tiger Who Came to Tea as a show based on the book which she loved. That same year, only about six weeks later, I made my very first stuffed toy (animal variety) the Tiger, which she loved and promptly called "Tiger".

Three years on, Tiger looks like he needs some major surgery to continue on with his life, and has in fact, already undergone some major surgery to keep him in his alive state. But Sophie continues to love him and assures me that he makes the best pillow and is just the right size to cuddle.

There has been requests to either fix him or to get a new tiger made, which I'll be honest, was a little horrifying to me. Replace Tiger? What is she thinking!? But she's got a point, even with the patching, I'm not sure he will last much longer.

Sophie often asks me how old Tiger is, and this year remembered that his birthday is in February. So we celebrated. We even had a cake, which Sophie choose after pouring over the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Cookbook for an hour or so.

It sounds crazy, but it was fun. I doubt we would do it for almost any other toy, but Tiger is special and we were all happy to celebrate with him.

Wildlife

While our house has been undergoing some major changes in the recent months, we have had to spend a few nights over at my parents house for various reasons. One night, while eating dinner on my parents patio, I noticed a small mouse creep out of the garden and under a table. It quickly darted back, and I thought that was the end of it. We were, obviously, making loud noise, had the lights on etc, so we assumed it would wait until we were absent before appearing again.

But come out again it did. And it stayed out. It crept all over the patio for about three or four minutes before I decided I would catch that mouse.

It was so little that I just took a plastic cup that the girls had had some chalk in, and put it over the top. There was a little scuffle, but nothing undignified on my end (much to Steve's surprise). The mouse was caught.

Since I had caught it, I didn't want to let it go again. My parents would not be happy to know it was still in their yard. But neither did I want to instigate it's swift demise.

Since we had our stick insect with us, I figured that enclosure was as good as any for the mouse, and I promptly put it inside. We gave it a box to hide in and some food and it lived in there for half a week. Then I talked to a friend of mine who said that mice can actually eat insects, and I was suddenly afraid for Mary (our most recently surviving stick insect), and I relocated the mouse to my parents old fish tank.

After some discussion, we named the mouse Emily, though Sophie, who was strongly supporting the name Emma was convinced we were just saying her full name (Emma Leigh), rather than Emily. Tricky Tricky.

Emily lived with us in her fish tank for another two weeks until I cleaned it out one morning and accidentally put the cardboard house we had made for her too close to the drinking thing. She did some amazing climbing and escaped without us even realizing. Goodbye Emily.

The girls were pretty devastated when they found out, and wanted to conduct search parties. When we had convinced them she had probably gone outside (hopefully), they asked when we could get our next pet.

I'm a bit sad that these are the only photos we have of Emily, and that she was with us for such a short time. But I'm also glad that we didn't have to commit to looking after another pet, and doing arduous things like actually take her to the vet and find out if she (or he) had any diseases that could kill us. Whew.

Reading in 2019

Though we are only a month in, 2019 has seen some solid reading efforts already, and not just by me. I'm assuming that as the school/kindy term really kicks in this week, my reading time will decrease, but even so, I love that we are off to a good start.

Here's what I've read thus far:

Shadow in the North by Philip Pullman

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Book of Dust by Philip Pullman
Medusa's Butterfly by Simon Rae

The Reluctant Assassin: W.A.R.P. by Eion Colfer
The Hangman's Revoloution by Eion Colfer
Secret Star by Emma Carroll

Now, to the big news: we, as a family, have also read The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkin.

I'll be honest, it was arduous. Almost excruciatingly painful, but we made it. Sophie and Rachel have been slowly graduating to longer books for some time now; even sometimes chapter books! We have some Roal Dahl books in rotation at the moment (The Magic Finger, Fantastic Mr Fox, Esio Trot, The Giraffe, the Pelly and Me, James and the Giant Peach, The BFG (gosh, I didn't realize there were so many until I started listing them!)), Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, and they also love the Ottoline Books, by Chris Riddle, which are an excellent halfway between longer illustrated picture books and chapter books.

So somewhere along the line, Steve says casually: "Maybe one day we can read you 'The Hobbit'." At which I protest, because, let's face it, it's The Hobbit, and in a word: Terrible. Much to my dismay, Sophie instantly wants to know why I don't like it. But, because I do love reading, I don't want to spoil it for her. I mean, there is a slim chance that somewhere down the line she will read it and maybe think it's passable. I can't take that away from her by telling her the truth straight up can I?

We explain to Sophie that for this reason, I will tell her why I don't like it, only after she herself has read it. Hearing this, Sophie begs us to read it straight away. Without delay. Despite our warnings that it is very long and could be boring. She would not be put off. We had to read it. Immediately.

And so we read it.

Steve and I took turns reading it aloud to the girls, and despite thinking that Steve would do most of the legwork here, I did end up reading a large chunk, because we were on holidays, and the girls think the best way to spend their time is by sitting and reading for hours on end. (Steve and I often come upon then in their room sitting together and leafing through well read books.) They are not wrong, though I do question their choice of book in this case.

Steve had a copy on the shelf, but we also managed to pick up a semi-illustrated version from the library which helped immensely (especially where Rachel was concerned). They loved the characters; elves, dwarves, hobbit and wizard. They thought that Gollum was hilarious for some reason, and spent a lot of the first half asking if the Dragon would show up soon. When Smaug did show up, they were pretty happy about him too, even though he is not a nice dragon.

At the end of it, I did get to tell Sophie why I think it's terrible, and I think she sees my reasoning. That said, she did love listening to the tale, even when the author got a bit waffle-y about things and distracted with scenery, rather than actually telling the story.

If you've never read The Hobbit, I'd advise you to skip it, but I do hope that this post about reading inspires you to pick up a book tonight.