Sunday afternoon

Thought I would share a photo I took at a new home I listed last week - this Wisteria is simply gorgeous. The photo below is just part of the garden there too....look at that Queensland bottle tree.

Well another lazy Sunday has passed with usual round of cooked breakfast quick game of cards with the kids and loads of relaxing and playing games together.

Daisygirl16 went off to school camp today - at the Sheraton !!! - it is a hospitality camp - funny how they didn't need any parent help on this it is probably the only school camp I could see myself on! !! Although the girls are going there to work - making beds, serving food etc we still had to pay - not sure that is quite right but oh well.

The kids seem to be the only ones going anywhere at the moment - Daisyboy15 just got back from the trip of a lifetime to New Zealand with his rugby team - they played a game, watched a couple of world cup matches and did the usual tourist stuff in Wellington.

Mind you daisyman and I are going on a fishing trip later this month to raise money for the Harcourts foundation. Now you all know camping is not my thing but I am rather looking forward to waking up on Teewah beach in a tent.... but I reserve the right to change my mind if it is raining !! The Harcourts Foundation is largely supported by agencies who donate a percentage off the top of their commission - it is a lovely worth while thing to see the money be distributed to worthwhile charities. Next year the major fundraiser is a trip with a terrific bunch of agents walking the Kokoda Track to raise funds for the Foundation.

Actually when daisyboy15 went to New Zealand we were having trouble getting the boys a game as it was school holidays - because of the sort of company I work for I was able to send the CEO Mike an email asking if he could do anything (Harcourts started in NZ in Christchurch) - after six long weeks and a series of emails going higher and higher up the food chain - they got the boys a game at Poirura College - daisyboy and his teams mates said it was the highlight of the trip staring down the Haka performed by the opposition!! It made me realise how proud and lucky I am to work for a company that really does live its core values - Fun and Laughter, People First, Do the Right Thing and Be Courageous. The Foundation is another example of the company living its values not just paying lip service to them.

Until the next time I have five minutes spare !

Daisymum

Sunday Beautiful Sunday

Well I have to tell you all my mood has improved greatly since the warmer weather has arrived.

I have to go to work for a little while in half an hour but then I am going tot he nursery to get some seedlings and get into the veggie garden.

DaisyMountain as some of you will recall has been on the market but we have decided to stay here for another 12 months or so. A decision that has been harder than I thought it would be.
But once it was made it sure made getting out in the garden a lot more fun and more productive.

At the moment I am sitting here with the gentle perfume of the Brunfelsia I cut yesterday wafting through the house. I think I might just cut a big bunch for the vase on my desk as well.

While my time is limited with work, and the demands of the family - there is a gentle balance that has settled itself over our lives at the moment and I plan to take full advantage of it. SO some simple vegetable gardening and some gardening - nothing startling just bits and pieces that I can do in the few linutes I find spare every now and then.

The trick to working full time I have discovered is not to wait for large chunks of time to open up to get tasks accomplished - just take a few minutes here and there to do a bit.

Clean out one drawer in the kitchen while you are waiting for the toast to cook, because I guarantee that the hour and a half that you need for the whole job is much harder to find than the bonus five to ten minutes, that present themsleves during the course of the day.

I have revisited Fly lady recently - it is a "home life organisational system" that I used for years and years - it is probably more relevant now than it ever was.

I hope you are all using this beautiful day to full advantage - doing, relaxing, or connecting with people you love.

Until next time

daisymum

New look!!

I am so excited I finally worked out how to change the look of the blog. So expect a different one every now and again until I find the one that screams ME. I really like this one though. The one on the weekend was a bit too bright.

In the yard...................

Yesterday was spent mulching more gardens, mowing, planting out five Hedgerow roses in pink....I get these from Diggers at first I wasn't convinced they would grow in Qld but after putting in 10 (and only losing 1) 4 years ago I am a convert. I didn't water them at all they have survived on what nature provided (not much considering we have been in drought since I planted them) and look at them they do need the sun though, the ones on the other side of the drive are in the shade of a pine tree and they aren't as lush. They only flower once a year but they are so beautiful and form a great soft hedge.

Then I decided I am putting more vegetable gardens in the orchard paddock and we are going to take back the weeping paperbarks we bought for the front area and exchange them for some fruit trees perhaps avocados. And I finally got my head around where I am going to build the trellises for the cane berries.

And we got a trellis up for the luffas so planting them out today.

Up until this point the garden has been largely my baby, daisydad hasn't been that interested, but that is unfair he has been studying a law degree by distance ed for the last 8 years so every weekend has been full of study, assignments and the work he has to do for his real job. But now that his study if finished he has been out helping me more and yesterday's decisions were "us" not me. So it was a turning point I suppose.

Busy Sunday....................

We usually have a cooked breakfast on Sunday after Church but this week we got into the garden first then had a late brunch, then back out to the yard to get some more done. We did some weeding and then had a swim in the dam with the daisies, and then played gin and go fish with the kids for a while we even got to sneak away and do a bit of grocery shopping on our own and pop in to the local pub for a quick drink on the way home. In a busy full household it is these little moments that help to remind you that one day there will be just us.

That bedroom.............

Daisygirl13 sorted out the boys bedroom on Saturday it looks great apart from the fact I really wanted the drawers painted before the clothes went in them but never mind we can do that in a few weeks when everyone is home on holidays. For now the floor is empty of clothes and everything looks neat and tidy - a room to think and plan in at last.

Kids are home.................

So we are off to the library and then we need to buy daisyboy7 a pair of goggles for school swimming. So while we have to be out of our valley and over at the shopping centre we will get some meat to put in the freezer. Then home again to drop the kids here while I choof off to another job interview then back here to pick them up and off to the nursery to swap those trees over and pick up a punnet of lettuce (no forgot to plant out lettuce seeds!!!!) and a play in the park in the village with a coffee for mum and a walk to the local take away for a 50c packet of lollies for the daisies. And then home to plant lettuce and luffas!!!

Enjoy your day whatever you are doing and whatever surprises it may bring.

daisymum

PS: My potatoes are up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But my cucumber have gone not died not shrivelled just gone...... possums??