My Week So Far And Some Me Time....

Hello my lovely Home, Love & Life friends and how are you all doing today? Yesterday was one of those kind of blah days really....but more on that later.

I thought I'd catch you all up with how the week has been going so far.....it all started on the weekend really when we went to Bunnings to get some tomato bushes. I'm over paying up to $10 a kilo for them and being that we had great success growing our own tomatoes last year I thought, lets do it again this year. While we were there we also got some lettuce and basil, one of my most favourite herbs and the girls got their faces painted....

Two butterfly faces....they love Bunnings too...

 



Our veggie garden full of lettuce, tomatoes and basil...

 

So we came home and got straight into putting our new summer veggies in the ground and it was a lovely sunny day...I really didn't want it to end because although it wasn't quite warm enough for swimming it was just nice having all that sunshine out and on my skin. While we were outside I finally got around to potting the girls strawberry bushes that we bought last month along with their lovely pots and so far the strawberries are doing really well......I also happened to notice we have some beautiful Jasmine climbing up over our fence and it smells divine....the bush is actually on the neighbours side of the fence and being that the fence is going to be pulled down soon I thought I would take some cuttings and pot them up as I just love Jasmine so much and it's really hard to find in the gardening sections down here...

 



 Love the colour of these pots and we have lots of strawberries

coming along....

 

On a lovely sunny day you can smell this Jasmine wafting

through the backyard.....total love....

 

Also in the last week a friend has clipped the chickies wings for me so I can let them loose in the yard without worrying about them getting over the fence and let me just say they are loving their freedom and seem so much happier now.....they roam all day and go in as soon as it gets dark or if it starts to rain and the love chasing pigeons out of the yard.....so funny to watch....animals are very entertaining if you just sit back and watch them...

 



The girls totally enjoying their freedom....no eggs yet but it

shouldn't be long now...a few more weeks...

 

Sunday morning came with us getting up and going to the meeting which was wonderful...I always feel so at home there and love catching up with my fellow brothers and sisters...there's nothing quite like being somewhere spiritual.....So after the meeting we came home to not as nice weather as Saturday but the girls were outside playing and Chris was inside watching the Dockers win the footy...and while I watched it with him I couldn't help but think I should be doing my blog but I just didn't have the energy....Sundays are a pretty relaxed day for us really....there's always the meeting first then either visiting friends after or for lunch or just chilling out once we get home before the usual week starts up again.....(of course these are the Sundays there's no road trip otherwise it's rush, rush, rush....)

 

Sunday also happened to mark our 16 weeks along in the baby journey and I can't believe we're at this point already...only 2 1/2 weeks and we have our 19 week ultrasound....I'm actually looking forward to finding out if it's a boy or girl, though I'm still sure it'll be a boy and he's getting big..!! I have a feeling he'll take after Luke size wise.....though hopefully not as big as 9lb 6oz....ouch...!!

 



16 weeks and popping out all in front.....

 

I know most people take side photos of their bellies getting bigger but I've decided to stick with the straight down shot until my feet disappear (lets face it it's going to happen lol) then I'll switch to side shots.....as you can see for only 16 weeks my belly is getting a roundness to it and thank goodness for the woman who invented the belly belt because without that none of my pants would fit me any more....

 

Monday was back to school for Eva and off to work for Chris and like all mums I love it when the kids are at school...hehe...I spent the morning doing a little catch up washing from the weekend and just tidying really....there wasn't a great deal to do as I've turned into bit of a cleaning freak lately as I want everything organised and caught up with before the baby comes.....trust me I know I have time but Chris thought I was crazy for buying the bassinet, pram and change table so early on and now we're almost at the halfway point..!!! Who's crazy I ask you....not me that's for sure....you never know when babies are going to make their appearance so better to be prepared in my book....Anyhoo....here I was minding my business when a van pulls up across the road and it turns out it was the delivery guy dropping off our new totaly gym.....

 

I love this machine...

 

Chris and I both have gym memberships but I rarely get there now with both girls home and being so busy and by the time the evening rolls around I don't feel like going out in the cold and I'm usually knackered.....Chris tries to get to the gym most nights but some nights he's too tired too after a 12hr day at work.....we saw this total gym on t.v the other week before Chris headed off to work and thought it would be worth a shot.....I love it because I can do my pilates on it to help strengthen my back as I'm already getting alot of back pain with bub, espescially sciatic nerve pain.....Chris loves it because now he can work out every night without having to leave the house....we both gave it a test run Monday night and we're really happy with how easy it is to use and let me just say if you think it looks to easy on the add and you won't get the same feeling as using weights at the gym, think again...I'm still feeling it in my arms where I never felt it before even from going to the gym....I'm in love and I love the fact that I can use this even though I'm pregnant...woohoo...

 

Now we come to my blah days....I haven't been sleeping the best lately...I go off to sleep ok and then a couple of hours later I'm tossing and turning trying to get comfortable. I usually sleep on my side but on my stomach if that makes sense....and well as you know the bigger you get when pregnant the more uncomfortable it is to sleep on your side and impossible to sleep on your stomach. I've noticed I've been sleeping more on my back, which is something I never usually do and while it's not too uncomfortable I just don't sleep properly like I normally do and I'm finding because of this I'm getting less sleep which is making me just a tad irritible and cranky at times....So any way after a day of the girls constantly whinging and fighting with each other and not listening I sent them off to bed early as I was just so tired...this of course led to one of them calling out and whining and carrying on which I just was not in the mood for and neither was Chris....unfortuantely as all you girls know a side effect of being pregnant can be taking things to heart when we shouldn't....Chris snapped at me, I snapped at him and nobody went to bed happy really....however Chris and I don't hold grudges and we don't argue for long so, yesterday morning rolled around and he apologised for being grumpy at me and I got up with him and saw him off to work but I was still feeling a little flat as yet again I slept like hell and I hate arguing of any sort.....(the thing is too is that your kids fight and cause chaos and disturbance that affects you and your husband, then they go to bed and sleep it off and wake up happy as Larry in the morning like nothing happened while you and husband/wife still feel like crap...go figure but it's one of those things that irritate the life out of me..) Any way yesterday after seeing Chris off to work I got Eva to school, Bec to Bumble Bee and Luke headed off to intework for the day.....Wedensdays are the only day I have completely to myself and I have to admit I love it....I really didn't know what I was going to do but about 10:30 I decided to give myself a manicure as I haven't had one in ages and my hands always feel so good afterwards.....I should do it more often being that I'm a qualified nail tech but c'est la vie as they say....

 

 Even though I do this at home I still set up as if I'm doing a client...

 



 Thumb nail art...love these...simple yet effective...

 

Ring finger nail art...I added a red gem to this just to add a

little colour and a bit of zooshing....

 

Isn't it funny how doing something so simple for yourself can pick you up and make you feel much better...and I would just like to say thanks to all my lovely Instagramming friends for your lovely feedback on my nails and if you all lived closer I'd give you all manicures....xoxox

 

Well that's my week so far...tonight we're preparing for a weekend in Perth which I'll fill you all in on next week....for now I've still got some packing to do so I'm off for now but take care and havea great weekend....and if you want to follow me on instagram I'm home_love_life......catch you soon xox 



 



A Bargain Finding Week And A New Work Station....

Bonjour mon amis and how are we all doing today?? Yes I know I have been absent again for quite some time and seriously it's bugging the life out of me.....so many distractions lately that by the time I get motivated to blog I'm just too pooped.....so bear with me while I get back on track and into a regualr rythm again...thanks...xoxox

Well lets get on with it shall we....today I really just wanted to share with you all some great bargains I've managed to find over the last week. Like you I've been seeing all the adds on t.v and kmart saying they've slashed their prices but until I visited the store last week I didn't realise just how much they've cut their prices, so needless to say I walked away very happy with a trolley full of bargains. The only downside to visiting was they have next to nothing in maternity wear...one stand was all they had...I'm really beginning to wonder where all the pregnant women down here go for maternity clothes...?? I also managed a few good finds at Thingz Living and Best and Less during the last week as well.

Now I don't know about you but I love cushions on my couch and I haven't had any for ages except for my bird one....

Still loving this though it has a new spot in the house now....

And while it's plush and comfy it just looked not quite right being all on it's own on a 2 seater couch....So while I was in kmart last week I took a stroll over to haberdashery and saw some lovely cushions and then these caught my eye....

As you can see we have giant spots one side and stripes on the other...

Ok girls now how much would you expect to pay for these...$15, $10...?? Well I was prepared to pay ten because I just loved them and then when I looked at the price tag what do you know..they were only $2 each!!! yep you heard me...$2 each!!!...........so naturally I grabbed four so I had two for each couch....in fact I couldn't believe it at first as I never find these sorts of bargains but once it sank in I was doing my own little happy dance in kmart.....there were heaps there and I would have liked to get more for friends and family but we don't all have the same taste so I only took what I needed and left the rest for some other chicky to come across.....Now I was also looking for some new bowls as the ones that came with my dinner set are too narrow at the bottom and an absolute pain in the butt to stack in the dish drainer after washing.....so I headed over to crockery and came across these guys....

Love the blue....

The wood tray was also a great find at kmart for $10....maybe brekkie in bed on this after I have bub...lol

These are a great size bowl....

While in kitchenware I was after a new toaster and a thermos for those long weekend drives we love taking...we have a thermos a friend left us with but if it falls over it leaks so time for a more reliable one....

As I love red I couldn't go past this toaster for $20 and the thermos was only $5!!

I also managed to pick up a great desk for only $39 a 6 piece casserole and ramekin set for $12 and a few other bits and pieces at ridiculously low prices...lets just say I'll be back at kmart soon to see what other bargains I can find.

Happy with my purchases I headed home to start sprucing up the house with a cushion here and a bowl there and finding a spot for the toaster....I love finding places for new items when I get them home...I just need to remember that in this house it's still bit of a mission to do so.

So a bit later in the week I ducked into Best and Less to look for table cloths and what do you know I found some marked down to $5 each.....check out the pic above of the dining table as that's one and the other one is the same but with white, neutral, red and blue stripes....love them.....I also happened to visit Thingz Living (I sound like I do nothing but shop but trust me I've thrown my back out today thoroughly cleaning the house) as I was looking for a floor vase to fill a corner as I can't stand bare corners in a house....it really is a pet peeve I have.....anyhoo...I was walking through and there it was, white, rippled, square and just the right size and only $30....now of course I had to find something to put in it so I found some cool twiggy branches.....take a look....

I know my mum will try and pinch this...lol

This fills my dining room corner beautifully but even Chris agrees with me that it just needs a little something extra and when I figure out exactly what that is it'll be added.... 

Now I think the best thing I managed to put together this week was my work station area for the computer as I have been balancing it on my lap for the last three and a half months while using it and resting it on the girls Dora sofa when I'm done with it.....needless to say I've been paranoid it'll get broken but just coudn't find a desk, until I went to kmart last week and it's exactly what I wanted as we have limited space here and it couldn't be anything too big...



 I'm so happy with my little corner of the lounge room...it's just what I needed.....

I just had to get this sign...even though my house is anything

but peaceful I loved it and I can dream it is....also love the ball

candle holders....all from Thingz Living...

As you can see my bird cushion has a new home on this fab chair picked up from Thingz Living....

So as you can see I've had a productive week of setting up this little old house a bit more and keeping local businesses in business...lol....So how about you guys have you found any good bargains of late....are you a bargain hunter like me....do you haggle?? I haggle all the time and Chris always dies of embarassment but as I tell him if you don't ask you don't get.....most of the time the stores will haggle and come down in price so I'll keep doing it.....

I know some of you may be asking where is the French chocolate cake but I honestly just haven't had the time as it's quite involved but as soon as I get round to it I'll let you know...however I did manage to whip up a Lemon Meringue Pie last week and am doing another one this week as we have visitors for dinner Friday night......

I do so love Lemon Meringue....

Well I'm off for now as it has taken me literally all day to do this post as I keep getting interupted and now I need to organise some dinner and get some kidlets off to bed early as I could do with the peace and quiet....So take care, keep bargain hunting and sprucing up your house and if you have any ideas to share or know of great places for bargains let me know....Au revoir for now.....xoxox













The French Culinary Disaster That Was.....

Ok so I know I promised I'd report back Saturday and have some pics for you of the french feast but we have a problem.....Thanks to the stupidest oven in history that doesn't heat properly and the crappy potatoes this country now produces our dinner didn't turn out exactly as planned......I cooked the chicken to the exact directions Julia gave but after two hours it was still pink in the middle and because I got such a late start on it there was no more time to let it cook.......the potatoes stayed rock hard and didn't cook through at all...I probably should have cut them in half......on the one up side the buttered green beans and peas were absolutely beautiful and only needed a little more seasoning......so all in all we ended up with a plate of beans and peas for dinner....thank goodness Chris had given the girls noodles about an hour before dinner and they were happier with the noodles, not that I blame them. We finally got the girls to bed about 8pm then Luke, Chris and I ordered pizza as we (especially me and bub) were still starving. With the oven deflating me and letting me down so badly I was no where in the mood or game enough to attempt the Chocolate Cake I told you about but now that a few days have passed by and I've calmed down I'll be attempting the cake tomorrow. (fingers crossed lol) I'm making our simple French meal tonight instead of Friday as I have an appointment that will finish late today so Croque Monsieur (toasted ham and cheese sandwiches) will be quick and easy to get done. I've gone for something simple because I just won't have the time and the disaster that happened Friday night kind of killed my mood but it's coming back. I'm sure Julia Child had a few disasters before getting things right so I'm not giving up just gathering myself together for the next attempt.

So after the disaster Friday night we decided we'd take the girls for a run down to the Chocolate Factory and the Olive Oil Company Saturday and get out of the house for a while as  really didn't want to look at the kitchen much at all.....hehe...good thing I can chuckle about it now.

Bec and Eva loved watching chocolates being made....

It was a great day out and the girls were very impressed with the giant freckles they came home with. They also loved trying the different soaps at the Olive Oil Company and Eva loved the different olive oils.

Last Thursday I spent the day trying to re-organise my very small kitchen so I would have more bench space to work with....I didn't do too bad really but will have to take some more pics for you all.

My favourite bench space...love my coffee machine to bits...

Sunday made me 14 weeks along with the pregnancy and I have noticed a fair bit over the last couple of weeks how much I've popped already....the last time I popped this soon was with Luke and he was 9lb 6oz......I'm hoping this baby is all fluid and nowhere near as big as his/her big brother....

12 weeks along...just two weeks ago...

14 weeks this Sunday gone...popping big time...

I can't believe how much I've popped already and clothes are becoming a joke....there is virtually nowhere in Busselton to go for maternity clothes with the exception of our lovely lingerie shop L'Amour Cherie.....they don't have a big selection of clothes but what they do have is lovely and they have managed to order me a lovely dress which will be in soon. I promise I will share it with you when I get it.

Well that's it for now Home, Love and Life friends, I'm off to have some lunch bub is getting hungry...Here's hoping my attempt at the chocolate cake tomorrow is a success and if so I promise I'll be back to share it with you.....Au revoir et Bonne Appetite....xox







And The Recipes Are.....

Bonsoir mon ami's and how are you all tonight?? Well as promised I'm back to let you know what recipes I have decided to cook from Mastering The Art Of French Cooking by Julia Child. Now I know I said I would be doing two recipes a week but when you take into account what the main meal is and it's side dishes this one works out to having done four recipes. And for the sweet treat on the weekend that will actually be two recipes, so I'm now beginning to see how Julie, from Julie & Julia was able to get through the entire cook book in a year. You set out to do one dish but you can't serve just fish or chicken you have to have the side dishes to go with it, hence the working out of four recipes in one night or two recipes as is the case with the dessert.

Now remember I don't have any pictures to show you as yet because I'm not cooking it until tomorrow night but as soon as it's all served up I will snap a few pics to put up Friday night. So on with it we go.....Tomorrow night will be Poulet Roti, Pommes de terre sautee, Petit Pois Etuves au buerre et Haricots verts a l'anglaise......in english that is roast chicken with potatoes sauteed in butter and butter peas and green beans.....ok so some of you maybe thinking it's just a roast but trust me if you read through the way the French do a Poulet Roti and their veggies it's more than just throughing a chook in the oven and turning it every half hour and throwing the greens into a pot of boiling water until they lose all nutritional value and are soggy.....there is work behind this meal and I am looking forward to the challenge and the end result.

Saturdays sweet treat is going to be Le Marquis avec creme au beurre a l'anglaise.....again in english it's Chocolate Sponge Cake with Butter Cream with Custard Base.......now I've made my share of good chocolate cakes over the years but I've never filled and iced one with a custard base so this should be very interesting indeed......all I can say is I'm glad I rearranged my kitchen today to make it more functional and give me more bench space as I'm going to need it badly...

If you want copies of these recipes grab your self a copy of Julia's book and you won't go wrong or you can google the recipes and there are many sites out there with Julia's recipes and you can print them off.....I won't have time to put them on my recipe page as they are too detailed and will take too long but I will still be putting my other recipes up such as tonights lamb and rosemary rissoles....

Grab yourself a copy and you won't regret it...

Well Home, Love and Life friends I'm off for now to read through these recipes a little more and make sure I've got everything I need for this feast and to just have it clear in my head exactly what I'll need to be doing..I hope you all have a wonderful Friday and are planning on a fun weekend ahead, take care and I'll be back asap to let you know how it all went...

Au revoir et Bonne Appetite..xo

Adding A Little More French To Every Day Life....

Bonjour mon amis and how are you all doing today?? All is going quite well here in our little old world of Busselton. It was a strange weekend with arrangements constantly being changed but in the end instead of Bec going to Perth for her weekend visit we ended up picking Eva up Sunday after lunch and bringing her back here on a full time basis at least until the end of the year. So it will be nice for Chris to have both his girls under the one roof for some time and good for Eva to be more involved with the looking forward to the baby than just at monthly intervals...She should be starting pre-primary by the end of the week here which she is thoroughly looking forward to and Bec is all enrolled for kindy for next year now too.

Well now onto something a little different......today I watched one of my favourite actresses in one of my favourite movies....Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia.....now if you haven't seen it I suggest you go out and rent it as it's an amazing movie and will inspire you and make you want to live in Paris (one day my friends, one day...) I watched this movie a few years ago when it first came on dvd and loved it and admittedly it's what inspired me to blog....it was the first I'd ever heard of blogging and didn't really know what it was all about....I did start a blog way back but didn't stick with it as I just didn't feel I had much that was interesting to blog about. These days things are similar to back then but so much more has happened that I do have things to write about and I love our little blogging community we share :-) Also I have always loved to write and have started a few short stories over the years but get side tracked with the job of raising a family and forget to go back to them....maybe one day I will find something solid to write about and I will finish it.

A wonderful movie...a must watch...

Now as some of you know I love to cook but I find that the usual weekly menu can become a little boring and predictable and I'm always longing to try something new. If you know me you also know that I like to cook from scratch and use as much organic and fresh produce as possible and do my utmost to stay away from pre packaged foods...After watching Julie & Julia I just happened to go out and buy 'Mastering The Art Of French Cooking' By Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck. Again I have to admit I have not cooked one recipe from it but I have read about 90% of it....however all is about to change. Now I'm not pinching Julie's idea of doing the whole book in a year as that would just be wrong. But if you know me you know I love everything French and I went to a Frech restaurant in Perth many moons ago now and loved it...I'm sure the real French do a better job but the food was still beautiful (though I refuse to eat escargo no matter who cooks it) and I've always remembered it. So with my Julia Child's cook book waiting for me to do something with it, I thought why not try a different recipe twice a week. Some of you maybe thinking only twice a week.....well I have to take into consideration I have 4 and 6 yr olds to work around an 18yr old with Autism which comes with it's own food challenges and thankfully a husband who will eat anything I put in front of him.....oh and I have to stay away from recipes like pates while I'm pregnant, so for now yes twice a week will suffice....there will be a main meal and a dessert made and I will let you know which recipes I will be doing. I will more than like do the main on a Friday night as that's the day I have the most time to prep and cook, I will do the dessert on a Saturday night as a sweet treat for the weekend.

This book is about to get a workout....

My goal is not to necessarily get through the whole book but to introduce a little more French culture into our lives.....I have done it with Italian and Chinese in the past and now it's my most favourite place's turn for me to do them proud. I will be taking the next couple of days to go through the book and have a look at recipes and decide where I want to start this week....once I've decided on the recipes I'll be making I will let you know on the Thursday evening......I like a challenge in life and being that I love to cook I thought why not set myself the challenge of cooking something new every week and breaking the monotony of Aussie cooking day in and day out..

What inspires you to get creative or try something new? Do you like to be adventurous and try new things or do you like to stick to routine and don't move outside your comfort zone? While I love routine with kids for naps, school, showers etc I like to be adventurous and try new things and go to new places and eat foods never eaten before (well most foods that is) as life is meant to be fun and interesting. Well take care Home, Love and Life friends and enjoy the rest of your week and don't forget to check in Thursday night to see what's on the French menu....take care and Au revoir for now..xoxox









Back On Track....

Bonjour mon amis......I do apologise for the long absence and thank those of you who let me know you were missing my posts and wondering where I had disappeared to. To tell you the truth, I've just been so tired lately and I had a migraine for three days last week which I couldn't take anything stronger than panamax for because of the baby, so that killed my mood for blogging as my head was just pounding too much to look at the screen. Also...lately I've just felt like there really hasn't been much to report on as things are going slow but steady here and not a great deal is happening at the moment. I've even been a bit slow with my photo a day challenges for instagram and you all know how much I love instagram.

However in the last few days my energy levels feel like they're picking up again and I'm ready to get back on track with my posts, gardening (assuming the weather warms up just a tad) and I'm even feeling like getting back to the pool to do some swimming. I think I'm definitely feeling the tiredness more with this babythan with any of my others but then my last pregnancy was 17 yrs ago when I had Lauren...so that's quite a gap between bubs...but I'm loving it.

So any how like I said not too much has been happening just the usual looking after kids and husband, the occasional long drive and watching our chicks getting bigger and bigger. On the downside we did end up having to rehouse both Lady and Molly as they just didn't settle here and it didn't matter what we did they wouldn't stay in the yard....I really didn't want to part with either of them, especially lady but in the end it was better for them to go somewhere where they couldn't get out and are happy....from what John at the RSPCA tells me they're both happy and doing very well.



Bec loving the chickens to death...

Molly...

Lady...

Last weekend we took yet another drive but this time we didn't go as far or for as long but I do plan on going far and long this weekend, Chris just doesn't know it yet hehe.....we took a drive down to Margaret River with Luke and Bec and stopped at the Chocolate Factory for a quick squiz around and a taste test...they really do make beautiful chocolate....then we continued on into town and had some lunch and a look around ebfore heading home the long way....we really do love our scenic route drives...

Big bro and Lil sis...both loved the chocolate factory....

And now for some baby news, (but for the full edition go to the Baby Journey Page at the top) we had our first ultra sound yesterday and all is going very well and bub looks good....our next ultrasound won't be until the 19 week mark now and I'm looking forward to it all over again. Clothes for me are already starting to change a little and my hair is still whacky as in the mornings no matter what I do to it so I'm really hoping it settles down soon or I'm going to be living with a hat on my head for the whole summer...lol.....well here is a pic of bub for you but for all the details head over and have a read at the Baby Journey....





I still think we're having a boy....

Well take care for now mon amis and I'll be back very soon, I promise....I'm on a mission to get back to my daily blogs so I'm working out bit of a challenge for myself.....Au revoir for now and stay happy....xox