An Unexpected Visitor

So yes, we do have a swimming pool in our backyard that we share with a multitude of other organisms!

The water has been gorgeous, blue. Icy, even at the height of summer. There's this solar thingy, but it doesn't "heat" the water up one bit. Probably just takes the edge off the iciness.

The boys LOVE it so so much! Lachlan wanted to have a pool party for his birthday. It's just that, I had to explain to him, his birthday would be late autumn. I didn't think anyone would come in their bathers, let alone jump into the pool with him.

Anyways, just a couple of days ago when the boys jumped in. Something else had already jumped in....FIRST. A little green frog that reminded me of first year uni lab practice! Uggggghhhhh..... Lucky I didn't jump in with them, else I would've jumped straight back out.

There was something else that I noticed that day, the pool somewhat turned green. Gaaahh, what's happened to resort style, crystal clear water overnight? Now I've got swampy ugly muck in my backyard with a frog??? I quickly googled "green pool water" and found out that there was a full-scale algae bloom in my pool. Awwww.........just bloomin' beautiful.

The rain must have brought these little buggers with it. Now here's what we have to do to reverse it. Sounds like a bloody science experiment to me, frogs and all.

Our House - Part 1

Over the next few weeks, I hope to be putting up pictures of the house. Mind you, the house is not new, it's almost 30 years old! But like a good wine, I think it has aged quite beautifully.

Now, I'm going to have to do this in a few parts. One, because I need the photos to actually look good to impress (teehee!) ie. minus the mess. Two, I can only do THAT much tidying up at the one time and taking the photos before it gets messed up again. Three, it will keep you in suspense. Four, there's no four. Don't worry, I will still be showing you the psychedelic, low hanging lamps from the 80's that we try not to bang our heads on, and everything as is, when we moved in.

We have not renovated, or done anything to the house. We simply moved in and unpacked.

Let's go from back to front! The rolling lawn, that was quick to impress. But when one has more time to ponder on how gruelling mowing the lawn can be........

So tip no.1 on buying a house, do it quickly before the hubby changes his mind!



It's always handy to have a lemon tree, especially one as established as this. Only problem is, they all ripen at the same time! So tip no.2, come and say hello to me during the lemon season, I will have a bucket load of lemons to share with you.

You can see the fenced pool area on the right, and the back facade of the house.



This is a fully covered patio, where we will be having lots of alfresco dinners in the warm summer's nights.



One of the things about this place is the well established garden, there is so much green. But it takes no genius to figure out, a big garden means a lot of hard work maintaining and time. Thank goodness, we have our parents to help out every once in a while. And it helps having a hubby that doesn't mind sweating it out with the lawn mower.



More pictures to come, so stay tuned!

Lego Lad

My first born child is almost 5 years old. He goes to kinder this year.

I get asked all the time when we go out together, why isn't he at school? Is he cutting classes? Surely this charming young lad, often very very suave with the ladies (especially grandmas) is of school age. No, he goes to kinder. 3 times a week, only 3-4 hours each session. Every other time, he gets to hang out with his mom. His poor mom!

Often when I potter around the house, picking this up and that, I would come across many of his interesting creations. A Lego police speedboat, with wings so it could fly and fold out tyres, so it goes on land. A rotorcraft house, so you can bring it with you on holidays (I like that!). Vehicles that change into robots, and robots that transform into humans. Space crafts, space shuttles and rocket ships.

And he talks to himself, in his imaginative play. In R-O-B-O-T like sounds. So sci-fi.

My first born child, he builds houses and space crafts. Perhaps one day, it will become a reality.

Hello Blog!

OK, so I think I am back. I have taken a rather extended hiatus from blogging. There has been quite a lot happening over the last couple of months. Buying a house, selling a house, moving house and now, renovating a house! But I could safely say that we have ironed things out, and on the right track back to our normal routine. It has been a smooth sailing adventure, but hey, packing and unpacking boxes is not too much fun when you're up to Box No. One Hundred and Twenty-Two!

Moving house takes up SO MUCH of your time, it zaps up your every last bit of energy, it's like a never-ending marathon. Whatever bit of time I have left, I thought it was only fair that I spend it on my children. I must admit though, inspirations have been hard to come by and I am struggling a wee bit (I think) to think about what to blog about. Maybe there are just SO MANY things I don't even know where and how to start!

How about this: We are so madly in LOVE with this place! The kids are crazy about their own little rooms (OK, except Lily), the space to run wild, the big gum trees! Oh it is so so green here, I absolutely love it! We stretch out our arms and legs, and there is SO MUCH room to streeeeettcchhh (and also SO MUCH HOUSE WORK!!) Oh yes, I absolutely love it! Haaaa......

And have I told you, we share this house with a gazillion of other living beings? We find 2, 4, 6 and 8 legged creatures of all shapes and colours and sizes, I feel like we're in a freaking museum of entomology!

Here to greet me on my kitchen window sill early in the morning...


Hello Mr. Mantis :)


Ugghhh... I'm not a big fan of 8 legged creatures! This orangey number is apparently a baby huntsman and she's already the size of Lily's palm. Gaaaaahhhhh!!

Often there will be a row of cockatoos sitting on the fence outside the window when the kids ate their breakfast. And one night, we heard hoot hoot, hoot hoot and we thought it was one of the kids snoring. But there he was, Mr. Owl perched on one of the gum trees.

Maybe I should start charging rent.