Sweltering Heat

Blistering heatwave = Icypole undercover & big splash in pool. It was hot in Melbourne on the weekend! And now we welcome the rain.... and some cool change.

***

The past week has been a busy one. Renovations in the house continues (oh no, we ain't finished just yet). We have more overseas visitors, and so more people lining up to use one miserly bathroom. The builders are wondering how many people actually lived in this house! So hey, no pressure, but hurry up and finish the other bathroom already! Ooo... I can't wait to show the before & after photos.

:)

***

My brains are not keeping up with my schedule. 3 kids, 1 dog, 1 blog, many overseas visitors, oh have I mentioned a newborn? Anyways, he's not mine. But I've managed to trick one of my long time friends into bringing me a newborn baby gift. Haha! And the husband away on a business trip. It's all (un)happening in this house.

And I apologize. There was a giveaway that happened here a little while back. And the winner (as chosen by Lachlan) is Catherine. Catherine, do email me at grace {at} koay {dot} com with your details so I can send you your free Melbourne Museum pass. Thanks! So sorry to keep you all waiting.

***

Lachlan was awarded "Student of the Week" today at school assembly. He did some great "on the weekend" writing. We are really proud of him. Well done Lachy, keep up the great job!

***
Another busy week ahead! Wish me luck... I need it.

*

The Girls Next Door

Next door to ours, over the back fence, lived three gorgeous girls.

In the evenings, when the sun is not too hot, we hear the girls and they hear us, playing. They jumped on their trampoline, we jumped on ours. They swing on theirs and we on ours.

One day not too long ago, we saw the step ladder by the back fence. Two boys, hanging over the fence with only their butts high in the air, and flip flops and legs flapping on our side of the fence.

The boys were chatting up the girls!


Every day or two, we see heads bobbing up and down over the fence, red hair with pig tails. The girls calling out to my boys. They exchanged notes, snacks and other bits and bobs. It puts a smile on my face.

:)


For Lily, Lockie and Lyfes (Lucas) from a girl named "Amelia".


.

Mad Monday

As I'm typing this, I've got Lily in a sling and the boys are watching telly in their PJ's and it's way past noon! The house is in a mess, remnants of lunch still on the table and I don't care! It's school holidays and we're allowed to.

This is what USUALLY happens on a Monday in our household:

2am, 5am, 8am: Feed Lily

Morning: After Lily's feed, I get up and out of bed. Sometimes (if I'm lucky) I get changed, brush my teeth, wash my face and do my "own thing". Other times (most days), I'm not so lucky and it gets done in bits and pieces throughout the day.

Get breakfast ready for the boys, and have my morning coffee and brekky with them.

Put yesterday's dishes away from the dishwasher.

Get a load of laundry in the washing machine.

Fold and put away yesterday's laundry.

Clean Lucas' mess from breakfast, including the wall, the floor, the carpet and in between his hair.

Change the boys. Lachlan is usually able to change himself BUT only after some pleading, coaxing, bribing and SCOLDING. By this time, I would have had said "Would you like to go to the toilet?" about 15 times. Make them brush their own teeth.

Change Lucas AGAIN after he's done his poos. Nope he's not yet toilet trained.

Oops, have I forgotten Lily? Oh yes, she too needs a change, and the sheets needed changing after she had vomitted her morning feed all over the sheets and herself. And nope, she is ALSO not toilet trained! LOL! Usually she's OK if I plonk her in her play gym for half and hour or so. Other times, she might go back to sleep.

By 11am, I need to prepare lunch, in between breaking up fist fights, picking up toys from the floor and FEED, BURP, CHANGE my baby. There's a LOT of yelling, scolding, pleading and talking (Yes, I do try to talk like a normal human being). On a good day, my laundry is up and hanging to dry. Otherwise I try to get it out of the washing machine before the day is over!

12 noon: The boys and I have our lunch together. I pack a snack box for Lachlan. Change the boys again if needed. Hurry up the kids and pack them into the car, all three of them.

1pm: Lachlan goes to kinder. I take him, along with his younger brother and little sister, so you can imagine how many times I buckle and unbuckle their seat belts! By now, I smell like puke and poo, my clothes and hair in disarray and I probably look like a drowned cat. And I wonder how I'm going to face Lachlan's teachers, the other moms and their kids. (Well, some of them look a little bedazzled just like me, so I smile and wink at them just as they would to me!)

I drive around the neighbourhood, in hope that Lucas will fall asleep before I arrive home. If I'm desperate and mad, I will drag the two younger kids to the supermarket to get some shopping done.

Get home and do more house chores, feed, burp and change Lily again.

3pm: Blink of an eye, it's time to pick up Lachlan again. Again, I throw the two young ones at the back of the car. You see, kinder pick ups and drop offs are tricky because I have to take them BOTH down with me, Lily in a sling and Lucas in one hand. And after picking up Lachy, I have Lily in the sling, Lucas by the collar, Lachlan tagging behind, teachers notes under one arm with my car keys, Lachlan's school bag between my teeth!

We get home, the boys get snack: a cup of milk, a piece of cheese, crackers or biscuits. If the weather is good, the boys get chucked outside, or if I'm up to it (or mad), I take them all out to the park.

5pm: I wrestle with the chicken that is for our dinner, with Lily hanging off my boob and a grumpy Lucas around my leg, in my half comatose state.

6pm - 7pm: We have dinner.

I say to my hubby Gary, "Here you go, you can have your kids back, thank you very much". He bathes them and make their cups of milk, entertains them and put them to bed by 10pm 9pm. I plonk myself on the couch, baby on my boob, watch MasterChef, surf the net, blog if my brains still work and other things.

So you see, such is life of a mother with three kids under the age of 4. And it's only Monday. Wait till you hear what happens on Fridays!

Spaghetti with a Chance of Meatballs

Have you watched "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs?"

What a fantastic animation movie! We got the DVD as a gift last weekend, and I think the boys must have watched it 25 times. It's every child's dream to have food raining from the sky, and skipping in puddles of ice cream and lollipops don't you think?

The movie is about a scientist, Flint who invented many quirky contraptions like spray on shoes, "rat-birds", monkey thought interpreter and his latest, a machine that changes water into food, any sort of food you would ever dream of! But somehow, somewhere, something went amok. What happens when you have too much food "raining" from the sky? Can you imagine a "food flood"?

So Flint and his friends had to find their way to shut down the food machine.

I think it's quirky, it's so funny, and it has an interesting storyline. The characters are genuine and so cute, and I find myself addicted to the tunes. Couldn't get the sunshine, lollipops and rainbows out of my head!

So I made spaghetti and meatballs the other night, and the kids thought I was such an awesome scientist! And they said please mom, could you make it rain M&M's next?


(Of course there are veges in your meatballs, you suckers! Hahahahhahaha....)

Listen to Sunshine Lollipop and Rainbow here.

Miranda Cosgrove's Raining Sunshine.

Staying Indoors

There's a perfect excuse for staying indoors, away from the wintry weather, lounging in my trackies, curling up on the couch in front of the heater. 28 degrees Celsius.

My newborn.

But. Having two very active, very energetic boys running amok cooped up within the walls of the house all day is enough to drive you nuts. And I'm really running short of ideas of what to do with them. No more tricks to pull from my sleeves. Most days, they stay in their PJ's until noon. Or if they're really really lucky, they can hop straight back into bed without even changing! And they watch a lot of TV. A little too much for my liking.

So I know this would raise a few eyebrows. But hey, I'm split threeways and things need to get done around here.

So I say yes to TV. Yes to Wii. Yes to DS. Yes to GHWT. Yes to computer games. But only on my terms. Only on weekends. Only for 20 minutes. Only if you've brushed up and changed. Only what I say you can watch on TV or play. Only if you've eaten all of your lunch etc. Like everything else, in moderation. (If only things work out like it should in theory!)

There are some websites with some really cool games, like Lachy's current favourite: The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Interesting (educational) games and ideas for crafts. Check it out!

Crazy Melbourne Weather

Oh what's new? Melbourne is the only city ever known to have 4 seasons in a day. Don't be fooled by the bright blue skies and warm fuzzy mornings. It could be a bright sun shiny day, and pelting down hail that very same moment. Like today. It was literally hailing down golf balls!


Oh, this was just to show you the bright blue skies reflected off my bowl of molten chocolate. Dangerous stuff, 70% cocoa Lindt chocolate and butter, melted. But don't get distracted now...


A view from my kitchen window... I apologise for the poor quality photos and reflection off the windows.


That's a lot of hail! And a collection of ice cubes in my black boy (Xanthorrhoea glauca). Oh what a name for a native Australian plant. Sounds like a human disease of some sort.


And more hail stones.


A new experience for Lucas. He was in a daze, points out of the window and said woowww....

We hear sirens from where we are, and hope that there weren't too many injuries or damages to properties.

We're Back!

Hello! Did you miss us? We're back from a very long, and well deserved break. 6 weeks went passed in a blink of an eye! Well, maybe not for some. But yeah, we're now back in the comfort of our home and enjoying the things we loved and missed. Here's us with a packed picnic lunch at Carribean Gardens, while mummy shopped for groceries.



And here's what we had for lunch THREE days in a row now: Ham, cheese and cucumber sandwich. Mmmm.... we could still have these for another three days!



And mom made the bestest of all, some good ol' spaghetti bolognaise, and guess who licked the bowl clean again?



It is these simple pleasures that we missed. And of course we missed you too!

Over the holidays, I noticed some new readers that popped by. Hello there and welcome to our humble blog. Sorry if you've felt a little neglected, but I promise my posts will be popping up soon. To everyone else, welcome back!



Feels good to be back...YEAH!

The Year That Was 2009

JANUARY
In January 2009, I made some new years resolution. Looking back in the past year, I may have achieved EVERYTHING pertaining to motherhood, but nothing else apart from that matter. Nevertheless, it has been a fruitful and rewarding year. I have enjoyed my time tremendously and count all my blessings that I could spend every waking hour with my boys, watching them grow and not missing out on anything. First steps. First words. First puzzle completed on their own. First everything.

My brother Kelvin and his then girlfriend visited us. They went to Tasmania and he romantically proposed to her, caught on camera! We love you both. Kisses for you, kisses for you!

I won my first ever blogging competition, and won myself a mini Dell Inspiron laptop, one I'm using to blog now whenever I'm away from home.

My husband took me on a date with Brian MacFadden Delta Goodrem.

FEBRUARY
We experienced one of the darkest days here in Victoria. Temperatures were soaring above 40 degrees celcius, bushes were burnt down to the ground, people perished along with their loved ones, hectares of bushland and properties destroyed. It was The Black Saturday.

Gary and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary and my parents celebrated their 35th year in marriage.

MARCH
We celebrated Guaran (Gary's younger brother) and Chai's wedding, in Melbourne and in Malaysia.We grew a giant squash in our back garden.

APRIL
It was a month of birthdays and birthday parties.

Lachlan turned three. He started 3 year old kindy. We had an arrrrrr me hearties pirate party complete with a pirate ship birthday cake.

I celebrated my 30th birthday and gave myself the best present ever, perfect vision.

MAY

My darling Lucas turned ONE! Be charmed again by his smile, read this post here.

JUNE
Mom and Dad visited Melbourne from Malaysia, and mom spoilt us by making her famous Hokkien (Prawn) Noodles.

This is a typical Thursday for us in June 2009.

JULY
Lachlan fell asleep while eating pizza, caught on camera and made headlines on YouTube. People are still talking about it up till today. Laugh again, watch the video again here.

My brother Mark and his family moved into a new home in Melbourne.

I ponder about whether or not there's a medical career left for me.

AUGUST
It was a month of baking, cooking, trying out new recipes, eating, sharing, merry-making etc. Here are some of them:

Tricolour Marble Cake Lemon Meringue Pie Golden Syrup Scones Pear Crumble Cake Spicy Kerabu Salad Almond Biscotti

SEPTEMBER
It was footy fever all over again, with the Geelong Cats in the grand final in AFL, going against St. Kilda. We came home winners! Go Catters!!

We hosted a Father's Day lunch, with 6 daddies and daddy-to-be's. It was all about food.

I found out I was pregnant, all over again for the third time!

OCTOBER
Gary celebrated his 34th birthday.

NOVEMBER
It's all about being pregnant again. Morning sickness. Cravings. Juggling my three boys and tiredness. Read about it in my Pregnancy Diary.

DECEMBER
We came back to Malaysia for the biggest event of the year. The wedding ceremony of my brother Kelvin and new sister-in-law Ching Mei. (One I'm yet to blog about!)

We had a lovely time with family in a very well deserved 6 week holiday. We ushered in the new year 2010 with people who mattered to us most.

More blog posts to come!

That was it! The year that was 2009. Here's to a better, brighter, bigger year ahead. Welcome 2010!

Swimming Scramble

Tuesday mornings, I take the boys swimming. Lachlan goes for his 1/2 hour swimming lesson, while I jump into the pool with Lucas for his tot's lesson. I never really believed in tot's lesson anyways, it's merely an introduction to the water. Something I could do with him without paying someone else to do it for me. But Lachy did it when he was a tot, and I didn't want my second child to feel left out. Hmmm... anyways.

We're a family of sleep-ins, just in case you haven't noticed. 7am is definitely too early for me, 8am is when I wake up and 9am is when the boys get out of bed if I'm lucky. Just imagine what it would be like when they're school age. Oh dear.

So our swimming lessons are at 10am. The boys get up, have a quick bite of breakfast, get changed and we hop into the car. We get there on time. I walk Lachlan to his class, drop him off and the take Lucas to his class. I hop in with him.

10.30am I jump out of the pool with Lucas, grab our towels. Run over to Lachlan's class. Throw him his towel and pretend he knows how to dry himself. Then all three of us titter totter to the change room. We share a shower, with one hundred other moms and kids (OK I exaggerate). We have a quick wash. Then we squeeze ourselves into a tight corner. I try to battle Lucas down to putting his nappy on, drying his toes, putting 3 layers of clothes on (hallelujah winter is over!), socks and shoes, all these while instructing Lachy to dry himself, put his underpants on, clothes etc. Usually he gets to one leg of his pants, trips over, gets his clothes wet, thinks it's oh so funny, rolls himself on the change room floor why not since he's already wet again. It's a battle.

Me? Still dripping wet from my quick shower. But wait, it's not over. Now, when both boys are dry dressed, it's my turn to get dressed. And usually, I have a time limit. Of sometimes a banana or a muesli bar. It's like watching a ticking bomb. When the time is up, Lucas will try and squirm himself off the bench, Lachy will not stop whining for more food. It is mental madness! When it's all over, I give myself a big pat on my back and a huge sigh of relieve. I think it's heroic what I did...

Until I see the lady next to us, with four kids, all under the age of 4! O.o

Shopping on Coles Online

For the past week, I have been riddled with lower back pain. It was probably from tossing and hurling two very squirmy boys, up and down the car, into shopping trolleys, in and out of swimming pools, up monkey bars and down the flying fox. Though it could also be the tickle wrestle or the human log roll race from one end of the living room to the other. It could be that one session at the gym or that 3 extra kilos I'm carrying around my waist. Whatever it was, I definitely didn't feel like anything physical. Actually, getting out of bed was virtually impossible at one stage. All is better now. Life goes on.

When I heard that Coles Online is delivering free of charge in Melbourne, I gladly welcomed the idea. This is actually quite cool. I get to shop aisle by aisle, by category, or even browse through specials without a shopping trolley and 2 very noisy boys. I don't have to empty out my trolley at the cash register and carry my load into the car.




The prices are the same. In fact I liked how it was broken down to price per unit at the website. The website is easy to navigate. The steps are simple. Just reserve a delivery time, add items into your cart and then check out when you're ready. There is a minimum spend of $50 and the delivery fee varies from 1 hour to 4 hour window. Right now, there's free delivery until midday Saturday for the 4 hour delivery windows.

I got my basic groceries and stock up on a few pantry items. I took advantage of the free delivery to my door and got really heavy bulky items like olive oil, vegetable oil, toilet paper, milk, washing and laundry detergent, canned food etc. They delivered the goods to my door at 4.30pm, my delivery window booked was between 4pm-8pm. All that was left out, was a loaf of bread. It didn't take much to rectify the problem. I called the customer care hotline, and the solution was easily achieved. They credited the amount back into my account. And guess what? I did more shopping for Saturday!

Hmmm... I would probably only ever do this again if there's free delivery or if a physical injury hits me again *touch wood, hopefully not!*. The adrenaline rush of zooming down the aisles with my boys sometimes yelling, sometimes singing, sometimes chucking a hissy fit or sometimes being a good shopping helper are definitely more fun.

What we do with our time - Part 2

Today is another day where it seems like we're doing everything but absolutely nothing!

The day started early. Lachie goes to kinder.

I picked him up from Kinder at 11.30am, and with Lucas, we went to the Caribbean Gardens and Market. I bought some cheesy bread sticks, mandarins and bananas and we sat by the lake, eating our lunch and watching the ducks.

Lucas learned the word "duck".

We went for a walk at the Market and I bought some fruits and organic vegetables. The boys then spend some time at a playground. That's half the day gone.

Then, it's home time. Back we come to a very messy home, dirty dishes piling high in the kitchen sink and toys strewn all over one half of the house. At least it's one half. So the boring housekeeping stuff starts ALL OVER AGAIN. Sigh...

Fish and chips for dinner, the boys bathed and tucked in bed, and here I am blogging. That's another day gone!

Where did all our time go?

What we do with our time - Part 1

I'm a stay-at-home mom, and I devote all of my time for my children. But what have we been doing with our time? Blink of an eye, Lachlan is no longer a toddler. Lucas, he is now a toddler! Eeekks!

Yeah, so what do we do with ourselves? Admittedly, I have been quite slack in the last few months. My kids sleep in, and I do too. They watch TV, and that is a lot of TV, they play by themselves, they read to themselves, while I busy myself doing boring housekeeping stuff like laundry, cleaning, cooking and more laundry. We spend some time at the local shopping centre too, grocery shopping and just hanging out. Gaaaahhhh, is that all I've been doing with them? Seriously, how can that take up so much of my time, the past three years of my life! It seems like it never ever ends although I spend all day, everyday doing it!

A little over half a year ago, I wrote about our typical Thursday, the busiest day of the week. Things have changed a now. We still attend Playgroup. It's still the busiest day of the week. This is what we did today:

8.30am I woke up and have breakfast, read the newspapers. Start the washing machine.

9.30am Lachy woke up and have breakfast.

10.00am Lucas woke up!!! Yes, 10.00am! Usually it's 9.30am. O.o He drinks his milk and have a piece of toast.

10-11.00am I prepare lunch, and in between, tidy up the house, put all of last night's dishes away, hang up the laundry, make the bed, change the boys, and change Lucas again, take Lachy to the toilet, attempt to vacuum the floor etc. Break up the boys fighting, give Lachy a time out for pushing Lucas, change Lucas again, put breakfast away.

11.30-1.30pm We go to Playgroup!

Today, we were the only ones there because our friends were either unwell, or their moms had kinder duties for their older siblings. So, we hung around for a little bit, had lunch and left early. We went to a friend's place for a play. Actually, it was more like I dropped Lachy off at their place, so I can quickly dash to the shops to pick up some things. Yes, without Lachy, that means less time spent on coin operated machines. So I can't say NO to invitations such as these!

3pm We came home, Lucas had a nap. Normally it's difficult to get Lachy to nap in the afternoon, but he fell asleep in the car, so he had a little nap time too. That gave me some time to tidy up my bedroom, throw some unused items in the wardrobe for charity collection.

4.00pm I attempted to do some of the things that I've planned for earlier during the day. The boys watch telly. They both have a cup of warm milk.

5.00pm I start dinner. And in between, take Lachy to the toilet, change Lucas, play a bit of Wii fit with Lachy, he loves doing "Yoga" and jogging. Roll about with Lucas for a bit. Give Lachy another time out for hitting Lucas.

6.00pm We have dinner.

7.00pm Watch MasterChef on TV. I haven't missed a single episode. Hee Hee. Gary does the washing up.

7.30pm Get the boys bathed and ready for some "quiet time". Is there such a thing? Nope. We just "hang out" for a bit, doing nothing much, just like what we did ALL day!

9.00pm The boys go to bed. I blog or surf the net, while Gary does a bit more work.

Midnight. Wash up and go to bed.

So where did all our time go?

Winter Harvest

With the cold snap coming in, nothing is growing in the garden but weeds. I'm too lazy to do anything in the garden.



My father-in-law planted these little babies in my empty plot a couple of weeks ago.



They've been thriving on the boys' bath water, still nice and warm. And a sprinkling of Gloria Jeans coffee grounds in the morning.



Looking forward to spring, a little more sun and a little more rain. Having said that, it HAS been raining quite a bit here. Still, water restrictions are in place and we're not wasting one bit.

Looking forward to munching on these crunchy cos lettuce.

Paper Bandit

Someone's been stealing our morning newspaper. And we know who.

Our lovely neighbour across the road spied someone taking our newspaper from the front porch, and then made a dash for it. She knows this person, often seeing him waiting around the corner for a lift to work. This evening, she saw him again and played detective. On the pretense of walking her dog, she followed him all the way home! Now we know where he lives!

What do we do? I mean it's no big deal, only newspaper. But hey, how many mornings have I woken up to, drinking my coffee with NO newspaper, no headlines, no gossips. Sometimes, they're my only connection to the real world. Hello?

Paper prowlers do not prosper.

Oh, and guess who fell asleep at the dinner table tonight? Hahaa....

DIY: Cool T-Shirts!

Here's an easy crafty idea for you and your three year old, if you've got one.

Last year, we were given some plain T-Shirts for Christmas, and they've been sitting at the bottom of the drawer for a little while now. It was one of those days where Mommy's creative juices wouldn't stop flowing and was really pumped to do art. And so that's when I had to rummage through all the junk we have in our garage to look for whatever leftover fabric paint from a Playgroup project last year.

It is water-based, permanent fabric paint. It fixes permanently onto fabric when it is heat set (with an iron). It’s really good stuff! I picked it up from Art Mart for like less than $5.

We painted one little hand with yellow paint, and one bigger (mommy's) hand, and then transferred our hand prints onto the T-shirt. When the paint is dry (a couple of hours), set it down with an iron on medium setting. I'd put a plain white paper or a cloth over it so the paint wouldn't come off onto the iron.

It's very very personalised and very very cool, and I'm sure when it is dry and heat set, it will return to it's original place at the bottom of the drawer. I'm not sure if wearing mommy's hand print is so so cool after all?! Or is it?

The birds, the bees and a cotton bud

A few weeks ago, hubby found a cotton bud that I dropped in the garden and asked what it was used for.

My answer, a sex toy! Actually, it was more like an instrument for assisted reproduction. A pumpkin version of IUI (Artifical insemination). Except it doesn't have a uterus.

Anyways, yes, it worked! It also could've been the bees busily at work.

Photo: Queensland Blue Jap

Parched

Leaves are falling off trees at the height of summer.

Not quite as beautiful as autumn. Just dry, parched, withered leaves.

What do we make of this?

Food They Love

I used to write Lachie's favourite food in little post-it notes and stick them in the first page of a recipe book. This book is where I got most of my inspirations from: the Australian Women's Weekly Fresh Food for Babies and Toddlers.

It's a great reference book for meal ideas from tips for starting solids and what food to introduce first and when, to home-made family meals from fresh ingredients. I don't usually follow the recipes religiously, substituting this for that. It also has a section at the end for party food ideas and kid's birthday cakes. Good book, and for A$12.95 it's a steal.

Here's a list of what Lachie liked (for my own record and yours!)

• Pasta
• Pasta
• Pasta
• Pasta
• Noodles
• Rice
• All of the above with NOTHING else, just PLAIN
• Carbs... alright, you get the drift
  

Now that Lucas is starting to explore with food and eating a variety of protein, grains, fruits and vegetables, I am revisiting these meal ideas. I have always kept things simple, using just two or three ingredients at any one time, and when they're older I introduce a little more each time. It musn't take too long to prepare, a busy mom I am. 15 minutes tops.

Lucas loved his mush. Lachie hated them. Lucas could eat avocados 6 days in a row. Lachie wouldn't have a bar of it. Lucas loved pea mash. Lachie wouldn't let me mash anything. He likes to hold his food, WHOLE and even up till today, he still eats with his fingers.



Lucas pretty much eats everything and he's always happy with food. The other day, I made cheesy macaroni with tuna and chives and it knocked his socks off! He was as happy as Larry, kicking up his legs and giving me giggles with each bite! He also polished off the entire serving.

Quite easy really. Cook in boiling water, 1 tablespoon of small pasta shapes. I use HEINZ for baby alphabets and numbers. Drain. Add in 90g of tuna with 1 teaspoon of reserved olive oil from tuna. Stir in some grated cheese, chopped chives and 1/4 cup milk. Cook until heated through. OK, maybe quadruple the quantity to make it for the entire family.




My trusted mini slow cooker: Chicken and rice with vegetables.

Ants be gone!

Just a couple of days back, I wrote about being invaded by ants!

Ants. Ants. Ants.

If you've been reading blogs or news from this part of town, you would have heard about the heatwave that has struck us. The temperature has been soaring about 40. It was quite uncomfortable, it was stinky hot and worst of all it kept us indoors. We were cut from our routine which involves a LOT of going out, to the shops, pottering in the garden or just going OUT.

What's worst, we have ants in our house. They come in in droves. They march in their mighty line, invading the privacy of our home. They dot my walls, my kitchen bench, my sugar jar. They drive me up the wall.

I spend a good hour in the morning, just cleaning and wiping up little black dots, in my pantry, in the cutlery drawer, in cabinets, under the table, IN the boys' toys, just everywhere! ARrrggghhhh!!

So anyways, I have been looking at means of keeping them out. I don't mind them in my garden, they help pollinate my pumpkins. For days, we've tried just keeping the place clean, I used essential oils, Gary sprayed the outside with surface insecticide, we traced every line to their entry point and blocked it with ant sand. They always find another way in. Our whole place is starting to smell like a chemical plant.

This morning when I was changing Lachie, there were ants in the bathroom and I don't know what made me squirt baby powder on them. Maybe it was just that I had the bottle in my hand. I noticed the black dots (first of all turn white) become somewhat disoriented and the line of ants dispersed. When I came back a little white later, there were no ants.



So off I went with the bottle of Johnson & Johnson, sprinkled mounts of baby powder in corners and along the sides of my pantry wall. Lo and behold, they were gone. Now my kitchen smells like Lachie's bottom freshly washed baby.

Ant Problem

It has been so hot that the ants are coming in in throngs, seeking solace in our cool, air-conditioned home.

We cleaned up completely every night and they still come back in the morning. I noticed they seem to be attracted to... water. Yes, water!

There will be a steady little army marching across the living room, or a great black seething mass congregating in one corner. It is quite disturbing! We have tried everything from cleaning up furiously, wiping, mopping, vacuuming every single crumb dropped from little fingers (not really) but to no avail. I have been avoiding using an insect spray in fear of little Lucas crawling all over the floor and licking up the poison. I think I will leave little bottle caps of water for them today.

Today 43 degrees Celsius. Yesterday 41. Next few days: 42 degrees, 36 degrees, 31 degrees. HOT!