farewell brindabella

Let's cut to the chase here - moving sucks. Enormously. I have moved too many times to count. Ok maybe that's exaggerating - three times when I was at uni in Melbourne (all on scorching February days), then home to Thorpdale, then to Glenburn, within two weeks, when I moved in with Mr M and followed him to 'the bush', again to the cottage at Ythanbrae (also known as paradise/our other happy place) and then to Brindabella. Where we said we would be for a long time. Never again, we said to moving. 

Well things don't always turn out the way you plan. And that's ok. It's all a part of my new mantra: change is inevitable, fluidity is fine and progression essential. Onwards and upwards.

After our wedding, we spent three nights and four days at Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula. It was blissful, as a honeymoon should be. A beautiful hotel room with a balcony overlooking the ocean, lazy evenings drinking champagne and eating leftover wedding cake, bike rides around Point Nepean, perusing the pretty shops and galleries in the afternoons and lovely dinners by the sea with my husband. 

 

We came home to Brindabella and began to pack. And pack. And pack. It seemed neverending. The stuff. It spewed from our little ramshackle farmhouse. From my sewing room. From Mr M's shed. From everywhere. With the help of Mr M's hard working parents we managed to get everything sorted. The problem was some things were going into storage, some things were going into the new house at Inverloch, some things were being stored at my mum's for easy access (like paperwork and clothes and art pieces we didn't want in storage) and some things we were taking away with us. So. Much. Sorting.

We planned to be on the road to Boort, where we were headed to help friends with their grain harvest, on the Sunday after the wedding. We didn't end up leaving Brindabella until the wee hours of Wednesday morning after that (12.17am to be precise), we fell into bed at my mum's, got up a few hours later and hauled out headed for the Mallee dust and heat at 4.50am Wednesday 21st December. The next four days were spent helping finish off harvest before Christmas, then turning around and heading the almost 5 hours back to Gippsland for Christmas. Madness.

We're now back in Boort and the holiday/honeymoon/reality really starts now. All we have is packed in our camper. We really have no fixed address anymore, no more clothes other than what I packed (very minimal). Is it liberating? Amazingly so. Scary? Not at all, which surprised me. Exciting? Yes!

Was I upset leaving Brindabella? Not at all. Yes, we worked our tails off there in the past year. But it was not home. We were not happy there. At all. I didn't blog about the trials of the past year (who wants to hear about that, really?!) but we honestly had a pretty crappy 2011 - minus our beautiful wedding day, quite simply the best day of my life for the fact that I married my best friend. But take that away, and I'd really rather forget 2011 ever happened.

So, all good things must come to an end. This blog is one of them.

I am no longer Cinderella at Brindabella. I am, however, still a keen blogger. Mr M and I plan to blog our way around Australia, where we can. I'm not going to blog about pretty homewares or gardening or renovating anymore. I'm not going to blog to get readers or hits, not that I ever really did, but I think I do write consciously for the readers of this blog. No, from now on I we are going to blog for ourselves, for our friends and family who want to track our travels and share our adventures. You can most certainly come along for the ride also, but if it's Etsy purchases, baking recipes or things I've blogged about before you are after, perhaps that chapter in my blogging career has closed for the moment. 

Our new blog, The Happy Campers, can be found here. It's a work in progress so stay tuned for active links, photos of the camper and oh yeah...some actual posts! 

Cinderella at Brindabella will remain open to read the previous two + years of posts. I will also post on here some wedding photos and a re-cap of the day and details when I can. And you know that as soon as I can I will :)

Thank-you to my lovely and loyal readers, some of you I have come to really know like 'real life' friends, all of you I have appreciated. The blogging community is a beautiful place in the world wide web because of the people and the connections we create. I hope you continue to follow my blogging journey, but if not, thank you and farewell...

Images by Emma Steendam for Cinderella at Brindabella

signing off

Ok so I thought I could keep blogging in the lead up to the wedding. Turns out I am an insane person who has bitten off far more than she can chew.

This week I have been...

taking people to hospital

sourcing antique jewelry

organising church visits for nervous kids

editing a huge photography job

shooting another photography job this morning

selling my car

selling our kelpie bitch

printing ceremony programs

picking up suits

returning shirts

finding new shirts

writing speech

delivering decking boards

picking up trailer from decking boards mission

giving pony rides

dropping off 100 + jars to my florist

inspecting the progress on the camper at the welders workshop

constant delivery to op shop

listing 'stuff' on ebay

Christmas shopping, wrapping and storing gifts

cutting and posting fabric sold on Craftumi

packing

packing

packing.

So...I have decided I must sign off from the blogosphere until after the wedding day (10.12.11)

Thank-you all so much for your words of encouragement in the planning and lead up to our big day. I will 'see' you all on the other side, when I am Mrs Emma!

Image by Emma Durkin Photographics at Walkerville beach last week

the big sell

Well, well, well, well...we meet again boxes and packing tape! Yep, I've started packing up the house, little by little sorting and storing our lives into boxes. Sigh! And along with sorting and organising comes de-cluttering, already I have done two runs to the local charity shop laden with bags and boxes. 

My sewing room usually looks like a bomb has hit it, but I've tidied it up enough to realise I have way. too. much. fabric! So to Craftumi I went and listed some bits and bobs, if you are interested pop over to check it out. I have my minky for sale (in hot pink, lime green, red and black) which I have loads of yards of on bolts. This minky I buy from a U.S. wholesaler and isn't available in Australia (Spotlight and Lincraft have started selling minky dot in pastel colours, not these colours though). 

 

I am also over on eBay selling my soul our stuff. Go there for a bargain too ;) 

I am slowly but surely adding items as I find things in random cupboards and under beds. Stay tuned on both my Craftumi and eBay accounts as I still have lots of crafty items like flowers, buttons, beads, more fabric to list, as well as some things Mr M wants to sell on eBay (LED camping lights anyone? UHF radios?) and I have an (expensive!) Big by Fiona Scanlon girls tutu skirt bought from David Jones and missing a receipt to return! To eBay it shall go.

Right, back to the packing tape and newspaper...

ten things

The lovely Hannah over at Dali Cottage has thrown my name in the ring to find out ten things people might not know about me, so despite really racking my brains for things, here goes... (please forgive me if they are oh so boring, I'm not feeling very creative!)

1. Despite my best efforts at appearing to be the perfect almost-wife - it is Mr M who does the majority of our housework...he stacks the dishwasher to perfection, he does all our washing, he tidies up the kitchen after dinner, he is constantly picking up after me like a three year old, he folds all our clothes, he mops and sorts and scrubs and sweeps. He is the neat freak, I am the cook. It works. He does not, however, do dishes! Anything not in the dishwasher I am on my own.

2. I have really long fingers. And toes. I think they are normal length, Mr M and other friends find them either intriguing or freakish.  

3. Despite actually going to live in our camper for an indefinite amount of time next year, I actually only went on my first camping trip 6 years ago. Mr M took me to Dargo (in the Victorian high country) just with a swag on the back of the ute - no chairs, no cooking utensils, nothing. I think we ate a lot of bad cheap sausages and beer. I was 18 and hated it. Then I realised well if this is going to be a regular thing we better do it properly...and since then have slowly been adding to my 'camping repertoire', resulting in the purchase of our camper and lots of mod-cons to take on the road. Not too much though - keep it simple! 

4. I hate driving. Well long distances anyway. I don't think I have ever driven in a car with Mr M longer than ten minutes - he always drives, regardless of tiredness. This might be his control freak coming out or my laziness. This might have to change on our travels next year...

5. Once upon a time I wanted to be in the airforce. I know. What the hell was I thinking? Watched Top Gun one too many times me thinks...

6. I think I have about 48 first cousins on my mum's side...maybe more, maybe I haven't even met some? Mum is one of 11 children. Irish. Catholic. No TV. Say no more.

7. I'm already being asked when we are having babies and it's making my palms sweaty. Can we just get married first people?! 

8. There is a farm for sale in Thorpdale that I want to buy...when I win tattslotto. Seven or eight mil anyone? 

9. I've lived in eight houses throughout my life. Two growing up (one for only a few months when I was a baby, the other for my entire childhood/adolescence), three over three years at uni in Melbourne (including a dark flat in Richmond, a hundred year old terrace in North Melbourne with a serious rat problem, washing our clothes in the bath and the lounge room wall partially fell on us one night, and a great flat in Kew too close to KFC), then the dreaded bull unit house in Yea (no shower, frostbite on my toes, dirt floor bedroom, fun) then the beautiful cottage at Ythanbrae and now the ramshackle farmhouse at Brindabella. Where to next?!

10. After I had a bad fall off my horse at Ythanbrae (bolted down a cliff, I came off, got dragged, hooves in helmet, terrible concussion and headaches, swelling on brain, multiple cat scans later, stitches, dead tooth and a root canal) I have not been back on a horse. I know - I KNOW! Terrible. Dad always told me to get back on that bloody horse! Easier said than done. 

Now wasn't that entertaining? Probably not! You decide.

remembering steve

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking, and don't settle. As with all matters of the heart you'll know when you find it"

He really did change the world.

this past week

I'm back. Perhaps not as refreshed as I was hoping. The dreaded lurgy has struck me down over the weekend, after Mr M contracted 'man flu' last week he oh-so-generously passed it along to me it seems. Ugh. My head only feels like a small bowling ball now.

So what did I get up to in my projected-productive week of hibernation? Well...I started making the monster amount of pocket folds needed for our invitations, we finally got our act together for our tax (exciting I know, but it was on the list so a tick is a tick), we went and looked at wedding rings at the jewellers (highway robbery), I stuck 80 labels on 80 bottles for a little wedding project I have up my sleeve, I tidied up my sewing room and put some excess fabric on Craftumi for sale, had a visit to the local hospital emergency room with Mr M care of a nasty piece of metal in his eye (he's fine now), asked my Nan to make her famous rum balls for our dessert buffet, finally found some shoes for my Golden Delights and finally got the fabric needed for my bridesmaids and my wedding dress.

Oh - and I got this bad boy (girl?) in the post...

Glorious, no? I am well smitten. But I just have to figure out how to get it to 'talk' to my big boy Mac and get all my photos on both computers. Epic Gen Y failure.

Do I feel more organised? A little bit. Have I ticked off some things from my mammoth to-do list? A few. Am I still feeling 'whelmed'? Yes. But that's ok. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming...

How has your week been? Are you feeling organised and ready for a Spring clean? I don't know about organised, but I sure feel a de-clutter coming on!

Image by Emma Durkin for Cinderella at Brindabella

a break

As you might have noticed, I have a lot going on at the moment...

via my pins

So, I have decided to take a little blogging break. Just to clear my head, re-assess a lot of things, and hopefully come back refreshed and re-energised to throw myself back into blogging, creative pursuits and well...everything. Sometimes you just need to log off, you know?

I hope you don't miss me too much, be back in about a week. Promise.

abc



image via here

Ok so it's Friday, and I'm a lazy blogger, so I'm going to play the ABC game because Lou told me too. I am such a sheep - baaaa!

AGE - 24 years and 10 months
BED SIZE - Queen, but I would love a king. Oh the space!

CHORE THAT I HATE - Cleaning the bathroom? Although our bathroom is tiny so it's really a ten minute job. Hmmm...maybe vacuuming because our vacuum sucks. Or doesn't. Depending how you look at it. Pleeeease get me a fancypants Dyson for my wedding! I also have not washed the windows of the farmhouse. Ever. And they are foul!

DOGS - Three. Tessa the wonder puppy and Mr M's two working dogs, Lily and Pippa. Lily came to live with us when Mr M's old boss went on holiday...and then she just kind of never left, and I'm so glad because she is the most wonderful, lovely, gentle soul. Love my Lily-pad. I want to clone her but Mr M says I'm weird. Tessa is my baby, as I always say she's pretty much the best dog in the world. And Pippa. Oh Pippa...we have a love/hate relationship. She means well, really she does, but sometimes I get sick of having to scream at her like a fish wife or wrangle her away from vistors children for fear of legalities involved or have to pull out the stock whip to get her back from her latest adventure. Sigh. Then she looks at me with the big puppy sad eyes and tilts her head as if to say 'Who me?' Gets me every time, dang it.
ESSENTIAL START TO MY DAY - A hot shower and cup of really hot English breakfast tea with a small dash of milk, although I would love a proper espresso coffee (skinny latte, no sugar) but I'll have to be a good girl and maybe that's another wedding gift. Or it's a half hour round trip to nearest espresso available for purchase.  

FAVOURITE COLOUR - always has been pink, still is, but I like lots of other colours like dove grey and sage green and sunshiney yellow and caramel taupe and duck egg blue these days too. 

GOLD OR SILVER - my engagement ring is white gold, I have a lot of silver too though.

HEIGHT - How bad is this, I don't even know?? I think I'm like 5'7"? Does that sound right? I have no clue.

INSTRUMENTS - Piano, although I am getting pretty rusty without a piano in the house. Must remedy this.

JOB TITLE - I guess I'm some sort of 'administration assistant' but that title encompasses a lot of things, like truck driver wrangler, angry phone call maker/receiver, debt collecter, logistics manager, report writer, bill payer...oh yeah and I'm a photographer too when I'm not in an office for 40 hours a week.
KIDS - Not yet.

LIVES - With the lovely Mr M in a ramshackle farmhouse on a sheep and potato farm in Gippsland.

MUM'S NAME - Gabrielle (pronounced like the angel, not Gabri-elle or Gabriella), also known as Gab, Gabby, the Gabmiester, Gabaroonie, Grandi Gabs.
NICKNAMES - Durks, Durkatron, Durkino, Durka-Durka...I wonder what people will call me in a few months?!

OVERNIGHT HOSPITAL STAYS - None! Boring. Or lucky?

PET PEEVES - Ignorance. It's not bliss. Be informed, people! Preferably before you open your big mouth and spout your opinions without knowing the facts. Rant over.

QUOTE FROM A MOVIE - Funny or inspirational? Can't think. Jerry McGuire gets me, and no not 'you had me at hello' *vomit* More the little kid and Jerry: "You said f*%! I won't tell. I gotta go! My mom's coming! I gotta go!" hehehehe

RIGHT OR LEFT HANDED - Left for writing, right for everything else. I play tennis right handed, but play Mr M left handed as handicap - ha!

SIBLINGS - Two big sisters and a big brother above us all. I'm the baby girl.

TIME TO WAKE UP - I'd love to say I get up at 5.30am and go for a run and make myself some sort of green bile-like substance and take heaps of vitamins before leaping in to my day...but who am I kidding, I get out of bed at about 7.15am after Mr M has yelled at me, poked me and pulled the doona off me for about 15 minutes (I'm meant to get up at 7 according to him, who gets up at 6 - ugh).

UNDERWEAR - Right now? Well that's a bit much isn't it?! Usually something comfy, pretty too but only if it's still comfy.

VEGETABLE I HATE - I don't think I hate any vegetables? I eat anything and everything! Mr M won't let me buy/cook brussel sprouts which makes me sad. They are misunderstood!

WHAT MAKES ME RUN LATE - Mr M! Definitely. He is the world's worst time manager. Drives me bonkers, well it used to drive me more bonkers until I reached a point where I just had to accept that that's how he is, that's what makes him super laid back and kind and gentle and easy going, so if I have to make him run on time but sacrifice those other things, no thanks. I still say I'll beat him to the church on our wedding day though.
X-RAYS - Teeth for when I had braces and some extractions to make way for the braces. I've had a cat scan too because I get bad migraines.

YUMMY FOOD THAT I MAKE - I do make a mean cookies and cream cheescake...just saying.
ZOO ANIMAL - You are not going to believe this but when I was a little girl I loved the bison at the Melbourne Zoo. I know - what sort of child was I?! The bison??? On the last trip to the zoo we thought the seals were pretty cool though. And any kind of monkey is pretty funny/freakishly human.

And if you've got to this point, I salute you. You have just found out a whole heap of fairly useless information about me.

Enjoy your weekend...

x



bon voyage

We're off on a little jaunt north! A whole lot north actually. To Darwin to be precise, and not just for any old escape-the-winter-blues holiday. My best friend is getting married, to an ace bloke, and there's all sorts of week long activities and celebrations to be had.

I'm going to try and prepare some posts for you all whilst I'm away, but if get too busy today daydreaming about mojitos under a palm tree packing just be assured there are some good posts up my sleeve - including a sneaky giveaway, another installment of Get Your Craft On, some features of lovely rural businesswomen doing their thing and an update on the farmhouse's paint job. Phew! No wonder I need a holiday.

Catch you on the flipside, or alternatively in about a week. Now here's hoping I get some beauty sleep on the red eye flight tonight...

Image from Etsy seller Belle Hibou

the illness

What's that sound you hear? Deafening silence? No actually it's the sound of my sniveling and wallowing in self pity. Up to my armpits in tissues I am. The dreaded lurgy has struck me and I haven't been feeling all too chipper (hence the blogging silence, apologies).

This time last year when I was sick in a similar fashion I guzzled T2's lemon and ginger tea like it was nobody's business whilst working at the gallery. Somebody remind me to get the flu jab next year.

Nowadays I've been making my own herbal remedy. Some crushed ginger, squeeze of lemon, a few sage leaves from the garden and a dash of apple cider vinegar makes one mean lurgy-busting tea. I am currently the guardian of Mr M's mum's prized mortar and pestle, for safe keeping whilst they move. Perfect for pounding out some ginger and sage.

What's your remedy for the winter sniffles?

Image by Emma Durkin for Cinderella at Brindabella

a monkey of a survey

I interrupt your regular scheduling to bring your attention to a wee survey I have compiled. As Cinderella at Brindabella has grown and evolved into a somewhat successful little corner of the blogosphere I have wanted to know what brings you (the readers!) back, what keeps you reading, clicking, inspired?

You can click here to go to the survey.

It's a quick ten questions - most of them multiple choice. So if you've got a spare two minutes I'd be forever grateful if you filled out my monkey of a survey.

Thanks,
Emma

eat it freddy

My mum is overseas at the moment, galavanting about the Greek islands and exploring Turkey with another like-minded girlfriend on some sort of eat, pray, love-esque, girl power trip. Yes, my mum really is that awesome. So I didn't get to spend Mothers Day with her, instead we spent it with Mr M's family as they pack up the family home which they have just sold, ready to embark on a new chapter in their lives. This is the only home Mr M has ever known, so the day was filled with a weird mix of emotions: sadness yet excitement for the future. It really resonated with me that a home isn't the four walls surrounding you, it's the people you share it with, but the memories made there are extremely special.

I thought I would share with you some of my favourite images of the world's most famous mothers. They remind me that everyone (everyone) no matter what race, religion, creed or social standing, has a mother, somewhere, which makes it an absolutely beyond special bond. I hope you all had a lovely mothers day, however you spent it. Love you Mum xxx 

Jackie Kennedy

Princess Diana 

Grace Kelly

Angelina Jolie

Elizabeth Taylor

And my favourite modern day mama - Princess Mary of Denmark, mother to Christian, Isabella and baby twins Josephine and Vincent. She's so stylish, graceful, poised. The bottom photo just cracks me up, they are just every day parents with every day kids doing every day family stuff.

 

Princess Mary

P.S. In case you're wondering if I'd gone completely mad, the title of this post is what my mum used to (actually still does) say to us kids when we didn't want to eat something put in front of us. I have no idea where it comes from, or who on earth Freddy is, but I find myself saying it all the time. I must ask her if it's something her mother said to her?

top 5

As I've been blogging my way this month I have noticed I've picked up a few new followers (hi, welcome!) which is lovely, but I think sometimes you really need to get the full picture, the back story of a blogger to feel totally welcome in their little pocket of the web. So I've gone back and revised some of my most popular, most clicked on or most commented on posts from the past 18 months (goodness has it been that long?!). 

Here they are...

1. Bloggers Stripped Bare - a pleasant surprise to find that this is actually one of my most clicked on posts. It just goes to show that a face behind a name or words on a screen can really connect readers to writers.

2. Little Mrs Emma - I was overwhelmed with well wishes when I announced a question had been popped with an after work drink on the back of the ute. This is by far my favourite post, I often read it and it stills gives me butterflies and goosebumps.

3. Wet Weekend - a surprise favourite, I didn't know this was one of my most popular posts until I had a look in my Google Analytics, handy little feature it is!

4. Our Black Saturday - again overwhelmed with people's responses to a post which took me a long time to write, as I wanted to write it properly, and then a long time to push the publish button. 

5. Paper Butterflies - a DIY tutorial in how I made our butterflies that hung in our bedroom in the cottage has proved wildly popular, in fact is my most clicked on post other than my tabs up there. These now hang in our lounge room in the ramshackle farmhouse, but may be relocated shortly (stay tuned).

And there you have it, my top 5 posts from my time as a blogger. I've had lots of fun as well as some very reflective moments reading back through all my posts. If you are new here, or even if you're not, I hope you take the time to look around, you might be surprised what you find!

to japan with love

Along with the rest of the world, my heart breaks for Japan and it's people. Devastation should not have to touch anyones lives, let alone to the extent that this earthquake and tsunami has had on millions of families. Quite simply it is unbelievable. 

Tomorrow I am joining in with some other bloggers in a day of silence in our regular Friday posts. You will not hear our regular ranting and raving about the latest bridal wear, Pantone colour of the season, latest release design book or Etsy find. I think it appropriate that we take a day to reflect on more important things.

To join in head to Utterly Engaged or Ever Ours. Put up a post on your blog tonight, on facebook or twitter to spread the word. 

If you would like to donate head over here and please give generously. 

Tonight I am grateful for my warm home, bed, stable ground and loved ones.

the day i got my groove back

Today was the day. Definitely. Returned to sender day. After about seventeen (okay maybe not that many, but a lot) of phone calls between myself and our local 'reliable' camera/phone/electrical shop I finally got my baby back into my hot little hands. 

You see on the 28th of January I took my poor, yet beloved, Canon EOS 30D into said shop and asked if they do professional cleaning. My photos were coming out incredibly dirty, not even a bit of stuff on the lens, more like an entire possum family had taken up residence inside the camera and were depositing bits of fur and gunk all over the show. Yukky. With a wedding coming up I knew I had to act fast. Three weeks they said. Hmm I think, ok it's either that or wait until I'm going to Melbourne next to go to a place that does it on the spot, which would be after three weeks anyway. I hand over my baby. 

Four weeks comes and goes with no response from camera/phone/electrical shop. Turns out it's three weeks before they even get a response as to whether they will be able to do the job or not! Then finally this week they said it would be ready Wednesday, no Thursday, definitely Thursday. I picked her (him?) up this morning and all is well in my little world again. Phew. 

I can't begin to describe how naked and lost I felt without my camera. It was so weird. Everywhere I turned I was like 'Oh no...no camera...hmmm' Really made me realise how much I rely on my photography as a creative outlet, as I have been feeling totally drained and in a rut. It has definitely made me feel better about the fact I often feel guilty I don't shoot enough - I see now I actually do, and I won't take having a lovely camera at hand for granted any more. Promise.

Welcome home baby :)

{ images by Emma Durkin for Cinderella at Brindabella }

a full on funk

{ image }

I am in a bit of a funk. But not really. I don't know. Hard to say! I had a fabulous weekend with my two sisters, my mum and one of my bridesmaids. We went wedding dress shopping, had high tea here (ah-mazing and sickly all at the same time), gorged on delicious Japanese in Port Melbourne, breakfast with Mr M's best man and my bridesmaid in St Kilda, so much coffee, best smoothie in the world, stupid iphone blue dot getting me lost south of the Yarra, more dress shopping, more general shopping, my cousins engagement party, champagne, laugh, cousins. Oh man, so many activities crammed in.

Then came home to Brindabella, fell in a heap and got a massive migraine Monday morning. Spent all day hiding from the noise and light of the world in bed. Ugh.

Now am in massive wedding planning mode. We have to secure our band today. We have to pay deposit for photographer. I have to go talk to dress designer this week. We have to decide where the heck our ceremony will be. We have to pin our minister down for our wedding date. Have to, have to, have to...

All seems to be going on, and I think the crux of my funk is that my camera is away getting cleaned and fixed. And I feel a wee bit lost.

Sorry if I'm a bit absent, I will be back on track soon. Promise.

young + free

{ image copyright sunny + scout photography }

Like all other self-respecting Aussies I am taking tomorrow off to celebrate good ol' Captain Cook sailing into Botany Bay. Actually that's not really what I want to be celebrating - seeing as though he didn't really 'discover' Australia, you can't discover something if people have been living here for 40,000 years already! That's a whole other argument I guess...

Anyway, my point is that I think January 26th should most definitely be spent with thongs on (not of the undewear variety but whatever), a stubby in hand, lamb on the barbie because Sam Kekovich says it makes sense, Triple J's hottest 100 playing somewhere in the background and the strong scent of Aeroguard wafting through the backyard. A wayward cricket ball wouldn't go astray either.

I think the events of the past few weeks have shown us all how much we love Australia, and more so being a part of this big crazy family called Australians. The genorisity, spirit and hard working attitudes of everyone involved in the floods clean-up and the eventually re-building of communities has made me proud to be Australian. I love being an Australian, living the lifestyle we do and appreciating the land on which we live, and I honestly try to be grateful for it more than just one day a year.

Have a happy Australia Day however you are spending it, in all honesty mine will be no doubt spent building a fence...!

all the other bits and pieces

The flood waters continue to devastate in Queensland and northern New South Wales, I thought we should reflect on some unknown factors that a lot of people don't think about.

As some of you may know my family, along with myself and Mr M, runs a produce packing, growing and transport business. My role in the business is mainly dealing with the transport and the every day running of three interstate trucks (two B-doubles to Brisbane and one semi to Sydney). One of our trucks along with my brother who also runs an interstate trucking business have been stuck in northern NSW at the border for the past two days. Today my brother Kelly, our driver Darren, his 6 year old son who is with him and two other drivers from another company have chosen to leave their trucks where they are and hire a car to drive south to their homes back here in Victoria.

As my brother and our truck approached Queensland many people were asking me why they don't just turn around, why are they still headed for Brisbane into the floods? Well if you have 35 tonnes of goods on board that needs to get somewhere you seem to be in a bit of a predicament. In my brothers case he has paper on board, bound for Brisbane, he can't exactly turn around and deliver it somewhere else. This is only two trucks I'm talking about, imagine the magnitude of trucks sitting just outside the flood zone waiting to know if they should go in and deliver, sit and wait or take another course of action. 

I want people to be aware that it is not only the Brisbane transport industry which is going to be thrown into chaos, the flow-on effect along the east coast is going to be massive. I was on the phone to people in the Sydney fresh produce markets yesterday who had truck after truck after truck arriving to deliver produce which was bound for Brisbane. Quite the predicament.

My thoughts are with those in rural communities who don't have the resources available to them for food, water or shelter. Please think of the farming families who have lost their livelihoods.

queensland flood appeal auction

The floods in Queensland are heart-breaking. The footage of the inland tsunami that ripped through Toowoomba yesterday was disturbing to say the least. I have been thinking of families with small babies and children and what I could do to help.

Then this morning Corrie alerted me to the fact that Toni over at Make It Perfect was organising an auction of crafty handmade goods with all proceeds going towards the flood appeal. What a great idea! So many people ask me where to get good quality handmade kids clothes and baby gifts - well now there will be a whole list of bloggers, crafters and stay at home mums whipping up all sorts of delightful creations for you to buy, with all your hard earned money going somewhere where it really counts.

My heart goes out to anybody that is affected by the floods, if you are in a flood affected area please stay safe and with your head screwed on, radio tuned in and provisions near. Times like these remind me of the disaster close to our own hearts, Black Saturday, and brings back all those emotions that went with that day, weeks and months after.

Little Miss Emma (remember her?) will be holding an auction on Thursday night at 7.00pm Australian Eastern Daylight Savings time over on the facebook page. If you are not already a facebook fan of Little Miss Emma please become one (hit the 'Like' button) and stay tuned for more details.

My prayers are with the people of Queensland tonight xxx

{ images }

farmhouse goals

The front of the farmhouse as of January 2011

Warning: lengthy, wordy, rambling post ahead. Proceed at own risk!

This year the list of things we want to get done around the ramshackle farmhouse seems challenging, daunting even, but I think we're up for the challenge. Oh yeah and did I mention this year we're trying to organise a marquee wedding in the middle of a paddock and both have busy full time jobs? Suckers for punishment.



The back of the farmhouse as of January 2011

In 2011 we would like to...

• PAINT! The house is in desperate need of painting on the exterior. It will just look like a totally new house, I can picture it now: beige/taupe colour with crisp white trim windows. Yup yup yup.
• Finish painting and put on the new barge boards for the bottom of the house (when we moved in there was horrendous splitting lattice which was all falling apart, we promptly ripped it off!)
• New door for the back porch, white with panes of windows in top half to let light into the kitchen, silver door handle rather than knob to open door with armful of shopping easily.
• Two new heritage style flyscreen doors for the kitchen door and the dining room door.
• New tin roof for the carport and storage room as the existing one leaks, and some new laserlight for the laundry roof and the backporch skylight which will hopefully make the kitchen brighter.
• Demolish the 14 cypress trees on the west side of the house and rip out the 39 stumps in that area also to include it in our yard. This will require an excavator, time, effort and money! This is a big one.
• Re-fence the entire yard, push the existing garden fence over at the front like we already have at the back, and the fence on the east side of the yard out another two meters to accomodate dog pens, chook pen and hedge to block neighbours. Possibly fence behind the shed to include a 'dumping zone' area which is not in the paddock. The new fence we would like to be either chicken wire or pig mesh at the bottom (i.e. child-proof as we have a dam close to the house).
• Install a cattle grid in front of the house instead of the gate. The farmhouse is literally in the middle of a paddock, which more often than not means we have sheep around the house, I am getting over hopping in and out of the car to open gates! (Or lets face it forgetting to close the gate and finding unwelcome rams in my garden). We would like to find a cattle grid second hand or possibly make one.
• Put up the dog pens we took from Ythanbrae and concrete a new floor. The hounds are getting sick and tired of hanging out under previously mentioned yucky cypress trees tied to a stake.
• Build a chook pen and bring back my four chickens who are currently having a little holiday at Mr M's parents until we can accomodate them. I hate having to buy eggs, the horror!
• Plant a veggie patch next to the new chook pen, I am hoping for raised beds to plant lots of raspberries, zuchinnis, lettuces and red capsicum. Big tall sunflowers must abound also.
• Plant our orange tree next to the clothes line, get a lemon/lime tree to go next to it.
• Pull up hideous lino on back porch, replace with our recycled decking boards from Ythanbrae and extend out to create big deck. Oh how I miss the deck at the cottage. Put in pergola over deck and plant white Chinese wisteria to grow over it.
• Plant evergreen hedge to grow up the east side of the driveway to block out view of neighbours messy sheds from our house.
• Get new lighting fixtures for the dining room, lounge room, pendants for the kitchen, spotlights also for the kitchen and a gooseneck wall light for above the bathroom cabinet.
• Build or have made a kitchen island bench to accomodate big deep drawers, shelves for cookbooks, space for barstools and create more benchspace. This is also a big one, very important to the function of our home!
• Block in the old wall in the kitchen to create a walk in pantry with cavity-slider door. Knock out the dark timber cupboard to accommodate fridge/freezer.
• Paint and/or wallpaper my sewing room. Organise cupboards, cutting tables, open shelving and wall space to hold all my fabric, craft supplies, paint etc.
• Re-cover my sewing room chair with brighter fabric (currently dark chocolate suede).
• Make pretty curtains for sewing room from Sugar Love fabric.
• Paint back of sewing room door duck egg blue.
• New door handle for sewing room, current plastic one is all cracked and literally cuts my hand!
• Buy or make new ruffled shower curtain and liner to fit our shower.
• Make curtains for bathroom from grey and white gingham.
• Replace laundry trough with second hand one we recently bought.
• Get plumber to fix and install new system also recently bought second hand for outside toilet.
• Paint top half of walls in bathroom grey and ceiling, picture rails and window trim gloss white. 
• Rip up our main concrete pathway in backyard and replace with path made from old red bricks.
• New stained glass window for cute little window in the lounge room. Mr M's parents said they would buy us this as an engagement present -hurruh!
• Make or buy curtains for dining room. Huge windows = expensive operation.
• Make curtain tiebacks for lounge room, bedroom and eventual dining room curtains.
• Rip out old oil heater in lounge room, get chimney swept and checked, reinstate open fireplace and render over bricks, possibly replace tiles in front also.
• Put down new gravel on our driveway and area in front of shed. This will most likely coincide with the installation of a cattle grid.





And some things that may be a bit of a pipedream but I would love to happen if the budget could stretch or time and energy permits:

• Rip up hideous fake-timber lino and polish floorboards throughout whole house. Massive project!
• Remove all remnants of concrete pathways around the house.
• Do something with the outdated (yet functional) kitchen. New benchtops, cupboard and drawer fronts could be an option but would have to be custom made due to the old chimney in the kitchen where the Aga stove used to be, now covered in laminex!
• New front door and panels. Some debate about this: I want a Victorian style big, wide, heavy door with no glass and cricket bat panels to paint red to match our roof colour and Mr M wants a tall Federation style with stained glass insert at top. We'll see! 
• Do something about the front porch/entry to the house. I'm not sure what...see first photo above.
• Attack the dark plywood panelling in the hallway and replace with plasterboard and maybe attempt some DIY wainscotting. A new lantern style light fixture there would be nice also.
• Buy a solid awning with tin to match our red roof and install it above the sunroom/dining room window facing north.
• Mr M building me an arbour where the bottle brush is at the moment, hopefully at the end of our lovely new brick path from the back door.
• Doing something about the plywood almost black timber panels in the lounge room. I would like to replace with plasterboard but I think it's a pretty big job.

I will put this list as a pages tab way up the top there to record our progress throughout the year - hold on to your hats! I'm puffed just thinking about it...