Thursday, March 29, 2012

House update...


Time for another house update.  Most of these are external shots.  I think because the plaster isn't up yet all the internal photos end up looking like a sea of stud walls and it is hard to explain what things are.  The plaster should be going in very soon so I'll take a lot more shots then.

The garage roof is up!  It has been interesting to see how this addition affects the light in the adjacent windows.  It is still surprisingly bright in these rooms.  Note the Mr.'s 'beast' in the garage.
Tiny children in front of super tall front door.  The corten has weathered to a gorgeous deep rust colour.
The view from behind the garage looking at the clerestory windows.
The backyard where the deck will eventually be built.  The solar panels are finally on the roof.
The downpipes are in (they will be painted black).
Ceiling batons are up in preparation for the plaster.  You can now get a better idea of the dropped ceiling in the dining room.
And perhaps the biggest development - we have running water and a functioning toilet!  This is the laundry.  That ugly blue bench is temporary!
View from the loft space looking back down at the kitchen/dining area.  Hello - can you spot me in the laundry!?
Up in the loft space.  That space age silver pipe is for our evaporative air conditioning.
Another look at the corten.

Here are our massive water heaters.  These will run our hydronic heating system.  We picked them up at a bargain price, second hand from a hotel.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

In which Minty receives a marriage proposal and we pick apples...

Today was Minty's last day of kinder for the term.  The kids all dressed up as rabbits and sang 'hot cross buns'.  Then one of the kinder assistants posed as the easter bunny and gave out eggs.  It was all very gorgeous.  

Apparently one of the kinder boys asked Minty to marry him 'but', according to Minty, 'I didn't want to mum'.  She is happy to just be 'best friends' for now.

In case you were wondering about the letters on Minty's bunny ears, Minty currently writes her name as 'AMN' since Araminta turns out to be the world's hardest name to spell.  I'm beginning to think I should have named her 'Jo' to give her a confidence boost in her early writing attempts!!  Let's hope the struggle is character building!

Meanwhile, Turi and I went foraging for wild apples with friends.  Here are some of our spoils.  

Thursday, March 22, 2012

In which Turi has ants in his pants...

Ok so I made this really yummy zucchini tart for dinner last night and followed it up with little raspberry filled pastries and homemade vanilla bean ice-cream.  I took a bunch of pretty pictures and was going to write a lovely post about it today.  But then the Mr. wiped the flash card before I got a chance to download the photos and then took my camera for a photography job.  So no food post tonight.  Instead, a totally random picture from the archives to fill the void and I'll tell you about a little incident that happened this afternoon.

The kids were playing happily together in the garden.  Minty came with a cheery face to inform me that 'Turi has found an ants' nest'.  Despite Minty's enthusiasm, my alarm bells went off and I rushed to investigate.  There was Turi sitting amongst the bushes behind the washing line in the centre of a bullants' nest.  He was covered in ants unaware of the danger he was in.  These were seriously big ants - each at least an inch long.  And then the screaming started.  The kind of screaming that kids reserve for serious pain and terror.  I scooped him up and carried him kicking and screaming to the other side of the lawn.  I tried to get the ants off as quickly as a could but they were inside his clothes and shoes and as I tried to brush them off they started running frenziedly and biting.  Thankfully he escaped the incident with only five bites but if you've ever been bitten by a bullant you'll know they are seriously painful.  The poor little soul was pretty traumatised and spent the rest of the afternoon clinging to me for comfort.  I think both the kids now have a newfound respect for insects and I'm fairly certain no one is going to try and play with an ant hill again.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Conversations with Turi...

Just checking in to let you know I'm still alive.  Just when I thought our lives couldn't get any busier, things have stepped up a notch in the final couple of months before we move to the new house.  This is a photo of the house from behind (taken on the iphone).

Lots has been happening.  Hopefully I'll have a chance to catch you up soon but in the mean time here are a couple of conversations with Turi…

Me: are you cold?
Turi: I'm not cold
Me: really? You feel cold.
Turi: mummy, I'm not cold, I'm Turi!

----

while proudly showing off his playmobil trailer…

Turi: look Daddy my trailer!
Mr: ooh what's that for?
Turi: picking up girls!

he then demonstrated by laying the playmobil girl in the trailer and closing the tray!  Glad we cleared that up.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

House update...


Time for a little bit of a house update.  The frame for the shed is starting to go up.  It has quite a high pitched roof so we can squeeze a loft space in there.  I think the roof line will be pretty and compliments the house quite nicely (it's a little hard to tell from these pictures since I had the wrong lens on my camera and could only shoot small sections at a time).  It is starting to make me feel a little nervous about the very small garden space between the east windows and the shed.  Although this was an intentional part of the original design, now that I've experienced these rooms with full sunlight I think it will take a bit of getting used to the shading when the shed is complete.

I couldn't take any inside pictures on my last visit since I had Turi with me and it really isn't very safe at the moment.  Hopefully I'll have some indoor progress shots to show next time.

In the mean time I've been trying to finalise my plans for our en suite and laundry.  The Mr is very keen to have a lino (vinyl) floor.  I do love the feel of vinyl underfoot and it is incredibly easy to clean, so I've been trying to get on board.  The only trouble is that most of the available choices are less than inspiring.  It seems as though most vinyl flooring these days is printed with either imitation ceramic tiles or imitation timber floor boards.  Is it just me, or did the old school linoleum from a few decades ago seem much more fun?  I am considering a possibly crazy notion of using a green vinyl.  These images of Mikkeller Bar in Copenhagen are probably the closest I can show you to explain my vision.  Am I completely insane?

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Super quick banana ice-cream!

For those of you who read hear regularly it will be no surprise when I say I love home made ice-cream.  But sometimes I really can't be bothered investing the time involved in making a complicated custard base and chilling overnight before churning.  Here is the perfect solution - from start to finish, including churning time this ice-cream will only take half an hour.  I started this while the kids were eating their dinner and it was ready in time for dessert.  As an added bonus it is packed with the goodness of fresh fruit and also used up some of our never ending supply of veggie box bananas.

To ensure that your ice-cream won't turn a nasty brown colour you will need to churn your mixture immediately without chilling it first.  To ensure the mixture is nice and cool I like to refrigerate my bananas for at least a few hours before I begin.

3 ripe bananas
75g sugar
380 ml double cream

Pop all the ingredients in a jug and blend with a stick blender.  Churn in your ice-cream maker for approximately 25 minutes.  The ice-cream is lovely and thick and creamy and best eaten straight out of the churner!