Even More curtains

Donn and Bryn have been patiently asking if I'd make them some curtains for a few weeks now. I finally had time to get around to it, and rather than fighting the lines at the fabric shop, I decided to try a recycling project.

The coloured top part of the curtains are made out of an old doona cover that's been languishing in the back of the linen closet for years. It didn't have enough fabric to cut out two sets of curtains, so I used some fabric that I had left over from making the curtains for Dave's home office.

The boys are rapt (slang for very happy) with the new curtains, and I've reduced my fabric stash a little. A win-win all around.

Yard cleanup

Dave has the chainsaw, Connor has the hatchet, and Bryn
is feeling thwarted because he wasn't allowed either.

Since moving to our new house in January, Dave has been bit by bit clearing out the overgrowth in the yard. The problem with that is that once you cut it, you have to do something with it. 

Here Dave and the boys are chopping up the yard debris to load on the pickup. Afterwards they had to unload it at the dump. Not their favorite chore!

Is it fabric?

OK, maybe I shouldn't admit this here, but our feisty dog has a thing for ... fabric.

He loves blankets, throws, bottoms of skirts, fuzzy jumpers (sweaters) and most of all ... pant legs.

Izzy says "grrr...grrr...grr."
The leg belongs to Connor, by the way.

Redecorating

Donnelly and Bryn have been rearranging their room. Each time they clean their room it's hindered by the fact that they've just got too...much...stuff.

So, minus a few boxes of stuff later, they now have room that's easy to keep tidy with space for everything.

Here are the boys in their new room "showing their muscles".

Thankfully, Donn's tattoo is the rub-on kind!

Chloe's Salon

For the last few years, Chloe has enjoyed cutting people's hair. With a big family, she has had plenty of willing victims to practice on.

She even did mine.

Since Donnelly has started cadets, regular haircuts are required. So Chloe has stepped up to the plate with her clippers in hand. Big brother Connor is at uni now, but he still enjoys frequenting the in-house salon.

While some salons may be particular about their clientele, Chloe doesn't limit herself to the humans, she is Izzy's favorite pet groomer.

English really IS my first language

This happens to me all the time.

Convo with husband

Me: So, what're you watching?

Dave: Three moves

Me: "Three moves"?

Dave: Three MOVIES.

Me: Hmm. "Three Movies". What's that about?

Dave: [patiently] No. I'm watching three...different...movies.

Whoops, guess I'm a bit slow these days. I seem to be having middle-aged brain, or a friend say's its PhD brain, nothing left over for anything else.

I was making the kids' lunch sandwiches the other night (trying to be organized) and made:

Peanut butter and ... butter sandwiches. Bleh. 

Yeah, that's what I forgot. Jelly. I mean jam.

Busy weekend

This weekend is one of those with everyone going opposite directions. Donnelly is gone all weekend on a Cadets "bivouac". The trip is a weekend of camping in the field and learning how to do fieldcraft stuff. They even get to run around wearing camo paint in the middle of the night, searching for each other with torches (flashlights). We sent along enough food for 3 people, and won't be surprised if he eats every bit. I don't know where they put it all.

We just dropped Chloe off for her second time to do the "Relay for Life" which is a night-long walk-athon for cancer. The participants form teams, each with a particular costume. This year Chloe is Alice in Wonderland and has a costume to match. Chloe and her friends will take turns walking with a baton around a track.

Izzy strikes again

Maybe its because I've been so busy lately, but I've been wishing I could have a bit of the dog's life. Lots of time to laze around in the sun, get attention for nothing more than being cute, and all of your meals are prepared for you.

Of course the downside is that you have doggie breath, your dinner comes out of a can, and you have to beg for treats.

We've discovered that other than having a sweet tooth, Izzy has another secret vice. Tea bags!



He looks around for cup with the suspicious tag hanging out, jumps up on the chair (so he can reach the table), ever so gently pulls the tag out between his teeth, and drags it under a table to devour.

A pure caffeine hit ensues and he races around the house and yard like a whirling dervish, jumping in the air, barking and carrying on like some mad thing. It lasts about an hour or two and then he sleeps it off.

I'm sure this can't be good for him, so we are trying to hide the tea bags. But he will slurp coffee or tea out of cups if one is left around.

I wonder if there is a 12-step program for doggies. Hello my name is Izzy and I'm a caffeine freak.

Silly puppy with a sweet tooth

Poor little Izzy, stuck eating canned doggie food when the rest of us are eating nice human food. He feels left out.

So, after all the big people go to sleep, Izzy makes the rounds of the house, nosing through the garbage and chewing up bits of paper. The very best stuff that he finds, he hides under Chloe's bed.

A few days ago I decided to get a head start on making the kids lunch, and left the homemade cookies in baggies on the table. After it was dark, Izzy hopped up on the table and munched through the plastic to the chewy, oatmealy (is that a word) goodness. He left the bags under Chloe's bed, because he couldn't reach the trash bin I suppose.

Now we have a very sad puppy because he's banned to the outside at night. Poor Izzy.

Are they biscuits or scones?

Homemade - not from a box

I've been trying to cook more things from scratch lately. Less preservatives, but more dishes to wash.

Tonight I made spaghetti and meatballs with biscuits on the side. Of course no one knew they were biscuits, they thought they were scones. That's pronounced sk-ons, as opposite to the American scone that rhymes with snow cones.

So I had a look, what's in biscuits: flour, baking powder, butter, salt and milk.

What's in scones: self rising flour (flour, baking powder, salt), sugar, butter and milk.

From what I've been able to observe, scones tend to rise slightly higher than biscuits and are generally a bit heavier.

I haven't had the greatest success with biscuits over the years, although I have improved from the lead-lined hockey pucks I used to make in my youth.

Cultural note #1:
There are many uses for the word scone in the Australian vocabulary.

It can mean:
* a biscuit, usually served with jam and cream
* a person's head
* to hit a person in the head

Note #2:
There are no pre-made frozen biscuits in a tube.

The things parents do

While I was writing the post about Donn's flying experience, I was reminded of when my family lived briefly in Alaska. We spent the spring and summer of 1973 in a small logging camp on Baranof Island. Prior to moving back home to Oregon, we stayed for a couple of weeks in a hotel in Sitka, while Dad and Mom finalized their plans.

I don't remember Dad being around much, but Mom was cooped up in a hotel room with three small kids, me 8, Jimmy 5, and Eric 4. We probably drove her insane trying to come up with stuff to keep us occupied.

One of the things I do remember is that every day we begged her to take us to the "castle". The castle was an old fortification overlooking the town. I think it even had a cannon.

Even my young legs thought it was a big climb to the top, but I didn't remember just how long it was.

Check out the video below that shows the trip down. I can't imagine doing that climb everyday, and I bet that she would have had to carry Eric for most of it.

Pilot to Bombardier

Cessna 172

As part of his Air Force cadets training, Donnelly got to try his hand at flying this weekend. He had a free flying lesson from Townsville Aviation. Instead of just sitting in the passenger seat watching the world go by, Donn got to actually take off and land (with the instructor's help).

Watching the little planes take off and land reminded me of the bush planes that I got to ride in when I lived in Alaska many years ago. We lived on a small island that was being logged and the only contact we had with the mainland was a short-wave radio and a monthly grocery shopping trip to Sitka.

I found the video below on YouTube, and it shows a small floatplane taking off in Anchorage. The best part is near the end.