Finished garden....ALMOST

Yes I know that it had been absolutely ages since I blogged a story. Well here are some of the finished pics of the backyard! We have to add lighting, as well as replace some of the plants that died in the summer heatwave. Also, we have been on a rest period for the last few months, given that we were quite exhausted from all the work done and are about to start having a crack at the side in front of the decking soon!

Tip: Be kind to your friends and they may help with the work! Love that!

New Year Blitz!

Sunday 4th Jan 09

Rich was the paver king, whilst the girls were the rendering queens!

Saturday 3rd Jan 09

Dad: Jack of all trades, master of all trades!

Friday 2nd Jan 09

OMG! What a big three days! I am sooooooo tired, but I really wanted to update the blog to show the awesome progress. That is all I can bring myself to say.

Christmas Srumdidilyumptious!

Well done to Stacey for hosting the Christmas day luncheon this year. What an effort with decorations, present wrapping and Christmas table. That girl has a real eye for detail! Well done sis! I was asked to make something for the entree, so I made three different types of starters: Number 1- curried egg with spring onion on topables or melba toast, Number 2 - sliced cherry tomato, boccocini and olive tepanade and finally Number 3 - roast beef with salsa verde (consisting of parsley, dijon mustard, capers, finely diced roast beef, lemon juice and olive oil)! All totally winners. Mum also made some chicken and asparagus mornay vol au vents. Delicious of course, she is a brilliant cook! Stace cooked a great turkey and yummo vegies. So many people contributed to an exceptionally great Christmas day.

Pavers Plus

Well we have been plugging away at the pavers since the last weekend that my parents helped us. If my memory serves me correctly, it was the second last weekend of November, around the 22nd. We really took the foot off the accelarator since then, because of all the parties, weddings and general drink-ups. However, in the last couple of days since returning from a Christmas holiday in Sydney, we've returned to the paving and have made some good progress. We are still on track to have most of the work completed before the Australia Day Eve party. Anyway, enjoy the pictures for now. The bricks will be made into outdoor couches that will be rendered and possibly have some of those stacked slate tiles on them. Still a lot more to be done, but be sure to stay posted....

Drink in hand!

Well after a big first half of the day gardening, then doing cleaning up till right on party start time, there were certainly a few kindly welcomed vodkas appreciated! Apparently it was quite a sight standing around watching the boys getting the outdoor heater cranking! Lots of garden tours were the initial part of the evening and quite a few people came, but not at the same time.

I received some lovely gifts, with a can of condensed milk being a real highlight of the mix. Thanks to Maz and Andrew for the fruit, Robyn and Dave for the pav and of course Amanda and Joel for the yummy birthday cake! I had a great night, but it was a little difficult to get around and talk to everyone, though everyone looked to have a good time. Until next year...

Birthday Bolt!

Ordinarily, I would liked to have slept in on my birthday, but instead Rich and I began the day shovelling mulch in the backyard. Actually Rich worked hard to complete the drip system and I started with the shovelling, then moved onto the front yard plants, whilst I was waiting to get into the large garden bed. We were totally against the clock, cause we knew we still had a mountain of house work ahead of us for my birthday BBQ. That should end all of the large wads of soil in the back now!!

Plant City!

Monday night before Melbourne Cup Day, Rich and I got started on the plant purchasing. We bought 19 that night, as well as some stuff for the new drip system. The next morning we toddled down to Bunnings to begin the day's play and start up the spending campaign! We ended up buying 71 plants from four places, which included 7 for front yard to replace this year's earlier plant stealing fiasco!

We made a great start on the planting early, but had to go off and do a couple of laps of the 1000 steps! Maz, Andrew and I met up with the beautiful, but shingle ridden Shelley to get fit. Shelley copped an eye-full of some desperado in the car park doing something that should not be mentioned. On the way there, we learnt the fate of the Mebourne Cup, where I managed to pick up a first and a third in my work sweep!! Loving that. Got back home, where Rich was still going strong putting in the drip system. I got straight back out and got al but the front plants in. All in all what a busy little public holiday!