Just because it's been a while..

A lot has happened over the last week or so, and at the same time nothing at all has happened. I'm finding now that I'm blogging I always wish I had a camera with me where ever I have gone so that I have photographic evidence of what I've done. Yet, even when I take a photo of the activities with my phone, I never get around to uploading them, and they just never seem to capture what it is I want to talk about. Anyway, A few little updates about my little projects, first being the veggie patch or should I say, the weed garden! Sadly the only things growing really well in the garden are weeds, all the seeds I have planted seem to have got to seedling stage and then stopped growing all together, and either staying like that or dying :( I'm not sure what I've done wrong exactly, apart from maybe not watering them enough? But they are just not doing anything. So it seems that I'll either have to give up and try again, OR simply try to grow something else in there other than veggies...maybe some tulips?

As for the fish tank, well I'm pulling my hair out over the algae issues I'm having. I googled algae outbreaks to see if there was anything I could do, or anything I was doing that could be contributing to the break out. I read that I needed to change 15% of the water every 2-3 days, so I've done that a good 3 times now. I also read that you cover the whole tank up and block out all light sources for 4-5 days. SO I did that. I then uncovered the tank, changed the water over, cleaned the filter and filter pipes, put algae killer into the water...and NOTHING has worked. The water is a horrid milky green colour :( I'm thinking I might have to take the fishies out, drain 90% of the water (and hope I don't kill the plants) and see if THAT works.

On a more positive note I've noticed that the guppies have started to get "busy" lol so there might be some baby guppies on the way. I just hope that the water change and so on doesn't stress them out so much that the females lose the babies.

SO we'll see how things go in the next few weeks!

The fish tank part 2:

So it’s been about a week and a bit and I’ve finally completed the fish tank! Well, mostly, for now :D

It was a bit of trial and error I got to say! When I first put the water in it went all murky and yuck. The log that I put in looked like some monster in the deep! I thought after a few days it’ll settle so I went to the fish shop and bought a cool backdrop that looks like a cliff face. When We got it home I was too impatient to cut it to size and wanted to try and put it in, much to Mikes displeasure. Sure enough, it wouldn’t fit and we ended up stirring up the sand again. Mike then took the backdrop out and cut it to size and we put it in again.

After another day or so the sediment was not settling and I realised that I may have made a boo boo. I realised I was meant to clean the sand and gravel prior to putting it into the tank (my bad). So with a bit of fiddling I managed to get the longer hose from the back yard, hooked it up to the funnel used to clean the water and with a few sucks, started to SLOWLY drain away the yucky water. Then, I hooked the hose up to the tap at the front and re-filled the tank with water, this time taking care not to stir up the sand by wedging the hose in the log.

So after a couple more days the water stayed a murky white colour, SO I marched myself to the fish store and had it tested. Nothing wrong, just a algae outbreak *sigh* so I grabbed some algae killer and a few dozen plants.

I came home, put in the algae killer and started to put the plants in. My arm frozen a took a step back to admire my work. Now it was time to wait till the plants had a chance to take hold. I even discovered there was a tag along, a sea snail I have named Bob lol

But I’m impatient, and after a week I couldn’t stand looking at a empty tank anymore! So I started to look up adds online to see if I could buy some cheap guppies. The ones at the pet store were crazy expensive! And I wanted a few. But alas, anywhere I looked they were a fair distance away and you had to get a minimum of 20. I didn’t want that many so I found a different shop, and with a little bargaining got 5 females and 5 males for $4 each, instead of $6.75, which is ok.

So now I have a wonderful fishtank built by my wonderful husband, and a cool underwater garden, that will one day be full of guppies (apparently they breed like crazy!)

The fish tank part 1:

Well as I mentioned in another blog, I’ve wanted to set up my old fish tank again without making all the old mistakes this time. So when I brought the old fish tank over to the new home I looked at it and thought “this needs to be updated”. When I first got the tank, it was nice, it was practical.

The stand was simple, no draws, no doors, just a stand to hold the tank. And it worked for what I was after at the time.

The only thing I hated about it was that all the chemicals, bits and pieces that you need to have for the general care of a tank were on display all the time and not hidden the way a lot of tanks are set up.

Now that I have a child I know I need to be conscious of the fact that all those chemicals and things are so easily accessible by little hands. Last thing I wanted was for my son to go looking through all the bottles and downing some water purifier or aquarium plant fertiliser. So I talked to Michael about what I wanted to do, I asked him if on the next trip to Bunnings warehouse he could pick up some cheap wood, OR if he could swing by his grandfather’s place and pick up some of the off cuts he had there. I also asked that he pick up a nice dark stain because I was going to sand back the tank and re-finish it.

So next time Mike went to Bunnings he remembered to pick up some wood, however he had bigger ideas. Michael decided that he wanted to go all out and make this tank a real feature. He picked up some nice trimming, some wood that had a nice grain to it, and a really nice red stain to make the wood mimic an older wood.  

From then on he took over the project and I was banished from his “mans shed” so that he could get to work. He first started off by sanding back all the old paint and varnish that was on the old tank. This took a couple of days as there were a lot of nooks and cranes’, and the paint had really seeped into the wood.

He then cut up all the pieces he needed for the doors, sides and back, then cut the pieces of trim. Realising that since he’d gone to the trouble of getting the decorative trimming, he might as well get some cute handles he went out and grabbed some fish door knobs and fancy hinges.

Next he put everything together to make sure everything fit together perfectly. After that was the easier part, varnishing. First coat was put on, Mike working late into the night, determined to get it all finished before the weekend.

 

Then, next day, mike sanded everything back again and the next coat was put on.

Pleased with himself, he brought the new feature into the house and stood looking at his masterpiece.

Now it was my turn finally. I headed out to the fish shop and bought some nice sand and a funky piece of drift wood, the plants I would get after we had set everything up and the water had been left to settle.

I put the sand in the tank along with the wood and Mike brought the hose in and filled the tank up. I’m really excited, the tank looks truly amazing as Mike has done a fantastic job.

All the pieces need to be put back together to complete the tank, but even now it looks amazing. Over the next couple of weeks I will build up the plants and wait for them to get established before I even think about what fish I will be putting in there. But till then Mike and I will admire his handy work, and I’ll dream up all the different things I can do with the tank!

The city adventure

So it's been a little while since my last blog. Lots has happened in that time but nothing of great significance. I went on a shopping spree with my mum to get some new boots (which I got and I'm THRILLED with them!) and some warm clothes for my little man. Mike and I took Tobias out into the city for the very first time to visit Mikes work. It was a great adventure but very hectic!

We went in via public transport which is a pain in the neck! We rocked up to the bus stop 8 minutes too late and had to wait another 40 till the next bus came. We would have walked to the train station but Mike had read the wrong time originally and we thought we only had 15 minutes to wait. BUT we got the bus in the end and it wasn't so bad. I don’t really like the bus all that much as I get motion sickness and having to hold onto a stroller and entertain a child at the same time didn’t help. The train ride was far nicer; it doesn’t rock and turn constantly.

We then made it to Mike work where we discovered that Tobias had done a number 3 (his first for the day *sigh*) and had to have a total outfit change! Was a little disappointing as I’d gone to the effort of cleaning and drying his ‘little engineer’ top to show off to the other engineers at Mikes work. But other than that, he put on a show and was a total show off. All the ladies in the tea room cooing over him as he smiled and chatted to them. And the other little gorgeous bubba that was in the room was getting a lot of attention as well, so many babies. I then shouted Mike for lunch, and we decided to make the treck to Central station from Circular Quay instead of catching a bus. We wondered down, stopping in at Dimmocks, where I missed out on a 50% sale by a few minutes as I was too engrossed in finding a specific Author I'd been trying to find. Grabbed a couple of books for myself, on puppet book for Tobias and another book for a friend who’s just had a bub.

It was after we left Dimmocks that I realised Tobias had done his SECOND number 3! This time we were in trouble! I’d not only NOT brought another outfit to change him into, but we were nowhere near a changing room to have him changed. This meant that we had to leave him in his dirty clothes for a bit while we walked to the next destination in the hopes we’d find somewhere for him to be changed. Sadly, when we got to the building we were looking for, there were none to be found. Tobias was by this stage, uncomfortable, tired and starving! I walked up and down a food court trying to find a change room or a disabled toilet for me to go into. Nope, the disabled toilets where locked unless you went BACK upstairs to get a security guard to come down and open it (that is just stupid, apparently if you are in wheel chair you need to wait to pee, yet if you are full bodied you can go in and out of the loo freely!). The woman’s toilets where not easy to get into with a stroller so I had to go sit on a chair in the food court, with Tobias screaming, feed him and change him in his stroller. By that point I’d thought “to hell with it!” if people were unhappy with it I was happy to ask them where the HELL they expected me to change and feed my child if there was no parent’s room or private room provided for us.  Mike calmed me down and got me a coffee. He knows how I get so worked up when Tobias is screaming and I can’t think.

So that was an adventure! Stressful but it was a nice day out in the end. Since then we’ve had a few big days, I went to Gleeb Markets with mum and my sister and spent the day with mum and then went to the shops. Much less stressful than the day in the city :D

I do have photos of the adventure, I'll have to do an edit and put them up in this blog soon :D

Thriving veggies

OK, so I won't be blogging twice every day. In fact I probably won't be blogging every day, might try for once a week but we'll see how we go. This is simply a novelty at the moment, and while I did try and start a blog a few years back that pretty much died, I thought I'd try and keep this one going a little more.

Anyways, I mentioned my veggie garden in another blog and thought I would update on the situation. It’s been pouring with rain the last few days, actually it's been pouring with rain on and off for the last few weeks. I thought that my plants had all been washed away as I planted them just before a massive down pour that lasted 2-3 days.

 

But, to my great surprise, they have thrived. Despite all the rain, they have not all died or been washed away, they are still there and growing well!

I can't wait till they are more mature and I can really tell what I have planted. You see, I threw some random seeds in there that I had planted previously in egg cartons, and so now I have no clue what has been planted where. Not to mention the fact that when I planted the new plants, I didn't label anything so I've forgotten what I had planted.

 
The one thing I do know is that this time the seeds have started to grow, and this time I didn't use all the seeds in the packets so there are more for next season! I also planted two sweat potatoes and 3 potatoes, but I'm pretty sure they have rotted away due to the amount of rain.

But, at least some of the plants are growing :) and I'm really happy!

Samelia's Mum: AccuQuilt GO! Baby - Giveaway

If you are one of those talented people who love to quilt then make sure you head over to  Samelia's Mum: AccuQuilt GO! Baby - Giveaway: "You may have seen my Pinwheel tutorial earlier this week, highlighting how great the the AccuQuilt GO! Baby is to use. If you didnt, HERE i..."

Good luck!

To keep it clean…

Today I had a moment where I realised how far I have come. As I stood their sorting through the clean washing, folding the jumpers and putting the clothes in piles of T-Shirt, shorts, pants and undies I was surprised at how tidy the house was. Where once I would simply ignore the pile of clothes for several days sometimes weeks till I ran out of clean undies, then would do one massive wash and then the clothes would simply sit in the laundry basket for another couple of weeks, unsorted and crumpled. Now, I’ve rarely had a moment where I no longer have any clean shirts to wear, or no pants to put on. Not to mention the fact that I’m not rummaging through a basket full of all mine and my husband’s clothing to try and find a matching sock.   

My house is far from clean however, and while I know it will be a constant proses that just never ends, I don’t really bother with the “deep clean” EVER. I know it’s simply because, while I’m improving with my cleanliness, I’m still down right lazy. I would far rather surf the net, watch a movie or go to the shops than stay at home and scrub the toilet!  But don’t worry, while I might not be dusting the mantelpieces every day, or vacuuming up the dirt on the floor, the place is not a pig sti. No, I am keeping up with the dishes, wiping up spills when they happen rather than a week later, and I’m sweeping up piles of dirt should I find it. The occasional cup will be left at my bedside table for a couple of days, and the floor might not get mopped every day. But my house is no longer the garbage tip that it once was a few years back. I honestly don’t know why people wanted to come visit my place back in the day. 

Let me explain. I was SO bad when it came to cleaning up that I am shocked the place was not infested in cockroaches, but rats as well! The place we lived in was truly in a putrid state. We would leave dishes piled up and up till we ran out of clean plates and cutlery. The carpet had clumps of cat hair and dust all over the place. Sometimes, depending on what we’d had that night/week for dinner, we’d leave the dirty plates still with the bones on the table. We were really bad. Now I look back at that time and cringe. How did we live like that? There was even a room where we had to make a path to the desk because there was just so much junk in there.  Clothes would get bleached white by the sun because I just never brought them back in, unless I couldn’t find something, then I would go out and just get that lol..hrm really shouldn’t laugh. Even the garbage was left to pile up till it was spilling out of the bins onto the floor. We were truely lazy with a capital L!

Well, obviously now things have changed I’m happy to report. And while my house wouldn’t pass a white glove test, it is tidy and I can enter every room in the house without having to shove things out of the way. I’ve never run out of clean plates or had to do a emergency wash to get clean clothes for that day, hell, I’ve only used the dryer once in the 5 months I’ve been here because I’m that on top of all the washing now. Even better is now all my new clothes are still the same colour they were when I got them, not a faded version. I’m very happy with how much I’ve grown up, and I can only hope that I keep improving till one day no one will come to my house and find a used ,mug randomly placed somewhere in my house. :D

Time for some sewing

Well, finally Michael got into the study/sewing room and cleaned it all out. I now have a space where I can sew. I already have a few projects in my head, I just need to get organised and go buy some materials. He also went to my mothers and picked up the fish tank, so I'll finally be able to get started on that little project too. Although, that one will take a little longer as the stand needs to have a few alterations made to it because it's not quite "child friendly" yet. :D so yes, very happy.

I also went out this week and got some new boots that I've been looking for, for ages! Ever since I saw them in Burwood Westfield. My Mum always said that if you see something you like, and you really want it, don't hesitate! If you can afford to get it, GET IT! Majority of the time, when you hesitate and don't get it, murphy’s law states that it'll be gone by the time you make your decision. At least that's what happens to me all the time. Time and time again it happens to me. I saw these amazing boots that I really liked and really wanted. I didn't get them, and wasn't able to find them anywhere else, and next time I went to the shop in burwood they were gone. SO, when I saw boots that were very similar to the ones I liked, I got them! And I'm thrilled! I also got myself a snazzy purple hooded jacket :D I'm so happy!

SO that was my week, nothing very exciting. I'm hoping once I get my projects underway I'll have something more exciting and interesting to talk about :) till then.....

Gardening disasters and successes

SO I’ve been creating a vlog following my attempts to create a veggie patch in my backyard. So far I’ve not had much luck, but it seems that I might have finally made the right decision.  You can have a look at the Vlogs if you’d like but basically I started off my planting seeds into egg cartons. The idea was that once the seeds grew I would separate them by simply cutting the carton up and planting it directly into the soil. The carton was then meant to just rot away and all would be great. But, I did it all wrong.

To start with, I planted all the seeds in one spot so the seeds were competing for nutrients and so didn’t grow. Those that did grow however, soon wilted because I made another mistake. To stop them from getting drowned by all the rain, I kept them under cover so they were always in the shade, so without sun, they all died. The last mistake was simply, I over watered them. I was originally trying to avoid that, but in the end I did it myself.

So, the next plan was to try and plant them directly into the garden bed that I’d been working on. I’d been putting kitchen scraps, grass clippings, shredded paper and dead leaves into this little garden bed trying to make it all nice for when I was going to put the seedlings I was trying to grow would be ready to transplant.  When I realised the seeds that I’d planted were not working, I threw all the soil in them on the garden bed, went to flower power and got some new seeds.

This time I’m hoping it’ll work out. I’ve planted the seeds in a evenly spaced row, I’ve planted them out in the sun, and despite the torrential rain, I’ve avoided overwatering them. Fortunately, it seems to be working this time. In fact, the seeds that I threw into the bed thinking they were all dead and gone have started to sprout up! I’ve also started to see some seedlings shoot up where I planted the new seeds. Fingers crossed this time works and I get a bumper crop of tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower and onions! :D

If you want to have a look at the Vlogs here is the link :  http://www.youtube.com/user/nyssaa84?feature=mhee

Very posh: the Bad mimicker

Ahh, I've done it again. I've been reading over my posts and noticed I've "attempted" to sound really "posh" and "proper" but because of my lack of grammatical skills I've failed lol. However, I know why I've done it. I've been watching Dowton abbey, and I've mimicked the way they speak in the way I've typed. This is a shocking habit I have.

I remember when I came back from the States one year, I'd only been there for 3 weeks and yet I came back with a yanky twang. I was promptly told to "get rid of it now" lol. I have to be really careful with this habit because it can seem like I'm mocking the person(s) that I'm talking to. I have a lovely friend who is Scottish, and I have to make sure I monitor the way I talk so that I don't start picking up her mannerisms. It's really bad. In fact, depending on the person I'm hanging out with, I will change the way I talk and the way I act.

So yes, I apologise for my bad grammar and the fact that I seem to be a little "posh" in the way I'm writing. But don't worry, I'll probably watch a new series where everyone talks in a southern accent and the next few posts will have a whole new personality hahhahahaha

A big fishy mess

I get to do this a lot more now, just sit and think. Right now ideas are swimming around in my head for a new project I want to embark on. Setting up my old fish tank, although this time I'll be doing it differently. I won't be buying random goldfish, and I most certainly WON'T be buying yabbies!

You see, when I got the fish tank as a birthday present 6 years ago I was all excited. I wanted to have all these really big pretty fish, unusual fish, and fancy fish. I had a housewarming party where entry was "one goldfish" instead of "one gold coin". I thought it would be a great idea; instead I ended up with a tank over flowing with fish that didn't get along. I'd also made the big mistake of getting yabbies. These little pains in the butt are a horror to care for. They make a massive mess, and ripped up all the beautiful plants that I had put in and spent months trying to get established! After what I think was about 3-4 months fighting to keep the damn tank clean, I gave up and got rid of the little pests. Sadly by that time, they had ripped up all the plants, and killed a few fish.One poor fish that had somehow survived (and indeed survived for almost 5 years) had a sheredded tail and both gill flaps were missing.

As for the fish, I went out and got anything that was huge, or cheap. I actually went and spent $60 on one fish, I called him Frankenstein! He was this massive catfish, a boring brown colour, but he had character. I always wanted one so he was a must have. He was the only fish I had that I cried when he died. The rest, well I didn't really do any research, as I said, I'd got people to bring a goldfish to my house warming party and so had a bunch of random goldfish. I then went and got a bunch of random sucker fish hoping they would keep the tank cleaner for longer. LOL oh how wrong I was!

All in all it was one big mess. We then moved out and I had to box them all up and move them to my mothers, where the fish tank sat in a corner, ignored for almost 3 years. Until now. Now all the fish have either died or been given away. I now want to start afresh, from a clean slate. This time I'm hoping not to make the same mistakes I made last time. No more than 2-3 different breeds of fish, and make sure they can all live happily with each other. Make sure any fish I do get will not rip up and eat any plants I put in there. In fact, this time I'll be getting much MUCH smaller fish. I'm also hoping, with a bit more research, to find a way to build up the tank so that it needs minimal maintenance. But then, we'll see.

The main reason that I want to set the tank up again, apart from being an ongoing hobby that I really did enjoy doing, is that my little boy loved watching the little fishies swimming around the tanks in the pet store. He often gets a bit grumpy, and anything that can keep him entertained, that isn't simply sitting him in front of the TV or under a mobile packed with toys, is a good idea.

So, I sit at the computer, surfing the internet, looking up different aquatic plants, guppies, tetra's, snails and sucker fish. Hoping that this time I won't muck things up and end up with a big messy tank full of fish that can't get on, and a lot of wasted money.