Lottie on the Pottie

Woohoo... out of the blue Lottie went to the pottie. Finally got the point that she is a girl and has to sit down, rather than stand and point like the boys. Sorry for the information but she's followed me in sat herself down and actually peed. Then she did it again a few hours later, so it was no accident... Yeah, it begins.

Back to Basics

For a couple of years now, I've been using baking soda and vinegar as my main cleaning 'agents' instead of buying chemically loaded products from the supermarket. It's been working great, except for the fact that Jason doesn't like the vinegar smell. I've been searching over time for other 'natural' recipes particularly where my sensitively skinned husband is concerned... and low and behold, after chatting with my neighbour on the subject, it turns out she makes her own laundry powder...
so for all those interested (which isn't many 'cos I think only my sister follows this blog)...
shave 1 bar of sunlight soap (or pure soap)
boil for 4 minutes with 4 cups of water
when boiled mix in 1 cup of washing soda crystals until dissolved
in a 20L bucket (with lid) put in 11 Litres of warm water
pour in the soap mix and mix together. Don't put the soap mix in while you are filling up the bucket or you'll end up with bubbles everywhere.

To Use: put 1 cup into your wash.

My neighbour goes through this in about 2-3 weeks, but they have four girls ranging from 6-16.

Here are some photos of what our New years Day consisted of... building a chicken house with the kids. Photos taken by Joseph.

WWOOF NZ

Today I joined WWOOF as a host. Willing Workers on Organic Farms. Since Jason was unwell earlier this year, we have lost motivation around our property and have had other projects that took over and as a result our property is looking a little run down. So after a friend joined and has had great results I thought we would give it a try. Essentially you advertise your property and have visitors come and stay and do 4 hours work a day for free food and board. Looking forward to making a start with it.

Newest cake addition

I made four of these for Xmas day. One for the lovely family who helped us with cutting out our castle shape for our present. One for ourselves. One for my friend Sarah and the last to a family whose little boy was in a car accident a few weeks ago.

Kune Kune Piglets

Also on Sunday we need to 'gather' the pigs to check the sex of them. We have orders for three girls and four boys... so hopefully we have the right gender. Here's a photo of what our Kune Kune Piglets look like.

The Work Do / Xmas

Our once a year break from the kids :)
Jason's work do is on Saturday, and 'cos we live 'SO FAAAR' out of Auckland, we get put up in a hotel over night (cheaper than sending us home in a taxi).
Then home on Sunday to decorate a tree with Nana and Poppa.
Wierd doing the whole Christmas thing seeing as we didn't do it when I was growing up. I do have a problem with the whole santa thing, but I'm married to someone who values the 'family' aspect and for some reason that goes with it for him, so I play along. I am however looking forward to when they work it out and I don't have to 'cover' any longer.