new quilts on the beds...

Judy sent us some really beautiful quilts for the boy's beds. I think they look wonderful. I actually got a photo of the moment Kai was discovering all the trucks and cars on them. Life has been pretty quiet in our house. We are all still recovering from various cold/flu viruses. Eli has been working in the tool shop. He is in heaven over there.

Really quiet weekend...

It's been a really mellow weekend. Yesterday I took the kids over to Mum's. We walked around St Kilda and took Kai to Luna Park. We went on a couple of rides, but he was mostly interested in watching the dodgem cars. He really wanted to go on them but was too little. Today we all just dagged around in PJ's for most of the day. I finally rallied and made spinach and cheese pie with roasted pumpkin. it was OK, the recipe needs some work, it was a bit watery.

eli is building a little tree house...

E started building a little tree house in the nectarine tree for Kai. It's a project we had planned in Mar Vista but never got around to. I get pretty nervous with them outside with the power tools, but Eli assures me Kai is safe at all times. I guess it's a good idea for him to learn about tools early.

Really yummy fried rice...

I have been having a great time cooking again. I kinda lost my mojo toward the end of life in LA (with all the prep to leave) and now I am really enjoying thinking of what to make for dinner. I have been experiemnting a lot. We had fried rice tonight, which is great because it's all one dish and the kids loved it.

Jo's Fried Rice

Marinade
• 1 chicken Breast (cut up finely) in
• soy
• honey
• Chinese Spice mix (Master Foods is great)
Set aside in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Fry
• 1 beaten egg thinly spread over non-stick pan (cut up into small pieces and set aside)
• Marinated chicken (set aside)

Chop finely
• spring onions
• carrot
• corn
• bell pepper
• green beans
• peas

Cook
• Rice

Lightly fry veges in oil and soy.
Add chicken and egg.
Add Rice.
Combine all ingredients over low heat.

Serve to the hungry mob!

sick, cranky, but excited

Oh crappo, i'm sick again. It just seems that the kids and I pass this thing back and forth. I feel like I have been sick for weeks now. Kaisy and I also have a bad case of conjunctivitis. It stinks. BUT...
I am starting to get excited about the land/house prospect. Eli has been telling me more about when he took a walk around the land. There is a little running creek down at the edge of the property. He has talked about building a little deck down there. And maybe we could put a swing. Anyway, I know I shouldn't get emotional about it because we are not even sure we can secure financing etc. But I would just LOVE to put my heart and energy into this dream.

E was looking up some roofing material and the sample house image used on this site really gives the tone of the house we are wanting to build.

Steep and Scary...

OK...so the land is like the side of a cliff. It needs a lot of work to make it work. But we both feel like we could make it work. The amazing thing is that when we went to see the realtor there was already a set of plans available for that particular peice of land. So it IS doable and the house plans look pretty good to us, kind of similar to what we had in mind. So for now we are just thinking about it and making calls to work out if we can manage the project.

Pancakes and Land...

All awake. Just made pancakes for everyone. We are about to set off and have a look at some land in Belgrave. It's a narrow and steep block, but cheap, and we think we can build around the hill. It's pretty exciting. Have a lot of work to do this week. Kaisy goes off to school for the rest of the week and I should be able to get most of it done then. Brad is getting my website done this month so soon I will have a folio site whcih will be great for me. I will then for some local work.