The One Where We Dealt With Our Ageing Issues!

Hey Guys,

If you've been a long time reader of Mellywood's Mansion you will know that I don't do perfect parties see here and the children are horrified! So this year, instead of stress out in horribly hot weather, we didn't even do a party, it was just family.

This was last year! Madeleine has had issues ageing.

However my baby girl just turned four and for the first time in her life, she happily blew out the candle, without being followed by half an hour of tears.

Here is the store bought cake which I tried to do that trick where you put a cookie cutter and use sprinkles to make a shape...yeah it didn't work great for me, that was supposed to be a crown.

She got a scooter which she thought was the best thing ever and a doll that she promptly threw aside.

Also it's now a month later and I have finally taken the cake picture off my camera.

Four, it's a great age. With it comes the attitude that says "whatever world, bring it on"

 Happy Birthday to my Princess Madeleine, I love you even more than I suck at planning birthday parties...and that's a lot!


Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Feb Fast, Failures And other Random Thoughts!

Howdy,

So I promised to do a weekly update of my Feb Fast see here for the details and I kept that promise as well as a kept to my goals...terribly!

Okay so we have managed to forego take away, but why I thought I would be able to give up such necessities as wine and the internet, what was I thinking??

You'll note I have been very quiet on the blog, I'd love to say that's because I have been busy doing all sorts of wonderful projects, but I haven't. I've completely lost my blogging mojo and I don't know how to get it back.

The couple of things I have done for the blog I just can't find the motivation to photograph and write up posts and there have been disasters, horrid ones, instead of seeing the funny side like I normally do I just want to cry...Sucking big time!

Don't get me started on the kids, I feel like shouting this 24/7

BTW I did have C sections...for all of them, sliced and diced 5 times is it too much to ask that the bench be wiped down after they spill sticky crap all over it and make their beds made every morning. Instead my mornings that look more like this and honestly I just feel tired.

My Mummy mojo seems to have flown out the window too, I mean of course I love them to bits, but of late everything seems to be getting on my nerves, tell me you get what I mean. Poor Max is teething or something and he has been miserable and crying for days. No temp and no obvious pain, but it's driving me stir crazy.

But I haven't been completely idle, a blogging friend (Andi) might have made a joke about my accent so I sent her a video, totally regretting that I didn't watch it before I said "sure put it on your blog", but all in good fun, you can check out my lack of singing ability here. You'll also note that I didn't stage it, the hair is a mess and I look hot and tired, which I was/am!

This weekend we moved furniture around and I think I finally have the layout I want, so now I can start painting. Worst thing is with the house stripped back it looks really shabby badly need to get painting. Also I was so excited I repaired a rip in my leather couch, so good you can barely notice that there was one there at all. Obviously it would have made for a great blog post, but due to my lack of mojo, I didn't even get a picture, oh well I'm still pretty darn pleased with it.

On the plus side, Jules and I are going for a kid free mini vacation shortly and I think that coupled with the beginning of Autumn (read: I am praying that days of temps over 35C are over) should be enough to turn the tide and Melly will get her groove back. You know it's bad when I start referring to myself in the third person.

Ever felt like this? What did you do to get out of a rut?

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

Winter Olympics - You've Got To Be Bad To Be This Good!

I've been seeing so many posts dedicated to the Winter Olympics, personally I find it boring, as a nation us Aussies don't do well.

Really it stands to reason considering that finding places with snow is not exactly an easy feat in these parts, but this Aussie, err, "champ" is one gold medal that makes me laugh every time I watch it and once you watch it you'll realise any one can be a winner.





So no matter how bad you think you, are never give up on your dreams!

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

DIY Planter Box or The Time I Used The V Word!

My DIY Planter Box means I am going to use a word that I thought I would never use in my life or on this blog, the V word....Vignette!

I'm putting some finishing touches in the entry and I want to create a warm and welcoming space and I realised that meant Vignette, then I immediately felt like the worlds biggest tool because it just sounds so formal, so posh and so very unlike me or the mansion. Oh well, turns out that maybe I can pretend to be a little more décor sophisticated than I really am. Actually I think it turned out quite pretty but it cost me $0, so I shouldn't expect any invitations to high society any time soon!

Supplies:

• Scrap Wood
• Scrap trim
• Nails/Hammer
• Paint/Paintbrush

I grabbed some scrap trim and wood from the garage.

Nailed it together

About this point I realised I probably should have measured it, but the DIY angels were with me because it actually fit my "vases" (plastic milk bottles), another reason the elite won't be contacting me any time soon.

Then I just gave it one coat with a dry brush and I really liked the kind of white wash feel that I didn't bother with a second coat. This baby took me less than 20 minutes to make.

DIY Delight or Disaster? Apart from feeling like the worlds biggest sell-out for using the word vignette, truthfully I was really happy with the way it came out and it was so easy, first project of the year and I am going to go with Delight! By the way middle of Feb and this is the only thing I have done all year, what a sucky blogger I am at the moment!

So was something that pre blogging/ blog reading did you think you would never do but have?


Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

A Gift For The Quilter/Sewer- (When you don't know what to get)

My Mum is a quilter. I'm not talking about someone who has made a couple of quilts, I mean someone who lives and breathes quilts! She belongs to so many quilting groups and is out of the house sewing almost every day not including the house she spends at home.

Recently she purchased a new machine, a really fancy pants thing that looks like it could probably cook dinner as well, which would be great because Mum hates to cook with about the same amount of passion as she loves to quilt. Sadly a trait I too inherited.

Some Valentines Love To Some True Heroes

Hey All,

So I've been very quiet on the blog front and that my friends is mainly because of Summer, it's hot and my motivation for all things crafty,DIY and blogging has been completely zapped.

However this Valentines Day I want to talk about the amazing CFA (Country Fire Authority) and the volunteers who spend their Summers fighting to save homes and lives.

I'm sure you're all familiar with beautiful pictures of Australian beaches, the surfing, the swimming and of course fun in the great outdoors. However there is another side to Summer the one we all dread, Fire Season.

This beautiful ancient land of ours shows no mercy in Summer, it's hot, it's dry and it's ready to burn. Most days my Facebook feed is full of alerts and updates to fires within the state.
Our news programs showing homes and properties destroyed and worse human and animal lives lost.

This is danger that faces these amazing men and women, who take time away from their families and jobs, and risk their own lives, all without payment.

Photos taken from CFA Facebook Page, Keith Pakenham, CFA photographer. Feb, 2014

Fires can strike any and everywhere, from way out bush, to 20 minutes from the city. The veggie garden I showed a while back is bone dry and dead, with the exception of a few tomato plants and they are watered daily. Our national parks and bushland turn to tinder in these condition and the smallest spark can destroy entire towns. 

On Tuesday, I awoke to the house full of smoke, smelling like a camp fire. I shut all the windows and doors. A couple hours later I notices that the house was getting hazy and the smell much stronger, only to discover fire 2.3 km away. Now "The Mansion" is pretty safe from direct fire but you can never say totally safe. Embers can be blown from up to ten kilometres away. In comparison to the other fires burning at present, it wasn't serious and was able to be contained by the six trucks in attendance pretty quickly but it was scary enough. A reminder to have the fire plan ready and discuss it with the kids.

A few years back members of my family lost everything during fire season, the kids not only had to deal with being homeless and without anything but the clothes on their backs but the death of school friends, those are not the Summer memories you fully recover from. 

So if anyone deserves some love and gratitude this Valentines day it's to all of our CFA guys and gals and in particular to my friends Sally, Dave and Curtis, you guys are amazing. To anyone in the fire affected regions, my thoughts and prayers are with you.

CFA are always grateful for donations, for more information on donating to CFA go to their website here http://www.cfa.vic.gov.au/about/supporting-cfa/

Thanks for reading,

Mel xo

One Dollar DIY iPod Skin

Hey guys,

I've done the iphone cover, the iphone wallet and the ipad covers here and here and today here is the iPod case, this should tell you that I have too many apple product (although if they want to toss me a couple freebies, I'll be gracious in my acceptance)!

CityHooks Review

Hi all,

Late last year I was contacted by a company called Choopie who asked if I would review one of their products CityHooks. When I saw what the product was I immediately said yes.