The first lost tooth

Kasey has lost her first ever tooth today. It has been loose for about 6 - 7 weeks, and her new tooth has even been growing up behind it. I would have been taking her to the dentist next week if it hadn't fallen out by itself, as I was, and still am, a little concerned about how far back the new tooth is coming up. I have been getting her to wiggle it, and I could see this morning it was only just hanging in there, and she pushed it out with her tongue accidentally about 1/2 hour later, much to her surprise. So her tooth is now sitting in a glass beside her bed, waiting for the tooth fairy to come tonight...

I have downloaded an app on to my ipad called "home routines" and it is based on the flylady principles. It has morning and evening routines, as well as the 5 zones, and the focus zones for each week, as well as weekly tasks. As you do each one, you can click on it, and it marks it as done, and fills in one of the points on a star on the home page. As you complete all of the tasks, the whole star is filled in, showing you that you have finished it. I have finished most of my morning routines today, and the afternoon one is much easier. I have done quite a bit of clearing out in the kitchen, as that has been the focus zone for this week.  The pantry is nice and clean, and the clutter drawer was cleaned out by Damian yesterday.  I am noticing that since I have been focusing on this, that everyone else has been more focused on keeping their own rooms tidier, (a small miracle where Toni is concerned) so things are very slowly falling in to place. I will have to watch I don't overdo it though, as I was pretty wrecked by lunch time yesterday. Ok, I'm off to work out what we're having for dinner tonight, so I can complete my morning tasks....

Dark days here in Queensland

Absolute tragedy happening here in Qld at the moment.  From the tragedy of the inland tsnuami going through Toowoomba on Monday, and then wiping out Grantham and the Lockyer valley Monday night and yesterday...just terrible. And the news is only going to get worse as they start to get in to those places and finding people who are missing. It looks like a bomb has gone off in those towns. We were only in the Lockyer Valley on Saturday and I fear where we picked up the puppies from may not even be there now! Local businesses around here were flooded yesterday, including the local shopping centre. The sewing shop where I go had a metre of water through their shop and will be closed indefinitely. We had water up a couple of inches on our verandahs at the peak of the rain and flooding yesterday, and our toilets were backing up, but that was the worst of it, and we didn't have any water come in to our house, so we are so lucky. I have been glued to the tv for the last couple of days watching what has been happening. Brisbane city and Ipswich are copping the worst of it today and in the next couple of days while the rivers rise. So far there are 10 people confirmed dead, and 90 people reported as missing, and they hold grave fears for at least 18 of those...  they are saying it is going to be as bad or worse than the 1974 floods.  We have plenty of food here, as well as a generator if needed, so we are ok to hold up here for quite a while if needed. The rain has eased a lot this morning, with just the occasional shower here and there. I am thinking of all our neighbours throughout Qld at the moment....

(We had some minor flooding here, but nothing too serious...thank goodness..)

Some new chickens to add to our brood....

We went and picked up 3 new light sussex girls on the weekend to add to our brood. I'm looking forward to them growing up and providing us with some more eggs and some chickens. I may possibly get a sussex rooster to keep some purebreeds coming through, will see what happens. This is the girls before they were put up in the pen with the big girls, they have settled in quite well, the big girls aren't harrasing them too much which is good.

The new puppy

Here is the newest addition to our family, a gorgeous little Smithfield Blue Cattle Dog...awwww....isn't he cute....we have named him Diesel..right now he is asleep on the verandah next to Max...tomorrow he will be introduced to the chickens for the first time so he can get used to them before he grows up and wants to eat them!

My shiny sink...step 1...

Ok..so my sink is usually pretty tidy, the dishes are put in the dishwasher throughout the day and the sink is wiped down regularly. However, in my quest to become a more organised person, I am going to try the flylady way..(.again...)  Step 1 is to shine my sink...this step apparently leads on to other areas of my life and the house...so yesterday I shined the sink by filling each side with very hot water and bleach, leaving for an hour, and rinsing out, and then I cleaned the splashback with sugar soap, and gave it a nice wipe over, and then polished the sink. I also soaked the dishcloth in the bleach to get rid of any germs in it while the sink was soaking. I replaced the hand wash, and put it in a nice new ceramic dispenser that was sitting in the ensuite not being used, and moved the plug, dishrack and detergent underneath the sink. Now how long the dishrack and detergent stay under the sink for, will have to wait and see, as life needs to be practical as well, and if it is a pain taking them out and setting them up, then I will leave them on the sink...but I will try and make it all work.  Sooo..presenting my nice shiny sink....tahdah!!

To fit my dishrack in the cupboard underneath my sink, I needed to clean out this cupboard (So, there you go, already leading on to the next step)  I threw out a bag full of junk, and relocated a few things that didn't belong there.

So, I have achieved step 1, and I feel like I have gotten somewhere constructive, and I have got some decluttering done at the same time.

The firm favourite....and this weather!!

Out of all of the gifts Kasey received for Xmas, there are a couple of firm favourites....the green machine, a set of walkie talkies, and the swimming pool toys. This was the theme I was going with this year, activities and toys that gets Kasey outside, and can be used over and over again. So even though the weather hasn't been very favourable, she has been riding her machine around (and around and around) the verandahs, and been having great fun with the walkie talkies....she also received lots of crafty and scrapbooking things, and this has been getting lots of use also, and I have received lots of pictures and cards in the last couple of weeks from her new stash. She has also been getting lots of wear out of a couple of new items of clothing and some new togs.

I still ended up with sooo many things to try and incorporate in to Kasey's room, which is pretty normal with Christmas and kids...and I can't really go through and take out the things she no longer uses while she is on school holidays as she brings things back in as fast as I take them out!!  Kasey is a major hoarder....so her room will get sorted when she goes back to school, everything is tidy and put away for now...which is the main thing.   We have been having really heavy rain here again this morning, it was so dark when  I got up at 6, I could have easily rolled over and stayed snuggled under the blankets, but I have a courier coming this morning, so had to get up..typical though, last week when I didn't know they were coming they were here just after 7.30 and woke me up and got me out of bed, today when I got up early so I would be ready, they haven't turned up!! 

Everything is so wet again now, I think the grass is going to be a couple of feet tall by the time things dry out enough to get the mowing done....however, I don't mind....we have nothing to worry about here other than some long grass and having to wear gumboots in the yard, much better than having to wear gumboots in the house like our poor neighbours up north who are flooded are having to do. I look at pictures on the news where you can only see the roof of some houses....that would just be devastating, and the clean up would be horrendous, and some people are still waiting for the floods to hit, but at least they have had time to prepare and move their valuable posessions and their livestock, unlike the people up north. Mother Nature is sure reminding us right now that we are mere mortals, and she has complete control of things, and that we had better not forget it!

More water backed up after more heavy downpours today...

Fresh produce prices are going to hit the roof in the coming months, and things have been so wet in the gardens, that most of my produce has died so I basically have to start again, but it has been too wet to plant anything right now, as things are getting too wet and rotting and dying..I have stocked up on a few frozen vegies, and with bananas apparently going to hit record high prices, we will be sticking with the basic fruits for the next few months...my banana tree hasn't fruited yet...hopefully it isn't too far off now..

Our day at the zoo......

We ended up having nice enough weather to go to the zoo today.  It was looking very "iffy" this morning, but Kasey was really looking forward to going, so we risked it and it ended up being a good day. 

This peacock put on a lovely display for us when we got there...he waited until I took the photo, and then retracted his feathers....very thoughtful...thankyou Mr Peacock!

Toni...you are always so bright and bubbly, and we love that about you....

 I patted the Alpacas...this one spat on my hand....eeewwww...it stank...their spit smells like it comes from the other end, not out of their mouth....

Kasey was mesmerised by the baby chickens 

Toni "drinking" from the fountain...a trick of the eye... 

Patting the wallabies

And feeding the deer's

 Awww...cuddling a koala...

 This cow was hilarious, it was chasing everyone around wanting their food, and ended up stealing Kasey's bag of food...bag and all, and promptly swallowed it before anyone knew anything about it....lucky it's a paper bag....!!!

Kasey and Hannah feeding and patting the kangaroos

We invited one of Kasey's oldest friend's along as well, they have been friends since toddlers at daycare. We came back here for a swim after the zoo as it was quite hot, and Hannah didn't end up going home until about 8.30 tonight, so they should both sleep well tonight, come to think of...so should I !!!