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Peaches & Maple

Peaches & Maple: April 2013

Tuesday 30 April 2013

Feathering my nest elsewhere today

Morning!
I'm moonlighting (sunlighting?) over at Kim's place today. 
Pop over and say hi!
peaches and maple guestpost2 006

Sunday 28 April 2013

Mundane Monday

It's got to be a downhill run from here. It just has to be. 
Let me explain.....
You see, I have this little puppy named Chloe, she is small and very naughty.
This morning, I was up bright and early, had the kids organised and ready to roll. The washing was on, dishwasher unpacked, beds made. I even had the panic attack that was bubbling away dangerously close to the surface over the fact that I have three assignments due by the end of this week, very firmly suppressed. 
Then Chloe happened.
Chloe is a border collie who loves nothing more than to chase moving objects. She particularly enjoys wheels. Normally I can go out to the carport, open the door, tell her to stay and she does. But this morning, just as I told her to stay, our neighbour and her small daughter came riding down the street on their way to school.
And Chloe chased them. For. Three. Effing. Blocks.
And so did I.
And the kids.
I'm surprised no-one stopped us to ask where the freaking Gingerbread Man was.
Finally I gave up, went home and got the car, drove slowly down the road looking for our imbecilic puppy, found her, still racing along beside our neighbours and wrestled her into the car, where she promptly settled her self across my lap and proceeded to drool all over my new top.
Butter wouldn't melt....
So now you know why my week is going to be easy, breezy from here on in. It just has to be!

How did you start your week?
Cas x


Tuesday 23 April 2013

11 things you never knew you wanted to know about me

The other day I received a lovely shout out from Natalie from In the Night Sky when she passed on a Liebster Award to me. 
According to the rules I am supposed to answer these 11 questions that Natalie has asked me and then tell you 11 random things you never knew you wanted to know about me. So here goes:

1. Do you have any pets?
Why yes I do. Due to my inability to say no when it comes to the feathered, furred and finned, I practically run a small zoo. We have a budgie named Lavender, a cat named Greebo, two fighting fish named Peanut and Iggy, four guinea pigs named Cookie, Nibbler, Popcorn and Caramel Cake Face, and two dogs - a black lab named Jackson and a border collie named Chloe. 

 2. What is your favourite beverage, alcoholic or non-alcoholic?
I like a sauv blanc or three with lots of ice.

3. What is your dream career or job?
Ahhh....well, that's the question isn't it? Something creative where I get to be my own boss. 

4. How would you describe your style (in décor or fashion)?
Decor - casual and relaxed with lots of white, country neutrals and coastal blues and greens
Fashion - Ditto


5. Do you have a guilty pleasure & what is it?
A few...mostly involving sugar, carbs and alcohol


6. What is your favourite annual holiday? Easter, Christmas, etc? 
My birthday should be an annual holiday, but since it's not, Christmas is a lot of fun. 


7. Is this your first time writing for the public?
Pretty much.


8. How do you manage your 'blogging' time in your day to day life? 
I blog when the mood takes me, which is usually two or three times a week.

9. What has been the biggest surprise you have found with blogging? 
The fantastic people I've met and friendships I've formed.


10. Does your family support your blogging habit or do you live in fear of an intervention? 
Yeah they're pretty cool about it. My Instagram habit on the other hand.....

11. Have you developed any rules or have advice yet, to share with bloggers?
I have learnt a lot about blogging over the past two years, but I think the most important thing to remember is to write from the heart - I know that's a major cliche, but if you don't feel something when you write, then your readers won't feel anything when they read.

And now for the 11 things you never wanted to know about me:

  1. I am a die-hard science-fiction and fantasy nerd 
  2. I'm really socially awkward and shy
  3. My dream is to eventually live in a big, old Queenslander 
  4. I firmly believe that laughter is the best medicine
  5. I am moved to tears a lot...when I'm happy, sad, scared, angry, proud...it can be a bit embarrassing!
  6. I rarely watch the news and current affairs programs make me cringe
  7. I've had a recurring nightmare about a plane crashing for as long as I can remember
  8. I've got a really weak tummy
  9. I've always loved headwear. When I was a kid I would get around with all sorts of stuff on my head - my undies, washing basket lids, mums doilies. These days I'm happy with fedoras, berets and bandanas ;))
  10. My head is full of interesting, but essentially useless bits of trivia. Seriously, I have been asked the question "Why do you know that?" on more than one occasion
  11. I can fall asleep pretty much anywhere. Like a freaking cat ;)
Okay? You are feeling so enlightened right now, aren't you? 
Moving right along. 
The next step in the Liebster process is to pass the award on to 11 other bloggers with less than 300 hundred followers and ask them 11 questions. I'm not going to bother about the followers bit though because I think there is too much emphasis placed on that in this blogging gig and I'm too lazy to ask new questions so the 11 I answered will do nicely methinks ;) Here are a few blogs, written by awesome ladies, that I read regularly:


Okily dokily, that's it from me and I'll catch you all next time!
Cas x

Sunday 21 April 2013

The bedroom makeover

When we saw this house for the first time, our bedroom certainly didn't look as bright and airy as it does now. It was rather dark and brown...which I suppose fit in rather nicely with the rest of the house (you can see before and after pics of other rooms here and here)
 This was what it looked like before.
For the most part I don't think you can go wrong with lots of white and neutrals in the bedroom all year round. I find white to be very calming and relaxing, so sometimes our bedroom is the perfect sanctuary for me to escape to when some of the other occupants of this household are driving me bonkers ;)
So, the first thing we did was paint all the walls and trims white. Aside from that the only changes we made were putting in new curtains and pulling up the carpet - which still hasn't been replaced, but I would rather live on concrete floors than that cack-green mess that was on the floor before!
 And of course all white bedding and tonnes of pillows are a must too :)
 So what do you think? Better now? Could you get a good night sleep in here? 
Have a great week peeps!
Cas x
p.s. Husband says thanks for all of your nice comments on his terrarium. I'm very pleased with his first attempt at upcycling too ;)

Thursday 18 April 2013

Guest post from Husband - A glass bowl with some plants in it


This is a tera terrarai, something that my darling wife wanted...basically it is a glass bowl with some plants in it. While I have been guilty of not always listening to the things that my wife wants in the past - hey, it's a pretty big list! - sometimes it can be hard to resist her. Picture this:

A little bit loud and opinionated,
very cute,
 wide-eyed and squeaky-voiced
"But I really need one!"




Anyway, it's a good thing that I listen sometimes because recently it was our anniversary and I am pretty dense when it comes to buying gifts. So I listened and heard the word "terrerarium" mentioned quite a bit.

Being the sensitive, understanding man that I am, I pretended I knew exactly what she was on about, went into the other room and Googled it.  A terrarium is a glass bowl with some plants in it.  
This I can do.

This is my thought process:

A Glass bowl with plants in it... Hmmm, I believe a glass bowl recently became available.
Now I just need, rocks, charcoal, dirt and some plants.
I've got rocks on the back driveway, charcoal in the fireplace (shit, I really should have cleaned that out at the end of last winter. Glad I didn't).
What else do I need? Dirt. Well there's plenty of potting mix in the shed.
This is good, I hope she doesn't change her mind by the time it's done.



This is how I made it:
  1. Put the rocks in the bottom of the bowl to create an artificial drainage system
  2. Put a thin layer of charcoal over the top of the rocks to stop mould
  3. Place the potting mix in the bowl over the top of the charcoal and rocks
  4. Realise that you forgot about plants
  5. Go and buy plants - succulents work best I'm told
  6. Plant the plants into the potting mix
  7. Decorate the excess potting mix around the plants (I stole some of the shells from one of Cassie's numerous bowls around the house)
  8. Present gift to wife 
  9. Hope like hell she overlooks one very minor point


that I used a stinky old fish bowl to make it!



Thanks for reading!




Tuesday 16 April 2013

I love lamp...and getting presents!

Last week was a bit crazy because we celebrated two birthdays (one being mine) and my husband and I's anniversary (11 years!), obviously I enjoy that particular week in April because I get presents. And I unashamedly adore getting presents - who doesn't?!  
Anyway, among other things I got this lamp.
Isn't she lovely?
Is it weird that I was really stoked to get a lamp for my birthday?
My family know they can't go wrong with homewares I guess ;)
I enjoy a good read before I go to sleep most nights so she's absolutely perfect for my bedside table and I love her slightly industrial look. 
I also go a floor lamp which makes me feel a bit grown up and serious for some odd reason. You can see a pic of it here.

Okay pets I'm off, things to do, people to see and all that. 
What sort of things do you like getting for your B-day? 
Cas x
p.s. if you love lamp too you can grab them at Target :)


Sunday 14 April 2013

Reset day ramblings

 Today the kids went back to school, after three weeks holiday, for the beginning of term two at their new school. After I dropped them off I found to my great astonishment that I was a little bit teary. Being a mum is a funny old thing, I swear, I thought I was chomping at the bit to get them back to school and get myself some peace and quiet for six whole hours! 
Or maybe I'm just PMSing. Whatever. 
But I find the best medicine for me when I'm having a bit of a sad is to get myself to ye olde coffee shop, get a shot of caffeine into me, come home and zhoosh the hell out of the place....which, it occurs to me, might be considered by some people to be a bit sad in itself, but again, whatever.
My best zhooshing often occurs on reset day, which for those of you who don't already know, is the day that I get all the cleaning and washing done and the house looks the way that it should, you know, like I've pressed a big reset button on it all. I usually have an extra large reset day after school holidays, so that's what I've been up to today. Resetting and zhooshing...and taking photos to remember it by ;)).
Cas x  






Tuesday 9 April 2013

Leaf theif


The best thing about needing to lose weight is the wonderful people you meet while you're out walking. Some of you who follow me on Facebook may already know that my beloved philodendron xanadu, Phil, has been feeling a bit under the weather lately so he's been relocated outside for the moment for a bit of plant R & R - which roughly translates to a good drying out from being overwatered to within an inch of his poor little life. Hey, I never said I was a gardener! 

Phil's removal has left a bit of a hole on my front entry table and whilst I was out for my morning stroll the other day I came across a giant split leaf philodendron in one of my neighbours front gardens and I thought "oh my, my, how a couple of those huge leaves would fill Phil's hole perfectly!" As the fates would have it my lovely neighbour, a kindly elderly gentleman, was doing a spot of gardening at the time and noticed me loitering about and we got chatting. He turned out to be quite the green thumb and I told him about Phil and he gave me some great advice. Naturally I also mentioned the gap Phil had left and how great a couple of his split leaves would look there instead, hint hint, and he very generously obliged ;) And I also got to enjoy the added bonus of embarrassing my kids by a) asking a complete stranger if I could pinch some if his leaves and b) carrying around said leaves for the rest of our walk....all in all I'd say that's a pretty productive exercise session, wouldn't you?
Cas x

Thursday 4 April 2013

Too much tongue?

 It's so great to be home after a week's holiday and then Easter weekend spent at my parents place. With the kids on school holidays and the weather cooling down there's been lots of late starts and lounging around the house. We did however manage to get some sansevieria (mother in laws tongue) and agave that I got from my mum and dads planted into our potted garden. 
 It's all starting to come together nicely and I bought so much sansevieria home that I've brought some inside too, but I have to spray paint their pots before I show you because the ones they are in are way ugly ;)
 Hope every one has a lovely weekend!

Cas x