Maybe baby...

Hello again! 

Just popping in quickly to let you know why the last few months have been quiet around here. It seems the maybe baby we have been talking about for the last hmm, 6 years has decided to bless us with his/her presence! We are all very, very excited and happy but man have I been sick... bleughhhhh. 

I am now over 16 weeks pregnant and it was almost exactly 18 weeks when I remember waking up pregnant with The Munchkin and realising I was well again... so I am counting down the days and hoping it will be the same this time around. There is certainly a benefit with having a 6 year old who can get her own snacks and entertain herself fairly well while Mummy is sick/asleep on the couch! I feel for you poor ladies who have had awful pregnancy sickness, and had to look after young children and/or babies, and still had to go to work too! Wonder women all of you! 

So hopefully in the next few weeks I will be back on board 100% as I am raring to blog again (and get 1000 nesting and sorting jobs done in our home also!) 

Yours, 

Allana xxx

NB: Mr HMH was on some pretty serious steroids for his skin when we conceived. When i researched to make sure they are safe for baby making I discovered that they can be used as an IVF drug! 

All I can picture now is our tiny baby coming out with Popeye muscles, thus the nickname. Oh yeah, and I'm about 99% sure this liitle one is a boy, I knew with The Munchkin too but I guess we'll see! ;)

Hello folks!!

Hi! hmm, so January I blogged and said I was coming back soon but it just didn't happen - oops! 

I am almost ready to get going again, hopefully you guys are still around to visit? 

Big things happening around here, lots to share and a blog refresh (nothing fancy mind) so I'll be back bigger and better than ever really, really soon - I promise! 

huge hugs, 

Allana xxx

Oppie bargains...

Well hello and welcome to High Maintenance Hippy 2013!

 I'm hoping to get it together and post lots of fabulous things this year, regularly, but we'll see shall we?

I haven't really been op shopping much over the last few months. The Munchkin usually says no these days, and I haven't had many outings by myself other than the wild OMG-I-have-1-million-jobs-to-do-and-an-hour-to-do-them pay day "outings", not quite the same.

However, I did convince her that we could have just a quick little look on Wednesday (hehe) and scored big time! All these gorgeous cottons and stands and even a metal crochet hook for $10!! Oh yes! There was no way that was staying behind. There are vintage wooden reels and some colours I didn't have, and I have been putting off going to Spottie and buying the stands. Look how pretty they all are colour sorted! Sigh...

I also found a few other great things I had been after like some vintage small wooden bowls for Waldorf inspired wee person eating, a new dog basket, some books for The Munchkin, a game, a sweet crochet Toshi hat and a replacement vintage thermos for those tea emergencies while cooling in the park with friends... all for $30. Money well spent I say. 

At the moment I am saving the tastes of Summer with some bottling and preserving.... will be back to share soon. 

I hope you are all safe and sound with the awful bushfires and heat waves raging? 

Yours, 

Allana xxx 

Summer holidays...

Sewing, booking, gardening, and ducklings... that's what Summer is made of...

Laying low at the mo... lots of projects and family time going on which is just what we all needed :)

I hope you are all having a wonderful Summer and that you have a safe New Year.

Back soon xxx

A crafternoon, and a weekend outing...

What could be nicer on a freezing cold, windy Summer day than gathering with your daughter and a good friend and her children to craft up a storm! There were wreaths, and baby dolls (Waldorf style) and all kinds of natural wool fibres flying around and I managed to complete a sweet little rabbit from this book too. 

(2 more followed last night after special requests from the other children, they are surprisingly quick to make) 

On the weekend we went to the Ut Si Cafe growers market and met the gorgeous, genuine and generous Tanya -

 (Hi Tanya! It was so nice to meet you, and the chive flowers where scrummy! )

... where we stocked up on delish produce and lush seedlings and plants.

Then we popped in to the Rainbow Garden Steiner Playgroup Market in Launceston and had a gorgeous few hours chatting, and crafting, and singing and even winning one of the raffles of a $25 voucher to a great organic grocer. 

A perfect few days :)

yours, 

Allana xx

Slow...

I have just started a Simplicity Parenting workshop and it has already helped me effect change in our home. 

The Munchkin's room was in desperate need of a declutter (the rest of the house is still in the process!) and on Friday I got into it and sorted it out, storing, throwing and donating a few bags of "stuff"and reducing it down to the basics, and finding floor space on the process. My concepts were loosely based on Waldorf principles, the ideas in Simplicity Parenting and what felt right for us. 

 I still have her wardrobe to do. For now it is shrouded in pink and purple pashminas' which makes it seem visually much more restful. 

It is really quite peaceful in there now, and finally a place to play, relax and dream...  

Today I spotted her listening to an audio version of Jill Tomlinson's "The Hen Who Wouldn't Give Up". Mission accomplished I would say! 

Now on to the "stuff" I dumped in our bedroom while I was sorting the sewing room... 

simply yours, 

Allana 

Elderflower cordial...

Earlier this year I purchased and planted a small Elderflower. I have since recognised that we had a rather large bush/plant in our chicken run and that all around our neighbourhood are various sized plants obviously bird seeded some years ago. I remember noticing the dark berries last year and trying to find out some info via Mr Google but giving up and deeming them toxic... silly me! 

Over the weekend we had a little pick from a tree hanging over my Nan's fence, a little pick from a tree in the block opposite and a little pick from our tree and following Tanya's excellent recipe we made some gorgeous golden, fragrant, lemony Elderflower cordial. We used a little bit that didn't fit in the bottles to make some jelly with one of those black add-your-own-juice packets from the supermarket, and served it with some Meander Valley double cream... soooo decadent and tasty!

If you have access to some flowers I highly recommend stocking your pantry with this delicious treat :)

Yours, 

Allana 

Some lovely recipes here

and some benefits are listed here

Not so blue skies...

Suspected Whooping Cough at our place right now.... not fun.... lots of throwing up and coughing all day and all night.... The Munchkin and I are both worn out....

plus... I dropped my iPhone in the toilet.... yup.... 

yours, 

Allana xxx 

A few things...

Every year I make up a calender about the year with The Munchkin as Christmas presents for the rellies. It is really the only time I sort out our photos, and it is a nice little story book type memory for us too. It is quite amazing how much our children grow in 1 year!

 I am a bit late getting it sorted this year which turned out to be fortuitous as Snap Fish are offering a 2 for 1 deal until the 19th Nov. If you would like to take advantage of this offer the code is on the website (241CALENDAR) We are able to pick our order up from the local Kmart, but you can have them posted also. Their program is really user friendly, we get all our photo's printed with them too.

I am not known for my patience so we have been bandicooting wee potatoes from our compost bin. They were self sown anyway and with a quick cook and a little butter they were sooooo tasty!

I have started doing a bit of baking for a local cafe ...

... where I get to play with their awesome Kitchen Aid, plus have a few hours listening to music and de-stressing by myself. Yay! I feel like I should be paying them!

We also purchased a massive Narnia wardrobe from a friend and moved it into our craft room recently, after a HUGE clean up to make room for it. It required Mr HMH pulling it apart to get it in and I am so pleased he did without too much swearing as it is beautiful and so roomy. In the past I would have painted it, but I love the raw pine and have plans to beeswax polish it soon.

It may not look like it is very organised room but to us it is. The huge 4 sheep sheepskin I picked up from an oppie a while ago, after much airing and rain rinsing it now taking pride of place on the floor. I can't think of anything more luxurious to sit on to read, craft and cut out fabric. 

It is a tiny nook of a room but now that we are getting systems in place it is a gorgeous space to be in. I ditched my desk so we could fit in a bit better and now The Munchkin has her desk under the window, and my sewing space is part of the computer table. It is a lovely arrangement as we can sit side by side while we get crafty.

Hmm, I must cover those chairs or get new ones one day! 

So they are some of the things that have been going on here lately. 

A bit all over the place, but that's fairly typical of my world haha :)

Yours, 

Allana xxx 

The TV monster...

I would love to remove the TV from our home. I don't like the way it sucks my family in and turns them into rude zombies. I don't want to spend valuable family time arguing over how much, when, what...

 Don't get me wrong. There are things I like to watch too and I'm a sucker for Friends or My Family and a few others but I could switch off completely and not feel like I was missing anything.

Lauren spoke here about her family and self regulation, or lack thereof and it really resonated with me. In our home I am the chocoholic who CAN NOT self regulate no matter how much I try, or how sick it makes me feel and obviously Mr HMH and The Munchkin struggle with screen time. The concept of self regulation made so much sense, and somehow demystifies our issues for me and makes them seem more manageable. 

The plasma will not leave, I know that, so all I can do is set rules around it's consumption and monitor content. It's may not be approved of by the  radical unschooling movement, but like Lauren and her family we pave our own path. After all, one of the main reasons we unschool is so we can do what best works for us, not what others say is best for us.

Anyway, I had some gorgeous lino print fabric left that my brother brought me back from the aboriginal community in Maningrida he worked in for awhile, and I thought "slip cover!" So from now on when the TV isn't on, it looks a little bit more like art, and hopefully it will be a mental block against turning it on...

 we'll see if my theory works, but at least it looks nice haha. 

Does the TV impact your life, are you TV free? 

Yours, 

Allana xxx