she is not invisible

So...she is not invisible...nor will she ever be...
I made this using the wonderful mixed media sets I won last week ...the faber castell ones...check out the sets a few posts back......
This has a lot of meaning for me. Both in my past and now...when I was a kid I was one if those kids that just stood in the background of life...never in trouble..never doing anything amazing...just quietly existing with my pencil and notebook in hand...I secretly wanted to noticed...but..oh well...doing plenty of that now ..lol....

until next time signing off from my phone
Lots of it
Mandy
Xxx

"Go get a snack from the backyard!"

I love to be able to say this to my kids when they get the munchies...

we don't have a huge block of land...large for our suburb though!!!lol...it's 631 m2..our house isn't huge but big enough so it takes up a bit of the land and we also have a small inground pool...having said that I always wanted to have a productive garden, one where we could grow food as well as being easy to look after and also a little pretty...I do need some more white flowers that I can put into vases..I love my federation daisies!!!! but they don't grow all the time!!!I also have had random vege patches...with not an overly amount of success...but thats coming very soon to our backyard!

But the best thing about my garden is that we are finally starting to get some good food from it...I can now say...go pick a piece of fruit from the yard...

Yeah...it might be a mandarin at the moment..

.lucky for me we all like mandarins...lol...I have a lemon tree where I have been making the most delish lemon butter,

 or lemon curd and on the weekend I made some lemon cordial...let me tell you if you like tangy this one is for you...we all love it...

got the recipe from a self sufficient life

I suggest you give it a try if you have lots of lemons dropping off your tree!!!

and we jhave an orange tree which I plan to make orange marmalade when they are ready...made some last year and it was very yummo...

We have many more trees and vines in our small block...a lime tree, cherrry , passionfruit, red delicious apple, granny smith apple, peach, and olives...the last 6 still yet to give full on fruit, but this should happen within the next 2 seasons....it is so rewardinmg growing your own fruit...would love to hear if anyone else does it...and any suggestions for me on any other I can plant...

until next time
lots of it
Mandy
xxx

Better late than never.....

Hi there...I did a big post on Cam's 18th birthday at the beginning of this month, and in the hecticness of May I have been slack and not put in one for Jess, who turned 21 Jacob who turned 10 and Maddie who turned 10...all on the 4th of May...we had a bit of a family and a few friends get together, around 50, at my place that weekend...lots of fun was had and yummy food was eaten...I made little banners for the kids cakes...and they were delicious chocolate mud cakes I whipped up...so delish...as you can see our family, well it was my family..lol...are quite huggy!!!In my family, we have now the grand total os 36 peeps....we all live close by and are a very close family...Esther, this post is prompted by you as you said you liked my little banners so I thought I'd show you the ones on the cakes...hee hee hee...

until next time

lots of it

Mandy

xxx

people make this a home

Just a quick post via my phone....photo isn't great as its night time here...just a little experiment really..had fun drawing this little house using black pigment pen and water colour pencils...I think I will frame it and put it in my/ new lounge room when its done..
until next time
Lots of it
Mandy
Xxx

SUPERHERO....NOT...

I wish I was a super hero...then life wouldn't be so tricky...I'd have enough energy and time to get all the things in my house done that I need to and still be able to have loads of time up my sleeve, and do it all with ease....
Sadly, I am not....

The reason for my long absence is that Jacob has been sick again...he still is, which means I get little sleep because I am up as long as I can stay awake every night watching making sure he doesn't stop breathing! I do eventually sleep and then wake up with a start in the moring hoping that I have not missed him having an episode...It's a horrible rollercoaster ride...

On a better note, Jacob and I have found a homeschooling group that he gets together with every thursday..he evn went when he was ill...last friday he went to a huge indoor playgym and they had a fabulous reptile show...he got to pat all manner of reptiles...needlass to say he is so excited he has found these other kids...me too just quietly as he now finally can experience socialisation with people his own age!

My great nephew turns 1 this week and he is having a super hero party...I was busy yesterday morning making some very simple capes for Jacob, Maddie and Connor...took 2 hours all up to make, which I thought wasn't too bad, and only cost 6 dollars per outfit including the masks!!!If you want to know how to make it just email me...happy to help!!!

I also have been reorganising how my house is set up, which has lead me to do spome painting of some ugly dark wood bookshelves I have, and also now I am going to paint...the colour I am more than likely picking is just behind the bookshelf...I have white lounges from Ikea and I am going to do black frames all over the wall...I already have black cushions...

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Do you like the colour?


Ok...well, better go and get organised for the party..I'll leave you with some photos of what I have been up to...

Oh...thanks so much to Misty over at Creative Itch...I won an incredible mixed media set...

Take care and have a wonderful weekend every one.


Until next time
lots of it
Mandy
xxx

happy mother's day

Happy mother's day to all you mamas out there....we had a little party/50 or so here at my place last night to celebrate the kids...x4birthdays......my mummy had a great time..which is lovely for all of her family because her alzheimers is getting worse....she was in tears crying on my shoulder yesterday because she is getting so frustrated..i must say its tough to watch your mama get to that stage..but the scary thing is it's going to get so much worse...alzheimers sucks....we are all getting together again today for mothers day..our family is amazing....so...here's to you my beautifu lmama...thanks for molding us all into the caring girls that we 5 girls are and providing us with the tools to bring up all your 21 grandchildren, each and evry one of them absolutely amazing, ..we are definitely a " the village raises the children" type family...and for that I am truly thankful...
Love you mum...

til next time
lots of it

Mandy

Again with the Happy Birthday...

Yes...I didn't plan it too well...lol...but on the 4th May Jessica, Jacob and Maddie celebrated their birthdays...3 days after Camerons...needless to say its a busy week at our household...this saturday we are having a little party to celebrate the 4 birthdays...Jessica's 21st and Cameron's 18th plus the twins turning double digits...the twins were due in july, but 10 weeks early, so Jessica was pretty upset that the early arrival of the twins put a holt to the slumber party we had planned for hewr 11th birthday!!!!!
It's ten years later...WoW!!!!where did the time go!!!???

Happy birthday to my 3 beautiful babies...you are all amazing and awesome and I am so proud of you all...xxx
until next time
lots of it
Mandy
xxx

seriously...time flies...

So...huge happy birthday to my 2nd child,Cameron..he turned 18 today. Which makes me officially mum to 2 adults now...do you know how weird that feels? It only seems like yesterday that I was holding him in my arms at the hospital...and now...here he is a man...

Until next time
Lots of it
Mandy
Xxx