A birthday and a storm

I can't believe how time flies. William was three on Sunday. Amazing. Gone is the 'toddler' label he is officially a little boy! I wanted his birthday to be a special one as this was the first one that he really understood that it was his birthday and that it was all about him. He wanted a chocolate cake (like Nigella made), but didn't want a party, just some friends to play at the park with him. He said who he wanted to come, he didn't want party food, just cake (like Nigella made). He said he had a great day, and he still talks about it almost a week later!

Then there was THE STORM! it hit at 4.20am and lasted all of 10minutes, but boy it made a mess. It was like a mini cyclone or tornado. I remember the reports from the Queensland Cyclone about the noise, just the awful noise. Well, I heard it at 4.20am Tuesday morning.
The power went out before it hit and stayed out till 9pm that night. We had fences blown over. The posts were snapped at ground level. Fortunately the horses stayed in their paddocks. The road to our farm was like a battle field. There were trees down along the whole 3km. Everyone is slowly cleaning up.

Some people who have lived in the area their whole lives have said they have never seen anything like it. Amazing

Just another update

I mentioned here that my Janome Horizon was giving me electric shocks and had electricity leaking out throught the metal parts. Well after taking it back to the dealer I got it from (with them unable to explain it), a letter from an electritian saying it was unsafe to use, speaking to the WA Janome head salesman (Brian) at the Quilt fair in Perth and then getting it shipped to Melbourne headquarters, they are still looking at it but it has been recalled back to Tokyo and I'm getting a new one.
It will be here tomorrow and hopefully when I use this one I wont keep getting zapped!
I know alot of people have been having various problems with the model and have not been getting any help form Janome. Some have even told that it is the operator not the machine as they aren't professionally trained sewers. How many of us are professionally trained sewers? Probably not that many I'd say (I know I most definately am not!) Many have asked for their money back and have sworn off Janome for life now. I am going to give them a second chance but I think that I might mention the treatment of others to Brian when he comes tomorrow. See what he has to say about it.
Here's hoping I just had a dud and that it isn't every machine that is dodgy.

Five months

I can't believe Samuel is five months old today. To celebrate he started solids. A month early I know but he is sooo hungry even after lots of breastfeeds and he is sooo big that I gave in today.


And judging by the way he was hanging on to the spoon, he was ready. After I gave him the first little bit I put the spoon down to wait and see what his reaction was. He screamed! It was like "Hey! Pick up that spoon and give me more!" He had his mouth wide open ready for more! He is so cute, with the best smile. He is as tickelish as his dad and so laid back and quiet. He is just the sweetest little boy ever.

Oh and here is a little thing I made. William is only the model (under sufferance I might add)


It is another of Toni's fantastic patterns. Again it had simple instructions and came together easily. I made this one for William's little friend Harry who turned 3 on Sunday.
It's Williams turn this Sunday.

Back on Deck

Well, we are back from our little overnight stay in Albany. It was really fun, but a long drive. We tried to break it up with stops here and there but it was still a long time in the car. Never mind, William had a great time, declaring before we had even left on Wednesday morning that he loved going to Albany!

See the whale?

We are off to Albany

We are heading to Albany this morning and staying the night. It is a five hour drive, that's NOT including toilet stops and stops for kids! Hopefully I will have lots of photos and stories to tell when we get back, and I'm hoping someone breaks in and steals the toy chainsaw Ben fixed last night...It's driving me insane!

Oh, I almost forgot. We cooked our first pizzas in the woodfired oven. They were fantastic. Photos of those when I get back too!

Updates

Remember some of my photos of William had been taken and used on a hideous 'boy love' website? Well, apart from contacting the webmaster, I also alerted the ACMA (Australian Communitcations and Media Aurthority). They reviewed the content of the website and found that it contained prohibited content. Unfortunately it was a site hosted outside of Australia so they were unable to shut it down, BUT the did refer it to the Internet Industry Assoc. who control the world of internet and asked for it to be delt with.
An interesting thing was that a day after me contacting the webmaster of the site my photos were gone and two days after that the webmaster emailed me and said they couldnt find what I was talking about! Ha!
Anyway, the good news is that it was taken seriously and something was done about it.

Now, onto fun updates...

It's days away from being used! Tomorrow we can light a little fire in there and that will start the rest of the curing process. Three days of little fire, then we cook!
I'd really like to tile around the oven - the top of the 'bench' and mosaic the dome. There is one in town at the community garden I really like. I think it will look great and I'm jumping up and down clapping my hands in joyful excitement at the prospect of cooking in there before the week is out!

Posting of a different kind!

These fence posts arrived yesterday. They are to be used for making some more pig pens, a 'friendly' goat paddock, and another pony paddock. As well as try and keep the kangaroos out of the farm (don't think we'll have much luck with that!).

It is pretty exciting when a giant truck drives in your driveway through the middle of your property loaded with posts! Well, it is according to William!