Yard update: Easter makeover

So over the Easter break, we spent a lot of time in the yard. Last week we completed the landscaping of the Western side of our house, complete with stepper stones and pebbles in the same vein that we did the other side (so it's matchy-matchy). This means much less maintenence and a better looking side yard.

Before shot: mud and grass  

After shot: We used charcoal stepper stones and a pebble mix called 'Fruit Salad'

Very happy with the finished result

So at Easter, it was time to tackle the front yard. We decided that we would fill the front trough with larger pebbles so that it would eliminate weeds or any growth around the front of the house, keeping it much neater (and much less hassle work-wise to look after).

We used a medium river rock called Autumn Gold, which has golds, cream, charcoal and brown shades. These pics were taken just after the rocks were hosed down, so they look a bit darker than they really are.

After that job was complete, we set to work designing our front garden. We started by cutting out the existing turf and making a shape for the garden bed. Then after much shovelling and lifting we dumped (a lot) of soil into the bed and planted our beautiful Little Gem Magnolia which sits in front of our master bedroom window.

Next weekend we will get another delivery of soil so we can put more plants and grasses in. We'll be using stones and larger rocks in this front garden as features as well... next time I think I'll employ the use of gardening gloves, as I still have quite a lot of dirt under my fingernails - not pretty.

Industry chic

With Easter days away, I've been thinking about plans and what we're going to do with our bit of extra time off work. I've come to the conclusion that I am going to spend the whole four days dedicated to our home and garden.

Now that we've pretty much nutted out a scheme for the house (industrial with hints of natural material) I have been googling colour schemes for feature walls, as well as decorator accents, lighting and furniture.

There will be a few trips to Bunnings, I dare say, but I am looking forward to devoting my Easter break to beautifying our abode.

Below is some inspiration I've taken from my online searches. Let's hope 'industry-chic' can be pulled off!  



Dulux's Re-Set colour template

If truth is beauty, how come no one gets their hair done in a library?

I'm going back blonde bitches. I have been feeling a bit dull with my more natural hair colour and want to brighten up a bit... I feel like I'm not really myself without my golden locks.

Don't tell a man how to do a man's job

I heard a pretty disturbing thing over the weekend that takes the term ‘control freak’ to the next level, in my opinion.

No one likes doing chores, be it vacuuming, dusting, washing up, hanging clothes on the line, weeding or mowing the lawn. Well, no one I know particularly likes housework anyway. So no one wants to be told that they’ve done a crappy job of it.

So when I hear that my very hard-working neighbour is copping an earful from his very controlling, bossy, particular wife about how he cuts their lawn, I was a bit gob-smacked.

The way I see it is that guys generally do a better job outside than women in the mowing, pruning, clearing of gutters department (this is purely in my experience to be clear!) so I am more than happy to let my husband do those jobs and I am thankful that he does such a good job, even though I know he finds it an annoying task at times. 

I know that lots of women mow their lawn, but I am a girly girl and I have always thought that the yard is the man's domain. So this blog is written in that vein.

For a man to be ridiculed by his wife about his outdoor masterpiece is a bit surprising to me. I just had to explore this slightly bazaar incident.

Let me paint a picture for you.

On Sunday my husband had just finished mowing the front lawn when our friendly neighbour (let’s call him Jim for privacy purposes) came over to see if he could borrow the mower as his wasn’t working properly.

It wasn’t a problem at all, but he told Ben that he would have to set the blades to a particular height as to achieve the desired length of grass that his wife requested. He then went on to say that it was ‘written in blood’ that he would not cut their lawn too short nor too long (this was after he had an apparent mowing incident where he didn’t please her) or he would suffer the consequences.

Not too long, not too short - it MUST be just right!

So this man, who slaves away in his yard every weekend, plays with his kids, walks the dog and runs a successful business basically is on the tightest leash ever. He may not enjoy doing chores around the house, but I’d guess that if he didn’t do them, and do them damn well, that he would probably be subjected to 50 lashes and sent to bed without dinner.

I have often seen them walking around the perimeter of their home talking about things and seeing her pointing things out to him – now I think she’s saying things like (*cue condescending tone) “Gee you didn’t really scrub hard enough there, did you love?” or “See those flowers you planted – one isn’t growing at the precise growth rate I’d like it to and it’s falling behind the others. Rip it out.”

For a woman who is a full-time, stay at home mother to two small daughters, you’d think she’d have enough to worry about in her day. Obviously not.

So next time, I’ll be paying Jim the ultimate complement by telling him how fantastic his lawn is (which it is - it's immaculate!). If he can’t get any lovin’ from his wife, he should at least get some from his lawn.

Bogus bellies create body image debate

A pregnant model (L) and a non-pregnant model with a prosthetic belly (R)

This week I heard a story about how some fashion houses are using non-pregnant women to model their maternity ware.

This means that fit, non-preggers women with not a hint of baby belly are donning prosthetic ones to give the illusion that they are expecting.

Mothers have hit back suggesting that these models offer unrealistic images for women to compare themselves with. Well, duh! Of course it’s unrealistic, because the model isn’t actually pregnant!

Under the media code of conduct for body image, fashion houses and advertisers don’t have to disclose whether or not a model is wearing a false pregnant belly, but they are required not to display unrealistic images.

Melbourne-based Soon Maternity features a slim, 26-year-old non-pregnant woman, as the face of its autumn/winter range.

A spokeswoman for Soon Maternity said the company preferred to use pregnant models, but they were not always around on the time and day it needed them. To me, this makes perfect sense and as a woman interested in starting a family soon, it doesn’t bother me whether or not a model really is pregnant or not – they are simply trying to show how a garment could look on a pregnant figure.

Let’s face it – every woman is different and carries herself differently from other pregnant women during pregnancy – some have a tiny bump that is invisible from behind and others blow up all over.

Sales and marketing manager for maternity brand Pea in a Pod, Nicky Birkill said she tried to use pregnant models wherever possible, but used non-pregnant women every couple of years. I am aware of a local maternity ware website that uses a model that is obviously non pregnant because she is eternally 6 months gone in the photos used on the site, getting no bigger from month to month.

Some fashion houses have spoken out saying that they only use pregnant models because the prosthetic bellies look awkward and don’t allow for the designer clothing to fit right.

A maternity spread as featured on themercury.com.au - do you think this model is pregnant? She is! 36 weeks to be exact!

Modelling agencies are now getting in on the act saying that they have plenty of pregnant women on their books and are peeved that non-pregnant models are being hired instead of the real deal.

Again, every pregnant body looks different – why can’t a woman retain an immaculate figure while she’s up the duff save a bump at the front? Again, my point is that each body is different. 

Parent Wellbeing founder and psychologist Jodie Benveniste has been quoted in the media stating that non-pregnant women would not necessarily represent the pregnant body and all the changes it went through during pregnancy, but don’t people looking at an ad get that? They understand that it is merely a representation of a pregnant body?

I myself don’t see what all the hoo-ha is but would love reader’s thoughts regarding the topic (especially if you’re pregnant). Do you have a massive issue with this?

Personality +

"Split Personality" by Steven Wilson

Over the weekend I read a really interesting column by Q Weekend senior feature writer Fances Whiting on the multiple personalities of her husband titled “How many men do you live with?”

She had names for each of his personas – the ‘hoverer’, the‘re-packer’, the ‘accuser’ and so on depending on her husband’s actions and how he reacts to certain situations.

This got me to thinking about my personalities – it’s easy to pick out those in others and be, you know, a bit critical, but I think sussing out your own personalities will help you to control them when they start showing signs of developing a mind of their own...

So here it goes…

THE STRESSER/MISS NEGATIVE

What I would probably call my most dominant personality, this girl always finds things to stress about. She is a very frustrating person to have around because she’s often on edge and snappy, which annoys her husband and people she works with. Even though she is aware that she is stressing, she finds it difficult to calm down often getting herself into anxious fits of destruction. She tends to dwell on the negative.

THE HEALTH GURU

This side of my personality likes to lecture people about being super healthy and maintaining a good level of fitness. She is interesting in holistic and organic cooking, nutrition and different forms of exercise and meditation, but at times, fails to practice what she preaches, occasionally stuffing her face with chips, chocolate or cheese (this often happens when her enemy the Stresser comes along). She likes to take loads of supplements and vitamins and this makes her feel glowing and full of health.

THE POSITIVE ONE

Paying almost daily visits, this girl helps bring confidence and clarity to things I really want in life. She focuses only on the positives and eliminates negative vibes, only looking forward to things that will bring happiness and light to potentially bad situations. She is the one who grasps on to dreams and things I want to achieve and with her optimism, helps to make dreams into reality.

THE WEEPY ONE

Unfortunately, there is a side of me that can pretty much cry on cue… and mean it. She is a cry baby who hates fighting and disagreements, will shed tears over sad stories on the news, beautiful stories about children or people who have fought through illness. She will get upset over seeing road kill, or stories she has heard about animal cruelty… She often cries over mistakes and things that have happened in the past and on the flip side, will cry happy tears over milestones (birthdays, anniversaries, achievements etc). She often needs to be reassured and can be highly sensitive.

MISS COMPETITIVE

She basically just wants to be better than everyone at everything.

Those are just a few – I am made up of several more (some I'd prefer to keep behind closed doors, such as a particular girl that comes out only in the bedroom for my husband) but I’d say those are the more dominant ones.

I’d say we should all go through this exercise of acknowledging our own multiple personalities before we start criticising those of others. Hey, it might just be the reality check you need.

To read Ms Whiting’s column in full go here:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/ipad/how-many-men-do-you-live-with/story-fn6ck8la-1226302514141

Happy Birthday, Prince Charles

Well today, I am very happy to say, that it is my dog’s fourth birthday today.

It seems like just yesterday that we saw an ad in the Trading Post for Cocker Spaniel puppies bred in the Gold Coast hinterland and decided we wanted to ad to our little family.

Like every other proud parent, I am intending on spoiling my little one rotten. Pig’s ears, new toys, an extra-long walk this afternoon… the works.

Some people blog and gush over their babies, well I write about Charlie.

I will say that this dog is more like a human than most kids his age are. He so much personality that he has a range of different barks so we know when he is scared or angry. He spends 90% of his time inside with us (just how he likes it) and thinks that being put out in the yard is a death sentence.

At 10 weeks old - Charlie was in a GC Bulletin pet feature

He sleeps inside and gets fed breakfast and dinner and has a play routine that works in well with our daily schedules. He asks to go outside and is very accommodating and puts on his best behaviour when we have visitors.

Yes we might sound crazy, but we really believe that this animal is giving us great training for when we have kids.

I am not the only one who dotes over their dog – my old Year 10 science teacher had two German Shepherds that slept in her bed with her… not sure how her husband felt about it, but I think he must have loved it as much as she did. They never wanted children (human children that is) – all they needed was their dogs and they loved them unconditionally.

We would do anything for Charlie, he’s one of the family. Our parents have treated their dogs with the same love and affection and they all lived to ripe old ages, happy til the last wag.

So thanks for indulging me in this little post dedicated to my favourite little hound – Charlie your bark may be loud and your business does stink, but we will forever love you and your crazy ways! 

March 12, 2012