I came into the house after dropping Mr Pickle at kindy and went straight into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. I didn't even take my boots off because I clean the floors, so I am allowed (when there is no one else to see). I scrubbed them yesterday and they are very shiny.
I got to the corner by the kettle and something went crunch under my foot, I stepped backwards and there was more crunching. Strange, I thought, we didn't drop any crumbs over here this morning.
I looked down and saw a squirm of maggots coming out of the utility room drain, into the kitchen and up the side of the bin! What!?!?!?
Since when do maggots come from somewhere else and migrate to a bin? I have googled this gross phenomenon and have learned that these are drain fly maggots. The fly lays the eggs in the drain slime and then they look for a better food source.
Nasty! Now also very much washed away into the gravel outside.
You learn something new everyday and I will be regularly putting tea tree down the drain to prevent future grossness!
Monday, 28 May 2012
Saturday, 28 April 2012
He touched the Butt
That's for all you Nemo fans out there. Alternatively I was going to call this one My butt overfloweth.
Since we moved into our new house we have not had much success with our downpipes and water butt. This issue has featured heavily in my daily life over the last three months and you might have seen any one of our household, including Mr Pickle, inspecting the butt and various bits of water catching paraphernalia, including complicated tied up plastic shopping bag structures, buckets, tupperware, the list goes on.
I am sure that most of you are wondering why that would be such a big part of my existence. Quick answer, you can't flush the toilet without water butt water!
Our landlords changed the pipe work arrangement trying to get the water tank to fill, to no avail, and I carried on catching water in a paddling pool, etc (see previous list) and tipping it into the massive water tank by hand.
I had reached the point of obsession on the day that I found myself outside in the pouring rain emptying the full paddling pool into the tank so that it could fill again. While doing this, Mr Pickle was happily jumping up and down in the rapidly emptying paddling pool fully clothed!
I have watched the flow of water down the guttering (we have open topped drain pipes to prevent forest fires), during rain storms, over the last few months and decided that we needed to plug up one particular downpipe to encourage a greater flow to the tank filler. This post my have started to sound a bit dull but it is very important that everyone out there has the full picture of quite how obsessed about collecting rain I have become.
Anyway, having plugged the appropriate hole, you can imagine how excited I was to see a veritable flood of water gushing out of the gutter and into the downpipe. You would be forgiven for thinking the story ends there. No! But now I have sucked Jeremy into the obsession.
There was no water coming out of the pipe!
This piece of pipe, that had been resited and rearranged, was still the problem! We ran some tests involving Jeremy standing precariously on three stacked up dining chairs (we have no ladder here), me standing on just one under the pipe and a litre of water so we could measure output. Mum and dad, aren't you glad my scientific education hasn't been wasted!
As it turned out, all we really had to do was take the filter off the end of the pipe and shake out the dirt that had collected in it. On the day of testing it was gloriously sunny, as was the next two weeks. Never have I wanted to see rain more.
The rain arrived yesterday. Mr Pickle and I ran outside in great excitement and did a little victory dance on the patio because we could hear the water gushing into the butt. Mr Pickle had to go and touch the butt to feel the level of the water (it is opaque and you cannot see in). Such is the logic of a four year old.
We rang Jeremy, who is in the outback again, to give the glad tidings and I think he was more excited about tapping the butt to guess the level of water when he gets back than he is about seeing us!
We have had torrential rain for the last 36 hours and the water tank is now full and overflowing. Luckily, there is a fully working overflow system that hasn't seen a drop of water for a very long time.
Jeremy, you will not need to touch the butt when you get back! I have hung up my water obsession hat and have moved back to an old obsession of making friends out of socks.
I think I need to get out more. That could also have been a potential name for this post.
Since we moved into our new house we have not had much success with our downpipes and water butt. This issue has featured heavily in my daily life over the last three months and you might have seen any one of our household, including Mr Pickle, inspecting the butt and various bits of water catching paraphernalia, including complicated tied up plastic shopping bag structures, buckets, tupperware, the list goes on.
I am sure that most of you are wondering why that would be such a big part of my existence. Quick answer, you can't flush the toilet without water butt water!
Our landlords changed the pipe work arrangement trying to get the water tank to fill, to no avail, and I carried on catching water in a paddling pool, etc (see previous list) and tipping it into the massive water tank by hand.
I had reached the point of obsession on the day that I found myself outside in the pouring rain emptying the full paddling pool into the tank so that it could fill again. While doing this, Mr Pickle was happily jumping up and down in the rapidly emptying paddling pool fully clothed!
I have watched the flow of water down the guttering (we have open topped drain pipes to prevent forest fires), during rain storms, over the last few months and decided that we needed to plug up one particular downpipe to encourage a greater flow to the tank filler. This post my have started to sound a bit dull but it is very important that everyone out there has the full picture of quite how obsessed about collecting rain I have become.
Anyway, having plugged the appropriate hole, you can imagine how excited I was to see a veritable flood of water gushing out of the gutter and into the downpipe. You would be forgiven for thinking the story ends there. No! But now I have sucked Jeremy into the obsession.
There was no water coming out of the pipe!
This piece of pipe, that had been resited and rearranged, was still the problem! We ran some tests involving Jeremy standing precariously on three stacked up dining chairs (we have no ladder here), me standing on just one under the pipe and a litre of water so we could measure output. Mum and dad, aren't you glad my scientific education hasn't been wasted!
As it turned out, all we really had to do was take the filter off the end of the pipe and shake out the dirt that had collected in it. On the day of testing it was gloriously sunny, as was the next two weeks. Never have I wanted to see rain more.
The rain arrived yesterday. Mr Pickle and I ran outside in great excitement and did a little victory dance on the patio because we could hear the water gushing into the butt. Mr Pickle had to go and touch the butt to feel the level of the water (it is opaque and you cannot see in). Such is the logic of a four year old.
We rang Jeremy, who is in the outback again, to give the glad tidings and I think he was more excited about tapping the butt to guess the level of water when he gets back than he is about seeing us!
We have had torrential rain for the last 36 hours and the water tank is now full and overflowing. Luckily, there is a fully working overflow system that hasn't seen a drop of water for a very long time.
Jeremy, you will not need to touch the butt when you get back! I have hung up my water obsession hat and have moved back to an old obsession of making friends out of socks.
I think I need to get out more. That could also have been a potential name for this post.
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Ha ya
Mr Pickle and I went along to a karate club yesterday and joined in.
All was going swimmingly, Mr Pickle was being attentive and focused, he was staying put in his row and was following instructions. I was amazed!
Sensei then said the words 'and with ki ai on the reverse punch. Oh dear! One very sad and soggy small boy attached himself to my leg and got himself elbowed in the head for his trouble!
He didn't run away though, he got back into his row and carried on. Each time there was shouting he covered his ears and cried but he kept kicking air like his life depended on it.
We are going back again tomorrow so we shall see how he fares. I have told him that we have to go for two weeks before he can have his own gi, which for him is what it is all about!
I will be wearing my gi tomorrow and am wondering what the others will think of the embroidery on the back.
All was going swimmingly, Mr Pickle was being attentive and focused, he was staying put in his row and was following instructions. I was amazed!
Sensei then said the words 'and with ki ai on the reverse punch. Oh dear! One very sad and soggy small boy attached himself to my leg and got himself elbowed in the head for his trouble!
He didn't run away though, he got back into his row and carried on. Each time there was shouting he covered his ears and cried but he kept kicking air like his life depended on it.
We are going back again tomorrow so we shall see how he fares. I have told him that we have to go for two weeks before he can have his own gi, which for him is what it is all about!
I will be wearing my gi tomorrow and am wondering what the others will think of the embroidery on the back.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Mr Pickle goes to school
Mr Pickle has started Kindy in Brisbane and he loves it!
After months of waiting and with great excitement he joined 22 small people for their first day of school.
After months of waiting and with great excitement he joined 22 small people for their first day of school.
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Possum patrol
We, like most in Brisbane, have a family of possums living around the house. At night they rampage across the tin roof and they sound like a herd of elephants.
In the evenings, Mr Pickle and I (or daddy) go on possum patrol down the road. It is very exciting for a three year old and it gives him a bit of exercise before bed. The last few patrols have not been very successful so we have taken matters into our own hands.
Mr Pickle likes to eat apples and pears and we have started chopping the cores into pieces and saving them in one if my many Tupperware tubs in the fridge. Tonight we placed the fruit leftovers out on the fence and we had a little visitor for our viewing pleasure.
I have pics to share but I can't work out how to suck them off the iPad onto the blog.
In the evenings, Mr Pickle and I (or daddy) go on possum patrol down the road. It is very exciting for a three year old and it gives him a bit of exercise before bed. The last few patrols have not been very successful so we have taken matters into our own hands.
Mr Pickle likes to eat apples and pears and we have started chopping the cores into pieces and saving them in one if my many Tupperware tubs in the fridge. Tonight we placed the fruit leftovers out on the fence and we had a little visitor for our viewing pleasure.
I have pics to share but I can't work out how to suck them off the iPad onto the blog.
Monday, 10 October 2011
The female of the species is more deadly than the male......
I sincerely hope that mum doesn't see this before she boards the plane.
Today Mr Pickle and I decided to play with a box of toys that had previously been put away in the storage area under the house. We pulled the box from under the chair in the lounge and onto the rug. Mr pickle was very excited as he pulled the lid off and started to rummage around.
We both saw the furry body and many eyes looking at us at the same time. At the bottom of the box was the biggest and hairiest spider I have ever been in the same room as. Mr Pickle looked at me expectantly and then reacted to the look of horror on my face. He grabbed his plastic bubble sword from the floor, pushed it into my hands and whilst running away shouted "hit it mummy, with my sword, my sword, hit it". So I did and it continued to stare at me.
I ran into the kitchen for the insect spray and and squirted it at point blank range. This time I swear I could hear an evil laugh echo around the toy box. Mr Pickle is now in the middle of the king size bed shouting "is it dead yet". At this point I am shouting to him to get his grabber and he refused to move from his safe haven.
I ran to his bedroom and was thankful that I knew exactly where the grabber was. Luckily the spider was so brazen by now that it felt it could mince about in the toy box and not try and escape somewhere. I caught it in the nippers of the grabber and it was waggling it's legs around madly. I took it out on the deck and whacked it with the barbecue tongs.
The spider's body was about an inch long from head to tail and four inches from toe to toe. I sent a picture if the splatted beastie to Jeremy and the gang in his office identified it as a huntsman and judging from the size, a female. I may have overeacted slightly as it turns out they are mostly just scary big and bites hurt but aren't deadly!
Today Mr Pickle and I decided to play with a box of toys that had previously been put away in the storage area under the house. We pulled the box from under the chair in the lounge and onto the rug. Mr pickle was very excited as he pulled the lid off and started to rummage around.
We both saw the furry body and many eyes looking at us at the same time. At the bottom of the box was the biggest and hairiest spider I have ever been in the same room as. Mr Pickle looked at me expectantly and then reacted to the look of horror on my face. He grabbed his plastic bubble sword from the floor, pushed it into my hands and whilst running away shouted "hit it mummy, with my sword, my sword, hit it". So I did and it continued to stare at me.
I ran into the kitchen for the insect spray and and squirted it at point blank range. This time I swear I could hear an evil laugh echo around the toy box. Mr Pickle is now in the middle of the king size bed shouting "is it dead yet". At this point I am shouting to him to get his grabber and he refused to move from his safe haven.
I ran to his bedroom and was thankful that I knew exactly where the grabber was. Luckily the spider was so brazen by now that it felt it could mince about in the toy box and not try and escape somewhere. I caught it in the nippers of the grabber and it was waggling it's legs around madly. I took it out on the deck and whacked it with the barbecue tongs.
The spider's body was about an inch long from head to tail and four inches from toe to toe. I sent a picture if the splatted beastie to Jeremy and the gang in his office identified it as a huntsman and judging from the size, a female. I may have overeacted slightly as it turns out they are mostly just scary big and bites hurt but aren't deadly!
Friday, 2 September 2011
Where Are My Shipping Boxes 3 - The Box Room
Having been very concerned about the fact that the ship carrying our cargo from the UK to Australia (according to the tracking pages on the shipping company's website) was bouncing between Egypt and Italy, I needn't have been worried because they were actually aboard a completely different ship and arrived safely in Brisbane port last week.
We were given a timeslot of between 9 am and 10 am for delivery and I thought I was safe showering at 8.30. Wrong! I got out of the shower to be greeted by Mr Pickle saying "Mummy, your phone was making a lot of noises". The delivery man was early and was trying to get hold of me? Unheard of! I rang the number that had been left on the voicemail and heard a ringtone outside of the house. I looked up and saw a face in the window of the front door. Thankfully, I wasn't in the nip!
So, the boxes were delivered and filled one end of the lounge. A return to box city. You might think that this is why I have named the sequel to the sequel The Box Room. No, duh, duh duh....suspence music....all will be revealed.
These boxes contained (past tense, as I have single handedly emptied them with a little interference from Mr Pickle) our kitchen gadgets, crockery, cutlery, Mr Pickles's toys amongst other treasured items. In our house back in the UK, we had lots of cupboards in our kitchen and utility room. This proved just the right amount of space to hide a multitude of items we seldom use but would be desperate for if you didn't have it, i.e. the egg slicer. We didn't think we had lots of cupboards in the UK until we saw what the average Australian kitchen cupboard quota is. We also have a cupboard/bad boy room (that would be for Jeremy, not Mr Pickle) which is labelled as a Butler room. Hmmm, not sure how much butling you can do in a space that is about 10 cm wider than a shipping box (see where I am leading you in my story) and as long as three. It is actually meant to have the washing machine in there with a wall mounted dryer but the door isn't wide enough to get one through. There are even mounting brackets on the wall for the dryer to hang on.
Jeremy has been in the outback for the last two weeks. It is a dangerous thing to leave me to my own devices with lots of empty cardboard boxes and a space that was just crying out for some makeshift cupboarding. This house has now been improved by the addition of an actual 'box room'. There is one cardboard box cupboard hanging on the wall brackets (that took some measuring for the hanging holes on the back) one below it with a piece of flooring as a a worktop (the bread making station) and on the opposite side of the glory hole there is a tall cupboard (two boxes, stacked one on top of the other) containing Mr Pickle's craft supplies and the Hoover.
It was just like being six again, when I used to make Sindy houses and furniture out of shoe and tissue boxes. I think I may have stumbled on to the next big thing! You heard it here first ladies and gentlemen. Forget Ikea kitchens. PikeaTM kitchens are so the thing of next Tuesday.
We were given a timeslot of between 9 am and 10 am for delivery and I thought I was safe showering at 8.30. Wrong! I got out of the shower to be greeted by Mr Pickle saying "Mummy, your phone was making a lot of noises". The delivery man was early and was trying to get hold of me? Unheard of! I rang the number that had been left on the voicemail and heard a ringtone outside of the house. I looked up and saw a face in the window of the front door. Thankfully, I wasn't in the nip!
So, the boxes were delivered and filled one end of the lounge. A return to box city. You might think that this is why I have named the sequel to the sequel The Box Room. No, duh, duh duh....suspence music....all will be revealed.
These boxes contained (past tense, as I have single handedly emptied them with a little interference from Mr Pickle) our kitchen gadgets, crockery, cutlery, Mr Pickles's toys amongst other treasured items. In our house back in the UK, we had lots of cupboards in our kitchen and utility room. This proved just the right amount of space to hide a multitude of items we seldom use but would be desperate for if you didn't have it, i.e. the egg slicer. We didn't think we had lots of cupboards in the UK until we saw what the average Australian kitchen cupboard quota is. We also have a cupboard/bad boy room (that would be for Jeremy, not Mr Pickle) which is labelled as a Butler room. Hmmm, not sure how much butling you can do in a space that is about 10 cm wider than a shipping box (see where I am leading you in my story) and as long as three. It is actually meant to have the washing machine in there with a wall mounted dryer but the door isn't wide enough to get one through. There are even mounting brackets on the wall for the dryer to hang on.
Jeremy has been in the outback for the last two weeks. It is a dangerous thing to leave me to my own devices with lots of empty cardboard boxes and a space that was just crying out for some makeshift cupboarding. This house has now been improved by the addition of an actual 'box room'. There is one cardboard box cupboard hanging on the wall brackets (that took some measuring for the hanging holes on the back) one below it with a piece of flooring as a a worktop (the bread making station) and on the opposite side of the glory hole there is a tall cupboard (two boxes, stacked one on top of the other) containing Mr Pickle's craft supplies and the Hoover.
It was just like being six again, when I used to make Sindy houses and furniture out of shoe and tissue boxes. I think I may have stumbled on to the next big thing! You heard it here first ladies and gentlemen. Forget Ikea kitchens. PikeaTM kitchens are so the thing of next Tuesday.
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