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a nice day out

May 7, 2011 By corrie 13 Comments

Today started with swimming lessons at our new time of 7.30am. Honestly, I am going to remind retro daddy every single saturday morning when I have to get up in pitch black that it was his brilliant idea to make lessons that early in the morning. I now see the benefits of being out of the house in the morning but getting up at 6am every Saturday is going to kill me.

But I must admit it did mean that we were dressed and ready to do anything we wanted to by 9am so I can’t complain too much. And after a spot of shopping and morning tea and with such lovely weather we decided at the last minute to head down to Thirroul for the afternoon.

One of the benefits of getting out of Sydney – our portion of fish and chips was twice the size and less than we pay in jolly old Manly. My twinnies were enjoying the little impromptu picnic. Although Finn is normally our chippie monster, Tillie was right in there today. Leftovers went to the seagulls which was very entertaining.

And Thirroul was lovely. It reminded me of the northern beaches just with less people, less cars, less development and more space. We had planned to go further on to Berry but it was already 4pm and Tillie was having one of her monumental tantrums while Finn was having an asthma attack and Elodie needed a bottle. And you wonder why we are such homebodies.

And even if we never buy a house outside of Sydney, we are enjoying our daytrips. Unfortunately, there are no house fairies who do my housework and washing normally done on a Saturday so I’m having an amazingly fun night of washing, drying, folding and cleaning. But I figure tomorrow is mother’s day so do it today and rest tomorrow. Hope you get spoiled tomorrow and have a little sleep in. I know you all deserve it!

Filed Under: country living

on the needles

May 6, 2011 By corrie 14 Comments

What’s on the needles retro mummy? Well a few things are on the go. Unfortunately cleaning up my craft room revealed a few more projects on needles. Quite a few more. What is it with crafters and our UFO’s? Honestly, if there was an award for the greatest number of unfinished craft projects lying around I would win it. Hands down. But in between researching and doing the sums on a potential house in the country and driving in the car there has been a teensy bit of knitting. Mind you sometimes the knitting in the car makes me a little carsick and I need to stop.

But I am absolutely determined to knit something for each little person this winter. I will get there. This is for Elodie and is the Easy Baby Cardigan from More Last Minute Knitted Gifts. A book I am just loving. I’m using Bendigo (surprise, surprise) Rustic and it’s knitting up so beautifully. Unfortunately you can’t get this colour anymore but it’s going to be perfect with so many outfits.

This Baby Gap jacket is my all time favourite baby outfit!

But I better knit faster because this girl is growing.

I think the pictures speak for themselves. One happy + content baby!

Filed Under: everything else

eggs and baskets

May 5, 2011 By corrie 21 Comments

Now I’m not talking about easter eggs or eggs from chickens, you know that old saying don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Well it looks like I was a little hasty thinking about selling this house. Thanks to retro daddy earning his mega bucks (just joking – you need mega bucks just to live in Sydney these days) we can afford to keep this house, rent it out and purchase something else if we want to. Just a little bit more modest than we initially planned.

And actually it’s a huge relief as it is a lot less work for me as I don’t have to get a home ready to sell! Phew! And so it leaves us with a few options – either buy a weekender now (but I better win the lottery for that option and raising a family of 6), buy a modest country home and live in it or the most sensible option is to rent first and then buy something to live in while the kids are in primary school.

The other big issue stressing me out was high school. I was getting a little bit ‘tiger mom’ comparing private high schools down there with the Sydney schools we have all planned out up here. So by keeping our house here it is our safety net that if we need to come back for high school then we can. And by that time our Sydney house will be worth – oh I don’t know – $10m. Or something like that with the way house prices are rising AND we have a cute weekender to spend weekends and school holidays.

And so now I’m thinking to maybe just take a year in the country! Keira is in kindergarten which isn’t rocket science. We can see if we love it and how we go. An adventure without losing school places and life in Sydney in case I don’t like it. I’m now thinking since we are renting to look a little further out of bowral in cute villages It might also reveal a few more cuter cottages on large blocks which could equal potential,

these are all more modest homes in our new budget and let me tell you they still represent amazing value and a good lifestyle compared to Sydney right now.

All images from domain my newest timewaster

Filed Under: country living, dreaming of the country, sydney

royal wedding tragic

May 1, 2011 By corrie 42 Comments

Hi, my name is Corrie and I am a royal wedding tragic. I found all of the tv hype in the lead up to be a bit too much but was always looking forward to the actual event. In fact when I woke up that morning I was wishing it was time already. See. Tragic. I still remember always reading my mum’s Australian Woman’s Weekly special issue for Princess Diana’s wedding.

Anway, I started watching coverage from 4pm – alone. No one else was interested until they could see the princess. And the surprise reaction was Finn who was totally getting into it. Meanwhile,Tillie decided to have a tantrum out the back and then come back into the living room to block my view of the tv. Obviously not into the royal family.

But after all that hype and build up to the royal wedding, Channel 9 decided to stop coverage and put the football on midway through the service! WHAAAAAAAAAAAAT! Whose great idea was that! Anyway the whole thing was just beautiful. She was wearing such a beautiful dress. Classic, elegant, modest – just stunning. The service, music and the whole event was so beautiful. If I was going to marry a prince then that would be my perfect wedding. My mum always said that the Church of England always had the grandest songs compared to us catholics and I do tend to agree.

The little flower girl steals the show doesn’t she!

I wish I’d thought in advance and had a little get together to watch it but having my little ones get excited with me was a nice night. And that’s enough wedding talk from me. Promise. Did you watch it? Did you love it? Did you think Eugenie and Beatrice’s outfits were just wrong?

All images from here.

Filed Under: the royal wedding

another day in the country

April 30, 2011 By corrie 8 Comments

Retro daddy had this great idea to change everyone’s swimming lessons to 7.30am and 8am on a saturday morning. I was a little surprised he did this (he loves a good sleep in) and sure enough last night he was out watching his beloved carlton play the Sydney swans while enjoying beer and sausage rolls. Meanwhile I was home watching the royal wedding (let’s talk about the wedding tomorrow). So we slept through our alarms and missed swimming. Uh oh. Thankfully, I did have everything packed and organised for another daytrip down south and so we were on the road and on our way to an 11am open house. I think if you still love a town and it’s houses in miserable grey weather then you really like it.

And I just love the gorgeous colours on display. This was the front hedge of the first house on our list to visit. A cute little house well under budget in our favourite place and all was going well until we walked out to the picture perfect cottage garden out back which had a single fibro garage practically falling down. It is the neighbour’s unused garage in place of a fence. Ugh it just had the potential to be one huge headache.

Straight on to the next house which I loved. Huge family house with 5 bedrooms, self contained guest accommodation and a studio, 1 acre, double carport, double garage, circular driveway, prestigious street…….do you want me to go on? Because I could. And I did. A very neat and tidy house but the burgundy carpets and cheapest pool behind the house would have to go. Retro daddy was not such a fan as he just saw all the work. Well priced but there was another family of 6 very much in love with it and I’ve learnt not to get too attached as you never know what is around the corner. Or what the boss decides. Don’t you love finn inspecting the vegie patch with the property brochure in hand!

every house we visit is fun for the kids with all that space to run around and tire themselves out. Not so great when they get back to the car with shoes covered in mud, wet leaves and grass. We almost need a front door mat just for the car!

I loved the huge lemon trees and the never ending backyard. I always ask the little ones to run to the back fence and back. Always gives me a bit of time to look around and for them to test out the yard size. Oh well, I’ll try not to fall in love with the gardens of this house. We saw another house before lunch but it was just way too small, dark and too much work. Oh yes and the doberman and other huge dog in the neighbours yard were not my cup of tea. Moving for peace and quiet not noisy dogs.

At last it was time for lunch at the best pie shop in town – my roasted vegetable pie tasted like a vegetable lasagne all packaged up in a pie. Retro daddy had lamb and rosemary, he tells me it was good. Mmmmmm as if he needed anymore convincing to move. Quick shop for myself in Seed (hello, no country road/trenery in town so I need to test out the shopping for myself before I make any big decisions), toy shop for the little ones, running through the crinkly leaves in the park then back in the car for a little drive around town, mcdonalds chippies to keep little people happy and then home again. Phew. Now back to the decluttering.

Filed Under: bowral, country living, dreaming of the country, homes

more dream houses

April 28, 2011 By corrie 16 Comments

I know you’ve been loving the dream houses so how about a few more as we finish up the working week. Now is this one big enough for you? There were no photos of the inside but it looks big enough for the six of us.

For something a little more modest and a bit better on your hip pocket we have this little charmer. Now this one comes in at $6.5m so you’ll still have money left over for some help around the place as you’ll have 96 acres to care for.

very neutral interiors. This definitely has a lived in, comfortable look about it. Give my children 10 minutes in this room and they could really take lived in to a whole new level.

very luxurious but comfortable bedroom

Love this kitchen. It’s not flashy and the colours and wood are so warm and inviting. I could definitely make some nice dinners in there.

Would you like a view with your toilet break! I just hope the gardener doesn’t see you sitting in there!

Righto, well back to searching for properties in my budget and not my imaginery lottery winnings. You can find all images here plus I know you want to ring the agent to make an offer.

Filed Under: country living, dreaming of the country, keep dreaming

decluttering

April 26, 2011 By corrie 37 Comments

For me, one of the hardest things about thinking about buying a new house is the decluttering and getting our own house ready for sale. We were all ready to list our house in January this year but couldn’t find what we were looking for in our budget so decided to stay.

This is my house looking at it’s best NOT how it looks right now. The reality is toys, show bags, books and more toys. Toys have taken over my house. Oh and fabric, OK I admit it….I contribute towards the clutter with my craft.

so I’ve gone back to look through my photos on flickr to get motivated, get rid of the clutter, toys and clothes and get our house looking more show home than messy home.

So the garbage bags are out and it’s my usual policy at decluttering time – one bag for rubbish, one bag for charity and one bag to giveaway. Works well for me but I clean and declutter knowing that little people will come after me and make a mess again!!!!

But it’s a good feeling to get rid of ‘stuff’! Do you need a good declutter in your home?

Filed Under: country living, dreaming of the country, homes

pretty country houses

April 25, 2011 By corrie 24 Comments

Moving to the country is so much more than just having a nicer house buuuuut will you please take a look at these houses. Sydney real estate is considered amongst the most expensive in the world (I already knew that) which is tough when you are trying to get into it………..but when you take your sydney budget out of Sydney. Well there are some treats in store for you AND you can reduce your mortgage too. Which keeps husbands happy.

Now of course in real estate there is usually a compromise to be made or a house that doesn’t tick everything on your list. Take this house which we just adore. To me it is like an english country house just plopped smack bang in the middle of bowral on a pretty tree lined street with lots of other old houses

Unfortunately it’s not a quiet road, not the busiest road in town but still not the most peaceful tranquil street and most of the garden is at the front of the house rather than the back so it’s probably not going to work for us but we’ll be taking an inspection just in case. And then I fell for this house below but it backs on to the golf course which isn’t too safe for 4 little people running around the backyard. I just love the grand entrance. I’d be taking photos of the little ones every single day as they walked out of the house!

This next beauty is in our preferred part of town and has been beautifully restored. In fact if I could pick my perfect kitchen then this would be right up there. It is so similar to the ‘Something’s Gotta Give’ kitchen and will you check out all of the cupboards.

And if anyone questions why I would want to leave Sydney I’ll just go and tell them to read my blog post dated Monday 25th April 2011.

All images of these gorgeous houses from Bowral came courtesy of my new BFF, domain

Filed Under: bowral, country living, dreaming of the country, homes, southern highlands

real estate talk

April 22, 2011 By corrie 19 Comments

Well I should be packing up things for another day trip to Bowral tomorrow but instead I’m enjoying coffee and an early easter chocolate bunny. But I am becoming quite the expert at researching property and areas online since I can’t just jump in the car to go and check out an address 2 hours from here. So here is what I’m learning……….the same terms that real estate agents use up here in Sydney are the same everywhere.

Image source

Whisper quiet really means you’d never know you are on the main road with cars whizzing by. Gently elevated means an almost perpendicular driveway but it’s lovely when you get up/down to the house. Low maintenance block means small as does cosy. And there is always that old chestnut – renovaters delight -well you all know what that means. Oh and wait – address on request means we’re not going to give it to you because it’s on the main road/up a steep hill/right behind the high school/2 blocks from the brickworks/opposite the old cemetery and I say this from experience. And here’s another one – POA or price on application – means it is so out of your price range that it’s on a need to know basis…..and you don’t need to know!

And this house is just one of the absolutely stunning, droolworthy estates that come up when I research the Southern Highlands. Sadly it’s ruled out as it’s so way out of budget I’d need to win the lottery in a big way but you just have to look and say W.O.W. Now that is what I call an estate!

And this lovely property is called ‘Hopewood’ and just in case you are sitting on………..oh I don’t know, $9m then here you go and be sure to have me over for afternoon tea, won’t you!

Filed Under: country living

super rich chocolate brownies

April 21, 2011 By corrie 25 Comments

I bet that got your attention and it’s been long time no brownie recipe around here. And sorry that I didn’t blog yesterday but trust me I have some great ‘I think we want to move to the country’ blog posts coming up for you. Anyway back to the chocolate. I love brownies but losing all that weight after Elodie meant there were no brownies going into the oven. And to make up for lost ground I have baked my 2nd batch in 24 hours and no it’s not me eating them all. He’s big, 6ft 2 and can’t say no to my brownies. I found the original recipe about 7 years ago and it had about 100g of chocolate but over time I’ve tweaked it to perfection! These are rich and not too sweet but just change your chocolate if you prefer a sweeter brownie.

SUPER RICH CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
200g 70% Dark chocolate, broken up into chunks
100g butter, cubed
1 cup caster sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1tsp vanilla
2/3 cup SR flour

Melt on low heat with butter, stirring occasionally. Place into mixing bowl and leave to cool 5 minutes or so. Add in sugar, vanilla, eggs and lastly your sifted flour. Now at this point if you wanted to add some nuts (chopped pecans or walnuts are delicious) then now is the time. Pour into lined square baking tin and bake for about 25 minutes in 180 degree oven. You want the edges to be crispy and a knife comes out clean. Leave to rest in the tin about 5-10 minutes and then lift out by the paper, slice and enjoy.

I put mine in a tupperware container, leave it out on the kitchen bench and let retro daddy get to them after dinner!

Filed Under: baking, brownies, chocolate, recipe

still dreaming + hexagons

April 18, 2011 By corrie 37 Comments

Another busy day here. Yesterday I had to stop thinking about the southern highlands and focus on getting through my list of jobs. I really think I left my heart down there. In good news, we are going down there (again) this Saturday to look at some open houses (she squeals and jumps around like a crazy lady). I have decided to think about it like moving to another suburb – 90 minutes from here rather than a huger than huge change. When you think about it like that, well it’s not so scary. And it’s been a long dream of ours to move to the english countryside so I kind of feel that it’s a nice local version.

And with so many things to think about I really just am itching for some craft time. And I’ll have to keep dreaming of picking up my hexagons and doing a few today because school holidays are keeping me busy, busy, busy. A whole new delivery of charm squares arrived about a fortnight ago and they are florally perfect for my hexagon quilt. I like that I can just pick it up when I need to.

And this is what we’re aiming for…………..it’s really coming along nicely and is going to be my biggest quilting project to date.

This is the Grandmother’s Flower Garden from Rosalie Quinlan’s ‘A Stitch in Time’ book. If you’re not ‘hexagoning’ (that is not a real word!) then you should get started as it is the perfect craft for the couch on these cooler nights.

Filed Under: country living, dreaming of the country, grandmothers flower garden, hexagons, rosalie quinlan

do you dream of the country?

April 17, 2011 By corrie 60 Comments

Tell me lovely city slickers, do you ever dream of the country? Moving to where the air is fresh, where everyone knows your name, where traffic jams don’t exist, where you can have an acre and not see inside your neighbour’s window from your window. Where you can have some chickens, fruit trees, your own vegetable patch, a large white country kitchen with wooden benchtops, an aga that matches your kitchenaid, a barn studio for your craft ………ok I’m getting a little bit carried away now with my own personal dream but I’ve got to tell you. City life can get to you.

Sometimes I feel so grateful that we have a good life in this city of Sydney, but when you spend your days at home, all day everyday you do wonder what it would be like to move out of the big city and have more space. Retro daddy and I have often discussed it, watched the relocation relocation shows religiously and with 2 of his 3 brothers living in the country it’s not hard to convince him of the benefits. BUT it always comes back to that old chestnut, work. His big city job can’t go rural and he has career goals and aspirations and has worked hard to get to where he is. He’s also not farmer material. And I’m more country road than country girl. Trust me.

very pretty fabric and quilting store

But today we headed out of the city to check out my favourite area. What could we afford? What are the schools like? What are the shops like? Ladies, you know that is important….don’t say that it isn’t! Just to see it all in person. And we were impressed! I may or may not have been quoted as saying ‘ just leave me here, thank you’. But it is so much work and a huge decision to move. Who knows if we’ll end up there or if we’ll be city slickers forever. I’ll keep buying my country living and country style mags, dreaming of my big kitchen and cream aga and sending retro daddy emails of my favourite houses which we could afford and let me tell you that they are gorgeous houses.

the kids were calling this a camel – time to work on our animals!

So hopefully I’ll share more of my research with you and keep dreaming of a quieter life. And now for the funny part of today. I know one person, just one, who lives down that way. A lovely blogger Beth, whose

blog and country life I love. And as we were getting out of the car to go exploring who should we meet? Yes, she was driving past and stopped to say hi. We are pretty hard to miss – all 6 of us. But I think it was a sign!

finn reminds his daddy whose banana bread it is

oh and you didn’t think I was going to come home empty handed, did you? I picked up this gorgeous baby alpaca from The Alpaca Centre in Berrima AND practised ultimate self restraint not buying 10 balls of each.

Filed Under: country living, dreaming of the country, knitting, shopping, southern highlands, tree change

Sherbet Pips Giveaway

April 14, 2011 By corrie 385 Comments

OK, so now that I’ve drawn and announced the winners of all outstanding giveaways on facebook AND am emailing them this afternoon AND have updated the blog posts I can now launch a new giveaway! Woohoo, I hear you say. Let me tell you that I am just as relieved to be up to date. And since I promised to do a giveaway each and every month this year and I didn’t do one in March, well I have an extra special giveaway for March/April.

Sherbet Pips is one of my favourite fabric ranges of all time which keeps selling out – but a new delivery of 24 charm square packs arrived this week. So I’m giving away 2 charm square packs and 1/2 metre each of the scooters fabric in white and pink. I think you’ll be able to make something pretty special with all of that! Or you can just keep it with your other ‘too special to cut up fabrics’ if you like. You choose. To enter just leave a comment here telling me why you have to win and I’ll pick a winner. You have until midnight April 30 and anyone in the world can enter. Sooooooooooooooo all that’s left to say is good luck……..

Filed Under: giveaway, giveaways, retro mummy, sherbet pips

two night baby socks

April 13, 2011 By corrie 46 Comments

take a ball of wool, some needles, pull out a debbie bliss pattern book, put on the fire when the kids don’t think it is cold enough, make a cup of coffee, grab some chocolate or biscuits (optional of course), get on your comfiest pyjama pants, put your feet up and knit.

Oh heaven, that is my perfect way to spend a night. And I did. Two actually. It took me two nights to finish these little cuties. I love a quick and satisfying knitting project. And the result……………may I present to you – two needle baby socks for Elodie.

Because we lose baby socks at great speed. Like last week when I just opened a little pair of french baby socks with bows on them. I went off to get my toes done and retro daddy took elodie for a walk around the shops in her pram. As soon as he walked up to me I spotted the missing sock. We retraced our steps. Checked the car. Gone. To baby sock heaven. It’s always the good ones! Hopefully these stay on and keep little tootsies warm.

Mind you they are actually a teensy bit small ……silly me forgot miss elodie is on the generous side! So we might get a week or two out of them but they are so adorably cute that I’m ready to cast on the next size up right now. Yes. Right now. And you can find out more about the pattern and yarn here on my ravelry page. I’m retromummy, surprise surprise!

And did you spot the sherbet pips? Good work. You see today I am drawing all outstanding giveaways (ok there are two but well overdue) and tomorrow am launching one humdinger of a sherbet pips giveaway to make up for no march giveaway. Because in all honesty, March has to go down as the worst month ever!

Filed Under: babies, debbie bliss, knitting

i love elodie

April 11, 2011 By corrie 34 Comments

She really is as cute as they come. I mean will you just look at her! The button nose, the huge cheeks, the chubby hands, the hair that keeps growing in every direction, the fact that she looks like her daddy, the fact that she’s mine…..

Adorable! This is why babies, in particular my babies, are my addiction. I just love this age. Miss Elodie turns 6 months tomorrow and is every bit the easy baby she’s always been. I just love my Elodie.

Filed Under: everything else