nursery - done!

by jona on Wednesday, January 20, 2010


YAY!! nursery is finally done! well the big, main things anyway.. walls are still bare.. so i will be slowly dressing them up in the coming days/weeks.. depending on how i feel, which i hope is like today, very productive! it was like i just had a sudden burst of energy!

but for the mean time, i would like to show you some before and after photos :D

please note, not much diy'ing happened in this room.. only shelves and staining of rocking chair

before:




after:






and that's about it with the nursery.. its a tiny room but cozy .. dont u think? hehe

next on the list:

- master bed! but can the bed frame come any slower!? feels like i been waiting forever! 5 more weeks i think, boooo! meaning i'm going to have to tackle this when baby is around. all good though, i always love a challenge :)

- lounge room is slowly slowly coming into place, i just have to now hang my frames (which im hoping to do tomorrow!) and paint, but hubby stretched a tendon in his shoulder so painting is postponed until further notice :(

i am hoping to post updates on the lounge quite soon.. so stay tuned! :)

till then! xx

even more exciting news!

by jona on Saturday, January 16, 2010


i got both cot and king mattress today!! i know! it was an awesome day lol

so stay tuned for the nursery update.. should be up sometime on the weekend or early next week.


and just quickly, how expensive are king sheets!? and not to mention quilt covers??!! i have been looking non stop for nice quality yet not over priced sheets and quilt covers.. cheapest i found was $60.. for a 250 thread count.. that any good? sorry i'm clueless

any suggestions as to where to find affordable manchester please do tell!!

till then!

im just so excited that i just have to share this!

by jona on Thursday, January 14, 2010


but first and foremost.. i hope you all had a blissful Christmas and a fun and exciting new year! xx
have we broken any of our new years resolutions yet? lol just teasin!
i dont have any this year.. i have been either too busy nesting.. or just resting haha

anyway, before i get sidetracked!


the news is!!...

cot is coming a week early!! YAY!

i get a call from baby cuddles today, informing me that cot is on the way and it'll come either tomorrow or Monday! YAY!!! which means i finally get to finish nursery!! YAY!

i just can't believe its a week early!! so it should be, right? i should've had it on the 4th!! but anyways, whats done is done.

also, more exciting news! hubby and i have been looking for a new bed since we found out we been sleeping on a double! we thought it was a queen! (i know, right? how did we manage that!?) i mean, our queen sheets not fitting properly should've given us a clue, you'd think...

so a couple of weeks ago, i dragged hubby to go look for a king bed.. we found a chiropractic mattress for a grand.. bargain right? and this beautiful king frame.. both $1800 in total.. i didn't realise it was going to be that much!! yikes! but its an investment i guess..

and then after i got a call from baby cuddles, i get a call from the bed place saying that our bed is ready to be delivered!! whoohoo! BUT frame will take around 4 - 6 weeks :( - theyre going to loan us a base while we wait.
its ok though.. as long as were out of that squashy, uncomfortable double bed!

what kind of frame are we getting? u ask
i've actually been googling a similar one but can't seem to find any :(
so i'm going to try and describe it..
it's timber with walnut finish.. i customised it so the legs are 15cm higher (from 15cm) and the headboard to be extra 15cm higher also.. which would mean the headboard would gain a total of 30cm.. making it 150cm tall! that's nearly as tall as me! haha
i wanted a real dramatic look to it so hopefully 150 is enough.. it should be though

initially, i was going to try and make the headboard myself (upholstered) but it was going to cost me more and not to mention the time and effort!

since, we're getting a new bed with a new frame.. i'm gonna have to go look at new bedroom furniture too.. :/ haha jk.. they can wait.. although, the plan was to get everything with a budget of 2g.. but i went overboard :/

so fingers crossed, bargains aren't hard to find like they have been for the past two months! :(

anyhoo its nearly 12am and i still gotta play legends of zelda on ds lol

till then!

Seasons Greetings . . . With Cashew Tarts

by abby on Sunday, January 3, 2010




Wow I haven't blogged since last year! With all the crazy happenings that the holiday fever seems to make I have been officially in holiday mood - no work, no emails, no worries has made me a happy little vegimite for the past couple of weeks. But yes reality hits unfortunately and I have to go back to work tomorrow...

So how was your Christmas and NYE celebrations? Hope you had the best time ever with all your special ones close by! My Christmas and NYE was spent with family - a nice quiet getaway with my immediate family to Port Stephens and a big old fashioned Christmas day with my larger extended family. Sorry not too many pics were taken this season, the weather was abit gloomy so it made me abit lazy with getting the camera out.

In one of my old posts I talked about how some of my Christmas gifts were going to be DIY. I decided to go for boxes filled with Cashew Tarts and I thought I'd post up the recipe.


Makes: 24 tarts

Crust Ingredients:
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 1/1 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
  • 1 tblsp lemon juice
  • 6 tblsp iced water
Cashew Filling:
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • 2 tblsp melted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 150g chopped cashew nuts

Steps:
  1. For the crust: sift flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add butter until mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Add egg yolk and lemon juice. Blend in 1 tablespoon water at a time until the dough can be formed into a ball. Wrap in waxed paper with abit of flour and chill in the fridge for 30mins.

  2. For the filling: combine all the filling ingredients and set aside.

  3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. After crust has been chilled, roll out dough on a floured surface until it is 3mm thick. Grease mold (I used a muffin tray) and cut out circles to fill the base of each mold (I used a wineglass for cutting circles).

  4. Pour about 1 tablespoon of filling into each mold. Don't overfill the crust since it will spill out! Bake for 20-25 minutes or until crust is light brown. Let cool and store in an air tight container if you're not planning to eat immediately.

That's it! I made about 96 of these tarts and the house smelt so gooood for about a week. I had to keep on taste testing as I went along to make sure each batch was fine so that's probably the only hard thing about making these - they're too good to pass up!

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