30 Pins before I turn 30

I've compiled a Pinterest board of things to make, try, buy or do before I turn 30.   There are over 30 pins, but I might cull some or just might aim for 30.

Some are free, or dead easy.  Some involve making, spending etc.  Most are pretty frugal.  A good mix of recipes, kids stuff, home organisation and gardening.

Making way for baby

I have posted on another of my blogs about a year ago about the state of our study/craft room/junk room.  I'm sad to say it only got worse while we renovated our bathroom.  Here's some more "before" pics:

Yep, pretty out of control.

With the news that Geekling is going to be a big brother, we have had to clear it out to become the baby's room.  We've given away some of the furniture, donated a lot of useful items to the Salvation Army, thrown out a lot of junk and finally the only things that are left in the room are those things that will be staying there for the baby:

When we get new drawers for Geekling, we'll move the old white drawers and wardrobe into bub's room and can start packing away the clothes that fill the two pink nappy boxes and the large cardboard box that is between the change table and the basinette.

I plan to make a cover for the glider as the fake leather has flaked terribly.  We also need to put up a curtain rail and curtains.  The cot will go where that box is, with the box providing some storage for unseasonable or larger clothes.

Will tidy the bookshelf when I work out where exactly it will go in the room.

There is still some ways to go and lots of little craft projects I've got planned.  Here's my Pinterest Nursery Board, if you're interested to see some of my planned prjects and inspirations

Its a GIRL!

When we set out to try for another baby, we tried a lot of weird and wonderful things suggested by various sites and forums to sway the odds in our favour for a little girl.  Another little boy would be a blessing too, of course, but girls are something of a rarity on both sides of our family.

A couple of weeks ago we found out we are indeed having a little GIRL.  Geekling has already promised his daddy to scare away all her boyfriends.  He is so excited to have a sister, although a little disappointed that he won't get to teach her to do 'big boy wee' (standing up).

We've nicknamed our growing bub 'Newbie'.  She's due to arrive in 4 months today :)

Geekling's bedroom - 3 years old

We've made a number of changes to Geekling's room around his 3rd birthday.  The biggest change was moving to a single left bed.  His toddler bed was getting too small, especially when he'd occasionally want one of us to lay with him for a cuddle.  We worried the new bed would be a bit high up but he had no problem climbing in and out, and manages to do so on his own at any hour of the day or night.

 View from the doorway - the loft bed.  Lots of storage.  There is a pull out desk part but at the moment that is in the far left corner, with the tubs stacked by it, as Geekling loves to use the cubby hole as a reading nook.  We bought a cheap LED touch light from IKEA that is a magnet and it sticks to the underside of the bed which is a metal frame.

New 'big boy bookshelves' - we previously used the bookshelves in our loungeroom but replaced them.  The bottom shelf holds his trains and balls, the next two shelves house his books.  Above is his basket of finger puppets, his money box, a photo or picture of his choice and his bug catcher.  Above is things that he needs supervision with.

The small table works wonderfully for a small train set up, matching games, using his zen garden and all manner of work.  We must replace the rocking octopus with a proper chair but right now he enjoys it as is. 

The white wardrobe and drawers will soon be replaced with a woodgrain color to match the rest of the furniture, and the white furniture will be transferred to the new baby's room.  

The room is starting to look quite cramped in photos due to the size of the bigger furniture and angle of the door but it has plenty of floor space, especially for a little person.

Previous posts about Geekling's room:
Geekling's newborn nursery
Geekling's new bed
Geekling's bedroom - 2 years old

In the garden...

Sometimes I curse having such a large yard.  We haven't gotten around to much of the landscaping we'd planned when we first bought the house 5 years ago, and often it just looks like a weedy mess.  But it never ceases to provide things to explore, explain and play with.

Geekling talking to a praying mantis we caught and kept for a 'sleep over'.  Any bugs we catch have a maximum one night stay.

Here's a little more about our bug catcher and other bugs we've had visit

Feeling a snail crawling on the skin

 Dancing with a "ribbon leaf" (lemongrass) on the trampoline

Eggs from our very own chickens

Other garden delights include:

• blowing gently on a spider on his web to make him 'dance'
• finding the odd brightly coloured gum leaf in our mostly non-deciduous yard
• picking flowers and leaves and using them in crafts or in the bath
• smelling and tasting herbs and vegies from our vegie patch
• playing fetch with our dog
• weeding and feeding the weeds to the chickens
• watering plants
• painting the fence with water... the list goes on!

Geekling is going to be a big brother!

The news is out!  Geekling is going to have a baby brother or sister!

Baby #2 is due in early October, and so far Geekling is very excited.  He kisses and pats my stomach, and talks about all the things he'll help with and things he'll teach the baby.  He excitedly took our recent scan photo to daycare for show and tell and then begged to take it again the next day!  He actually came to the recent scan with us and tells everyone he saw his baby on the TV in the dark room.  Its all very sweet.

Bathroom renovation

Our bathroom was so gross I took pictures some time back with the intention of sending them to a Better Homes & Gardens renovation competition.  The previous owners had done a fast and nasty renovation prior to selling and to us newbies it looked fine.  For a while.

The rusty enameled metal bath had been painted with regular house paint.  Not only did it start flaking and peeling off really fast, but as there was some texture to the paint due to the brush strokes, it was impossible to keep clean - dead skin and soap scum got trapped in the ridges too easily.  The more we scrubbed, the more paint came off!  The cracked ceramic sink got the same house paint treatment, but the paint flaked off pretty fast leaving an unpainted (but still cracked) sink.  There was only one double towel rail and the towels hung so close together on it that they never dried.  Geekling's towel hung over the door.  The wall behind the towel rail began to grow massive mold stains, and most the grout above the bath was blackened or pink with mold.

I couldn't find proper before photos but here are some early demolition ones:

The floor was tiled with little ceramic mosaic tiles.  It was slow going getting them all lifted up!

You can see above how dirty the bath was.

And here is the finished product (minus a shower curtain and rail):

Need to wash our nice new towels before we hang them.

All work was done by my husband and myself and our wonderful father in law.  We had no idea what a massive job it was and were so lucky to have someone who has done his share of renovating before to guide us and do a lot of the early work.