Vege gardening week (but as always, lots of links to shopping too!)

Echo Way Boon Flair Highchair... http://www.echoway.com.au/catalog/item/7582753/8013715.htm and Yummy Earth Lollipops... http://www.echoway.com.au/catalog/item/7544934/7952843.htm

Red Cross... http://1.redcross.org.au/?fuseaction=newsroom.latestnews&sub=633

See Sam Upcycled kids clothing... http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=10799&id=116230585077775&ref=mf

Eco Toys Rainstick Tower... http://www.ecotoys.com.au/store/view-wooden-toys.php?toy=19

Little scents... http://www.littlescents.com.au/

Dragonfly toys (thanks Vi Nguyen!)... http://www.dragonflytoys.com.au/shop/index.php

Bubblebum clothing... http://www.bubblebum.com.au/

Durand Water Filter (fluoride)... http://durand.com.au/fluoridefilters.html

Miessence mineral mask... http://carbonfootprint.mionegroup.com/en/product/11304 and Cleansing bar... http://carbonfootprint.mionegroup.com/en/product/13211

Scamps boutique wooden rewards system... http://www.scamps.co.nz/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=23&products_id=84

Share your love... http://shareyourlove.com/#849 and http://shareyourlove.com/850

Deceptively Delicious... http://www.deceptivelydelicious.com/site/

Biological Farmers of Austraya (cheers Cara!)... http://www.bfa.com.au/index.asp?Sec_ID=132 and http://www.organicfooddirectory.com.au/

Vege gardening:

Vege gardenin for begginners... http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vegetable/vegetable-gardening-for-beginners.htm

Companion planting... http://www.figtree.org.au/companion_planting.html

Gardening in small spaces: http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetables/a/SmVegGarden.htm

http://www.thevegetablepatch.com/gettingstarted.htm

Tracey's links... http://green-change.com/2009/10/18/video-permaculture-concept-bill-mollison/
http://www.biodynamics.com/steiner.html

Museum Funsies!

Today my little footprint family went into Brisbane to visit the Museum. Hubby drove as I REFUSE to drive in the city! One wrong turn and you'll end up in Adelaide... and unfortunately hubby took three... oh well, I'd always wanted to visit Perth!



Is a great place to take kids of all ages, entry is free, so all you have to pay for is parking or public transport. Butterfly sure loved it! She crawled around (refused to be picked up) and had fun discovering all the artefacts and animals... probably her favourite was the ant farm, which had little lights on cords that she had a ball fiddling with! She also liked the humpback whales near the entry... according to her they bark like dogs??? Bless her.


Anyway I leave you with some photos from today...

Inside a strangler fig!

sssssssssssnake!



Oooo waz dat?

Look Mumma!

Sharp teefies

Us girls getting edumacated

Butterfly puzzle!

I hope you had a great day too! PEACE

The simple things...

Well! My little footprint family and I had a great day today!! We woke early(ish) and headed on down to the Ormeau fair... it was pretty good! I think it will be better for us next year, when Butterfly is old enough for face painting and rides!! They were a bit beyond her this year.

She did enjoy the animal farm!! This pesky goat kept trying to eat my hair and Butterfly's pants... I much preferred the calm sheep.

Butterfly tried to hug the animals!! She was most intrigued by the fluffy chicken and the Llama. There was a baby calf, which had runny poo running all down its legs, it wasn't a good look. When I mentioned it to my hubby he said, "Oh, thats probably because they are feeding it some crap formula instead of letting it be with its Mother!" I had to laugh, I didn't realise how much my pro-breastfeeding talk had influenced him...

I came across this cute stall of wooden toys, and got Butterfly this wooden shape sorter for $19.95!! I was stoked, I'd been looking for a good one, and this is a good one! I also spent a lot of time at the Bella Bumz stall talking to Rebecca, who had her precious baby asleep on her chest. Cluck cluck cluck!! I was impressed with her cloth nappies, I can't wait to try one! I have also ordered some cloth menstrual pads through her, I'm looking forward to getting them. Rebecca is super friendly and talented, you can have a squiz at her site here.

Butterfly's Dadda enjoyed the fair too, he bought this Penrith Panthers hat for $5 (modelled beautifully here by Butterfly) plus some other Panthers stuff, and dragged me (briefly, thank GAWD) through the old cars they were showing. All in all was a great morning and we will go back next year!

This arvo we went on an adventure to Ikea with Butterfly's grandparents. Which is always a bonus, as her Nanna can't resist buying her anything she shows an interest in!! As a result we came home with a tent and a tunnel courtesy of Nanna, and I bought her a cane chair, some soft fruit/veges/breakfast sets to go with her wooden kitchen she's getting for Christmas... and some random bits n peices (like a dishwashing brush, to do away with disposable scourers, ya know??) Butterfly has such a blast at Ikea, I must remember that when we are stuck for something to do on rainy days! I don't know if they approve of me sticking her in large bins full of sheepskin for funsies... but until the mention it, I'ma keep doing it!

To cap off a great day, I made Mars Bar Slice this evening, with Butterfly hanging around my ankles crying "Ta...Ta... Taaaaa!": her way of saying, Mumma I want some of that... GIMME! So when I was done we sat down on the kitchen floor together to lick the bowl! She really applied herself to the job, and as a result we both ended up having a second shower before bed... her Dadda shook his head at us, but life's all about the simple pleasures, am I right??

My little fishie...

YAY!!! My very first Miessence order (well not technically my first, just the first exciting one!) arrived yesterday!




I tried to keep it to things I REALLY needed, so I still have stuff to order next month, and this is what I reduced it to! Oh, and that's Lavender standing guard over the new booty...

• Baby cream wash (smells sooooo good!)
• Foaming hand wash and concentrate: the concentrate fills 10 bottles and the foam is SO luxurious! One pump is ample, so should last AGES! Which is a good thing, coz I am so in love with this product! I wasn't all that excited about getting handwash, but when I got it I nearly went nuts! It is the prettiest smelling thing EVER!! Like barley sugar lollies! In fact I think I have to go get some barley sugars for my fix instead of washing my hands every two minutes...
• Reflect Outdoor balm, as Butterfly and I spend a lot of time at the park with friends and I needed a good sunblock for her precious head! Haven't tested that one yet.
• Jaffa lip balm... ORGASMIC!
• Ancient Spice Roll on deodorant for Mr Footprint, he mowed the lawn today wearing it and didn't stink, so its a winner! (this one isn't pictured, hubby ran off with it as soon as the order came)
• And one each of the two flavours of exfoliating cleansing bars. They come in these great natural sock things that exfoliates while you wash... I've only tried the tea tree one but its great!

Ohhh I can't wait for my next order already! It is so satisfying to finally replace the last of the supermarket toxic junk with natural alternatives... I was so smug yesterday as I took the Banana Boat Sunscreen down from the shelf and removed the yucky yellow soap from the shower! Now, don't have a coronary eco warriors, the sunscreen was almost empty and the soap will be kept for emergencies and the laundry, I shan't be wasteful!
In other news Butterfly went up to the toddler class at swimming today! Just after I got used to the new baby program... but she did SO well! I think she really liked the activities, as they are more designed for her age level... she isn't stuck doing the same program as the four month olds anymore. The other Mummas were shocked when I asked her to climb in safely and she promptly turned around and slid in, their two and three year olds weren't cooperating. Butterfly does that every day off the couch and bed!
Every lesson Butterfly gets jack of it half way through and signs for milk... and gets most upset when I tell her she can't have milk now, but soon. She's not used to waiting! She's not hungry though, its just her "go to" sign when she's out of her comfort zone.
Anyways I am one proud Mumma of one little fishie!
Man I just washed my hands again and they smell delicious! YUUUUM!
Oh, and don't forget, there are still TWO Jaffa Lip Balms left from my offer! So the next two orders from my website (for new customers) gets a FREE Jaffa lip balm!

I do LOVE a bargain!!

Last week was shite... food poisoning followed by a bad cold for Butterfly and I... we were stuck in the house all week! BORING! Plus I tend to get depressed if I don't see enough sunshine, vitamin D etc etc...

So yesterday we went to the Butterfly Tree Markets in search of amusement and/or wooden toys. We had a great time, there were SO many adorable clothes stalls, I could easily have spent a fortune! I was also tempted by some aromaplay clay, but thought better of it since Butterfly is still a bit young for it and thats something I want to buy fresh. What I DID buy is an adorable CD called "Homespun" by Nadia Sunde... its kind of like a kids CD, but not REALLY annoying!! She sings about the rain, going fishing, having a picnic etc, stuff that appeals to kids, but its good music!! I had to buy it, as she was right next to Hollie's Bumcheeks stall and we were there for a while... the music really grew on me. And Butterfly liked it to!

Didn't find many wooden toys, so from there we headed to the Carrara markets... walked around for an HOUR and didn't find ANYTHING!! On the way back to the car I found a little shop selling wooden toys, almost right next to the car!! Man, if I'd have walked left instead of right when I got there I would have saved myself a LOT of time! Anyway I got Butterfly this little wooden block truck and also wooden racing car thing I've tucked away for Christmas.

Still not satisfied with my purchases, Butterfly and I went shopping again today! Wasn't really planning on spending money, just for a look... but I found THE best bargain!! I have wanted Anamalz for a while now (if you thought Schleich was cool, Anamalz are the BEES KNEES of eco animal toys!), they retail for around $9.95 most places. So I went into the Early Learning Store... and found them for $4 each!!! O.M.G.!!!! Apparently some were even $2 but were sold out :O. So I bought one of each of the animals left (except the emu and panda, they didn't fit in with my farmyard crew... don't ask me to justify why the brown bear is a farmyard animal). So for the price of THREE I got EIGHT!! Are you not as excited as me? Maybe coz you haven't seen and felt these critters fo yoself!

From top left... goat, bull, camel, horse, llama,

In the front: donkey (SHREK! I'm lookin' down!), black ram and brown bear!

We enjoyed the rest of the morning in Borders, I bought Butterfly an Igglepiggle book and we sat down to share an iced chocolate (she likes to have a bit of the cream on top). I always love going out with Butterfly, she's great company! I get some strange stares from people because I like to entertain her, and I talk to her like she's a person (SHOCK: thats because she IS a person!). If Butterfly wants to play silly buggers in her carrier I'll play along. If I read her a book in a store I'm going to do the voices. If she wants to crawl back and forth at the petstore signing "puppy dog" and "puppy dog sleeping" I will share in her joy (FYI hardnosed petshop attendant: this is ADORABLE, not for you to scrunch your nose at).

On the way out I let Butterfly have a crawl around the little playground, and met a delighful three year old called Ella. She was smitten with Butterfly, kept stroking her hair (awww). She asked me if Butterfly had a peepee (I assume she meant penis??) so I said No. She agreed, said "boys have peepees. Do you have a boy baby at home?" I told her no. She surprised me by telling me Butterfly didn't like boys (which is totally TRUE, even the granddads can't get near her!). Maybe she just said that because she doesn't like boys. Or maybe she picked up on Butterfly' body language when a boy sat next to her? Whatever it was cute.

Ella talked to me for a good ten minutes, and held one of Butterfly's hands (and I the other) while she went down the slide. She was such a sweet little thing, and Butterfly liked her, waving bye bye as we walked away...

Twas a great morning, gave me the pick me up I needed!