R.I.P Little Avocado Tree :(

Remember my cute little avocado tree sprout i grew from a seed that i posted about last week? Well, my little monkey was playing out side & i turned around for two seconds & when i looked back to my horror i discovered this:

In one fowl swoop Jet had managed to undo my months & months of hard work & care (well...not really, all i did was stick a couple of seeds in a pot & neglect them for months...but still!) *sob* the good news is one of the other seeds has sprouted - there's 3 seeds in a massive pot. The third seed has cracked too so maybe that one will sprout soon. I'm hoping that maybe another shoot will come up through the old stem or something with this one - poor little plant!

The First Letter Of Your Name...MEME

I was tagged by Carrie from Rantings of a Woman with this "The First Letter of Your Name" meme - it looks hard but ill give it a go!

Rules: Just use the first letter of your name to answer the questions. They have to be real answers though, nothing made up and you can't use your own name as an answer.

Since my name is Melanie all my answers have to start with a "M".

1.Famous Singer: Missy Higgins (love her!)
2.Four Letter Word: Mate
3.Street: Main St, Gosford
4.Color: Mauve
5.Gifts/Presents: Movie Tickets
6.Vehicles: Motor Bike
7.Things In A Souvenir Shop: Mug
8.Boy Name: Mason
9.Girl Name: Mikah
10.Movie Title: Memoirs of a Geisha (so not as good as the book!)
11.Drink: Mocca
12.Occupation: Midwife
13.Celebrity: Madonna
14.Magazine: Mode
15.U.S. City: Massachusetts?
16.Pro Sports: Martial Arts
17.Fruit: Mangos!!!
18.Something You Throw Away: Match Sticks
19.Something You Shout: Merde (french - basically means "oh crap" - that's the polite version of course, heard my dad say this quite a few times growing up!)
20.Reason for being late for work: Morning Sickness (lol think i used that one a couple of times when i was pregers with jet!)

Now for the real tricky bit! Here's the people i tag:

Petula - Its a Womans World
Steph - Adventures in Babywearing
Drea - Fina Drea
Eilleen - Consumption Rebellion
April - A Day in the Life
Mel - Such Simple Pleasures

ill have to think of a couple more people to tag (trying not to tag the same people twice in a row!)

7 Things

I've been tagged by Its OK to be WEIRD.

Here are the rules:
Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 random / weird things about me:

1. Once when i was little i ate a whole bag of baby frozen carrots (while they were frozen) then threw them all back up - i can no longer eat baby frozen carrots!

2. I can touch my nose with my tongue

3. I put everything off to the last minute, once at college i wrote an 11,000 word assignment in 24 hours (i had all the research done but hadn't written one word before then). Rocky was doing the same course, he started his assignment 6 months before & we both got the exact same mark.

4. The toe next to by big toe is bigger than my big toe.

5. My nose has a button, that sounds weird i know, but if you push the end of it on the left side it feels like your pressing a button, theres this little thing inside that clicks...or something.

6. My husband reckons that when im pissed of i do a little head wobble thing, im not conscious of it at all & dont know how to duplicate it.

7. I have a special talent, i can ask someone for directions, listen intently & nod while they are telling me where to go, then completely forget everything 3 seconds later.

Ok, thats all the weird things about me for now. Now who should i tag? Bwahahahahahaha

I tag:

April from A day in the Life

Hayley from A Blog in Progress

Jennifer from The Life of a School Bus Driver

Mel from Such Simple Pleasures

Carrie from Rantings of a Woman

Loren from Musings at Windyridge

Lisa from Life on the Moon

I cant wait to get to know a bit more & here some weird & wacky stuff from all of you!!! if you dont want to do it let me know & ill nominate someone else & leave a comment once its done & ill make a note of it next to your name with the post so people know where to go to read it.

Award

I have received another award from the generous, wonderful, amazing Carrie from Rantings of a Woman - thank you so much Carrie you are soooo sweet!

I would like to pass this award onto the following people:

Petula from Its a Womans World
Chervil from Green Living
Kirsty from Gobblers Run

Hope you like your awards! They are very well deserved :D


Dont forget about my competition to win $50 - the odds are pretty good at the moment, theres only about 15 entries! if you want to know more click here

Knitted Pressie for my Cousins New Baby

My cousin & his wife just have a brand new baby boy & my parents will be going to visit them early next week so ive made something for him:

The hat & booties are from a pattern book i got from lincraft for free cause i bought way to much yarn & the other one is another Joe the Caterpillar.

I dont have any bubs around to try them on to see if they are ok so im just hoping for the best!

Just as a side note, while i was cropping the pics etc to put in here & typing out the message i looked over at the window & what was my cheeky little monkey up to? He climbed onto the couch, then up onto the very top of it & was playing with the window. The couch cushions are on the floor since hes been up & down on the couch all day & he hasn't really figured out the down bit too well - thought he could use some padding!

Video's & More Awards

Thought id share a couple of vids ive made of Jet over the past few days -

Heres one of him getting up to mischief:

& here he is walking on his walker - wont be long now!

Do babies normally climb before they walk? He's climbing on everything at the moment, climbs up onto the bed, the coffee table, the couch, the stairs - little bugger!!!

Awards

The wonderful Petula from Its a Woman's World has given me two more awards - Thanks Petula, i feel so special!!!


This one i would like to pass onto:

Tracy from Mad Quilter

Donna from Cinderella's Stash

& even though she's already got one -

Jennifer from The Life of a School Bus Driver

This award id like to pass onto:

Elina from Mom 2 BB Reviews

Hope everyone enjoys their awards - i know i do :)

Awards for Me? Owwww Shucks!

I feel so special! Carrie from Rantings of a Woman has given me my very first awards - two of them!!! Thanks sooooo much Carrie :D

Here are the awards & who i have chosen to pass them onto:

How cute is this award! Ive chosen three very special people to send this one onto, so without further adieu:

April from A Day in the Life
Hayley from A Blog in Progress &
Drea from Fina Drea

This award i choose to pass onto three blogs that i love & frequent regularly:

Adventures in Babywearing - Musings at Windyridge &
Such Simple Pleasures

Congratulations lovely ladies - i hope you like them!!!

Twins In Cloth Custom - How Lucky Am I!

Back when the Great Down Under Nappy Hunt was on i entered a comp on the Twins in Cloth website, you just had to fill in a survey about cloth nappies & you went in the draw to win a custom Twins in Cloth nappy. Well...i didnt win any nappies in the GDUNH - but i did win the custom!

Being as indecisive as i am in couldn't decide what i wanted, so i gave Julie a couple of ideas about what i like & this is what she came up with (from left to right - front, back, inner):



I love it! its absolutely fantastic! Its got 3 layers of bamboo fleece sewn in the nappy & a lay in booster with another 2 layers of bamboo fleece & 1 layer of suede cloth. Its my first front snapper (well, i do have one NB fitted front snapping nappy, but thats beside the point!) & its so trim! Heres some action shots:How cute is it?!? I love it soooooooo much - THANKS JULIE!!!

If you want a fantastic nappy like this one then make sure you check out the Twins in Cloth website (current stock is here while website renovations are taking place) they have other stuff to, so go on - have a look!

Growing an Avocado Plant from a Seed

Im so proud of myself - for once im actually doing the opposite of killing a plant (im not exactly known for my green thumb). I go through fazes with food, i get fixed on one thing i just have to have & at the moment its avocados. As a result we have stacks of avocado seeds, so instead of putting them in the compost i decided i was going to attempt growing an avocado tree. So a couple of months ago i did some research & came up with two ways to germinate an avocado seed.

The first way is to stick 4 toothpicks into the seed about half way up, then place it on top of a jar & fill it with water so the bottom quarter of the seed is covered. The seed needs to be pointy side up (so the broad side is on the bottom).

The second way is to put the seed pointy side up in a pot with gravel in the bottom & soil in the top (so it drains well). Then make sure the top quarter of the seed is sticking out of the soil.

I attempted both of these methods, i got a big pot & stuck 3 seeds in it & put it just outside our front door & i put two seeds in water on our window sill. I watched them for one month, then two, then three & nothing happened. I might have gotten rid of them & just stuck them in the compost if i wasn't so lazy - so i just left them there ;)

When we came back from holidays i got the most wonderful surprise. Two of my seeds had sprouted. One in the pot & one in the water. The one in the water only has a root out the bottom so far though, nothing out the top. Here's some pics:


The poor little pot plant one got snapped at Jets party *sob*, its snapped almost the whole way through but it still looks as though the leaves have grown & opened out more since then so hopefully it will be ok.

Im so proud of my little plants. My plan is to plant two in our backyard then grow a stack more to take up to Rocky's parents farm to plant an orchid of them - lol!

If anyone wants any more info on growing avocado trees from seeds check out this link they have lots of great info on their.

What's Your True Color?

I found this quiz over at The Life of a School Bus Driver so i thought id give it a shot. Heres what i got:

You're green, the color of growth and vigor. Good-hearted and giving, you have a knack for finding and bringing out the best in people. Green is the most down-to-earth color in the spectrum — reliable and trustworthy. People know they can count on you to be around in times of need, since your concern for people is genuine and sincere. You take pride in being a good friend. For you, success is measured in terms of personal achievement and growth, not by status or position. Rare as emeralds, greens are wonderful, natural people. It truly is your color!

So what colour are you?

Movember Update

Well Movember is half over so i thought id give you an update on how Rocky is doing. Here is a pic of him sporting his wonderful (i cant wait till movember is over!) moe:lol - looks like a mug shot. Is it just me or do moe's just seem to make people look weird/creepy? So far he has managed to raise $195 for mens health! Thanks very much to April from A Day in the Life for your contribution!!! If anyone would like to sponsor him you can either do it directly through the Movember website by credit card or you can donate via pay pal through the Chip In button on my side bar.

Jets First Birthday Party

We had Jets first birthday party today, he wont actually be one for almost another month but my parents will be overseas then so we decided to have his party early. He was a bit grumpy & overwhelmed by all the people, but he went to sleep easily for once tonight!!! He had his first lolly (not sure where he got it from but when i saw it in his mouth he chewed it up & swallowed it quick smart) & some chocolate crackle (which his naughty grandma gave him!).

Here's a pic of him just before we sang happy birthday, he totally cracked it once we started singing!We were also lucky enough to have Jets uncle Larso back with us, he has been overseas since i was about 3 months pregnant or something so he only met Jet for the first time a couple of weeks ago. His fabulous girlfriend KC flew in a couple of days ago so its been wonderful getting to know her to. Can you tell they are brothers? This is Rocky's cousin Corrie, the pics in here cause i made her a head thing with the calorimetry pattern & told her she had to pose for a pic so i could show you guys, not that you can see much of it, but i think it looked great!
This was jets fantastic cake, no it wasn't made by me *shock horror*, i figured Jet deserves one beautifully crafted cake in his life time & a family friend offered to make it (she is just fantastic at making novelty cakes - she did our wedding cake to, a sand castle - was so cute!):We had a great day, as always there was way to much food though!

Want to win $50?

Yep, you read right! I am giving away $50 (USD). Why you ask? Well, this money is purely money ive earned doing paid posts & in order to get more paid posts i need to increase my google page rank. So in an effort to do that im puting a competiton on here - got to spend money to make money right?

First off let me say that you absolutly have to have a pay pal account to enter this comp, payment will ONLY be made via pay pal. You also need to have a blog - but thats it.

So what do you have to do to enter? Two things - First write a short post linking to my main page http://www.melinanutshell.com/ including info on this competition. Then stick my cute little badge somewhere on your site, heres the code:

<br/><a href=" http://www.melinanutshell.com/"><img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a170/DreaWd/TouchedPhotography/melbutton.jpg" /></a><br/><br/>

After youve done that leave a comment here so i know youve entered, please leave a link to the blog you are using in the comment too. This comp will run for one month, finishing on the 13th of December 07. On the 15th of December ill allocate everyone numbers thats entered & draw a number out of the hat then notify the winner. ill also make a note below when the competition has closed.

For anyone thats interested in paid posts it really does work. You can click the button on my nav bar that says paid posts to see all the ones ive done - my total earnings (that is actually in my account) so far is $100.21 (USD) & ive been going for just under two months(ish). If your interested in giving it a go click the button below, theres nothing to loose & just for signing up you get to do a $20 post!!!

**THIS COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED**

The winner is:

Carrie from Rantings of a Woman - Congrats Carrie!!!

Jet, Joe & Picky Pants

As promised (for once) here are some shots of Jet & Joe hangin out, Jets also wearing his matching picky pants (cause everyone needs pants with a matching caterpillar!). Look how clever my little boy is, he can stand up without anything around him, think he's been doing it a week or so now, im pretty sure he started while we were on holidays. I guess that means life is about to get more tiring cause people are telling me he is probably going to start walking in a couple of weeks.I highly recommend Joe as a toy for kids, Jet absolutely loves him. Cause he is long & bulby he can fling him round everywhere & try & bit his tail, head or antennae off (what ever he is in the mood for).
Think im going to have to make another Joe for my cousuns new little bub! He is so quick & easy to make & such a great toy!!!

Meet Joe...

He is a friendly caterpillar & my latest knitting project! Isn't he cute!!! At first i thought he was going to be really hard to make, you have to just cast on 4 stitches then spread them over 3 or 4 double pointed needles which i found really tricky, but once you get going he is really quite simple to make & so much fun!

Jet & Joe get on really well already, although Jet does love to grab Joe by the head & whack stuff with him & he loves biting his tail. Ill take some pics of them playing together tomorrow - maybe ill even stick jet in his matching picky pants, but for now here's some more shots of Joe just lazin around:
If you want to make your own Joe the Caterpillar click here for the pattern.

We're Back!!!

Yep, we made it back alive...few! We didn't make it camping the whole time though, i think it was 5 nights in total that we spent on two different islands. In the end the march flies got the best of us, there were stacks of them & they are massive, they leave you bleeding after they bite too!!! It was absolutely beautiful on the islands though. The second island we had all to ourselves & the snorkeling was fantastic, i only went out once due to my paranoia of massive sharks eating me. Cause it was just the two of us & Jet there only one of us could snorkel at once & i wasn't going to go out by myself, but some people showed up on a boat on one of the days so i went out when they were there. Rocky got to see a turtle & a ray while he was snorkeling - lucky duck! After we left the islands we went back to a caravan park & stayed in a very nice, clean, comfortable cabin.

Here's some pics:
Me in my stinger suit carrying jet in the ergo (attempting to take a photo of us myself): Me trying to be creative:

Rock & Jet on a 9km bush walk we went on to another beach that looked pretty much the same as the one we were staying on, great walk though:
Cute pic of my boys: This is a pic of a REAL great white shark, yep, you might not believe me but it is real...its just that its frozen. Some guy has a museum with a massive 18 foot great white shark & a huge room filled with all the shark attack newspaper clippings ever! Luckily we went here after we came back from the islands & not before - don't think i would have gone snorkeling other wise:

Me breastfeeding jet at sunset:

Us trying to get the sun in between our lips while kissing, very hard when your taking the pic yourself: Us again:

Another Breastfeeding pic:
Jets foot:

Jet playing with sand:
The dirty big march flies that kept stinging us:

Another creative pic:
Jet & Rock just hangin around:

Me & Jet - I knitted the head thing while we were away (well...started it before we left but finished it while we were away) its the calorimetry pattern:

All in all it was a fantastic trip, i am glad to be back though! Now to get through the tun of washing!!! We used cloth the whole trip by the way. Just flats during the day & Bamboo Baby Behinds at night, worked really well!