Monday, February 20, 2012

Madeit Monday......Pretty Cushions.

We recently purchased a new lounge - cream leather, it certainly beats the old navy cord fabric one we have had since pre - 10 year old twin days. Now I have a blank canvas to work with I have been eyeing off gorgeous fabrics to send off to the beautiful Tania from Chicken Ink Creative to work her magic.  Madeit is also full off delightful cushions....now if I could just pick a fabric !!


Carnival Collection Cushion Cover Teafor Evie $20



Melbourne South Eastern Suburbs Cushion Laurag $27

Gorgeous Vintage Cushion cocoandmilo $40

Trio of Designer Cushions Nilly Designs $70


Amy Butler Cushion HenriettaandMorty $29.95



Hope you enjoy our madeit Monday picks.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

10 years old......on the other side of the creek.

The challenges of creating a fun filled day and designer decorated cakes seemed a bit overwhelming when we were flooded in.  And it was a significant birthday at that, the big 10 ! (Personally I think we needed the party to celebrate surviving 10 years and creating 2 fearlessly determined yet oh so beautiful and loving kids :) ) However despite the fact the kids didn't get to see their friends on their birthday they still had a great day and we managed to come up with some pretty good cakes too :)
Maddy's specifications were pretty and pink.........





and I think we delivered ???



Whereas Tom was more concerned with what we were going to have for dessert...hence his requests for an icecream cake !



Complete with chocolate volcano mound !


Happy 10th birthday to our beautiful kids. And thanks for the creative present ideas - the How To Train Your Dragon Stage Show tickets were very cool !


Monday, February 13, 2012

Madeit Monday - For the Teachers

Here is my attempt at trying to get back on track for our Madeit Monday blog.
This blog post is dedicated to all the teachers who are back at work, hope these madeit finds brighten up your day.  We are really struggling in our home distance education classroom due to the introduction of the new Australian curriculum.  Please bear with us as we try to navigate this bumpy road and try to stay sane :)

This year in our classrooms Angie has a Year 1 and Year 4 and Kristy has 2 Year 5's, while we adjust to the changes our new papers have delivered we are spending the majority of our working week in the classroom which unfortunately leaves little time for our other commitments.  The floodwater is still over our little footbridge so the madeit store will be closed until we can get regular access to our rural postage service.

Personalised Monster Stickers SYMMIE $8

Funky Photo Board LIGHTUPMYLIFE $20


Pencilcase COTTONETTE $14.50


Personalised Notepad DANILUDESIGNS $15


Teachers Rule Magnets ISZLE $9


Ipad Sleeve KIKAYDESIGNS $45

Happy madeit shopping, we would love to hear about your handmade purchases :)


Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Yes we still blog :)

Welcome back to the AnK Blog, you may have thought we had dropped off the end of the blogging sphere ! However we have returned.  We are currently flooded in here at AnK headquarters, not unusual for this time of year however it is the MOST water we have ever seen flowing through our property. Apparently not as much as the big flood of 1990 but certainly higher than 2008 and 2010/11.  Our little town of Alpha was also unlucky enough to be inundated with floodwater, yet again.  It has only been 13 months since the last flood.

Alpha Saturday 4/2/12 - Photo by Lee Clews
























Alpha was lucky (??) enough to be forewarned about the water, many people in south west QLD are currently not as lucky. Still there will be a huge cleanup, stock and infrastructure losses and many graziers and small businesses will be counting the costs of the 'flood of 2012'.  In our area we are usually the first to be flooded in and the last to be able to get out. This is what our creek crossing looks like when there is no water in it. Although we haven't seen it like this for over 2 years.



Our Creek Crossing

To the left of the road crossing we have a footbridge which enables us to cross approximately 2 metres of water, handy when we can't drive out to get essential supply, school mail and AnK parcels.



The Footbridge

 We can safely use the 4 wheeler motorbikes on it as well and Mr AnK built a trailer to tow behind to cart luggage, groceries etc


Creek Crossing 4/2/12

 This is our creek crossing before the current flood peaked.  Note the white tree trunk above and compare it to the tree trunk in the empty creek photo.



Creek Crossing 5/2/12

By the next day we couldn't even get as close as the day before.
With the flood water comes lots of damage - fences ripped apart, trees uprooted and carried upstream, sheds/yards/grids/gates all inundated with the swirling torrent of muddy water.

Yes it is inconveinant not being able to get out of home, but imagine this destructive scene as it passes through whole townships full of houses and peoples possessions.  Mother nature at it's worst and best all in one.  We need the rain to grow the grass to fatten our cattle, if only we could control the when and how much part.



Saddle Shed

Our Cattle Yards

The Cattle Yards - normally 5 rails high.









We are patiently waiting for the water to recede to assess the damage.
Roads are still closed in our area as the backed up water that had nowhere to go continues to siphon into the creek system.  All of our water flows into the Belyando River and then into the Burdekin Dam.

During the flood crisis we were fortunate enough to have a visit from Cody and Betty.


Cody from Action Helicopters & his little chopper 'Betty'



Cody & Mr AnK

Cody took Mr AnK up to check out the cattle and make sure they weren't in any trouble.
Mr AnK managed to get some photos which were shown on the 7 news.

Companion Creek Alpha



Cattle on their 'island' before the peak.

We are very grateful to Cody for helping us to keep tabs on the water, he did an amazing job and even took Miss M and Master T up for a ride for their 10th birthday (but that's another blog )

It will be some time before we can operate again as AnK, please bear with us during this time xxoo