Deb's Daily Journal

Flat out

2012-02-08T22:21:00.000+10:00

Very hectic here right now, in full renovation mode... House contents are mostly outside and we have had major works undertaken and still being done....will catch my breath soon hopefully and have time to blog about the progress....updates are on the way.....

Guinea Fowl Crystal Sexing

2012-01-28T21:44:00.001+10:00

Kasey and I did the sexing test of the guinea fowl keets today, by holding a string with a crystal over each one, to see if it went in a circular or back and forth motion. According to this test, we have 2 boys and 4 girls, so we will see how accurate this test is once they grow up a little bit more. The girls definitely seem quieter and more petite than the boys, so it will be interesting to see how this goes. The boys carry on much more when picked up, whereas the girls are happy to just be held quietly...they have grown up so much in just a couple of weeks, they would be double and in some cases triple the size they were when bought home.

Rained out...

2012-01-25T09:18:00.000+10:00

We have had a LOT of rain here over the last 24 hours, with more to come today they are saying...not as heavy as it has been though....

(Our car parking area at home...hmmm...just a bit of water!)

Damian has been rained out up at the property, so no slab pouring this weekend unfortunately...so as long as they can get out, they will be heading back home today. It's my birthday today, so I hope they can get home...Damian is probably sorta hoping that they don't get back today, otherwise he will probably have to organise a pressie..hehehe... :o sooo...I am heading out this morning to have my haircut, and then I am going to go and have a relaxing morning at the shops....just me, so I can wander around at my leisure. There is nothing I am really going to buy, but I do love to get in to Loot and the homeware shops, and I may go and do a little opshopping as well...and take myself out to lunch....a good day coming up... :)

Silent Nagging...

2012-01-24T14:37:00.001+10:00

Damian and Michael have headed up to the property today... they have gone up to prep the slab for the shed, which, depending on the weather, will be poured this weekend. If the rain up there is as heavy as it has been down here, then it may have to be put off, as I'm not sure we could get trucks in! So, I did my housework this morning, and then because the day has been very heavy rain, I got a little bit crafty. I was looking at signs similar to this on ebay, and was nearly going to buy them, until I remembered my digital scrapbooking program, and decided I would make my own. This is the first one I have finished, and it has come up a treat.

I have now hung it in the loo, as ~~silent nagging~~ a gentle "reminder". I have also made some up for the bathroom, laundry and kitchen, so I am hoping it reminds my darling children to bloody well clean up after themselves :) I need to find some more frames or display ideas for the rest of the signs I have made, and then I will post some photos once I have done them. Got to go and set up the sewing machine now to do some embroidery for a friend that she has been waiting on since before Xmas....

Decluttering and Baking

2012-01-22T22:19:00.001+10:00

I have had a busy couple of days. I was so sick of trying to scrounge my way through some of the kitchen cupboards and drawers to find things, I just started on one of my big pot drawers with all of the baking trays, as I just updated my baking trays as my old ones were looking really grungy, and then it just sort of steam rolled from there...before I knew it, my car was full of kitchen appliances, old plastics, trays, etc etc, but I can actually find things in there now...so I donated it all to the charity store, and on Saturday night I completely overhauled the linen cupboard, because I was sick of chucking the towels and linen in the cupboard and quickly shutting the doors so things would stay in there...so now we only have about a dozen towels, teatowels and washers, and a few sets of sheets, etc, but still absolutely plenty of linen. Getting the cupboards re-done will be on the agenda very shortly, as they all need to be re-shelved, so I wanted to cull the contents down as much as possible, so that it's easier when I have to empty them all out to paint, before getting the new shelving put in, and the new doors on. The excess linen absolutely filled the entire back of my car to the brim....but looks so much better now. I spent the weekend using up some of the produce in the freezer, and made up 5 1/2 kilos of pasta sauce base out of the home grown tomatoes from last season

It is now all in the deep freeze. I also used up the rhubarb from last season, and made up 2 rhubarb crumbles,

These are extremely yummy, especially with some home made custard, I also made up some rhubarb muffins, but they ended up way too moist in the centre, so I gave them to the chooks, so will change the recipe a little as they would have been really yummy if a bit lighter in the middle. I also made up some banana chocolate muffins, and these got the thumbs up from Kasey

So, we will be back up at the property later in the week, Damian should be going up Tuesday to get the machines in to prep for the slab for the shed, and they are going to pour the slab next Saturday. The cattle sales will be on the Monday, but it will depend on a few things whether we will be able to get cattle this time around, as we need to be on the property for a least a few days after we get them to keep them in the yards and feed them etc, so I am not sure whether we can manage that with school starting back tomorrow. Kasey is so excited, she went to bed nearly on time, and has her bag packed and her school clothes out already, so I am nice and inspired to make her a nice healthy, yummy lunch in the morning, and then take her and settle her in for her first day in grade 3. So, probably another busy week coming up, I have to finish a baby blanket for a friend, so I will need to pull the sewing machine back out and get that done, and a few wedding preservations to finish off to get those out the door, and then I am going to only take on very limited wedding work for the rest of the year while we are working out the new property and travelling back and forth between here and there. So, a very productive weekend, and it looks like some more rain coming our way this week, which will be great for the gardens.

Homemade Deodorant

2012-01-21T09:57:00.000+10:00

I made up some home made deodorant about a week ago, and have been using it since. It works really well, and is so easy to make. It has a nice teatree oil smell, which smells the same as an all natural deodorant I was using a few months back, but this homemade one seems to work better. I already had all of the ingredients here, and it only took a couple of minutes to make. I think I will try and buy some deodorant rollon applicator bottles for future batches but it is quite fine to use the way it is, I just put a small amount on my fingertip and apply this way. This deodorant is all natural, and contains no chemicals or aluminium etc, so much better for me. It also allows your underarms to naturally sweat if needed, to sweat out toxins in your body, which is our bodies natural defence at getting rid of some of the bad toxins in our systems, but perspiration has not increased for me since using this, and there has definitely been no odour so it seems to be working really well. I will be making this again.

Recipe
Homemade Deodorant

(Makes just over 1/2 cup)
1/4 Cup baking soda
1/4 Cup cornflour
5 - 6 Tablespoons coconut oil
Tea Tree Oil (optional)
Combine the baking soda and cornflour, then work in the coconut oil. I used my mixer to incorporate the two until well combined.
If desired, add tea tree oil (anywhere from 5 - 20 drops) which has natural antibacterial qualities.
Also, if your room is warm, the oil might liquify a little, so move it to the refrigerator if necessary or a cooler room.
To use: Rub a small amount on underarms.

Guinea Fowl

2012-01-16T20:42:00.001+10:00

After having a few run ins with snakes here the last few months, we have been looking for ways to try and "encourage" them to not hang around here. I was wanting to get some guinea fowl here last year, and have been looking at them intermittently since early last year. Apparently they were very popular among the early pioneers as they are fairly self sufficient as far as foraging for food, and like to free range and their eggs are apparently delicious. They help keep insects and ticks under control, and sound an alarm when there is something around that is out of the normal. They are also known to circle around snakes and make a racket and their noise and carry on can drive the snakes away. They have been known to kill small snakes, and the people I picked up the baby guinea fowl from, said that theirs killed a brown snake about a metre long at the front of their property only a couple of weeks ago. While I am not wanting them to be wrangling with snakes, I would be very happy if they can help keep the snakes away from the house and chook areas. So, I picked up 6 little keets (Baby guinea fowl) yesterday, and have set them up in a brooder cage until they are big enough to go into the chicken tractor, and then I will move them to the chook pen when they are big enough. Guinea fowl are known to wander and try to find "home" if they are not kept in their roosting area for a long enough period of time, I have read that keeping them locked up in their roosting area for 6 weeks will keep them coming home to roost each night, and considering their roosting area as their home. I hope so anyway, and we will hopefully be able to breed more to take up to the property with us, as we will definitely need more than 6 on the big property. They are also great at keeping bugs out of the vegie garden, as they are known to not scratch up your seedlings and vegies, they are just interested in the bugs on the leaves, and will just pick those off (hopefully). So, the little babies seem quite happy at the moment, and they are so funny at following each other around, where one goes, they all quickly follow....very entertaining..I have purchased 3 of the lavender, which are the normal grey ones, and 3 pearl pied, which are the browner ones pictured with the white chests.

Clearing up and continuing on with the renovations...

2012-01-11T21:04:00.002+10:00

Things have been pretty busy since we got back from the property. We spent an afternoon up the back completely clearing up the chook pen area. We cleared out a few bits and pieces, lifted up the sheet metal, pulled about a foot of beautiful compost off the ground in the chook pen and added to our compost pile, and refilled the chook pen with some sugar cane mulch, to keep them happy and dry. Damian rotary hoed some of the back area along the fence line, so I can plant the pumpkin vines along there instead of taking up precious room in the vegie garden. We have spent the last couple of days painting the office, the painting is now finished, and we went out yesterday and purchased the new desks etc to finish the renovation in there. Damian is going to try and fit all of that tomorrow, and then we can move our office supplies back in there, and finally get all of the stuff off the pool table, and reclaim our bedroom.

(Our newly plastered, tiled, painted and refurnished office...light, clean, airy and spacious)

This afternoon I spent some time in the vegie garden, I grabbed some seedlings today as I haven't had the time to pot up any seeds, so I planted some lettuce, radish, corn, rockmelon, zucchini, watermelon, marigold, sunflowers, cucumber and pumpkin. With all of the heat that we've had lately, the weeds have taken off a bit in there, but I pulled some up today, and will spray the others with vinegar and remulch those areas after that. We may possibly head back up to the property this weekend as the cattle sales are on up there on Monday, but we haven't fully made up our minds yet, we may leave it to next month yet. While we were away, I asked Toni to take the eggs off the clucky hen as it had been 29 days since she sat, and none of the remaining 11 eggs hatched, which is really disappointing. I havecontacted the seller of the fertile eggs to let her know that the eggs were infertile, poor Toni copped a couple of them exploding on her, she says that she has never smelled anything so vile. So, that's the update for the moment.

More work on the farm...

2012-01-07T16:20:00.003+10:00

Day 1: Have arrived up back up to the property today after Xmas. The water tank was dropped off at the gully as the truck couldn't get through it, so we will pick it up tomorrow on the truck. Everything looks fine, caravan is good, we have a load of gravel coming in this avo which we will get the machine to push in the morning so the other truck can get through with the septic tank. Tomorrow the septic tank and trenches will be done, and the water tank installed and a load of water coming in.
Day 2: The septic tank was installed today as was the water tank. It was a very hot day, about 32 degrees...we had an excavator and a bobcat here. The water truck arrived late this afternoon to fill up the tank, so we now have water.

(Digging The Trench)

(Site Supervisor)

( Damian on the excavator)

(Filling the septic tank with water)

(Filling the water tank with water)

(Damian and Max relaxing after a busy, hot day)

Day 3: The machines finished up here this morning, doing the last bit of backfilling and boring the holes for the toilet block and some fruit trees. Damian concreted in the posts for the toilet block and I planted the few fruit trees we brought up with us. We started to put up the toilet block today. The previous owner Jimmy turned up and gave us a few papers etc relevant to the property. Rick and Marina turned up with our quad, and Rick then helped Damian finish putting up the toilet block and to sheet it. It looks fantastic.

Damian got up early this morning and installed the toilet. We now have a flushing toilet!!

Ann and Dennis arrived this afternoon, and will spend New Years Eve here. It was a fairly quiet night, and we were in bed by about 11pm.
Day 8: We have spent the last couple of days a bit more relaxed. Today we went into Bundaberg to look at quads and tractors, and had lunch in Bargara. We stopped at the hardware on the way home and bought a push mower to mow the orchard, then called in to Gin Gin on the way home and did a load of washing. When we got back we mowed to orchard, it looks really good now.

Tomorrow we will spray around the outer base of the trees to repel the weeds and then use the grass cuttings to mulch around the trees, to retain the moisture while we are back at home and not giving them a regular watering, and then we will head back home the following day.

The Brown Snake

2012-01-07T11:38:00.000+10:00

We got a phone call from Toni while were up at the property, to tell us there was a snake under the sheet metal up at the chook house. She was lifting up to see if there were any rats under there to still get rid of. No rats, but there was this instead.

It has been identified as a brown snake by the snake catcher, but when he came to relocate it, the snake was nowhere to be seen. If it comes back, he will come and get it. While I am terrified of snakes, well venemous ones anyway, there doesn't appear to be any rats or mice up at the chook pen anymore, which is good, he has obviously had a very good feed as there were heaps. We are now just waiting to see if it comes back, and being extra, extra careful when we are up at the chook house, and if it does come back, we will get the snake catcher back. I am concerned about the dogs and about Kasey, and I have forbidden Kasey from playing up there at the moment until we sort it all out. We found another little black "snake" up there yesterday in the compost pile, but on closer inspection it turned out to be a legless lizard, we could see his little legs about an inch behind his head, so we put him back in the compost pile to go about his business. I am going to purchase one of those electric rat traps to try and keep any further rats at bay, to avoid any more snakes from taking up residence.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T21:18:00.001+10:00

Well Christmas is done and dusted in our household for another year. It was a very rushed downhill run into Christmas, and I didn't manage to get everything finished that I would have liked to, but anyway, it all worked out well. Kasey was tapping me awake at 5.30 this morning, and she was happy to watch tv for a while until we got up about 6.30. It was actually funny, as we decided this year to give Kasey more worthwhile presents, instead of lots of little things that don't get used. So we had a word with Santa, and asked him to not give Kasey so much this year, and as I walked out this morning Kasey turned to me and motioned to the smaller pile of presents from Santa and said..."that's it...that's all I got..." with a very unimpressed look on her face...however, she was actually totally fine with it, and has received more than enough from both Santa, us, her brother and sister, and her aunts, uncles and grandparents, cousins etc, and has gone off to sleep tonight tired but happy, and not overwhelmed by too many things....which has been great, as she has been so easy to get along with today, unlike previous years where she has had a meltdown as the day has worn on.
Unfortunately, the day has not been all great, when we got home I went up to check the clucky hen, who had 1 baby chick 2 days ago, and still has 10 eggs under her to hatch, to find the baby chick gone....we don't know where it has ended up, but my thought is that a rat has taken it..we have a big rat plague problem here at the moment. We pulled up some metal sheets that were on the ground, and the dogs got about another six or so rats this afternoon, but there is still lots more up there to get.....I have managed to move the clucky hen this afternoon into the protected large cage which a rat would not hopefully be able to get in to, it only has spaces about 10mm wide, so I am hoping that will protect any new hatchings from them...I don't know if we are going to get anymore to hatch or not, as there has been no more since 2 days ago when they were due...we will see what happens over the next few days, but it's not looking really good at this point, and may have been a futile exercise both for the hen and for us. Disappointing....
Damian and Kasey are both asleep, and all presents have been put away, and the washing is on and the house is tidy, all rubbish from today has been boxed up ready to go to the tip, so I will be heading to bed soon. We need to pack tomorrow as we will be heading back up to the property on Tuesday for a week or so, hopefully there hasn't been too much rain up there at the moment, so we can get the gully in the access road fixed so that delivery trucks can get in and deliver the supplies for the septic to be installed. Damian has built a fantastic little flatpacked bathroom which will have a flushing toilet and a shower etc, to make it much easier for when we stay for extended periods, or for when we have visitors to the property. We are really looking forward to it. Michael and Toni are staying behind, and will look after things here for us, and monitor any new babies that may be born up at the chookhouse and relocate them to the chicken tractor once it is safe to do so

Our new adventure

2011-12-21T09:12:00.001+10:00

So, it's now official. We now own 152 acres of property about 4 hours north of where we are now, near Bundaberg. We spent our first weekend on the property last weekend, and will be heading up again after boxing day for a week or 2. It's just land, no house, so a big clean slate. We already have lots of plans for when we head back up, and we are getting a big water tank and toilet and shower shed put up while we are up there next. Currently we stay in our van when there, overlooking the mountains...lovely. Lots of new adventures waiting for us...

The property is a good mix of flat areas and undulating areas, and lots of waterholes and gullies for building more dams if we want. The view over the mountains is gorgeous. Friends camped with us on the property over the weekend and their 2 boys and Kasey went exploring and played in the trees all weekend, poor Kasey was absolutely stuffed! This was about 5 minutes after leaving the property on Monday....

There is a large amount of timber just sitting around the property which will need to be pushed up and tidied up, but we won't be short of firewood for a very long time! At this stage we are looking at building a house over the next 12 months or so, but that will all pan out as we have the time to do it.

My Christmas shirt

2011-12-14T13:36:00.000+10:00

I have finally gotten around to finishing my Xmas t-shirt off.

I have been so busy trying to get the embroidery done on the patchwork quilt I am making, that it has taken precedence over everything else. I am hoping to get the quilt finished to hand stitching the binding on tonight, but that will depend on how I'm feeling after Kasey goes to bed tonight.Then I will have the accessories to finish off....oh...and her desk to paint :S..... I have most of the gift wrapping done on most things, so that's all sorted. Just got to sort out where will actually be on Christmas day so I know what food to organise, whether we will be here, or whether we will go to Damian's family for the day. I would love to just settle here for the day, but I know Damian would like to catch up with his family...so he can make the final decision on that one I think. Anyway, off to meet up with a friend for afternoon tea, and then back to work with finishing things off...

I'm my own worst enemy...

2011-12-13T22:07:00.001+10:00

Next time I decide I'm gonna make a full patchwork quilt, cushions, pillowcases etc for a certain little girl 3 weeks out of Christmas, someone slap me....I'm over it....

Baby bird

2011-12-09T13:20:00.001+10:00

I just found a baby bird in the greenhouse. Lucky I found it before the dogs did. I have no idea what sort of bird it is though, it just seems just a little too young to be able to fly yet, but is uninjured. I rang Australia Zoo and they suggested I put it up in a tree out of harms way, as the parents will normally be around watching it. So I did that, and some mynah birds were feeding it and looking after it, so I have just left them to it, as all seems well. One of the mynah birds had the telltale yellow on it's beak, and the other one didn't, it looked like a grown up version of the baby.

Another Xmas t-shirt

2011-12-08T21:49:00.001+10:00

This one is for Toni...she saw me making Kasey one and put in her request for one for herself. I have another t-shirt to do for myself as well, so all of us girls will be sort of matching on Xmas Day

I purchased this nifty little mannequin today from Overflow, I saw them there a few weeks back, and was tossing up whether or not to get one, but they come in so handy. It isn't an adjustable one, but it will allow me to get the idea on how something is going to look so I can bring all of the colours together nicely and be able to stand back and get a good look at the project I am working on. Kasey finished school for the year today, so sleep in tomorrow....yay....

Camembert, books and crafts

2011-12-07T16:31:00.001+10:00

My camembert cheese from my course at the end of October is maturing quite nicely. It has grown all of it's white mould, so now I have cryovaced it and it is in the fridge waiting to be eaten as a Christmas treat.

I have purchased myself a couple of books in the last couple of weeks. I saw this book today, and grabbed it. It is a huge book, a couple of inches thick, with so many old classic recipes in it.

I picked up this book at Spotlight a couple of weeks back, it is a lovely book with lots of lovely sewing projects for the home, but all are with a modern look.

I knitted up this scarf as a gift for my heartsister in Melbourne, as well as this lovely heart sachet, which I thought was apt for my heartsister. The heartsister idea is through the Simple Savings website, and we send a gift or card or thought to someone anonomously each month or so, and we receive something from someone else, and at the end of 12 months, we all reveal who we are a heartsister to. It's a nice way to make some new friends, sort of like a penpal, but a little different.

I managed to finish off the Christmas shopping today, which is great because Kasey finishes school tomorrow, and I didn't want to be traipsing around the shops trying to think with Kasey in tow. So now we can concentrate on doing fun things in the lead up to Christmas, and go to the movies and other Christmas time activities. So just need to finish the wrapping, and a few hand made things, and that's it. The shops were so busy as well, people absolutely everywhere, and it's only going to get worse, so I m glad I don't have any more shopping to do, other than grocery shopping.

Christmas planning coming together....

2011-12-06T09:49:00.003+10:00

Diesel is back home from the vet. He is fine apparently, his leg seems much better, so we just have to go through the long recovery process now. The Christmas tree was put up on the weekend, as well as the other decorations.

I have been trying to find Kasey a nice Christmas t-shirt for weeks now, and haven't been able to find anything in her size, or the messages on them have not been appropriate for a 7 year old girl. So I bought just a plain t-shirt, and embroidered it myself. The only request from Kasey was that she wanted a reindeer, so I am happy with the end result.

Managed to get a little more Xmas shopping done yesterday, so I am getting pretty well organised now. I have quite a large project underway for Kasey for Christmas though, so hopefully I can get that finished...might be a few late nights spent on that one. I have to go now and make a phonecall, I ordered Mum a subscription of Handmade magazine for Christmas, with the first issue to start in January so I could include the voucher in her Xmas present...they sent her the first one yesterday!! Not Happy Jan!! Luckily it is only part of her present, but I really expressed to them that it HAD to start in January, and they said, yes, yes, no problems, definitely won't start until January.... ok...off to get started on my very busy day....

Back to the vet

2011-12-04T23:05:00.001+10:00

Diesel has come up really lame in his left leg today...we have been keeping him extra quiet, so we are hoping it's just delayed from the surgery and not an infection. They have kept him in overnight to monitor him and the surgeon will check him tomorrow.

Diesel's operation

2011-12-03T09:18:00.002+10:00

Diesel had his surgery on Wednesday. He was meant to have it Tuesday, but a couple of emergencies came in, so they had to put him off another day. He is home with us now. He was very sore and stiff when we picked him up, but he is on pretty strong painkillers. He has spent a quiet night in the laundry, but he wants to keep walking around, and he's not allowed to for the next 10 days...hmmm...gonna be fun. Damian is bringing home some temporary fencing today, so we are going to make him up a penned off area half on the grass and half on the concrete so he can do his business when needed, but has to stay pretty quiet otherwise, as he can't run around with the other dogs for 6-8 weeks...it's gonna be a loooonnnggg time for Diesel.

2 days later: Diesel is full of energy and wants to run around with the other dogs. He has escaped numerous times, had half destroyed the laundry, and was doing himself more damage by clawing at the closed door when he was supposed to be keeping his legs fairly still, and chewing the trims off the walls, so I tied him up outside with the other dogs, and he quietened right down. Then we had to go out for a little while, and came back to Diesel running around with the other dogs, as they had all helped him to escape! We have built him a penned off area, and he keeps pushing under the fence, so we are now going to go and get some timber to nail it all down around the ground so he can't push under it. I think because they have removed all the spurs from his bones, he is feeling fantastic, but there is so much internal healing to do, that we really have to try and keep him quiet, but Diesel is not playing the game at the moment. So, he is inside with me, feeling very sorry for himself, watching the other dogs run around.

Weekend happenings

2011-11-27T21:50:00.001+10:00

On my way back from up north last weekend, I picked up a large tray of mangoes from a street market stall. Today I thought I would use some of them up, rather than them going to waste. I am in the process of making mango icecream with the thermomix, but I forgot the cream, so we will make it for dessert tomorrow night instead, it only takes a couple of minutes. But I did get the mango chutney made. And it is extremely yummy, it is a thermomix recipe, and has a nice bit of spice to it to make it tasty, but not hot, and this mixed with the sweetness of the mango and raisins, is yum.

I played around about a bit with my scrapbook max software, to do up the label, as I might make some for Xmas presents. We do have another clucky hen, one of the black australorp girls is sitting, so I will get her some fertile eggs this week, and allow her to hatch some out. She is so funny, if I feel under her, or speak to her while she is sitting, she carries on like there is no tomorrow, cackles away and won't be quiet for at least 5 minutes....I purchased a new chicken feeder as Damian hasn't had time to make the necessary adjustments to the one he made, and we have so many rats taking the chookseed, so I have finally been able to put the lid to the fully closed position today, and they are working it out, with a couple of the girls very confident in using it, and they are teaching the other girls at the same time. We have managed to dispatch of a few rats this weekend, they were nesting above the nesting box at the chook pen, so Damian took the dogs down there, and promptly got rid of quite a few, the dogs are so quick, and the job is done in a matter of a second, much more humane than baiting them and them having a long, slow death. We have to get them all gone, as I have been stressing about snakes, and nearly stood on a huge snake this morning, I don't know if it was a black or a brown, it looked like a brown snake to me, but some of the black snakes can look brown as well....whatever it was I want it GONE.....snakes absolutely creep me out, I am terrified of them....it took off towards next door pretty quickly, and the neighbours aren't helping by having grass 2 foot tall in their back yard, so I think we might have a word to them and ask them if they can keep the grass down, at least through summer when they are really moving about. So I will only be going down there with my gumboots on, and keeping a really good eye out from now on. We have seen more snakes here in the last 2 years, than we have seen in the previous 17 years here...ugh.....I shudder at the thought of them....Damian managed to get the skirting and arcitraves all done in the office today, and get it prepped for painting, so that will be next on the list. I have managed to get a few Christmas presents sorted over the last few days, so I am feeling much more organsied about that, even though I still have no idea what to get Damian, or Michael. Damian and I might even forego presents for each other this year, as we really don't need anything in particular...and we have a few other things happening during December and January which will more than make up for it. So, off to sewing class tomorrow to finish the project started last week, and to finish organising Toni's Xmas present. I have a busy week coming up, Diesel's surgery is Tuesday, I have a wedding on Thursday and the sewing club Xmas party on Friday night. After that, things should settle down though for the run in to Christmas, hopefully

Chook issues....

2011-11-23T11:16:00.000+10:00

Have lost 2 chickens today, Sam my rooster had to be put down as he had a huge tumour come up in his left eye, and it had actually destroyed his eye, the only option was surgery to remove his eye....as it was quite painful for him the only option was to put him to sleep, and another one of my black Australorp's had come down with something..not sure what, but she was on her last legs, so we had her put down at the same time. So, down to 8 hens, and 2 chicks. I am going to dose them all up on oxymav B which is an antibiotic, and try to get on top of anything that might be lurking around down there. Unfortunately, this is what happens when a new chicken comes in the the flock and brings an illness with them, it just goes through the whole lot, the last couple of years has just been awful for losing chickens....I am getting close to just getting rid of the whole lot and just starting again down the track....the rule of thumb of 1 in all in is probably a good one for control of not bringing in disease to an existing flock. I have got Diesel booked in for surgery on his front legs next week, just got to ring the pet insurance company now and hope that they will cover the surgery...

Some new adventures....

2011-11-21T19:45:00.000+10:00

Some new adventures are coming to fruition for us....things are still panning out...but very exciting times ahead!!

Catch up pictures...

2011-11-20T18:55:00.000+10:00

Mother and chicks, they are growing up fast!

I have re-mulched 1 side of the vegie garden, 1 side still to go

Corn is coming along nicely

Strawberries are starting to fruit - just a little

Garlic are ready to harvest - only tiny bulbs though

Broccoli

Potatoes coming along

Lots of eggplant fruiting at the moment

1 tiny capsicum starting to grow

Luffa's have been harvested

Silverbeet is looking good - the chooks love it!

Sage

Freshly mulched fruit trees - this is a fig tree, I am waiting for it to re-leaf

Diesel has a habit of sitting up right on his bottom - think he is crossed with a meerkat

Dogs and chickens enjoying the afternoon coolness after a very hot day

The naughty chickens unmulching my freshly mulched fruit trees !!

Catch up ramblings.....

2011-11-15T22:52:00.001+10:00

Suffering insomnia again quite badly at the moment...I had about 12 months of sleeping pretty well, and now I am back to having to take a sedative to get to sleep....very annoying...I have been very busy....as usual I know....have been and stayed with friends for a few days at Kolonga, I am heading back up there again on Thursday and staying the weekend as our van is up there, but will be heading back on Sunday so Kasey can be back for school on Monday. Was also away last weekend at Craig (nephew) and Erin's wedding...beautiful ceremony, and I also had wedding flowers to do for a wedding the following day... even though you don't "do" much at weddings, they do take it out of you! I am busily re-mulching the vegie garden at the moment to help it get through the heat we are experiencing here at the moment, I am doing a bit each day, so should have it completed by next week some time. I have been pulling out old plants, and doing a general tidy up, so it's ready for some new plantings soon as I get the time. The new chickens are growing up beautifully, nearly 3 weeks old now, they are starting to get proper looking feathers on their wings, won't be long and they won't look like cute little fluff balls anymore :( oh well....other than that, just the usual, I hope to get around to posting some photos soon from around the place, and catch up on a few posts I have in the wings still waiting to be published. In the vegie garden the eggplants have gone mad, the corn are coming along nicely, the garlic look like they are ready for picking, plenty of silverbeet that I am sharing with the chickens, ( I saw a recipe on simple savings for some silverbeet pesto which is apparently very nice, so might try and make some up) some lovely leeks, beetroot and a few herbs. Capsicum need a boost, as well as my chillies, as they aren't doing very well right now... comfrey finally seems to be taking off...broccoli and cabbages are growing nicely, but the heat will probably bolt the broccoli to seed...the sunflowers I planted didn't take, or the seeds where stolen by the birds, so I want to plant lots more of those, I love seeing these beautiful, happy flowers when I go down to the chook pen and the vegie garden. The last couple of days have been really hot here, with temps over 30, so it's back to early and late outside, and during the day inside...that's ok, might get some craft or sewing done, or may actually get some Xmas pressies done...anyway, my eyes are finally starting to feel heavy, so I will sign off here for tonight, and try and get some visual photos up soon to go with all of my ramblings... :)

Cheesemaking

2011-11-02T11:40:00.000+10:00

I signed up for a cheese making course about 6 months ago, which I spent the weekend in Brisbane doing. We made lots of different cheeses such as Quark, Milk Ricotta, Whey Ricotta, Chabichou, Cheddar, Camembert, Mozarella and a Greek Fetta. It was a very busy couple of days, with lots to learn and lots of different processes to get our heads around. But it all came together by the end of the course, so I am just waiting for the cultures and rennet that I have ordered to arrive, and then I will make the first home cheese that they recommend we make so we continue on with making cheeses.

Above, Cheddar cheese, there is 2 hours of constant stirring to make this, and it takes 9-12 months to mature, a lot of work, so large batches would definitely be beneficial in making cheddar.

This is a Greek Feta above, this should be ready to eat in a couple of weeks, and I will marinate this one.

This is fresh Mozarella above, this is ready to eat now, I am looking forward to making up some fresh home made pizzas with this.

This is Chabichou above, I have never heard of this cheese before, it's a creamy cheese.

Above, half of the Chabichou has been marinated in a oil, herb and garlic marinade.

Above, the other half of the chabichou has been left as is to eat with fresh crusty bread or crackers.

This is Quark above, again a creamy cheese.

Above, this is Whey Ricotta, I will make up some filos or ravioli's with this I think, I have heaps of silverbeet to use up which will go nicely with this in some filos or ravioli.

This is milk ricotta above, this is best eaten the day it is made, again I will use this in some cooking dishes.

Above is Camembert, I am waiting for the white mould to grow on the outside, should be about 6 weeks until this is ready to eat.

At the end of the course, we finished off with a wine and cheese tasting meal, so I got to try some different cheeses, I mainly like cheddars and creamier cheeses, the mouldy and really pungent cheeses definitely are too strong for my palette, as were the goat and sheep milk cheeses, but the triple cream camemberts and double bries were lovely, and not something that I would have gone out and bought for myself to try, so now I know what sort of cheeses to both buy and make, as there is no point in making something that none of us will eat. I also bought some yoghurt cultures, so will try making up our home made yoghurt with those instead of the couple of spoonfuls of easiyo starter....I think it will be even cheaper again to use those. We are heading away to Kolonga this weekend, and I know that the cheeses will be appreciated up there, so will take some up to share with platters over the weekend, which will be nice. I was a bit iffy about going to do the course, but I am really glad now that I put myself out of my comfort zone and went and did the course, I met some lovely people, a couple of really nice ladies in particular, and I may look at doing the Cheese Making course module 2 some time next year if I continue on in the mean time and make some different cheeses.

Just 2

2011-11-01T22:07:00.000+10:00

Only 2 chickens have ended up hatching unfortunately...I have taken the remaining eggs away from her as it has been a week and a half since the first chicks hatched, and I have found 2 stillborn chicks, and she is spending most of her time off the eggs now. I think that the time she spent off the eggs after the first one was born definitely affected the hatching rate. There was another of the brown hens looking clucky, but she hasn't really committed to the process, so we'll see if anything progresses there.

Mummy hen is very protective of her babies, and is a very good mother. The 2 little chickens are so funny to watch, copying everything mum does.

I was going to buy a chicken tractor for them, but the seller ended up messing me around, and changed his mind from me being able to pick it up, to having to pay $50 freight, which was pretty annoying considering I live only 15 minutes away...then I remembered that friends of ours who no longer have chooks had a chicken tractor so I offered to buy theirs, but they ended up giving it to me for nothing...seems that everything happens for a reason.

The dogs are also their usual energetic selves...we seem to be managing Diesel's pain in his legs from his elbow dysplasia with his daily painkillers and he is such a happy dog

They all love playing together, 3 can be a bit of a crowd, and Diesel and Reg have their brotherly spats all the time, but overall, they all get on really well.

Some shabby chic craftiness

2011-10-28T09:32:00.000+10:00

Mum and I did a class a couple of weeks back on covering a lampshade, we are both very happy with our end results, I just need to fnd the right lamp now to go with the lampshade.

So, feeling a little inspired, I picked up a couple of plaster moulds from the craft show and decorated them up to match the lampshade, so one day, when I get my craft studio, I will have lots of things to display and make it my own...so along comes the cinderella slipper and the mannequin

A couple more hot glue gun burns to my fingers to add to the collection!

Another makes 2....and some garden work

2011-10-25T09:28:00.000+10:00

We have 1 more new chicken, born yesterday afternoon, they are soooo cute, I could sit there and watch them for hours...hopefully we'll get a few more yet for all of her hard work...she got off her eggs when the first chick was born and was sitting on it out in the coop, so I don't know how long she was off them for and whether that has affected the viability of the rest, but we'll wait and see. I did some work in the garden yesterday, I'm a bit inspired to get a tropical look happening in the garden, so went and bought some tropical plants, and did a water feature. I got probably 1/3 of the plants in the ground yesterday, will try and do the rest today if I can. The water feature is very soothing, I am sitting outside on the squatters chair listening to the water trickle while I am typing...

One so far...

2011-10-24T09:12:00.001+10:00

1 little chicken hatched so far....gorgeous little black one with some little white markings, Kasey has named it Pepper...I have moved Mumma to a big cage with the rest of her eggs and her little chick, which will be fine until I pick up the chicken tractor...she was really good to move actually, only pecking me lightly, and then re-shuffling her eggs back under herself...very, very cute....

Craft show and home happenings...

2011-10-23T20:16:00.000+10:00

Had a busy weekend...it's flown by...had a wedding yesterday, some lovely bouquets with delicate lily of the valley

Did a little bit of embroidery on some towels for Mum last night. Went to the craft fair with Mum today, picked up some lovely goodies. some lovely bling for my wedding bouquets, some well priced stabiliser for embroidery, a gorgeous little panel, some lace flowers and flower embellishments,

And I just couldn't resist...a little addition to my Christmas collection...I just LOVE this, santa on a cow with a duck...it stands about 25 cm tall, so is a really good size...very vintage looking, and the wheels even move...

Kasey had a lovely day while Mum and I were wandering around the craft fair, she spent the day with her cousin Gemma, wandering around Southbank, and they also went to the Maritime Museum, and Kasey also had her face painted...the face painter did a fab job on the face painting...Kasey did not want to have a shower tonight and wash it off...

The clucky hen must be nearly due to have her chicks I think...I am hoping to head out tomorrow afternoon and pick up a chicken tractor to move her in to, so I can make sure that she and her chicks are all safe and sound, and away from the other chooks while the babies are so little....they currently nest up high and baby chicks wouldn't be able to get in and out of the nesting area...so maybe some new babies to add to the brood this week...I wish I had known about egg dowsing before she went clucky so I could have tried to eliminate some of the male eggs...but nevermind...I know for next time...not too busy a week coming up hopefully, I will see if I can get the office painted this week....and organise a tiler...Michael had a mate lined up to come and do it, but we haven't seen hide nor hair of him, so I will just organise it myself I think... I planted some strawberry plants, some rockmelon and some lettuce this week, one of the chickens got in to the vegie garden and scratched up the rockmelon plants though,,,,grrrr...so I managed to replant 2 of them, but not sure that they will make it....

Today's embroidery projects

2011-10-18T20:27:00.001+10:00

I had embroidery class today, and today's project was a travel mug and water bottle inserts. We used stitchable paper, cut it in to 96 squares, and then it was sewn back together in the hoop, and then I embroidered my name on them. The inserts were then put in to the acrylic shells around the bottles. I made my 2 as a matching set. They were a fun project to make, and I enjoyed my morning at class, as I haven't been to any sewing classes in quite some time.

I'll have to try and get to a few more classes, as I do enjoy going, especially when the projects are practical like this. Quite often the classes are for items that I wouldn't use or that just create clutter or aren't my style, but when they are to my taste, I do try and get to class as they are good fun.

Roar...

2011-10-17T22:49:00.000+10:00

Toni, Kasey and I were sitting at the dinner table tonight, and I was telling them about the scrapbooking retreat over the weekend. I mentioned that we did some line dancing on Saturday night at the Western Theme night, Kasey looked at me with her hands clawing at me and goes "Roar"....and then giggles....Toni and I both laughed and said ....."Line Dancing...not Lion dancing"....she goes "oh" and giggles histerically.....I love those moments...

The birds are singing....

2011-10-11T22:05:00.000+10:00

This time every year, this tree is covered in beautiful red flowers and the parrots come in for the nectar...lovely

Lots happening as usual...

2011-10-07T22:28:00.000+10:00

Well, there's been LOTS going on around here as usual. I have been busy around home getting lots of things that have been needing to be done for ages done. I had the old car in the backyard removed by a car remover...was the relics of Michael's first month of having his licence, until he broke the car, and it ended up in the backyard and that's where it stayed...for nearly 4 years! Anyway, all gone now... also had a scrap yard call around and take away the old home gym that was all rusty. My Dyson vacuum exploded, so I went out a purchased a new one, and got one with a powerhead, so spring cleaned the mattress and woollen underlay. I also pulled everything out of the office, and that has now been plastered, so now just waiting for the floor to be tiled and the walls painted, and then the desks can be moved back in. I'm currently working with a makeshift office setup in our bedroom on Kasey's old computer desk, so I am struggling for room, but it will be fine until the office renovation is finished. I have been really, really busy with weddings and preservations, still have a few more to finish off over the coming weeks, then should be back on top of things until the new year. I had to get rid of the 2nd rooster, he tried to kill Sam, my silky rooster, and even though breeding wise it would have been wiser probably to keep the plymouth rock rooster, he was so big, he was starting to get a bit scary, and he ate sooo much food, we were going through a bag of seed a week! So he has been moved on to a new home, and the whole hen house now seems to be a lot calmer. The plymouth rock hen is broody and sitting on a clutch of about 6 eggs, so we'll see what comes of that...willl probably end up with MORE roosters to rehome! I had to take Diesel to the vet this afternoon, he has a black eye of all things! He had a large blood bruise in his eye socket, and he has taken a hard knock to his eye, but his eye itself isn't damaged, which is the main thing, it will take about a week for it to clear up. There has been lots of cleaning and clearing going on as well. I have had a painter come out and give me a quote to paint....wow....had to sit down for that one..I think I must have picked the most expensive painter in the shire to quote...so I either need to find some cheaper quotes, or I'm back to doing it myself...I went to the doctors on Wednesday, my right ear has been playing up, been aching a little and feeling like it is throbbing down deep, turns out I have a really large hole in my eardrum, I have to go to a specialist next Tuesday, the doc thinks I may need a skin graph over the eardrum if it doesn't look like healing....I really don't want to go there, but the aching is starting to get worse so it looks like I'm going to have to take some action....I really hope things start to calm down soon, I feel like we're all falling apart!

Making cream cheese, apple sauce and replanting the vegie garden

2011-09-25T18:33:00.001+10:00

I made a batch of yoghurt earlier in the week, and I forgot to sweeten it, so I decided to finally give making cream cheese with it a go. I wrapped it in a cotton teatowel and placed it in a strainer in a large bowl and placed it in the fridge for a few days for the whey to separate. It has turned out perfectly.

There is about 350mls of whey from this process, so I will have a look at some recipes to use this for. I think it can be used quite extensively in baking. I have added sweet chilli sauce to some of the cream cheese, and it has made a beautiful, creamy dip, which is really nice with crackers.

While in the kitchen, there were a few apples in the fruit bowl that needed to be used up, so I decided to make some apple sauce to use in baking cakes, so I used the apple slinky to core the apples, then threw them in the thermomix with some water, chopped and cooked and pureed, and voila, lovely smooth apple sauce, with NO preservatives or sugar...much better and fresher than the bought stuff and so much cheaper too.

It was so easy to make, it was almost laughable. Kasey and I went up to the markets this morning, I bought a ~~few~~ lot of seedlings for the garden, and I also bought a huge tray of strawberries to freeze up to make smoothies in the thermomis. It was $5 for the whole tray, and after washing them and removing the stalks there is just under 3 kilos of strawberries there. I have packed them all flat in bags in the freezer for later use. This afternoon was spent planting a LOT of seedlings in the vegie garden, but in a few weeks it should all start to pay off, and the vegie garden will start to become a thriving place to be again. I still need to plant some peas and carrots, and probably some rockmelon and watermelon for summer fruits and a few more summer greens and salad vegies and leaf crops, but this afternoon gave it a huge kick along. The eggs are buildng up quite quickly now that I am beating Reggie to them, so will do some baking hopefully this week, and just Kasey and I for dinner tonight and she has asked for boiled eggs, the thermy makes these so easy to do as well, so I will pop them in shortly to cook. So, a busy and productive Sunday, and after the HUGE effort of cleaning out the shed on Thursday, it's been a very productive week.
Oh..and the tooth fairy needs to visit tonight...the 2nd front tooth has finally fallen out, Kasey found it beside her bed this morning...

2011-09-17T21:38:00.000+10:00

Had a busy morning, I had a couple call in this morning for a quote on their wedding flowers, and then went to deliver today's wedding. The bride was very happy with her bouquets :)

Just did the boring thing this arvy, had to go and get some groceries on the way home, I have been trying to go for weeks...but who can be bothered! Tonight I have cooked pumpkin soup in the thermomix, trying out a few recipes in it..it was pretty quick and easy, about 4-5 minutes prep time, the rest the thermy took care of, so piping hot soup on the table in under 1/2 hour from start to finish...can't ask for more than that...got to get the hang of cooking with it, as even though I use the same ingredients as when I cook on the stovetop, the recipes are turning out slightly differently in taste..not sure why...tomorrow I am off to a varoma demo at Renae's place, so I hope to have a much better idea of how to get the best out of the steamer etc after this..plus it's a lunchtime demo, so should be some yummy food for lunch!
I have also discovered why I haven't been getting many eggs from the chickens, Michael's dog Reg is stealing them...climbing up the ramp into the chookhouse and helping himself, I caught him yesterday when I was watering the vegie garden, I called him and made him drop it....still in 1 piece...so now I have to beat him to the eggs...I think a small "chook only" door on the chook house might be the only option as he is also eating the chook seed, and that stuff is expensive...the vegie garden is also in need of some new plantings, so I'll have to get organised and get my spring and summer seedlings in...I planted a few spuds the other day, along with a batch of corn and sunflowers....I really must get much more organised with this, especially as I just saw a clip for a story on Today Tonight on Monday about China sending their chemical laden vegies to us, via New Zealand so they are re-labelled as from New Zealand...through the back door type of stuff...pretty worrying, will have to make sure I watch this and get all the info....so I really need to get the vegie garden sorted so that I keep planting and prepping so there is a constant supply coming out...but I think that's probably the battle most people have..I've got all the info in books and reference material, it's just getting motivated enough to do it all...motivation is very lacking at the moment....

No takeaway tonight :)

2011-09-16T18:50:00.002+10:00

I'm feeling very proud of myself, did not feel like cooking tonight...So I had a look through the thermomix cookbook and put a mushroom risotto on to cook...so a nice, filling, yummy dinner...didn't have to buy any ingredients, they were all here...well other than white wine, but I had a bottle of champers in the fridge, so I used that instead, and I used some of my homegrown shiitake mushrooms, it was a definite novelty just wandering out to the greenhouse and picking some mushrooms....so it's now chugging away in the thermy, smells good...will be cooked in a few minutes...should be yum...
Note to add:
It was yummy...

We have mushrooms!!

2011-09-12T11:32:00.000+10:00

My first try at growing mushrooms is appearing to be successful so far. I soaked this log of shiitake mushroom spores a couple of weeks ago, and put it in the greenhouse where it will get regular mistings of water...and it is going great guns.Lots of yummy mushrooms coming along nicely. So I will need to make something yummy with these.

I still have to plant my field mushroom kit down the back in the shade, but need to build a fence to keep the chickens out of them. Still lots to do to keep me busy, I need to get a lot of seedlings up and running, plant a big crop of corn, and get some sunflowers coming along (just because they're pretty)
Damian picked the pumpkins that had grown, we only got a few off the vine, they just didn't seem to do very well this year. I also have quite a few varieties of potatoes to plant, I have had them sitting ready to plant for weeks now, but haven't got to it. I still need to paint Kasey's bed and desk, and it is right in the middle of a very busy wedding season, so I have lots of weddings coming up over the next couple of months, as well as lots of preservations to finish off. I also need to start to put some effort in to getting a little organised for Christmas...I haven't done anything really so far this year to prepare for that...but it will all come together, so I'm not going to get my knickers in a knot over it! If I don't get things handmade, then I will just head off to the shops...or the markets, or etsy or similar...anyway...I might try and get a batch of soy candles and a batch of soap made this afternoon, and head out to the vegie garden this afternoon to do a few plantings....we'll see how we go.

It's been a bit busy....and a celebration cake...

2011-09-05T14:44:00.000+10:00

Wow....it's been so busy...ridiculously busy actually. Have had lots going on the last few weeks. Got back from our cruise a week ago, and have had Michael's 21st birthday party at home the next day, have also had Damian's mum's 75th birthday the weekend just gone, as well as our niece's 18th birthday, and did the flowers for 3 weddings on the weekend as well, oh, and Fathers Day yesterday! Today, I have decided to take the day off. Damian and Michael will be away for the week at work, so just the 3 of us left here at home, so some peace and quiet. Today I have had too many cups of tea to count, and I have been lazing about on the lounge catching up on computer land...this is the first lazy day I have had in...I don't remember, I have still done the washing and cleaned the bathrooms, but that has been in between being lazy...during all of the chaos and busyness of last week, I spent a couple of nights doing a celebration cake for Damian's mum's birthday. It is certainly very bright and colourful, but I figured it's a celebration cake, it needs to be colourful! It has given me lots of experience now in the fundamentals of putting a 2 tiered cake together, and I got the cake thickness much better for this cake, than I did for my first cake. It also gave me some more experience in the decoration side of things, so I am gradually getting a bit more confidence with this cake decorating thing.

Projects completed at the sewing retreat

2011-08-10T22:56:00.001+10:00

Well, the sewing retreat is over until March next year. I tried to mainly work on unfinished projects, but did a couple of new ones as well. We embroidered some lovely flowers to go on to these slippers, these were the group project for the retreat. I made some extra flowers for Mum to put on her slippers, as she doesn't have her embroidery machine yet, and while I was doing those, Mum made my bag to store the slippers in. These will be ideal for our upcoming cruise.

I finished off these embroidered oven mitts, which have come up nicely.

I have finished my back on the farm quilt, just got to hand sew the binding on to the front, but othierwise it is all finished. I got lots of comments from the other sewers on the retreat, it will be hung on my wall in my craft room when I get my craft room back

I also finished this bread roll warmer, this will be great for parties and get togethers.

I finished the backpack I was working on as well, other than putting a big button and tassle over the clip

This was a new project I completed over an afternoon, the "tepanyaki bag" which is part of the montly gift of the month club I receive each month, this received lots of lovely comments as well, and I will use this a lot.

So, great to get some of these out of the unfinished pile, still lots to go though...

Still painting....yawn...but holiday here we come!

2011-08-03T17:56:00.001+10:00

I am still painting....so over it..Kasey's room is finished, but I bought her a new bed with storage and I have been painting it white..I thought it would be a quick job....very wrong..the paint just isn't applying evenly no matter whether I spray it, roll it or brush it...I have put about 6 coats as well as the undercoat...it's not perfect, but I think it will do. I have also been painting her bedroom door as well as Toni's new robe door....my back isn't coping too well with the painting..think I will be getting a painter in to finish the house as it is just putting too much of a strain on my very busy days...I don't feel like cooking, washing, cleaning or anything...however, we have booked a holiday for an 11 day cruise this month to the islands of Vanuatu....all the kids are staying behind...so just the 2 of us.....very excited...we both really need the break...so grandparents will be up for some time with the grandkids while we are away....the 2 big kids are fine...shouldn't call them kids, they are both adults, but there will be days that grandma and grandad will need to help out when Uni and work duties call...yippee..can't wait...I am also going on a sewing retreat with mum this weekend, really looking forward to that as well..got a big wedding to prep tomorrow for Friday...then off to the retreat after that is delivered...

The green thing

2011-07-28T22:17:00.001+10:00

I received this is an email today...very appropriate and thought provoking and highlights how spoilt our society is today

The Green Thing

In the line at the store, the young cashier told an older woman that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment."

He was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But he was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.

Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that old lady
is right; we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us.

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used a wadded up old newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.

Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But he's right; we didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water.

We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service.

We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful old folks were just because they didn't have the green thing back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish older person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smartarse younger person.

Can't sleep

2011-07-28T00:56:00.002+10:00

Argh...... I hate insomnia!

More painting

2011-07-26T17:03:00.004+10:00

Been busy finishing the painting in Kasey's room today, pleased that it is all finished now. I have put her bed and drawers back where they belong and rehung her blinds, her carpet comes next Tuesday, and then just waiting for her cupboard and will decorate her room and bring some of her things back....not all, as I am going to use this as an opportunity to cull a large proportion of her things and make things much more manageable in her room for both her and me! Toni did the same When i painted her room, and so far she is managing to keep it really tidy as she isn't overwhelmed with so much stuff....good for her allergies,asthma and hay fever too, as less things to collect dust.
So 3 rooms nearly done, still a long way to go to finish the whole house though, but step by step and we'll get there. Damian comes home from working away this week, so he will probably make a start on the main bathroom when he gets back. I have got to order the rest of the tiles for the rest of the house as I want them the same all the way through. Sitting down with a cuppa for a few minutes recovering and then better lock the chooks up, light the fire and get dinner organised...lots to do...

Going well so far......

2011-07-22T13:10:00.000+10:00

today that is.....seems to be much less chaotic than yesterday. The 2 end bedrooms look lovely now that they have both been finished and the carpet has been laid

Kasey's room is looking less than glamorous though....everything has been pulled out of her room except her bed and her chest of drawers which have been moved to the centre of the room, so they can be covered with drop cloths, I have painted the ceiling and the chippie is coming tomorrow to take out the centre piece and the shelving in her cupboard and reinforce the framing around it as we are changing it to 1 big cupboard without a centre part, so that we can change hers to sliding doors as well, and then her painting can be finished off and the carpet laid in her room (and the carpet layer will need to fix his glueing mishap in the other 2 bedrooms).

I have also finished off the baby blanket for Renae for her sister, it has come up quite nicely.

The fluffy fleece was an absolute nightmare though, even using the proper stabilisers underneath, and the solvy on top, so if she would ever like any more done, then it will be on the proviso of NO fluffy fleece please...I spent a day and a half doing this, and it should have taken a couple of hours....I have managed to put some order back in the house, I have put the sewing machine away, vacuumed and mopped and got the washing on, and dropped a preservation off to the framers to be framed, and need to head out shortly to get some nails for the nail gun to finish off the skirting in Kasey's room, and to get some new door stops for the finished bedrooms, and maybe pick up the tiles for the bathroom, depending on how many there are, and whether I need to take the ute or whether I can pick them up in my car.... so feeling much, much better today...

What a day

2011-07-21T20:24:00.001+10:00

Got up at 5.30 this morning to drive Michael to work, had to get Kasey up early and then have breakfast at Maccas while we waited for him to finish his job...then drove him home, just about cleaned up a car on the way home who pulled out straight in front of us, had to lock Damian's ute up to avoid it, they would have been way worse off than us, small car vs Landcruiser with a bullbar, not a good outcome there, then dropped Kasey off to school, only to have her having a meltdown because she forgot her show and tell because we left so early...then got home and had to pull out all of the furniture in Michael and Toni's room for the carpet layer, discovered after he left that he has gotten carpet glue on our new wardrobe sliding door tracks.... went to do some washing, Michael was using the machine, spent all day doing an embroidery for a friend who's sister just had a baby.....has taken me ALL day....the machine was not coping at all well doing small letters on fleece....was getting very close to throwing something...grrrr, not to mention the house was like a bomb had gone off with the contents of two bedrooms in the hallway, laundry and loungeroom, which makes me feel even more disorganised. It has also been a bit pointless trying to keep everything tidy at the moment with renovations, so my daily routines have not been happening, and all I seem to do is constantly pick up after everyone anyway, I tidy up and they mess up....Toni borrowed my lovely new black cowl that I purchased after I was wanting one for ages....now she has lost it! Just logged on to facebook on my laptop....was looking at strange faces until I realised I was logged in to Toni's account....my laptop...her account...how does that work when she has her own laptop??? Then cooking dinner while 2 other adults in the house wait for dinner...hellooooo....you could help or heaven forbid actually cook a meal every now and then... Honestly....sometimes it feels like I have just disappeared in to the background and no longer exist, I am not just Mum you know....I really, really need a holiday....and people wonder why I get stressed so "easily"..was there something in the air today?? Nothing seemed to just flow....anyway....got that off my chest now, sitting down with a Tia Maria for a nightcap....(or two) then off to bed, to put today behind me....

Tomorrow's wedding

2011-07-15T22:55:00.000+10:00

I spent today doing some flowers for a wedding for tomorrow. These bouquets were fun to do, as they are a bit different to the norm. Red cymbidium orchids, tulips, roses and some textural elements.

Off to the city to deliver these tomorow, and then will start painting Kasey's room in the afternoon...hopefully anyway, depending on how I feel. We have the carpet layers coming on Thursday to do the kids bedrooms, so I would like to get Kasey's room done so her room can be carpeted as well, otherwise it will just be Michael and Toni that get theirs done. We have some very gentle rain here at the moment, which is great for the gardens and they were all starting to get a bit thirsty. I still have to plant out my fruit trees that I bought at the garden show as well....too many things to do at the moment....

Garden show 2011

2011-07-10T16:32:00.000+10:00

I went to the Qld Garden Expo today at Nambour. I went last year and loved it, so definitely wanted to go again this year. It was really cold when Kasey and I got there, but it soon warmed up to a beautiful day. I didn't go to any of the "talks" or demonstrations this year, I was there to mainly stock up on some more fruit trees and I wanted to get some bamboo plants, even so, we were there for 6 hours. But I came home with lots of treasures..

Fruit trees galore, including a fruit salad tree which has peachcott, plum, nectarine and peach all on the same plant. I also bought avocado, wampi, lychee, curry plant, japoticaba, black sapoate and some lovely anthuriums for the greenhouse in red, chocolate and black.

I also bought an outdoor mushroom kit which will grow for a few years in the garden, the lovely big field mushrooms, as well as 2 shitake mushroom kits, 1 of which can be stored in the fridge until after the first one is finished, and it can then be put out.

I bought these lovely 2 purebred australorps at the show, they are enjoying a lovely dust bath in their new home, while the other bigger chickens are out of the pen...I think they may be in for a bit of a hard time once the other chickens go back in to their pen later this afternoon.

I also bought this home canning kit, it has tongs, a jar lifter, lid tongs etc and a jar funnel. I also got a couple of dummy eggs, as the girls like to lay in the wrong spot, so I hope this will encourage them to lay in the right spot. They wer also giving away these shower timers so I grabbed a couple to "encourage" shorter showers.

I picked up this sweet little sign, down from $25 to $10...

And of course, the obligatory face painting while at the show....

I bought this book the other day, I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but will get to it soon. I haved also booked in to a 2 day cheesemaking course at the end of October, we make 10 different cheeses over the weekend, so I am really looking forward to that. I have also found a local who sells native bee hives, so will purchase one of those over the next few weeks, so slowly starting to implement the ideas from my permaculture course.

Cake decorating lesson 2

2011-07-01T14:29:00.000+10:00

I went to another cake decorating class last night. I found someone much closer, and much cheaper as well! So I should be able to afford to attend more lessons now that the pricing is more reasonable. Last night's class was basic cake covering and piping. I just took along a chocolate cake, I had to make it in a bit of a rush, as I was just going to buy one from the supermarket, but could only find iced ones....so had to rush home 2 hours before class and make and bake a cake, and hope that it would cool on time...it did luckily. Purchasing a proper high sided cake tin is definitely on the cards to collect as part of my kit, so that the cake ends up nice and high, as a lot of our cakes last night weren't tall enough, but the end result still ended up nice. First they did a demo and showed us the basics on covering the cake, then it was our turn...first covering the cake...and then smoothing down the icing, and a bit of lustre sparkle was dusted over the icing for a bit of a shimmer...

Then we were shown the basics on shell piping, and then had a practice at doing that, then it was on to doing the piping on the cake, I'm happy with my first effort at shell piping...of course with more practice it would become better..

After this we practiced piping on their practice sheets. The cake was finished off like this at class. When I bought the cake home I finished decorating it with some flowers and leaves that I made at cake class number 1...these finished the cake off nicely...this cake could be used for any occasion really, a christening, a small wedding ceremony, a birthday celebration etc.

Kasey has made short work of it though....Muuuummmmm....can I pleeeeeaaaaaasssseeee have some cake? Amazing how much nicer cake is with some yummy icing...

Icecream, Renovations and keeping busy

2011-06-27T17:13:00.000+10:00

Geez, I'm exhausted today...I went a bit overboard this morning while I was feeling motivated and did lots of things, and wore myself out..lol....Did some dusting, vacuumed and mopped the floors, did the washing, and caught up on some phone calls that had to be made, booked the pest control for next week and ordered some candle making and skincare making supplies. Over the weekend, I cleaned out the pantry as it was getting quite messy in there, so it's all tidy and organised again now. I also cleaned out the top drawer of our vanity unit in the ensuite, will do the other 2 as I feel like it. Damian pulled out Toni's shelving out of her cupboard on Saturday in preparation for the new shelving coming in. After he did that, I got to work painting it, so it would all be ready. The painting in there was finished on Sunday with the painting of the gloss on the trims. The new shelving for Michael's room arrived this morning, and is now installed.

I just have to paint the plasterboard door now to match the walls and then we are just waiting for the new carpet to be installed. School holidays here, so we made some ice cream this morning in the ice cream maker. We haven't used it before, so we just made up a basic vanilla ice cream, it's very yummy and very creamy, much nicer than bought...it comes out as soft serve, and we can put it in a container in the freezer for firmer icecream.

I made pumpkin soup in the slow cooker today, and have made a loaf of bread in the breadmaker to have with it

Got to sit down tomorrow and work out some activities for the school holidays so Kasey doesn't go stircrazy. She would like her friends to come over and play, so I need to work that out with their Mum's as to what day suits. We're going to spend a day out this week and go to the movies and have lunch out, and other than that I want her to have a break as they all get a bit worn out towards the end of each term. So lots going on to keep me busy, but will take it a little easier tomorrow after a busy day today.

Around the place

2011-06-21T13:39:00.000+10:00

Been fairly quiet around here the last week. Just plodding along through each day at the moment. I have some vegie seedlings to go and plant this afternoon, did a big harvest off the eggplants the other day, I gave quite a few to the chooks as they had been munched on by something, but I did leave them on the plants for too long as I hadn't worked them in to the menu to cook them. I cooked some up in to eggplant fritters, they are really nice, especially with chilli sauce.

I did manage to get a few eggplants that hadn't been munched on, along with a few other goodies. Still only get 1 egg per day....the girls had better get a move on, or they will be moving out...they are very expensive when they aren't producing, and you have to buy eggs as well as feed them.

I took Diesel back to the vet to get his stitches out from his desexing surgery, he finds the car rides really stressful :) !! (not)

He definitely seems more comfortable in the front legs since he has been on anti inflammatory tablets and glucosamine chews, so hopefully we can keep him as comfortable as possible. I have started to do some knitting and crocheting at night by the fire. I have been watching some online tutorials from http://www.mikeyssmail.com/ His instructional videos are so easy to follow. I have been trying to get the hang of granny squares, and I couldn't get the grasp of it by following a written pattern, so his video tutorial is fabulous. This was effort number 1, my practice piece. I really like the look of the squares with the round centre, just for something a bit different to the usual squares...

And I have told Kasey that I would crochet her a blanket for her bed, so I have started on that, in pink, dusty pink and purples...I have done 2 of those...about 118 more to go! I am threading the ends in as I go so that I don't have to do that at the end...

I am going to alternate the colours around, so that on some the centres will be dusty pink and others will be the darker pink and the outer edges will alternate over the 3 colours as well, to add variation and interest. I also bought some can can wool at the craft fair recently, so will be making up a scarf with that. I am really feeling like a sweet treat after my lunch, but I am trying hard to eat healthy foods only at the moment, so I am going to go and make up a batch of yoghurt, even though it won't be ready to eat until tomorrow morning, I will have some on hand for when I get the sweet urge tomorrow. We have had the fireplace going fairly regularly lately, and I have been using it to keep the kettle on to boil up hot water for cuppas etc, it has been working really well. I am even organised for dinner, and have a beef goulash with herb dumplings cooking in the slowcooker, I am using the recipe from Sally Wise's slow cooker recipe book, the recipes in there are really tasty, but really easy to make...and I have already done the vegies, so just have to turn them on later. I finished re-painting the spare room, which is no longer spare as Son number 1 has moved back home...we are still waiting on the new carpet in the bedrooms, but it is looking like the end of July until we can get that, as I seem to have a knack of ordering the most popular products, and we are still waiting on the cabinet maker to come and install the robes, so he is living out of boxes at the moment, but he'll be able to unpack into his cupboard soon enough. I am hoping to start on the painting of Toni and Kasey's room shortly so that they are all repainted before the carpet comes in. Anyway, I'm off to make some yoghurt before I lose the motivation....

Lemon Myrtle soap

2011-06-15T06:14:00.002+10:00

I made a batch of soap on Sunday, I used a gorgeous lemon myrtle essential oil...it smells divine....I am waiting on some oils to arrive from my suppliers, as I need to make up some more batches, as we are running quite low on soap, this batch made 11 bars and 5 round roses. I used a small amount of yellow clay to give it a lemony coloured tint. I have planted a lemon myrtle in the front garden, to use as a botanical in future soap making. I first came across one in the bus tour we did during the permaculture course, and the smell of those leaves is absolutely amazing...I could walk around smelling them all day long...mmmm

Eating less meat

2011-06-14T13:00:00.001+10:00

It has been a goal of mine for quite some time now to reduce the amount of meat that I eat, for health, for becoming more self sufficient in the way we eat, and to feel better about eating another living creature. I have always been just tolerant of eating meat, if I put the slightest bit of thought in to what I am eating and how it got to my plate, I can't eat it, and I definitely can not tolerate the way that the majority of animal farming is carried out, and I have been looking for better, local options where the animals are treated to a natural, happy, well cared for life before meeting their fate. I am not interested in this stage at going down the more extreme road of vegan, I know my chickens are looked after and they free range every day, so I am happy to eat their eggs, and I must admit I didn't understand the whole "no dairy products" either, but after speaking with some vegans recently and asking them why they made the decision to be vegans, and listening to their responses, I can understand where they are coming from. I guess it's a personal decision, and now that I am more aware of how things are done, I will definitely be looking for a local option for my milk supplies from a reputable, humane dairy farm. (hopefully there are some out there)

Cooking for a family of meat eaters, it does make it difficult to sneak in vegetarian meals, so it has been easier to just conitinue on as normal. However, it is something that I am starting to feel more strongly about, so I am endeavouring to just bite the bullet and make a start, even if just for me. So, starting today, I will endeavour to cook at least one vegetarian meal a week, and increase this up to a few times a week over time. Today I am going to start with something relatively simple and accepting by the rest of the family, so it will either be pumpkin soup and home made bread, or a tomato, creamy cheesy pasta bake with some vegies. I will have to do some research in to some vegetarian cooking, having done my permaculture course and also the skincare course I did, the meals there were all vegetarian and I must say, very, very, yummy....I don't want our only options to be pasta based dishes or soups, so I will have to be on the lookout for some yummy recipes to try.

Organising the craft supplies

2011-06-13T19:31:00.000+10:00

The shed had gotten to the ridiculous stage....things keep getting put in there so they are out of the way, and it was getting harder and harder to find a clear path from one end of the shed to the other. All of my craft supplies have been sitting on a trestle table covered with dust cloths since all of my supplies were moved out of the spare room to do the repairs from the termite damage. So today, I decided I would move all of my craft supplies from the trestle table into the cupboard given to me by Mum and Dad a few years back. I wanted to wait until my craft room gets done and I had painted the cupboard, but things were getting desperate, and I knew that getting the trestle table out of the way would clear out lots of space, and it had a knock on effect in cleaning up the other areas around this as well. So, I'm pretty worn out now, but it has made a huge difference in space in the shed and also to my work area.

I'm looking forward to painting this cupboard one day in the future, not sure yet whether I will go with an aubergine or a shabby chic look yet.

The renovating is underway

2011-06-01T21:15:00.000+10:00

The cabinetmaker called in last night to discuss the new kitchen...I wasn't really in the market for a new kitchen just yet, but Damian has been doing some work in the cabinet makers investment property, so they have decided to do a bit of a trade off of services. We also need a new vanity in the main bathroom, as there is just no cupboard or bench space in there, so that is getting done at the same time. I started the painting in the 3rd bedroom today....I got the ceiling done and 1 coat on the walls. I hope to finish that off tomorrow, then I am just waiting for Damian to put the new skirtings and architraves in so I can paint those, and then the new floor coverings will go in. Then it will basically be done other than the robe insert and doors which are on order with the cabinet maker which he will install in a couple of weeks. After the long weekend coming up, I will give Toni's room the same treatment and start to work my way down the house. I have finally pretty well mastered the art of cutting in under the cornice when painting, the right paintbrush makes a world of difference. I have wedding flowers coming in tomorrow and the rest of the day I will be working on the renos. I spoke to the vet today regarding Diesel..we are going to see how he goes over the next couple of weeks on glucosomine medication...hopefully we can manage things with that for him...and we are getting them some winter coats, and I may look at getting him a heated mat for his bed, will have to get Max one too or else he'll probably just steal it anyway! Hopefully all that will make a big difference to his comfort. Anyway, I'm bushed after my busy day so I am heading to bed.

Diesel has severe arthritis :(

2011-05-31T20:49:00.001+10:00

Diesel had had sore legs for some time now, and he went in today for desexing, and to have xrays to see what is going on with his legs. He's only 6 months old, but his bones are as bad as a 15 yr old labrador....severe arthritis....poor little man....don't know what we're going to do.....lots of research coming up....

Today...

2011-05-29T20:42:00.002+10:00

Just got home from going out to dinner at the Sports Club. We haven't been for a long, long time, and the food was really, really nice. I had a beautiful seafood laksa, absolutely yummy. We will definitely go again as the standard of food was great. We had a really quiet, lazy day today. I spent most of the day reading and catching up on blogs....I have started a new Christmas blog so I can keep track of that, as well as a birthday blog so I can keep track of those...it will allow me to put all of my ideas and lists in 1 place, with a current to do list etc etc...I have a couple of apps on my ipad for this, but find them too hard to navigate around, so the blogs will be much easier, and I have made them private blogs so only I can access them, so that family can't see what I'm doing and ruin the surprises! We have had the fire gently burning away all day, and I bought a new stovetop kettle a couple of days ago, which has taken up residence on top of the fireplace, so that we get free boiling water on hand for cuppa refills...it has so far saved us many, many electric kettle uses so it should pay for itself in no time at all (it was only $10 from KMart) I actually have a nice quiet start to the week this week, nothing too much in the diary at all...yay...I have a preservation coming in the morning, but that's about it until a wedding at the end of the week...this will be the quietest week in soooo long....absolutely lovely. Actually, I think Kasey has her sports day on Friday, so Friday morning will probably be at the school, but it's nice to sit in the sun and watch the kids on sports day, but I won't be able to stay all day as I will have the wedding to prep....so the house is lovely and quiet, Toni just went to bed, Kasey is in bed asleep and Damian is asleep on the lounge (how unusual!! not! ) so a bit more time doing some reading for me, then off to bed....oooh...nearly forgot to add...we've been getting a few eggs over the last week and a half or so, seems like just 1 of the girls is laying, but we have about 8-9 fresh eggs, so hopefully the others will start to come back on as well soon....they have been off the lay for months!

Comfrey salve

2011-05-27T16:56:00.000+10:00

Damian has had a really sore back for the last week or so, and after reading the post by Christine on the Slow Living Essentials blog about making up a comfrey salve, and it being great for bones and joints etc, I decided I would use my new found knowledge and make some up. I have been learning quite a bit about herbs in the permaculture course, and in particular about the many benefits of comfrey, as well as learning quite a bit about natural herbal remedies in the skin care course I did last weekend. It was quite simple, I picked quite a few large comfrey leaves while at the farm on the last day of the course yesterday, and put them in a saucepan with 600mls olive oil, and heated gently for a couple of hours until the oil had turned green. I then strained the oil, and squeezed the goodness from the leaves back into the oil, then I added 50 grams beeswax and heated until the beeswax was melted, poured into jars and waited until set. Hopefully it does some good for his back, and if so I will use some on Diesel, as he seems to have quite sore legs as well.

Permaculture Design Certificate - Done!

2011-05-27T10:36:00.002+10:00

I finished my Permaculture course yesterday.....we had to do up a big design project of a property, I used ours, and do a presentation on it. It was great to do this project, as it cemented all of the learning we have done over the last 3 1/2 months. Lots to do to bring all of the elements in to our property over the next couple of years. Learnt so much over this time, so it has been a great experience. I want to further my learning now in some of the elements I want to bring in, such as beekeeping, herbal remedies etc so lots of things to look forward to expanding my knowledge base with. Met some absolutely lovely people, and we have started up a facebook group for our PDC group, so we can all keep in touch and encourage each other on our journeys to bringing all of our new found knowledge to life on our properties.

This is the concept plant drawn up for our property, this is only a very small part of the project we had to complete, there is another 11 A3 pages of information, drawings etc to go with this.

I want to try and now keep Thursday's as a day to dedicate to learning, and also as personal time for me...will see how that goes... lol....this is the lovely group of people that I went through the course with, all very diverse, but we all have similar goals in the grand scheme of things.

This weekend.... natural skincare and Glandular fever....

2011-05-22T22:38:00.000+10:00

It's been a busy weekend for me, I have spent all day yesterday and today at a natural remedies and skincare course, making medicinal vinegars, herbal wine, tinctures, etc, and then today making up yummy face creams, scrubs, massage balms, lip balms etc. Had a great time, but I will touch a little more on that later in the week with photos etc. I have just gotten back from taking Toni to the hospital, she has been quite unwell for a few days, and her glands have swollen to an absolutely huge size, and have gotten much worse today still, and the swelling has now spread to her jaw, which is what was worrying me, as I didn't want to wake up in the middle of the night with her having breathing problems. She had blood tests yesterday, and is due to go for an unltrasound tomorrow. The hospital accessed some of the blood tests from yesterday, and it appears she has got glandular fever. We are still waiting for one of the blood tests to come back to 100% confirm it, but everything so far is pointing to it, they are 90% sure that's what it is. Even the lymph glands on the back of her head have swollen! I took her down to the Wesley, and I can only say what a great hospital they are, the doctor spent so much time with us, accessing her blood tests etc for us, and fully explaining absolutely everything, and answering all of our questions with such detailed answers. It is quite expensive to go to their emergency dept, but having spent many, many hours in public hospital waiting rooms over the years, it was well worth it. Unfortunately, for glandular fever, there really isn't anything they can give her for it, we just have to manage the pain and nausea with medication. She is suffering quite badly with nausea and headaches, so I think she's going to be in for a tough time with it all. Anyway, I've finished my cuppa now, and I'm starting to feel pretty tired, soI'm off to bed.

Cupcakes

2011-05-10T14:40:00.002+10:00

I went to my first cake decorating class yesterday. I have started off with cupcakes, as it had a lot of techniques involved, and lots of decorating elements that can be transferred to bigger cakes. Quite expensive to do the class, so will only be doing 1 every month or 2 to get some more techniques under my belt. But had a fun day, and made some yummy cupcakes, and think I did quite well for my first attempt.

All of the decorations were made on the day, and the leaves and roses on the rose cupcake were all completely handmade, as were the little tiffany bows on the bow cupcakes, the flowers and butterflys were made with a special punch. The aim is to eventually be able to add wedding cakes to the wedding flower side of things that I currently do. There are lots of beautiful classes that I can do, so I am looking forward to expanding on my skills. So, will have to go shopping now to get some tools to start off with....bugger, I hate buying things :)

An update....

2011-05-04T17:06:00.002+10:00

Things are still very busy around here.....lots of things to catch up on after our week away at Easter, and I was away last weekend as well on the scrapbooking retreat at Kilcoy, so things are only just starting to settle down a little bit. I was wandering around the vegie garden this afternoon after I let the chickens out, and while there certainly isn't much planted up there at the moment, a few things are ready or very close to being ready to harvest. I didn't really plant too much over summer, and I haven't had much of a chance to plant too many things yet as it's been very busy, and a bit too wet to plant some things out. I am going to ask for my Mothers Day present to be a helping hand to get the vegie garden planted out this Sunday, and everyone can help me weed it and mulch it and get it all planted out for winter.....looking good in the garden at the moment are:
some lovely eggplants, these are the first eggplants I have ever grown, and they are coming along quite nicely

I am going to try and make up a yummy lasagne with this, or I will make them into fritters. Also, this year is my first attempt at loofahs...I have 5 quite mature ones on the vine at the moment, with a couple more coming through, I did plant these late so I wasn't sure how they would go, but they appear to be going very well

The nasturtiums add a nice bright touch, and are great for the soil and as a companion plant, and the girls are following me while I wander around hoping for some yummy treats

The Queensland Arrowroot that I planted a couple of weeks back has got some new shoots and is looking very healthy, and my Cassava bushes are also starting to sprout quite nicely

I also picked a few bananas off the tree to try and get some to ripen, they have been on the tree for months and are showing no signs of ripening. A lot of people that I have spoken to with banana plants are saying the same thing this year with all of the rain and cloud cover we have had, it has made the bananas take ages to ripen. I am going to pop these in a paper bag and if they ripen ok, then I will pick some more and try to stagger ripen them so that we have an ongoing supply rather than them all ripening at once.

I didn't realise how much sap comes out when you pick the bananas off the branch, I had it all over my jeans and my fingers, and the ladder! Very sticky and I now have big brown blotches on my jeans. It's starting to get quite cool here now, so I think it's going to be a cold night. We'll have to start lighting the fire soon I think.

Talk about busy....!!

2011-04-20T09:42:00.000+10:00

Time is just zooiming by at the moment. We went up to Gin Gin on the weekend to drop the quad bikes off for Easter. We enjoyed a lovely weekend catch up with Rick and Marina and the boys, and then headed back home on Sunday. Went out for dinner with friends on Sunday night when we got back, so that was a long day! I am busy today finishing off packing up the caravan for our Easter trip away, we are planning on leaving early tomorrow morning, as it's about a 5 hour drive with the caravan on. Just finishing off some washing now, and then will start packing clothes and finishing off the last few bits and pieces that need doing before we go, have to give the chooks lots of food and water and re-do the straw in their pen as it's been quite wet here again and they have squashed what was there in to the ground. Also need to feed the worms! There's been lots of other things happening, I just haven't had the time to post them on here...I have saved them in to my drafts though, so I will eventually catch up on them.

The wheels on the bus....

2011-04-13T11:12:00.000+10:00

On a bus trip today with the girls from the sewing shop...so far we have been to Alderley and Indooroopilly patchwork shops, and now heading to Gatton and Esk. A nice relaxing day being a passenger looking at lots of shops and patterns and fabrics....oh, the hardship!

New toys for the big and little kids

2011-04-09T21:19:00.008+10:00

We drove up to Bundaberg last Monday to pick up some quad bikes. We have been wanting to buy some for the past 12 months or so, as every Easter we use our firends when we stay at their property, and we all have a ball riding them around. We came across a set of 3 on a trailer, which was perfect for us, and are in good condition, and being 2nd hand were not too expensive (well, nowhere near new cost anyway). So we've been riding them around the front paddock making sure everything is right with them before we take them away for Easter. There is a couple of things we want to get 100% before the holidays, the medium one needs a new battery, and the big one needs a new reverse cable, but otherwise everything seems pretty good on them. Michael also picked up his new bike a couple of weeks ago, now that he has finished his apprenticeship, he is earning more money, so this has been his big indulgence to make the last 4 years of working hard for not much money worthwhile. This is probably the biggest "family fun" purchase we have made ever, we have always planned on buying something like this, or a jetski, but we have never made the commitment to spend this much money, but is already meaning more time spent outside together having a good time, so it's a worthwhile investment.

Vermin proof chicken feeder

2011-04-05T11:01:00.000+10:00

Damian made a chicken feeder over the weekend. We wanted something that would hold a large amount of feed so that we can head away for a week or so, and not have to worry. We also wanted something that would keep the rats and birds out of their food, as I think we are losing quite a bit of food to rats. We looked at purchasing a pre-made feeder, but at over $300 we thought we would try making one first. This is stage one, where we are training the chickens to use the feeder. It stays in this upright position for a few days. We will then lower it down a little, so that when they step on the tread at the front it will lift the lid the rest of the way, and they will get used to the concept and used to the lid moving etc. After another few days, the lid is lowered completely, and when they step on the tread, the lid will lift and they will be able to eat the seed. That's the plan anyway, there may be some little tweaks that need to be made to the system, it took a bit of jiggling and adjusting to get the pivot points right, so that it would open up under the weight of a chicken, but not under the weight of a rat. Damian is planning on moving it backwards and inserting it in to the mesh of the chook pen so that it can be filled easily from the outside. The next thing we are going to install will be an automatic watering system, so that they have fresh water all of the time, as the waterer that we have now is ok, but they still manage to get the water quite dirty even though we have hung it up off the ground. We have seen a few options, but just need to decide which will be the best way to go. So, we will see how this new feeder goes over the next few days. We may have to tweak the shute a little, as the feed didn't come straight down in to the bottom part initially very easily, but that may be better once small amounts are coming down as they eat.

Damian spent such a long time getting this all built for me. I think he enjoyed making it though. :)

Weekend happenings

2011-04-03T22:23:00.000+10:00

It's been a busy weekend.....Mum was down for the weekend to get some fabric and do some sewing, we also had the bricklayer here bricking our pool house up, and Damian was busy building a new chicken feeder, so lots going on. We are doing a quick trip up to Bundaberg tomorrow to pick up a couple of things, so that will be a long, busy day.

Permaculture course day 6 and 7

2011-04-01T16:42:00.000+10:00

Day 6 was more about water and trees. In the morning, we discussed grey water use, including safety, diverting etc. The afternoon was more on trees, and using them as wind and fire breaks etc. We also broke up in to groups, and did a quick design layout based on clientele needs for various properties, to get us in the right mindset for doing our own property designs that we are all required to do as part of this course. Day 7 was all about animals and chickens in permaculture. The whole morning was spent on chicken talk, including watching a short DVD at lunchtime. The afternoon was spent discussing other animals for a permaculture system, bees, cows, goats, sheep, llamas, alpacas etc. We then worked on another property design, incorporating animals into our design. This is helping us all to apply the principles learned so far in the course, so we can work on our own designs better. Next week we go on our bus tour to Crystal Waters to check out other properties already working on the permaculture systems, I am really looking forward to this, I think it will be really inspiring.

Hot iron caddy for sewing class

2011-03-29T18:05:00.000+10:00

I've been trying so hard to get some sewing done this year, but it's been quite thin on the ground so far, the first quarter of this year is nearly gone already....it's going by soooo fast.....life...please slow down a little! I did however manage to get to a sewing club get together and we made a "Hot Iron Caddy", the idea being that at the end of a class, we can pack up our iron and not have to wait for the iron to cool down to be able to go home. It can also be used during class to iron on. It is very, very simple to make, and is lined with a thermal fabric, especially for irons etc. It is basically just a rounded square, thermal fabric on one side, cotton fabric on the other, sandwiched together with wadding, and quilted, then the edges bound, a handle added, and some buttonholes and buttons to do it all up. A nice quick project completed in class, other than a little hand sewing of the binding, which I did when I got home.

One Lovely Blog Award

2011-03-29T17:07:00.001+10:00

Thank you Sherrie for this lovely award.

As per the rules of the award, here are 7 things that may not be commonly known about me.

1: I love the colour purple
2: I am addicted to craft, simple living and gardening magazines, and have to control my spending on these.
3: I love, love, love chocolate
4: I am a fully qualified florist, having had up to 5 stores at one time with about 15 staff and the stress that goes with it.
5: Family is the most important thing in my life
6: I am a stickler for the rules
7: I am not happy unless I am busy or learning something new, I can't sit around doing nothing.

Craft show goodies

2011-03-28T13:22:00.000+10:00

I picked up lots of goodies yesterday at the craft show. The bank account is on life support at the moment! Now I've just got to make time to make the projects I have in mind.

Some beading supplies

Lace, ribbons, silk flowers and elastics

Silk flowers, lace, bobbin fill, wool and some gorgeous rose trims

Sparkly lace, lots of lovely wedding bouquet trims here...

Wool for the dolls hair for the patterns I purchased

Loved this!

A couple of doll patterns, I purchased one, and got the other free, and I purchased a starter pack for drawing the facial feature, some more trims,some glass beads, bobbin fill, an assortment of fat 1/4's for the dolls clothes, and the first 2 editions of Vignette magazine.

Some more lace and ribbons, and a bit more bling...

Craft Show

2011-03-27T08:03:00.000+10:00

Ann and I are off to the craft show today....look out bank account!

Permaculture course day 5

2011-03-18T16:14:00.000+10:00

Day 5 was all about "cultivated ecology" ie: vegetable gardening. The morning session was spent as a general question and answer session on vege gardening, and everyone had a chance to throw out a topic that they wanted to know more about relating to their vege garden or vege gardening in general. We also had a look at the "Mandala" designed vege garden, which is a permaculture designed keyhole, circular type vege garden. I can see so many advantages to this type of system. It will mean re-designing my gardens here, but I knew that was on the cards anyway. There were food presentations just before lunch on kang kong and cassava. Jeff did the presentation on cassava, which is so versatile, and he made a yummy cassava cake...it was really nice, and had a rice pudding, custardy type taste and texture. He also did some in the oven and made a fritter out of others. These will definitely become an addition to our garden. Tim did the presentation on Kang Kong, he made it up into a stirfry, this was also really nice, and can be used as a leafy green in stirfrys or in salads, again very versatile, easy to grow and tastes good to boot. It is quite similar to spinach, and I liked it much better than pak choi. The thing that I like about the food presentations is that I am trying food I have never heard of or tasted before, and it is opening up my eyes to the vast array of food available out there, that is much, much easier to grow than the standard vegies we've eaten for years as our standard daily menu. I think a cooking course might be on the cards after this utilising all of these types of foods. In the afternoon we got dirty in the gardens! We constructed a no dig vege garden, which is basically building up composting layers on top of your vege garden and planting in to compost into this layer. This is obviously no good for root vegies, but fantastic for leafy vegies, and builds up the organic matter in your vege garden. This saves back breaking digging in your vege garden. This method is also fabulous for growing potatoes in. After this was a bit of revision of the day. So another informing, educational day. Next week is part 2 of water and trees in permaculture. I will be late for next weeks class as I have flowers arriving for weddings, and these need to be unpacked and regfrigerated before I can leave home for the day. I am really looking forward to the bus tour coming up in a couple of weeks where we go and visit other permaculture farms, I think this will be really inspiring. Tomorrow I go and do my skin care course that was postponed 3 weeks ago and Tafe. It teaches how to make skin care creams, shampoo and conditioners out of natural products. I am really looking forward to this.

Permaculture course days 3 and 4

2011-03-13T13:55:00.001+10:00

Day 3 was all about permaculture design 1, starting on the zones and how they all link within one another. Zone 0 being the house, zone 1 being things you need to access a lot, such as herbs for the kitchen, salad greens etc,, some fruit trees that you would access a lot such as lemons and limes for cooking etc. zone 2 being things you access daily, the chook house, vegetable garden, etc, zone 3 being for a larger orchard etc, zone 4 being for pasture animals, bees, trees for firewood or cabinets and zone 5 being natural untouched habitat for wildlife. There are lots of other things to include in each zone, but that's a very basic overview. Some things could be in more than 1 zone, some things are right on the cusp of 2 zones, so it does come down to common sense as well. I did my presentation on passionfruit, and made a passionfruit slice and passionfruit cordial. It was an extremely hot day today at the course, so the cordial went down a treat. Saori did her presentation on choko, and made sweet poached choko, they were delicious and will definitely be something that I grow now.
Day 4 was about water and trees. We started in the morning in learning about the contours of land and how to read a contour map, and how to work out the contours of our own land. We then started on water storage, water tanks etc. The afternoon was spent on trees in permaculture, their uses etc. We also did a wander around looking at the various types of trees on the farm. Colin did a presentation on eggplant, and he made up eggplant fritters, they were really delicious! I have never tried eggplant before, so I was really pleasantly surprised. I planted eggplant in the garden some weeks ago, so I am now looking forward to those, but I may have planted them too late yet. They were creamy and meaty all at the same time, I was very impressed. Fiona did a presentation on Okra, I can't say these did much for me...but they may be nicer cooked a different way, apparently they are the main ingredient in gumbo, but I need to find out what that even is! We have an assignment to do which must be completed in 2 weeks time. I need to work out our roof area, and our yearly water use, and work that back to our average yearly rainfall and work out the number and size of water tanks we need based on all of that info. That will be interesting to do, and relevant to us as we have been looking at getting water tanks this year, as being self sufficient in water is something I want to do, especially with Unity Water charging us a fortune for water these days.
There have been other things happening around the place, but I have come down with some dreaded lurgy and not feeling 100% so will catch up on updating the blog in the next few days hopefully.

Permaculture Design Course - Day 2

2011-03-01T20:53:00.000+10:00

Day 2 - all about soil and composting. I arrived on time today - good start. Basically the morning was about the composition of soil, how to test it and work out the PH etc . The afternoon was spent on Worm farming and composting, including building of a compost pile. We also had a look at ground covers and soil improvers. There was a couple of food presentations, 1 on sweet potato and Kate made a lovely sweet potato pie, it tasted almost like caramel tart - yummy. Jacinta did a presentation on sweet basil, and made up a lovely pesto for us to try with crackers, also very yummy. My turn next, and I am doing Passionfruit. Day 3 of the course touches on permaculture design1..the first intro to designing a permaculture system...looking forward to it. I have taken a few photos from around the farm:

(Sweet potato beds)

( Kassava Bushes)

( More sweet potato)

( Pinto bean as a groundcover)

( Pidgeon Pea - soil improver)

( I can wear this t-shirt now)

( Signs for atmosphere)

( Pumpkin and Qld arrowroot)

( Arrowroot chopped up for the compost pile)

( Comfrey for the compost)

( Dried mango tree leaves for the compost)()

( Chopping up the greenery for the compost)

(Garden grass clippings for the compost)

( Tree art)

( Starting to build up the pile)

( The completed pile)

Looking forward to day 3...

I'm sick of losing my chickens....

2011-02-28T21:33:00.001+10:00

I'm not having a very good few months with my chickens.....and the saga continues. I lost another of the sussex girls a few days back, she came down with respiratory distress, actually both of the remaining sussex girls did, but 1 of them was quite a lot worse than the other, and she consequently died, despite my best efforts, with lots of TLC and antibiotics, but the other one has come good. And then, this afternoon, I returned from being out for about an hour or so, to find one of my little plymouth rocks girls dead in the pool. We have had a pool for probably the last 14 years or so, and I have never lost a chicken to drowning in our pool. Poor little thing...I was here all day too, other than going out for the school drop off and pick up....I don't know if it would have made a difference, but I think I would have heard something, some flapping around or something.....So, I am now back down to 9 chickens, and I think I will just keep it this way for the time being. We aren't getting any eggs at the moment either...just to add insult to injury....the last 12 months or so has been horrendous with losing chooks, the previous 15 years or so was no problems, we have lost more chickens in the last 12 months than probably in our entire 18 1/2 years of being here....other than when we had an issue with a fox, and nearly our entire flock was wiped out in 1 night about 14 years ago....I'm really hoping all of the bad luck with my feathered friends is past us now.....

I have a worm farm!

2011-02-28T13:43:00.001+10:00

Yay...I went to Bunnings yesterday to buy 2 things....and none of them were a worm farm...hehehe....Damian should know better than to send me to Bunnings on my own....I do love that place....anyway...I have been meaning to get a worm farm for ages, and seeing as how I am doing the permaculture course, thought now was as good a time as any.. So I purchased a "worm cafe", it comes with a tap to get the liquid out from the bottom, which I thought was worth the little extra $. I also bought 1200 worms to go in it...which I thought sounded a lot, but apparently this is about the minimum to get. So when I got home, I went about setting it up, this is all new to me, so after reading all of the instructions, soaked the coconut fibre, spread it out in the tray, added the worms, covered them with damp newspaper and the hessian mat I bought and set them out in the shade of the greenhouse to settle in. Kasey knew way more than me about setting up the worm farm, as they set up one at school last year..so she was offering advice left, right and centre about how to go about things! Anyway, Kasey went out to check on the worms this morning, and came back in to tell me..."Mum, I have some bad news about the worm farm...the worms are escaping!" So out we went, and scooped all of the worms back in...I don't know what wasn't quite right for them, I have taken the hessian out and just left the newspaper in for now, and they seem to have all buried themselves in nice and deep back in the fibre, and I have given them a few scraps as well to start them off, so hopefully they are happy enough to not want to get out now...and they can start their work of chewing and pooping and making some lovely castings and liquid fertiliser for the gardens!

mmm....cake

2011-02-25T17:05:00.001+10:00

We don't think you realise just how much we want your cake!!!

Permaculture course day 1...and some lemons!

2011-02-18T22:06:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was the first day of my permaculture design certificate course. I arrived late...not a good start...I allowed an hour and a 1/4 to make a 40-45 minute trip to allow for traffic...WRONG....it took me about an hour and a half....geez....what's with the traffic! Anyway, I only really missed the intro...but ended up making a grand entrance instead of quietly sitting at my desk waiting for the course to start. The farm has only the very basics in the way of utilities, so I will know for next week to take a lunch that doesn't need heating, and an esky with ice so I can take my own milk, teabags etc for a nice cuppa during the day. It's definitely an urban hippy existence there, does take a little bit to get used to. Day 1 was a basic introduction to the 3 principles and 12 elements relating to permaculture. There was a bit of roleplay (very embarrasing, but a way for everyone to get to know each other a little) and farm tour. There was also a food presentation on Bunya nuts, the nuts boiled weren't really my thing, but the bunya nut pesto on the fruit loaf was quite nice, but I think that's because the fruit loaf masked some of the bunya nut flavour. We were also given our plant allocation that we each need to do a food presentation on during the course. I lucked out with passionfruit, and I have some growing here, so I get to make some yummy sweet treats for my presentation. Need to do the research between now and the next fortnight, so I can hand out the information sheet during the presentation. I was pretty bushed (and cranky) when I got home, as I spent another hour and a helf in the traffic, and was still quite tired today. This afternoon I planted out the comfrey in the garden, and as I was wandering around the garden, I thought I would check out the lazy lemon tree, and was delighted to see 5 lovely lemons at quite a good size, and a couple more babies coming along. This is the lemon trees first fruiting, so quite exciting.

I gave the bush a drink of seaweed solution this afternoon, and weeded around the base, and removed the big hungry catepillar on one of the leaves and gave it to the chooks, they don't seem very interested in it though! I purchased a lots a lemons tree about a month back as this lemon tree didn't seem to be making any progress, it must have scared it in to giving up some lemons. So, tomorrow is Kasey's 7th birthday, so I have a couple of wedding quotes to go and do in the morning, and Toni is going to take Kasey out for the morning to the park or maybe to the beach for an icecream. We'll do presents in the morning, and then a family BBQ in the afternoon. She has a little friend coming to play early in the afternoon, and they always play so well together. So..I'm off to bed, I am pretty tired, so I think I will sleep well. Next week I need to put some serious effort in to expanding my home routines app, I have the rotational house work and daily am and pm routines pretty much sorted at the moment, but I need to now start to allocate days to certain tasks and also some self improvement time (think...exercise...blaghhh) and need to start making set times for sewing and craft, gardening, mowing etc...I want to try and work them in to my routine so I have set days for these things as a rough promptor to each day for me. I have a bit of time in between quotes in the morning, so I may visit Gloria Jeans, and pop myself, my laptop and my ipad in the corner for a couple of hours and try and sort all that out...we'll see how I go....

Animal mishaps & a Permaculture course

2011-02-16T14:02:00.000+10:00

We got back from our holiday on Sunday. Always nice to get away for a few days. One of the chooks came down sick a few days back, after doing some research on the net, I concluded that she had coccidiosis...I think that has been the culprit with the other couple of girls I have lost recently..and it has been spreading through the more vulnerable girls. I treated her with Sulpha D, and she has come good now, and I have returned her up with the other chooks. Now that I know what I am looking for, hopefully I can now keep it in check. I will need to give Damian the hurry along with the chook tractor, and give the ground in the current chook pen a spell, and try to get rid of any parasites that have built up in the soil, as the chook house has been on the same ground for many years. Hopefully now we are over the worst of the sick chooks for a while. Diesel has also been in the wars, he has banged his head really hard on something while we were away and has a huge boney lump on the back of his head, it's nearly as big as a golfball.

(Diesel has a huge egg on the back of his head)

I have taken him to the vet, and he is on some anti inflammatories, this is day 3 of being on those, and it really hasn't made any difference to the size of the lump yet, so if no better by Friday, I will contact the vet surgery again. He has also started mouthing toads, Monday night I thought I was going to have to rush him to the vet, as he got quite sick, even though we had washed his mouth out, but then I contacted the after hours vet, and she gave me some info on what to look out for, and also to wipe his mouth out with a cloth instead of washing it, to get rid of the slimy poison, as soon as I did this, he came good. And then last night, he came to the back door whimpering again, and was foaming at the mouth again, so I wiped it out first thing this time, and he came good within a couple of minutes. Damian is going to do the rounds of the yard with Dettol again to kill off the toads that are starting to hang around.

Tomorrow is going to be very exciting, it is day 1 of the Permaculture Design Course I am doing. It will be every Thursday for the next few months, and I am really looking forward to it. I hope my brain can deal with all of the theory that is going to be associated with it! I will post later in the week with the details on how it all went. I am looking forward to absorbing all of the info and putting it in to practice here. I have also received most of my book order that I put it at the beginning of the month, I will post about those a bit later as well. At the moment I am trying to continue catching up on paperwork, nearly there, it is almost full time in the office at the moment doing bookwork....but the pile is getting smaller.

A few days holiday...

2011-02-08T17:57:00.000+10:00

We are having a few days at the beach....Damian didn't have any time off over Xmas, so really needed a break. So we managed to get a beachfront site at the caravan park he has come to since he was a kid. The phone keeps ringing, but at least he is having some time off. Damian is spending lots of time here...reading the paper overlooking the ocean...

We went a did some shopping yesterday, and we went via the local Salvos stores to get some books and jigsaw puzzles for Kasey to do.

This one is a 3 dimensional princess castle puzzle, it took us quite some time to do, but looked great when finished.

Today, I said Kasey could make cupcakes. She made them all by herself, I just gave her the instructions, and did the oven part, other than that, she did it all herself.

(Mixing the batter)

(Laying out the patty pans)

(Filling the patty pans)

(Sampling the leftover batter - as you do)

(Watching them bake)

(Now the creative part - the icing)

(And butterfly sprinkles of course! )

(tadah!! )

(Yum....)

So, a lovely relaxing time so far....I have to head home for a little while tomorrow, as I have a flower delivery coming on Thursday for a wedding this weekend...we are only 45 minutes or so from home, so not too far to travel. Then I will have to come home really early on Saturday to do the wedding and deliver it....but Damian and Kasey will stay and have fun at the beach while I am gone....

Animal progress

2011-02-03T22:46:00.002+10:00

A 2nd of the new chickens came down with an infected eye a week and a half ago, so I put them on antibiotics and eye cream. This is the 2nd chicken that came down with the infected eye:

This is the first chick, she basically had her eye permanently shut:

This is her eye now:

This is the 2nd chicks eye now as well...all better.

They were on antibiotics in their water for 5 days, and they were separated from the other chooks to stop it spreading anymore. I also applied cream twice a day to the infected eyes to help clear up the infection.They have all now been reintegrated with the big girls, and are now doing well. I have also purchased some vitamin/antibiotic tonic from the pet barn, to treat all of the other chooks with once a week. I lost one of the sussex girls last Friday, no clue why, just found her dead, so I will give all the girls a treatment each week, to try and build up their immunity, and get them all nice and healthy and try and ward off whatever is affecting them. I want to move them in to a chicken tractor for a while as well, to get them on to new ground, in case their is a soil borne critter that is affecting them. Diesel is also growing up, he is now 9 weeks old. He seems to be getting quite used to the chooks, he is quite happy to just wander around with them now, and doesn't chase them at all...hopefully that will continue! There is definitely something to be said for starting them off early to get used to the chickens.

Tropical Cyclone Yasi

2011-02-02T22:57:00.000+10:00

I am thinking of all of our North Qld neighbours who will bear the brunt of Tropical Cyclone Yasi tonight....I hope everyone is safe through this monster...

(OMG!!! I have never seen anything like this, the sheer size of this is astounding)

Some serious decluttering...

2011-01-31T17:33:00.002+10:00

I was working on the bedrooms last week, doing a focused clean up on them, cleaning windows, skirtings, cobwebs etc. Part of this task was also to sort out the clothing, so I set to work on Kasey's room first, and got rid of a box of things, as well as 3 garbage bags full of outgrown clothes. Then I set to work on our room...ughh...The walk in robe was in serious need of some sorting out. It's funny how you can look at something every day and totally ignore the state of it...well it's been about 10 years since I have cleaned it out, I have done wardrobe declutters in that time, but that has been getting rid of unworn clothes, not touching the shelves as well. Soooo....here are the before shots:

This is the pile of clothes and things being donated to Lifeline:

And here is the finished product..the wardrobe is still quite full...where did it all go before!

Also on the floor in our bedroom were my pile of craft magazines that I read before going to sleep. So I decided now was as good a time as any to get stuck in to those as well. I have to stop buying magazines...there is over $2000 worth of mags here...that is a few years worth though, but still....look at them all!!

These are the only remaining ones now, my collection of Handmade mags, Grass roots, fruit and veg and organic gardening mags, and my warm earth magazines. This box was choc a block full before, as well as 2 piles in our bedroom.

15 minutes in the focus zone turned in to a whole afternoon, but it is worth it now. There were 21 bags of clothing out of our walk in robe, plus a box of unused items, bags, shoes, etc. To say I was stuffed after this was an understatement! Damian and Kasey helped me load it all in to the car....the back of the car was jam packed full, and I dropped it all off on my way to the markets on Sunday morning. This week is the lounge room and office....I cleaned the windows in the loungeroom today, the office will be tomorrow, and then on to dusting and cleaning them over the rest of the week.

I have bananas......yippee

2011-01-30T19:41:00.000+10:00

I have had a busy, busy week.....phew....Damian and I were doing a bit out in the yard this afternoon, and I said to him, I wonder if my banana plants are doing anything yet....I looked up and I was like a little kid with excitement when I saw that beautiful purple flower, and then as I focused a bit harder, I saw all those little lady fingers behind it. This is the first time I have had a banana tree, so these are my very first bananas produced by me ever....I would love to get the planting staggered so that we are getting bananas on a regular basis...I have to do lots more research on that to see how best to do that.

I have done some serious decluttering this week, but I will post about that tomorrow. I am really tired after a very busy weekend, so it will be an early night tonight.

Some gorgeous tropical flowers in the garden...

2011-01-21T22:26:00.001+10:00

I have been waiting and waiting for my Beehive Ginger to flower. I haven't looked at it for a couple of months, and I looked at it today when I was over that way, and was pleasantly surprised to see my beehive ginger flowering....I love, love, love these flowers, they are one of my favourite tropical cut flowers, and they look fantastic in modern floral arrangements....makes me want to get back in to sending out flower arrangements for customers again...hmmm, don't think I am quite ready for that just yet.... :)

I have also got some beautiful heliconias flowering at the moment as well, these are stunning in modern flower arrangements as well.

At the very least these beautiful flowers make me want to be out in the garden planting lots more of these lovely tropical flowers, so that they are scattered all through the garden....lots of work to do in the garden at the moment, lots of rain means LOTS of weeds....blah....and I really want to get in to my greenhouse and put some more plants in there as well....lots to do....I would like to get a garden mulcher as well, as I have a lot of palms and they lose so many fronds, so I would love to turn them in to something useful and mulch them over the garden...something else to add on to the "want" list....

Candle Making

2011-01-20T09:22:00.002+10:00

I went to a candle making class last night. It was a soy candle class, meaning the candles are soy based, not petroleum based, so are better and nicer for burning in your home, and not releasing petro chemicals into your home, and they also burn longer than parrafin based candles. I made a candle in a glass container which was scented with "white tea" fragrance, some melts scented with "green tea and lemongrass" fragance and gardenia scented tea light candles. I have also bought some supplies so I can make some more and practice some more.

So, something else I have been wanting to learn, crossed off the list nice and early in the new year. I have been using my home routines app on my ipad every day, and I am finding it easier and easier to follow each day, with the morning tasks only taking 15 minutes or so in the mornings to get through most of the list, which I have been doing before breakfast, which leaves just the floors to do, and washing to hang out after breakfast. I have edited the list so it is more suitable for me, and added a couple of things to it that weren't on the list. Damian wanted to add some things on to my evening list...but I said no...lol... So, I'll keep plodding along with this for now, and see how I go with it all. It is certainly keeping things much tidier here.

The chick's eye that I have been bathing is looking a lot better, and she is keeping it open much more now, so I will keep up with this until it's all better. Diesel is also going well, I think he has almost doubled in size already, and he is settling in well. I don't think he is going to be as tolerant of Kasey as Max is, but it is also good for Kasey to realise that not all dogs are as tolerant as Max is, and that she does need to exercise some care when handling different dogs. Diesel is a quiet little boy, and is more reserved than Max, but very friendly and loves a pat, just doesn't put up with as much as Max does. Not sure what the day holds for today, I have another preservation to finish off, and some flowers to order for a wedding next month, and a few other things to organise. I might take Kasey to the movies to see Yogi Bear this afternoon, we went and saw Tangled the other day, and it was really good and got us out of the heat for the day, as we have been having some really hot days here this week. On the plus side of that though, is that I finally got the mowing done yesterday, the grass was so long, but looks much better now. Still need to whipper snip and spray for weeds. The seedlings that I planted on Sunday are starting to sprout already as well with all of this moisture and hot days we have been having.

(lettuce coming through thick and fast)

(corn are coming along really well, germination rate seems much better than sowing directly in to the garden)

(some cabbage are starting to come through, the other seedling types are still to show their faces)

(the pumpkin's are starting to come along too, yay, I have got Damian looking out for some Reo concrete mesh for me, so I can teepee the mesh and grow them up these, instead of ramling all through and taking over the rest of the vegie garden, they seem to grow better when they are suspended as well)

Good to see people are starting to dry out here after the floods of last week, still so much to do though, and now Victoria is copping it as well....the weather is all over the place right now...hopefully it will start to settle soon.

I was fairly well prepared, but still more to do....

2011-01-17T21:13:00.000+10:00

With the disasters and tragedies of last week, I have been trying to make sure that I have been as organised as possible, and that we had plenty of food and supplies to see us through in case we were cut off. I purchased frozen vegies in the week prior to the floods, and I have also stored some milk in our freezer and we have plenty of powdered milk as well. I re-stocked the bulk supplies cupboard last week, and we have plenty of meat in the freezer. I also purchased a large bag of bread flour the week prior to the floods, so I can make bread if needed. The shops have been in very short supply of flour and bread and milk, so it is reassuring to know I have plenty here to see us through a number of weeks if needed. We are also lucky enough to have our own generator, in case of power failure, to keep the fridge and freezer running. However, I would like to have some rainwater tanks here for water storage, and that will be a priority this year. There were some rumblings on a forum that I follow that our water supply in this area had been comprimised, so to know that we have our own water supply would be good. Our girls provide us with plenty of eggs, even though they aren't laying a lot at the moment as 6 of the girls are still to start laying so I only have 5 regular layers, and I am only getting 1 - 3 eggs per day at the moment as they are a bit off the lay, I think with all of this horrible weather, they are a bit out of sorts, but we still have enough eggs for us.

I have been trying over the last 18 months or so to scan all of our older photos, so that I have an electronic copy of them all, so that if ever disaster does happen, those memories are not lost , I haven't got them all done yet as it is quite time consuming. Our computers are all backed up a couple of times a month, so that data isn't lost either. I am also currently filling out our home organisation manual, which will hold all of our information on bank accounts, loan details, super details, card information etc etc. So in an emergency it's just a matter of grabbing the folder, and my external hard drive and we can leave. It is reassuring to know that I am at least this organised. I still have to get together an emergency kit, but that is something I will concentrate on next.

One thing that has been quite disappointing is that with all of the wet weather, my vegetable garden has been basically wiped out, other than a few of the long term plants like the asparagus, shallots, strawberries, chillies, and the sweet potato. My rhubarb was decimated, but it is starting to come back now that we have had a few dryer days. Everything else has either gone to slush or is in the process of doing so. So I am not prepared enough in keeping fresh produce coming from the garden, at a time when produce is going to become quite expensive. So I have been busily sowing some seeds over the weekend, to try and get things coming along again. I have filled a pot near the back door with pick and eat salad lettuce, so that should start to sprout soon. I am also going to put another pot in the same spot with some grape tomatoes, so I can just pick these and throw together a salad for lunch, without having to wander up the back to the vege garden.

We also purchased another few chickens yesterday, I managed to get hold of some plymouth rock girls from the markets, I have been wanting some of these, they are still quite young, so it will be about 3 months before they start to lay, but they have some attitude that's for sure! I don't think too many things will give these 3 a hard time. I kept them in a separate cage in the chook house yard overnight, and I have let them out with the others this morning, and they have been loving having a big scratch around, and I have left the cage door open so they can retreat in there if the big chooks start to harrass them at all. One of the new girls has a sore eye, I think it has been scratched, she is keeping it shut and it was weeping...I have bathed it this afternoon with salty water, and have put a tiny bit of Rawleigh's above and below her eye to try and pull out any infection, so I am hoping it looks a little better in the morning, but I will keep bathing it until it looks better.

There was basically NO fresh produce at the markets yesterday. It just goes to show that the bigger sellers that are usually there get all of their produce from the rocklea markets instead of being local growers, so that is disappointing. I will have to try and source some more local growers, as I would like to support local farmers and know that the food hasn't travelled from god knows where...lots to think about here, and lots of things still to organise.

Even though some of what has happened here in Qld over the last week, happened so fast that all of the planning wouldn't have helped anyone in those areas where tragedy struck, a large proportion of areas had some notice to be able to move a good amount of property out of harms way, but not having a bulk storage of food and essentials, or backups of photos and computers etc. have left a lot of people very vulnerable and with a huge amount of loss of precious items. So many people who were able to stay in their homes, but were isolated, seemed to run out of food and essentials within a day of the floods, I am glad that I could rest easy knowing that if we had to, we could get by for a number of weeks on what we have here. It does make you realise though, just how reliant we all are on other people to provide goods for us....and how far off being anywhere near self sufficient most of us really are....

The first lost tooth

2011-01-15T11:05:00.000+10:00

Kasey has lost her first ever tooth today. It has been loose for about 6 - 7 weeks, and her new tooth has even been growing up behind it. I would have been taking her to the dentist next week if it hadn't fallen out by itself, as I was, and still am, a little concerned about how far back the new tooth is coming up. I have been getting her to wiggle it, and I could see this morning it was only just hanging in there, and she pushed it out with her tongue accidentally about 1/2 hour later, much to her surprise. So her tooth is now sitting in a glass beside her bed, waiting for the tooth fairy to come tonight...

I have downloaded an app on to my ipad called "home routines" and it is based on the flylady principles. It has morning and evening routines, as well as the 5 zones, and the focus zones for each week, as well as weekly tasks. As you do each one, you can click on it, and it marks it as done, and fills in one of the points on a star on the home page. As you complete all of the tasks, the whole star is filled in, showing you that you have finished it. I have finished most of my morning routines today, and the afternoon one is much easier. I have done quite a bit of clearing out in the kitchen, as that has been the focus zone for this week. The pantry is nice and clean, and the clutter drawer was cleaned out by Damian yesterday. I am noticing that since I have been focusing on this, that everyone else has been more focused on keeping their own rooms tidier, (a small miracle where Toni is concerned) so things are very slowly falling in to place. I will have to watch I don't overdo it though, as I was pretty wrecked by lunch time yesterday. Ok, I'm off to work out what we're having for dinner tonight, so I can complete my morning tasks....

Dark days here in Queensland

2011-01-12T11:17:00.003+10:00

Absolute tragedy happening here in Qld at the moment. From the tragedy of the inland tsnuami going through Toowoomba on Monday, and then wiping out Grantham and the Lockyer valley Monday night and yesterday...just terrible. And the news is only going to get worse as they start to get in to those places and finding people who are missing. It looks like a bomb has gone off in those towns. We were only in the Lockyer Valley on Saturday and I fear where we picked up the puppies from may not even be there now! Local businesses around here were flooded yesterday, including the local shopping centre. The sewing shop where I go had a metre of water through their shop and will be closed indefinitely. We had water up a couple of inches on our verandahs at the peak of the rain and flooding yesterday, and our toilets were backing up, but that was the worst of it, and we didn't have any water come in to our house, so we are so lucky. I have been glued to the tv for the last couple of days watching what has been happening. Brisbane city and Ipswich are copping the worst of it today and in the next couple of days while the rivers rise. So far there are 10 people confirmed dead, and 90 people reported as missing, and they hold grave fears for at least 18 of those... they are saying it is going to be as bad or worse than the 1974 floods. We have plenty of food here, as well as a generator if needed, so we are ok to hold up here for quite a while if needed. The rain has eased a lot this morning, with just the occasional shower here and there. I am thinking of all our neighbours throughout Qld at the moment....

(We had some minor flooding here, but nothing too serious...thank goodness..)

Some new chickens to add to our brood....

2011-01-10T16:52:00.000+10:00

We went and picked up 3 new light sussex girls on the weekend to add to our brood. I'm looking forward to them growing up and providing us with some more eggs and some chickens. I may possibly get a sussex rooster to keep some purebreeds coming through, will see what happens. This is the girls before they were put up in the pen with the big girls, they have settled in quite well, the big girls aren't harrasing them too much which is good.

The new puppy

2011-01-08T21:47:00.001+10:00

Here is the newest addition to our family, a gorgeous little Smithfield Blue Cattle Dog...awwww....isn't he cute....we have named him Diesel..right now he is asleep on the verandah next to Max...tomorrow he will be introduced to the chickens for the first time so he can get used to them before he grows up and wants to eat them!

My shiny sink...step 1...

2011-01-08T20:54:00.000+10:00

Ok..so my sink is usually pretty tidy, the dishes are put in the dishwasher throughout the day and the sink is wiped down regularly. However, in my quest to become a more organised person, I am going to try the flylady way..(.again...) Step 1 is to shine my sink...this step apparently leads on to other areas of my life and the house...so yesterday I shined the sink by filling each side with very hot water and bleach, leaving for an hour, and rinsing out, and then I cleaned the splashback with sugar soap, and gave it a nice wipe over, and then polished the sink. I also soaked the dishcloth in the bleach to get rid of any germs in it while the sink was soaking. I replaced the hand wash, and put it in a nice new ceramic dispenser that was sitting in the ensuite not being used, and moved the plug, dishrack and detergent underneath the sink. Now how long the dishrack and detergent stay under the sink for, will have to wait and see, as life needs to be practical as well, and if it is a pain taking them out and setting them up, then I will leave them on the sink...but I will try and make it all work. Sooo..presenting my nice shiny sink....tahdah!!

To fit my dishrack in the cupboard underneath my sink, I needed to clean out this cupboard (So, there you go, already leading on to the next step) I threw out a bag full of junk, and relocated a few things that didn't belong there.

So, I have achieved step 1, and I feel like I have gotten somewhere constructive, and I have got some decluttering done at the same time.

The firm favourite....and this weather!!

2011-01-07T08:11:00.002+10:00

Out of all of the gifts Kasey received for Xmas, there are a couple of firm favourites....the green machine, a set of walkie talkies, and the swimming pool toys. This was the theme I was going with this year, activities and toys that gets Kasey outside, and can be used over and over again. So even though the weather hasn't been very favourable, she has been riding her machine around (and around and around) the verandahs, and been having great fun with the walkie talkies....she also received lots of crafty and scrapbooking things, and this has been getting lots of use also, and I have received lots of pictures and cards in the last couple of weeks from her new stash. She has also been getting lots of wear out of a couple of new items of clothing and some new togs.

I still ended up with sooo many things to try and incorporate in to Kasey's room, which is pretty normal with Christmas and kids...and I can't really go through and take out the things she no longer uses while she is on school holidays as she brings things back in as fast as I take them out!! Kasey is a major hoarder....so her room will get sorted when she goes back to school, everything is tidy and put away for now...which is the main thing. We have been having really heavy rain here again this morning, it was so dark when I got up at 6, I could have easily rolled over and stayed snuggled under the blankets, but I have a courier coming this morning, so had to get up..typical though, last week when I didn't know they were coming they were here just after 7.30 and woke me up and got me out of bed, today when I got up early so I would be ready, they haven't turned up!!

Everything is so wet again now, I think the grass is going to be a couple of feet tall by the time things dry out enough to get the mowing done....however, I don't mind....we have nothing to worry about here other than some long grass and having to wear gumboots in the yard, much better than having to wear gumboots in the house like our poor neighbours up north who are flooded are having to do. I look at pictures on the news where you can only see the roof of some houses....that would just be devastating, and the clean up would be horrendous, and some people are still waiting for the floods to hit, but at least they have had time to prepare and move their valuable posessions and their livestock, unlike the people up north. Mother Nature is sure reminding us right now that we are mere mortals, and she has complete control of things, and that we had better not forget it!

More water backed up after more heavy downpours today...

Fresh produce prices are going to hit the roof in the coming months, and things have been so wet in the gardens, that most of my produce has died so I basically have to start again, but it has been too wet to plant anything right now, as things are getting too wet and rotting and dying..I have stocked up on a few frozen vegies, and with bananas apparently going to hit record high prices, we will be sticking with the basic fruits for the next few months...my banana tree hasn't fruited yet...hopefully it isn't too far off now..

Our day at the zoo......

2011-01-05T22:11:00.004+10:00

We ended up having nice enough weather to go to the zoo today. It was looking very "iffy" this morning, but Kasey was really looking forward to going, so we risked it and it ended up being a good day.

This peacock put on a lovely display for us when we got there...he waited until I took the photo, and then retracted his feathers....very thoughtful...thankyou Mr Peacock!

Toni...you are always so bright and bubbly, and we love that about you....

I patted the Alpacas...this one spat on my hand....eeewwww...it stank...their spit smells like it comes from the other end, not out of their mouth....

Kasey was mesmerised by the baby chickens

Toni "drinking" from the fountain...a trick of the eye...

Patting the wallabies

And feeding the deer's

Awww...cuddling a koala...

This cow was hilarious, it was chasing everyone around wanting their food, and ended up stealing Kasey's bag of food...bag and all, and promptly swallowed it before anyone knew anything about it....lucky it's a paper bag....!!!

Kasey and Hannah feeding and patting the kangaroos

We invited one of Kasey's oldest friend's along as well, they have been friends since toddlers at daycare. We came back here for a swim after the zoo as it was quite hot, and Hannah didn't end up going home until about 8.30 tonight, so they should both sleep well tonight, come to think of...so should I !!!

Organising the organisation manual....

2011-01-04T22:51:00.002+10:00

I have today started to fill out my home organisation manual that I was sent by a fellow ss member. It is very comprehensive...so far I have printed out an a4 calendar showing school terms, pupil free days and public holidays for the year. This is page one of the manual. I have also noted down in the appliance section details of the fridge so I could make a note of the part number for the water filter for the fridge, so I can thrown the old one out that has been sitting on my sink for nearly a week. Now I will be able to order the correct cartridge number when required. I have also started to list the details of the cards in my wallet in the cards list. Hopefully, between this, and the flylady control journal which I hope to start putting together over the next few days some time, will ensure that things really start to get sorted, and I can get over the Non routine part and start to actually flow from one day to the next without being a bit aimless. It's a start, which is the main thing. Depending on the weather tomorrow, we will be going to the zoo for the day. They have lovely park grounds where you can sit and have a picnic lunch, or cook a BBQ. I have invited one of Kasey's friends to come with us for the day, so if the day isn't good for going out, they should have a fun day together playing here. Anyway...bed time I think...