Tuesday, June 24, 2008 - Around the House ~ Everything Pink

It is raining here today as you can see by the spots on the leaves.  I thought the light was good for taking a photo and walked out into cold rain.  I wonder if it is snowing somewhere.  We had a cold day yesterday, then by evening it got warmer, hence the rain.  I got warm at ballet, prior to that I was cold and had fried eggs for lunch.  Ballet was open day yesterday, and my daughter has blossomed in ballet, she seems to really enjoy it and do all the right things.  Yesterday she wore pink.  I got a mixed bag of American ballet clothes and sometimes change things around a bit.  Some have joined on skirts or long sleeves.  Today our son has rediscovered his Dad's trumpet.  He scares everyone that comes to the door.

Comments (2) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - An Update

Today I had a nice surprise.  I heard the delivery lady put something on the front verandah.  I usually have an idea she is here.  I was expecting a small package from Oztion, and it sounded a bit heavy.  At lunchtime hubby and second son came in joking about how the parcel looked like a bomb package.  I asked him to open it then lol.  Then you wouldn't believe it, he pulled out a tutu!  The tutu is gorgeous and was found at the op-shop and the sender thought of our second daughter.  One of her friends couldn't believe it.  It arrived on a good day as she took it to ballet.  You never know when something really special might happen. Today was the day that there wasn't any hot water left for my shower.  But I am happy now, and no one "killed" anyone while I was in there.  I did get a phone call, but that wasn't too much trouble. The sultanas I especially bought the other day were put to good use, in a 5 cup cake from Belinda Moore's blog, and the packet is empty now.  I took my son to a place where you go to find jobs and part time work etc.  I got mixed up on the times and it had just closed.  We went there at 2pm.  I thought it was "don't go there at lunchtime i.e. 1-2" but it was more like don't go there after 2.  Oh well, it is very much a case of try try again around here.  Maybe I need some sort of diary with people's hours in it.  Sure, I should be able to remember, but I don't seem to.

Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Saturday, June 14, 2008 - A day in my life

I just checked Little Jenny Wren's blog and it is the 14th today.  That means it is time for A Day In My Life.  It is nearly 3pm, so I will have to backtrack. This morning I woke up a little later than usual, one of the girls were stirring up the other one from memory.  There was a time where I couldn't sleep because I felt I was on standby with the kids.  My youngest is six now and for a little while now I have been able to sleep an extra hour on the weekends sometimes.  I had a mug of tea in bed.  I talked to hubby about where to spend our last $40 before payday.  We decided on gas, nails or screws, milk and sultanas.  He had change as well and I asked him to give our 14 year old daughter her dollar for netball.  I discussed the hot water, and there was water of the right temperature left for my shower.  I washed my hair and combed it out, it takes awhile.  Our 11 year old daughter was going slow.  She loves her new game from EBs and she loves the Disney channel.  Everything is "wait".  She had her clothes to pack for her sleepover, and I checked her bag, and she loves wearing summer clothes in winter.  What happens is that she is very sporty and runs around gets hot, then cold.  I took the shorts out when she wasn't looking, will save those for gym.  I didn't think the shorts were relevant.  I had breakfast late, after asking our 17 year old to pack a lunch for himself and Dad.  He is our lunch helper for when we go on trips or to the other house.  It makes a big difference.  I thawed out some meat ends for him yesterday.  I had to ask hubby where the bag of wheatgerm was.  I had looked for it yesterday but couldn't find it.  I wasn't even sure then if I had bought it, as it was over a week ago.  He said he had put it with his bags of muesli to save space.  So I had my childhood breakfast of weetbix, wheatgerm and sultanas with cold rather than hot milk.  Don't forget the sugar. I made some chicken and another type of meat sandwiches for my six year old daughter for her lunch and I took her sister to netball.  Very unusually for me there are just the two of us home now for a little while.  She has been threading some beads. We have been out in the garden.  The wind has dried out the leaves and it is a very sunny day.  The wind is a little chilly.  My daughter noticed the cat sleeping in the sun.  We went around the garden and I mentioned there will only be poppies in flower soon.  We found some baby Johnny Jump Up plants and some baby Grannies Bonnets, which is great because I would like that plant at our other house, just in case there is none of that colour. I took out the scraps to the back of the back garden.  The dog wasn't here to go through them as he is at the other house for a change of scene.  I checked on our 11 year old daughter's vege patch.  I made a plan with hubby that we can garden here tomorrow because he doesn't think that the gas place will have gas for our car tomorrow.  There wasn't any today because it was too cold for the gas/LPG to come out.  I checked my email and read some things in my reader.  I put some wood on the fire at lunchtime.  Actually I haven't had lunch yet, so that is next.  I also did a post about the gas.  Having a cup of tea. I remembered I wanted to find a recipe with pork mince in it, so did a tiny bit of menu planning.  When I do it in advance it gives me a better start to my shopping list.  It is cheaper though I think if I buy the meat and things first and then do the shopping list, because I stick to more basic recipes.  For example this week I have to buy tortillas and feta cheese, that I probably wouldn't buy normally.  I did some planning about possibly starting a new blog with more features, just jotted down some ideas for a name.  When reading my comments I then found the song I See The Moon by Chris Rice and loved it.  Last month I couldn't partipate in A Day In My Life.  My father had died 2 days earlier and I felt I shouldn't do a post, so I am happy to be participating today.  I printed out a recipe for tea, then found in the fridge lots of chili so decided we could have that heated over pasta.  I had some toast and Pecks Anchovette & Kraft Cream Cheese Spread. I picked in some sheets and towels and put some more wood on the fire, then read a novel for awhile.  Had a cup of tea with hubby.  We talked about the mouse that he found in the house because our daughter wanted to keep some chips for next time.  I initially tried to talk her out of the idea.  At least it has made us focus on holes, as we have a solid brick house there.  So will check the one near the hot water service.  No mice mean no snakes I hope.  I.e. if the mice can't get in, hopefully the snakes can't either.  We hope to buy a self closing door or two soon. I have gone through the photos I took today.  If I find something on the Lifestyle or How To channel I will watch that, but there are lots of nice children's movies on tonight it seems.  May get to read more of my book.  The kids will go to bed in about an hour.

Comments (4) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Thursday, June 12, 2008 - Remote Living

It is a much brighter day here today (Saturday).  I heard it was snowing in NSW yesterday.  I know it was chilly.  Just a few minutes ago, dh rang me from the new house to say he couldn't get gas/LPG for the car.  There is only place to get it.  The nozzle freezes up.  Sometimes it won't shut off and they can't use it at all.  Sometimes they pour hot water on it.  So I think it is getting fixed.  So that is the upshot of our recent cold spell.  It is to be frosty then warmer with rain again at the end of the week.  So today he used the last of the gas then will switch across to petrol/gas.  Earlier this week I was asked to complete a community survey.  One of the questions was why do you stay in this area.  Seems a funny question in some ways, because I don't think people in more populated areas or areas closer to Melbourne would be asked this question.  Why should we be asked it and not others?  Anyway, I couldn't answer it straight off the top of my head.  I didn't complete the survey anyway, because there is no way with questions about how long have you lived here that I could do an anonymous survey, plus my age, etc. etc.  Yesterday my children were able to join in in two church activities.  One was a Uniting Church one that my children have been involved in for many years in three different locations.  The other was a youth group.  They took the kids treasure hunting in the night, in a very country setting, that I couldn't begin to describe, and it was freezing.  But that is what I love about it.  It involved probably 60 miles of travel possibly.  Where do they get the energy from?  They couldn't get that experience anywhere else.  (Well maybe if Myrtleford or somewhere like that does this.)  It is like spotlighting for game or something.  Something we haven't done for a long time.  Anyone who has spotlighted in the mountains in winter knows what I am talking about, so the kids really would have been warm most of the time in the car.

Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Wednesday, June 11, 2008 - Rainy Day

Well last night I made my first purchase on Oztion.  Thanks Tania for your encouragement.  I have been able to negiotate my way around so far, maybe the seller will think otherwise lol.  I found a seller that I knew from ebay, I looked in the lighting section to see how the browsing compared.  I find the pages easier to look at, the listings one under the other than ebay.  I bought some size 6-8 girls undies because they are a good size, but not easy to come by in the smallish supermarket I go to.  I only go to the clothes shops on occasion. Today my second child started his VCE exams (Year 12).  He took some of the cake as his exam is over lunch time.  These are mid-year exams.  I spied the orange poppy out the window.  I thought maybe it was just some litter, but concluded it must have been a flower afterall.  I think I am pretty lucky to have them flower over winter.  The tulips are up too.  That is great because we actually dug them up and took them to the new house.  Then they were in a pot sitting in the hot air, then I think half got planted here, half at the new house.  Hopefully they will carry on as normal.  I also have a remembrance poppy which is exciting, hope it flower soon too. I tried some of the icecream and it was very nice.

Comments (2) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Monday, June 9, 2008 - Icecream & Cake

Sunday, June 8, 2008 - An Update

I have had a new phone for a few months.  I haven't learnt to use it properly yet.  We had to buy it because the network was turned off.  I liked my old mobile phone a lot.  We bought it second hand when we moved here.  The new phone was one of two choices at the time we thought, and the second one was withdrawn from sale.  I was in an underground car park on our trip out the other day.  I no, I wasn't imagining it, I definitely can't read the numbers.  I had tried to demonstrate this to hubby beforehand but must have been standing in good light.  I don't wear glasses except to read, and would like to be able to use the phone without glasses.  Especially in an emergency.  I may get the opportunity to give it to my son and get another one, but it won't be for awhile yet. My other gripe for the week, ebay and paypal.  I have been using ebay again, especially since the real estate agent suggested if we did want to sell the other new house (not sure yet, probably won't though), we would need light fittings.  It seems ebay is a paypal only system now, but I haven't worked through the new system yet.  Yesterday hubby and youngest son basically finished putting the cladding on the back of the new house.  The top part was removed as it was asbestos.  They started this job on the 25th April,  6 weeks ago.  We were able to do another small amount of decluttering.  Hubby helped me get the two youngest girls to try on clothes and to keep the piles straight in his head.  We really needed teamwork to get this done.  I needed his memory, I did lots of folding, lots of things, then they got put in the cupboards and two medium bags taken actually to the op-shop at the same time we were finished.  Our son has settled into his new flat.  He has bought a fridge, loves the sights and events that happen on the way to work and uni.  Has started a new routine with grocery shopping that seems to be working for the two of them.  Another gripe is hot water.  We have a hot water service in the ceiling.  The last power outage put the meter 5 hours out, as that is how long the power was out.  Our meter had been sealed up again from before we moved here, we can see now why it wasn't sealed.  So now I hope we have another long blackout to reset the heating time of the water heater.  The foggy mornings have disappeared for some reason.  The past fews days have been very nice.  I remember one winter where it lifted at 2pm.  It was doing that I think last week, we had 3 hours of beautiful weather, then a colder hour before it got dark.  It is getting dark very early now.  We will be past the shortest day in a couple of weeks.  So basically when I went shopping a couple of days ago, was stunned, no driving hazards.  No fog, no mobs of cows, and no roadworks!  So different to two weeks and a month ago.

Comments (5) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 - Sunday through Tuesday

I finally caught CMC Rocks The Snowys on Sunday. No one likes the loud music here except maybe hubby. It was interesting seeing Thredbo on TV and hearing what different people said about the location without the snow and seeing the locals etc. and what they were doing and saying. They had two American artists performing there, and I finally got to see Steve Ford sing. He is CMCs presenter, a channel on Austar. After the children were asleep or in their rooms for the night, hubby carefully helped our six year old daughter with her shoes for tomorrow to make sure the bows don't come undone.  He had to change over the laces, they were leather thonging, and he changed over to brown shoeslaces.  He also put something on the leather.  The shoes were actually my second child's originally and our six year old is my fifth child.  Sometimes I think it isn't worth hanging onto things, sometimes I think it is.  I had finished my menus that I usually do on Monday, I did them while hubby was at work on Sunday.  He really needed to catch up.  In the morning the to younger girls went to school in costume, the spectators are in costume too for a bit of fun.  The girls looked nice in their costumes.  They were both Indians or Native Americans.  I bought one of the costumes on ebay.  Well I decided that it was too late to cancel my dentist appointment, I should have done in on Friday, so I geared up for the trip. During ballet on Monday I bought shoes for the older daughter for the play.  The stage was extremely cold underfoot.  I also spend some time on the phone.  I don't see my Mum much in person, so this is what we do each week.  I went out to the clothes line to put out some sheets, and it is not foggy as usual, but freezing!  It was a little warm in the afternoon, and I mean little, which is always nicer than being cold. I finished the Gilbert Morris books I was reading, not as wholesome as some other books.  Funny how I am not as fussy with music, I am really, just working out how to go about it.  Three novels arrived on the verandah via the postal lady from ebay.  Tracie Peterson and Lauraine Snelling.  Tuesday morning and hubby took our six year old daughter to the bus to go to a party in the regional centre as the kids had a day off school for curriculum day. I took my two oldest girls with me. At the start of our trip we were very very lucky or blessed to see for a long period of time two Sambar deer.  They looked much like those in the photo when we saw them. We didn't get a good photo though.  The weather was noticeably warmer at my hometown and I felt overdressed and hot.  On the TV show I mentioned they mentioned making soup as they thought the "lowlanders" would notice how cold it was.  It was earlier on in the year though, when they filmed it.  We always buy Baker's Delight for lunch when out.  Our hometown hasn't had Baker's Delight that long.  The mud scones are a must have. They have a special on the packed ones in a bag.  The lady kept mentioning the specials so I took the mud scones to shortcut the process.  It could have been anything.  This is what the website says: "Choc Mud Scone An indulgent twist on a traditional favourite! Our Choc Mud Scone is packed full of chocolate chips and cocoa for a sweet chocolate hit! Heat and enjoy for a delicious morning or afternoon tea. Yum!"  My view is that it puts a whole different meaning to scones and cream.  I could just imagine it! You must remember I am the biggest squarker about chocolate scones, but I try to keep it to myself. I have been converted. At least to these ones. Better than the McDs mud m*muffins, but similar. Our hometown has a new EB Games shop, the girls did a game swap. I was really happy because the boys/men in the shop knew what our town looks like and could talk with us lol. Even one said to me that we would have a climate change.  When I go to my hometown now I feel out of place.  These guys knew my new town and were able to chat with me about it freely which helped a lot. You take your DS game in and give them $20 and get a swap as long as you bring your driver's licence. The picture I am sharing of our glorious afternoons atm with natural stripes this time. I was thankful that I finally got to Medicare and hubby was able to find receipts.  We don't have a Medicare office here.  Today I bought a Family Circle and that was special.  It seems to have in it all things that are good about Simple Living.  I always bought it without fail, but towards the end grumbled about it.  I don't think it has been printed for over a year.  All the things I used to complain about in the old Family Circle are gone. I must admit it is a bit staid now. I will get to read more of the detail later. Good if you want to learn things, like more about making roasts, quilting etc. While in BigW I found the winners CD of CMC Country Music Awards for 2008, it wasn't very much money.  I didn't like spending the money, but we don't have a music shop here, or not one that I see, except in the town where I buy food, but they only stock a few at a time, though usually they make good choices.  Some of the songs I have in a post on my blog with links to the songs, now I will be able to listen to them in the car, like the gospel styled song by Troy Cassar Daley. I got home in time to get the middle daughter ready for her play tonight, hubby organised an early tea of pies, gravy, chips & peas.  I had to make a time to leave for home and stick to it.  The shopping wasn't leisurely.

Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 - To Market, to market

A scientist in the kitchen has a blogging event called To Market, to market.  I am a couple of days late, but just got my photos today.  Blog about the local market where you buy your food. Include a picture of the place (e.g. your favorite stall, a local delicacy, a seasonal produce). Talk about the sights and sounds. You can also blog about a market you have come across in your travels. It may be an organized one with its own building, a street market or any out of the way place where locals put up their produce. Today we went to this roadside stall.  We went past it, it was about halfway to our destination.  While we were out and about we kept some coins so we could buy a reasonably sized pumpkin on the way home.  Two weeks ago I made up a menu plan for a pumpkin we were given this month.  We were to have four meals using this pumpkin but only got two out of it for six people.  So today I got another, maybe I can continue on with the recipes if I replace any food items like feta that we have used.  We chose the AU$4 pumpkin.  There was a roadside stall closer to home, but nothing was there today.  We come down the mountain as little as possible.  Today I had a dentist appointment.  They had a locked box on the trailer and lots of signage.  It is a fairly busy road, not too far from a regional centre.  We were basically going around the regional centre to go to another place.

Comments (1) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Saturday, May 31, 2008 - Kids in the Country

Sometimes living in a remote area has advantages for kids.  Today my girls were able to feed the horses over the back fence.  Sometimes they feed the horses up the street.

Comments (3) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Sunday, May 25, 2008 - Sunday

For a little while now, probably nearly a year, I have made an effort not to go to the regional centre a lot.  Lots of people go there regularly even to grocery shop, though I have only heard it mentioned a couple of times since coming here over four years ago.  Our regional centre is 1 1/2 hours drive.  Today is one of the days where we don't mind going, and it is exciting, but very tiring, the drive is not a simple one, but today I didn't go myself, just hubby and our son.  Our son is doing his last year of High School.  There are classes available at the uni in the regional centre for at least some subjects, and he is there doing two today.  One class was at 9.30 and the other around 3 I think.  These classes are run by Access Education to help the kids with their upcoming exams.  Other times we have been there include picking up our eldest son from the train station, sometimes coming home near midnight last year as the train times were made an hour later.  Sometimes we put him on the train.  Those days are pretty much finished now, well it takes just as long to run out to the bus stop, but the hours are more friendly, though because the bus meets the train sometimes it is late and makes coming home around teatime. I have started going back to my hometown doctor, which is a 2 1/4 hour drive.  The only problem with this is last time I misplaced my medicare receipts etc. I still have two that I haven't claimed.  I can take them shopping with me, on my grocery run, but the Medicare there has a phone, and you have to phone through the information.  The doctors here bulk bill.  Anyway, that is a whole other story, and still an ongoing thing. Our gas (LPG) costs more than it does elsewhere.  Most people fill up while they are down there with petrol etc.  There is only one place that sells LPG in our town.  Probably the last time we went there was to get the car, mine in particular to run better.  It was all related to how you tell how much water is in the radiator and if it is low the gas doesn't run properly.  The problem of how to start the car in winter on gas wasn't fixed, perhaps it would have helped if we took it there in winter??  Anyway, the car was there quite a few days.  Anyway, now I start the car on petrol and can switch it across quite easily in the carport.  I love my car though and it has been one of the joys of coming to live here.  Today we are picking up a extension hose for our new dishwasher if hubby can get one.

Comments (1) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Saturday, April 26, 2008 - Anzac Weekend

This weekend has been a long weekend for us.  Friday was Anzac Day.  I made half a batch of Anzac biscuits.  We finished them off today.  While I was making these dh and ds were at the new to me house of nearly 8 months putting the cladding back on the back of the house.  He did a full days work and only got the wrap around piece done on the side.  It was the worst and needed repair work before putting the cladding on.  I imagine this was the reason that the asbestos was not removed in the first place.  Today was decluttering day.  The weather has turned cold.  It was lovely yesterday when Rhonda asked me about it, I suspect she heard about Melbourne's weather.  We get it a bit later.  So it was a nice day inside by the fire.  DD6 helped choose which books she didn't want anymore.  As she is the baby she can have the final say I suppose on the picture books and some videos.  Four half full boxes are in the car waiting to be dropped off. DH finally got a chance to do gardening again at this house yesterday, he came home early to take ds to help set up for a party.  They left early in the morning to get their work done.  The bulbs were coming up despite our lack of trimming the salvias overhead.  Yes, dh was very tired by mid evening.

Comments (3) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Friday, April 25, 2008 - Simple Living

Until fairly recently there were no blogs that I read each day.  However, now I have about three that I check regularly, and daily I read Down to Earth.  Today Rhonda has invited readers to join and and make a post or comment about Simple Living in their homes and lives.  We live in a town of around 1,000 in a remote area.  The schools and work are within walking distance, also the girls after school activities.  I can't say dhs work is not long hours because it is.  However, we do live in a very scenic location.  We have bought a new house with an eventual view to be mortgage free, but this has had stops & starts.  It does mean that we have 3/4 acre to play with at the moment, until we sell one of the houses, though I can't decide at the moment.  We have had our new house for nearly 8 months.  We are only just finishing the necessary building work today.  Things don't happen with help straight away.  Maybe we went about it the wrong way?  We are not big consumers.  My big voyage into saving came in 2003.  We were living in a rented farmhouse near Melbourne in the bush.  We also had our house of three years in a small regional centre in country Victoria that we visited on weekends.  DH had been working in a factory for two years after restructuring at the IT firm.  They eventually closed down.  He was working on the floor in the factory and decided to go back to his first career before IT.  During his holidays at the factory he did relief work in his first career.  This enabled him to get a contract.  So on the contract at the farmhouse, he was told it wouldn't be renewed as they didn't have the work for him.  I started saving then.  Before Christmas he got a permanent job in a remote area.  From this saving I was able to show it to the bank.  We bought a house, so had two houses.  The other one sold during the next Easter.  I dearly wanted my son to go to university.  Because we were used to factory wages and had made the adjustment from a very small IT wage to basic wage by adjusting my food spending, we were able to afford the rental home, then the two houses, then to send my son to uni, now the two houses again.  We don't usually buy cars that aren't on gas.  We did last year though, but we only use it for around town.  Would much prefer a gas/LPG car.  When dh left his first career we took an opportunity to buy a car on gas, and that made a huge difference to my life, so did having two cars.  Yes, it may be extravagant, but it gives choices.  Helps with change management etc.  At dh's work, he is given things like plums and green tomatoes sometimes and we have put them to good use in making sauce and pickles.  I really have been blessed by the kind people at gardenweb (au) and received jam melon seeds and we grew those and made pickles, jam & chutney and have found a lot of our joy simply by growing different kinds of sunflowers.  Another great joy is growing swan plants and seeing butterflies come from that.  Our community has a craft shop and we are able to buy cheap plants from other people's gardens.  We also have a very inexpensive op-shop here, and know of other good ones.  Having been in a town for years with a not so great op-shop I appreciate it.  Having said that our bowls pictured on this blog are from that op-shop that did improve at one stage.  I never did buy myself a dinner set when I got married, so in 2003 before my saving, I did buy some more in that set on ebay because it was my Nana's design, Johnson Australia if anyone wants to know what it is called.  I sometimes see it pictured in magazines.  Since coming to live here we have had to do without Coles.  Our shop did away with plastic bags, so I have developed skills in packing boxes in trolleys.  I have also decided to cut down my use of bottled pasta and stirfry sauces.  I believe living here and doing that has had a great effect on our health.  Our shop only could be relied on to stock certain foods consistently so I learnt to cook with sauerkraut for example.  However, years on, I have decided to shop out of town.  So another set of ingredient recipes had to be sourced.  I rely on the Taste magazine for that, though some ingredients are still have to find recipes for, but improving on the web.  If we move, it will be closer to the shop, and also there is an excellent local shop.  We have put in berry bushes at our new house, two kinds.  I read recently read A Slice of Organic Life.  It is very encouraging about what you need to have pigs, ducks & geese.  Some steps we have taken, but haven't gotten any further.  We found some bread pans at the tip.  The tips is an excellent place here.  Recently we bought home some wire netting, just in case.  The pans, some of been wire brushed.  They were from a bakery.  However, the children have been making bread.  They have a recipe where you can speed the process up in the microwave, and they make excellent pizzas.  They still have the one tube of yeast in the fridge, I am amazed how far it goes.  I love the Spirit of the Bush song, particularly Adam Brands part "she stares at empty cupboards, just like the day before".  We did have empty cupboards at the rented farmhouse.  But we were never without food.  I did very detailed meal plans and shopping.  My thoughts if people were having trouble to get very well acquainted with dried beans.  They are so cheap!  I feel I am not so clever, because in the last year, I have discovered wonderful canned beans and have been enjoying them immensely.  I suppose they are cheaper than meat.  I do not like the price of apples just to stew.  I have a post about the roadside apples we collected.  What do we do to be self-sufficient?  DH changes his own oil and fixes bits & pieces on the cars.  He cuts our firewood.  We use straw or free mulch from the tip, or cut up leaves.  We had some hydrid cherry tomato plants, were very disappointed so someone gave us some "real" cherry tomatoes so they could seed down.  I have skills in crochet, knitting and spinning, but don't use them a lot.  We saved for a new sewing machine with Castle Hampers.  We have a collection of old freezing and preserving books.  We have a good herb collection.  We have those new light bulbs in our home.  We had to do this, they blew regularly from surges or something.  We don't use a tumble drier.

Comments (4) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - Farm Girl Heart

What being a farmgirl means to me.  Please visit The Garden Goose to see other similar entries and the other weeks in the farmgirl blog-a-thon.  I grew up as a farmgirl I suppose.  I got the heart for it somewhere along the line.  I belonged in a family of four living on a farm with Grandparents, and my Dad's brother, his wife and 2 children.  When I was little my Dad's sister, her husband and their children also lived there.  It was a property of 2,000 acres with sheep, 2,000, cattle, maybe 200, tobacco, crops, cartage business etc.  My Mum was very enthusiastic with chooks, rearing lambs, ducks, turkeys, sometimes pigs, goats, horses.  We had a wood stove, no other stove for cooking.  My uncle also had a wood stove, as did my Grandparents and my Nana down the road, though she had electric as well. My experiences included getting up early and "catching" Dad as he met his brother to fill up the trailer with bales of hay to take to the various paddocks to feed the cows in winter.  Drinking my aunty's tea during shearing time and accepting her generous offerings of jam drops, beer cake? and other things.  Her tea is the best!  I loved trampling down the wool in the sacks tied to the rafters.  My Grandmother kept her bread inside cream cans, so did my Great Uncle who lived next door.  Grandma had all the ideas about catching yabbies with meat.  Once my cousin and I slept in the haystack just to see what it was like.  Tobacco meant watermelons.  We also ate some on the way back to the shed.  I learnt to tie the tobacco to the sticks.  My Nana taught me to crochet at age 8 I think.  I remember crocheting on the school bus when I was about 13.  I learnt to sew at school, I went to a technical school and learnt it for 3 years.  I am not confident with my machine these days, will have to work on that.  I learnt to knit when expecting my eldest who just turned 20 at age 24.  My Mum is an excellent seamstress.  That was her job before she got married.  I wore her clothes for quite a long time perhaps until I was about 15?  My Nana was a great darner.  My Dad milked a cow, we had to go over a creek to get there.  My fondest memory was seeing a platypus one day.  When my husband and I started our life together he was interested in preserving with Fowlers Vacola jars etc.  I think he had just started, that was 24 years ago so please excuse my memory.  We still have his jar collection, we will not part with them.  He also had a gundog and we went hunting together.  He had a vegetable garden before we met and we continued that until about 1992-3.  My Mum and Nana preserved fruit.  Mum did plums that actually turned to jelly I think.  We used fruit from an orchard my Great Grandma planted.  There were many plums, and also I think a heirloom apple.  We used to pick blackberries together.  Nana and I baked together.  Five years ago after a stint in corporate America, and two years in factory work, dh went back to teaching and we moved to a farmhouse.  One year later we moved here to our remote location.  The first year dh got out his chainsaw, which is a collectors item and got it going again.  During the time in the factory (after the corporation closed down the previous factory where dh was an office worker in IT) our wages went down so the only way to make up the balance was with cutting back on food.  I remember at the farmhouse we had two houses then, a rental and our own, and the menu planning kept everything going.  It was very finely tuned.  Now in the remote area, we choose not to buy too many processed foods.  Some people give us plums etc. and we have made sauce and green tomato pickles.  I love the smell of wood.  It reminds me of my Grandfather's woodshed and seeing him standing there.  ~ FloralSaucer "To share with other farm girls and to learn about the Farm Girl way of life visit: http://www.maryjanesfarm.org/ "

Comments (2) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - Today

This is the second last book I bought myself.  I am trying not to buy things, but have bought two books recently.  It is an Australian Women's Weekly book available at newsagents or on www.ebay.com.au It is similar to the recipes I print off from www.taste.com.au some recipes I wouldn't use.  I am going to try a tuna bake first.  In the background is the box from our fruit delivery.  You can see from the grapes it is late in the season.

Comments (1) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Tuesday, April 15, 2008 - A day in my life ~ April

I had good intentions of doing this right, but didn't make a note of it.  Came across it a day late.  I will try to remember what went on yesterday. The morning started off not ideal.  We were wondering where the fruit and vegetable delivery was, or dh was.  I had ordered it for Monday instead of Friday.  On Friday dh took some school children to a science event 2 hours away and left at 6am, I had to get dd ready for ballet at 7am so I decided the fruit could wait until Monday, especially since we were going away for the weekend to help our eldest shift to his first flat, apart from subletting and university accommodation. I forgot that they don't deliver to our town until Mondays.  So I thought maybe it was money related, I was tired and made a mistake with that and decided I was not yet awake.  I was packing ballet clothes for dd6 when the phone rang.  DS wanted to chat about the weekend, he was at work already just after 8.  Which is a good sign as he found his way there on the new bus route.  DH decided they were off to school, guess where the ballet bag was?  Left behind.  A lovely parent had offered last week to take our daughter to ballet with another girl, so at lunchtime dh dropped off the ballet bag.  My Mum rang at the usual time each week.  That is also the time ds rings, well a little later, maybe this time he thought he would get in first lol.  We talked for 2 hours and I was still a little tired and that was it, too much.  Later on in the day I walked to ballet and noticed a sasanqua camellia out which was lovely I thought.  We had a chipolata sausage dish for tea, with pancetta instead of bacon.  Didn't know if the large pumpkin from a roadside stall was still OK to eat.  It had gone downhill over the weekend.  On a side note we are using it tonight and the fruit arrived! I put on a load of washing.  It was put to dry in front of the wood burning heater.  I remember putting a couple of pieces of wood on it in the afternoon.  I remember tea was a lively affair with our 4 children.  During the day the postal lady left a book on my front verandah.  It was Little City By The Lake by Celia Wilkins.  I started reading some of it.  Later on at night I was reading it in bed, I couldn't read anymore and I must have dozed off.

Comments (2) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Wednesday, April 9, 2008 - Our Month

Hi everyone. We are three days into the start of a new school term here.  We went off daylight saving on Sunday morning.  There was a mix up because daylight saving was so late and everyone's computers and mobile phones were out by an hour for a week.  That same week there was a wind and dust storm in Victoria.  We were very lucky and had minor dust and wind.  The second largest city in Australia had problems with getting their power back on quickly.  We had tea early that day and didn't experience any problems.  The weather was cold then, we have one lot of wood and lit out fire eventually and kept in on, though it has returned to lovely days.  Of course the nights are very cool, we may have had one frost, but because we have the fire on we don't notice it and I am now wearing summer shoes again.  I am going to a high altitude tomorrow maybe I will notice the cold there.  Our son has been very blessed.  He picked up a key for his first flat that he is not subletting, or living in university accommodation.  We are going to help shift and take our daughter who is 6 for her first time to a zoo.  He lives in an established area which is nice.  Our daughter is practising for a big ballet competition.  Our other daughter had her ballet day changed.  The one in the competition has started gymnastics again.  We still have painting and boards to put up, but love the new back door.

Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Sunday, April 6, 2008 - Wildcrafted Apples

Not too many days ago, a few days before this photo was taken dh picked about 5lb of apples for me from this tree.  When he arrived the cockatoos where in the tree and they flew off to the paddock.  On photo day there was a parrot instead.  Maybe the cockatoos were sick of apples?  I stewed them up, they were juicy but too sour to eat.  The kids loved the stewed apple though.  The apples along the roadside have been ripe for awhile, this bush was later than the other ones, they were red, these more like golden delicious.

Comments (2) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - Photos from the Agricultural Show earlier this month

My husband took the girls to the show and they all got a second prize for something. That one was disqualified, but we will know for next time. Nothing here though it was more for interest: I could have entered roses from the new house, oh well. Here is one of the exhibits: One of my daughters spent her prize money on lollies.

Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Tuesday, March 11, 2008 - My Month

Hi everyone. Just thought I'd let you know that my back healed well. It is hot here this week, though it is autumn.  The nights are cooler than in mid summer, but outside it is like an oven.  Notice my weather pixie has bikinis on! We had another snake at our new house on the weekend.  We had a long weekend for Labour Day in our State.  My husband went to a meeting about the town and there are some positive things happening so we may rent the house for awhile until these things come to pass.  Our builder finished the back doorway, well nearly and we can't do anything until a little more cladding is put on and the gutter.  Last time I wrote the butterflies were hatching.  We had 9 on one day.  I have included one photo my daughter took on the phone we recently bought.  We had to buy it, as the network was to be taken down, that our old phone used.    The girls have their ballet shoes organised.  They have nice classes on a good day.  We joined in in the agricultural show/county fair.  DD6, DD11 and dh won 2nd prizes, with pickles, chutney from the jam melons, a pet rock and a pig made from melons.

Comments (1) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Monday, March 10, 2008 - Still lots to do

Still lots to do on the house.  Here is another pic of the kitchen.  Still some tiling, hinges, lino etc.  Notice the builder has been and I am very happy. It will be a lot warmer with the back of the house finished.  It already keeps the hot air out, we have been having a late season heat wave, though it is cool at night.

Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Monday, March 3, 2008 - My photo for today

Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Sunday, February 17, 2008 - Our other house

Hi everyone. After the snake incident in our new house, we invited a real estate agent to tell us what it would be worth to sell.  He also gave us some ideas.  So we spent a day removing lattice from the side verandah.  This made such a difference.  So now we are concentrating on summer jobs, like painting outside while the weather holds.  I hurt my back and have spent the last two weeks recooperating.  So I couldn't sit on the computer long. My husband came with me to shop on Wednesday.  I usually shop on Thursday but his work was having a strike and he didn't wished to be included in the strike so we went a day early.  We got lots of hardware for the house while we were there.  Our bank had a major computer breakdown just before we bought the hardware, so we were able to get the paint with a smallish offline transaction the bank offers.  Then we had to wait two hours for our pay to come into our other bank, as we were a day early.  It all turned out in the end, and we had a nice lunch together which had probably never happened with us before!  The next day during the strike two of my children were home, and we made the 50 min. trip again and they helped me with the bags. Today dh is putting the paint to good use on the front little verandah.  It will replace the 70s olive green.  The house has turned a corner with the painting of two floors with tung oil, it made such a big difference.  I have recovered from the idea that the girls had to go back to their old school and everything seems settled.  Still organising ballet shoes at their old ballet school and they are a size larger in leotards.  Some butterflies are hatching here, keeping everyone amused.

Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Saturday, January 19, 2008 - House update

Monday, December 31, 2007 - Working on the house everyday

Sunday, December 23, 2007 - We haven't moved yet!

Monday, December 3, 2007 - House update

Yesterday I spent all day at the new to me house.  The windows are all back in the house.  This was the last one to be put in.  The builder has added the piece above the back door and the floor in the kitchen.  The next thing to get fixed is the shadecloth and lattice.  It will be all taken away and replaced with glass.  The shadecloth and lattice is not weather proof.  That will be such a relief. Here is my herb garden and one of the first sunflowers.  And the start of the painting.

Comments (1) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Wednesday, November 21, 2007 - Pics

Here is an updated photo of the garden. Also an update on how the kitchen is progressing.

Comments (3) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Thursday, November 15, 2007 - The House

Friday, November 2, 2007 - Things are happening at the new-to-me house!

This picture is getting closer at the new house.  I have a sink that works now, at least with one tap. The plumber has been and the old pipe didn't work at all, the water disappeared under the house somewhere.  No one has been living in the house over the winter period so that is good.  Hopefully it will continue to dry out under there.  My window frame is there but not the glass, maybe on the weekend.  I don't think I have a curtain for that window yet.  It is a narrow double window looking towards the back door.  The hole does not have a dishwasher in it yet.

Comments (0) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Tuesday, October 30, 2007 - The new-to-me house

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 - The house continues...

Monday, October 8, 2007 - How our new house is coming along

Wednesday, September 5, 2007 - New Yard

Here is a photo of our new yard. DH planted the magnolia, and the empty bit to the side goes a long way back, empty like that.  We hope to plant fruit trees etc.  We also would like to paint the pickets!  The tree that is pictured attracts the parrots very well.

Comments (4) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link

Monday, September 3, 2007 - Our new homestead