Sunny Saturday

lovely rain all week, woke up Saturday to beautiful blue skies. time for a coat of paint on the hen house frame. Dulux colour "Pea Green" using Wattyl Solaguard so no need to prime, as it was still cool only got the one coat on.



8 loads of washing {dried to just damp}, weeded the garden, cleaned out the Ringnecks cage {9 Rosella's came to clean up the seed that i dumped on the grass}, turned the compost, cleaned out the boys bedrooms {a few things to put up on Freecycle}, Bed of Roses at 7.30 on ABC {my new fav show}.

as its Sunday & raining i baked early this morning, Kiwi & Banana muffin made in a baking tray, Ginger Nuts { i make them soft } & the usual ANZAC & Choc Chip & thats it as i ran out of flour Grrrrrrrr.




Wendy, Gary & Dad are coming for tea & a Games Night {one of our Fave games TV Trivia}. Dinner will be Potato Bake, Baked Sausages with onion & gravy, Honey Carrots, Peas & Crusty Rolls. Kiwi & Banana Muffin with pouring Cream for desert.

First Day of Winter

Woo Hoo i lov winter its my most fav season of the year. lov the cold crisp days, warm woolly clothes, a warm fire, steaming bowls of food with crispy bread, curling up with a blanket & a good book, day trips over the mountain on snowy days for snow ball fights, going back to the car for hot chocolate & a warm sweet roll. all these & more say winter to me & i just love it.

Today had me dragging out the bread machine, haven’t used it in a couple of years. After an hour of searching couldn't find the manual so on to the net to see if could find one. I was in luck as someone had photocopied one & posted it, so 30 mins & 23 pages later i have a copy with recipes. Printed it on pink paper in the hopes that it wont get lost {fingers Xed}. Now its working away making us a nice crusty loaf to go with our tea.

As its baking Sunday ill be making a date & walnut slice, snicker doodle cookies both new recipes also choc cip cookies.

Hen House

yesterday i planted out some carrots & silverbeet, my little veggie garden is getting full. i cant wait until i see some tiny green shoots emerging from the soil.

A & i finally made a start on the new hen house, we had started one a couple of weeks ago but decided to knock it apart & start again, this time i had a better plan in my head. we measured, cut & labeled all the pieces then put together the front wall on the veranda. the back wall was next then stood them both up & add the floor joists & side rails. i think it is coming together very nicely & just how i pictured in my head.
A borrowed the nail gun from work & just before we were finished for the day the hose popped off the compressor, so ended the rein of the nail gun & back to hammers to finish off.
i was going to paint the frame today but its cold & a fine rain is falling on & off. so a tarp to cover it so it doesn't get water logged before the paint goes on.
From a sunny Autumn day to a cold wet Winters day, don't ya just lov the mountains :o)







anyone who pops in id lov it if you stop & say hey :o)

Seed Day

i spent most of today in the garden, planted out the sugar snap peas, snow peas, spring onions & english spinach. also planted some flower seedlings that i have been growing in trays {fingers Xed that the snails & slugs dont eat them all}.
found a mouse living in the vacuum cleaner hose on the front veranda, its an old vacuum that i use to clean up all the bird seed from my cockateils, wasnt too happy about that jumping out at me i can tell ya.
spaghetti & meat balls for tea to night , just have to go & find the recipe.
tomorrow i will be writing up my second shopping list.
over the last couple of weeks i have priced every item that i buy from all the supermarkets, using my master list, i also go online to check out this weeks specials. so now i just have to write my list for each place & then i get the best price & im saving money, it just takes a little bit more leg work, but i can use the exercise.

Baking Day

Sunday has become baking day, i make all the biscuits, cakes & slices we need for the week.
i try to make at least one new thing a week,
this week it was 2 Orange & raisin slice & melting moments cookies, i have not made either of these before.
the slice was amazing i got the recipe from 'the sweet grass ranch' a working ranch in Montana where you can go & stay.
i also got their recipe for their spinach-mushroom egg bake, just like a quiche with no pastry base, i made it for tea on Saturday & everyone loved it {& leftovers on Sunday}.

• Anzac biscuits

• Coconut cookies

• Choc Chip biscuits

• Melting Moments

• Orange & raisin slice

Garden Day Monday

spent the day in the garden with J. moving hay bails {huge rat living in them}, trimming the jasmine on the fence, moved the trailer, made a veggie garden, cut back the lavender that was getting out of control, pruned the jacaranda so we can walk under it with out leaves in your face, mowed the lawn, raked the grass {our mulchie mower is out of service},sowed flower seeds into egg cartons & made a compost heap.

Going Green

i think that i have always been a little bit Green, have always been a country girl, even when the country was far away.
i have felt my life changing over the last year or so.
i feel i am turning into the woman i new that one day i would become.

i lov my new Green spotty apron. the fabric was $3 at Vinnies, i think Linen is my favorite fabric for aprons it falls so nice.



My Better Life List

1. living a better life is at the top of my list.

2. saving water- with my front load washer {only washing 2 days a week}, a bucket in the shower to water my plants, only washing up once a day, rain water barrel.

3. buying eco cleaning products-washing up liquid, washing powder.

4. cloth shopping bags- always.

5. recycling everything possible.

6. Saving electricity- changing to energy saving light bulbs, turning off the lights when we leave the room, turning off appliances at the power point.

7. Only buying Australian fruit & veggies, this also goes for dried fruit & nuts, bread, dairy products & meat.

8. Australian food stuffs- i have spent quite a lot of time in the supermarkets reading labels, now i pretty much only buy products made in Australia.

9. Changed from an electric kettle with a stand by light to a gas kettle.

10. Bucket as our garbage bin- have never purchased garbage bags, i use to use the plastic shopping bags but i cut those out in 1998 when i sewed my first calico cloth bags.

11. Baking from scratch- have always done this- cakes, biscuits, pies sweet/savory, slices, bars, chocolates, pizza, pasta- plus 100 other from scratch meals.

12. i will be trying out cloth pads instead of disposable ones, as well as cloth wipes.

13. we are building a hen house & i will keep 6 to 8 hens for their beautiful eggs & meat & in return they will eat up all our kitchen scraps.

14. Line drying our washing- i have always liked hanging out the washing & love the smell of fresh clean clothes straight off the line.

15. Freecycling items we no longer need.

16. Fruit Trees- these are something i have wanted for a very long time & now i have a few in really big pots, i cant wait till my lemon tree gets its first crop.

17. pots of herbs- nothing like fresh herbs to cook with.

18. Growing flowers from seed- i never new how rewarding it would be, seeing their sunny faces smiling at me.

19. Planing my first Veggie Garden- i have grown veggies in pots before but making a garden is much more exciting.

20. Composting- having a go at a compost heap.

21. Sewing- i have always sown things but i have stepped it up giving new uses to old towels, clothing & sheets.

22. thinking about what i spend money on- do i really need it, can i do with out it, do i have something else that can do the same job.

i am very passionate about all these things & i find my self thinking about other things i can do.

Changing your life for the better takes time, but it all starts with the first step.

now its May

looks like i missed all of April & now its May :O)
finally have my desks set up in my craft room, i love, love, love them.

A also up graded my computer because my hard drives failed, he was able to save all my stuff so that was Awesome, {i love him so much}

Earth Hour

Last night was Earth Hour from 8pm to 9pm, so off went the TV, Lights & Computers.
i am sorry to say that no one in my street participated.
Later on my BIL rang up & when asked did they turn out their Lights said "Me turning off my lights & TV for an hour isnt going to do any good" upon hearing this i made a new page for my "Go Green" book. {His statement made me sad}.
So today i made a canvas for my wall to remind anyone who sees it that

1 Person can make a Difference

Easter Show

We went to the Easter Show on friday, left the house at 8am & got back at 12.30. it was a super long day. we had heaps of fun. my high lights were the Rodeo {dont ya just lov Cowboys} & the Sideshow Freaks{Psycho Sideshow}, Betty Brawn {strong Woman}, Ruby Rubber {contortionist}, Space Cowboy {sword Swaller}, Shep {Traps & battery lifter} [It will make your eyes water], The Great Gondos {clown}. The Coca-Cola freestyle trials was awesome as well, those 2 boys were amazing. I think the Boys liked the Xtreme Korruption the best with the Toyota V6 HiLux Utes & extreme motocross team & not to forget the Bouncin' Bobcats. DS #2's high light was the show bags LOL
The wood Chop was as great as always but we only stayed for 2 as it was really hot in the Chop stadium. Last but by no means least the fireworks & lazer light show was fantastic.
It truly was a great day out & well worth the $107 to get in. I think Bull Riding is my Favorite Sport :o)

New Desks

My long awaited desks are now stained, varnished & put back together. Now they are just waiting for me to move out the old desk. each one has a shelf & a draw {love the sleek handles} they will sit back to back. all i need now is a stool if i want to sit down.

Go Green

im a little obsessed about the way we live & our impact on the big blue marble we call home, & why shouldn't we be. we are killing our planet & once its gone so are we. so im trying to live a better life, teach my children a better way of doing things, in a hope that's its not too late. here is a little book that i made last wednesday & one i hope to add to.

Good Bye Summer

its the first day of Autumn, a top of 17 here today so it feels like Autumn.
*A & J fixing J's bike lots of new parts.
* S on his computer playing 'Half Life' on his friends server {on line playing}
*as for me im about to go & stain my new desk
pics to come :o)

Random pages

just a few pages, i have a lot more but these were the first 3 in the folder
*the Apricots from the 'Harvest' page were sooo sweet
*the 'Train' photos were taken in 2005 at Linden station, we have a crappy ticket machine, it only takes coins & is limited to 14 different tickets that you can purchase.
*the 'Wash Day' photos were taken at the beginning of last year, now i have about 30 different coloured singlets & i pretty much wear them every day.

been busy doing nothing

wow its been nearly a year since i have updated this......
but you know how it goes running around, getting stuff done. people say what have you been up to & i always say,' nothing much'. by the end of the day im slowing down & getting tired & what did i do all day, a million little things & nothing to show for it, so its always the same ' nothing much'

*still nothing on the job front Grrrrrrr

*A & i went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show last week, it was Awesome. the Guy who played Frankinfurter was fantastic

*DS #1 finished year 10 last year & started work on valentines day

* A came home yesterday with one of my new desks, lov lov lov it & the other one should be finished next week sometime, too exciting

*on the weight loss front, i now wear size 10 jeans

*i started a thankful journal this year, im really likeing it. some days it lots of things & others its just one

*my first class this year is a card class, should be heaps of fun

*well thats it, ill see about posting some pics later on

busy once again :o)

A & I went on a date on saturday, went to the movies & saw 'Wild Hogs' too funny well worth the admission price. after we went down to High street there was a festival on with a parade "dont ya just love parades"
HUGE day on Sunday, left at 8am to catch the 8.24 train to the city for the Harbour Bridge Walk. it was a great day, it was overcast & not too hot. Lime Green hats all round. there were huge speakers all the way along each playing different things. News headlines from 1932, the opening speech & Australian Rock. Old Planes flying over head & heaps of news helicopters.
it was just soo cool i am really glad i made the boys come.
after the crossing we went to the Historical Society Building, had some Japanese Pancakes filled with Chocolate, Cheese & custard YUM, also purchased a certificate of the 75th Anniversary Bridge Walk "that will be going on the wall". went into the Rocks listened to some Jazz & then watched a street performer, juggling flaming torches he was really excellent. the whole show went for about 40 mins. well worth the $10. lined up to get the news paper just for the $1 coins {way too many people pushing & shoving NOT fun i can tell ya}
wondered around the Rocks Markets for a bit but there were just soo many people you couldnt even see anything, so we walked down to Circular Quay then over to the Opera House. walked around town for a while got some great Architectural photos, there really are some beautiful buildings in the city. it was about 3.30 when we got to Central, the boys had some lunch & then we got on the train. got home about 10 past 5.
AWESOME day.

comp

havent entered any comps for quite a long time, but decided to enter the feb comp at scrapbook savvy, it was pretty last minuite.
got an email this morning saying i won.
just what i needed :o)
here is the page>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

For the last week we have spent way too many hours waiting for doctors & there is no end in sight.
sorry about that bummer of a first line
so whats been going on besides {refer to top line} well not much room for anything else, except for maybe a bit of scrappin. i entered the FUNK IT UP comp over at scrapforums.com finished week ones challenge in 30 mins {woo hoo} lov it when it goes together quick. its been a long time since i entered any challenges or comps so hopfully i can keep my inspiration going till the end of it.
popped over to my online home scrapwitch.com.au lots of things have changed but it looks great & its nice to see some of those old faces again.
just about time for my walk so ill put up a couple of pics before i go


Scrapbook page Goal 150
8 down 142 to go

start date Saturday 21st October
Kilos lost 20.5

so where have i been, what have i been up too

you know how it goes,
1# super busy over the christmas new years

2# my birthday {cant believe im 35} where did the years go

3# Australia Day, went to Zig Zag then to an old air strip so the boys could run their cars {petrol remote control cars} that night to my nieces B'day {heaps of fun had a western themed party}

4# wednesday 31st Jan, my Boys go back to school {year 8 & year 10}

5# little sisters B'day

6# Valentines week , yes i said week we celebrated for a week from wednesday 7th Feb, till wednesday 14th Feb. heart shaped cakes, cookies, bread, pasta, potatoes. poems & messages in lunches, heart shaped chocolates on pillows every day, Kisses & Hugs

7# quite a few trips to the beach in the last few months, as well as picnics & days to car race

8# things started to get on top of me in December & slowly got worst over January & into February, even tho we were busy with everything that goes on over the holidays & all the things we have done since i was feeling
sad, over whelmed, stuck, no way out, mad & even pissed off. i think it started with way to much to do & then all the bitchiness, back stabbing & emails on some of the scrap sites it just got too much. so i ditched all the sites stopped logging in, & only checked my email once a fortnight if i was lucky.
the last week or so has finally started to get back to normal, well my kind of normal anyway

9# went to the stitches & craft show on saturday, had a great time & came home with some fabulous stuff

10# on sunday Andrew & i went on our first date in more than 10 years, went to the movies to see Pursuit of Happyness. excellent movie definitely worth seeing

11# on monday Andrew came home with 3 bunches of flowers for me, he is soo sweet i love him like crazy

12# still cant believe its me when i walk past a mirror or window {20.5 kg lost}

13# been looking for a job, thought it was time i went back to work. it has been really hard, have sent out way too many resumes have only gotten one interview, they gave me a call back for a second interview but declined the job cause it was 3 nights a week & as i dont drive & i wont catch the train at night it was not the job for me. it is difficult because i have not worked in over 15 years, so lots of places wont even give me a go. but fingers XXed something will turn up soon

14# i want to say a HUGE HAPPY B'DAY to Karen, sorry i missed it sweety but look out for something in the post.

15# listen to music every day its good for the soul or maybe it just makes you feel good, even put a smile on your face, maybe go one step further & dace around like crazy. its FUN so go ahead & try it. {everyone needs some FUN everyday}

17# Ail E has a challenge, to find yourself a word for the year & until just now i didnt know what i was going to choose
FUN is my word & im also including SMILE & LAUGH, these 3 things im going to try very hard to do everyday {then maybe the SAD wont come back}

18# someone asked me the other day 'what makes me Smile' you dont always think about those things so im going to start a list {& im sure it will become a page one day} in no particular order

Spots & Dots
Andrews touch
Red Anything
Holding Hands
How thin im looking
Beach Days
My Boys being nice to each other
all the RAIN we have had
my Ikea draws
MUSIC


Scrapbook page Goal 150
6 down 144 to go

start date Saturday 21st October
Kilos lost 20.5

a little while

so its been a while, busy with christmas stuff, classes, markets & a huge amount of exercising.
we had 2 weeks with the house full of smoke with the bushfire's, didnt come close to our house thank goodness, but i still sent all our photos down to my FIL's just in case. we had a pretty good view of the helicopters picking up water & dropping it, they really do, do a very good job.
still have most of my photos to put back on the walls, just keep getting side tracked.
we put the christmas tree up last week & i finished all the inside decorations on saturday, just have all the outside lights to do, we were going to do them on the weekend but we had a bit of rain {water and electricity dont like to play}
i have the last market of the year on saturday, fingers Xed we get a lot of people through.

how cute are those glass christmas balls, i bought the balls 3 years ago intending to fill them & decorate them & i finally got around to doing them a couple of weeks ago. i did 2 pink sets, a blue & silver set & 2 maroon & green sets.





start date Saturday 21st October
Kilos lost 11.2

took this photo from my front veranda,
lov how the suns rays are coming through a break in the clouds,
bummer about the power lines.





start date Saturday 21st October
Kilos lost 7.3 :o)

getaway pics

ok a couple of pics from our getaway


low tide at Currarong

honey moon bay

the light house at piont perpendicular

one of the many pelicans at Currarong beach, this is one let me get 5 feet from it, did you know that they growl if you get too close & that they have blue feet :o) very cool



















start date Saturday 21st October
Kilos lost 5.5 :o)

mini holiday

we had a great time away, the weather was grey & a little rainy at times but that was ok with me cause i hate the hot weather. we stayed in a holiday house in Currarong, 150 metres to the beach very cool.
we went to lots of different beaches, the boys fished, & went on heaps of rides. nearly all my time i spent wondering the beaches, lov it when you can be there at high tide & then again at low tide, its amazing all the things that are hidden by the ocean.
Saturday we went to Point Perpendicular Light House, to get there you have to pass through a gate & get your rego plates written down & tell them where you are going. the gate has been there since 9/11 & as there is military land running along side they are on the look out for terrorists, pretty unlikely but hey i guess its the times we now live in. we could not turn off onto any of the roads on the left as thats all military land. it was really windy at the light house & the views were awesome.
on the way back we stopped at honeymoon bay beach very cute, & then the next beach along {cant remember the name} we played Boccie for an hour or so & then headed into Nowra for lunch.

oh and went to an Awesome scrapbooking store, cant remember the name {it might have been a scrapbook super store but im not real sure} it was in this old barn like building with a sandstone floor. there were other buildings there as well that sold pottery, sweets & Christmas stuff. picked up 4 new rubber stamps :o) & a heap of other goodies, great prices. they have another store in Batemans bay as well but didnt get a chance to go down there. bummer they dont have an internet site.

will put up some pics when i get DH to put them on my computer :o)


i go in to see the dietitian on friday for my weigh in, im pretty excited as it will be 2 weeks since my last one so fingers XXed

start date Saturday 21st October
week ending 28th October 3.3 kilos lost :o)