Bedside Table

This two draw bedside table i purchased at a furniture store that was closing down it was $65 but i got it for $40. I picked it up after work & carried it all the way up Katoomba Street, on the train & home. It may be small but boy did it get heavy real quick.

Here it is in the shed ready for some paint & as its raw pine i did not have to do anything to it first. don't know why the picture kept loading sideways.

The paint was left over from my sons room it a Dulux colour called Zunni. a real nice dark aqua colour.
Left it to dry for a few days & then dry brushed flat white over the top.

Then just a light hand sand & a coat of varnish.

The knobs i got at the Antique store in Blackheath Victory Theatre Antique Centre. You cant see it but they have a star burst pattern on them. I also add wheels to the legs.

Here it is in my newly renovated bedroom [more on that another day]. The chair i purchased from one of those linen/home-wares stores it was quite expensive at $69, but after 3 weeks of thinking about it, i just had to have it for my new room so i saved up for it. It came as a set but luckily you could purchase it separate. 

Linked here at be different act normal 

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Last nights tea was Sweet & Sour Chicken with Naan Bread

Sweet & Sour Chicken

6 Chicken Thighs
Salt & Pepper
1 cup Flour or Cornflour
1 or 2 Eggs whisked
1 tsp Olive Oil

Chop up your chicken however you like it chunks or strips, in a tupperware container season the flour with salt & pepper. add chicken & shake container to coat.In a bowl whisk your eggs. Heat your fry pan with a little oil. coat your chicken pieces in egg & fry until golden on each side. Place in a baking dish & fry off the rest of the chicken. I like a glass or ceramic baking dish.

Sauce

3/4 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1Tbs Soy Sauce
1tsp Garlic Salt

Whisk & then pour over the chicken & mix through.
180 degrees C for 30 mins stirring half way.

*You can use Chicken Breast but i prefer thighs because they have a bit of fat on them & it stops them from drying out. Also great served with rice.

Naan Bread


1/4 cup Warm Water
3/4 tsp Yeast
1 Tbl Sugar
4 cups Bread Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 cup Warm Milk
1 cup Greek Yoghurt
Melted Butter for brushing the bread

In a jug dissolve sugar in the water & add the Yeast, set aside for 10 mins.
In a large mixing bowl add flour baking powder & soda, mix.
Add warm milk & yoghurt to yeast & then pour into flour. Mix until dough comes together, it should be a little sticky.
leave in the bowl & cover with a tea-towel let rise for about an hour. when your ready to cook cut into eight pieces & lightly roll flat. the shape does not matter. melt some butter & brush one side of each bread. heat the fry pan to very hot. add any seasoning to the top of breads. place bread top side down in fry pan & brush the other side with butter. cook for one to two mins & flip.

*You can use any type of season you like, we use:
Mixed Herds
Garlic Salt
Parmesan Cheese
or just plain

* This is the best sweet & sour chicken i have ever tasted & its in my fortnightly meal plan rotation.
let me know if you give it a try & what you think of it.

Mobile Chook House

Every few weeks the girls get to go up to the veggie yard for a couple of days running to scratch around the old beds or unused areas. the first time i herded them up there it was like a comedy show & i ended up chasing them all over the place for about half an hour until i finally got them all in the yard. after 3 trips they knew exactly where they were headed, now i only have to leave the gate open & off they run. Miss Black is always the first & the most bossy. Miss Grey is always last for everything, the last to get off the perch & out of the shed in the morning & the last when i call.

after the first couple of times hunting for eggs i decided to build them a mobile nest house to lay their eggs

everything to build this came from the shed or under the house

i put in a moveable perch so if need be it could double as temporary housing

after two build days this is how it turned out. i was going to put mower wheels on it but i probably wont bother until winter when i have a bit more time.

Miss Black liked it so much she laid me an egg within 20 mins. i told ya, the first to do everything.

Building a Greenhouse

I can't believe it has been more than a year since i last posted, time really does fly by when your busy.

House renovations, gardening & work make Nicole a very tired person who would really love a get away to the sea to recharge my batteries, but alas no matter how much gardening i do i still cant find that money tree.

in 2012 my wonderful husband used his tax refund & purchased this for me a 6x3 Greenhouse.

after some thinking & rethinking we finally found a home for the new house. the boys had to dig quite a lot of dirt to level it up.

it took a few weekends to get this baby from the box to the finished house.

the directions were really difficult to understand (few words & fewer pictures), i think they were written for the person who has put one of these up at least a dozen times. we spent a lot of time undoing & adding more bolts sliding things around.

until finally our little house was finished.

all the staging & racks were purchased separate (still have 2 more in their boxes). added newspaper & cardboard to the floor & a couple of weeks after that wood shavings on top.

a few seeds in & we're under way. growing by seed is very rewarding, i know exactly what i'm getting with no chemicals or other sprays that you would normally get when buying seedlings from a nursery or hardware store & not to mention a lot cheaper.

i have just been reading a book called "New Plants From Old" by Jackie French & i have been inspired. Jackie talks about propagating plants that you pick up on your travels, walking about the neighbour hood or from friends & family. just pop it in a pot water & see what happens :o)

something else she talks about is, if it tastes good then pop the seed in a pot & see what comes up. 

this has been very successful for me & very exciting as i have had quite a few fruit seeds germinate & some that are ready to be taken out of the grow pots & potted up.

i find myself spending a few hours every week in the greenhouse its very relaxing & Sally Girl keeps me company. 

  Linked here: Frugal Days Sustainable Ways

Just a Little Crochet

 my Star Burst Baby Blanket is finally finished, it took a while but i found a tutorial that i liked, the Chain Seam & once started it only took two afternoons to complete. the pattern & a tutorial you can find here  in a previous post. i still love all of those sweet baby colours & will be using them again in another project.

this one i started ages ago & when i found the chain seam join i thought it was a good match for this one as well. it sat there with 30 squares for a long time, i did a few more to take it to 48, a long way off a single quilt as i first thought it was going to be. sometimes you just have to get things finished, mostly in my cast i was just sick of looking at it & wanted to be done with it.

so now its more for a cot or stroller or even for the couch on a chilly afternoon.

both of these have been listed at My photo share & at Baby & Kids under photos in the Hand Made Baby folder.

Kitchen Chairs

on thursday after work i went to the Salvoes store to look for some baking dishes. for those who dont know what the Salvo Store is. no luck in the dish department but i did spy 6 kitchen chairs being unloaded from the truck. after enquiring if there was a table to match & the answer being no, i then asked about a price. with some negotiation as i had to have them delivered, [as some of you know i dont drive so big purchases have to have some extra thinking before i will consider buying them].

 i got them for $10 a chair plus $25 delivery, so a total of $85 & we now have 6 awesome new timber chairs.

                                            

these orange plastic chairs came from my father in laws, we have been using them for here since we moved in. i still like them as they are orange & made in Australia in the 70's so still pretty cool. they will be put to use when we have people over for dinner, oh & they are great for when your painting as they have been used for that for as long as i can remember.

some of you may remember the extension dinning table my son made for his year 12 wood last year & here it is with its 6 new chairs. it does seat 12 so i will be on the look out for more chairs.

Orange Cleaner

Orange Cleaner and Frozen Juice Bricks

we have 3 orange trees, two are young and have not produced fruit yet and the other is about 3 meters tall.

below is the last of the harvest about 6 or 7 kilos, they aren't large but they are very juicy and sweet. The tree is full with tiny green oranges just waiting to grow.

Orange Cleaner

first off get yourself a big jar or bottle, this one holds about 2 1/2 litres, i picked it up from the Salvos store for $2. wash your oranges to remove any dirt [if you are using purchased oranges scrub them to remove any wax].

 peel enough oranges to fill your jar with peels.

fill your jar with Vinegar so all is covered

place your jar out of direct light & mix or shake once a day for about 6 to 8 weeks. strain out all the peels.

you can use it earlier but the longer the better.

in a spray bottle mix 50/50 with water.

great for removing sticky labels, band-aid sticky, cleaning stove tops & range hoods & tiles

now we are left with naked oranges that you can juice.
if you still have a few with skin on you can zest them & store the zest in the freezer until needed.
some of the juice we drink but the rest is frozen into 1/2 cup bricks & stored in the freezer.
you can use them for cakes, biscuits or my favourite fruit smoothies.
just drop a brick or 2 into your blender & add 1 banana, handful of strawberries,1 Tbl honey & 1 cup yoghurt.
the combinations for smoothies are only limited to your imagination.

Orange you glad you popped by :o)

Onion

Spring Onions, Green Onions or Shallots

what ever you call them they are delicious & super easy to grow

i purchased these organic onions in a bunch, cut off the green tops to use & then planted the white part with the roots into the garden. pictured above is three weeks ago after i cut the tops off them, if you click on the picture you can see where i cut them. they have been in the garden for about 12 months. i just cut some when i need them & they regrow.

before the last cutting they had been left to grow & had become leggy, thick & dark green.
i washed & sliced them & filled up 2 drying trays.

i have an ezi dry dehydrator that i got for christmas a couple of years ago & i love it.

i never time how long it takes to dry stuff i just keep checking it till its done.

out of those two trays i got a large vegemite jar full [pretty well packed in].
you can use them in soups, casseroles, stews anything you need onions for really.
i have since used some in a dry mushroom soup base, that i will post about next time.

Liquid Gold

The Honey Files

Raw Honey is a super food that not only tastes great but is also good for your health.

there are two types of honey, regular honey that has been heat treated that you get from the supermarket & raw honey that has not been heated. when honey is heated most of its beneficial properties are broken down & lost.

Honey never goes bad it will last forever.

store honey in a cool dark cupboard [not in the cupboard next to the stove or oven]

Raw Honey Facts:

Energy Booster

Improves Immune System

Easily Digested

Vitamins & Minerals

Healing Powers

Some Health Benefits :

Weight Loss:

 1/2tsp ground Cinnamon

1tsp raw honey

1 cup of boiling water

pour water over cinnamon & leave to cool add honey

drink half before going to bed, refrigerate & drink the rest 1/2 an hour before breakfast

do not reheat.

Indigestion:

cinnamon sprinkled over 2 tsp of honey before eating 

Bad Breath:

morning gargle with 1tsp honey with a sprinkle of cinnamon mixed in warm water

Burns:

apply to burns, it cools & removes pain & bacteria can not live in honey

Hyperactivity: 

replace all sugar with honey

Food Preservative: 

replace sugar with honey in cakes & biscuits they will stay fresher longer

reduce liquids in mix by 1/5 to accommodate the honey [3/4cup of honey to every cup of sugar] & lower the temp when baking

Migraine:

1 dessert spoon of honey dissolved in half a glass of warm water at start of migraine & again in 20 mins if necessary.

there is some research that suggests that honey can be used for the following;

Colds, Arthritis, Stomach Cancer, Bone Cancer & Cholesterol just to name a few.

more research into the properties of honey could help a lot of people in the future. 

this is my bee box, my boys found it at the spring clean up a few years ago. it sits next to one of our blood plum trees. i love it because its a bee home & because its green. there are no bees in it as its way to close to the house. maybe one day we will keep bees.

Hot water system

at the end of last year our hot water system gave up the ghost we had had it fixed once but it only lasted a few months before we were back to lovely cold showers....... in the above picture the tub was removed so in reality the space between the two is only a square & a half on the lino.

we have a very small laundry & it took up quite a chunk of room. i never posted about our laundry reno, it was the first room i did when we moved in. black & white check lino, grey walls & bright red custom built cupboards.

this is the new system & the best thing about it is, its now out side. bigger then the old one so lucky its not in the laundry, oh & nice hot showers is a bonus.

now we are going to redo the laundry, it will be made bigger by extending into the garage but more on that when the time comes.

here is a bit more about our new system

Did you know solar heat is actually available in two ways?

The first way is from radiation (direct sunshine) but the second way is as convection (from air)!

Did you know solar heat is actually available in two ways?

The first way is from radiation (direct sunshine) but the second way is as convection (from air)!

Siddons Solarstream heat pumps have a super efficient design that extracts solar heat from the air.

It works night and day even at low temperatures to -5°C. The result is year round hot water always there for you when you need it.

Siddons Solarstream 

there is also a Government rebate

Shopping bag

anyone who lives in the mountains will tell you we have had a very wet summer, more cloud & rain than sunshine. it has been disastrous for our veggie garden with little or no sun. my tomatoes haven't even flowered yet, broccoli went to seed with no heads forming & everything else is stunted & small.

on the up side i do love rainy weather so i decided to make an all weather bag. about 7 years ago i purchased an end of roll piece of oil cloth & it has been moved from one surface to another just waiting to become a beautiful red spotty bag. so late yesterday afternoon i sat down to make one. well instead of it taking about an hour to make it turned in a few hours when i say a few i mean 4 1/2 hours.

i have to say this is the worst material i have ever worked with, the wrong side slides around every where & the outside sticks. i tried the painters tape on the bottom of my foot but that just rolled off in the first few stitches. but i was not going to give up, i have been wanting this bag for a long time so i persevered  & now i have a lovely red spotty bag that can get wet when it rains. 

i lined it with a plain red fabric & if you look closely you can see how bad my stitching is. i wont be in a hurry to use the rest of the oil cloth. i was thinking about recovering my computer chair with it but i think ill have to think about it for quite a while before attempting another sewing expedition with that fabric.
i pretty much used this shopping bag tutorial, i just made it a bit smaller.

i am linking here
northerncottage

Crochet

Crochet Baby Blanket 

part 1 & 2

some of you may have seen these over on my Flickr account, i think these are called starburst but i could be wrong the tutorial i used was very easy until the last round with the join as you go so i will be joining a different way as i could not find another tutorial for it.

each colour combination is in stacks of 10.

the last round turned it into a square

last round in one chain space [corner] 4 ch [= 1 dc], 1 dc, 2 ch, 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space 2dc, 2 ch
next chain space is a corner 2 dc, 2 ch, 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space is a corner 2 dc, 2 ch, 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space is last corner 2 dc, 2 ch, 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space 2 dc, 2 ch
next chain space 2 dc, 2 ch slip stitch in top of 4 ch to finish off the round

40

January went in the blink of an eye & February is starting its second week.

they say the older you get the quicker the year flies by & its true. when your a kid every day is an exciting adventure, always something new to learn, friends to play with & its all about you. when you have your kids its still an exciting adventure, they bring back all of your childhood memories. you get to play every day & watch your child learn, grow & have fun. now im at the stage where my boys are now men & they come & go as they please with no time for mum. now my kid adventure is over i feel like im bogged down in the everyday, busy but not doing much at all & those are the days that fly by & you don't even notice. 

January had one memorable day for me & that was my birthday. they say 40 is the new 30, i don't even know what that means. people ask how do you feel being 40, the same as i did yesterday & they day before. i always thought 40 was the cut off date, as soon as you reach it your old. do i still believe this yes & no. i see the laugh lines & the white hair sneaking its way in, the veins in my legs & the tuck-shop arms, all those things mean im getting older. but the thing is i don't feel old but at the same time my youth whizzed by so quickly i don't know how i got here to this 40, half a life time. now i guess its time for a new exciting adventure to begin, i wonder what it will be......

i got 2 lots of flowers this year, the purple ones the boys got me & A had this flower hamper sent. who doesn't love flowers & sweets.  my best birthdays were when the boys were young, home made gifts & cards breakfast in bed who could wish for more.
this year i didn't want any gifts all i wanted was a game day. no tv & no computers.

these are some of the games we played, it was loud & fun. one of the best birthdays i have had in a long time.