"Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat etc etc......."

The new Job is going great. The best move I have made so far. It is very quite at the moment not many people buy beds pre christmas, but they tell me that after christmas we will be run of our feet.

Have today off. I don't start work tomorrow till 1.00pm - 9.00pm. Thats okay as I get to do a few more christmas things. We were having Christmas down here but with the change in job we are going to have Christmas at Pymble this year. When I have been in the job longer I may be able to organise Christmas eve off next year. I know it's a whole year away but I like to be organised.

Today I have made 2 Festive fruit and nut cakes to give as gifts. I like to give gifts that I have made. Made a huge batch of white christmas to give as gifts as well. YUM.

Well I have 3 fairy skirts still to make so I had better get to it.

Tracie

I can't believe I haven't written anything here for the past 3 months. Spring has passed by in a blur. Last time I wrote here, I wrote about starting a new job. Well this week I finish that job and move on to another more permanent job. Nannying has been great for the last 18 months, and I'm going to miss M J and A greatly. I hope I can still see them. I'm a bit sad that I can't watch them grow anymore, but it was my time to move on.

I'm going to be selling beds and mattresses for a large chain. I have retail experience but have never sold a bed. Suppose it won't be too difficult once I now all my product knowledge. Product knowledge is swimming around in my head right now as I had my first shift yesterday.

Now that I won't be working such long hours I will try and write more often.

I have been doing some baking, and our garden is looking fantastic.

The chookies are all laying, and we get 5 to 7 eggs per day. We are both enjoying our googs, they are sooooo nice.

Have a great day.

Tracie

SPRING

Today is the first day of spring, hurray, I love spring, the new life that is popping out of the ground is great.

Two of my pullets are laying... They lay the cutest little googs (eggs). I put a couple of them in rissoles last night and they were yum.

It has been awhile since my last post but my life is a bit hectic at the moment. I have started Nannying for another family. I had to give up my Funtime job. I finish there this Friday. It is a little sad because I loved it at Funtime. Hopefully I'll be able to work on the odd weekend to keep my hand in.

I'm now nannying 5 days per week. The new family is very nice, but I will need a bit of time to get used to their routine and what is expected of me.

HARVESTING

We harvested 3 kilos of spuds they were yum, and we have been eating broccoli for weeks now and it is yum as well. I especially love the purple broccoli. Last night all the veges we were eating for dinner we had grown, broccoli, kohl rabi, pumpkin, potatoes, snow peas. I steamed them all and had them with rissoles.

Better get ready for work...

Have a great day.

Tracie

Our garden is coming to life. We have tiny little peaches on the peach tree, I just hope they set. We got one Peach last year and it was yum.

Our lemon tree still has quite a bit of fruit on it, I have given it a prune and now there is new life on it too. Lovely new shoots and lots of little lemons.

This is one of my favourite flowers, I love it because it just pops up every year. No need to re plant it. The chooks also love to eat the lovely green leaves.

The broadbeans are flowering but not much else. There doesn't seem to be any little beans yet just lots of flowers.

This is the 3rd year I have had my blueberry bush. this year it is full of lovely little flowers, if all the flowers on my bush turn to berries I will be haveing a blueberry feast. I think it loves the drink of tea I give it every morning.

On the other side of our fruit salad tree we have a branch of apricots. this is the first year it has flowered so hopefully we will get fruit.

Thats all for today. Better get ready for work.

Tracie

Getting ready for Spring...

Here at Our Simple Green House we are getting ready for spring. You wouldn't know it by the weather but it is only a few weeks away.

Steve has built me some new gardens to use. As we have a very large and beautiful gum tree plus a useless pool in our back yard we have to do alternative planting. We bought 4 200lt drums for $30.00 and we cut them in half to create this...

.

We have planted under the little PET bottle green houses, peas, lettuce and rocket. The rest are in the green house getting a little bigger. In the green house we have,

Our chookies are all doing well. Rosie is back to giving us 1 egg a day.

The little girls are 18 weeks old now, they are very big eaters, I give them warm

porridge, grain and weeds every day they are growing well.

Here are our other hens, I have to say my favourites are Rosie and Harry, they both have lots of personality. Rosie is the boss of the 8 chooks but I think Harry is the boss of the five new hens. I also believe that Harry and Ava will be my first layers as their cones are bigger than the others.

Well this has been quite a long post.

I have more photos to come.

Tracie

Weekend Retreat

Last weekend I went away with a group of 7 girlfriends for a weekend away Scrapbooking and card making. This is a yearly event for me and we all had a fabulous time. I spent the whole weekend making 5 Christmas cards. The weekend is all about being social for me, I spend more time talking than scrapping, but I have a great time. We have all booked for next year.

Below is a picture of the whole group taken from the Memories That Last Facebook page.

Have a great day...

Tracie

August

It's August can you believe it? The year is going sooo fast.

Steve and I have started to get ready for the spring, it's not too far away you know. We have started to prepare the garden beds at the allotment (Steve's parents house), we are making the gardens a bit smaller and higher this year so the are easier to reach across when weeding and planting etc. We are also going to add a couple of extra beds to compensate for the lost space.

We have been doing a bit of work over the last 3 weeks pruning trees and just general garden maintenance.

Our winter plantings haven't been too successful, we have a bit of broccoli but that is all, I don't know if that is the wet or the cold winter we have had. The snow peas have finally started to flower so they should start to fruit soon.

In the greenhouse we have peas, rocket, coriander, spinach, lettuce, marigolds and assylums. We have signed up with www.ezyvegies.com.au for $20.00 per year they will give you help with what to grow and when to get the most benefit from the garden. As they are based in Sutherland which isn't far from us I thought I would give them a go.

Our Chookies are going really well, the little girls are now 16 weeks old, they certainly love their food and we put them in the back garden to clean out the wandering dew, which they did with great delight. They are five wonderful little personalities all different. They are scared of Rosie, who is at the top of the pecking order, from watching them I have noticed they even have a little pecking order starting among themselves. One of the black hens I have called Harriet as she is a great escape artist. If you need to know if something can be escaped from the just put Harriet in there and you will find out very quickly.

Have a great day...

Tracie

 

I have been having a run on making scones. These are the easiest scones you could ever make. Lemondade Scones.
They are sooooo yum. Give them a try I just googled lemonade scones and found a recipe.

Tracie

 


I found this photo of Riley while downloading Picasa and having it sort all my photos into one place. Isn't she a cutie. Riley was just over 2 years old in this photo and she is now 6 years. It's so amazing what you find when looking through old photos even digital ones.

Tracie

New Chookies

We got five new chookies last Saturday the 19th of June. They have been living with us for one week now and they are so cute. We have 3 Rhode Island Reds and 2 Australopes. I can't tell them all apart so I haven't given them names yet. waiting for them to get bigger so I can work out their individual personalities. One of the australopes has a red chest and is quite a character already, we are thinking we might call her Houdini.

I'm going to try and upload a photo I'm having a bit of trouble with blogger and the uploading of photos, but I will give it a try.

Tracie

Winter Soltice

Today is the shortest day of the year. From tomorrow the days will start to get longer heading towards Spring. Winter is my favourite time of the year. I just love the cool/cold weather. It looks like its going to rain today, rain is good, although my chooks don't really like it.

Have a good shortest day of the year.

Tracie

This is one of our beautiful Mandarins ripe and ready to pick and eat. They are soooo yummy eaten straight off the tree.

Here is a crochet project that I'm working on.

When it is finished it will hopefully be a string bag. I'm making it out of 8ply Bendigo Wool Mill cotton, I love this cotton, I make all my dish cloths out of it. Now I don't crochet very well, but I hoping I will get better with a little practice.

Tracie

Well I finally did it, I bought a Pressure Cooker. Aldi had one for $79.00 last week and I made the plunge. I have been thinking about it for a while, but they scared me a little. I bought a cheap piece of corned beef from the butcher for my first try. Wow, it was fantastic and quick. Took no time at all to cook dinner, and the corned beef was lovely.

Found a video on you tube on how to make stock in it. can you believe chicken stock in 30 minutes, how much electricity is that going to save. I usually cook chicken stock for 4 hours on the stove. I can't wait to try out more recipes. I think the pressure cooker is going to become a good friend in the kitchen.

Tracie

It has been raining cats and dogs around here lately. I think it has been raining on and off for the last 3 weeks. I suppose it is winter. I love this time of year but now it is time to stop raining just for a couple of weeks so we can dry washing etc. I have had to use the dryer a couple of times in the last few days just to get some washing dry. The dryer is very noisy but seems to work ok. I think the belt is slipping. I won't be fixing it when it finally goes as the amount of time I use it just doesn't warrant it.

I have been very slack keeping my blog updated in the last 2 months. Winter starts tomorrow so I will try to turn over a new leaf. I just have to try and get better time management skills, I don't manage my time too well and I'm a bit of a procrastinator. For example I had so many plans for Saturday, and I didn't do any of them.

I had a dietician appointment on Saturday, I put on 300g. My goal for this month is to loose 4 kilos, June is a lot quieter than May, I should be able to do it, I need to start walking again that would help, If it isn't raining in the morning we can walk Revesby Heights when we deliver the junk mail. That should help with the weight loss. I haven't been able to take the kids for a walk either in the last month.

That's all for now, back soon.

Tracie

This is a photo of the young couple who were married 27 years ago on Friday. I really don't know where the years have gone.

Tracie

27 Years ago today.

Today my husband and I have been married for 27 years. It is hard to believe really.

I'm too young to have been married for this long. I am married to a wonderful man and I wouldn't trade him for the world.

We went to the Royal Easter Show today as a special treat, It was great, we had a lovely time, it was busy but not too busy. If I have time I will post some photos tomorrow.

Tracie

Have been doing some housekeeping and thought it was time for a change. Here is the new look blog. What do you think??

Tracie

I haven't been too good at updating my blog lately.

Here's a small update.

We are harvesting pumpkins at the moment, Butternut pumpkins, they grow like weeds, we counted at least 20 pumpkins on I can't remember how many vines. We have a couple of Jap pumpkins on one vine as well. To look at the Jap pumpkin you would think there was at least 3 or 4 vines there. It has taken over the back yard.

The chooks are laying 2-3 Eggs per day. We are happy with this, we sold our first dozen and a half the other day. If we can sell 5 dozen a month this will pay for their feed and we are happy with that. We only eat a few, and we get enough for our consumption and we keep our family and friends happy.

Steve is waiting for the corn to ripen at the moment, we have about 30 cobs so I hope they don't all ripen at once.

A couple of Sundays ago we planted, Broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, beetroot in the garden. Unfortunately it looks like the snails have eaten them, we will have to plant more, we are just waiting for the seedlings to be strong enough to plant tin the ground.

Well I think that's all for now.

Tracie

Yesterday we spent the day with our friends from Brisbane, QLD Deb and Graham, Deb and I started school together a very long time ago (42 years). Even though months can pass without us speaking when we do its like we only spoke yesterday.

We took them down to Cronulla for a walk along the Esplanade. We walked from one end to the other and back again. I packed a picnic lunch and we sat at Shelley Beach and ate it and chatted. This was so much nicer than eating in a restaurant, and cheaper too. We walked and talked for about 5 hours. Stopped and had a coffee twice and just kept talking. I hadn't seen them since 2007 and Steve hadn't seen them since 2003. It is always good to catch up with friends, this was their first trip away with out their children who are either working or in Uni now.

Oh and by the way... Happy St Patricks Day.

Tracie

I'm going to rave for a few minutes to get something off my chest...

I just want to let you all know that it is a good idea to do a Greenslip Quote online with NRMA and not just Renew your policy. My Greenslip was due for renewal today 8th March, I had a look at it on Saturday and noticed it was $300.00 more than last year. I got straight on to the Greenslip calculators and it came back with the cheapest quote as the NRMA for us (we are gold members), as $436.05 my policy renewal was $678.00.

I got straight on the telephone to them to be told that I didn't have any other insurance on the car in question. When I told the very rude person on the end of the phone I did have insurance just not with NRMA, the policy came done $200.00, to $487.00. I was told online quotes aren't always correct (when you do them in comparison websites) and as soon as you fill in your info the premium will increase.

Went to pay the policy tonight and thought I would do the online Quote again but this time in the NRMA website, I got the same amount $436.05, so I decided to ring again, to find out about the $50.00 odd difference, to be told again that Online quotes can change once you fill in all the info and was given even more run around... Whilst on hold for the fourth time I decided to see what would happen If I continued and filled in all my details, guess what, it went all the way to payment and was still only charging me $436.05, I ended up telling the person on the end of the phone, who kept trying to make me out as the fool, that I would just let the overpriced policy lapse and purchase a new policy, for $51.00 less

I wouldn't have stayed with NRMA but for us they have the cheapest green slips around. So don't just pay the policy...

Do some surfing and save yourselves some money.

Sorry It's so long winded but I had to tell the whole story so you got the full picture.

Tracie

My favourite show at the moment is "The Gourmet Farmer" on SBS on Thursday night at 7.30pm. I've just finished watching it, he does some great stuff, tonight he was having an illegal dinner party. He was using foods that they can't sell at their market stall that had all been produced in an old fashioned way. Things like raw milk cheese and procuttio cured with out chemicals. The food looked fantastic. I do know why somethings should be done in certain ways, but I think we still should have the freedom to choose what we are willing to eat.

Bye for now.

Tracie

So Sorry I have been missing in action for the last month. Nothing much has been happening around here. We lost our beautiful grey chook about three 3 weeks ago on a 45 degree day. It was too hot for her. Neither Steve or I were at home to make sure they both stayed cool with lots of iced water etc. . On Australia Day we picked up 3 more hens. It was very sad watching Rosie follow the cat around, as her only friend on earth. So we got her some friends. 2 Australopes and a Rhode island Red. They are abouth 18 months old, and Rosie is the boss. With Berta she was never bossy, they were just two sisters together. But Rose sure puts the new hens in their place.

The three new hens weren't in real good condition when we got them, but now 3 weeks later they have bright red cones and are giving me three eggs per day. Not bad for old chooks.
They aren't very friendly, but they are getting better. Time will tell.

Steve Planted a garden full of root veges yesterday. Carrots (purple ones), parsnips, turnips, and we already have beetroots in. There are Broccoli, Cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts in seedling trays. we will plant them out his weekend. I ordered purple cauliflower seeds from http://www.thelostseed.com.au They sell Heirloom seeds. I like to keep old varieties going.

I just finished reading "Animal Vegetable Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. It was fantastic. The story of one family eating only local food for one year. This included food from their own garden, farmers markets and he local area. I was also about only eating food that was in season. Not only fruit and vegeables but meat as well. I would highly reccommend it. I got it from my local library.

I have also given myself the challenge of not buying magazines. I have a 2 year subscription to "Super Food Ideas", and I buy "People's Friend" every week, but that is it, no other magazines are allowed. So far so good, When I was at the library the other week, I noticed they had all the mags there to read and you couldn't borrow them till the next month, so that is what I'm going to do to get my fix.

I hope everyone is well,

Tracie

I'm Currently listening to ABC local radio on the web and they are live streaming The Tamworth Country music awards. Troy Cassar-Daly has already won 2 of his 7 award nominations. I love Troy's music have all of his 7 albums. In the last few years I have been there to cheer Troy on. Tonight I'm cheering him on from home.

You Go Troy...

Tracie

I was very excited when I got home from work yesterday. I had a letter from my penpal in Kansas. In the letter was a nice Christmas card and a typed letter. It was so exciting to read about someone else's life on the other side of the world.

Below is my very spoilt cat Kirby. In the next two photos he has made himself comfortable right in the middle of a scrapbooking class. My Wednesday night ladies just love him and don't mind him making himself at home on top of their work.

The poem cats sleep anywhere is so true. Now this is an 8kg cat pictured in these photos. He is a big boy, with OCD. Do cats get OCD (obsessive compulive disorder), He does anything he can not to work on a floor. At the moment it's the slate in the hallway. He finds a way around it without walking on it. This started off with the floor in our bedroom. He is so bad that if there is no alternative route he will siton something and meow till someone comes and takes him over it.

Anyway back on track. In the photos below he is asleep in two cane baskets. he can't fit his body into one so he has spread it across two.

Can you see the evil look I'm getting in this photo. He's telling me with his eyes that I had better not put these photos on my Blog for the whole world to see.

Have a great day everyone. Just thought I would amuse you with photos of my boy.

Tracie

Today I had a busy productive day. I made these Zucchini Choc Chip Cookies. They were yum, my friend Louise came up and we had some for afternoon tea.


Here are some of the Chillies I have been harvesting from my plants, I turned these into 6 jars of my Nana's Chilli Relish. This Chilli Relish is very popular in my family. There are only a few of us that make it.

Here it is chopped up in the pot ready for cooking. I munched the chillies up in the food processor, this made the batch look really red.

Here are the jars sterlising in my new oven. My big oven is broken at the moment and it is $2000.00 to replace it with a new one. I have been looking for a new to me one on ebay but I haven't won one yet. I have to buy a freestanding stove that is 600mm wide, there aren't many on ebay, I have to be patient. So Steve bought me this for chrissy. It works quite well, I baked the biscuits above in it.

Finished jars of Chilli Relish. This lot has a bit of a bite. Can't wait to eat it.

Tracie

What Creature is this???

Does anyone know what creature this is?

I found it in the chook pen when cleaning them out the other day.

Is it friend or foe.

Tracie

Good Morning,

Sitting on the back patio again enjoying the morning, yesterday I went and spent the birthday money I was given. I really needed a new hat with a wide rim and some new sunglasses. I bought both. I had been admiring a hat at Flower Power so I went and bought it. It was $30.00 but they were having a sale so I only paid $26.95 a small saving that went towards my sunglasses. I went to my favourite chemist shop and bought 2 pairs of sunglasses for $25.00, not that I loose sunnies but I am always putting them in strange places and not able to find them when I need them.

My good sunglasses have got too big for my face since I have lost weight and I can't bend down with them on without loosing them. This is frustrating when you're gardening.

My friend Christine gave me a nice blouse which I'm looking forward to wearing. It is white with crocheting on the front.

Oh well I had better head off to work again...

Tracie

Sitting on the back patio in my jammies enjoying the last cup in the pot and thinking I really need to have a shower and get ready for work. Oh well I'll just sit here a little longer and write...

This morning I harvested some of the first tomatoes of my tomato bushes. They look beautiful, they just have to ripen a tiny bit more to be perfect. To date we have harvested 35 long chillies and I have turned them into so far 5 jars of chilli relish. I willdo another three jars when I come home from work this afternoon. The girls and Kirby are certainly enjoying the cooler weather.

It is a lovely cool 20 degrees c sitting out here that is why I don't want to get organised to go to work.

Well have a good day all.

Tracie

Today is my Birthday. I can't believe I'm 47 years old. Where have all the years gone.

I took the children to Oatley and I had a special birthday iced coffee and they had baby cinos, they all love their baby cinos even the 1 year old and she has to sit on a chair like a big kid. She is growing up too quickly.

I usually buy us all a piece of Raisin toast but at this cafe they charge $4.50 for one slice I went to Coles and bought a whole loaf ($3.70) for that price and we came home and had our raisin toast treat. The children just love this special treat. I could have walked around Coles all day it was sooooo cool.

While I was there I picked up some great bargains. Lamb steaks for $2.91 (tray of 6) Twin pk of chickens reduced from $13.70 to would you believe $4.61. plus 2 $30.00 BBQ pks for $6.62 each. I just couldn't walk past these bargains, this will feed us for 2 weeks for less that $25.00.

Tonight we are going to the Masonic Club for a birthday dinner. Cooler than eating at home.

Yesterday I met Alice and Jennelle at "The Nun's Pool" Cafe at Cronulla, for Brekky. It was lovely, they both shouted me as my birthday treat. Jennelle and I then went for a walk along the esplanade and then back to Shelley Beach for a swim, the water was beautiful, but it was too hot to stay sitting in the sun too long. I had a great morning. Thanks guys.

Tracie

Back at work as of yesterday. Funtime was busy, Mums catching up while children played. People stay all day and talk, I would be bored with that after awhile. When I take the kids I care for we are usually home by 12.30pm at the latest. That's enough time for them tohave a good play and wear themselves out.

Back to caring for the children on Monday. Have missed them a little bit. Aidan, Riley and Kelly will be here for the night tomorrow, it will be great to catchup with them.

Made a batch of Chilli Relish this afternoon from my own chillies. The last batch I made a couple of weeks ago I didn't put enough vinegar in it so it is really thick and didn't darken up enough.

I left a few seeds in this batch to give it a bit of bite.

Managed to pick up a box of mushrooms for $2.99. I have cooked these up and they will be yummy on toast for brekky over the next few days. Mushrooms are so filling.

This might help me get back on the weight loss track after the chrissy break. How come it's so hard to stay on a diet over christmas.

Last weekend we spent time in the garden preparing bed so that they can have a rest before we plant them up for winter. We also planted some more corn, the last lotdidn't do too good, Our soil doesn't seem to be holding the moisture so we have treated it with Wettasoil, and see if this helps. When you stick your finger in the soil after watering the soil in only moist for the first millimetre, then it is bone dry.

We have two of the biggest pumpkins that have set on our vine, just hope they can go the distance. The vines are certainly big. We have a Jap that has come up at home, and it is taking over the garden like some alien octopus. I hope we get some fruit on this vine.

Tracie