Our Simple Green House

2011-12-07T10:45:00.001+11:00

Well we have made it to December already, where has the year gone. I have been busy for the last 12 weeks trying to get fit and healthy, I'm achieving that at a nice slow pace, that story is on my other blog.

Today was the first time in ages that I've had the chance to spend any time in the garden. We pulled out the snow peas and planted carrots, and purple beans, we also have a fantastic crop of tomatoes at the moment, they are so yum. They are also going wild the blue tongue lizards are helping themselves to the lower ones, I don't really mind as there are plenty for them as well.

We are growing apple cucumbers and they are very nice to eat. I cut one up to have for a nice healthy morning tea, and everyone helped me eat it so I had to cut up more this is what happens when you cut something up that others don't usually have for morning tea.

Our corn is almost ready to harvest, so we will be enjoying some nice cobs soon.

Tracie

2011-08-16T22:46:00.000+10:00

I have just joined Michelle Bridges "12 week Body Transformation" I'm really looking forward to getting started, if you want to keep up to date on how I'm going you can read it on my new blog
my-12wbt-journey.blogspot.com

Tracie

2011-08-10T17:15:00.002+10:00

Today the paving was started.

Have a few jobs to do tomorrow so we will do more paving on Friday if the weather stays fine. The forecast for the next couple of days is rain.

Cooked some nice Silver Dory with chips and steamed vegetables for dinner. Very nice. We don't eat enough fish meals at this house because Steve isn't that fussed. I sneak one in every now and then and he doesn't mind.

Tracie

2011-08-08T20:18:00.002+10:00

Holidays

I'm on Holidays, 16 days of not going to work. This will be the first holiday I've had in 5 or more years. I'm so looking forward to it.

I'm going to do a little bit of this and a little bit of that but most of all I'm going to relax.

Tracie

2011-08-03T18:20:00.003+10:00

Today we did the mulching around the garden beds but we ran out of mulch. We will need one more scoop to finish, will get that next week while I'm on holidays. I'm having two weeks holidays starting next Tuesday, have lots of things I want to do at home and in the garden. We are having a stay-cation. I'm looking forward to it very much.

Today I cleaned out two of the gardens one ready for corn and the other one ready for tomatoes. I planted a ROMA, MORTGAGE LIFTER, and a rich red tomato. Steve will plant some seed and get some seedlings started but these three little plants well get us started in the tomato stakes.

We still have quite a few Brassicas that are developing, Broccoli, Cauliflowers and cabbage.

Back to work tomorrow.

Tracie

2011-08-02T20:59:00.004+10:00

I can't believe it's been 6 months since I wrote a post here. Well here I go again I will try to keep it a bit more up to date.

We have really neglected to garden in the last 9 months since I started to work full time, I just don't seem to have the time I used to have when I was nannying, I at least had Sundays to garden, now that my weekend consists of Tuesday and Wednesday, it has been a little hard to get used to. Steve also works a normal week so he doesn't have as much time on the days I'm off.

Today we started off by having a sleep in, I worked till 9.00pm last night, working in retail is a little crazy sometimes, then we did our junk mail, then it was off for a trip to Flower Power for some Mulch so we can finish mulching around the garden beds, ( we only started this little project last spring) and some soil to top up the garden beds. Then we went to Bunnings for some Seed Raising mix, it's cheaper here than at Flower Power. We also picked up some nice looking Tomato plants this will help us get a head start with the tomatoes for summer.

While we were digging around in the garden this afternoon we found this giant purple Sweet

Potato it was 2.482 kilos this is the biggest sweet potato I have ever seen and the biggest one we have ever grown, this was the only one we found today I hope this isn't the only one that has grown this season.

Today we also picked some nice broccoli it has been really yummy this year, I think it is all the rain we have had this season. Cabbage moth hasn't been around as much either.

I will try and write a bit more often.

Tracie

Our Pond

2011-02-01T12:02:00.004+11:00

Last Easter (2010) we turned the filter off on our swimming pool. The cost of electricity and chemicals to run it was extremely expensive.

We did do quite a bit of research before doing this, and decided if we were going to still have a body of water in the backyard we may as well make it pretty.

This week we put the first of the plants in the water, look at what they have attracted. Beautiful Dragonflies.

This fellow or lady, was quite large and having a great cool off in the water.

and doesn't this guy have the most gorgeous red tail.

Our pool has a few other water bugs as well. Our next step after we have put a few more plants in is to add fish...

Tracie

2011-01-13T15:34:00.002+11:00

Well today is my 48th Birthday. I have had a nice relaxing day. Breakfast with my hubby, then a phone call from the boss to say happy birthday, and why don't you stay home today nice surprise.

The photo above is of the beans we planted on the 9th Jan. They are already popping their heads up out of the dirt, will be able to plant them out next week.

These lettuce are growing like weeds, they seem to grow taller every day. I think you can just about watch them grow.

Here is Ethel on top of the Box of weeds I bought them home yesterday. It is keeping them busy. In a few days they will have it all emptied out and all the good bits eaten.

Can you see the ginger rooster in the background behind the girls, Kirby spends hours in the chook pen with the girls, we think there may be a mouse catching his eye.

This is my Rosie girl. She doesn't like the hot weather. She hates it above about 25 degrees c. Here she is under the shade of a gum tree keeping cool.

Well this was just a quick catch up of around my place. Work keeps me really busy so not much time to catch up on blogging.

Tracie

2010-12-08T14:08:00.002+11:00

"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

2010-11-21T08:04:00.002+11:00

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

2010-09-01T06:49:00.002+10:00

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

2010-08-13T07:20:00.005+10:00

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...

2010-08-12T16:00:00.008+10:00

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

2010-08-09T15:46:00.004+10:00

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

2010-08-02T12:37:00.002+10:00

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

2010-07-05T11:50:00.001+10:00

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

2010-06-25T16:26:00.000+10:00

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

2010-06-25T08:08:00.002+10:00

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

2010-06-21T06:55:00.002+10:00

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

2010-06-15T20:54:00.003+10:00

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

2010-06-03T06:55:00.005+10:00

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

2010-06-02T11:40:00.004+10:00

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

2010-05-31T14:43:00.002+10:00

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

2010-04-04T09:16:00.003+10:00

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.

2010-04-02T22:44:00.003+11:00

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

2010-03-25T15:54:00.000+11:00

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

Tracie

2010-03-24T14:31:00.003+11:00

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

2010-03-17T15:06:00.003+11:00

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

2010-03-09T18:15:00.001+11:00

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

2010-02-25T20:39:00.002+11:00

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

2010-02-22T19:36:00.002+11:00

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

2010-01-23T20:52:00.002+11:00

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

2010-01-21T07:55:00.004+11:00

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

2010-01-17T21:31:00.005+11:00

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???

2010-01-17T20:20:00.002+11:00

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

2010-01-15T08:47:00.003+11:00

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

2010-01-14T08:07:00.002+11:00

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

2010-01-13T12:26:00.003+11:00

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

2010-01-08T19:04:00.002+11:00

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

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T20:25:00.003+11:00

Happy 2010 everyone, the week has been really busy, my mum arrived on Saturday 26th December and is staying till monday the 4th. We went to Berrima yesterday and had a great day looking at all the great shops. My favourite one is the Antique shop Peppergreen's it was fantastic. I could have spent hours in there, I'm going to save up and go back with some special money to spend. Somethings were expensive but others were quite reasonable.

I hope you all have a great new year, I hope 2010 will be geat for all...

Tracie

Merr Christmas

2009-12-25T16:37:00.002+11:00

Merry Christmas, I hope Santa was good to you. I got some lovely practical pressies. my favourite was my gift vouchers, especially the one for Dymocks and Borders. I have some great books on my wish list.

I hope everyone that reads here has had a wonderful day.

Tracie

2009-12-16T12:07:00.001+11:00

Going to see Keith Urban tonight at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Should be a good show, I'm not really a big fan, I like some of his music, who knows I may be converted after tonight. My friend Amanda is dragging me along...

Tracie

2009-12-07T14:57:00.002+11:00

My goodness, doesn't time get away from you when you are busy. This is just an update of what's going on her at our simple green house. I'm still making a few chrissy pressies, better get a move on only 19 days till Christmas I've been told. Haven't been too well this week, have had a cold and it has really taken me down with a thump. I even had to take a day off work on wednesday which is unlike me at all. I didn't want to give it my charges. Feeling better today, must be due to the lazy day we had at home yesterday.

The girls are still laying eggs, somedays we get one and somedays we get two, we still haven't worked out who lays which egg, they all look the same to us.

The garden is looking great haven't harvested much yet but I'm sure that will start soon.

I went shopping last week and bought myself size 16 shorts and tops can you believe size 16. I tried on a dress and couldn't buy it as it was too big and they didn't have a smaller size. This time last year I was hovering between size 24 and size 26. It hasn't been easy to loose this 25kgs and I'm sure the next 15kgs isn't going to be easy, but I tell you what it is going to happen one kilo at a time I'm in no rush, it didn't go on over night and finally I don't think it has to come off over night.

I'm currently reading "5 Greatest Warriors" by Matthew Reilly, this is the 3rd book in a continuing story that started with "7 Ancient Treasures" and continued with "6 Scared Stones", they have all been great. I haven't read a novel for ages and in the last month I have read almost 3, it's no wonder I can't get my Christmas sewing done.

Bye for now,

Tracie

2009-11-14T16:51:00.001+11:00

This is how a cat helps with the christmas card making. Very helpful don't you think...

Tracie

2009-11-12T16:55:00.003+11:00

We ate our first googs yesterday. They were cooked on the BBQ. YUM, Steve reckoned he couldn't taste the difference, I told him the difference is they have come from happy chooks that aren't kept cooped up in small cages, living an unhappy life.

These are the clever girls that layed the eggs above. Berta and Rose. Berta is the grey chook and Rosey is the black chook, they are named after two of the female characters in "2 and a Half Men". Don't ask what breed they are cause we don't know. We bought them from the local Trash and Treasure market for $2.00 each. They both have completely different personalities, I just wish I knew who layed what egg. They are both laying now so we should be getting 2 eggs everyday now.

This is one of our cats. Kirby, is 12 months old and very spoilt.

I think I might want to be a spoilt, loved cat in my next life...

Tracie

2009-11-08T17:10:00.008+11:00

Well another week has past.

We got our first egg this week, it is only very small but I'm sure they will get bigger. This is actually our 2nd egg the first one was crushed, probably in the shock of it all. The thing is we haven't had another one after this one. If someone reading this knows more about chooks than me, is it normal to have one egg then a break.

Yesterday we went for a drive to Breakfast Point to see our beautiful girl be flower girl for her Aunt. She scrubbed up very well in her flowergirl dress. R was very excited about the whole event and had spoken about it for weeks. Our gorgeous boy, her brother A was just as excited and he scrubbed up very well too.

The Flowergirl... Isn't she lovely. Brides shouldn't have flowergirls they steal the show because they are sooooo cute.

Here is the Flowergirls big brother A and their Mum. Doesn't A look very smart and he told me he did his own hair. He was so excited to be at the wedding and wanted to know when the food and dancing would be happening.

Today we spent the day in the garden...

We planted cucumbers and squash.

This is our Corn, growing nicely.

Button Squash, the flowers look lovely but most of the squash have bottom end rot. We can't work out why this is happening. Have to do more research I suppose.

Hydrangeas - I gave these plants a hard pruning last year and now they are full of flowers.

Our Passionfruit finally has flowers with little fruit in the middle. Hopefully these little fruit won't fall off like the rest have.

Steve pruned this 4o+ year old lemon tree with a chainsaw last year. I guess it was the best thing he could have done for the poor old thing, this year it's full of fruit and flowers and lots of new growth. I pulled a few stink bugs off it today but there is no where near as many as there was last year.

I think thats all for now.

Tracie

2009-11-02T14:02:00.002+11:00

Well, so much for me blogging everyday, one whole week has past and I haven't even been here. I went to the city yesterday and had a wander around. Forgot the camera though. I love to go to the city and hang out in Borders Books, but guess what? Borders in Pitt Street is just a big hole in the ground, when did this happen? I really should go to the city more often so I can keep up to date. The building that was between Centre Point and Sky Garden is gone. The facade is still there but the building behind it is gone. Pitt Street was a bit of a mess really, mustn't do anything for tourism.

Once I walked around and around in Myer, I went to Dymocks Book store for some morning tea, iced coffee and a melt yum. Then I went to Lincraft which is now under Supre on the cnr of Market and George Street, they were having a 30% off sale, so I bought some fabric that I had been looking at on Thursday.

I then walked down George Street to meet Steve in Dixon Street (China Town) for lunch. We had lunch at the noodle bar. We then went and looked around Paddy's market (boring) it is the same old rubbish to suck in the tourists.

We hung around till 4.00pm because we thought we had cheap parking, but when we finally got back to the car we hadn't parked on the right level so instead of paying the Early Bird rate of $13.00 we had to pay $26.00 hard lesson learned. We would have left the city heaps earlier if we had know this. Oh well what were we to do. We had had a lovely day and we weren't going to let anything spoil it. We drove home in bumper to bumper traffic, I think everybody drove to the city yesterday.

Tracie

2009-10-26T11:51:00.002+11:00

The weekend was too busy to post. Went on a shopping trip fundraiser on Saturday. Had a great day but it was really tiring, I was over it by 3.30pm, and we never got home till 7.30pm. The bus of 29 people spent $8500.00 I can tell you I didn't contribute much to that, $150.00 was my spend and that was on chrissy pressies that were on my list. People are funny, they were spending just because they thought they were getting a bargain. The bus trip coordinator didn't help matters either, she said right at the beginning, if you see something you like buy it as we can't go back if you decide to buy it later.

On Saturday night we went to a 50th birthday party, it was a really nice night. We were a bit late getting there but we made it by 8.30pm.

Sunday we had a bit of a sleep in then after breakfast we went to "Bunnings" for a few things. We got some plastic fencing to give the Chooks more room to free range, and to keep them off the paths, chook poop on the paths freaks Steve out a bit. It does just hose or wash off but now they can't poop on the paths and they have a bit more room to move.

Today I'm caring for my 3 small charges, they have been grumpy all morning but they are in bed now. I hope they all wake in a better mood.

Till tomorrow.

Tracie

2009-10-22T17:19:00.002+11:00

Here I am back for the second day in a row, shock horror. I just have to get into some type of routine. I have a sick hubby at the moment so the house is very quite. Worked today at Funtime 4 Kidz. It wasn't very busy but alot of the regulars were back after the school holiday of the last couple of weeks. Not working tomorrow as I have to get the "Tax" done. I hate paperwork...

Well talking about that I better get off here and start work on the dreaded Job.

Tomorrow..

Tracie

2009-10-21T12:54:00.003+11:00

From the swirly temp thingy that is swinging around at the top of the page I would say we are finally going to get some decent spring weather.

I know my posts have been few and far between but I think I lost my blogging mojo.

I am going to start to try and post something every day starting now.

In the garden...

we have

Tomatoes

Corn

Beans

cabbage (at the end)

zucchinis

onions

pumpkins

chillis

capsicium

Lemons

peaches

strawberries

blueberries.

My two chookies are getting bigger by the day. I check every morning for that elusive egg, and every day I say should be soon. You will hear me squeal all over the world when I finally get one.

Making for Christmas - Paint shirts x 3 (better get a move on only 1 done)

Making a baby bag for a friend who is having a baby next March.

Weight loss is going well have finally made 95kg - next goal 90kg. Hope to be 85kg by my birthday.

More tomorrow.

Tracie

madeit - buy & sell handmade goods :: 100% Australian handmade & independent

2009-10-20T15:35:00.001+11:00

madeit - buy & sell handmade goods :: 100% Australian handmade & independent

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It's Spring

2009-08-31T14:10:00.002+10:00

Now that I've spent winter hibernating its time to get out in the garden and do the spring planting.

We have had a very busy last couple of months with the moving of our business back to our home and learning to cope with diabetes.

I have now lost 16kg, this puts me below 100kg for the first time in I don't know how long... the dietitian says this a dangerous time when you can go backwards. I hope to keep going down. My next goal is 95kgs.

I was a size 24-26 for so long that I have no small clothes in the wardrobe, so I have been scouring the op shops for smaller sizes so I don't have to buy new. But these sizes are popular so there aren't many around.

We have two new additions to the green house. They are our chickens Berta and Rose. We bought them at Bankstown Markets not knowing if they were boys or girls, it looks like we may have been luck enough to score girls. I have been told they should be laying in a couple of months. They are the most effecient garbage disposals, better than the worms. Steve isn't coping with them leaving little parcels all over the concrete. The two cats are terrified of them, which is a good thing, Kirby use to eye them up as a meal when they were little and now he runs away from them.

Well my baby has just got out of bed so I had better go and feed her lunch, before she wakes her brother and sister.

Will write again real soon.

Tracie

Diabetes...

2009-06-24T13:15:00.002+10:00

The other thing I have been doing in the last 4 weeks is coming to terms with Type 2 Diabetes. My father is a type 2 diabetic as well. I was diagnosed 4 weeks ago and since then I have been working at trying to loose weight and get my blood sugar levels down.

I have now read quite a few books on this disease and I'm trying to manage it as best I can. Last Saturday 20th June I went to see a dietitian, the one thing he said to me is that we aren't going to manage the diabetes we are going to get rid of it.

This is very positive and I can say that I'm of the first eating plan that I have ever been on that doesn't leave you hungry. He was adamant that I eat at least 6 meals a day and they must be at the same time each day. Breakfast, Morning Tea, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Dinner and Supper.

The eating plan must have no sugar and no fat. I have enough fat in my body I don't need to cook with fat or eat fat as this will only add more. I have alway been against eating "diet" stuff, as some of the chemicals leave alot to be desired, since my diagnosis, this has change a little and I am now eating and drinking some of the "diet stuff" in moderation. Diet Jelly is just fantastic to get rid of any hunger pangs and gives you a sweet treat. I also discovered diet Bundaberg Sarsparilla when I was in the supermarket the other day and this is a great treat with my diet Bundaberg Ginger Beer. I haven't eaten a lolly or chocolate since my diagnosis, I think i have broken this habit. My health is more important than both of these things.

I will stop boring you with my woes.

Oh and by the way I have lost 5 Kgs since being diagnosed. This is the first time in a few years I have been below 110kg.

Have a great day...

Tracie

Time

2009-06-22T12:55:00.003+10:00

Where has the last 2 months gone? I haven't posted for awhile as my life is really hectic and we are going through lots of changes. Firstly due to the economic downturn we are going to have to close our shop. Business has been real slow for months and months. I'm still going to do scrapbooking classes but at home. I have a great group of ladies who regularly come to classes at night.

I have also got myself 2 other jobs to try and help make ends meet, I'm a Nanny for a family of 3 children, 2 year old twins and a 6 month old, two days per week. I also work 3 days a week at Funtime 4 Kids at Menai, making coffee, serving food and general duties. I love both of these new challenges, but I love funtime the best. At Funtime there is time to interact with adults and children alike, and I love a chat.

This has kept me very busy over the last two months, I will try to write more often but at the moment my time is very limited.

Have a great day...

Tracie

Things I have been doing

2009-04-26T17:39:00.003+10:00

Yesterday we spent the day in the garden. We have started to get our winter beds ready for planting. We planted, Snow peas (this is our second attempt, the last lot did no good at all), parsnips, turnips, beetroot and onions, we are still harvesting beans, zucchinis, chillis, raspberries (it is so nice to walk down the backyard and pick a fresh raspberry), I'm still waiting for my lemons to ripen, how long do they take?? We have radishes coming out of our ears, they are so yummy. Thats about it for the garden at the moment.

I'm cooking up some home made stocks at the moment and the house smells delish. Chicken stock and Lamb stock. Once the lamb stock is cooked I'm going to make up a hearty lamb stew, that should keep us going for a few days. The chicken stock is going in the freezer so I don't have to use bought stock. I have about 20 litres of stock bubbling away on the stove with lots of good wholesome bones in it. The cost of all this stock would have been no more than about $15.00 if I bought this much store bought stock it would cost me about $53.00 I think this is a great savings and a lot less salt in it.

The stock is now all finished. I made some JOOK (rice porridge with chicken, rice dried turnip and other things) for dinner. Jook (have no idea of the spelling, I spell it how I say it) is a chinese soup made with rice and it is thick like porridge. We love it here and my MIL usually makes it, I have made it once, it's a really filling cheap meal, you can have it for breakfast too but we like it for lunch or dinner.

Better go now,

Tracie

Hello all who read.

2009-04-16T08:16:00.003+10:00

I know I have been slack, I haven't posted for quite a while. Life around here is extremely hectic. To loose weight and to exercise Steve and I have taken up delivering junk mail. You wouldn't do it for the money but I tell you what, the exercise is well worth it. I have been walking for 1 hour a day up hill and down dale. All the areas around here are a bit on the hilly side, so even though I can't walk too fast due to posting things in letter boxes the hills get my heart rate up.

Steve sprained both of his ankles on Good Friday, so he hasn't been out walking with me at all. We generally have both of our areas completed by now but with only one of us able to walk we still have one area to go.

Now back to Steve's sprained ankles. We were out at Cronulla with our good friends who had come down to visit us from the Newcastle area for Easter, we had only just started the walk along the esplanade to South Cronulla when Steve had his fall. Silly thing was looking out towards the horizion and didn't see two small steps and went crashing down in a heap. We got him up and he told us he was okay, so we continued on our walk. When we got to South Cronulla, we got some nice and very expensive fish and chips for lunch, $70.00 for the five of us, am I the only one to thing this is ridiculously expensive for fish and chips. The shop was packed with a queue out the door and they still had the hide to put a 10% surcharge on top of the price.

After we had sat down to eat our lunch/dinner Steve went to get up again and was in agony. His ankles had seized up on him and he was in a great deal of pain. I offered to walk back and get the car and bring it closer but he said he would be right and hobbled on. He spent the next two days with his feet elevated being waited on hand and foot.

He went to work on Tuesday and is starting to walk alot better.

Bye for now.

Tracie

Aussie 100

2009-02-05T11:53:00.004+11:00

I saw this on Belinda Moores blog and thought I would give it a go. Why not do it your self and let me know so I can read it

Tracie

The things that are bold are the things that I have done...

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited The Great Barrier Reef.
5. Stood under the stars in the outback, the real outback – think Uluru.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to the Gold Coast’s theme parks – anyone, you take your pick.
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sung a solo. (only if the shower counts)
11. Bungee jumped, jumped out of plane, been paragliding or hang-gliding, hot air ballooning – you get the idea, you’ve been hundreds of metres about earth in a seemingly flimsy contraption.
12. Visited Melbourne.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Had a child. Raised a child. Worked with children.
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Been to the Snowy Mountains.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Visited the Brett Whitely studio in Surry Hills, Sydney.
20. Slept on an overnight train or bus.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Been backpacking.
23. Taken a mental health day.
24. Been buried in sand with just your head and toes sticking out.
25. Held a possum, kangaroo or koala – or any other native Australian animal.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Been in a fun run. (does cycling count)
28. Been on the Blue Mountain cableway.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.(both)
31. Played, or watched, summer cricket.
32. Sailed, kayaked or canoed our beautiful waterways.
33. Seen the Daintree.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Visited an Aboriginal settlement or mission.
36. Learned a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Toured the Sydney Opera House.
39. Tried rock climbing (indoor or outdoor), abseiling or just simple bush walking. 40. Visit Queensland’s Gallery of Modern Art.
41. Been to the Tamworth Country Music Festival. (see post below)
42. Sunbaked at Bondi.
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant.
44. Visited Broome.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone fishing.
49. Seen Tasmania’s old growth forests.
50. Been to the top of Q1, on the Gold Coast.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Driven the Great Ocean Road.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class.
59. Visited Norfolk Island.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Guide biscuits.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Got flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma.
65. Gone jet boating.
66. Visited Port Arthur.
67. Bounced a cheque.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Australian War Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Federation Square.
74. Been on the Murray River.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Travelled, or climbed, over the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Three Sisters at Echo Point, Katoomba.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited St Mary’s Cathedral, in Sydney.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Been to Hermannsburg.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited Parliament House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Saved a pet.
95. Been to the site of the Eureka Stockade.
96. Swum in The Whitsundays.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a mobile phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
100. Read an entire book in one day.

Tamworth Country Music Festival 2009

2009-01-30T19:51:00.012+11:00

On Thursday 22nd January 2009 my friend Amanda and I headed off on our annual pilgrimage to the Australia's Country Music Mecca Tamworth. When we left home on Thursday morning it was 27c in my lounge room at 5.30am. As we were driving north it was getting cooler and the rain started at Singleton and never stopped until we were the other side of the Great Dividing Range. We stopped in Murrurundi for morning tea then we continued on to Tamworth.

When we go to Tamworth we stay with a lovely home hospitality family, they open their home for us and they are very welcoming.

We had a very busy day planned for Thursday first we were seeing Troy Cassar-Daley at the TREC and the we were seeing "Cash only" at the Longyard Pub.

Troy was fantastic as always and he has a new album coming out in April. I will be saving up for that. I have all his albums and I just love his music.

Troy Cassar-Daley at the TREC

Our Friend Wendy in "Cash Only"

at the Longyard.

"Cash only" was great, the fellow that sung Johnny Cash's part sure did a great job as did Wendy and all the others.

We went back to our accomodation after this show and crashed.

On Friday we had another busy day so we had a early start, Our first Stop was the Big W shopping centre here I was meeting a blogging buddy Tracy from Sunnycorner Farm It was so nice to meet her, Tracy bought us a coffee and we had a lovely chat.

Thanks again Tracy.

Tracie (me) and Tracy

When we left Tracy we went in to Big W to see Adam Brand. Amanda wanted a photo with him and here it is...

Amanda and Adam Brand

We then had to rush down to Peel Street to see Jonah's Road .

Jonah's Road

They are a great group have a listen on you tube they are worth it. They are really nice Blokes. We had lunch with them the next day and then watched them again at this spot in Peel Street

On Friday night we headed to "The Pub" to get a good seat so we could see Travis Collins.

Before seeing Trav we watched the Jazzer Talent Quest. This was just fantastic, there are alot of talented youngsters out there.

Travis Collins

On Saturday morning we went to the cavalcade (street parade). We saw some of our favourite Country Music Stars but most of them weren't there which was very disapointing. The cavalcade wasn't as good as last year.

On Saturday afternoon we went to see Kirsty Lee Akers launch her new album. She is a great little singer and well worth the listen.

Kirsty Lee Akers

We left early on Sunday Morning and we stopped at Murrurundi on the way home for breakfast. this is a yearly stop for us and the brekky is delicous.

A couple of very hot Country Music Fans

I hope I haven't bored you all too much.

Have a great day

Trip to Leura Jan 9th 10th and 11th 2009

2009-01-28T15:32:00.004+11:00

I have lots to catch up on.

We went to Leura in early January, I had a lovely relaxing time. Until we got the phone call on Sunday Morning to say Kirby was missing. Kirby is our 11 month old cat and he was staying with some friends while we were away. On Saturday night he had got out of their house and they couldn't find him anywhere, we came home and joined the search party, we searched for hours then we decided it was getting too hot so we would put the search off until it was cooler. We restarted the search in the evening just before dusk thinking that it had quietened down and he might come out to my voice. We decided after a few more hours of searching that we weren't going to find him. We went home. About 1 hour later we got an excited phone call to say he was back and meowing at their front door. One very hungry ginger cat had returned 23 hours after he had gone missing, only he knows where he had been. I tell you there were 5 very pleased to see him humans. We were all over him and I don't think he could quite understand what the fuss was all about. We were so thankful that he had come home, I thought we had lost him forever.

In the weeks since there have been no mad dashes made to get out the back door, I don't know what happened in that 23 hours but we now have one content to stay inside ginger cat.

Our time spent in Leura was very peaceful and relaxing, I walked to the Leura shops but they are very overpriced so I didn't purchase anything. The shops are all lovely to look but they are just tourist traps. I didn't need anything so I didn't buy. Very proud of myself...

I came back from the shops and baked some afternoon tea for everyone. Cupcakes, are their favourites, and I think this was the nicest batch that I have made. Cupcakes with orange icing, they were yum with a nice cuppa. It took a little getting use to the oven but it was great just a little too small but I coped.

I will do more updating later.

Tracie xx

BIrthday

2009-01-13T21:52:00.002+11:00

Today I turned 46. Have had a great day, breakfast BBQ this morning, lunch out with my Mum, and a nice BBQ dinner. Lots of pressies etc. My friend Kelly made me a yummy birthday cake, and my phone has been going off all day with birthday wishes.

Tracie xx

We're off for a few days.

2009-01-08T21:45:00.003+11:00

Steve and I are off to Leura- Blue Mountains of New South Wales, tomorrow for a couple of well earned days of R and R, I have been looking forward to this for months. It will be so nice to get away from the shop and home and to just relax with a good book. I'm reading "Twlight" and Nourishing Traditions at the moment, two very different books. It is going to be cool enough that the garden should cope. My friend Kelly is coming to stay on Saturday night for a few days, she will feed Lil Pud and water the garden, Kirby has gone to stay with friends he is being spoilt rotten as I write. The cats and the garden are both being taken care of so I don't have to worry.

Will be back too soon...

Tracie xx

Very HOT HOT HOT

2009-01-07T18:36:00.004+11:00

I Got over my little vent from yesterday. I just didn't watch the news tonight.

We have had a wonderful eating from the garden season, excuse the grammar...

We have eaten from our garden the following - Tomatoes, approx 15kgs, we haven't finished yet the tomatoes still have about 4-6 weeks in them, we have to pick them green and allow them to ripen off the vine as we have a bit of a fruitfly problem.

We are still harvesting beans, about a handful a day my FIL picks, and for someone who only really likes them raw, this is lots. We have been giving them to friends and eating lots in salads gives an extra crunch and raw food is better for you anyway.

We have eaten zucchinis and cucumbers till they have come out of our ears, with the Zuccs we had a bit of problem with the ends rotting, we have worked out from lots of reading that our soil is a bit acidic and they are lacking calicium. We have rectified this with some calcium rich fertiliser.

My two raspberries that I planted at last count have turned into nine.

We are starting to get strawberries, finally, if the possums would just leave them alone. I hid 2 almost ripe strawberries under some leaves and the next morning when I came to check on them they were gone.

I better go for now.

Tracie xx

Venting

2009-01-06T18:57:00.003+11:00

I hate the news, I try not to watch it as it is so depressing, especially tonight with all the Israeli bombing news. It is all so sad. Ok tell us that this is happening but why does it have to be so graphic. Don't the news broadcasters know there are children watching at this time and children don't need to know that other children are dying by the 100s on the otherside of the world. If news media wants to show this type of images then broadcast them at a later time when all children are in bed.

I'm just venting.

Tracie xx

Back to work...

2008-12-26T08:02:00.014+11:00

The four day break I have been looking forward to is over. Back to work this morning for 5 hours.

Christmas day was spent at my BIL's house, we had a nice time helping the children play with their presents our SIL had made a nice lunch the day was great as I didn't have to cook.

After Lunch the kids went swimming in the pool. They had a great time jumping in while I took photos.

I got lots of nice pressies for Christmas, Pandora style beads for my bracelet, 2 WII games Monopoly and Beach Sports, and the Nourishing Traditions Book and Candle and Soap Making for Dummies. I am looking forward to trying some of the recipes in the Nourishing Traditions book.

On Boxing day we had some friends for lunch, I cooked slow cooked Roast Pork and Veges and for dessert we had home made Plum Pudding, cream, custard or icecream. I didn't cook the pudding, one of my customers gave it to me as a pressie. I can tell you it was delicous.

Yesterday we harvested another 4 kilos of tomatoes I think this is about 12 kilos to date. This morning I made "Green Tomato Pickles" they are now bottled and ready for storage. This is the first time I have made these pickles. I was going to make tomato sauce but I don't have enough ripe tomatoes.

Merry Christmas to all

2008-12-24T06:23:00.002+11:00

Well Christmas is finally here, I still need another month at least. Still have a few last minute stitching to do but all will be finished. I only have to be in the shop for 4 hours today, then I have to go and buy my Hubby a present. Nothing like leaving it till the last minute. He is so hard to buy for and he is always with me when we are shopping so I thought I would take the opportunity while he is still at work.

I hope everyone out there in blogland has a very Merry and safe Christmas or a wonderful whatever holiday you are celebrating. If you are driving anywhere over Christmas please keep safe.

We are off to my BIL and SIL's place for Christmas lunch. It should be really nice. I will try and remember to take some photos, for a Scrapbook shop owner I'm not very good at remembering the camera. We have to make an hours drive North of here but the roads are generally quite first thing tomorrow so we will make the trip early.

Well I'm off now to wrap some of the pressies that are still all over my lounge room floor, yes thats right I'm not very organised this year, present wrapping is usually already done.

Merry Christmas to all.

Tracie xx

Markets

2008-12-20T10:32:00.002+11:00

The Farmers Market at Warick Farm Race course was packed this morning. Some of the stalls had already sold out of produce and I was there at 7.00am - they don't "open" till 8.00am, from experience I know that you have to go there on the Saturday before Christmas at the crack of dawn. They are even open this year on Christmas Eve.

I don't buy food anywhere else if I can help it, it just doesn't taste the same and everything comes from NSW.

As well as Fruit and Vegetables, there is beef, pork (best streaky bacon and ham around), olives, honey and the best cupcakes made with seasonal produce toppings, just love them. I don't eat too many though as they just go to my hips.

Tomorrow we are having a Christmas Party at home for Steve's work, have lots to do, working now in the shop better get back to it.

Have a good day.

Christmas Traditions Quiz

2008-12-15T15:06:00.005+11:00

Tracy did this on her Blog soI thought I would give it a go to try and get some Christmas Spirit...

Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, but i like all the pressies wrapped that same in the same paper.

When do you put up the tree? I haven't this year not having Chrissy at home so decided not to and thought we would wait for Kirby (the kitten) to be older.

Do you like eggnog? I don't know. I don't think I've ever had it.

Favourite gift received as a child? A Tipetoes Doll, I got her when I was about 5 years old, she was my favourite doll for a very long time. I still have her somewhere. My next favourite pressie was the iPod I recieved 2 years ago. I just love it and it goes everywhere with me full of country music of course.

Hardest person to buy for? My Hubby. Has everything he wants, and when you ask what he wants he says a "Porche" I have received this answer for the last 25 years.

Easiest person to buy for? All the children in my life ...

Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I think this part of christmas is very important.

Mail or email Christmas cards? neither, phone call on Christmas morning does the trick.

Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I really can't remember...

Favourite Christmas movie? Miracle on 34th Street. The Santa Clause.

When do you start shopping? Doing very little shopping this year, trying to hand make everything.

Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I haven't but I have had a present given back that I gave someone a couple of years before. I was rather amused at the time and we still talk about it.
Favourite thing to eat at Christmas? Real plum pudding boiled in the cloth, Roast pork with good crackling.

Lights on the tree? Of course!

Favourite Christmas songs? Colin Buchanan's Version of "Jingle bells" brings a smile to my face.

Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travelling this year to my BIL and SIL's place for lunch.

Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? No

Angel on the tree top, or a star? Angel.

Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning...first thing.

Favourite ornament theme or colour? Red, Green and gold

What do you want for Christmas this year? I'm not that fussy, just something nice.

If you would like to do this Quiz too just leave a comment here so I can have a read.

Have fun.

Tracie

Only 13 days to Christmas

2008-12-11T11:18:00.003+11:00

Wow only 13 days till Christmas, where has the year gone, I feel like it was only yesterday that it was last Christmas. I still have quite a few things to finalise before this Christmas comes around. All the pressies are well on the way to being finished, The album I was working on is finished and has already gone to it's new home.

I found this great site called "Made It" it is like Etsy but Australian, I have listed a couple of my MIL's bathmat and Christmas Table runners on there so go and have a look. They are the best and most gorgeous bath mats around. I have been using a couple of these mats for years and they wash like a rag.

I will be back later with a garden update and some album photos.

Tracie

2008-11-28T19:01:00.002+11:00

Just dropping in to let you know that I'm okay just really busy. Have a whole heritage album to have completed by Christmas. I have a lot of updates to do but will get too them when I can. Back in a couple of weeks.

Tracie

Back to Basics Challenge 1

2008-10-22T15:04:00.003+11:00

I've joined in Belinda's Back to basics to challenge. I was inspired by Belinda's post, so I thought this is how I'm trying to have us live so why not join a challenge. so here goes -

Sowing seed or Planting - This week we planted another 10 tomato plants, this added to the 23 we have planted at Steve's parents house totals 33 tomato plants all together, we eat a lot of tomatoes here all year round so hopefully fruit fly and possums won't get to them first. In the green house at the moment Steve has Bok Choy (this grows like a weed), carrots, cape gooseberries, celery. In the garden we have Zucchini, Beans, beetroot, radishes, tomatoes, corn, pop corn, watermelon, rockmelon, apple cucumbers, leb cucumbers, capsicuim, onions, potatoes, lettuce, strawberries, asparagus, garlic, pumpkin, squash.

Planning for The Future - As far into the future I'm planning for at the moment is Christmas, as I have written in past posts that my goal is to make as many of my pressies as possible, to date I have made 4 aprons, 2 drink bottle holders, 4 wash cloths, oh dear, I had better get a move on Christmas is only 5 minutes away, I still have some baking to do but that will be closer to the date.

Working for the Future - In the last year I have bought a Fowlers preserving unit so I can preserve fruits and vegetables when they are in season so that I have them for when they are out of season and outlandishly expensive. I'm hoping to have a good crop of Tomatoes to do this with so I don't have to buy another tinned tomato. I have always had a good stock of basic provisions in the pantry, lentils, flour, rice, beans etc. I buy these things when they are on special.

Building Community -

Learn a new Skill - In the past year I have been re learning skill that I once had, sewing, knitting, crocheting, cooking from scratch. I could already do all these things but over the years i had let them slide always saying I didn't have time. The one new skill I have taught myself is how to make soap, I have made 2 batches to date and we love it. Steve's eczema is a little better for the effort. I also make our washing powder which has helped with the eczema also.

Thanks for visiting.

Garden Update

2008-10-14T10:35:00.004+11:00

The garden is looking fantastic, we have tomatoes already on our plants, we also have 2 Jurassic zucchini plants that are taking over the garden. My lemon tree has grown a least 6 inches since the weather has warmed up. Our apple trees have leaves slowly coming on hopfully, we will get some flowers soon. I cannot get the Rosella seeds to germinate, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. If there is someone out there that can offer some advice please help.

The Chrissy pressies are well on the way, I don't know if I have set myself a task that is too hard to complete, I will continue and see how I go.

I haven't had a lot of time for cooking lately, just the basic meals, some type of meat(beef, chicken or pork) and salad, there has been nothing too adventurous. We mainly eat salad in this warmer weather.

I will try and take some photos this weekend, so there is a record of the spring process.

Thank you for dropping by.

My Trusty Elna sewing machine.

2008-10-01T16:17:00.011+10:00

I've had the trusty elna sewing machine out in the past few weeks giving it a work out. I got inspired to sew again with the swap I joined and now the bug has bitten. It has been years since I have sewn anything but I'm back and loving it more than I did before. It has to be at least 15 years since the last time I sewed up a storm. I am finding I've got heaps more patients than before. I had to give my wonderful FIL a call twice to be my sewing machine repair man. The first time because the machine was making a CLUNK CLUNK noise that just didn't sound right, the second time because the foot pedal would only go full speed, and this was just too fast. But all is now fixed, and I'm sewing up a storm.

Here is a bit of history about this old baby, I got it as a 21st birthday present in 1984, and it was already at least 10 years old then. But with a little oil it is still working like a dream at 34 years old. It does all that I need it too.

I have been busy working on my Chrissy presents, I have decided to make all my presents this year. We'll see how this goes, I'm up to my 5th Apron, Here is a photo of the first one I made for Imogen. Imogen is 10 in December and she loves to bake. (thankyou to my model Nicky who proudly modelled my creation).

I have made 4 others but they aren't completely finished so I will show them off when they are. I still have to do the hand sewing on the front of them all.

I also want to make a couple of special little girls in my life a cloth doll each, below is my failed attempt. The head just wouldn't work for me so it is in the too hard basket for now until I work out what and how to do it. I downloaded the pattern from I cannot recall where, and it was a easy to follow pattern but the head was deformed, so it is a "Wednesday Adams" doll at he moment.

I went to Spotlight and picked up a vogue pattern, hopefully this will work better.

Bye for now

Swap

2008-09-24T11:59:00.004+10:00

This is the parcel I received from my Swap Buddy Cheryl at Gingerbread Crafts , Cheryl and I were in a swap that was run by the girls at Down to Earth, I forgot to take a photo of what I sent to Cheryl. But you will find it on Cheryl's blog through the Gingerbread Craft link above.I really loved my parcel from Cheryl, I use the water bottle holder and the note book everyday.

Thanks again Cheryl.

Bye for now,

Very Busy September Part 2

2008-09-22T08:17:00.004+10:00

Here is part 2 - On the 12th September Steve and I along with our friends Amanda and Matthew, went to the "Basement" (a restaurant and stage show venue) in Sydney's Circular Quay, to see Jon English (for those of you that read from other parts of the world Jon English is an old Aussie Rocker from the 60s and 70s) and Jonah's Road. They were both fantastic, I thought I didn't know any Jon English music but I knew quite a bit. Amanda and I went to see Jonah's Road, they are some local boys trying to make it in the country music scene. We saw them this year in Tamworth, they are great, and a lovely bunch of guys, so friendly. They have a new release on CMC the song is called "Giddy Up" go and vote for them and get them up the charts so they might get signed up for a record deal.

I have started my Christmas presents, I have made 2 aprons for two little girls I know that love to bake, I am just finishing off their names on the front. One of them I have made too short so I will add some more fabric to the bottom of that one. I then have a couple more to make but adult ones, these are for a few friends. I like the idea of the pressies in a jar, and I'm going to make the older of the 2 girls some biscuits (cookies) in a jar as well as a recipe book to go with her apron.

I am about to start my cloth dollies as well, I have 3 to make for 3 special little girls in my life, I tried a pattern I found online but I couldn't get the head to work, so I went off to spotlight and bought a pattern, I am a pattern girl I like to have a pattern to follow. The pattern I found online was good but it needed how to do it pictures.

I'm going to give everyone I can homemade gifts this year. I really like the gift in a jar idea. I got all my ideas over at Down to Earth. While you are checking out Down to Earth leave a comment in answer to the questions Rhonda is asking in this current post. Rhonda is writing a book and she would like to know why all here readers have chosen the simple life.

Well I think I have caught up now, I will try and be more diligent

in my posting.

Bye for now,

Tracie

Very Busy September

2008-09-21T19:29:00.007+10:00

I can't believe that it has been 3 weeks since my last post. I'm generally not that slack. We have had a hectic September. First there was Fathers day, we had a lovely brekky out with my FIL and the rest of the family at Rhodes. After breakfast we had a look around Ikea - I love Ikea, it was very busy at Ikea for Fathers Day, I thought everyone would be out having Fathers Day lunch and I would be nice and quite, but no, everyone had gone out for Brekky just like us and then they all went to Ikea as well. We managed to fight through the crowd and grab a few gadgets that we needed.

The next week we had our nephew Ethan's 8th Birthday Party. He turned 8 on the 9th of September and had his "Sports Party" on Sunday the 14th of September. The children had lots of fun. I glad I wasn't the 2 young ladies that were trying to keep 18 children amused in between rain showers. It was a very wet afternoon. They both did a very good job, the children were exhausted when they left after 2.5 hours of non stop running and lots of sugar.

Today (21st Spetember) was the Annual Spring Carnival at Gannons Park. When we got there I thought, I should have bought the camera and taken some photos. It was a beautiful spring day as usual, there were some great crafts and displays to look at. We stood and watched the dog trials for a little while, some doggies are very clever. We spent 1.5 hours at the fair and had a great time, we then spent an hour in the garden, the spuds are growing like weeds so I covered them with mulch again. They will be out of the mulch by tomorrow, I'm sure.

Last week we planted zucchini, purple beans, Lazy Housewife beans, yellow squash, baby corn, we now have added this to Tomatoes, potatoes, asparagus, snow peas, carrots, chard, lettuce, beetroot . If we can keep the slugs and possums off them we should have a good harvest this year. This is a photo of our snow peas, we have been harvesting chinese takeaway containers full every couple of days.

Here is a photo of Steve doing some planting in the pouring rain.

Don't our snow peas look yummy, I can tell you they are. There is nothing like picking and eating out of your own garden. Not too many make it into the container when I'm picking. I love raw vegies.

I do have more photos I will try and do more posting tomorrow.

Bye for now,

Tracie xx

Happy to see Spring

2008-09-01T08:04:00.007+10:00

Today is the 1st of September and the first day of Spring. The days are already starting to get longer, the sun is coming up at around 6.00am. I only know this because this is when Kirby wakes me up, and this is the time on the clock radio. Who needs an alarm when you have a little cat chewing on your fingers. Steve and I went to the Gardening Australia show in Sydney yesterday, we were both a little disappointed, but this didn't stop us from buying a new greenhouse The new one is the tall one. and a new cat loo. Steve had filled up our little greenhouse with seed trays and everytime I would ask have you got seeds planted for this or that he would say that he had no more room in the green house. So now we have 2. He will probably fill up the 2nd one this weekend.

This morning it is nice and warm sitting here at the computer, it is 19 C (66F) on the clock. The clock hasn't been above 8C (46F) in the morning for weeks now. I think the warm weather is going to come on fast. This is fine as long as we get a little more rain.

I will leave you with some other photos of our "Patch".

This is the end of winter look, we will start to mulch and spread some worm castings around to make this all look better.

Here are our strawberries trying to make a come back after the possum ate all the leaves.

Have a great day.

Tracie

Weekend in the garden

2008-08-26T08:21:00.003+10:00

I started this post on Tuesday and it is now Friday and I'm getting around to finishing it.

We spent all day Sunday (24th Aug in the garden), very nice but tiring. The 24 tomato seedlings we planted last weekend most have been eaten we have replaced them with bigger seedlings from the nursery. Steve has got seedlings in the greenhouse but these aren't growing fast enough and we want to put in bigger seedlings so whatever stole them last time won't steal them again.

We now have 5 garden beds ready to be planted up in the spring.

We went to Altra Nursery and bought some larger tomato seedling and my FIL put in the ground for me. Hopefully nothing has eaten them.

Our Zucchini are growing nicely they getting bigger everyday, at least the Possums don't like to eat these yet. We are having trouble with keeping leaves on our strawberry plants, I have to cover them every night or else the resident Possum eats all the leaves. I thought he might have left our yard as I have been leaving an apple out for him every night and over the last few nights the apple has still been there, but this morning the apple was gone, so I think he was just eating elsewhere for the last few nights.

My blueberries are coming along nicely, Steve laughs that we are only going to get enough berries to make a handful. This is the first year we have had the plant so i will be happy with this. I will put another blueberry bush in this year then we will have more berries for next year.

On Thursday night I made Kate's from Our Red House "Gran's Apple Tea cake" you will find the recipe here, it was delicious and so simple to make. I will certainly be making this again, thanks Kate for sharing.

This is about all the baking I have had time to do lately. I did make Strawberry Jam again on Monday night I still don't like it. I probably won't make it again I thought if i made my own Strawberry Jam I might like it but no I don't. It's official the only way I like strawberries is fresh.

We are off to the Gardening Australia show this weekend, hopefully to get some good ideas. I will try and take lots of photos and post the here. I'm not real good at the old photo posting.

Not too much gardening is going to happen in the next few weeks as we are so busy on Sundays with Father's Day and Ethans Birthday party taking up the next few weeks. But I will try and do more baking and I do need to make more soap.

Thanks for stopping by.

Catch up

2008-08-19T14:28:00.003+10:00

Was very busy in the garden this past weekend. We have planted 24 tomato plants of different varieties. Cherry Tomatoes, Roma, Morgage Lifter, this is the start of our pre spring planting. Have put in more Bok Choy as we just love it, the zucchini we put in 2 weeks ago is growing like a weed even though we are having a cold winter here in Sydney. Last week never got above 16 degrees C, I know in some parts of the world that this would be considered summer, We're not acustomed temperatures this low, not day after day anyway, in some parts of NSW it has snowed more than usual. Does this mean we are going to have a stinking hot summer? I hope not I had the heat.

Enough rambling on about the weather.

We harvested another cauliflower it was delicous, there is still some in the fridge so i might make some soup out of it.

We started to use our homemade soap yesterday, it's been about 6 weeks since I made the first batch, its so nice, I will have to get on to another batch so we won't run out. I'm going to try the Copha soap recipe that I found on Down to Earth next. It looks so easy and copha is a little cheaper than coconut oil.

Our little Kirby is growing everyday - he now weighs 2.3kg, not bad for a cat that only weighed 600g when we adopted him 4 weeks ago. He's not feeling real well today, last night he had his first kitten vaccination and it has knocked him about a bit. For Kirby not to eat he must be feeling sick. Stacy (our good friend and Vet) said he should be eating by tomorrow. All he has done all day today is lay on the bed curled up in a tiny ball, I can't even get a purr out of him which is so unlike Kirby.

Better go now and do some work.

Bye for now...

Tracie xx

I've Been Tagged!!! "My Five Favourite Things"

2008-07-31T16:13:00.003+10:00

Kristin over at Homemaker at Heart has tagged me.

(1) Steve - Husband

(2) My cats Lil Pud and Kirby

(3)Aidan and Riley - our friends Kelly and Steve's children but I love them lots and lots.

(4)Country Music - anyone that knows me knows I'm a diehard country music fan. My favourite singer is Troy Cassar-Daley.

(5) Cooking - this is a new favourite thing. I always thought I didn't have the time to do it but now I love to cook and try new recipes.

I don't know alot of bloggers out there that I would feel comfortable tagging so If you are reading this and would like to participate just put your five favourite things on your blog and let me know about it so I can read it.

Too Busy

2008-07-30T14:33:00.011+10:00

I think I'm just going to have to make one day per week a blog update day. It's 2 weeks since I was last here. Slack is what I am. Steve and I had a great time in Mudgee. It was very cold up there as we expected. I didn't get to take as many photos as I wanted but we are planning on going up again in the spring when it's a little warmer and we don't have places to be all weekend. We didn't get to do anything touristy like winerys etc.

We have got a new kitten, well we have had him for a week now. He is soooo cute his name is Kirby - and he is a little ginger fluff ball. I know I said that I wouldn't have another gnger cat but Kirby just wormed his way into our hearts from the moment we met the scrawny little thing.

Isn't he just the cutest little thing.

The next photo shows just how little he is. He was so scrawny that you could feel every bone in his little body. We have given him the nick-name of seagull, whenever he thinks there might be food around he meows and meows and it sounds just like a seagull squarking waiting for you to throw it a chip at the beach.

One week later he isn't as scrawny, the little bones in his body aren't as easy to feel there is a bit more padding on his bones.

Steve and Kirby.

It was so cold outside that when Steve bought Kirby over to the shop he carried him in his jumper. Lil Pud isn't taking to this interloper in her house too well. She gave him a good swipe over the head the other night just to let him know she is the "Queen" of the house. He stays right away from this grumpy big bullyof a girl cat. I'm sure they will get use to each other eventually.

I will have to take him back to the vet for his needles on Sunday then he will be able to come outside and help us in the vege garden, this willl be an adventure for the curious little critter.

I will try to be better at updating. I will leave you with another photo of Kirby.

Bye for now.

Mudgee

2008-07-17T08:37:00.002+10:00

Steve and I are off to Mudgee tomorrow, at 5.00am, we are just going for 2 days one night, we will be back on Saturday afternoon. We are staying at a B & B called Suzie's Hideaway, we haven't been to Mudgee for years so it will be nice to go up and have a look around again.

I'm taking the big camera so I will post some pictures next week. Better go and check the batteries are charged.

We have a very busy weekend ahead of us, 21st Birthday party of very good friends eldest son on Saturday night, and our youngest nephew, Justin is having his first birthday party on Sunday. All this is being held in the Sydney CBD. Did everyone forget the Pope is here this weekend and Sydney is going to be a nightmare to get around. We will have to go by train, cheaper than using the car with petrol prices the way they are.

Will post more later, better go to work now..

Tracie xx

Tupperware Party

2008-07-09T08:06:00.005+10:00

Tonight I'm having a Tupperware Party. Tupperware the most fantastic plastic containers on the planet. I have the stuff breeding in the cupboard. Over the last couple of years I have stopped buying it as it is just too expensive. There are a couple of peices that I just can't live without like the Fridge Smarts and Veg Outs, these 2 articles are just fantastic and they really work. I put all my vegetable in the Fridge Smart containers and it keeps them for weeks (I actually use all the veges too quickly now) and in the VegOut I store potatoes and onions. They are stored seperately as they send each other bad.

The reason I'm having a party is to help a friend out, she is just strating out as a dealer, I try not to host Tupperware parties anymore but with that said, I end up having one every year it is really becoming an annual event. I will be trying not to buy anything my plan is to get enough sales that I will get what I want for free.

I have already made cupcakes this morning from the Crabapple Bakery cookbook they are the easiest cupcakes to make and I know they work. Now I'm going to make my friend Kelly's Weekender Biscuits.

These weekender biscuits (cookies) are always a hit whenever they are made, they just melt in your mouth.

Have a great day

Tracie xx

How My Garden is growing

2008-07-03T18:12:00.005+10:00

We ate our first Cauliflower out of our very own garden yesterday. It was so yum. I made a nice cheesy white sauce to go on it and that made it even more delicious. The Broccoli is also getting bigger and bigger we will be eating them as well real soon. Eating out of your own garden is so satisfying, the hard work is worth it to not have to eat all those chemicals. I spent a couple of minutes each morning and go down to the garden and pull the little green caterpillars off the leaves, I think the moths have finally worked out that laying eggs in my garden is no way of carrying on their moth lineage as the caterpillars only end up squished under my foot. I haven't seen anymore caterpillars for a couple of days.

Our Rainbow Chard looks and tastes just fantastic. I will make another Spinach/Silverbeet Pie very soon it was so nice last week, you will find the recipe on the Down to Earth blog.

I made some yummy Strawberry jam last week. It tasted good but I didn't get it to the right setting point. I will try again, this was my first attempt at jam making. I started to write this a couple of days ago but this is the first chance I have had to get back to it.

Steve and I planted our apple trees today. We have put them in two very big pots, we have used pots so that if we move we can take them with us to our new home.

I will try and get back tomorrow.

Tracie xx

Pay it Forward

2008-06-17T08:22:00.004+10:00

I have joined Tracy in Pay it forward.

I saw the above sign on her blog and wanted to play along.

This is how it goes : it's the Pay It Forward exchange, based on the concept of the movie "Pay It Forward", where acts of kindness are done without expecting anything in return, just passing it on, hoping that the recipients will do the same and pay it forward, like a never ending chain of kindness...
How to proceed ?
I will make and send a handmade gift for the first 3 friends who post a comment to this post, requesting to join this exchange, and promising to pay it forward to 3 other persons, etc....I don't know what my 3 gifts will be, and I can't make them in the next few weeks, but I can promise I will send them within the next 6 months .
What YOU have to do in return then, is pay it forward by making the same announcement and promise on YOUR blog.
Come and join the fun to make the world a happier place !

I hope there is someone out there that would like me to send them something, please come and join in.

Tracie xx

The Queens Birthday Long Weekend

2008-06-10T14:33:00.012+10:00

I have been having a great time baking bread rolls, I have made three lots so far if I had known how easy it was I would have done then before now.
Here they are before they are baked. I have found that the secret is to let them rise for quite a bit of time. I left this lot for 2 hours yesterday while we were out in the morning then I baked them for lunch.

Here they are after they baked for 19 minutes at 205 degrees on fan forced.

They were so yummy and light and fluffy inside, the secret is in the rising time. We ate these rolls with Celery and Celeriac soup. it was Yum and so filling

The other thing I have made is my Nana's

CHILLI RELISH

6 long Red Chillies

4 Large green apples

3 cups Sugar

1.5 cups white Vinegar

Deseed and chop chillies. If you like some bite in your relish leave some of the seeds in.

Peel core and chop apples.

Put all ingredients into a lge pot and simmer stirring occassionally until the relish is set using the cold plate testing method. The relish will darken the longer it is cooked. It takes 3 time the recipe to get this much relish.

I also finally used my Fowlers electric preserving pan that I picked up at Bankstown Markets for $7.00. So now I can keep my relish in the pantry.

My Mum always keeps hers in the pantry even though she doesn't use a preserving pan.

The other thing I made this weekend from scratch was pizza. I made the dough and all. The pizzas were just lovely. I don't usually like pizza but I will be doing these again.

WINTER - My Favourite season...

2008-06-05T16:03:00.005+10:00

I have reading two of my favourite blogs Sunny Corner Farm and Beyond My Picket Fence and their titles included winter in them. This inspired me to write something about winter here.

Yes winter is here, but here in Sydney we are just having rain and the cloud cover is keeping it nice and warm.

Well I think it's warm (18 degrees C) today. This is my favourite time of the year I just love winter, I would like the rain to stop for a day or two just so I can get the washing dry. I have a dryer but I don't want to use it. I uses too much power. We have an outside undercover clothes line but the air is so damp that nothing is dryingThe fire has been going for 4 days now and the house is nice and toasty, so I have been trying to hang what I can on hangers but the house is looking like a laundry.

I baked my first lot of bread rolls from scratch the other night, they were alright, I need to practice some more, will cook some more over the weekend. I did cheat and do the dough in the bread maker. Next time I will take some photos.

Tonight we are having Apricot Chicken for dinner with Mashed potatoes and some other vegetables I still haven't decided which ones. This whole dish costs about $6.00 and there are leftovers for lunch tomorrow, Steve likes to take leftovers for lunch the next day so I always cook extra.

Tracie xx

In Loving Memory of Toby 6/2/1996 to 1/6/2008

2008-06-01T20:31:00.006+10:00

We lost our beautiful boy today.

He was hit by a car this morning. Steve found him on the footpath not a scratch on him.

We tried to keep him inside but he was at his happiest outside. He loved to wander and I knew our street would be the death of him.

Toby had a good almost 12 and a half 1/2 years. More than he would of had if we hadn't rescued him from the local vet clinic all those years ago. He was on death row, the kitten no one wanted, but we gave him a home and we loved him with all our hearts. He is going to be greatly missed as he was our baby.

He was grumpy but we loved everything about him. I knew him so well, I could read every little facial expression and I knew what he wanted when he wanted something, there will never be another cat like him.

We are going to miss Toby so much, rest in peace our little mate.

Tracie

Ps. These are some of the last photos that were taken of him on Thursday 29th May.

Bring on June

2008-05-17T13:45:00.002+10:00

May just hasn't been the best month at Our simple green house.. First there was the cold then when I was in the shower on Tuesday Morning I put my back out. Dr said this is a very common spot for a back injury. The garden will be suffering for a bit, bending is a task that isn't happening without pain. I have been doing lots of sitting and resting. On Wednesday I spent the whole day Watching the 7th season on the "Gilmore Girls", (I just love this show I was so disappointed when I found out this was the last season) I had borrowed it to make doing the ironing more bearable but ironing was out of the question. The chiropractor said "No standing for long periods". Oh well I had to send the ironing to the ironing lady, bit out of the budget but what is a girl to do? I figured the pile was only going to get bigger and bigger and become a very daunting task so it may as well get done. The ironing lady and I are currently working on a Barter system, she irons for me and I'm going to scan a pile of photos and put them onto disk for her. This works for both of us and keeps the costs down. (I would prefer to scan photos to ironing any day)

Ironing lady is a luxury I used to have on a regular basis but now I try to keep up tp date with the ironing myself. A cleaning lady was another Luxury I used to have, but I haven't had one of those for a few years now. Nobody seems to do it just right...

Tomorrow we are going to a friends vow renewal ceremony, they have been married for 10 years but they didn't have a "wedding" the first time just themselves and 2 witnesses, they figure they have endured 10 years and are still going strong that they might as well have a "PARTY". This should be a lot of fun. I will try to blog more often, I also have some progress photos of the garden to put up, as well as my first attempt at pasta making.

Have a great day and stay safe.

Tracie xx

Visitors

2008-05-06T15:57:00.003+10:00

I have been very slack in my posting lately. We have had visitors for the last 2 weeks and this makes it hard to keep up with everything. I was tagged the other day and only got around to answering it yesterday. As well as all that I have got a cold. One of the children that was visiting was very sharing and shared his cold with me. Oh well this cannot be helped but it sure does make you feel miserable. If I worked for someone other than myself I would have been home in bed for the last 2 days. I have tomorrow off and I'm going to the doctors, not that I think he can do much for my cold. I have been having lots of hot lemon drinks with pure honey in them. The throat is starting to feel a bit better today. The head is still throbbing. Enough about that it's only a cold...

Our garden is doing great, we are already eating salad greens out of it. The lettuce tastes just devine and I have had to sprinkle pepper all around to keep my 2 cats off the garden, this seems to me working, we will see. I have been telling everyone that the vegetables are already seasoned while they are growing. We should be eating Pak Choy and Chinese cabbage in the next couple of weeks. These are both growing like wildfire. We have also had a small meal of Snowpeas, they were so sweet and delicious.

Our "little" peach tree has decided to blossom, it is very confused, I think the couple of warm days that we had has made it think it is spring. It has eight lovely flowers on it. I hope this doesn't mean it's going to die. It was a Christmas pressie a couple of years ago.

I have the slowcooker on the bench bubbling away cooking dinner. The smell is devine. I'm cooking "Symple Beef Stew" or my variation of it. I found the recipe last winter in "The Symply Too Good To Be True" cookbooks. Here is the link to the web site. I use quite a few of her recipes, they are low fat, low salt and very tasty and delicious, I think they are reasonably in price as well.

I will try to take more photos so I can post them here.

Have a great evening...

Tagged

2008-05-05T08:09:00.001+10:00

I have been tagged by Tracy at Sunny Corner Farm to provide some trivia about me and some facts about me.

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.

2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.

3. At the end of the post, the player tags 5 people and posts their name, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

***What I was doing 10 years ago:

Ten years ago I was working as a Daycare Mum in my home and enjoying every bit of it. I suppose this was homeschooling other peoples' children while they were at work. it was a great job. I cared for 5 children under 5. Which a lot of people in blogland do except I got to send them home everyday.

Five Snacks I enjoy:

1. Cheese and biscuits

2. Chocolate

3. Anything homebaked

4. Bananas

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

I would buy 5 acres in the bush but near enough to the sea so my DH can go fishing everyday, I think I would also help all my close friends and family become debt free.

Five jobs that I have had:

1. Deli assistant (first job out of school)

2. Checkout chick in Woolies

3. Personnel Manager Grace Bros (Myer)

4. Self employed Homebased Daycarer

5. Self employed I currently have my own Scrapbook Shop

Three of my habits:

My husband will tell you I have a flat surface problem - If there is a clear flat surface I will put something there and clutter it up. I don't think this is a problem at all...

I am a hoarder

Eating - I love food way too much

Five place I have lived:

1. Woodridge (Suburb south of Brisbane Qld) This is where I grew up.

2. Lakemba (rented here first year married) (Suburb Sydney)

3. Narwee (bought our first and only unit here) suburb of Sydney

4. Padstow Hts (our current home) suburb of Sydney.

5. Will be somewhere in the country where we can live a more simple life.

Five people I Want to Get to Know Better:

Anyone who reads this consider yourself tagged

Simple living

2008-04-25T14:45:00.004+10:00

Rhonda Jean of http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/ has asked all her readers to write about living a simple life.

Steve, myself and our two cats Toby and Lil Pud, live on a 675 square metre suburban block.

We're trying to live a simple life and are taking this journey one baby step at a time.

To start this journey I have taken most of the convenience out of our lives. When I cook/bake, I do it from scratch. I always used bottles packets and sachets to cook with thinking this was saving time and it tasted good. Then I started to look at what was in these convenience foods and I was astounded by what I found in them that wasn't healthy. I now have complete control over what we eat and what things we put into our bodies. I bake bread daily, (in a machine), I use the slow cooker at least 3 times a week, this is so convenient when you work full time plus some. I come home in the afternoon and dinner is not only cooked but the house smells wonderful.

We have also taken dining out every other day out of our lives, this took a bit of getting use to but I now prefer to stay in and cook for friends. If is far more peaceful and cheaper than a noisy restaurant.

A couple of years ago I discovered the farmers markets at Warwick Farm. I haven't bought fruit and vegetables anywhere else since if I can help it. The vegetables are so fresh and taste like they should, not like they have been in cold storage for weeks before they make the shelves. The carrots still have green tops on them and the sweet corn is so sweet and fresh.

We have turned going to the markets on Saturday Morning into a special outing that we look forward too, not a weekly chore. We have a nice coffee and something nice for breakfast.

I recycle, we have started growing our own vegetables, we collect water when it rains in 3, 200 lt drums, I dry my washing outside on the line, and now I think before I buy something new. I look in the op shops to see if I can recycle something from there, (have found some treasures).

I would love to have my own chooks but still talkingSteve into it. I'm sure I will get there eventually.

We will just continue to take baby steps towards simple living.

It's a Cats Life

2008-04-15T15:06:00.003+10:00

In my next life I want to be a cat. Not just any type of cat but a pampered spoilt cat who gets to lie around all day and do nothing much except think about where his next meal in coming from.

This is Toby getting ready for a day of snoozing on our bed, and on the new quilt my MIL made, he just loves our new quilt he thinks he owns it.

As soon as I had it on the bed he was up on it getting ready to have a snooze. This morning when I left for work he was curled up on the beanbag in the lounge room. I went home to get lunch and he popped his head out of the beanbag as if to say "Oh it's only you" then put the head back down and proceeded to go back to sleep.

Still Raining ... not complaining

2008-04-14T08:04:00.003+10:00

It is still raining in Sydney Town, the morning temperatures are dropping as well. This morning it is a little cooler. This is my favourite time of the year, Autumn and winter. I just love both these seasons, I love Spring as well but not as much as Autumn and Winter. I'm not a fan of summer at all too hot, although, this summer was really mild quite bearable, bring on more summers like 2007/2008. It will be very interesting what type of winter we are going to have. I'm putting money on a very cold one.

Yesterday I planted celery, borage, spinach, rocket and some marigolds, the marigolds looks lovely in amongst all the green leaves of the veges. I also planted some cornflower seeds, these are to entice bees and other lovely bugs too our garden. The cabbages are coming along fine one of them is already starting to form a heart, it's so wonderful to watch. We are already starting to harvest some of the salad greens we have growing in the garden. They were just great on sandwiches last week.

We have a new grower at the local Farmers Market, he has the most wonderful tomatoes around, I have had a couple for brekky this morning with some lovely farm fresh scrambled eggs, it was divine. Now I'm working on Steve about some chickens, I would love to have some chooks so we could eat our own farm fresh eggs, we would then know what they are being fed as well. I will take some photos of our farmers market and post them here next week.

I really should post more often then I wouldn't have to ramble on like this.

The Pak choy and the Chinese cabbage we planted out last week have doubled in size. It won't belong before we are eating them, Mmmm I can taste those stirfries already.

Spent Saturday night on my lonesome, Steve went to a Tuff Truck event with a mate that was being held at Singleton, I spent the night doing some sewing, I haven't had the sewing machine out for years so I'm trying to brush up on my skills. Sewing is a skill that I have let go over the years but to be self sufficient I will need this skill. I have been practicing with some undies, Bonds have stopped making the undies I love so I have to make my own, not ready for "cottontails" yet. Well I cut the pattern out, and thought these look huge, well they are, two people my size could fit into them, will need to do some pattern adjusting, another skill that I need to brush up on. Well the time has come to get ready for work. Tune in tomorrow..........

Rain Glourious Rain

2008-04-08T08:41:00.009+10:00

I just love the rain, there is such a feeling of cleanliness when it is raining. The Veges are just enjoying the nice soaking. It can stop for a bit now and let the water soak into the earth otherwise the plants will be floating away. All the water drums are filling up.

Here is the cabbage and broccoli enjoying the rain. Followed by the lemon tree and the snowpeas.

As I write the rest of this entry the sun has come out and it is a glorious day in Sydney. They are still forcasting rain for the rest of the week, This will be good and the plants should flourish and start to really take off.

Great Weekend

2008-04-07T08:27:00.002+10:00

Have had a very busy weekend, Farmers market as usual on Saturday, it is our special Saturday morning outing now. Brekky, shopping then home. Went out to dinner with some friends on Saturday night it was great to catch up, haven't caught up since christmas.

Sunday we did some more garden work, planted more snowpeas, pak choy and chinese cabbage are now in the ground. Have started to have some lettuce leaves of our lettuces in our salad, they are so lovely and crunchy, this is just the start of eating from our own backyard. I know it is going to take patients but the wait will be worth it, lovely fresh produce from our own garden. Just have to keep Lil Pud one of our much loved cats out of the garden. I am trying Pepper at the moment.

The fingernails are starting to look a little worse for wear but that is a sacarfice I'm willing to make for our own fresh produce.

Cold Winds have arrived

2008-04-03T20:34:00.003+11:00

The wind was really bad today. We moved the babies (seedling) in under cover so they wouldn't get blown over and destroy weeks of work. We now have pak choy, chinese cabbage more snowpeas a,d basil and dill ready to be planted out into the garden. The parsnips and turnips are now putting their heads up above the soil to see what the world is like. Will need to thin the parsnips out real soon.

Steve has planted some asparagus seeds today. We know they are going to take a long time from seed but we can't find a plant anywhere. We will just have to be patient with this one.

have spent a little more time reading about Peak Oil. I don't know what I believe, I still need to do more research. It is very scarey. I know the world Oil supply isn't finite so will eventually run out. I have started refreshing some of the skills that I have let go due to the easy life we are having at the moment, like sewing, knitting, baking, and gardening (never really been a gardener but I'm willing to learn all that I can). I am a avid reader so I have armed myself with all the books on organic gardening permaculture etc. thatI can find in the local library and am trying to devour them as fast as I can. we have been planning to buy property and move to the country for a couple of years, the time is just not right at the moment, we have other comittments, but when these committments are done we will be out of the big smoke for ever.

Silver Anniversary

2008-04-02T16:04:00.000+11:00

Well today Steve and I have been married 25 years. Boy does time go fast. It doesn't seem like yesterday but it doesn't seem like 25 years either. Going out for dinner tonight to celebrate nice seafood buffet, on fly buy points wouldn't pay big money anymore not like we use to, and we already have these points so we may as well usethem.

Got a load of soil today (from Flowerpower) to start work on the new garden on the weekend. We are going to plant a small batch of winter vegetables at Steve's parents place and then prepare more beds for planting in the Spring. We are going to give "no dig gardening" a go, the soil is really poor so it needs alot of help. We will more than likely plant "green manure" to help it along and to add some nutrients to a garden bed that has been over gardened and nothing added back to it.

Oh My Goodness (Peak Oil)

2008-04-01T08:37:00.000+11:00

I have just started reading "Choosing Eden" by Adrienne Langman. This is a very thought provoking book. It has made me look at life into the future very differently. Now I know we have to change the way we are doing things and be prepared for when this happens. It's not a case of if it happens but when it happens and I think we all should be starting to make changes in our life that will make the transition into a world were oil is sooooo expensive and beyond the reach of the average person easier.

Lowering our debt is the first place to start. While we have big debt over our heads we aren't free to do what we want. There will be no more frivilous spending at "The Simple Green House" all the money that is spent from now on will be to prepare us for the not so smooth future.

The Simple Life

2008-03-31T16:13:00.000+11:00

This is the first entry into the log of our attempt to live a little more simply and not spend money on useless "stuff". About 2 years ago we found and started using the Farmers Market for all our fruit and veg needs. Doing this has sent us on a quest to eat food that has less impact on the environment. All the food at the market has had to travel less kilometres to get to us as it is all produced locally.

A while ago we stopped eating as much takeaway as we use to. It was always so convenient to just pick up chinese on the way home from work, this is expensive and full of fat, so we cook most of our meals at home and from scratch, I have even taken the processed bottles and packet mixes out of our diet. They contain too much salt anyway as well as making the meal more expensive.

We have now just embarked on growing our own food in our backyard. We had small amout of sucess with the tomatoes that we planted in pots in the summer that we have dug a vege patch in the garden and have planted winter vegetables. Broccoli, Cauliflower, Peas, Snowpeas, Parsnips, Turnips, blueberries, bay laurel, we have pak choy and chinese cabbage in the seedling house growing away frantically, we will be able to put them in the ground next weekend they should be srtong enough.

I have reorganised the worm farm and compost bins and have organised an extra bin someone is giving me one they don't use. Then we should have lots of lovely compost for the garden.