Getting Ready For Christmas

Hello December, in one way you've come round too soon, but we forgive as you bring the joy of the birth of Jesus. Let the decoration, sewing , baking  and Christmas story telling of the Babe in a manger begin!!!!

Ten Things About Me

Well a lot of people do this post at the very beginning of their blogging journey, but i tend to do things a little back the front, better done out of order than not at all, works with most things.
Well here is a list of Ten Things About Me.

1/ My favorite colour is always changing, what can i say i love colour. OK ! Cool neutral pastels

2/ I've been married 29 1/2 years, and the secret, go with the flow and roll with the punches and Talk
and forgiveness. And patience!!LOTS!!!

3/ I have 5 children and 4 grand children, so i'm kid rich and gratefull!

4/ I love TEA

5/ I love peonies, they are my most adored flower in the whole wide uno.

6/I 'm learning how to sew and loving it.

7/ I've never travelled to another country

8/I love reading childrens books more than grown ups books,still a big kid, big imagination!

9/ My secret wish is to find a secret garden

10/And if i could change one thing about myself it would be to be 10 cm taller, i' m only 150cm.

Thirty Days of Nothing!!

My Jacaranda Tree in full bloom,pretty but messy

Well it's been 30days since my last post and what does that tell me about my life ? Well you could say i did nothing( as in nothing super exciting) or too much crazy mundane stuff, well kind of both. I worked, my daughter fractured her right elbow, spent a lot of time in hospital waiting rooms eating egg sandwiches and drinking ice coffee, spent NOT enough time cleaning my house, visiting family, exercising, cleaning (sorry already said that, but i have a lot to do). OH well tomorrow is a new day and a new month awaits me Saturday, so i have a day and a bit to get my sorry self together.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Olivia and Angelica's halloween decorating

Mummy's Ghost House

Me little lovelies

Flying off to cause toil and trouble

The masked mudblood

peaceful witches " sure"

Devils food cake

Ready to party

I don't care about the Aussie Wowser's who down Halloween, any reason for children to have fun and use their imagination is fine by me. I'm Australian and have enjoyed Halloween fun with all my kids, this year the twins were old enough to set the theme and decorate themselves,the loungeroon has been totally spooked out for two weeks. We didn't bother trick or treating this year as most of the people in our area are unhalloweenducated (thats an Olivia word). So we enjoyed a halloween Feast with Big sister Jess and her family , The menu was Pustulent Pizza, Deviled Hotdogs(chorizo's in rolls),Wriggles and Guts (pasta bolangnase) and Dessert Halloween devil's d food cake and to many lollies. At School Angelica got to have some Halloween fun, her Teacher Mrs Jackson(who is from Canada) asked all the kids to dress casual in black,purple,red or green, Mrs Jackson gave all the students a Trick or Treat goody bag full of sweets.                            THANK YOU MRS JACKSON!!!!      So thats Halloween for 2012 over and out.
           HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!!!!!!!!

TIME FLYS

Wow!! Time has certainly flown by since my last post,It's been a busy times when life throws you one crazy little thing after another, nothing life changing just time consuming. Hopefully i'll be back to a more predictable routine ( PLEASE!)as i have  lots to share. Been getting a little creative too and pulled out a few unfinished crochet and sewing projects and started on the vegetable garden too. This weekend i must finish the spring cleaning and help the twins decorate for Halloween. OOOH!!!.
Bye for now

A CURE FOR THE WINTER BLUES

It's that time of the year when we find ourselves in the deepest part of winter,days a little longer and the cold a touch stronger, spring is still a way off. So this is when i try to find something to refresh my bleak frame of mind until blossom time, i will indulge in my a new afternoon tradition " the changing of the light", every afternoon at 4.30 pm i will set aside some time to read and take tea and slowly watch the afternoons stay light longer. So i treated myself to a new book "Tess of the D'Ubervilles and a steaming pot of Hot Cinnamon Tea!

LAST DAY OF AUTUMN

we love autumn

toothy grins

still in crazy day clothes

Well the merry month of May just flew by, and a busy month it's been. My Dad finally had hip replacement and is now home and doing well , i have now been working for almost a month, it's been a challenge but i'm getting the hang of it. The weather is well and truely wintery now, and i've just about made everything snug as i can, Olivia and Angelica both have had visits from the tooth fairy( with a little help from the dentist,two troublesome teeth that refused to come out). And the girls enjoyed a good play in the last of the Autumn leaves before they retire to the compost pile.

'HAPPY MOTHERS DAY' !!!!!!

pretty vintage cards

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!. I had a lovely mothers day and hope you all did and do (depending on where you are), breakfast and tea in bed and gifts, i did well and was spoilt this year (must have done something right) 3 nightdresses,slippers,a blue willow teapot and cups from the Twins and Hubby and a cookbook and pink potted mums from myself and a blue toile nighdress from my eldest Daughter and Family, Angelica made me a very pretty photo frame too. Very cold here today so no picnic, but had coffee and cake with my Mum and Uncle Billy,then a visit to Dad at the hospital to give him lots of hugs and afternoon tea with Jessica and her growing family.Only thing missing and i missed them were my Boys and my Granddaughters and their sweet Mummies, i love them all. So grateful to be blessed with so many lovely people to love.

My new cookbook and my flowers

Relishing Autumn!

I love Autumn, clear sunny days,crisp cool mornings and nights,and i love indulging in the urge to feather my nest and fill my pantry for the cold days ahead. So this week i've been doing some Autumn cleaning and organising, and planning my cool weather cooking, and yesterday i made some Tomato Relish, it was my first time and im very happy with the results, it's such an easy receipe and after years of  procrastination i pulled out my cookbooks and made some.

Tomato Relish

1.5kg ( 3lb ) ripe tomatoes

1kg (2lb ) onions               

                600mls ( 1pint) malt or white vinager

  3cups of sugar                    

1tblspn salt                       

3tblspn mustard powder    

3tblspn curry powder        

1/2 tspn chilli flakes           

                                                             2 heaped tblspn cornflour,(corn starch) and enough water to                make a paste                    

          Method                                      

Score a cross on each tomato and place in a large basin, then pour boiling water over to cover and leave while chopping the onions (sliced or diced), then peel off skin from tomatos (it should have wrinkled and will be easy to remove.  Roughly chop tomatos and add to large/wide soup pot with onions,vinigar,salt,sugar,spices,stir through well to combine,then set on stove top and bring to boil on medium high (stirring often), then boli for 5 min then reduce heat down to medium low and simmer uncovered (stirring often) for an hour, carefully remove a spoonful cool slighly and check flavour and ajust spices to your taste.then continue to simmer for another 40min on low, liquid should be reduced by a third. Now take 7x 300ml ( 1/2 pint mason or preserve jars)and put through hot rinse cycle in dishwasher or if like me and you dont have a dish washer, just wash thoroughly in hot soapy water and rinse well twice and place jars on a tray an place in oven and heat on 120C or low ,place lids in fresh boling water until ready.

bubbling away and smelling soo!!! good!!

Cooking and reducing nicely

Now its time to thicken the relish with the cornflour paste,make sure its not to thick or to runny and add to the pot and stir constantly while it thickens and simmer a further 5-10 min ( stirring often), remove from heat and let sit for 10 min. now take hot jars from oven or dishwasher an carefully fill with relish leaving a 2.5 or 1 inch headspace. Now take lids from bowl of hot water and shake off excess water until quiet dry and place on jars ,making sure you have a tight seal. leave for about 15min.

Filling jars

Hot water bath

Finished

Then place jars on a round cake rack that fits snuggly in the bottom of a soup pot, carefully place jars on rack and fill with hot tap water until you have cover jars at least 2 inches (5cm),slowly bring to boil and cover and boil for 10 minutes ,( i could only process 4 jars at a time) but i feel its worth th time and effort, knowing your end product is sealed asnd sterile and will last in your food storeage for up to 18months safely.  Turn off heat and leave for 5min ,carefull lift out with jar lifter, and place on a towel and leave to cool,you know you have a good when you hear the click and the lid is inverted. when cool label and store in a cool dark place, let mature for a week , but why wait.                                                                                                                                                          

Our New Granddaughter Eva Emily

Mummy, Daddy, Sebastian and Eva

Eva at 6 hours old

Jessica and baby Eva

Jessica , Marc and Eva

May i introduce you to our newest family member, our 4th grandchild and 3rd grand daughter  Eva Emily, Miss Eva was born 5 weeks early on the 14th April 2012 and weighed in at a little over 2000gm or 4lb, tiny and very sweet. Mother Jessica and baby Eva are doing very well and are now home bonding with daddy Marc and brother Seb. Who said good things don't come in small packages, Eva already has a nick name , it's squeaky as she cinstantly makes squeaky sounds. Here are a few pics.

Getting Cozy For Autumn

Well the Easter holidays flew by, feeling tired but happy, had a lot of fun with the twins, Bowling ,"Mirror Mirror" and "Those Pirates" at the cinema and i snuck off for some mummy time and saw "The Hunger Games". We had great weather  and a big surprise ( My daughter Jessica  delievered her second child 51/2 weeks early, a wee little girl,which i will share photos and detail of tomorrow). So for now the twins are back to school tomorrow and i must clean sort scrub and organise our little house and get it snug for winter, The season turns weather wise around Anzac Day, today was a lovely warm sunny day , but a cold front is heralding the chilliness tonight.
I will be making soup and some Anzac Bicuits tomorrow to celebrate the coziness .

Happy Easter !!!

Hallelujah Hallelujah Christ is Risen !!!!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail "easters on its way"

Our Easter tree

Olivia's Easter Parade

Angelicas Easter Parade

My how time flies, Easter is almost upon us, i always find Easter a more busier time than Christmas (for me anyway). My girls had their Easter bonnet parade and grandparents assembly yesterday, such a precious time, only one more year to enjoy these events,for some reason kids don't get to do the Easter thing so much from year 3 onward,so sad. But with all the eggs and bunnies and bonnets the girls also paid some importance of the real meaning of Easter and attended the Easter school Mass at a nearby church.Hope you all have a safe and Happy Easter break and enjoy time with family friends or just thinking about what really matters.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SEBASTIAN !!!!

A BIG HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY TO MY GRANDSON "SEBASTIAN",love you so much!!!

Be prepared or build and ark!

Well life sure can throw some curve balls, and believe me i've had a few, but these past two weeks have taught me a valuble lesson  about procrastanation and prepardness. I live in a semi arid part of Australia that has long hot/dry summers and very cold winters and that is when we mostly get rain when we get it,droughts kind of regular round here!But these past sixteen months we have been getting lots of rain and much milder summers and FLOODS!!! You see i should know better,but like most people i think i have just one more day ,but i don't , no one does, we only have here and now. This is the third time i've been flash flooded in the afore mention timeframe and this time i also so roof damage and a pond in my kitchen,no fun unless your a duck.

But even worse i was not prepard as well as i could 've been, i talk the talk on prepardness but never quiet get to the walk! I had not enough or strong enough tarps for my roof or enough buckets and no emergency sand bags in the garage ( the ones i've been meaning to make up for the past 6 months) ,and no where near enough food. Yes our town got blocked off and we had a mini Zombie apocolyps, there were even people fighting over the last bottles of milk and scant supplies of fuel and fresh produce. So time to pull my socks up and be ready for what hopefully does not happen, better to be safe than sorry! Here are some photos of the floods from our local newspaper The Area News,Griffith. Now i was lucky and can't complain, and i'm not, asfar too many have lost everything they own, we are so fotunate to have had such a great band of volunteers in the State Emergency Services, they have done a fantastic job for the community!

Chic Pink Sorbet..: UPDATE ON LITTE CHARLOTTES PROGRESS .................

Chic Pink Sorbet..: UPDATE ON LITTE CHARLOTTES PROGRESS .................: Little Charlotte 7 days old or 32 weeks..............mum and bub doing well.

IT"S A GIRL !!

My Neice Christina and Will safely gave birth to a little girl on the 23rd February, 2012. I'm a great Aunt at last!

On A Wing And A Prayer

Christina and Will

As i speak my dearest niece Christina waits nervously in a Sydney Hospital for the word  of when she will be transfered to another Hospital, possiably interstate as there are no neonatal intensive care beds available, she is 30 weeks pregnant and must deliever very soon, her condition and that of the baby is delicate and dangerous to say the least. So we are hoping and praying our precious girl and her wee one will be fine very soon. Christina is a wonderful girl who has had some brave battles but never complains and is always there for others and i love her dearly for that, she once sat with me while i was on life support and kept me strong and is a wonderful niece, daughter, sister and cousin, friend, grandaughter, sorry i could go on and on, she is that great. Hoping her wait is over soon and all will be good for her and Will and their little one, Love you Precious Chrissy!

Wednesday's Wisdom

A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, But The Foolish Woman Tears It Down With Her Own Hands.
                                                                                                                                     Proverbs 14:1

When i came across this recently, it really stood out and made me think just how much power us woman have in society and how much of the societies woes are a result of what we do or don't do ( Bad men prosper because good men stand by and do nothing ). We have the choice and the power no matter how limited our lives maybe to influence and guide and help create the kind of world and home we would like to live in.

The Wise Woman loves her life and is grateful and protective, She values herself and does all in her power to protect ,provide and guide those who depend upon her. The wise woman also sets an example of what is appropriate behaviour and encourages self respect and hard work,and enjoys the rewards as do her family.
The Wise Woman is not perfect, she is thoughtful of her own faults and limitations, but tries her best to admit when wrong and learn from it ,setting an example of self responisability and self respect, whilst remaining humble. She is prudent in all the needs of herself and her family, therfore having time for others.

The world seems to be full of a lot of foolish woman this days , i for one have been guilty of a great deal of foolishness, so easy in this modern world full of distractions and temptations.

So does that mean if we are living in the ruins of our ignorance and foolishness , that there is no hope! NO!!

We can start again, like all good builders,The Wise Woman has strong foundations,she know her strengths and weakness, what she stands for or believes in, she challenges herself to try more and to to learn more to the best of her abilities. So its never to late to start again, to learn more about ourselves and our family, a great way to start is to take even just 10 minutes aday and a cuppa and write down in a journal what is good in our lives and what needs to change,start small , but start rebuilding your life foundations and then you will able to build your home as the strong, safe and comforting refuge for yourself and family. This isn't about bricks and mortor or money , it's about self love,loyalty and respect for our selves and those we hold dear.