Cockatoo Dreaming

Kitchen renovation - almost there

2009-11-02T09:21:00.003+11:00

I've been a bit slack about posting lately but on a positive front, things have been progressing around the house. The kitchen is finished!!! Sort of. The bench tops are back, the cupboards have been relined and painted, shelves have been made and painted and most of the kitchen paraphernalia is back in the cupboards. It looks good and we are happy with the result. I would post some photos but my son has 'borrowed' the battery out of my camera.

Its bliss to work in a kitchen where there is now space and running water. The plumbing had to be redone so there were a couple of days where the water was off for quite a while. Everything works now but there are still a few small jobs to do. I'm still sorting through the stuff from the cupboards. Everything needs to be washed and put away. Thats a lot of dishes to do. Anything I don't use regularly, is cracked or missing a lid is being thrown out. There is no point in keeping stuff you don't use.

We keep asking ourselves "why didn't we do this years ago?". The renovation hasn't cost much (less than $500) and has made a huge difference to both the looks and the workability (is that a word) of the kitchen. We seem to put up with stuff for years but when we decide to sell we fix it for someone else.

The garden is almost there as well. We've cleaned up rubbish piles, put edging around gardens and pulled out huge amounts of blackberry. Some garden beds have been weeded and mulched but a few still need doing. The garden is finally looking good and we are selling the house. It always seems to work that way, we get a place established the way we like it and then move on. The new house doesn't have a garden. There a few succulents planted along one side of the house and a couple of bushes by the front door and that is it. It will be a challenge to get a garden started.

I'll post some photos when the camera battery is returned. I had better go and do the dishes so the kitchen looks good for its photos.

Have a great day,
Lynda

Eggs, eggs, eggs

2009-10-16T08:20:00.003+11:00

Our chooks have been laying well, really well. Every time I turn around there seems to be another lovely fresh egg in the laying box. I really appreciate their enthusiasm but I just can't keep up with their production rate. A quick peek in the fridge this morning revealed over 6 dozen eggs!

I've given them away, cooked quite a few (omlette anyone?) and even let the dogs have the odd one as a treat. The chooks are producing faster than I can use them. I'm not complaining, too many is a lot better than none at all. Its Spring and the chooks are doing their spring thing.

I need some new egg recipes. Something that doesn't look too eggy as our son will be home next week and he doesn't like eggs. I have a fritata recipe to try out, it uses 4 eggs - now what to do with the other 70 eggs in the fridge?!

Lynda

Garden up date

2009-10-14T08:56:00.004+11:00

Another wet day today, good for the water tanks but not so good to get all the work done outside. Maybe the sun will poke its face through the clouds later in the day so some action can happen outside. The garden is starting to come together. I've completed lots of jobs we have had on the 'gunna do' list, you know stuff that you are 'going to do one one day'. For us 'one day' always seems to be just before we sell a house. The next owners get the benefit of our hard work. Never mind, I like to leave a property a little better off than we first found it.

The vegie garden has been ignored which is a bit sad but lots of work has happened in the general cleaning up category and weeding and mulching. Old bricks have been used as garden edging, this makes the garden look better and cleans up the piles of old bricks.

Quite a bit of bush fire preparation work has happened as well but there is still more to do. Its a never ending job. There is one more major area of blackberry to clear and then we are pretty much blackberry free.

If the rain keeps up we will work on the kitchen. Things have come to a standstill there and we really need to get it finished.

Have a great day,
Lynda

Its that time of year again

2009-10-06T08:34:00.002+11:00

Its that time of year again - Christmas is approaching. School is finishing up, my son has less than two weeks of uni before holidays and my daughter has about 4 weeks of school left. Before we know it Christmas will be here.

I had ambitious plans to make most of my Christmas gifts this year. Its time to revise the plans. We are moving house at the end of the year and still need to sell our existing home so time is going to be short. I'll still make some gifts but I think I might be kind to myself and purchase a few. I've already started making a couple, a cuddly blanket for a baby and some tea towels for an aunty. We will see how I go over the next few weeks. I would prefer to make a few gifts as I think home made is nicer and it would be great to use up some of the materials I already have here.

Money is a bit tight at the moment which is definitely another consideration. I've begun sorting through my craft/sewing supplies and its amazing what is there. I'll make what I can from the materials already here. I've banned myself from going to craft stores. I can't be trusted once I enter the wonderful world of the large fabric/craft stores, there is always something I just have to have.

Our new home is smaller so there won't be a spare room for me to fill with craft supplies. Its a bit sad but it will only be short(ish) term. We have plans to extend the house.

Have a great day,
Lynda

Cleaning up and books

2009-09-09T08:35:00.004+10:00

The clean up has begun. Our daughter has announced that she would rather move at the end of this year rather than next, this is 12 months ahead of our schedule. All of our carefully laid plans are in disarray. We've decided to start preparations and see how we go. I admit the excitement of the move is catching and we are all looking forward to it.

We've been decluttering a bit half heartedly before but now things are a bit more urgent. We will clean up in two stages. Stage One is to get rid of junk and make this home we are living in now neater and tidier ready for sale. Our new home is half the size of this one so Stage Two will be to sell/give away/rehome any furniture we will not be taking with us. Stage Two will be done after the sale of this home.

I have a large pile of almost new, hardcover novels sitting by the door ready to be donated to our local library. I'll take them today. We need to clean up the very untidy bookshelf and get rid of the stacks of books on the floor. And the boxes of books in my wardrobe. That's my challenge for this week.

We will keep our favourites and a good selection of my gardening and craft books but a lot will go. From now on we will be borrowing books from the library rather than purchasing them. Its cheaper and you don't end up with piles of books all over the floor!

The rather messy bookshelf before the clean up

Lynda

Settlement Day

2009-10-02T08:56:00.003+10:00

Today is settlement day. At noon today, all going well, we will own our new home. Finally. It seems to have taken a while. In some ways it is a bit on a non event as we are not moving today. The house is leased to tenants and we will remain here until next year. The bank will do its stuff, we will have a home loan again (sigh) and that's it. And we will become landlords for the first time ever.

Normally when we purchase a new home there is much excitement as we are selling our old home and moving into the new. This time there is a time delay before moving day. We need to give our children time to finish school and then move. I'll have to be patient, something I'm not terribly good at.

Last week we had visitors, the inlaws came to stay, so I was inspired to make deserts. Deserts are reasonably rare in our home. Inspired by a glut of eggs and lemons I made lemon meringue pie. It was surprisingly easy to make and tasted yum. It looks pretty impressive too so it will definitely go on the make again list.

There are some bananas that need using in the kitchen, I can smell them everytime I walk in the door. They will be become a lovely hummingbird cake today. At least that is the plan.

Lynda

Cleaning Up

2009-09-25T12:07:00.003+10:00

Where has the week gone? I had planned to be well on my way through the cleaning up and sorting for our trash and treasure sale but somehow things have not gone to plan. I've sorted through our books and managed to get everything on to one bookshelf. There are now three boxes of books to go. I donated some of the almost new hard cover novels to the library. They were happy to receive them. The rest will be sold or given away.

There were books all around the house. Books in boxes, books on shelves, books beside beds. I was amazed how many books turned up when I really went looking for them. My daughter has two very full book shelves in her room, she gets the job of sorting through them. Our son has a more modest amount in his room. From now on we will be relying on the library more and buying less.

We also have boxes and boxes of books for work. We haven't even started on those. The new house we are moving to is less than half the size of this one so we need to be ruthless and get some stuff out of the house. I'm sure it will feel better when some of the clutter is gone but its not much fun sorting through it all.

I heard a decluttering expert on the radio last week. He says that if you get rid of the clutter from your home you will feel better, be healthier, more organized and happier. Wouldn't that be nice?!

Lynda

'Nourishing Traditions'

2009-08-31T13:49:00.005+10:00

Just recently I received a copy of 'Nourishing Traditions - The Cookbook that Challenges Politically correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats' as a gift. Its a pretty sizable volume so I've been slowly working my way through it. 'Nourishing Traditions' is written by Sally Fallon with Mary Enig. They claim our western diet is bad for our health and the cause of many of the degenerative diseases which plague us. Ms Fallon suggests we should return to the eating habits of our ancestors, nonindustrialized people who were remarkably healthy. It seems pretty obvious that our modern processed food is not as nutritious as simple natural foods.

There is a rather graphic description of how margarine is made. The book contains such facts as margarine is naturally a grey colour and is bleached and coloured to make it appetizing. Not very appealing is it? Butter, on the other hand, is natural and contains beneficial fat soluble vitamins,arachidonic acid, omega 6 and omega 3, trace minerals and other good stuff.

We swapped from using margarine to butter about a year ago. After reading the book we will be sticking to butter. We've also stopped buying low fat milk. I wasn't impressed by how skim milk is made. A friend, who had worked in the dairy industry, told me years ago that if you saw how it was made you wouldn't drink it. Skim milk also costs considerably more than 'normal' milk. 'Nourishing Traditions' suggests we drink raw milk if possible and if raw milk isn't available then non homogenized milk.

Pasturized milk is heated which destroys all the enzymes in the milk, including the beneficial ones. Homogenized milk is strained through tiny pores under great pressure so the fat particles are broken up and are so small they stay in suspension rather than rise to the top. This makes the fat more suseptilble to rancidity and oxidation.

Yoghurt has also made its comeback in our fridge. I'm going to make more of an effort to include yoghurt in our diet. Both conventional wisdom and 'Nourishing Traditons' claim yoghurt is good for us. I've made yoghurt in the past and probably should give it a go again. I need to come up with some creative ways to hide the yoghurt in the food we eat as my husband won't eat it, at least he won't if he knows it is there.

We won't be adopting all the changes from 'Nourishing Traditions' but we will slowly make our diet more traditional and simple. The book itself acknowledges the difficulty of cutting out processed foods in modern society.

Lynda

End of an Era

2009-09-16T08:23:00.002+10:00

Yesterday I went with my daughter to parent - teacher interviews. There is nothing unusual in that, I've been twice a year for about 14 years. I've rarely missed an interview (there was that incident in primary school where I completely forgot, sorry Mrs Green). What was different about yesterday is it was my last lot of parent-teacher interviews for my children - ever. Our youngest is finishing secondary school this year, in a few short months actually. It is the end of an era.

It seems a little strange not to be doing the normal end of year stuff - paying next year's school fees, receiving a horrendously long book list, helping the kids choose subjects for next year. Its also nice to be moving on. A fresh start, something different. Next year both kids plan to attend university. There won't be any parent - teacher interviews.

It will be a new era for our family but one I'm looking forward to. The kids are growing up, making decisions for themselves, that's what is supposed to happen.

Its a beautiful day here, hopefully I'll be able to get out into the garden. I hope the weather smiles upon you today wherever you are.

Lynda

Gravy

2009-09-15T09:36:00.002+10:00

I made gravy! From scratch! No Gravox packet in sight. And it tasted pretty good with no major lumps.

Pretty exciting - well it is for me at least. Although I cook most things from scratch for some reason gravy has eluded me.Its always been easier to grab the packet from the cupboard and mix up a batch of perfect looking gravy full of artificial colours and flavours. A few months ago I decided no more would I take the easy way out. I stopped buying gravy powder. We ran out. My last roast dinner was served up without gravy because I didn't have any gravy powder and didn't know how to make gravy. There were queries from the family "where is the gravy?"

This time I decided to give it a go. The roast lamb was cooked, time to make the gravy. I poured the pan juices into a small saucepan, that was easy. Heated the juices and added an equal amount of flour and stirred to a paste, then added stock and heated until it thickened. Done. Simple. It tasted pretty good but was a much lighter colour than packet gravy.

Another thing I should have done years ago. It wasn't any harder than packet gravy. The steps are pretty much the same except you add gravy powder instead of pan dripping and flour. I'm sure its better for you. Yes, it contains fat from the pan but you don't eat that much of it and there are no artificial ingredients.

From now on we are having real gravy not packet stuff. Next step is to learn to make mayonaise. When the stuff in the fridge and cupboard is used up I won't buy any more. I'll have to learn to make it or do without.

Lynda

More Rain

2009-09-08T08:38:00.005+10:00

We woke to the sound of rain again today. Its great to see the garden wet. I feel like we haven't accomplished much in the garden but we keep on plugging away at it. Everything is a bit of a mess at the moment. We have had some storm damage so there are tree branches down in various spots and we've had to prune some branches back as they have been damaged when a large branch has fallen. There are prunings from the front hedge in big piles. It all looks a bit of a mess.

When we get a day of fine weather we will clear it up. Actually it will take a bit more than just one day. Anything big enough to be used as firewood will be cut up and stacked and the rest burnt. The piles of blackberry I have been creating will also be burnt. The summer fire season is fast approaching so cleaning up around the house is vital.

This is Amber, one of my garden 'helpers'. She loves the newly mulched garden beds. They must be nice and comfy. She has a knack of sitting right on top of my newly planted plants. I'm slowly getting around to weeding and mulching all the garden beds. It looks so much nicer when they are finished. Hopefully the mulch will keep the weeds down and hold in the moisture so the plants survive the summer. We are on tank water so the garden has to survive on the rain fall and the very occasional bucket of washing machine water.

The irises are flowering. These are as tough as old boots. They grow in sun or shade, need little water and flower for ages. What more could you ask for? I'm planning on taking some of these with me when we move.

It must be spring - the daffodils are flowering. These cheery yellow flowers are growing under the fruit trees. It always feels like the warm weather is just around the corner when the daffs start to flower.

The fruit trees are starting to blossom. This is from my favourite peach tree. It was grown from a seedling and bears masses of fruit every year. The birds and possoms love it too so its a race to see who gets the most fruit. We usually net at least part of the tree as the birds are not that good at sharing.

Belinda's Back to Basics Challenge Update

2009-08-31T13:40:00.002+10:00

Sowing seed or Planting

Not much gardening happening, its been cold, wet and windy. Its too dangerous gardening here in high winds as branches can and do come crashing down. We have a number down which need clearing up.

Planning for The Future

We've been to more university open days and my daughter is seriously considering changing her top preference for next year.

Working for the Future

The paperwork continues for the new home we have purchased. So far everything is looking good but I'll be glad when its all finalized.

The decluttering has started even if in a minor way. We have given away some old computer equipment to someone who wants it. Our old video recorder is starting to fail so we've been sorting through the old video tapes to see what should be kept and what thrown out. Its a slow process but I would rather slowly go through things than have to have a major clean out before we move. Our new home is less than half the size of this one so lots of stuff has to go.

Building Community

Voluntary work with a local youth organization
Read the local paper
Attended a fire awareness evening

Learn a new Skill

Tried some new recipes from 'Nourishing Traditions'

Back on line

2009-08-27T08:18:00.002+10:00

The promised winds came and out went our power. The power was out for about 20 hours, coming back about 6pm last night. It wasn't too bad. I lit the wood stove yesterday morning which heated the kitchen and allowed us to cook. Food always tastes better cooked on the wood stove. There was a casserole bubbling away on top of it for most of the day.

There was enough sun to heat the solar hot water system so we could still have a hot shower. We installed the solar system about 8 years ago and its been wonderful. It saves power during the warmer months and at least heats the water a bit during the winter months when we get most of our power outages. I really don't like cold showers.

It was nice to get the power back though. There is nothing like electric lighting! I think it does us good to have an electricity free day sometimes, it reminds us how dependent we have become on electricity and that there are other ways to get the job done without electricity. I certainly don't want to go back to washing clothes by hand, I love my washing machine, but sometimes I think we take the easy way out just because we can. Its easy to line dry clothes though it does take a little longer than using the dryer but how many people just routinely throw the clothes in the dryer. There has to be a balance between convenience and saving money and the earth's resources.

I hope everyone else survived the windy weather without any damage to people or property.

Lynda

Wild and Windy

2009-08-25T16:17:00.004+10:00

Its windy out there. Weather warnings have been issued for later today. We have been getting ready for the wild weather coming our way. We have already had a number of branches fall from the trees on the property. We've cleared them up a bit, they have all been removed from trees if they were caught up and are safely on the ground. There is still the job of cutting them up and removing them. I expect more will come down tonight.

The wood box has been filled so we don't have to go out into the weather to get fire wood. I've caught up with the washing and baked some bread. I've done what I can to get ready if the power goes out. There is a good chance it will.

The worse power outage we have had while living here is 3 days. If it goes out due to storm damage tonight it could easily be out for a day or two. Its part of living here.

Lynda

Success

2009-08-20T14:23:00.003+10:00

Our offer was successful, we will shortly own a new house. Yeah!!!!

This is to be an investment property for now with a view to moving in the next 2 years. It feels good to have a plan, to know what we are working towards.

There is heaps of work to do before we can make the move but there is no rush. At the moment the priority is on getting all the paperwork sorted out and finances settled. Then we need to get our existing home ready for sale.

The house we have purchased is much smaller than our existing home so there is lots of clearing out to do. Lots of clearing out.

Its pretty exciting but a bit scary as well. It will be a different lifestyle but I'm looking forward to it.

Lynda

Waiting

2009-08-18T09:53:00.002+10:00

Today we have officially put in an offer on a new house. Cross your fingers and wish us luck. Three parties are putting in offers so there is a bit of competition. We should hear in the next couple of days if we are successful.

Initially the property will be rented out and when the kids are settled at uni and I have completed my uni course we will move. Thats the plan anyway. Its a pretty flexible plan but it feels good to have a plan and something to work towards.

Well I guess I had better go and do some work to pay for this new house.

Lynda

Belinda's Back to Basics Challenge Update

2009-08-17T10:03:00.002+10:00

Sowing seed or Planting

Still tackling the blackberry, it is the major weed in the front garden. I'm almost there. Once a patch has been cleared its getting a good carpet of mulch to help keep the weeds at bay. There is one patch of ivy out the front. Its the last patch of ivy on the property. I've been slowly clearing them. I'm trying to decide if I have the energy to clear this patch now or if it can wait. I suspect it will have to wait as there are more important things to do in preparation of the oncoming bush fire season.

Planning for The Future

We are still looking into tertiary education for next year but things are progressing. My daughter now has a place to stay if she gets accepted into the course she has as number one on her list. Nothing can be finalized until January when the uni offers come out.

Working for the Future

Submitted my application for university next year. Now I have to organize my supporting documentation and then wait unit January to see if I get a place.

Building Community

Voluntary work with a local youth organization

Learn a new Skill

Tried a new knitting pattern which I had been unsuccessful at before, this time it worked, it helps if you read the directions properly.

Friday already

2009-08-14T08:38:00.002+10:00

Friday already. I doubt I got half the things done this week I wanted to. Life is like that. We've had some rain which is great and our water tanks are full. I haven't done much in the garden this week as it has been a bit wet.

Yesterday we visited my parents and my brother. We saw the new home he is building. Its at frame stage at the moment. New homes always seem to offer so much potential. He and his family are quite excited that they are finally getting their new home after renting for a number of years.

There was a trip to the accountant yesterday as well. I've got a couple of jobs to do for him today. Then it was home and out to another meeting. A pretty busy day all in all.

Today I need to get some work done for the accountant and finish off a few other tasks which have been sitting on my desk for a while. There is also a rather large pile of dishes waiting to be done. Boring stuff but necessary and I always feel better when I finally get up to date on the boring stuff.

My daughter is off to another university open day on the weekend. My husband will take her as I'm out with the youth group I volunteer for. We are slowly getting through all the university open days. Choosing a university is a big decision. She knows which one she would really like to go to but is worried she won't get the marks so needs a back up plan.

I guess I had better get my act together and do some of that work.

I hope you have a great weekend,
Lynda

A cold Monday

2009-08-10T22:49:00.002+10:00

More rain today, its cold, really cold. I don't know why but it feels colder than the thermometer says it is. The fire is alight and I'm all rugged up to keep the cold at bay. Apparently we are in for a wet week. I would like to get out into the garden but won't be complaining about the rain, we really need it.

Sunday we were meant to be going to yet another open day at a university but our son decided he would rather stay home and get some work done so the trip was canceled. What to do with an unexpected free day? My husband and I dusted off our bikes and went for a bike ride on a nearby rail trail. It was a beautiful day and great to get out and pedal away. We are paying the price today though, sore legs and sore backsides. Those bicycle seats are not the most comfortable of things.

Tonight my daughter and I waded through the university handbooks looking for suitable courses for next year. She has to put her course choices in in the next few weeks. We've searched for courses, had a look at different universities and had an information overload. Its a big task trying to determine the best course to get the education to work in a job you will love. We've still got a few uni open days to go to in the coming weeks.

Hopefully by this time next year we will have both kids at university doing courses they love. The other big challenge is finding somewhere for them to live close to the university. I'm sure it will all work out. Our son is settled and happy at a regional university and I'm confident it will work out for our daughter as well.

Having kids leave secondary school and go on to tertiary studies is a time of uncertainty but its pretty exciting too. They grow up over night, we sent a teenager to uni and a young man came home. Its going to be quiet here next year with just my husband and I at home. I guess we will get used to it and there will food in the pantry with out the human vacuum cleaner living at home.

Lynda

Wet and windy

2009-08-07T09:01:00.003+10:00

Another wet and windy night last night. The weather bureau forecast high winds and we got them. I haven't seen any storm damage on the property as of yet but I haven't been down the back where its most likely branches would have come down. Each year we do a clean up down the back and remove fallen and dangerous branches. I suspect there will be a few this year.

I've got lots of work to do today, mostly office work, as the weather is still very overcast its a good day to be inside. I'm trying to clean up my messy desk and get up to date with work commitments.

Then I've just got to get around to cleaning the house, the garden, some of my neglected craft projects ...... you get the idea.

I hope you have a productive Friday and a good weekend,
Lynda

Carrots, carrots everywhere

2009-08-05T12:37:00.003+10:00

Yesterday was a day dominated by carrots. Carrots! yes, carrots.

We eat quite a few carrots so to cut costs a little and because I was tired of running out of carrots, I now buy the 20kg bag of juicing carrots about every 4 weeks. That's a lot of carrots.

What do I do with all these carrots? The lady at the fruit shop always inquires as I often buy a box of apples and 10kg of onions at the same time. She must think I feed a heap of kids. Maybe she just thinks I'm nuts.

About 3kg goes to a friend. The bottom drawer of the fridge is filled with carrots as they will last for a few weeks in the fridge. 2kg gets grated, packed into containers and frozen. I'll use this to make dog food. 10 cups gets grated and made into carrot cake, a few of the apples also go into the cakes.

Three cakes cooked, ready for the freezer.

That's what I did yesterday morning, grating carrots and making carrot cake. The last batch are in the oven. I now have six beautiful yummy carrot cakes. Four of the cakes are in the freezer. They freeze well and make a great afternoon tea when visitors come over or when we feel like something yummy.

One is in the cake tin for this week's snacks and the other was half demolished by my husband when he came home from work. He loves carrot cake.

One carrot loving rabbit, the other was a bit shy and didn't want his photo taken.

A rabbit's delight.
The pet rabbits are happy as they are munching on carrots peel and carrot ends. The chooks got some of the peel as well.

Not bad for a couple of hours work and $12. Buying carrots in bulk is much cheaper. Buying loose carrots at the moment costs about $2 a kilo, the bulk carrots are $0.60 a kilo. Even if some have to be thrown out I'm still ahead.

The quality of bulk carrots does vary a lot. Some seem to go moldy the day after you buy them, others last weeks. Shop around and find a good supplier. It took a while before I found my favourite fruit shop. The carrots are sweet, not woody and last well.

Now I just need more carrot recipes.

Lynda

Belinda's Back to Basics Challenge Update

2009-08-03T16:37:00.002+10:00

Sowing seed or Planting

Not much action in the garden, its been wet and cold and I've been busy fighting the blackberry in the rest of the garden.

Planning for The Future

Trying to work out how we can accommodate everyone with their tertiary education next year - there will probably be three of us going to three different universities. Its getting tricky.

Working for the Future

Attended an open day at Monash University to get more information about courses next year.

Building Community

Voluntary work with a local youth organization

Learn a new Skill

Had a go at baking bread and savoury scrolls and was surprised how good the result was.

A surprise in the post

2009-07-31T10:13:00.001+10:00

The end of another week, they fly by so quickly. Our son is home again tonight for the weekend so hopefully some more work on the kitchen will happen. It would be so lovely to have the bench top back again.

Yesterday I went and collected our mail from the post office. We don't have a delivery service to the house here, all our post goes to the post office. I tend to only pick the mail up a couple of times a week, sometimes less. There is usually a nice pile waiting for me when I do get around to making the trip.

My daughter received a package which she opened when she got home. Guess what was inside - the very music CD she had been wanting to buy but thought was too expensive! She was a pretty happy young lady. Apparently she had won a competition and this was her prize. This is the third prize she has received in about three months. Pretty good, eh?!

She has been entering competitions from her favourite magazines and doing quite well from it. None of her prizes have been very expensive but its exciting to get something unexpected in the mail. She enters via the internet and not her mobile phone so it doesn't cost her anything. Its fun to win stuff, especially when its unexpected.

Today I have some work to catch up on, the tax man wants his paperwork done. Its raining so its a good day to stay inside. I'm hoping to make some more bread this afternoon. I'm getting quite into bread making. So far everything I have tried has worked but hasn't been perfect. Its a bit of a learning curve.

We are off to a university open day on the weekend for our daughter. The next month is full of open days so our calendar is fast filling. Year 12 is an exciting year in a lot of ways, its full of potential. The kids make so many decisions which affect their future. I admit though that I will be glad when we get to March next year and they will both be enrolled in Uni, have a place to stay and there will be less uncertainty.

I hope you all have a great weekend,
Lynda

Sisterhood award

2009-07-30T11:30:00.000+10:00

I was awarded this award by Linda at Remote Treechanger. Thank you Linda. I love my award, my very first. I've only nominated 5 blogs as I don't read all that many due to lack of time, I could sit in front of the computer reading blogs all day but then nothing else would get done.

I hope you enjoy my list.

The rules:
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate up to 10 blogs which show great attitude and/or gratitude!
3. Be sure to link your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Remember to link the person from whom you received your award.

My nominees are:

Belinda at Belinda's Place
Belinda lives in her mud brick place and does her best to live sustainably and help others along the way.

Kate at Our Red House
Kate and her family have recently moved to Adelaide and are enjoying life in a new city.

Tracy at Beyond My Picket Fence
Another Australian blogger, Tracy lives with her family near Melbourne. Tracy is a working mum juggling kids, work and home life.

Toria at Tant Pis
Toria, another Australian mum,enjoys craft and has some great ideas on her site. I like her ideas for the dish cloth KAL.

Suzan at Scrub Oak
My only international nomination, Suzan lives in the US in a most beautiful part of the world.

Kitchen renovation update - with photos!

2009-07-29T08:42:00.000+10:00

The kitchen renovation has come to a bit of a standstill. My son is back at uni with plenty of homework to do so the renovation has become low priority. I'm getting used to working off a small bit of plywood as my kitchen bench and hunting for oven trays in boxes. Every day is a bit of an adventure in my kitchen at the moment, thank goodness he didn't pull the kitchen sink off, that would have upset me.

This is what the kitchen looked like before, actually he had already started pulling it to bits but you can see the basic idea. The bench tops are solid timber and the cupboards are a mixture of chip board and brick - yep, brick. Everything is solid, very solid. There is a wood stove and an electric cooker as well. Its very country, definitely not modern. Beside the wood stove is a walk in pantry. You can't really tell from the photo but the shelving you can see next to the stove is in the pantry. Maybe we should have at least done the dishes before we took photos!

The timber was stained a dark brown. It made the whole kitchen dark. My son sanded back the timber doors and under all that dark brown was lovely light coloured timber. All the doors have been removed, sanded and painted with a clear polyurethane paint. You can see the before and after in the photo above. The doors are actually a bit more of a gold colour than in the photo.

My job was the painting so I tried to take advantage of each sunny day and get some more painting done. I ran out of places to put doors to paint so the wheel barrow came in handy. It made a great painting bench as I could move it around to stay in the sun. It did look a little strange with cupboard doors balanced on wheelbarrows, bins and flower pots up and down the driveway.

The smallest of the benches was sanded and painted. Before we began work this bench top was terrible - I would get splinters from it! Now its beautiful. The paint I'm using is actually a floor sealer. The tin advises three coats on a floor, I've used seven on the bench top. I figure if you can walk on it then it should last a while on the bench top. Seven coats gives it quite a gloss so its easy to wipe clean.

The bench top is resting on an old BBQ trolley. Once the kitchen is done I'm going to get my son to help me turn it into an outdoor serving trolley. You can't really tell under all the dirt but its made from jarah so will look beautiful with a sand and a paint.

One bench top finished and back in the kitchen! Its a huge improvement - its lighter, smoother, easy to clean and no splinters!

We've still got a long way to go but at least we've started.

Lynda