June 22, 2011

Lists

So I thought I might make myself a list, or even 6 of them... lol

Daily Tasks:-

- Washing
- Dishes
- Feed animals
- Collect eggs (yes the hens have started laying again)
- Bring in wood
- Cooking: at least dinner.. sometimes lunch
- Food Preparation: breakfast, lunch, dinner
- General clean up.

Twice weekly/weekly (as needed) Tasks:-

- Vacuum
- Sweep
- Make Bread
- Baking: snacks and lunchbox items.
- Water animals

Other stuff that needs doing at some point:-

- Sewing: curtains, clothes, repairs...
- Organising: Toy room, Study, Bedrooms, Bathroom, Kitchen... ok so the whole house!
- Gardening: Vegie garden, flower beds, orchard.
- Fencing: Backyard, internal paddocks, boundary fences.
- Animal Housing: Dog Pen, Chicken Coop
- House Repairs
- Water situation sorted...

Stuff needed for completing the 'at some point' list:-

- Time? not realistic to put this on a list is it?
- Money... again not so realistic but it is needed no less, to buy plants and materials for various things.

Purchases
- Fruit trees
- Fencing: wire, posts, tools...
- Chicken Coop: structural timber, wall planks, nesting box materials, straw, nails/screws etc
- Wardrobe/s
- Kitchen Cupboards
- Vegetable seeds/seedlings
- Water Tank
- Roofing
- Insulation

Tradie Jobs:-

- Rewiring
- Fixing footings
- Plumbing

Hey if that isn't enough to start with nothing it right?

So much to do, so little time to spend doing it and even less money to spend doing it ;)
Good thing I don't dwell on it all too much or I could spend the rest of my life crying in my bedroom and never get anywhere!

A tattslotto win wouldn't go astray in these parts, but as it is time and patience and a fair amount of saving might just see these things done in my life time!

June 14, 2011

Reporting Back

My friday night/saturday child-free was pretty productive, I got some sewing started, then had a phone call from Mum, inviting me to garage sale with her, we hit the nearby sale and found a few things, for me I got a good pair of blundstone gumboots, in fairly good nick, that fit my legs (a seemingly impossible ask) without being too much too long (they are a little, but fit everywhere else) for just $2, then in the mood for the bargain hunt we hit the Beaconsfield Tip Shop, I got a nice little stainless steel milk jug for the kids cooking set, and a stainless steel thin kitchen spatula. We then hit the Legana Salvo's store and I scored a set of 4 bits of crockery, with a hanger to put on the wall (all stainless steel) and 2 cute little retro Tupperware canisters, all in all a rather nice haul! Then we went and did my grocery shopping for monday night.
Coming home a lot later than originally expected, I got back into the sewing and by midnight I wasn't finished. Up at 8 Sunday morning, I showered and got straight back into the sewing and finished a gorgeous (if I do say so myself) long sleeve bamboo fleece shirt and matching pair of polar fleece pants. There is still a pair of pants here that are needing to be finished off to match another top. Both are gifts for some gorgeous little people I know and 1 received his at his birthday party on Sunday, he turned 1 today :). The other is a gift for a lovely little girl who actually turned one far to long ago for that gift to be sitting unfinished on my table. It will be done tomorrow night if not before because she deserves far better than a present this late, the only redeeming factor is that the clothes I have made will most likely still fit her come this time next year <3

Yesterday I spent a lot of the day cooking, I had a great time and watching everything come together quickly and relatively easily.

Overall I was pretty happy with how everything turned out, the Tartare Sauce was nice, but it could have done with a little more lemon juice to add some zing! The cheesecake, the first baked cheesecake I have ever made, was a little over cooked because I just have no idea how to tell if it is cooked! In addition to that the butterscotch sauce that went with it had the wrong Quantities in the recipe but after a quick fix I managed a nice sauce consistency, however not being able to find 'unsalted' butter in the supermarket meant the sauce was a little on the salty side, but combined with the cake and the delicious homemade vanilla ice-cream (without an ice cream maker, mind) It was balanced out quite nicely.

So that was my busy long weekend in a very small post, I forever wonder how people can make such long blog posts about a seemingly small thing, but here is I guess some sign about the way people style and write, maybe even an insight into how they view the world, and maybe one day, something seemingly small and insignificant will grab my attention with such inspiration that I find myself blogging a huge post about that small moment in time.

Now a share, of the most wonderful blog post that left tears in my eyes, from over at Owlet
She is one dedicated and gorgeous mumma to her lovely girls and someone that inspires me to be more relaxed and dedicated to my role as a parent.

June 9, 2011

Inspired Life

Well maybe that is a bit exaggerated?

Thursday last week was my youngest kidlet's 2nd birthday, time goes so fast. It marks the 2 year mark of our breastfeeding journey and the longest breastfeeding relationship I have shared with any of my children.

We had a combined family celebration on the Sunday for her and her Sister who turned 9 yesterday. Great company, delicious jacket potatoes and a Castle birthday cake made of ice cream... photo soon...

So on the kidlet's 9th birthday, daddy, mummy and her went out to lunch without any of the other siblings, we had planned a lovely cafe lunch with a hot chocolate, but the cafe was booked out so a hot chocolate from Gloria Jeans and a meal at McDonalds, was what we ended up with and she enjoyed immensely.
Then to the supermarket and we bought some prawns on special, her Favourite, and had a prawn cocktail before a roast chicken dinner and chocolate pudding at Dad's place for tea.

So inspiration hit me while shelling a kilo of prawns, I bought the shells home and made a delicious seafood stock, while cooking a beef stew for dinner tonight. Tomorrow I will turn some of it into a seafood risotto to serve under my lovely flathead fillet.
A night off from the children and a busy day saturday trying to get some sewing done, then Sunday we have a birthday party to go to and more cooking to do...

Dessert for monday night's dinner that I am cooking to share with hubby, another night together to talk and get to know each other a bit better, child free.

Starters - salt and pepper squid with tartare sauce.
followed by roasted pork belly with potatoes, green beans and gravy
finished up by dessert of Butterscotch cheesecake with vanilla ice cream.

I am making everything from scratch, lets hope it all works out great.