Sustainability Declaration Explained

Section one of the new Sustainability Declaration is all about the Energy Efficiency of your home:
Questions like how many out of the total number of lights in your home are energy efficient.
Do you have solar power, Gas, air conditioning, pool or spa, what type of hot water system, insulation where and what type, window glazing , roof colour, roof ventilation and ceiling fans.
Section two is aboout Water and has 7 questions:
Is there a rainwater tank and what size?, greywater, water recirculation,shower heads, type of taps,dual flush toilets,garden irrigation.
Section three is about Access:
and has six questions - entry level, steps etc, level access to bathrooms and toilets and living areas, grab rails in bathroom and level entry to shower, toilet grab rails, wide doorways and wide hallways. Very pertinent for an aging population
Section four:
Safety five questions :
Smoke alarm installed (on standard REIQ contract anyway), Electrical safety switch also on standard REIQ contract, Pool fence maintained, Hot water system tempering device installed, Property number clearly visible from street (for emergency services)
The questions are set out simply and are easy to answer and very logical and the type of things we should know about our new homes.
There is also a column on the right that tells you what the savings for various things are.
As I mentioned before there has been some opposition to this form and there are petitions circulating right now to stop or curb it - I think we all need to get on board and support this initiative it takes not too long to complete (yes my husband and I did it for our house - it took about 20 minutes plus a few minutes searching receipts and paper work to confirm a few things and fill in the kilowatt usage from which you calculate your green house gas emissions).
Go to the website and check out the form and then give it a go fill it in and see how your house rates. Then get back here or go to my facebook page and let me know how you did.
If you have joined The Green Streets forums you will have no problem answering these questions.
Until next time
Angela

Christmas Recipes

Okay Recipes it is, seeing as I don't have time to cook it would seem appropriate!!

For the next 25 days you will get a recipe from somewhere around the world relevant to this time of year some traditional Christmas Fare, some not so traditional for us, but for someone and in line with my God/universe/whatever you believe in philosophy - some from left of the Western Christmas field.

But we will start with traditional Christmas Cake

But whose? Australian, Middle Eastern, Asian ? This may take more than one recipe folks!!

So heres mine - think it is an old Australian Womens Weekly Recipe:

INGREDIENTS

3 cups (500g) sultanas
½ cup (100g) glacé cherries
1½ cups (250g) raisins chopped coarsely
1½ cups (115g) seeded dates, chopped coarsely
½ cup (125g) glacé apricots, chopped coarsely
½ cup (125g) glacé pineapple, chopped coarsely
¼ cup (85g) orange marmalade
¾ cup (180ml) Grand Marnier (or brandy or rum or all three!!!! and some for the cook)
250g butter, softened
¾ cup (165g) firmly packed dark brown sugar
4 eggs (duck eggs if you can get them)
2 cups (300g) plain flour
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1 cup (160g) roasted almonds, chopped coarsely
¼ cup (60ml) Grand Marnier ( or rum or brandy and more for the cook!!!!)

METHOD
Combine fruit, marmalade and liqueur in large bowl; mix well, cover tightly with plastic wrap. Store mixture in cool, dark place overnight or up to a week, stirring every day.Preheat oven to 150°C/130°C fan-forced. Line base and sides of deep 19cm-square cake pan with two layers of brown and two layers of baking paper, bringing paper 5cm above sides. Beat butter and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until just combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating until just combined between additions. Add the butter mixture to fruit mixture; mix well. Stir in sifted flour and spice, then nuts. Spread mixture into pan. Bake about 3 hours. Brush top of cake with extra liqueur. Cover hot cake tightly with foil, turn cake upside down; cool in pan.

Off to research a recipe for tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy your day

daisymum

Apologies for being AWOL - again

Hi gang so sorry I have been absent for a month already!!!!!!!!Life is fantastic adn the new job is wonderful but I am so busy just trying to do the basics!!!

What else is new?

Hope this finds you all well.

I hve a blog for the business now you can tune in there from time to time if you like.

go to: http://angelasrealchat.blogspot.com

Wow tomorrow is DEcember 1st - have to think about what my Christmas Series will be about tis year ---mmmmm Maybe Christmas recipes from around the world? or would you like me to find more weird and wonderful traditions??? your call let me know

daisymum

A quick thank you

Thank you to those who posted recipes I can tell you it is Wednesday here and I read this post quite early got in and baked the fruit crumble for breakfast that Tracey suggested as i had all the ingredients on hand!! YUM

I made slab cake on Sunday and iced it differently and used different flavoured cake and that was fantastic - what a simple idea. Fruit slice this afternoon thank Lyn.

Ths is actulaly fun I have made more time to cook these things - so maybe time wasn't the issue perhaps motivation. Whatever it is -thanks girls (and the children thank you)!!

daisymum

PS: The reason I had cake mix in the cupboard is because I make a really simple dessert with it. SO as you shared your heres mine................

Upside down fruit cake:

You need

One packet of butter cake mix
One can of fruit
However many eggs the packet mix says.
spice

How you do it:

put packet mix in a bowl add egg(s) add juice from can of fruit (eg pineapple)
mix
place powdered ginger and cinnnamon in the bottom of a greased cake tin place sliced pineapple on top - put cake mixture on top of this and whack in the oven for the designated time (usually 25 minutes at 180 degrees C.

Turn out and voila Pineapple upside down cake!!!!!!! For about $2.50 Aus.

Use different spices for different fruits eg: pears cinnamon and allspice
peaches star anise.

OR the other favourite quick standby is:

Cherry flat Cake ( not very inspringin but you will see what I mean when you make it)

You need:
one packet of butter cake mix
1 can of sour cherries DRAINED (or a cup and half of frozen berries)
1 250 ml carton of sour cream

whack the sour cream and cake mix in a bowl - mix well

fold in cherries or berries

whack in a greased cake tin and cook for about 25 minutes on 180 degrees C.

It won' t rise (hence the flat cake description) serve cold with cream for a luscious - aren't-I-a-fantastic-cook dessert.

have a great day

daisymum

FRIDAY - Recycling and Recipes!!!

There is nothing like waking up and realising it is Friday - except these days I also work on Saturdays - but Saturday is a different kind of day it is kind of like a free dress day at school!! ( In Australia all schools except some privatley run primary schools have compulsory uniform rules).

I am not commenting anymore on the garbage situation - I think my "friends" jumped too quickly onto the "madwoman" bandwagon - so from now on Joolzmac and I will suffer in silence as we sort other peoples laziness.

But seriously it has made me realise that now I am working full time again how much packaging there is in things. I always used to take my storage jars to the organic shop and get them filled there - they just weigh the jar then weigh it again after it is full of flour or whatever. But I don't have time to do that these days so ther are flour packets, sugar packets the list goes on. As I work more hours I seem to be more disorganised with shopping and food preparation - oh I still cook every night - no takeaway - So no packaging there......it is the biscuits!!

In an attempt to be a good mother I have been buying - buying mind - you biscuits (cookies) for the kids for lunches (hang head in shame ....) and afternoon teas.

So today the challenge for you my friends is to give me your easiest - yummiest - quickest biscuit and slice recipes.

Sunday I am cooking all day to fill the freezer with things so no more bought biscuits and no more packaging.

Can't wait to see what you all come up with.

Daisymum

Madwoman's Garbage

Thinking of changing the name of the blog to Madwoman's Garbage - today is rubbish day - guess what I was doing today????????????

Yes the mad garbage sorter was at it again???????? I know I don't throw out more than half a bin and as I am the only one who Pcks things up where does all this stuff come from!!!!!!!!!!!!


Off to get another glass of wine mutter mutter mutter...

daisymum

Green Streets

I have just joined "Green Streets" and to my delight have found two others in our street who are also taking part.

You go on to the website answer a few questions about how you live eg: how many times per week your family uses public transport, how much non recyclable waste you put out each week, whether you grow your own food, etc etc all the things we are doing anyway. From there you get a score and the aim is to lower the score.

Check it out and let me know what you think. I love the idea of being publicly accountable....for example I answered the question about the rubbish and put down we have about half a bin full each week - that was rubbish day and guess what?? The boys had cleaned their room so there was a mass of stuff in the bin - rahter than put it out and have the neighbours see I had lied I went through the bin added what I could to the recycling, grabbed some clothes for rags, used some of the plastic bottles as planters for the seedlings and it eventually came down to half a bin - then I went back in the house had another quick shower got changed into a fresh set of work clothes and drove like a maniac to get the boys to school on time!!!!! So I saved half a bin of rubbish from landfill, used another 50 litres of water for the shower washed another set of clothes and used a bucket load of petrol speeding.........

Next week I check the bin out on Tuesday afternoon, not on the way to the car for work!!!!!!

Seriously though I wouldn't have done that if I hadn't just filled in the survey and knew that my neighbours would be driving past..accountability it is a great thing.

Have a look at it here................http://www.greenstreet.net.au/

daisymum

A Mummy day

On Tuesday I went off to work sat there for about an hour staring at the computer screen knowing that there were things I should be doing. After a while I realised that sitting there wasn't doing anyone any good so I packed up did some grocery shopping and came home. Now the thought twelve months ago of coming home from an exciting vibrant place filled with interesting people to do housework would have never crossed my mind. But on Tuesday that is exactly what I needed.

I called it a mummy day but in reality as I sit here and write it was a Rhonda Day - those of you who read Rhondas blog Down to Earth will know exactly what I mean.

I swept and mopped floors, dusted, rearranged, cooked, washed, folded, ironed, tidied and gardened. After about an hour of working up a sweat with the broom and vacuum I felt great.

And finally after about 6 weeks there are flowers in my vases again nothing makes me happier than flowers from my our garden inside the house.

Sometimes I think you need to make sure your home is still a haven before you can go out and be constructive and productive in the wider world.

Have a Great Day

Daisymum

Real Estate Sales Me

I know - it has been ages but I have been trying to come to grips with my new role. The new office is wonderful and the staff are all incredibly professional, caring, and generous people..it is nice to be working there.

Work -I have had some mild success I signed up my very first property to sell in just two weeks, and it will be an auction ( so if any of you are looking for a lifestyle change - watch out for a tearoom, residence and vacant block for that organic vegetable garden - all just 35 minutes from Brisbane CBD). Work wise things are great.

House - the dust storm, school holidays and me working my little behind off (more about that in a later paragraph) have taken a toll on my home - remember those "honesty shots" almost a year ago??? Well the sewing room looks not quite as bad as that but the garden is worse. One day a week just isn't enough to keep everything under control.

Vegetable Garden - what vegetable garden? I have a few stalks of silverbeet, loads of Kale - (thanks Rhonda that stuff just grows its head off!!! been using it in spinach pie type things and fritattas.) And there are some volunteer tomatoes which are the sweetest tasting tomatoes I have ever grown so not exactly sure where they came from!!!!

Garden - the roses are blooming their heads off and the hedge row roses have their first flush of flowers - they are so lovely they only flower for about three weeks a years but when they do it is gorgeous, and the jacaranda is coming out in bloom as well so the garden - from a distance- looks pretty good.

Me - I went to the agents launch of a property the other day and was sent some photos - I knew I was fat but oh my gosh so am embarking on a look after me campaign. Started eating breakfast again, packing snacks and lunch, booked in for yoga on Mondays and will walk/run five times a week. My new boss is very keen on the idea of incorporating your fitness times into your weekly schedule - so I booked myself in for a Seasonal Way seminar on Thursday this week a kick start to looking after myself and guess what ? He starts an eight week sales training session that day!!!!!

Sewing - what sewing? The photo at the top of the page is an original design put out under my business name Daisy Mountain Designs - it has sold very well and I love walking into someones sewing room and seeing it up on the wall.....but there are times when I can't believe that I designed it and found the time to stitch it and package it and well be creative.

The Moral of this Post - if health is all about balance and moderation - I am taking up woodwork to learn how to make a big box - because I am going to need it!!!LOL Oh don't get me wrong I eventually get everything done and everything under control but there is always something that has to give including blogging but mostly it is me and what I need or want to do. I think I have discovered that the purpose of my life this time around is learning to find balance - if I was a cynic I would say I might have to live this life a few thousand more times before I get it right.

But as in all large jobs it is easier to break it down so for today I will blog, I will walk/run, I will take my lunch and snacks to work, I will hand quilt tonight in front of tv, I will wash the kitchen floor before I go to work today, and when I bring the boys home from school I will plant the blueberries, cranberries and Taro I bought three weeks ago!!!!

Have a wonderful day...I know I will

daisymum

Sad news

I have popped in very quickly to ask those of you who pray to send some away for my 33 year old niece. She has 3 children under 4 the youngest not one yet and she has two malignant tumours in her bowel, and it has spread to her liver,lungs and lymph nodes.

I believe we all have a certain time frame that is preordained by fate, the universe, God, something but that doesn't mean you can't fight to push the edges of that frame every step of the way.

Have a wonderful weekend hug your family close and tell them you love them.

daisymum

"Ruffian" update

I had a little time yesterday afternoon and I found some more scraps in my sewing room so I sewed them together and added them to the "Ruffian".

I found a pile of bigger ugly fabric scraps - so I sewed them together for the backing so I am ready to quilt this baby on our quilting retreat in a few weeks.

Tired and hungry just got home from work it has been a long day.....

daisymum

ASPARAGUS and potatoes

So anyone planted asparagus??? Do you leave it in the garden for years or do you pull the crowns each year like daffodils????????

Think I might be in way over my head with this one......but we eat so much of it I figured it would be good to grow it instead of buy it.

So any advice would be greatly appreciated.....

This is the bucket of potatoes I harvested without the garden fork the other day it was kind of therapeutic to dig in the dirt with my hands and come up with these.

I found loads more when I found the garden fork and dug over the beds on Sunday.

daisymum

Apologies ....

I ahve tried all weekend to get that post up about the baskets but I can't so I am sorry you will ahve to trawl back through my posts until you find one for April 10th.

This is the Easter Basket tutorial as I promised.

This Friday - we will be making lunch sacks and mug bags. You will need a couple of fat quarters of fabric (or 2 x 45cm ). A sewing mahcine, something thick for the middle (polar fleece ?) and a button.

daisymum

Ready set ...Christmas!

Someone mentioned on a blog the other day how close Christmas was - it got me to thinking that it would be good to be more organised this year because I am working.

So Friday next week I will begin a series of tutorials for quick gifts to make for Christmas.

I am no expert but I have made loads of things over the years and they sold quite well at the markets I attended. Where possible I will use recycled materials and I will keep the instructions simple. I will not be reinventing the wheel so if there are website out there with great tutorials on a particualr aspect of the job then that is where I will send you to look.

Some will be for machine sewing, some hand sewing, some cooking and just some clever things I have found along the way. You will even be treated to a few original designs.

I say Friday next week because this week to save myself some time I am rehashing an old tutorial I did. No hints but for now DO NOT THROW OUT ANY OLD TOWELS, FLANNELETTE SHEETS, OLD SHIRTS and keep an eye out for end of winter sales in polar fleece, cheerful cotton (or poly cotton - this isn't a quilting class) fabric, and embroidery threads.
Oh and if you see any of that by the metre plastic with the fabric backing that they use for outside tablecloths grab a little bit of that - look for remnants or end of rolls.

Okay that is enough for now........kids are well and back to school today so I am off to work.

daisymum

I've been tagged................

Here I am thinking to myself - the boys are still not well they are staying home from school daisydad will come home at 11 so I can go to a meeting and work this afternoon - what will I blog about today? ( it was going to be something about harvesting 15 kilos of potatoes without the bloody garden fork..)...and along comes Margaret from Margarets Ramblings and tags me. I have to divulge seven things about me that I think are amazing ....


I am tempted to put down that I am still sane but you all know that already so here goes


1: My children are by far my greatest and most enduring achievement daisyson22 is an electrician, daisyson21 has just started a carpentry apprenticeship, daisyson18 works in local hardware store four days a week and studies a uni course via distance education, daisygirl14 is a thoughtful, resourceful and attuned young lady, daisyboy12 is a typical 12 year old with a soft and caring side to his nature that his loudness masks a lot of the time, daisyboy8 is simply gorgeous and perfect he is smart, funny and a demon at gin rummy and canasta!!!, and daisyboy5 is a delight funny, loving and very interested in animals and nature.


2: My husband we met at 15 - he proposed when I was 17 - I refused - he moved away for work - we always remained friends - I married someone else had five kids - my marriage fell apart - daisydad came back - he proposed I figured I wasn't going to get a thrid shot at it so I said yes - I live in a Mills and Boon Novel!!!! He is the most wonderful caring, loving, handsome, dependable perfect man on the planet.


3: I worked out that I have raised over $150,000 for schools and charities working on various commitees and starting up things over the last 10 years. I started the markets here in town and I am very proud of that. Next year we will join the Show society and I will head up the team for our patchwork groups Quilt Show.


4: I surprise myself all the time I am one of those "where Angels fear to tread types" I find myself agreeing or volunteering to do things I know nothing about - and then I think I should be worried but I never seem to be I just do what needs to be done, find an expert when i don't know how and get on with it. Whether it is quilting, cooking gardening, organising anything I look back at some of the things I have taken on and I am truly surprised.


5: I miss my mum she passed away four years ago last week - I thought it might get easier or less painful or something but there is this empty hole inside me.


6: Here I am at 46 and I still want to do another four or five jobs before I shuffle off this mortal coil, I think I would like to be a nurse - not a sick people nurse no patience for that - but a theartre nurse, and I would like to sell and lease commercial real estate, and I would like to own a b&b or maybe the quilting retreat my daisyfriend1 and I keep talking about, oh and I would like to write a book or at least finish one of the three that I have started.


7: I am not looking forward to being a grandmother - my friends are all gaga over babies but to be honest I am over it - I guess it is different when you only have one or two kids or have four really close together they are all over and done with and gone, then they come back with their kids in tow. But I am still the mother of a 5 year old for heavens sake why on earth would I want more babies around. Fortunately there appears to be only a slim chance of that happening so fingers crossed I get a few more "baby free" years.


Now who do I want to tag?????

Life at Castle Cleugh
The old Dairy
Simply Jooz
A vision Splendid
Can you all hear me at the back
The Remote Treechanger
100mile diet in Calgary

No rhyme or reason just time to think.....

At the last quilting retreat Daisyfriend1 gave me these off cuts from a quilt she was putting together. As you can see they are small but for some reason I couldn't let her throw them ...
I don't think its merely that I hate waste - I suspect that I have a bigger aversion to cutting out and the thought of cutting a zillion little triangles - well anything really - never appeals to me.

But being able to sit at the machine and just sew things together - that is pure bliss!!! As those of you who know quilting can see no quarter inch foot just me and some scraps and a sunny afternoon........................perhaps this will be one of the 18th brithday quilts I need to make who knows.

So I've sewn them together and then sewn two of those squares together and so on and so on.....
I've also unearthed some orphan blocks left over from old quilts and some other bits and pieces I just couldn't throw out becasue they are already cut and ready for an afternoon of sewing.

Some made these they are quite big about 8inches square.

There is something very liberating about just sewing scraps. I have already mentioned I hate cutting out - there is such a responsibility in getting out a new piece of fabric and measuring and cutting and checking - but with scraps it doesn't really matter does it?? After all, they are already just one step away from being binned so if something gorgeous (or I-can-live-with-that) doesn't emerge you can relax but cutting into hundreds of dollars worth of new fabric? You need to think and plan and all that stuff before you get to the fun bit.

So while I sewed - I have composed this blog in my head ready to publish tomorrow (today), worked out what we are having for dinner all this week and what I need to buy, planned my work day and sketched out the week, and decided that this will not be a gift quilt it will be a quillow for daisyson12. I have also worked out what pattern I will make the 18th birthday quilts and what fabrics I will use.

And I have come to the conclusion that sewing scraps is very therapeutic for me, I might even trim them into real sizes (but then again maybe i won't!)

Not sure what they will all look like once they are together but they will all be together soon. All those little bits are now bigger bits, so now it is just nutting out a layout of sorts to accomodate all of them - after all I don't want any leftovers!!!!!!!

Imagine having enough fabric to make a whole quilt top in four or five little ziplock bags!!! It never ceases to amaze me. I even have a name for this quilt "the ruffian" which works on so many levels (lol).

daisymum

PS: the vege garden didn't get a look in, but I did make two loaves of bread, a casserole and a cake.

Start a club today!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mandy over at The Old Dairy posed the question yesterday do you buy organics or is your preference to buy local????

I buy organic baking stuff from the Organic shop in our village so I guess I do a bit of both. But buying organic fruit and vegetables is really expensive when you have a household of 8. I belong to a backyard vegetable growing club and we swap our excess produce which is fantastic

but for me the best bit about it is the knowledge I pick up from these very accomplished growers, and the free seedlings, seed swapping etc etc.

So why not get together with some friends you haven't met yet and start a backyard food club in your local area? Put a notice up on the community notice board take out an ad in the local paper , try the school newsletters for a free plug - in these days of the internet most of the organising can be done via email (or your own club blog!!).

Although my vegetbale garden is quite sad for lack of commitment at the moment I am still popping in a few seeds each week and transplanting them out, my yields aren't great but I know what that is about I need to feed my soil more, so off to buy manure today - see I even sound like I know what I am doing now!!!!!!

daisymum

Dropping by again

I cannot believe the week is almost gone again. I was out last night and looking at the sky and it is decidedly lighter these days at 6pm than it was a few weeks ago - which means the sun is coming back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know there are a lot of you who will be complaining about the heat but I love the sun and the summer - I am one of those people that gets quite depressed in the depths of winter for lack of sunshine.

Now that I am working again I get to work some days when it is barely light and go home in the dark - not much fun. So I have made a pact to walk in the sunshine for at least 1/2 hour everyday. When I was home I could garden or hang out the washing but being stuck in the air conditioning makes it more challenging.

Fortunately everything in our little village is quite close so the other day I walked to an open home that I was attending with a co worker instead of driving the car. It is amazing how much more productive I am when I get out in the sun.

Tomorrow is Buddy's Friday over at Margarets Ramblings if you haven't seen her buddy posts and those she attracts from other bloggers have a look tomorrow they are always worthwhile.

Thinking it is time to do a tutorial on making a beach bag.......so watch this page for instructions over the weekend.

daisymum

Buddy's Friday - a day late...

Some of the comments left regarding my local show post got me tot thinking in this age where there is a definite upsurge in the number of people cooking more, gardening more, sewing more why aren’t the local shows getting the entries they used to? (I say that generally because there was a definite up swing in our show entries this year)

Is it because we are afraid that someone will judge our work “not worthy”.

When I say I was lectured by the steward at our show about not cutting my citrus properly I mean LECTURED I suppose I could have been offended but instead I took it with a very serious face and then laughed my head off when I got outside!

I know my grapefruit tasted better than the ones that won, I know my lemons were probably as good as the ones that won third place but in the giant scheme of things it was fun to enter, exciting to get to the pavilion to see if I had won anything and I still made lemonade.

See I am not a competitive person by nature but I’ll be blowed if our local show will go without quilt entries because I was too lazy to rip one off the kids bed and enter it (yes literally and of course Friday night was the coldest night of year here and daisyson18 wouldn’t let me forget it ribbon or no ribbon!!)

I believe in community and our local show is part of our community I want to know that a lady I nod to at the bus stop in the afternoon is a really great photographer, I want to know that a mum who seems chronically disorganised is probably that way because she got a first for almost all the cooking she entered. I want to know these things about my community.

A few years ago when we were in the grip of drought a lady who has had great success with her rosella jam had her rosellas pinched - seriously they climbed over the fence and ripped the plants right out of the garden!!!!! Now as shocking as that is it is also kind of funny – like an episode of Midsommer Murders!!! I Love that about my community that there are the crackpots and odd balls.

Like the guy who staked out the jam competition last year because he didn’t clean sweep the section because I won a third for my peach and nectarine jam – when he asked for the recipe and I told him I just chucked everything in and guessed the amount of sugar he just laughed and asked me if I was game enough to enter next year…..I wasn’t but not because I was scared to - but because I haven’t had time to make jam for ages. But 2010 look out buddy there will be another recipeless challenge to your domination.

I guess what I am trying to say is be good buddies to your community support your local Show or Fair if they don’t have a category for what you made or grow then ask them to include it It doesn’t matter if you win or not it matters that people will see that someone is growing things and sewing things and cooking things and that menas everyone wins.

Daisymum

Camouflage and ribbons!!!!

Every year at the local show they have the Army recruiting van this year they gave out these really cool torches and water bottles - daisyson8 just had to try on the full pack and see if he could hold it up this year. He must have grown he can stand in it this year!!! ---just. The big smiles say it all really.

Every family has that kid that spoils every photograph by poking out his tongue, rolling his eyes, looking away or scowling into the lens.... meet daisyson5. He couldn't get the pack on so he just tried on the vest. Caroline over at the Simple Things has a son who is in the Army I wonder if he tried on the pack at their local show when he was a little boy?

And finally a little brag - I entered a quilt actually daisyson18's birthday quilt and I won a third prize for it!!! I was really thrilled. I was more thrilled to learn someone wanted to buy it but of course I couldn't sell it - then she asked if I would make her one....stilll wondering how I would charge for it - anyone out there who has made this pattern "Carolina Crossroads" by Bonnie from Quiltville knows just how long it takes. Anyway they gave her my number and I suppose we will see if she is serious or not.

Have a fabulous week as you can tell things for me have resumed a "normal" pace and I have some time spare. So hopefully I will be posting more often can't guarantee everyday but certainly at least twice a week or more.

Love and hugs

daisymum

The local Show.....

I know I am biased about where I live but we serioulsy have the prettiest (or one of the prettiest) Showgrounds on the planet. Here are a couple of views taken from the top of the Ferris Wheel yesterday afternoon about 3.30pm.

Bear in mind for those of you in the Northern hemispherre we are in the middle of our winter!

The showgrounds is set right in the middle of a housing estate 1 acre to 1 1/2 acres blocks loads of horses etc, this is the main arena with "house" mountain in the background.

And here you can see the carpark and over towards the houses - the Showgrounds is about a one minute drive from our home so we buy a $25 family membership and spend various times there over the weekend.

I got there early Saturday to watch a friend compete with her horse, then daisydad took the kids mid afternoon for sample bags and rides, I got home from an afternoon tea with my MIL and took them back for the fireworks.

Then yesterday as daisyson12 has that awful coughing bug (which meant no football for him) we went back and spent no money (well just a little) and collected all the freebie notebooks, magnets, pens, stickers, arm bands and entered all the free competitions, watched the parade, the duck herding, the free circus, the motorbike show and of course the pig races!!! Daisyson8 did some sport on the main arena, we sat on the grass in the sun and caught up with friends, indulged in the free wine tasting and wandered around the "beaut ute" show.

Some families I know take their picnic lunch becasue once you pay at the gate you can park your car and go back to it as many times as you like they have an esky in the car and picnic in the carpark, we were a bit more financial this year and so we ate dagwood dogs (I know they aren't real food, I know they are so bad for you - but what is a show without dagwood dogs and fairy floss???)

We had an amazing day and I was very impressed with all the horticultural entries we had howling winds here Thursday night and all the roses I contemplated putting in blew away as did the camellias. But the standard of entreis was AWESOME and the fruit and veges were amazing.

I entered some grapefruit and some lemons but made the mistake of picking them not cutting them with stems on so my entry wasn't looked at - I had the lecture from one of the stewards and now I know what to do for next year!

I hope everyone in my part of the world enjoyed the fabulous weather yesterday and got out and indulged in some mid winter sunshine.....there was a hint of summer on that breeze.

daisymum7

PS: tomorrow the quilt I entered and signing the boys up for the armed forces!!

Another deep and meaningful question...............

And there is was tucked into one of the last paragraphs of Rhondas (down to earth blog) blog post from the other day(and live with stark white minimilism if you want to). See I look at the photos of Rhonda's home and I love it but I know I could never have my home look like that. I guess what I see is the love that radiates out of her personality shining through in two dimensional images - so what does that say about me??

Well at the moment I think it says there are nine people living in this house keep as many surfaces free of stuff as you can - there will be time to fill it when they leave!!!!!! But I could be wrong perhaps it is just that I don't know where to begin.

I have some lovely things but honestly the thought of hauling knick knacks out of boxes and displaying them kind of leaves me cold. But the thought of some lovely silver pieces sitting in the cupboard to be trotted out a few times a year for a dinner or party also makes me cross. I have lovely glasses and plates and I use them - I don't want my family to wait until I am dead to drink out of the waterford crystal wine glasses - they are gorgeous and substantial and make even the cheapest wine something special but in the giant scheme of things they are just glasses.

Perhaps that is the personality that comes across in my house - it is just stuff - perhaps I am just too time poor to titivate things like I used to.

So my weekend question to you all is ....... is your home truly a reflection of you or a reaction to your lifestyle????????????

Finally a day off!!

This has to be quick having a day off with the daisies today.

I bought my bread maker last weekend I opted for the cheapest one I could find just to make sure I would use it etc.

It is great planning on using it just for dough tomorrow and baking some bread rolls, but popping everything in clicking the switch adn coming back three hours later to find bread is pretty good!!!!

I found sour dough mix that tastes okay and have loads of organic flours to make all kinds of weird combinations - it is fun - haven't done any sweet bread ones yet but thinking a fruit loaf this weekend.

Other than that the vege garden provided a zillion peas, some kale, carrots, beans and one lone broccoli(the possum likes broccoli). Haven't the time at the moment so going to fill it with manure and leave it for the longer days. I still have onions and potatoes coming along but the other bed is going to have a rest.

I have finished baout five quilt tops lately and am finally making some progress on the single bed quilt I am hand quilting.

Not going to promise photos becasue it never seems to happen but with three whole days stretching out in front of me who knows ....................

love and hugs

daisymum

Footy night post

Yup Friday and everyone around me is watching the footy so I though I would site with them all and post a quick one to once again explain my absence.

WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!What else???????????????

At the moment I am taking over the job of property manager - did I tell you I passed my registration thingy??? and I will also be Office manager but in the meantime until i find someone to do my reception work I am doing all three jobs or trying to.

This afternoon I actually cried when i came home because I forgot the cleaner was coming today and when i got home because I hadn't left a note he had cleaned the WHOLE house they were tears of relief that I didn't have to do it.

So instead I packed up the car for my quilting retreat weekend I can't wait to get up there and catch up with all the girls and sew and chat and not thinkabout work.

And maybe I will even check the second hand shops on Tba and find a bread maker!!! Yes I am still on that tangent!!

So my dear friends thank you for bearing with me - and sticking with me in three weeks i will be back for real and posting much more often.

love you all lots

daisymum

ps; will take photos over the weekend at what everyone got up to.

Tablescape Thursday

It is cold here today but when I got home from work the sun was out and I felt like a cup of tea. So I made a quick batch of pikelets and a pot of tea and set up this little table to have my afternoon tea (with daisysons 5 and 8 ) in the front yard in a small patch of sunlight.

An antique silver tea pot, creamer and sugar basin and two of my favourite pink toile tea cups (daisyson5 prefers his monkey mug - not in shot - I wonder why lol)

Ah bliss and to think I wouldn't have bothered if I didn't need a photo for Tablescape Thursday.

daisymum

Welcome

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome Becca and Angie to the followers list. It is lovely to think others think my life is interesting enough to vist from time to time.

I have just gotten back from my flying visit to Melbourne and my friend at Castle Cleugh. Their new home is gorgeous and in a great location just near the beach in Beaumaris. We had fun doing a little shopping ( I bought a few new clothes and some things for the kids) But of course now I am at home I am thinking I should have bought that and that - oh well I will just have to go back again.

One of the things that really struck me about Melbourne is the local strip shopping, we went to Mentone and the Concourse and few others just in the course of the driving me around and getting me aquainted with where things were. I love the idea of being able to go to the butcher, the bakery, the coffee shop, the fruiterer, a clothes shop etc etc without having to inhabit one of those ghastly shopping centres (malls) there is something decidedly quaint about being able to grab a basket and wander around and shop.

I take it for granted in a lot ways becasue we live in a village outside of Brisbane and this is how we shop every day, but it struck me that in Brisbane generally this type of shopping experience has largely disappeared except for a few precincts like West End, Redcliffe, Sandgate and some of the trendy areas like Bulimba and to a lesser extent Wilston.

It is a shame if we could all shop more locally we would walk more, get to know our retailers more, support smaller businesses with more sutainable business ethics and then we would be moving steadily towards the type of world I think we all crave.

I enjoyed my Saturday morning at the shops so much I didn't even think to be miserable about how cold it was !!!! (actually it was a lovely 9 degrees celcius but as the morning wore on the "snow" clouds came over the sky and it got chillier) but there I was breathing fresh air and not recycled air conditioning air, hugging my bags of produce and thoroughly enjoying every moment of being outside.

So if there is a tired little set of shops near you where you can pick up the bread and milk, the paper, chat about local events as you wait for coffee or find a dusty bargain on a back self then do yourself and the planet a favour and go explore. Certainly the internet may be making the whole world a village but nothing beats interacting with actual people and seeing their smiles, and the knowledge that your purchase may just keep them open a little longer or draw in another retailer to help revitalise our local precincts.

Have a wonderful Monday where ever you are - and take a walk to the shops!! (even if like me you have to drive there first)

daisymum

I'm baaaaack...........

Just walked away from the computer and thought hold on - one of the comments about last week was how our friends in the other hemisphere rarely get to see our Christmas tables so for your looking pleasure some of our Christmas tables from over the years.................

Will scan some of the older ones in and post them next week.

daisymum

Tablescape Thursday again already!!!

Hi wanted to say welcome to the new visitors here to Daisy mountain.

Can't believe it has been a week since Iposted. having a roast with the gang tonight so will get the photos of the Tabelscape uploaded after dinner for you all to see.

I am off to visit a friend of mine in Melbourne tomorrow morning at 6am!! (which means leaving home at 4ish the things we do for good friends hey?? and it will be COLD and I HATE the cold.!!

have a great day until tonight my tablescapers!!!

daisymum

Tablescape Thursday

Tablescape Thursday:

What Christmas at the Beach looked like last year.

Hi friends just came across a great idea Tablescape Thursday - check it out at "Between Naps on the Porch ". What a great name for a blog.

I am recycling a Tablscape from Christmas last year for my first one.

Been very absent work has been really really busy but promised myself this week that I will start getting back to dooing some of the things I love.

Off to Melbourne next week to visit my friend at Castle Cleugh.

Have Daisyson's 21st this weekend. and school and club rugby so no relaxing weekend here!!!

And I turned 46 last week.

And to answer some of your emails and comments while I have been absent:

No we didn't get flooded out but the kids schools were closed during the middle of the day and we had to pick them up early it was my birthday so I was out with a girlfriend visiting patchwork shops and books shops and supposedly having lunch didn't work out like that but we had loads of fun!

Yes I am fine not ill or grumpy just busy in fact thinking of changing the name of the blog to that "not grumpy just busy"

The vege garden is doing okay but for the first itme my tyre stack potatoes failed I only got 6 out of the two stacks!!!! Not sure why maybe there was too much water!!!!!!!!

And no I ahven't bought that bread maker yet...still can't decide what I should do and of course the sour dough started is off and running again so now it isn't an issue except I bought a box of bread mix a few weeks ago ( yeah cart before the horse stuff) so might have to get kneading which might be good for the wobbly arms I have now grown overnight since my birthday!!!!

I will really try not to be so absent am off to buy myself a laptop next week as I never seem to get anywhere near one of the four computers we have in house!!!!! Figured I can sit on the couch and blog at night when there is NOTHING on television which brings me to another technological question just how long do I have before digital tv takes over and we can't watch anything???????

I can't believe the year is going so fast I have made my second batch of laundry liquid already two more and it will be Christmas !!!! Again.

daisymum

A question of bread......

Okay so my sour dough started died and I have to start another one but that aside I think I would like to get into the whole baking bread thing s little more than one or two loaves of sour dough a week.

Of course all new ventures are fraught with questions so I will pose this one to you all.....bread makers - whaddya think??

I have always been of the opinion that they are just too small a loaf for my large family but then someone suggested I could just use it to knead the bread (great idea no time for all that these days)

So I went to ebay and there are heaps of different brands and sizes and I got confused so tell me
- do you have one
- what make and model is it
- good points
- shortcomings


anything else I need to know before I but one new or secondhand?

daisymum

Mother Day and surprises!!

Obvioulsy Mothers Day was full of surprises from my wonderful family. But I was impressd that little or no money was spent on gifts, my daughter cleaned the house for me and put flowers in all the vases and made a gorgeous cake.


My eldest boy bought me a load of mulch and proceeded to weed and mulch all the gardens for me.


Our youngest made me a lovely card and a photo frame for the fridge with his little face in it, daisyson8 bought me a scarf, a book mark and a smelly lavendar sachet to hang in my cupboard from the school craft stall (all hand made).


Only daisydad and daisyson18 went commercial from my son I got a pair of secateurs (I misplaced mine in the garden somewhere no doubt they will turn up when things die off a bit!) and a new pair of gardening gloves and from my lovely husband a bottle of my favourite perfume.


The day was spent on canteen duty at rugby, then washing jerseys for the other sons team, a few hours quilting a Fire Quilt to send to Victoria and getting some things organised to sew this week. Then a game of badminton with all the kids (really gets the heart rate up!). Then catching up on emails and the blogs and a glass of wine and home made pizza.


Bliss a simple productive wonderful day spent being a mum.



daisymum7

Whaddyamean it is wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't believe it is Wednesday already loads to tell bnut maybe tomorrow not time this morning.

Have a great day gang!

daisymum

Daisy Mountain - the Drive

There are times here at Daisy Mountain when I feel like I am just going through the motions. For the next few months our life looks something like this....

Monday: daisygirl netball collect at 5:30pm (75 minute round trip)

Tuesday: collect daisyboy12 and friend from footy training at school (50 minute trip)

Wednesday: take daisyboys 12 and 8 and friend to footy practice (50 minutes)

Daisydad to collect daisygirl from netball then bring her to footy where I take her and daisyboy8 home after his practice (and BBQ dinner at the club)

Except for the last Wednesday of the month when I drive and dump the boys then get back to open up for patchworkers and daisydad brings all home late.

Thursday collect daisyson 12 and friend from footy training at school(50 mins)

Friday get over the last four days and prepare for

Saturday: one club game one school game

Sunday: one club game

And that is just the sport bit no teacher interviews, club meetings, etc.

Somehow I have to find the joy in performing all these drop offs and pick ups, I have to remind myself it gives me time to chat with the kids. I have to keep reminding myself that I have chosen to work everyday and that I need to find other times to do the things that need to get done or that I want to do like sewing. And I have to keep reminding myself it is only for this term then school football ends and we only have netball and club football to contend with then by the end of August it is over for another year.

And I have to keep reminding myself that in three years daisygirl will have finished school, and that in four daisyboy12 will be done with it, and that in just 8 years after that we will have all of them out of school.

Feeling better already.............. just 12 more years of hell to go - I must have done something very very wicked (and probably loads of fun ) in a previous life!!!!LOLOLOLOL

Have a fantastic day!!!!!!!

daisymum

A question of potatoes...

So when you grow potatoes in a bed do you need to add more soil around the base of them as they grow like I do with the tyres??? or do I let them go because the bed is built up so high above the ground?

We inherited some new chickens over the weekend 6 gorgeous silkies 3 caramel, one black and two white (one of the white ones is a bit psycho). I will get some photos this afternoon and psot them tomorrow so you can see them all. They came from my friends father in law if you read her blog Life in Castle Cleugh you will know her inlaws are moving down there today and they wanted their chickens to go to a good home and we were it!!! They are so lovely. Thinking seriously about getting the Silkie rooster that is advertised on the community noticeboard so we can breed from them.

Other than chickens, the Dawn Service with all the kids and breakfast for all afterwards, we had daisyson8's First Holy Communion yesterday , my in laws came along then we had a tea and toast brekky with them and toddled off to our local pub for a long lazy lunch with four other families a zillion kids and the most glorious weather.

Another busy weekend but a lovely one nevertheless.

Have a wonderful day

daisymum

We went to the zoo zoo zoo - you can go too too too