A long weekend

When you work in Real Estate a long weekend is a blessing. Normally I spend Sundays cramming some need to do jobs and some me time into one day shortened by club rugby games.  But a long weekend means I get a real weekend - two days "off".

So what will you be cramming into your long weekend apart from the usual school and club sport shopping, cleaning and getting organised for the following week?

I plan on gardening - I have some plants to put into the garden - hippeastrums and agapanthusand nasturtiums.  Then I plan on spending a chunk of time at my sewing machine getting some serious progress made on two UFOS.  One that needs to be in the post and in the US by Thanksgiving this year !! ( hint hint Dawn) - and is at the moment a pile of untrimmed blocks with no plan for setting - yet.  I have a book I want to spend some time with and a crocheted cape I making for an upcoming weekend in Melbourne to finish.

People ask me all the time were I find time to do things - the answer is I fit them in here and there - I will get half an hour of crocheting done on the way to and from rugby this weekend ( home game so not much time - but last weekend it was an hour and 20 minutes worth).  My books are always in the car and I read them even if only for a few minutes while I want for kids at the train station or at lunch - even if I am early for an appointment.

My sewing is always sitting next to the machine with the bobbins wound - needle threaded and fabric in a pile ready to go.  The gardening stuff is all in a bucket that I can grab when I have two minutes and just start - gloves, seeds, plants, trowel, bag for weeds etc.

I started doing things that way when the kids were little because I was so short on an time let alone time to do things I loved and it has carried through.

Enjoy your weekend -

Chat soon

Angela

My first Project......

This is the bank below the tennis court it forms a "wall" across the back lawn area behind the pool.

This needs to be weeded and the juvenile gum trees gotten rid of ( trust me we have HEAPS of others) and then I need to plant it out.

To stabilize the bank I was initially thinking nasturtiums ( because I love the look of them en masse) and pumpkin vines - then when they fruit dig them in and plant some kind of prostrate but hardy and drought tolerant ground cover.

If the soil was better I would plant it out with masses and masses  of daisies - but it is that horrible Brisbane Schist.

I know someone has tackled something like this before - so your suggestions very welcome.

Until next time

Angela

WIF - What if Fridays......

A year of life is like a garden in many respects - you look around and see things as they are now but in twelve months you can come back and some things will look unchanged, some will be taller, wider or will have died, been moved or will have outgrown their allotted space and are spilling over and invading everything!!

My wish for you this year is that you outgrow your allotted space - the one you may have created for yourself or circumstance has placed you in - and that you spill over and reach for everything you have ever dreamed of.  And that along the way you weed out the things that hold you back internally and externally.

So I have decided each Friday will be WIF - What if Friday - and each week I will challenge, remind or coax you to think/do/feel/dream What if.....

This week - What if you did something to day that you have been putting off - get it done, cross it of the list and you can go into the weekend knowing it is sorted.

Professionally it may be a long overdue phone call to a client - or a tough one.

For mums it may be cleaning out the pantry or identifying the grunge at the bottom of the vegetable drawer.

It may be a phone call to say sorry.

A bill that needs paying

Or in the case of one of my friends a dream - he wants to make a start on.

What ever it is - what if you were able to go to bed tonight and say "yep, I have done that.".

If you want to share what you did please leave a comment below.

Until next time 

Angela

Tuesday is Gardening day!

With so much rain around ( sorry to all those not getting any) the garden is really getting away from me. But it looks like today I will get to spend most of the day in there weeding and planting and cutting back. I cut all the plants in my garden back by a half to two thirds twice a year

once in late October (so I get a full flush of flowers for Christmas) and then again in April to help them get through our dry winters. This year I am cutting back earlier than I usually would because the growth has been staggering, so I will have bundles of cuttings of pentas, lavendar, daisies, hibiscus, plumbago, duranta and some roses to give away and to replant in the few bare spots that have been claimed by the weeds.

For those who follow the Catholic way of thinking you will know it is Lent our children have given up all kinds of things for lent - playstation (no big deal there as it is packed away during the school term anyway) chocolate (this is a biggie daisyboy7 LOVES chocolate he wouldn't even take a lamington to school for morning tea today) - what will power and strength of conviction he has for a 7 year old he can't even have a chocolate cake for his birthday.

I keep thinking it must be luck that I have these great kids but more and more I see that we live very differently from other families. We have always expected our children to pitch in and help, we have always expected to be respected by our children, we have always done everything we can to encourage them to chase and catch their dreams ( as opposed to doing it for them).

Now that I am working my greatest fear is losing some of that of letting them down because it is easier to give in than stand your ground and watch them fail (which is after all how we all learn - from our mistakes) I see more and more guilt ridden parents doing everything for their children to make up for the fact that they are working and have less time to spend with them. One mum told me the other day that it was easier for her to do her year 10 sons homework assignments and have him pass so they can spend more time together on the weekends - what she fails to see is that he leaves home at 7am Saturday morning and goes motorbike riding all day getting home at 5pm and then Sundays he spends locked in his room chatting on msn and grunting as he passes anyone on the way to the kitchen - how is this spending time? how is he learning anything?

She then went on to tell me that she pays a lot of money in school fees and couldn't afford for him to fail and have to repeat....... apparently he gets enough marks from his assignments to assure a pass ...I wonder if she will do his uni assignments as well, and fill in his dole application??? I was so angry when I left that conversation and I wondered if time will turn me into one of those parents?

But the thought of turning lose on society an adult who can't read, write, cook, clean, dress themsleves and get themselves organised is repugnent. Surely a parents job is to nuture a whole human being not stunt them into a childlike dependance for the rest of their lives.

end of rant have a great day

daisymum

Day four in a very busy week.

Last night I attended a talk given by Sister Pauline Coll. The topic wasn't a comfortable one - human trafficking and slavery - yes even here. Interesting, informative and a little sad at times.

It got me to thinking that one of the consequences of living simply must be that we will pass that on to our children or grandchildren - passing on the concept that growing your own food, making your own gifts, or recycling other people's cast offs is a responsible way to use limited resources, our time and our energy.

I hope the lesson my children take from our example is that - you don't have a right to have everything just because you want it - with the flow on that not everything is for sale - and therefore NOBODY is for sale - no matter what you want. I find the concept of harvesting organs from people who are deemed expendable just because you can pay for it reprehensible likewise harvesting human eggs and selling them to infertile couples. It is all those 70s fringe scifi horror flicks coming to life.

On those days when you are simply too tired to weed, clean, cook and mend remember that in doing so we pass on solid "work for it" values to all those who can see into our lives.

On November 18th a website will be launched with links to podcassts, videos, articles and things you can do to help stop slavery, it will be desinged to be a youth friendly site so your teenagers can access appropriate information with loads of safeguards. I will post the button link on this blog when I get it so you can check it out.

In the Garden..

It has been a week since I planted out my first seeds and NOTHING NADA ZIP - am I being impatient ?? Surely something should have come up by now!!! Planning to plant out some more this afternoon - so I am not giving up just yet.

But on a more positive note the tomatoes have survived the heavy rain and are ripening another day or two of sunshine and they will be ready to add to our salads.

I think someone needs to send me a formula for working out what when and how many of things I should be planting we eat a lot of salad leaves. After just two salads this week the plants are going to have to hurry up and grow. I am going to need a diary so I can remember to plant at least double or more next year to keep up with the demand.

But last night as I rushed (around after being out for the day) folding, hanging out washing, tidying up and getting dinner I sent daisygirl to the garden to get some more leaves for chicken burgers when she came back with bowl full she said to me "they just look so great mum" - funny how a few words and big smile make all the work so worthwhile. But of course I was rushing out the door and I missed the opportunity to relish that moment with her - instead I was half way to the presentation stuck at traffic lights before I really thought about how lovely it was.

SO I resolve....

not do too many outside things in a week, it takes a long time to get the chores done around here and have everything running smoothly and this week I am really out of whack the kids shopping trip Monday, Tuesday's breakfast, yesterday at the Craft Show, out last night, working today and then home to get a heap of work sewing done before 5pm. Tomorrow will be catching up day.

Next week we have a HUGE week of end of school year things with three schools and daycare this time of year can get really crazy. So I will remind myself to keep the days clear as we are out almost every night.

The Craft Show

It was a lovely day and I was able to spend it with a new friend, someone I hope will be in my life for a long time to come she is funny, intelligent,thoughtful, kind and most of all she doesn't feel the need to stop at every stall - just the ones she is interested in - which are the same ones I am intersted in. Bliss - a whole day of not having to feign interest in beading, dolls, scrapbooking, machine embroidery, photos on fabric, and those weird eggs etc.etc. I can appreciate all these crafts when someone else does them it is simply that they hold no fascination for me.

As far as purchases go I bought no fabric as per my promise to use what I have, I bought some rotary cutter blades (I have been resharpening the four I have for five years and one snapped the other day so I figured it was time).

A darling little chook bell that will serve no other purpose other than to make me smile.

Some Lion Brand cotton to make a dishcloth or three for a friend.

To be honest I bought this at Spotlight on the way home as nobody at the Show had it.

My other purchase was a template for Shaseiko quilting. It is a Japanese style of quilting usually done with thick thread in white.

It is very effective, I am not sure I will do a whole quilt in it but I am sure I will find some small project to use it on soon so I can have a practice.




Cooking.....

Today I am trying to get home early this afternoon after this cleaning job is done and get some baking happening. The freezer is empty except for this chocolate cake of indeterminate age that I found at the very bottom - think the chooks will be having that. Think I will try the brownie recipe that The old Dairy made yesterday for afternoon teas, and some walnut and cranberry biscuits and get the fruit ready for the Christmas cake and pudding. Our ducks have decided to lay again and I love making the Christmas cake with duck eggs it just makes it so much better. SO I am going to do it now before they stop laying.

Answers...

Here is the photo of the hedgerow roses on the shady side of the driveway The Old Dairy was asking if they grew in the shade. These are four years old, have never been watered or trimmed back and they grow under these two pine trees. The dogs have done a number on them by running through them whenever anyone walks past and I have transplanted the last two from a really shady spot just a week ago so they look a bit sparse. The bigger ones get about an hour to an hour and a half sun a day the two that I transplanted have been in almost full shade.

Have a wonderful porductive day.

daisymum

Pink Breakfast...........

Rushing this morning getting kids off to school and heading off for a Pink Breakfast for Breast Cancer at the local nursery/coffee shop.

I harvested a whole bowl full of wonderful fresh salad leaves for dinner last night and I pulled up a beetroot and took off an eggplant - probably the smallest eggplant I have ever seen - living proof people that you shouldn't grow the same thing in the same spot two years running. This bush came up of its own accord and I left it there.

It tasted great just sliced and grilled on the BBQ.

When I hung the washing out this morning I was looking at the nasturtiums in the garden bed next to the line and I found this gorgeous little beauty. I love the dark red ones but they don't seem to grow as well in my garden as the orange, yellow and these "apricot" ones.

I planted the luffas in the garden yesterday under my new trellis. None of the seeds I planted last week are up yet, I don't think I am very good at this seed thing but I have a few more so I will give them another go this week.

I have moved some of my tyres into a light filled but shadier spot behind the water tank in the hope that I will be able to keep growing lettuce longer into the season.

My pumpkins and rockmelon vines are growing well in their bathtubs now I just have to hope that over the next week they spill over the edge and trail downhill instead of back through the fence!! I am trying to utilize the sunny east facing bank of the dam that is currently populated by weeds and some weird grasses. I have mowed it down and planted more nasturtiums and I am hoping that between them and the pumpkin and rockmelons they cover the bank.

I keep forgetting I wanted to buy some sweet potatoes to pop in a few bare spots in the garden beds - can I grow them from sprouted ones??? We have a great organic shop in town and I can buy some organic ones there maybe I will try that.

Other than the garden which seems to be my main focus as soon as the sun comes up these days, I have a heap of sewing to do later today. And then usual round of cleaning, washing, folding and cooking.

When we went to the library yesterday I got myself a book on tape to listen to while I sew. I usually listen to music (or one of daisyboy4s videos) but after I read on someone's blog that this is what they do when they iron I thought what a great idea!!!

So I am off to find something other than yard clothes to wear to this breakfast this morning and if my day goes as I think it might (or rather hope it might) there will be clean sewing room photos tomorrow!!!

Please note I have deleted my rant. After spending a wonderful few hours with some dear friends and some new ones, raising $3000 for breast cancer research - and coming home with an auction item myself (check out tomorrows post for details and photos) - I don't think anyone needs to put up with my views on the media. I promise I will keep them all to myself from now on - this blog will be peace and tranquility and the fun chaos that is my everyday.

Have a wonderful day.

daisymum

New look!!

I am so excited I finally worked out how to change the look of the blog. So expect a different one every now and again until I find the one that screams ME. I really like this one though. The one on the weekend was a bit too bright.

In the yard...................

Yesterday was spent mulching more gardens, mowing, planting out five Hedgerow roses in pink....I get these from Diggers at first I wasn't convinced they would grow in Qld but after putting in 10 (and only losing 1) 4 years ago I am a convert. I didn't water them at all they have survived on what nature provided (not much considering we have been in drought since I planted them) and look at them they do need the sun though, the ones on the other side of the drive are in the shade of a pine tree and they aren't as lush. They only flower once a year but they are so beautiful and form a great soft hedge.

Then I decided I am putting more vegetable gardens in the orchard paddock and we are going to take back the weeping paperbarks we bought for the front area and exchange them for some fruit trees perhaps avocados. And I finally got my head around where I am going to build the trellises for the cane berries.

And we got a trellis up for the luffas so planting them out today.

Up until this point the garden has been largely my baby, daisydad hasn't been that interested, but that is unfair he has been studying a law degree by distance ed for the last 8 years so every weekend has been full of study, assignments and the work he has to do for his real job. But now that his study if finished he has been out helping me more and yesterday's decisions were "us" not me. So it was a turning point I suppose.

Busy Sunday....................

We usually have a cooked breakfast on Sunday after Church but this week we got into the garden first then had a late brunch, then back out to the yard to get some more done. We did some weeding and then had a swim in the dam with the daisies, and then played gin and go fish with the kids for a while we even got to sneak away and do a bit of grocery shopping on our own and pop in to the local pub for a quick drink on the way home. In a busy full household it is these little moments that help to remind you that one day there will be just us.

That bedroom.............

Daisygirl13 sorted out the boys bedroom on Saturday it looks great apart from the fact I really wanted the drawers painted before the clothes went in them but never mind we can do that in a few weeks when everyone is home on holidays. For now the floor is empty of clothes and everything looks neat and tidy - a room to think and plan in at last.

Kids are home.................

So we are off to the library and then we need to buy daisyboy7 a pair of goggles for school swimming. So while we have to be out of our valley and over at the shopping centre we will get some meat to put in the freezer. Then home again to drop the kids here while I choof off to another job interview then back here to pick them up and off to the nursery to swap those trees over and pick up a punnet of lettuce (no forgot to plant out lettuce seeds!!!!) and a play in the park in the village with a coffee for mum and a walk to the local take away for a 50c packet of lollies for the daisies. And then home to plant lettuce and luffas!!!

Enjoy your day whatever you are doing and whatever surprises it may bring.

daisymum

PS: My potatoes are up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But my cucumber have gone not died not shrivelled just gone...... possums??

If a tree falls.......

So what if I am posting my thoughts and hints and generally yakking up a storm on this blog and nobody reads it? Does it become some sad form of therapy? Is it egotistical like a computer age version of loving the sound of your own voice?? I guess we'll see.

I saw on another blog that the person started it as a way for their family to keep up with what they were doing. I guess I will use this the same way for all my friends everywhere to be able to see some current photos and some older ones and be with me on this journey through my life.

It may even become a record of some of the quilting projects I am in the middle of and a celebration of projects completed. I rather like the idea of journaling my life with pictures and videos in this way.

Today I am converting an old metal "wardrobe" into a mini green house. It has been sitting in the shed after being made redundant from daisyson21's bedroom, and it has four shelves and a hanging rail so I found some old hanging pots and thought with a bit of shade cloth around it - it would do the trick.

Then I am going to plant some seeds I have never really grown anything aside from beans from seed so this will be interesting but it will be a much cheaper way of keeping the production up in the vegetable garden.

Of course all of this will happen after I make 18 prefold nappies for a client. She has bought me old flannel nappies (diapers for my american friends) and some terry cloth ones as well and I have to work the magic and turn them into prefolds for her baby which is due this week.

I remember when my older boys were little I had three in nappies at the same time I used to wash 40 odd nappies a day. I always remember feeling really virtuous or motherly or something hanging all those nappies on the clothesline it was like my statement to the world.

Strange after all these years I still define myself as a wife and mother - I know I do other things but that is who I am a wife and mother (and in that order).

The sewing machine beckons will post some photos of the greenhouse and the prefolds tomorrow.

daisymum