Monday

We got rain. Yay! 25mm from yesterday morning (drizzle) up till this morning.  It stopped early this morning, just in time for the fireplace guy to come and install our new fireplace.  It is all in and ready for the plumber to come and hook up the wetback. 

Still no grass though, however a friend came to the rescue with  some bales of hay that were in her back shed (for the hens and rabbits), but was good enough to sell them to us instead.  Hopefully we will be able to get some more hay to get us through until the grass grows a lot more.  Otherwise the other cow will have to go to the butcher before her time, and we will have to find freezer space somewhere.

I’m hoping to make some tomato relish in the next few days (we have a few tomatoes ready).  A friend we visited on the weekend was nice enough to share with us a book she has on the chemicals added in our commercially purchased foods.  Scary stuff, so if I can make my own stuff all the better.  I still have frozen blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and plums for more jam making.  It’s just a case of getting around to it.

I haven’t done any crafty stuff over the weekend as I picked up a book to read, and it is taking up all my attention at the present time.  Hopefully I will finish it tonight.  It’s nothing deep and meaningful, so I won’t tell you what book it is

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Still dry

Well it was raining in Masterton this morning, and raining a bit in Johnsonville where we had lunch, and even in Upper Hutt when we stopped in on our way home, but not here.  Tomorrow looks hopeful though.  We had a busy morning delivering a load of firewood to a friend, and then picking up a set of drawers for Cam, and then coming home with a huge load of other things that Aunty Sharyn was getting rid of.  Thanks Aunty Sharyn Games for the kids, clothes, drawers for my craft stuff, and a heap of cushions for Lilly’s room when it gets redecorated and this cool pony…………………

Anyone for a spot of nude pony riding?  Don’t forget your gun!

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Minky madness

Finished these lovely minky nappies yesterday (the Dino one isn’t minky), now I just have four more to make   They are so soft and snugly.  I think I will make Cam a puppet from the scraps of the leopard print (or is it Cheetah?).

Here’s a shot of Cam trying one on…………………. He thought is was hilarious.

I also had my first go at a pencil roll.  Lilly and Nathan call then Sushi Rolls.  It’s OK, not my best work.  I wasn’t really thinking logically so the next one will be a bit better.  I couldn’t really find a decent pattern so I just made it up as I went along.  Nice boy colours, and Nathan needed a pressie for a birthday today, so I only need to buy a nice set of coloured pencils to go in it and it’s done.

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Balloon Fiesta

We have the Wairarapa Balloon fiesta on at the moment.  It’s pretty spectacular when this is your morning view   Most of these are passsing directly overhead, and lots were landing in the paddocks surrounding our place.  So here are some pics so you can share our enjoyment.

This one just about landed on us!

Hope you enjoyed the show.  We will be out there again tomorrow.  This morning I had to drag Cam back inside after about half an hour, and planted him at the bedroom window so I could get some housework done.  Lilly got to see them all too as she was home waiting to be picked up to go to the Weetbix Tryathlon in Palmerston North.

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Happy Easter

We went for a bit of a drive and a walk on Friday (even the teenager was able to be pried away from the computer to get some fresh air), up to part of Tararua Forest Park on the east side of Masterton.  It was the first time we had been up there, and we didn’t end up walking very far, because we got sidetracked by this glorious swimming hole.  So we stopped and all (except Cam) had a swim.  It was a bit bracing, but quite refreshing.  The kids and Ian had fun jumping off the rocks at the side

Then when we had finished swimming we discovered all the mushrooms, so we picked those before walking back.  We had them on toast for lunch today

I finished all the plain nappies I was making (with gussets), except the white as I’m waiting on some navy snaps to arrive in the post.

And then I made my first fitted nappy with this cute wiggles flannel

And then as I haven’t got many covers I though I better make a couple

Well that’s all for now.  Don’t eat too much chocolate!

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How can you have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat?

Here is our black nose cow, on the hooks.  Not as big as we would have liked, but not too bad all the same.  Sorry to all you Vegetarians out there, but this is what we do, we grow our own food , and eat it .  We now she was treated well, fed well (especially in the drought), and had no stress of being loaded onto a truck, starved overnight etc before being killed. I’m sure we will reap the benefits of that when the meat comes back from the butcher.  Meantime I have a heat, kidneys, oxtail and some skirt to decide what to do with. Hmmmm.

Heres a pic of Cam is his PJ’s I finally finished. Cute!

And Aunty Mandy bough Cam a nice new Fancypantz nappy.  Here he is trying it on, looks nice, but alas its way too big, so I have to hope we might be able to swap it for a medium.

I’m off to try and finish a few jobs around the house, then some more sewing.  I better make a start soon on my bag for the “Homemade bag swap” that I’m doing on TNN.

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Wilting Wednesday

Jeez you would think it’s still summer (except from about 3am to 7am when it gets a bit nippy).  Supposed to be 29 here today, I’m hiding inside till it cools down this evening

No flashy pics today, the camera is still having a bit of a hissy fit, and I’m back on the old computer

I have finished two of the plain coloured naps that I had cut out, they are taking a bit longer than expected as I am adding gussets to them all (Cam has been having “stuff” fall out the leg holes of his nappies – no don’t eat the raisins off the floor dear…), hopefully the gussets will help with that.  Now I’m about to cut out a couple of pairs of PJs for Cam, and I will need to start on his sleeping bag soon, he was so cold when he got up this morning as he had no blankets on at all (after sleeping all night, what a good boy).

Anyway I promised a TNNer the pickled capsicums recipe, so here it is:

PICKLED CAPSICUMS

1kg Capsicums

2C sugar

2C water

2C white vinegar

8 cloves of garlic

1/2tsp salt per jar

1T olive oil per jar

Mustard seeds (optional)

Sterilize jars and lids.

De-seed capsicums,slice and pack into jars.  Fill the jars with boiling water.

Heat the sugar, water and vinegar. Cook till the sugar is dissolved.

Empty the water from the jars.  Add the salt and oil to each jar, add the garlic, and if you like some mustard seeds.  Fill each jar with the pickling liquid, top up with water if necessary.

Good to eat about two weeks after pickling.

I usually get about 4 jars from a kg of capsicums.  They look nicer if you can get a mix of colours.  Enjoy!

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Just another manic Monday

Don’t you just hate Monday’s?  I don’t even have to go out to work, and I still hate them.  The only bonus is that Ian usually works locally on Mondays, so we see him for lunch and he gets to come home earlier.  Cam woke me up about 6 times last night, I don’t know what was up with him, but I sure felt it today, I needed to crash about 3 this arvo.  Instead we went and cut some grass for the cows.  The biggest one is having a date with the homekill man on Thursday.  I can’t wait to get some meat in the freezer (though apart from the skirt and kidneys it won’t come back from the butcher for 2 weeks ).  We will be getting our lambs that live at J and D’s killed soon too.  Guess we will be Omnivores a bit longer aye?

The garden is still going strong, even with the pitifull amount of rain we have had.  The courgettes are still producing, and the tomatoes are good too, and we have about 4 more eggplants growing.   Silverbeet, lettuces etc still going well.  Ian has planted parsnips that have come up, as have new radishes and more potatoes.  The only casualty has been the brussels sprouts, to the cabbage moth.  Bad luck as i LOVE brussels sprouts (makes up for not being able to have brocolli or cauli )  The grey water drum has been put to good use, and is ready to water the garden tomorrow.

I am gradually sewing up all my nappy fabric, and have not purchased any for quite some time now.  Here are the latest from today.  The top one is a doublesided PUL cover with gussets (my first time sewing these), looks good, its to go over a fitted that Cam wears to bed.  The stripe is a nice woven PUL, but I’m a little disappointed in the black spot one, as I forgot to add black fleece instead of white (like i did on Iris’ one).  Nevermind.  Here is a pic of Iris in her one.

I have cut out another 7 nappies tonight, and still have enough fabric for at least another 10, not including the 5 or 6 minky ones that I will make.  I am not using any new ones yet, but will wait till they are all done, them sell off a huge bunch of the current ones we are using, them use the new stash, which will take us through till toilet training.

I made Cam a book this afternoon, using one of those little photo albums with about 12 pages in them.  I had discovered some pics that Ian took last year at the harvest festival, of traction engines and tractors etc.  Which is Cam’s sort of thing, so after printing them up he now has a book of neat photos to look at.  He loves it.

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Sunday

I got yesterdays lost job done.  These are my four jars of pickled capsicums.  Easy peasy.  Make good pressies, and taste great on crackers

I also got the two other nappies finished, but haven’t taken a pic yet.

Thats about all for today.

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Saturday night

2 out of 3 ain’t bad.  I got the tomato sauce made, there wasn’t a huge amount, as I was only using our own fruit, but enough for some pasta, a few pizza’s and some to go in the next batch of butter chicken.  I got some nappies made, not as many as I had planned, but I will go a do a bit more soon.  Here’s the ones I did earlier, the patterns on the fabric are: Wizard of Oz, stars on Orange, and  Diggers, Tractors and Trucks (def Cam’s favourite).

Ian had a busy day, the drum from the down-pipe now has a tap, and sits high enough to put a bucket under (Ian used some of our big rounds from the gum trees to sit it on), and got a couple of new sleepers, cut them to fit the space under the new washing machine.  Now it sits high enough in relation to the water collecting drum outside, and it also means that Cam can’t reach the buttons any more (bit of a pain have it paused or skipping some cycles due to little fingers), and it’s easier for me to load.  The drum for the grey water is hooked up with a tap and ready to go tomorrow.  i will take pics of all the hard work tomorrow. 

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