Busy day

Well I am back sewing again.  Nearly all the germs have gone.  Ian, Lilly and Matt have them now.  So I got 3 pairs of leather baby shoes made, 2 for a swap and a spare (after making the wrong size), and got 2 fitted nappies made, keen to use them at night with a cover instead of a pocket nappy.  They turned out pretty good.

Lilly went to play with the boys across the road yesterday and came home with a huge shopping bag full of field mushrooms.  So i was very productive today and dried most of them.  They sure look a lot smaller in the jar, but they are great to add to winter casseroles.  I will post a pic of them when I can get the stupid camera to talk to the computer again.

 

We are getting a little of the rain that was forecast, which is great.  The paddocks are just starting to look a bit greener now.  It will soon turn into a jungle around the house as the lawnmower has broken down (after a very hard life), I hope it is repairable, as we bought a new trailer on the weekend.  We have adjusted our plans for the sleep out, and are bidding on a door and frame on TM, so hopefully we can get some more work done on it this weekend.  I am very keen to get Nathan out there!

Well, can’t think of anything else for now.  TTFN

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A devine dinner

A friend stopped in today with some wild watercress that is growing on their land, so I made soup with for dinner, recipe courtesy of the “River Cottage Cookbook”.  It was really yummy, and we will definitely be having that again.  Easy to make too.  Here is a pic (has a poached egg in the middle ).

I managed to get my bag for the Handmade Bag Swap completed (after unpicking a few parts, stupid pattern), so I will send that away tomorrow hopefully.  Can’t post a pic of it yet until it has been received.  But I think its cute.

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Wednesday

Well at least the germs are on their way out.  For me anyway.  Nathan has a bit of Asthma, and probably some hayfever too (which he hasn’t had since August), so hes on nasal spray and 2 inhalers  for a while.  I even managed to get some sewing done last night (slippers for a friends baby), first time is quite a few days.  We have quite a bit of grass around the house, so the cows got a few catchers full tonight for their dinner.

 

We had a lot of satisfaction last night at dinner.  We had Steak, eggs, chips, tomatoes, mushrooms and bbq’d eggplant, and the only thing that wasn’t grown or foraged by us was the potatoes for the chips and half the mushrooms (the other half Ian got from the paddock across the road).  To make me feel even better Cam went to bed in a nappy and cover that I made, wearing merino jammies I made, onto sheets I made, covered with blankets I made too. That is satisfaction  

 

Well now I’ve had my wee skite, I will go and do a bit more sewing, I had some fabric turn up in the post (ordered a couple of weeks ago, before the no spend challenge), and I have so much that I need to get on with, getting off the computer now !!!

 

And a pic just because

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Sorry, I’ve been slack

I know I have been a bit slack, but I’ve got an excuse, honest.  After taking Cam to music on Friday I caught germs, so I’ve had the man-flu all weekend, and I’m still not better, worse than yesterday really.  Nathan has been coughing all weekend, so I made an appointment for him at the doctor, however I sent Ian off (who is home looking after me) to get some more wood for the sleepout (which has been started), and he forgot to leave his keys behind, so no doctor till tomorrow now

I did make some Tomato and Chilli jam on the weekend (thanks for the recipe Clare), but it hasn’t set, so will prob have to reboil it.  Bummer, tastes great though.  I still have enough tomaotes to make some relish as well, but I’m not sure when I will get round to that.

This is what a cow looks like when back from the butchers……………..

5 huge bags of meat, would have prob been 6 had she been a bit bigger.  Each bag weighs somewhere between 20 and 30kgs, so it sucked having to lift them out of the car, and then move them to the freezer.  We had sausages for dinner last night, and were having steak tonight. Yum.  Well that’s all I can remember to tell you right now. Later.

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Nathan’s sewing

Nana B gave the kids a sewing machine to use (as I’m too mean to let them on mine), so here is Nathan’s first sewing project.  It is a pressie for Lilly so shhhhhh, secret squirrel.

What a great job he did.  Now he is off to choose a new project.

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Later that same week

You may have noticed that I don’t post everyday.  Sometimes I just can’t get motivated at the end of the day, other times I have nothing to say for myself, and sometimes I have stuff to say but it’s not worth posting about (you know grouchy Mum stuff)

I have some pics from Lilly’s Weetbix Tri on the 26th March.

Swim

Cycle

And Run

And getting her medal afterwards.  Not looking quite so flash in this pic, however she did the whole run without stopping or walking which was really good considering she didn’t train.

Nathan had his swim last night, he came 4th in his event, could have been 2nd, but he forgot it was 50m instead of 25m and the ref had to remind him to do the other lap (so there was a rather large pause in his swimming).  Never-mind, I’m proud that he got that far anyway.  A huge majority of the kids in this event are swim club members, so Nathan did pretty well to get to the finals.  No pics, I forgot my camera

I was playing good Mummy on Wednesday and even did some baking, doesn’t it look nice?  Mini cheese muffins and bran muffins with sultanas.

And today I finished off a few of Cam’s replacement nappies.  Strange colour combinations I know, but I am running out of suedecloth and fleece, so I have just used what I had here.

Damn cows still costing us heaps with the drought here.  Spent another $210 on hay to keep them going a few weeks longer until we get some more grass growth.  The only upside at the moment is I will be collecting Black nose from the butcher on Monday, and the new front loading washing machine seems to be making a huge difference to the water consumption in the house tanks.

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Wednesday

Got a nappy in the post today.  Not a surprise as I was expecting it, but nice all the same.  It’s a Fancypantz nappy.  My lovely sis bought it for Cam.  It is one of the very few nappies that I have that I didn’t make myself.  It fits like a glove (now that we have the right size ) and I’m very impressed.  If anyone is purchasing cloth nappies instead of making their own, this is one of the brands I would buy.  The service was fantastic.  The pattern is a great shape and the quality of fabric and workmanship is top notch!  Thanks Fancypantz.  I have tried a few commercial nappies, but haven’t been too impressed, I can usually make them better myself (and cheaper too), but I thought this new one is lovely.  I tried to get a pic of Cam wearing it, but he wouldn’t sit (or stand) still long enough.

I harvested more veges today.  Two large eggplants, a large courgette and heaps of tomatoes.  That is the end of the cherry tomatoes (never-mind the others are still producing), and I think the courgettes are done.

Nathan is off to the Wairarapa swim champs tomorrow night to compete in the 11yr breaststroke.  I wish I could watch, but Ian will still be at work and Cam won’t be happy to sit at the pools for over an hour, so I’m dropping him off and getting a friend to bring him home afterwards.  Lilly is going along to cheer him on.

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Tuesday

Well I have quite few things to post pics of, so here goes…

Matt needed to do a logo for his homework, so I asked for one for me   Neat isn’t it.

A busy days sewing today.  2 pairs of fleece slippers, and purple suede shoes made to order for a friend.  Underneath them a skirt for me made of Burgundy stretch denim.

The new fireplace, probably doesn’t look like much, but its smaller than our old one, and more than twice as efficient, and is one of the cleanest burning on the market.  This year we will finally be able to turn off the power to the hot water cylinder during winter and save a bit of power.  We can’t rebuild up the brick surround until the plumber has been to reconnect the wetback though.

Jack sitting inside the stump in his mouse watching place (the grass was too wet to sit on).

This pic was taken of Lilly a couple of weeks ago at a friends birthday.  Lilly was in the air at the time (jumping on the tramp) Great pic !

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