Tada glasses...

Joshua's new glasses...

Today I picked up Joshua's glasses. Wow they look good on him. Here is with my friend Lisa's kids James and Kate. :) I just hope they last a long time...

Cheers Damaris

Worms...

Guess what I am doing today???

Cheers Damaris

Sausages update...

Sausages in the pan... no spitting of fat, loved it. :)

My plate with pasta and white sauce (Bimbi made that in 7mins by herself...)

I can say without a doubt that they were the best I have tasted, EVER...

Because it was chicken breast, garlic, leek, salt and brown rice flour there was basically no fat in it apart from the casing... They were so dense and just soooo beautiful. We have five left so they will be a dinner for the boys and I next week when Russell is back at work. The rest are frozen. I can't wait to eat them either.

The boys just loved them as well. They were so dense that they couldn't even finish the two that each of them had... Going to try and not have store bought again I think... They are just too good when you know what is in them. :)

We are taking some with us camping tomorrow so it will be good to see how they turn out on the BBQ as well. :)

Cheers Damaris

Chicken Sausages anyone???

Ready to go...

First lot of sausages... after a little bust...

Russell twisting the sausages together...

Finished product ready for the fridge and freezer...

Today was the day to tick off another thing of my To Do List... Making our own sausages in casings... Have made sausages before but not with the sausage maker and with casings...

We got ours from the only butcher in town that sold it. What the??? Not happy about that and ended up having to pay $7.50 for about 5kg's worth. Not happy with that price either so will look elsewhere.

We got 3.5kg of chicken breasts from Aldi on the way home as that way it only costs $8.99 per kilo as you are buying bulk. Love that price and no one ever matches or betters it so I get them there. Love Aldi anyway :)

Bimbi got a workout mincing all of the breasts and we also made brown rice flour in it, chops the leek and garlic. All was mixed together and then we put it through the sausage maker...

As you can see from the pictures it was a great success... One lot of sausages kept breaking as they didn't have enough air pockets in the sausages. They will be eaten tonight. Yum!!!

Russell also did a fantastic job doing all of the twisting. He was rather professional at it too... Was very proud of his efforts and bragged to my Mum straight away. hehe

Can't wait for tonight now to enjoy them. Others are being frozen for later usage... Like this weekend when we go camping. woohoo...

Cheers Damaris

Guess what I am doing today...

Sad looking glasses...

Well it could include ringing the Optometrist and finding out if he can fit in Joshua so that we can get his eyes checked and I can at the same time buy new glasses for him... The old ones are looking very sad and sorry indeed and need replacing. He can't wear them anymore... Don't ask me how it happened. Neither of the boys are admitting being the guilty party. Must have been sat on or stood on. Was on the coffee table fine one minute, the next they were not so fine...

I must say that I am a little worried with him riding to school without them but as he leaves when there is no traffic he will be OK. In the afternoon he goes together with friends as well so again he will be OK.

Strange looking at him without them on actually. Am so used to seeing them on the bridge of his nose. And he has only had them for 1.5 years...

Hope he gets a new pair within about a week, if not sooner...

Cheers Damaris

Sago...

Loving Russell's cooking...

You know I thought I had never tasted it but when Russell finished making the Lemon Sago Cups and us all trying some, I realised that I have had it when I was a young kid. I don't know what my mum would call it in Austrian, must ask her, but I really do remember it. Was amazing to realise that. :)

Tasted rather yummy. The boys didn't like it too much and have saved their bits worth so that I can have it over the next week or so. :)

Cheers Damaris

The tramp is Back...

Timothy and Joshua on the trampoline...

Joshua rolling on Timothy...

Our dear friend Russ came on Friday and and did a bit of welding on one of the support beams on the trampoline. The boys love their trampoline. When friends see them on there they are amazed at what acrobatic maneuvers they can achieve. Yes they are very talented.

That late afternoon they got out some blankets and jumped on there together... Was good to see them on there again. Thanks again Russ for fixing it for the boys. :)

Cheers Damaris

My Bokashi Bin...

Russell came home with this bin about six months ago as a little gift for me and I have only filled it twice. I must really use it more often. It is even starting to have cobwebs on it. Not good... They are so useful really... Anything that has ever been alive can go in there. Even bones...

My problem though is that I just don't use allot of what would be OK to go in there. Whatever I can use as scraps goes to the chooks and so it should I think... I do use allot of potato at the moment though with the Elimination Diet so could put them in there instead of the trash...

I am going to have to move it where I can have easier access to it. At the moment it is stuck in the corner near my chopping boards. Out of sight, out of mind I think. OK going now to change its spot. :)

Cheers Damaris

Where oh where are the eggs...

My haul from yesterday... not impressive at all...

Now I don't mean to sound harsh. I don't ask for allot from my girls. I love to watch them with their antics and love to throw them scraps. We are down to two mature roosters. One normal size, Bruce and the other is a bantam, Lion. The rest are girls or immature males yet to crow...

So in total I think there are about 38 hens or so. So what the heck is happening to my eggs??? I only got one egg yesterday. Three today and most days over the last week or so... I am sooo not impressed I must say... I have looked around to see if they are stashing them somewhere else but alas can't find any...

I will have to be careful with my stash of 4 doz I think... This is not looking good... They are going into moult again but most combs are bright red so there should be something coming out the other end... Will see what happens. Might keep a count diary for now...

Cheers Damaris

Lest we Forget...

ANZAC service leaflet...

In Australia and New Zealand we have a very special day today... It is ANZAC day. It is on this day every year that we remember the fallen, maimed and injured (body or mind). We remember the sacrifice that they made for our countries to be free. For us to have choice.

We have our service at our local park every year. There is a beautiful plaque and the school children walk down from school to join the rest of the community to remember. It is a service I am very proud to attend every year and I am grateful that the lovely people from the RSL come out every year to hold it for us...

Must say this year I was also very proud of Joshua. He sat there for an hour. Stood some of the time and always took his hat off when required. He was still the whole time... Others around him got in a little trouble and couldn't quite sit still and where bending their bodies all sorts of ways. Yes the planks of wood where probably not too comfortable either. Maybe the diet is starting to work??? Here is hoping...

Cheers Damaris

Nail Art...

Pretty nails for my Anniversary...

For my Anniversary back in March, I got my nails done so that they would look nice. Tiffany from Flavio Spa and Nails in Warwick is the only one I go to... Love her stuff. She was even nice enough to shout me a couple of lovely nail art decos... Isn't she clever???

Cheers Damaris

Loot here one day, gone the next...

Love our candles...

Timothy loved this shop. It was in Warwick for a while and I loved to visit in there. There were always lovely little trinkets to get. Especially for Timothy. If I was out shopping and could not find him, I always knew to look in there and he would be there alright. He loved to see what they had changed in the shop from the last time that he had visited... Strange for a boy that hates change.

He also loved feeling the silky pillows. They were the best... Well this shop has closed. It closed about a month ago now and he still misses it. At the end of their huge sale that they were having I got a whole box of candles which is a nice memory. Problem is they are nearly all gone. They never last as long as I want them to. :) We use them most nights during the week and I don't use my night light really anymore. Only to chase a mozzie... I always use candles these days... So much more peaceful I find.

When we went to the beach during the holidays we did go to Pacific Fair as I mentioned before. Well while there we visited their Loot store and it was huge. Allot bigger than what we ever had and you should have seen Timothy. He was in heaven. He went back to it three times. He loved seeing all that stuff again... Allot of things had been bought there over the two and a bit years that it was in Warwick (with us living here too...)

But we will always have the memories... Or just go to another Loot. There is one in Toowoomba I hear... :)

Cheers Damaris

Being silly...

The ceiling fan in my room...

The two way bathroom to my left...

This is what I saw when sick in bed yesterday...

Cheers Damaris

My best friend...

This book has become my best friend. Along with the DVD and the Failsafe Cookbook. They are all brilliant. Love to watch the DVD with friends and get them to see what we are doing and they can then clearly see why.

I read allot out of the books at the moment and all recipes come from there as well. We are eating very well and enjoying the variety. In allot of ways I wish that this variety and research had been done 10 years ago when I first started looking into doing the Elimination Diet. Back then there was hardly any foods you could eat and Carob tasted Horrible... Today it is a much easier project. And that is how I am looking at it for us. We are doing a project together. Our little family.

Once we have ironed out reactions on the Elimination Diet we can go on and do Challenges. That I am not looking forward to as much. Why rock the boat??? Things are starting to get good with Joshua as a whole. I am getting better too. Russell and I are still sick and I must say after being sick for five days now I am so over it. I am not the world's greatest patient. I want to do things. I can't understand the waste of time. But it has taught me to listen to my body more. I needed the rest of I would not be able to sleep at night. No problems there. So I will keep listening. That will also be good for this project as our bodies must be listened to I believe.

Timothy in the meantime at the moment is actually getting worse. He is as high as a kite first thing in the morning and at night... He is going through withdrawals a week later than Joshua but better late than never. hehe

Here is hoping we have a good weekend. We have not planned anything as Russell and I are still recovering from being ill but may do a spot of shopping tomorrow...

Cheers Damaris

Joshua's two loves...

Joshua eating and reading...

He loves to read and he loves to eat... :) He is enjoying the Failsafe eating which is great. This picture was taken in the kitchen while I was doing dishes after dinner. He was having a snack and reading his latest find from the Library to me. Andy Griffith. He loves his writings and has gotten into reading even more because of him...

Cheers Damaris

Baking time...

Muffins for Russell's lunches...

Pear jam. Should last a while. :)

On the weekend we mostly cook and bake. That is how it has been for the last two weekends anyway. That was not really sitting too well with Russell and I. He comes home and all we are is in the kitchen. The kitchen is large enough for each of us to be working on different little projects which is just as well and we do work together very well. We always have. As nice as it is... I wanna spend time with him and the boys.

So changes have been made and now we no longer have a Low Electricity Wednesday. We have turned it into a No Technology Wednesday and am wanting the same for Friday's as well. Will keep you posted how the boys respond to that one. hehe We will still have our candles at night and cook as little as possible but basically I am baking allot more now that all is made from scratch. Made a huge batch of Pear Jam on the weekend and that should last a little while. Goes really well in the muffins that we make. Yummy...

Must say the Thermomix is getting one heck of a work out and glad too. Saving us allot of time and it has been really easy to adjust the recipes from other books to the Thermie... This has been a blessing as there are allot of recipes in the Thermie cookbook that are off limits at the moment. So the Failsafe Cookbook by Sue Dengate is coming in very handy. Loving all the recipes... We are also finding that Carob is very easily exchanged for chocolate. Russell made the best Carob pudding and from scratch-made custard on the weekend. Yummmmmy. I know I go on and will for some time though as it has been hard to adjust to us not eating Anything while out. Makes it very hard...

Russell and I are sick at the moment and have been since about Sunday. This is also diet related and to be expected apparently. Wish it was not so. This afternoon I am starting to feel normal again. All stuffy in the head really but that is when I feel my worst. Am so glad that we are eating this new way as it is coming out of our system slowly but surely...

Cheers Damaris

Truly a God moment...

Our free panels...

Last week I got a cheque in the mail. I had been expecting it but not for $1000. Only for $700. You see we had to pay a deposit of $1000 originally back in June 2009 for our solar panels to be installed. The amount would be held in trust and then the balance returned 60 days after installation. We got ours on 20 January 2010.

We are in a rural setting though. We are further than 75km from the Brisbane CBD which meant that we had to pay for a $300 travel fee.

So back to the cheque. I got it and was rather surprised that it was for the full amount that we originally gave them and no travel fee had been taken off at all. I called the company and the young lady I spoke to asked me to wait while she spoke to her Manager...

She comes back on the phone and says to me that in this case I am entitled to the whole amount back and thanked me for being honest either way... What the??? I asked again, are you sure... We are further than 75km from the CBD. Yes, I was assured. It was our money.

Well there you go... Never in a million years did I suspect that that would happen. :) That extra money paid for the holiday outings that we had during the week before. How grateful I am...

Cheers Damaris

Have not been to one of these in a long time...

The Happy Couple...

My friend Bec was having her Engagement Party last night and I was lucky enough to be invited. :) I went on my own as Russell didn't feel comfortable going. He didn't know her or Mark so wanted to stay home. He had the boys which was good too as Joshua was going through a little bit of withdrawals we think. Friday and Saturday he was rather teary and easy upset. Nothing was turning out right for him and he just didn't like himself at all... Best they stay home when that is going on.

I am glad that I was able to go out by myself. I am very thankful to Russell for doing things with the boys while I was gone. I got home just before 11pm which is a really, really late night for me. I was soooo tired driving home...

A wonderful time was had by everyone I reckon. Young and old alike. :)

Congratulations again Mark and Bec. :)

Cheers Damaris

Lizard...

Lizard visiting... now free :)

There I was going outside to feed some scraps to the chooks and ducks... I got the fright of my life as I went to go for the door handle when I saw this huge lizard. Have not seen a pretty one like that one so close in a while. You could see its heart beating and it was dashing from here to there... He got in from the bottom of the screen door as we have a hole in it from when mice chewed through it the first year we were here. Was a bit of a plague. They never got inside the house but they sure tried.

I tried to get it to go out by opening the screen door as I had the dogs inside. If there would have gotten ahold of it they would have eaten it...

It kept going down the screen so I quickly got the dogs to go in the laundry. Bribed them with food. hehe. Then I left the lizard under my painting table to settle. Joshua got home half an hour later and caught it. He let it go outside somewhere safe, thank goodness... a life saved. lol

Cheers Damaris

Now what??? Chook food indeed...

Don't ask how he got it home... :)

Timothy came home really excited yesterday. He bought out a heap of veggies that he had harvested at school and wanted to show me them. They were mostly white zucchinis. He had worked hard at maintaining them and loved to take whatever he could home.

He shares mostly though as there are way too many veggies for our little family of four. When he brought them home I thought straight away: "What am I going to do with them???" We are not able to eat them as we are on the Elimination Diet. This means that we would have to let it go bad. Most of them were too big to give away as they would not have any flavour in them either.

In the end I made sure I gave lots and lots of praise but this morning once Timothy had left for school I did chop it all up and fed it to the chooks. You should have seen them and the ducks. They loved it all and did not leave anything behind. :)

Apparently they are growing watermelon at the moment... We are not able to eat that one either. Oh well, we will see how we go by the time they are ripe. We could use one as a challenge I guess. :)

Cheers Damaris

Conversion from Apples to Pears...

Timothy's empty bowl of peeled pears...

Well I must admit I never ever thought it was possible... Timothy loves his apples. Green or red, don't matter. hehe He can have up to eight a day if I let him or if he sneaks them during the night. He was in effect addicted...

This I wanted to curb. And we have done it!!! With the Failsafe adventure that our family is on now since Sunday we started getting him used to having only soft pears (peeled) during the holidays. He took to it like fish in water I must say. He is allowed two a day and he knows that that is a strict rule of the Elimination Diet. I use pears in sorbet and try to make all things pear but not too much either. We are not reliant on fruit too much anyway. As the Fed Up book by Sue Dengate states... "Fruit isn't there for humans only it is actually a tree's sexual organ".

Timothy now usually has one peeled in the morning and one at night just before bed. Bit of a ritual. And a great one. I can't believe it but we did it. No more screeching for more apples. Yay!!!

Gotta be happy with that. :)

Cheers Damaris

No Technology Antics...

Bailey and Nova are very loved...

Gummy and Sunny all over Joshua.

Sunny trying to get some sleep :)

My boys have over the last year become rather resourceful when it comes to playing and doing things that don't include technology. Just what I am wanting to achieve. They are playing really nicely together more often than not as well.

Yesterday morning Timothy and I got up and before I had even gotten out of my bed Joshua told me the list of things he had done already... They were:

Made his bed, turned his night light off, made Timothy's bed (yes he had a nightmare and was in mine again), turned off Timothy's night light, let the dogs out and fed them, let the chooks and ducks out, shut the cockatiel up when he started making too much noise so not to wake me up... How excellent was that. All on his own without being asked. I told him a couple of times during the day how proud I was of him... He seemed to appreciate it. :)

Then later they took out Gummy and Sunny. That was nice. Gummy has all his flying feathers so kept bumping into windows... He was not learning. Sunny couldn't as hers were clipped but she was content to sleep on any one's shoulder. :)

All in all with all the riding around on bikes and friends that visited it was a most wonderful way to spend Pupil Free Day, our last day of the holidays.

Cheers Damaris

Best porridge...

This morning's Porridge... :)

I know I am very biased at the moment. All new this Thermomix business. But Bimby is fitting in very well into our little family.

Yesterday I made beautiful Buttermilk bread. Don't tell Russell. Think he wanted to do that recipe first as he had been the one to buy the Buttermilk in the first place. :) I made pikelets as well which went down a treat.

This morning Joshua asked for Porridge. Not one to shy from trying something new I got out the book, saw that it was failsafe and went for it. The end result was two servings of the most beautiful porridge I have ever tasted. So creamy as made just on A2 milk. He put Golden syrup on his and I put sugar on mine. How devine...

I can just imagine making this in the dead of winter when there is ice on the ground outside and just wanting to dive into it. :) What I love most though is that I put the ingredients into Bimby and had 8 minutes to do something else. I went outside and fed the chooks. As I was coming back to the house Joshua told me that it was done and beeping... How cool is that? No more standing at the stove.

Another thing I love is that even when we baked up a storm on Sunday making about 12 different recipes, that there was hardly any dishes in the sink all day long. Couple of spoons, one measuring cup. That sort of thing only. And I thought at first that it would be a pain to wash Bimby all the time but you don't really. It is just so easy. Wish I had of found it years ago... Well I knew about it about a year ago but wasn't game to even ask Russell about it due to the expense.

Best thing we have bought in a VERY long time...

Cheers Damaris

Timothy shines at the Warwick Show...

Timothy waiting for his number to be called. (21)

Timothy (second sheet from right) judging sheep...

No not literally... :) Last Friday and Saturday, Timothy was apart of the Warwick SHS team for the Sheep Pavilion. He had an absolute ball.

Friday he had to judge good and bad points of four Ewes. He had two minutes to look over, touch etc four girls and then put them in order of favourite to least favourite. No he didn't get any ribbons but then again he was the only one that had his first go and there were 52 students all up... We ended up leaving at just before 9pm and got home rather late. Straight to bed for both of us.

He had a ball doing it thought, did I say that already??? I was very proud of him and tried to suss out for him what he would have to do in advance. One thing about Aspy kids, they don't like to have things just thrown at them. New situations freaks them out, Timothy anyway. So when I got there I asked as many people as possible what would be happening. Then I would relay that to Timothy in a really simply termed way for him so that he could understand. Most of the time though he just wanted to touch and play with the sheep. He was in heaven. He loves the animals so much.

Saturday morning was an early start. I got him up at 5:15am and we were gone by 5:30am. Got to the showgrounds at 6am and were let in for free which was lovely. He got to the Cattle Pavilion as that was were they were having breakfast as a whole team. He could have had breakfast at home but then he would have missed that whole team experience and I wanted him to have that as much as possible. Breakfast was not quite ready when we got there so instead he started filling up buckets with feed for the cattle for Ms Cox, his Agricultural teacher. He was happy to be left and knew he could as a teacher what he should be doing next.

He lead sheep that morning, twice. They didn't do what he wanted. He had no previous experience but gave it a go. He was sad that he didn't have the experience as others that were in Year 9 got ribbons and he didn't. They were ribbons for the sheep though not the handlers. Was hard for him to understand that one as he couldn't see that.

I picked him up at 1pm as previously agreed. The lady at the gate again let me in without having to pay as I was only there to just pick up Timothy and there I met a boy that was seasoned... :) He had dirty jeans, from working hard and a huge smile on his face. He was very tired as he had not sat down all morning and was definitely ready to go home.

Once home I made sure he quickly had a shower as trust me, he stank... all those lovely animal smells. Oh what a weekend it has been for him. His teachers all thought he did great and even some of the kids were very encouraging... I hope he can keep going to Ag as he really loves it. At the SHS they only do it for one term though in Year 8, not that I have told him that yet... That will come. Tomorrow maybe. Must do it before he gets his new timetable or he will freak out. Don't want that...

Cheers Damaris

New bread tin...

I think we are getting another couple of these. Russell found this one on special for $17 in Myers last week while browsing Brisbane kitchen shops for bread tins that had a lid on them. I was wanting to make bread from the dough that the Bimby would knead in 2 mins. Then leave to rise for 1/2hr. Put in cold oven for a second rise as it warms up to 200 degrees for 40 mins. Was beautiful, fluffy and baked to the top of the tin. Fantastic end result. I will be make two or three of these and freezing what I don't immediately need from now on.

The loaf that I do use I will be storing in a Tupperware container for bread. Very happy with the new bread. Very different to the bread maker that is for sure. Much more of a loaf size and easier to cut as well so no wastage or really thick pieces of bread as I used to make...

Cheers Damaris

Our new Bimby has arrived...

Have a look at that list, all for Breadcrumbs...

Our Bimby in action...

What we had made by 10am :)

That is what the Italians call the Thermomix. And that is what we have named ours... We got it yesterday and have not really stopped using it. Before 10am we had all that stuff done above, baking included. Then came the Pear sorbet which is delish and the breadcrumbs from homemade bread. Look at the label above, shop bought breadcrumbs has tuna amongst a million other additions as well. YUK. Am so not using that. The whole packet ended up being given to the chooks.

I must say that it has been so worth the money and will continue to be. I am fast getting used to the whole one bowl thing and love making so much stuff and not stuffing the sink full of dishes. I truly love it. :) Another huge bonus is that it only costs 17c to run per hour. How cool is that???

The boys are also super impressed with all that is coming out of the oven, one after the other. Funny to watch. When we put in Anzac Bikkies, they were not done and we had the short bread ready to go in and then another biscuit recipe in straight after that. We also made a bean dip to use instead of Tomato Sauce as that is not failsafe. We will see how that one goes. Tastes good also. The boys are doing well trying everything which I am very grateful for.

Tonight is Roast Chicken with Bimby Mashed Potato. Can't wait. Might make something delish for desert as well. :) So much to choose from. And we are also finding it allot easier then we thought to incorporate normal recipes with the Bimby. Great way to encourage failsafe eating...

Loving it all the way. :)

Cheers Damaris

Learning all about the Tractor...

Me, doing the mowing thing...

It has been put off for quite a while now... I had wanted to learn the tractor from the beginning but Russell insisted that I read the whole HUGE manual first. Well wasn't doing that so left him to it all by himself. Approached the subject again not long ago and he said: "Sure why not. :)"

And that lesson came the other day. He showed me what to do and stayed with me the whole time. Thank you Russell. I don't think I could have done it on my own... Will try and be adventuress and try to do it on my own when I am more familiar with the machine though. Will be good to be able to mow with it when he is not home during the week. There are 8 acres to do as we don't have Lavender and Lorray with their babies anymore.

Must take my iPhone with me next time though and put on some tunes... Engine is rather loud for me.

Another thing of my "To do list". Woohoo

Cheers Damaris

Reading time...

Timothy, reading...

Kids playing on Wednesday...

When we have No Technology Day, I must say I am always pleased when it also happens in the Holidays. This week has been no exception. On Monday as usual no technology was used so the boys had to amuse themselves another way.

We had allot of bike riding done that day. Three lots of trips into the village and one big lot of jumping their jump out the front of the house yard. Was good to see them also be aware that if they got on their bikes, helmets must be worn. I didn't even have to remind them. :)

Another thing that Timothy loves to do is read. He takes a book from our little library and takes off into my room, loves to sit on the big bed and cross-legged there he will sit for hours and read books from front to back. I love watching him and even take a little siesta next to him as I know he will not move. He does tell me sometimes what he is reading if he is really excited or shocked by the information but usually is really quiet. Last Monday was no exception.

Then last Wednesday we had some unexpected little friends over. This day is our Low Electricity Day which meant that they couldn't again have any electronic toys on at all. They didn't know what to do with themselves at first but with a little encouragement from Joshua they soon got the hang of it. :) They ended up playing a board game for about two hours as well as a whole heap of painting. Ended up being finger painting as well which ended up a huge mess but they had fun. As I say, Water will just about clean anything up, including paint or mud...

So a good couple of days was had by all. :)

Cheers Damaris

Time for the Beach and some investigating...

Perfect day, hardly anyone there...

Joshua the water boy...

Timothy burying himself...

My Darling Hubby, Russell...

This week Russell has been blessed enough to have some holidays. He is enjoying it immensely from what I can tell. :) On Tuesday we were originally to take advantage of Cheapy Tuesday at the Movies in town but they were not showing anything that the boys were really interested in so we decided that this was a great opportunity to get out and visit the beach instead.

We took the back way of getting there so it took us just over two hours. But what a ride. The trees, the houses dotted around the place. It was magical really. I loved it.

We got there and had had a forecast of rain but that stayed away while the boys and Russell took to the water. I walked around in the sand and water but didn't go in. I never do. I did once and still had my glasses on and ended up getting dumped by a wave and lost them. That sorted me out... I love the beach, don't get me wrong but don't go in. I took lots of photos with my new iPhone which was cool. I must say that it was cool to use. The clarity in the end results was great.

After the boys had their water fix and Joshua ended up with major boggy board rash, we went to Pacific Fair at Surfers Paradise. There we had our last McDonald's. Timothy had a failsafe McDonald's ice cream for dessert. Russell, Joshua and I had Baskin Robins for our last non failsafe treat. :)

I must say that it is good to be able to take the boys out and find that McDonald's has ice cream that is failsafe, not the cone mind you but the ice cream itself is... We spent quite a bit of time in various shops looking for Carob powder Carob buttons but came up with nothing. Apparently the Health food shop that used to be at Pacific Fair went out of business as there were too many Chemists around. Mind you they didn't have much of a range either...

We have certainly learnt allot over the last couple of weeks about what is failsafe and what is not. It is amazing how many chemicals that are in fruit and veggies alone... The toxic chemicals that they produce in order to protect themselves from bugs and insects. They are called salicylates and can have bad reactions in kids and adults alike.

I am counting down to us going totally failsafe. End of this week... My Thermomix (being called Bimby, as in Italy) is coming on Saturday and I can't wait for my demo at 2pm. It will be so wonderful to see it in action and to see how much it will help me make wholesome foods from scratch. One of our big aims with moving out here has always been that and it feels sooooo good to finally realise that. :)

The boys are amazing us as well. Melting moments and other snacks made failsafe have been an absolute hit. They are convincing friends how good it will be for them and when I offered Timothy Jelly Beans yesterday, he said to me: "No thanks Mum, they are not failsafe." Am so proud of him. Not that I was tricking him, I genuinely was offering to him but fantastic choice...

So we are progressing well towards our goal. Today we are off to Warwick to do some major failsafe shopping. More containers will have to be bought as well. All in preparation for Saturday. Will be a great day I think. :)

Cheers Damaris

New Toy...

My new toy... my iPhone

Well I have bitten the bullet and finally bought an iPhone... I am getting used to it but there is one thing that my old phone has that the new one doesn't... A flash with the camera. Did not even think to ask in the shop. Will get used to that I guess. The camera is slightly better than the old and I must say that it is soooo much easier to put information into the iPhone.

Here is hoping that it lasts as long as the old phone if not longer... :)

On another note, Happy Easter to everyone. I know we are having a very blessed weekend this end. Hope you are too. :)

Cheers Damaris

Steam Mop...

Mop 'sock'

I had never thought of getting one of these but when I was at Margaret's not long ago, I saw the end result of where she had used a friend of hers and the end result was amazing. I had wanted to get one since then if only to make cleaning the floors easier than using a mop.

Russell normally does the job of mopping but I wanted to be able to do it myself. He has been a fabulous help ever since my hand operation but felt the need to take that job back off him. As it is he is still ironing his own shirts. Now that I don't mind so much... hehe

So I ordered one online and had it delivered. I got it out and all the bits fitted. It did a great job hissing at me and then I started to use it. I must say that it is still very heavy for me and at the end of doing my whole house, I can say that I was exhausted. My hand was rather sore too... Must do it in two goes next time. I ended up using three of the cotton 'socks' as I call them for the base for cleaning. I only refilled it once so got the house done with 1.6l of water. It got some very old shoe marks off as well which I thought was wonderful. The tiles in the bathroom and toilet have not looked that good in a while either...

Probably not something that I would use every week though but good to have for those extra good cleans. :)

On another note today is my 200th post. Woohoo... Can't believe it that I am there already. :)

Cheers Damaris

Finally a tidy Linen closet again...

Nice and neat, just what I like...

I like to have my linen closet, any closet for that matter, very nice and tidy. Helps me to be calm and ensures that I can find what I need when I need it.

Well, the Linen was starting to go all over the place. Piles were starting to merge and there was way too much stuff in there that was not even being used... So drastic action was called for. :)

I ended up taking down the towels from the top shelf so that the boys would be able to reach it as well. No more messy piles there. :) I also got rid of flat single sheets and will actually cut them up into cleaning rags. I don't use them on the beds so why have them in the cupboard.

I got rid of a 94l container full of just stuff. There was even material from 20 years ago that I found. Might make something out of that one day. Yeah right!!!

All in all I took 8 large recycle bags to Lifeline. They loved me off course. :) Hope allot of people benefit from my newly rearranged linen closet. :)

Cheers Damaris