Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Plum Jam...

2kg of lovely plums... The wind may have knocked them about a bit but they were perfect for jam making!

I ended up with 5 large bottles and waterbathed them. They are now cooling overnight and then the clips can come off and off into the pantry... Might just open one jar, just for a bit of a taste :)

Blessings,



Bartering at its finest...

Bartering... Something I Love to do...
I got my chance today. I brought two dozen eggs from my chooks and I ended up with 2 cucumbers, 2kg of lovely plums and 3kg of the most divine peaches. 

The peaches are washed and in the process of being devoured... I think I'll water bath some tomorrow. No waste here...

The plums had been knocked off the tree by the wind so I made jam... That's the next post :)

Love how we do this in this community! Love living here...

Blessings,



Monday, December 29, 2014

Creepy Dog...

Sleeping Jasper lying on his back. Eyes rolling into the back of his sockets... 

Tim says it never gets old looking at the dog doing this and so he just had to take this picture. 

Even with the flash, he continues to snore...

Blessings,

It has finally arrived...

Russell's been waiting for the game for 3 whole months... It's finally here...

Interesting stuff he spends his personal spending money on... Needs more ships now... Apparently, it will become an addiction from what he's read on online forums...

Blessings,

A little Pudding with the Custard...

Love Pudding, love custard...

Fabulous combination!!!

Blessings,


Sunday, December 28, 2014

He's back...

Got Jasper yesterday afternoon. He had just been playing outside in the rain and  was wet. He was a wet dog that smelt nice as he had recently had a lovely bath...

He was beside himself and didn't know who to sniff, lick and kiss first...

Once in the car, he promptly fell asleep... So cute!

Glad to have him back. Missed him. We all did, especially the boys...

His first night back was quiet and relaxing, just as we all wanted it. All is well with the world... We are all back together again...

Blessings,

Friday, December 26, 2014

Ex Battery Hens update...

Their feathers continue to grow and they're fitting in very well with the others in the flock...

Seeing we had had so much rain, Tim was really busting to turn over the bricks in his slug farm to see if there were any grubs for the chooks...

This is how the ex battery hens got introduced to the longest, squirmiest  and fattest worms EVER!!! (I normally rescue the worms from the chooks and let them free in the veggie garden. The chooks get the centrepedes and other creepy crawly things. I like the worms for my garden.) And once they realized what they were and how to eat them, they got very protective of them and were not sharing ;) They loved them... Another huge step in getting their normal chook behaviour groove on ;)

I just loved watching them and loved loudly encouraging them to come and get their bit of the feast... Yep, they came and the feasted...

Blessings,


Woohoo... QCE!!!

When we got home we had a heap of mail to sort through...

One very special envelope arrived... For Timothy!

His Queensland Certificate of Education...

So proud of him... He needed to get 20 points to qualify and he had 26! Woohoo!!!  Way to go Tim!!!

Sooooo proud of you! Loved the dance in the kitchen! The world is at your feet!

Blessings,

Home again...

We got up at 6am. Left the holiday house at 7:40am and got home 10:40am... The traffic was a breeze...

It was such a joy to go on holidays. It has been way too long... It was even better coming home. Home to our breeze, rainwater and our home...

One thing we noticed as we came up our street is that we've had allot of rain and our street has deep crevices. Same with our driveway... We now also live on 8 acres of jungle. Everything is green and has had a huge growth spurt! We are supposed to have another four days of rain. I can't wait for the ground to dry out a little and then getting into the mowing and the slashing :)

The chooks greeted us as we drove up the driveway. The chicks have doubled in size. Tim and I took half from one cage and placed them into the other so they had more room. They are sooo big.

Four loads of washing later and we are all settled back into being at home.

I love being back home, in my own environment and in my own bed! Ahhh, nothing beats it :)

Blessings,


Our front house yard...


Nearly lost the car...


The Wattle has grown heaps, all in two weeks!


Little cramped...


More room...


Chicks loving their new digs...

Thursday, December 25, 2014

Lunch with Aunty Lis and her MIL...

Having lunch right on the water at Caloundra was very special for my family and I... Even more so when on Tuesday, Lis and Sheila came visiting for the day.

Fudge brownies is what got Lis in the front door and after a coffee and tea we headed out for lunch. Tim, Josh and I loved our calamari! Russell, Lis and Sheila enjoyed their sandwiches and burgers too...

Lis is Josh's Godmother and he loves her to bits. He's always joking with her and the bear hugs are getting stronger and stronger! He's also quite a bit taller than her now. Yep, he grows, we shrink... Or so it seems! I love watching the banter between the two...

Tim was very busy with a huge grasshopper at one stage and then took off to the beach...

Wonderful day... Love spending time with family...

Blessings,



Opal Scratchings...

There's a large opal shop near where we are staying... Tim was desperate to get there as he wanted to hunt for opals and other semi precious stones in their three pits. It was basically a large area where you can pick through rubble and stones and buy container worths of any stones you find and get to keep them...

Josh didn't want his container so generously gave his to Tim. He was over the moon. There were scratching in the pits for over a hour, while I looked through their showroom. You could even watch them cutting opals open and polishing them. There certainly were very expensive pieces on show. They had many displays... Even fossils! Such natural beauty... The hidden treasures in our planet truly are amazing...

Next time we go, we will take longer there and I'll pack a lunch for them ;) There's no time limit as to how long you stay and they really want to find the main prize... One of two golden nuggets! There's an extra prize in it for the finder and Tim's determined to find it :)

Maybe next time, you never know... He would need to take spare clothes though as he got soooooo dusty and dirty I barely let him back in the car :/

Blessings,



Playing silly...

Josh loves to do this... Pull faces that is...

Blessings,


Spot Josh???

On our holiday both boys have had two beds each... They both pushed them together so they had bigger beds. They're a little sad that they have to go back to single beds tomorrow when we go home...

Here Josh is trying to hide from Tim... Can you spot him???

Hint... There's an extra hand near Tim's left hand and toes showing at the top middle of the photo... Yep, he's lying snuggled in between the two beds!

Blessings,

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas Pudding...

Russell's mum has a great receipe... Made a double size one this year. Bit too big as it too an extra two hours but yummy all the same!

Made homemade custard to go with it. 1/4 of it is gone already hehe... Russell totally approves ;) So glad I brought the ingredients with us so I could still make it. Next year I think I'll make them earlier and freeze them though ;)

Blessings,


Ready for the pudding mixture...



Into the pot for five hours...



Taste testing time...

Look what I Found...

Loads of interesting things...

Blessings,









Low Tide at the Beach...

Love spending time with my men...

Had a great time at the beach today...

Blessings,