New line...

Pegs aligned and waiting for something wet lol

My washing line :)

One thing that has always annoyed me is that we have no shade at all on our property... 8 acres of no shade... This means that when I put out my sheets for drying they are not sheltered at all from the harsh sun, especially in summer... I have been saving for a while to get myself a folding clothesline that I could put up on the eastern side of the house so that I could put out my sheets late morning and they would dry in the shade, therefore not making any sun lines on them... I know bit OCD but there you have it...

Well I now finally have it and Russell and I put it up the other week. Have used it already and am loving it. :) Hangs a load which is great and all protected from the nasty sun... Loving it :)

Cheers Damaris

Fiona making a sling...

Fiona hard at it :)

Phoebee asleep :)

When Fiona and I go walking we have to take her two youngest kids with us as her hubby is away at the moment for the term teaching up north...

I had no trouble using the backpack for Phoebee but knew that we had a bit of a challenge for Lewie...

So at the end of July we talked about maybe seeing if we could make something. That morning we had nothing else to do so spent the majority of the morning with some left over material and my sowing machine... Yep, I held the baby while Fi did the sowing. Lol

She did a great job... The sling works really well too...

Was a fun way to spend the morning together and Phoebee even slept on me as well. She is soooo cute... :)

Cheers Damaris

Out with the old, in with the new...

Out with the old broken line...

In with the new green line :)

My washing line this time has only lasted three years. I was rather disappointed as at my previous houses I had had them for so much longer. I would have to say that it must be the quality or lack thereof as on each corner there are the cracks showing up. Some lines even have it in the middle as well. So brittle... I realise that the sun has something to do with it also but like I said previous lines have lasted 9 years and longer... Go figure...

The frame of the line was still in excellent condition so I didn't want to fork out the money for a whole new line so went to my local hardware store instead...

From what I could tell you could unscrew the bolts and actually replace the line itself. That sounded like a great option to me. Mrs Olsen helped me get the line and with my Carer's Card I saved another 10% on top of the already low price. Needed 55 metres so opted for the two lots of 30 metres. Love that hardware...

Russell has replaced 30 metres of the line and is looking good. The old frayed bits are in the bin and am so glad that it will be all replaced soon. The old line had only twine in the middle of the plastic coating. This time I have a metal rod in the middle of the plastic coating. What I also really like is that this one is coloured green like the rest of the line. The old line was white and discoloured easily...

The rest of it should be done in the next week when we can get to it. Have tried out the new line already and works very well. :)

A new line for a fraction of the cost of a whole new one. :)

Cheers Damaris

15 days only...

Rain in the distance...

Heavy clouds late yesterday afternoon...

Saw on the front of the local paper yesterday... Between now and Christmas there will only be 15 days, scattered, of sunshine...

Hmmmm, must say that that is not too good a prospect as I like to have my washing dried by the sun and not with the dryer. I got one when Russell and I were engaged... It was from my first Step Dad's boss' house... He was refurbishing the whole huge house they had and the cream dryer was not white as all the new furnishings were so it had to go. Had hardly been used and I got it for the bargain of $75. That was in 1992... It is still going strong. Should too as have only used it a dozen times or so in all that time. I seriously only use it when I really can't get out of it...

So here is hoping we have at least more half days of sunshine so that I can get my washing dry. Whites are out at the moment, the sun is up at the moment but there are very black clouds out and about that threaten the drying of my colours that I am about put out... Wish me luck I get them in again this arvo. :)

Cheers Damaris

Another job finished...

Finally the towel rack is up...

Towels at the ready. :)

There is always something to do around here and this is another job that has been completed... finally...

Last weekend we had trouble getting the towel rack up as we didn't have the right wall plugs. The lady in the hardware shop sold us the wrong stuff so Russell had to get different ones during the week. He was armed and ready this morning. :) hehe

So here is the end result. There are four rods so we could all use one towel each but what we have decided to do is the boys use one and Russell and I use one. Cuts on the washing as well. Only drying freshly washed bodies after all. This way also because I still put together all four rods we can hang them over two rods each and this will aid with drying. :) Win, win all round. hehe

Cheers Damaris

What are you doing today???

Hope I have time to paint today. Missing it...

Yesterday I treated myself to a pedicure in town. Love it when I get a chance to do that. Today though I need to bake two loaves of bread, bake a heap of muffins with pear as well as carob and make yoghurt chicken for dinner.

Russell comes home tonight and I can't wait to see him. I like to have a nice meal ready for him for when he walks in the door. I know he appreciates it also so easy to do. :)

So today my day consists of using my Thermomix allot, hanging out washing and bringing in washing, folding and putting it away. I will also try and get some painting in there as well... Quick sweep of the floor and I am done for the week. :)

Cheers Damaris

Audit Update...

Time for reflection...

I thought I would take this opportunity to just let everyone know how our family went in last week's audit...

It started on the Saturday with the Family Plan being created just for us. This has given us great focus for the next 12 months at least. We have done everything that we set out in our plan to do during this week. This included:

We collected chicken and cow manure for the compost.

I reduced the amount of milk that I take from Lorray so that we don't have any go off anymore.

The boys started to regularly collect kindling from a kind neighbour and we are giving her milk in return.

I have asked another neighbour about fixing our tractor and that hopefully will be done within a month.

I have asked another person from our village about helping plant our seedling trees when we get them in spring.

Other things that we continued this week were:

Monitoring our electricity usage and putting the information into a spreadsheet.

Wednesday we only used 0.3kWh for our Low Electricity Day.

We spent no money this week at all as per Rhonda's blog. We are rather proud of that one and ended up saving over $140 for the week on groceries alone.

Made a monthly menu plan.

Yesterday I had a day to myself. It was lovely and I went to the Beaudesert Dexter Breed Show. Yes it started two hours later than originally scheduled but I had a ball. It was lovely to see our breeders and show them pictures of our three. I nearly sold my single milking machine. Shame, could have done with the room in the shed... I will actually get a little more serious about it soon as I would rather see someone else using it than it just sitting there.

Really this week has been very productive. I am still working on things as we go but today is a stay-at-home day, which I love and am really looking forward to. I will milk, cook, bake and do some cleaning probably. Washing will also be done. More firewood needs splitting as well for the coming week. I like Russell to do a whole heap so that the boys and I don't have to worry about it as much during the week when he is not here.

One thing that I am really excited about and can't believe that I have not done it years earlier is my monthly Menu Plan. Wow, how easy is that. All I did was sit down last Sunday night, think of all the dinners that my family likes and then fit them into our days accordingly. I have picked up some lovely quick but nutritious ones in the last two weeks as well so have incorporated them in as well. I must say, I am loving my Menu Plan. Why did I wait so long? I will never know but realise now that the time spent one evening collating it all and putting it all down on paper is sooooo worth the effort. I don't stress anymore about what is for dinner. I already know I have the ingredients and just make sure meat is out in time to defrost. Time management wise it is brilliant. Until I did this plan, I didn't realise just how much I stressed about dinners. I implore anyone and everyone to try this. If you want a copy of mine just let me know and I will email it to you. You can then customise it to your own needs.

My biggest hurdle this week, being holidays has been to limit the boys on the computer or with the DVD's. I usually allow two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon but this has not worked at all this week and shows with my electricity usage. I must admit I have not stuck to it either. Bad, bad, bad. This will improve I am sure as we go back to school and I can implement it starting this school term. Wish me luck...

So this is what happened for us during the last week. Has been very busy but very productive.

Cheers Damaris

New Peg bag

My new peg bag...

About six months ago I started finding that my peg bag was starting to wear out. I usually would buy the ones that had the little white coat hangers on the top and were made out of cloth. I liked the opening and was very easy to reach in and grab what you needed. They come at a cost though. Being out here in this sunny, windy or cold weather I tended to go through them a bit.

Then I had an idea... Part of trying to do as much for ourselves as possible is to make things for yourself. I had some shade cloth left over from an old project from our last house and thought I could possibly use it as my new peg bag. It would be durable as it was shade cloth and also wash and wear better being out in the elements.

Got my sewing machine out the other day and grabbed an old coat hanger that I didn't need anymore and started cutting the shade cloth to size. The end result is in the picture above.

I am rather impressed with my first attempt. I sewed up three sides and then turned it inside out to finish off the last side on the sewing machine with the coat hanger already in there.

It now has a place of pride on the clothes line. It is rather heavy when full but the coat hanger and washing line take that pressure easily. I usually place it in the middle of the washing line so that it doesn't unbalance my clothesline.

I rather like it. It is here to stay. I also have enough leftovers of the shade cloth so I can make another one if the need arises.

Cheers Damaris

Hanging out the Clothes

My washing line, this morning...

When it comes to hanging out the washing I have always been a bit of a nerd. I like to have it perfect or not at all. I paid for that one a long time ago when first married...

I had asked Russell to put out the washing for me as I was really busy doing other things. He did but when I went to look later how it had been done, I went and redid most of what he had just done. He was sooooo not impressed. That was it - he didn't hang out the washing again for years. Not that I asked. I sort of knew better. Now when he does it, I just leave it and don't say anything about the way it is hung out. I say "Thank you" instead. That off course encourages him to do more... Positive reinforcement works wonders, and not just on the hubby either.... :)

Many friends have commented on how fussy I am with my washing but this is how I look at it. If you take that extra little time to make sure towels are hung with three pegs and really straight and socks are hung together than you have less time wasting later. My tea towels are also always straighten out. Doesn't take any extra time but makes folding them at the line with dry so much easier and gets rid of the need for ironing. I only end up ironing Russell's shirts these days.

I like to fold out at the line and do this in sections as well. The basket is split up for me. I have Russell's clothes on one side, mine on the other. I then have Joshua's clothes on top of mine and Timothy's on top of Russell's clothes. Then come tea towels, face washers, towels, blankets, rugs for the floor and whatever else.

This way when I go inside I have everything ready to go into their spots. First kitchen stuff, then linen off all kinds and then each child gets theirs put on their bed. It is their responsibility to then put it away into their drawers that have pictures on them to let them know beforehand what goes into what drawer. Russell gets his clothes on his side of the bed and I put mine away straight away.

This way the basket is also empty and ready for use again as soon as it is needed.

I have a front loader machine that is 7.5kg so I only wash about every 1.5 weeks unless I am washing blankets. Very economical. I certainly don't believe in wearing something once and then washing it... What a waste. And that is not because I am on tank water only. I have always been like that. Thanks Mum. :)

When Russell and I were engaged I was very fortunate to be able to get ahold of a clothes dryer. It had only been used 1/2 dozen times and as my then step dad's boss was refurbishing his multi-million dollar home from cream to white I got the cream dryer for a bargain $75.00. To this day I only use it when I absolutely need to and also make sure I put money into a jar for electricity as I realise it really chews the power.

I must admit, I love the smell of sun drenched clean clothes and love to sniff them before I put them into the basket. We are very blessed in this country to have so much sun and to have it do so much work for us.

Must go now and put another load on...

Cheers Damaris