To Sew or Clean?

To do this.....

or lots of this....

I can say I spent a good part of today doing the first and enough of the day doing the cleaning and washing.
You can see what I have been doing over here.

Friends

During the winter we don't tend to entertain friends as much..the inside of our home is not as large as others and so being inside with lots of people is tricky. We have a great outside space for summer gatherings.
Last night though we did indeed have some friends to share in dinner and I am sure that no-one really minded the "cosiness".

I thought I would share this really tasty and as always incredibly easy to prepare dish...

Creamy Chicken and Roast Vegetable Salad
serves 4
4 Potatoes cut into 3cm pieces
2 large carrots,peeled,quartered lengthways
1 red capsicum,quartered
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups shredded cooked chicken
4 green onions,thinly sliced
100g baby spinach
Creamy Apricot dressing
1/3 cup Whole egg mayonnaise
2 tablespoons apricot nectar
2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard

Preheat oven to 220 c.Roast potatoes, capsicum and carrots in oil until golden and tender. Allow to cool for 10 mins. Add chicken ,onion and spinach.
Make creamy apricot dressing. Combine mayonnaise, nectar, mustard and salt and pepper. Mix to combine well. Pour over salad.Toss to combine.

No Find

The sun was shining and the door had one coat of stain on it.....so we headed out on treasure hunt number two.

But even though we found the co-ordinates and searched high and low, today we admitted defeat and just enjoyed the walk. This area had seen a large bush fire go through back in April, so it was nice to see the regrowth and the odd kangaroo bounding through.

Crayons and Paint

I forgot to share the playgroup spot this week. Do you remember doing the oil pastel crayon resist painting at school or maybe it wasn't that long ago for you? We read a fish theme book and then the children were encouraged to draw with the oil pastels. Lots of bright colours as a base then wash it with paint. You can read the actual doings of it here.
There was some great pictures made.....

Different

We just seem to be always replacing light bulbs lately...the last one to go was as dinner was going on the table tonight. I groaned and muttered something like "not again" as Fraser squealed with excitement that we could have a "candle night" ! Oh how we can look at things so differently.

Today the front door was transformed.....before...

After....

I am amazed at how different the new door makes the entrance to our home feel. Maybe it is just the feeling you get from having something new? It still needs to be finished with some varnish which I am pleased to say Derek does a much better job at that than me.

Two Characters

This week is Book Week at school for Meg and today was the chance to dress up as your favorite book character.
Nancy Drew was the choice this year. Meg had to pull her costume together mostly by herself this year, mainly due to the fact that she had such a definite idea of what she wanted. I was only good for a few suggestions and a trip to Grandpa's for a magnifying glass...oh and the hair straightening!
Good job Meg.

I found this little character sitting by the "soon to be old front door" waiting for his daddy to come home and chop down some more trees...a job they started yesterday and Fraser was determined to finish the task with daddy today.

Definite and determined two words to describe my two characters today and the third character would be leading the way if she was able to join them.

Pumpkin Soup

I have made this pumpkin soup a lot lately both for ourselves and for friends that have succumbed to some lurgy. It is the easiest soup to make and so thought I would share the recipe. It comes from the handbook that goes with my 21 year old microwave.

1Kg of pumpkin ( I use varying amounts and a variety of pumpkins)
3/4 cup water
1 chicken stock cube (vegetable if you like)
1 clove of garlic ( more if you are really poorly)
1 teaspoon of curry powder
salt and pepper
2/3 cup thickened cream
1 tablspn chopped chives
sour cream to top

Peel pumpkin and remove seeds.
Dice pumpkin into pieces
Place pumpkin into a 2lt casserole dish, add water, stock cube, garlic and curry powder.
Cover and cook on HIGH (in microwave) for 12 to 14 minutes. Cool slightly
Puree pumpkin and liquid in a blender or food processor ( I use my stab blender)
Stir in salt, pepper and cream. Pour back into casserole dish (or in my case I have stab blended it in the dish)
Cook on HIGH for 4-5 min
Spoon into individual dishes and top with chives and sour cream.

Way too easy and now my secret is out .

How to leave a comment.

Have you been wondering how to leave me a comment or message about something you have read? I know that some of my great family have and so I thought I would tell you how.

Click on comments at the bottom of the post.
Write your message.
Unscramble the word code thingy!
Click on the name/URL choice.
Put your name in and leave the URL blank unless you have you own blog...

This is not at all technical but it is as good as it gets...so give it a try and say hello.

Where's Waly-ungup?

We found our first "cache"......

"The Treasure"....

Which way Fraser??

It was a lot of fun and we are already planning which finds are next on the list...I think we may have to take some friends with us next time.
It was great to actually take the kids and walk over a large expanse of land that we pass numerous times a week and just haven't bothered to stop and walk around. I haven't walked over the "salt lakes" since I was Meg's age and dad used to take us and our little motor bike there for some open space riding. Not something that you are at all allowed to do there anymore.

Back together

We have been busy in different directions in the last two days..Derek and I were at the MOPS Conference that our team was hosting ( I attended and met some new friends and Derek was the music and sound guy).While we were there, the kids went to Grandma and Grandad's house. Meg also had a dance class and youth group. Fraser had a friend's birthday party to go to.
So now we have gathered ourselves and returned home.
Look what has also happened while we have been away....

Fraser was amazed!
Tomorrow afternoon if the weather is kind or even if it is not we may go and do some treasure hunting ( officially known as Geocaching) with this new toy. I am hoping it will be a fun thing to do as a family. Something very different for us to do together but I think it is good to explore some new pastimes especially if it is something that will create some fun memories as a family. I will let you know how we get along.

How Nice

A friend gave my a lovely bunch of flowers today " just cause"...It was a very appreciated gesture that was unexpected.

I'm In!

Most nights lately you will find me at my trusty 21 year old sewing machine . My parents bought me it for my 21st Birthday and together we have done a zillion miles......my latest mission is to show some of my creations here. I also got my stall holders paper to be at the kids School open day. I know nothing totally up market but a fun thing to do for a good cause. None the less I am still very nervous about putting myself out there...family and friends are very kind but complete strangers?

What's the Time?

1 O'Clock

2 O'Clock

3 O'Clock

4 O 'Clock

Elephants..

The rain kept many away from playgroup today but for those who were there it was all about elephants. This idea came from here.

What I am Up to...

Making : A stash of Bron Creations
Cooking : Pizzas for dinner
Drinking : Tea from a teapot
Reading: Change of Heart by Jodi Piccoult
Wanting: My house to be fantastically clean
Looking: For a GPS to go Geocaching
Playing: WII with the family
Wasting: Time thinking what could be.
Sewing: Loads for the fair
Wishing: I didn't need as much sleep
Enjoying: My job
Waiting: For my tax return
Liking: That the kid's enjoy spending time with Grandparents
Wondering: How to keep pace with my schedule
Loving: My Sewing Time
Hoping: To have some down time tomorrow
Marvelling: How fast my children are growing up
Needing: To buy Meg some new shoes
Smelling: The new roses in the garden
Wearing: My slippers whenever I can
Following: This amazing journey..
Noticing: How fast the year is flying
Knowing: I am loved
Thinking: About all the things on my to do list
Feeling: Blessed
Giggling: That my family are so alike each other
Feeling: Relieved I have done my online shopping for the week.

Teddy's last night

Today was the last day that Teddy Leggo was going to be with us. We had a little shopping to do and Fraser thought it would be a good idea to stop and have a "coffee and babycino"!

There was just enough time in our day after going and visiting with Grandpa to sew another outfit for teddy to return to Kindy with...I must say he makes for a very good model....

Yesterday Fraser helped make a "hairy Head" or in this case a "Samson hairy head" to go along with the Samson bible story. Today he was keen to start the growing process. It took a bit of explaining that we would now have to wait a few days before the hair began to grow.