A first

I'm planning to post about 'firsts' and 'new things' in my life, but for now, may I present my first ever sponge cake, made from the incredibly easy Never-Fail Sponge Cake Recipe. Unfortunately, I don't have any 'after' pictures, as the results were consumed all too quickly :-).







I got 2 cakes out of the recipe, one which I cut in half and filled with jam and cream, and both were topped with cream and crumbled Violet Crumble. Very, very YUM, and I was so surprised and pleased with my first attempt results. I cannot believe how easy this recipe is - whilst the eggs and sugar where beating in the Kenwood, I went back out to the garden and kept hacking back the invading ivy from the neighbour - it was quite literally set and forget for 15 minutes!! Fold through some dry ingredients, whack it in the oven for 15-ish minutes, and Bob's your uncle!!

I will be making some more today or tomorrow, just so I can take pictures of them all prettied up.

Next up, another great Aussie icon - scones!!

Steps toward the simple life

I've been waiting for this time, this next couple of weeks, I'm on holidays from work. No plans to go anywhere, but lots of plans to just settle, to establish some familiarity, to potter around our home and do more to make it ours.

I've been craving simplicity for a while now, to shed the excess and to just focus on providing what we need, not what we want. Not an easy task with 3 kids in this day and age, let alone my own desire for 'stuff'. Having said that, that desire for stuff is is very diminished now, compared to what it was once upon a time, but I still find myself wanting 'things' at times, fortunately I've trained my thinking well enough to remind myself that stuff doesn't make me happy, or my life any better!!

Since we moved in here 3 months ago, I've been wanting to establish a veggie garden, and on the weekend we finally got started on it! I've been waiting for the warmer months so that I can track the sunlight around the backyard, to work out the best places to plant, and I'd all but given up on seeing sunshine again when God provided us with a glorious couple of days. It has been a long, cold (even though the history shows it's been a warmer than usual winter), grey winter, and I am craving the sun.

Some friends came and gave us a hand, given that I can't dig without repercussions, but weed I can, and it was *such* a satisfying task. We are blessed with beautiful soil in this part of the world, and I am praying that it will be the basis of a productive, yummy garden. I'll let the pictures tell the story (apologies for their poor quality, my camera needs a service):

Before:

Very overgrown, weed-covered garden beds

Yes, we have a pond in the middle of the backyard. And a tree. Hmmm.....

And after:

Lovely beds ready for planting



There are two fruit trees along the fence, one is definitely a stone fruit, the other I have no idea!! The bushy tree in the pic below (in front of the shed) is a lemon tree - a dwarf one, I'm supposing, given it's size










Start of a compost pile, and a bin to speed things up a bit (plus DS' efforts at pulling up the dead bamboo plant!)



The family that plays together....



Kids + dirt = happiness

Getting into the garden spurred me into action. Over the last few days and today I have:

- bough seedlings and seeds for the garden (and of course now the weather isn't warm enough for planting!! Hopefully the seedlings will survive the next few days until I can get them in the ground.





'weather isn't warm enough' translates to the above - from glorious blue skies and sunshine as per previous pics, to this in the space of a few hours. Normal, yes. Productive, not so much.

- made a poolish (bread starter) and baked it up the next day





(spread with homemade fig jam to boot!)

- started a ginger beer plant
- started a sourdough starter



- made up 2 lots of yoghurt
- made pizza dough for tonight's homemade pizzas








- made dough to prove overnight for tomorrow's bread
- sorted the leftovers in the fridge to make up into to-go-in-the-freezer meals tomorrow
- put the remnants of bbq chickens and veggies into the crockpot to make stock
- put some yoghurt in a colander, weighted by a plate (in the fridge) to try and make soft cheese
- been devouring my gardening magazines and books for advice - I'm particularly loving Jackie French's 'The Earth Gardener's Companion'. I love her very practical advice, her 'you can do it' encouragement, and am being really inspired by her writings.
- have needles and cotton yarn ready to start my first dishcloth (I'm a bit late to the party - perhaps I should finish the 57 million other projects currently on needles in various states of progress first ?!?!?)
- cleaned up and organised my crafting space so that I don't have any excuses not to be creating....and realised what a gorgeous outlook I have from my corner

I have a big 'to-do' list for my house, and I have to keep reminding myself that I'm here for a long time, and because I've bought a house that's in great condition, with no 'big' jobs that need to be done soon, I can take my time and be thorough. I love that I can think about banging hooks in the walls for pictures. That I can fix a bookshelf to the wall wherever I want. That if the lino gets scratched or the door ends up with a hole in it (don't ask...), it's ok, because it's my responsibility. Makes the extra expense of being a homeowner totally worth it :-)

I'm realising in this process that I haven't simplified and pared back my life as much as I thought I had. I certainly have in comparison to years past, but I still have so much *stuff* cluttering up my life, I really need to prsort, prioritise and purge again. I've seen a few bloggers post about no-spend periods of time - from a week to a year - with variations on the theme, and it's something I'm tempted to do. I know the only thig stopping me is my desire to accumulate, my unconscious need to put my security in that which I can see, touch and hear. I was out in the garden on Sunday afternoon, happily munching away on lunch and reading the paper, and lamenting the advertising and push in our world to get people to think the *need* more, bigger, better stuff to make their life better, when I hear a bird singing and a scripture verse popped into my head -

"25"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

26"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 28And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31"So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
(Matt 6:25-34)

I was reminded, yet again, that God already has it all sorted, that if I stop and take the time to appreciate and enjoy what He has already blessed me with, rather than worrying about what I don't have and what I think will make my life better/easier/more enjoyable, I *will* appreciate and enjoy the blessings showered in my life already, and not be so distracted by what the world wants me to be. I'm certainly not saying that's an 'easy' mindset, but one I need to be more aware of.

Speaking of being out in the garden (geeI love saying that :-) ), I took the camera with me to capture the beauty under my nose:

Buds and blossoms on the as-yet-unidentified fruit tree (please feel free to help me out if you have any idea!)

Bluebell? My garden has surprised me over the last couple of months, with bits and pieces popping up here and there. Including the 1 gerbera flower and 3 tulips in the front garden.....

I kid you not, taking these pics was *seriously* akin to sky-diving for me - I'm allergic to bees, as in I have an anaphylactic reaction to bee stings. But I love them, they are just *so* fascinating.

That will be the end of the run of productivity for a few days, I'm having some issues with my feet, and have been told to rest them. Perfect excuse to cosy up with my knitting and reading for a couple of days methinks, especially in this weather!!!

Come and visit a while...

...over here

365 days

A year. 365 days. How can a year pass by so quickly, yet at times drag in interminably?
It's been a year since Steve died, since I had a shocking dose of 'this can happen to someone I know', since the realization of just how mortal we are on this earth smacked me between the eyes. And so much has happened since, Steve dying was the beginning of the storm, and I am a different person then to who I am now. A bit more grown up, a bit wiser, certainly more bruised and battered, but undeniably stronger. And I can say the same of those I love around me. In Steve's passing, in mourning our loss, I have seen such grace and strength and beauty, all God's provision for us, for what we've needed to be for each other through this experience. I have seen the hand of God over everything, even in the grief and sorrow. I'm none the wiser about the 'why's' of life, I just know what is, is, and that's all I can deal with at any given point in time.
I know Steve is home with our Father, basking in His glory and rejoicing in His presence. But I still miss you my friend, and am holding your darling Kristy in my prayers today and always.

On a ligher note....

I can't actually remember the last time I posted about knitting, but I made the Knitting Blog Class of 2005!!!! And I am in some VERY esteemed company, indeed!!! It's funny, I've just really picked up my sticks and strings again in the last week, and am loving the familiarity of it. I'm currently working on the home stretch of Arianne, and am knitting a replacement Trekking sock, due to one being lost nearly 2 years ago. In my head these are my Steve socks, because Steve was the friend who told me I wouldn't have them done by the end of winter, lol. I've been a lot better at turning off the computer and picking up my knitting at night of late, which means more gets done (funnily enough!!) - I've even knit on the sock during a couple of movies, I think this could become a regular habit!!
I've got knitting plans this year, there might even be some photos to come.

We are Australia

I don't have any words to express how I'm feeling about what we as a nation have witnessed this week in Victoria. I've run the gamut from utter shock and despair, crying over what I'm seeing on my tv and in the papers each day, to feeling so full of pride for the way our country pulls together and rallies in times like this, that 'battler' spirit so beautifully shining through, and again, crying over the beauty I've seen rise from the ashes.

I'm a do-er, especially in times of trouble, and whilst I can very easily give money, I feel compelled to be *doing* something for those affected by the fires - and from experience I can tell you that the effects of disasters such as this are far-reaching beyond what we realise. I can send clothes and toys, but the lovely Sarah has organised a project with the aim of helping to restore some physical memories for the families affected in the way of collecting 12"x12" scrapbook pages and creating albums, in a bid to replace a tiny part of what people have lost. The equally lovely Tatia at Paperstash is collecting pages for South Australia, so please, if you have some time, make a page and send it to your local collection point.

I know paper and 'stuff' can't fix anything, I know it's not going to make anything better for the families who have lost so much, but I pray it will give them hope in re-building, in knowing that they're not in it alone, that whilst we're far away and not directly affected by the fires, we as a nation stand with them in their shock and mourning, because as cliched as it sounds, just like the song says 'we are one, but we are many'.

I would also urge those who can to donate blood where and when they can, not just now but ongoing. Whilst Victoria's banks are at an adequate supply level at the moment, treatment for burns victims is an ongoing process, and more blood will be needed in time to come. Of course, the bushfire casualites aren't the only people needing blood, I firmly believe this is something we should all support on an ongoing basis. I know from my work first-hand just how life-saving donor blood really is.

And I can't post this without praying for the flood affected areas of Queensland, it boggles my mind to see our country so severely affected by polar opposites of extreme natural disasters, and
I pray we as a nation can help with their rebuilding.

It's times like these when I am especially proud to say We are Australian.

The rest of 2008

Crafting efforts in 2008, that is. It wasn't a productive year (slight understatement!!), but that's ok, it happens. I think I've already completed half as many projects in the first 10 days of 2009 that I did in all of 2008 (more on that later)!!!

Bazzil cardstock
7 Gypsies sticker
Grant stamp

Bazzil cardstock
Bella arrow + bracket rub-ons (rubbed onto chipboard, then cut out)
Making Memories phrase rub on
American Crafts alpha stickers

LO for Scrap of Faith November challenge

Background PP made by me
Felt flowers and felt alpha die-cut with Cuttlebug
Unknown mulberry paper

Kraft cardstock
Various pharmaceutical boxes :-)
Heidi Swapp chipboard alpha

(Horrible scan reserving a place in this post until I can photograph the LO in daylight!!)

This was a challenge pack that came in my goody bag at the Scrap of Faith retreat last year, the challenge was to use only what was in the pack, except for additional cardstock if need be. I had to use a non-pack alpha, the one in my pack just wouldn't work!!

Unknown PP
Bazzil cardstock
Unknown embellishments and 'C' alpha
Thickers velvet alpha

There you have it!