GOALS?

While I said a couple of posts back that I don't do resolutions and I set goals when I need to, not wait for a new year, I can't help but reflect on 2011 and set some goals for 2012.

I've got to say I'm struggling in the vege patch, crops are failing and I simply don't have enough room and energy to be where I want to be. Therefore my goal is to just do what I can, don't stress and don't let plants die! Read more and understand the plant's needs not just expect them to grow themselves. Do it right the first time.

My plan of becoming a full-time homemaker is finally going to happen, well in March it will. I am driving the kids up to the Gold Coast for 3 weeks and will not be returning to work after that. I don't work school holidays, so these 7 weeks with no extra income is a test to see if I can do it. So far? hmmm, I need to put in more effort in the cooking area.

It doesn't help that last night we got a phone call asking for Dan to play cricket next week in Horsham for the Mt Gambier under 15 squad. He leaves tomorrow with the coach as I am unable to to pay for 5 nights accomodation with 2 days notice. They will be tenting it in a caravan park, of course I will still have to provide food money for him, but it's cheaper than me going for the week. I will be driving over on Thursday to watch him play that day and Friday, even in a town like Horsham, I can't find anything under $100/night!

I will be putting a lot of time into my other source of income, my market stall. Over on 'One Crafty Habitat' I have talked about including organic and re-purposed lines to my stall. This is exciting and I can't wait to be able to offer alternatives to my customers.

Another thing I will be doing in the new year, as I listen Lachie's continuous coughing, is to ask for a referral to a specialist for his asthma/allergy ongoing problems. I think he's is on too much medication and it's not under control.

So there you have it, I've made a few goals.

Wishing all a happy New Year and thank you for your support and encouragement over the last year.

CHRISTMAS RECAP

We all had a lovely Christmas, of course it started rather early in the morning with the kids wanting to see what was under the tree.

The biggest hits?

A new bigger bike for Sophie

Trampoline Basketball. We shifted the backboard higher, bought a new ring and dragged the trampoline down. Best game ever!!!!
(I now have room for 2 more raised vege beds)

My very unexpected and coolest gift ever, a genuine (rust bubbles, dirt and all) kombi badge! Yes I know most people reading this blog would go huh? But I think this is awesome.

CHRISTMAS EVE

We started our little family tradition few years ago where we cook a lovely meal, the kids get to open one present, sparklers are set off on dark and we take kooky photos.

Don't you just love it when you hold out a camera to take a photo of yourself.

I decided it was time to buy a Christmas dinner set for our special meal. I picked up 2 x 4 place settings for $6 each at Spotlight. I wasn't looking to spend much, so these were perfect and I have extras for when I drop a couple.

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas tomorrow, I'm off to help Santa with some presents.

GINGERBREAD FUN

This years gingerbread ended up being sad men, evil men, dancers with tutus, gingerbread men with belly button rings and a DC brand logo that Lachie is holding up.

We did of course make the more normal looking gingerbread men for our neighbours and friends, we keep the weird ones all for ourselves!

ECOLOGIE ORGANICS

Well I am truely in heaven now that Sharyn and her lovely family have opened up a bricks and mortar shop here in Mt Gambier. If you have followed my blog for a while, you would know that I love Sharyn's home delivery service of organic produce. While at times I have stopped using the service due to personal circumstances, I have always believed that our community is in great need of it. Now you have the opportunity to see the products for themselves, and boy, there's a lot to see!!!

Don't you just love the decor in this shop. The old door wall is gorgeous and the concrete floor suits the business perfectly.

So to anyone that lives or passes through our town, please take a wander to Ecologie Organics on Commercial St West and support a wonderful locally owned and operated business that is truely a blessing to have.

2012 PLANS, GOALS ETC.

Thank you for your well wishes yesterday, I think it was a 24 hour bug as while I'm not feeling myself, I'm certainly a lot better.

As I spent the day on the couch I had time to reflect how far I'd come this year and what my goals would be in 2012. I'm not into New Year's resolutions as such. I believe when the time is right for change then make the change don't wait for the start of a new year to do it.

The good thing about being sick is that I have been about to break the cycle of my one addiction (aside from all of my craft addictions that is), diet coke!!!! I loathe myself for drinking it and every day I wake up saying that I won't touch the poison, yet for some reason I have been unable to break free from it's chemical claws. I am feeling very strong (just the thought of diet coke makes me want to vomit) and I know that a week from now I won't crave it anymore.

I try really hard to feed my family from scratch, some days this feels impossible, but with the school holidays started, I feel more in control and will certainly be stepping up my efforts to produce great wholesome, non-processed foods that my family will all enjoy. I am on holidays from work for 7 weeks also, this gives me time to do just what I want to do to become more self reliant and see how much money I can save by being at home.

As the day has worn on I am feeling much better, so much so that I went out and picked the plums before the birds get them. I am always amazed this time of year how many birds are around that are never here any other time. They wait until the fruit is just right and before you get a chance to pick it, it's gone. This happens year after year to a huge plum tree at the back of our property. It's too big to net so timing of the picking has to be spot on. I have been monitoring the fruit for the last couple of weeks and now is definately the time to grab some. I hope to hop up a ladder tomorrow to collect some more.

I'm off to wash my fruit and make some yummy jam.

DOWN FOR THE COUNT.....

Back soon, I have a stomach flu that is nasty!!!!!

DECEMBER 10 2011

Today is Lachie and Sophie's birthdays.

Lachie turns 11.

Sophie turns 8.

(fyi - they both look very tired in this photo due to their friends sleeping over last night)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, YOU BOTH MAKE ME SO PROUD.

IN THE PATCH

Yesterday I spent the morning weeding and pulling up some vegetables.

Sadly this year's garlic crop was very poor indeed, the bulbs are small and a lot were rotten, I guess I expected more as last year's crop was fantastic.

The onions and leeks weren't much better, about a month ago I noticed they both had gone to seed overnight! I only have a few onions drying and some of those are ones that went to seed that I will use in stocks etc.

On a more positive note, the tomatoes are looking lovely, I like to have a longer season and plant tomatoes in the hot-house as well as outside in the raised beds.

hot-house crop

raised bed crop

Sophie and I picked our first lot of loganberries for the season, yummy! The raspberries should be ready in a few days.

My luffas are growing well it will be interesting to see how well they produce.

A BIT OF VINTAGE FOR CHRISTMAS

Over the last few years I've found myself decorating less and less for Christmas. It used to take me hours to take down existing pictures etc and replace everything with something Christmassy, now the kids decorate the tree with vintage and handmade ornaments, I put up their stockings lovingly made by my Mum, I add a few extras to our lounge-room and we are done.

I would like to sew some bunting with some gorgeous vintage inspired fabric I purchased last Christmas but I'm not sure I will have time this year, oh and make an advent display.

WE'RE BACK!!!

Actually we got back at around 11pm Thursday night after deciding that we really just wanted to come home and be in our own beds that night. Sophie had sports day on Friday and she really wanted me back to watch her, so we packed up the car and headed for home around 6pm.

It's taken me this long to catch up on housework, cooking and gardening so I'm only just getting around to post about our fantastic week.

Last Sunday we arrived in Adelaide, spent some time with Elaine (who we were staying with) then headed down to Glenelg, Gliderol Stadium for a practice session with the coach and mentor of the week, Locky Adams. The kids were put through their paces then presented with their shirts, cap and shorts for the week.

Monday 28th November 2011: Our 2 games were played at Kensington Gardens Reserve, lucky for us it was pretty much around the corner from where we were staying. Offical photos were taken, then the first of our 20/20 matches began.

Lachie is in the front right in the middle.

Round 1
Lachie opened the batting and made 3 runs, he was runout because he didn't tell the other batsman what side of the pitch to run on and they ran into each other. He learnt from that mistake pretty quickly.

Lachie got one wicket and a runout. He actually dropped the catch, picked it up, threw the ball at the stumps and hit them resulting in the runout. We laughed as he must have been mad at himself for dropping the catch and I don't think he could have done that again if he tried!!!!

Round 2
Lachie was rested for the batting, as there were 12 boys, they all had a turn during the week of resting in either batting or bowling.

He opened the bowling, bowled 2 overs, both maiden.

Tuesday 29th November 2011: We were at Park 25 (Lachie's favourite oval)
Round 3
Lachie was captain this round and the won this match.

He made 5 runs and took 1 catch. No one could believe the catch, he juggled it about 8 times, ended up on his knees and turned 180 degrees while still juggling and finally managed to hold it.

Round 4
Lachie took 1 catch, bowled two very good overs and didn't get to bat as he was down the list.

The boys got to watch a touring English team practice on the turf nets, they were awesome!

Wednesday 30th November 2011: They played the round 5 at Gordon Brown oval at St Marys, then round 6 at Unley High School due to the ground being too wet. We all went out to dinner that night at Henley Beach and the boys all played beach cricket, of course!
Round 5
Lachie made 9 runs with one 4 in that and was then ran out. He bowled really well once again for his 2 overs. The boys won this round.

Round 6
Lachie caught 1 catch on the boundry, got a wicket, LBW and didn't get to bat this round.

Thursday 1st December 2011: Played round 7 at Adelaide High and round 8 at Park 25.
Round 7
Lachie got one catch, 1 wicket (bowled him) and opened the batting. Unfortunately he was out for a duck, nice shot but a very clever catch from the fieldsman.

Round 8
The boys won this last match.

Lachie opened the bowling, 1 maiden over and 2 runs off the other over. He made a catch but was declared a no-ball :( He then made 3 runs not out to finish the day.

Over all it was an amazing experience for the boys, they had such a great week and they all should be very proud of the way they played. I now know how to get around Adelaide and next year should be a little easier to get around.

Lachie with Locky Adams. Locky was an amazing coach to the boys, he was fun and they all loved chatting to him and learning lots about what it's like to be in the "big league".

PREPARING

Myself, Darren's mum and the 2 boys are off to Adelaide early Sunday morning for Lachie's week of cricket. There is quite a bit of preparing to do, the little things like figuring out where I have to be each day as they play on a different ground every day.

I'm busy buying and preparing food for the left behind family members and working out what we will take food wise with us.

I don't make trips like this, I'm not a city girl and get rather tense before I go anywhere. I do know that once we get there and find our bearings we will be fine.

I've been working all week to earn some extra money for the trip and now I'd better get back to washing, cooking and cleaning.

See you in a week.

CHANGE IS GOOD

After a month of looking at things in my life a little differently and trying to work out how not to be overwhelmed by it all, I have finally made a few decisions.

I have stepped down as a moderator over at the Down To Earth forum (hopefully only for a while). I am no longer moderating and organising 2 international swaps on Flickr (Scrappy Mug Rug & Doll quilt Swap). I will not be taking on any more special orders for people regarding my craft therefore only sewing what I want to sew, when I want to sew it and with the materials I want to use. I do however have one more order to complete before Christmas.

I will be spending the time I have at home as I would having a paid job. It's not like I laze around doing nothing now, but Sherri really got me thinking about how I value my time. I intend to be even more organised and plan my days better. For those of you who know me, know how I love lists and being organised so I look forward to the challenge.

As for my 2 part-time jobs, for the moment I will be keeping them as the extra money is needed until the middle of next year, then who knows.

OUR WEEKEND....

Finally some lovely warm weather for our weekend. I can't believe I am in a t-shirt! Once again the boys are busy with cricket but I took some time out from my supporting role to get busy at home.

The warm weather gets me thinking about & eating this yummy food.

Almond milk was made, delicious!

and carb loaded snacks were cooked for the sporting family members to take away with them.

Out in the garden I've been cleaning out the chook house and spreading aged poo, planting lots of strawberry plants and erecting supports for my hardened off tomatoes.

(please ignore the nasturtium mess around the beds, they were looking so pretty until I spent the morning stomping all over them)

Not many people I know get excited about little pieces of green fruit on trees, well I do as some of these trees are having their first fruiting season and I'm think how each year there will be more and more fruit to sustain us.
Apples

Apricots

Quince

Cherry

Berries

Lemons

Kiwi Fruits are growing

Thanks for visiting, I'm off with Sophie to clean out her room, wish me luck!!!!