DON'T I LOOK PRETTY?

After 5 days of gastro last night I developed this rash all over my body. It's red and itchy and I'm really not happy. I don't think it's a food allergy as all I have eaten in the last 5 days is bananas and toast.


I tried to get into my chiropractor who is my wholistic provider in natural care but he isn't working today so I went to the doctor. What a waste of time that was, no wonder I try to avoid them as much as possible. He tried to tell me it's a reaction fom a pain relief tablet I took 5 days ago for stomach cramps. I take this tablet for bad headaches and period pain and have never had a reaction. I know strange things can happen, but really, from 5 days ago, sorry I'm not buying it! I had to be checked out though as I work with babies, pregnant mums and toddlers and measles had to be ruled out.

So I am none the wiser and have to have the rest of the week off work and try and make some sense of this tomorrow with my chiropractor.

CHOPPING AND PROTECTING

This silver birch tree has served me well. I have loved sitting under it playing with the kids and relaxing over the years but it's time for a change so the tree will be going and in it's place I will be planting more fruit trees. This is making Darren very happy as he has wanted to get rid of that tree for years and I have to admit that it is painful to always be up cleaning out the gutter because of the mess it makes. It is a lovely tree just planted in the wrong spot that's all.

I went out to check on my brassicas yesterday and was amazed by the amount of cabbage moth around. They are eating my broccoli to death, so it was time for action. A couple of days ago I cleared out my linen press and there was some old lace curtains in there that I was going to get rid of. How handy that I hadn't sent them off to the Salvos just yet as they make perfect covers for my brassicas held down with a few bricks.

YES, THERE'S MORE PICKLES

I made up another big batch of zucchini pickles during the week. This time I used a food processor instead of chopping everything by hand like the last batch. I did like the chunkier pickle but my wrist quite honestly couldn't handle doing another batch like that.

I have given quite a few away and will still have enough for a couple of years at least I think.

My first spaghetti squash of the season was picked today.

We will have spaghetti tonight with this instead of the pasta and I will use up some homemade passata sauce for it as well. Yummy!!!!!

NO WAY!!!!!

I know I think it every year, but how is it possible to now have a 14 year old?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!!!!!

Guess what he will be doing this weekend.

ZUCCHINI PICKLES

They are delicious.

I used a recipe from Out Of The Bottle by Sally Wise. My zucchinis are all around the 2kg mark, so that's a lot of pickle to make!

I hope to make a zucchini bake and another batch of pickle tomorrow.

JUST TO SHOW........

what we are dealing with.



Thanks for all of your ideas from the last post, I just have to find some extra time to start cooking.

HOW MANY WAYS CAN I COOK ZUCCHINI?

The giants keep on coming. Every day when I look under the huge leaves there's another zucchini!!!!

Tonight I sat down and worked out a list of recipes to use them up.

*Stuffed Vegetable Marrow
*Zucchini Parmigiana
*Zucchini Fritters
*Zucchini Bread
*Zucchini Pickle
*Zucchini Chutney
*Zucchini Bake
*Zucchini Chocolate Cake

That's quite a list and hopefully with some of them, zucchini will not be detected by my husband.

Tomatoes are growing out of our ears as well, I made up a big batch of passata yesterday and used some on the kids after school snack of meatball subs. It looks quite orange this time around, that happened when I put it through our new blender. Oh well it tastes wonderful.

I stewed some plums that were given to us as well, they will go into the freezer in batches for later use.

Tomorrow after work I will be picking another lot of tomatoes to make sauce for the year. I love this time of year in the garden so much going on.

OH CRAP!!!!

I jumped in the shower this morning and knew my day wasn't going to start well. Why did I think that? The water was only lukewarm, meaning that our ancient hot water service in our ceiling had blown an element. This happens every 4 or 5 years in this house and most plumbers can't believe we still have the original service from when the house was built in 1960.

We usually fix this problem ourselves, well actually my Dad used to always fix it, but as he is unable to it was up to Darren (he's on holidays). I told him what to do as I have helped Dad with this a few times and I went to work.

This is what I've come home to...

Who knew we had so much crap in our storage cupboard. What you don't see is that the floor is under a few inches of water and we don't have a drainage point in the laundry. You don't get to smell the damp yucky smell that will be with us for a couple of days either.

So, I have a couple of hours to try and clean some of this mess up, then get the kids, cook dinner and go to my other job.

My day is not getting any better....

Oh by the way, February is "No Spend" month for me. Of course I will be spending on essentials and everyday living, just nothing that is a want. Lucky I made that decision as our little plumbing exercise today just cost us around $200.