All happening

​today the stars aligned but not in an ideal way 

Wonderson dropped the girls off this morning. He did a few hours of work and left for a golfing weekend away. 

Meanwhile beautiful DIL worked from home as Ana had a second day at the primary school up the  road 

So she had to break her work day to come and pick her up for that 

Meanwhile our friends had finally found a house to rent and today was moving day.  Hubby spent most of the day driving the small truck and helping with moving everything in. Our other close friends also helped. 

Let me just say I’m the youngest at 59. The five moving into the house start at 63 and go into the mid 70’s 

Obviously I was unable to help as I had the girls. Since I had that huge cook up yesterday I suggested they all come here for dinner. 

Claire and her hubby thanked me but their granddaughter was waiting for them to come home as she had cooed for them. 

Lovely girl that she is. 

Dianne and Paul gratefully accepted 

By the end of dinner we were all moving slowly and getting up provided a chorus of moans and groans. 

I was the better of the quartet. 

The girls today were a joy

Georgia was looking much better and was back to her happy self 

Playing with a paper bag while waiting for her bottle 

Having deep conversations with trixie 

And having cuddles with her sister 

While I was feeding and getting Georgia 

Ana stays quiet watching the television  

Both she and Trixie decided it was time for a lay down and rest 

Once Ana and mummy arrived back form her couple of hours at the primary school, DIL opened her laptop and finished working from home here  

They no sooner left to go home, I put the pan of pasta bake into the oven to heat up. 

By the time I set the table, made a simple salad and placed the defrosted garlic bread into the oven, Paul and Dianne arrived  

It was not a late night  

It was an eat and go home  which we all agreed was the best decision. 

Once they are settled in, and we all recover we will have a long lingering meal  

Hubby is now in bed fast asleep and I’d bet good money that the other four are also fast asleep 

I’m the only duffer that’s still up.  All going well I’ll soon be in bed off to sleepy land 

Cooking afternoon

​today I’ve been cooking all afternoon.  Lately on a Friday we have ordered takeaway.

Which isn’t a bad thing, but that kind of food can actually trigger a fibro crash. 

Too much fat, salt and unknowns 

So I’ve organised it all that I can have leftovers, which will feed us all weekend 

Mostly all home grown. Definitely all preserved by me. 

Doing the work in the preserving stage saves you work later. 

I’ve made a pasta bake and in the red casserole I’ve got creamy

Mushroom chicken. I’ve just added the rice.  It comes out like risotto 

Only with much less work 

I’ve got dessert all ready to put into the oven  

The easy dump cake, mixed berries with home grown plums 

White cake mix sprinkled on top and some butter 

Which will melt and make it nice and brown on top  

I made the bow pasta for Ana’s lunch tomorrow 

I’ve put extra veggies into the meat sauce so very healthy 

And finally 

Little cupcakes.  They’re made from an instant pancake mix  

These have chocolate chips in them. Because they’re a breakfast and not a desert mix 

It’s not over sweet  and a healthier option.  Well that’s what I tell myself anyway 

So now I’m good all weekend. Hopefully the weather will be nice enough for us to get some work 

done outside.  I’ve got pots that need  refreshing with an organic compost mix  

This is an easier job than removing a garden plot, and hopefully hubby will be able to give me a hand  

Now all I need is a good nights sleep.

Wish me luck 

Wordless Wednesday

​

One of those days

​you know the day. You start to do one thing, then on your way to get something 

Or the washing machine calls. You get side tracked and start another thing 

Then you go back to the first, detour and do a third thing and by the time you finish 

You haven’t actually finished any one of them. 

Like this

let me tell you all about this 

I got the gold thingy months ago. 

Then I ordered the beads. Two tiny packets with teeny tiny beads

Today I got the vase. So I put the gold thingy in keeping some out so it’s not all at the bottom 

Added one packet of beads and water.  I came back about ten minutes later and the beads had somewhat got bigger. So I thought ya know. It’s a big vase. I’ll add the second packet. 

Mistake.  Big mistake 

It stared to overflow, and those little suckers bounce. High and everywhere 

So I carefully took some out. 

Then more out 

And more out 

Finally I filled a two litre empty ice cream container.

To the top. I’m hoping it’s fine now. 

I might put a bowl under it. Just in case

In between doing all this. I also was putting stuff away and hanging 

Washing.

I had gone to the panda mart again to get some  sofa covers 

Let me tell you about this job 

The first cover was turned  round and round until I figured out how it went 

Then it’s pulling and tucking and trying to keep it even, so that the arm bits actually end up on the sofa’s armrests 

The second one was a little easier, but even so, it was a very hard workout 

I decided to stop at this point thinking I’ll go back and sort it later 

 Once I had rested and cooled down I ran into trouble 

I was on the floor fixing the square piece of fabric under the dining room chairs,

It had come down and was annoying me  

So I got down put it back up and pressed it back onto the Velcro.

Then I tried to get up. Oh my the pain. It made me cry out loud 

I sat back down and tried again a few minutes later  

Nope, wasn’t going to happen 

I needed help, but my phone was where I normally sit 

Way across the room. 

I slowly and carefully crawled all the way back to the chair dialled 

Hubby's number.  

It went to voice mail  he obviously was talking to someone on his phone  

So then I tried to ring wonder son.

He too was on the phone, like father like son!

So I texted them together saying whoever gets this first please come over

I’m stuck on the floor.

Meanwhile I tried again. Once again my body said, no

A few seconds after sending the text wonderson sent one back saying he was on his way.

Once he came in, we had a discussion on how best to tackle the problem 

He said just try to get up and I’ll put my arms around you from the back and pull you up. 

I had misgivings, but no choice, so I agreed

Well  let me tell you, I yelled out. Loudly 

He then got me some strong painkillers and I got them down  

I got a wheat bag  zapped it in the microwave and gingerly sat down  

Eventually the pain started to settle down. I decided to have a long soak in the bath.

I’m now sitting, again with the wheat bag and I’m feeling much better.

The moral of the story is, stick to one job at a time, so you don’t get 

All flustered and rush.  It really does end with someone getting hurt and crying 

And usually is me 

Section by section

​on todays agenda I was the clearing of the two small metal garden beds. 

They have been there for oh so long. I can’t remember at all what year I put them in. 

The metal has rusted and the weeds were so enshrined in them. That even using a pitchfork and shovel 

You couldn’t get it all apart. 

No wonder the poor plants weren’t growing. Let alone thriving 

So I started with this 

moving the frame was easy. It just pulled up. 

Digging through the dirt was a tad harder.  It only were the weeds packed tight 

But I had put a layer of red Scoria at the bottom to help with drainage 

The shovel kept hitting stone and it wouldn’t go forward without a gigantic push 

I used the fork to help break it up and that made the job a tad easier.

I had to carefully move the dirt as I had bulbs planted.

I did find quite a few, I also found some that had been strangled 

Bythe Kikuyu grass that has been the bane of my existence since moving here almost four decades ago. 

By this stage I was done. I had to ring hubby and see if he could come over and just help me move them.

I shovelled three large wheelbarrow loads out of that small garden  

I had two that were full I needed him to unload those, so I could finish filling the first empty wheelbarrow again 

I then asked him to bring me some potting mix me got in bulk, so I could replant the bulbs 

I purchased these over a few weeks.  Every time I went into the reject shop  got a couple more  

They were $10 each. I ended up with seven 

I used five for the bulbs, one bulb going into the green pot, and one little rosemary that had rooted when the branch touched the ground.  I put it into the cute chicken pot  I might give it to Ana to have and look after at home.

But first I’ll make sure it survives.

One bed gone  

You can see the blue half barrel planter.  On the other side of that is another 

Metal garden bed. I’ll tackle that one in a few days  

I need to have a rest day in between.  

It will be clean and the area opened up once I’m done. That wicking bed with the pitchfork leaning 

Onto it needs a lot of attention too.  It will get to it, as I slowly clear the area and make it pretty and  functional 

Not to mention, it will have  nowhere for spiders, or slithering things to hide.

With the dogs it’s been years since a snake has appeared in our backyard, 

But as Trixie is mostly inside and teddy is just old now  I don’t want to take any chances 

I’ve showered and dressed, I hung a load of washing on one of the clothes horses, and a second 

Load is currently being washed.

I’ll do three loads of washing today and be all caught up .

Thankfully we have leftovers for dinner, I don’t think I’ll be in any mood to cook tonight at all  

The rains are here

Warning  a long post 

​this morning we woke to the sound of rain. Since I’ve not been sleeping lately, 

Due to the inability to breath,I didn’t hear it rain during the night, but it had rained quite a bit.

Because we had prepped for it, the fire lighting as easy as lighting a match, and the logs are all dry.

When I received the new iPad I successfully transferred all the information from the old to the new 

It was a little different to the process most people use. Because it was so old  the two versions didn’t “ talk” to

Each other. I had to do it all on from the cloud  

The only thing I couldn’t do is transfer the SIM card account 

There was a section to do it, but again  they didn’t talk to each other  

So I had to go into the shop  

The lovely young people were very nice said that they could do it in a second 

They went into the iPad and found the same section.  They asked me what version iPad did I have 

I don’t know  it’s ten years old  

At that point they looked at me  closed down the old tablet and got onto their computer 

Unfortunately, they had just had a whole new system put into their computers and it was being glitchy

Of course it was.  

Three young people tried to log on but were unable too 

The fourth person got in. Success 

After getting into our carriers app, the second problem happened 

We have more than just my iPad on a phone network  

Which one of the numbers was mine  

There is nothing saying who it belongs to, as the whole thing is under one umbrella 

Named both hubby and me together 

More searching 

More troubles getting into the different area of the website 

But finally, success 

They found which number belonged to me 

We then wrote it down and I was told that it might be a good idea to 

Add that number into my phone   

I did that the second I got home  

I waited an hour before trying to activate the new sim

And success  I did it  

It was a tad anxious for me, mainly because I felt like I was 

Being a huge pain to the people at the shop,  but they were all so very nice and assured me 

That it was actually a great learning experience. That made me feel better,  bless them 

The lovely thing was, that every person who got ropped into helping 

Made a comment about the cover I made. Each and every one loved it  

That really made me feel better.  I might be old and not so tech savvy, but I can sew 

When I finally had it all sorted, and  nice cup of tea after.  I sat down to work on the EPP.

I finished sewing along the row I had started and then placed it on the floor to see how I can 

Turn it into a square 

I laid it flat and turned round to straighten the other side.  When I turned around 

Quality control had parked herself right on the corner 

She kept a close eye on what I was doing  

I marked the corners on the long sides of the quilt top,

Then counted how many hexies I had to sew to make the shorter side the same 

Length, 

I then marked the hexi at the end so that I know how many rows I have sewn quickly without having to 

Count from the start again 

Both sides need sixteen more rows to bring it all into the equal rectangle 

That’s pretty much what I’ll be doing the rest of the day  

Hubby is inside watching the football, the fire is going, and all is well in our little world  

I’m betting it’s going to be many, many years, before I purchase another iPad or phone

It’s just too stressful for this old crone 

Feeling better

​after three days of not doing much at all I woke this morning feeling a whole lot better. I needed to go to the pharmacy to pick up meds and deliver another encyclopaedia of prescriptions to them. 

They keep it all there so I don’t have to remember anything. They even send a notification saying my meds are due. 

From there I went to art you can walk from art to the pharmacy in two minutes. Bonus 

I got home thinking I’ll clean the fireplace and get it ready to light tonight 

Rains are coming and a drop of temperature. We will see. 

But I didn’t need too hubby had done it and has been outside organising more wood 

He’s using the forklift to move the steel crates from the wood pile to next to the house 

There they are all lined up ready. 

The closest one is the current crate. 

Me I’ve been on a mission 

I’ve been out to check the water trough 

And given Dobby some carrots 

I’ve been in the kitchen cooking everything that needed to be used 

Tuscan meatball in the casserole  pumpkin and potatoes roasting 

The punnets of tomatoes and cucumbers that I cut up for Ana’s grazing platter I’ve cut up into a Greek salad  I’ll add onion and feta just before serving  

The strawberries and a few blueberries I’ve stewed and will be used in a dump cake for dessert 

So easy  

I took the scraps to the chickens 

They were out free ranging but I locked them up when they came in to eat  

Now they’re safe and sound  I don’t fancy going out in the rain to lock them up  

So I’m ready for an evening of staying in and just relaxing  

A person Saturday night I think 

Lonely Friday

​yesterday I had a conversation with my beautiful daughter in law and told her how I was 

Not well. I had caught Georgias germs and felt yuck

I was still happy to take the girls but DIL told me to rest and that she really didn’t want 

The girls catching it again. 

Which is totally understandable and why I told her about how I was. 

So I slept in and Ive pottered around not really doing much at all 

I did finish the iPad cover 

I added some Velcro and it shuts nicely 

I am feeling better than I was yesterday 

And I’ll be totally back to my normal self by next Friday 

I Have missed the girls today, but appreciated the rest. 

Sewing

​iPad finished loading and all is well 

I will go over the weekend and organise the eSIM 

Meanwhile I wanted to sew something a little taxing to see 

How the machine would work. 

I decided I needed a quilted case to keep the new, expensive, toy 

Safe and sound 

I grabbed the bag of too think to use as binding, but too large to throw away 

And some batting and I set to work 

I slowly stitched all the pieces in a haphazard way, quilting as I go 

I kept at it  mixing and matching  trying to make it pretty  

I then sewed a backing fabric and bagged it all out  

I even decided to add a binding  to keep the two sides safely bound together 

Front and back view  

It’s too thick to use the plastic poppers  right now I’ve left it as is 

But I do have a plan  

If it works  I’ll show you 

It is thickly padded and it fits exactly, so the iPad doesn’t move about 

So I now have a very secure case, used more scrap fabric and tested the machine   

Which I am so happy to report worked like it was brand new 

So it really was my tools, not my ability that was causing the problems 

I was starting to doubt myself 

 

On the home front

​I’m pleased to say I have been a good girl and resting. Well as much as I can

Yesterday I went into Cranbourne for coffee and catchup. I had too. If I cancelled again they would be here dragging me out 

After coffee I had to go and get my talons redone. It’s been well over a month and I was starting to look the one of MacBeths witches. Well how I imagine their hands look like 

After that I ran into the reject shop and then headed home. 

As I was getting into the car I got a notification in my phone saying I had a package to collect from the post office 

My faithful, traveled the world with me iPad had finally gone terminal. 

After ten beautiful years I had to admit defeat and purchase a new one. 

I dragged hubby with me and headed off. 

Now the reason I took hubby is this. I always will go the cheaper way which not only means I’ll go for the slightly less memory, or last years model or just take whatever they have in stock. 

I started off true to form. 

I didn’t get the cheapest but I did go for the middle model 

Hubby said that we are spending all that money and since I’m so good about looking after my things I should go for the top model with the most memory. 

So we did. Then the really lovely sales man asked what colour I preferred. 

I answered what ever is in stock. Well they don’t have stock and they will order it in. 

Only one colour could be ordered into the shop. The other colours were online only. The colour available in the shop was blue. And honestly I’d of been quite happy with it. But since it had to be ordered anyway I chose pink. 

Well why wouldn’t you. That was the package at the post office 

I started to move all my apps and information onto it yesterday. But something went wrong. 

This morning I turned it off and back on to try again 

Success. 

Well it says it’s downloading as I type 

Here’s hoping it finishes correct. I then have to take it back to the store so they can change the SIM card over. 

They no longer have physical SIM cards they have eSIM. I have no idea how to move that over. So the lovely salesman said they will do it for me 

So that’s where I’m at with that little adventure 

Meanwhile my little, again faithful, slow cooker has a crack in the ceramic bowl. 

It’s not right through but it definitely will get there in the near future. 

So onto Amazon I go. 

I found quite a few in that size. Brilliant 

Now I could have gone with another plain white one around the $90 to $100 depending on the brand 

But they had a pretty little Laura Ashley one for $125 

Guess which one I purchased 

I fought the impulse to get the cheaper one. They do after all work the same way. But I heard hubbys words in my head. 

You look after thins and they last. 

Lash out and get the one you want 

I’m taking that as personal growth 

By the way I used AI to add the background to that photo. 

Another, can’t fight it any longer moment 

I’m embracing our future. 

I hope John Conner with forgive me 

Rebellion

​not by me. But my body. 

After a full on week I’ve well and truly crashed and burned 

Pain levels high,

Having to go back to using me stick

Sleep gone 

My lip started to swell and has now cracked and is bleeding and painful 

And IBS has literally kicked me in the guts 

But above all that 

I’m feeling cold. Maybe this doesn’t seem like much, but I never feel cold 

This was when hubby knew I wasn’t well

So I’ve been ordered to just rest on pain of death 

He even sent wonderson to come and put wood in the fire 

Keep this hinder your hat. I had just done that before he arrived 

It’s sunny out and I wanted some vitamin D. I just strolled around checking to see if all the nettings had survived the wind and the heavy rains 

Very pleased to announce that they were all intact 

The first lot of seedlings are growing wonderfully. The replanted silverbeet, chard, have all survived and growing nicely 

You can see some in the second photo 

And here. 

The rhubarb as also come back to life 

The strawberries are thriving and have really responded to that TLC

The plastic terra cotter looking pots, all have started to grow. You can now see green seedlings over the mulch 

The seedlings in that first photo are still just popping up. Most are the onion seedlings that were tiny when I got them. 

I was worried they might have been too small and be taken out by the heavy rains. 

They weren’t. The netting actually helped to stop the damage.  So an unforeseen advantage. I’ll remember that and use it again in the future 

So even though I’m a mess in need of a little TLC myself, the garden is bouncing along very nicely indeed. 

Hopefully I’ll be back to normal tomorrow and I can get a little more done out there. 

I’m happy to sit and rest but not for days on end. That isn’t great for my mental health 

Beautiful Brianna

Our beautiful Brianna. 

Yesterday we all went to Brianna’s birthday party. What a wonderful time. Lots of laughter and fun. And especially love 

Birthday cake. Chocolate with butterflies 

Dancing and laughing having a wonderful time 

Happiest of birthdays our wonderful baby girl. You have brought so much joy into our lives 

Keep being you and shoot for the stars 

She’s back!

​

Elly the elna is back from her hospital stay, and I couldn’t be more happy 

Although I had the spare machine it wasn’t the same. I tried to hem some stretchy Tshirts and I nearly lost my mind. 

Apparently having a  Walking foot helps 

Well you don’t say. My walking foot is in my quilting machine. 

Obviously I had to take her for a test drive so I chose a simple project 

I made towel toppers.  That very impressive tool is called a chop stick. It’s the very best thing to use to pop those corners out. 

Here they all are finished. I do still need to put the poppers on. I’ll do that in a few days. No rush. I think these will end up in the Christmas gifts basket 

The machine is sewing like she was brand new. Not bad for one that’s well over 15 years old. Best thing it only cost $160.00

Honestly if you live in the area. Get your machine to Craft Quarters in kooWeeRup. The machine man picks up all the patients and brings them back for collection 

If you live in the area drop off your sick machines and the machine doctor picks them up and then drops them back  while your there you might buy some pretty fabrics. They have so many to chose from 

I’ve already cut up the scraps for my hexies 

This will definitely be a long term project 

I won’t feel bad when I shift to something else in between working on it 

While I was in my craft room hubby was outside feeding the menagerie 

As you can see, they got stuck in 

We have a function on tonight, which I’ll tell you all about tomorrow 

Enjoy your day, create make a mess and have a great time doing it