Mess

Our mess was to be found the day after Christmas as we didn't make the time to clean up after opening our gifts. We enjoyed our time of gift giving and then we made our way out to lunch. Arriving home in the late afternoon following Christmas lunch, all we wanted to do was 'nothing'!

It's all cleaned up now! The tree and decorations are put away for next year and we have a bed made up in this end of the house for family arriving tomorrow. I am getting very excited and so for the next month I will blog when I am able...Dot :-)

Lunchtime

Lunchtime yesterday was at the grandparent's home with hubby's brother and wife along with most of our children. We all arrived just prior to lunch and set in to preparing our meal.

The meal consisted of baked ham, savoury chicken drumsticks, pork crackling, lamb with all the trimmings and an array of vegetables. (D2 above is making the yummy noodle salad). We served ourselves and for dessert there was trifle and plum pudding, with all the extras.

 

The lunch crew

 

 

Another Christmas over and now for the holidays. What fun we will have and hope you do too....Dot

 

Decoration

To fit in with the season my daughter removed the crotcheted hearts temporarily and decorated it with baubles etc. It looks very nice along with a few other decorations about the home.

I trust that all my readers have a safe and happy Christmas. I hope you get to spend valuable time with family and friends over a meal....Dot

Tree

This is our tree set up at the window in the front of our home. Yes the tree is there, but I had to focus what was underneath. Looks very interesting, and I have not peeked. 

It's only a few more sleeps now...Dot

Something beginning with S

It was fun to wander around my home and find things beginning with 'S'

 

 

I made this stocking a few years ago.

 

 

D2 brought this home for me and it smells beautiful.

 

 

 Yesterday we enjoyed Shortcrust topped apple and berry pies with cream.

 

 

I needed to replace this to keep my fine hair in place.

 

 

Hee Hee! The oranges are very tasty at the moment.

 

...Dot

On the Floor

Today on the floor I found the following:

Had a cute litte girl to babysit today.

Going out for dinner

Somebody else is off somewhere too....Dot

Something I made

Toward the end of last week we had our Patchwork Group Christmas Dinner. We each took a gift to swap and I made up the jar, pictured above. It had layers made up of hot chocolate powder, instant coffee and sugar (raw). To finish it was topped with mini pink and white marshmallows. It became a talking point when opened.

I had a huge bucket of frozen berries to play with (thanks Little Bro), so I made jam (lots), and Crumble which we enjoyed last night, smoothies and tomorrow I plan to make a pie with the last of them.

Last week I cooked a leg of lamb for the four of us and there was plenty leftover. I pulled out a recipe that I had not made for a while. It would be a good one for leftover cold meat around Christmas so I have shared the recipe with you below. It is delicious and reasonably simple to make. It feeds 6 good serves; I cut it back a bit so I did not have any leftovers and it fed the four of us comfortably...Dot


Cold Meat Pie
1 Tb arrowroot flour
1 Tb curry powder
2 ts salt
1/2 ts pepper
500g thinly sliced cold cooked meat (lamb, beef or chicken)
250g pumpkin, 4 potatoes, 2 medium sweet potatoes, 1 onion - all thinly sliced.
(I used a slicer: beware of the blade)
1/2 bunch spinach, silver beet or kale, de-stalked
1 cup vegetable stock

Mix flour, curry powder, salt and pepper into a bowl. Dip each slice of meat in seasoned flour. Grease a large casserole dish and line with layers of potato, meat, sweet potato, spinach, pumpkin, onion. Repeat layers finishing with potato. Pour over stock, cover and bake for approximatly 1 hour on 180 deg (160 deg if fan forced).
Serve with green peas.

Outdoors

We have had a wet, wild and woolly weekend. The rain was good for our tank. It is thankfully half full. Today was a bit calmer and I got out to fill the clothes line and it is now all dry and folded. I also went downtown to get supplies and the shops were very quiet, I guess the end of the week will be different.

 

Molly didn't worry about the wind, she kept close to me and happily explored.

 

On Sunday afternoon we popped out for an icecream and took in the rough seas.

 

I wonder if you got outdoors more than I did...Dot

 

Lights at Night

On my way to bed I put my camera up to the window...

 

 

... and took a picture of the huge tree in the middle of our town which has been lit up for a few weeks now with Christmas lights.

I then turned around and took a couple of shots of our pretty tree. All the lights are out except for those coming from the tree. We leave them on overnight so others can enjoy them too, in fact we don't turn them off until Christmas Day.

 

 

I hope you get to see some nice lights about where you are...Dot

Something Green

My garden is the best place to find a mass of green at the moment. It is doing well and we are enjoying a few things from it and will do even more so over the next few months.

 

 

The new potato patch is growing well. We enjoyed a few chats last night with our dinner.

 

 

We have already had a pick off the rhubarb and now it is growing back well to give us another go at it.

 

 

A friend passed on some seed for climbing butter beans and so these are starting to climb up the trellis I made for them.

 

Green is my favourite colour at the moment and will be for some time. It is a very refreshing colour which speaks of life and health. If I am to remain healthy I better go get some lunch, my tummy is rumbling....Dot

Sweet

And so we think of sugar, I know I did. My goal this year was to cut out sugar. I have not cut it out completely but have to admit (along with the rest of the household) that we have cut back dramatically. We have noticed that some things that we used to eat are now very sweet to our palates.

At the moment though, 3 of us are enjoying a daily chocolate tidbit from an advent basket thanks to D2 who never fails each year to make up her own Advent Idea and fills them with chocolate to share around.

And last night we received a huge box of Roses chocolates. Oh no!!! I have had a couple and we have guests coming around tonight...Dot :-)

Under

Wow!!! You would not find me with my feet far from the ground, but I was glad to have someone come in and paint our foyer for us. It looks great and I have been happily reorganising our home.

Currently I am listening to Elvis sing out Christmas songs while D3 is putting up the tree. Presents will start going under there today. No peaking allowed .... Dot

Out & About

Did you get out and about over the weekend? I managed to snaffle my husband for a date (he was late) and we drove over to Stanley to have lunch. We were later joined by our friends from Hobart and spent some time with them. Us girls checked out a local shop and then hubby and I kidnapped the parents and we went for a long scenic drive. It was a beautiful day even though there was a bit of wind; it made the sea look great with all the 'white-tipped' waves.

This cafe makes good coffee, hot and strong. We had eaten a yummy toasted sandwich and were now waiting for our delicious dessert to arrive; banana cake with yoghurt icing.

Someone You Love

At bedtime last night I received a 'surprise' text from a friend who was in town from the other end of the state. She wanted to know what time I went for my walk in the morning. And so we met down the street early this morning and she joined me on my walk. I was thrilled to have someone with me and we talked all the way. She is here with her family for a few days and so she is going to join me each morning.

It's so nice to spend time with those you love at this time of year. I hope that happens for you too ....Dot

From Where I live

I am always on the lookout for local or near local produce to use in my kitchen. Last month I was in a supermarket up the coast and noticed an interesting brand of yoghurt. It was made locally and I hoped we were able to get it from the supermarket in my town. I was soon to find out that I could and so it has been added to my shopping and we are loving it.

It's a truly thick textured and creamy yogurt with a refreshing tangy finish. And it's very healthy and nutritious.  We have been enjoying it on our crepes and also with my new recipe of Crunchy Granola. Some of the family have been enjoying it plain.

From where I live, I am proud, and it has my support...Dot


http://www.roamingcowdairies.com.au/the-roaming-cow-range/

Black & White

mmm, black and white! I looked about for a day or two with camera close at hand and then suddenly, black and white appeared in front of me.

My daughter arrived home from work and there it was. Black and white from top to toe, beautiful.

It is freezing here again today. The kettle has been boiled a few times. I am trying out a peppermint tea...Dot

Something We Held

As promised, here is the picture of the lights hung up a few days ago.

Recently we have held:

A lovely candle gifted to our family. It smells great without even lighting it, which we have not done yet. When we do it sounds like it is going to be quite an experience. It says on the front 'fragrance never sounded so good'. On the base it says 'creates the sound of a crackling fire'. It is cinnamon chai; I reckon we will be drinking in the fragrance, dont you? 

Hubby and I were gifted a nice bag of hair products the other day. I love the lacy red ribbon it was tied with. There were products specifically for him and me. I was impressed and feel some nice pampering coming up.

....Dot

Peace

Peace is what we want to take place in our homes at this time of year. We have to work at it though as our schedules can get busy and family can become flustered. As a wife and mother each year I try to set the scene for a peaceful one. Every effort is made to make this season a happy and joyous one and all hands are on deck.

Because renovations are underway, our usual Christmas Tree and decorations have not been displayed, D2 brought her smaller tree upstairs. Funnily is has moved 3 times in the last week. It is very easy to transport (approx. 50cm high).

Christmas cards received are being stuck on an internal door.

Our stack of Christmas music has been pulled out of the cupboard and we are enjoying listening to all our favourite bands.

D3 has since put up some lights. I will try and remember to take a pic of that soon. She squeezed them in amongst all the furniture.

Have a great day, I trust it is a peaceful one for you and those around you...Dot

Rest & Finish Something

Hello, 2 days in 1 today.
The other day I took some time out for a rest and had my ears treated to ear candles. We were unable to take a photo while in the process but this is what was used.

And to complete the month, I have finished some things:

Over the past week, we have cleared out our lounge room in preparation for painting. We have taken advantage of the space and opened up the curtains letting the breeze take over. We have had the walls and ceilings cleaned and the painter is coming to start prep on Monday.

And I have completed a red crocheted dishcloth to suit the season.

Enjoy the 1st day of summer tomorrow...Dot

An Oldie But A Goodie

The item that came to mind was my slow cooker.

It lives under the sink at close range. I have taken it out this morning, washed a thawed organic chicken, placed in cooker, seasoned with salt, pepper and mixed herbs, tucked it away in the corner of the kitchen and set the cooker to auto. Tonight about 5pm I will take the chicken out to rest before serving to guests for dinner. It just falls apart!!!

How simple is that! An oldie but a goodie....Dot

Fresh

Over the weekend I did some work in my garden and was able to bring in some fresh vegies to enjoy at dinner. I thinned my carrots out (so there was a meal there), I found some potatoes in the ground from last season and I picked my first lot of broad beans. They were all delicious!!!

I was given some fresh flowers.

 

Later in the day on Saturday we were blessed with a drench of fresh rain....Dot

Frame It

Good afternoon viewers. Trust you had a wonderful weekend. Recently I framed a photo which I want to display in my home. Currently the house is in disarray as we are having the dining/lounge and foyer painted and so the contents of those rooms are relocated to other rooms. But here is the framed photo:

My siblings.
We were all together a few weeks ago and so the opportunity arose to take a family photo. We all huddled together (as we love each other so much) and after some messing about a little by the youngest, we finally got a decent shot.

Must get back to relocating some more furniture....Dot

Mistake

We all have those days, don't we, where we find we suffer with a little bit of 'dropsy'. I could not believe it!! I had a day like that recently. First my iphone slipped out of its cover onto the tiled kitchen floor. I have never dropped it before in its 3 year lifespan. It has a little mark on 2 of its corners and thankfully it is still working well. No serious damage.
Then, as I was cleaning out some overhead cupboards, I dropped a container and it split (on the tiled floor again).  It will still work but very noticable. Oh well, these things happen!!!

Have a great weekend and try not to make many mistakes....Dot :-)

An Arrangement

I popped outside today to see what I could replace that last vase of flowers with and found some Kangaroo Paw. I added that to some other nice greenery and dah dah!!

I started 2 new things today. I set my alarm for 6am and plan to keep it that way for the time being (I am awake then anyway as it is daylight) and I took my push bike out for a ride.

I will sleep tonight....Dot