Welcome 2014

Hi folks

Since it is the start of the new year I thought it would be a good time to start up my blogging. After such a long break it is more than possible that no one visits me to read. Fair enough. But if only one person comes to reads it is worth it, and I know at least one of my dear daughters who lives away from us likes to check in to catch up on my news. 

The past few months have been intense to say the least. Firstly there was the preparation for the arrival of our second beautiful grandson. He arrived on the 1st December, very conveniently in the morning. He and his mum came home late on the same day. 
Patrick Thomas is as gorgeous as his older brother and we are all enjoying cuddles. 

Christmas was a low key affair again this year. We were fortunate to have all five of our daughters in town. We chose to have the hot Christmas lunch with baked, glazed ham and all the veggies to go with it. Of course as is the tradition, we all ate far more than usual and so lazed around the rest of the day.
I must admit that I am glad it's over now and I look forward to the brand new year ahead. I turn 50 mid year. I can hardly believe I wrote that. Fifty used to seem very old when I was a child, but of course now I am rapidly approaching that milestone, I'm thinking how lucky I am to be here to celebrate it. I reckon I will have a party, plenty of wine and food and laughs.

I find the days passing quickly, even when I don't seem to have much to do. I spend a lot of my time resting and thinking. I tire very easily and with ongoing health issues it is always a case of going with the flow, more simply put I work when I have the energy to do it and sit quietly when I don't. It can be a problem though as when I do have a boost of energy and enthusiasm I try to do many things and very soon my physical limitations stop me.

Some of the crafty things I have been doing the past couple of months include, sewing, quilting, making birthday cards and my newest and most favourite thing painting! More specifically furniture painting. Who knew I would be able to pick up a paint brush and slap it onto furniture and pimp it up. For a long time I have wanted to make over my dark furniture. I came across some blogs from people who were using the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to revamp tired or work furniture. I knew this paint was made for me. Basically it is a chalky type paint that you slap on without preparation and then distress and wax for a beautiful finish. I am not good at explaining it so if your interested best Google it.
To date I have painted my console hall table, lamp table, numerous cane baskets, and the biggie-,y entire bedroom suite. Well I didn't actually paint all of it my daughters and even the bloke helped with that project, cos it was far too much for me to tackle on my own. I chose ASCP in Duck Egg Blue-it's gorgeous. The first photos show my first attempt at painting a lamp table. I used old white, which looks great.

The following photo is the cane chest I use in my bedroom to store excess stuff. It was an ugly dark colour, a fairly cheap piece from Target I think. One application of ASCP and it was transformed from the ugly duckling into the beautiful swan.

I love this paint. True statement. It has allowed me to use my basic painting abilities to achieve instant, satisfying results. Yeah- fulfilling my creative need.
Once I can upload my other pics of my bedroom suite I can show you how it looks.
Now the drought has been broken I hope to be back more often.
Take care,

Hello Monday

It's mid way through October and I am putting my head up to say I'm still alive. I know that I say this every year but how does the time go past so quickly? Seriously, when I was a kid Christmas seemed to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r, but not now, no sooner am I just about recovered from the past years festivities and it's here again. One would be mistaken if you thought that after 49 and a bit times I would be getting better at the whole planning and organising of stuff. Nup! Therefore I am trying to learn to ease up on myself and accept that things will not be change. However I can see that as we-the bloke and I age it will be our kids who will take over the running of the festivities  We can just help and roll along to the events. 
This December we will be lucky enough to celebrate with another gorgeous baby. Our eldest daughter is adding to her family and her little cherub is due early December. Number one son will have a sibling and we are all very excited. Being a grandparent is one of life's rewards. I love babies and hope for plenty more. Not for myself but grand babies.
Another great thing happening this year is that all our family will be here in one spot. This will be great. 

In August we celebrated Jacob's first birthday. He had a great little party with some of his friends. His clever mama made him a big teddy cake, which tasted yummy. 

In other news, a few weeks back the bloke came in from the garden to tell me that a funny white flower had popped its head out down the back. I can't walk that far so he took some pics for me to see it. I was happy to see it because it was a peace lily. After mum died in August 2010 we got some of her bulbs and the bloke had just bought them home, chucked them in the ground and forgotten about them. In her birth and death month three years later they emerged where they had been gathering strength to go on again. Life delivers beautiful messages like that.

Love and miss you mum

Keeping it Simple

 

Simple food is often the best. Recently out fourth daughter was visiting us and cooked a lovely meal (see above picture) including her delicious potato bake. It tasted even better than before, and then she discovered she had used custard powder instead of cornflour in the sauce. It was a tad yellow but it tasted awesome. Maybe a secret ingredient?

What cooking mistakes have you made that enhanced a dish rather than ruined it?

With Christmas fast approaching and I say that with total denial, I am hoping my eldest daughter gets motivated and energised to do the baking required. I don’t have one inch of Christmas spirit in me. I feel flat, exhausted, sad, a little bit grinchy, (is that even a word) anxious-oh I could just go on but I’m not, for all our sakes. So many people tell me that I have a grandchild now, who will be 4 months old when the big day rolls around, so I have to be happy. Well I cannot be happier with him and I am trying to do my grandmother job well. This year he will like the paper much more than what the toy is. But in future years I will most certainly enjoy seeing his delight at the arrival of Father Christmas.

So now back to simple foods. Christmas this year will be just the bloke and I and three of the girls, my newly minted SIL and of course our darling little Jacob. The plan is to go to Jacob’s home for a nice light breakfast, maybe fruit, toast and whatever else we choose, then come back here for a lunch of cold meats including baked glazed ham, roast chicken, maybe a roast beef, German potato salad, garden salad, pasta salad with trifle and a nice refreshing homemade cheesecake for dessert. Leftovers will be consumed throughout the evening and even next day. See simple and delicious and easily prepared.

I know that I have been quiet here again and I can’t promise things will change, but I do value all of my readers and your comments really cheer me up.