i'm grateful for . . . things to do on a grey skies kind of day

Greetings all,
Joining in with Maxabella Loves today (it's back) . . . i'm grateful for . . . what you can do when you're home with grey skies looming, which are bringing the children down with cabin fever & wishing they could be swimming, bush walking, riding bikes or just having fun in the sun.  Our family car is still at the mechanics, sure it's a million dollar service by now - they're waiting on parts as our 16y.o. beloved Landcruiser needs a bit of love & some hose replacements, so we can't drive anywhere as a family of 6. 
Anyway . . . welcome to my House of Happy Distractions.

 Under the pegola at our back sliding door . . . the children planted this bounty of fresh herbs & salad ingredients on NYE.  They water it lovingly & update me on lettuce leaf growth & are on constant snail watch alert.  The half wine barrel continues to serve us well (truth be told, we had to tip it upsidedown, rearrange all the wooden panels & nail the metal bands back into place to revive it before adding fresh soil & planting) . . . + that $5 wooden tool box finally has a purpose!!  I planted some agaves in the tool box between the herbs so it's not empty in Winter.  I have my green thumb moments!!

 I started cutting into the new fabrics from my latest RetroMummy collection, that kept me happy indoors too & maybe tomorrow i'll actually sew something together. 

 My husband made his first ever cheesecake, a chocolate one, assisted by our eldest daughter, mmmm.  Those beaters didn't stand a chance with our son.  I've had a sliver of the cake, delicious, but remember, diet!!  I should stop saying diet, it's just a healthy lifestyle, but i can happily blab that i've lost 3kg+ this week!!  Trust me, i have the sore bike bottom to prove it.

 We had an early dinner with some amazing garlic, rosemary, fennel seed & olive oil on sour dough bread fresh today from the markets - i even nibbled a slice of bread, mmmm, carbs.

Goodness, what on earth could this be turning into??  Amazing what you can do with a $17 giant glass bowl/ vase/ vessel & $4 in pebbles & shells from Hot Dollar.  Stay tuned for more on this particular children's adventure.

 On last night's 12km solo bike ride, i did stop to pick smell the roses, some just happened to fall into the cane basket on my bike & make their way home with me.  I also swallowed a fly, oh, i couldn't cough it up, eekk!!  My Bear Grylls moment.
 

 More free fun - our middle daughter found the bubble maker her teacher gave her on the last day of school & off she went with her twin sister onto the driveway.

 This kept them entertained under those looming clouds for ages.

 Some huge bubbles were coming out of that hoop.

There you go, it's not all doom & gloom on those grey days in the school holidays, between breaks in the rain, just look around you OR come over to my place.  My mantra is only boring people get bored.  My children never dare use the 'boring' word!!  Guess what, not a television on in the house all day!! 
Then the finale, the knock out blow . . . a 6km walk around the lake after eating that cheesecake for dessert, mmmm.  I burnt double calories as i had to piggie back a weasy 9y.o. the last couple of kilometres home, facing into the cold wind.  Score!!  We'll all sleep well tonight.  Love Posie
PS last chance for the Tangled movie ticket giveaway!!

101 ways with sausages, ok 3 ways with sausages . . .

Greetings all,
Now i'm a pretty terrible at cooking dinner.  I can bake for parties, cakes, slices, biscuits, muffins . . . make fantastic gourmet sandwiches & prepare anything you throw at me to chop, clean, mix . . . my first paid job when i was 12 was as a kitchen hand!!  It's just when heat is introduced, it all goes pear shaped.  I do my best to steam vegetables & not murder good cuts of meat, so my children get something edible & healthy for their growing bodies.  There is no 'made with love' at dinner time here . . . sewing it is not!! 

See, when handsome soldier goes away, we miss him & HIS COOKING!!  My husband can cook anything, with flavour, he finds it relaxing, enjoyable, a challenge.  He can make a sponge rise to perfection & roast a leg of lamb to juicey tenderness.  Me, when i cook, i am also supervising  homework, directing children doing chores & cleaning up, at the same time.  There are only so many hours between walking in the door after a long trip home from school & their bedtime.  Don't tell me about preparing vegetables during the day, i do ALL that, i even plan a menu, this is not spontaneous-last-minute-cooking!!  When you lack skills, inclination & passion, it's really hard to get the task right, or . . . tastey.  I know, all you great cooks must think i'm incredibly slack, my mother was a chef, oh the shame of it all.

To add to my kitchen nightmare . . . i froze 3kg of sausages in one huge lump.  I know, i didn't count them out & divide into family portions like normal, i just froze without any consideration for how, when or why they would be used . . . so i had to be inventive to disguise 3 sausage based meals in a row.  I actually view it as dinner anarchy now, rebelling against every other facet of extreme organisation i had going on during my 9 months of solo parenting this year.

First night was BBQ sausages & salad, easy, happy children.
Second night was . . . sausage mince, toss in herbs, tomato paste, onion & carrot, da dah, sausage rolls to toss in the oven on a freezing wet Spring evening.  Extra delicious with Lynwood Chilly Tomato Jam which i picked up at Shop Handmade this week.

On the third night of sausage mince, my true love made for me . . . ground up bread rolls = breadcrumbs for rissoles.  So we had homemade burgers stuffed with salad on a Friday night.

I wonder if Donna Hay could style & photograph sausage mince with any glamour??
Theory of this blog post - count & divide your sausages before freezing!! 
Have great weekends people, Little Athletics has already been cancelled due to rain, so i'm off to the Murrumbateman Field Day (that's a big event in them thar hills on the Barton Highway) & sewing.  Love Posie

funeral, presents, movie, party, earrings & flash back in Sydney

Greetings all,
We left Canberra very early for Nanna's morning funeral in Sydney.  It was a beautiful service & i think Nanna will love how my in-laws sent her off with gorgeous memories, smiles & heart felt tears.  Lots of talk of her famous apple pies, scones & rosey cheeks.  It was especially moving for us as there were so many photos of my husband's late mother, we miss them both.  The children were so well behaved at the service & burial, then wake afterwards, but some napped on the way to grandpa's, they were exhausted. 

 morning fog over Lake George

 i dressed the children in the car

My brother invited us around to his place for dinner, as always, incredible spread of dinner & dessert, conversation & laughter.  We brought the drinks & a red tea candle from Shop Handmade for his wife.  Our children disappeared most of the night with their 3 teenagers - cousins are awesome.

 my eldest brother is a rocket scientist turned chef

 hmmmm . . .  think the elbows need some adjustment

 it was 10C outside but she still wanted to wear this dress

 I love that my parents & father-in-law still live in the family homes we grew up in.  Watching my children this morning was a big trip down memory lane.  Jumping for lemons, mandarins & oranges, running down this passage, climbing on the massive rocks - big flash back!!  They are checking out the holes bandicoots are digging, much to my father's dismay & they are protected 'pests'.

 this bloke was zonked

 gifts from my parents recent Queen Mary 2 cruise to Europe, West Indies & South America

We had big plans in Sydney to visit Corrie from Retro Mummy, have ice creams in Manly & take a ferry on Sydney Harbour, but the weather turned gloomy so we headed for the cinema to see Despicable Me (giggles) but at $79 for the 6 of us to see a children's movie, well, pricey day out, on top of sushi lunch, shoe shopping & our big girl getting her ears pierced - we made her wait until the last term before high school.  She was very brave, i loved that she asked if daddy could hold her hand, i could see it really hurt. 
Tonight we celebrate my husband arriving 'home' a whole week ago.  So far he's spent 2 days in Brisbane & 3 days in Sydney . . . he's off tomorrow for a week in Brisbane . . . we're very patient for him to actually be on leave with us in Canberra properly!!  Off to cuddle him now & hope this uploads as we're on 1990 internet speed for the next week, thanks so some huge software download??  Oh well, i'm redecorating the children's rooms this week so best not to be distracted by blogs & the outside world while i'm swapping all 4 children into different rooms with a complete overhaul & clean!!Have a great week everyone, love Posie