snap it 'breakfast'

 Greetings all,

Oh hello, breakfast!!  With hens laying fresh eggs daily & a bountiful herb garden, we enjoy this kind of breakfast frequently.  

 How lucky are we to have this bounty.  

I'm eating this well, following the Michelle Bridges 12WBT programme, 10kg ladies, gone.

Check out what others are eating for breakfast over at Faith Hope & a Whole Lotta Love.  I love blowing up my Instagram images - you see the crumbs, texture & butter on the knife, love Posie

i'm grateful for . . . 'pretend farming'

Greetings all,

This week along with Maxabella's I'm Grateful For . . . me, i'm 'pretend farming'.  Yes, we are still keeping eyes & ears open for the right farm in the right location (120-150 acres outside Canberra) but we won't be ready to buy for another 12-18 months (kind of need my husband in the territory/ country to help chose & pay for it) so in the mean time, i'm playing at growing herbs & vegetables.  I'm grateful for discovering over the past decade or so, that i have a bit of a green thumb.  Of course pretend farming success is easy over Summer, but here we are in March . . .

So love this calendar, it sits next to the fruit bowl.

 

 Basil, Thyme, Chives & Parsley all healthy & strong.

 Planted celery 4 weeks ago, looking good & the fireworks chillies lost a bit of sunlight for growth due to enormously successful lettuce.

 Behold the mighty (single) capsicum!!

 More celery, tomatoes & basil with a little onion in the centre.

The pumpkins are going wonderfully, with carrots shooting up through the centre.  Particulary excited about my pumpkin patch for Wintery soups.

Gardening brings me such joy, like sewing - i'm completely self taught (i can read a packet but while i'm still in faux farming mode, i'm not researching anything) & trying carrots, potatoes, basil, celery, mint in different spots, soils, mixed varieties to see where it grows best.  My grandfather was a professional gardener in England, i think he'd be proud of my efforts & enthusiasm.  It's fun, inexpensive, fresh & involves the children & puppy too.  Our big plan is to be as self subsistant as possible, growing as much as we can ourselves to feed our big family.  If i can take care of the fruit, herbs & vegetables, i'll leave handsome soldier to take care of the animals (eekk). 
Now back to my studio - huge progress in the tidy up/ space reduction/ makeover/ new bedroom addition.  Just long & slow, 6 garbage bags of junk to toss & counting.  Have happy weekends everyone, love Posie

accepting the Stylish Blogger award & happy 400 followers . . .

Greetings all,
I've seen lots of blogs accepting their Stylish Blogger awards, it's really fun to read their '7 things'.  I have been nominated half a dozen times (that is not meant as 'good GOD i'm stylish') but i wasn't speedy enough to accept the first couple a month ago.  In the past week Tammi Little Poppa & Me, Brenda Hoo Are You Lookin' At, Bianca Bigwords & Heidi Bord & Butik have nominated my blog . . . thanks ladies, i wonder if they were just being kind, like i'd been left out??  It's also great timing as a 'next 100 follower' hello like i did when i reached 200 followers, then 300 followers.  Welcome new folk, i'll bring you up to speed with what i'm about . . .   

So here goes my 7 things, i'm going to make them all about style . . .

1. i love style, classic fashion, accessories & try to keep my look interesting not trendy

2. i dress my husband like a catalogue model for fun, nice change from his uniform

3. i am really fussy with the clothes i buy my children & let them decide how to wear them

4. i love sets of things, matching Nigella Lawson mixing bowls, KitchenAid red appliances & endless Tupperware

5. my dream car is a cute Audi A3 in yellow (middle aged lady car which screams no-more-school-runs, i'll be 46 when my last child finishes high school & be at the Audi dealership that afternoon) & i can retire my 8 seater 4WD which screams 'large family + extras'

6. we are planning to build a homestead on a farm near Canberra in a couple of years, we're designing a simple spacious home in blues & neutrals, with verandah around the whole house, pool, green house, barn/ garage & grow all our own vegetables in high garden beds - i'm practising now, my lastest addition . . . pumpkins, onions & carrots

7. my husband only had big sisters so when i met him, he had style beaten into him already, we rarely clash on choosing things for our home, we still have the original furniture from when we married in 1997 (we've updated lounges to King Furniture & obviously added 4 single beds) but we still have the same daggy-pine-young-newly-wed bedroom furniture . . . so we can start a fresh when we move into our OWN home & out of Army housing!!
Thanks for reading, following, giggling & sharing with my blog journey so far.  Love Posie
EDIT: we have collected KitchenAid since we got married, first the blender, then mixer, saucepans & mega stock pot, the toaster 3 years ago & most recently at Christmas, the food processor (which is like using a power tool, scary until you know how!!)  My kitchen ideas are accented with reds with a black & white tiled floor (i've had 4 Army houses with the same grey speckled lino on the kitchen floor, a girl has to dream) & we have cherry red Le Crueset cast iron saucepans, love & collect them too.  As for King Furniture, it's the best, we saved up 10 years for the Jasper, then got a Delta II.

my creative space 'poor man's terrarium'

Greetings all,

I guess My Creative Space at Kootoyoo is on holidays but Thursdays force me to whip up some creativity, so i'm hanging in there.  At Shop Handmade we have some really cool terrariums & i'd love one, only with herbs . . .  $25 giant glass bowl, $6 worth of pebbles, $3 thyme, soil & water spray, voila, a herb terrarium for the dining table. 

I think i could honestly live with this bowl just filled with pebbles, looks so cool.

The overall product is great, the view from the bottom to show pebbles - hmmmm, more artistry is required & perhaps more pebbles??  Gosh, not another $6!!  Tee hee.  Also think the soil should flatten out in time, oh who cares, it's fun!!  So now the dining table smells delicious & herby, i'm pretty thrilled.  I had visions of 3 or 4 different herbs in there, just wasn't going to happen, so they went into the herb barrel by the back door (parsley, dill & coriander so far this Spring).
Happy creative space invading people & holidays to Kirsty at Kootoyoo.  Love Posie