A Little Bit of Reflection

Well, the New Year is upon us and we have had an interesting 2010. We have after many years of dreaming about it, bought our little bit of paradise and have been busy doing all the things we planned.

We have built a large vegetable garden, though still expanding it, an orchard, chook pen and chooks, natives plants and bush tucker, and still more things to come. We still need to work on the inside of our home, and in the new year our number one and only son will be out in his own room, once the lino arrives and we put it in. We fixed the old ride on mower, bought a motor bike and another vehicle, bought more tools, chainsaws and stuff, put in a wood fire for our few weeks of cold, the list is rather long.

Financially we will be having a much slower year in 2011, it will be basically a no spend year except for the things we need and a family wedding to go to, not sure we can do more than that, don't think I want to.


Our dam is full now with the rain we have had and our tanks are nearly there too. We did get rain from Cyclone Tasha that crossed the coast on Christmas morning (the dog came and woke me at 5.30am right when the cyclone was crossing but I told her to go away, I think she knew something) however after that it moved south and the rain stopped. Not so good for others though, and my heart goes out to those who have lost.


With the rain that we had a lot of water sat around the tanks and we tried to find the pipe that had been covered up when the new tank went in, actually I supervised and the men dug. We haven't found it yet but we (as in my partner in crime and life) put in our own drainage just to get the water away.

We are now expecting more rain for the New Year, I certainly wouldn't be going out to celebrate, apart form the fact that I am showing my age by not being able to stay up late, they are predicting rain. Besides, I have been there done that and am now in the can't sleep past 6am stage of my life, very frustrating :-D



For Christmas I got a pasta maker, and it makes great pasta, I have never had fresh pasta before and it is yum. So I that is our new thing for the new year, only making own pasta, doesn't take much time and it is fun.

So I am all ready for the new year. The budget has been reviewed, my new diary is already full of stuff for the new year like the school terms, my partner in crime and life gave me an IPOD dock with speakers for my Tai Chi classes so no more Cd's, yay, I am ready to keep track of all our spending this year and I have many many lists.

So, see you all on the other side of midnight for the start of what will be a great year :D

Christmas 2010

We are in either the wind up or the wind down to Christmas, not sure which. We went into town for the last time this week and thank goodness for that, the people are driving me crazy, and I just want to do regular stuff not Christmas stuff. So now can opt out of the craziness for more than a few days.

We have bought a ham from the butchers, which we are sure to pick at constantly, we bought frozen green prawns so we can make lots of prawn things with them, so these are things I am looking forward to.

We haven't got really anything of the rain the rest of the country is getting, or has gotten, just a little, they say it will rain Christmas day but we will just wait and see.



This is what our number one and only son has been up too these holidays so far, making a fish trap to put in the dam



He has also been out motorbike riding with friends, I don't really want to know about all this mud and stuff but that is what the bike is for


We have had some lovely days here, though quite hot during the day and not much rain but just gorgeous in the mornings.


There has been a little fog in the mornings on the tops of the mountains.


We have still managed to keep our chooks alive, there are no eggs yet, maybe in another month. They run to a more natural cycle as they haven't been bred for laying or for meat and so are slower in developing than other breeds, I ran in to the lady we got them from the other day and that is what she said. So I guess we have to hang on for a bit longer, but apparently they live a long time, what ever that is.

I have given away my paw paw sauce and chutney, and they have been well received, also the rosella jam was a HUGE hit apparently so I am happy, and will post up the recipes in the new year.

I have finished Tai Chi for the year, having our Christmas lunch last week, though some people had already gone away and there were a couple of sickies. My partner in crime and life has some time off work so we are also catching up on the heavier stuff around the property.

So I am now hoping to have some time to do some serious reading, I am reading a lot of environmental/self sufficiency/no spending books, so next year we can do more of all those things. I think I need to make some more lists on these things, I already have made lists of things we can do in various areas, but feel the need for more, I like lists, maybe I will post some of them just so people can see how really crazy I am :-D

Night Noises

Who said it was quiet in the bush? I am sure someone did. I can tell you right now it is not, it is really noisy, especially at night.

I have been making fly screens for the windows and for the last two night have been able to leave the bedroom window open at night. For the last year we have has to sleep with the window closed and I hate it, no fresh air. We could have the window open in the daytime as we are not worried about the daytime creatures, but we don't want the night time creatures getting in, so now we have a fly screen.


Well, there is lovely fresh air coming in but also the sounds of all those night creatures. The frogs, crickets, cicadas, and I am sure the snakes and spiders contribute too. They are so loud that I have laid awake the last two nights for quite a while unable to sleep.

Our number one and only son had a friend sleep over last night, they were very happy with the cheesecake and ice cream last night, while watching movies, and pancakes, golden syrup and ice cream for breakfast. Though I did tell them not to tell other adults they had ice cream for breakfast :D

Busy today for me today, big clean up of the house, the Christmas decorations are getting in the way, need to move the boxes. At least the tree is finished and doesn't look too bad.


Our first ever white Christmas Tree

The grass is growing like crazy so I must get out the ride on mower and mow around the house and vege gardens at least. There is something dead behind the freezer, but I need to work myself up for that one, and I really need to clean out the fridge. Oh, and I have two more flysreens to make then that will all finished, I had better get cracking :P

School Holidays

Hard to blog at the moment as we have a new rule for the school holidays, no TV, computers or Xbox between 9am and 5pm. It is too early before 9am and I am tired after 5pm, can't win :D Unfortunately, the rule also applies to the parents, so I am off as well, and my partner in crime and life when he returns home, oh well, it is not so bad.

I decided that during the holidays our number one and only son will not waste his days dribbling out the side of his mouth while frying his brain on these activities. However, not wanting to be the fun police, he can get on at 5pm, and guess what? At 5pm on the dot, he is on the computer. But he has managed to keep himself amused in other ways during the day, so life is not so bad :D

My partner in crime and life is away this week in the Philippines for work so I am working extra hard to keep on top of everything.

I have made Paw Paw sauce and today made Rosella jam, I am also making fly screens for all our windows (there are only six so not too bad) which in theory is simple but in reality is more difficult.


Paw Paw Sauce


One fly screen down :)


I have been mowing and gardening and making heaps of mistakes making the fly screens and it is all very tiring, I have been falling asleep early I am so tired, but I am getting a lot done.

We have lost our Christmas tree in the move so have had to get a new one, not as easy as you might think, a lot of places didn't have Christmas trees, can't figure that one out. Anyway, for the first time, we have a white one and it is not bad, I was a bit resistant at first but it looks alright, we are still decorating it, can't rush these things :D