There's a Party in my Laundry!

Seriously, there is!

Phil decided for some random reason to install a party light in there.  Goodness only knows!  I certainly don't have a party every time I do my laundry, that's for sure.

The problem is that I can't do any laundry at night - because I can't see well enough in there.

It is also where our outside toilet is...and for goodness sake I don't want to see what is glowing... (I'll let your imagination do it's thing there!)

 Phil's Party Light Bulb in the gross light shade that is in my laundry.  Goodness knows why we didn't replace that when we replaced all the other light fittings in the house.

 My hand towel glows really well!  Apparently my camera likes to have parties in there too, and glowing objects make blurry pictures.

Who would have thought that the inside of toilet paper rolls, Phil's underwear, Pink Napisan containers and power points switched on glow under a party light bulb?

Now the question remains.  Is Phil going to remember to take the party light bulb out before my family come over to celebrate Jacki's birthday in a few weeks, or are some of them going to get the surprise of their life?

Mildly Renovating

Faced with the prospect of having to move if my son doesn't get into the High School we know he needs to go to, we have started to tidy the place up...which we were going to do anyway.  But now there is a deadline.  Eek!  Phil and I (mostly "I") have come up with a schedule of things that have to be done around the house.  No ifs, no buts.  Bit by bit they will get done!

The first job was ripping up the carpet in the hallway.  It was gross green stuff that really should have been removed long ago, but we didn't.

 I did this much all by myself!  It took me 10 minutes of solid work, but boy were my legs and arms wobbly for hours after that!

 The floorboards are in excellent condition!  The carpet is so very green!

 Then Phil stepped in to help.  He does a much better job.  He has muscles, you see!  It took him half an hour to do the rest of the hallway.

 But he says when he got to this part of the hallway, he was feeling that jelly-like wibble wobble in the arms and legs.  I got the job of clearing out the carpet and underlay, and sweeping up the remains.

Just the carpet in the two bedrooms to go now :D (and a time frame of one week to remove all the little 'staples').

Having one of those days?

I'm having a slow morning.  You know the ones?  When your alarm goes off and even though you know you've had what should be enough sleep, you're bone dead exhausted. (Phil had gotten up 2 hours before I did - poor him!!).

I had to get up so I could wake the children up.  It took them half an hour before they even put their feet on the floor.  Definitely a slow morning.

Piano practices were done, children showered and dressed, hair brushed, lunches made, breakfast was on the run today, prayers said, hugs and out the door.  Well, the children were out the door.  I love being able to say goodbye to them at our gate.  It takes them 5 minutes to walk to school across the oval at the top of our street.  There are no roads to cross, and with other children walking to school at the same time, I feel it is safe.

Now I'm sitting here in my dressing gown and ugg boots with leftover raccoon mascara that I thought I had completely removed last night, contemplating the never-ending list of things I have to get through today and wondering where to start.

;D So I started on chocolate mud cake.

Piano Tuning

I felt so guilty about not looking after our piano properly for so long - it costs a bit of money to keep a piano maintained especially if you are teaching on it every day, have two children practising it every day, not to mention your own practise.

I had been meaning to get my piano tuned for years but didn't quite have the cash flow to justify it (silly, I know).

I had the number of a brilliant piano tuner, had the cash in hand to do it in December/January but couldn't get hold of him.

Finally in February after some Google searching and other enquiries, I found out that he passed away.  Such a shame - I didn't have the privilege of meeting him.  I did look up the Australasian Piano Tuners and Technicians Association (http://www.aptta.org.au/) and found the name of a local guy who was accredited with them.

I am happy to say that he did a brilliant job, and my piano is back in working order (still a practice pedal to be tightened up but that wasn't part of tuning).

I didn't realise just how much having an out of tune piano was messing with my sense of pitch.  The piano wasn't sounding honky tonky, but it certainly wasn't in tune.  I found it was harder to play in tune on my violin - not a good thing when you're a violin teacher.  It is so much easier now.  What a difference!  When you're playing the violin, the finger being 1 millimetre out can make a big difference.

It was $190 for about an hour of tuning.  Standard price for members of the APTTA.  I was happy to pay that.

Just in case you were wondering what the inside of a piano looks like, here you go:

Something else I found out: Piano Tuners mark carefully the inside of the piano when they tune it so the next tuner knows how long it has been since the last tune-up.  This one was tuned in Tamworth last!  How about that!! Apparently they mark it in chalk, so it can be wiped off easily and not do any damage.

Mini Pizzas - Lunchbox Lunches

I got up nice and early this morning (well, perhaps a little too early - I was wide awake at 4am!!) and decided I was going to make the kids mini pizzas for their lunch.


Complete with dough from scratch.  Well, in the breadmaker, because kneading dough really makes my hands, wrists and arms ache (thanks arthritis and RSI).


This is what they got:-

 Dough rolled out into circles.  Oops, well circular-ish shaped objects!  We did a bit better on the next batches.

 All the things you need to make mini pizzas.  We used tomato paste with some dried herbs and water all mixed together, chopped ham or thinly sliced Danish Salami and mozzarella cheese.

 Ready to go into the oven.

One batch of dough made 16 mini pizzas.

The children got to eat some warm on the way to school (goodness knows why they couldn't eat them at home, but anyways...).


They seem much cuter than giving the children a great big slice of pizza.  My daughter informed me that all her friends will now want one tomorrow.


Dear friends of my Daughter.  Sorry, but I don't think I can wake up at 4am every morning.  I will turn into a grumpy psychopath!

I Have a Secret...

Shhh...it's in here...

 Let's take a closer look, shall we?

 Hmmm...

It turns out I have a lot of skin care product.  This is my secret stash of unused products.  The ones I use every day are in the bathroom in a basket with my perfumes and my husband's colognes.  These will make it in there.

I have a lot of Natio stuff, because they have lots of special deals such as "Spend over $35 and get free products".  Since I use their alcohol-free toner, cleanser, facial scrub and intensive moisturiser, I easily spend that much every 3 months.

Other products I have received as a product tester.  You can sign up to do that, but you never know if the products are going to react badly with your skin or are going to be good.  Scary!

Some are gifts that I have been given.  I really do like this stuff!

There are a few hand creams as well, and that's probably a good thing because Phil really likes those!! I have tried buying him his own, but apparently that's not the same thing. ;D

This stash also comes in handy for times when I donate to a local women's shelter.  They require hand/face creams and lip balms, and it's just easier to pull some out of this stash than have to duck out to the shops.  I think it's win-win all 'round.

How much do I love my Dad?

This much *arms outstretched*

He loves me so much, he brought me this...

Apparently there is a Darrell Lea Factory Outlet near my Aunty's place (where my Dad was staying), and they had boxes in the midle of the shop that were lucky dips, selling for $5 per box.  The only thing was that you didn't know what you were going to get - hence 'lucky dip'.

So my Dad purchased 3 of them.

I think I'm pretty much set for Easter now!

And yes, my Dad informed me that he had taken some chocolate with him too (and that he was possibly going to head back to the store the next morning to buy some more boxes). LOL!

I'd share it with y'all, but you're going to have to fight Phil for this stuff ;D

More cleaning and garden adventures

Somehow my upstairs kitchen ended up a dumping ground for all sorts of things, and I needed to grab some time to sort it out, cull and organise.  Wow, it really does look messy, doesn't it!

 My messy upstairs kitchen

 Some of the 'junk'

 And now there's bench space

 But I still have to leave my food storage on that bench

 I sorted through three boxes full of stuff and filled up the recycle bin :D

 Some whimpy looking carrots I pulled from the garden, but they're still carrots!  It's the first time I have actually been able to grow them, due to Storm not liking them :D  There were about ten of them.

Purple Climbing Beans (and one green one from a different plant) that I picked this morning.  I have also put aside some big ones I left on the vine so I can plant more seeds.

Next on the agenda is to clear off my sewing table!

Holiday Cooking Fun with the Kiddos - shortbread biscuits with passionfruit icing

During my Summer cleaning rounds, I re-discovered a giant container filled with cookie cutters that I hadn't used.  I have a feeling my husband purchased them from Aldi many years ago because they looked great.  And they do!  So I put them in a basket and whipped up a batch of simple shortbread.

 A rather large assortment of cookie cutters

 The trouble is choosing which cutters to use

 Rolling out the shortbread

 More rolling.  Easier to roll if you put the dough between layers of baking paper, as it is a really soft dough.

 Baked!  They smelled delicious.  I think half the dough got eaten raw!

Decorated with passionfruit icing.  Phil came home and devoured the teddy bears :D

The recipe is:-

250 grams butter

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 cups plain flour

1. Beat butter, vanilla essence and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Stir in sifted flour, mix to a soft dough.
3. Roll out, cut out shapes etc.  Bake biscuits in moderate oven for about 12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool on trays
4. Decorate with passionfruit icing

My recipe for passionfruit icing is really easy.  Just passionfruit pulp with icing sugar.  Throw the pulp in the mix master and keep adding icing sugar until it looks like stiff egg whites.  Then it won't drip off the biscuits. Use it up quickly because it will set. 

5 January 2012 Spring Cleaning Continued minus the vacuum cleaner :(

Continuing with my Summer cleaning, I'm finding it's easier to keep on a roll once you have started and are motivated.  The amusing thing is that my children are hiding in case they are asked to help.  However, it turns out I can bribe them with lolly rewards, or computer time ;D

 This larger visitor scared the living daylights out of my daughter, who was trying to be very helpful and put some things in our recycling bin.  Perhaps this is our resident female who usually lives near the front steps of our porch and in previous years has sat on the steps in the sun.  She was a bit friendlier than the smaller visitor we had, but was still very skittish, which is probably a good thing in my opinion!

 We gave her some raw chicken, but she was very cautious of us, and rightly so!  Not all humans like blue tongue lizards, and some even try to kill them :(  They are very welcome in my garden though!!

 A bit random for this post, but I learned from my Mother-in-Law how to keep lettuce really crisp in your fridge.  My husband loves really crunchy lettuce, so he asked her exactly how she does it.  First, you remove the stalk with a serrated knife.  Fill the hole with water, and keep the whole lettuce under the tap for about 15 seconds (with the water running into where you just cut the stalk out).  Turn it over and give it a shake or two (there will still be a little bit of water in it - only a little), then into a Tupperware container it goes.  The lettuce stays crisp for weeks!

 Sadly, my vacuum cleaner has well and truly died.  It keeps turning itself off :(  I don't think it's worth repairing, and even though it's not really old (it's probably right on 5 years now), I have certainly gotten good use out of it.  It's a shame it died rather suddenly without any warning.  I'd love to get a Dyson next, but I'll have to start saving furiously when I begin teaching.  Hubby thought Dysons were a few hundred dollars.  Um...no.

 My current tools of the trade

 The current tools are doing a rather good job though.  My vacuum cleaner died before I could even vacuum properly after Christmas so out with the broom it was, and although it is a pain to have to sweep, it's probably no harder physically than having to push a cyclonic vacuum cleaner around. 

The blue rug had tinsel and bits of ribbon and string and, well, 'stuff' all over it, but the broom made light work of cleaning it.

 My kitchen floor not looking too bad either, thanks to the broom and dustpan.

 More Summer cleaning.  We got stuck into my son's room.  We washed his sheets, picked all the stuff off the floor and spent an hour cleaning all the paraphernalia off his desk.  We ended up with three garbage bags full of goodness knows what.  Shame I can't vacuum the floor for a bit though!

...but it is a very tidy looking floor!

:D

Holiday Clean Up

Spring is well and truly over, so I can't call it a 'Spring' clean, but I'm going through my kitchen(s) and tossing out some things I haven't used in a while.  I'm scrubbing drawers and cupboards as I go too.

 I removed the remaining candy canes from the Christmas Tree.  There are fruit jellies attached to those, and they are absolutely scrumptious!  I purchased the children's school supplies already.  Woot, love the fact that it's done.  I decided to finally take the child locks off some drawers and cupboards. The rest were already put in the tool box in case they're ever needed again.  I doubt it though!

 Washing up cutlery storage holders.  I'm amazed how dirty these things get!  They only get clean cutlery put in them!!

A view of my storage containers on top of my downstairs kitchen cupboards.  I have one full of candles and torches, one with picnicware (plastic plates, cups and cutlery), one with rice, one with pasta, sugar and pasta sauce, and one full of sandwich spreads.

I keep some foil containers in sight in case I need to drop a meal off to a friend (after a baby has been born, sickness, operations etc).

I also have my giant electric frypan - thanks to my Dad who I'm sure was hinting that he'd like a million grandchildren.  It certainly comes in handy for pikelets and hamburger patties!  I have my indoor grill too that always sets off the fire alarm  :D

Looking for the Rainbows wherever you go...

 On Monday night this week, my daughter excitedly pointed out a gorgeous double rainbow forming in the sky.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We all rushed outside in the rain to see the rainbow before it disappeared.  They don't last long.


This picture isn't the double rainbow we saw, it was one that I had taken earlier in the year.  They are lovely, aren't they!

 We have a gingerbread decorating tradition in our family.  On the first Monday night of December, we invite friends around to have a Christmas dinner with us, and decorate Gingerbread Men.  This was taken about this time last year when my Brother-in Law and Sister-in-Law visited from Japan.  We all had a great time 'taste testing' the lollies, and decorating the gingerbread men.

 Contented?

 Did you know no matter what colour a bunny's fur is, they always have green feet?  Even my two day old bunnies seemed to have green feet.  It's a funny kind of odd.  Such big feet too! :D  I just adore my cuddly Storm.

Hello neighbours!

Savings, Silk Moths and Miniature Gingerbread Houses

I mentioned a while back that I was putting aside all the 20 cent pieces that came across my way.  I filled up a tin with all those 20 cent pieces, and it came to $50.  To impress my children, I stacked them in dollar piles so they could see just how much it looks like.  Pretty awesome!

At the beginning of December we had silk moths hatching.  They're so pretty after they have dried out.  This is a male moth.  They're slimmer than the females (who can hardly move because they're so full of eggs).  Silk moths don't have mouths, and therefore don't eat anything.  They have one thing on their mind, and that's to create more fertile eggs.  They have also been so inbred that there are no silk moths in the world that can actually fly.  They just flap their wings around a little and make lots of noise.

This was a week later.  More silk moths had hatched.  You can see the big female ones on the bottom of the container, and the male moths clinging more to the sides.  The little yellow 'dots' are the eggs when they are first laid.  If they are fertile, they turn black as the little silk worms start to grow inside them. 

It has been a very mild summer, so the eggs are now overdue to hatch.  I wanted to let this lot cycle through one more time, then when they started laying, I'll put the eggs in a snap lock bag and into the door of my freezer.  It freezes over in Japan (where they originate from), and so it seems like home to the silk worms.  I bring them out as soon as the buds appear on my mulberry tree.  *Fingers crossed* that this lot of eggs will actually hatch!

And how more random can you get in this post, but to include a miniature Gingerbread House :D  It's not exactly a masterpiece, but I think it's cute enough.  This was one the family got to demolish.  I have a sweet gingerbread men recipe that I use, and one year I printed out the instructions to a gingerbread house, decided not to enlarge it but create it as is by tracing out the layout onto baking paper.  It works well enough for me.

We also made one for my son's teacher.  They do make very cute gifts, placed on a silver board and wrapped in cellophane.