my creative space - market prep

I do love it when a bit of bunting is coming together.

The upcoming market this Sunday means a dash of last minute decisions, lots of sewing, and remembering to keep up with the kids!

Hope your week is going swimmingly.

Pop over to Kootoyo Blog for lots more creativeness.

xo

happy little vegemites - Aussie Etsy treasury

Thank you to MissLizbeth for including my tepee in your Aussie kids Etsy treasury...I am honoured to be there!

Things for Kidlets from Australia

xo

let's face it, I had to do it!

Well as they say, if you can't beat 'em...I've finally got my social networking act a bit more together and am now officially 'Facebooking'.  Resistance is completely futile, I knew I'd give in...so if you want to 'like me' (how I dislike the expression...cringe for asking!)...you can find my facebook page here.
Please do bear with me, I am a complete novice...while blogging feels like breathing, facebook is something I am going to learn to love.

dinner tonight - veg + lentil curry

What's for dinner at your house tonight?

This is what we had.  Thankfully we had a 'stocked' larder, I do wonder how I would cope without my 'convenience foods' aka, the humble tin can.

Vegetable and Lentil Curry

List of ingredients as follows:

silverbeet (or rainbow chard as we had in the patch)

sweet potato

tin of diced tomatoes

tin of organic lentils

onion

carrots

garlic

bay leaves

oriental master stock by Jillaroo Jams

oops...almost forgot....

vegetable stock

celery

curry powder

cardamom pods

oh...I also added....

 a white potato

cracked black pepper

1 teaspoon of sugar

Things are getting a little tastier at my whole 'adding lentils' thing, I've discovered the humble cardamom pod does wonders to a 'standard' Keen's curry mix.  The kids also love discovering them in their plate now, kind of like a little prize or jewel.

Even my hubbie likes this dish, although I still can't get him to come to grips with tofu unfortunately!

I'm also quite 'keen' to master some more vegetarian dishes to my repertoire, I'm going to experiment with a pumpkin pie next week! 

my new Adirondack chair

Last Saturday, we were keen, eager and early, just like about one hundred other people, (including Miriam from Nara Design, what a lovely lady) to head along to the Botanical Gardens in Hobart for their annual Spring Plant Sale.

I was jumping up and down with delight when I saw it.

My new lovely white Adirondack chair!

Isn't she lovely?!

This one was made by the 'mens shed' at Sorell...and the price was right.

I just love how you sit in these chairs, and it's really comfy with a cushion, having now tried it with and without.

This was the reason we came...a modest assortment of heirloom and modern tomato seedlings.

The best part is picking them by name, this year I chose:

Brandy Wine

Cherokee Purple

Leicester Jones

Snow White

Tasmanian Blushing Yellow

the same in any language

Control and calm your mind - time wisely spent

 I thought I would love to share this helpful post,

'5 Time Tested Techniques to Control and Calm Your Mind'

from the Positivity Blog

 There are some excellent ideas on calming the mind when you have too much going on.

image

Just Breath

Hope you all are having a good start to the week dear readers, and don't have too much on your plates.

xo

my sister's bunting

(please click on photo for better view)

Good on you sis!

It does look lovely over your kitchen window!

yellow light

It's not quite reached Spring here in Hobart, it's been pouring, and quite a dark dreary day, but I know it's going to end soon! Even though in the fields we see the colour of Spring in it's glorious yellow form in daffodils, and silver wattle.
Maybe what we need is a shot of yellow in our houses for lifting our lagging Spring spirits?
In the form of candlelight...

yellow candle holders by Sunshine City Lassie

thin beeswax tapers by Queen B

still life - original watercolour painting by Jashme

tealight candles by Beautiful Soaps

Swedish hand painted wooden candle holder by Found Vintage Style

tea light candle holder with real wild coreopsis by Kueblerelves

duo natural candle holder by honey bee toys

Amnesty for human rights

It's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

celery milk

Refreshing, cold and delicious!

Cerery is a humble but useful food,  the perfect partner to so many foods and used in so many recipes.  Where would wardorf salad be without it? Celery is high in vitamin C and silicon, and definitely a fridge staple in my household.

To make celery milk, freshly juice a couple of nice fresh stalks (including the leaves, they are nutritionally more power packed!) and mix with dairy milk (I haven't tried this with soy, so can't recommend the compatibility!), about 1-2 parts celery juice, to 1 part milk.

Drink immediately and enjoy. 

more markets please

It's always a challenge trying to get sewing in (perhaps I just enjoy the slacking off), when my son is at home on school holidays....the whole dynamic of the house changes, I seem to spend oodles of time in the kitchen, not that I mind that, but it seems breakfast rolls into morning tea, which rolls into lunch...and then we loll about while Bethany has her nap, perhaps playing a game or reading.  Then it's time for afternoon tea, and dinner preparation....does it ever seem to end?
I make endless cups of tea, try and tackle some house-work...and maybe if I am really, really lucky I might sneak 40 winks on the couch!
And to make matters worse (or more interesting perhaps), I have borrowed a book from the library called 'the book of idle pleasures', which is really just about finding the balance when you feel crazy busy.
I like it.  I may just blog about it a little more, if you'd like.
Yesterday I was really pleased when I found out that I had been accepted into two more markets, after going to Anaconda on the weekend and splashing out on a marquee!  Thankfully they were half price!
The marquee will come in handy for the outdoor barn market.   I love the idea of being able to spread out, and turn the stall into a little shop as such.
Hope you are all having a lovely week, and not freezing to bits.
xo

hammock weather came....and then went

We pulled out our hammock from the shed on the weekend, and whilst hubbie was busy making the 'Taj Ma Hutch' (rabbit hutch extentsion), me and the kids argued about who was getting in with who, and for how long...sans blanket, with blanket, under the gum tree, 'swing me please', but mostly just revelling in the lovely Spring weather...
and then it all sadly ended yesterday afternoon, and the heavens opened again...
today has been so cold, I can't even imagine going outside at all now!

image

This isn't our hammock, ours is a brightly coloured 'banana' hammock....but doesn't this look restful and idle, something all we mums need on occasion!

Hope the hammock weather comes back soon, we have interstate visitors coming next week, and whatever will they think?

Strawberry Short"birthday"cake

Happy 8th birthday my darling boy...

xo

Do what you can

'Do what you can,

with what you have,

 where you are.'

Paper doily bunting by mondo cherry

Powerful words from Theodore Roosevelt, for it's all we can ever do where ever we find ourselves in life.

Happy weekendings dear readers. (Happy Father's Day too!)

xo

Welcome 1st day of Spring in the Southern Hemisphere - woohoo!

My, my it's been a long time since I posted!

Well, this is some of what we have been up to in the last month of Winter in Tasmania....

A bit of a family get together visiting my mum in Devonport.

The lighthouse was a promised visit for the kids.

I hope two pics of a lighthouse isn't too much...but I had to include this one, as the sky was so ominous and beautiful that day...

We found some wild daffodils growing nearby...which made a nice present for Nonna...

OK..this is a big one...Bethany's first haircut! By my sister, who lives in Melbourne and is a hairdresser in Frankston.  Actually it was more of a tiny trim...I couldn't bare more cut off!

Then...it was Willow's turn...check out THAT face will you!

Hair cuts not a favourite thing..and guess who normally does them.....?? Moi. Enough said.

So glad we stopped at Oatlands and visited the Companion Bakery...it's gathering quite a reputation...and you know why?  Their bread is sooo yummy...Best wood fired sour dough I ever tasted...actually just the best sour dough ever!

I have even bought myself a book (yes,yes, even on the challenge!) on how to make sour dough a couple of months ago...but I haven't started.

Er...sorry about the pun.

We enjoyed a cuppa and some chocchie cake, and lemon cake..all baked in the wood fired oven.

How good did that taste, it was sooo cold outside that day! I didn't want to get back in the car.

A sneaky view of the oven...actually the owner was quite friendly, and he let us have a closer look at the back of the shop.

When it's completley restored (soon), the Callington Mill (can you see it in the background?) will produce Tasmanian grown flour using wind-driven stones. The 18th century Georgian mill is opposite Companion Bakery...

 I wish I could remember what the no. 93 was - a lovely property though...sandstone abounds in Oatlands.

then....on the way home...

Hope your week has been going merrily.

xo