Category Archives: house

Relocated

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Today is Sunday and it is a glorious autumn day. I have done 3 loads of washing, including the bed linen. This afternoon I will go to my regular Scrabble group. There is usually just 3 or 4 of us and we play several games.

Last week I continued working on getting the 3rd bedroom set up the way I would like. I have taken bundles to the op shop. These were mostly things that were left over from the community garage sale and that I had collected from other sources to sort out.

There is a small, plastic adjustable shelf that I no longer need. I am giving it away and it is being picked up this week.

Otherwise, there are only a few things left to deal with. The pile of towels is to be donated to a charity in Melbourne when I next head there. We need to buy some adhesive to attach a mirror to the wall and then hang the pictures once the mirror is in place.

I also sorted out the wardrobe. It had become a storage area for some of the equipment and supplies for our local film group. There is now some dedicated cupboard space at the hall where we screen the movies so I have rehomed them and freed up space in our house.

The ‘new’ cupboard with all of the catering supplies and equipment.

A bit of rearranging means that the home brew and some exercise equipment now have a specific location rather rather being shuffled around from place to place.

Every small step does make a difference.

Plans, Not Panic

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This is not an overtly political post, however, there is no doubt that the geopolitical events currently unfolding in the Middle East are going to have an impact on us all in one way or another.

I am interested to hear about what preparation and strategies you have in place. Have you considered how you will manage if fuel becomes limited, rationed or simply unavailable? What about food? Frozen goods, shelf stable supplies and home-grown produce?

Here are a couple of views of my pantry.

Luckily, it is autumn and the freezer is almost groaning with produce we have gathered and stored in various ways. I also did a big shop of bulk dry goods just a few weeks ago so the pantry is generally well-stocked.

The other thing to consider at all times but it is particularly relevant now is to make sure that food is not wasted. Leftovers can be turned into a whole new meal and some creative thinking might be required if ingredients run low. There are many websites that offer ideas of substitutions that can be made for specific ingredients.

This afternoon I saw a message to a local group asking if anyone was travelling to the next town (about 15km away) this evening and who might be interested in carpooling. This gladdens my heart immensely as it means people are thinking ahead about what they can do to make a difference as well as looking out for others in their community.

We have a small blessing as we are driving a hire car after my crash last month and it is a hybrid so less fuel required. We are also trying to minimise our travel and combine errands where possible. There is plenty to keep us occupied close to home and we are very fortunate to be able to catch the train to Melbourne if we wish with only a relatively short drive to the railway station in the next town.

I do have flights booked to travel interstate in about 6 weeks so I am hoping I am still able to do that. Yesterday, I received an email from Jetstar advising that my flight had been changed by about 10 hours – early morning instead of late afternoon. I expect that is as a result of the later flight possibly being cancelled. It is not a problem for me but the impacts are already starting to show.

I am mindful that the lack of fuel will have massive potential impacts in the farm and transport sectors so it is important that we all take whatever steps we can to minimise our personal usage. We should also try to be responsible for ourselves and look out for those less capable in our communities.

Rearranged and Ready

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While we were away on holidays in northern Europe there was a catastrophic bushfire which began less than 20km from our home. That was far too close for comfort. When we arrived home a couple of weeks later we decided to upgrade our vague evacuation plan. You can read about our initial response in this post from late January.

We have had some rain and are experiencing much more moderate temperatures so the bushfire threat is significantly reduced.

Anyway, yesterday I decided that I really needed to tidy up the 3rd bedroom. When we gathered up everything in case of another catastrophic fire risk we had it all stashed in that room.

I carefully resorted everything and decided on an arrangement that would allow us to keep things we use in their regular locations for the 9-10 months of the year when the risk of an emergency evacuation is minimal.

I have 2 emergency boxes stocked with detailed lists attached and a third box in which to collect a few other things in order to leave immediately if required. There is also a bag with 2 woolen blankets. These do get used on beds during the winters months but this is where I will store them during the summer and they form part of the emergency kit. I have lists of everything. These are all stored in the top of the linen cupboard which is located centrally in the house. It is funny that I still refer to it as a linen cupboard as there is more of other stuff than linen in it.

A close-up view.

I hope I never have to put this plan into action but I feel that I am as prepared as possible should the worst case scenario ever eventuate.

Vertical Elements

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We have ongoing plans for the garden but the wheels turn fairly slowly here as everything carefully considered.

A couple of weeks ago we decided to reposition a couple of the small raised garden beds which we bought early last year. This is all part of the grand plan to have defined pathways and sections of the garden rather than a wide open space.

They now run north/south rather than east/west. You can see the old positions by the patches of dirt in the foreground of the photo.

I had also seen somewhere online that people had used reinforcing mesh to create an archway between 2 raised garden beds. So, yesterday we purchased one large piece of mesh from the hardware which was delivered in the afternoon and we set to work on our plan.

This is the second one we built and I am hoping to use it to grow climbing beans. There is a tomato in the bed on the left and spinach on the right-hand side.

The first one we did is a bit more difficult to see because of the background. It is high enough to allow clearance for the shed door (not regulation height) to open. I have planted a couple of cucumber seedlings close to the arch in the garden bed on the right. There are also capsicums in that bed. The box in the foreground is onions and the lettuce is thriving on the other side with coriander in pots nearby.

We also have cauliflower, strawberries, raspberries and rhubarb in other spots not shown in the photos.

It is great to have some permanent vertical structures in the garden which are both decorative and functional.

Desk Declutter

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Even though we have been in this house just under 2.5 years I have already tidied and decluttered the small office space and desk a couple of times. However, I was a bit more ruthless this time with a few more things gone.

Although I did not take a before photo I found this one from a previous post.

The most noticeable difference is that the speakers are gone as well as the cane basket from the corner of the desk. As we were working through the various bits and pieces, GMan noticed that the speakers were not actually connected to anything and whenever we listen to audio on the computer it comes directly from the speakers in the laptop!! The speakers do not appear to be compatible with the laptop so they are off to the op shop to find another home. The cane basket had become a receptacle for all sorts of electronics odds and ends so we decided that not having it there would force us to put things away properly. I will probably repurpose the basket for storage in my sewing room.

This is the finished view of the desk.

There is a small cupboard on the wall above one end of the desk. This is where we keep the modem as the power point and connection are there.

However, I always felt that this space was under-utilised. So, GMan drilled a hole so that we could feed the cables through and place the modem on the top shelf. This freed up more shelf space to use for other storage, including the lower shelf which is more accessible. I now have some stationery supplies in a couple of very classy ice-cream containers. They were previously on the bottom shelf of the bookcase opposite the desk but it makes more sense to have them here.

Finally, we went through all of the drawers and removed various things that are no longer relevant and rearranged a few items to make better use of the space. The final touch is that I plan to make labels for the drawers so that things are easier to find without opening multiple drawers. That is a task for another day.

Outsourced

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The past week since my last post has been somewhat devoid of blog material. In fact, it has been generally fairly quiet with us spending most of the time at home. There were a couple of fine sunny days which were perfect for some more fence painting. We have now completed 2 coats on all of the outside of the pickets and both sides of the gates. Once we finish the inside of the pickets then I will just need to do some touching up of baseboards and posts which are dark grey.

We did go out yesterday afternoon to pick up the quilt which I had taken to a friend to quilt on her longarm machine. It is always a delight to see the transformation from a piece of patchwork to a completed quilt. I think this one looks particularly spectacular.

A close-up of the stitching pattern.

The backing fabric from a thrifted doona cover really highlights the quilting.

Meanwhile, in a change of pace we have a weekend full of activity but more about that next time.

Opportunity Knocks

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Browsing in op shops can be a bit overwhelming if you don’t have some sort of strategy. When it comes to clothes I am always on the lookout for certain colours and types of fabrics as well as generally restricting myself to spots, stripes or plains. This way I can eliminate about 90% of the stock fairly quickly.

I have a bit of a mental wishlist but you also need to be alert to unexpected possibilities. This is particularly important to keep in mind as you can sometimes score some bargains by buying summer clothes in winter and vice versa.

When we were in Sale last week I spotted (pardon the pun) these trousers for $4. They are Fella Hamilton brand and made in Australia. I think they will be perfect for most of the year in our climate apart from the depths of winter or very hot summer days.

On our way home from Sale we stopped in Kyneton with the specific purpose of going to the Salvos op shop which I have previously found to be very good. We didn’t find anything on this occasion, however, we parked the car directly outside a secondhand shop which happened to have a rack of clothing on the footpath and I spied this jacket on the end of the rack. It has a fully detachable hood and lining as well as inside and outside pockets and a drawstring option at the waist. It will be a great addition to GMan’s selection of jackets and perfect for our overseas trip in December.

Meanwhile, 2 things that I have been actively searching for were a pair of tongs as GMan needed a pair for extracting lumps of charcoal from a jar jar of kerosene (his homemade firelighters) and a king-size sheet or doona cover in shades of pink. This is for the backing of the patchwork quilt I am currently making.

I was in Bendigo today and after my appointments I made a concerted effort and went to 6 op shops. At the final one I found both items that were on my list. One side of the doona cover will be perfect for the quilt backing. The tongs I found are brand new so I have earmarked them for the kitchen and the old ones can be used for the firelighters.

In another shop I picked up a dress for $5. It is a good quality knit fabric and will pair well with tights, boots and a coat and scarf. I did not bother trying it on but I suspect I may need to shorten the sleeves a bit.

The final buy was a set of 4 x double point knitting needles. All in all I have had a very successful week of op shopping.

A Closer Look

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A couple of weeks ago I wrote about our new oven and induction cooktop. You can read about that in this post.

We have now had several opportunities to use the cooktop as well as the oven on a couple of occasions. I have used induction cooktops in accommodations that we have stayed in while travelling and I have to say that this particular one is as easy to use as any I have come across. I am still getting used to the instantaneous heat but I am very proud that I managed to cook brown rice without it boiling over at any point during the process.

The oven is another story. We do not use the oven a great deal apart from GMan’s sourdough bread baking adventures. Nevertheless, it has been refreshing to discover how simple the operation of the oven seems to be.

This shows the screen display which greets you when the oven is turned on initially.

The display is clear and easy to understand. In fact, I was able to navigate it for the first time without even referring to the instruction manual. The temperature selection is digital and can be selected in 5°C increments. Once the temperature is selected the digital display shows the exact temperature as it increases. The bread requires a starting temperature of 230°C and GMan was thrilled to find that the temperature was reached in barely 8 minutes from turning the oven on. This is a refreshing change from the 30 minutes required with the previous oven in addition to the accuracy being somewhat debatable.

The verdict on the first loaves made in the new oven was that they are probably the best ones he has made in about 8 years of baking sourdough bread.

A New Bed

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In a post from last week I mentioned that I was searching for alternatives to the bed that we had in the spare room. You can read about it here.

I feel as though I have spent the past week buying and selling beds on Facebook Marketplace.

We thought we had found a suitable bed, however, it turned out to be too big for the room as it had quite chunky timber head and foot ends. I managed to sell the original bed quite quickly and thought I would need to make do with the one that was a bit of a squeeze as we have guests arriving on Sunday.

Luckily, I spotted the perfect bed not too far from home and we were able to collect it today.

The bed is assembled, remade and the room is back in order and I am really pleased with the outcome.

Now all I need to do is to sell the one which did not suit our space. It was definitely a ‘whoops’ moment but not the end of the world.

The Next Step

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We are making progress on completing the lounge to the way we want it.

Some of you might remember this post from late February. Well there have been a few hiccups along the way but the window installation was finally completed today.

We will need to paint the frames both inside and outside and then I will see about choosing a blind. In the meantime, we will rehang the piece of fabric that has been covering the old window for the past couple of years. Bare glass is not a good idea at this time of the year.

The choice of louvres will be fully appreciated in the summer as they will provide good cross-ventilation.

Speaking of painting, we spent some time painting the pickets of our newish fence. It has been several months since it was installed but the weather has been either too hot or too cold and a few days ago we had rain to further delay us. Of course, we also seem to manage to be away or otherwise socially engaged. However, today was perfect. After a frosty start we were blessed with a glorious sunny day and no wind. Hopefully, there will be a few more days like today in the not too distant future to enable us to finish that project.