Weekend Work & Chicken Wings

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It is Wednesday already and it is nearly a week since my last post.  I have been busy doing things instead of writing and unfortunately have not always had the camera handy.  However, here are a few photos of some of the things we did on the weekend.

Bluberries
The existing blueberry bushes have been pruned, enclosed with wire surrounds and mulched thoroughly.  These bushes have been in for several years but are now in the wrong place as they are located within the new chicken run.  I previously had the entire area enclosed to prevent the chickens from digging around them and exposing the roots but I decided that individual enclosures were a better idea.

New garden
The fencing around the perimeter of the vegetable gardens is almost complete.  I the meantime I have temporarily closed off the last bit to exclude the chickens.  This meant that I was able to prepare a new garden bed and be safe in the knowledge that it would not be dug up immediately by the marauding feathered army.  The rock edging is made from some of the hundreds of rocks that litter our property.  The bed is inside the fence nearest to the house so I plan to make this into a herb garden.

Chickens
Finally, I clipped the wings of the chickens in order to make sure that they could not fly over the 1200mm fence into the vegie garden.  I had wanted to do this for ages but never felt quite brave enough.  With some advice from an online forum, a Youtube video and The Duke to hold the chicken I was able to clip the flight feathers on one wing of each chicken.  The exercise seems to have been successful as there has been no more instances of flying over fences.

Planning – A Haircut

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I had my hair cut yesterday.  Now that does not sound terribly exciting but I planned it carefully.  You see, it is 15 weeks tomorrow evening until we fly to the UK for 6 weeks and since I regularly have my hair cut about every 7 weeks it was important for me to have it done just before we go.

We also have a milestone birthday celebration for The Duke 6 days before we leave so I want my hair to be freshly cut for that event.

When I went to the hairdresser I discussed all of this and with the aid of a calendar we worked out the appropriate dates.  I will have 2 more haircuts before we leave – 12th June and again on 31st July.  I will look a bit like a shaggy dog when we arrive back in the third week of September so another haircut will be on the agenda as soon as possible after we return.

The other thing we did this week was more directly related to our upcoming trip.  We had new passport photos taken and sent off the forms for the renewal of our passports.

Project 333 – My Favourite

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I have a fairly streamlined collection of clothes thanks to my participation in Project 333 as well as generally narrowing down the selection of clothes that I own.  I love and wear all of my clothes but I have one stand-out favourite and this is it.

Shirt

The photograph probably does not do it justice but it is a blue and white striped collared shirt with 3/4 sleeves.  It is cotton with a touch of elastane which gives a tiny bit of stretch for wearing ease.  Even ironing this shirt makes me smile.  I just love it.  I bought it several years ago from Rivette & Blair in Melbourne and it must be popular as it is still currently listed on the website as being in stock.  Finding this store has been a godsend for me as they stock lots of the type of clothes I wear and the fit is excellent.  In fact, I have no fewer than 32 items from Rivette & Blair in my current wardrobe.  That is almost half of my total clothing items.

Do you have a favourite item of clothing?  What makes it special for you?

Note:  The opinions in this blog are entirely my own.

Finally – A Fence

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We have been living here for over 8 years now and when we moved in there were no vegetable gardens and only 3 fruit trees – avocado, orange and lemon in rather odd spots in the yard.  We built some vegetable gardens which have evolved over time and the chicken run has been moved and is now next to the vegetable gardens.  Since free-ranging chickens and vegetable gardens do not go terribly well together we decided to fence the entire area containing the garden beds.  This has been a very long-winded process but we can finally see the end in sight.

Today we actually did one run on fencing and here is the result.

Fencing
We hope to finish the fencing which will enclose the vegetable garden area next weekend.  It should mean an end to the various bits of wire contraptions that I create to keep the chickens away from the seedlings.

Seedlins
These are peas and pak choy seedlings that we bought at the Yandina markets on Saturday.  We also bought lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, kale and cauliflower which are in the other beds.

Beans and radishes
Here are the purple beans and radishes which have come up from seed I planted a couple of weeks ago.

What are you growing in your garden at the moment?

Birthday Business

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Today is my birthday.  No particular milestone but time to reflect on the year that has passed and look forward to the year ahead.  I have been blessed with lots of lovely messages from family and friends.

Our wedding anniversary was a couple of weeks ago and we did not have a particular celebration for either event.  However, in the past fortnight we have had a picnic with family, been to the movies twice and eaten out at our local Italian restaurant.

Today we spent the time together working in the garden – re-arranging, planting and naturally planning the next project.  My brain works faster than my hands!

Lunch
I did stop and make lunch which was as good as any cafe offering and the view from the deck is pretty special, too.

View
I hope you are having a relaxing Easter break.

 

6 Days Later

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It is hard to believe that it is 6 days since I last wrote a blog post.  I am still here but have been busy.

The day after my last post we went on a picnic with a group of my extended family.  I had intended to take some photos but that did not happen.  We had planned this outing a few weeks earlier but unfortunately a late-season cyclone put a bit of a dampener on the event.  We went ahead as planned at Suttons Beach on the Redcliffe Peninsula, north of Brisbane.

Suttons-Beach-Redcliffe-300x183
It didn’t quite look like this last weekend but I would highly recommend it as a venue, especially if you have young children as there is plenty of grassed areas, fabulous playgrounds and a sheltered beach within easy reach.

Regardless of the weather, I am blessed to be able to share events like this with my extended family and see everyone enjoying each other’s company.  I have been reading a series of posts today on a popular forum about family relationships and particularly between children and their grandparents.  I am saddened to read of the bitterness and resentment that various family members hold against their parents and children.  The reasons are many and I am sure some are entirely valid, however, it reminds me to be thankful for my exceptional family who are very dear to me.

This weekend we finally have some glorious autumn weather and The Duke and I are making the most of it by getting some jobs done in the garden.  I hope to take some photos and wil share them with you tomorrow.

Foodie Friday – Kids in the Kitchen

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I didn’t get back to post this last night.  Miss O and Izz have been staying for a couple of days so the food focus has clearly been about them.  They enjoyed shopping at Simply Good yesterday and discussing many of the different fruits, nuts and grains that we bought.  Miss O was keen to practise her recently acquired spelling skills to read the names of the ingredients on the storage buckets and fill them up when we arrived home.

They picked pumpkins and tomatoes as well as collecting eggs.  It is great to see them understanding where their food comes from.  4 year old Izz wanted an anatomy lesson on how the eggs get out of the chickens!!

Tomorrow we are going to a picnic with extended family so I made some choc fruit nut balls and Miss O helped by rolling the balls in the coconut.

Helping in the kitchen

Apologies for the brevity of this post but I have been working on our Ireland itinerary and looking at ferry timetables and rental car details.

Pretty Pillows

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I didn’t get back to doing the follow-up post about the bathroom cupboards so that may have to wait until next week.  I will do the ‘Foodie Friday’ post this evening but in the meantime I wanted to show you something I made the other day.

Pillowcases

These are 2 pillowcases I made from some pieces of fabric that were given to me.  The fabric was just wide enough for the cases.  I cut the pieces to ensure that the design was centred on the case.  The darker pink fabric is from a doona cover that I bought from the op shop to use in some patchwork.

I gave them to Miss O and Izz when they arrived last night to stay for a few days.  They are very excited with the new pillowcases for their beds.

Clutter-Free – Start Small

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I often talk about decluttering various spaces and having less but today I want to focus my attention on having clear spaces.  I am not advocating jamming your cupboard full of stuff, however, the benefit of clear surfaces cannot be underestimated.  It is a task that is unlikely to be achieved in one go and can be enormously overwhelming.  That is why I focused my energy on one room – the bathroom.  It is the smallest room in the house and is designed for a specific purpose, therefore logically should be the easiest to minimise the ‘stuff’.

VanityI have had the benefit of a renovated bathroom which has an inherently streamlined design.  I love the fact that there is no plug lying around on the side of the sink.  There are only 2 items on the bench – a ceramic shell dish which holds a small bar of soap and a repurposed vase (The Duke drilled a hole in the base of it) which holds our toothbrushes.  It is a quick and easy task to keep this area clean and tidy.

Shower recessAs this is quite a compact area we chose not to have a bath – just an easy to access shower area.  I had seen this type of recessed shelf in motel bathrooms and asked the builder to create one when we remodelled the room.  I love the idea because it is simple and streamlined to the eye, nothing to rust or gather soap scum and there is no encroachment to bump into when you are showering.  From left to right there is shower gel, shampoo, conditioner, facewash and a nail brush – everything required when showering.

Toilet and floorThe floor is another place where clutter can gather.  I found these fittings which attach to the wall – a holder for extra rolls of toilet paper and the toilet brush holder are both clear of the floor and do not need to be moved when sweeping or mopping the floor.

Scales and basketsThe only 2 things on the floor of the bathroom are a set of scales and the waste paper basket.

My whole house does not look this clear but it is lovely to have achieved it in at least one room.

The vanity unit has a 2 door cupboard and 4 drawers.  Tomorrow I will reveal exactly what is lurking in there.

Project 333 – What to Choose

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Despite my assurances at the end of yesterday’s post, I am still not much further advanced in my quest to choose 33 items for the April – June quarter of the Project 333 challenge.  It is proving to be quite a challenge as the days here have still been over 30C yet I know that by the end of the 3 months it will be cold (as much as it can be in our very temperate climate.  I also know that will probably have to go to Sydney for work in sometime in the next month and I will need some warmer clothes there.

Anyway, 7 days have passed and I have 84 to go.  So, what have I worn so far?

Trousers

Black cropped
White 3/4

Shorts

Khaki

Skirts

Black/grey check

Tops

Red fitted tee
Black camisole

Shirts

Blue/white stripe

Cardigans

Red/black/white floral

Shoes

Pewter flats
Red flats

Accessories

Leopard print scarf
White pearl earrings
Black pearl earrings

As Courtney Carver discusses on her blog Be More With Less there are no hard and fast ‘rules’.  I think I may end up excluding shoes and accessories from the count but will keep them in for the moment.  It really should not be too difficult to keep to 33 pieces as the total count of all of my items of clothing is 76 pieces.  This excludes underwear and sleepwear but does include parka, coat, spray jacket and formal attire as well as all of my winter and summer clothes.

Tomorrow I will add a black skirt and a striped shirt to the list as this is what I will be wearing to work.  That will bring the total items of clothing to 10.

Outfit
Both the skirt and shirt are versatile and can be worn in a variety of combinations with the other things on the list as well as some I have yet to choose.

Other items that I am pretty sure will make the cut include:

Black trousers
Denim jeans
Green jeans
Red/white striped 3/4  sleeve fitted tee
Red casual vest
Red ‘denim style’ jacket
Black dress
Black white print jacket
Black knit sweater

No prizes for seeing a red/black/white theme emerging here!