Stocking Up

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I have spent today in the kitchen but most of it was not preparing meals.  It was about making and bottling jam and sauce.

There were 6kg of cherry tomatoes squirreled away in the freezer ready to make sauce and today was the day.

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The recipe for the sauce is here.

Next up was the 10kg bag of onions I bought yesterday.  I set 2kg aside for a friend and then sliced and diced another 7kg and have packed and frozen them.  I decided to turn the last kilogram into onion jam and the taste test indicates that it has been successful.  The recipe I used had carraway seeds in it so I bought some this morning when were shopping.  I have never bought carraway seeds before but if it looks as though I will be making onion jam in the future I will definitely get some more.

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Finally, I made some plum jam which is GMan’s favourite.  It turned out better than the batch I overcooked last year which was closer to toffee than jam!

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The recipe is very simple.

1.5 kg plums
1.25kg sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup water

Place in saucepan, boil until setting point is reached.  The stones can be removed with a slotted spoon during cooking.

Tip:  Count the plums before you start so that you know how many stones you are trying to remove.

I also made another batch of spreadable butter.  Here is the recipe.

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The only problem with cooking all day is that I did not get the ironing done!  However, we do have ironed clothes to wear to work tomorrow.

 

 

Hen House

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In 2013 I wrote this post about a chicken coop we had bought.  While it has been quite successful it has succumbed to the weather over time.

Once we had completed the run we decided that we would really prefer to have a hen house that we could access by walking in to it.

There had been much discussion about how we would make this a reality so last weekend we set to work with our salvaged and recycled materials from the old hen house and other projects.

We worked flat out for 2 days and there was no time for taking photos so there is no record of it under construction.

Here is the finished structure.

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There will be covered garden beds around 2 sides.  I plan to grow greens for the chickens to graze on but have it covered so that they can only nibble them once they grow big enough that they are through the wire.

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This is the view from the vegie garden.  It is not open to the garden although that is the effect in the photo.  There is chicken wire on the front side of the hen house.  We are considering adding a roll-down clear vinyl blind to use in very wet weather.  There are a couple of old ones which we do not use that are still on the verandah.

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The interior with water and feed dispensers as well as a nesting box which we salvaged from the old coop.

There are still a few minor enhancements that we will make but the major part of the project is complete and the chickens seem very happy with their new home.

 

Running Repairs

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Both GMan and I have have some really old clothes which we wear when we are gardening or doing other outdoor jobs.

Last weekend we were busy building a new hen house and we both managed to cause some damage which necessitated some mending.  After the clothes were washed today I set about repairing them.

Here are the ‘before’ shots.

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I ripped a 3 cornered tear in the back of my cotton trousers.  They are very thin and some would say they are not worth repairing.

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Gman’s patched trousers had a different problem – the stitching of the crotch seam below the zip gave way.  I think the thread had just worn out.

Here is a close-up view.

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I started with my trousers and placed a patch on the inside using double-sided iron-on interfacing.

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Zig-zag stitching over the tear plus around the edge of the patch and the job was complete.

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This is the view from the right side.

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For the crotch seam I sewed a seam from the wrong side and then 2 rows of stitching from the right side.  Like many of my mending jobs, it won’t win a prize but it is effective and extends the life of the garment.

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Do you mend clothes?

 

Keeping It Dry

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Like much of the east coast of Australia the weather has been quite wet here for a couple of days.  While the rain is very welcome, it brings its own set of problems.  Our heads are in the clouds – literally, the humidity is off the scale and everything is damp to touch.

The condensation of the door of the refrigerator has now created a pool of water on the kitchen floor.

The prospect of going to bed and climbing into a bed where the sheets actually feel damp was not at all appealing. So, I have put the portable dehumidifier in our bedroom for a couple of hours before we go to bed.

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It is easy to move around and is really efficient.  If you issues with damp rooms or live in an area with high rainfall and humidity I would highly recommend a dehumidifier.  We bought this one from Moisturecure in Port Macquarie.  We had quite a bit of trouble sourcing one about 8 years ago, however, they are much more readily available now.

Do you have a dehumidifier?  Is it worthwhile?

What I Wear – 1 Month Update

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At the end of November I wrote this post outlining my plan to track what clothes I wear.

It is now a little over a month since I began this project of 1st December so I thought it was time to check how I am going.

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I listed every item of clothing that I own on an Excel spreadsheet.  I included scarves but not socks, underwear or pyjamas.  There were 90 items on the list initially but it expanded during December when I bought 5 new tops so it is now 95.  It encompasses the full range from a cocktail dress to the clothes I wear when I am gardening and everything in between.

December included work, casual social occasions,  Christmas, a trip to Melbourne and some work around the house.  I wore almost half of my total collection with 46 pieces being worn.  Many pieces wore worn just once or twice during the month but my 2 pairs of denim jeans were each worn on 4 different days.  I found this surprising as it is summer and I would not have expected this.

I think this is going to be a really interesting exercise and am looking forward to understanding what I wear most often.

You can also follow my daily clothes posts on Instagram.

1000

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When I opened up a new post to write tonight’s post I noticed that I have published 999 posts on my blog since I began almost 5 years ago in March 2011.

There have been lots of ups and downs, times when I wondered whether I would keep going and others when blogging is just second nature.  GMan chuckles at some of the things I photograph because I need it for a blog post.  This afternoon he asked if I had taken photos of the new hen house that we have built – I assume he figures that is a blogworthy story.  It is, but will have to wait for another day because today I am celebrating my 1000th post.

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To all of you you read and sometimes comment, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.  It is the knowledge that there are people out there who read whatever I write that inspires me to continue.

A New Hat

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GMan always wears a hat when he is out in the garden.  The one he wears is a cloth one which has seen better days and only has a relatively narrow brim.  On several occasions we have looked at broad-brimmed straw hats but they never seem to be quite the right fit.

Today we were in the local hardware store and he tried some on.  We found this one which was perfect – except it did not have a chin strap.

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I assured him that I could make a strap without any problem.  I was not sure whether I had any cord at home but when I checked my collection, I found some red cord and a toggle that I had saved from the drawstring on a fleece top which had worn out.

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I threaded the cord around the base of the crown on the outside then passed the ends through to the inside, attached the toggle and tied off the ends.  The cord sits under the band on the outside so is not visible.

GMan is very pleased with his new hat and very happy with the chin strap which I created in about 5 minutes using things that I had on hand.

 

 

Tracking 2015 – December

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Here is my final post about tracking our spending for 2015.

Budgeting

January – $5,144.53
February – $1,783.49
March – $4,350.56
April – $2,385.31
May – $5,961.54
June – $2,939.07
July – $3,537.09
August – $3,601.19
September – $9,406.95
October – $7,490.03
November – $15,707.97
December – $4,821.34

December was a more reasonable figure with no huge items like the previous few months.  There was a bit of additional spending with the silly season taking its toll.

On my spreadsheet I have the spending divided into various categories.

The category with the highest spend was the all-encompassing ‘House and Garden’.  This was mainly due to the installation of additional solar panels and a hybrid battery system.  Nevertheless, after putting that cost aside, it is evident that we do spend quite a bit in this category.  However, many of these expenses are one-off things which we will not have to purchase again for many years – if at all.

‘Holidays’ was also quite high as we paid for and took a holiday to Singapore, paid for flights, long-distance train fares and some accommodation for our USA/Canada trip in July 2016 and made several domestic trips for family reasons.

‘Transport’ was our next highest cost and this is our train fares for a fairly long commute.  There is not a lot we can do to change this until we retire.

We spent an average of $93/week on groceries which includes food, cleaning items and toiletries.  I am going to try to reduce this a bit this year.  Growing more of our own food should make a difference.

Entertainment and dining out also made up a substantial chunk of our spending with an average of just over $60/week.  This includes meals, films, theatre and shows.  I plan to reduce the spur of the moment eating out and hopefully reign in the spending in this category.

I have not detailed every category but the other 2 where we averaged greater than $50/week were clothing (combined for GMan and I) and petrol/maintenance for our 2 cars.  I expect that the clothing spend will be somewhat less this year but the car costs will be about the same.

Tracking our spending has been an eye-opening exercise which I will continue in 2016.  I will not be posting monthly tallies but I will do a review at the end of 2016 and compare it to 2015.

Happy New Year

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I was searching for a photo that really portrayed my feelings for the end of one year and beginning of the next.  I did not want images of alcohol or fireworks.

I found this which summed it up for me.

New Year 2016

As 2015 is washed away by the incoming tide it is time to write a fresh new date in the sand and move on.

Wishing you a peaceful and fulfilling year.

More Holiday Shopping

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We have been home from our holiday for 3 days now and it is over a week since my last post.

I hope you all had a relaxed and happy Christmas, wherever you were and whatever you did.  We had a delightful day which we shared with our daughters and some festive food but did not over-indulge.

The other shopping I did on my holiday was a little more planned than the random collection from my last post.  I went to my favourite shop in Melbourne, Rivette & Blair, where I replenished my supply of tops.

The are all simple styles and basic colours that will mix and match with existing pieces in my wardrobe.

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A simple v-neck black and white tee.

The same style in plain red.

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3/4 sleeve red with scoop neck for cooler days.

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Both of the red ones are waiting to be ironed.

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Plain black linen with pleats at neckline.  This is the same style as 2 spotted tops I already had.

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Finally, a loose navy v-neck top in very fine polyester.  It is super light and cool.

I look forward to sharing the different ways I wear these as I mix and match with shorts, trousers and skirts.