Thankyou Sherrie

A long time ago, and 12 months is a long time, a lovely kind woman made a present for my grandaughter. She didn't have to, she had never met her but she wanted to so she did. I was going to post about it, let everyone know how kind and clever she was. I didn't do that back then but as it was that grandchilds birthday this month I thought I would do it now. To let her know that the lovely apron she made for the 5 year old is still being used by the 6 year old when she helps her mum bake.

Sherrie has her own blog over at  http://simpleliving-sherrie.blogspot.com.au/ and I'm sure she wont mind if you pop over for a look.

Tidy and Clean? Not Yet...

Yesterdays *get it tidy* mindset didn't last too long. It never does which is another reason my house is a tip. It is now 5.30PM, the sink has the days dishes, the table has a pile of Passionfruit added to todays Oranges and the bench is covered in the skins of all last weeks Oranges that I have juiced. So many Oranges...will eat another one later but that want put much of a dent in them. Tomorrow there will be more, haha, you gotta laugh don't ya. I will juice more tomorrow but as I only have a hand juicer and dodgy hands I cannot do the lot in one go and if I do them early like today it mucks me up for the afternoon. I am a whinger, I know. It's all good fun though and I know (too well) how easy I have it compared to some others. I will fill the sink and get the dishes soaking. I will then bucket all the skins and get them outside for the chooks. While outside I will chop some wood and bring in a few armloads, big and small stuff. Armloads because the wheelbarrow is full of pumpkins that I need to cook up and freeze. One day soon... Once back in I will wash the soaking dishes and get the sink clear and clean and bag up some Oranges and put them in the freezer. Then shower, tea, nothing else. 8PM Then things change...Grandaughter has not long left so not much of any of that was done. Tomorrow, I will start early.

The Good Guys And The Not So Good.

I served a big tough looking bloke at Vinnies this afternoon, he was buying a cute little yellow teddy bear. It was $2 but the bloke said it was worth more and gave me $4. I thanked him then made some smart remark about it keeping him warm tonight and he says that he, and other truckies, have these teddies in their truck so when they come across accidents they have something to give to any children that might be there and scared. I pushed his money back and said to take more if he wanted them. He said no, he didn't have a lot of room but as he had used one the week before he wanted to replace it. He gave me the $4 and said call it a donation. How kind and generous is he and all the others that do the same. I was telling one of the other volunteers about him and she told me about a woman that came in last week looking for material to buy as she makes bags and toys for needy kids. She was given the material and was really surprised that we would do that. These people are kind and generous and I don't think what we did was anything special, they are the special ones. In contrast we get people in asking for welfare, the same people over and over again and then they are seen down the pub drinking and smoking...

Get It Tidy Then Get It Clean.

I have been trying to declutter a bit over the past few months, really trying, not just moving stuff from the bed to the table, back to the bed then into a bag that gets put on the floor then into another bag in the bathroom. Though that is still happening. A lot of stuff has gone down to the Really Really Free Markets and I already have another bag on the go for them. This week though I am going to get serious. I have soooo much stuff, stuff that I don't need, stuff that I don't love. Stuff, books, that I do want and love that is out in the shed because there is no room for it inside...Now that is stupid!! What is stopping me is my Save The World mindset where nothing should go to the tip and add to the killing of the world. But some stuff is rubbish and needs to be binned. Why is it so hard for me? My mother did not bring me up to be a messy, unclean slob. My sisters are not messy unclean slobs. I will no longer be a messy unclean slob. My bed is made, the sink is clear and clean. I will now tidy the benches then work on the table...that was clear last week but now has a few dozen Oranges, a bag of books, a camera, a tin of coffee, some clean washing...other stuff...I am out from lunchtime and before I leave I am hoping to have the living area finished. Finished properly not just relocated to the bed. What do you want to get done this morning? Lets do it together. I'm going to put on some boppy music, lets bop to it.

Thanks For Mowing Our Grass.

Husband and I went down to daughter L's place on Saturday, we get home here around lunchtime yesterday and Daughter T and her fella were out here mowing our grass. How nice was that. Much appreciated. It was sooo long and we hadn't gotten around to it because of all the rain we have been having but after a couple of sunny days it really needed doing. There is more to do and maybe I will get the ride-on out or maybe they will come out and do some more for me. Whoever gets in first, it will be great when it is a safe height again. I already came a cropper one day last week when I tripped over a hose. Bit sad really as I was on the phone with husbands boss and he thought it was quite funny. Hmmm.

A Baby Is Born.

I have had a very interesting weekend. T and J and I went down to Nannup to have a last visit with L before her baby was born. We drove down on the Saturday morning with the intention of picking L up then continuing on our way to Margaret River. The Farmers Markets were on there and we had heard that the Lions Shed was going to be open. It would be a fun day for us all. And it was too. We planned on staying overnight at L's then coming home the next morning. I awoke early, noticed L's light on and remembered hearing her go outside quite awhile before hand so I get up and go outside to check on her. She has an outside shower and toilet and I hear that she is in the shower so come back inside and get dressed. L comes in not long after and says "I think I'm going to have a baby today" Oh, OK...We aren't suposed to be there when that happens but we're not going to leave her there alone. The person who is going to be with her is 2 and 1/2 hours away and it is early but she gets on the computer and skypes him. He sounds surprised, then worried, then is on his way. In the meantime I relight the fire and me and T clear an area in the loungeroom to set up the portable birthing pool that she had hired only a few days before. With that set up we have to fill it. With a bucket and a bowl, carting water through the house from the bathroom. Which, thankfully, is inside. It took A LOT of buckets to get enough water into that pool. We eventually get enough water in there and by this time L is more than ready to get in. Her contractions are close, too close too soon as far as me and T were concerned...I try and pass the time by doing some dishes, sweeping the floor, walking in and out of the loungeroom to see if there was anything I could do. Of course there wasn't, we really just tried to reasure her that all was well but we had no idea if it was. We topped the pool up to keep it warm enough for her, kept the fire going, hugged the grandaughter who sometimes got a bit concerned that L was hurting too much...Eventually her support person arrived and less than an hour later, with 4 of us there suporting her, L birthed a little girl, all by herself, unassisted. She caught the baby as she came out and lifted her out of the water. Later on we helped her out of the pool and then onto a mattress that was set up in the lounge room so she and her baby could rest after the very tiring experience. This birth was to be a Lotus Birth so there was a bit of organising of things to get them comfortable and of course we wanted to get close and see the newborn. We tried weighing her but I think the scales are out by a couple of pound. They will weigh her again when they can borrow some decent scales from someone. Me and T left around 2ish and came home. It was a different and unexpected experince for us, bittersweet really. This afternoon we had an email to say that they were both well and doing fine. So relieved at that. So, that mother and daughter are well, sadly though, that's not always the case.

Two Daughters.

One you are so happy for. One you are so sad for...

Dress Right.

I have been outside the pick some veg for tea. I had on a beanie, my welly boots, a rainjacket. I needed an umbrella as well. The water is 6inches deep and it is still raining.

What's Growing, August.

We have had more rain and still more to come, everything is wet. The gardens are doing OK though, not too many snails but a few slugs and still thousands/millions of those greedy little Slaters. The parrots are starting to get at the Oranges so I will need to net them soon. I should have done that today but didn't. This month our vegetables of choice will be Sweet Potato, Capsicum, Brocolli, Cabbage, Choko. Fruit will be Oranges and Mandarins. Chicken, Fish and Pork will be our meat. Not a great variety but enough that we won't go hungry. There should be Cauliflower too but they are so slow and still nowhere near ready. There are still a few small Tomatoes to keep the husband happy and normal spuds if I wanted to did them up. There should be other veg but I was slack and didn't plant enough. I really should get serious about it all again.

Plastic Free Challenge.

July is finished and so ended the PFJ Challenge. It hasn't ended my one use wastefulness challenge but has made me realise that I am not what I want to be. I am not a wasteless person. That bothers me enough to try harder but...It is that *but* that I am having trouble with. I need to come up with alternatives to the products that I want to keep. The bought processed products. Ways that aren't going to cost too much more money because sadly, for us it is about money too. Over the last few years I have changed the way I eat and the food we have now is mostly fresh and unprocessed, grown here by us, but I have my weakness' and husband has his. Without him in the picture it would be quite easy but with him there is a bit more of a challenge. Keeps it interesting I supose... I'm not giving up, as in anything that we want to achieve it will require some more thought and a lot more practice. How did you go? Did you used less one-use plastics during July? Will you from now on?

Can Write But It's Not Right

OK, so the last post didn't come out like it was suposed to and this one probably wont either. I have worked out that it has something to do with the Compose and HTML buttons. I cannot type in Compose mode and when in HTML it didn't publish the way it looked to me...Hmmm, there must be something that I am not doing right. When i get it working I will edit any post that is a bit dodgy but until then please bare with me.

Three Days Out The Beach.

Daughter has been out here and while here she pushed some buttons, a lot of different buttons. She doesn't know which ones though but has made it so that I can type here again. Lets see if it works long enough for me to get this finished and posted. Last Monday afternoon I packed a bag, put the sewing machine and some soup in the car and went out to stay in our caravan at the Myalup Beach Caravan Park for a few days. Husband has been home for the last 3 months and we always eat too much crap food when he was home but the last week...it seemed to be all day every day. I felt awful, needed some real food. I knew I wouldn't get it at home as there was too much rubbish stuff there and I knew if I went out and stayed in the caravan then the only food would be what I took. With this is mind I made up a big pot of chicken and vegetable soup. Mondays is my afternoon at Vinnies and as I wanted to be out there early enough to get at least one walk down to the beach in before it got too cold and dark as soon as I was home I had to quickly put the stuff in the car and leave. Another reason for my wanting to spend some time out there was to get some sewing done. I am not a tidy person, no, really, and I feel bad having stuff all over the place here when husband is home so thought that I could kill 2 birds with one stone. I took some books out though so didn't get as much sewing done as I had planned. Who would have guessed that might happen aye. I did however finish a book I was reading, get the hem put up on some trousers, some buttons sewed onto a couple of husbands workshirts, sewed up a few more T-Shirt bags, made up some better than I had cloth wipes, started another book...and walked more in those 3 days than I have for the last month. I ate only healthy food and feel good for it....I will do this again sometime soon if husband doesn't go back to work. We used to go out here quite often but over the last few years the visits have been few and far between. The old van is now in need of some work and we did plan on making a start this year and you'd think that with 3 months off it could get done but no work means no money coming in so things like this need to be put off. I am used to roughing it though so even if the floor is spongy and has a hole or two that needs repairing and there is no water connected any more it was dry and secure. And warm once I was in bed. The weather over the 3 days was wet and cold so it meant early nights and rugging up for my walks but I enjoyed being out there and really should go out there more often.

Bum! I can't write post due to "error on page"