Who Turned All the Lights Off ?

This is not a grizzling post , This is not a grizzling post, this is not a ....

I can hear crickets chirping in Blog Land today. Normally I get up on a Sunday and spend hours reading posts about what all my favourite quilty and crafty people got up to on Saturday. The time difference thingy is pretty cool in that respect. Often you’re all sitting down to dinner on Saturday as I’m getting up on Sunday morning. Call me Future Girl.

But today, not much ... almost nada..zip...nothing. Two of you posted overnight- usually I get up to a plethora of posts which  means I can sit in peace for an hour or two looking at all your awesome crafty-ness and avoiding my own crafty-mess. (That was not a typo)

And then I realise it is International Quilting Day , and I’m missing out on all the fun and that’s probably where everyone is . Quilting. Having Fun. Making cool and beautiful quilts. And that yesterday, which was IQD here , I celebrated by holding International Sit at the Computer Surfing Blog Land All Day.

I know it’s officially Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. If you people think you’re going to spend the next 6 months out in the garden and enjoying sun and getting active and enjoying the outdoors and picnicking and leaving me high and dry you can think again. I depend on you to keep me amused. If I have to start amusing myself , I’m in deep trouble since I don’t interest myself that much.

That’s all. Now go make a quilt and then come back here and post about it so I can continue to avoid my housework. Thank You. Have a nice day.

Butter Tarts

I bet you all wish I had my sewing machine back, then I'd stop posting about food.  Nanci at Quilting at The Cottage left me a comment this week mentioning butter tarts, and how they were quintessentially Canadian  so of course I had to make them. I've been thinking about them all week.  Dreaming of butter tarts. Which is way better than dreaming that clowns are trying to eat me.   

I wish I'd had this butter tart recipe at Christmas when we had a Canadian for lunch, ( he  was eating here , we weren't eating him, which is what that last sentence sounded like ) The best I could come up with then was a yule log. Store bought log cake, store bought frosting (Yes, Brenda) slapped it together and threw a Holly leaf on top. Pretty classy huh? I bet he would have been mega impressed if I had cooked these instead.

Apparently, everyone on the internet thinks they have the best butter tart  recipe, so I  had to guess who was telling the truth. Right after I got the lie detector test results back (can you believe some people refused to submit to a polygraph?) I decided to use this recipe.   Plus I'm allergic to nuts  so I had to choose one that said nuts were optional. Thirty years ago, I was a circus freak with my nut allergy, now it seems there are lots of us. And by the way , I am often asked if I miss eating peanut butter and Ferrero Rochers. Let me ask you this : Would you miss eating something that had the capacity to kill you?

The prep stuff with these is pretty easy. I'm going to confess , I cheated  was creative with the pastry. I had shortcrust sheets  in my freezer so I used them. I don't think it made any difference to the final product, which was Delicious. This is what they look like filled but not cooked.

20 minutes later ..........

Ta da!

Thank you Canada for butter tarts from the bottom of my heart. Thank you again Canada for giving me a recipe that means I can brag about my international cooking skills, that doesn't send me half insane and make me feel inadequate like some other recipes I have tried. I know that Americans make fun of Canadians, but frankly I think you  guys rock! Plus you have awesome bacon, a really nice flag  and maple syrup. I'm sold!

Thanks Nanci for alerting me to this culinary wonder. It's going in my cook book and I'll be making these again.

P.S. I still have a pretzel recipe I'm wanting to try but nobody else in my house eats pretzels so I feel it would be a waste to make them just for me plus my arse doesn't need that level of carbs solo. Does anyone wanna come over and help me eat them if I make them?

BUSTED!

This is Indiana Bones (Indy for short) and this is the scene that greeted me 10 minutes ago.

This is our king size bed.

Standing there taking this photo I realised we were duped. We didn't buy a dog , we bought a horse.

Sunshine in a Cloudy Week

For context for this story you’re going to have to read this post  so you can truly understand the obsession love I have for Oreo’s. (Isnt that strikethrough thing nifty? - I've been itching to use it )

Sometimes people do the most lovely unexpected things that make you all warm and gooey inside. And when you’re having a less than stellar week these things are even more special. I had two such occurrences this week. Surely that’s more than my fair share, but I’ll take it because some weeks the universe gives me nada.

A while back I did a giveaway on my blog and I duly sent off a parcel to the other side of the world, which also contained Australian junk food because I like to hype kids up as long as they aren’t mine and the lovely Lisa at Calicos in Bloom  has three of them.  I used to play a similar game with my sister annually called  "Who can give each other's child the messiest,  most parent aggravating birthday present" but thats another blog post- I won by the way with the barking seals game which was declared after 60 minutes because nobody could stand the yapping seal noises anymore.

This week, on arrival at the post office, my PO Guy handed me a parcel from Lisa and her very talented daughter Miss Calicos. I’m pretty sure my PO guy has hours of fun trying to work out what's in my parcels because he always comments like he’s asking a question "? Fabric? Food? ?Soap  ?Crack Cocaine. It‘s a game we play. It's keeping him amused and gets me preferential treatment from Australia Post . Win, Win.

Since I was on my lunch break I took the package back to work and opened it just as we were starting a team meeting. I was toast for the rest of the meeting because inside was this lovely lot. So rather than talking about SERIOUS work related topics, I just looked at these babies and sighed a lot. It was a fun way to spend team meeting because usually I talk the hind leg off a chair. I know you're all probably shocked that I talk a lot in real life. Try to suspend your disbelief for a minute or two.

Miss Calicos made me this beautiful hot pad for my kitchen. Miss Calicos  is 5 years old! Pretty clever huh? This was my favourite thing in the whole parcel.

I got socks with Moose on them. (Is there such a word as Mooses?)  I can wear these in winter with my Yeti slippers. Do Yeti's and Moose get along?

Oh My goodness. Oreo Fudge Rings . Yum! You can't get these in Australia.  I promise I'll share. Miss P is already nagging me to open them. I'll be doing that at 3 am and then hiding what 's left.

Lucky Charms. And they came on St.Patrick's Day . It probably doesn't get any luckier than that. I have wanted to try these for YEARS. We see them on American TV shows all the time.

I would like to point out , I had to fight off my co-workers several times  to keep the Oreos and Lucky Charms. And I told Lisa I’m thinking about varnishing one of those Oreos for posterity.  So a HUGE thankyou to Lisa, Miss Calicos  and the rest of the Calicos Family for thinking of me, and doing such a sweet thing.

I've posted recently about making friends in Blogland. I haven't been around for long, but there are a couple of people I feel I've really connected with and could actually be friends with in RL if that was possible.  You never quite know if those people  feel the same way and you dont want to come across like some creepy  stalker by saying how much you like them and the way they think, so I was completely tickled pink to be part of a post over at Sarcastic Quilter this week, which  is titled "Ask Yourself,  Who am I in Blogland?" which echoed and expanded on  some things that I had also been thinking and posting about.

I want you to walk no ...run over to Beck’s post at Sarcastic Quilter to have a read because she and I have a mutual admiration thingy going that we want you to be a part of. Plus her post was honest, heartfelt, and really thought  provoking. Plus for all you quilty types- she's one of us and does lovely stuff.

I'm off to vote tomorrow morning for State Elections, which is  like  voting in a  Governor but we call him or her the Premier. It's my civic responsibility. It's also illegal not to vote in this country and you can get fined if you don't vote.   I guess they figure Australians are so apathetic they wouldn't bother turning up unless they were required to do so by law. And they could be right. We tend to take democracy for granted which is pretty ironic for a country that was founded on convicts. If they gave out a free beer, people would be there at 8am.

Seinfeld Posting and Succumbing to Peer Pressure

Ha! I told you all I could be less wordy! No words since Monday! I am da Bomb!

I have been noticeably absent this week from blogland. The cold morphed into something else and I’ve been a total coughaluffagus. Just standing upright for longer than 10 minutes  and remaining conscious has been a challenge and if I hear one more time how tired and pale I look, I’m going to scream. Just like Veruca Salt did in the Original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

So tonight I’m playing catch up. Checking out what everyone has been up to , ( I cannot believe the world doesn’t stop when I’m not here ) reading and responding to emails,   reading and responding to comments, making comments, thanking people and wondering what the dickens to write about.  So I'm  just going to  do a Seinfeld Post . A post about nothing in particular.

I want to welcome some new readers to my blog. Thanks for visiting and deciding you liked what you saw. There really is no accounting for taste.  Someone turned my own 4 post rule around on me (Touche! )  and someone else commented at least my blog didn't sound like it was being written by a Stepford Wife. These are my kind of Peeps.    I woke up one morning this week to find my followers had increased by almost 40%. It all felt a bit Jack and the Beanstalk.  What a head rush! I don’t know where you all came from (it’s probably my Mum using several specially created blogger accounts to boost my self esteem ) but I hope you find things here to amuse, bemuse, and tickle your funny bone often enough to keep you coming back. My biggest fear at this point is that people will decide I’m not witty , talented, charming or riotously hilarious and followers will start to leave which I will also have to blog about  because I’m too darn honest for my own good. (I actually saw someone once do an abusive post because she had lost three followers overnight- seriously) I promise I won’t do that . I’ll just drag myself off somewhere and have a quiet sniffle. If it ever happens. Which I’m sure it won’t.

I’m succumbing to peer pressure. In the last fortnight 4 people have emailed to let me know they would love to follow my blog but since I don’t have a followers gadget thingy they can’t. Well yes you can ! You can go to your dashboard , scroll down to the Blogs I’m Following section, click “add” and chuck my URL in there. I’m making it easy for you because this is my url  - http://fairybreadmusings.blogspot.com/

Then the blogger fairy will ask you whether you want to follow publicly or privately – and that’s totally up to you.

But since I’m an equal opportunity kinda gal, ( and the way I’ve explained the process above makes it seem really hard  ) I’ve added the followers widget thingy over there on the side so you can just click to add my blog to your blogroll. Then you can get all the goss straight to your dashboard.  You know peer pressure was what started me smoking in high school don’t you? I’m highly suggestible. Please don’t peer pressure me into anything else. Like eating a pack of Monte Carlo’s or daring me to run naked through the quad with your underpants on my head.

Two things totally made my week this week,  and I’m going to tell you what they were tomorrow.

Oh and new followers, I'm heading over to your blogs in the next few days - be afraid - be very afraid. I don't get out of my cage all that often.

I'm holding the sun hostage- you can have it back Friday

Autumn has gone into hibernation. Even she thought it was too rude to go from summer to autumn in the space of 24 hours.  The last three days have been around 90F and we're expecting temps of that or over for the next few days.  That must mean our northern hemipshere friends are in for more snow storms.  Don't blame me if you  have to shovel your driveways-  I don't make the weather- I just report it.

No further along on the laundry.  I keep making Mr. P.  drag the washing machine in from the verandah and reconnect it every time I need to wash. He has a very scientific system going whereby he duct tapes the hose into a big pipe that rises up from the floor because we dont have a sink in there anymore. If it blows the whole house is going  to flood.  I like to call this "Washing Day Roulette". It's certainly adding some spice and daring  to washing Mr. P's undies. I will not be sad when this laundry reno is finished.  

I wouldn't usually use a new post to comment on an old post - but since I'm a fly by the seat of my pants kind of girl I'm going to run with it-because this just has to be said - I was completely blown away by the response I received to my Blog Surfing and Desperate Insecurity post. I was truly touched by your comments and support. Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know what you thought. I love you guys! 

From the really random department- I found a chin hair at least an inch long today while at a conference. Of course I didn't have tweezers on me and it would have been entirely inappropriate to pull it out since I was sitting at the front  because my boss was presenting. Do you think I can find it now I am at home in the sancitity of my own bathroom? Getting weird random hairs in middle age  is one of the things they dont tell you about in sex education  class in high school. Sure, blather on about menopause  and pregnancy and STD's.  "Horrible things your body is going to do when you're 40-ish"  should be a compulsory subject.

I'm on day 7 of my sewing exile. I finally capitulated yesterday and got Nanna's sewing machine out. After fluffing around with the front loading bobbin setup, and threading the machine (OMG this thing has no automatic thread cutter and I dont have a manual - how do you cut threads without a thread cutter???) it grudgingly sewed three stitches and rewarded me with whining, wheezing and a birds nest of thread at the back of my fabric. So much for that brilliant plan.  Meantime I'm suffering serious withdrawal and have to have the back of a quilt done by Friday. Eeeekkkkkkk!

To counter this feeling of being completely cut off from the quilting community I decided to start cutting fabric for my next project. Can anyone see where I'm heading with this? I'm really excited about this quilt top. Mr. P. is already  talking about moving out until it's finished.

  

   

   

This is some of what I did yesterday in between perfecting my dying swan impersonation . Yes I am still full of a cold and have now started delightfully hacking and coughing every three minutes. Mr. P is starting to get peeved about my seemingly torrid affair with my Ventolin inhaler.  

I vowed to try something new this week...not being so wordy with my posts.....

Looks like that didn't exactly  pan out. Maybe next post.

Beef Rendang Recipe

 Posting for Kirsten, but feel free to give this a bash if you like slightly spicy curry type foods.  It would work equally well with lamb.  I wish I could remember where I got this recipe, but I've had it for 4 or more years , lifted from somewhere off the internet- an Australian chef - so all credit to the unknown chef. (I think that now covers all the legal aspects of plagarism, since I can't afford to get tied up in litigation this week )

I usually double or triple this recipe because it freezes really well which saves you having to cook dinner another night (or two) You can microwave or oven re-heat this and it still tastes delicious.

You need:

1 kg of gravy beef or casserole beef (cheap cuts of beef are good – I use blade bolar roast when I can get it on special)

1 x 400ml can of coconut milk (slightly more or less won't make a massive difference)

1 onion (Medium to Large )

3 cloves of garlic

2 or 3 teaspoons of fresh ginger (stuff from a jar is fine if you can’t find fresh)

1 stalk of lemon grass ( I omit this because it does weird things to my lips - yeah I know I'm a circus freak  )

1 teaspoon of ground cloves

1 teaspoon of ground turmeric

2 teaspoons of ground coriander

1 teaspoon of salt

1 or 2 teaspoons of chilli powder or sambal olek ( I personally use chilli powder or crushed dried chilli's)

Method

Cut your meat into one inch cubes . Brown your meat and toss it in the slow cooker. Toss everything else , except  the lemon grass into a blender and blatt for 30 seconds or so. Or you can just mix it all together in a jug if you want. I throw mine in the frypan I just used for the browning of the meat and mix it all that way. Pour blender/frypan/jug contents into your slow cooker and give the lemon grass a few whacks with a heavy object and toss into the slow cooker as well.

Stir, making sure all meat is well coated in sauce. Cook on high in the slow cooker for about 4 hours. The sauce will become darker as it cooks. After four hours give it a stir, and turn down to low and cook for another 2 hours.

Serve with Jasmine rice. Yum!

Confession:  I can't cook rice to save myself. Mr. P does this for me. He uses a weird method involving washing the rice in cold water  first, chanting at the full moon, praying to the rice gods and  giving the rice a bath in boiling water in the microwave for 4 minutes before stirring it viciously with a fork and putting it back in the microwave  to torture it some more. It's all greek to me. I just know the rice turns out perfectly every time.

Disclaimer- Everyone’s slow cooker is different , so you may need to adjust your cooking times. If you double this recipe add at least another two hours to the cooking time at the end. True rendang is apparently supposed to be dry, in the slow cooker it will have a gravy which is the way I like it.

More Disclaimers: Don't set your kitchen on fire while cooking like SAJ did recently.

And  as I finished this post, I  thought "I should have done a tutorial with pretty pictures" Bummer. Too late now.

A Sniper Stole My Buffet ( I hate it when that happens)

As I have previously posted , I have a cold , and so therefore have no sense of taste or smell, which is an incredible bummer because I cooked kassler and eggs for breakfast this morning , and it was apparently divine. Mr. P bought me some Black jelly beans this afternoon . They tasted like a big fat nothing. I ate them anyway –out of spite. Ditto my T-Bone steak for dinner. I made Mr. P suffer along with me by refusing to make garlic cream sauce with parmesan because I can’t taste it anyway. Sigh. I want to go make myself an anchovy sandwich but really what would be the point?

The highlight of my day was the thought that tomorrow this gorgeous dining setting and buffet would be all mine and in residence in my kitchen. Cute huh?

I had my Sunday all planned. Pleasing visions ensued of taking all my glassware and dishes out of my old meat safe and kitchen dresser, washing it so it sparkled and lovingly putting it back in my new buffet.  Deciding which accessories would look best on top of the buffet and the table. My fishbowl full of rattan balls? My black and white porcelain filigree balls in the glass deco jar? Oh and I really must spray paint my doovalacky black and put it somewhere as well. I’ve had two doovalacky’s 18 months and never used them. And how chic will those chairs look when I've recovered them in black and white french inspired fabric.  My kitchen is  going to be the envy of all my friends. Courtesy of Ebay. I looooove Ebay. Ebay and I are like this. (please insert a mental visual image of crossed fingers denoting extreme closeness here- I was going to take one but my camera batteries are flat )

With two minutes to go the current bid is $355.00 less than my maximum. Suddenly, like great white sharks circling a school of fish, the frenzy begins. I’m not worried. I’m planning to auto snipe 5 seconds before the end of the auction. That's the smart thing to do. 11 seconds to go. High bid is still $115.00 below my maximum and looks like it’s stalled. 5 seconds to go and my bid kicks in. Whoooooooo Hoooooooooo! That dining set is MINE!

And immediately someone snipes me at the same moment my bid kicks in by a measley 10 bucks and the auction is over. A sniper sniped me and stole my buffet. And all my dining room dreams. That’s just rude.

I’m stomping off to eat some oreos to console myself. Not that I’ll be able to taste their creamy chocolatey goodness....

Grocery Challenge - Week 2

Head on over to One Crazy Journey and join in the fun with Flamingo Mama's March Grocery Challenge. It's week 2.

I had my menu plan for this week all sorted out but slipped on Thursday when I was tired, coming down with a virus and couldn’t be bothered.  I ended up buying chicken from the local takeaway shop instead of cooking my planned meal.  In my own defence I used the leftover chicken to make chicken and vegie soup for another meal. Hot Damn- I'm virtuous! Takeaway is relatively expensive here . A  medium sized Big Mac or Quarter Pounder meal from McDonalds (drink, fries and burger) costs around $8.00 AUD which is around $9.00 US dollars.

This week’s shop included lots of fruit and vegies and interestingly the equivalent amount of biscuits, oreos,(mmmmmmmmm)  Milky Bar chocolate, a pack of BBQ chips,  chocolate bits (making chop chip cookies sometime this week) and two swiss roll cakes. Obviously I’m craving sugar and comfort food. So not a really frugal shop since nobody in this house actually NEEDS most of those sugary things, but we spent way  less than we would usually spend on total groceries. I will rush to point out that those treats will probably do us for the rest of the month as well. Oh who am I kidding- that Milky bar and the barbecue chips will be  gone by tomorrow morning...too bad if my taste buds are on strike.

So my grand total for this week is:

Foodland $102.42

Butcher $49.20 (Meat for 4 meals plus dog meat)

Total $151.62

Which makes a grand total for the month so far of $331.02, which leaves me 332.98. I'm feeling like this is emminently do-able and so far it's not even hurting.  

My planned menu for dinners for next week is:
Rendang Curry with Jasmine Rice
Roast Beef , and roasted root vegies with fresh corn and a green vegetable
Home Made Lasagna
Steak with Garlic Cream sauce , BBQ potatoes and a green salad
Lamb Shanks (cooking with SAJ- I hope we don't burn MY kitchen down)
Chicken Breast Fillets with peppercorn sauce, potato bake, beans and carrots
Foccacia with Salami, Cheese, Olives and salad

I need to point out I am a stasher. I had all the meat for next weeks meals in one of my four freezers...yep count 'em ...four. And in fact, the curry and lasagne sauce are already made.

Prices from yesterday's grocery shop (Thought it might be fun to compare)

500 gram pack of penne pasta $1.49 on special

One dozen eggs $3.19

Premium Leg Ham (sliced ) $22.99 a kilo. (one kilo equals 2.2 pounds)

2 litres of plain wrap milk $2.63

A box of 140 tissues $ 3.09

680 grams vienna loaf $4.39

Normal white bread (680 grams) between $2.00-$4.00 a loaf

Bananas 2.99 a kilo

Mango’s  2.99 each this week

Apples (all varieties ) around 5.00 a kilo

Avocado 2.29 each

T Bone Steaks 19.99 a kilo ( on special)

Shortback Bacon 15.99 a kilo

Sandwich Steak 14.99 a kilo

Kassler Chops 13.99 a kilo.

If you add about 12 – 15 % to the price that will give you the equivalent price in USD.

So far, I'm pretty pleased with how things are going. Can't wait for Week 3 !

Blog Surfing and Desperate Insecurity

Not sure where I'm going with this post. It's been rattling round inside my head for a week. I'm pretty sure I'm going to offend someone,  somewhere. (probably with my comment about religion down the page -paragraph 5 in case you want to skip straight there  ) And why I would choose to post this today, on a  mere four hours sleep,  with a hacking cough and dribbly nose has got me whacked. (Green isn't good right?)  But I'm going to do it anyway. This is my year of living dangerously. 

I've been looking at profiles a lot this week  in the hope of finding like minded people  and widening my blog circle, and being further inspired by the amazingness of others. Plus I'm nosy and like to live vicariously through the lives of people I've never even met. It's a large www out there people and I want to sample more of it. I owe it to myself.  You guys inspire me so much more than you realise. I have an idea of what each  of you  is like from what you choose to share through your own posts and comments. You're all lovely by the way.   

What I'm left with after peeking at people's profiles  is the thought it's pretty hard to bring your personality across in the small space they give you to list your interests which is all they show when you're looking at profiles. Which means people like me have to actually go to your blog and read some of it to decide whether we're likely to be kindred spirits. I have a four post rule to decide whether I want to come back for dessert and other meals at your place.  If one of the 4 posts  rocks my socks -I'm going to be eating at your joint on a regular basis.  You might be funny, you might be creative, you might like to poke fun at yourself, you might have a warped slant on something or we might share a common interest. Sometimes I stretch it to 5 , or 6 or 7 posts even. I'm giving you a fair shake. If we don't connect - no hard feelings. It doesn't mean you have nothing worthwhile to say . It just means I'm not feelin' the love. And it's quite likely if you read my blog you'd feel the same way.  

I'm not professing to being the Queen of Exciting Blog Posts. Hardly.   That's not my point. I have exactly 8 followers and a few pop ins who are following me privately. ( I know you are - don't pretend you aren't- you know who you are)  It's not like I'm Mrs Popularity. Or that anything I have to say is going to change the world. Or that I'm inspiring millions like that bitch Bakerella. (I'm sorry Bakerella - I'm just kidding - I totally LOVE your site- I just have baking envy and a short attention span when it comes to  fiddly shit )

Going by the interests of people I have scanned of late  I have to ask does everyone in America home school? And I'm guessing Sunday morning when everyone is in church is a good time to go shopping with the twenty  other people on blogger  who don't attend worship?  Not trying to inflame here - Just saying.  And if everyone on blogger is so into their families, why is there so much angst at family Christmas lunch? Am I the only freaking person on the planet that doesn't knit underwear for the homeless? Profile surfing is making me feel completely inadequate. There are so many things I don't do. That cuts down my "connection" opportunities significantly.

And then I got to thinking ( for the first time ever ) how I might come across on my blog posts and in my own profile...what if people think I'm a boring self obsessed whack job? Are people out there thinking "I can't believe that weird Aussie chick wrote "salt and vinegar chips" as an interest. No way I'm looking at her blog" .  Or worse still "Is this woman on crack? Nothing she posts makes sense" . I can imagine people all over the blogisphere invoking a one post rule with my blog.

Do I come across as weird? I don't feel like I do, but when you're weird you actually think everyone else is and you're the only sane one don't you? Clearly I am desperately insecure. The more I read profiles the more insecure I'm becoming.

The funny thing is that I used to really watch what I wrote on my blog. Go back and read some of my early posts - none of my personality in them at all and nobody was reading either. Go on, off you go , read them , I'll wait................

A few months back, I started thinking about why I was scared to be me on my blog. It was because I wanted to be liked. I didn't want to upset anyone. I didn't want to post something offensive.   Even in Blogland, I want to be liked. Blog land is a lot like High School. I want to fit in. I want to be popular. I want to wear the right kind of jeans and have perfect Pat Benatar hair. I wish my freckles would fade away, methaphorically speaking. The thing is in real life people either like me or they dont. And I'm fine with that. Why is Blogland any different? So I started posting like I talk in RL. And all of a sudden people started  reading. 

Like High school, you can't fake it in blogland. Some peeps gonna be yo friends and some not. You're going to have the pretty girl with loads of friends, the jock  and the geeks who generally aren't aware they're geeks. Then you have the people like me, that are middle of the road, and are never going to set the earth on fire , but are appreciated in their own little circle.  Now that I've surfed round for a while and  havent found anyone I want to make new  friends with right now, I'm happy in my own little clique.

So, thanks for being in ma' posse.   

And so I have been reduced to this

Day One of  my exile in no sewing land.

Desperate to at least do SOMETHING that vaguely resembles sewing I decided I could  cut some fabric for my next quilt (the theory being I would then want to sew it so badly I would get out Nanna's sewing machine and give that a try)

So with no sewing machine and no freaking laundry either this is what I've been reduced to.

I wasn't  going to  bother with washing fabric for the first time EVER and then realised there are a lot of reds in that  material. I've never had a quilt bleed after completion , and I'm not about to start now. That would just tip me over the edge.

Off to stare at Nanna's sewing machine now.

P.S. I am also eating cooking chocolate because we havent got any other chocolate  in the house.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.................

Dropped my sewing machine in for it's 6 yearly service today and was told it would be on holiday for at least two weeks. The "at least " part was enunciated clearly as if to imply it could be longer.

I'm going to go crazy.

What am I going to do with myself for two weeks or more?

Hello Autumn and Gobble Gobble...

The weather is taking the change of seasons literally . March 1st was the start of autumn, and we have had plenty of rainy cold, and windy weather this past  weekend.  The leaves on our trees have started to change and Indy is back to his usual March to June behaviour of  waiting for a leaf to fall from a tree, chasing it and trying to get it before it hits the ground,  then going back to his standing spot and waiting for the next leaf to fall.   Eventually there will be no more falling leaves and he’ll have to stop. I console myself with this thought for every leaf he chases.

This is the view of our sky today. Grey and overcast.

My chenille quilt has made a re-appearance on the bed. Mmmmm Warm and toasty. Last night I wore flannel pyjamas!

This is the stacked coin quilt I started making prior to Christmas. Originally when I opened the scrap bag and saw these colours I wasn’t all that jazzed, but they’ve really grown on me , and now I love them. This is Gobble Gobble fabric by Sandy Gervais for Moda. I wanted something simple for the quilting because I'm still learning and experimenting and don't have the confidence to try free motion on an actual quilt yet . I'm thinking about taking a class in May. I can't quilt in weird line variations  forever.

The top is heavy weight calico and the contents of one Moda Scrap bag. The finished quilt will measure 65 x 65 inches or thereabouts All my quilts are measured in “thereabouts”. That's a recognised measurement isn't it?   If you aren't a total slacker like me , you could put this together in a long weekend. As another useless piece of information about this quilt - I didnt use my regular batting, Warm and Natural. I used Fairfield Cotton which I got on sale. It feels a lot "rougher"  before it's quilted up. I dont mind the way it quilts though. The proof will be in the washing. I usually pre-wash my warm and natural and it's not recommended  with the Fairfield batting.

I took  pictures of the quilt almost finished  rather than in 2  hours when I do finish the quilting because the light will be too bad to take pics later   and I want to prove I’ve done something with my ultra long weekend besides sit on the computer looking at quilting blogs and eating Dixie drumsticks...and shortbread creams.... and chocolate layer cake.

I'm going to be sewing machine-less from tomorrow for a week  or possibly longer because my baby is going in for a service. So  until the machine comes back, I'm hoping to bind the gobble gobble quilt, (ugh hand sewing) and start cutting pieces for my new project. I'm a bit over the half square triangle quilt and have put that away to finish some other time. I'll just keep it on my WIP's in my sidebar to mock me.

In other news despite Mr. Pyjamas valiant efforts I am still laundry-less and it looks like I'll be that way for another few weeks. It's a good thing I'm the queen of undies.

Help Needed....What is this object ?

At one of the op shops I was at today , this object was hanging up at the register, with a  sign asking  "Do you know what this is?" Obviously the op shop volunteers had no idea and I said I'd pop it on the internet and see if anyone out there knew what it was.

So if you think you know what it is - or if someone you know might know what it is please let me know so the op shop ladies can sleep at night.This is driving them mad apparently.

Call 000....

SAJ just  texted me this,  with the message "OK, I am ready to cook again"

For a girl who has no rangehood she sure  has a sense of humour.

Some Days are Diamonds

Miss Pyjamas and I went to a few  garage sales and op shops  this morning. Little Pyjamas benefited from our excursion. We came away with a set of baby lego ,  a kid tool set which was still in the box, and a red enamel pull along cart for $10.00.

I got two more baskets for my sewing room. (Already in use - I don't muck around-it's the quick and the dead here)

And I got these three books for the bargain price of $254.00 (Yes thats right - this is not a typo )Let me say it again because I like the sound of it so much. These books cost me $254.00. The books themselves were $4.00. The  $250.00 is the excess I will have to pay to my insurance company to  get my car fixed because someone reversed into the front of my car while I was  innocently reading books inside the op shop. 

I went immediately to Spotlight and bought 14 metres of fabric. Some peeps drink, some smoke crack ,  I buy material. It's cheaper and more socially acceptable.   I feel  much better now. Share the joy with me .

On the way home from Spotlight  the power train light in the car  came on again.  The power train has now cost us over $600.00, and has had 4 visits to the mechanics and it still hasn't been fixed -  I've given up. I'm buying one of these to get around. 

I'm off to lock myself in the sewing room. Mr. Pyjamas knows I'm not allowed out until I finish something....I might not be posting again until April.

Some Days are Diamonds..but today was more a ruby day for me.

Grocery Challenge- Week 1

Flamingo Mama over at One Crazy Journey  is doing a March Grocery Challenge.  The concept is really simple. Work out how much less you think you can spend on groceries for the month and challenge yourself to do just that. Easy huh? I love easy.

I have always had a grocery budget ,in fact I have a budget for EVERYTHING,  and since I'm into the frugal living concept, (don't mention my fabric habit) I thought it would be lots of fun to try this with a group.

One of the important things to remember is you aren't competing with the other people who are participating , this is about setting a personal goal and trying to stick to it. Groceries in Australia seem to be significantly more expensive than in the US , so I doubt I could aspire to spending only $300-400 for the month, at least on a routine basis. I'm doing well here if I spend less than $200.00 on meat a month.   No coupons  here either and not  an Aldi or CVS in sight making this just that little bit more tricky.

I tend to shop at the same  grocery store , and it's always  an independent not a multi national chain.  I find rushing round to more than one place doesn't save me money.However I might pop in more than once, although I try not to. That happened this week, because we ran out of lemons and needed them for a curry, I needed candles for a birthday cake and then I needed limes for a pie (what is it with me and citrus this week?) 

I already do menu plans and always shop with a list but I'm flexible about what I buy even within the list. If washing powder isn't on the list but is on sale for $1.99 I stock up big. Ditto TP and dishwashing liquid. Thanks to habits ingrained by Patty, my incredible budget juggling Mum, I have plenty of freezer and pantry storage space and it's usually full.  I already manage to squeeze around 10%  savings out of my allocated grocery budget every month, but I know I can do better!

I'm shopping for three adults so I shop weekly. I've tried fortnightly and that just doesn't work for us. I try to pre-cook and freeze  a couple of meals a week in advance so I know at least two nights will be easy to get dinner on the table. This is a lifesaver when you're working. I don't like to have to think too hard after a full day at work !

So my current budget is $225.00 a week. That's a total of $996.34 for a calendar month. I am aiming for $664.00 for the month and I'm not going to stress myself out by worrying about whether I go over a weekly amount, I'll just work out how I went at the end of the month. That's because some weeks I go over my weekly amount and then next week, I might spend a very small amount.

So far since the 1st of March  (yes I've been keeping a tally because I was so darn excited about this challenge ) I've spent $179.40. That included 5 kilos of meat for the dogs  and a couple of kilos of people mince , which is mince for people to eat not mince made out of people,  but no other meat and nowhere near what I'm thinking we need for fruit and veg for the next week or so if we want to get nutrients into our systems.  I stocked up on non perishables that I know we'll need for the month that were on special like coffee, tea, butter, cheese , olive oil  and other pantry stretchers. Hoarding groceries  is the way I roll.

I'm considering doing a run to the farmers  market tomorrow morning to buy fruit and vegies because it will be cheaper than topping up at the supermarket. I used to do this and it cut our fruit and vegie bill in half! Then I got lazy.....

I'm really looking forward to reading how other people are going, and to supporting and cheering one another on. And if you have any frugal meal or grocery  ideas feel free to share them!

The Great Fire of 18:55 (Post title ripped off from SAJ)

“Cooking round the world with SAJ and Shay “has resumed after summer hiatus. Yes, for those of you that didn’t know my first name is not “Quilting”, it is actually Shay. Shay Pyjamas....(you have to say that like “Bond, James Bond” for it to be funny.)

Cooking this fortnight started innocently enough. Dinner was being brought to us by the letter “C”. We decided to cook Caribbean Lamb Shanks and Caribbean Lime Pie. I want to point out for reasons that will become obvious shortly , I was in charge of prepping dessert.

SAJ doesn’t like lamb (which is pretty un-Australian if you ask me. This country was founded on sheep and convicts. You have to like eating one of those choices and it’s not polite to eat people ) so she decided to make two dishes , one with lamb and one with beef. Same recipe, same flavours , just different meat. After a long day at work, I arrived, was plied with wine, and SAJ announced she had a gift for me. I LOVE gifts. 

Check out these aprons. That was my gift. A special apron for our cooking adventures! (I wanted to photoshop my head out because I look so tired and I also have crazy hair so if you could focus only on the apron I would appreciate it) SAJ looks gorgeous as usual. I seriously hate her guts sometimes.

So ...with cream whipped, limes squeezed, and pies made and chillin’ in the fridge we turned our attention to the lamb shanks.

The lamb shanks never did make it into the pan on SAJ’s stove. I’m not quite sure what happened really, but just as she was about to drop something in the pan a fireball erupted. A certain amount of flame is fairly typical when she cooks. All the best chefs have a little flame going on apparently. I just assumed SAJ was doing her usual visually dramatic cooking, trying to impress me.

But the flame didn’t go out...it just kept getting bigger and it didn’t take long for us to realise we were in deep deep trouble. There was nary a fire extinguisher or fire blanket in sight. By this time the rangehood was completely alight and dripping melting plastic all over the stove top and I was yelling for SAJ’s husband and wondering whether we should call the fire service. Mr. SAJ arrived and the fire was put out. It's pretty dramatic when the guts of the rangehood melts out onto your stove.

SAJ’s Spandau Ballet ticket is looking a little worse for wear as is pretty much everything else that was on the shelf three feet from the stove. The rangehood is dead.

Afterwards I joked it was too bad we weren’t cooking at my house tonight since we are replacing our kitchen in about 4 months. If my kitchen burned down at least we could claim it on insurance.

I’m sure we’ll be cooking Caribbean Lamb Shanks right after SAJ’s third degree burns heal. For now the lamb is in the freezer....We're considering entering the next series of My Kitchen Rules.

When SAJ’s husband muttered something about getting a fire blanket and extinguisher today, I jumped in with “Make that a double and I’ll fix you up later”

I swear by all that is holy we weren’t sloshed when we started cooking tonight. Not until after the unfortunate incident that rendered part of SAJ’s kitchen toast. A girl has to come down from a fire high somehow.

Words for Women to Live By

Sent to me via email this week...and so totally true.

1. Aspire to be Barbie - the bitch has everything.
2. If the shoe fits - buy them in every color.
3. Take life with a pinch of salt.... A wedge of lime, and a shot of tequila.
4. In need of a support group? - Cocktail hour with the girls!
5. Go on the 30 day diet. (I'm on it and so far I've lost 15 days).
6. When life gets you down - just put on your big girl panties and deal with it.
7. Let your greatest fear be that there is no PMS and this is just your personality.
8. I know I'm in my own little world, but it's ok. They know me here.
9. Lead me not into temptation, I can find it myself.
10. Don't get your knickers in a knot; it solves nothing and makes you walk funny.
11. When life gives you lemons  - turn it into lemonade then mix it with vodka.
12. Remember where ever there is a good looking; sweet, single or married man ....there is some woman tired of his bullshit!
13. Keep your chin up, only the first 40 years of parenthood are the hardest..
14. If it has Tyres or Testicles ....... it's going to give you trouble!
15. By the time a women realizes her mother was right, she has a daughter who thinks she's wrong.

War Stories

Nineteen years ago today at 1.55 pm, my daughter was born.Whacked out of my head on Pethidine , (how GREAT is that stuff?) I didn't realise how close she came to not being round until  4 days later when a nurse decided to enlighten me. Thanks Nurse. I didn't sleep again until about 1993.

I never did ask how many stitches I had. All I know is that the doc spent a LOT of time in my nether-bits doing something. Again I blame the pethidine. Normally if a guy I've only known for an hour is poking round my privates I'm  asking pointed questions and insisting he at least  buy me dinner first. Eventually my mother , who is usually the soul of tact , (unlike her daughter) said "What are you doing down there....sewing a patchwork quilt?" That I do recall with abundant clarity despite the drugs. Good one Patty.

At one point they  tucked something back in there ... I've always been convinced whatever it was never ended up back in the place it fell out of. Heck, I don't even know what it was. For all I know it could have been my tonsils.  I just know my stomach has never looked remotely the same since.

Being a parent is the most enduring relationship I've ever had. It's been full of love, frustrating , amazing,  exhausting, emotional, challenging  and incredible. Often all in the same 24 hour period. And that was just yesterday.

There are so many platitudes to describe parenting. "Time goes by so fast " "They're only young for such a short time" Enjoy it while it lasts". Each age has something great about it , and something less great about it. Enjoy each bit because when you get to this end it feels like it was done on the blink of an eye.

So Happy Birthday Miss Pyjamas, you've certainly made the ride exciting, and  never dull. Love you once, love you twice, love you more than.......

P.S. By the way someone once told me if you google "google" google explodes. Not true ..I just did it. We're all still here.

P.P.S Oh and I hate my new photo editing program. The rest of my computer completely kicks arse.

P.P.P.S I was writing this post 5 hours ago when Little Pyjamas decided he wanted to experience his first trip to the hospital  (on his mothers birthday no less- this kid is going to be as much of an attention seeker as his mum....sigh) henceforth the reason it's actually being posted on the third not the second as it should have been. And maybe that was my punishment for googling google!