Happy Australia Day

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I made Passata tonight, found the link through Towards Sustainability, a great blog that I really enjoy reading. I had a false start with the recipe a few days ago, but burnt the tomatoes because I didn't pay attention to them. Had to buy more tomatoes today. Going to make a simple pasta dish with the passata tomorrow to take on our annual Australia Day picnic at a local reserve.

Australia Day commemorates the day the First Fleet first settled in Sydney Cove, our family event isn't that old. It started several years ago when along with David's mother, brother and sister-in-law we decided that we would spend the day at Parramatta Park starting with watching hot air balloons. We got there around 6am, watched the balloons for a while then decided to set up our picnic area. Wasn't long before the Sun became relentless so we started to put up a shelter only to be told that we weren't allowed to do that in the park. There was no way we were going to subject ourselves to the possibility of sunburn so we made the decision to head home, but on the way to the cars we decided to try a nature reserve right at the end of our street. We got there about 8 but didn't have the pick of the main covered picnic areas because they had reserved signs on them so we set up our covers, put a few tables together and invited other family members to join us. About 10am we noticed the ranger removing the reserved signs and were told that if the areas aren't claimed by 10 they were anyone's. We were happy with our site so didn't worry about moving, but noticed that the park was virtually empty. We had a great day, BBQ lunch, playing cricket, watching the Blacksmith before heading home for a nap and heading off to watch a free concert and fireworks at another park. It's now a tradition, hopefully one that will go on. The park is run by local council but their lease is up and state government want to take it over, there is talk of an entry fee as well as booking fees, hopefully that won't happen. We love that it is such a low budget day.

I wanted to share a great blog Eclectic Culture Farm I discovered today, it's making for interesting reading. It's about a family who are living without electricity (by choice) in an Amish community. I wondered if I could live without power, maybe I could but I doubt my family would - whatever would they do without their games consules? But then what would I do without my laptop, sewing machine and being able to sit up at night - I know a great way to save power would be to go to bed early but I get so much done when the house cools down at night.

Happy Australia Day

Had a long hot day yesterday, did get a little respite when Thomas and a friend wanted to go to the movies which meant I had to drive them to the shopping centre. Cassie and I wandered around the centre for 2 hours, I wanted to look for clothes to buy with the money Mum gave me for my birthday on Thursday, Cassie wanted to look at books, videos and ds games (so surprising - NOT). Didn't find anything - not in my price range, size or just didn't look good on, but did buy a gardening book.

The day ended with a stint in the canteen at soccer, manning (womanning?) the BBQ, such fun in the heat. Next week I am insisting on the BBQ being put outdoors. Though I don't think it will make that much difference, there are still 2 fridges and a chest freezer adding heat to the room.

After the fun (again...NOT) of trying on clothing I decided that I really have to do something about my weight, have made half hearted attempts in the past but then gone back to my old ways. Before bed last night I listened to Jon Gabriel's cd (Gabriel Method), I've tried hypnosis in the past but always got stuck on trying to visualise myself slim. Instead of trying to visualise he says to find a picture of how you want to look and to look at that for 20 - 30 seconds before starting on the second part. I tried looking in magazines but many of the shots are of underweight, anorexic celebrities and models, and if one of those start gaining weight that makes them look healthy - the magazine writers start on how they are pigging out and show the most unflattering shots. No wonder we have so much trouble with body image.

My own body image has been undermined and virtually destroyed. Looking back to my childhood I was an average sized child but all of my siblings were small for their ages. I was called the fat one, because they compared me to my elder sister. I am the tallest (apart from Dad, who isn't much taller than me), the others are all under 5 foot. Anyway onto what I wanted to talk about, recently I was going through old photos and found some from my sister's wedding, I was in my late teens and I couldn't get over how slim I looked or how pretty, I thought I was fat and ugly. So last night I used those photos as my visualisation tools and found the session worked so well. Afterwards I slept like a baby, waking at the time I had visualised as well.




I love the outfit, everything from the hat to the flowers were all made by my Grandmother, she was extremely talented. The flowers were made from wired ribbon. She made 5 of these dresses for the wedding party - I have no idea where they are now, such a pity, as well as the bridal gown. When I took up sewing at 21 I remember how pleased she was to finally have someone take after her. Neither of her daughters enjoyed sewing. My mother only sewed for us because they didn't have the money to buy clothing but as soon as she got a job she gave it up, my Aunt refused to even try. Until she had an accident 21 years ago, she needed to do something for therapy to strengthen her hands so took up quilting, which now is her passion. Mum too was bitten by the quilting bug after she retired. I'd rather not wait that long - I'll get my kick out of creating things now.

Right now I should be cutting out a top for myself, instead I'm typing this, so I'd better get to it.

Take care

6am, no sleep

Haven't had any sleep last night, was too hot and when I did start to drift off the husband's alarm went off, not that he noticed. I prodded him til he woke and turned off the alarm but of course he only snoozed it, several times. The last time he got hit with my pillow - he's on holiday so why does he have it set?


So here I am on my own, listening to the early morning birds, it is nice at this time of day with everyone asleep, including the cat who has made herself comfortable on fabric I got out last night to make a top with. Not that I can do anything with that, seeing as I probably wouldn't be able to see straight to start cutting it out.

It was my birthday yesterday, double digits - 44. We didn't do anything special, I just wanted to veg at home. Mum gave me $50 to buy something for myself, no idea what to buy yet. No other presents, wasn't expecting any due to all the unexpected expenditure over the last week, have to wait til next payday. I did get Pavlova and Cheesecake.

My mouth seems to be healing well, am diligently taking the antibiotics - don't like them but also don't want an infection.

I've been given an award!

Sue at White Lilly has given me the "Marie Antoinette Keeping it Real Award". How wonderful to receive an award, my very first. I don't know the history of this award but I am glad to have received it. Thank you White lilly.



Am just back from the dentist, the broken tooth was very stubborn and the Dentist couldn't get it all out, some of the root is still in place. Hoping that it will make it's own way to the surface but if I have any problems will be referred to a specialist. He's put me on antibiotics just in case. Am on soft lukewarm foods for the next couple of days, no crunching ice or for that matter eating cake for me. David even bought icecream for me as a treat, we've all had icecream cravings the last couple of days --- waaah!!!

We are back on the road with the car, had a mechanic come out to work on it. Of course it didn't do what it had done for me, it's been starting first go. He took it for a drive but didn't hear the noise I had been hearing. But he took the wheels off to check the brake pads as I had told him I thought it was the brakes. The brake pads were almost metal to metal, he told me that I had good instincts. He also worked on the fuel system and it needed a new battery. It cost an arm and a leg but now we have a well running car. So much so I was driving the other day and I thought the car had stalled because I couldn't hear the motor - I had to double check lol. No extra noises now and the AC seems cooler too.

Haven't been able to do much around here recently, it's been too hot to function. Without AC in the house it's hard to get motivated, I really hate the heat. I've mainly been doing things when it cools down at night, sometimes 2 or 3 am is the only time I feel cool enough. Bring on Autumn!!