More TV Unit changes

Hi! When I originally published this post I didn’y check it afterwards (opps!!), I have found that half the post is missing (??????). Didn’t have the time at the time to fix it so I am reposting this post completed. 🙂

With Easter over for another year it was time to take down my little Easter display down and put up something that can see the year out.

I was thinking of putting the frames away with the button eggs, but decided to instead put a couple of prints inside them instead.

The ‘All of those who wonder are not lost’ print I found for free on the internet (so sorry I have had it so long that I can’t remember where I got it from. If anyone out there knows where this print comes from please let me know) and the ‘Keep Calm and Snap On’ print I made myself using Photoshop & a clipart of a camera. Cute isn’t it? I know that the ‘Keep Calm…something something something’ prints are like everywhere.

Check out this whole post about ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’

Here is where the post was suppose to keep going……weird why it didn’t. But hey things things happen 🙂

Probaly one of my favourites, just because it has great meaning with the Youth Adults groups at our church. We regularly ‘suit up’ and attend church, go bowling, poker nights & going out for dinner.

Anyway…..

I loved how the prints look (not 100% in love with the white frames….I’ll live with them for a while) they really go with the vintage camera collection. Still on the hunt for another camera, I really don’t like even number groupings. But the display needed something else.

A while back one of my favourite blogs A Beautiful Mess by Elise Flannigan gave me some inspiration, Elise has just opened up a store called Red Velvet (an actual physical store, selling vintage clothes, housewares and other stuff that I would love to have my home) and she posted some pictures of some of the displays she did around the store. Looking through them I saw this

So I grabed a few (3 odd number groupings are good) jars from my ‘I don’t know whay I have it’ glass jar collection & some photos that I had had printed recently. And TADA!

The photos that I used came from our trip to Brissie (click here to see more from that trip). Things still look alittle bare but when you are sitting on the couch I like the way things have turned out. I will probably add some finishing touches, but for now I am very happy.

Here is a quick before

At Easter

And now

A dilema

I need a haircut & desperately! I have been putting it off for a couple months & I just don’t think that  I can leave it for another month. Last year or the year before (can’t remember exactly) the hairdresser that I had been going to for years moved to another state! The lovely lady who replaced her just wasn’t cutting my hair the way that I liked, and not the same way twice. Sometimes it felt too short & other times I felt that not enough had been cut off and I needed another cut sooner.

So I decided that I would take the plunge and try a new hairdressers that opened in town. I loved the look & feel & the hairdresser was lovely. And best of all I loved my haircut. But there is one big problem……..

Money! It is costing me $65 everytime I had my haircut. The last place I went cost me $25 and I was starting to think that it was getting alittle expensive. I know I probably sound cheap but we basically live on my WH’s (wonderful husband) wage & are saving for a holiday to New Zealand in August. Living on one wage & trying to put as much savings away as we possible can isn’t easy. It certainly makes you really think before you spend a single cent.

I have been investigating different hair dressers in our area, so far those that I have rung have said that it costs $30-$50 to get a haircut. I would prefer closer to $30, we save about $20 a month by me cutting my WH’s hair so I don’t want to then transfer that saved money to the cost of getting my own hair cut.

I am such a procrastination, I have been saying that I would find a cheaper place to get my haircut & get my hair cut………

Maybe next month….? 🙂

An Easter to remember

Last weekend we made our way to Toowoomba for Easterfest!!!! We have pretty much gone ever year since 2006 (only missed 2007 because there was really nothing we wanted to see and my WH couldn’t get the time off). This year was promising to be a huge year, with an equally huge line up. Switchfoot being the biggest draw card. They were playing on the Saturday night & we arrived early Friday morning.

Friday night the weather looked like it was going to rain, but it passed over the top of us without a drop. Saturday night was another story all together. Like the Friday night there was cloud over head as we were getting into the acts we were watching, this one however came from a different direction than the cloud from the night before. And it was black! You probably think that you know where I am going? Rain right? Well..yes it certainly did rain. But that was only the beginning.

It has rained at Easterfest before, nothing really all that new. One year myself, WH & sister were huddles underneath an umbrella while slowly sliding down a muddy slope. But this rain was different. After the fact we found out that the rain came from a single storm cell that was only as big as the CBD area (which is where Queens park is located that Easterfest is in every year), the cell was so small that you could hardly see it on the weather radar. When it started raining I threw our coats into the waterproof bag that our picnic blanket came in, pull out the DSLR camera bags built-in raincoat (great feature!), put on my own raincoat & ended up throwing the picnic blanket (plastic side up) over myself & our belongings that I couldn’t keep dry any other way.

The rain kept getting heavier, I decided that I should just go down into the mosh pit. So I covered everything with the upside down picnic blanket & went down into the mosh pit to join my WH & his two sisters. Within a few minutes the rain got heavier again & I noticed that there was water getting into my shoes. When I looked down I was shocked to find that I couldn’t see my feet anymore for all the water that was in the mosh pit. Getting colder I decided that I wanted to go back up to where I belonging were. Our friend M was the only person left out of all our friends & was watching our belongings. Within 5 seconds of standing with M we noticed that water was rushing down underneath the picnic blanket & everything was moving down the hill & not just our stuff but my sister-in-laws & my own sisters belongings were on the move as well.

With the help of a couple of kind strangers we gathered up everything and joined the masses exiting the main stage area in search of somewhere dry. After we found another tent that we could sort ourselves out (we were now standing in water half way up my calves) we headed for the entrance tent to make our way to our car so we could take everything somewhere dry. Once we got to the entrance tent (which was the size of a circus tent) we were turned back by Easterfest staff saying that we couldn’t go through because the tent was about to collapse under the weight of the water (yep it was raining that hard), we were pointed towards the east side of the park where they had opened another exit. While we were making our way to the east exit we started to see thongs (aka flip-flops) & parts of the plastic foot path floating past in ever-deepening water. At its maximum we were wading through knee-deep water.

We exited the festival & I honestly didn’t know where we were, I was just totally turned around. Thankfully myself & M just followed the vast majority of people & ended up on the main road which from there I knew where I was going. Now we started to see emergency services personnel coming from everywhere. And it wasn’t difficult to see why. In only 10mins or so the creek that ran along the outside of Queens park had gone from a small creek to a raging torrent that was very  close to breaking its bank, water was coming out of manholes & storm drains. At parts we were still wading through knee-deep water. We had to cross a couple of roads, at one crossing we had to walk through a very flooded drain I must have walked too close to the storm drain cause once I was in the water I realised how fast the water was running and I couldn’t lift my feet without being washed away. M came to my rescue and grabbed  hold of my hand and helped me out of the water.

After we got everything into the car we decided to get back into the festival, using the theory that we would be warmer if we were in the mosh pit with those who had stayed. And yes Switchfoot still went onto the stage, for a slightly shorter amount of time. Then this time with everyone in tow we left the festival venue again & made it to our car &  headed back to our hotel room. What really struck me was that once it stopped bucketing down with rain & just drizzled all the water had gone down.

It was so scary to witness just how easy the devastating flood that hit Toowoomba in January actually happened. Really scary when you look back on the whole event, but I wasn’t scared in the moment.

Sunday at Queens Park was cancelled, but quite a few of the artist played in the city instead.

The events of Saturday night made national (and apparently international) news, because of how soon this event occurred after the events of January.

News links: Sunshine Coast Daily, Toowoomba’s Chronicle, Herald Sun

Today is the first……

Day of my new healthier  life. Not that I am an unhealthy person, far from it. Me and my WH (wonderful husband) eat fairly healthy & are quite active in our daily lives. But my daily routine has become more and more sedentary over the years. A few years ago I worked as a cleaner and every day I would walk to work then spend all day walking, then  when I left that job my new job in retail meant that I still walked around but not as much as I did when I was a cleaner. The work was also more mentally tiring (especially when things got really hard before I got fired) so when I wasn’t at work all I wanted to was sit infront of the TV. And now I work administration for an Insurance Broker which involves a whole heap of sitting, generally infront of a computer typing. Because of all of this I have started to notice that I get tired more easily & get totally zonked out when I get a slight cold or sniffle. I am also getting a small muffin top with some of my pairs of jeans which I am defiantly not happy about.

This morning I got up put on my sneakers grabbed my MP3 player and went for a 30min run.

Ok I only managed to run a few metres (told you I was feeling unfit) and walked the rest. In all I was exercising for about 30mins, which I think was a good start. Now I just have to keep myself motivated.

On another note I am just about to go through the pictures that I took at Easterfest, so I will be sharing them soon. Do I ever have things to share, it was the most eventful Easterfest ever! Stay tuned!

We will remember them

I am currently watching the ANZAC Day service from Gallipoli (pictured above), I don’t think that I could ever or ever will be able to fully comprehend the ultimate sacrifice that so many young men and women made not only for their families and lived ones but for people that they never knew. We have the life that we have today because of the sacrifice that was made.

Normally myself & WH attend our local ANZAC service (it is only a short walk for our home) but when I woke up it was raining, normally not a reason to not attend but with the drenching we got on the weekend (more to come later) we just couldn’t face getting wet again. So we have had a nice quite day watching the marches & the Gallipoli service on TV.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.

Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,

They fell with faces to the foe.

They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, or the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them

 

We’re off!

Tomorrow morning we are off on our road trip! Woohoo!!!!

It is a fairly short road trip only a few hours but it is still very exciting!

We look forward to going to Toowoomba every year for Easterfest (http://www.easterfest.com.au/) this year with the floods that happened at the beginning of the year going to Toowoomba is even more important. I know that Easterfest injects loads of money into the local economy, so we are going to do our bit.

I will be absent for the whole weekend, don’t be too sad 😦

Happy Easter everyone!

Brownies for Easterfest!

As well as the dinners that we are making to take to Easterfest this weekend I am (of course!) taking brownies! Homemade (what else?!) brownies, I have this recipe that I have been making for almost as long as I have been married. The recipe comes from a cookbook that my WH bought himself after he moved out of his parents house 6 months before we got married. My WH is a wonderful cook and has always been that way, he just had alot of trouble cooking just for himself and not his large family. We had a fridge always packed with leftovers for years. I can fondly remember ‘leftover dinner Sunday’ which we had to do to get through the leftovers.

Thankfully we are much better at cooking just what feeds the two of us, with a bit of leftovers so WH has lunch for the next day. But back to the brownies………they are quite famous amongst my friends & always go down a treat at the Mother’s group I attend (no I don’t have kids, it is more of a bible study but mostly has Mums in it cause I am the only one who doesn’t work full-time & doesn’t have kids). Best things about these brownies is that they are so easy to make.

Firstly you melt some butter in a pan

Then add castor sugar & coco (I actually use cacao which is the raw product of chocolate, unlike conventual coco cacao is unroasted & has no added sugar, so it is full of antioxidants. Love the richer flavour too!)

Next is the  flour & baking powder (I know it doesn’t look like much flour but these brownies are soft & moist not at all cakey)

It is very important to sift the flour, keeps the brownies airy & light (better to scoff & not feel sick, is that wrong?)

This is a very important and necessary ingredient choc bits! Here I use homebrand choc bits, use to think that good quality higher  choc bits made the brownies taste best, but with the use of the cacao the choc bits don’t make a difference at all.

After a good mix pour the mixture into a square cake tin (I also use a slice tin both work quite well, I also use silicon pans. Love how you can turn the pan inside out to get your cake or whatever out easierly).

I totally forgot to take a picture of the finished brownies before I sliced them & stuck them in the freezer! But take my word for it after 30mins of cooking these brownies are soft & yummy. They are going to be great warmed with ice cream or cream, or simply defrosted as they are. Yummy, yummy!

I know that I didn’t give any measurements or a list of ingredients, I don’t really share this recipe. I am pretty sure I have only ever given it to one person. My dear friend Jo (who I mention in the previous post with her wonderful food blog Josashimi) is the only person I gave the recipe to, before she moved to Toowoomba. 

Tomorrow my WH is making a risotto & I am thinking of making a beef stew. Soooo looking forward to going away for the weekend!!!!!

Preparing for Easter (and Easterfest!)

Pretty much every year for the last 4 years we have gone to Toowoomba to attend the largest Christian music festival in the southern hemisphere, Easterfest! Normally we stay with my WH’s Grandparents who live in Toowoomba but this year my WH’s two sisters & a friend are staying there instead. So we are staying in a hotel. Doing the money smart things we are preparing a few meals that we can just warm up in a microwave (our room didn’t have a microwave but I asked if we could have one and the lovely people at the hotel said yes, going to make saving some money alot easier). Today I made Potato & Leek soup.

Potato & Leek Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tab olive oil
• 2 medium leeks (washed, halved & sliced)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 750g potatos (washed & diced)
• 1 litre chickstock (can substitute beef stock or veggie stock)

1. Add olive oil to a pot add leeks & garlic. Cook for 3 mins or so till the leeks are soft

2. Add your potatoes & cook for 5 mins

3. Add the stock, cover & bring to the boil

4. Season with pepper (stock generally has enough salt in it but make sure you check anyway) & simmer till the potatoes are tender about 10-15mins.

5. Cool the soup for 5 mins or so (I choose longer cause of how I intended to blend my soup) then blend (I use my favourite ever appliance a stick blender)

Using this little baby my soup goes from kinda uninteresting (and slightly unappetising)

To a smooth & very yummy looking creamy soup

6. If you are going to eat this soup straight away but it back on the heat & warm the soup through. Serve with some chopped parsley & alittle cream on top. Yummy!

If like me you want to store the soup dish the soup into individual portions (on one big container if you want), I use snap lock bags for easy of transportation. I then put the divided up soup into the fridge to completely cool down. Then into the freezer. This soup can last for months this way.

Speaking of food check out my really dear good friend Jo’s blog Josashimi, I love her cooking and miss it so much since her and her wonderful family moved to Toowoomba last year (I think it was last year…..time really flies….maybe it was the year before). She makes a chicken soup that is to die for! And is the only person I know who can make a curry that even I can eat (reflux means that I am unable to eat spicy foods 😦 ).

Next for me is making some chocolate brownies, also freezing for our trip to Toowoomba, they will be so yummy warmed with some ice cream or cream. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

TV Unit overhaul continues

I have been slowly organising & sorting out our TV unit (click here for why), so far I have moved things around & started my magazine project to help stream line the look of the TV unit while hiding alot of clutter. I am still working on the magazine files, I have to get some spray paint & spray adhesive then I can finish them off. You can’t rush these things.

Last week at Faithgirlz we created some Easter art (click here), I decided to decorate the top of the TV unit using the Easter artworks that I made for Faithgirlz.

Cute hey?! Here is a closer look at my Easter decorations

I really like the button Easter eggs, I made the blue one as an example for the girls at Faithgirlz so they had an idea of what they were doing. I am glad to say that not one copied my example, they used their creativity and personal tastes to make some seriously beautiful button Easter eggs art.

The green egg I made at Faithgirlz, it needs a few more buttons to fill the egg in. The card with the black & white ribbon was given to me by a wonderful creative friend of mine, she has handwritten the word ‘Belive’ on the front. I love the colour & how the word ‘Believe’ really suits Easter and its meaning for me, my WH & our household.

On top of the upside down glass is a gift that my WH’s sister brought him back from a trip she did with our church to Israel (we are hoping that we can go on the next trip, next year or the year after!). In all honesty I have no idea what this little hat is called. We have been calling it WH’s Passover hat. Our church celebrates passover every year instead of having a Good Friday service which is traditional in the Christian church, passover is something that Jesus celebrated himself before he was crucified, so we celebrate it too. I love the tradition so WH will be wearing his Passover hat for passover (which is tomorrow night).

The bunny rabbit bunting was a free download from Sweetest Occasion, there are two colour options blue (I choose) & peach. very cute. I cut out the bunting and taped it on to a piece of raffia. Choose raffia only cause I had it on hand & couldn’t find any string or coordinating ribbon.

I also have done alittle something with one of the cube storage shelves

I took the letter that were on top of the TV unit & placed them inside one of the cube storage shelves. The print on the back is a piece of scrapbooking paper that I bought only because I loved it. It is a beautiful blue colour with cute birdcages. The paper is framed in a white frame (well bluey white, it has only been undercoated and like the magazine files is waiting for some white spray paint) & in front is two snuggling donkey’s. I got these donkey’s when my Great Great Aunty moved from the city to closer to where we and the rest of her family live. I have had them for as long as I can remember, this will be a total surprise but I am planning on spray painting them white (shock I know!).

I like the collection of vases on the top shelf, they have pretty much been all given to us over the years. So when I look at them I think of the special people in our lives who gave them to us.

This is a continued project I am glad that I am not rushing this project that way I am making the right choices about colour & placement.

I love seasonal food

Not fruits & veggies that are only available at certain times of the year, living where we do we can get almost anything locally almost all year round. But I mean holiday seasonal foods, those things you eat only at Christmas, or only at Easter. At christmas for me it is fruit mince pies, at Easter its hot cross buns & chocolate bunnies. Oh my mouth waters at the thought of hot cross buns warmed with butter. Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Last evening at Faithgirlz we talked about the real reason behind Easter & particularly the miracles that happened around the death of Jesus Christ. At the end of our devotion everyone got a chocolate easter bunny, so far we haven’t had any Easter chocolate in our home and for one very good reason.

They don’t last long

This took a few seconds (once I remembered this morning that  I had gotten an easter bunny)

I am going to have to go  out and get some hotcross buns now, I have a hankering!