recession busters - the slippers

Well a month later the slippers were either a hit or a flop. Well not literally. We all loved the slippers. Now there are small kids ones being made, ones for aunties, neices, sons, the list goes on............. Some of us are knitters and some are not but we all had a go.

Next up - watch this space for a gorgeous head warmer for girls, not quite a hat  - this was started being knitted by Kylie's mum when we were sewing this week and I am waiting with baited breath for the pattern.

the boys going to bed

I was in the middle of watching a programme on TV the other night so told the boys to get into bed and they could read a book until I came to tuck them in.

I went looking for Jakob and he was not in bed. About to get angry at him I went in to see Eli and look what I found. Now how can you get upset with that?

Gorgeous soup from the winter garden.

I love bacon, barley and bay soup. So picked all the veges from the garden and made a delicious soup. What a good haul from a garden in winter. The fejoas make a gorgeous after soup snack.

Foraging - Waikari - Northern Canterbury

While on the railway walkway in Waikari I found an apple tree and what could either be a pear or an apple - i will have to study up on what trees look like!! Often along railway lines there used to be fruit trees springing up. From passengers eating fruit and then throwing the cores out the window.

Hodgie Podgie day

2 years ago we created our own family tradition. When we set a Hodgie Podgie day we have a direction only that we go in. There is no destination set and no time set. Anyone has the right to yell "Hodgie Podgie" if there is something interesting they want to do or see or turn off to. The kids have as much right as an adult.

This has gotten us to see some amazing things in our areas and have some absolutely awesome days. Winter we always take the thermette and hot drink things and bread for toasting over the fire. Summer we always take togs etc.

We have headed to Hanmer and ended up staying a night, we have gone Akaroa way, we have headed into South and gotten as far as Ashburton, We have gone north and ended up at Gore Bay.

Today we headed towards Hawarden. We often drive pass the turn off and have never gone exploring. First Hodgie Podgie call out was Waipara as I had heard about a place that had railway carraiges to sleep in. What a find! http://www.waiparasleepers.co.nz/ . After a good look there we continued driving to the next little settlement. There we walked the old railway walk through the back of the town and then came back via the road, had an icecream and then went toward Hawarden. From there we went towards Lake Sumner but the gravel windy road that we thought would take 20 mins to half an hour was at least three times that long. So once we hit the south branch of the Hurunui we stopped for hot food. (it was meant to be lunch but it was 3pm).

We came back via a back road that came out near State Highway 7 and the Hurunui Pub and had a pub dinner $9.90 roast and came home. Excellent fun day out.

Places to stay

yesterday when out on a family Hodgie Podgie day we found the best, cheap, local accomodation for a getaway. http://www.waiparasleepers.co.nz/ A very cool backpackers that has onsite caravans, cabins but the coolest of all is that it is based around an old railway idea. There are four railway caraiges that are set up as either bunkrooms or doubles. They have four beds or a double but the guards area is turned into a mini lounge with the original train seats, fridge, toaster, jug and tv. So very cool. The boys and i are going to stay when Aaron is in USA so will update with photos etc later.
Some of the cabins are old railway items and the kitchen dining area is the station waiting room. There is fresh bread every morning from a breadmaker in the kitchen and in the summer there is veges from the garden or "free fresh eggs available at chickens convenience". We were quoted a price of $60 for the family in a carraige. Very cool!!!!

Charity Quilting

Once a month anyone who is interested comes to my house for an evening and we do quilting. At the moment we are doing quilts for Hope Homes International. Hope Homes International This is a orphanage in El Dorat in Kenya, which is set up for the children to live and learn life skills they would have learnt if being brought up in their own house. They go to a private school as public schools have up to 60 children in a classroom, then they live in houses on a five acre block. They have house cows for calf raising, a chicken raising area which gives them eggs and extra money selling adult eating chickens to the community. They have goats for milking, huge maize growing and are currently filling a pond with fish for eating and selling. Eventually it should have five houses, housing 10 kids each with a mum and dad employed in each house. Currently there are two houses.
The quilting current aim to give a quilt to each child. We have nearly finished two quilt tops.

This is Jeanette and Karen G hard at work last night.

Recreate - What a find

Well, yesterday on the way home from Rugby at Mandeville, I finally stopped at a shop that I had meant to go and look at ever since it opened about one and a half years ago. The Barn on Giles, which is on Giles Road, just out of Kaiapoi. The Barn on Giles

My goodness the things I have missed out on. It was so me. Button necklaces, pieces of material, retro feather duvets and blankets, mosaics, re-upholstered chairs like mine. A veritable treasure trove of ideas.
I am going back when I get some time to myself and I am taking everyone who comes to visit me.
They also are so into reusing and recycling that they sell rolls of wallpaper. but it is what they do with it in the shop. If you buy something it gets packaged into a lovely bag with string handle and cut out picture (mine was a dove). The bag is the width of a wall paper roll, folded over and sewn down the two sides, then with holes punched in the top. The cut it is old paint swatches that are from colours the paint shop is no longer doing. How cool is that!!!!

Recession busting ladies - here we go - idea city!!

What we do on a Saturday night.

Like many people we watch some TV or a movie, not always, just sometimes. Only at the moment we are watching more. We have just gotten an HDMI system and as you can get it to record things you like (the whole series not just the day) we now have far far far tooooooo much TV to watch. Before I would miss 3/4 of the programmes I wanted to watch. Now I have to sit down for two hours every other night ( slight exageration, but it wouldn't be so good a story) to see all the veiwing we have recorded.

I looked over and what did I see???? But this. Who could resist taking photos of a blissed out Morris?

Jakob - player of the day

On Saturday Jakob got "player of the day" at rugby. He was thrilled. More thrilled I think with all the goodies they gave him, than with anything else!

Recreate - yet another stool

Well this rainy Sunday afternoon I have spent remaking a bar stool. I purchasesd it from the Salvation Army store for $4. I nearly didn't buy it as the chrome was just pinpricks of rust and the condition of the seat was gastly. Isn't it funny what you umm and ahh about. Don't even think about filling the car with 65litres of petrol but I stew over whether to spend $4 or not!!!!

but it has been a hit. Eli absolutely loves sitting on it at the kitchen bench and doing things with me or helping to cook or just keeping me company and reading a book while I am doing dinner.

Because the chrome was not that flash I was not prepared to spend any money on it. I used the left overs from my previous stools and had enought floral, chrome tacks to complete the task. I scrubbed the chrome twice. Once with a kitchen scrub and once with a steelo. It has improved it beyond what I thought it would. Aaron is not thrilled. He wanted something funky and cool. So if anyone has any stools like this I would love to get another one so that there is no fighting for the boys as to who gets the seat.

I am very pleased with the result. Before photo is the red one.

My Four year old can carry my Seven year old around

This morning Eli spent the entire morning piggy backing Jakob around the house to show how strong he was. I can't believe that at his age he has the strenght to do that.

Recession busters - Why three slippers makes a pair

At our last meeting we all started knitting our slipper socks. The pattern was for about a size 7 foot. So I added four more rows for the length of my foot. Then I got on with the knitting. Feeling very industrious I even took the knitting to rugby on Saturday. Ball of wool in my pocket and my kneedling clicking (figuratively only) I gaily finished the second slipper. Only to discover that in my haste and pride that it would get done, I had forgotten about the extra rows and my second one was very tight. So the third one was knitted. Hence it has taken me three attempts to make a pair. I crocheted around the top and it rolled a bit and am very happy with the results. My boys are both saying they want a pair, I think I will be able to shrink that pattern.

Cameras

yesterday I took the boys down for a picnic at the river. We had a great time and they ended up stripping off and sliding down a muddy bank. What a mess!! Took heaps of photos and the camera has lost them all!!! This is the second time the camera has not retained the pictures. Now I have to test to see if it is the card or have a gotten a wonky camera? Aaron was going to take this camera to America next month but hmmm.

Saturday rugby

This morning was occupied in the normal way of saturday mornings. Jakob's rugby. As I had my new camera I thought I would take a few photos. After troubleshooting the camera because it would not keep a photo it had taken (and I noticed the photos from thursday were lost), I just merrily clicked away.

Kaiapoi Blues (Jakob's team) vs Ashley. Eli was the usual enthusiastic supporter - NOT!!! He puts his boots on, gets a team ball and goes and plays behind the field, and he will not allow anyone else to play with him.

Recession Busters

I am gutted. I took a whole pile of photos on Thursday night and somehow the camera has had a glitch and has not kept them. My new camera too!!! They were great photos of our knitting night - Steff's mum would have been pleased to see that Steff did not have a bottle of red wine in her hand (I think it might have only been a glass), it was Bailey's night. Jolly marvelous.
Penny provided a great simple pattern for slipper socks. So we all madly knitted. I finished my first foot today at rugby.

Steff and Paula - check the pattern when you are doing the end of the foot. It says knit 2 tog knit 1 - you do this for the whole row - just trying to figure out where else the pattern may not be obvious. Anyway next month there will be a great photo for all to see of our finished slipper socks!

The enormous pears

This year the pear tree has decided to outdo itself. I kept meaning to take a photo. This is the third to last pear on the tree and it weighed 456g. I did have one that weighed over 600g but ate it before I thought of taking a photo. The tree has been prolific, juicy, delicious and we have loved it.

Family cycling trip

Yes - we now can all ride a bike. Yes - we now all have a bike that is useable (albiet that Eli's bike is probably 50 years old and has a perpetual slow leak in the back tyre that no fixing will fix!!).

So off we went to the BMX. Via the park and the river so that we did not need to take Eli on the road.
Within 200 metres we had the first pile up. Eli at 4 was told to turn right but turned left. Heck - even I at 42 still sometimes get that wrong!!!
After a few tears and veiwing the camera photos of the crash, we were off again. I must say that cycling, keeping an eye on a 7 yr old learning the road rules, as well as taking photos where possible with my right hand, was rather taxing.

But we made it. Had a great time at the BMX track - Eli insisting that he was doing wheelies and spent the whole time trying to jerk the bike off the ground. (the photo is of one of those "wheelies"). It took a bit of convincing to get him to stop doing that when we were biking back home. He thought he was sooo cool.

What a lovely Sunday afternoon out.

Rosehip syrup.

A while ago we went to the Hurunui to a friends bach for the weekend. I took a great photo of all the rosehips I picked from the wild briar roses on the riverbed. But I have no idea where that has gone

Two weeks after I came home I finally made the syrup. I had no idea what it would taste like. I used the recipe from Little River Cottage. YUM. We all voted it fantastic on icecream

Acumulated cooking day.

Well the afternoon was meant to be about gardening today. But it turned into cooking.
I had said to Eli that we needed to do some backing so when he got back from Kindy that was obviously his mission. So cupcakes were made at his request. We put some mixture in the patty tin then a dollop of raspberry and then more mixture.
The oven was on and so I thought I should start processing all the quinces that I have. Quince paste and jelly needs to be made. Promptly these were chopped and put in the oven. But of course they take a lot longer to cook than cupcakes. So again not wanting to waste the oven being on I decided to finally get around to making another lot of muesli as my last lot ran out 2 weeks ago.
So in between changing beds and supervising Eli on the computer - it has been a cooking afternoon.

I like to ride my bicycle

This is an ode to my father-in-law. He is a retired engineer and a fantastic handy person. Able to fix anything, trouble shoot it, mend it, wire it, weld it. I spouted my desire to ride my bike again. ( the Doctors having limited the exercise I can do - but they did say I could still bike). So I had asked if Warwick would fix my old bike up as my birthday present.

Well my birthday came early. It arrived  back after a few weeks, new tires and rims from some other bike that was hanging around. And today I rode it!!! On I got and off I went - well almost. I really wanted Morris to sit in the basket and go with me. But he would not. the next dog I get will start riding in the basked from a puppy!. I also forgot about needing to re warn your bottom that you were getting on a bike.

In spite of all that I had a wonderful time and now cannot comprehend how it has taken so long for me to get back into biking.

Jakob and I rode down to Pines Beach and back. We met Aaron and Eli (with Eli's bike) and they madly rode the BMX track. Then home again. It was fantastic. 4/5 th's of the way is on a dedicated bike track so you do not need to compete with the traffic going 100km.

Fantastic - i want to join Frocks on Bikes now!!!

Hello to Alison

I have tried to think of something inspirational to put on my blog. I was talking to Alison on the phone yesterday and she is full of sinus - I know how horrible that makes you feel. I was trying to sort and clear crafty things in the garage, she said I needed to go and get my camera and put it on my blog as she was into reading blogs at the moment.
I did not do that and all day i have been thinking of her. So hello Alison, hope you are feeling better.

Recession busters

Well we had our next get together. Our sustenance as usual was up to scratch with Gorgeous spiced apple cake and cream a la Steff and Kylies mum supplied a gorgeous chocolate slice (with a copy of the recipe). So along with some wine and cups of tea we chatted and madly tried to produce something from all our scrapbooking supplies.

I just couldn't get into the swing of producing something and so made some tags. My cousin Alison bought a whole box of luggage tags and gave some to me the other week. I covered them in scrap paper, embelished, stamped and produced four tag with "made with love" and "handmade for you" on them. Not very inspirational but it was fantastic to see what others were doing and now I am inspired!! Today my boys spent a lot of time painting canvases. This was as a direct result of last month's recession busters doing painting. They had a great time and when the painting are dry I will take photos.

I am now inspired to get on with scrapbooking. Kylie, her mum and Penny produced gorgeous bookmarks. All very different in style which was fantastic to see. Paula and Steff were busy doing scrapbooking again in two very different ways. So I think I will have to get on with a whole pile of things now!! Next month it is knitting - so I will start Eli or Jakobs jerseys for this year.

The bargains I get

This is my latest bargain. A whole box of about 75 reels of cotton. A lot still with their wrappers on, for a mere $45 off trade me. I am absolutely stoked.

Cooking - Four course meal for 65th birthday

Last Saturday night Aaron and I gave Margo her 65th birthday present. We created a restaurant in their lounge just for her and Warwick. Aaron was the waiter and I was the Chef. We called it Table for Two.
I am a bit annoyed as I forgot to take photos until we got to the main course.
We got Warwick to tell Margo he was taking her out to dinner. I then arranged to do nibbles before their dinner at Stephens house. I did a few lovely things that we always used to do in Italy. We all stood around and had nibbles and then Aaron and I left to go and have "pizza" together without the kids. Stephen kindly looked after the kids. Then Warwick "forgot" his wallet and presto - Margo was delivered to her restaurant.

This is the Menu that they had:

Le Menu

Table a Deux

Chef de la Maison – Karen Schulz

Sommelier & Host – Aaron Schulz

Aperitif

Lemoncello et Melon – Lemoncello spritser accompanied by rock melon

Entre

Spaghetti a la Corgette – A sumptuous contrast of smooth and crunch

Refresher

Mango et lime sorbet – Sharp and sweet to cleanse the palate

Main

Poached chicken – A delicate chicken breast poached and finished with broccoli and beans

Finale

Chocolat Roulade – a sumptuous dessert made from the finest 70% cocoa curvature finished

with fresh farm cream and plum conserve

To be served with coffee or tea of your chosing

Even if I say so myself the sorbet and the entre were fabulous. Though no photos.

Here are some photos.

The main course, the dessert and the birthday girl with the chef and waiter!!!

 

Recession busters

I have just come home from our recession busters monthly meeting. A group of ladies from Kaiapoi who swap skills, recipes, household tips, gardening planting ideas and hopefully money saving tips. Today Penny taught us all how to make pictures for kids walls. Very cheap and easy. A $2.50 canvas, cheap paint from the warehouse and use a kids puzzle picture as the template. So along with wine and a gorgeous raspberry frozen cheesecake (made by Kylie) we all madly drew and painted. We are all very pleased with the results.
Here is my attempt at something cool for kids.

This is our recession busting gang.

Cooking Dinner from the garden

Last week I picked a gorgeous bounty from the garden.
Basil Pesto was made with the basil and put onto tortilla and then quickly grilled in the oven, cut into triangles and served hot for a nibble.

Salad and beans for the veges and then blueberries, strawberries, grapes and icecream for dessert. Delicious.

Spencer first school morning with us

Well Spencer started school on Thursday and on Friday he had his first morning with us. It seemed like he had always been coming, he was so chilled out about what he was doing. Spencer was very excited and so were the boys. We heard all about his first day at school. To celebrate he and Jorja helped make pancakes while Jakob and Eli got dressed.

Now there are four kids for morning cooking classes. I will have to look at what recipe to do next week!! Jorja was such a good big sister. Showing him where to put his bag in the morning and what to do. Spencer really enjoyed the eating part too. He was finished well before anyone else

Mad Hat day at Kindy

Eli had a mad hat day and kindy. He wanted to put balloons all over his hat but when we went looking we only had two balloons. This hat was his second idea. The trusty "Big Ben Hat" (courtesy of my workplace last year) got all the little soft toys pinned to it. I thought it was a fantastic and original idea.