So Sweet

I was up and about early this morning so I thought I might throw in a little home produce post - and show off our latest sweet potatoes.

A before shot - just to prove I don't buy them from the supermarket! 

Library Girl wrote a great post during the week entitled Breaking Up with the Big Two (Woolworths and Coles)  - have a read.  I'm also trying to meet that challenge. .... and it is a challenge.  They are everywhere, and so convenient, they lure you in.  We have several alternatives near where I live, it is just the case of making the effort.

We don't eat much meat at all, and when I do buy it, it is usually from the local butcher who has a good selection of farm reared meat, including free range and organic chicken.   I would prefer to buy good quality sparingly than buy meat that isn't ethically raised. 

Fruit and veg I try and buy from the local farmers markets and of course we do produce some of our own here.  All the other bits and pieces I am going to try and source from a local IGA.  Another smaller IGA (further away) stocks milk from an independant regional dairy, so I will be sourcing milk from there.  We'll see how it goes.  Every bit makes a difference and it seems to me to be worth the effort.  I for one am tired of handing my hard earned money to the Big Two.   

 

These are our sweet potatoes prettied up a little.  Don't they look nice!

This looked so nice I had to take a photo of one of the end results as well. 

 

I found myself eating alone the other night, when The Others were elsewhere.  This was so easy to throw together!  I had already roasted some sweet potato the previous night.  So the other bits were - a small amount of goats milk feta cheese (yum), some leftover red salmon flaked, mixed lettuce leaves, sliced avocado, and before I ate it I squeezed a little lemon juice on the top.

Home grown produce from our place included  - sweet potato, avocado and the lemon.  The avocadoes have been lovely, we are on to the third one picked now.  So much nicer than the ones I had been buying that turn brown the minute they are opened. We will soon have tomatoes and lettuce producing.

The salmon was nice too.  I hadn't tried this before, but it was of the Tasmanian pre-packed smoked refrigerated variety, and this one was marinated with Sweet Chilli.  The previous night we had some of the roast sweet potato and the salmon in  a quiche.  Very nice actually.    I'm hoping my new store stocks the salmon!  

Enjoy the weekend.

Don't forget my little giveaway (see previous post).  Just leave a comment between now and 18 March.

Cheers Wendy

Show and Tell and a Giveaway

Well I did get the 3 drawers done.  Offloaded  some things and I did a bit of a shuffle around.  Why did I have Christmas decorative napkins and candles there?  Hard to know just how much to fine tune these drawers being so close to the kitchen and dining area.   At least they are a bit tidier which is something.

 

Actually I have to admit to sorting these through twice.  When I took a photo the first time I realized that not a lot had changed.  Lucky I have this blog to keep me motivated!

 

This is the result.  A little bit tidier and a bit lighter.  I know that looking at this particular drawer I'm still not frameless - but I do need these for future framing!

 

Next week I'm going to focus on the cupboards underneath.  I'm also hoping to put quite a few items on eBay, even though it is so time consuming.   All worth it for the little skip of excitement when something actually sells .... it does happen sometimes!

 

Giveaway!  I am just so chuffed to have friendly people who read my little blurb and watch what's happening in my cluttered world.  So in return I thought I would offer up a little giveaway.

Now those who do not like the idea of being the recipient of someone else's' belongings, look away right now.  These beads and earring have been worn by myself ... umm maybe twice?  They are clean and well looked after (if you can call it that, just sitting in a little drawer in the dark).  They are pretty and sparkly and deserve to be worn!. 

The crown jewels they are not!  Just a few things that someone else may be able to use.  Just another step in the declutter process, so think of it as helping me out.   The little book is an unused Pocket Organiser with little sticker notes inside.  Maybe handy for marking what is being kept and what isn't. 

 Oh - by the way - I'm quite happy to send these overseas if that's how it goes.
 
Just leave a comment between now and 18 March.  The winner will be chosen randomly - probably from a hat.  I am leaving it open for a week because I'll be away for a few days in between.

Don't forget to vote on the survey on sidebar. ... I'm interested in seeing some feedback on the blog.

Cheers Wendy

What is it?

...... that makes blog reading so delicious?  I know that I certainly enjoy looking into aspects of other lives.  It's all the little things that make it enjoyable - their garden, their bookshelf and what they read and so on.

It's seeing inside their cupboards and knowing that other people are real after all ..... and that we all tend to just shove things into drawers just to get them out of the way!!   Example A:

 

This storage unit in our family room looks ok from the outside.  I have already given it a bit of a tidyup in the last 6 months or so.  However, it's what lurks beneath that could really be cluttered and not how I want things to be in the big picture.

So these are my 'before' photos of drawers of the unit.  As you can see through the slats of the doors, there is quite a bit lurking inside as well.  I'm not about to tackle the glassware just yet as there are other plans on the declutter agenda.

Decluttering is just as everyone says it is, little by little and bit by bit.  There is no other way around it that I can see.  It's just a case of taking the time and just getting stuck into it.

In my case, for some bizarre reason, I also have to hum a few bars of  Release Me.  It works for me.

'After' photos tomorrow - plus I'm planning a little giveaway.  Watch this space!

Cheers Wendy

Objects of my affection - a Tuesday Theme - Week 6

Lately I've been thinking that since I started this blog I have been looking very judgementally (and rightly so) around the house for things that I can declutter.  All a bit negative. As a bit of light relief, I thought I might make Tuesday a day to appreciate the things that I do enjoy having around me.  Not because of $$ value, but just because they are special to me for whatever reason. Please join in - I apologise in advance if this is a bit twee or it has all been done before.

Today I thought I would show off this antique china piece which sits on my dressing table.   Not really sure what you call it?

I'm guessing that it was originally a flower bowl.   It was handed down to me through family and I've always really loved it

Beautifully made, it's not until you look at it more closely, you can see that it has faults.  Or maybe I should say has met with one or two accidents over the years.  One of the little guys has lost half a leg, and one fairly large part of the outside leaves has been broken.  Nevertheless,  I won't be getting rid of it!

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Just as an aside, to let you know that I've put up a little poll on the sidebar.  To give me some feedback as to what you'd like to see more of on this blog.  More decluttering?  I'm guessing that might be the case, but if you'd care to comment or vote on the poll that might steer me in the right direction.  Thanks to all who even read this blog - I'm constantly amazed! 

Cheers Wendy

No memory (card)

Can't upload any new photos sorry.  Memory card has decided not to play, not sure what's wrong, but I did take some photos yesterday of some uncluttering of more drawers.

Maybe the card has died of boredom, I'm not sure!  So I thought  I'd just show a few snaps taken around our place.  All reasonably recent,  in the last 6 months or so.  All in my usual basic way - no touchups here!

Mulberry tree/s - we have quite a few of these around the chook pen.  Probably too many, and I keep asking my husband to chop a few.  They are lovely, but creating too much shade and they drop too many leaves!  Nice when they are in fruit, and I do make mulberry pie occasionally.

One of our palms - with many happy lorikeets.  They love it when it's in flower.







  
Our  aptly named  Iron Bar which overlooks the dam.  A nifty little spot for partaking of a cool beverage, usually on a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon when yard chores are over.  Lovely when the dam is full - not so exciting when it's not.

This is the dam, looking pretty good.  We are on town water, but pump from here for use around the yard.

You may be able to glimpse the Iron Bar through the tree in the middle of the photo. 

Our dogs - little Dexter I've shown before, and this is his buddy Angel.  She is a real dag of a dog and has been in more trouble than I care to recall.   Angel ... hummmpfff.  Never has a dog been so wrongly named.   She is a real sook and pretend watchdog. 

Old Bundy is a real trooper and we have had him all his 17+ years.  He is struggling a bit now, but has been a fabulous family dog.  I didn't think he'd make it through this summer, but he's still going - not strongly, but still going.  Cattle dogs are tough.

 

 

And this is my little house buddy Dexter.  A loveable ratbag.  Good company though and I love him to bits.... and is he spoilt?   No ... why do you ask?

 

We are registered Land for Wildlife landowners, and although we have always had dogs, they are tied up/ (or in Dexters' case) in the house by early afternoon.  I can't understand people living on acreage who don't restrain their domestic animals at night.  Living on 5 acres as we do, in a road that has similar subdivisions, each with an average of 2 dogs each, equates to a pretty horrible nightmare for koalas, and other nocturnal animals. 

So that's just a little snippet of our place.   Back next week for more decluttering.   I feel the urge to purge. 

Cheers Wendy