Ups and downs of life...

Miss Rafaella and our adventure...

 Yesterday was a definite day of ups because I had as my companion 3yo Rafaella, and we had a day of 'adventuring'. Whenever Cully May or Rafaella spend the day with me they declare it to be an adventure, so I try to do fun things with them, the kind of things us adults don't often do ourselves.

Cully May goes to kindy every Monday at the moment, as next year she will attend school Mon-Fri. These few months of spending one day a week at kindy have shown us all that her natural extrovert personality is ready and eager for school when the first term begins at the end of January. For those overseas who may not know, our Australian school year runs from January to December and is broken up into four terms.

So these Mondays of late have given Rafaella some extra time with mummy (Blossom), daddy and baby Charlie, but it's also gave her and I the opportunity to go off and adventure alone, something we've never done without Cully May present.

Our morning began at the library, because she simply loves our library trips. Being surrounded by books, and in the cool quiet space of the children's section, her little introvert self is very happy and content...

I stopped counting after reading nine books because once I'd finished a book she would replace it carefully on the shelf and bring me another. Eventually she decided it was time to leave the library and go down to the beach for ice-cream, but first I suggested we stop off at the shopping centre so I could buy her (and Cully May) a pair of sunglasses. She was thrilled! "I will get pink sunglasses, Nana!" she declared...and so she did. 

I chose children's Cancer Council glasses as the sun here in the tropics is fierce on eyes, young and old alike. She choose a red polka dot pair for her big sister and then we got back in the car and drove to the beach...

We walked along the shore and collected seas shells, as she loves playing with my own collection of shells whenever she visits, and carefully put them in my pocket for her to take home later.

Ice cream was well deserved after our walk along the scorching shore line, though we had to eat fast as it melted quickly. 

After leaving the beach we dropped in to visit Poppy at his work and then picked up a Happy Meal at McDonalds before arriving at my house where we could relax in the air conditioning. 

Once lunch was over we played with jigsaw puzzles (she is VERY good at them), painted, did some colouring, and then I gave Rafaella her first lesson in hand embroidery. She got a little bit frustrated because the yarn kept coming out of the needle (we used a large plastic needle and yarn) but eventually got the knack of holding the needle in such a way that the yarn didn't slip out. Apparently sewing with Nana was her most talked about topic with mummy and Cully May today and she's looking forward to doing more. 

After dropping her home later in the afternoon, this Nana was very tired and needed a nice cup of tea with a bit of quiet time before getting started on dinner. What a wonderful day it was!

Pantry Preparedness and utilising more storage...

Have you noticed a lot of empty shelves in your local supermarket lately? I have. In fact many of the items I regularly purchase have disappeared, and though we have seen the signs of this shortage coming for quite a while, it's still a shock when it happens.

I decided to move things around in the kitchen after Blossom offered us an old bookcase, planning to use the shelves for more pantry preparedness. I shifted the old cookbook shelves across into the hall and spent this morning compiling a fresh list of items to purchase and store in these larger shelves. I am also going to add a bit of prettiness, as you do, right? Wicker baskets too easily become mouldy in the wet season due to the constant heat and high humidity, so I have a few clear plastic baskets which I intend lining with pretty fabric next week. I also intend making shelf liners and/or edging...which will take time, but having a homemaking project on the go always makes me happy. 

Once my large shopping list was written I made the order online and it will be delivered tomorrow morning, though I do wonder how much of it will arrive. Even as I was doing the online order, so many items were marked 'out of stock', and some which were in stock had limits of one or two only.

Making use of the space you have for storing extra food items is wise, even in a small house. My husband has shelving in his study dedicated to cans and jars, and that's great, but as he is at work during the day the air conditioning in the study is not used and that room becomes very hot indeed.

The kitchen however, which has the walk-in-pantry just opposite, has the air conditioning on all day so in the new shelving I will place items that really should be stored in a slightly cooler place than hubby's study.

New aprons...

I recently purchased two new aprons from makers on Etsy. They are lovely floral prints with ruffled edges and pockets - just my style, and they look lovely hanging in the kitchen when not being worn as I cook and do housework. I had plans to make more aprons myself, but just as you support my home-business by purchasing patterns, I also like to support the home businesses of others. 

The seller of the cream apron has no more, but the seller of the blue polka dot apron (which comes fully lined!) has many aprons in her store - perfect for gift giving. If you're interested she is HERE, and believe me even the wrapping is delightful. Her parcel brightened my day, and the apron brightened my kitchen!

A Quiet Life...

Do you remember last year when I shared this pattern? I stitched it in two colourways, one pastel and one more of a 50's palette. Over the weekend I needed something simple and calming to make (I'll explain later) so I chose to turn the retro block into a wrap for our coffee plunger...

The colours work well in our kitchen, and though I've never liked the creamy latte brown of the cupboards and fittings, it does lend itself to allowing bright colours like the ones I scatter around to stand out. Even those aprons lift the gloom of the brown. 

The back is tied with two bows - as I said, a very simple and relaxing project, and also a new UFO finish for November. It's gratifying to make wonderfully functional items from orphan stitcheries!

The downs of life...

I've been quiet here again because of a long run of very nasty migraines. They came in all manner - barometric migraines, migraine with aura, silent migraines which left me unable to walk and my whole body a wobbly mess...and each one came on just as the previous one was ending. 

So many food triggers have been eliminated with great success in the past year or two, but it only occurred to me on Sunday that I had once more introduced chocolate into my diet, as well as a single cup of real coffee each morning (after drinking only decaf for a year). It appears those two changes have been my undoing and a hard and painful lesson learned. 

I was just coming good yesterday morning in time to pick up Rafaella, as I had cancelled on her last Friday and though very understanding, her 3yo heart was sad at not spending a day alone with Nana. That's why yesterday was so important, I just couldn't bear to disappoint her again. Fortunately the pain was gone after breakfast and since then I've been careful to exclude the two nasties - chocolate and real coffee - once again. Sigh. I shall miss them, though not the pain they cause.

In my quiet times...

I am re-reading The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder and gaining much appreciation for the labours of homemaking back in the 1800's. It's been about fifteen years since I read this book to my children, so in many ways it feels 'new' again because this time around I'm reading through my homemaker eyes and not from a desire to teach good life principles to my children. 

I'm also stitching a wedding memento for hubby and I as we approach the celebration of 30 years of marriage, just a few days after Christmas. It will be part of my Faith, Heart & Home pattern club next year because I get many requests for this kind of design. Most people will think of this design as a lovely gift for a new couple, but I'm looking with new eyes once more...it is a continuing remembrance of my own marriage.

Back to that "A Quiet Life" stitchery...

If you missed the original free download of the pattern, it's here again for you now. Use the link below and you can be stitching it today. 

DOWNLOAD "A Quiet Life" pattern

Let me know what things in your life are being viewed through 'new eyes' these days? Are you finding a shortage of grocery supplies in your own area? Have you finished any UFO's this month?

I'd love to hear from you, and as my readers have told me in emails, they love reading your comments and thoughts too. 

So dear hearts, don't hold back but share your own thoughts in the comments for you may inspire others by doing so. I am so blessed to receive every comment, but I do understand why many prefer to email me privately. 

Bless you lovely friends, and may the days ahead overflow with the wisdom of God so that you may make good and sound decisions. May He prepare you for all that is yet to come, and give you a heart which offers genuine kindness and grace towards others. 

hugs

Free kitchen printables and life in the kitchen...

 

I've spent a lot of productive time over the past few days, planning a better system for our grocery budget, creating a master sheet of favourite meals, preparing new recipe cards, and choosing (from now on) to purchase only what I need for our weekly menu.

If there's a really good special on pantry items I shall indeed stock up on them, but apart from that I'm not going to be distracted by unnecessary items on the supermarket shelf.

Whilst in the midst of creating a menu ideas master sheet, a weekly menu plan sheet, an accompanying grocery list, plus a recipe card template, I thought some of you might like them as well?

In the photo above you can see three sheets to download, but later I decided to add a fourth. On the first menu ideas master list (below) the categories are - Breakfasts, Lunches and Main Meals...

...but later I realised the need for three more categories - Savoury Snacks, Sweet Snacks and Desserts - so that's what the fourth sheet is in your free download.

To me the game changer was the two Master List sheets. I wrote down all the meals and snacks and desserts we go back to over and over again, and this gave me the best resource list for weekly menu planning.

Now you might think the shopping list on the side is small, and you're right. I made it this way because the only things which will be written on that list are items I need from the menu.

I will be creating another shopping list later this month where I can write all the other grocery and household items we need, but this small list keeps me on track with the weekly menu. 

When I went to the supermarket at the weekend I only took this list with me and was able to get everything I needed for a week of dinner meals. Before going to the shops though, I checked my freezer, fridge and pantry for any ingredients we already had so that I did not double up.

On Sunday (to clear out the leftovers) I made our meals from what we already had in the fridge, so today we began fresh with the new menu plan. These are things I did way back in our homeschooling years because it was so much easier to have a menu on the fridge to point at when the kids would ask (as they do!) "Mama, what's for dinner?"

The recipe cards will be well used as I have so many hand written ones on scraps of paper, some more than thirty years old and barely legible from the food spots across the paper. 

I have printed the two Menu Ideas Master Sheets and the Recipe Cards on 250gsm premium digital paper because you'll keep them permanently so they need to be sturdy. I also slipped mine inside plastic sleeves to store in my homemakers folder.

The weekly menu sheets and shopping list have just been printed on ordinary 80gsm printer paper because they get used and thrown away at the end of each week.

If you'd like to print these up for yourself, I have two options. In Australia we use A4 paper, whilst in the US 'letter' size is used, but I'm not sure about the rest of the world, so download the one which is common to your country.

DOWNLOAD Jennifer's Kitchen Planner Pages in A4 size

DOWNLOAD Jennifer's Kitchen Planner Pages in Letter size

As I said, later this month I will have a larger shopping list for you to save and download, but for now I hope you have fun with these!

IN THE KITCHEN

Monday is usually a big day in the kitchen, and today was no different. I began by making fresh cashew milk, and fresh vegetable juice.

The veggie juice is carrot, apple, lemon and ginger, which has a lot of zing from the lemon and ginger - perfect for easing migraines as the lemon is alkaline once it reaches your stomach and the ginger is anti inflammatory. I have found both of these ingredients helpful over the years.

Cashew milk is very easy to make and being a soft nut it doesn't need to be strained through a nut bag like almonds, brazil nuts or walnuts.

I soak one cup of raw cashews in filtered water overnight, then next morning strain and rinse before adding to the blender with four cups of filtered water and one teaspoon maple syrup. Blend until smooth (my blender has a nut milk setting) before pouring into a jar and storing in the fridge. Use within four days. It's delicious on cereal, with porridge, in smoothies or as milk for your tea or coffee.

I also made a second baked bread & butter custard as my husband loved it last week. I also made jelly (jello) for him to have with it alongside some tinned apricots.

We had old bananas which needed to be used and as I already have two bags of banana pieces in the freezer for smoothies I decided to bake some banana, raisin and chocolate muffins, scattering some walnuts across the top. They made a delicious afternoon tea with grapes and juice! Tomorrow we'll have some for breakfast with mangoes, and the rest are in the freezer for another day.

I also began a new sour dough starter today. It's been quite a while since I made this part of my routine but lately we've been spending quite a bit on store bought sour dough and as our main focus is to pay off the mortgage as quickly as possible, I knew it was time to get back to that habit and save the pennies. Besides, I adore bread making.

It will be a while until the starter is ready for making a loaf of sour dough, so in the meantime I'll keep baking our regular daily loaves. The loaf today is a multigrain and here it is kneaded and ready for the first rise. I very lightly oil the glass Pyrex bowl first and then cover the dough until it has doubled in size.

Normally I cover the bowl with cling wrap but recently on a baker's blog I saw a different way to cover the rising dough, and now I don't waste cling wrap anymore! Use a shower cap instead! Isn't that clever? Of course I don't own a shower cap so I bought this one at Kmart for just $2. 

This dough was not destined to be a regular loaf of bread, though. I'm off to Blossom's tomorrow and wanted to take a morning tea and some lunch for everyone so I have this cream cheese lemon cake in the oven right now...

...and the bread dough became a delicious batch of savoury scrolls, filled with parmesan, tasty cheddar and tomato pesto, plus a scattering of mozzarella cheese over the top. They smell amazing so I'd best pack a couple for hubby's work lunch tomorrow.

On Wednesday I have something very special for you, and dear Blossom made it possible...but no hints, you'll just have to come back and visit again.

I do pray for you often, and really hope that your heavy days are made lighter, your dark days become brighter, and you feel - really feel - the presence of Almighty God wrapping His arms around you and assuring you of His love.

Have a lovely day or evening, wherever you are in God's earth.

Hugs

The early morning and a UFO finish...

 As our tropical heat arrives earlier each day in this late spring season, I make my way outside at 5:15am each morning to water the garden, do a bit of weeding, mulch where there is a need, and generally try to keep things flourishing for as long as possible.

I was surprised in the pre-dawn this morning to see that a sprinkle of rain had fallen - not enough to nourish roots, but certainly enough to provide a pretty raindrop display on the roses. 

This is my Black Madonna, a long stemmed red rose which I cut for display inside the house. When left too long outside the delicate petals burn to a crisp under our scorching tropical sun, so I always have one, two, or even three small vases of blooms inside.

The past few days I've been gently tending a huge sunflower which has been withering badly. It grew near the bird feeder, and as we feed the cockatoos a healthy diet of sunflower seeds each day it was no surprise to see a few of these gorgeous yellow blooms begin to sprout in the ground below, however, they never grow more than two feet high. 

This one is over five feet and simply stunning, but last week if fell over in the night (or a critter knocked it over) and when I walked out back in the morning it's root ball was fully exposed and it lay horizontal on the ground. Upset, I showed hubby and he quickly replanted it, warning me that he did not think it would survive.

I prayed - and yes, it may seem silly to pray for a flower, but flowers are a gift from God and they bring me a very deep sense of calm and happiness. They are one of the things I have come to identify as nourishing to my soul, which is why the garden in bloom brings me delight and great satisfaction.

Well, it looked pretty bad the next day, but I watered it, added some worm castings, and prayed again. The next day it had perked up but later that afternoon, after another scorching day, it was limp again. The flower head was closed tight and hubby reminded me again that things looked grim. But still I prayed and watered and watched.

This morning, a small miracle...

If you could have seen me jumping for joy, praising God and shouting hallelujah at 5:15 this morning you would have wondered what on earth was going on...I'm sure that's what the neighbours thought!

But there was a lesson in this. Don't give up, don't lose hope. I'd invested my time and prayers, kept a watchful eye on how this fallen sunflower was recuperating after replanting, and sought to improve the soil around it's root system - hopeful that it would revive and strengthen. 

That's what God wants me to do with the people and situations in my life which have fallen over or are struggling - HOPE, PRAY, and be ready to do practical things if there's a greater need. 

God always has a lesson to share, even when it's just a flower struggling in the garden. With Him, nothing we learn is wasted.

Also in the garden, the 1 year old elder trees are flowering again. I am hopeful they bear some berries this time around...

...because their first flush of flowers turned black and dry very fast, with no berries at all. I'm thinking it's from our heat, or the sun really - I can't tell you how fierce the scorch is from the sun where I live.

Actually, it was nice to get photos this morning before the sun came over the mountain. 

Our lemon tree is heavy with fruit...

...and the shrubs and trees are blooming too. 

Zinnias are self seeding everywhere, which is a real blessing because I won't need to plant them again, but so funny to see them popping up in pots and garden beds all over the yard. This one came up beside a bed of spring (green) onions.

The marigolds have self seeded as well, right beside one of our many clumps of aloe, and boy are they pretty! That's another sunflower beside them...

Hubby planted a blackberry bush a few months back, one which apparently does well in the tropics, and after a slow start it's really taken off this past month so we've put an old clothes drying rack over it as a frame to grow across.

That pink flower behind the blackberry frame is a gorgeous desert rose. It was a gift from our neighbour when we lived closer to the city, and she'd raised it from seed. When she gave it me I think it may have been just 1" high. 

My neighbour was a French marine biologist named Veronique, and when we planted it in our garden (just after we bought the house at the end of 2018) I named it after her. Let me introduce you to Veronique, the desert rose...

Elsewhere, here's a few things which are still doing well (with lots of water and care).

Thai basil (which the blue-banded bees adore)...

Birds Eye Chillies

Lobelia, still flourishing in a shaded spot.

More zinnias, but these were planted as seedlings between the Hyssop and the Tarragon.

Strawberries, still (very) surprisingly bringing forth fruit!

Last Friday I had Blossom and the children come spend the day and Cully May requested "Could you make blueberry and raspberry muffins please, Nana?"

The girls LOVE raspberries and will eat a punnet each within seconds of arrival, or should I say they inhale them within seconds? If you've watched a teenage boy eat, you'll understand what I'm talking about! I scattered white choc chips on top because Blossom loves them, so everyone's taste buds and tummies were very content, and I only needed one punnet of raspberries.

On Saturday morning I had to pick up my new computer/reading glasses. I don't usually go anywhere on Saturday but this was the only appointment I could get to have them checked and adjusted.

These are my new Cath Kidston spotty specs...aren't they lovely? 

On Sunday I finished the UFO which featured in my little hanging tabs tutorial (HERE).  Those tabs came in handy as a cushion closure for the back, and just so you can see how I did that here's a few photos.

Next time I'll increase the overlap of these two sections for the cushion back, but I was making this up as I went along and that's usually when you learn a few things which could be changed next time. 

Still, I do love the way this looked and will definitely repeat the idea in my next cushion project.

Here's the completed cushion, and if you like the embroidery used for the front it's HERE.

The cushion is small (9.5" x 12") because I needed a new one for my hands to rest on as I do hand embroidery. You see I don't use a hoop, but rest my hands on a soft cushion instead, and this gives me more control in how I stitch - it's also how I'm able to do such tiny backstitch. 

I'm really happy with how this turned out, so that's one UFO complete and now I can't wait to begin my next UFO project. 

As I mentioned in October, my plan is to complete (at least) one UFO project every month, from now until the end of 2022, and I invited all of you to join me. Have you been looking through your UFOs and put some aside to finish in the coming months/year?

I'll have some tutorials to share in the months ahead which may help with orphan stitcheries, but I'll also show you some of my larger projects which have lingered far too long, hidden away in darkness where it's easy to avoid them. Let me know what you're planning to work on first, okay?

Now I'd best sign off for today and go put that chicken in the oven or it won't roast itself, and I have a pile of vegetables to prepare too - parsnip, potato, pumpkin, red onions, beetroot, asparagus and broccoli. Gosh I love my veggies, especially roasted parsnip, though my dear husband believes it would be best mashed and used as cement. Sigh.

Bless you dear friends; and thank you for dropping by, reading, and leaving comments to share your own thoughts, because YOU are very interesting and I love to hear about your own plans and ideas. 

Drop by again on Wednesday as I'm sharing a gorgeous free pattern, plus you'll see my November UFO project.

Biggest hugs