Strange

It has been a strange week.

When I posted my last post I was just happy to see some rain. I had no clue of the extent of it. I had no clue that we would lose our power for two whole days, something that has never happened before, and we were the lucky ones. As I lay in bed listening to the wild winds and torrential rains I thought of the people out amongst it all, risking there own lives to ensure we are safe.

We didn't leave our house for three days and after the initial shock (the kids) of no power, we settled into a  happy rhythm: playing board games, drawing, colouring, crafting and a game of shops that lasted four solid hours. We read stories by torchlight and ate an early dinner by candlelight. Our cheese and tuna toasties, a rainy day favourite and our Sunday morning pancakes were cooked on the barbecue. I washed the dishes with a sponge and a small bowl of soapy hot water that had also been heated on the barbecue. It was quiet.

When the power came back on, we were shocked to see the news. After a couple of days without power, phones or computers, we sat glued to the TV for hours. There was a real sense of deja vu, was Queensland really going under water again? I was a little shell shocked, not at just the flooding of Queensland but by what mother nature had thrown our way over this entire holiday period: extreme heat and catastrophic bush fires, and now devastating rain, cyclones and tornadoes!



A high priority for my 'year of the homemaker' will be to make up a 'survival kit'. Luckily, I love to stockpile, we were never going to stave if stranded, but what if we needed to leave our home in a hurry, what would we take? Would there be enough petrol in our car? Probably not. 

Over the next couple of weeks, I'll be getting some ideas, checklists and survival items together. There is some good advice here, here, here and here. That's a start.

Do you have a 'survival kit' ready to go? I'd love to hear about it.

What have you packed in it? What do you think is the most important?



The kids went back to school on Tuesday. Three people rang us on Monday and told us our school would be closed. But early the next morning I double checked our schools website: "Newsflash! (yes that's what it really said) School will commence as usual". There was a mad dash around, as I realised that I wasn't as ready for school as I had first thought.

It was strange leaving my children at school, knowing that they are absolutely fine and knowing that I am absolutely not. Year one and two, how did that happen? Where have my babies gone? Wow, year one and two!

It has been a strange, short week, with petrol stations without petrol and shops without ice-blocks,  fruit, milk and bread. It is hard to start our new school routines, with everything so out of whack. I haven't bothered to set my alarm this week and yesterday morning the kids watched morning TV until a minute before leaving for school. There is usually a 'no TV before school rule.' We are easing into this new school year slowly. It is still too hot for routines. It is still too hot to sleep.

I have been feeling strange, out of sorts, some say it's the heat, other's other there is a bug going around, everyone says they are feeling out of sorts too: unwell, faint, nauseous. Then Miss Moo Moo was sick today, minutes before walking out the door for school, she threw up everywhere (and I mean everywhere). It was strange to have my days plans changed again so soon. Appointments were cancelled, lists were abandoned.

How about you? How are you settling in to this first week of school?

Happy Australia Day

We have decided to cancel Australia Day in our house.

A few days ago, I told my son the weather forecast for this weekend - rain, rain and more rain.

He said: "Well, we better cancel it"

I said: "you can't cancel Australia Day, Australia Day is Australia Day. We will barbecue outside and eat inside"

He said: "I'm not coming, I don't want wet sausages"

I couldn't argue with that, and to be honest, I really didn't want a heap of people crammed into our house on a rainy day either, we really don't have the space for it.



Later that day, I officially announced that Australia Day had been cancelled. I told the kids that we were Australians everyday and if we want to celebrate next week when it is sunny, then we will. They were much more excited by that. So our plans to eat pavlova and hamburgers and play old fashioned Australia Day games with our friends have been put on hold. Instead I think we will have a quiet day, which it probably a better idea anyway. A little bit of pottering about, maybe some crafting and/or baking, there's the school books still to cover and perhaps a family movie later today.



Yes, that sounds like a very nice 'Plan B'

Is the sun shining were you are today? What are your Australia Day plans and traditions?

(Is it just me, or does my 'dialogue' sound very Charlie and Lola? Oh dear, I think we have been reading too many Charlie and Lola books this holidays)

Some gains, some losses.

No trip away is complete without a few new purchases.

Before arriving at my Dad's we stopped for coffee, while enjoying a very good cappuccino, I spotted an op shop I'd never seen before. As the whole family were with me, I had to restrain myself to a few pretty hankies, and some pastel Tupperware. I was super happy at the little containers, as I had intended to buy some new ones for school lunches. I love it when things just fall into place.

Then there was a country market.

We were told by the locals that it wasn't a very good market this time of year. The last market, held in December, had been almost double in size. But that didn't stop us having a very productive morning out. The kids spent some Christmas money and I got all of the above for under twenty dollars. Three tablecloths, the white embroidered one is my favourite. I think it is one of my most favorite buys in a while. I LOVE it. The supper cloth with the yellow flowers and matching napkins was still in it's original packaging. So pretty. The trim is destined for a nightie (one day) and the small "goodnight" lace doily is now a bright white after a good soak.

I spotted the two embroidered tops for $2:00 each, as we were heading back to the car. They were all the lady had left, hence the bargain price. She told me that she had a box of embroidered dresses and one woman bought the whole lot! I might have been tempted to do the same, had I spotted her stall on the way in.



I also was lucky enough to take a peek in at least four other antique shops while my husband and kids waited in the car. This is a rare occurrence and while nothing was bought, it was still very fun.

It would have been lovely to wander around this antique shop and grounds a little longer. I did consider going back alone, for some more looking (me) time and perhaps a coffee out the back in the wisteria covered courtyard.


And on the day we arrived home, Miss Moo Moo lost her very first tooth. She was very excited to finally received a gift from the tooth fairy.

How about you, have you any interesting 'gains' at your house lately.

Going back in time - part two

I went a little crazy taking photos in the early settlers slab house, at the historical museum.







The house is original was moved from a property about 20 minutes away, it had been rebuilt about 10 years ago.





 I really liked the quirky touches at this museum.

After receiving a recent donation, the museum folk where able to built a replica outside kitchen,

and bathhouse.

Oh, it is so fun, stepping back in time.

Going back in time - part one

On the way home from my Dad's we stopped at a historical museum, I love places like this, do you remember this post.

I have heaps more photos to share tomorrow, but this post is for my cousin.






Karen, do you remember playing on these up in the top paddock of Nana's farm?

And how about this old dunny?

I explained to my children how I had once used a dunny/thunderbox toilet like this. They were horrified. From memory, I used to be horrified whenever I had to use it too. I was terrified of red-back spiders and lets not even mention the smell!

But many years later, after my grandfather got sick and my Nana moved from the big house to the farm cottage, that dunny was just an empty box. It soon became 'the girls' (that included my younger boy cousin, myself and my cousin) cubbie. I told this story to my kids, they looked at me with blank looks. I went on to explain that my older two boy cousins, built us a second level out of the old door that had blown off in the wind, so we had upstairs and downstairs. I continued telling them that we would drag great sheets of corrugated iron to extend our cubbie, two and three rooms would extend our cubbie out the front, old carpet or towels went on the ground and old curtains were passed on for us to use to separate each room. They listened in wonder. After I had tried hard to explain how you could, indeed, make a great cubbie house from this old toilet, Miss Moo Moo asked:

"But who was supervising?"

I couldn't stop laughing, she looked upset at that. I told her no-one needed to supervise us. She didn't understand. I felt so sad that her childhood is so very different to mine. Those days building and playing in those cubbies were the some of best of my life.

I didn't tell them that nearly every time we came to the farm, the wind had taken part of our cubbie house away and it always being adjusted and remade. I didn't tell them that the big boys had a cubbie house made in an old chicken coop that we were not allowed to go into. And I definitely didn't tell them that it was the place where I had my first, and only, cigarette. Actually, it was a cigar, I had two puffs and never smoked again in my life! but that's a story for another day!

Pretty lace in the old restored church at the museum.

Going back

We have spent a few days staying with my Dad in the country.

My Dad's health has not been great over the last year and we realised that it had been almost 2 years since we last visited his home. While he lives in a different town now and a different house, it was like I was revisiting my childhood. Most of the furniture is the furniture from my childhood home, the plates, the glasses, the cultery. The things I wasn't allowed to touch as a child, my children were not allowed to touch on this visit. Peeking in the wall unit I found the same things that I found there when I was my daughters age. Special things, that belonged to my Poppy, the good napkin rings and even a few of my long forgotten, handmade crafts. The same photos of my grandparents were in the same photo frames. To my Dad and Nora, this is truly their home, decorated in Nora's own style. But as I walked around, my childhood was everywhere. It was really nice.



On our way home we drove through the town where I grew up, and past the house my Dad owned for over 30 years. I only had one childhood home. The house was sold about 10 years ago when Dad moved from the area for work. It has been sold twice since. The current owner had cut most of the trees down - three giant jacaranda's and the front hedge. He had knocked down the garage and you could see into the back yard, more trees were gone and it looked so small. My cubbie house under the tank stand was still there and so was the may bush under my bedroom window. To this day, my heart skips a beat whenever I see a may bush. An ugly old fashioned airconditioning unit hung out of our old dining room window. The remainder of the window was boarded up with plywood. We drove on. This was no longer our house, it was just a place.

When I was a child, the homes in our street were well kept, always freshly painted and neat. Trees were trimmed and the yards mown low. Pretty flower beds decorated the lawns of the retired. Our neighbourhood was very respectable, in that old fashioned respectable way: members of the council  business owners, headmasters, bank managers. It is no longer that way. All of those older people with blooming gardens and wall butterflies on their houses are long gone. Those neat little homes have the paint chipping from the weatherboards and screen doors off the hinges. Many of the lawns were over grown and gardens non existent. The whole street seemed beaten, neglected.

There is no industry in this town anymore. It has followed the path of so many other country towns. I have family who live and work here, I am not saying bad things about it. It's just different. The thriving community that I grew up in is gone. It was sad.

I drove past my Nana's old farmhouse too. I do this every time I visit the area, but I'm not sure I will again. The place looked so different, I couldn't work out why? It was my husband who pointed out that the trees were gone. When my Nana bought the farm in the 1950's she planted four silky oak trees in each corner of the house yard. When I was child they were huge. Now they were gone. I have a thing for trees. I was a bit devastated.

Change is inevitable. Because of my love of nostaglia and all things from the past, sometimes I find this hard.

Have you been tripping down memory lane this holidays?

These photos were taken the last time we visited my childhood home, just before Dad moved out. The photo of me on the steps is very out of focus- sorry (this was the days before digital) The 'little me' photo in the sidebar of my blog was taken in the same spot when I was about 2 or 3 years old.

A simple life

I was sorting through my computer folders last night and came across this manifesto for a simple life. I wondered why my own manifesto for a simple life was 3 foolscap pages long. Surely to start a simpler life, my list needed to be simpler, so I will start with this. I have just printed it out and stuck it to the fridge. 

Given the last 3 weeks, I think "eat less, move more" is a most appropriate place to start.

What would you write on "A Simple Life "manifesto?

You can download this manifesto from here.

Always be prepared!

 My 'word' for 2013 is PREPARE.

I didn't choose it.

It chose me.

This word first appeared on a calender I bought over a month ago, and it seemed to be in every book I have read since. But really, it has been there along, in me.

This year, I am focusing most of my attention on my home life. I'm loosely nicknaming this year: 

the year of the homemaker.

• I'd like to make soap and cheese and butter and bread and quilts and clothes and laundry detergent.
• I'd like to find some success in growing my own vegetables.
• I'd like to save water, reduce my energy and car usage and be a better recycler.
• I'd like to make routines that work (I think that means I need to stick to them).
• I'd like my children to learn good manners and be helpful with household tasks.
• I'd like to be better with money.
• I'd like to be a more mindful in every aspect of my life.
• I'd like to find some balance (this has been my 'word' for the last 4 years!)



I'd like some things in my life to change. But... I'm not ready.

It's no secret that I would like a little bit of land and a crumbling old house to renovate. But what if someone gave it to me tomorrow? I couldn't just walk in and begin living the life that I wish for. There are so many new skills that I need to learn first. Lucky for me, I can learn them (at least some of them) right where I am. Anyway, I can't move to the country just yet, I'm still perfecting the perfect sponge cake recipe!

I need to be happy: here and now. Learning: here and now. Preparing: here and now This is where there is security. There is a good job for my husband, there is a good school for my children, there are good friends and family support.

Being prepared for change is important. Only then, I will know exactly what is right for my family.

I'm excited - year of the homemaker! I think I was always meant for this role.

Do you have a 'word' for 2013? I'd love to learn of your focus for the year.

These beautiful Nikki McClure images are from here.