Finding joy in the everyday

Quick update on my activities What a busy week thus far - busy nice, not busy bad!!   Even after a hectic day where I may feel weary by the time I crawl into bed, I still feel so blessed that the Lord has provided me with a suitable job, a loving family, a cosy house and cute cats. I have no complains and very content with my lot in life.  Why would I complain, many people are far worse off than I am. I have many reasons to say "thankyou Lord" over and over again.  My quilting classes have come to an end and I feel as if I have learnt enough of the basics to go off and make my first quilt (this one will be a gift). This is the start to that new quilt and I am using a block known as a "Disappearing nine patch" and its fun to make.  Looks far much more complicated than it really is. Its my sort of quilting block!! I had a birthday last week (yes a year older but I am not sure if I am any wiser). I went to the Craft and Quilting Fair in the morning...

Turmeric, chilli, cumin and basil   by Joluise Dear blogging friends, Its hard to believe it is October already, where has the year gone!  Less than three months to the end of the year.  This is the month that my youngest turns 21, I can remember him as a babe-in-arms and now he is all grown up, living away from home and working 3 jobs!  He is trying to be independent and doing quite well but from time to time he still needs our help. I can't help but feel sad that my baby is all grown up and I will never get back those precious years when he was young. October also means we are mid way through spring and I have really been enjoying all the flowers around at the moment such as this very pretty poppy. If you check out my blog on Monday you will see some more glorious flower photos I took recently ( that's a bit of self-promotion!!!) - tulips for those who love these flowers. Yellow poppy  by Joluise I do hope you are all having a lovely Octobe...

Photography by Joluise Dear friends and family, August has arrived, not sure where July went, but it has and there is no going back. I always enjoy the arrival of August - firstly it is the last month of winter, secondly it is the month that my son got married (happy 1st wedding anniversary) and thirdly and finally . . . it is the month that both my daughter-in-law and I have a birthday. And I like birthdays!! Very much!!  One can never be unhappy on their birthday month.  Its been a good week. Even though it has been busy at work, it has been positive and the work really interesting . . . coming home at the end of the day and knowing I was able to get a bunch of things done and helped a range of people is a good feeling.  On the home front, everything is running smoothly (why won't it!!) . . . except for the washing machine that appears to be having a few hiccups.  If it doesn't behave its self, we may need to invest in a new one. For those in Australia - ...

Dear friends, What a morning - I have been busy tweaking my study and the rest of the house, moving bits and pieces from one room to another (and sometimes back to where they came from) plus tossing things out that I no longer want (bin or to charity).  My son has just come over and I gave him a few things for his house that I no longer wanted - its good to have someone to pass things onto!  Have I got things "just right", probably not - decorating seems to be an on-going task in my house as I change my mind!!   In between the work inside the house, I was able to plant 24 snow pea seedlings and 16 English spinach seedlings in my veggie garden bed. Unfortunately the nursery didn't have any kale so I will need to pick that up during the week (probably Thursday).   Other news from garden - I am very happy that the bulbs I planted a few months a go are all popping out of the ground and will flower in late August/early September.  How was your week? ...

Life is like this sometimes! Dear friends, What a cold, wet and grey weekend we are having. The only thing to do on days like this is to stay indoors and keep warm. And that is what I am doing.    Yesterday (Saturday) a couple of guys came and pick up the very heavy 6 foot fish-tank (it was horrible conditions for moving the tank as it was sleeting and freezing). This is exciting news (for me anyway) as now I have my study in full and not sharing it with the ugly tank. My husband has cleaned the walls and carpet (where the tank was sitting) and tomorrow all my bookcases will arrive. This means I can do some major re-arranging of all our books and that is one exciting task!!  Hopefully in my next week's update I will be able to share some photos of my new study. I don't have any new recipes to share this week as I haven't made anything new - I have been try to eat up pre-made meals in the freezer, some of which are poorly labeled so I am not entirely sure w...

The simple things in life - photography by Joluise This will be quick entry today as I can't sit for very long in my chair. My back is playing up something bad at the moment and its better if I am standing or lying than sitting at a computer desk right now. Just letting you know the exciting news that my son won the job he applied for and will start sometime soon. He is over the moon as this is a traineeship that will give him a whole new direction and set up his future career path.  My prayers were most certainly answered. *** Here is a great recipe I made last night for dinner - its healthy but so yummy. Best eaten with crusty bread and loads of butter!!!  I added more vegetables to mine (needed to use some up) and didn't bother with the lemon juice and yoghurt bit at the end:  http://www.eatlove.com.au/recipes/lentil-silverbeet-and-lamb-köfte-soup/3663/ . For those who are vegetarian, skip the lamb kofte and use a vegetable stock and it would taste...

1. Baked my first loaves of bread - I made a Jewish bread called Challah - however I didn't plait mine as you are meant to as making it was stressful enough! I thought it tasted very nice, DH wasn't as keen and said it tasted more like a cake than bread but my sons thought it was pretty good. 2. Cleaned out the kitchen cupboards, being quite ruthless about what to toss in the bin and what to keep - now I have heaps more space - to fill up!  Gave my eldest son a large cooking pot as he wanted to cook a piece of silverside - this gave me some extra room! 3. DH played on the swings on one of our walks and show me how to jump off.  I wasn't game enough to jump like him as I didn't want to break any bones! DH did take one photo of me but it was not very nice so I won't be publishing it! 4. Went to the post-Christmas sales and bought one skirt for $14 (reduced from $40) plus a couple of t-skirts that weren't on sale and some small plastic containers for the kitche...

When you catch a bus you get the opportunity to observe the human race!!  Here are some of my observations from today: How did the blind man (sitting behind me) know when to get off the bus at his bus stop? Girls wearing very short short (uniform) skirts should be careful about bending over and sitting down. School children no longer give up their seats when adults get on the bus eg the elderly or woman. Why do young people (who don't have a seat) have to congregate at the front of the bus making it very difficult for people to get on and off? Why do people chew gum with their mouths open? Wearing black footless tights and a jumper does NOT make for a pretty sight   * * *  Australia has a new Prime Minister, the first woman Prime Minister (Julia Gillard) - what do you think, good, bad or indifferent? For those not familiar with our system of government, the previous Prime Minister (Kevin Rudd) was removed by his own party at a vote this morning, with the party havi...

Best day: Today - slept in until 9:00am, went to the Life Line book fair in the morning, bought MacDonalds for the boys and I for lunch (treat - don't do it often), watched a DVD in the afternoon with Tristan, had an afternoon sleep (whilst listening to Bach) and made picklets for afternoon tea for Tristan and I - which we covered in lots of jam and thick cream whilst hiding away from the icy winds. Not so good day: Didn't have any of those - all days were good in their own way. Fu nniest moment: Steven and I were driving home from work on Thursday and the police had 2 speed cameras on the road we drive on every day home from the city. However they decided that they wanted to add an element of surprise and have a couple of policemen hiding behind trees jumping out with hand-held speed cameras. What they appeared not to understand was how distracting it was - amazing it didn't create an accident as we didn't know whi ch tree we would see a policeman coming from!! Cook...