The little things

                The little things that made me smile today

 When Im on afternoon shift the morning just flies and the little things that made me smile this morning were this cute little ceramic bunny that I bought at an opp shop which I may plant a succulent in.

 My vintage supper cloths which my friend calls my Nana cloths, a cute little posy of flowers from the garden and a bowl of goodies.

 My sons needed new textas and pencils oh how I loved to get new textas as a child, well worth it he colored for ages

 I can crochet

and last but not least just before I went to work my wonderful Father bought me over some lunch ... a homemade spring roll from a local shop its a Chinese spring roll and its delicious its from Poonies as they call him I remember him when I was a child him and his brother both owned milk bars and cook Chinese food there and they are just delicious my daughter loves his fried rice.
This was all a good start to the day ahead at work.

Change of attitude

                  Its working

This is a follow up of a previous blog about the book Im reading "The simple living guide"
There was an article in it about changing your attitude so you enjoy all those mundane tasks.
Well two days into my work week and all is well, its looking good for me, instead of I hate going to work its boring,,,, I have been enjoying the last couple of days , I know I know its only a couple of days but Im taking in the little things.
Ive been taking notes while Im at work and this is what I have written so far.
Day 1. As I walk into work from my car the smell of cocoa fills the air its quite a nice smell {a lot of times its the waste water treatment plant depends which way the wind is blowing} I can hear the birds in the gumtrees around the plant and there are lovely flowers blooming in the pots out the front of the building.
Greetings from many people on the past shift is always nice it takes me a little while to actually get out into the plant as I tend to chat a little catching up on what is going on since I only work part time.
Whilst out in my workplace Im thinking ok what am I thankful for here
Im thankful for
I have a job that pays the bills
my workplace is clean
I can use the phone { always a plus}
I have fresh water to drink when ever I like
I can sit down occasionally
I can take notes
Its never to hot or to cold
I get to talk .... sometimes a lot and listen of course
Really this place is not to bad these are simple things we take for granted that some people don't have .
Another plus is I can eat chocolate when ever I want {probably not really a good thing} but sometimes its nice.

This week because Im on afternoon shift I get to call into the opp shops in the mornings that's allways nice especially when I have found some cool things this week, I havnt got time to take pictures today though but they will be coming soon

New rule

                           The new rule

I have to apply a new rule in my house, since I opp shop at least 3 times a week sometimes more and starting to get back into the garage sales. Mostly I buy to re sell in my ebay store and 90% of our clothes are from the opp shops, but we can end up with things we don't really need, so I have decided if I put something in my wardrobe something has to come out and that goes for the kids as well.
On the weekend I got some lovely clothes and initially I was going to resell them, but after looking over them again ..... and then again, then deciding oh I might try them on, I ended up only putting one item in my ebay room and the rest I was keeping .... big no no
So every item I put in my wardrobe I had to take one item out and it was a hard decision but it had to be something I hadn't worn in the last 2 years and something that Im not going to wear that often.
I think I might even do this for the rest of the house, I have a kitchen cupboard that really needs a good looking over and Im planning on a garage sale soon so, I bought 3 items for the kitchen on the weekend so 3 items in that cupboard have to come out { Oh gee I hope there is just a spare lid in there or some crappy item} but that's it one for one.

I actually turfed out some nice items from my wardrobe but they we resell on ebay so Im ok with it and I havnt worn them in ages .
I wonder how the kids will go with this rule

Lazy day

               Lazy day

Not much doing today, dropped kids to school, visited a couple of opp shops. There is housework to be done but that can wait until another day,
Ive been reading an interesting book "The simple Living guide".
Most people spend 70% or more at their day jobs
Im lucky in a way I choose to only work job share at the moment and that is by choice.
70% hmmm I know at work Im watching the clock 1 hour until break another hour until tea 6 hours until Im home, Im writing to do lists for when I get home but the whole time Im there Im wishing my life away just waiting for the next hour to go quickly. The part in this book about spending 70% of time at work and disliking that much of your life, sounds terrible. The book also talks about changing our attitude toward work  and this new attitude can breathe new life into our current job we thought that was mundane and boring {I make lollies}.
It then goes on to say that Zen monks are trained to do manual labour like cleaning toilets and pulling weeds and sweeping floors. This is to show that spirituality is not all about hanging about in church or sitting for meditation. Spirituality is about bringing mindfulness to everyday activities.
This week Im going to try this at work and see how I go. Oh and any other job I dislike.

Sunday drive

                     Sunday drive

For as long as I can remember my parents used to always go for drives, its a habit I would like to try and keep. To get out and enjoy life, every moment of it,

 We started out with the usual pancakes for breakfast , nothing fancy but they are yum and a Sunday morning tradition

 Nala miows and miows until she has her share, this cat has no manners

 The off we went to Daylesford it was quite a cool morning, check out Indias jumper it was a opp shop find this week and she loves it {always a bonus}

 The Daylesford market is held on the hill at the old railway station, the kids can go for a train ride, I really like this market is has a bit of everything. I forgot to take a photo of the roasted chesnuts I bought I had always wanted to try them, now I know why I havnt ugh, I didn't like them at all. Reminded me of floury potatoes.

 Not a great photo of the market

 Then of to Mt Franklin to the Chocolate Mill, oh this place is divine, unfortunately you cant take photos inside but they have chocolate making on display, their chocolate is divine.

 The strawbale building

 I was pretty lucky to get this photo as kids couldn't wait to eat them

 Oh I hate looking at this photo I wish I had bought more

 Tyler chose a spider at the cafe

 But India and I can never go past the white hot chocolate made with belguim chocolate , its the best I have ever tasted.

 Last night I taught Indy to crochet and on our drive she made this, we travelled onto Trentham I didn't get any photos as my camera was flat but will go back next week.

 Later in the afternoon we got a couple of guinea pigs ready to go to their new home, cute little girls they are.

 Finally I got to cook this Ive never tried it but this its dinner.

Roast pumpkin drizzled with honey cumin and coriander, cauli baked with cumin and coriander.
mixed salad leaves , chopped homegrown and pickled beetroot, roasted cashews, balsamic vinegar.
Fry onion, chilli,coriander,cumin, garlic then 1 cup quinoa, then 2 cups chicken stock.
Cook until all water is absorbed
Quite tasty, now I know what quinoa is like.

I forgot how much I love sailing

                                   Garage sale- ing that is

 I have not been to garage sales for ages I used to go every Saturday, I didn't quite get up as early as I wanted as the kids had sleep over, I usually like to get to them early but I was pretty happy considering I only went to a couple. The kids were happy I got Simpson comics for 10 cents each, we all love comic books.

 All up I spent $27.00 I bought quite a few garments which I will keep a couple and sell the rest they were only $ 3.00 per item

 A lovely platter Old English Johnson Brothers for $2.00 which my Dad informs me his mother had one like this.

 Two green Australian pottery Fowler Ware mixing bowls and a pyrex dish for $2.50 the lot so I was pretty happy with my morning

 So then I treated myself to a thornless blackberry bush for my vege garden

 I just wanted to post a picture of a garden in progress as Im the laziest gardener, this is my no dig garden it just has layers of cardboard, newspaper, horse poo, guinea pig bedding and its slowly taking shape

Picky was very impressed with my little Beatrix Potter book , oh I love her stories I bought this little book this morning for 10 cents to sit on my shelf with my collection of bunnies

He was that impressed he started to chew it. Pretty impossible to try make a cute little display with a naughty bunny.

A typical Friday

Early morning dew on my favourite rose bush.

Its 7 am and its still dark outside this is view from my balcony

The very last of my tomatoes Ive decided to make a nice hot spicy sauce consisting of
tomatoes ,apple,onion, garlic,salt , pepper, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice,apple cider vinegar, chilli,,grated ginger, cumin, turmeric. Once again no measurements but it tastes delish, nice and spicy.

Ok now Im ready to head of for Friday morning opp shopping with my nice warm vintage coat, I just love this one. Friday is my favourite morning for opp shops, all the little church opp shops are open.

 Back home after a morning of shopping and its feeding time at the zoo and cleaning cage day

 My new vege garden bed given to me by a friend I just have to fill it now

 Little miss Nala

 My poor effort of pumpkins this year I think I have 3 and this is the biggest

 Waratah seeds bought of ebay I have about 10 shooting , very slow growing

 Broad beans in the garden

 Neve in her pen waiting for Indy to come home from school and clean cages as she wants some pocket money.

 Picky going crazy in the pen next to Neve I usually let them free range around the yard but not together as they are male and female

 They quite love each other he has big plans

 of digging through to the other side to meet her

Have a good weekend xx