I baked a cake!

I have tried and failed more times than I know to make a decent sponge. One that doesn't look like a pancake. Today I have succeeded. It is amazing. Hope the Birthday boy appreciates it.

Still pottering around.

The inmates seem to have settled down a little bit although they are constantly hanging around the outside doors looking for any opportunity to get back outside. That little taste of freedom has made them hungry for more. Only one more week and their mother will be home to break them out of here.

After living with my green kitchen for a couple of days I pulled the paint and brushes out again and moved into the lounge room, still loving the colour enough to do the hall as well. That's it for a while I think. There is only so much painting a person can do.

Not content to have most of the muscles in my body groaning from going up and down a ladder and waving a paintbrush around, I decided to push things a little further and get stuck into the herb garden and give it a tidy up. I had barely finished when my friend Caitlin arrived with all of her pot plants. She is moving very soon and I am babysitting her plants until she is settled. We popped most of them around the herb garden but I think one or two may have to find a shadier spot to live.

I seem to be the one to come to when ever something needs looking after, whether it is cats, pot plants  or a push bike. Yes I am looking after one of them for someone until he decides what to do with it.

This morning I tidied along the rose garden and cleared the grass growing up the centre of the drive. I have definitely tested out pretty much every muscle I possess now. There is lots more to do in the garden but I think I need to have a break or I'll be walking around bent over like a little old lady and that's not a good look. A few days of study ahead and then maybe back into it again. 

There are days I wonder why on earth I have such a large garden but when it is all tidied up and the lawns are mowed it does look pretty special. I think I might just sneak off and have a little nanna nap before doing anything else. 

The great escape

So the escape plan was hatched and it was only a matter of time before the warden was otherwise occupied so it could be put into action. Red, a long time inmate managed to get inside the prison where the two desperate inmates were being kept. He was well known for his strength but not so much for his cunning. Finally the day arrived, The Warden was showering, and M and R (Machicho and Rev the dogs) the guards were still sleeping.

Red (AKA Fred)

 Red used all the strength he had to bash open the back door of the prison and the two inmates (known only as A & P) made good their escape.

Prisoner A

The Warden was pissed  off not very impressed to say the least when she came out of the bathroom to find the back door of the Prison wide open and A & P gone. She knew full well who they had convinced to break down the door and he was in for the beating of his life. (more like a tongue lashing until he looked up with his huge sad eyes with no idea of what he had done) 

Prisoner P

She glimpsed P as she ran under the house but there was no sign of A. After a quick search A was found in his old haunts. Long term prisoners aren't that smart really. He was quickly apprehended and re incarcerated. Prisoner P was harder, she hid under the prison block and thinking she was smart ran into the shed where the prison vehicles are kept. Once the doors were shut she had nowhere to go and eventually was apprehended as well.

Unfortunately prisoner A learnt quickly (for a change) that head butting the back door of the prison would eventually lead to freedom. Extra locks have been installed (nail in door frame and wire around handle) and he is now prowling the prison desperate to taste freedom once more.

Hopefully he will settle down this afternoon and doesn't stage a 24 hour protest as he did yesterday.

Spontaneous

spontaneous

adjective

1. 1.

   performed or occurring as a result of a sudden impulse or inclination and without premeditation or external stimulus.

   
   

   I used to be like that once. Gradually spontaneity tends to slip away as you become a 'responsible' adult with children to consider. But I haven't lost the ability. It was still there tucked away waiting to be set free.

We have lived in this house for over 30 years more or less.  For all those years I have stuck to painting the walls  neutral and adding colour with all the bits and pieces in the house. Practical and boring.  Every Spring I drag out the ladder and buckets and give the walls a good scrub. Wood fires tend to make everything just a bit grotty.

After the Market on Saturday morning I got stuck into washing the kitchen ceiling and walls. It took hours and I stood back to admire my nice clean kitchen .....and couldn't see any difference in most of them!!

OK, so maybe I could just paint the bits of walls nearer the stove, tidy them up a bit and make a feature wall? I found a tin of paint in the shed I had bought for something and never used so I painted the bits of wall nearest the stove and it made such a difference. Mmmmm  well maybe I would just paint one more.? 

Well one wall led to another which led to a quick dash into town for another tin of paint (hopefully I could get the same colour) and  at 3.30 Sunday afternoon I once again stood back to admire my nice clean kitchen and was amazed.  I was a bit nervous when Ross came in the door and saw it for the first time, no need for worry though because he thinks I should continue on and do the rest of the house the same colour. 

Not for a day or two I think. Need to hit the books for the next couple of days but Thursday we have no power from 9 - 4 so who knows what I may get up to.

Been a while, hasn't it?

Its been a month since I managed to get myself organised to get something on to my blog. Like my friend Pam said on a recent post : "I figure one really does need to have something mildly interesting to report on ........"

Some of the Blogs I visit are very prolific and most days have something posted to them but that isn't me. No pondering on the state of the world at large or in my community, the most interesting thing that goes through my brain at the moment is related to what we are going to eat for dinner or, "Do I debit or credit an asset account when I do that?"  

I have got the vegie garden almost in and spend quite a bit of time covering and uncovering because we are still having the odd frost now and then. I had to get things in the ground though because punnets of seedlings start to get a little restless if left too long. They just run out of room!!!

The Bookkeeping course is coming along but there are days when I just throw my hands in the air and walk away. Not sure if it is actually the course or just sitting on my bum at the computer for hours on end. Probably a reason why my blog has been neglected as well.I spend a lot of time in the garden tidying and mowing.  I think it is my excuse to get up from the computer and move around a little bit. I had a whole day out in the paddock getting wood last weekend. My neighbour very generously gave me a huge limb which is now sitting in my woodshed ready for next winter.

The grand kids are here for a couple of weeks as well while my daughter is off gallivanting around New Zealand again. This time there are three of them driving around and planning their own tour. Last I heard she was sleeping in a forest retreat and going on a helicopter flight. It's such a hard life for the young these days.

Poe is my daughter's new baby, a tiny little black bundle of sweetness.  Poe is having a lovely adventure exploring everything and making friends with all who cross her path. She is still a little unsure about the dogs and gives them a quiet hello and moves on very quickly.

And of course Atticus is back. I couldn't get a decent photo today because he had been waiting for Fred, then Poe to finish eating so he could have a turn. I did remind him that there were two other bowls of pellets but for some reason they all like to eat from this one.
Yesterday it was 30 degrees and extremely humid. I started my spring cleaning by washing the ceiling and walls in the bathroom. I always start on the smallest room and work my way up and thank god I did!
Today it is cool, overcast and much better weather for manual labor if I muster the energy to do any more. Having a combustion stove and wood heater means everything gets very grotty over the winter.
Well I had better get off this thing and get organized. You know how I said it has been a month since I was here last,  it is the Farmers Market again this morning and I think I will go for a wander and see what I can find there today. Maybe more bread or some more plants for the garden??

LATER.....

So I've been for a wander around the Market and have come home with Spinach and Feta bread and some lovely rhubarb. Mum used to give us stewed rhubarb and custard for dessert when we were little and I am remembering how much I liked it although I'm not making the custard.