Motivated into organisation

I seem to have found a burst of organisational energy. After a slump (hence my lack of blog entries) I have been organising the house, clearing out, selling on eBay and sewing. We live in a small house and we really don’t have any room for junk or items which are no longer being used or which no one has any special attachment to anymore. Plus as kids get older, they don’t want board games and toys anymore, so onto eBay they go!

eBay winners

I have had lots of success selling everything but the board games! This trunk was a runaway success, selling for $100 more than I expected, and the canisters were popular too.

This duck is a collector’s item, I discovered, what a shame I broke the other two in the set! It sold for $40!! Just clearing out (MY) junk has earned me more than $400 in the past two weeks. And more to come.

Its making me feel so much lighter too, and not just in the physical sense. I’m also a list maker and I accomplish so much when I list the jobs to do. Plus if the jobs are written down, it’s so much more difficult to wriggle out of doing them. Frugal Down Under seems to be experiencing a similar feeling of motivation.

 Plus Im still taking photos.

This (De) cluttered life

We have embarked upon a serious de cluttering quest. Selling on Ebay, giving away, throwing away and gifting to clear the decks. And clear our heads.I really appreciate the link between physical and emotional baggage , the more junk I clear, the free-er I feel. Its like a black cloud is clearing.But it only works if you dont replace the old junk with new junk- de cluttering is not an excuse to re clutter. Clutter weighs us down in so many ways.
Read about the benefits of positive thinking and emotional de- cluttering here and enjoy reading about one woman's experiences with simplifying her life and helping those in need at the same time.

Im still playing with the camera, and I have found a new best friend- Picasa!

Happy snaps

An old home always provides inspiration for photos. I felt like playing with my new ( to me) camera today, and didn't need to look far for subject matter.

A happy camper enjoying a morning snooze ( albeit with one eye open!)

Pretty  Indian thingys swinging in the sunshine ( which has been absent around here for a week)

Green capsicums almost ready to eat

The ruby slippers ( there really is no place like home, Dorothy)

An Anna Chandler tile

A corner of the aforementioned old house

Yo Yo Biscuits......in the food processor!!

I always feel the urge to bake when the weather turns cool and rainy, and it’s been raining here in South East Queensland for the past week! Needless to say, lots of baking happening.

One of my pet hates when cooking is having  to cream butter and sugar. I am very impatient plus I hate using the mixer, big, heavy thing that it is, lugging it down from its high storage shelf. (Why doesn’t she store it on a lower shelf, I hear you ask? probably because that would solve (part of ) the problem, and I don’t really want to solve the creaming butter and sugar problem. I want to avoid it altogether.

So……….. a craving for Yo Yos, sent me to the recipe books in the quest for a Yo Yo mix which could be made in the food processor, quickly.

Here is a recipe I adapted from All Recipes and Taste

Butter and icing sugar go into processor

Process till it looks like this - about 2 mins

This is how it looks after the flour and custard powder have been added.

On the tray, rolled into balls and then flattened

The finished product with passionfruit icing in between ( minus the seeds)

I hate spy novels

I recently read a Daniel Silva novel featuring the Israeli spy, Gabriel Allon. I picked this novel up quite by accident (never having read anything by Silva before) because it was set in Europe and the plot involved European art- Old Masters to be precise. Now I’m hooked, totally. As you can see, I have a nice collection of Gabriel Allon tales to work my way through.

Now, I have absolutely no interest in James Bondish type spy stories- too much gadgetry and espionage for my liking, but the Israeli spy is quite different. Old fashioned sneaking around. And the art world setting is very complimentary to the narrative. An excellent fit.  I also love that Gabriel is a name filled with religious and historical symbolism and it is my youngest son’s middle name!

Daniel Silva also weaves tales of the Holocaust throughout his novels and his characters often borrow the stories of real people who experienced the Shoah. For excellent factual reading on the Holocaust, click here.  Silva also raises the issue of the involvement of the Vatican in aiding and re locating Nazi war criminals. It would be fascinating to get a look at the Vatican archives. Here is an interview with Ricardo Eichmann (son of Adolf) in which he explains his desire to create a life for himself far away from his father’s influence and that of the Eichmann name.

This duck's flying days are over!

I had a lovely set of three flying ducks. They were made by Beswick of England, but sadly over the years I managed to break two of them, so I have listed the third ( and smallest of the duck family ) on ebay so someone else can enjoy it. Until yesterday, the large one only had a broken wing, but now he has a broken neck to add to his injuries!

In the spirit of frugality and because I just couldnt bear to part with him, I have decided to recycle him as a mosaic.The colours are beautiful, bright and strong, even after so many years ( I think its about 60 years old). Watch this space for the re birth of this lucky duck!

Happiness is being a dog................

and being owned by one! My dogs bring me an endless amount of joy each day. I have always had a pet dog, ever since I was a small child and cant imagine life without one or two. This is Monty

He is always happy to pose for the camera and holds very still as if he knows what is required of him. And this is Sally

Very difficult to snap a pic of Sally not moving! Today is so wet and miserable that she found a comfy spot in the office and parked herself there for what will probably be the remainder of the day. Dog ownership has enormous benefits, both health and social, read more about it here. They are also a whole lot of fun!

The garden comes alive in the rain.

Take it from me, I'm not one to obsess about the weather, whether it be hot or cold, but the garden looks so alive and green during rain that I just had to snap a couple of pics. The rain is beautiful, especially on the tin roof, but living in Brisbane at this time of year brings back awful memories of the 2011 floods. I dont have much room to create the gardens I have had in years gone by, nor do I have the time to devote to gardening right now, so pots work well for me.

These huge tea cups are wonderful as you can move them around wherever you need some colour.

The pots seem to really benefit from a good downpour, more so than when I hand water them.

                                           A corner of the verandah, calming on a busy day.

Chocolate Chip Cookies- A perfect beginning.

What better topic for a first post than Choc Chip Cookies, my boys' favourite. I usually make these once every couple of weeks, and they dont last long around here!!

The recipe is super easy to make and comes from a wonderful compilation of tried and true recipes in the Federal State School cookbook 2003.

Aunty Jenny's Choc Chip Cookies

125g choc chips

125g butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

Add sugar to melted butter. Add vanilla, flour, choc chips and egg. Mix well. Spoon onto cookie tray and bake for 15-20 mins at 180 degrees celcius.

My boys like these chewy, so I take them out a little early, as they continue to cook on the trays.