Expensive week?

Spent money all over the place on all sorts of things in the last week!

A "new" bike cost me $250 plus $50 for the helmet I then needed. Mind you, the bike is about 6 months old and barely used and is almost $800 brand new for just the bike plus it has extras in the form of locking chain, lights and little carry bags for your goodies and the bike's repair/tool kit. With 27 gears I should be able to find a suitable range of speeds/torque to keep me fit :P.

I went away for the Easter long weekend to visit my daughter but the day before I left my mobile phone died :(. Purchased a new phone whilst visiting that cost me about twice as much as the bike. As I can't take a photo of it, as it is also my camera, it should last me at least 3-4 years compared to the under $100 talk/text/bit of internet varieties that I've owned previously.

Between the bike and the phone I have a lot of learning to do *roll eyes*.

Easter Saturday I surprised my eldest daughter with an early "cake" for her birthday.

         

The centre was also filled with chocolates and choc covered liquorice. If you fancy one of these, and live near the Junee Liquorice and Chocolate Factory , they are well worth it. Organic chocolate and liquorice in wonderful types and flavours. If you can't visit then you can always buy their boxed goodies online.

For someone who said she didn't eat chocolate or sweets very much my daughter managed to demolish this, mostly on her own, by the end of the long weekend :D.

I also bought myself a few things and the jar of choccies, below, which I shared amongst a few of the guys who "torment" me at the place I work. They're a good bunch and keep me alert with their humorous comments. Lucky my hair is already going grey though!

The weather is cooling off this week so I've ordered in a load of wood to burn in the wood stove but it won't be coming until after next payday.....thank goodness.

Cheers,

RobynLouise xo

Wonderful Weekend

Well it's Sunday night and I feel fine :D.

Yesterday I attended the gym and spent about an hour longer there than I usually do for my personal workout as I discussed some more exercises with 2 of the trainers, Chrissy and Megan, as well as free weight mass and best place to purchase barbells and weights for them. I really should buy a pushbike so that's on my "future" list. Won't hurt the fat border collie to run beside a bike instead of walking beside me.

When I left the gym I collected my car from the repairer and did my fortnightly shopping. I was very pleased to find most of my purchases at discount prices so saved about 20% on what I had budgeted :).

After I arrived home I made some pumpkin soup in the crockpot from a JAP pumpkin that I purchased from the CWA stall a couple of weeks ago using Julie's recipe. It is delicious!

 I also made some toilet bombs and they fizz nicely as they clean the toilet bowl :).

This morning I went to see a friend and we talked and had cuppas and then lunch. Afterwards I decided to drop into the park beside the river and go for a walk.

I cooked another Crock Pot Chicken  and seasoned it with soy sauce, ginger and lime and lemon pieces and it was ready around the same time this evening as Phil's Swedish Meatball recipe that I tried.

All of the above links can be found on the DTE forums and I love being a member!

Hoping everyone had as great a weekend as I did :D.

Cheers,
RobynLouise xo

Discover cont'd...

Discover cont'd...

Well,  in two months I've discovered that:

* I can be in a social environment but still be alone and it doesn't bother me. I don't  need  people in that respect. I can be happy with my own company.

* I really don't care what people think of what I say and what I do, any more, though I do try to respect the fact that there's some things you can't say/do in certain company....just to keep the peace.

* I wear what I like and if it bothers someone else it's their problem.

* I like to be healthy and fit and it gives me a real buzz to feel so great. I will  NEVER  be overweight and unhealthy again as I love what I can do when I'm in the physical condition I'm in now. It's not a case of mutton trying to be lamb, either, it's not being on medication, not having to see quacks all the time and being able to do almost anything physical I want without having to consider if it's going to put me in hospital. It's looking good too as if I am healthy I seem to "glow". I can't think of another word that describes how I look and feel.

* I've also finally realised that I don't need another person in my life to make me feel complete. If I come across someone in my journey, and we hit it off, then so be it. I think I've spent a lot of time in my life feeling that I should have a partner, because of the environment in which I was raised, but most of my successes have been because of what I did to achieve them myself.

* I need to be confident of what I can do and not let myself down. I am my own worst enemy.

That's a lot to find out about oneself in a couple of months and I think I know myself better now than I ever did, 

I might become my own best friend in time :D!

Cheers,

RobynLouise xo

New stuff

I've changed to a new header as I finally have a photo taken locally. Actually from just around the corner of outdoor smoko on one of the lines I clean. The joys of starting work when the sparrows are still stretching their wings :D!

A week ago I tried some new cooking as my sourdough starter needed to be used and I didn't have the time or energy to make bread. So I looked up a recipes for sourdough pancakes/crumpets and this is what followed:

I'm going to give this a few more tries as I added milk instead of water this time and I think that the consistency will be more crumpet-like if I use water. When I'm happy with it I'll invest in some proper crumpet rings instead of using the egg rings. Of course, after a couple of days there weren't any left as I had them with soup, topped with bacon and cheese and grilled and even spread with lemon, lime and ginger marmalade for breakfast as well as just toasted with butter. They are very convenient and tasty :).

I woke Tuesday morning to hear water running through the pipes, and I knew it was too early for the auto irrigation to come on, so I grabbed the first piece of clothing to hand and raced outside to turn off the meter, which was ticking over faster than the second hand on a clock! After contacting the Real Estate agent, and having one plumber try to find the problem and say he couldn't fix it till Thursday, another plumber was sent out to investigate. He spent quite a while trying to locate the area the problem originated in and then had to come back on Wednesday to find and fix the actual problem. It took the plumber and the apprentice most of the day as the broken pipe was under the cement path, which they had to cut through and remove, and then they had to dig out filler consisting of broken rock and glass bottles! The photo is of the nice new piece of piping they welded into the existing pipe. I'm soooooo glad I'm not the landlord as this will have cost a small fortune! 

The agent is going to have the water usage adjusted through the council so I won't have a horrific bill next time :). They were very helpful and nice about the whole situation. My rental inspection was also on Tuesday and the girl who came out was very impressed with how clean and tidy the place was. I didn't tell her it was mostly cleaned with bicarb and vinegar and a bit of home made soap!

After my busy, hectic start to this week I'm hoping for a relaxing weekend!

Cheers,

RobynLouise xo

Local

I'm settling in here now. If I walk into the local pub they know what beer I drink and what size glass I have and ask which flavour chips I'm having with it :). The bar staff know my name. The Chinese meals from the restaurant are tasty and good value and the take away serves are huge as I can have 2 big meals from a serve of main and a large fried rice. Lol, I'm trying not to indulge too much!!

Wandered across the above park to the little supermarket yesterday (Saturday) morning and bought a few things to fill out the stock in the pantry till I shop next week. These cost me $5 each, were a spur of the moment buy, and are locally produced. I've tried the prunes (yum) but have yet to broach the red wine vinegar, which is sealed with a cork :). Lunchtime salad today is when I'll find out what it tastes like. The prunes are grown and produced on a road a couple of blocks away, that the dog and I have walked along a few times, and the vinegar is made in the village next door, Bilbul (about 6kms SW), to the one I live in.

I only realised today that I didn't post photos of my local purchase of apricots back in January and my effort at drying them in the car. These are a kilo of apricots stoned and halved and ready to go in the back of the car. It worked fine except for the fact that on the second day the weather cooled off considerably and I had to finish them in the oven. They didn't quite dry out as much as I would have wished so had to be stored in a jar in the refrigerator. They tasted delicious and I will be trying this again next apricot season.

Considering all the scares with imported foodstuffs I will be trying to buy local whenever possible now even if I have to process fruit/veg myself so I can store it. It also tastes soooooo much better and all the nutrients wouldn't be lost in transit/storage :). I'm so lucky to be living in a rural area where so many foods are grown and produced. That reminds me I need another kilo of local pure honey!

Cheers,

RobynLouise xo