Wow! I won Rhonda Jean's Giveaway!

I could not believe my eyes when I read Rhonda's Down to Earth blog today and discovered that my name had been drawn out as a winner of one of her lovely stitcherys. I never win anything! I saw that it was Julie who was 3rd pick and then read Sharon's list of the winners and discovered it was little ol' me from Millicent SA. Yay! Thank you, Rhonda!

It has been a lovely day here, I think spring has arrived a little early..... well for today any way. Clear skies and sunshine - it's so nice to put clothes out on the line and be able to bring them in when I get home from work at 4pm. Lately, I've been hanging most things inside and tumbling our smalls.

I have walked nearly every weekday, right through winter with my friend, KP. Today was the first morning that I did not take my umbrella with me...there was not a cloud in the sky. The mornings are getting lighter as we set off at 6am, but in a months time Daylight Savings starts so we will put our clocks forward 1 hour so it will be a bit dark again. My husband A, thinks we are cracked in the head as we head off each morning, rain, hail or shine. I pick KP up one week then she picks me up the following week. We drive into town, park the car then do an circuit that takes us about 50 minutes, which is close to 5kms. We then go to the bakery and pick up fresh bread and rolls for our kids lunches.
If it is really pouring with rain, we walk up and down the main street of our town (George St), 4 times which takes about 50 minutes also. We are under the cover of the shop verandahs so we don't get very wet. So we basically walk about 25kms for the week.

Spring arrives on Monday, September 1st. I cannot think of a better time to start a 'Healthy Eating Plan' as KP and I decided to call it. It is not a diet, merely a change of eating habits where we will try to eat healthily where possible. For the last month, I have had a real hankering for pies, chips, baked spuds etc for lunch. Must be the cold weather.

I am going to start eating things like ham or beef or turkey salad sandwich/roll for lunch with a small tub of low fat yoghurt and a piece of fruit. My downfall is when I get home at 4pm so I need to have some things on hand to nibble. I am a cheese-a-holic! Give me a lump of cheddar and I will devour it like it is Belgium chocolate. I like pretzels, rice crackers, dried apricots, prunes and fresh fruit so I must get some of those to have on hand for snack-attacks. I have plenty of healthy cook books and have already started to use them.

I have the Annette Sym 'Symply Too Good To Be True 1-5' books. Annette substitutes sugars and fats and dairy with other ingredients to create amazingly delicious home cooking. Her books are ideal for weight watchers and diabetics. We tried her creamy garlic prawns the other night and they were yummy. My girls thought the sticky pork chops were great too. Practically anything you might cook, she has modified so it is low fat/carb/sugar. Her books are usually available at newsagents or I guess, google her name and it will lead you to her. Eventually, I will learn how to link such things. He he he!

Altogether, I have had a great day. Sunshine must work wonders on me. I visit The Pioneer Woman blog each day and her cooking and recipes are great, not to mention her photography. I have just made her Blueberry muffins (it's 6.15pm Friday night and I am alone in the house). Hubby, A is at work still, K17 went to work after coming home from school on the bus and B14 has gone to the movies/tea in Mt. G with her netball team for a break-up. I am having a wine and blogging!

Tomorrow, we travel to Robe for K17's B-grade netball second semi-final. If they win they go through to the grand final, if they lose they get another chance next week. Fingers crossed for a strong win. They finished on top of the ladder in the minor round. Apparently, good soaking rains are forecast for tomorrow and Sunday so it might be a water logged game, seeing we will be by the sea. Being the good mum I am, I usually do the score board for our home games but this week, they want me to do some statistics, eg. turnovers from centre passes and who got them, who rebounds and wins the ball from the oppositions goal end etc. Must have my eye on the game at all times... no pressure, ladies!

KP said she would make custard vanilla slice to take to the game so I had better save a few blueberry muffins as my offering. We gather around our car boots for coffee at half time, armed with our Thermos' and goodies.

Wish K17 luck for the game and also, she is applying for a summer job at the surf shop. 6-7 weeks of work where a town swells from about 500 population to about 5000 or more. She is off the uni next year so the money will be handy for her. More about that later.

Well, that's been my day, as I said before, it's been great and now I just have to master this blogging thing that I am trying to do. I hope to post more often that once a week, add photos and links to interesting things etc.

Stay happy,

Joolzmac

My first blog!

I've been reading lots of blogs from all over the world and thought I might give it a go. I am not sure if I have anything interesting to say but I welcome all visitors to this site.

We are nearing the end of our winter and I must say, I am looking forward to some spring weather. Here in the Lower South East of SA we get all four seasons. Our winters are usually cold, windy and wet. September brings Spring with longer, sunny days which meld into hot summer. We are not far from the coast so we get cooling breezes in the evenings. March brings Autumn and the temps starts to cool in preparation for winter again.

I have an area of garden at the back of our house and it is in much need of some tender loving care. We built our new house 4 years ago and the garden areas are still a work in progress. My husband, A is busy with our business 6 days a week so that only leaves Sundays for work around the house. I work in the business as well, so during the week gardening is pretty much out of the question. Keeping up with the laundry requirements of two girls, K17 and B14 is a job in itself.

I am proud to say I gave up smoking (cold turkey with the help of a hypnotist) in March this year and I used to spend a lot of time outside, poking around the garden and puffing away. Since giving up, I haven't paid much attention to the garden and it shows!! In the next few weekends, I must finish pruning a few of my carpet roses and the weeds, aaargh! It has been very cold and wet lately and weekends are spent going to netball of Saturday with my girls and catching up housework on Sundays.

I am in awe of some of the gardens I have seen on different blogs. I hope one day to have a garden worthy of taking photos of. In the mean time, I will plug away and keep it neat and low maintenance.

Cooking is something else I love and some of the recipes and photography of same that I have found on blogs are just phenomenal. Where do people find the time?

While we are not living very frugally at the moment, I love reading and collecting hints on how to live a simpler life. I know food does taste much better if it is cooked from scratch and my family do appreciate it more.

Well, I hope to welcome lots of people to my blog. I am still navigating my way around and don't yet know how to add photos etc so bear with me. Feel free to drop me a line to say G'day.

Regards,

Julie