Our Silver Anniversary...

September 20, 1986

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25 years on we are still in love...

SOMETHING THAT WE DO...

I remember well the day we wed
I can see that picture in my head
I still believe the words we said
Forever will ring true

Love is certain, love is kind
Love is yours and love is mine
But it isn't something that we find
It's something that we do

It's holding tight, lettin' go
It's flying high and laying low
Let your strongest feelings show
And your weakness, too

It's a little and a lot to ask
An endless and a welcome task
Love isn't something that we have
It's something that we do

We help to make each other all that we can be
Though we can find our strength and inspiration independently
The way we work together is what sets our love apart
So closely that you can't tell where I end and where you start

It gives me heart remembering how
We started with a simple vow
There's so much to look back on now
Still it feels brand-new

We're on a road that has no end
And each day we begin again
Love's not just something that we're in
It's something that we do

Love is wide, love is long
Love is deep and love is strong
Love is why I love this song
And I hope you love it too

I remember well the day we wed
I can see that picture in my head
Love isn't just those words we said
It's something that we do

There's no request too big or small
We give ourselves, we give our all
Love isn't someplace that we fall
It's something that we do
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Lyrics by Clint Black

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I will have limited internet access for a while so I will see you all soon - Joolz :)

Alan Jackson - Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning

Remembering a dark day...

Brianna's trip...

Okay, so this is my baby girl, Brianna. She's neary 18 years old. She wants to start a Bachelor of Nursing degree in 2012 after she graduates from school this year. She planned to drive to Adelaide (400 kms away) this weekend to attend a Uni of SA Health Sciences Open Day.

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She was going to drive one of these.
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But as is often the case in our business, things changed and there was a car to pick up at the other end so...
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... we stuck her on one of these this morning and she flew there. She had the keys to the car that was parked in the Airport car park. We gave her directions how to get to a vehicles auction place too so she had to go there first to check out some cars for Gus. Not bad for a country girl, navigating her way across town using a mud map drawn by her Dad! Oops, we did forget to give her keys to the unit but she went to where Kirby works and go a key from her. Phew!
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This is the Nursing unit she will visit tomorrow to see how things work.
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I think she'll make an excellent nurse and midwife. This is Bri with her new born little second cousin, Klaye.
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Of course, while in Adelaide, she and Kirby may visit Cold Rock Icecreamery...
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They have 3 cookie dough flavours now...
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Tonight they are having Indian for dinner at Beyond India
Then they are off to watch a movie.
~On Sunday, Bri will come home in a car like this - all by herself, for 400 kms. My apron strings are being tugged again!
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Added later: We are so proud of Bri for all she did this weekend.
We live in a small, country town so hopping on a plane by yourself, navigating your way off a plane at the airport then having to find a strange car parked in a huge car park then paying the parking ticket to get out then heading for an auction site for vehicles, inspecting those vehicles all over, reporting back to her Dad, then heading off across town to her sister's unit - it's no mean feat! She really enjoyed inspecting the nursing labs on Sunday and came home all excited about Nursing next year. She loved having a weekend with her sister all to herself too. She was quite exhausted after the 4+ hour drive home. Lovely to have her home too! xxx
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Joolz

Inventing a recipe...

I had a quick look at the recipes on the Barilla pasta site from yesterdays post. I think there was one there for Sausage and Fennell spaghetti. I thought, I can probably whip up a sausage pasta of some sort. We have had roasted cherry tomato and balsamic pasta before so I just combined that with the sausages and added the old chestnut - basil - and 'voila'!
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These cherry tomatoes are not the best, sweetest or ripest for the job but it was all I could get. Imagine home grown, ripe, red ones! I oven roasted them for about 40 minutes at 200C. I also added a couple of cloves of garlic, sliced and drizzled the tomatoes with a little olive oil.
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This basil was a joke also! Just have a look at the huge, over grown leaf, compared to the size of the spice jar! Ridiculous! Basil should have young, small, glossy and tender leaves. Here comes a rant! We have a herb farm about 15kms from our town. They grow all manner of hydroponic herbs and sell to Woolworths. Our Woolworths does not get HollaFresh herbs - ours come from Sydney or Melbourne! How crazy is that???
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Anyhoo - I bought some 'cracked pepper and garlic' beef sausages (gourmet?) and snipped them up and tossed them in the fry pan.
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I got my pasta on boiling at this stage because it will come together quickly. Fry off the sausages with 2 shallots added.
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Quick and easy meatballs. When they are cooked, drain any excess fat from the pan.
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The tomatoes shrivel up but retain their juices.
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This is my favourite balsamic vinegar - I use it on any cold meat like most people use tomato sauce. I love the stuff!

Okay - drain the pasta - add it to the sausages, add in the tomatoes and garlic, toss in the torn basil leaves.
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Drizzle with a little olive oil, add cracked pepper and salt to taste and 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar.
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Serve it up and grate some good parmesan cheese over the top (you could put a little bit through the pasta too). All in all, a very nice dish. I will hunt around for some tastier sausages next time but it's in my recipe file as a keeper. Cheap too!
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Cheers - Joolz

Beef Cannelloni...

I have had a couple of requests to share this recipe which I made up - I hope you like it.
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Beef Cannelloni
500 gms lean beef mince
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 big cup of mushrooms, sliced/chopped
1 tspn beef stock powder dissolved in 1/2 cup water
1 large jar of your favourite pasta sauce
(I like Bertolli sauces personally as the flavour is very good)
1/2 cup light cream
salt & pepper to taste
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1. Saute onions and garlic in 2 tspns olive oil until just soft. Add in minced beef and brown off.
2. Add in the mushrooms (you could also add grated carrot & zucchini to hide veggies!)
3. Add about 1/3 of the jar of sauce and the beef stock liquid. Stir in and let cook about 2 minutes.
4. Add the cream and stir through. Remove from heat and let the mixture cool down a bit.
5. I use the dry cannelloni tubes but you could use fresh lasagne sheets and roll them up.
(Barilla are good and the site has some yummy looking recipes)
Once cooled, I use this method to fill the tubes here. (bonus cannelloni recipe too)
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Place the stuffed tubes in a baking dish/lasagne dish. Add about 1/2 cup of water to the remaining pasta sauce then pour over the cannelloni. The extra water is needed to soften the shells as they cook. Top with grated low fat cheese, cover with foil and bake about 40 minutes at 180C. Remove foil and brown cheese topping a further 1o minutes. Test with skewer to make sure pasta is tender.
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Serve with side salad and garlic bread if you like.
Enjoy!
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Welcome to Sue (time to start that blog up again, girl!)- I hope you like the recipe - and I'd love to hear more about your weight loss journey and busy life with those grandies! I have my fingers crossed that a SA Weight Watchers group are starting up in my town soon so I will be one of the first there, banging the door down to let me in!
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...and in news just in... have a look what I have just done while stacking the dishwasher.
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Glass everywhere!
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I knocked a drinking glass off over the kitchen bar and KAZSHING! It went off like a bomb! Time to get the vacuum cleaner out, grrrr!
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Catch you all later,
Joolz :)

A rude awakening...

I had just got up ahead of my 6.30am alarm when I heard a few quick spatters on the roof then...

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... down it came! A very quick, heavy shower of hail.
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I must be loony - out the front of our house at 6.30am in my summer pyjamas, taking pictures!
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Isn't it odd how these 2 silver birch trees have not sprouted at the same time? One has nearly all it's leaves and the other is still dormant.
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You can see we had an awful lot of hail ...
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This is the closest we ever get to the big freeze, folks!
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I thought I could put away my winter shoes and had broken out the summer sandals (we call them slides - and hey did I tell you that I bought these ON SALE for HALF PRICE! That never happens to me! This style is not being repeated this summer so the store had this one pair out on sale - in MY SIZE!) but I will be back in winter trousers, shoes and socks again today. Glurg!
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Have a happy one
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Cheers - Joolz

Flowers for Dad...

Nothing can ever take away
The love a heart holds dear.
Fond memories linger every day

Remembrance keeps him near.

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Missing you today and always, dear Dad.
(05/01/1928 - 02/04/1989)
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Love - Julie

Saturday at home...

We've had a lovely warm, North windy day here perfect for drying laundry. I put these shirts out and half an hour later they were totally dry.

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Outback Tania asked how we hang our washing (as opposed to our spouses or children doing it)? This is how I peg out shirts. When they are dry I put them straight on hangers and they go away in the wardrobe until one needs to be ironed.
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This is my beef cannelloni that I made Friday night.

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A simple dinner with salad and garlic bread. I added the first mango of the season to the salad (along with some Craisins). That bloody mango cost me $4.98 but it made the salad that much more yummy and there's still half left.
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This is Bonnie, smuggling out a pouch of her cat food from the pantry. I let her in each night, we grab a packet and then she gets locked in the garage for the night. She doesn't look that impressed!
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Nor was I when I found her on my car!
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Bri and I watched Sense & Sensibility this afternoon. I think it will help me plough through the novel as I now have a feel for the story line and the characters. I said 'think' ....
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... and seeing this was the other film in the double feature CD we watched Little Women too! A lovely afternoon spent watching the classics, I did some more laundry and ironing too so it was quite productive!
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This is my lovely pile of ' HOLIDAY CLOTHES!!!! ' - shorts and T-shirts to be exact! We are heading for sunnier and much warmer climes! Can't wait for that!
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Cheers - Joolz

Spring at last! ...

(web pic)
Today is the first day of Spring in Australia (Southern Hemisphere) and it looks like it will be a beauty! We have clear skies and sunshine today after a bit of cloud (although it is still chilly with an expected top of 17C)
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A good deed is never lost -
He who sows courtesy
reaps friendship and he
who plants kindness
gathers love.
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Cheers - Joolz