End of December 2017 photo dump...

As you know, Christmas day was a sad day for us as my mum passed away but we did have a nice few days up until that point...

Barbecued lamb...

~

The chef in his spotted pinny! 

The cutest registered nurse you’ll ever see - she did 4 night shifts straight, over the Christmas weekend.  She’d brighten up any ward! 😘

I gave Gus a BBQ Smoker...

Haha! This pair (in Michael’s newly built home) - she bought him a drone and he bought her an R2D2 robot.  Tech nerds!

The look on Michael’s face was like an 8 year old boy! So happy!

We dined out for our Christmas lunch, just the four of us...

Back home after lunch, I iced the shortbread biscuits that had taken so long to finish.  I made the dough on the Sunday, a week before Christmas.  Mum got more unwell so baking was put off.  I baked them on the Wednesday before Christmas but didn’t ice them...

So they got the royal icing treatment and I threw coloured sugar, sugar balls and other Christmas crap at them...

...and they turned out perfect!  Delicious too...

Hot spinach dip in cob loaf....

We returned home on Boxing Day and I was thankful that I hadn’t put up my tree this year.  I pulled down the few ornaments I had around the place. Job done.  Back to work on Tuesday for a bit.  The staff sent this lovely bowl of flowers.  It is in a ceramic pot and saucer that I can plant more succulents in....

Kirby and Nate arrived home on Wednesday and it was a warm day so we did Weber pizzas that night and sat around the fire when the night cooled off.

....to be cont...

Busy week...

Ugh, we’re in for a sticky day here...it’s hot and windy outside already and I think there’s rain coming.

I was given some rhubarb by a client so I shared half with a staff member and stewed the rest.  

It stewed up beautifully, a lovely bright red colour.  I sweetened it just a bit with sugar. I have frozen it to make apple and rhubarb crumble or pies later.

Corn on the cob was out for .99c a cob so I grabbed 4 to pop in the freezer.  Much better than corn which has been canned overseas. 

I have discovered these little cans of sparkling water which taste like sparkling water but have a hint of lime. Very refreshing!

This morning, I made a banana, frozen blueberry (I froze several punnets that I got for $1.99 on special - they’re normally $3-5/punnet), medjool date, organic cacao, skim milk smoothie. Delicious!

That has got to be good for you!

Ominous clouds heralding a windy, dusty, muggy, messy day.  There’ll be lots of sweeping to do later!  Our lawns are looking lush - it’s amazing what working pop up sprinklers will do!  We had several that were broken and the grass was dead in patches.  We paid for a guy to come and repair them and hey presto! Green grass!  If you stand there long enough, you can watch it growing!

I hope you are able to stay cool today, wherever you are.  I can’t wait for the weekend - to set up that Vegepod!  I have bought beetroot, strawberries,  green peas and lebanese cucumbers.  I realise the peas and cukes may take over but it’s all about learning what’s good and how long it takes from planting to harvest.  I will also sow carrot seeds...

Cheers - Joolz xx

First homemade for 2018...

I’m adding a list in my side bar for handmade or homemade things I produce. It will be interesting to see how big the list is by the end of the year.

First up, a batch of pickled beetroot. It was reasonably priced at my local Foodland so I bought 8-9 and boiled then pickled them last night.

Rhonda’s Down to Earth Pickled Beetroot recipe

I do add more sugar for a sweeter pickle but I love the mix of celery seeds, mustard seeds and pepper for the spices.

Our staff gave us a Vegepod (like the one pictured above) for Christmas so this coming weekend, I’ll be setting it up and planting a few things. I need to read up on what’s in season.  I’d love to grow my own beetroot and carrots and of course some tomatoes.  Apparently, the dwarf varieties are best so the plants don’t get too big - Tiny Toms cherry tomatoes...

Stay tuned for that! 

Cheers - Joolz xx

Sister Christmas presents...

Each year, my 4 sisters and I exchange gifts.

This was our directive from last Christmas for 2017...

I had the hard task of finding a bottle of wine or drink starting with J.  I scoured Dan Murphy’s aisles then I came across this bottle of Juliet Moscato.  I stuck a gold star on the bottle over the t and voila - Julie moscato! Each sister received a personalised glass too.

Leanne made this Limoncello herself, but used an original labelled bottle. I can’t wait to try it!  The glass was purchased from an Op shop in Minyip for 50c! 😊

Sue chose Santa Julia for me and personalised the glass...

I love Janine’s wonky, tipsy glass and her clever disguise of this Omni sparkling wine! 

Marilyn gave me Moscato and this huge glass - not sure that I’m game to use it, there might be a hangover on the end of that one!

Here is our directions for Christmas 2018 - green, eco friendly, recyclable - better get my thinking cap on!

Brianna was my Kris Kringle and she gave me this lovely Mimco pouch, Aēsop hand cream and a few samples too. Love it!

My beloved spoiled me and bought me this beautiful pendant from Tiffany! 

Very spoiled, I am!

So that’s our sister presents for another year.  Do you do anything like that with your family...or Kris Kringle?

Cheers - Joolz xx

Exciting news!

Kirby’s boyfriend, Nate, popped the question on Saturday, December 30, 2017! Woohoo! We are thrilled to welcome Nate into our family. 

He chose a lovely, elegant pear cut solitaire setting for the engagement ring 💍 

Wedding plans are underway, trying to secure a venue for March 2019.

☺️

Cheers - Joolz xx

Last hurrah...

... before Kirby goes home (Nurse Brianna went home Thursday).  It has been an absolute tonic having our girls home.  We had 5 days at the beach in a nice rental but sadly, that was punctuated with Mum’s funeral.  We did, however, get some very good news which I’ll do a seperate post on! 

~

 It was a warm day here yesterday so we planned to have barbecued chicken for dinner.  The benefits of having an adult daughter (with a passion for food , like me) is that she will shop for the food, research recipes then prepare the food.  She also sets a pretty table.  Score!

She chose to make

Marinated butterflied chicken

which was delicious!  It marinated all day.

We had apple and walnut salad with an orange dressing, sweet potato oven fried chips (cooked in my broken fan-forced oven - that’s a whole other story!) and Mexican street corn.

Yummo!

Such a nice evening! 

Cheers - Joolz xx

Losing my mum...

My apologies if you read this post on Wednesday, unfortunately, I lost all the text so I will try and write the post again....

Our dear mother passed away on Christmas Day, in the early evening, at Boneham Aged Care in Millicent.

She had some sort of episode (heart related ?) on December 7th and grew weaker with each day.  Mum had Alzheimer's so the progression was rather fast, in her last week being kept comfortable in bed with pain meds for back and leg pain.  She received such wonderful attention from the caring staff, many telling us how they loved her and her cheeky ways.

After Christmas, we five girls had a funeral to plan and this was held on Tuesday, 2nd January.   We chose a couple of readings, planned the eulogy, chose an elegant white coffin with gold handles and ordered 'the best pink roses and other flowers' for the coffin spray.  How beautiful they were!

We had to decide on songs for the opening of the service, reflection time and when flowers were cast at the conclusion.

We chose

I Can See Clearly Now - Anne Murray

Beautiful in My Eyes - Joshua Kadison

Somewhere Over The Rainbow - Judy Garland

You Are My Sunshine - Anne Murray (my dad always whistled this song)

A morning tea was served at our local Community Club and it was nice to see a few of her old friends there, people who have been a constant in her life, going right back to when she was first married in 1950 and settled in Mt McIntyre.  Her younger brother, aged 85, drove over from Melbourne with his wife and gave a beautiful reading, of happy times during their childhood.

 

Dorothy Jean Bridges (nee Turner)
23-04-1930 ~ 25/12/2017
Aged 87 years

Dearly loved wife of Tom (dec.)

Loving mother and mother-in-law of
Marilyn & Brentley Thomas
Janine & Rick Sims
Susan Kenny
Leanne and Snow Gould
Julie & Angus McDonald

Loved Nana B of
Kirste & Melanie
Heath & Ben
Jeremy, Adam & Bianca
Jane (dec.)
Kirby & Brianna
and their partners.

Loved Gran Nan of
Tayla, Josh, Blake & Jett
Saige, Kobe, Cruz & Jaga
Mitchell & Jed
Sapphire, Brodi & Arlie
Rylee, Cash & Klaye
Nathan, Kaiden & Jake
Brax & Tex

Reunited with her beloved Tom, after 28 years...


~

Until we meet again, dear Mum...

Those special memories of you

will always bring a smile.

If only we could have you back,

for just a little while.

Then we could sit and talk again

just like we used to do.

You always meant so much to us

and always will do, too.

The fact that you're no longer here,

will always cause us pain

But you're forever in our hearts,

until we meet again...

~

 

What beautiful memories you've left behind...

~

We miss you xx