Castle in the Mud

Today has essentially been a day of rest after a few long days at work. I work flexible hours and am able to accrue enough hours to have a day off each fortnight.

I did a load of washing which is now all dry and waiting for me to do the folding and also some ironing once I finish typing this. A friend came for lunch today and we sat out on the verandah surrounded by the garden and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I was also able to take her for a wander through the garden since she had not been here before. She went home laden with eggs and lemons from here. I think it is so important to share what you have and develop local connections and networks because in difficult times it will be through those networks that we are able to sustain each other. This afternoon I headed up to Maleny to do a bit of shopping and go to the library.

This evening I need to get myself organised and pack for the weekend. I may be able to write some posts while I am away but if not there will be an update early next week.

At least 2 of the ongoing themes which I mentioned on Monday have now been laid to rest.

I picked up my new computer glasses this afternoon. They will make my work which is almost all computer-based much easier.

The Japan Rail passes have all been purchased so I feel like things are really starting to move along in that regard. Just as well because we fly out in 4 weeks from Saturday.

Last night we went out to dinner with C, A and Baby O. It was A's 40th birthday today. We went to a local restaurant near their home and had a lovely meal. Baby O spent most of the time happily in the high chair, however, while we were waiting for dessert I took her for a walk as she was getting a bit restless. Even though she has only been walking for a few weeks she very determinedly marched up and down the footpath with me holding on firmly to her hand. She had a great interest toward the road and the neighbouring restaurant so most of my time was spent steering her in the direction in which I wanted her to go. Not an easy task!

I have a day off tomorrow so hope to get a bit of housework done, some meat and fruit and veg shopping as well as meal preparation for G for the weekend while I am in Melbourne. I will also need to pack tomorrow as I am leaving Friday afternoon straight from work and will not be home until Tuesday evening.

Here are the results for the rubbish for this week.

Week 8 - 169 grams

2009 total - 1339 grams (1.33kg)

That is all the news for today. We have been out for dinner tonight - very tired and off to bed. I will post more details tomorrow.

Since there is nothing new and exciting to report on today, here is an update on a few of the ongoing themes:

Baby O - no sign of chickenpox but she does have a sore throat and quite a nasty cough.

My new glasses for computer work - still no sign of them and it will be 2 weeks tomorrow. Hopefully they will put in an appearance very soon.

Exercise - I walk between the office and the railway station both morning and afternoon (total about 20 mins) plus climb 12 flights of stairs (4 flights x 3 times during the day). Today I also walked for about 25 mins at lunch time. I am hoping this will eventually equal increased fitness and some weight loss.

Japan Rail passes - hoping to purchase them tomorrow. I have all of the documentation - copies of passports and itineraries.

To set the scene: This afternoon G was cleaning out the gutter around the garage which is actually just below the level of the patio. The patio is essentially the top the garage roof - hard to explain! The clothes line which I routinely use is under the roof which covers part of the patio.

About 4 weeks ago I could not find a particular shirt and I turned the house upside down over a period of days. In desperation I even rang a motel where I had stayed during a trip in my previous job to see if I had left it there - no luck. I gave up and had no idea what had happened but I was not pleased as it was one that I had made.

Fast forward to this afternoon. G called me and neither of us could believe our eyes - out of the gutter he fished out my shirt!! It had obviously blown off the line, across the patio and got tangled in the gutter. The fabric was pure cotton and had already begun to decompose. The only thing to do was get my scissors, cut off the buttons and put the remainder of the cgarment in the compost. The buttons are now soaking in a container of soapy water and will get re-used at some time. Despite my disappointment now at least I know what happened and that I am not going completely mad.

Luckily, I did the washing and got it dry by lunchtime because by about 2pm it started to pour here and we have had about 30mm this afternoon. The underwear and socks are still slightly damp so I will put them in the drier for 5 minutes to finish them off. I have done all of the ironing from this week and most of what was previously in the basket - just a few more items to go.

I have done a menu plan for the week and am about to go and finsh doing some of the preparation of meals for later in the week so that dinner is not too late when we get home from work.

In response to Sharyn's comment, here is my Lemon Delicious recipe. It is a family favourite which has been made by my mother for as long as I can remember and now my daughter (who used to call it Lemon Dooo-lishus) makes it as well. I am not sure of the origin of the recipe (I will ask my mother) but it is great for when I have have an excess of both lemons and eggs.

Lemon Delicious

1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 lemon (juice and rind)
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

Cream the butter and sugar, add the flour. Stir in the lemon juice and grated lemon rind. Separate the eggs. Add the egg yolks and milk to the mixture. Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff. Add to the mixture and gently fold in. Pour into a greased ovenproof dish and bake standing in a pan of water (about 2cm deep) in a moderate oven for approximately 40 mins.

Serves 4

It is essentially a lemon self-saucing pudding. Serve hot or cold with cream or ice-cream.

Today I thawed out a meal of vegetable casserole. We were out for most of the day and when we got home G decided that was not really what he wanted for dinner. I then had a ferret around in the freezer and found 4 sausages. There was also 4 slices of a loaf of bought white bread which we never normally eat. The bread had been bought especially for the Summer Pudding I made for Christmas lunch and these were the leftovers. We both immediately 'knew'what we would have for dinner - a sausage sizzle! Sausages grilled on the George Foreman grill, topped with sauce and wrapped in buttered white bread. Not a particularly healthy offering but gosh it was yummy and great for an occasional meal.

As part of our renovation preparations we spent the day looking at kitchens in display homes. I now know what I don't want! We have got the general design done but wanted to look at finishes, appliances, door handles, laminex colours etc and I must admit the colours and finishes of most of the current trends leave me distinctly unimpressed although I did get a couple of ideas. I am going to look on the internet and also check out suppliers of taps, handles, laminex etc but I had thought it might be nice to see some of the kitchens 'in the flesh', so to speak.

The other thing I did this morning was mend the dog's bed. It is a metal frame with a cover made from shadecloth. Over a few years he has managed to gradually scratch and break the weave of the shadecloth and create a longtitudinal split of about 40cm. G was sure we would have to replace the cover as the dog was sagging lower and lower in his bed, however I decided that we should turn the cover over so that the split was on the underside. This did not improve matters much so I found about 7 cable ties and threaded one through the shadecloth on opposing sides of the middle of the split and pulled it tight. I then repeated this with the remaining cable ties so that they were positioned about every 5cm and pulled tight. This has mended the shadecloth quite satisfactorily. I had known what I wanted to achieve for a while but it was not until a couple of days ago that I read in a Grassroots magazine from the library about using cable ties to join shadecloth. I remembered that I had some ties and decided to give it a go.

After a short day at work today I had time to catch up on some jobs at home to give me a headstart to the weekend. I did a load of washing and prepared a yummy dinner. We had bunya-crusted chicken breast fillets. For the 2 of us I slice through the breast fillet to make 2 thin pieces then dip them in beaten egg and crumb with crushed bunya nuts before baking in the oven. I served them with seasoned, roast potatoes and salad. The egg, bunya nuts, cherry tomatoes and cucumber were from our own garden as well as more eggs and lemon for the Lemon Delicious I made for dessert.

I also took the dog to the vet for his annual check up and heart worm injection.

We had a bit of a storm late this afternoon but not a huge amount of rain. It is still very humid although supposed to be showery and somewhat cooler tomorrow.