Strawberry fields forever!

Yes, it is that time of year again. The strawberry farms near us are all open for the public to go picking.

Georgia has been asking every week for the past couple of months if it is time.

Yes, it is time!

Georgia’s favourite food is

Strawberries!

This week I am going to share some of our strawberry recipes with you.

It is fun doing something every year at the same time, you get to see how much your kids have grown by looking at the photo’s.

  

Georgia, 2 years ago

      

Georgia, now.

I love walking around the strawberry fields.

The only problem is that I get so hungry looking at all the big, juicy strawberries!

There is nothing better than farm fresh food.

We are really lucky to live close to the city but also close to so many working farms.

So tell me, what is your favourite fruit?

Tea time

A few weeks ago, we had a birthday to attend & I had no idea what to get as a present. I searched the shops, I searched online & with 24 hours before the party, I figured it out!

I found this beautiful tea chest at our local shopping centre & I filled it with all different flavoured teas.

High teas are in fashion in a big way at the moment & I knew that the birthday lady was a lover of tea so this was the perfect gift.

I also brought a beautiful tea pot to go with it but unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it.

I have often given a beautiful tea cup with flavoured teas as a present.

I do love the idea of a tea chest as it is something that can be used forever.

I also brought one of these for myself as I have a serious addiction to tea! I don’t drink coffee, I drink tea!

I love when people come over & they are able to pick which flavour they want.

I love to set the table as though we are having our very own high tea. I love beautiful tablecloths & gorgeous tea cups.

I collect tea pots, vintage crochet tablecloths & I love to be able to use them.

This picture above is just the “everyday”collection!

Just a quick little note, I have seen that Aldi has similar tea chests in the brochure for next week!

Do you love tea too?

What is your favourite tea?

What I have been up to!

 

If you have been following on the Facebook Page, you will know 3 important things….

 

1. It is school holidays

2. It has rained for this whole first week of the school holidays

3. I have been passing the time trying to learn how to crochet!

 

 

 

Now, the first 2 things are not under my control. I am not a miracle worker even though my family thinks that I am! The 3rd thing is all I have left to conquer. Who knew that i would not be successful at something crafty! I think that is what is stressing me out the most. people expect me to be able to do everything but I can tell you that crocheting is doing my head in!

I know, there is so many of you that can do it & I am just not one of them!

I will not give up though.

Here is some examples of my work. Now keep in mind that I am following a pattern to make a square.

 

 

Yes, I can sort of crochet but it is driving me nuts that my squares are not square!

I even decided to freestyle & somehow I came up with a thimble.

 

 

Funny thing is that I was not trying to make a thimble!

But, I will not give up.

 

Lego + O.C.D can be a problem but I found the solution!

My girls are no longer little kids. They are now a tween & a teenager. The one toy that has stood the test of time is Lego. They no longer have many toys, they have packed them up or given them away. It was their choice. They have made room for all the gadgets & gizmos in their lives but 1 thing has stayed.

Lego!

I did find that it was getting forgotten about. It had been in a basket for quite some time & had not been touched.

Then it occurred to me. Georgia has OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) & finds Lego overwhelming. A big basket of it makes her nervous & she would just rather not touch it. Some people may not understand this. When she sees the colours all mixed together, she just walks away. It becomes all to hard.

How did I get her to overcome this?

I brought her a little storage system (ok, maybe not so little) so that she can have the colours organised, see it all & know that she can easily sort it all out when she is finished playing.

(That one red piece that is permanently stuck on the grey piece drives her insane!)

There is spare containers on top for when she doesn’t want to break up a special project.

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Even when she makes something, it has to be in “colours”.

I am finding ways to deal with her OCD that make life a little less stressful for her. Some people would just say that she needs to “overcome” it but it is what makes her, her. I love that she has her own little ways. It is what makes her unique.

Some times I will catch her saying that she is weird.

She will ask why she does things differently.

She will ask why do I have to do certain things.

I always tell her that I love who she is & I just try & make things less stressful for her.

When I see that she is counting her steps in her head, I do not interrupt.

When I see that she is struggling with something unfamiliar, I will ask what I can do to make it easier.

I want her to be able to come up with ways to embrace her uniqueness before she becomes an adult.

Storage ideas have been making a big difference for her. If everything has a place, then she is happy. If is doesn’t have a particular place, then it becomes a burden.

It is also helping me to become more organised.

 She is also helping the rest of the household to become organised.

If someone puts a bowl away in the wrong spot in the kitchen, she makes sure to let them know & will show them just where it should go. 

I believe that OCD can be a bonus if you know how to manage it.

Yes, I too have OCD & I wish that I had learnt the tools to living with it when I was young.

It has made me suffer from anxiety & people often mistake it for being a “control freak”.

Yes, my shoes are organised into colours, my wardrobe looks like it should be a shop & I have to wake up to a clean house or the rest of the day will be filled with panic.

I am also like her when it comes to not having a place for something. I often pile things up out of sight if there is no where to put it. Then the pile grows out of control. That then causes me to go on mad cleaning benders. It is such a vicious cycle.

But I am learning ways to cope & it is because I am helping Georgia to cope. We are helping each other.

OCD doesn’t have to be a bad thing…I mean what Mother wouldn’t want a child how organises Lego?

A vintage stationary suitcase

Ok, I have said it many times before, we live in a very little house. So small in fact that we do not have an area for a desk. It suits me though, because if I had to sit at a normal desk, I wouldn’t. I would never get anything done. So I have to come up with ideas that are completely portable so I can work where I am happy. One thing that I have come up with is a vintage suitcase that has become home to all of my stationary.

It holds all of my envelopes, writing paper, notebooks, tapes, cards, etc.

It is perfect because it is only 35cm x 35cm & 20cm high. It is very portable so I can take it outside on a sunny day to write letters or I can even take it into my bedroom to get things done before bed.

This suitcase started off it’s life as a grey, plain suitcase. But with a couple of coats of “Creation Blue” spray paint, some fabric & ribbon for the lining…. it now has a new lease on life.

Now I have somewhere to keep all of my special stationary!

I keep it under a small side table that I have behind my lounge. I also keep our picnic baskets there too. The draws are full of all of those annoying cords & chargers for the gazillion gadgets that we have.

I have another smaller vintage suitcase that I am going to turn into a sewing centre with all of my scissors, needles, pins, tapes, etc.

I really love vintage suitcases & I think that they have an endless amount of uses,

Do you have a quirky way of storing your stationary?

We are lost and it is not my fault!

Have you ever had one of those days when everything goes a little crazy?

On Saturday, our day went completely haywire!

We packed up the family into the 4wd & headed to the Sunshine Coast.

After only a couple of minutes I knew that nothing about that day was going to go to plan.

Mr P was driving. Maybe that was the first bad move.

After only 5 minutes driving, we ended up at the local racetrack.

We had to watch 10 minutes of the cars racing around the track before we could officially start our trip.

Hmmmm, detour number 1.

We headed off to pick up a gift voucher that I had won in a competition.

The office that I had to pick it up from was not open on Saturdays.

Hmmmmm, detour number 2.

Then we headed off to visit Mr P’s Mum.

Hmmmm, after playing on my phone for around 30 minutes or more, I looked up.

Yep, I had no idea where we were. Mr P had driven straight past the exit & just kept on driving!

I think that because he drives such long distances that he should not do the driving of a weekend.

But, he insisted.

We did however come across a castle.

Yes, it even has it’s own dinosaur!

We then came across the Cable Skiing

Hmmm, so that was detour 3 & 4.

We finally made it to lunch {1 hour late!}

Have you ever had one of those days when nothing goes to plan, everything is completely random but you will never forget how much fun it was?

P.S. Mr P is now banned from all weekend driving!

A night at the drive ins

Last night I took the girls to the drive ins!

They had never been & I had not been since I was a teenager. {yep, many moons ago!}

Thanks to Yatala Twin Drive In Theatre, I was one of 10 lucky people to win a car pass through their Facebook page.

So I packed the back of the Navara with all the blankets & pillows to prepare for a cold 8 degrees.

We stopped at the supermarket for supplies.

And we headed off for the adventure!

We grabbed some popcorn from the old style diner at the drive ins.

and settled in to watch the movie.

We saw the new animated movie brave.

Brave

It was a great movie! Better than I expected. It was perfect for my girls. It was animated but not really for the little kids. More aimed at tweens & teens. There were plenty of P plate drivers with their girlfriends on dates! Georgia chuckled the whole way through the movie which is so much better to do at the drive ins as when she chuckles, we all chuckle! She has a very infectious laugh.

I have to say that if you prepare yourself well, you will not be disappointed about going to the drive ins.

We took food, blankets, soft drinks, a flask or 2 of tea (for me!), plenty of pillows, jackets, hot water bottles & a battery operated radio.

It was awesome!

I think we will take Missy the Navara on another adventure to the drive ins again soon!

If you are looking for something to do on the school holidays, why not take the kids to the drive ins!

What colour is your front door? This is mine.

What colour is your front door?

This question got a rainbow of answers when I asked it on Facebook.

The reason that I asked it was because I had decided to repaint the front door to our home. I have done this many times & in many colours.

This is my newest colour choice.

I love it!

It is very calming, very blue & absolutely perfect for our home.

I believe that the front door of your home should represent what is inside your home.

Inside our home is very relaxed, very comfy & has a beach shack feel to it.

The colour that it was just did not suit at all.

 

It no longer matched the feel of our house. I don’t even know why I had painted it this colour. Maybe the paint was on special or something because I don’t even like dark green!

I needed a new sign for the door, something that told you what to expect when you walk inside.

I made this sign & framed it.

I think that it says it perfectly!

And yes, I had to have aqua on my door somewhere!

{I am addicted to the colour aqua! Yes Meli, I said it!}

I am really happy with the colour of the door & it makes me smile everytime I look at it.

I went looking on Pinterest for some more fabulous front doors.

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I love this pink colour!

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This whole front of the house looks awesome!

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Ahhh, now that is nice!

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That, is one classy front door!

So, I would love to know, what colour is your front door?

Wordless Wednesday

Baby it’s cold outside

Linking up with My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday