Around here - 2nd August, 2025

I've had a very exciting week selecting a brand new sewing machine which was on a 50% off sale at Janomi which meant it was time to sort out the spare room.  In less than 2 weeks I have been in my new townhouse for a year after downsizing from my 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom and 2 livingn areas.  My current spare room looks exactly the same now as the day the boxes were put in there nearly a year ago.  I had boxes of books, photo albums and picture frames an unless there was some sort of storage system there was no point emptying the boxes.  In my last house these things were housed in a big bookcase and tV unit of which I no longer have these pieces of furniture due to space.

Two things happen to coincoide last week and that was my friend is moving house and I was buying a new sewing machine.  I wanted to turn the spare room into my sewing room and also give her some boxes so she could pack up her unit.  I have an Ikea bookcase in the garage which I want to put into the wardrobe however it's 10cm too high as there is a bracket which I need to do a bit of sawing on so it will fit and then it will give me lots of storage for my books and photo albums etc.  The bracket will remain in the cupboard but I'll take out a little piece at the bottom so the bookshelf will fit in there.  Below is my new sewing machine which is very exciting.

I also got all my framed cross stitches out and two tapesties and it was the perfect place to hang them.  My first framed cross stitches were in 1988 and I continued cross stitching for years and I had a post war house and they suited the decor.  Fast forward to 2006 when Sienna was born and then we built a modern house and they didn't really go so they sat in boxes.  Then moved to my next house and I think they were still in bubble wrap away and over the last few years I had a few of them on the wall but most still away.  Now I have a dedicated sewing room it was time to hang them all up and I'm thrilled with them.  My eyesight isn't as good as it was back then when I progressed from Aida to linen which I loved.  I've come the full circle everything old is new again and even though I'm in a modern townhouse my sewing room is the perfect place for all of my craft to hang up.

The photo below shows that the room is still a work in progress hence the ladder and other frames on the floor but this is real life not every picture will be perfect.  

These two cross stitches were done in 1988 on Aida.

My friend who is moving also bought herself a Janomi sewing machine as well.  Her's is a basic model, and mine is a fancier machine as it's good for quilting and has a has a bigger "throat" section.  This is a term I didn't actually know of however it's the distance from the needle to the right of the machine which allows a bigger gap for your rolled up quilt to fit.  My original sewing machine is an Elna and would have to be at least 35 years old and even though I got it serviced last December I never got into quilting my quilt tops because it's a small machine and hard to bunch a big quilt in the space.  I took advantage of the Janomi sale and got the machine which will do me for the next 30 years.  It's so lovely and quiet and it's also computerized so all you need to do is tell it which stitch number you want and it changes the settings for you.  It also can embroider your name etc. which is very cool.

This all came together when I was seeing little "toddler" pants on IG and my niece in Perth is having her 2nd baby this week and found a reversable baby shoe that I wanted to make.  The pattern is here if you are interested.  As for the toddler pants I actually bought a couple of patterns but ended up making this pattern by a New Zealand Mum.  This is the "Picnic Pants" by Danni Rose Designs and here is her pattern.

The other ones I bought was "The Drew Pants"  and here is the link to the Pattern.  Both very cute patterns.

You can print the pattern pieces at home and the first step is to print the first page of the pattern printed at 100% [ie do not use "fit to page" in your print selection] then make sure the box on the front is measuring correct.  For the Picnic Pants as it's in NZ it was a 5cm x 5cm box and if that measures correctly when printed your pattern pieces will be correct.  The pattern comes will all the sizes and the instruction booklet tells you how to open in Adobe Reader and turn off the other sizes so you can just print the size you need.  I printed the pattern pieces out on A4 and then you match the symbols up and then cut out your large pattern pieces.  For the Picnic Pants you cut out 2 x fronts, 2 x backs, 2 by pockets and 1 waist band folded at the seam.  You will need 1 metre of 140cm wide fabric for Size 3.

With the Drew Pants as it's either USA/Canadian their paper type is Letter so when I printed on my A4 printer it was missing the top of the pattern and symbols so I'll have to get it printed at Office Works on the AO size so to start with I ended up doing the picnic pants.  The box on the front is a 1 inch square box to check your print size properly.

Here's the fabric which I got from Spotlight on sale for 3 pairs of pants for my nieces 3 year old and then I've got blue fabric for the baby slippers which has ships and fish as they live near the beach and it was the only fabric I found in blue that had a tiny print on it as the shoes are so tiny.

Last night I was keen to get going and cut out all the pieces and started sewing and then my cotton came out of my needle and I couldn't work out how to get it back in.  The machine has an automatic needle threader so it needs to be hooked around certain things and then you press the button down and it threads the needle [great for my old eyes ha ha] however I just couldn't work out what I was doing wrong so I called it a night and thought I would look with fresh eyes this morning.  I'm going to make 3 pairs of pants/trousers for my nieces 3 year old but thought I would make one pair first and send it over to make sure it's the right size then make the other two.  Once I make the first pair of pants I'll make the reversible baby shoes size 0-3 months which apparently take 2 hours.   Once you have the pattern pieces cut out for the Picnic Pants apparently they take about 30 minutes.  Regardless of that, even if you doubled the time it's still an easy project to do one afternoon and very cute.

I never made my kids clothes but I did make them both a quilt each here and here which they loved.  This was when I gave it to Sienna for her birthday and she was thrilled.

I'm excited to get back into this sewing hobby and having a new machine certainly makes it easier.  They have free lessons as many as you want and you just need to book in and turn up with your machine.  Do you have any great sewing patterns you are into at the moment, let me know.

Around Here - 22nd July, 2026

Hard to believe we are nearly at the end of July and only 5 months until 2027.  Nothing too exciting happening around here as the weeks seem to be the same and then on Sunday I spend with my family taking our Mum out for lunch as she is in aged care.  Getting old doesn't seem much fun in my opinion and as I'm 63 in September I need to be focusing more on health and longivity myself.

I've had a DEXA scan in 2023, 2024 and 2026 and surprizingly it says my bones are at high risk of fracture. DEXA scans can be up to $300 however I found a local place that does it for $90 and this is where the top footballers go so they are reptuable.  My muscles are good but body fat is not good [no surprize there] so it's time I stop burying my head in the sand and look after myself.  In 2017 I joined Sam Wood 28 program and lost about 16kgs and due to stresses in my personal life ended up gradually putting all that weight back on.  Then in December 2021 I did a 21 day no chocolate challenge for myself to stop that habit and then joined Weight Watchers and again lost 16kgs only to eventually put that back on again.

So here we are in 2026 and if not now, when?  I did rejoin the Sam Wood 28 Menopause Program in February and then I injured my shoulder with a 3mm tear so didn't do any exercises.  I have been going to the physio recently and it's getting better but it's still not great so this week I actually and a workout and it feels good to be back.  The recipes in the program are great and I need to get excited about cooking again.  It's funny when I meal planned each week for the 3 of us it seemed easier to cook for my family but as it's just me it doesn't seem as fulfilling.  I also cooked up a Sam Wood Brownie recipe made out of chickpeas which I can say is 10/10. I've cut it up into 18 little pieces so when I want a chocolate fix I know it's not full of rubbish and it's on hand in the freezer to have with a coffee.

Speaking of bone health I've come across Dr Vonda Wright recently and she has written a book called Unbreakable which I bought but will need to sit down and read it.  She also has a youtube channel as well and says your bones need impact to stay healthy and says you need to stomp or jump 20-50 times a day as bones respond to this.  So either jump on the spot 20 times or jump from the bottom step inside or outside of your house if you have steps.  She also said you should be standing on one leg throughout the day to improve your balance for instance when you are brushing your teeth or waiting for the kettle to boil.  Dr Vonda Wright says everyone should be doing a DEXA scan to know all the stats about their body.  She also has a video on how to read a DEXA scan and what a T score in bone health means too.

There is so much change to a woman's body because of menopause, most I knew of and some I didn't know relating to bone density etc.  Now is the time to look after myself from the inside out.  Another thing is when we were younger we were out in the sun a lot and now as we are older we don't stay out in the sun so Vitamin D is important for bone health and yet for myself I'm never really in the sun anymore so my next blood test we are testing Vitamin D as well so I may have to take a supplement. 

I don't buy clothes for myself because that doesn't make me feel good but I love buying cookbooks.  I came across this wonderful cookbook by Catie Gett who ran "The Staple Store" in Melbourne for over 10 years and then she closed it.  She opened the store to help people get into wholefoods and made up products that were made of dry ingredients and spices and then all you had to do was add a couple of things and dinner is cooked.  This is her why and I think she is amazing.

As an example this "Not so Dahl" recipe which was her most popular product she is giving away some of her recipes for free.  The idea is to mix up these dry mixes yourself in batches so have 5 containers of it in the cupboard and half the work is done.  Mix the dry ingredients and then add a tin of tomatoes and some water and cook for 35-40 minutes.  This recipe can also be cooked in a rice cooker if you have one.  I read the book from cover to cover and love her story and she has old photos through out the book of her growing up cooking with her parents. This would be a good book to request your local library get in however I'm so glad I got one myself.  She said that when she closed the shop money was really tight and then food security became a big mission for her so the recipes in this book are all afforable because she knows what it's like.  I absolutely LOVED this book and her story and also a single Mum looking at ways of educating people about whole foods in an affordable way.

Made a batch of pickled red onions.

I bought this bread bag to store my sourdough on the bench and it can also be used in the freezer. I had seen lots of these types of things advertised but someone I follow from the Sunshine Coast has been using one of these for a year and they recommended it so purchased it.

This is where I got the Bread Bag from.

  

Worst Victoria Sponge ever - epic flop goodness knows what happened.

Got these out from the Library, didn't really love the

cookbook but the Clean & Green Book 100% great.

EPIC FAIL - This is how flat they were, don't know what

happened it was one of Nancy's recipes.

Evening sunset.

On my walk.

Teddy wondering why I am jumping around dancing.

Getting ready to make the Sam Wood Brownie Recipe

I cut each log into 3 pieces and put them in the freezer 10/10 recipe.

Enjoy your week, let me know if you have any healthy recipe treats that you love.

Around here - 10th July, 2026

I was going through my old blog posts and found one that I never hit publish on a few years ago so I thought I so it now.  I worked in an accounting office for nearly 13 years and worked in admin with accounts payable, accounts receivable and debtors etc so there are lots of numbers and I love working with numbers and budgets.  I'm a Virgo and very organized and have most of my life had a budget for my finances.  I had a paper system which was a little book for many years which I came across which is no longer available however the system set me up for life.  It was simple, effective and fun and I put a few of the girls in the office onto this system and they loved it as well and felt in control of their money and even saved money for a house deposit because of this system.

Over time I transferred the system onto an excel spreadsheet which I've used for over 25 years and also shared it with a friend who had never done a budget before.  Whether you have a lot of money or not, doing a budget is about knowledge knowing where your money is, knowing where you are allocating every $.  Knowing what bills you pay monthly, quarterly, annually etc.  It's about knowing how much money you have and what your money goals are, not necessarily about deprivation.

I wrote about Scott Pape's book The Barefoot Investor back in 2017 and there was 295 hold on this book at the library so it was very popular - I ended up buying it instead.  The title doesn't do it justice because while it does talk about investing in shares it's the whole gamit of money from home loans, ring your insurance company to get a better price, what to say to your bank to get a better interest rate.  Talks about date nights with your partner to talk about your money goals etc.  It's a book every 18 year old needs to read.  He also wrote one for families which is also amazing and every 10-18 year old needs to read this one including the parents.  I wrote about that book in this blog post.

The idea of sinking funds or buckets is a title of a money goal to work towards.  For example Bills, Mortgage, Car Expenses, Food, Petrol, Entertainment, Holiday, Savings, Investing, Pets, Christmas.

You may have your money in an offset account attached to your mortgage.  If the mortgage is $500,000 and your offset account has $50,000 in it, then the bank would charge daily interest on $450,000.

That $50,000 sitting in your offset account [or any bank account] is made up of your money goals.  Of that $50,000 you might [on paper] say $30,000 is savings, $10,000 is for a holiday and the other $10,000 is made up of other categories mentioned above ie Bills, Mortgage, Car Expenses, Food, Petrol, Entertainment, Investing, Pets, Christmas.

As an example you can have one account with $10,000 in it and feel like you have a lot of money.  Out of that $10,000 you could have a $3,000 mortgage payment due, car rego $900, car repairs $650, food for the month could be $200 a week therefore another $800 there and so on and so on.  You can decide what buckets or sinking funds you would like.  If your car rego is $900 and you get paid monthly you would need to set aside $75 a month so when it's due you have the money sitting there rather than stressing where you are going to find $900 for that one bill.

I used to get paid monthly so my monthly bill split was the same every month so it was super easy.  Say if you want to go on an holiday in a years time which will cost $5,000.  Take $5,000 divided by 12 [monthly pay cycle] means you need to put $417 away each month toward that holiday goal.  All the money sits in one account but you can see out of the $10,000 how much is in there for your holiday fund.

Budgets don't have to be restrictive, and in fact they are very liberating because you know where your money is, you know when bills are due and there is no more burying your head in the sand wondering how you are going to pay big bills.

I use excel however you can start with an exercise book and go from there.  One big tip is to work out your Master Bills List for the year and then divide that figure by your pay cycles to work out what needs to be the first allocation when the pay comes in.  You could keep a separate account for bills and transfer it on pay day so it's separate which is a good idea.

With the Master Bills list think of everything that gets paid in a year outside of mortgage and/or rent, petrol, food, entertainment.  So that's things like monthly and annual subscriptions Netflix, Amazon, icloud storage as we all know everything is a subscription service now.  Don't forget dentists, doctors, hair & beauty, presents [Birthdays, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas] health & fitness, Driver's Licence, Passports these things come around when you least expect it work out when they are due.  Rates or Body Corporate, Water, Electricity, House & Contents Insurance, Car Insurance, RACQ, 

Do you know how to save $10,000 a year - it's as simple as earning $27.39 a day.  Seems small when you look at the daily rate.  You could sell something on FBMP, or buy not buying Friday night take away you save that $27.39 [if you are lucky take away is that small $$] 

Everyone will have different money goals, someone might value spending money on gym memberships whereas someone might like designer handbags.  Another person might like eating out at restaurants with friends, someone like myself likes camera gear.  Everyone will have different money values and therefore you need to work out your own money values. 

Anyway back to the original post if you have Netflix watch this series which LOVED it.  There is so much to learn where people's money stories come from and how he helps them work out what money values they have or more importantly what they want for their future.  I can highly recommend it.

How to Get Rich was released on Netflix are 8 episodes about 30 minutes each and Ramit Sethi takes people through a 6 week journey on where they are financially and teaches them how to manage their money so that they can design their rich life.  There are families, singles and everyone has different priorities.  He says that your rich life is not about being rich, however it's about you designing the sort of life you want whether that is working part time, paying off your loans and enjoying life.  I have never hear of Ramit Sethi before however I loved the way he went about helping these people.  There was no shaming them about their current financial situation and the fact that they had not been shown how to talk about money, manage money perhaps growing up.  One couple had lots of money and were doing well however were getting into day trading [basically gambling] and thinking they could make a quick buck which they did initially until they didn't and then thinking they could make the money up which they couldn't.  It's a great series and something to think about.

Let me know what you think if you end up watching this series.  

Around Here - Colour Walk - Blue - 28-06-2026

If you have been a long time reader of my blog you will know that over the years my passion for photography was about photographing our life and my kids.  Fast forward to now and my kids are now 22 and 20 and no longer kids and also no longer interested in being my photography subjects any more.  Photography bought me so much joy for many years and it's been a struggle for one of my main interests to disappear.  I talked recently about my interest getting into street photography and having a day out in the city although I haven't actually done that yet.

I also talked about how I got my 2nd hand Canon AE-1 completely rebuilt so I can take film photos because it had a lot of light leaks and needed repairs.  My very first camera I bought when I was 17 was a Canon AE-1 which cost me 6 weeks wages, massive for the time.  I bought it from Ted's Camera Shop in the city.  My friend had a Pentax Camera and we both did a photography course at South Brisbane and to learn all about aperture, shutter speed, ISO [back in the day this was called ASA].  We also learnt how to process B&W images in the dark room too.

Since I've had the camera repaired I've taken a couple of images but need to take it out as well rather than around my townhouse.  I had my original Canon AE-1 for about 17 years or so and I was at a cafe at South Bank and it dropped from the chair to the ground and I broke the shutter mechanism and I didn't get it repaired, I assumed it was broken for good.  I did buy another camera after that but honestly I can't even remember what happed to it as it was a film camera and I probably sold it after I got my new digital camera.

Around 2002 we got a basic digital camera probably 2.0 mp and eventually the world of digital photography opened up and have been digital ever since.  I was reluctant to change from film to digital however now in 2026 film is making a big come back which is funny just like vinyl records.  Everything old is new again.

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of meeting 5 other ladies for a "Colour Hunt" walk in the city [Brisbane, Australia] which was really fun.  The ladies were lovely and you'd be surprized how when you are given one colour to focus on how it stands out like no body's business.  We walked around together vearing off to take photos and then ended up having coffee at a nice cafe afterwards.  My colour was BLUE so I thought I would share my photos here for you.  Here's the group photo of us below.

I hope you enjoyed my colour walk around Brisbane city looking for the colour "BLUE".

Around here - June 2026

This blog was born out of the "simple living" mantra after coming across Rhonda Hetzel from Down to Earth in an magazine back in 2008.  Sadly I have just discovered that Rhonda has closed her blog completely and is no longer on IG either.  I knew she was not wanting to contribute anymore to the blog or comments but I had hoped her blog would remain online as it was a huge source of information for me over the last nearly 18 years.

I was just going through my blogs I used to read which are linked on the side and so many of them have closed over the years.  Todays fast paced social media is so different than the days of blog posts.  Every morning I would make a coffee and read through my favourite blog posts with words and photos and recipes, crocheting and life of other Mums.  Then Instagram [IG] came along and it was back then a photo sharing app which was also nice but then because of Tik Tok [I've never been on it nor do I have any desire to] IG made everyone do reels [little videos] and hence the fast pace quick vidoes and stories which are gone in 24 hours took over from people's blogs.  It's actually so sad because we are consuming more and more social media than ever before and short form content like reels on IG is just that short form.

I have been getting into watching long form content on Youtube which is more enjoyable, sitting down with a cuppa and watching a 30 minute video about gardening, cooking, homesteading, camping or people's lives from the opposite side of the world.  I find it interesting and worth while rather than scrolling on my phone however I still do that way more than I should which I think everyone can relate to in 2026.

A few people I follow on IG have started saying they feel that photos on IG is what we are all missing where you can look at an image and study it and appreciate it rather then a half a second of an image in a reel, I think we are all getting sick of the fast pase of social media but it's also very addictive to scroll as well.

Not too sure how many people read my blog these days but this blog is a record of our lives and recipes over the years.  I often refer back to things I've posted here and more than likely it's a recipe of some sort.  I did print out my blog each couple of years which a company called "blog to print" and sadly they shut down too because blogs were a thing of the past.  Here's a few photos from recent times.

Home made sourdough bread.

My sister bought this when we were at Woodford on the way back from camping.

This is my caramel fudge recipe.

Meal prepping.

My new water bottle.

I made this Elderberry Syrup after going to a

Winter Wellness Workshop at Vitalia in Brisbane.

You have 10ml a day unless you are sick in which case you have it every 2-3 hours.

This crustless quice was really lovely from Carly Fowler on IG.

See recipe below this pic.

Carly Flower’s Crustless Spinach Quiche

📝 Ingredients

• 6 large eggs
• 4 egg whites
• 1 cup fresh spinach (roughly chopped)
• 1 medium tomato (sliced or chopped)
• ½ cup cottage cheese
• ¼ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ½ cup grated cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Salt & pepper, to taste

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👩‍🍳 Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease a medium baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and egg whites.
3. Stir in cottage cheese, sour cream, parmesan, cheddar, flour, and baking powder.
4. Fold through spinach and tomato. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Pour mixture into prepared dish and smooth the top.
6. Bake for 30–40 minutes, or until set and lightly golden on top.
7. Rest for 5–10 minutes before slicing.

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💡 Notes

• Great for meal prep (keeps 3–4 days in fridge)
• Can swap spinach for zucchini or kale
• Serve warm or cold with salad

One of my favourite books.

Home made date loaf which is delicious.

I'll have to do a post on the lovely date loaf recipe as it's super quick and easy so stay tuned.