Anzac Slice

I just had to share this great recipe that my Mum gave me which in turn came from a Cheapskates Club Tip email

Delicious!

It is for an ANZAC slice and from all accounts is yummy. This can be verified by the fact that everyone came back and asked for another piece! As I am recovering from an op at the moment this sort of thing is off limits to me but it didn't stop Amelia and I cooking it today - it smells divine. It is a nice soft slice which was a winner with Dave as he doesn't like the traditional harder biscuits.

These ingrediants all go in the one bowl, so start with the butter and melt it in your bowl first.

1 Cup SR Flour
1 Cup brown sugar
1 cup coconut
1 cup rolled oats
125 g melted butter
1 egg
2 tbsp golden syrup

Combine and press into lined pan. 180 c for 20-25 mins til golden brown. Let cool before cutting. Easy.

Making Cards

One of my things to do this year was to NOT buy any cards, and I have been pretty good doing that only breaking twice. Both times were new bub cards that I just didn't have any idea how to make (or truthfully had had the foresight to get them ready before I needed them), so I went to the markets and bought handmade cards from the lady that had created them. I thought it a good compromise.

First two tries, I added the Happy Birthday stamp afterwards.

I was chatting to my Mum and we thought we should give card making a go and as I like nothing better than jumping into a new craft with no idea, we took ourselves down town to buy some relatively cheap supplies.

The newest attempt

What you see here are my first tentative cards, the hardest part is I really have no creative bone in my body. I am not the person who throws a scarf around their neck and are instantly glamorous. Who knows what a colour palate is? I am usually at a loss! Ahhh but I am going to have a go and I more than suspect a lot of fun trying!

This Weekend

What a lovely weekend! A lot of sunshine, little bit of rain and a good lot of gardening.

Right in the middle of this picture is one of our escaped guinea pigs. They are living under the garage and, so we found out today, in the mower shed. Must be retiring there after dark. If we want to catch them we are really looking at getting a possum trap. I have started calling them Thelma and Louise.

Got an asparagus crown today and the run down from Shirley the garden guru from the nursery. The green will die down over winter and come back with spears about mid August. I have never had just cut asparagus but everyone assures me that it is soo much nicer than anything in the shops.

Red onions, lettuce and silverbeet in!

Red onions

Beetroot seedlings look a little down on their luck but should perk up in the next day or so.

First lot of broccoli is in and I am not even going to mention the first white cabbage moth I saw today.

Our house is coming along, I am still loving the colours we picked (lucky!) the only downer is that it rained just enough yesterday to put a halt to any more than a couple of hours of painting, I am sure the painters were even more disappointed then us!

I got the River Cottage Bread book out from the library yesterday and it is jam packed full of bready fabulousness! Dave made Roti at lunch time and it was super quick and tasty. The first couple were a bit crispy as they were cooked a tad long but he got it in the end!

What a Whiz!

Cooking

Yum!

Where's the Socks?

Hopefully they will find themselves in here! I have a heap of odd socks that I have been moving around the room. From the bed to the bench to the ironing basket and back to the bed, they did have a brief holiday in a flimsy plastic bag. I can't throw them out cause as soon as I do I just KNOW I will find its mate! It is sods law.

So all 20(!) odd socks are in their new home (made from odd scraps!) hoping to find their long lost mate really really soon!

Changing Our Spending

Dave and I have had quite a few talks about our finances of late and have finally agreed upon a new strategy (for us anyways). Basically we will live off Dave's wage and about 35% of mine with 65% of my wage going to the house. At the moment that will be paying for the painting but after this it will be going directly to our mortgage.

I was keen to live off Daves plus about 5% of my wage, but Dave pointed out that we needed to have savings separate from the mortgage as we don't want to be in the position of having to redraw the loan everytime we have a big unexpected expense.

We should eventually be able to put about 80% toward the mortgages once we have built up a separate savings. Once we have that buffer in place we will be able to go higher. I hope! If this actually works we *should* in theory have our mortgage paid off in about 8 years-ish. More if we are really vigilant or have a income increase or a rate drop.

I just want to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's quite inspiring to read other bloggers who have managed it! It feels a little like an impossible dream but from next payday this is the plan.

One of the reasons for our rejigging is we were discussing the term "lifestyle inflation". This is the term for when your income increases so does your expenditure. We have done that. We have somewhat relished in it after being on quite a low single income then going to pretty good dual incomes. We've realised we are just spending alot of our disposable income sometimes thoughtfully, sometimes not. So that is where all this started and I can see it as a fairly common situation as well, I don't have to cast my very far to see we are not the only ones. Hopefully there is now one less!

*Image from Cimexus

Easter Sunday!

Easter Sunday has come and gone for another year. Had a BBQ and a nanny nap so that ain't too bad! Last night I also made 3 drawstring bags so that Annie, Evan and Ava could each have their stuff for the trip in their own bag.

They are so easy it's ridiculous and so useful I am planning to make some more for other bits and bobs around the house.

How's your long weekend going?

Easter Saturday

Have had a lovely Saturday, coffee, chatting, doing a few errands, playing a couple of games with the kids and a bit of sewing.

I borrowed Sew Darn Cute by Jenny Ryan from the library and made a set of coasters from it! The material I used is from this dress that I made Amelia from vintage pillowcases, so its recycled x 2! The denim backing is from an old skirt and the batting (which I didn't have) was a piece of flannel that I have no idea where it came from.

I am really feeling the loves for these coasters, they aren't perfect but they are fun!

Are you sewing this weekend?

Good Friday - Happy Easter!

I hope everyone is having a great start to their Easter weekend, four days off for us! After our weekend away we haven't anything much planned, just suiting ourselves really. We are having a barbeque at Mum on Sunday, two of my sisters will be there with their kids so that should be a nice day.Easter to me is about family geting together so their visit has worked out very well.

Since all businesses are shut today it is a good excuse to get some sewing done. I had some mending to do, a skirt to make and I decided the back table needed a small runner on it and I used scrapes from the deck bunting to keep the theme, such as it is, going.

A searsucker skirt for Miss Amelia, she wanted this one to be a bit longer than normal, such a fashionista!

This is my runner.

Got this rug from Tree of Life at Byron - $17!

Mum got me this oh so cute jam jar! It is already in use with strawberry jam inside!

Holiday Snaps

Back from our short break and wish we could turn around and go back!Dave at Putt Putt golf, this was really fun and took waaayyy longer than I had thought. We bought 3 games and had to go back to do the third.

These pics are all from Dreamworld. Which all of us, adults and kids, thought was heaps better than Movie World.

Amelia escaping!

Dave breaking out

Wes is a wanted man!

Me and Amelia on the vintage cars, Amelia is driving.

The Claw

I could not watch after taking this photo!

Wes and Amelia on the Madagascar ride

Gingerbread Man Glider

Ick! Not one for me.

Wes sporting his new sunglasses.

Dave helping the lifesaver out at White Water World.

It was such a fantastic four days and a well needed break away from the norm.