CAR BOOT SALE + BABY & KIDS MARKET

A picture of my little 1 year old niece. She will be the face for our advertising for this fundraiser for sending disadvantaged kids on camp.

It's coming along well. Getting advertising happening. Have a few stalls booked. Need to get the momentum going ASAP.

Bellarine Weekend

Another quick but refreshing weekender down at Port.

Although the weather was a tad wet, it was far from dreary. There was much beautiful light to be found. Grey clouds, sunshine reflecting on green fields. Ibis flying in the sky, pelicans following not too far behind.

Needless to say the weather was a great excuse for heading into the township for a coffee or two. Bellarine bowl was visited teh first day. Must say I did like the blend we had and the coffee has improved over the time we have been frequenting there. Did remember to order the mug as the cups are a tad too small.

The next day, after a drive along to indented head and back, we sheltered from the rain at the ol'duke. A scrumptious hot chocolate was enjoyed before heading home for a cook up.

Day three we took a trip to Barwon Heads. Usually we stop at Annie's providore but this time we enjoyed pies from the Peppercorn. Tried a sweet potato cake from the fish and chip shop. It was nice but way too greasy. I did wonder what deep fried eggplant would be like. Apparently it may mess up the oil according to the shop owner.

Buddy Walk

45 in Nathan's team now. Will be a great day. Am looking forward to it. Just need to find out how sponsorship is being set up.

Resort in the hills of Bali

Buddy Walk

Am getting stuck into getting organised for Down syndrome Victoria's Buddy Walk being held October 11 2009.

So far we have about 20 people on our team. Would love 200. Need to get out and about to let people know it's on.

Plan to make an invite today. See how we go. Illustrator got wiped of our computer when we changed it over recently. Need to install it again.

Buddy Walk

July. Garage Sale

We held a garage sale to pass on our preloved goods to others who may love them more than we currently do. As there was an auction next to my in laws we thought it would be a good day to hold the sale. Absolute minimal advertising was done (signs on street posts on the day and a 3AW ad), we hadn't priced anything and it was all a bit last minute really.

We made some cash and still had quite a bit left. The auction idea hadn't worked as well as we had thought. A few people cam e and looked and bought prior to the auction but most were preoccupied. After the auction everyone left withing about 2 minutes. Apart from the new house owner! I guess they were all disappointed and didn't want to hang around. Anotehr thing that I only really thought of in the morning was that if they were really looking to move they probably wouldn't want to buy things from a garage sale.

As we had many things left and my FIL was not overly impressed about all the items left, it was decided we would hold a car boot sale and a baby and kids market. So there is now about 7 weeks to go until the event.

It will be a fundraising event for disadvantaged kids to go on camp. All we need to do is sell stalls, advertise and a whole bunch of other stuff. Have researched and found out all the things we did wrong last time. Hoping this one goes a whole lot better.

Three Months

It is now winter. Autumn has passed without more than one post. Oh well I guess that happens. Much has been happening for me as my son had surgery so we spent a week living in the hospital. Then May was eventful to say the least. June saw my mum's 60th birthday and resting/regrouping from the prior two months.

That brings me to July.

be my brother

Check this out

It was the winner of 2009 Tropfest.
The main male actor also won best male actor.

It made me cry

View the movie at ninemsn. Not too hard to find. Worth the effort. Link wasn't working.

Merry Christmas

Gift catalogue

I finally got the gift catalogue out that I have been working on the past six months. Last years was really successful. this years is going well but a bit slower than anticipated. The gifts are for community projects in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines. It's great being able to help out people that we know and connect with. It's amazing the difference a bit of financial assistnace can make in changing the lives of a community. When they are able to start businesses, have regular meals, gain education which increases their employment opportunities and access resources that they need, it is life changing.

Goings on

What else has been going on? Here is a link to my little man's blog. This is how my days have been filled.

http://nathanisaiahgosbell.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately my sewing machine has broken, my neighbour reclaimed hers and so I have been folding and refolding cut out bits and pieces and trying to find somewhere and some way to store all my bits and pieces without them taking over the backroom.

I have been a bit slack on gettign the machine fixed. i took it to one place and they told me it needed a service but it was going to cost more than I expected so I need to get some other quotes. Task to get done before the new year.

Oh ho ho ho

I have been feeling Christmassy and had an urge to make eggnog and gluvine until I looked up a receipe for eggnog. Oh boy that wouldn't be good. So many eggs, so much sugar. I was obviously in a self controlled mood as i didn't print off the receipe or write it down and I haven't bought a box in the supermarket either. Last Christmas my hubby and I drank so much eggnog. This year I may make some Christmas eve. I'll have to burn off a bit before then so I don't feel so bad. But then again it's Christmas and enjoying many a special treat prevails.

As for the gluvine, I know it is easy to make but I haven't made it for years. I also saw some in ALdi but haven't seen it the past few weeks. May be another closer to Christmas treat.

My little man is enjoying the Christmas lights this year and taking interest in the tree. He was so unsure to begin with. I am looking forward to celebrating over the rest of this period.

I was disappointed when the carols we usually go to were cancelled this year due to bad weather. I was looking forward to staying for the candles and fireworks. The last few years e have had to leave early because my son was on oxygen. It was such a stress when kids started running around with lit candles. Oxygen and flame mix too well. We didn't really want the night to go off with a bang!! This year he isn't on oxygen during waking hours so we could have stayed. Oh well, next year or we could find elsewhere to go if we really want to.

As for lack of posting- Washing, dishes and nannanaps have prevailed! I felt my computer time was taking over general day to day necessities. But time for a bit of an update.

Bag giveaway

My SIL has made some grat bags using a pattern by Artsy crafty babe. One of the bags she has been making of late is a short and sassy bag. She has a give away on her blog of this bag. You can enter by visiting Threads of Friendship.
http://www.threadsoffriendship.blogspot.com/

Cup weekend

A long weekend away was much enjoyed. We headed down to the usual pitstop at the family beach house. Found that the weekend was filed with many unexpected treats.

Day 1. Complimentary glass of smooth red at Annies Providore, Barwon Heads. Instead of the arvo coffe the Red was much enjoyed with an antipasto platter.
Thai dinner and a nice walk down the pier. Stopped in at the Port Pier Spanish restaurant for Churrios but they had none. Owner said he'd get the missing ingredient and make some for us the next day.
Watched movie: Outsourced. Had wanted to see this for a while but hadn't been able to find it. Just missed showing at Nova. Have been looking in Indian grocery stores as well as local video shop. There it was down at Portarlington video network! Brilliant. Really enjoyed it so that was good.
Day 2.
Short Drive to Lighthouse Olive Grove. Had a great coffee here. Service is always perculiar but the food and view are worth it. They also have a shop beneath the restaurant with some yummies and little handmade bits and pieces e.g. nice chocolate, olive oils, olive oil products, ceramics for marinating or dishing up olives.
Back to Spanish restaurant in the evening for the spanish donuts with a great chocolate dipping sauce. They were scrumptious. Our little man enjoyed his babychino. It was such a lovely night. The lighting was lovely. It was great to wwatch the birds over the water and enjoy another stroll down the pier to watch people fishing.
Day 3.
Trip to Torquay. Enjoyed a delicious pide at soulfuel. The highlight though was stopping on the way back to watch some kite surfers. It was so windy but it was great. I felt so wind swept afterwards. Our little man snuggled up in the ergocarrier while we watched a few guys take off.
Made a chicken pie that turned out great. Not bad for making it up
CHICKEN PIE
saute leek and onion in olive oil and butter. Add peppercorns and bay leaves, salt and pepper. poach chicken in above, adding water to cover. Cover and poach until done. I think it would have been nice to add some white wine to the stock but I didn't have any.
Make a rue (or however you spell that) with butter and flour. Add stock from chicken mix. Make it as thick or thin as you want your pie sauce to be. Add chicken, cut it up first, and leek/onion mixture (I strained the stock).
Put puff pastry (I bought the pastry as I couldn't be bothered making it)in pie dish or casserole dish. Put in mixture and cover with another sheet of pastry and cook until pastry is cooked.
Day 4.
A beautiful day spent washing and fingerpainting.
Have done fingerpaiting a couple of times with my little boy. This time I put him in his high chair and let him paint straight on the tray. Then I squirted some paint on the tray and let him go for it. I then took prints from the tray.
Had a few lovely walks down the street and bumped into a friend I haven't seen for about 20 years. Was lovely to have a chat. Think it was a timely encounter but more on that another time.


All in all it was a relaxing and enjoyable time away and I felt like I had a holiday. Now I need to fold and put away the mountains of washing!!

Banned

We overdid our internetting this past month so a self imposed ban was the chosen course of action. Therefore I went cold turkey on the internet. Great to know I had no withdrawals to speak of, although hubby checked the emails at work so all was good.

Back in action now but must be more mindful of those litle megabytes adding up to gigabytes.

yummy sandwich

this was a really nice sandwich. just thought i'd share that highly insightful piece of info with you.

The twig and two berries

This morning I visited the twig and two berries. It's a nice little cafe/deli near Laburnum station. I went here this morning for a cuppa and a scrumptious baguette. This is my second visit. On my previous visit I had a great cup of tea and a lemon polenta cake. If you live in the eastern burbs it's worth a visit if you're after a small quiet place to enjoy a cuppa with a friend.

The strangest things

My hubby is a vet and therefore we have some very interesting pictures on our computer. I was looking through our pic's and thought, how strange to have such pictures on one's computer. I wonder if many other people have pictures like these. Enjoy the sample! It was really hard to choose between the macaw sinus infection, bird wing amputation, the hook worm and the flea eggs but I chose the below. Hope it doesn't scare you.

1. Bird x-ray

2. Cat Fleas

3. Hook worm (Anyone want this one for their next stencil??? Maybe not. Don't want to scare the kids)

The Emperor's new clothes (and a bit more)

After writing 'to top it off' I got my act into gear and got sewing some new threads for my little man. I found an old, but new, remnant of green cord that I bought to make a sensory quilt for my son. It never made it into the quilt and as of Sunday night it has been transformed into a pair of shorts for him. My old trackies have also come under the rotary cutter and are shorts in the waiting of a solution to the low waistline- maybe some thin elastic or additional fabric for the waistband.

Am now looking through the wardrobe and the recycle bags at my parents to see what other clothes I can find waiting to be transformed into a spring/summer collection for my boy.