About Me

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Life on two acres of arid dirt, on the edge of the Australian outback.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Op Shop Finds and Easy Meal

I got a chance this afternoon to pop into the local Lifeline shop,

and came away with these goodies...



Patchwork cushion...$2.00



old cot sheets...$2.00 each,

pillowcases...50c each

There is also two cushion covers one patchwork and one red gingham...50c each
(forgot to download photo)



$1.50...for this book



A long Bonds hoodie jacket...$5.50


Added up to $15.00 but I got it for $11.50

I will go to the other op shops in town tomorrow :)


My easy meal tonight...
Sausage Casserole
(picture is of leftovers that will be enjoyed tomorrow)

This is a microwave recipe but I cooked it in my large cast iron frypan, giving it much more flavour.

Sausage Casserole (microwave)

1/2 kilo of sausages (I used chicken ones)

placed in a flat dish with enough hot water to partly cover and cook on high for 4 minutes. Peel the sausages and roll in flour, seasoned with salt and pepper. Place in casserole, add 1 carrot diced, 1 chopped onion, 1 stick celery, chopped finely, 1 tin tomato soup, 3/4 cup water. Cook on HIGH 7 minutes, and then MEDIUM for 25 minutes or until veggies are soft.

~Now for the way I cooked this,
I am trying to get away from using the microwave.

I cut sausages into threes, rolled in flour and browned using a little oil in pan.

When nearly done I added

the onion, carrot and celery. I fried until onion was soft, then added the tomato soup and water.

I let it simmer with a lid on until done, approx 20 minutes. I served it with simple homemade Potato Bake.
Just sliced potato, a little cream and grated cheese on top. Baked in a moderate oven.

xTania


Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Another fine day...

A few pictures of the beautiful day here today.

Taken from our little block of land



Some trees we are trying to grow, a lot have died,

but the quandong trees are doing well, and so is the saltbush...



Looking to the back of our house...

Hopefully those old cars will be going to a new home soon.



The sky was a beautiful bright blue...



The salt lake behind us is drying up...



So is the dirt...



21C (68.9F) on the first day of Winter

The nights are a bit chilly though, the temperature outside right now is 3.8C (38.84F)

I am happy to be sitting here by the nice warm fire and looking forward to climbing into bed for some restful sleep.

xTania


Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Yesterday and Today

A special gift...

from my daughter Sarah

for a belated Mother's Day.

A great little purchase from Etsy


Some baking...

Upside down Pear and Ginger dessert

Recipe found here

Thank you nellymary for this scrumptious dessert recipe,

alas it is only a memory now...

definitely have to make some more!


Young broccoli heads...


Many grapefruit...
(Any ideas for use would be very much appreciated)


Mandarin's are ripening...


Oranges too...


Drying in the bright sunshine...


Pink...

Orange...


and yellow...

a prickly visitor...



Wishing you a lovely week where ever you may be.

xTania

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

It's finished...

From this...

to this...




This is the rest of our bedroom suite and was given as a Wedding gift to hubby's grandmother from her husband in 1926.
It is in perfect original condition apart from a couple of tear drop handles that are missing. We are going to replace them soon.

The suite consists of a wardrobe, dressing table, bedside cupboard, mirror and bed.

In this picture is the wardrobe, mirror and part of the bed. Refer to previous post for more pictures of the bed.


the dressing table...


and the bedside cupboard with marble top...

Then

on to
the next project...

a cedar cupboard
Most of the furniture in our house has been given by family and restored by us.

We are however running out of room in our house for all of the lovely pieces. We have more goodies out in the shed waiting for our attention including an old lead light kitchen cabinet that was my parents. I can still picture it being in our old farmhouse and can't wait to get it back to original condition as it is painted at the moment.

Take care,

xTania

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Treasure from eBay

A new addition to our bedroom...




Thank you eBay!


Sunday, May 15, 2011

Twenty years...where did it go?

Yesterday marked twenty years since hubby and I first met.

This is what I received for my 20 years of service lol...

flowers

card

& wine




from the heart...
A lovely bunch of flowers...

I am looking forward to the next twenty, hopefully they wont go as fast as the last twenty.

Love is patient, Love is kind,
It does not envy, it does not boast,
It is not proud, It is not rude,
It is not self-seeking,
It is not easily angered,
It keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil,
but rejoices with the truth.

Love always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.

Love bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends.


L o v e N e v e r F a i l s.


Corinthians 13 : 4 - 8


Thursday, May 12, 2011

My First Quilt...in pictures









Although this only took me about five years to complete lol, I am pleased with the way it turned out.

Special thank you to Beverley who helped me all the way through this process.

I don't think I have the patience to do too many more quilts, little quilting projects will be okay though.

xTania