A Smidgen and a Dash

I've always wanted to try my hand at cheese making, so when I saw a cheese making kit available on Green Living Australia, I knew where to direct Dan's attention when it came to buying my Christmas present.

Dan, being infinitely more pragmatic than romantic, just gave it to me last night when I got home - still wrapped in the bubble wrap it came in - because there were various components that needed refrigeration or freezing.

So here, nearly four weeks early, is my Christmas present (minus the parts in the fridge and freezer, of course).

I'm really excited about having a go. The instructions say you should start with an easy cheese like cottage cheese or fetta before moving on to the tougher ones like cheddar, so I probably should follow those directions, but we'll see.

Dan also ordered these cute measuring spoons, featuring handy measurements like a smidgen and a dash, apparently very useful in the making of cheese.

Bring on a cheesy Christmas!

Patience, Grasshopper

This weekend, while Dan is again working at Karra (he'll be done by Christmas), I'm going to do some sewing.

I've been doing a little lately, not huge amounts due to The Exhaustion - but a bit.

A couple of weekends ago, my friend Aisling came around for what we dubbed 'Grandma Day'. She brought her machine, I fired up my machine and we got busy sewing away on the back deck.

Well, we sat there and chatted while sporadically stopping to swear at our work, our clumsiness and our chosen hobby.

"Why did I not take up whittling instead," I cursed to the heavens, after sewing bias binding onto the wrong side of my fabric.

What I've realised since I decided to learn how to sew 1.5 years ago is how much harder it is than it looks. Who knows, whittling probably is too. Maybe all hobbies are, perhaps that's the point of them.

This top here? This is probably the first piece of clothing I've made that I will actually wear. I made it from my own pattern, no less. I'm pretty proud of that.

I've also made a few bags I use, a few cushion covers and altered a few pants and skirts. Successfully, I mean. My sewing room is full of aborted projects, abandoned after the sixth attempt at unpicking a seam finally destroyed the fabric beyond redemption.

They say practice makes perfect. And I'm practicing, I really am. But I'm still a long way from competent, let alone perfect.

Patience, Grasshopper...

Functioning Beyond 'Asleep'

So, I've pretty much been the slackest blogger ever to blog lately. Or not to blog, more to the point.

I've always had a policy not to apologise for not blogging. I mean, ultimately, it's not really affecting anyone too much if I don't. I suspect my 46 loyal followers are not sitting out there, weeping into their morning coffees as yet another day passes with none of my ramblings posted on here.

It's funny, really, that I've chosen this period to have a break from blogging, because there's actually been heaps going on in the way of Karra renovating. Dan has been working HARD. For health reasons I will share with you soon, I have not. At all.

I've only been over with him on weekends a couple of times and both times, I was so struck down with sheer exhaustion just from watching him, that I made a little nest of bedding in the midst of the renovation rubble and slept.

Like last weekend. Sick, tired and unable to function on any level beyond 'asleep', I curled up at about 10am on Saturday morning and prepared to doze through another day.

I did manage to get up sporadically and snap a few photos of his progress though.

The internal walls go up. Note the shiny, lovely new floorboards.

There are two bedrooms: the master bedroom and a smaller room which will fit in a bunk bed and some drawers and not much else. There will be a mezzanine above them for storage or extra sleeping space.

Maisie spent the weekend planning and executing escapes, invariably taking herself down to the beach for a swim.

The exterior, all freshly painted.

The little bedroom.

The master bedroom, which has a built in robe and room for a Queen bed (just).