I did this thing

A week ago I was very brave and  faced one of my fears! 

I have very low self esteem and have always had a fear of people judging me. Or fear of anything really. That is anxiety!

So this is what I did...

I joined the local music group to learn to play ukulele.  This is a huge step for me, and something I have wanted to do for so long, but always made excuses. I really surprised myself by not being nervous upon arrival and kept calm throughout the hour long tuition and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I am so proud of me for deciding to challenge myself to learn something new.

So now once a week on a Monday afternoon, I trot off to the lessons. The teacher said I had a natural beat and should do well.

And guess what?  I can play my first songs,  "You are my Sunshine" and I can almost play "Down on the Corner". Yippee! This week I was given another four songs to practice, so moving along nicely. My poor fingers though, they are a bit tender, but I can live with that.

What new thing would you love to try? Go on, be like Tania and have a go!

xTania

ordinary days

At the moment I am gently soaking up the daily rhythm that make up my days. 

Slowly I am finding ways to live in the moment and not dwell on the past or worry about the future. Lately I have felt my anxiety and depression lift due to implementing mindfulness practice into my daily routine. I am so much calmer than I have been for a very long time. Listening to soft meditative music while I go about my day reminds me to notice the small things and not to take life too seriously...

How are you spending your days? I hope all is well in your world.

xTania

recipe ~ peanut crunch slice

Hello everyone.

Yes I  know I am not supposed to be eating this kind of food, but I couldn't resist! And then I thought you would all love to know about this scrumptious slice too. 

As I don't eat animal products, I have marked with a star what I substituted for the butter. I also did not have peanuts so subbed for peanut butter. Raisins were replaced by dates.  I love a flexible recipe.

This yummy slice recipe comes from a new to me blog. 

Linda lives in beautiful New Zealand, and shares posts about her simple life, faith, recipes, gardening, youtube videos, her lovely soap and so much more.  Why not pop over and visit Linda at The Little Homestead.

Paula's Peanut Crunch 

{copied and pasted from The Little Homestead}

In a saucepan melt  - 2 dessertspoons golden syrup and 150grams butter * {I used Nuttlex}. Remove from heat and add 2 teaspoons vanilla essence.

In a bowl mix: 

1 Cup self raising flour

3/4 cup coconut

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup raw peanuts - smash them up a little *{I used crunchy peanut paste}

1/2 cup raisins *{I used chopped medjool dates}

1 cup cornflakes

Add the butter mixture to the dry and mix well. Bake at 170 C for around 30 minutes, or until golden.

Optional Icing: (this goes on the slice as soon as it comes out of the oven) 1.5 Tablespoons golden syrup, 50g butter, 1.5 cups icing sugar. Melt butter and syrup together. beat in the icing sugar, and put back on the heat a little until the sugar melts some and the mixture just gets easier to spread. Remove from the heat and spread over the hot base. Cool and cut into slices/squares. Enjoy with a cuppa :)

Let me know if you make this yummy slice J

Enjoy!

xTania

op shop happiness

Hello again.

Last weekend on my usual jaunt to see my parents, I stopped off at my favourite little op shop, a weekly event for me. My daughter also met me there (think she is getting hooked too).

This is what I came home with;

A cute little velvet bag with ribbon embroidery on the front. Inside is beautiful smelling potpourri.

This scrap of lace that is quite large.  I will make produce bags from it and use some for craft.

A pretty vintage apron in really good condition.

A pink cotton pillowcase to use for beeswax wraps.

And this cotton pillowcase for the same purpose.

A lovely small vintage embroidered tablecloth.  I am thinking of unpicking the lace sewn around the border and add some crochet to finish it off nicely.

Loving this small sized table runner.

I always grab vintage pillowcases with embroidery on, simply because I love them.

A little girls vintage quilt cover. Love the old fashioned design. This has a few old stains that I am hoping to remove after much soaking. Any age old tips welcome.

A complete queen sized quilt set in perfect condition.

 Not sure if I will use this for making other things or keep as is.

Little girls vintage Holly Hobby single quilt cover set. There were two of these. I really don't know what I am going to do with the quilt covers, I just couldn't bare to leave them there lol!

Five dollars for all of these. The little op shop is very cheap and open seven days a week. My mum volunteers in there once a week or when required. All profit goes back into the community to spend around the town.

I have freshly washed all the linen, and now just needs to be ironed. 

Do you op shop? What is your favourite find?

xTania

health, fitness and busyness

Hello again friends.

I hope you are all settling into the new year and safe from the fires that are ravaging our country. These are horrific times for Australia. So many people left without homes, and so many of our beautiful native wildlife perished or badly injured, same with livestock.  I sit here feeling helpless while all the carnage is going on. We are safe where we are, although getting smoke from the Kangaroo Island fires.

In case you were wondering where I have been, I will be back posting soon. I really wanted to post earlier but had some health issues appear so I haven't felt in the mood, instead I have been back and forth to the doctors and hospital for x-rays. 

After a few worrying days, it turns out that I have fatty liver and acid reflux problems. Thank goodness I found out about the liver as left to build up, it can have serious consequences. The doctor thinks that having my gall bladder removed about twenty years ago may well be the cause of fat deposits in my liver. The other issue I have suffered for years is indigestion and stomach problems, but this time it decided to flare up into burning pain that would not go away, so off to the doctor I went and he ordered a blood test. This came back showing that I had elevated liver enzymes and low white blood cell count, so this is why there were xrays taken. 

This now means that my year and the rest of my life has been laid out for me. I have to keep healthy by eating low carb and low fat food. This sadly means no more cakes and biscuits etc, or at least a lot less. Boohoo! And with acid reflux, I will still have to avoid food that can set off an attack, even though I have medication now. The other thing is to increase my exercise from a casual walk to a bit of cardio, I need my heart to get pumping because this helps the liver dispose of fat.

Anyway, that's enough of my woes. It is hot here today (44C) and hubby and I have been organising what we call the rumpus room. It is a room that we built off the side of the shed, where my crafty things are kept plus a myriad of other things, including junk and lots of it!. As the room has air conditioning, we decided to go out there and get busy. So after much rearranging and sorting of stuff to go to the op shops, it is now up to me to finish off by packing things away.  I have gym equipment in there and will be needing to use it everyday for the rest of my life, so this was a job that needed doing. I will also be able to craft until my heart is content once all my sewing gear etc is sorted and organised. Oh my goodness I cant wait! 

A smoky sunset. The sun was actually blood red, but it did not show up in the photo.  It was quite eerie.

The smoky haze laying over our town after sundown.

I'll be back soon with another post and I might even show you where I am at with the now newly named "craft" room.

Take care all.

xTania

Just in time for 2020.

Hello dear friends,

For a long time now, it has been my intention to return to this little space, and so with 2020 beginning tomorrow, I feel it is a good time to come back.

2019 is not a year I want to remember. I wont go into too many details here, lets just say that anxiety and depression have paid me a visit in a big way. It is not one single thing that is causing my sadness, but a multitude of different things, like the extreme heat and drought and my struggle to grow food, the fires and the people suffering loss, family issues, the sad state of the world and so the list goes on...

I am hoping that returning to my homemaking roots will help me deal with the feelings of despair that I have been struggling with. I am well within that "certain" age where I am feeling very emotional, angry, and frustrated with everything in life. Any advice would be very welcome.

I have always loved the vintage way of life, so this year I will be striving to live a more simpler life by implementing the principles of a woman living in the 50's and 60's, with a mix of earlier times and also bit from the retro era...

This little space will be about all things homemaking, vintage loves, and of course my garden.

The above rose was the first one to open on a young bush I planted out in winter last year. I was so excited to watch it form a bud and then open into a magnificent red bloom. This is an old favourite, Mr Lincoln, and the aroma was so beautiful.

And then there was this Dahlia. Mum gave me four bulbs leftover from hers, but only two have come up. This yellow beauty and an apricot coloured one (sorry no pic because the heat fried it!).

Some of the produce I have picked from the vegetable patch.

These are my Lebanese cucumbers.  I have attached string to a piece of rope strung over the top to hold the vines off the ground, because apparently the lizards like love to eat the flowers...

Before our recent heatwaves I was picking a lot of zucchinis. Now not so much, they are suffering stress from the relentless heat, as are many of my other plants.

The sunflowers I planted a while ago have grown so tall. The tallest one is well over six foot! They are protecting the tin now from getting too hot while the young saltbush plants are growing. You can see the seven year beans winding their way up through the lattice.  These are planted on the inside of the vegetable patch, and as their name suggests they can last up to seven years.

The first sunflower popped out happily today, the others are not far behind. I love the way they follow the sun.

We made beeswax from a rescued hive. So looking forward to a regular supply of this!

Another year, another birthday. My dear mum who is now 80 always makes a special cake for me.

Also for my birthday, hubby made a coffee table from left over red gum.

The main piece of red gum he used to make a top for this special table.

I try to fit in regular sourdough baking, because this bread is so good!

From the beginning of my blogging in 2007, I have always enjoyed Rhonda Jeans blog.  She was the one who inspired me on my journey to a simpler way of living and thinking.   Then a few years ago I stumbled across Grandma Donna's blog, and I knew that this was how I wanted to live. So since then, I have slowly incorporated the old days into my everyday life. I absolutely love browsing over gDonna's blog pages, this makes me dream of simpler times, some of which I remember from my younger days. We all know those times weren't simple compared to today's modern conveniences, but still there is a draw back to those times. My parents, in their 80's say that they were lucky to live through the good times of the 50's and 60's, and right now I believe them.

I hope you will join me along my journey, maybe we can inspire each other, and maybe, just maybe it is what is needed in this world.

Wishing everyone a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!

Love and peace to you all.

xTania