A toxic day, well it was for Aj.

Thursday am

What a weird sort of day, very dark skies but no rain yet. There is a 90% chance of rain today and tomorrow though. (Poor Aj and his class are on an Outdoor Ed camp ;)

Yesterday we said goodbye to a couple who were just strangers last Thursday. We first met Chris & Hosanna on the Spirit of Tassie on our way back from Melbourne after Christmas; a coincidence. They are from Cairns and go to church with another couple who moved from Melbourne a couple of years ago. They were told to drop in on us while in Tassie.

We are so glad they did! Chris & Hosanna have been travelling and working their way around Australia for the last two years and spent their last five nights in Tassie with us. They slotted into our family seamlessly. Never have all four kids taken to people so well, as they did to these two. Hosanna and I talked and talked and talked. The conversations were both deep and light hearted, and we were able to talk about anything and everything. It felt like we had been friends for life. As you know I struggle with friendships especially as those I am closest to have moved away (and/or are interstate). It would have been nice for them to have stayed longer and if the timing was different I'm sure they would have. As Hosanna wrote in the visitors book "...our home is your home. You may want to wait until we move out of the tent though."

Thursday pm

Today I took the trailer to get some gravel to fill in the  pot holes in the driveway and only after it was full (1.25ish ton ) did I see a flat tyre...grrr. I crept up to the house of a friend who lived close by. It was not running on the rim but was very low. Up to the servo we went to pump it up. We got some funny looks - hehe. A cuppa and then home, twins in to bed, and out to spread the load. MissZ came out not long after and sat in the front seat of the car taking pics on my phone. Two funny things she said were,  "Are you having fun mummy?" and when asked if she wanted the radio on, "No, I like peace and quiet". MissZ is generally anything but quiet and peaceful. Cute kid.

The starts of it

Work in progress

What got spread around the turning circle

One of MissZ's many many pics

Oh and while on the subject of kids. I can't recommend more highly 'almost-two-year-old' twins....they are so very very cute together. Today MrW went to help MissO up from the floor by clapping and putting his hands out for her. After helping her to her feet, he made sure she was coming with him. They looked like Tellytubbies though as they helped each other up.

As I finish off this blog, I have received a text from Aj saying his day was toxic and it was lights out at 8. So early, MUST have been a huge day for the students. AND it is now raining heavily here.

Miracles

What do you think when you hear the word 'miracle'?

God? His workings? Great faith? Yes, but it is so much more than that. The miracles that are recorded in the Bible are enough for us to believe and have eternal life. We do not need to see miracles today to prove God's existence. There are enough written in the Bible for us to see and read about. We shouldn't need to go searching for miracles.

John 20:29-31

29 Then Jesus told [Thomas], “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” 30 Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. 31 But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

We can sit, pray and wait for God to 'show up' and do a miracle but it will only happen if it is in  His will. If it isn't in His will it will not happen and it will seem as though God does not care. But it isn't about Him not caring it's about us not listening to Him.

We get a lot of rainbows here and each and everyone is so very beautiful. They are a miracle  within themselves. It is so easy to miss the everyday miracles that are around us.

Look for the simple joys in life, and life will be simply more enjoyable.

A productive day!

How do you get done all that needs to be done? I have a notebook and write down my jobs/tasks. Most days I only get a few things ticked off but today I got heaps done. I had a refreshing bout of motivation today. My mother would be so proud...haha!

I bottled some chutney. I pulled the glass jars out of the oven and put them onto the stove top. The second one I did though cracked. I had placed it right on top of some water. A hot jar on cold water does not mix…and to think I had laughed at my mum when she did something similar when we were bottling apples. Oops.

Miss Z and I paved under the wheelie bin today. We have a stash of old bricks for a path around the house. We took the wheelbarrow and collected some from the front shed. One short we were...back we go. All done and looking much better. It was fun. Not sure how I will go getting a large area like a pathway flat and level but this small job was fine.

The calves are now eating the grass down properly. Can you see the zigzag line of eaten and fresh grass? Aj has worked out a great system for grazing them. They need to eat it down so that it comes back well. Otherwise they will just eat the new fresh shoots and the grass will grow uneven. He's a great farmer in the making I say.

Firewood!

A couple of weeks ago we had a truckload of firewood logs delivered into one of our paddocks. Just over 15 metres' worth. Today Aj started to cut and split them with Gary, the previous owner of the house and a good friend.

After six hours, the result was somewhat different...

Much of it has been split, but there are still a lot of rounds to go. Then there's all the stacking...!

To market to market

Just a small piece of history for you.

The first complete recorded version of the rhyme appeared in 1805 in Songs for the Nursery with no reference to a pig:

To market, to market to buy a penny bun,

Home again, home again, market is done.

When the rhyme reappeared later in the nineteenth century, it took the now common form:

To market, to market, to buy a fat pig,

Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

Well I went to market, two of them, and have come home again.  Thursday's market was at our local MOPS. It was a closed group market and while I thought I wouldn't do well, compared to Saturdays Art & Makers Market in town, it did do well.

People loved the baby shoes and tee shirts but weren't overly interested in spending. I came home wondering if my items are marketable.   I need to work on how to promote my product.  There are people in this town who just can't justify spending the money that my products are worth. So back to the drawing board: Etsy site? Pay for advertisement on madeit? And then there is the possibility of putting them in a shop in Stanley called The Brown Dog. I have left samples with the new owner and am looking forward to hearing from her soon. 

My mum and Grandma are here at the moment. Great to spend Mothers Day with them both. I miss having family around so much. You can have supportive friends but nothing beats family, especially mum! 

And what did I get for Mother's day?Two beastie  beauties and  15m of firewood logs.

 Fresh mushrooms, straight from our paddocks (yes, rest assured  they are edible. I let Aj eat them first though) 

Mr T is reading his way through a stack of joke cards that Aj had as a boy. They are the typical nonsense jokes that kids laugh at but don't get. I thought this one was very appropriate for Providence Meadows. 

Q: How do you stop a cockerel crowing at daybreak on Sunday?

A: Eat it on Saturday night.

Comparison

A friend has this up on her wall. It speaks loads to me.

I often find that I am comparing myself to others. Better at craft; better at running a house; better than running a business from home...and the list goes on. 

But guess what: I am ME. No one else can be me. All that matters is that I am doing what God has asked of me, by serving Him in all that I do and taking care of my family.

Things that I am good at. Not to toot my own trumpet but because doing this is hard! You try it:

Loving God and serving Him.

Loving and caring for my husband and kids.

Listening to others when they need it.

Not compromising on things that I believe in.

Being creative at lots of things. I may not be an expert at any one thing but I enjoy what I do.

Gardening.

Preserving - sauces and jams.

Making Choc Chip Biscuits.

As I write this I am thinking about a market coming up and thinking that my things will look daggy compared to others, that she makes and sells HEAPS of earrings...But I have to ignore those thoughts and focus on what I am good at and enjoy and rejoice in those things.

Shopping local

Do you shop local?

Being apart of a small town in Tassie means that we don't have a large range of shops. We do have all that you would need to day to day living though. It would be easy to by pass our own community and go up the coast to the chain stores. You would, yes, spend more in time and fuel but the savings would surely out way that. But then what would happen to our local shops? They would go!

Why am I writing all this? We have a number of empty shops in town. It is sad to see as our town is by no means dying out but the shops will if our community doesn't start shopping locally.

I am a bargain hunter and happy to OP Shop but I have had to dig deeper of late and be the support our town needs. Plus if you only buy the things you actually need to need up saving money as you aren't tempted by all the things you don't need.


I found this non local site on the reasons to shop local and although based on Chicago I think it aplies to our town too.

Think before you spend. Can you buy it locally? If so do so and support your community!