Sunday Session

I started this last week and was thrilled when other's linked up with their own cool music choices.

It's a regular thing so let's go again.

On Sundays I'm going to pop two favourite songs onto my blog.

An oldie but a goldie.
And a newbie, fresh off the charts.

Here are my picks for this week.

If you want to, you can play along by linking up below.

Can't wait to hear your picks.


Happy Sunday afternoon!

The Farm

Those of you who are regular readers of this here little ol' blog may be aware that I grew up on a dairy farm.
For those of you who aren't...I grew up on a dairy farm.
The farm was owned by my dad and his brother, who bought it from their dad.
My uncle, who is of retirement age, is still pottering about the place doing his jobs.
And my dad is too but he's up before 5am every morning to get the cows in for milking.
They both do a lot of tractor work and are still full-time farmers.
Honestly, the only way dairy farmers (or any farmers) retire, is if they move off the place.  And Mum & Dad, and my auncle and aunty, don't want to do that.  So they'll probably keep on working for as long as they're there and they're able.
My brother and his wife are organizing the new dairy now.
And boy, are there some changes going on.

During the late 1990's dairying hit upon very hard times and in 2003 my family decided to stop dairying.
It was a big deal.  They'd been dairying for 80 years, four generations. But the industry had become unworkable, you can't make a living when the profit has fallen away to nothing.
So they sold the dairy machines and the dairy herd.
This was particularly difficult because my brother had spent years breeding one of the best Holstein herds in Australia.
I took the day off work and went to the auction of the cows. It was a really sad day.
My family continued to live on the farm, they increased the few beef cattle they had and started making (and selling) hay in earnest.

Then a few years ago the milk prices picked up again. My brother could never really shake the dairy farmer in him out, so they rebuilt a smaller dairy, bought up a new herd (some of his own back from Victoria and New South Wales) and it was a dairy farm once again.
I had a lump in my throat the day we visited the farm and the black and white cows were back milling around by the side of the road.
I've gotta tell ya, I love those cows!

My brother is great at coming up with new plans and ideas and when he stumbled upon this one, he went for it.
Did you know that cows can be milked by robots?



It's true!!
There are dairy farms in Victoria and overseas that are fully computerised and the whole herd is milked by robots without a single person around.  Seems unbelievable if you've ever had anything to do with a working dairy farm.  But there you go. He did his sums, decided it was worth it, talked Mum & Dad into the fan dangled idea and went off to Victoria to do a course in how to run it.  Now he will be the second farm in Queensland with a robotic dairy, as of next week!

I am so proud of my brother (and the whole family). Not only has he been working on the farm since he left school, he also became a part time DJ, because he loves music as much as cows...maybe more.  And he has started a Psychology degree. Now that's busy!

On Monday we are all going to the farm for the first operational day of the robots. It's very exciting. And you can be sure I'll be blogging about it!

But in the meantime I thought you might like to see some pictures of 'The Farm'.
To me, it's the most beautiful place on earth.



1969 - That's my dad on the tractor. 



1978 - The new walking irrigator.



1980 - The view from the back door of Mum & Dad's house.



1982 - The first Harvestore (big blue silage storing silo)



1981 - The view from the top. Yes, I did climb it, it took me weeks to make it all the way!



1989 - Three tractors working on the same paddock.



1992 - After a huge hail storm.



2004 - The view of Mt Barney from down at the gully.



2007 - The cows are back!





2008 - Under flood waters.



2009 - This was the view from my bedroom window as a kid.




My brother & sister-in-law's house.

 

2009 - A misty morning.

 

Polly Dolly in Lace!

It's Thursday! I really look forward to Thursdays now and Danimezza's Polly Dolly Challenge.
This week's theme is lace....I love lace! 

Getting all dressed up again today...

Lace by Thea Smith featuring a lace dress

Black Lace Sleeve Wing Dress
40 GBP - missselfridge.com
Lace dress »

Shoes - Shoes & Bags - Betsey Johnson
$50 - betseyjohnson.com
Betsey johnson shoe »

Bourne Madeline Wristlet
$99 - endless.com
Bourne clutches »

All Black Jewelry - Evita's Black Crystal Vintage Style Cuff Bracelet...
$33 - fantasyjewelrybox.com
Vintage jewelry »

Michal Negrin Stunning Ring with Flower Print, White Swarovski...
$106 - amazon.com
Swarovski rings »

Facet Drop Chandelier - New In - Topshop USA
topshop.com
Chandelier earring »

L'Wren Scott for Lancome 'Hypnose Drama' Mascara (Nordstrom Exclusive)
$25 - nordstrom.com

Shiseido The Makeup Matte dark red Lipstick
beautyencounter.com

Parfums de Rosine Rose Praline Eau de Parfum
$140 - barneys.com

Travelling

As I read Jodi's blog post recently about her upcoming honeymoon in Europe, I was taken back in time, remembering our own European honeymoon 8 years ago.

The first thing I remember are all the good things, the sights, the sounds, the smells, the cold!
It was wonderful.

But on further pondering, I remembered that that wasn't how we felt at the time.
It was very difficult, a lot of the time.

The first thing we both said when we returned home and were asked the inevitable "How was it?"
was... "Difficult!"

Neither of us spoke any French, Italian, German or Austrian.
Both of us were not confident to try to speak it, even if we could read it.
It sounds silly, but you just feel plain stupid when you can't understand anything you read or hear.
We didn't hire a car so we walked everywhere.
We travelled by Eurail between cities which was wonderful, but once we arrived...we walked...and walked...and walked some more.
Sometimes that was more than an hour to find our hotel, with very big and heavy backpacks.
Because we didn't catch public transport around any of the cities, after about 4 - 6 hours of walking and looking buildings and museums every day, we'd had enough.
So we spent a lot of time in our hotel rooms, watching MTV or CNN because they were often the only things on TV in English.
It also gets very cold and very dark very early in Europe in Winter so that sent us indoors as well.
We didn't eat out very often due to the language factor and the dollar factor.
So we also ate a lot of takeaway or baguettes, salami and cheese from little grocery stores.
And you can buy wine in supermarkets, so we drank a lot of wine in our hotel rooms, too.
(They have 1.5L bottles of wine!!)
For someone who is a homebody and doesn't care if I don't leave the house all day, it was very difficult for me to be out and about every single full on day for five weeks.
I have a very clear memory of sitting on a park bench in Florence, crying. I'd just had enough. I didn't want to walk any more. I didn't want to not understand every single thing I read. I didn't want to feel stupid anymore. I just wanted to go home.

Having whinged said all that, we have never regretted our trip.
There is nothing like that 'Oh My God!' feeling when you see the Eiffel Tower or Leaning Tower of Pisa or Michelangelo's David for the first time....incredible.
It was the most amazing experience, and it's even better viewed through hindsight from the comfort of our own home.
We love seeing places on TV or in books or magazines and being able to say, "Remember when we were there."
And we love being about to say to our kids, "We've been there."
One day we'd love to take them.
When they're old enough to learn and speak French and Italian fluently!

I transcribed my tiny travel diary entries and added all our photos (and some that aren't mine) to a travel blog last year. It's very stilted but there are some good photos. It was pre-digital camera days (for us) so some days I don't have many photos. I'd go nuts with my camera if I went over again.

If you want to check it out it's here...

Our travel blog

If you've travelled, how was your experience?
Were you great big sooky chickens, too?
Or was that just us??

Happy Birthday!

To meeeeeee!!!

Yep, it's my double 21st today.
And I don't feel a bit over 56.

So, for my birthday I'm giving you a present,
well, one of you...
as promised.

I'm only 6 off 200 magic followers, but my birthday came first, so here's the giveaway.

If you would like one of these...

...kids swimming/beach bags with draw string and hidden zippered pocket...

all you have to do is say pink or blue in the comments.
I'll put the names in a hat and draw out the lucky winner of the giveaway on Friday 29th at 7pm.

If you haven't you seen my cutie pie aprons click here if you have a minute and do some window shopping at Sew Thea.

Oh, and here are my presents....lucky me!

And here's my opal. I can't wear it until it's resized to a teeny tiny size 'L', but I can look at it.
And I will, all day long.

Isn't it pretty!?

We're Aiming for....HEALTHY!

I am officially heading to Wits End Territory!
Tonight I made my own chicken nuggets.
They weren't bad, they were actually quite good.
My husband even said so and that is a massive stamp of approval because he is very a bit fussy.
But...would my 6 year old boy eat them?
No.
Of course not.
This is nothing new.
He has been doing this since he was about 3.
He used to eat many more things when he was 1 and 2, but now?
Dinner has been nothing but frozen Chicken Chippies or frozen Fishies for years.
He eats that with raw carrot sticks and plain pasta.
And he eats well for breakfast and lunch.
He was even given an award at school for 'Always having a healthy lunch'.
He was pretty pleased about that...
...and so was I!!
But dinner has me tearing my hair out.

I admit I've been lazy and have just given in and cooked the same thing night after night after night....
But it is not good for him.
It is not a healthy option.
And I don't want to do it anymore.

I don't believe in making children sit at the table until they've finished everything on their plate.
If they're hungry, they'll eat.
If they've had enough they don't have to eat any more.
We hardly ever have takeaway, and my 6 year old boy won't eat anything except the chips anyway.
But the frozen chicken nuggets have been worrying me for ages.

I think the universe is trying to tell me something, and I'm hearing it!
It started with Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, which I loved!
Then my sister-in-law recommended Michael Pollan's books.
I'm reading "In Defense of Food" right now, as you can see on my side bar.
Then I joined the "Fatty Boombah Club" and everything is coming together.

My husband and I have decided to do our best to eat nothing with ingredients on the label that we don't know.  Like all those numbers and boxes or packages of things with a million ingedients listed.
We started to read some and said to each other, "What is that?"
We don't know, but we were eating it anyway?
Not anymore, we binned it.
We binned a lot of things a couple of nights ago.

Tonight I started anew.
I made chicken nuggets.
I even made the crumbs, because when I read the list of ingredients on the boxed versions at the supermarket...well, I couldn't even get to the end. Have you looked at them? Crazy!!

I don't like to cook, but I've resigned myself to the fact that I need to spend more time and effort in the kitchen.
My husband and I have resolved to eat food as close to their natural state as possible.
And that goes for the kids, too.

So, tonight didn't go so well.
I wasn't expecting it to, really.
But...
I am not giving up.
I've told my boy that I will be cooking real food every night, and it will be on his plate.
It will make me very happy if he tries it, and eventually we'll find things that he likes to eat.
He won't find immitation food from freezer boxes on his plate anymore.

I will persist with this, because this is important.

I'd Rather

As I was sweeping the floor this morning (because my stoopid broken vacuum cleaner doesn't suck)
I was listing in my head all the things I'd rather be doing.
Much like an imaginative child or daydreaming teenager would.

Here's what I came up with...

• go to the gym
• go for a walk
• watch TV
• watch a movie
• tweet
• blog
• read blogs
• read anything
• knit
• sew
• have coffee with my sister
• go shopping
• drink wine
• lie on a cushy chair under the shade of an umbrella by the side of the pool in a five star resort with a frothy pink cocktail

hmmmmmmmmmmm......that would be much better!

Look, there are three!
One for me...
who else would like one?

Prolific Blogger Award

It's been awhile since my last blog award so I was thrilled when my sister, Michelle Dennis Evans, sent this one my way.

The rules of acceptance of this award are:

•Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!

•Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award.

•Every Prolific Blogger must link back to the original post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.

I love the idea of linking back to the original post, here it is, because sometimes awards get lost in translation.


So in the true spirit of this award, here are seven very deserving prolific bloggers...

Lucy - Diminishing Lucy
Jodie -Mummy Mayhem
Megan - Writing Out Loud
Sass - Life of the Bees
Melissa - Suger Coat It
Sarah - Ah The Possibilities
Mad Mother - Meaningless Meandering from a Madmother

There are many others, of course....just check the blog roll on my side bar.
I love 'em all!!

Sunday Session

I'm going to try something new today...with a Linky!!

Hope it works and hope you like it.

I remember the days (BC..before children) when we occasionally headed off to a local or inner city pub for the Sunday Afternoon Session.  I loved it when they had a guitarist or duo, singing cruisy chill out music.

So, on Sundays I'm going to pop two favourite songs onto my blog.
An oldie but a goldie.
And a newbie, fresh off the charts.

Here are my picks for this week.

If you want to, you can play along by linking up below.
Can't wait to hear your picks.

Happy Sunday afternoon!




(It's the clean version in case little ears are listening.)

Opals

Well, apparently I'm getting two things from my wish list for my birthday....wooohoooooo!!

If you want a clue for one...

...we visited here today...

If you want to read about it, click here.



PS  While we were there I asked the lady about pink opals.  She looked at me like I was nuts.  Damn!

So I am not getting this one...

Oh well! 

Sometimes I Wish...

Sometimes I wish.
I just do.
Don't you?