Ketchup (catch-up)

Posted under Uncategorized by Melinda

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Wow, no posting since August…  that’s pretty slack!

So what’s been happening the last five months…  umm, lots…

I’m now President and Area Leader for the Canberra Chapter of the International Coach Federation.  It’s kind of scary, really interesting and so far quite rewarding.  The scare factor comes in because (a) I’ve never had a position like this before, and (b) I want to do it well and be a huge benefit for the members in this area.

I’ve revamped my business, changed the name – now SuperWAHM, the look, the focus and all the copy on the website.  At the moment it’s at the same domain http://wahmbizbuilder.com but we’ll be changing that soon for http://superwahm.com.

Eddie did up a desk that we received from Freecycle and it’s finally in my office.  I now have over twice the desk space I’ve had previously.  While I love my antique teak desk it was just way too small.  This one, although not as nice looking, is much more useful and practical.  It used to be a government desk and is HUGE!

Speaking of Freecycle, I received a steam mop the other day from there too.  I’d been looking at them, have several friends who swear they’re wonderful, but wasn’t sure enough to spend a couple of hundred dollars on something I may not use – housework not being too high on my priority list!  This mop is AWESOME!!!  So easy and gets the floor amazingly clean.  With no chemicals!  Ok, it uses electricity so not 100% environmentally friendly, but it’s got to be better than constant chemicals.  And better for us and the cats too.  I dont’ remember when I last got excited about a cleaning appliance.  LOL

Dian finished school for the year, and at the same time concluded her primary schooling.  She’s off to High School starting 1 Feb.  In other slightly related news, she’s starting to develop physically…  We’re now officially the parents of a prepubescent tweenager.  Heaven help us.  The hormonal fluctuations have been going for awhile now.  Hopefully we can guide her through puberty without too much angst, rebellion and arguments.

Both Eddie and I spend a lot of time talking and working with her.  We’ve actively worked on developing relationships with her, both as a parent and as a friend.  At times we have to ‘be’ the parent – the disciplinarian, the one’s who say no and won’t budge.  Most of the time we work on being friends.  Explaining the why’s, the reasoning behind issues, discussing life issues.  (And no, none of us seem to get confused between the two)  Hopefully this work will help us all get through the next few years.

One of our chooks (chickens) had to be put down a couple of months ago.  She had growths developing on her body which turned out to be cancer.  It was one of the Australorps (the black one’s) so we replaced her with another Australorp about a month ago.  Funy thing, chickens are racist.  They stick with their own colours more than mingling.  When we had two white chooks and one black one the black one was NOT included in anything.  She was very much on the outer.

I haven’t been doing a lot of gardening recently.  No rain, too much cold and then extreme heat.  I do have parsley in – it’s going to seed.  One strawberry plant that survived – out of 40 runners two years ago.  Four tomato plants – one Broad Ripple Yellow Currant and one Roma, plus a Tom Thumb dwarf plant.  Yes, I know that’s only three.  I have another that I put in the garden today.  Up to now I’ve been growing them in plastic cups, the sort you use at kids parties.  I realised this morning that this seedling had half-grown tomato’s on it!  So it’s in the garden, but then I thought about it and I’m going to move it later today to a large pot out the front of the house.

Speaking of pots out the front:  I’ve got a polystyrene box on the front porch.  Filled it with some potting mix, worm farm soil, compost, food scraps, then planted it.  It’s growing better than anywhere else here!  In the box, about 2′ x 18″, I’ve got three silverbeet, one Tom Thumb tomato, a patch of Thyme and a gorgeous crop of Basil.  Plus one garlic that I shoved in there on the off chance it would grow – I thought it was too dead to grow but there are shoots appearing.

I’ve got another larger box in the garage and I think I might pull it out for a winter crop as well.  The boxes are working better than the garden because they’re easier to water and feed.

Oh, I’ve also got a pumpkin plant growing, although I can’t remember what sort.  I think the seed packet said “Yummy pumpkin from Laurel”  LOL.  I’ve got a heap of various pumpkin seeds here, from hybrids that my mother and stepdad grew to mixed heirloom seeds, to supermarket seeds I saved from nice tasting pumpkins.  One day I’d like enough ground to grow them all – but their offspring would probably all be cross bred!

There’s also potato’s (Kennebec I think) growing in a half wine barrel and a couple of spare seed potato’s that I threw in between the garden beds.  They’re growing well and I’ve already bandicooted a couple of little potato’s out of the barrel.

Our apple tree – in another half barrel – had flowers on it that grew into tiny apples.  However they only grew to about a cm or so (half inch) before insects and caterpillars got to them and they died and dropped off.  Next year I know to cover them as soon as the flowers fall.  Very disappointing.

I guess I do have a fair garden going now, looking at all of that!  LOL.  I did have 16 corn seedlings growing nicely out in the vegie patch, but two days ago one of the chooks – the newest one – got in there and dug them up looking for worms.  I’ve fixed the fence since then….

I’ve also got a good patch of Comfrey growing, some fantastic Rosemary and our parsnip self-seeded all along the back fence.  It’s too rocky for them to grow properly there though, the roots are all twisted and distorted from growing around the rocks.  They’re a good source of fresh parsnip seeds though.

I’ve been doing a lot of cooking over the past few months.  Ice cream has featured heavily, and heavy is the right word for what it’s doing to my waistline!  I haven’t cooked any bread for awhile, it’s been way too hot here and no air conditioning in the house.  I’m looking forward to being able to get back to that around April when the weather cools down.  Although I can keep on the lookout for some cool changes I guess and plan around that in order to have a loaf now and then.  Wonder how well artisan bread freezes?

I’ve got several Ice Cream recipes to post over the next few weeks, plus some other recipes that have become favourites of ours.

I think that’s all for now, it’s all I can think of anyway.  Pictures and recipes to come over the next few weeks.