Flashback *cough cough* Friday: Hippie Love

This is the hippiest pic I could find in the albums I have (only one from the 70s).

There were plenty of wide-collar, huge flares pix, but not exactly hippie.

This leather-headbanded friend of mum's was the winner (L-R: me aged one, mum, mum's hippie friend).

And I still hate the smell of *cough cough* cigarette smoke. Thanks, mum.

P.S. My stupid soap from stupid Wednesday is still stupid soft. Hmph.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble....

Made soap today! Yippee! The house is filled with the scents of sandalwood, vanilla, cranberry and fig...mmmm.

Pity my home-made divider failed and the sandalwood-vanilla batch swam into the cranberry-fig batch. *Wince* Will post pix soon. Meantime, enjoy the Corbis offerings.

Flashback Friday: Travel Bug

This is (L-R) family friend (clinging to her dad's leg), family friend, cousin Sabrina, my brother Adam, and me, at the Dandenong ice-skating rink. We'd go on a Sunday after church (we used to go to church every Sunday back then....whoa) during winter. They'd play the latest hits on a crappy PA system so despite the fact it was at about 134 decibels, you'd barely hear what song it was supposed to be, but it certainly did make us skate faster! Then we'd take a breather in the middle and pretend to be figure skaters, executing clumsy spins, wobbly balances, and painful falls.

SO GOOD.

If you had've asked me two months ago whether I thought the following was possible, I would have said, "No -- I bloody well wish!"

- Milk, bread, eggs, butter, juice, fruit and vegies delivered to my door.
- Said produce 100 % Australian owned and grown.
- Free delivery.
- Cheaper prices than at the supermarkets.
- Fresher than the supermarkets, and top quality.

Well, that is exactly the utopian dream our family is currently living, thanks to Aussie Farmers Direct. No I am not getting a commission for this, nor do I have any pecuniary or other interest in plugging Aussie Farmers Direct -- I just love it, and really wanted to share!

It's all super fresh and yummy-yum-yum, and as well as the things I have already mentioned, you can also have cream, cheese, Aussie coffee, and spring water delivered.

I could go on and on about the benefits of AFD, and I will!

MissM finds it super exciting to receive the deliveries, especially finding the fruit & veg box on our doorstep on Wednesday after kinder. It has even inspired her to eat some new fruit/veg, which as far as I am concerned is a miracle (she was excited about the mango today).

Likewise I am inspired to cook new stuff, because the box contains some things I do not usually buy (e.g. iceberg lettuce -- we rediscovered the pleasure of an old-school lettuce/tomato/cuke salad the other night, which went fabulously with a homemade lasagne).

Another benefit is that we are eating more good stuff and wasting less! My usual way was to go to the supermarket, buy the usual fruit/vegies, and occasionally buy a bunch of something or other which was either eaten or ended up evolving at the bottom of the fridge/fruitbowl. Now the choice is out of my hands, because the farmers' box contains a selection not made by me. Most of it happens to be stuff I usually buy (apples, bananas, capsicum, onion, etc) but the rest is stuff I would not usually buy, and I know that I have a week to find a way to use it before the next box of fruit/veg comes. To be honest, I thought it wouldn't work and that a lot more evolution would go on in the bottom of the fridge, but not so! I think it's because I know the next box is coming, and normally I just wait until I can bring myself to shoo out whatever it is crawling around the bottom of my fridge before I go and buy more. And now when I am contemplating what to have for lunch, I think of the fresh stuff first -- yay for me!!

I luv yaz, Aussie Farmers!

Flashback Friday: The whole family.

This breaks the rules a little, as I believe we became citizens in 1986, but nevertheless, this is us becoming official Australians, because we became true Australians the moment we fell in love with this country, which was some time before the day in this photo.

Flashback Friday: (catch-up) toys, and my mum!

This was my favourite doll. I named her "Nauczycielka" which is "Teacher" in Polish (que?!). I also remember that dog on the armchair -- it was super-soft, as it was covered with rabbit fur (noice...).

My favourite toy EVER is Floppy. My dad brought him over from a business trip to Finland in 1977. He knows all my secrets, fears, loves, heartbreaks, fury, regrets, sorrows, joys. He has soaked up about five times his body weight in my tears over time, and has also borne the brunt of my tempers and frustrations (then more tears of guilty regret). He came with me everywhere until about age......(OMG)....20. He's still around (laying around in MissC's room as I type, so I can't take a pic! I will do so tomorrow and add it to this post).

I don't remember this softie, but I sure like it now! Heh heh. Wish I still had this one. (I'm on the right.)This is my beautiful mum.

Resplendent in lurvely stirrup-pants (circa 1985).

Reach, shake, peg, reach, shake, peg, reach, shake, peg...

Busy busy busy busy. Well, been on holidays for a week, so not that kind of busy, but the kind of busy that comes upon returning home from holidays. You know -- unpacking (eugh...shudder), thirty-four loads of washing, catching up on emails (yikes!), etc. Chuck a sick kid into the mix, and that makes me a busy little bee.

I can't believe I'm complaining after having spent the last week at a gorgeous holiday house in Sandy Point with lovely weather, animal visitors (rabbits, a fox, an echidna, a wonky-feathered magpie), lots of ice-cream, building sandcastles and running up and down dunes, cozy combustion-stove fires, and even time to flop on the couch and read (thanks, Mr.Cherryskin).

View east from Cape Liptrap (across to Wilson's Prom, which can be seen on the rhs horizon).

Ladybird on Cape Liptrap lighthouse door.

Playing with glow-sticks (taken by MissM).