Monday, June 10, 2013

Living Simply, and Simply Living!

It's been a while since I updated, but I'm not going to apologise :-)

Since my latest post, and quasi-meltdown, I've realised I just need to slow down and enjoy life. Teddy Bear won't be little forever, and I felt like I was trying to do too much, and for what? Life is too short to stress. This has been put into perspective lately as my Dad has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. It is incredibly sad, but it also helps you reevaluate what is important in your life.

I don't want this to be a heavy post. I want this to be inspiring.

Last Christmas, my MIL gave me a copy of a book she thought I'd enjoy, it's called Down To Earth and it's written by the incredibly lovely Rhonda Hetzel. In a nutshell, the book encourages the reader to live simply, free your life of excess, ignore marketing hype, save money and the environment, and develop (and use) basic skills.

It might sound basic, but it has been an inspiring revelation to me! Our family has started to implement some of these techniques and we are having a great time doing so. Oh. And saving money has been a nice bonus!

Here is my first pizza dough, made from scratch. For some reason, I thought it would be really hard to make? That's just crazy talk! Go on and give it a go, the flavour far surpasses any rigid store-bought stuff!

And here it is, fresh out of the oven. I added some oregano and basil to the sauce - from our garden of course. It's so much fun to pick fresh produce and cook with it.

Speaking of gardening, did you know that you can plant some cuttings instead of throwing them away? It's almost too good to be true! I've successfully planted scraps from celery and spring onion, it almost feels like recycling food.

I just love those sneaky baby fingers going in to steal a slice!

Ok...the bread. Oh, that bread! My husband and I thought it would be nice to try soy and linseed. It didn't bake too well (wet in the middle), and while it was delicious, it was dangerous. It took us three days to realise that soy and linseed gave all three of us the most horrific gas. Even Teddy Bear was farting like a trooper. Looking at that picture gives me a stomach ache, haha!

We went on to make regular white bread, with Home Brand white flour, and it was fantastic. I've borrowed a breadmaker to do this, and feel very fortunate that we didn't have to buy one. Although if I didn't have access to one, I would probably have the confidence now to make bread completely by hand. Do yourself a favour and do it! I feel amazing for not eating all those preservatives (and paying $4 a loaf for bread, what's up with that?).

This is the last piece of the kitchen renovation puzzle done. My beautiful, beautiful duck-egg blue glass tile splashback. I'm so in love! Just need some hand made goodness to make it feel like home ;-)

And finally, in the spirit of simplicity, I've done a little bit of English paper piecing in the evenings. I sit and chat with my husband while we watch tv, it's nice to slow down and just stitch for fun. Thank you again Gina for the Marmalade mini charm pack - I love how it looks in hexagons!

Check back soon to see some of the items I've been creating...no more tears with these, I am happy with the results.

2 comments:

  1. Your homemade pizza and bread look delicious!! I love your blue glass tile backsplash and some handmade goodies will really make it fun!! hexies+marmelade=perfect :)

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  2. Hi. Found you via Maureen Cracknell and Fat Quarter shop. Don't you just love the internet for connecting us all through our similar interests? I am loving hexies too at the moment, but am yet to complete a project using them. Love my quilting and sewing too.

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