winter holiday catch up

We are one week into our winter school holiday, so I thought I would share a few things I have been up to.

First of course was my market stall at the Legacy Winter Markets, this is the first time they have done a winter market, taking over from our local gallery who no longer wanted to do it.

I did extremely well at the Christmas Markets they had, so I was keen to go along.

Thankfully the rain stayed away for the day- I was a bit worried!

I did quite well on the day, and have since got a custom order from the lady who bought the pink chair.

She bought this for her granddaughter's nursery and now other family members want some chairs in their chosen colours for their homes. 

This lady is actually from Queensland but visits family in our town regularly.

The little ones spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday morning at Kid's Club and had a great time- it was rather strange for this homeschooler to get everyone breakfasted and dressed and in the car by 8:30am each morning- I don't know how school mums do it!

I spent the time while the kids were at Kids Club, Op shopping and having morning tea with different friends each day- it was lots of fun!

But by the time we got home and had lunch the day seemed to have just gone and very little got done, except maybe some reading!

Thursday and Friday saw a bit more productivity as I enforced 2 screen free days for the kids- no computer, playstation, iPods, DVD's or TV until we had our nightly dose of The Block.

It makes it so much calmer when they don't constantly ask me if they can watch a movie,play a computer game etc.

I started out cleaning and decluttering my bedroom.

I also cleaned out the desk that my great grandfather built and moved it from my dining room into the parents retreat, off my bedroom.

Maggie hopped into an empty alcove for a little nap!

I have plans for my dining room and I still need to tackle a few things in my bedroom but it is looking a lot neater- I want to go through the bookshelf and I have some magazines to sort through before passing them on.

 

The desk needs a new coat of beeswax, but I am really liking it here.

At the request of B2, I made a chicken and mushroom pie- it was delicious!

 I made my own GF pastry and then made half of it into puff pastry - I was quite pleased with the result- I was just going on my memory of how I did it at school about 30 years ago.

 I then decided to make some fabulous spinach and cheese rolls on Saturday, I had discovered a recipe in my decluttering  and after finding heaps of silverbeet in the garden waiting to be picked thought it the perfect time to make them.

 I was half way through making the puff pastry when I thought I should take a look at exactly how to make it, I headed to pinterest and discovered I was making it slightly wrong and adjusted the recipe half way through- the result- DISASTER! 

I ended up with too much butter in the pastry and the result was an extremely short falling apart pastry with butter oozing from it in the oven, the filling however was delicious, so with plenty of silverbeet still in the garden I will be trying this again this week- hopefully with a better result!

Friday night I tagged along with the three big boys when they went to the cinema to see the Lone Ranger with friends ( I told them to pretend I wasn't there and that I wouldn't sit with them- but they some of his friends came and sat with me).

I was planning to go with VCH - but apparently he never liked the Lone Ranger as a kid and had no interest in seeing it!

I actually think he would have enjoyed it. 

Johnny Depp was brilliant. 

The movie was great but definitely geared to an older audience with an M rating.

 I would not recommend it to anyone under 13.

I have also discovered a way to get some cheaper tickets to go to the movies.

Our local theatre sells bulk movie passes so for $50 you can get five 2D tickets, and for $60 five 3D tickets, the only catch- you must purchase them at least 24hrs in advance of using them, but you have 1 year to use them after this. This works out great if you plan on going on days other than cheap Tuesday. 

I sent B1 in the day before and we used them on Friday night and have one left for another time.

I will definitely be doing this again!

This week I am planning to clean out my sewing room and sort out some "redeemed" stuff.

I have a dresser that I will be striping paint off ready for the arrival of my Miss Mustard Seed Milk paint.

 I will be taking my 3 little ones to see Despicable Me 2 in 3D and to the ice cream shop tomorrow as their reward for completing all their schoolwork last term.

They had to earn 40 points to go to the movies, 50 points to get a drink and popcorn, and 60 points to include an ice cream (1 scoop)  from the ice cream shop. 

If they only did the bare minimum they would have only got 35 points (I didn't start this until a couple of weeks into term), but to earn extra points they had to read extra books. B5 ended up getting 90 points- so he ended up with a mini sundae at the ice cream shop, B4 and The Girl earned a mix in with 70 points.- I kept having to add extras on as they worked so hard and exceeded my expectations!

I am hoping to catch up with a few friends later in the week.

Somewhere in this I think I had better do some planning for term 3!

Hope you are enjoying your holiday - even if it is a bit cold!

I will be back with some recipes, some gardening and some more details about the markets later in the week.

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