Cats in the Cradle...er...Cage

This was the scene in my backyard yesterday. Beyond My Picket Fence yesterday morning I had five energetic children playing in the sunshine (yay!!!). They were having so much fun that this black cat decided to come and join them. We tried to run it off, to no avail. I tried to have the kids ignore it...to no avail. Somewhere along the line the kids found this cage about a week ago, which I suspect is for catching possums. I had thought "great, when we have a possum problem we'll be set to go". In the end I had Mr Busy pick up the cat, who insisted on playing near him, and put it in the cage. Once it was caught I phoned our Shire and they had a Park Ranger come and collect it a couple of hours later.

That silly cat was all too happy to come and play at someone else's house uninvited, but for some reason really objected to being disciplined for its rudeness! What I am really hoping is that if it does belong to someone they will get a wrap over the knuckles from the Shire for having a cat roaming about outside. They're supposed to be in a cat run outside, or inside the house. Not roaming free.

Yes, you're right. I am not a great cat lover. I also have a daughter who is allergic to them. Poor cat hit the double whammy by coming to our place.

The French Connection

You'll never believe it ~ I actually remembered to take a photo of something I cooked! Normally we eat faster than I remember to do that. The mushroom sauce I put over the chicken last night is one that I've done over budget scotch fillet as well. It seems to go well with beef and chicken very nicely.


The sauce was just a couple of spring onions finely sliced. I only had 3 mushrooms. Four or five would have been better, so I cut them in half and then finely sliced them.

After I had pan fried the chicken in a mixture of butter and light olive oil, I threw in the spring onions and sauted for a minute, then added the mushrooms. Once they had softened a little I added a large dollop (I used a regular teaspoon, not a measuring spoon) of dijon mustard and cooked that for about 30 seconds. Then I added some white wine...just what I had in the fridge that is used for cooking. I think it's a Brut....but anything you have is just fine. It might've been about a scant 1/4 cup. That was good for deglazing the pan and getting all the stuff off the bottom ~ the extra flavour! Once that was boiling I added about 200ml of cream and then let that come to the boil. I let that go for a few minutes til it had reduced thickened up a bit ~ not long.

Whilst all that was going on, I had put the chicken into the oven to keep warm, on the bottom shelf. I used thigh fillets cos they were cheap and what I had. They were lovely and moist and coloured up beautifully.

The water predicament was resolved in a fairly timely manner yesterday. Apparently a rubbish truck hit a fire hydrant a couple of streets over. I was finally able to shower around 10am...and by then I really felt like I needed it LOL. We went from low pressure to no water to low pressure...enough to flush loos. At that point I filled up some buckets and got some dishes done. But then it was back by 11am with no problems.

Menu Planning Day

This morning has begun with the trying situation of having no water. The man at the water company said it might take as long as four hours to fix....once they find the problem *sigh*. Thankfully there was a little bit of water in the caravan tank, so I have about a litre and I've asked dh to bring a 5 litre container from work with water in it. I'm starting to think a water tank might just be a fabulous idea! Town water is obviously unreliable!

Lucky him, he got a shower....I didn't :(

On to equally important things like feeding the family this week! Today is Bastille Day, so we'll be eating something with a French feel for dinner.

Monday: Pan Fried Chicken with mushroom cream sauce, hassleback potatoes & green beans (plus some other vegies I think!)
Tuesday: Honey Soy Chicken with stir fried vegies & brown rice
Wednesday: Ricotta herb fritters
Thursday: Pasta with creamy bacon & mushroom sauce
Friday: Hamburgers
Saturday: Lasagna
Sunday: Homemade pizza: mushroom & pineapple, and potato, onion & garlic

Hopefully my water situation will have been resolved by lunch time. We have some friends coming for lunch. We'll be having Chinese Corn Soup & Steamed Pork Buns. On Wednesday Miss Sunshine has a friend from school coming and we'll have calzones for lunch that day. In between, it'll be sandwiches on homemade bread or steamed dim sims out of the freezer.

You Learn Something New Everyday

Well, I did today, anyhow!

I'm knitting a jacket/cardigan jumper...it's my one knitted garment a year challenge thing. You know, I've got to learn how to do these things for myself and fix my mistakes before my Mum isn't around to help me figure it out. Anyway, I'm working on the collar and have had to increase in the middle of a row. Hmmmmm....how do you do that??!!!

Well, thanks to the wonders of the internet, I have figured it out. See, you can't even tell! How cool is that?!

Winter Washing

One of my first posts on this blog was about washing. It was late summer or early spring and I was happily hanging out my washing outside and having it dry and ready to bring in at the end of the day. What a joy! The only thing I really really enjoy about summer is being able to do that LOL.

It's mid-winter here now and I'm still hanging out my washing. But now, it is pegged or folded over a clothes horse and placed over a heater vent. The picture above shows one of my three clothes horses. You can see the heater vent at the bottom. This window also faces west and so any afternoon sun comes streaming in, aiding in the drying process. It takes about a day and a half to dry. It seems winter laundry baskets are always full of washing that needs doing.

It is times like this I am sorely tempted to just throw what I can in the dryer! I hate using the dryer. The cost of electricity that it requires horrifies me. But I am starting to think I need to get on top of the washing that seems to be piling up LOL.

I'm on a roll!

Sandra, if you're checking out my blog ~ look away now!

I joined the last swap at Down to Earth and chose to swap a needle case and pin cushion with someone within Australia. Last night I started to put the needle case together and finally bought the stuffing required for the pin cushion!

I apologise for the photo ~ it is a dreary, dark, rainy day today and there is NO light worthy of photo taking to be had at all! A perfect day for sending the kids off to Holiday Club and joining my normal sewing circle group for some stitching, don't you think?! :)

My bright moment for yesterday? I finally got my dishes all done and the kitchen cleaned up and looking like someone loves it again, when I get a phone call from dh. His Dad wanted to know if we'd like to go to their place for dinner and bring our bathers for a dip in the spa! They live in a retirement village so the pool & spa are indoors. The kids had a ball....I knitted, not wanting to get wet in the middle of winter! Then we had the best fried rice I've had in a long while and the most refreshing fruit salad ~ a mix of Asian fruits, cherries & apples. YUM. What a blessing ~ my kitchen is still lovely and clean LOL.

Today's Pin Prickling Excitement

Finally, yesterday, whilst I was on a bit of a journey round the 'burbs to do some shopping (the kids were at Holiday Club at our church for the morning), I found a quilt shop that sells the woolen quilt batting that I had been searching for. So my task this arvo....to baste the 3 layers together! I'll have to do it in spurts because it's a tad hard on the ol' knees and ankles!

I can't wait to sit under this cosy warm flannel quilt whilst doing the actual quilting. I have the cotton and the frame all set to go. Tomorrow while the kids are at Holiday Club I'll go to my regular sewing circle morning and pick up the needles I require....and there will be no stopping me!

A warm quilt of my own to snuggle under whilst watching telly on this bitter chilly nights. I won't be sharing this one!!!!!