Computer says "NO"

Well I'm back online at last. Our computer finally keeled over last Wednesday and even though we've only been offline for nine days it feels like forever.

After receiving a very generous Christmas bonus I'm now the proud owner of a laptop. This is the first real experience I've had with a laptop and I've got to say its taking a bit of getting use to. So bear with me as I learn my way around my new toy!

Firstly I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas or holiday celebration. Ours was very low key and wet. We stayed at home, watched the rain and a bit of the telly, had dinner then played a game of the new Trickster Scrabble I got Tony for Christmas..

I had hoped to do a little post before Christmas on the gifts I made for friends and family, but that wasn't to be. So I'll do a little pictorial review of what I've been up to for the past two weeks.

As you can see there was lots of cooking and even some sewing

Now after all that, its time to wish everyone a Happy New Year. Hope you have a lovely New Year celebration. I'll most probably be in bed before midnight rolls around....party pooper hey!

See you in the New Year
Cheers Lisa

PS I'm having some spacing and editing problems, sorry if it looks a mess

Catching up and saying thanks

Bit of a catch up post today. I've been a busy with work and generally trying not to spend too much time on the computer.

To my surprise I have been given a blog award for a blog with substance. Fancy, little old me with my brand new blog, I'm blushing as I type.

I have to fess up, this is the second time someone has given me this award. Being the shy and and easily embarrassed person that I am, I didn't follow up the first time (sorry Kimberly). So now I'll make this a double thank you.
I'm not sure that I'll be able to meet all the requirements to receive this award but I'll try.

• Thank the blogger who gave you this award -: first to Kimberly at Path to Living Simply, then to Wendy at Butterflies and Breezes.

• Sum up your blogging philosophy, motivation and experience using 10 words -: Small steps to a simpler life, learning, creating and sharing.

• Pass this award on to ten other blogs you feel have real substance -: OK this is where I'm going to pike out. The blogs on my side bar are all worthy of this award, please drop by and have a peak at their blogs.

Bit of a bread disaster yesterday, I tried making rye bread following Rhonda's great tutorial. Oh boy what a disaster it turned out to be, the only thing I did differently was to add a bit of gluten flour to the mix. I wouldn't have thought that would have made such a big difference. Anyway I'll keep trying, next time I'll make it by hand and use much less water.

After the earlier disaster, I decided to make some cornbread to have with the vegetable soup I was making for dinner. Thank goodness that turned out and tasted lovely.

Tastes great the next day too, spread with my chewy orange marmalade!

Next was some roasted pumpkin seeds, very moorish I must say and a great use of an otherwise discarded food item. Unless you are saving seeds or feeding them to the animals (great for expelling worms), whoops, sorry this is a food post :/


I found the idea and recipe here at the Greening of Gavin. I added pepper and a sprinkle of cumin to the mix. I forgot they were in the oven, so I guess they cooked for about 25 - 30 mins.

And last but not least my cooking experiment. Yesterday I spent way too much time looking at my Dad and Nana's collection of recipes, six books in total, mostly hand written or cut out from the paper, hundreds of recipes.
A recipe for Grandma Anderson's Lemon Yeast kept popping up in all the books, so I thought I'd give it a try. Hmmm looks interesting, according to the recipe it should be ready for use tonight. I'll keep you posted.


Hope you have a lovely day
Cheers
Lisa