this saturday i'm grateful for...beans

* beans, beans, lovely beans - these have been bursting from the garden this year and I manage to pick a huge bunch almost every day (including today..hello veggie stew for dinner :-)

* ebay - I love how easy it is to sell off what we dont want, and then buy what we do...we are trying to make space at Granny B's for our new bed which is coming early next week

* experimenting in the kitchen - as chief cook in a extended family household, I am now having to turn my hand to trying out gluten free recipes for one family member (I'm super grateful it's not me LOL)

For more grateful loveliness, check out Maxabella loves

Glory Box

 Back in my late teens before I moved out of home, I spent two years accumulating an updated version of a glory box. I had china, glasses, towels, linen in a wooden blanket box (which then went on to be a coffee table, before it became Little B's toy box). During this time, I also bought a fridge, microwave and second hand lounge suite. So when I moved out I had most of the essentials.

Since we have had to walk away from almost everything in our house due to mold contamination, I've started a new glory box. It's mainly in miniature form at the moment due to space constraints. I've been knitting dishcloths and have bought some towels and tea towels.

I've also started saving for a fridge and next week we finally get a bed (which we will use at Granny B's until we move out). Kind hearted family members have donated a secondhand doona cover, sheets and a doona from their own linen stash (from their own mold free homes).

This way when we do buy a new house, furnishing it will be less of a shock both financially and emotionally. Mr B likes to call me "military precision woman" due to my tendency to think and plan far ahead, and make plans to ensure we make the best use of our resources and squeeze every penny ;-) But I just like to think of myself as organised and prepared...I dont like surprises :-)

Allergies here we come

I finally had my appointment with an allergist late last week (only took 5 months). With my battle with unwanted weight loss, and one of the side effects of mold exposure being the development of food allergies, the docs wanted to check out if this is contributing to my inability to gain weight. In keeping with that, I of course have developed some *sigh*. Over the last 6 months I kind of knew that nuts seemed to be a growing problem for me - burning and swollen tongue, coughing, hoarse voice.

So after a 2.5 hour appointment, skin prick tests, and general examination where has it left me?

I'm most definitely allergic to brazil nuts, penicillin, peanuts (but with peanuts it's from the aflatoxins - mold again). I already knew and have had it confirmed again, that I am allergic to soy. I'm also allergic to hazlenuts, pecans and sesame seeds. But wait there's more...a free set of steak knives. LOL. Seriously though, they think I might be allergic to dairy.

Yesterday I started the RPAH Strict Elimination Diet to try and see whether dairy is my evil archenemy (or if it's something else). I've always had dairy in my diet (except when breastfeeding Little B because of his allergies). Having said that I've never been able to eat yoghurt and dont eat cheese as it's a mold, so I only really drink about 2 cups of milk a day. These have now been replaced with oat milk (yum) and rice milk (blech - it is such an acquired taste).

The allergist was really interesting to speak to and seemed very knowledgeable (we've been in the allergy medical system for Little B for the last 3 years, so I consider this important, you'd be surprised how many dumb asses there are out there with medical degrees) but he said a few things that made me raise my eyebrows. 

I'm a huge advocate obviously of growing your own food and organics, but he was adamant that the leading allergists/coeliac specialists in Australia (Anne Swain, Sue Shepherd, Mimi Tang) believe that people with allergies should under no circumstances consume organic food. This is because the natural food chemicals in organic food are so high that it impacts dramatically on the body plus new research is showing this can impact on the gut.

But I cant find any research to back up the notion that people with allergies should never have organic, so at the moment I'm reserving judgement and just thinking hmmmmm?!?!?!? I kind of find it hard to believe that pesticides/BPA etc are better for you than whole food?? So we are just putting it in the wait and see basket.

this saturday i'm grateful for...real estate agents

Picture courtesy of www.heraldsun.com.au

Today has actually felt really really loooong!! Too much crammed into the day. But today I am grateful for

* helpful friendly real estate agents - we've started the long road to selling our house, so picking the brains of our trusty real estate agent was very helpful. We're not at selling point just yet but she's more than happy to chat about the market and ways to improve our house

* our Weber Q - it makes food taste so dreamy and its so quick and easy. I love a yummy BBQ on a sunny day (I can pretend its summer LOL).

* my darling husband - he works long and hard at the moment at his new job plus juggling his own business on the side, but still has time to chat about our hopes and dreams whenever I need to talk stuff through.

Head to Maxabella loves for some more gratefulness

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.  Inspired by soulemama

 

 

Meet Betty

After much scrimping and saving, meet my new sewing machine. I've named her Betty after my crafty grandma but also for the luscious ladies in Mad Men :-) These ladies (including my grandmother) were from a different era of sewing, baking, and home making which I love. And after a morning of baking muffins, bread rolls and sewing some birthday bags for Granny B's presents, I'm feeling very 1950's house wife-ish today ;-)

Picture courtesy of www.homesweethomefashion.com

Through much research, deliberation and quizzing people, I decided on a manual machine mainly because it has a greater compatibility with off grid solar panels (a future dream of ours).

Garden Update

Up until Friday, this post was going to be a whole lot different.

Our garden has been doing really well. Our tomatoes have been ripening, the beans abundant and we've been harvesting our zucchinis.

I've really enjoyed basically cooking out of the garden. We've had some great salads and some tasty vegetable stews. Flinging in whatever I pick that day with some garlic, stock and dried beans. Chargrilled eggplant and zucchini have featured very highly as well :-)

My first pumpkin

But the changeable weather has wreaked havoc on my eggplants and pumpkins. The pumpkins grow, then die and drop off the vines. After producing heaps of eggplants, my eggplants are now just flowering like crazy then the blossoms drop off.

Then came Friday night and a WHOLE lot of rain. Granny B's backyard was flooded for about 36 hours (ankle deep due to non stop heavy rain). The rain was heavy and pounding and the raised beds filled to the brim with water, not to mention to water gushing past beside them.

All our baby zucchinis dropped right off the plants and most of our tomato plants are either broken or their roots were torn completely out. Our poor carrots were quite literally washed out of the dirt within the bed. But hey at least they are harvested :-)

But I'm taking this hurdle and completely looking at the positive side. It's been a fairly slow growing season and I've already been planning our autumn planting, so this is just an early start. I can start prepping the beds for March planting - we need new soil for a start!! ;-) I'm already getting excited about all the new things to try my hand at growing.