Biscuits and tears.

I’m all for spontaneous gifts and gestures of love, which is why I decided a few months back to make my beloved husband some biscuits in a decorated container. As with many of my creative endeavours, it didn’t quite go to plan. In fact, poor Joel got way more than he bargained for, coming home to a a cute present but a wife in tears. You see, the following two things occured…

1) I got grease on the container from the biscuits and stained the outside

and

2) The biscuits were too dry and icky. I was horribly disappointed as I chose what I thought would be a reputable recipe and it was horrible.

Why the tears? Well, this isn’t the first time my biscuits have screwed up. In fact, it is a regular occurrence. They’re either too dry or too moist or the wrong shape. Guys may not understand this, but it makes you feel like a failure of a woman- don’t all girls know how to bake?

Anyway, I will explore this more in my next post. For now I would like you to focus on the cute container (ignoring the grease stain).



How much did the container cost? Close to nothing. I grabbed a Pringles container, covered it with brown paper (which is less than $2 for a whole roll) and then used ribbon which I had saved from a present given to me. I then used paper to make a cute gift tag.

This is such a lovely and cheap way to give biscuits to someone, especially if you are on a budget. And can bake. I’m working on that one!

Samara

xx

Jack of all trades, master of none.

That pretty much sums me up. I can do a bit of this and a bit of that but have never really ‘excelled’ in any one thing. And that’s ok. We need people like me to make other people feel good about themselves; it’s my public service to society.

One thing I am a bit average at is gardening. Everything always seems to die. The only problem is that it is never a nice quick demise; they always seem to drag it out as though I need a chance to say goodbye before they leave me. 

After a year of battling with plants though, something amazing happened.

I discovered regular watering and fertiliser.

Look at my plants now! I love being greeted by my happy plants greet at my front door each day with what I can only assume is a smile under all that foliage. Look how stunning they are!

. 

On the weekend I had the opportunity to spend a bit of time in the garden enjoying all the wonderful things growing. I just love pottering around our garden.

There is just so much anticipation for what our yard will one day be. I love watching the flowers bloom and can’t wait to have more flowers planted in the garden one day.



This is the first lemon on our year old tree. While I am thinking it probably won’t be any good, I can’t wait until our orange and lemon tree start baring fruit. I’m already dreaming of eating juicy oranges straight off the tree and making lemon meringue pie and lemon cordial from fresh lemons. 

While gardening may not be my field of expertise, I love being able to celebrate even the smallest of achievements…like keeping my plants alive.

Samara

xx

A Wonderful Week

The week just passed has been a busy one but has been one that has left me feeling very blessed. After two weeks of holidays where I became a self confessed hermit, I have been reminded of just how fortunate I am to be sharing life with so many wonderful people. From old school friends, to university friends, church friends and of course my wonderful husband, I have well and truly thrust myself back out into the world of socialising- and loved it!

It has been so good to continue to share life with all these people over the past week- to hear their joys, their struggles, to laugh with them (seriously, who exfoliates their face with a kitchen scourer??) and to sigh in frustration at the world. While I loved spending some time with me, myself and I in the holidays, I feel re-energised being around those I care for the most and who know me better than anyone else.

Today was particularly exciting for Joel and I. Firstly because we had some of my lovely school friends around for brunch under the pergola that Joel built. After spending weeks working on it, it really does bring me so much joy to be able to enjoy the toils of Joel’s work with friends. I just can’t wait until it’s all complete with plants, vines, chairs etc etc (it’s a never ending list at the moment, but rest assured there will be a massive post when it is done).





It was also exciting because we held this brunch for a particular reason- to plan a holiday to Thailand. After some scrimping and saving, we are now at the stage where we can book tickets for an end of year trip with friends to Thailand. Yay!! It totally makes living on rice and carrots for the past few weeks seem worth it.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to such a wonderful and encouraging week, I truly love sharing life with you.

Samara,

xx

My very own BFG.

When I was at school, I knew I wanted to marry someone taller than me. I had my growth spurt in primary school and always felt a bit self conscious that I was taller than other boys (including my older bro). Well, here we are 15 years later and I am considered ‘short’ according to popular opinion at 5 foot 5 while my husband is considered ‘gigantic’ at 6 foot 8. God had a sense of humour when he chose this boy for me!

Life living with my very own Big Friendly Giant is interesting. At first I was a bit concerned. I mean, how do you kiss someone whose face you have to strain upward to see?

We worked out a simple solution on our wedding day.



Making accommodations for a big man living in a little man’s world has become part of daily life. Whether it be sitting on a chair to do the dishes, ducking under door ways (our house was made by a Ukrainian man who must have been 5 foot nothing and made the doorways accordingly) or shopping for clothes on the internet, it is all fairly ‘normal’ for me now. In fact, it has almost become a bit of a non-issue. While once upon a time I used to be highly aware of the stares we’d get walking down the street, now I either don’t notice or assume I’ve got toilet paper hanging off my shoe or something equally as embarrassing and gawk-worthy. 

While most of our adjustments to life go relatively unnoticed by me, this innovative adjustment Joel asked a friend to make to his mower never fails to crack me up.



As you can see, the handle has been extended significantly to accommodate Joel’s height. To give it a bit of perspective, this is me “using” it.



At least I never have to do the mowing! Now to get these babies on the market and make millions…

Samara

xx

Winter.

This photo excites me terribly.

Not because I am stuck in peak hour traffic on a Friday afternoon though (does anyone like this??). Check out that huge storm brewing! You can seriously almost feel the energy in the air and I am just waiting for this baby to pop. Winter is well and truly on its way.

I love, love, love Summer (mainly because it is so quick to get dressed in the morning as opposed to having to put 5 million layers on) however I think Winter is pretty cool too. Winter means nights rugged up on the couch watching television, delicious hearty soups, jumping in puddles with my wicked sick gum boots (don’t be jealous*), warm baths after freezing cold hockey games, piping hot tea…I’m feeling all warm and gooey inside already.

But I know myself too well. Within weeks I will be complaining of damp washing hung up all over the house, beautifully straight hair that is ruined by the rain (seriously, I hardly ever wash my hair but when I do, it always rains, even if it’s the middle of Summer), blocked gutters overflowing, runny noses turned red, crazy slow traffic because motorists seem to lose all ability to drive in the rain…  I’m feeling miserable just thinking about it. Time to look at flights to get me outta here for the Winter!

Winter- love it or hate it?

xx

*When I say “Don’t be jealous”, I actually mean “Check out how awesome these boots are, don’t you wish you owned a pair!”. It’s all about reading between the lines ;-)

The Terrible Twos.

Nibbles has hit the terrible twos. Big Time.

Yesterday, she bit me four times, was caught chewing the metal coils behind the fridge AND knocked over the toilet brush, spilling dirty toilet water everywhere. Luckily she also knocked a toilet roll into the dirty water which soaked the majority up. I must have seemed like one of those frazzled mothers when someone came to the door, heard all the crashing and banging coming from my kitchen and I sighed with deep frustration “Sorry, that’s just my rabbit”. The only difference is I was covered in rabbit fur and not baby vomit.

Later that day, as I held my bundle of fur in one hand at eye level and screamed “Stop it you naughty bunny”, I had an enlightening moment. No matter how much more interesting my blog would be if I had cute baby stories to tell and baby pictures to post up, I am not ready for kids. While you can put a rabbit back in its cage if it frustrates you, apparently the same rule does not apply for babies.

Samara

xx

Lest we forget.

Today is Anzac day and, if you live in Australia, no doubt your Facebook wall is being spammed with “Lest We Forget” type statuses. This brings me great joy and hope. Joy that the people who have and continue to fight for our freedom are being acknowledged and hope that our generation may avoid making the mistakes of our previous generations and try to dissolve matters in more peaceful ways. 

There is a little part of me that wonders however how seriously we all take this whole ‘Lest We Forget’ phrase. Are we as a nation truly serious about not wanting to forget our men who fought in the war?

In the past, I have heard many people whinge about having to study Australian History claiming it is ‘boring’. I feel that if we are to remember our servicemen and those who fought for our freedom, then educating our young people about our involvement in previous wars is a vital way to do this. I am so blessed to have had a fabulous Australian History teacher in high school and an amazing Australian History lecturer at university who were truly able to engage their students in our nation’s past. They instilled in me a love of learning about our nation’s history and an understanding of where our nation has come from. I just wish that more importance was placed on learning about out nation’s past by our government, our schools and by the general population. I cringe every time someone says “Thank God we don’t have to study Australian History, it’s so boring”.

If more emphasis and importance was placed on learning about our history, perhaps we would participate more enthusiastically in Anzac Day services, would understand where our Indigenous population have come from and what they have experienced and learn from our past mistakes when it comes to the White Australian Policy and our dislike of migrants from unfamiliar countries. 

Lest we forget.

“A country without a memory is a country of madmen.”
George Santayana

Irrational Fears

I had a crazy dream the other night. It was one of those dreams where I was convinced it was real. You see, I was at home alone (at my Mum’s house) and I heard footsteps in the roof. Joel came home not long after and I told him what I had heard. He thought I was being silly until the roof started to show cracks where someone was walking. Anyway, while Joel was opening the man hole, I called 000 and just as I made the call my younger brother came out of the man hole and ran off!

Now, for some people, this may just be a crazy dream but for me, I know that this is actually a real fear of mine. It began when I read a That’s Life article about an ex-husband who lived in his ex-wife’s roof and spied on her through the air conditioning vent. As far as journalism goes, That’s Life is about as quality as The Advertiser, The Daily Mail or Who weekly (i.e. a load of rubbish). However the irrational side of my brain doesn’t take that into consideration and turns it into another fear of mine. This can be added to a long list of my irrational fears, including (but not limited to) the following…

My Top 13 irrational fears (the number 13 not being one of them)

1. Someone hijacking my car while I am waiting at the traffic lights

2. Getting tinea at a swimming pool

3. Falling out of a roller coaster

4.  Opening my front door to find someone with a gun there

5.  Getting mugged at night when I step from my car to my front door

6.  A spider behind the toilet door

7.  A spider under the toilet seat

8.  A spider in my shoe

9.  A spider in my car while driving (this is not so irrational however- it has happened twice! Once I actually jumped from the drivers seat to the back seat in one swift move…after I had pulled over of course!)

10. Being eaten by a shark…in knee deep water.

11. Someone being in my back seat when I get in the car

12.  The dentist giving me a needle in my mouth without telling me (I am seriously asking every 10 seconds whether or not they are about to put a needle in- they must hate me!!)

13. Someone grabbing my foot from under my bed



Do you have any irrational fears?

Samara

xx

P.S. If you are interested, I found this blog post about people secretly living in other people’s houses. An interesting read if not a bit disturbing…

Church camp.

I have just returned from a weekend away with my church family and I feel great. There’s something about the fellowship at camps that you just can’t get from a Sunday church service. I’m not sure if it’s because you spend such a long period of time with each other or whether it’s the intimate details of life that you share with one another like your bowel movements (thank you boys).

This year we headed up to a gorgeous camp site that was smack bang on the banks of the River Murray. The cliff faces were absolutely spectacular to see as you walked out your dorm each morning.

It was great to get an opportunity to kayak in the water, narrowly avoiding the jet boats as they zoomed past. I would like to say I was cool, calm and collected however instead can be likened to a squealing kettle about to erupt. Embarrassing considering the 1 year old on board the kayak with me didn’t even blink on eyelid.

It also proved to be a great putting range too.

The camp was such a great opportunity to hang out with the church family and relax a little. It was so fantastic to see the growth in the church community and the way these people are genuinely sharing life with one another. Who better to share life with than these jolly fellows?

I spent way too long trying to get a picture of the hoop with the ball in the shot. Simple things…

As with any camp, we had what are appearing to become traditions…

The girls vs guys puzzle, which is always a fiercely fought competition (I shall not state who won but I am sure you can guess).

Freezing of underwear. Joel came prepared and hid his underwear in various compartments of his bag however was not targeted in the end.

Pranks played on Edwin by my oh so mature and grown up husband.

After a nap and a soak in the bath, I have returned feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after a wonderful time away relaxing and enjoying some good solid teaching.

Now let the working week begin!

Samara

xx

What’s making me laugh this week? “Sneezing Panda” is what’s making me laugh this week. I’m going to make a huge claim and say that the sneezing panda has never failed to make me laugh. Ever. It’s just so ridiculously funny! I suggested to Joel the other night that dressing up as two pandas and re-enacting this video would make a good camp skit. He wasn’t convinced. However, what would I know, I don’t think in the history of me and camps have I ever been involved or coordinated a drop dead hilarious camp skit. This could be my time… Anyway, I hope you get as much enjoyment out of this video as I do. If you’ve seen it before, watch it again and laugh your socks off. Enjoy! Samara xx

Second Chance

A life lived with regrets is no fun.

I have come to learn however that I am always going to do things I regret. Some are funny regrets while some are absolutely mortifying. But you can rectify the situation; it’s called a second chance. 

A regret I have been harbouring for a long time now has been not going to the Hanson concert when they came back in 2005 (I’ll let you decide whether this is a funny regret or an absolutely mortifying one). At the time I was in my final year of school, no job and minimal money; I just could not afford it. Considering I had made a Hanson scrap book in Primary School and swore that Taylor Hanson was to be the father of my children, this was pretty devastating.

Well, fast forward 7 years and I still don’t really have the money for it but was not about to let the opportunity pass me by again. 

And now, here I am, with 5 Hanson tickets. This not only means that I am finally going to see my favourite childhood band live in concert, but I also have four friends to share the experience with.



I am just going to throw it out there and predict that this night will be one of the best nights of my life…pumped!

Samara

xx

Date Night.

Who says dating ends when you get married?

Tonight it’s date night. We’re on a bit of a budget at the moment so date night shall be spent at home sharing a meal and watching a movie. Don’t tell Joel but I’m actually going to try and convince him to watch Tangled with me…

To add a bit of romance to the night, I’m going to use these candle jars that I made. They will serve a two fold purpose by also helping to disguise the inevitable burnt bits in the meal I cook… food tastes better when you can’t see what you’re eating.



These candle jars were super easy to make and mega cheap too if you’re looking for a craft on a budget. I collected a whole lot of small jars (think pesto, salsa, tartare sauce etc) and soaked the labels off. I then bought a couple of different varieties of lace and using modge podge glue, glued the lace on (you only need to glue the joining edges). Now that I own a glue gun I would probably use that. For a couple I tied thin white ribbons on them. Too easy!

I am so super impressed with how they turned out and have them scattered throughout my house and even outside. These would also make a great gift if you wanted to fill them with something pretty like bath salts or lollies.

Samara

xx

Open your eyes.

How often are we too busy trying to get somewhere to enjoy what is around us?

Yesterday I was driving to the doctors, running a smidge late. Not only was I in a hurry but not exactly looking forward to the appointment (because really, how often do you have a ‘fun’ doctors appointment? The fun ended when the doctor’s lolly stash dried up). As I turned into the street, I was taken aback by the beauty of what is normally a fairly mundane scene. 



Autumn had struck. The colours of the trees were phenomenal. I had never seen a tree that had so many different shades of colour. Then I realised that, in all my 24 years, I had never stopped to enjoy the beauty of the autumn trees. Tsk, Tsk! I am always in such a rush to get from place to place that I often fail to enjoy the journey. Consequently I miss things like this..



Whatever you are doing today, enjoy the journey.

Samara 

xx

Crazy rabbit lady

Sometimes I think I am normal. Other times I know I am not.

If I were to write my list of top distractions, taking photos of my rabbit Nibbles would be at the top of my list. I will literally spend 20 minutes on the floor next to my rabbit trying to take the perfect shot. For example, this collage I took yesterday of my toilet-obsessed rabbit took me a good 15 minutes to get…



Flicking through my phone, there is an embarrassing number of photos of my darling Nibbles, all in different poses.

Nibbles taking  a bath.



Nibbles with a shower cap on her head.



Nibbles with beer bottles in her cage.



Nibbles greeting me in the morning.



Nibbles helping with the washing.



I could go on forever. What I find most ironic (or perhaps hypocritical is a better word) is that in my last post I whined about the photos that my husband takes and yet here I am, being equally as annoying.

The only difference between my husband and I is that he keeps his photos in his private collection while I spam my Facebook friends with millions of pictures. Perhaps I should eat a little bit of humble pie?

Samara

xx

I love my husband BUT...

There’s always a but.

As a young girl, dreaming of the person I would meet, I never thought I would snag someone as amazing as Joel. And for that, I am forever grateful to God.

BUT by golly some of the things he does drives me up the wall! God was generous to me over the weekend however and has removed one of those annoyances from my life. 

Over the weekend we went camping with a couple friends. The weather was gorgeous, the company great and the scenery stunning (if you ignore the plump naked man spotted on the way to the toilets). It all started to go down hill however when Joel pulled out his camera *groan*

Actually, it didn’t immediately go down hill. The first snap Joel managed to take was this butterfly landing on my camping mug.

But after that it went downhill. It all happened when Joel picked up a stick and proceeded to take ‘arty’ shots such as this one…

This one…

and this one…

Now, I’m sure you are currently thinking “Samara, you horrible and impatient wife, this seems like a bit of harmless fun” however this is a constant occurence whenever Joel has a camera. The pictures are always the same- plain boring object in focus, interesting subject blurred out. It has gotten to the point that I will take a camera on holidays and take my own set of photos to ensure we have some pictures that actually tell a story of what went on and not just what the holiday would have looked like if you had cataracts.

After yet another SD card filled with “arty” shots (Joel’s words, not mine) was taken, fate stepped in and saved the future of our marriage. While taking self timer pictures such as these golden shots…







…the camera tragically fell to its death into the sand dunes. Despite attempts at resuscitation, this is the best the sand clogged camera can now produce…

I almost shed a tear…almost.

Samara

xx

Tea Towel Obsession

I love tea towels. Whenever I or someone else goes overseas, they are always my most preferred souvenir. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a normal person who hates doing the dishes and will do anything to get out of doing them. But if I had to do the dishes, a pretty tea towel certainly makes the task more tolerable. As a result of this obsession, I have a whole draw full and then a stack in the closet which I rotate on a regular basis to ensure they all get their time to shine. OCD much?

Anyway, I was reading this blog (a cool concept for a blog- I recommend reading it) and found this cool idea for a gift- hand stitched tea towels. I love giving thoughtful, useful gifts and so decided these would perfect gifts for family members. While they are a bit time consuming, it is a great craft to be able to take anywhere with you (i.e. your husband’s basketball game… I’m like the embarrassing mother who sets herself up with a lap rug and sews on the side lines, except it’s worse cos I’m his wife. I didn’t reveal this side of me until he’d put a ring on my finger…got him!).

Here’s some designs I made…



Bonus shot of my feet in this picture. This tea towel was an Ikea one- great for sewing on.



I love the colours on this one. The bunting was surprisingly quick and easy to do.



The bird cage takes a little bit more coordination- I drew the pattern on with a pencil.



This little bunny makes me go weak at the knees!

All I needed for this project was some cheap tea towels, an embroidery hoop, a needle, some thread and scraps of material from other sewing projects. 

Don’t be frightened off if you don’t know how to embroider- I didn’t either! I just perused the internet and found tutorials- which is how I learn to do anything. Thank God for Google!

Samara

xx

P.S. I’m linking up with It’s Just Spicy Called Spicy- click on the link to find some other awesome blogs!

A hard lesson to learn.

I started to make a wreath that I grabbed from this blog before Christmas. It is now after Easter and I only just finished it…timing has never been my strong point.

Working away in my dim lit lounge room, I was starting to get pretty excited at how amazing this was going to look on my front door next Christmas. I was dreaming of how I would casually tell my impressed visitors that it was ‘simple’ to make and that ‘anyone can do it’ (which is true).

Well, the time came and I had finished. I was so excited that I decided I would write a blog straight away. I rushed outside to string it up on the front door and my heart sunk. Can you pick what I did wrong?



You know, you probably can’t because it hasn’t shown up in the photo. If you look mega closely, you will see that the top half has cream rosettes and the bottom half has white rosettes…WAAAAAAAAH!!!!

So now, instead of taking pride of place out the front of our house, it will be hidden away on the back of the front door in our dimly lit hallway. This makes me sad.

Anyway, I strongly recommend you give this project a go, just don’t make the same mistake I did. A handy tip if you do give it a go; I found that I could not find a plain wooden wreath in Australia and so I went to Spotlight and bought a wooden circle and some cane and made my own. Super easy but a bit pricey (over $20 if memory serves me correct).

I’m off to go drown my sorrows in left over Easter chocolate.

Samara

xx

Baby, it's cold outside...

Yesterday I think I almost froze to death. True story. Winter is hitting town and this means that my microwave is about to go into overdrive warming up my wheat bags. I have been a fan of the wheat bag for awhile, with my favourite one being a teddy bear wheatbag, Henry Warmheart.



After years of experience however I have found that owning wheat bags can be a dangerous thing. The first incident was when I microwaved Henry while living at my dad’s. When I pulled him out of the microwave, he had smoke coming out of him and burnt patches over his fur. I did the logical thing and threw him on the kitchen bench and starting karate chopping him, screaming out to my dad “Henry’s on fire! Henry’s on fire!”. I did manage to put him out however he now has a love heart patch on his foot where I had to cut a whole, gut him and refill him. Poor bear.

My second experience occurred when I was living with two house mates. We had been having a late night girly chat in my house mate’s bed (just like the movies) and I had gone to heat up my wheat bags. I put them in and the microwave started making a funny noise right from the start. To this day I do not know if it was the microwave or the wheat bags that sparked it off however I thought nothing of it and went off to the toilet. I returned a minute later to smoke billowing out of the kitchen. I screamed to the girls to get out of the house and called 000. We rushed outside and then suddenly realised that a) we were all in our pyjamas except one house mate who had no pants on and b) we didn’t have a camera to record the situation. This was soon rectified- my house mates crawled inside, risking their lives, to retrieve a camera that had flat batteries so was useless anyway and a pair of fluorescent green trackies. What a sight! Thank God the firemen were all old men and no spunk muffins were there to see us in the state we were in. To cut a long story short, two fire tracks, an ambulance and a police car rocked up and managed to save our smoke filled rented house with not a scrap of damage and we spent one very cold winter’s night sleeping in a stinky house with all the windows open to try to air the place out. Good times.

Anyway, despite these close encounters, I still think a wheat bag is a staple winter item to own. I have sewn a few of my own also however have filled these with linseed as it stays warmer for longer. I also always heat my wheat bags up now with a class of water in the microwave to stop the bags from drying out. I have found that the bags are so cheap to make (a few dollars) that I didn’t bother making them with washable covers. This also has the added benefit that you are not using wheat bags with old filling which has greater potential to ignite or harbour bugs. Just make sure you double stitch the bags to ensure there is no leakage.

Samara xx