PLEASE STOP THE LEAKS!!

I just love, love, love being retired and not having to go to work in the morning. It is just so relaxing. I don't miss work at all. I think it is going to be worth selling my house to have a new retired life and work on all my craft projects. Crafting makes me happy.

I am still keeping an eye out for jobs in the classifieds but because of my age of 58 (years young) and very narrow area of expertise and experience I am not very hopeful.


Stop the leaks!!

P:-) has been working on my roof to stop it leaking. Below  is the ladder poking over the edge of the roof.

The roof has been leaking for over 15 years. Various people have tried to fix it but P:-) who is a retired builder thinks he has it sorted. I hope so.  I cannot sell a house that leaks. In fact I am being positive and saying I am sure he has it sorted. P:-) is very thorough with his work.

P:-) is putting some expanding foam  where the different roofs join.

You can see the white foam along the line of where the tiles and metal roofing meet.

More sorting

My 2 daughters J and R have been over to begin sorting out their stuff. My house is a repository of their childhood and teen years. Because I am selling the house they shall have to take everything they want to keep. They both rent places where they don't have a lot of space for things so they have to be very judicious.

Daughter J is a scultptor and I have a lot of her artwork stored in my garage. Some of it is very bulky, consisting of small pieces of furniture such as chairs so it is going to be a problem to find somewhere to put it. 

I keep trying to persuade J and R to read Tammy Strobel's book, You Can Buy Happiness. It is about a woman who radically changed her life by simplifying it.

In my own sorting I have come across this painting I did years ago.

I'm not quite sure what I will do with it now.

It is supposed to be a mango tree. At one stage I was going to try writing some children's stuff about the Mice of Mango Lane. But it was something I began 10 years ago when I was off work for 6 months with a bad back. I went back to work and it was never finished..

Maybe I will think about working on it again now, and bring the mice back to life.




 Low fat cream of vegetable soup

As a way of budgeting and also reducing our meat intake,  about once a fortnight I make a cream of 'a vegetable'  soup for P:-) and I.

I made mushroom soup last night. I have figured out a generic recipe for cream of vegetable soups. Add any herbs you like.

1. Brown 1 or 2 onions.
2. Cook 500 grams of raw vegetables e.g.  pumpkin (I bake), broccoli (I boil), or mushrooms (I slice and pan fry.) 
3. Put vegetables in a saucepan and add 750 mils stock, heat  and blend with a stick blender.
4. Add 375ml low fat evaporated milk (or Soybean milk if you want to go Vegan) and blend again. Heat to required temperature.

Makes 2 large serves or  4 medium serves.

Cream of pumpkin soup.

Really delicious - and cheap if you can buy the vegetables on special.





Interesting sites

1.

Photo source

This is called a steam office. It has been designed by Swedish artist/designer  Helle Kvamme.  It is heated by steam from a wood stove that travels up pipes. Click here to read a little more and see some really interesting photos.


2.

Photo source

This is a very strange lake in Austria. In summer it has grass and walking trails under water. Click here to read about it and see some really interesting pictures.


3.

Photo source

Have a look at the strange things on this Pinterest Page entitled Fact or Fiction. Click here to see some very interesting pictures. You can click the URL under each picture to read more about it.