Checking in this January

Well, January is whizzing away before us, I’m reading of everyone’s snowfalls while we swelter through record heat. South Australia has had it pretty good overall, with none of the devastating bushfires that have been burning in Tasmania or the Eastern states of NSW and Victoria.

I’ve been battling with a severe headache since Tuesday, so I’ve been pretty quiet this week. Every time I think I’m ok and I start to actually DO something – you know, those radical tasks like hanging out the washing or going to the shops, it just comes thundering back. Tuesday was the worst day, I wasn’t well enough to get out of bed until dinner time. But now I’m nearly back on my feet. I hope!

Here’s just a few snippets from the last couple of weeks…. the dog finally got shaved again of all her fluff. Just in time for the 40 degree heat, and she’s a lot more comfortable. I love how she looks when she sleeps!

I gave a friend a little package of seeds, with a printout care sheet and a recipe from Rhonda at Down to Earth for making Calendula Salve from the petals. Just a little box printed out of digital scrapbook paper makes everything look so much nicer! I’ve never been clever at giving people gifts, we often never had any money to spare, so I’m making a conscious effort to do more of that this year. Because I really love giving things to people, and making their day.

While DS1 was away visiting a friend for a few days, DS2 made his first batch of cookies. Shhh don’t tell anyone they came out of a box! Next time we will make them from scratch, but he’s just learning how to cook at the moment. Success breeds encouragement, which leads to wanting to do it more. I try to remember that when parenting especially.

Today I have had a busy day – I made a batch of strawberry gelati this morning. We are getting fantastic local strawberries at 3 punnets for $3 at the moment, so we are having strawberries on everything right now!

I also had to make up a Banana slice to use up some tired Bananas. I use this recipe from the CWA posted up by The Shady Baker. Add some simple icing – made from fresh lemon juice and icing sugar and the whole family is queueing up for a slice! Although I always double it, because it freezes super well, so I can give DH a piece for work for a couple of weeks.

It’s really wonderful to have a family that appreciates good home cooking and food made from real ingredients. No preservatives, nothing added and it’s cheaper than buying too. I cringe when I look at prices for cakes, even at the supermarket. They certainly don’t taste good enough to convince me to part with $5+ for them.

Meanwhile, I’m off to see what I had left of my plans for the school holidays, in the hopes that we can salvage at least SOME of the last couple of weeks left to us. Before we are totally lost in the vortex that is 2 teenagers at High School!

Please be aware that there may be affiliate links in this content. Your support allows me to keep creating for you!