Marketeers

It has been a big day, with five hours of travelling, three hours of marketing and a quick hour+ visit to the Chicklet family.

I started the day feeling quite unwell, after an uncomfortable night with broken sleep, nausea was my enemy as I climbed into the car to start our day.

I rubbed some peppermint essential oil into both Bubble's and my wrists, which helped much more than I expected. I still felt uncomfortable, but at least the nausea was gone. We may have picked up a minor tummy bug somewhere. The boys were ok.

The sun had only just appeared when we left town and the fog was very thick this morning. Sometimes we could barely see the road in front of us, but surprisingly, it had cleared by the time we passed the Maryborough turnoff.

We arrived at Eumundi Markets before 8.30am and the weather was perfect. We paid for our parking and went in search of some good bargains. Bubbles and KISA went their way, while Adoring Husband and I went ours and we agreed on a meeting place by 11am - unless we wanted to continue shopping.

I bought a necklace, a hat and a framed quote from A.A.Milne. Bubbles suggested a 'Flash' cape for Chicklet and I also found a Lego-like Batman toy.

For an early lunch, Adoring Husband and I found a French food stall and had GF buckwheat chicken, mushroom and cheese crepes. They were huge and I could eat only half of mine. It was also delicious, but after we'd eaten, I discovered that there was a stall selling Monica Topliss food, which is much closer to Paleo than anything else at the markets.

KISA had a baby possum fall out of a tree and land on his shoe! That was the most exciting thing to happen to any of us today!

I'm always surprised by how many people attend Eumundi Markets. I don't think they ever have a quiet day and the crowds were huge today, to the point that I was getting annoyed at being hindered and jostled during my stroll through the alleyways.

After we left the markets, we drove to Noosa Civic to get coffee and treats to take to Vegan Chickie and then made our way to their house.

Chicklet was very excited to see us and loved her presents. She ran around the house wearing The Flash mask (but not the cape, which she gave to her Mama to wear). Bubbles, Poppy and I all had our fair share of time with Chicklet, playing paleontologists in the sandpit, checking out the new safe place in the wardrobe with the twinkling lights, playing catch in the playroom with the giant ball, swinging on the swing and creating Jurassic World with all the dinosaurs on the lounge room floor.

All too soon, it was time to head home, much to Chicklet's distress.

It always seems like a longer trip going home, than when you're heading to the destination, but finally we arrived home a bit after 4pm. Just enough time to feed the dogs and begin preparing dinner, which was Butter Chicken with Rice and Naan bread (for the kids).

It's been a relaxing evening watching the football and planning on our lazy, sleeping in start to Sunday.

It has been a good day, but it was long and we were all very happy to get home.

We will all sleep well tonight.

Nite all.

A Quiet Friday

Just a quick update.

It was a very quiet Friday. I think we were saving our energy for tomorrow.

It will be an early start for a big day. We'll be driving to the Sunny Coast for a day at Eumundi Markets and then a quick visit to Vegan Chickie and Chicklet before heading home.

Bubbles came to the club with me tonight, but we were not lucky in any of the gambling events. Not Keno, not pokies, not lotsapots, not the raffle.

I am two from two with this week's footy tips. It's a good start .. let's hope it's a good finish too!

That's it!

So I'm off to bed for an early night .. we will be up with the sun tomorrow morning.

Nite all.

Scaryborough

For the first time in about two years (maybe more), we attended the Maryborough Thursday morning markets in Adelaide Street. This was specifically for the benefit of Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour.

I bought a hanging whale tail for my tree (I have two frangipani trees in the front garden, from which I hang crystals, beads, ceramic shapes and animals, lead light ornaments, glass art etc).

I bought some clip on buttons for a necklace and bracelet set that I bought at Urangan markets a few weeks ago. The buttons are interchangeable so you can create the colour and style that you desire.

I bought a beautiful bunch of sunflowers that are just about to bloom.

I bought a bag of avocados.

I bought two large punnets of Eumundi strawberries.

From there, we walked to Gattaker's Artspace to show the kids where my Photography Exhibit was displayed in 2012. There was some really beautiful, colourful art hanging in the upstairs galleries.

Behind the gallery is the War Museum, which has the most amazing memorabilia from all the war years and from the wars that Australia has been involved in, and where an elderly gentlemen greets visitors with stories about each and every item and the people to whom they belonged. He is very proud of the museum and very proud of the friends and associates whose stories he shares.

We considered having lunch at the new 'Muddy Waters' Cafe, but it seems that their menu options are quite limited, nothing was marked GF and all the choice tables were reserved, so we moved on.

Earlier in the day, I had google searched eating options in Maryborough and found a place called 'Mitchell's Pantry'. The reviews were all very positive and talked about the huge number of gluten free options - especially the sweet treats like tarts and muffins and cheesecakes. So we went in search of that one.

It was very similar to Nana's Pantry, with the walls lined with containers of flours, nuts, seeds, grains, dried fruits etc and a whole room out the back full of gluten free products.

The difference was that the floor had tables and chairs at which we could sit and dine.

For lunch, I ordered a GF lasagne with salad for Adoring Husband and I had GF Shepherds Pie with salad. They were both delicious and full of flavour. The accompanying salad was fresh with a delicious dressing.

On the way out, I bought some sweets to take home. A GF citrus tart, GF chocolate brownie, GF salted caramel and macadamia tart and a Paleo banana muffin.

We walked through a long alleyway (of which there are many in Maryborough) and found some art worthy of a photo ...

From there, because of roadworks on the highway that provided long delays if you got there at the wrong time, we decided on a different route and came home via Hervey Bay. We stopped at a little crafty gift store, where I found a great little book about dragons for Chicklet, lead light letters to spell my name (to put in the tree) and a little concrete platypus for the garden.

There were fabulous, though rustic, gardens to wander through, with chickens, birds and guinea pigs to admire ...

... and a broken down, but stunning, old upright piano on the verandah of the old house where the craft was on display.

We picked up the FROG box on the way home and we were all ready to slob around and relax for the first hour after we arrived home.

Home made hamburgers for the kids for dinner, while I reheated some of last night's meatballs and had them with some raw onion.

Adoring Husband had SES training tonight, so I watched the Broncos thrash the Bulldogs in a fiery game of football.

Now, it's time to get some sleep. I will definitely be sleeping in tomorrow and enjoying a lazy morning in bed.

Nite all.  

Cinematic Disappointment

Before heading off the movies this morning, I had my usual Wednesday morning tea with the ladies. Only four of us this morning because the other four are out of town enjoying holidays, road trips and great grandchildren. It was still a fun morning. It doesn't matter how many of us are there, we always manage to have a good laugh.

I left morning tea a touch earlier than usual, because the family had planned a trip to the cinema.  

Don't go see 'Suicide Squad'.

It is not worthy of 145 minutes of your valuable time.

Margot Robbie (who is Australian) is the only actor, in a sea of famous names, who was good. Her character (Harley Quinn) was my favourite in the movie. For all the hype about Jared Leto playing The Joker, he was the biggest disappointment.

All of the jokes and one liners fell flat. The special effects weren't that great. The storyline was pretty woeful. The acting was poor. The characters were bland. Adoring Husband slept through a good portion of it and I admit that at about the one hour mark, I dozed momentarily and had to sit forward in the seat to stop myself from falling asleep.

Even the music, which is what attracted me to the movie in the first place, was disappointing.

This movie had the potential to be better than ok, but fell way short of my expectations.

After the movie, we picked up my framed photo from the framers ...

... did some grocery shopping, bought some take away coffees and then headed home.

Crispy skinned chicken with vegetables for dinner and then another quick game of Cards Against Humanity.

Everyone is now in bed as I write this and we plan on a trip to Maryborough tomorrow for the markets, a visit to the Art Gallery and possibly a game of ten pin bowling.

So this is my brief post before climbing into bed for some much needed sleep. Two nights at 2am with early morning rises, is catching up to me and I'm feeling very weary.

Nite all.

Cards are Bad

There's a new game in the world.

It's called Cards Against Humanity.

It's as bad as the name suggests and is described as 'a party game for horrible people'.

Adoring Husband and I must be horrible people, because we even shocked Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour.

So much laughter. Laughing in shock and disbelief. Laughing in disgust. Laughing with genuine hilarity. Laughing uncontrollably.

I was expecting to struggle through the game and be offended and possibly quit well before the game was over, but much hilarity ensued and the competition was fierce.

AH stayed up for three hours longer than usual, even after a late night last night, and in the end, he was forced to go to bed because he felt like he might collapse.

It's been a long time since I've heard him laugh like that, and quite often I had to take his card and read it for him, because he was incapable of reading through his hysteria. It was good to hear, and my cheeks are sore from laughing and smiling.

A good night was had by all.

Now it's time for bed because we have a big day planned for tomorrow.

Nite all.

PS I was the winner!!

Trio of Welcomes

What an eventful day!

It started with work, followed by some last minute grocery shopping. I also had a few last minute chores to do around the house before my visitors arrived.

The Blonde Bombshell picked me up at 11am and we drove to the airport to await the arrival of Knight in Shining Armour's plane. We had just enough time to order a coffee before we heard the plane land, but then it seemed to take forever for the luggage to appear on the conveyor belt!

The psychotic dogs were pretty happy to see KISA, once they realised it was him!

We had about 3 hours to catch up and then it was time to head off to the train station to meet Bubbles' train. She arrived right on time and the psychotic dogs were doing backflips when they saw her walk through the door. They've had lots of cuddles and are already in heaven from the spoiling.

I did lamb racks with baked veg, snow peas and beans and carrots for dinner.

I had no sooner finished cleaning up and loading the dishwasher, when Adoring Husband phoned to say that they had arrived in town from their trip home from Fairbairn Dam and they were dropping everything at the shed and would be home soon.

I expected that they would eat dinner on the way home, but that wasn't to be, so I had to figure out what to prepare at short notice. Luckily I had some curried chicken in the freezer, so I popped that in oven.

It had been a very stressful weekend for AH so he needed desperately to wind down and relax. With a full belly, a beer and some debriefing, he finally climbed into bed shortly before 11pm and is now fast asleep.

Everybody is now in bed, except for me ... of course ... it's well after midnight and here I am watching the Olympic Games and feeling wide awake because I've had three coffees today!

The coffee machine is now repaired, so all going well, I should be able to get my morning coffee tomorrow.

So for now, all is well and it's lovely to have family at home.

Nite all.

 

Experimental Gingerizing

Best Cousin in the World visited today, her arms loaded with coffee from Sexie Coffee. What a life saver!

She was also loaded up with a box full of ginger from her farm.

We peeled it and sliced two different types of ginger, and lay the slices onto six trays of the dehydrator.

I flipped the switch to turn on the dehydrator.

Nothing.

No lights. No motor. Absolutely nothing.

I found the manual in the filing cabinet, while Marco Polo found it online, but there was nothing in that to help.

So Marco Polo asked for a screw driver and pulled the back off the box to check the motor.

I thought it might be damage from geckos - they have a habit of eating through wiring - but we couldn't see anything. Then he broke my house. There was an almighty spark and the power went out!

He found the power box and the power returned, but not to the dehydrator.

We achieved nothing and still have no idea why it's not working.

This meant we had to use the oven on low.

Best Cousin in the World and I are both photographers and neither of us thought about taking photos of our ginger experiments in the kitchen!

After we'd finished peeling and chopping, it was time for lunch. I made Hainan Chicken and then we had chocado mousse with berries and chocolate coconut ice cream. It was very filling and we enjoyed it with a couple of glasses of wine.

Being farmers, with errands to run and responsibilities to fulfil, they left at about 2pm.

The ginger has now finished dehydrating. The pieces that were cut quite thickly, have set like concrete, but the very thinly sliced ginger is nice and crispy and crumbly. I am going to grind it up and add it to some curry spices for a green curry. I'll also try some dips, like a ginger hummus and maybe a carrot and ginger dip. Chilli, garlic and ginger might be nice too.

After chewing on some of the ginger, I swallowed a mouthful of wine to cleanse my palate and OMG the taste of the wine combined with the ginger was DELICIOUS!!

That was my gingery day.

Now I'm preparing for Bubbles and Knight in Shining Armour to arrive tomorrow!

Adoring Husband will also be returning from his SES exercise out west. Tomorrow should be a good day!

Nite all.