Cucumbers and firemen

When is a cucumber not a cucumber?  Why when it's a zucchini, of course!  After thinking I had planted a cucumber plant, I gave it a good water today and was admiring the speed at which it has taken off. I took another look at the tag and lo and behold, I have a zucchini plant!  Even better since now I get to use the flowers as well.  Oh, Jamie Oliver, how you have inspired me.


I have lost my chef but next weekend gain another when Swiss Christoph arrives to stay with me for 4 weeks.  He is coming to learn english at Global Village here in Noosa.  I must have known something on Friday morning when I put on my Swiss t-shirt... I got a call from Global Village asking if I would take another Swiss student - arriving the same day that Christoph leaves.  Hell, why not aye?? 


Still, am not doing too bad myself in the kitchen.  Have just taken a GREAT smelling lasagne out of the oven and am sterilising some jars for a bread and butter pickle made with a recipe from when I was a kid staying at my friends' place - Diane and Nicola Mitchell.  Their mum used to make this and we delighted in having it on our cold meat sandwiches.  (I only recently 'found' Diane and Nicola again after a number of years out of contact and I can't say how comforting it is to have childhood friends in my life again even if it is only via facebook, phone and email at the moment.  Totally worth the time and effort to be back in touch!) 


Justin has had a busy week with another ahead.  Fire training took up two days last week and tomorrow is the first of another four, ending in a 9am-10pm day to train when they are tired and in the dark of night.  They will be entering burning buildings and having to do rescues.  Scary stuff if you ask me.  Last weekend, he did a First Aid course and is now a certified First Aider.  Today, Sunday, he spent packing up the last of his cargo, including the rest of his wine allocation and delivering it to the AAD.  It has to be delivered to the wharf by this Friday at the latest and with fire training Monday-Thursday, that doesn't leave a lot of time. 


It's great to be able to talk every day - more than once - at the moment but soon I am going to have to get used to a couple of phone calls a week.  Due to a trial currently, it is not expensive for Justin to call me from Antarctica.  I went online today to check what it would cost me to phone him and with our current provider... a mere $3.18 per minute!!!  Guess Antarctica is not in too much demand as a phone destination.  Telstra do offer a better deal so I will have to look in to that further.


Well, I have a pickle to finish and a lasagne to enjoy with big brother, Brian, and enjoy I will.  Here's to a busy week ahead. Jo

The difference a day makes

After a couple of hours' cleaning this morning, I have been sewing, fighting the good fight with some HTML code in my desperate pursuit to better understand the inner workings of Facebook and therefore improve my business profile (!!), and getting ready for a garage sale this weekend (sooooo time to do some offloading!)...


Justin has spent the day at Macquarie Wharf packing 'cubes' with household items and dry stores. Two cubes fit in to one 20ft container and today they packed four. Included were 300 toothbrushes, huge amounts of laundry powder and deodorant - lots of men down there! Amongst the many drystores, in went 40kg dried apricots and 15kg salted peanuts. More details as they come to light!


And Mr Bear is sporting a new haircut from Julie at Posh Dogs in Coolum... www.poshdogs.net. As always I got to take him home looking very handsome. Thanks Julie.

How could I forget...

I felt as though it was time to introduce our Pickle to the blog... and that is our little family complete. She is a lovely girl who likes to be involved in as much as possible, gets a bit bossed around by the neighbourhood cats and sleeps in her bed in our garage at night.

Oh, and Mr Bear had a bath this week...

He did not enjoy it and as usual tried to drink as much of the water as he could, resulting in burps and a very full belly.

This is becoming a habit!

Well what do you know... it's Friday night and I am home alone. That is, apart from Pickle and Mr Bear. And we all know what Friday night TV is like so I am thinking spaghetti bolognase and a movie.

I have been having a bit of fun with my cooking since being on my own and thanks to Jamie Oliver (who happens to be on on Friday nights!) I now understand the absolute joy of cooking chorizo. So far I have had it with a bean casserole (or beanatouille - thanks to Charles Scrase Dickens of London), and crumbled fetta. My friend Jenny and I loved it (she supplied the wine.) I added it to my pasta puttanesca - or whore's pasta which with the anchovy, capers, light chillis and olives made every mouthful pack a punch. The last I did just a couple of nights ago and that was exactly to a Jamie recipe - his world's best chorizo and tomato salad which I had with fetta and toasted turkish bread. I'm not sure why it is but I feel much more confident in the kitchen when it is only me I am cooking for. I don't make anything too fancy or technical... just whatever I feel like when I feel like it. I guess that is the big difference... not worrying about anyone else and what they feel like!

It has been a busy week and I am excited about the weekend. I am going to Ha-Ra the house (sounds rather desperate doesn't it but I cannot wait until I can stand back and see everything gorgeously clean again!) and play about with some ebay stuff. I have spent some time sewing again this week. Jo Chambers Designs has been experiencing a bit of a hiatus over the past couple of months with all that has been going on but I am excited about developing a schedule that will include my wheat packs, the cleaning and the admin for Ha-Ra. Bring it on!

You can check out my website... http://www.jochambers.com.au/.

Justin has had a busy week too... see, now I was getting to it. This is all about him too after all! He had 2.5 days doing boating and was out on the water in IRB's in very cold Hobart weather - true to form. He spent a day doing theory in Hydroponics which he found very interesting and although he would like to be able to contribute more to the crop once down there, it is in a sterile environment that he is unable to easily transfer to from the kitchen. He must either go in to the area before starting in the mornings or shower before he enters the area. From memory, today he was doing quad bike training. Not sure what that entails but I know I will find out once we have our evening chat tonight.

In case you are wondering... yes, it is lonely at times when you are used to another person being around all the time but I do enjoy my own company and am keeping very busy with all manner of things. Walking really helps to keep the emotions in check too. My friends and neighbours are all being so lovely and for that I am extremely thankful.

Have a great weekend all, I know I will be trying my best to.

We learn something everyday

You know, I learnt something this weekend... that super-firm tofu and I do not a good pairing make! All night I have felt as though I have had lumps of plastic traversing my system in a bid to leave my body in the exact same form that it entered in. Thus, a restless night tossing and turning trying to get comfortable.

It's just as well I pick my nights for little sleep though. My brain was yet another organ working overtime and I got tremendously excited about the prospect of a new product making the trip to Antarctica... Ha-Ra. There is great concern, quite rightfully so, regarding the use and disposal of chemicals in The Antarctic in order to retain, and not upset, the natural balance of such an incredibly special place.

Forget Enjo, Sabco or Oates, Ha-Ra is the first, the original and the absolute best quality fibre based, chemical free cleaning system. I have invested in it for home, I clean with it professionally part time and I believe in it wholeheartedly. You can get rid of all those nasty chemicals (that we are made to believe are a must), toxic fumes and bottles that clutter up so many areas of the house making you, your children and your pets happier, healthier and more comfortable. Not to mention those water restrictions being imposed on us... you need much less water with the Ha-ra system.
If you are remotely curious about or interested in any of the above, check out the Ha-ra website by using the link I have put on the lefthand side of my blog page. You won't look back.

Have a great, chemical free day.

Filling my time

So far I am doing well filling my time and in fact am now way behind in pretty much every aspect of my life. Not least because I spent a day in hospital yesterday after having a laparoscopy. Never having been in hospital before, and receiving no warning as to the effect of the anaesthetic or morphine, you can imagine my surprise when I felt as rough as I did and spent the day vomiting every ml of liquid that I managed to get in. I was in surgery by 8.30am (they gave me something to 'relax' and I didn't even see the operating theatre doors!) and left the hospital after 4pm, vomiting in the car on the way home. Today I feel a little like a car has hit me in the stomach but thankfully the pain in my shoulder caused by the trapped gases has eased.
While I was finding it difficult to move, Justin aced his forklift training and testing... congratulations! He says it is because he studied. Clearly the point when they train you and then test you dear. We'll wait and see what he does with the hairdressing training!

A good day

Justin got fitted for his Survival Kit today and all other equipment required for the conditions in Antarctica.
Me, I did a couple of hours cleaning at a stunning Noosa holiday rental, you know the type... 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, full on central outdoor area with louvre ceiling, massive kitchen, pool, gym, you name it. I spent an hour and a half at the home of Hara Australia discussing ways in which we can improve their online profile - something I will be working on now and am excited about getting in to. I also delivered a wheat pack order, dropped in on a couple of friends then returned home to plant a cucumber and a lettuce - just the beginning of my next chapter of garden endeavours. (Watch this space!) The citrus trees are finally looking like they are getting excited about life and the passionfruit is taking off. The lavender that died due to lack of watering during my Bali sojourn are starting to look like they may just live after all.
And I finally got the house to myself again. Don't get me wrong, I miss Justin already, but his leaving also coincided with a family of four coming from the UK for a visit, our trip to Bali and just the last few days, my Mum and brother staying. I love having everyone here but I also love my space!
Now I think I will go and enjoy a glass of wine and start reading 'Facebook Marketing for Dummies'. Wish me luck!