Lazy Easter Sunday

I really didn't do much packing today, it is easter after all and I was on kid duty whilst Ian packed up lots of shed stuf (read lots of crap everywhere).  So I had a lazy day with the kids.  I recently discovered a lovely Blog mainly about knitting, cooking and life in general (A Friend to Knit With)  I have been drooling over all the knitting and especially the lovely cookies this lady bakes.  Well yesterday I tried one of the recipes,   Here is a metric conversion for you.

Slice and Bake Cookies
Ingredients:
450gms brown Sugar (16 oz)                                   2 Cups oats
450 gms melted butter (4 sticks/1 lb)                   2 Cups Corn Flakes
2 Cups sugar                                                                    4 Cups Flour
4 Eggs                                                                                 2 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Vanilla                                                                     2 tsp Baking Powder

Directions
Mix in order (1st column then second column). You are looking for the consistency of a plyable dough (may need to increase or decrease your flour)
Add nuts if desired.
Roll into logs and wrap in wax paper
Chill for at least 2 hours before cutting.
Bake at 180 c (350 f) for 10-14 minutes

Dough can be stored in the freezer for later use.

Check out the orginal here Slice and Bake Cookies (at the end of the page)

This was the best idea,  I got about 9 logs out of it and put them straight into the freezer.  Then when you want to use them just pull them out cut along the log to make circles and off you go.  I wrapped mine in baking paper and then the sheet I needed was even ready to go - so easy. 
This is the outcome of 1 log - I got 9 logs total.  You could probably make them a little bit bigger but I like them this size becuase of course the little chicklets like to take 2 at a time.I can not believe that I haven't come across this idea in any of my Aussie cook books - its great.  Here are some picies (yes I need work on my log shapping).  Try them they are yummy and such a good idea for the school holidays.  Enjoy and don't forget to check out A friend to knit with's blog.

Packing has begun!

Well the chaos of packing up 7 hoarders worth of stuff has begun.  Everything we are packing has to go into storage as we go because we have to be out of our old house on the same day we can get into our new use, bit of a bugga that.  We have sent 3 trailer loads of just pot plants to my inlaws today as well as a full shed load of boxes.  It still all seems a bit surreal at the moment.  I have got a copy of the floor plan with the necessary labels on it.

This is generally how we will lay out the house as well.  Finally a room for each chicklet, and did you notice I have a sunroom and a workshop in the main house.  The workshop near the sheds is where all the lego and science lab stuff for the boys will go.  We also have a family room (mainly for the 2 little girls) a lounge for the adults, a family room for the 2 boys and Nish's room (or rather teenage retreat) is big enough for lounge and bedroom.  We also hope to put a bathroom in there for her too.  Ian's Junk has been relegated to the Master shed, but this thing is so big I think our current house could fit inside it.  The 2 lovely pups have a house/cage infront of the workshop and there is also a cattery for pip and pop.  Well I better stop procrastinating and get back to packing. 

Hope you all have a great Easter and stay safe.

Can you hear the Cheering!

Yes its is now official! we sold our house and bought our Kersbrook house yesterday.  All signed, sealed and delivered.  Finally!  Here are some numbers for you - trying to get Ian out ov Vale Park - 15 years, trying to convince Ian to move to acerage 5.5 years, Seriously looking for an acerage - 18 months, number of houses made offers on and lost -3, time to sell/buy house once we thought the whole thing was a loss were walking away to start again from scratch - 4 hours!

I know Monday night the whole thing was over,  we had had two offers on our house but they were too low, the house we want to buy wouldn't budge,  Ian had asked for our deposit back and the whole thing was over.  I was devastated.  at this time a year there is nothing on the market in the Adelaide hills and it just gets worse over winter.  I really thought that we would looking at another 6-9 months at least.  Then wamo, in the space of 4 hours offers where made prices were negotiated and the whole thing was done.  We waited the 2 days cooling off and now we officially have an acerage in Kersbrook!

We will be moving in either 2 or 3 weeks - nothing like sprinting the last leg of a cross country race!  I spent friday enrolling the kids in their new school, researching heaters, buying school uniforms, telling one of the kids schools they will be leaving next thursday (last day of term).

We also have lined up 2 georgeous Border Collie puppies here are some pics. Thank-you Johnson Family!

They are both boys and currently live on a farm with a family with 4 kids.  They are very cute aren't they, and from talking to the Johnsons they seem like they will fit in beutifully with our family.  We are thinking of names.  I like Spud and Heys.  Spud is my 1st dads nickname and Heys is short for my 2nd days name - I like the idea of every time I call them I will think of both my dads! What do you think?

My mind has been going a million miles a minute,  I have the whole house packed and moved in my head - now if it was only that easy.  At night my dreams are full of wonderful gardening plans, animal rearing, spining by the fire and cooking lots of home grown/raised food.  It all sounds lovely but I know in reality it will be lots of hard work, with highs and lows, but hopefully very rewarding. 

Come ride with me on this magical carpet.  Let the Blog begin!

Still Waiting!

Well Auction day came and went with the expected fizzle.  Both Ian and I expected not to sell at auction, don't ask me why, call it a gut instinct.  So now we have the house on the market as a specific price.  The day after auction I got a phone call from the real-estate agent with someone who wanted to view the property and they knew the asking price.  They stayed for about 20-25 mins, the agent reports that they seemed interested, so now we just wait and see.  While this is all going on, the first date on the Kersbrook house contract has come and gone.  However the real-estate agent said not to worry but to let the contract stand and we will see how things go.  This basically means that if any offers come through on our place we will just redate the exhisting contract on Kersbrook.  All very fustrating really.

I really am starting to chaff at the bit now - I just want out of the suburbs and to start up on the farm.  I was looking forward to moving in the school holidays and the kids starting fresh at a new school at the beggining of a new term.  I was also looking forward to having winter to settle in and start on things before spring arrived.  Like planning where to put the veggie patch and get it ready for spring plantings.  This is not a small task as I plan to have a HUGE veggie patch and also a orchard. 

Well not much else to report, this must be the most boring farm blog so far with no farm stuff going on! Oh well, it will happen it's just a matter of when and where - stay tuned.

The beginning is Near!

Well we have our house on the market and it goes to auction next Sunday.  We do have a specific amount we need to get in order to get the Kersbrook property I talked about in my last post.  Depending on the day of the week depends whether I think it will all carry off or not.  It is literally like a house of cards, one card goes and it all goes.  Then other days I feel like it is a certainty and am off desiging the garden or reading up on animal care or dreaming of my knitting/spinning workshop.

The opens have been "fun".  There really should be some law against living in a house with 5 kids when you are trying to sell a house and have opens every weekend.  I have 1 more open inspection this thursday and then auction on sunday!  Fingers Crossed.  I'm sure I will update you with the forthcoming news.

Update, Might have a property!

It has been a while since I have posted. I promise I will try to be better once we get a property - I will have something to write about then. Well the Harrogate property is not a goer. But we have found another property. We had a look at it, put an offer in but the owner tried to up us by 10k, we walked away. Well over chrissie we were fairly busy, but whilst on holidays we notice the property was listed with another realtor for a lower price than our original offer. We were going to look into it once we got back from holidays.

Well all of a sudden we have a contract on the property subject to the sale of our house. I have 2 week to get the house ready for the first open inspection and 6 weeks till auction day! Ian is away for the next 3 weeks which means I have a big job ahead of me. The house has to be declutter, repainted and presented at its best whilst living in it with my 5 little mess-pots!

Fingers Crossed - now about the house

Well the house has 3 bedrooms but a big undermain roof garage that we are going to make into 2 rooms and a sitting area for the boys. There is also a teenage retreat that we are going to do up for our oldest daughter. I finally get a lovely little sitting room as well as a craft room, the 2 little girls get their own rooms too! The property has 13 acres, sheds coming out the wazoo, a dam and only 3 minutes to the local school. There is a cat house for our 2 little baby chrissie presents - pip and pop. Also a dog cage for our pending new family members, The property is also located amoungst lots of horse trails so Ian is having an uphill battle trying convince the rest of the family not to get a horse. The property has also been used for both sheep and cattle in the past so it si set up for us to have some of each. There is also a chook house and an old milk shed which is a very cut little building.

Pretty much every thing we wanted in a property is there, and depending on what we sell our current house for we probably will be able to put in the pool we want.

I will keep you updated!

I have a secret!

well to update you on the property hunt, We put another offer in on the Harrogate property about 35k higher than the first offer but they still turned it down. I think that this is not the right house - it feels like we are trying to force it to be the one now and it still isn't happening.

We have looked at a few other properties but Ian felt like they were to far for him to comute.

I thought Iwould let you in on a secret. We have decided to put our house on the market and this will open up the price range we can look at. Well the day after we made that decision I found a property that looked like it could be workable. I rang the agent to find out when they were having an open inspection and we were up there looking at the property 1 1/2hours later.

The house is only 40 minutes from the city, and only about 7-10 years old and has many options for bedrooms. To say it has sheds apleanty is and understatement. I thought Ian was going to roll over and die right there and then in the bliss of the sheds. The water set up is great, It has 13 acres - all usable acres! There is a lovely little sunroom which I could see myself spending a lot of time in. The school is about 2 minutes around the corner by car (I reckon in a year or 2 they could actually walk - there is a track that cuts through!). The town has a Church of Christ which would could look into joining - most of the churches up in the Adelaide hills are Lutherans or Catholic - lovely but not really us! I am going back up tomorrow to take some picies and to show it to the parents. Both Ian and I got in the car after looking at the property and said at the same time - Yep I would sell our house and move here!

We have spoken to our Loan guy and some real estate agents and things look like they could work so on Saturday Ian and I are going to the real estate offices and hopefully we will putting an offer in, The real estate agent has subtely hinted our offer would be accepted. Now we just need to get what we want for this house!

Fingers Crossed, keep you updated!