Project Life: Week 33

It’s been a horrible, wet and rainy day today… absolutely perfect for working on my Project Life pages!  Here’s an overview of Week 33 (10th – 16th August)

This week started off with some bartering!  Mike made a deal with the guy from the second hand place to exchange our old roller door for some demolition firewood… he even managed to get them to do the pick up and delivery!  When they turned up with the firewood the guys offered to stack it all up in the woodshed for me so who was I to complain about that?

I also took the locking mechanism from the French doors down to a local locksmith to see if he could help us out.  The keys were missing and the lock was full of paint, dust and spiders webs.  I left the whole mechanism with them for a couple of hours and when I went back it was opening and closing beautifully plus they’d cut me two keys… and all for $20!

Here’s a better look at the start of the week:

I’ve been enjoying baking and cooking lately and Mike is actually quite a fan of the whole ‘meat and three veg’ thing… definitely not my style!  I have to admit that I’ve been perfecting my sausage casseroles and mashed potatoes and peas (Mike’s favourite!).  This week I made meatballs with spaghetti and Mike LOVED it!  Of course we had some grated cheese on top and I even made a little guacamole which I really liked.

On my last visit to the library I picked up some recipe books for making ice cream.  I’m definitely drawn to cook books with beautiful pictures and this one had some great recipes in it… along with the most gorgeous photography!

I haven’t shown Mike the recipes in the book yet but I think if I served something like this for dessert it might just blow his mind!

Madagascan vanilla ice cream between oatmeal and raisin cookies

Best I get back on track again…  This week I’ve heard from both my girls.  Mikayla sent me some photos of her latest hair colouring.  She quite often sends me photos and I love to see what she’s up to down in Invercargill… she’ll be coming home for a visit in just a few short weeks and I can’t wait to see her again!

Krystal also came around for a visit this week.  She was feeling a little under the weather which was probably due to the huge amount of pollen there seems to be at the moment.  She fancied some Indian takeaways for lunch and Toby was more than happy to share with her. 

I also found some time to work on my project album.  Working at the dining room table is actually pretty good because I’ve got an excellent view over the park and there’s plenty of light.

On the weekend things went rapidly ahead with the art studio as well.  Toby has this thing where he has to tell on ‘Daddy’.  He’ll come and tell me what Mike is up to and if I think it’s a good idea Toby acts like he’s part of it too… but if I’m not so sure Toby acts like he was trying to help me by telling me… basically he’s a big nark who’s just looking out for himself!

Mike went down to get some more wood on Saturday.  He’d decided to build something in front of the French doors to help make it look good and also cut down on the mess going inside… mostly from Toby I suspect! 

At first he called it a patio… an area, usually paved, adjoining a house and used as an area for outdoor lounging, dining, etc. but that didn’t seem quite right…

Then he called it a deck… an open, unroofed porch or platform extending from a house or other building. But it was too close to the ground for that.

I was trying to explain to my sister what Mike was building and she said… “Oh that’s called a LANDING”… Mike was quite taken with that so now I have a ‘landing’ at the front of the art studio!

Here’s a closer look at the rest of the week:

On Saturday afternoon I got busy in the kitchen and made a roast for dinner.  We had rolled roast beef with gravy… roasted vegetables… roasted garlic and Yorkshire puddings.  Mike had never had Yorkshire puddings before but he’s definitely keen on having them again!  The best part was that I was able to save half of what I cooked so that we could have the rest for dinner on Sunday night!

On Sunday morning Danny came around to help Mike do the gib stopping.  They decided we needed to do a bit of a trip to Bunnings for some more supplies so Toby and I went along for the ride. 

Mike had been telling Danny about how we’ve had a few sausage sizzles at Bunnings so he bought us all one… and one for Toby as well.  In spite of what the photo looks like Toby absolutely loved the sausage sizzle and now every time we mention Bunnings he gets quite excited!

While the guys were busy in the art studio I got busy in the kitchen and did some baking for them… chocolate chip cookies and a pavlova roll.  I also tried out one of the recipes from my new ice cream book… rum & raisin!  Mike would tell you that it’s absolutely delicious but then he might have to share it!

While they were taking a break from the art studio Mike and Danny started making up a ‘tool wall’ in the man cave.  I jokingly asked him if he was going to draw around all his tools at which point Danny said ‘I TOLD YOU!’   It does look pretty good having his tools on display like that and it’s certainly easier for him to find what he needs!

So there you have it… another week in our lives.  I hope you’re all having a good week and managing to stay out of this crazy weather!