A Busy Long Weekend And Some White Paint...

Bonjour and how are we all today? I hope all of you who had a long weekend enjoyed the extra day off to relax and have some fun with family and friends.

We had a busy but quiet weekend with Cathy here and it was nice to have her company. Cathy recently had a full knee replacement surgery so while she couldn't walk too far or long and definitely not on the beach she did very well getting around town and we managed to get her down to the foreshore for a lovely Simmo's ice cream. Bec thoroughly enjoyed having her Nan here for the weekend too and wasn't too impressed when Cathy had to go home yesterday but she got over it.

We've spent a lot of time this weekend setting up this 'electric' fence for the dogs as it was more time consuming than we originally thought it was going to be but now it's all in place and today we start with the dogs first training session so they learn their boundaries and where they can and can't go. It's also nice to know that the chooks will be at a safe distance from the dogs as we've zoned off the chook pen which means if they get too close to it they will get a zap. I'm seriously hoping this works and works well.

We also made a start on clearing out the chook pen yesterday so it's ready for the chicks to go into in a few weeks when they're a bit bigger. I have to say I believe whoever had chooks in there before never cleared the straw out as it was so thick that when raked into a pile it came up to my knees. We didn't quite finish yesterday as John came by and we needed to finish the fence for the dogs so we will finish the rest today.....I did however manage to make one improvement in the chook pen. For those who saw a pic of the pen in an earlier post you would have seen that the chandelier hanging in there was a brassy colour as in the pic below...

Now admittedly I know the chickens won't give two hoots what colour the chandy is but too me it was just a bit dull and I almost didn't even see it there when I first investigated the chook pen because it just blends with the roof...but not any more...thanks to Kris at thebouselife and her advice on the best way to spruce things up with a can of spray paint the chandy now has a new lease of life...

So like I said I know the chicks won't care but it just makes the pen a little brighter and cheery and it was so easy to do....just stand back and spray away....thanks Kris...

So now that the weekend is over and we're back to our regular weekly schedule it's time for me to get cracking and get some washing done, floors vacuumed and mopped, beds made, a casserole on for dinner and of course I've put a side a bit of time to spray a few more things white but will share that in another post soon....So have a good day and take care and I thought before I go I'll leave you with this gorgeous pic of this mornings sunrise from my little old porch...

Take care...xo

Photo A Day Challenge And The Weekend.....

Hi there and how was everyone's Friday? Mine was good though for me today has felt like Saturday as Chris had the day off work, so I've been feeling a day ahead of myself all day. We got lots but nothing done today if that makes sense.....first of all we actually got to sleep in until 7am..yey..(we never get to sleep in) then it was a case of get up have breakfast, tidy up, pull out the slow cooker and get the lamb casserole going for dinner tonight, go to town to get a few things and then before we knew it it was time to head to town to pick up Chris' mum who's come to stay for the weekend. The morning flew by and now the evening feels like it's dragging on and it feels much later than what it is, which is only 8:40pm.....

Today is my first day doing the Photo A Day June challenge and I have to say I was pretty happy this mornings shot of morning.....

So what do you think of my shot of this morning? I actually saw the sun coming up as I was opening the lounge room curtains, grabbed my phone, ran out the front door in my dressing gown (it was only just after seven hehe) and snapped the sun shining bright.....I was quite happy with it and think it's one of the best pics I've taken lately.....

I think the Photo A Day challenge is such a great idea as it gives everyone with all skill levels of taking photos the chance to share their pictures....and while I've been using instagram for a few months now this is the first month I've done the challenge and I'm already looking forward to taking tomorrows picture. If you'd like to know more about the challenge pop on over to Chantelles blog at FatMumSlim and read all about it and make sure you grab a copy of June's list.....don't worry if you  missed today's pic just start tomorrow and enjoy the fun.

Now, our weekend looks as if it's going to be a little busier than I originally thought it would be at the start of the week. Like I said earlier Chris' mum Cathy is here visiting for the long weekend and we have John from the RSPCA coming out tomorrow to install the electric fence for the dogs and taking Chris' mum into town so she can take Bec shopping and then Sunday we have the meeting in the morning and then Chris' brother and his family coming up for afternoon tea Sunday afternoon. Monday morning Cathy heads home on the bus and I actually don't know what we'll be doing Monday afternoon.....I think we may make a start on organizing the chook pen....the chicks are two weeks old today and getting so big and lots of feathers now..It amazes me how much they've changed it just two short weeks, even their colouring is changing the bigger they get...I love watching the changes...

Well that's my news for today and TGIF I say....I love the end of week and love knowing that when I wake up tomorrow it'll be the weekend....plenty of time to do whatever takes our fancy....Oh and I know I promised to share those pizzas from last night with you so I've put the pics up and if you'd like the recipes (we made them from scratch....I prefer to make everything from scratch) then leave me a comment and I'll happily give you the recipe....it will on the recipe page when I have some time over the weekend....

I have to admit there is nothing nicer than home made pizza as opposed to store bought....wins hands down every time....well Bonsoir and have a good evening and take care...xo

Organized Chef Or Messy Cook....

Bonsoir Home, Love And Life friends....well as promised I'm back with that Mixed Berry and White Choc Chip Muffin recipe for you.......But first I wanted to ask you, are you an organized chef or a messy cook..? I would have to class myself as a messy cook unfortunately....it doesn't matter how organized I try to be before I start cooking I always end up in a mess....I think too half the time when I cook it's a spur of the moment decision.....I don't plan ahead of time when I'll bake because then if I don't get it done I feel bad so I prefer to bake when I have a spare minute and the moment gets me. Admittedly not only is the kitchen in a state when I'm finished, though I am now getting myself into the habit of cleaning as I go, but I end up covered in all sorts too....namely flour and I always seem to cook when I'm wearing something black....so we all know what happens when flour hits black pants/tops don't we......yep they turn grey. It doesn't really bother me any more because I've been this way for years and even though I own an apron I always forget to put it on until I'm halfway through and by then there's no point hehehe..

So here is the recipe and again it's a very easy recipe to follow....

Ingredients
2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup white choc-bits
1 cup buttermilk or milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g butter, melted, cooled slightly
1 cup Creative Gourmet frozen Mixed Berries

Instructions
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 12 hole x 1/2-cup capacity muffin pan or line with patty cases.

Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in sugar and choc-bits.

Whisk buttermilk or milk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter in a large jug until well combined. Using a large metal spoon, stir mixture into dry ingredients until just combined. Gently swirl through frozen Mixed Berries (do not over-mix).

Spoon mixture into prepared muffin pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.

Stand in pans for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. Lightly dust with icing sugar if desired.

My Tip: To make the muffins an even sweeter treat I have mixed some cream cheese with icing sugar and have dolloped it on top of the muffins.....when the muffins are warmed the cream cheese melts and just makes it even more delish..

So once again I hope you enjoy the recipe and hope to hear how you all go with it....for all those out there who are gluten or wheat intolerant all my recipes can be made with gluten free flour or spelt flour as this is what I use....just replace what's listed for your preferred flour.....Bonn Appetite....xo

P.s tomorrow I'll be back to show you and share with you our home made pizza's we did for dinner tonight.....I feel as if this is becoming a cooking blog but don't worry there will be some whitewashing soon.....I've just been in a major baking mood and thought I'd share......xo

My First Post And An Update On Molly And Lady....

Bonjour Home, Love & Life friends.....well this morning I'm testing out doing a quick post here on wordpress to see how it goes.....for some reason I feel like I'm betraying blogger by moving across but while wordpress is a little tricky in the beginning I'm getting the hang of it now.

So for those of you who already follow me on blogger I would love for you all to follow me here at wordpress as blogger will be getting closed down though not straight away......I have bought all you lovely ladies over with me so I don't lose your blogs and I'm hoping you don't want to lose mine too....

Well on with some new.....as most of you probably remember I was talking about the dogs the other week and all the trouble we've been having with them since we moved. I've never had this sort of trouble with them before.....killing possums, escaping and running up and down the street barking at night, escaping during the day when no one's home and generally making a big nuisance of themselves. Everything came to a head Tuesday night when they (mostly Molly) went on and on and were out the front barking at all hours......we've tried every sort of discipline you can think of and nothing is working and poor Chris is losing so much sleep because we have to keep getting up in the middle of the night to sort them out...So at my wits end after finding Lady again with another dead possum I thought 'this is it I'm going to have to rehouse them...this can't go on'.......I called the RSPCA to speak to someone about surrendering them so they could be rehoused and after talk to John for a bit he could tell I didn't really want to give the dogs away we just didn't know what to do with them any more.......So John said he'd come out and talk to me and Chris and see how they could help us and the dogs........apparently when you move house it's not the distance that upsets animals but the sounds and smells around them as it's all new.....

Johns visit was great and he met the dogs and saw that really they are great dogs and that we do love them but just have no idea how to stop Lady killing possums and how to stop all their barking.......John gave us some great ideas, the first being to lock them in the double garage at night so they can't escape any more and the possums will be safe and secondly the RSPCA are going to look at lending us a special type of electric fence.....Now don't freak out no one will be zapped or killed.....it's a piece of wire that runs the fence line and the dogs wear a special collar and as they get close to the fence line it vibrates....and if they keep going it vibrates stronger and then if they still keep going they get a small static shock........Now we've all had those and we know it's hurts a little but not enough to cause pain...So John is coming back out on the weekend to help us set up the fence and see how we go with that....Last night was their first night locked in the garage all night and while they (mostly Molly again) did bark and carry on a for a while it wasn't for long and didn't go on all night....So we and the neighbours all would have gotten a good nights sleep for the first time in ages......

So all in all it looks like there was a reason I called the RSPCA yesterday morning as rehousing Lady and Molly really was a last resort and not something I really wanted to do.....so if these small steps of change work and they settle then they obviously will be staying with me, Chris and the kids where they belong.....I really do love my crazy dogs.....

Molly...the noise maker extraordinaire...

Lady....Possum killer and noise maker...

Taken at our old place...We think the reason we didn't have the same trouble as we're having now when we first moved to Busselton is because on the other side of town it's a lot like the environment in Perth and there are virtually no possums over there.....

So there we have it my first post here at wordpress done and the dogs are still with us hopefully for many more years yet......Well I hope you all enjoyed today's post and I'd love to hear what you think of the format over here.....one thing you'll notice is I had to make the banner smaller as it wouldn't allow the same size banner as what's on blogger.....take care and enjoy the rest of your day....xo

Come And See

Bonjour mon amis.....just checking in to see how you're all going.....well I hope....Don't forget to come over to Wordpress and read the latest post about what sort of surprises I've had this week...

http://homelovelifeasiliveit.wordpress.com/

I hope everyone is having a good week and all are in good health.....lots has been happening here at Home, Love and Life and I'm happy to share all the news with you....

taken yesterday morning on the road to get Eva....

So pop on over and see what else I've been snapping away at.....xo

Today's Post...

Bonjour everyone and how are you all today? Just a reminder that I'm blogging over at wordpress now so pop over and have a read of today's post...

 Just one of the pics you'll see in today's post over at wordpress....taken this morning

See you all over there xo

New Post...

Hi Home, Love & Life friends....just a friendly reminder that I have moved over to wordpress so pop on over and have a read of today's post....all about photo a day june and the weekend.....http://homelovelifeasiliveit.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/photo-a-day-challenge-and-the-weekend/

So in the words of Shania Twain Come On Over......and have a listen to the song while you're at it..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNe2cj03-eA I love this song and I'm sure you all will too...xo