Besties

This is me and my best friend "Emma from Queensland" the other weekend (thanks Jo for the snap). Em's and I have been great mates since she switched to my primary school half way through the kindergarten year. She's lived in Queensland since 1991 but we've stayed close, despite looooong periods where we don't get to see each other. Last July I cleaned out my cupboards at Mum and Dad's and found boxes and boxes of letters I'd received from Emma over the years, they were equal parts hilarious and embarrassing!  In August this year I'll be a bridesmaid at her wedding to a lovely chap, Adam. And I know that someday in the future she'll pack up her family into a big car and head south to visit me for a farm holiday and I'll do the same and head north to see her for some beach time!

Did I miss something?

I think I might have, just a bit. My birthday passed on Wednesday in a whirlwind and frankly if I didn't have these flowers to look at I wouldn't be able to remember it happened. Bless dear FB! Although I'd rather have spent the day in the same town as him, this isn't a bad substitute.
I should also say a big thanks to the team at work for acknowledging the day with a quick thai lunch and cupcakes among the other chaos that was happening!

When did the holiday end?

Back at work exactly one week and my head is spinning!
What happened to easing in slowly after Christmas holidays?
What happened to a January with precious little work with a hard deadline and lots of time for big ideas, big plans and big hopes?
Maybe it has something to do with an overactive out-of-work life that's kicking up some action at the moment?
Throw in a birthday, having to cancell a planned beach holiday, some brideslave duties, two trips to and from Ardlethan, one trip to Bathurst, new clients, an enormous work project there for the winning, catching up with friends post-holidays, meeting new like-minded people, a public holiday, some future overseas holiday planning and one BIG relationship status update and you've got yourself a freaking hectic January!
I can't actually think straight about anything before February, let alone contemplate organising something.
So forgive me if the blog gets a bit kooky, because I'm a bit kooky at the moment!
Now, time to get back to the grindstone.

Making lawn

This one's for Emily - just to prove to her I really did do a little gardening a few weeks ago, and continue to :)
We're in the process of making lawn, or rather extending the small paltry patch of lawn we have right at the back door to something green that covers most of the more than ample backyard. We've now done all the prep work (and by that I really mean that FB has done a lot of heavy lifting and shifting of dirt and I've done a bit of shoveling and clearing) and just need to seed the lawn and stay home for a few weeks to keep massive amounts of water up to it to ensure it stays alive. Here are some pics of the work in progress so you can see exactly how much we've cleared and keep us one the ball until one day we hopefully have some nice green pics to share.

Nice touch with the clothes on the line don't ya think?

Lotsa dirt / future lawn

One of the piles of rubbish we cleared

Just a teeny bit happy

Just a quick happy thought for the start of the year, thanks to Digital Bowerbird (although her post was from so long ago now I exactly can't find it again, but I did save the picture - whoops and apologies).

My country backyard

For those of you interested to see where and what it is I actually run away to in Ardlethan... this is it:

Our cottage from the front

I like to think it's a great example of those words real estate agents like to use, including "basic", "modest", "cosy", "simple" and "rustic". And it absolutely is all those things but its also extremely functional and comfortable (and more importantly air conditioned) so we're happy.

And from the back, looking towards the only door we ever use (as is the country way). Please also notice our small but green lawn patch, we're working on planting some more!

The view from the front (and incidentally from my office), the road is about 200m away.

And lastly the view from the back gate, of the neighbour's/landlord's paddock, hill and the scrub where many many kangaroos live

So now it's not a mystery anymore, and in 2010 I'm hoping it won't just be me visiting the place. Maybe a few others will make the trip :-)!

Shortbread bender

I went a bit shortbread crazy earlier this week. I got Mum's famously simple, designed especially for a Magimix recipe last Saturday and then proceeded to make no less than 5 batches by Tuesday!

It all started with Sarah and Ralph, for whom I bought some funky biscuit jars (OXO POP containers) for Christmas but they looked ridiculous with nothing in them so the mission to make something to fill them up began, and because my Mixmaster now lives in the country my recipe options were limited. Enter shortbread!

Then once I started it was so ridiculously easy and tasted so delicious that I made some for afternoon tea at Vanessa and Matt's new place and then decided I'd make Christmas gift packs for the team at work. I was so proud of my handiwork (and good shopping to find cute bags and cards) that I just had to take a photo or two.

Voila - Christmas shortbread a la Polly! Bring on the Country Women's Association I say :)