Old Spice, your number is up

Good-Bye Old Spice
Old Spice

When I moved out of home, I used these old jars to store my spices in. They were free, they matched and it worked.

Hello New Spice
178/365
New Spice, 178/365

Before Christmas I came across an auction on ebay for these pretty spice canisters. The auction was only for the green canisters but the lady added the blue ones as a treat. I quite like the green ones but I adore the blue ones!

The blue ones do contain what is named on the outside. The green ones though? Only the oregano one contains oregano. The garni one contains garam masala, the sage one has turmeric in, the rosemary one has cumin in etc. An additional upside is that they fit better in my spice box as well.

Other topics
I am having a great time discovering the 100 things we didn’t know last year over on the BBC site. I especially like #85, #63, #39 and #48. #48 was drawn on LSED today as well!

I would love a pair of these tights, I’m thinking the vein/artery ones, though I do adore just about all of them. So Quirky! A lovely change from the standard patterned tights.

I’m 24 and you think by now that I would have learnt that if you put hot water in a container, put the lid on and shake. The odds are very much stacked against you if you think the lid would stay on… The most recent demonstration of this phenomenon was on Monday morning, I was washing out my yoghurt container. Let me just say hot youghurty water all over the kitchen at work and all over my black dress…. Yeah great way to start the week Helen!

Limes and Fluffy Clouds do not make for Lime Meringue pie

Because the limes just weren’t feeling the love from the eggs…
a Lime Cup

After many months of eating boiled eggs by wrapping a towel round them, I now have an egg cup. Not just any egg cup, a Figgjo Lotte one. Mum has a Lotte “casserole” dish that I have always adored. As my own collection grows from one piece (a little milk jug) to two pieces Mum has been telling me about all the other pieces she used to have. Sigh if only she still had them… Karl – if you happen to see any Lotte pieces round Iceland/Europe where ever you venture, you will collect for me, won’t you?

177/365
This is my village, 177/365

One thing that I adore about Toowong Village is watching the cloud reflections on the glass. If I happen to be at the right spot at the right time for the right sunset, the colours on the glass are amazing. I was walking back from the post office today and just paused for a moment to watch the clouds.

I-ron

I’ve had a really productive weekend, thanks to the sunshine we have had. All my washing is done, clothes are ironed, the house is cleaned, I’ve sanded and primed my new shelves. I’ve done my food shopping and planned what my meals for the week. Purged a few more things from my room and organised photos.

This is where I iron. Out on the deck, hoping to catch an afternoon breeze or two and enjoying watching the going ons in the park. Much better than looking at a blank window.
Ironing, 176/365

Today, yesterday, the day before etc

I, Helen Thura Palsson, make a commitment, that I in 2010 will post more regularly and bite the bullet and get some of my backlog taken care of. HP 1010 09JAN10.

175/365
Mango! 175/365
Mango! Mango! Mango! Mango for all winter long, well maybe a month or two. Mum and I met up at the Kelvin Grove markets today and the most amazing buy was a tray of Honey Gold Mangos. Honey Golds are literally gold! They are my favourite mangos by a mile, the name describes them perfectly. Golden flesh and a sweet taste. We both got a tray of 15 for $14 each! We got a $1 discount because we bought the two trays.. Normally Honey Golds sell for between $3-4 each at the shop so we got a fantastic buy. I peeled, sliced and packed 10 of the mangos and now have 14 bags in the freezer of honey golden mango goodness!

174/365
My first Shiny Brite, 174/365
My first set of Shiny Brite ornaments

173/365
Oh yes car, 173/365
I went to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy on Thursday night and they were just so much fun. I got frocked up in mostly era appropriate clothes and just danced!

172/365
A dreary city, 172/365
Walking home today along the river, the city just looked so dreary!

171/365
Handle with Care, 171/365
I just love this note that was written on the back of a parcel I received a few days ago.

170/365
Helen nail polish for Helen, 170/365
I put this polish on my toes today and whilst I love the colour, I’m not to sure about the quality. The bristles on the brush are really short which made putting it on a little different to my other nail polishes. At the end of the day, the colour is fantastic and the colour is named Helen!

169/365
The Ocean, 169/365
The end of a 36hr oh so getaway to Double Island Point. I love how the water ripples over the sand.

168/365
the end of the line, 168/365
We came across this dugong carcass on the beach up at Double Island Point.

167/365
A little late, 167/365
My little pink pony Christmas tree.
One ornament a day from the 1st till the 24th. My own tradition.

166/365
Hy-drain-ga-s, 166/365
Hydrangeas from the farm, I just love those colours

165/365
A movie!, 165/365
It took me till day 165 to post a movie! I love how the banner flutters in the breeze. You will have to click on the photo to go to Flickr to watch the movie.

164/365
A pretty for me, 164/365
I went to the Paddington Antique market to see if I could find any Christmas decorations (and I did!). I walked past this necklace a few times and kept coming back to it. Now it is mine. The stone is a blue topaz. I adore it!

163/365
Summer Dinner, 163/365
Nothing says summer like handful of prawns, a summer ale and a home-made dipping sauce (coconut cream, sweet chilli sauce, toasted sesame seeds and a dash of sesame oil.

162/365
Bed re-dressed, 162/365
My purchase at the Boxing Day sales, very lovely, high thread count sheets. I just love how the white linen looks with the quilt.

161/365
Chair, Booze TTV, 161/365
I spent Boxing Day morning cleaning out my childhood room. I only have a few drawers left to go through which I will do in the coming weeks. On the 27th, I had this terrible feeling in my stomach that I had forgotten to take a photo on the 26th. I had forgotten all about playing with this camera and taking this photo! phew!

Christmas Day 09

The Farm is where we head of course!
There was a big morning tea with pineapple dip of course as well as all the other usual suspects. Oh I do love a plate of Jatz and a bowl of pineapple dip!
There was washing up to be done.

And the Christmas Tree. The tree was actually in the living room but I carried out to the turf to take photos…. I love this tree. I found it on Ebay for $9.95, I carefully waited till the last minute to place my bid, hoping no one else wanted it as much as I did. No one else did and it was mine for the starting price. Let me tell you right now, I was prepared to pay a lot more than $9.95! A quick drive to Ipswich and it was in the boot of the car. It is made in Italy, I guess in the late 50’s to early 60’s. It is a little over 6ft tall and is a combination of white, silver and clear tinsel. I’ll have to take a close up photo today when we go to the farm as it actually have leaf shaped tinsel mixed in as well! There are a few of the little white pine cone branch tips missing but oh when the light catches on the tree doesn’t it looks amazing!

The wind of course picked up when we went to take photos, (hence why we are holding the tree) and the sun wouldn’t stay out for long hence why there is sun in Mum’s photo but not in mine.

160/365
Oh Christmas Tree, 160/365 Oh Christmas Tree

It was just a few little knick knacks under the tree, I got a candy thermometer, Matthew got various fiddle toys, the kitchen got an oven mit etc.

It was roast veal and veggies for lunch which Matthew was cooking. Whilst we waited, Grandad put his legs up (of course) and Mum and I went down to the Black Flat to explore and take photos.

Exploring the Black Flat on Christmas Day
Exploring the Black Flat on Christmas Day
Exploring the Black Flat on Christmas Day
Exploring the Black Flat on Christmas Day
Exploring the Black Flat on Christmas Day
Exploring the Black Flat on Christmas Day
Exploring the Black Flat on Christmas Day
Exploring the Black Flat on Christmas Day

Then it was time for lunch (lunch round 3pm of course). Bon-Bons with silly jokes and trinkets inside, roast meat and veg, gravy in the Christmas gravy boat and of course dessert. Plum pudding, trifle, flummery, jelly, custard etc etc!

Then you guessed it, time to wash up again!

That was Christmas at the Farm 09. Who knows what next year will bring.

Christmas Eve 09

Another year, another Christmas. This year Christmas was much, much smaller than last year. Christmas Eve it was just the four of us and Christmas Day it was just us four and Grandad.

I woke up on Christmas Eve to see this. Strangely enough, now that I’m on holidays I’m typically up at 5, you just can’t ignore those birds! When I’m at work though it’s the alarm that wakes me some time between 6 and 6:30. I was pulling back the curtains, and saw this most delightful reflection on the window next door.

159/365.
Morning Reflections, 159/365

That was the start to a bigggish day. I had presents to wrap, bags to pack etc etc. It was only six days ago but I know I did something of semi-importance before heading to Mum’s (I think it is kind of weird how even though my brother and father live there as well in conversation I will say going to Mum’s, carrying on though).

Christmas Eve, means Mahalia Jackson, a fancy afternoon tea, presents, four pots on the stove and waiting for it to get dark enough to have dinner. One of the downsides to having an European Christmas is that well we don’t have short hours of daylight in summer do we???? Dinner is of course, smoked lamb, mashed potato, peas, glazed carrots, cauliflower and broccoli au gratin with rice pudding for dessert. At some stage during dinner I asked Pabbi if he had ever got the almond. As it had come to me that I didn’t think I had seen his name in the book. Pabbi’s response was not since coming to Australia. I spoke to soon. As is always the case, Pabbi stirred the almond into the pudding and dished out pudding, making his usual comments of you sure don’t want more….. Well this year Pabbi got the almond! (Mum/Pabbi, has this been written in the book?)

We had a new addition to the table this year. For many years I have adored the Swedish Christmas Candelabra/Candolier that we’ve had but I don’t ever recall seeing it plugged in or lit up. This year, I pulled it apart, stripped out all the wiring and replaced the fake candles with real candles.

So pretty! Adds a fair bit more light to the table as well when paired with the four candles that we usually dine by at Christmas.
Re-made
Re-made

Once the washing up was done it was of course time for the tree. I got a 3L mixing bowl form my Kitchenaid, some biscuit tins (a pretty old Sunshine powdered milk tin and a collectible Milo tin from 2003 when they had the 70th birthday celebrations) and a bag to match my quilt.

Mum had asked me during the week if I had any brittle left from the packages. I said of course I do. When I arrived on Christmas Eve, Mum asked if I had any left….. I said no. One of Mum’s presents was a container of brittle!

That is Christmas Eve….