And now he’s not being deployed…

There’s an old saying in the military that goes “Greatcoats on, greatcoats off” meaning that decisions change constantly.  And that’s what’s happened here.  With only four days to go, Eddie’s deployment has been cancelled.

However… watch this space!  There may be another deployment coming sometime in the future.  The good side is that we have a lot of things done now that needed to be done, and if/when he goes sometime later then we don’t have to worry about them!

Easiest Short Rows ever!

I just found the BEST tutorial for knitting short rows.  http://www.cocoknits.com/info/tutorials/shortrows.html It’s the simplest, easiest way ever, and looks great!

The end of a dream

It’s strange, I’ve been mentally writing this post for a few weeks now and I always thought that I’d be in tears and upset while writing it. Now that I’m actually doing it, I feel almost numb. The last few weeks have been a grieving process, and for now it’s over.

We won’t be having any more children. For three years we’ve been trying. I’ve charted, taken my temperature, checked cervical position and fluid, did ‘it’ every cycle at the correct time and in the best position, taken tablets by the dozen, exercised, tried to relax, done acupuncure and Chinese herbs for over three months, abstained from alcohol and soft cheese, given up coffee temporarily, had surgery to make sure nothing was wrong, been poked, prodded, discussed, advised and for what? Nothing. In three years we have not conceived once.

I’ve been thinking for a few months that it was time to stop. I can’t keep on living my life in four week slots of time. I had planned to continue the acupuncture and herbs for another two cycles, however with Eddie deploying there’s no point. So this is it.

There isn’t going to be a baby. I’m never going to be pregnant again.

Recently, I didn’t go to church because I couldn’t face seeing pregnant women there. At work recently I left a morning tea, where a co-worker had brought in her newborn baby, and cried in the ladies because I knew that it was never going to be me.

There isn’t going to be a baby, I’ll never be pregnant again.

He’s deploying

Eddie is deploying for 3 1/2 months, leaving in 12 days, the 2nd Sept. Not a lot of notice, so he’s going to be VERY busy the next two weeks.

The good side of it: by the time he gets back - in time for Christmas - we’ll be out of debt except for the mortgage and the margin lending account. Yay!

The money doesn’t make up for not having him here, but at least it’s something!

We’re staying here!

Yay!!  We have finally heard that Eddie is being reposted within Canberra, so we will be staying here next year!  Hooray! I’m so relieved that we won’t have to pack up and move again next january.

Now I can go and plant the trees out into the half wine barrels instead of leaving them in pots in case we had to move them!

Happy Anniversary to us!

13 Aug 2005 to 13 Aug 2008 - three wonderful years.  They’ve gone so quickly, a lot has happened in that time, some good, some bad, and some downright awful.  He’s my best friend, my rock, my partner for life.  I can’t imagine life without him now!

Friendship cake recipe

I first had Friendship Cake when I was a teenager. I loved it! My best friend gave me a cup of the starter culture, and within a few weeks everyone in the town we lived in had made it and you couldn’t give the starter away for love nor money!

Several years later, I realised that the cake was actually a form of Sourdough, and I’d been making sourdough bread for years. I had been searching the internet for a friendship cake recipe similar to the one I had as a teenager, and finally found one. I’ve changed this one drastically from the original recipe I found, however this tastes just like I remember the one in my teenage years did.

Click here for the recipe

Yes…

This says it all.

Scroll down to “What No One Told You About Trying To Conceive”

7 Habits of Highly Effective People

I’ve been rereading this book by Stephen Covey, the first time I read it I think I was only around twelve years old!  I really didn’t ‘get it’ then, but it shows how long I’ve been into reading Personal Development books!

Anyway, I started reading it again recently, and have set myself a “Challenge” to focus on and develop one habit a month for the next seven months.  I’ve been blogging about it on one of my business sites, Excellence Coaching, and will be updating over the months on that site.

The first habit that I’ve been focussing on for July is Being Proactive, looking at what is in my Circle of Influence and what is in my Circle of Concern.

I’ve been finding it challenging, because I can no longer whinge about something (ok, it hasn’t stopped me totally) I need to work out what I can change, what is in my circle of influence, and let the rest go.  Whining and complaining is much easier!

Our garden

I’ve been meaning to post pics of my garden for ages. So finally, here are some as of last weekend!

This is the pots all along under the kitchen window. There’s flowers, parsley, mint, cat grass, a lemon tree, a bay tree (that’s the tiny plant in the black pot!), a pot of radishes and coriander, fruit-salad citrus tree (grafted mandarin, navel orange, valencia orange and pomelo), three avocado seeds that haven’t sprouted yet, dead basil, russian comfrey and a chilli plant.

Then there’s the hanging baskets, with snow peas, sugar snap peas and a Broad Ripple Yellow Currant tomato plant. The tomato plant is still flowering and fruiting, absolutely amazing considering it’s the middle of winter and we’re having frosts! The fruit isn’t ripening though, it’s just sitting there green… Plus the child, who seems to grow anywhere!

These are our gardens along the back fence. The frames were made by Eddie, from scavenged pallets. We filled them about one-third full of ‘vegie mix’ that our neighbours gave us. Vegie Mix is purchased soil, well, it’s sold as soil, but I think that’s exagerating! It’s mainly made from cow manure and fill, plus a bit of fertiliser, and a heap of sand to add drainage. If it dries out it becomes rock hard, and plants actually don’t grow that well in it. However, when you mix it with a heap of compost, manure, vermicast and the odd old bag of potting mix, it does very well!

I’ve been harvesting out of these gardens for about two months now. This is garden one; there’s alyssum flowers, parsley, garlic, parsnips, carrots, spring onions up the back, spinach and some coriander that hasn’t sprouted yet and a cabbage that’s being eaten by bugs. However they seem to be sticking just to that one and leaving everything else alone, so I’m happy to leave it there!

Garden two: two walking stick cabbages, alyssum, silverbeet, garlic, spinach, ordinary cabbages. The one in the front was harvested just after this photo and used for the Cortido in yesterday’s post.

Garden three: Broccoli, Cauliflower, silverbeet, beetroot, garlic, Nero de Toscana Kale.

And I can’t find the photo’s of the pumpkin patch, which is now a pile of compost, but I did find a pic of the pumpkins we harvested. The pumpkins were growing when we moved in here, we think from kitchen scraps thrown on the garden. Also in the patch was two tomato plants, one of which we were able to harvest half a dozen small tomatoes (which Dian took to school in her lunches) however the other plant didn’t ripen before winter hit.

I’m intending to put in at least another three gardens for next spring, just need more pallets and a heap more time!