What's Happening?

Today is a "home day", as opposed to heading out the door to work, or taking off to town to work my way through a list of errands, items & jobs.  Having said that however, the day is still busy and filled......... already its 2.30 in the afternoon when I'd be so thankful if it were say 10am :)  Making the house smell nice ............... rose petals from the garden are always topped up into this handmade pottery bowl I made way back when the children were small & we lived in Kinglake.  Nice to see that my design doesn't seem to have dated............. anyhow, a few drops of essential oil help to keep those rose petals (which turn into a type of poupourri) smelling lovely & waft throughout the house.  Moving on it was time to get to the washing.......... hmmm, ever noticed how that's one thing that tends to grow no matter what you do?  The other day I used a slightly different receipe for my liquid laundry soap - you may have seen the one at Down to Earth , well I made up a half batch pouring it into my plastic milk containers........... if must be alot thicker than what I've done before, because it was pretty solid!  So after sticking it in the microwave to help get it out of the containers & back into a large pot on top of the stove, I added another 2 litres of water to the mix. 

 It has still gelled (as it should), but at least it now comes out of the bottles a little better.  I think I still prefer the original receipe, but really there is not that much difference & I find the homemade type works just as well as the expensive supermarket varieties for which I had been paying close to $6.00 a box.  Making your own laundry liquid is sooooooo much cheaper & really is very simple.  The main trick is just make sure the soap is fully dissolved in the water before you add the other ingredients. I'll pop both the recipe I usually use + the one  I've just added more water to onto a recipe page so its easy for everyone to find.

On another note, we received some good news.......... it seems the insurance agency have agreed that they will be paying for the damage caused to the ceiling (just outside the back door which fell down during the heavy rainfalls before christmas) and also to redo the 3 verandah areas that have

part of the back verandah area

 continued to wash apart with each further heavy lot of rain we have. Our 3 entrances (front, back & side) are now all quite hazzardous due to pavers that are "disappearing" when the sand beneath them comes away. 

Part of the front verandah area

We now await for extra quotes that have been requested & then for the insurance agency to determine who is going to take on the work.............. and then the wait to have it all done! 

And the side - this forms part of the stairs going up..... "watch your step"!