My Soaps are Selling

Well it seems my handmade soaps are prooving popular!  I'm getting orders left right & center which is fabulous & I want to thank those of you who have given me the initial support to get started on this.  I've started up a new blog, Hazelmere Essence ,  specifically dedicated to my soap business and I do hope you will stop by it some time and let me know how you find it.  It is still very much in its early days with its first post being published today, so you will no doubt see various changes happening to it over time.
With more orders coming in, guess you will find me stirring up new batches.

Internet Finally Up & Working Again!!

Wow, I can hardly believe it.............. after almost 1month, Finally, Finally I have internet connection again!!!   I know we live in the country, but seriously,  3 different USB devises and approx 12 hrs of talking with Big Pond/Telstra technicians spread over the past month, it was beginning to get to the ridiculous stage!!!   So................. my apologies to all who have been wondering just what has been going on.  For those wondering about our son, & his partner & our grandkids up in Townsville with the Cyclone.......... they were all fine & the only damage to our house up there was a sign blown away from the pool gate & some serious tree pruning.  No other damage!!!   At least not up there..................... in the meantime, here in Vic, we've had alot of rain & flooding & while the floods stayed away, the heavy rains have left their mark with lots of damage done to the verandahs here with pavers disappearing together with the sand & whatever else was holding it all together.................... one needs to walk very carefully when crossing into & out of the house.  We are waiting on builders & insurance assessors to get things moving ahead before it all washes away!  So much has been happening in the time we have been "off line", its hard to even know where to begin.  Last week Pete lost his job, thanks be to God, that this week he has started work elsewhere, a little further away from home, but work is work.  Lots of preserving has been happening & thankfully we managed to get a lovely crop of tomatoes & onions to make up relish before the vegie garden sat in 8 inches of water.  Can you guess  that we have decided we might need to raise it up a tad for next year.... hmmmm, well now, whats another job added to the list???  Well I feel I should finish here & get checking emails & such while I can............... who knows if the internet will still be working come tomorrow???  
Love & Hugs to you all
Sharm

A New Page Starts

Like many of you, I too made some goals for this year, some of which would come under the heading of further organizing my home, time, garden & craftwork. Particularly since we had the big interstate move just 9months ago & things are still finding "homes" to live, so.......... With the first week of January almost over I'm pleased to say that I've made a good start.  I  also decided in an effort to keep on top of those organizational goals I would start a new page on my blog devoted entirely to this subject.  Then I got thinking that just maybe there would be some other gals out there who just might like to "take this trip" right along with me, so I've added a little button to my side bar.............. so if this sparks your interest just click on the button & have a read, then if you want to continue on with me, leave me a comment with your name & title of your blog, then pop the button onto your blog with a link back to me.  And since its always nice to recieve a little bit of encouragement, every 6 wks I will randomly choose a participant who has my button on their blog to receive a little gift.  Happy Organizing! 

Getting into the Garden

Round here the New Year has begun with getting stuck into the garden.  I've been busy weeding, mulching, digging, transplanting the good grass & digging out those horrible prickes (3 prong jacks) that covered our entire yard just 8months ago.

The grass has been cleared & miniature white agapanthas planted under these standard roses

Check out these 2 beauties that Pete gave me for Christmas - they are now living out in the back garden



So I finally marked out where the pond would go & started the digging process



And thankfully Pete came to the rescue to help with the rest of the digging



This is in the front garden (around the rose garden where Muffin & Gramps have their "resting" spots).  The concreting is yet to be done - in between harvesting various vegies from the vegie garden & starting on the preserving.  I popped in some strawberry plants into the vegie garden when we were just starting to set up the new yard a few months back - and now I would like to move them into a bed of their own.  So the excavations from the pond came in useful ..............


The proposed strawberry patch

If you look behind you can see part of the rose & lavender front garden which is now starting to flourish.  I've also managed to get it mulched over the past few days.  Here is one of the roses in close up - Julias Rose

With all the time being spent out in the garden, I really need to get to work on a few things around the house - washing some of these windows & reorganizing the cupboards :) 

Happy New Year Everyone

Happy New Year to all my wonderful friends who come to visit with me here on my blog.  We still have 8hrs to go till New Year here, but thought I would get in early.    We are having a very hot over 40 degree celcius here, so we are spending the afternoon inside in the air conditioning which we are very blessed to have.  This morning I began digging out the pond which will be going in where the "rose" garden is.  Hope everyone has had a lovely time during the christmas / new year period................. I'm looking forward to sharing lots with you as we travel into 2011.  May God bless you all abundantly.
Hugs, Sharm

Loving it

Look at this beautiful wall hanging I received in the mail from one of my snail mail pen pals!  Thankyou so very much Lyn, I love it!  Thanks also for the hippeastrum seeds - I'll be sreading them around on the weekend when I get into the garden.  It's needing a bit of attention post all the rain we've been having.............. the weeds just love it! 

I've almost finished the 3 little travel rugs for the grandies - I'm afraid I've cheated somewhat & used fabric panels since I left it all a bit late.  Will take some photos before I wrap them up on Friday to post off to Townsville.  Hope everyone else is getting there with their little bits & pieces for christmas.

Locusts or grasshoppers..... but who can find the grass?

Hmmmmm, I always did wonder what the biblical plague of locusts must have looked like........ well we've had a sample here since Saturday when they arrived.  They are gradually reducing in number as they continue to move along & thankfully we have had a deluge of rain to help move them along before they eat everything.