Hang up your mug

 Matt and I have been obsessively watching Australia's season 3 of house rules and it is so exciting. Usually we enjoy watching The Block, but have started to become a little bit disappointed with the rooms that are produced. They are fantastic, showroom, million dollar rooms, made to be judged by designers and purchased by people with millions. House Rules is much more personal, and the ideas and designs are much more realistic and inspirational for the average person on an average wage.
I've been thinking a lot lately about what makes a home, and the small details of each rental house that Matt and I have lived in over the years that appeal to us. Together we have lived in 6 different flats/houses, from apartment style, to awful student flats, to basic two bedroom homes. Each of them have had features we can look back on and consider - features we definitely want to avoid (bedroom with no windows, a gazillion stairs, no off street parking) or most definitely have (oh, how I miss the dishwasher and bathtub in our old house!). but as well as the obvious, there are smaller details that I feel like I want to remember, and be able to incorporate into our next home - which will hopefully be all ours to change how we wish.

 For the first year we lived in this particular house, I never really took much notice of these hooks in the overhead cupboards. When I bought this set of vintage teacups from the hospice op shop (there's also another one in storage) it was proving tricky to find a place for them, so they were put on the hooks. Best. things. ever. What a great way to show off a collection, and the teacups and mugs don't take up any space in the cupboard. Definitely a small homely feature that I would incorporate in the future.

Spacing: The hooks are 11cm apart and 33cm from the bottom shelf, and they comfortably fit a collection of average tea/coffee mugs, as well as these smaller ones.

Beef and Lentil casserole

 Autumn is settling in and so is the cold weather. Lately I've been making a lot of slow cooked meals, which are easy to put together a little time in advance. It only takes about 10 minutes of prep and you're not caught trying to whip something up last minute when you're hungry and grumpy and tired. Slow cookers seem to be popular at the moment, and seem for a lot of people to be a really good investment. Personally I don't have a slow cooker - but find that the oven works fine for us. There is something really simplistic about throwing a bunch of ingredients in a crock pot and opening the oven 2-3 hours later to find an amazing cooked meal. It just gives you a very warm and cozy feeling. The aroma of something delicious cooking is always very welcoming too.

Here's an easy recipe for a beef and lentil stew which serves about 3-4 people. Beef is the cheapest option, but could easily be substituted for cubed lamb or even lamb shanks. Some people seemed to be deterred by lentils - don't let them put you off. They have a very mild flavour and add a nice texture to the dish.

 In a casserole dish, place 1 cup of orange lentils, 2 chopped carrots, 2 stalks chopped celery, and 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic.

 Dot over about 400g cubed stewing beef or lamb. Add two cans of chopped tomatoes, and 1 chopped onion. Sprinkle over some thyme and parsley, and press in a bay leaf for flavour if you have one (just remove it at the end.)

This is essentially a layered dish, so it doesn't have to be mixed together unless you want to.
Cover casserole dish with a lid, or tin foil tightly wrapped over the top to create a nice seal.
Place in the oven at 150.Celcius for 2.5 to 3 hours depending on how tender the meat is.

This could also be made without meat as a vegetarian dish, cooked for only 2 hours. Either way, it is amazing served with buttered bread, and like all stews, tends to taste even better the next day.

Waxeyes

 Unfortunately we were so busy over the last month, we missed the opportunity to harvest the apples and pears on the trees where we live.. the waxeyes and other birds really enjoyed them though! Our cats love these trees and often sit underneath, gazing wishfully up at the birds coming and going. Luckily they are too slow to catch any and we've only come across one unfortunate blackbird in the time we've been here.

 I love sitting outside at this time of year when the weather's mild, watching the leaves fall from the trees. There are so many golden trees at the moment, we are still having days of sunshine and relatively warm weather, and I really just want it to last at least a few more weeks.

A colourful world

 I'm so excited about colour today and introducing it more into daily life. Lately we have been in full swing of moving the house around, rearranging furniture and spring cleaning. I don't know how we accumulated so many things so quickly! I'm in the mid stages of putting together my creative room for my millions of projects, and we also have a sun room for projects and reading. Hopefully it will be finished soon and I will be able to share these spaces with you once they are complete.

 In the meantime, here are some photographs I took recently. I wish I could expand them to full screen for you - the details are so fascinating. Small spiderwebs, a dusting of pollen.. the details are the best part.

Feels

 I have to admit, life has been a little blurry lately. It feels difficult to get anything done. I have just completed a week of night shifts and my body is in serious protest. As well as that, the weather has been changing constantly lately. My mood has always been relative to the weather - as ridiculous as that sounds - and it's honestly been a little exhausting.

 I've spent the last few hours going through old photo albums and remembering so many different things. These photographs were only taken a month ago, during a lovely weekend with our friends. Even though I associate them with a happy feeling, in those moments that I took them I was by myself and felt vividly self conscious and lonely. - wishing I was up there with those people, floating down the mountain under a parachute.

Backyard makeover (part 2)

 Three truckloads of garden waste later, the garden is finally visible. I've almost decimated the ivy, and discovered paths that I didn't know existed. You wouldn't believe the rubbish we found - a kettle, plastic bags, beer bottles, a nappy! an inhaler, and about 6 items of clothing. The biggest thing we unearthed though, is this big concrete structure. It even had a large shallow metal sink - as you can see in the picture above. What is it? And what do we turn it into? A hen house, a glass house, or a vegetable garden?

Backyard makeover (Part 1)

Let me introduce you to our backyard. We are blessed to have a huge backyard with a fantastic view of the valley. There is so much space and this garden just soaks up the sunshine. For our cats it's like a giant playground, and for my imagination, it's like pinterest with the amount of creative ideas this space seems to generate. Because as you can see, it's not perfect.

This garden is in some serious need of TLC. When we moved into our new rental home, we knew that we want to be here for at least two years while we save up to buy our own house. Usually we wouldn't change anything in a rental, because it's just not worth the investment and usually it's not easy to change anything without permission. It can be a drag to keep up a garden you hate to the style that your landlord or property manager likes.. however, our landlords and property managers are happy for us to update the garden; and we decided it might as well be a place where we can be truly happy. For me, a good outdoor space is everything, and the best part of a home.

As you can see, the tenants before us had left the garden in a shambles. The property was overgrown beyond belief and the owners hired a team for several days to spruce up the interior and exterior of the house. This is the last part of the garden they didn't manage to get to.. underneath all of this overgrowth is the remains of a glasshouse/shed and believe it or not, some landscaping. Ivy has grown rampant in this area and is all through the hedges, grass, and has threaded its little suckers everywhere.

This is the first part of a series which follows our progress of updating this area, re-landscaping, creating and making a wonderful garden! I hope you enjoy it!