non fattening chocolate cake!

Ha!

I got you didn't I? You thought I'd found some lush chocolate cake recipe that would allow you to eat your cake and keep your figure!

Sorry to disappoint you, but not quite... although I can guarantee this cake won't make you fat.

I've been having some fun with wire lately. Its no secret I love wire, I have a huge board dedicated to it on Pinterest, and I've shared quite a few wire projects in the past.

This cake is made from regular fine galvanised wire from the hardware store, and some brown copper florist wire. Hence the chocolate in the cake. And don't forget the cream on top!

The spoon is the same, silver and brown wire. You need a matching spoon if you're to have any chance of eating this piece of cake!

Its sitting on an old Meakin plate I found with gorgeous scalloped edges. It looks best on a white or cream plate.

I haven't been sharing much lately, but I have been busy doing stuff, making things. I'll have more to share soon. All my projects are in various stages of development from 'just beginning' to 'finished and awaiting their closeups'. Then you'll be drowing in posts till the next dry spell.

That's just the way things work out around here.

z

just sayin' hi

These are not my dogs, this photo just makes me smile. Its just so darn cute!

So, what's been happening? Well, it snowed.

Now, to a large percentage of the world that's no big deal. A nuisance even. But here, in Magra, Tasmania, its not something that happens often so its exciting.

We're down low here, not far above sea level, and it doesn't snow down low in Tassie often, so you can imagine we got all worked up about it. At least I did.

So did the horses...

And the dogs...

I'd never seen wallaby tracks in snow before.

Unfortunately, even though we got snow, it wasn't enough.

I still had to go to work.

So, other than the exciting-making white stuff, what else have I been doing for weeks on end of blog silence?

Wayne has pulled through back surgery and is back to his normal clumsy self.

I've been busy with work projects and personal ones for the Salvaged Art competition coming up in September.

I've been working on a couple of home projects which I will finish one day, at which point I will share them. Its kinda hard to finish things when working full time and grooming in my spare time.

Did I mention I'm working full time at the moment? I started about the same time I pulled the blog disappearing act.

I have no idea how I used to do it in the past. (The doing keeping up, not the disappearing.)

Maybe I managed to fit more into each hour back then. I was younger and faster...

Then again, I didn't have horses and dogs and ducks and chickens and geese to feed twice a day. And wood to bring in for the fire.

Plus I lived alone in a 1 bedroom flat, I was only responsible for my own mess and for my own self. I worked, roller bladed, went to the gym, danced rock'n'roll and had a social life.

Hm.

Something is wrong with this equation...

z

what i've done and how i spoiled myself

Since Wayne has been in hospital and recouperating, I've been the one feeding the horses morning and night.

As such, I've had to go into the feed room morning and night... and every time I opened the door I was greeted by the aroma of mouse pee.

Eech. Yes. Mouse pee. I felt like scrubbing out the inside of my nose every time I went in there.

See, I sorted out and cleaned up the feed room about a year ago. Since then it deteriorated and deteriorated into the mess it was up until this morning. Sorry, there are no before pics.

Part of it was my fault. I used to store all my timber in the feed room along the left hand wall. I also stored some old kitchen chairs in there that I planned to fix. I did remove my timber a while ago but the chairs were being used to toss horse rugs over.

All good in theory. Then came Wayne. The pile of horse rugs got bigger and messier, no longer tossed over the chairs but piled on them, falling off them, pooling on the floor. Bags of horse feed with small mouse holes in them stood along in front of the old freezer we store horse pellets in. The old bench I use for general horse medical stuff was covered in molasses, mice began to nest in the rugs, empty feed bags and the plastic bags carrots or licorice come in were all over the place...

I would go in there every now and then and pick up bags and put them in the rubbish. Every now and then I'd sweep the floor, wipe up the molasses spills... but I finally had enough.

Today I went in there and hit the place with a vengeance. Firstly I sorted the horse rugs into a 'cut off the buckles and throw the rugs away' and a 'keep' pile. Then I bagged up all the rubbish and swept the floor. I put all the feed bags into a large chaff bag to give to a friend who re-uses them.

Then I got a couple of pieces of leftover pine lining (left over from our kitchen remodel) and put them on the walls. I had to use a nail to find the studs to screw the pine into (its an old house, the studs are all over the place!). I used whatever large hooks I had for rugs to hang on.

Would you believe the place no longer stinks?

I'm so pleased with the new, clean feed room. Which will no doubt stay clean till Wayne is well enough to take over feeding the horses...

The large box on the right holds 2 bags of chaff. The old bench in the middle holds medical bits and pieces, the old freezer holds pellets. I put the old pink bin in between the chaff bin and the bench for rubbish. Hopefully it'll get used.

On the left I've piled up feed bins and some buckets and my carrot basket. I made that out of a galvanised metal basket I bought at a tip shop and some old legs off a side table I pulled apart. Its perfect, I lined it with an old summer horse rug so the smaller carrots don't fall through and it keeps them fresh as it allows air to circulate around them.

Meanwhile, here are some other small updates to my workshop in the casita. I re-used some old boxes to make shelves. I love this new little storage corner for things like spray paint, glues, fillers, etc. Nails hold my levels and some old tins screwed into the lining on the wall hold pen, paint tubes and box cutters. Where the wall lining stopped there was a gap I often lost things down. I fixed that by putting in a bit of timber and creating a new shelf.

On the other side is my original shelf which used to hold not just the small paint tins but also the spray paint. A basket for odds and ends, some tins for paint scrapers and more shelves made where the wall lining ends. One old rake head holds brushes and another holds scrapers.

And my Haywood's sign is up on the wall properly!

I've also done some rearranging of work benches and stuff but I'm not ready to show it off yet. I mean, I did organise it, but then I got to working on things I never finished so... its messy again.

Meanwhile our old kettle has been playing up. Everytime we boiled water it was like a flood on the benchtop. I decided it was time for a new kettle.

I also decided I deserved a little spoiling so I got one of these:

Yep. That's right. I bought a Smeg kettle, one of those kettles which, for the price, should not only boil your water but should make the coffee and serve it to you in bed. I got it in the mint green of course, to match the kitchen doors.

I love my new kettle.

z

cheap cubbies makeover

Here I am. Still alive.

And barely crafting.

I've done a few small things lately, and one not so small and pretty stupid. But more about that later.

Here is one of my small projects. I bought 4 of these little babies from Kmart, but a smaller version with 9 drawers.

They're just mdf and cardboard. Cheap.

I thought they'd make perfect storage for all the little crap things I like to keep around. Like buttons, crystals, beads, small found objects.

You know. The kind of stuff that fills small containers which collect in larger boxes or fill drawers and cupboards and when you need something, you know you have one but you can't find it anywhere cause you're sure it was in a small plastic jar with a red lid, but where did I put it, I was sure it was in the box under my desk...

Or is that just me?

ANYWAY, the little cabinets have to be glued together and painted. I picked one of my miss-tint sample paint pots for the cabinet colours, a kind of warm grey. It goes with both the tones of scrapbook paper I also bought for the drawers.

One set of cubbies are already full, the other is still waiting for me to get around to it. They'll live in the office where they'll (theoretically) make looking for things easier.

Here's a closeup of a tin and wire fish made by Wayne. Cute isn't it?



So, back to the stupid big thing I did? Well a couple of weeks ago I decided I was sick and tired of the swamp in the back corner of our yard and knew that if I dug a trench I could redirect the water from the yard.

It seemed easy enough. The ground was really soft due to all the rain...

But afterwards I was sore.

I'm still sore.

Every time I think I'm better I'll do something - like get some wood for the fire, pick up a bag, get a cup of tea, get up - and the pain is back. I'm walking like a bent old woman.

Meanwhile Wayne is in hospital. He's had spinal surgery. It went well but he's out of action for a while and I'm keeping busy. I have all the animals to take care of, work, hospital visits. If I wasn't sore I'd be taking advantage of his absence to remodel the bathroom or paint the living room.

Sigh.

So I amuse myself with small things, like these drawers.

At least they're handy.

z