Daffodil´s One Month of Little Changes...

The end came yesterday. One month of walking one hour a day (sometimes counted as the miles that I walk at work) one month without alcohol (apart from 2 glasses of savvie blanc) and no bread. For one whole month, actually 35 days.

So how did I do?

My jeans that were too tight have now been relegated to the local charity shop. My jeans that I could not even do up are my new jeans, and they are also almost too big. My work pants have gone the way of the dodo as they keep slipping down over my hips. My long black leather riding boots fit again...YAY!

Yesterday Cash and I attended Standardbred Riding Group which came armed with it´s own set of firsts for both of us. Riding in public, riding in hoof boots and riding in an indoor arena for a whole hour in the saddle that my horse loves and I hate. He was a legend. He was quite taken with the large mirrors positioned throughout the indoor arena. At one stage he was trying to force his nose behind the mirror to meet the horse in the mirror. Dag. He moved off of the leg beautifully, he executed perfect square halts. For a horse that has not been ridden in almost 5 months he was an absolute star.

What have I learnt from my one month of little deprivations?

I don´t NEED to drink alcohol, I barely missed it and my bank balance was so much healthier, not to mention my liver!

Bread makes me bloat.

Walking is great for the back and legs.

My ankle held up quite nicely with minimal pain experienced.

Riding horses really is enjoyable.

So for my next month? I quite like the idea of short term changes to reach goals. This month I will

1) Have a riding lesson once a week.
2) Ride the fat, hairy yak at least 3 times per week...weather be damned.
3) Walk one hour 3-4 times per week.
4) Go another month without bread.
5) Only one glass of wine no more than three times per week and not a vase sized one!

I did not have a photographer present for my public riding lesson on Saturday...they showed up late. I am more than a little peeved as I would have loved a photo of Cash playing with the mirrors.

Another Touch of Frost

Actually these photos prove that I really need to get out in the garden and do some serious weeding.

..this one looks like a little half frozen kiwi

¨I am Paisley¨

Our little boxer girl is Paisley. She is 2 years old and was purchased brand spanking new off of the shelf from a breeder here in Victoria.

For the regular reader there was no doubt a sharp intake of breath regarding Daffodil buying new and unused, but it does happen occasionally!

HH and I love boxer dogs. Paisley was number 4 and Rubin Carter number 5. However, Rubin has had his moment in the blogging sun, now it is Paisley´s turn.

She is a very sweet dog. Very sure of herself and fiercely independent. She is one dog who will see someone walking past and will quite happily abandon us and join them in their jaunt around the block. Everyone around us knows Paisley and very kindly returns her after they have finished their walk. Paisley, unlike Rubin who has lived life on the streets, thinks that the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side.

If she gets bored she creates her own fun. That usually means seeking out Drake Ramoray, our Duck, and wrestling with him for an hour or so. Or stealing off to find bits of Don and Hamelot fur that have not been picked up by the birds and chowing down that. She is a charming little creature.

She is gentle with children. She stayed with friends of our while we went away on holiday. Her morning ritual involved waking up at five in the morning and playing tug of war with their 2 year old daughter in the hallway using the cord from daddy´s dressing gown.

As a little puppy, once she was awake, she was awake for the day. HH could be often heard in the darkness of early morning bemoaning ¨WARNING!!!! The jack is out of the box...I repeat, the jack is out of the box¨ while unceremoniously having his ears chewed off by a 10 week old puppy. There were no weekend sleep ins there for a while. She is much better these days.

She thinks that the entire world revolves around her and that everyone is there to love her.


She may just be right.

A Guest Bedroom in a Straw Bale House.

If you ever come to stay with us you will stay in our guest bedroom in our straw bale house. The wall behind the bed is ready for it´s last coat of render. The cross hatching pattern in the earthen render ensures that the final coat of render will adhere to the wall and not delaminate or simply peel off.

As you can imagine, rendering the guest bedroom is low on our list of priorities, so you will just have to live with it until we can bothered to get around to rendering it.

The bed suite was an eBay purchase, like that was a surprise. We paid all of $190 for it with two bed side tables which have been put to use in our bedroom. The tables that feature in this room were picked up at the Bed, Bath and Table factory outlet in Brunswick East...10 bucks a piece....BARGAIN!

The light fitting was also an eBay puchase. Custom made for a client who then purchased a property with very low ceilings....her gain/loss = my gain. $23.00 a piece and I ended up with three of those light fittings. OUTRAGEOUS!!!

So to go with my very cheaply priced straw bale build, I also seek to fit it out and furnish it on the cheap. It just goes with my eBay kitchen and my eBay bathroom

She Has Gone and Killed the Cardamom!!!!

I cannot believe what I have done. Honestly if I had children and treated them with the same contempt and mindlessness that I have inflicted upon my cardamom plant, Child Services would have stepped in and seized my babies a long time ago.


I left my beautiful cardamom out on a freezing cold night in Central Victoria. The mercury dipped down to at least minus 4 degrees and froze the living daylights out of it. I am so ashamed. I quickly scooted her inside to bask in the warmth of the wintery sun in our lounge room, but I fear the damage may be done.

...and if you look closely you can see the beginnings of one little potato. I have no idea how that got in there! Again, I am not the most observant of parents, not only do I let them freeze to death but I do not keep track of who their little playmates are!

No wonder I don´t have children. I cannot be trusted.

For Dom - Mister Cee´s Lineage

...nothing fancy pants


I know, no photos!!!!

I will get out this afternoon and grab a couple of the fattus yakkus for you...and maybe even one with a saddle on his back...and who knows, maybe a rider as well.

I Am Now An Official Member of a Standardbred Riding Group...

Gosh darn it!

Yes, I went out today and lodged paperwork so now Cash and I are official members of the local Standardbred Riding Group.

I would go out and take a photo of their latest horse addition, but he is absolutely putrid with mud and looks less like a potential dressage horse as he does a pure mud pony.

I suppose I should highlight Cash´s racing details.....


Racing Name: Mister Cee. (terrible name!)

Never started, never trialled and never raced.

That was pretty easy!

Now he is ¨Walk the Line¨ stable name Cash, of course! Fifteen years young, Sixteen hands high and as fat as a yak. Hardly auspicious stuff is my boy.

In two weeks time he and I will strut our stuff in our first public ridden appearance and I already need a change of underwear, I am so nervous.