What have you been doing today?

[judydawn]

Spent hours checking out vanity units online before going off to order the one I wanted. Stocks were low in all stores so I needed to get in early to secure mine. The bathroom panels are stuck in Melbourne in a container and should be delivered to my supplier mid-April.  As long as everything is in the pipeline I’m quite happy to wait.  Sourcing everything takes the longest time so now I can have a break from all that.

[cookie1]

The Curried Fried rice sounds nice Chookie. It all sounds very exciting Judy.
Denise I do hope your house isn’t held up at all.

[K Atie]

Curried rice sounds good too . Judy well done hope it all turns up for you .
Day one of cricket finals batting , DS got to bat and they are doing quite well . It was freezing . Never seems to be hot for our cricket . No many spectators at all just family . Did a bit of shopping for some meat , going to Aldi tomorrow to get crovac meat hopefully they have some . Was going to get some potted herbs and veg from nursery but it was not open . Probably none there anyway .
Cooked pears all arvo , thinking I may have to do Chookie idea of apples cooked in the microwave but with pears would that work Chookie . I have one hundred thousand fallen pears it feels like . Chooks were happy when I gave them the pear scraps .

[achookwoman]

KAtie, I did some bottled pears last week.  It saves the freezer space. They bottle well.
I was going to do a bottling demo for the Creswick Harvest Festival.  Sent a message today to say we are staying at home.  They replied that they are cancelling the event.  Sad. Won’t be going to the Market or Swap for a couple of months.

[JulieO]

Certainly something to look forward to Judy, hope all goes well. 

[achookwoman]

Judy, you will have a completely new house with all the changes you have made. Lovely.
Made lemon butter and 36 sausage rolls for GC.
Making Pea and Ham soup in SC.
I’m making an effort to use up lots of bits left in packets and jars from the fridge.
DD said the Hot X Buns , best ever.  Don’t think so.  Next lot Vegan.

[cookie1]

I made Hot X buns the other day too. I have some pistachio and cranberry shortbread in the oven too. I found some in the freezer from Christmas. I also made an overnight loaf using just ½ teaspoon of yeast. It is looking ok so far.

DH and DD took the Mustang to a ;morning car display today. DD will miss these when she goes back to work.

[K Atie]

DS un14 cricket team won the finals , this is great and hopefully we can live off this happiness for the next while .
Forgot my script to fill so hopefully will be able to get in the next few days ! Thought about getting it sent then decided the post offices may be extremely busy .
Three bad things for us kids may be home this week and we are in Melbourne with DH opp have not worked out a way to get all thier gear and them home ! DH opp is it going to happen and if so the after care really worries me if it can happen. Our internet is so weak and goes off for few days , kids home they have to do school online , the video confrence stream is it going to work . This proves follow on probs , like explaining maths to kids . BUT all in the same boat so I know in the long run it will be ok .
DM is ok and lucky DB decided not to go os tomorrow! DH DB is in NZ !!
We are in a changing world the cogs have turned ,stay safe and germ free big love to everyone.

[Cuilidh]

Just arrived back in Australia yesterday afternoon, 7 hours before the new self isolation laws came into effect!  I have mixed feelings about working, but I feel that we are relatively safe as we were with family all the time in NZ, so, apart from the plane journey each way, we were not mixing to any great extent. 

[cookie1]

I'm glad you got back before the isolation thing came in Marina.

KAtie I feel for you. Take it one step at a time, deal with one thing at a time. Take care and look after yourself.

[achookwoman]

Marina, was thinking of you and glad you made it back ok.
KAtie, why does everything happen at the same time?  I know your DD is doing year 12.   I’m sure they will make allowances. Ballarat Grammar is shutting down on Thursday.  Again they are setting up programs for computer study at home. I saw in the news that in England several schools are cancelling final classes and the kids have to repeat the year.  That shouldn’t happen here as we have a different year start. As we are in uncharted territory I don’t know what will happen with consideration for Uni but in the past they have been generous in consideration. They don’t change the students marks, just move them up the list. Your D.C. sound like responsible young people and I am sure they will cope while DH has his op.  Look after yourself. 
We are ok.   We have lots of family and friends keeping an eye on us.  We can walk around our 5 acres and talk to the Chooks.  Will have to modify my cooking as I don’t want to give cakes to anyone as they might think they have germs.

[K Atie]

Oh thank you for the reassurance. That will be hard to repeat thier year schooling . All schools seem to close this week , we are looking at it on Friday but who knows what might happen . Chookie you have such a wonderful attitude and yes we have our farm to move around too . So glad we have the chooks too. Going to plant the silverbeet, parsley and rosemary I picked up on weekend and they gave me four sad looking Brussel sprouts . I was just smiled at the lady in nursery and thanked her , guess they will be a lifesavour . So now I am going to save seeds of pumpkin and anything else I think of . Time to think like my grandparents did in thier day just a little bit more .
Spoke to a friend who is an Anaesthetist and she said best to get DH opp done .

[Cuilidh]

Went to the supermarket yesterday to get a few odds and ends, nothing much ... which was as well as there was nothing much to get!  As I passed another shopper we just looked at each other, shrugged and laughed!

Went to Victoria market this morning, just for fruit and dry goods and had a chat to one of the stall holders.  She said they were hoping that the market would be allowed to keep operating as they were an "essential service".  She wasn't so sure about how long their stock would last but they definitely want to keep open and trading.  It is possible they will be able to keep open but the numbers entering and leaving would be monitored, i.e. one person out, one person in, etc.

At our shop we are going to get together with our staff today and discuss our options.  We will do everything we can to keep open and to keep paying our staff as long as possible, they all have mortgages and kids, so we will try our best to get us all through this crisis.  The simple truth is, though, that no one knows the outcome or time frame we are facing ... some suggestions have been nothing will get better for many months to come.  It is all very distressing.

[achookwoman]

Marina, I love how you are trying to do the right thing for your staff.  Hang on for as long as you can.  I have just received an eMail from a Melbourne Restaurant that we visit.  It explained the precautions they are taking. 
KAtie, there is not much we can do except make the best of a bad situation. Good idea to plant what you can. 
What I have noticed , on a personal level is that is that everything has slowed down here.  That is not a bad thing.
I’m looking at what we have and using up all the odd bits. Wasting nothing.  I’m also watching like a hawk the veggies that are growing and the cabbage moths that are circulating around them.

[cookie1]

Who would have ever believed a few months ago that a virus could upset the world and our daily lives as much as this has.