Fiestaware ♥

5 Piece Place setting in Scarlet

When I saw this post on The Pioneer Woman I knew that I had to get my hands on some Fiestaware.

Pitcher in Shamrock

Salt and Pepper Shakers in Scarlet

After researching on the net I discovered that Fiestaware is not available in Australia - bummer! I decided to bite the bullet and order it direct from the factory and pay the ridiculously expensive postage from the USA. I reasoned that with the Australian dollar better than the US dollar at the moment then it wouldn't be so bad.

Sugar Bowl and Creamer Set in Sunflower

The boxes arrived last week and I couldn't wait to unpack them and display them in my kitchen. I bought a place setting in almost every colour - scarlet, paprika, tangerine, sunflower, lemongrass, shamrock, turquoise, peacock, cobalt and plum.

All farmer Phil said was I'm glad you like them!! And I do!!!!

Ange is 21!!

We've just arrived home after a night away in Deniliquin to help Daniel's girlfriend Ange celebrate her 21st birthday. The party was at her parents house under the brand new pergola just finished the day before especially for Ange. I racked my brain trying to think of something special for Ange as a present that she would remember. Ange is a big tea drinker, so I finally settled on a lovely tea set from T2. I told her she had to use it everyday to enjoy her tea!

Daniel and Ange

Ange cutting her cake.

The tea set we bought her from T2.

Google is a Wonderful Thing!

Have you ever "googled" your name to see what results would be revealed?

Well a few years ago I googled my maiden surname which is Newbound. I discovered that during the Depression years of the 1930's the Imperial Glass Co. in the USA manufactured a beautiful double candle holder in a pattern they called "Newbound".

After some more research I found a really pretty pink pair in the USA which I bought for my sister for her birthday. I've always wanted a set for myself but never got around to looking again. They came in light green, pink, cobalt blue, light blue, amber, milk glass, clear and steigel green (my favourite). Not sure why they were called "Newbound", but my guess is they were named after their designer.

2 months ago I googled Newbound again and discovered that not only was there candle holders in the Newbound pattern but there was also a lovely fruit bowl to match. I found a beautiful 3 piece set in cobalt blue on eBay, so I decided to buy it. It arrived yesterday and I must say they really are very special!

Building a Silo

Progress so far on our new 300T grain storage silo. The builders have only been working on it for 2 days and this is how much they've got done - almost finished!

Daisy!

Media Star!!

Yesterday Farmer Phil was asked by our local TV news reporters if he would mind if they came out to the farm to interview him about the mouse plague. He reluctantly said okay and here is the story which was played on our local news tonight.

http://wagga.iprime.com.au/index.php/news/prime-news/mice-invade-local-farms-video

PS - That's me driving the tractor and seeder!!

Fame

Last night Emma received a call from the casting director of the theatre group who are putting on Fame the Musical at the Wagga Civic Theatre in October. She had a singing audition a couple of weeks ago and she's very excited to have been chosen as part of the ensemble. Looks like more driving for me getting her to the many rehearsals scheduled!

Calculations

We are still re-sowing paddocks of canola eaten by mice. Today I re-sowed this paddock that I posted about a few weeks ago when I finished sowing it the first time. I commented at the end of the post that a week or so after this photo was taken that we should see little canola plants popping their heads through!

Well today I saw not one canola plant!! So that means that the mice ate every single canola seed I planted!!

A few weeks ago the Nerd Farmer did a post about their canola planting. He did some calculations about how many canola seeds he planted. If I use his maths skills then I planted approximately 30,832,000 seeds in this one paddock AND the mice ate 30,832,000 seeds! You can only guess how many mice there must have been that lived in this paddock!

Hopefully Farmer Phil's baiting has eliminated a large percentage of them!

O

After re-sowing 250ac of mouse-eaten canola today I'm now curled up on the lounge in my jamas and ugg boots watching Oprah's second farewell show. Farmer Phil is still out there spreading the paddock with poisoned wheat in an attempt to exterminate another few thousand mice who survived the last baiting a few days ago!

I'm not ashamed to tell you that I'm a big Oprah fan! If you come to my house in the afternoon, Oprah will always be on the tv. She is a very inspiring woman and some of her shows have been very thought provoking for me.

One particular show I saw last year had a huge effect on me. It was an interview with the authors of the book "Half the Sky", husband and wife Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

I ordered the book the next day from the local bookshop and waited the few months it took to get it in . When I started to read it I couldn't put it down and I was always quoting excerpts to Farmer Phil whether he wanted to listen or not!

The book recounts real life stories from girls and women all around the world who have suffered the most horrific abuses imaginable. Some examples are from third world countries who value women so low that they may as well not exist!! From girls who are kidnapped and forced into prostitution in Thailand, African women giving birth to dead babies after days of traumatic labour with no hint of health care, female infant genocide in China just because they had the misfortune to be born a girl, and girls all over the world who are deemed not worthy of an education just because they are female!!!

It really is unbelievable and until you read the book, you just cannot imagine this sort of thing happening in our world in 2011!! The great thing about the book is the list of organisations supporting women which you can research and see if you can help in anyway.

I suggested our Ag n Chat group become involved in the "micro loan" system where we provide a small amount of money to a woman so that she may start a small business to support herself and her family. We are in the process of deciding where and how to spend our money and I'll let you know what we decide in the near future.

So, Oprah really does have some wonderfully thought-provoking shows but I also really love it when Nate Berkus does a house makeover show - I'd so love someone to come and visit my house!!

Our BIG Furry Problem!!!

Well it seems that our small furry problem from a few weeks ago is not so small anymore!!!

After finishing sowing almost 1500ac of canola a few weeks ago it looks like we're going to have to re-sow almost all of it after it was decimated by mice. The pesky little s***s have not only eaten the seed before it sprouted, but they've also munched off the newly emerged canola plants!

Farmer Phil had spread the paddocks with poisoned wheat seed through the fertiliser spreader, but it looks like all our efforts over the last month have been for nothing!!

We've sown about 1000ac of wheat with another 2000ac still to sow. So it looks like this cropping season will be a long, frustrating one!!!