Tea Cosy Swap

NOT the last post

This will be my last post here. I've been writing my blog for 18 years and now is the time to step back. I’ve stopped writing the blog and come back a couple of times because so many people wanted it, but that won’t happen again, I won’t be back. I’ll continue on instagram to remain connected but I don’t know how frequent that will be. I know some of you will be interested to know the blog's statistics.

Every morning at home

Every morning when I walk into my kitchen it looks tidy and ready for a day's work. Not so on this morning (above), I saw this when I walked in. Late the previous afternoon when I was looking for something, I came across my rolled up Zwilling vacuum bags and decided they had to be washed and dried. So I did that and although I usually put them outside on the verandah to dry it was dark by then. I turned the just-washed bags inside out and left them like this on a towel. It worked well and now the bags are ready to use when I bring home root vegetables, cabbages or whatever I buy that I want to last four or five weeks.

You’ll save money by going back to basics

When I was doing the workshops and solo sessions, I had a couple of people whose main focus was on creating the fastest way to set up a simple life. You can't create a simple life fast, it's the opposite of that It's not one single thing either - it's a number of smaller, simpler activities that combine to create a life that reflects your values; and that takes a long to come together. When I first started living simply I took an entire year to work out our food - buying it, storing it, cooking it, preserving, baking, freezing, and growing it in the backyard. This is change that will transform how you live and it can't be rushed.

Creating a home you'll love forever

Living simply is the answer to just about everything. It reduces the cost of living; it keeps you focused on being careful with resources such as water and electricity; it reminds you to not waste food; it encourages you to store food so you don't waste it and doing all those things brings routine and rhythm to your daily life. Consciously connecting every day with the activities and tasks that create simple life reminds you to look for the meaning and beauty that normal daily life holds. It's all there in your home if you look for it. Seemingly mundane tasks like cleaning and cooking help you with that connection for without those tasks, the home you want to live in won't exist in the way you want it to. Creating a home you love will make you happy and satisfied.

Time changes everything

I've been spending time in the backyard lately creating a contained herb and vegetable garden. My aim is to develop a comfortable place to spend time, relax, increase biodiversity and encourage more animals, birds and insects to live here or visit. Of course I'd prefer my old garden which was put together by Hanno with ease and German precision. Together, we created a space bursting at the seams with herbs, vegetables and fruity goodness ready to eat and share throughout the year. But time changes everything. What I'm planning on doing now, is a brilliant opportunity for an almost 80 year old with balance issues. In my new garden I'll be able to do a wide range of challenging or easy work, depending on how I feel each day. It’s a daily opportunity to push myself or sit back, watch what's happening around me and be captivated by memories or the scope of what's yet to come.

It's the old ways I love the most

I'm a practical woman who lives in a 1980’s brick slab house. There are verandahs front and back so I have places to sit outside when it's hot or cold. Those verandahs tend to make the house darker than it would be but they're been a great investment over time because they made the house more liveable. My home is not a romantic cottage, nor a minimalist modern home, it's a 1980’s brick slab house. And yet when people visit me here they tell me how warm and cosy my home is and that they feel comforted by being here. I've thought about that over the years and I'm convinced now that the style of a home isn't what appeals to people. What they love is the feeling within that home and whether it's nurturing the people who live there.

Back where we belong

Surprise! I'm back ... for good this time. Instagram became an impossible place for me. They kept sending me messages asking if I'd make my page available for advertisers! Of course, I said no but that didn't stop them. It's such a change from what Instagram started as. But enough of that, the important part of this post is to explain why I returned here instead of taking my writing offline for good. For a few years Grandma Donna and I have talked online face-to-face and it's been such a pleasure for me to get to know her. We have a lot in common. We both feel a responsibility to share what we know with others. With the cost of living crisis, learning how to cook from scratch, appreciate the work we do in our homes, shop to a budget and pay off debt will help people grow stronger. The best place to do that is our blogs because we have no advertising police harassing us, the space is unlimited, we can put up tons of photos when we want to and, well, it just feels li...

Making ginger beer from scratch

We had a nice supply of ginger beer going over Christmas. It's a delicious soft drink for young and old, although there is an alcoholic version that can be made with a slight variation on the recipe. Ginger beer is a naturally fermented drink that is easy to make - with ginger beer you make a starter called a ginger beer plant and after it has fermented, you add that to sweet water and lemon juice. Like sourdough, it must ferment to give it that sharp fizz. To make a ginger beer plant you'll need ginger - either the powdered dry variety or fresh ginger, sugar, rainwater or tap water that has stood for 24 hours to allow the chlorine to evaporate off. You'll also need clean plastic bottles that have been scrubbed with soap, hot water and a bottle brush and then rinsed with hot water. I never sterilise my bottles and I haven't had any problems. If you intend to keep the ginger beer for a long time, I'd suggest you sterilise your bottles. MAKING THE STARTER In a...

8 Comments

AnonymousFebruary 18, 2008 4:57 pm
I received a beautiful cosy from Hannah. I will send pictures in the next day or so. I have sent mine and it should be arriving soon unless my local post office has more "malfunctions"!

Sarah
lilymarleneFebruary 19, 2008 6:37 am
You asked the other day for suggestions for future swaps. How about slip-cases for glasses (spectacles)? They are small and easy to post and one can be very creative in design for them. They can also be made using a number of different crafts (quilting, embroidery, crochet, knitting....etc!)
For an example see this site
http://www.rustyzipper.com/shop.cfm/rz/type~Accessories%20-%20Glasses/gender~Womens/glasses.cfm
AnonymousFebruary 19, 2008 10:40 am
I have send my tea cosy to Mary today. This was so much fun. Thank you. A suggestion - A pin cushion.
SharonFebruary 19, 2008 1:02 pm
Lilymarlene and Sandra those are two really good ideas. We have so many good ideas that we will have swaps for quite a while! I hope everyone had a good week-end and we are keeping a nicle list of all the ideas so let us know!
AnonymousFebruary 20, 2008 8:07 pm
Sorry I missed out on this swap as it's just my cup of tea!

I wanted to thank you for listing The T-Cozy on your blog roll. It is much appreciated and I've added your lovely site to my blog roll, as well.

Warm regards,
Susan
AnonymousFebruary 21, 2008 1:02 am
Sharon,

I recieved the coolest patchwork tea cosy from VOUS! It is very retro, 1930's colors...my fave and it has heart and teapot buttons on it....buttons buttons..luvem.

Do I have to get tea on it??

Hugs, Christine
(photo coming)
mama kFebruary 27, 2008 1:37 am
I mailed mine before the deadline but haven't heard that it was received yet... : )
AnonymousFebruary 28, 2008 8:51 pm
Hi there

I've been having lots of problems with trying to access yahoo recently to email so have finally decided to just leave a comment here. I received a beautiful tea-cosy from Renee on Monday (Thanks Renee! I love it!). Will send a photo to you, Sharon as soon as I can.

Thanks again, this was great fun!

I welcome readers' comments. However, this blog never publishes business links or advertisements. If you're operating a business and want to leave your link here, I will delete your comment .

Tea Cosy Swap

8 Comments

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My books were all published by Pengiun, and are available at Amazon US, Amazon UK and Amazon Au

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MY FAVOURITE PLACES

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