Cassie's Cuddles

I have been a good girl, I have lost 4 kg in two weeks. Now if I could just keep going. I now have just over $1000 in sponsership, yay! I seriously would like to aim for $5000, so keep the sponsers coming…please? Remember that I will not keep a penny of it, it will all go to the home in India.

What have I been doing? I get up and go for a walk. It’s not very far, but it still gets my heart pumping. I always take a child because I walk through a reserve, and it can get scary by yourself. I try and be more active during the day too. More importantly  I am counting calories. I found this great website where you type in your weight, age, and height, and level of activity, then it will tell you how many calories to eat to get to the weight that you want in the given time. Take a look.http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/calories-required/ I met a man last week who lost 50kg without exercising, he just counted his calories! He says that he regrets not doing it with exercise, but it does show it is what goes into your mouth that makes you a fatty.Do you like Alycia’s bag? She went off and made it, with no help from me. I am impressed. She took it to her auntie’s for a sleep over, and it stood up to the rough and tumble, I am impressed. Have I said that I am impressed? Speaking of the sleepover, this is the picture my sister sent to me.It looks pretty cozy don’t you think?Alycia is very creative, she drew this picture too. She has also been knitting. I love the fact that she doesn’t waste her time.We have some testosterone flying around here. Jared can still show Lachlan who the man of the house is. Life is hard for a 6 year old eh? She has a light up glass (from Nicky), filled with ice blocks. Where did I get her from? Lol.Do you know what Camden is holding? Its a container of doggie do bags. My parents gave it to him thinking it was a coat stuffed into a cute container. I am still laughing over this.The biggest drama this week is that I asked a certain boy to put on the bath, and then he forgot about it. So the floor, hall and three bedrooms got quite a bit of water damage. The carpet in the boy’s room has been ruined. Every towel has been used at least twice (that’s nearly 40 towels!). It is getting better, but now it is stained. Here is a page from a book I found in an opp shop, I thought you might enjoy it.

With the help of my trusted assistant, Alycia…..She will help me draw out the winner of the material giveaway. The winner is…Kara is the winner (sorry, Narelle). Saying that, because I would like to encourage you and Melinda on your  sewing holiday, I will have a bag of material for you too!  😀

If you know me, you know that I am a fatty. I have been trying to motivate myself to loose weight, and I finally came up with a solution. All this “do it for yourself, just isn’t going to cut it, so I thought I would do it for India”. I have heard all about Stephanie’s trip, and the wonderful couple who run a children’s home, so I have decided that I will loose weight to raise money for the home. I will do it for the children. Will you sponser me? Please?

Today I went to my Great Uncle’s funeral, he was 89. My heart broke for his widow. I always think this is one of the worst things, to loose your dearest and best friend. They had been together for over 60 years, how do you carry on? I pray that God will give her comfort and strength to continue living with Joy.My dad is on the right, next to my sister then mum. My auntie and uncle are on the other side, I pretty much see them at weddings and funerals. Um, I must make a bit of an effort to see them on an average day….Yesterday I peeled and let soak most of these tomatoes. I made up about 6 Kg worth. When I got home, I had to cook them up. Tomatoe relish, yum! This is my mums recipe.

1.5KG  ripe tomatoes           2 Tbspoon of plain flour

500g onions                             1   1/2 TBspoon of mustard

1/2 cup of caster sugar        1 TBspoon of curry powder

1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes

Skin tomatoes by  making a cross on the top and bottom of the tomatoe, then boil them for 4 min, then immerse them in cold water. You can now easily peel off the skin. Add the chopped onion and tomatoe into a pot, and leave over night. Next day add just enough vinegar to cover tomatoe mixture and boil for 1 hr. Moisten dry ingredients with a little vinegar then add to tom. mixture, until it thickens. Now bottle it, and enjoy it. Remember to sterilize the jars 😀

I made up at least 12 jars, some are huge!Nom, nom nom.I decided to make my own soap on tap too. For one bar of soap, you use 4 cups of water ( I did double so I used two). You boil the water and then add the grated soap. I left it for a while and the whole pot went solid, so I added another 8 cups! I filled a lot of empty containers that I had kept for such a task as this.Look how much of it, I now have.I will now show you a picture of a giant fairy floss….The clothes are lovely, it’s the person inside them that’s the problem. I will address that problem tomorrow, stay tuned. Oh, and remember I have a giveaway here:https://cassiescuddles.hoodfamily.org.au/?p=3975 just leave a comment for your chance to win.

To win this fabric, just leave a comment  and I will draw a name out of hat.  All the best 😀 I will draw it next Tuesday night.

Stephanie has been back for nearly two weeks now, and she is very busy catching up with the weeks that she missed at school. She is doing year 12, I can’t believe that it is her final year of school. I home schooled Stephanie until she was in year 11, I am very happy with the way that she has applied herself to her studies, and has done so well thus far.Here is Alycia in my wedding dress. I can’t believe that she nearly fits into it. There is no way that I would fit into it now. Cassandra wanted to try on the veil.The veil was my mother’s. It is shorter now, because she cut some off to make a baby net (or something like that). Jared and I will have been married for 20 years this year. We had a few warm days in Melb. last week so I took the children to Lysterfield lake. I love taking the kiddies swimming for free. I really enjoy the atmosphere of the lake too, so much better than a local pool.Sunday week we had a little mishap. Camden was playing table tennis with some other boys when he smashed the light above the table, oops! Nothing better to humble parents eh?I made lots of yummy jam. Nom nom nom. I found a box with about 4 kg of strawberries for only $3.99, great! I made 12 jars in total.I  have been sorting through material too. I might do a giveaway tomorrow, so stay tuned.