Snoskred Lives

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Merry Christmas To My Readers

8 Comments Posted on December 25, 2015December 24, 2015 by Snoskred

Merry Christmas To You!
I sincerely hope that your friends and family did not rush out to purchase you some of this motor oil, which apparently Supercheap Auto thinks is such a great present they have been advertising it to me several times a day for the past week. If you find this under your tree, I am deeply sorry!

Every time I have seen it while The Other Half is home, I have asked him if he wants this for Christmas and the answer has always been NO.

Given a choice between socks and jocks, and motor oil, Imma always gonna pick the socks and jocks! Unfortunately I could not find the ad on Youtube for you. I did find a couple – one I dislike, one I deeply love.

I find this ad annoying but I also enjoy the extreme hilariousness of Johnny Depp burying all his elderly gay windchime jewelery.

I could watch this ad over and over forever. I do not know why. Maybe I just like sparkly gold things. :)

Christmas

Collect Egg Cartons, She Said

6 Comments Posted on December 16, 2015September 24, 2015 by Snoskred

A few years ago a lady at work sent out an email asking for people to collect egg cartons. For what reason I cannot recall. It might have been for a kids arts and craft thing, or because she had chickens, to build a space craft, for soundproofing.. I have no recollection of the reason now. But the request stuck in my mind, and collect egg cartons I did. Visitors to the house have commented on the large amount of egg cartons residing here.

I remember taking in a stack of them in to the requester a couple of times, then I forgot all about the taking and just kept on with the collecting. Standing there in the kitchen this morning, I realised.. it has been exactly one year and six months since I was last at my place of work. I’m not going back. These egg cartons are never being given to that person again. What the heck am I still collecting them for? Are they just collecting dust up there?

Yes, they were collecting dust up there. I wiped the dust off before stacking them into a pile. I counted. There were 36 of them. 35 of them belong to Manning Valley Eggs. I am a loyal consumer. I have my reasons, they are extremely great eggs, nearly as good as our own girls.

Letting these collected egg cartons go was a brilliant feeling. :) Kthxbai!

country life, moving on, work

A Kmart Trip

9 Comments Posted on October 2, 2015September 26, 2015 by Snoskred

Let us go for a quick virtual wander around Kmart together. Here we have some pet brushes for $6, a pet toy set for $3.50 – Happy loves the mouse on a stick in this packet so I have bought a few of them and keep them aside for later – at the bottom we have two different solar globes. I love the copper ones at $4 and the crackle glass ones are only $2.. Sadly these seem to be white only and we prefer the LED colour changing kind.

Things got a little scientifical in the home decor section. There is a $4 beaker vase, some test tube vases @ $7, a gorgeous marble tealight candle holder for $9, and a coral pink cactus for $7. Do you see that little ceramic sausage dog? $5. I love that!

This $12 copper vase we went back that night and bought, to fit in with my reflectatory candle shelf. Not that I will ever have flowers to put in it because The Other Half believes that is murder. *boggle* Yeah all those florists are secretly Dexter!

I really love this mini shopping trolley. For $5! They call it a pen cup. I’m not sure how that would work but I can see it in my collectible cabinet.

I already have the silver version of this but I am loving that light pink which is supposed to be a big colour this year fashion wise. At $2.50 this is a glittery awesome kind of contact paper.

These coloured pencils are great value at $5 – especially the watercolour ones. The bear is super plush, and that is a pig moneybox which makes a noise when you put in a coin.

The Other Half prefers his fashion chaotic and with skulls. At $10 these seem decent value. The second one with flaming skulls is a bit awesome!

These jumpers with sequinned arms seemed a little bit odd to me. I really love the concept, do not get me wrong. There should be more sequins in the world. But the jumper part seemed a little cheap looking. Still, at $17 I might have bought it, but the sizes were all teeny tiny. Oh well. :) They made for a great photo!

Hello Kitty pyjamas marked down to $8 from $15, these seem reasonable. And I love anything Hello Kitty.

These jars with blackboard paint on them were reasonably priced given the amount of hassle it would be to paint them yourself. $4 for the smaller jar, and $5 for the larger one.

There, I took you to Kmart. Happy moments for all!

Home, shopping

IKEA Haul

18 Comments Posted on September 28, 2015August 30, 2015 by Snoskred

When it was time to take the Aunt and Uncle back to the airport after their visit in August – another Aunt and Uncle were also going somewhere that day – they were flying to China. Arrangements were made for a trip using both cars because the Chinese trippers had 4 very large suitcases full of vitamins and baby formula.

Added in was a meeting with my sister and her partner for lunch at the St George Rowers Club. Because we’d just spent a week with everyone toodling and gallivanting, and we wanted to make sure my sister & co had plenty of family time, we dropped them off at the Rowers and headed to the very close by Ikea at Tempe for a Swedish meatball lunch, and to pick up some items we needed.

Over our many visits to IKEA, I have discovered the short cuts between various areas. I spotted a staff member going through a very large plastic door to one of the other sections – there was no sign saying staff only so I figured there was no reason I couldn’t use that door myself. Then I found other doors, and on one visit we were really hungry and discovered if you take a left at the top of the escalators, you could go right to the cafe.

Maybe the shortcuts are a new addition to the maps, or maybe back when we started going there I was so deer in the headlights I did not even read the maps. I’m not sure. I was surprised to see them on the maps as I always felt like it was a bit of a secret squirrel thing. ;)

What we most needed were tealight candles and large square oven trays. They had some new flavours to try – the coconut one is very awesome.

These DRÖMMAR oven trays are huge and fit nicely in our new oven.

I also got some more of these cups which I’ve had several sets of – these ones are a different colour. Christmas colours, you could say. Two of these cups = one bottle of Soda Stream.

They had my favourite rubbish bin in pink this time which I could not resist.

We thought these mugs were a decent size for the second coffee cup of the day, and we’ve been enjoying them afternoons when The Other Half arrives home. I like mine with a side of the ginger Ikea biscuits we bought.

I got some straws for spring and summer milkshakes and smoothies – I picked up a second egg slicer as I was using our present one daily and thought a second would be handy – we thought we would try this glass storage container and if we like it next time we are there we will pick up some more.

I spotted these gorgeous metal candle holders near the bathrooms next to the restaurant. I did not pick any up, thinking they would be found in the market hall. Of course, they were nowhere to be seen there, and I had to trek all the way back upstairs. I’ve got a silver pineapple and now these, there is a bit of a silver theme running on my candle shelf. I love that they reflect different shapes onto the wall.

I took a couple of candles from each packet to put in my small container and stored the rest away together in the candle container. They will keep me going for quite some time, even though I am burning candles daily here.

We also loved these bathmats. We put them on the floor for the kitties to sniff and roadtest. We have one bathmat with an inside of memory foam and neither of them will walk on it, because it feels weird to their feet. They like these new ones, though. They got right onto scenting them up.

Happy moments were had by all. :)

Happy Snoskred, IKEA, shopping

New Cards September

12 Comments Posted on September 16, 2015September 15, 2015 by Snoskred

Four new cards this month. While I am posting, here are some other new items I’m loving.

Australian made from Aldi, these Malted Milk Balls are amazing. They are about 50 times more yummy than a Malteser because they are solidly packed with malt instead of being mostly air. The only way they could be any more awesome would be with a dark chocolate coating.

Here is a look inside. Om nom nom! Run, don’t walk, to your nearest Aldi and pick up a set of these.

These Colour Clickers were just $4.95 and they have a set of replacement leads. These are mechanical pencils. I love using them and find them much better than wooden pencils. I’d buy a 72 pencil set if I could find one.

This 24 set of colour pencils was excellent value as well. I find the Mont Marte items to be great.

Greeting Cards, shopping

The Bolognese Of Snoskred

22 Comments Posted on August 24, 2015August 23, 2015 by Snoskred

Otherwise known in our household as “red sauce pasta” or even “awesome sauce”. I’ve mentioned it in the Fake Lasagne post but I have never posted how I make it here on the blog..

Over the years, I’ve made this sauce many different ways, chopping up the various vegetables and so forth. My most recent version involves blending carrot and zucchini in the blender and this makes the sauce extra awesome in my opinion, plus, it is a lot simpler vegetable preparation wise. I’m making it in quite large batches so I can make 3x dinners and 3-4 lunches out of one very large pot of sauce.

I don’t have a strict recipe or amounts, but here is what I usually put in it when making the large batch – I’ve put notes in for how much I use when making a smaller batch.

2 teaspoons minced garlic, 1 chopped onion, 2 chopped leeks – many spices eg paprika, cinnamon, basil, parsley, oregano – sweat these together for 5-10 minutes in olive oil then remove from pan. Remove 1 leek if making a small batch (eg using 500g mince instead of 1 Kilo)

2 red capsicum (pepper) chopped – sweat this for 5-10 minutes in olive oil then remove from pan. (Use 1 if making a small batch)

1kg mince – you can choose what kind of mince you prefer. I like beef and chicken or just beef. I place this in the pan, break it up, then cover with red wine plus a dash of white wine, then put on the lid and allow it to simmer well for 15 minutes. If you have used chicken mince you will find it takes on the colour of the red wine via this method. (500g for small batch)

Add back in the capsicum, leek and onions. Stir well.

Add in 4-5 large carrots and 3 small zucchini – this I puree well in the blender, but if you prefer it chopped you can do it that way. I just peel the carrots and chop them and the zucchini into large chunks and add a little water to make blending easier but if you don’t mind the skins on the carrots, that is your option and you can skip the peeling step.. 2 carrots, 1 small zucchini for small batch.

You can also add other vegetables if you like – me personally I would add mushrooms and olives but the other half does not like them, so I tend to add those in when I am reheating a small serve of sauce for myself.

I find the puree adds extra awesomeness to the sauce. Stir well and allow all of the added ingredients to simmer together for 10 minutes.

Now add –

1 x jar of tomato paste
1 x jar of Basilico pasta sauce
1 x jar of Passata – not for small batch
1 x tin of chopped tomatoes (today I used another jar of passata as we were out) – not for small batch
1 x jar of red peppers pesto – not for small batch

Stir well, then leave the sauce to simmer on a smaller burner for an hour or more, stirring occasionally..

When the sauce is simmered together until it forms an awesome sauce, you can use it however you like.

I will usually prepare this in the morning, have a little sauce over boiled and mashed potato for lunch, and put the rest of the sauce into containers and into the fridge for later use. We would usually have red sauce pasta for dinner that evening. I would also make Fake Lasagne with this sauce, and Ricotta, Spinach and Bacon cannelloni, which will appear here as a recipe at a future time. :)

cooking, recipes, things to remember

Sunday Selections Week 34

11 Comments Posted on August 23, 2015August 22, 2015 by Snoskred

Today I will like to share with you our lovely new vast vista of concrete. It will probably look a bit boring to you. I have to tell you, it is most definitely NOT boring to us. This has greatly improved our life. The area we got concreted was formerly gravel and potholes and one heck of a mess in wet weather.

The concrete was done in 3 separate pours because there is a large rectangular area with a side triangle out the back which needed quite a bit of shaping and a drain put in. In the above photo you can see the triangle, and you can see the area which has some of our old gravel there. I am thinking this might be a great area for a cactus garden – inspired by River.

This is the drain side and you can see my Polo is happily chilling out in her new and much improved home.

There were also two pours for the driveway itself – one for the back half, and one for the front half. This photo shows where the first pour and second pour meet, taken from the laundry door facing the back of the property.

The laundry was a room where gravel regularly got tracked in. This meant doing the laundry 99% of the time you would step on a piece of gravel. I can tell you that stepping on one piece of gravel as a surprise to yourself is akin to stepping on a lego with bare feet, which I am sure has been declared a form of torture by multiple governments *and* is almost certainly used in some cultures as a replacement ritual for the ritual of stepping on hot coals..

This view is taken from the laundry door and shows where the second and third pour meet. Our gates had to have some work done as one of the concrete trucks got bogged out there and ended up hitting the fence, sending everything out of square and the gates no longer met in the middle.

The laundry which opens onto this area is the entrance to the house which we use the most. This is the best place to bring in groceries without worrying about a cat escaping, plus, you can pull the car boot (trunk for our US friends) right up next to the door.

Here you can see the concrete sealer shining in the sun. The driveway sparkles like a *Twilight vampire! YAY!

This final shot shows where the new concrete and the old driveway at the front of the house meet. The old driveway is white concrete with one of those colour spray ons over the top. For the new driveway, the concretor suggested adding some grey colour into the concrete itself to match the spray on – it would last a lot longer and work better for everyone. I think it turned out much better than the original driveway.

Every day this week I have gone out to open the gate for the other half when it is his home time, and every single day, I have found myself trying to step *up* to the old concrete because I am so used to stepping up right there. When I go out the laundry door, I find myself hitting the concrete much earlier than my body expects the ground to be there. It is a massive change and it is taking some getting used to.

Would you like to join in? The rules are very simple:-
1. post photos of your choice, old or new, under the Sunday Selections title
2. link back to River at Drifting Through Life, somewhere in your post
3. leave River a comment so that she knows you’ve joined in and can come over and see what you’ve posted.

* No Twilight vampires were harmed in the making of our concrete driveway. :)

Weekly Wrap Up –

This week I was quite determined to stay at home and go absolutely nowhere, after two weeks of “Toodling” and “Gallivanting” with holidays and my Aunt and Uncle visiting. Don’t get me wrong, I loved having them visit – it is just lovely to sit still in one place after so much travelling about.

Last Sunday we did the fortnightly shop, and I settled back in at home intending to write quite a few posts for the blog(s) and chill out with the kitties, some colouring in, NYPD Blue, a little Lumosity game I have become quite addicted to, and catching up on my reading.

The LCN Jig, It May Be Up.

I spotted this in my feedjit earlier today –

I guess we’ll have to wait and see if they keep using the same name. That particular post continues to get a lot of views and comments here on the blog

Did you miss a post this week?

Monday – I told you about my holidays.

Wednesday – Sipowicz Says #1 – quotes from NYPD Blue will be a monthly feature here on the blog for the foreseeable future.

Thursday – I mentioned that 7 would be airing the first episode of Mr Robot. You might want to circle back and read my angry comments that I left on Friday while waiting for the show to actually air, for your own amusement. :) Can you guess how many minutes it was delayed by? Did you catch the show? If yes, leave a comment over there, I would love to know what you thought of it.

Friday – we revisited the Six Feet Under finale.

Over to you –

Did you get up to anything interesting this past week? :)

Aussie Culture, Happy Snoskred, Home

Snoskred Holidays

12 Comments Posted on August 17, 2015August 15, 2015 by Snoskred

So, will you like to know what Snoskred got up to on her holidays? I can tell you more about this now!

We got a new oven installed. We turned the old one on once when we first moved in here, and the amount of stinky smoke which bellowed forth stopped us ever wanting to use it again. We were not bothered, because we had our LG solardom convection oven, grill and microwave. But recently that unit has begun to misbehave, and it was time to replace the oven.

There was quite a bit of writing blog posts – taking a break inspired some new posts.

There was some fun with ice spheres but that is a post in itself.

There was some colouring in.

There was some shopping and eating of baked goods. There was some purchasing of chicken in bulk – 11 chicken roasters, plus a bunch of filos and kievs. Lenards have some new items available none of which we purchased this time but I wouldn’t mind trying the Chicken Cobs.

There was plenty of cooking, and some recipe posts will be coming to you as a surprise soonest!

The Villains were seen and greatly enjoyed. There was dancing, singing, and much fun had by all.

I did not take very many photos, preferring to live in the moment and enjoy each moment when it was happening rather than try to capture moments to share here later.

The concreting was completed and sealed and the cars were finally put away safely. We deeply appreciate the vast vista of concrete we now have to enjoy. :)

What have you been up to?

Anything interesting? Let me know in the comments!

country life, Happy Snoskred, shopping

Happenings In Snoskredland

18 Comments Posted on July 17, 2015July 15, 2015 by Snoskred

Burning: These little candles from Aldi which cost $2.99 each. They smell delicious and provide a lovely warming glow. In general I am burning them for 1-2 hours each day and they last a week or so.

Microwaving: These yummy Aldi puddings for 40 seconds and then serving with ice cream. The sticky date one is probably my current favourite.

Moisturizing: Both feet and hands with this orange scented shea butter body cream that I brought back from Hawaii in 2013. It smells like you just peeled an orange and juiced it, in a good way.

Sleeping: Two kitties have been sleeping in front of the gas heater with this artic blast.

Enjoying: Some dark chocolate. We went to Coles and I said I wanted to be allowed to look at 3 things for as long as I wanted to look at them, because normally The Other Half rushes me in and out of there. All 3 things were in the chocolate area, and we stopped and discussed the various chocolate bars available. The Lindor Dark is an old reliable that we always enjoy.

Wondering: The Willies Cacao blocks are new buys for us, and oddly they are one solid piece of chocolate without any place to break them. It makes me wonder what people do with these – eat them in one sitting? Chop them up with a knife? Melt them down and use them for fondue?

Snacking: I bought the Butterscotch and Vanilla Bean and I tried that first, it was awesome. This is a lovely version of Greek Yoghurt, just slightly sweet and plenty tart. So on the same night I asked to look at 3 things, I took a moment to grab the other versions of this from the shelf. The Boysenberry & Vanilla flavour is super tart, slightly too tart for me.

Opining: I will always buy salted caramel flavours once to try them.. however, if you are going to get me to buy it again, you have to BRING it. On this occasion, they did not bring the salt. The caramel was ok, but the lack of salt means this will not be bought again by me. The butterscotch and vanilla is the winner and I highly recommend it. :)

Standing: And driving, under the tail of the 747 at HARS. The place they have put it, you actually have to drive under the tail. And I got to have that moment I have waited all my lifetime for – to stand under a 747. Incredible!

Washing: We thought we would give the new antibacterial scented liquid hand wash from Aldi a try, and the grapefruit flavour is a huge winner. I love it so much! We’ll keep buying it. The other flavour we tried – Lime Splice – is not very optimal, it is a bit sickly for me.

Home, shopping

Carter Models Again

15 Comments Posted on July 8, 2015April 28, 2018 by Snoskred

I found this years Winter Knit! YAY. It is a gorgeous knit from Millers. It cost the enormous sum of $15. It is a long cardigan – or perhaps a coatigan – which reaches around my knees. Wearing it is taking some getting used to, especially getting into the car. :)

This is a closeup of the fabric which has a gold metallic thread running through it.

I found this years knit at Wollongong on a recent shopping excursion. As part of Wollongong Central, they have opened up a new shopping centre across the road from the Crown Street Mall which contains such awesomes as Grill’d, Max Brenner, Guzman Y Gomez, to name a few. There is a new food court up the top with things like Schnitz and an amazing salad place called Soul Origin with a huge range of delicious fresh salads.

I also picked up this lovely poncho. Many happy moments were had by all on this shopping trip. :)

Carter, Carter The Model, Fashion, moving forward