Bushfire season already....

So this week has been a bit hectic... bush fires are popping up everywhere around us, and we are right at the back of a big reserve.

Since its just coming out of winter everything is still dead, the temperatures have gotten over 35 pretty much all week, idiot 11 year olds are out there purposefully setting fires to get attention, people are losing their homes..... and we are all just praying it rains soon..

 And no... none of these have filters on them. These were taken out the front of my house from a fire at Eastern Creek, which is literally just about 10 minutes up the road from us.




It is a very scary time and now there is talk of a "Mega fire"... a 300k wall of fire headed towards the western suburbs from the Blue Mountains.... this actually worried Lewy, so now we have an emergency bag packed by our front door, with all our important documents and photos as well as things for the dogs.... cant forget my fur babies in a crisis!

Not wanting to freak any one out too much we have also done some more work on our kitchen! We have almost painted all the walls, got everything sanded down and ready to go, all we have left now is the counters, tiles, and top cabinets to go.

Today I cleaned the ceiling in the kitchen so we can paint it white again. I was dripping sweat by the end of it all, but I cleaned it to the best of my abilities you would think it had never seen a good cleaning before though... I did almost fall off the ladder so I have decided to never do it again while no one is home with me.

While I was cleaning I made some brownies!
preheat your oven to 180C
1. melt 16 tablespoons of butter in a dish, stir in 1 cup icing sugar and 1 cup brown sugar and stir until smooth.
2. Add 4 eggs, one at a time stirring after each one until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
3. Sift in 3/4 cup of cocoa powder, and 2 cups of plain flour and mix very well.
4. add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence and stir well.
5. line a deep tray with baking paper and pour in mixture.
6. bake for 30 minutes checking to make sure it is cooked through by inserting a toothpick or wooden skewer into the center and it comes out clean. (If it is not clean leave to cook for 10 minutes longer)
7. Leave to cool completely in the dish before removing.
8. cut into small squares and dust with cocoa powder before serving.

Just a tip though, make sure and use plain flour for the whole thing, I used half self raising flour because I ran out of plain and it came out more like a cake than brownies..... still tasty but more spongey.

I hope you have all had a good week, and to all my Aussie readers please be safe with all these fires, have a plan in case of emergency! And please dont forget your animals!!!!

Country Kitchen Flair!

So my favorite pair of jeans ended up getting a hole in the thighs. It couldn't be fixed with sewing or even a patch, and I didn't want to throw them away...

Bright idea? Turn them into my very own cooking apron!

So here's what you need:

• old pair of jeans (not too ratty you need to have the legs in decent condition)
• seam ripper
• scissors
• 1.5-2 meters of lace (optional)
• 1 meter of thick strapping
• sewing machine or needles
• 1/2- 1 meter of your own chosen fabric

Now for the steps!

1. Take the seam ripper and rip apart the legs of the old jeans. (you can also cut them apart if you are in a hurry or don't want to waste a lot of time trying to get them apart.)
2. Cut the legs off the front of the jeans, I cut mine off just at the crotch because of the holes in the thighs.
3. using the legs from either the front or the back you need to cut out the top part of the apron. I had a slight flair to my jeans so I cut out just under the knees and measured to the top of my chest. But you need to cut them long enough to cover from your chest to your waist.
4. Decide on how you would like the top of the apron to look and cut the shape out accordingly. I chose a heart shaped top for mine you you can have a square top if you like.
5. After cutting out the shape for the top, sew one side of the legs together, this will be the top of your apron.
6. Open the legs, using pins attach it to the waist of the jeans. Using your sewing machine or by hand sewing, sew the top to the bottom of the jeans. Open it up and this will be the front of your apron.
7. Pin your straps into place. (make sure they are long enough to tie around your neck and waist. Stitch these into place.
8. Pin your lace around the front of the apron, it can be any color you like and any material you feel comfortable working with. Or if you choose you can NOT use lace at all
9. Using your sewing machine or by hand sewing, attach the lace to the front of the apron.
10. Cut out the shape of the apron from the material, if you have enough left over you can make a pocket to go on the front.
11. If you make a pocket (or wish to put on an applique of any kind on the front) do it at this point.
12. Sew the material to the jeans, right sides together. I didn't leave an opening around the edges because I left the zipper open to turn right side out. (If your jeans do not have a zipper or you have sewn it shut then you will need to leave an opening to turn the project right side out)
13. Turn the project right side out and sew up any holes you have left.
14. Iron over the seams to make the project flat. 

TADA!!! That's how it goes! Now you know how to make your very own apron using an old pair of jeans. This is also a great project for children, since its machine washable, you can use it for art projects, painting, or having the little ones help you out in the kitchen.