A Touch of Cold

I have been feeling not that great over the past few days; most likely I have ended up with my neighbour's head cold. My throat is on fire, my muscles ache and I have more snot than I know what to do with (TMI? Oh well...). In some nice way, the weather has decided to come to the party, presenting a drizzly, grey few days. This has been a wonderful excuse to stay snuggled up on the couch with warm things and catch up on some reading.

Consequently, this is what has been featuring in my household over the past few days...

Freshly squeezed lemon and ginger juice, with manuka honey.

Organic, homemade stock...

...which Paddy lovingly turned into healing broth for me.

Steam baths, for the ol' sinuses.

Copious amounts of tea.

Grren smoothies. This one was banana, blueberry, spinach, organic yoghurt and raw milk, chia, flaxseed and coconut oil.

Fresh juices. This one was apple, beetroot, ginger, lemon and mint.

Hops and lavendar baths.

Orange juice.

Naps with Max.

And of course, hot, hot buns. Because no Easter would be complete without them.

Thrifting Find

Thank you to those lovely people who commented on my earthquake post. Your thoughts and kind words mean a lot to me. I felt it was really important to write down my experiences, and the process of putting it into words, while very emotionally challenging, was also quite cathartic. Mine is only one of hundreds of thousands of stories, and I urge you, when talking to people who experienced the earthquake, to ask them their story and allow them an opportunity to share.

Now, onto something I am very happy with. A timely trip to the local Sallies this week saw me purchasing this beautiful table for the ridiculous sum of $90! I have long dreamed of having a large dining room table, in which to entertain on. We have many dinner parties and our teeny weeny table makes the whole experience rather cosy, to say the least. This grand beast seats at least eight people, and probably ten at a push. Yahoo!! A real upgrade!

New table, complete with washing drying and the half-finished crossword.

The table comes complete with paint marks, scratches, vivid lines and I'm sure a few teethmarks. In my head, it used to belong to a lovely family who raised their children around it; sharing homework, stories and many, many dinners. The children have all left home now and the table needed to go to another family. Enter me! I am yet to have children but I can definitely see in future, them all cosied around this table, working on their homework, making biscuits and painting pictures; their own paint and teethmarks being added to the story.

Here it is last night, being christened with it's first dinner party. Sharing food with friends is one of my favourite things to do. Last night I made tomato and spinach barley risotto and crusty spelt and seed garlic bread. My friends brought the salad and dessert. A perfect way to start this table's journey with my family.

Oh, and just for smiles, here's Max, being cute as ever...

His favourite sleeping spot on the couch.

Max

We have a new member of our family, as of a few weeks ago. Allow me to introduce Max, the spoodle. He also responds to MaxiPad, Maximus, Maximum Cuteness, Maximum Hotpants and Oi.

He is naughty and cute and makes us feel happy, all at the same time :) Oh, and he feels like a teddy bear and gives a great spoon (he prefers small spoon). I think they call this puppy love?...