Is Op-Shopping as good as chocolate?

When I was in the work force it was a bit of a joke amongst my colleagues that some days that were quite stressful or busy were 'chocolate'  days and we would often do our best to find some around the place and were usually successful :-) However, now that I have given up sugar the chocolate and comfort eating has had to be replaced by something else and I think that 'something else' might just be Op-Shopping in times of stress!

I spied what I thought was a tea cosy in Lifeline a few weeks ago and, while I wasn't sure I really liked it, I just couldn't leave it there as there was so much work involved in making it which I thought one of my friends might really appreciate. However, when I got it home and put it on a teapot I realized there were no holes for the handle and the spout. Hmmm, I thought that perhaps it was a toaster cover but it didn't fit on our toaster at all so now I am not quite sure of what it is exactly.

It is very well made and I wondered why it would be in the Op Shop as it doesn't look like it has been used at all. Do you think someone made it and then realized they had forgotten the holes? Hardly likely!

I don't know much about patchwork so I am not even sure what this method would be called.

All I know is that it took someone clever a lot of time to make it and I would love to know what it is before I offer it to one of my friends. What do you think it is?

I had another visit to a different Lifeline store last week and this really was on a stressful day and I needed to get out of the house. The stress was caused by my very silly and unwise decision to 'upgrade' to Windows 10 from Windows 7. The upgrade went smoothly over the period of a couple of hours and then I had a look around the new format and was able to change things around to suit me. However a couple of days later things changed and I kept being signed in as a temporary user and couldn't find my files, photos or anything else I needed.

Eventually with help from some very helpful online friends I was able to at least find where they were hidden but could no longer get in as an Administrator so every time we turn on the computer I have to go through the whole rigmarole of signing into my email accounts, Blogger and so on and so forth and I still can't access my iTunes, Microsoft Outlook for my email, etc. So I have made the decision to go back to Windows 7 after my son has done an online exam on Wednesday. I have heard that there could be problems with doing that but, as I am already having big problems and will have to get my computer fixed by the IT guys, they can fix whatever problem going back to Windows 7 causes.

I was so stressed as I said that I drove to Lifeline with the intention of having a look for an enamel roaster on the off chance that someone had tired of theirs and donated it. I had read on Fig Jam and Lime Cordial that Harvey Norman's online store had Wiltshire enamel bake roaster pans with a lid on sale for $25. However the postage was $10 and the local Harvey Norman store said they don't stock them so I lost interest.

However, on the back wall at Lifeline I saw these two loaf tins which were very heavy. They were stuck together and I couldn't get them apart so I took them to the counter and asked the assistant to separate them and hoped they would both be in good condition inside..and they were.

They were $5 each and I had a feeling that they were really good quality and that I had seen them before. Once home again I had a look at Celia's Sourdough White Sandwich Loaf where she had mentioned what she bakes this loaf in and I think mine might just be the same brand and the measurements are the same as well . As I normally just make my sourdough in loaf tins these will be more practical for me than the enamel roaster anyway so my stress levels fell somewhat after my fortunate find. Who needs chocolate anyway? LOL!

I hope that all my readers who live on the east coast of Australia have stayed safe during the recent and still ongoing rain event which I believe is on its way to Tasmania. It did reach us although we are not near the coast but we just had rain and wind and we were grateful for the 40mm or so of rain that fell. Our temperatures plummeted the last couple of days and we have been freezing in the icy wind and apparently our 'apparent'  maximum temperature today was 4C so it was no wonder we were cold.

However, we saw the sun for a while today so it is starting to fine up and by Thursday it should be 24C or so. Unfortunately we won't be turning on the snow for Rhonda's visit to our library on Saturday for the last talk on her book tour but I think she will still enjoy the 19C day. She would have liked to see the snow!

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