Nearly there

I think in my last post I said something like "It shouldn't be as busy". Ha! Boy did I get that one wrong. When there are four grown and fairly large men, with corresponding appetites, doing very physical work from 8.30am - 5.30pm they get very, very hungry. Two of the workers are staying with us as they are friends who live in Hobart, so the day begins with breakfast and then continues on (and on and on).

On the first day I was prepared with the chocolate cake and gingernuts that I made last week for their morning tea. Once they had demolished that, I did all the dishes. I then made a huge pot of homemade vegetable soup with homemade bread for lunch. That went down really well too, but they didn't quite finish it all so I thought hmmm, maybe tomorrow. And then I did all the dishes, again.

I prepared a Madras Chicken curry for dinner that night with rice, vegetables with a satay type sauce which was to be followed by homemade apple crumble. Naturally we had the chutneys, pickles and poppadoms with the curry. They couldn't finish the curry and didn't touch the apple crumble. More leftovers. And then I did all the dishes, again.

I had to work on Wednesday so I prepared morning tea for them and left instructions re the leftovers for lunch. When I returned from work, I couldn't see the sink for dishes! But they'd finished the soup, the curry and chocolate cake. So I washed all the dishes and quickly made up a spaghetti bolognese with a large green salad. We still had the apple crumble in the fridge.

They didn't finish all the spaghetti, so I put that in the fridge but all the salad had gone. We didn't touch the apple crumble. And then I did all the dishes, again.

Yesterday I made some butterscotch brownies for morning tea, 12 bread rolls to have with assorted sandwich toppings and a loaf of bread. Morning tea was enjoyed and then I did the dishes. The guys made up their own rolls for their lunch, salami, cheese, eggs, tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce, followed by oranges. And then I did the dishes, again.

Dinner last night was a corned silverside of beef with potatoes, pumpkin, silver beet and broccoli from the garden, and a cheese sauce. That was demolished and finally the apple crumble was brought out with ice cream! And then I did the dishes, again.

Today, Friday, we've had morning tea. All the gingernuts have gone and there's just a small portion of the butterscotch brownies left. And I've done the dishes, again. It's going to be left over spaghetti for lunch and if they can fit dessert in, guess what, yep, apple crumble. No doubt there'll be a few more dishes! I'm making another loaf of bread for the weekend too.

The roof won't be finished tonight and the guttering is still lying on the ground, but the crew has to return to Hobart tonight and M leaves for Melbourne on Sunday morning for the week. So please, no leaks whilst he's away. Once M is back from Melbourne, the crew will return to finish the job. But hopefully it will only take one or two days and I will have had a week's break from cooking, baking and washing dishes!

It sounds like a huge whine, but I don't mean it to. The guys are all working so hard and they're easy to please re food, it's been fun having them around. I'm not used to all the extra mouths to feed and I'm feeling pretty pleased with myself that I haven't actually gone into meltdown!

I am looking forward to a quiet night tonight though..........

Jan