A day in my life - 13th June, 2012

I haven't done one of these for ages, so when it popped up in my reminders, I thought it sounded like fun.

I was up at 7:15, fed the cat, made myself a cuppa and drank it while I checked emails, blogs etc.  Billy was already up a bit before me.

After my cuppa, I hung the washing out on the clothes airer on the back verandah - the weather was looking a bit dodgy. 

I made Billy & I some breakfast (sausage & pasta bake for Billy - the non-traditional breakfast eater, and a poached egg and toast for me).

After breakfast, Billy & I did some maths together - we're working through some concepts in the Awesome
Arithmetricks book - today was the Commutative law.

Then I helped him with coding a Minecraft Java plugin - this one is an anti-swear plugin to stop people swearing on his server (it strikes them with lightning if they do!).

I was going to go for a walk after that but it was drizzling again, so I did 20 mins on the mini-tramp while watching a fascinating TED video on brain evolution.

I finally got to have a shower. 

After my shower, I pulled some homemade vege soup out of the freezer and heated it up for our lunch, along with some bread I'd made yesterday.  While that was heating, I packed the dishwasher and washed the rest of the dishes by hand.  We ate lunch while watching an episode of Warehouse 13.

After lunch, I did some paid work for a few hours (interrupted by a mad dash to bring the clothes airer inside as the rain started pelting in sideways) - a quick change to an Access database for a client, and work on a client's new website, as well as updating our business Facebook page.

Footy training was cancelled due to the wet weather - yay :)  I ventured outside to check the mail and bring the garbage back to the house, then cut up some fruit for Billy & I for afternoon tea.  I got a subscription to Super Food Ideas as a gift at Xmas and this month's magazine arrived - I'll save it as a reward for getting my writing done later in the week.

I checked a forum I read for a little while, gathered the library books together to take back tomorrow, then went out to start dinner.  I made a chicken stew & dumplings using the left-over roast chicken from Monday night.  After I'd gotten all of the chicken off the carcess, I put it in the slow cooker with some celery leaves, peppercorns and water to turn into chicken stock.

While the oven was on, I made a chocolate cake (I love this recipe but I do it in the oven, not the slow cooker) - this cake is great stand-by when you're out of butter like I am.

I knew Billy wouldn't eat the stew, so I pulled some chicken schnitzel out of the freezer (made & cooked a few weeks ago), cut some potato wedges to go with it and popped it all in the oven.

We ate dinner, then I joined the RWA chat room and did some writing.  1316 words in 80 mins of sprints! It gets me back on track with my goal - I'm only about 400 words behind now.


Bed time for Billy - which seems to go longer every night!  I helped him practice his lines he's learning for the Peter Pan audition of Sunday.  Two chapters of Rangers Apprentice - it was at an exciting spot so we couldn't leave it at 1.  Chat about the day, talk about what's going on tomorrow.

I switched the dishwasher & washing machines on (after 10pm to take advantage of cheaper power), wrote this blog post up and am about to head to bed.

It's been a productive and busy day.

A day in my life - 13th Nov

It's been a pretty laid-back, relaxing day today.  Just what I needed.

I was woken at 6:30 by Billy chatting via Skype to a gaming friend from England.  Yawn..  I find it almost impossible to go back to sleep once I'm awake, so I got up, fed the cat, and made myself a cup of tea in the hope it would wake my brain up too :)

I drank it while checking emails, Facebook, forums, blogs and doing a few online surveys (I do these for a bit of extra money - I can usually get a couple of hundred dollars over 12 months.  Its not a great hourly rate but I'm on the computer anyway and sometimes they're fun).

I'm feeling pretty sore today - after 4 weeks without any exercise, I refound my motivation this week.  Eased into it with 15 minutes on the Wii on Monday, did the BodyBalance class on Friday (first time in 4 weeks) and then Defendo on Saturday (first time in 5 weeks).  Arms and abs are reminding me that they exist today :)

Breakfast time - I made myself a poached egg on toast. Its my favourite comfort food!

Did my monthly maintenance of the RWA email accounts - part of my duties as webmistress is to go through them each month and clear out any that are getting full.  The hosting doesn't seem to have any nice reporting to make this easier, so I have to go through each of the 70+ addresses individually to check!  It's a bit time-consuming but better than having the addresses bounce if the mailbox is full.

Flicked through the local free paper (nothing startling), and junk mail (looking for Xmas ideas - didn't find any).  Unpacked the dishwasher, and then washed the remaining dishes by hand.

Still waiting for hubby to get out of bed so I could have a shower, so I curled up on the lounge to read a book.  Read for a while, then got up to cut up some fruit for Billy & I for morning tea.  Went back to my book.  Its an interesting read - the story line is quite enjoyable, although some of the writing style isn't to my taste.

Eventually had a shower, then got us all some lunch.  We all watched an episode of "Chuck" while we ate (Chuck vs the Sandworm).  Billy then invited a neighbourhood friend over to play while Pete & I watched a series of the Australian black comedy TV show "Laid".

I was sorely in need of something to wake me up, so I succumbed to a mini can of coke.

I made chicken schnitzel for tea (from scratch),

which we ate while watching Disc 1 of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.  Billy had read The Hobbit a few years ago with Pete, but this is the first time we've attempted The Lord of the Rings with him.

And since most of my photos today seem to be of food, I bring you something just as yummy - a gratuitous Viggo Mortensen photo...  :)  *sigh*

Ran Billy's bath, got him to bed then Pete & I watched an episode of Torchwood.  So why not throw in a gratuitous photo of "Captain Jack Harkness" as well :)

My bum is about to wear a groove in the lounge and my eyes are square from so much TV watching, so that will have to do me for tonight!

Hope everyone else had a good day :)

A Day in my life - Oct 13

Its been years since I did a 'Day in the the life' post and I suddenly felt like it was time for another one.

Today was a fairly typical day.

I was up at 7, fed the cat & changed his litter, then sat down at the computer to read blogs, catch up on email etc.  I have a backlog of email to get through as I've been busy getting a client's website to her design.  I made myself some toast & a cup of tea and ate it at the computer.

Billy emerged about 8:30.  He's usually up before me, so a sleep-in was very unusual for him.  He's been having trouble falling asleep lately though and still getting up early, so I think he was catching up on missed sleep.  He headed for his computer and not long after was chatting to a friend on Skype while they both played on Minecraft.

Pete wandered out and headed for his computer to start work for the day.

I showered, tidied a bit around the house, made Billy some breakfast (bacon & cheese bun that we made yesterday), packed the dishwasher, washed up the remaining frypans etc and swept the kitchen floor. 

I also made some jelly for dessert and some more 'magic cordial' mix as we were running low.  While doing that, I also helped Billy with how he could add extra authors for a new blog he's setting up.

About 10:30 Billy switched the TV on for the school shows while I cut up some fruit & crackers for morning tea.  We caught the end of "Being Chinese", then watched "Behind the News" together.  Its a kid's current affairs show - discusses world events in easy to understand ways.  I learn heaps from it :)

I sat with Billy while he did some Khan Academy - today he chose to work on the number line lesson (using negative numbers) and reading tables.  Both were pretty easy for him - as long as he paid attention to what the question was actually asking!

Checked my email again while Billy went back to Minecraft.  He's busy designing a new 'skin' for his character - something that involves a lot of patience and a steady hand with a Paint type program.  You have to work at a pixel level to create the look you want.  He's checked out a library of skins that other people have uploaded to give him some ideas.

I gathered the books & CDs together to take back to the library later today. 

The weather was starting to look rather bleak, so I made toasted sandwiches for lunch - leftover roast pork, tomato & cheese for Pete and I, and plain cheese for Billy.  We watched an episode of 'Legend of the Seeker' while we ate - interrupted by a phone call from one of Pete's clients.  'Legend of the Seeker' is a fantasy series (with lots of sword fighting and nice chests!) based on a series of books by Terry Goodkind.

Billy worked on his blog, skyped friends, watched YouTube videos, played Minecraft and worked on a new website he's creating, while I put the finishing touches (I hope!) on a client's website.  Then I caught up on reading a couple of lectures I'd missed on the writing course I'm doing, sent in one assignment and thought about the other one while I did some ironing.

After a search through the house to find Billy's gi, we headed out to dragons with a stop at the library on the way.  Somehow we ended up borrowing more books than we returned! 

Dragons went well.  I help out teaching the little ones and white belts, so I'm not sure what Billy was doing during class.  I had a couple of little preschoolers that were a challenge to keep focused but we made it through!

We came home, I cooked dinner (sausages, mash & veges) and we watched Ramsey's Best Restaurant and started watching the new Grand Designs.  I did some stuff on my laptop while I was watching - made a few more changes for the client, read some blogs, typed up this post. 

Billy went off to bed about 8:45pm - Pete read some of a sci-fi book to him that they're reading together, then I read a chapter of the next Deltora Quest book to him and tucked him in.  Bedtime always takes a long time!

I made myself a cup of chai tea and sat down to watch the end of Grand Designs (we'd taped it when we put Billy to bed), and send some emails.  I helped Pete with an issue with one of his websites before calling it a night.

Its 11pm, I'm just about to pack up, turn the dishwasher on and head to bed.  Quite late to bed for me tonight.

And now I'll leave you with a random cute cat photo to finish :)

 

A Day in Our Life - Nov 15th

There's a lack of photos in this month's Day in our Life - because I didn't remember until too late that it was the 15th!

Pete & I went down to Sydney over the weekend to watch Taming of the Shrew at the Sydney Opera House. We stayed at the Lane Cover River caravan park which really is a great place to stay.



So on to today - I woke up about 6:30 to the normal caravan park sounds - kids running around, people talking etc. Pete was still asleep, so I lay there & dozed on and off until 7:30 when I got up, wandered off to the toilet blocks and had a quick shower. The showers are some of the best I've seen in a caravan park - newly renovated and with full length shower screens! And lovely hot water.

Back to the van for breakfast of toast & a cup of tea and read some of my book (Bill Bryson's "A short history of nearly everything") while Pete went for a shower. We tidied everything away, packed up the van and hitched up. We were on the road by 9am.

Traffic wasn't too heavy, and we got to my mum & dad's place about 10:30. Billy had stayed with them (and my sister & nieces) for the weekend. We spent time with them and stayed for lunch. Billy was busy playing with his cousin, and then they cooked pita bread pizzas for lunch.

We left their house about 1:30 and drove home. Then came the fun of unpacking, washing, ironing etc - all that fun that comes after a trip away :) I gave the vege garden a good soak once it cooled down a bit - I seem to have lost all bar one cucumber seedling, but the tomato seedlings survived due to my impromptu shade covering. (I draped an old block out curtain over the top, held up by a couple of bits of reo).

I also caught up on some emails and blog posts - gee they build up while you're not online!

Billy helped me make chicken schnitzels, and we had those and chips for tea, and then all played on our respective computers :) Finally got Billy to bed about 9pm - he was pretty hyped tonight.

I've been spending time writing this blog post - our school wrap up will have to wait for tomorrow because it's now 9:30pm and I'm tired..

A Day in Our Life - Oct 15th

I'm planning a slow day today - Billy has finished a 2 day science workshop through the CSIRO, he's exhausted and I'm feeling the same way from being taxi driver, running around doing errands and waiting around.

6ish. Wake up to the alarm, doze & listen to the news (all depressing). Stagger out of bed, pack Pete's lunch and wave him off to work.

Listen to B tell me about some stuff that happened on the science day, check emails while continue to be hassled by Billy talking my ear off. He wanders away to put batteries in a baseball pitching machine.

I get us breakfast - yoghurt & kiwi fruit for Billy, and a poached egg on toast for me. I make a start clearing the 100+ unread emails that I have while helping B with a logic computer game.

Have a shower, do my workout (yeah it would've made more sense to do it before my shower!), put a load of clothes in the washing machine.

Put my headphones on to block out Billy and do an hour's paid work. Billy disapppears into the kitchen to prepare morning tea for us and afterwards does some more on the computer.

I switch to Household CEO mode - answer an email from Pete asking if he's free on a particular day, hang the washing out on the line, check if my tomato and cucumber seedlings have sprouted yet (they haven't) and get the garbage bin in from the footpath.


10am - switch to "school" mode and we watch the ABC school shows together while eating our morning tea. Billy has made us both a ham sandwich, a handful of chips and some sultanas. Today we watch For the Juniors which is about the sun. There is only one primary school show on today so he watches some Cartoon Network after that.


He does some catching practice with the baseball machine.


We scan in the groceries I'd bought yesterday - Billy does the scanning and entering prices, and I unpack and put away. I enter the grocery receipts into my spreadsheet - I'm attemping to only do the main grocery shop monthly (with weekly fruit & vege shops where needed), so I'm trying to keep track of what I buy. Do some internet banking.

12ish. Time for lunch. I sit and read a book for a while, then snuggle on the lounge with Billy and watch some Tom & Jerry. We watch a couple of episodes of Cyberchase, then I get up to do some stuff while Billy keeps watching.


I go out to get the clothes off the line - the wind is so strong I have to climb the fence to get a shirt out of the neighbour's yard!! (Unexpected exercise for the day lol).

I empty the dishwasher, and start filling it up again with the dirty dishes that have accumulated over our couple of busy days. I clean the water filter out. Billy wanders around the house taking photos of stuff.


He does his exercises with his dad once he gets home, and some more catching practice with the baseball machine.

I sit down with a cup of tea to read some blogs for about 30mins. Back up, this time to start cooking tea - sausages, mashed potatoes, spinach (from the garden), broccoli (from the garden) & carrots.

Eat tea and watch the news.

Wash up and clean the kitchen - again.

Billy is asking questions about Buddha, so Pete decides to put on an episode of Monkey to watch. (Don't ask me why!) Billy watches most of that, and then decides he is tired and ready for bed. Stories from Pete & I, kisses & hugs, then finally he's in bed about 8:45.

I type up this blog post while giving Pete some website design advice. It's now 9:30 and time for me to start getting ready for bed. Night!

(Most photos courtesy of Billy!)

A Day in Our Life - Sept 15th

I used to do this when Little Jenny Wren was running it and have decided I want to try doing it again so people can see what a "typical" day in our life is like (if such a thing exists!).

5:45 - alarm goes off, lay in bed and listen to news, weather and trivia quiz. Get up and organise DH's breakfast and lunch. He leaves for work at 6:30.

Check emails, read blogs, make breakfast. Try to plan our week, but give up because the brain is too foggy! Billy is playing on his computer making cartoons with Toon Creator.

8am. I have a shower, make beds & put a load of washing on. Meanwhile Billy decides to watch Ghostbusters for what seems like the millionth time.

8:40am. I put my headphones in, put some music on (Grease soundtrack) and start doing some paid work. Billy decides to get his marbles out and plays a game with himself. He then moves onto Lego and starts making up an elaborate scenario.

9:40am. Finish work, go and hang the clothes out on the line. Cut B & I up some fruit for morning tea.

10am. Sit down to watch the school shows from today (BTN & Science Clips) and the ones we'd taped yesterday (Telling Tales & Numbers Count), while we have our fruit.

11am. I go out to the kitchen to start tackling the piles of dirty dishes left from us being out the last couple of days (*groan*) while Billy starts building some circuits with his circuit board. He brings it out to show me - once again, he has chosen one with sound - and an annoying sound at that!!!

He stays to hassle me (um I mean have quality time with me) and has a discussion about the blue tongue lizard we have living in our garden. He wants to know what length they will grow so I send him off to look it up on Google. I'm trying to get him to start looking things up himself rather than using my brain all of the time!!

He comes back, sidetracked, to tell me that the Google image is about crop circles and wants to know what crop circles are. I give him a brief explanation and he goes off to watch some of the videos on google about them.

He finishes that, and I get him back on track of looking up what length blue tongue lizards grow to. He tells me he can't find an answer, so I help him look it up. (600mm for those who are interested!)

12pm. Time for lunch! I pack snacks & drinks while I get our lunch ready, then 10 mins reading my book while we have lunch (B watches some TV). We get organised to go out.

1pm. We leave for Newcastle - an hour's drive away. We have a successful chiropractor's appointment, then get money out of the bank and buy fruit & vege. Back in the car and head into the CBD - we go to the Art Gallery first for about 20 mins - the exhibitions atm are an Indigenous art exhibition and a modern art display. I have to admit I'm not keen on the modern art.


Then walk next door to the library, where we spend about 20 mins looking for books on Captain Cook and convicts, and borrow what look to be some good ones.

Drop the books back into the car and walk Billy to his drama class.

4pm. B's drama class. After I drop him at his class and say hi to his teacher, I head off for a walk around the streets. I try a slight variation on my usual route as I'm trying to add some extra time to it. I end up walking a lap around the park (including up and down the steps) to add on another 5 minutes. Then I collapse in the car, have a drink, eat a banana and read my book until his class finishes and I can go and collect him.

5:10pm. Back in the car and heading home. It's peak hour so never a pleasant drive..

6pm. Get home, put the garbages out and unpack the car. Cook and eat a quick tea.

7pm. Pete leaves for squash, Billy watches some TV and I play on the computer. B moves to his computer and watches cleaning hints on the Lush House site - sometimes I wonder about that child :)

8pm. Start giving B the hurry up for bed. Story, cuddles and then finally he's gone about 8:30ish...

9pm. A quick tidy of the kitchen, put this blog post up and now I'm heading off to bed to read for a while. DH usually gets home from squash after I'm asleep so I won't see him again until tomorrow.

I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into our life - I'd love to see you do one too! (I know you already do Libby!)

A Day in My Life - Feb 14th

Welcome to Saturday 14th Feb. We don't do Valentine's Day so there's nothing special going on here..

We're child free this morning (Billy is having a sleepover at his Ma's) so I could have a bit of a sleep in. Got up about 8am into a blissfully quiet house.

I curled up on the lounge in my pyjamas with my book and listened to the sound of the rain on the roof. Got up to make myself some breakfast and a cup of tea and went back to my book!

Finished my book about 9am, switched the computer on and answered some emails.

About 9:30 I went out into the kitchen to do the dishes as quietly as possible (DH was still asleep).

Back on the computer about 10am and started doing some research for the homeschooling group.

10:30 finally got to have a shower once Pete woke up, and put a load of clothes on to wash. A bit of tidying, a bit of time on the PC.

11:30 Clothes in the dryer, made up some of the now-famous One Hour French bread. Still waiting for MIL to drop B off. As much as enjoy the time to myself, I don't settle until he's back home...

12 My MIL & SIL dropped Billy off and visited for a while. Once they left we had lunch and watched an episode of Robin Hood. Did the folding and ironing, got a few things ready for our meeting on Monday, and then sat down (3pm) with a cup of tea.

Paid some bills, and balanced our accounts. Answered some work emails, and tried to schedule some new work along with existing clients.

Cooked & ate tea (spag bol + I used the rest of the bread I made for lunch for garlic bread). Played around with a design I had in mind for a new client (I don't normally do paid work on the weekend but when inspiration strikes .. lol)

I downloaded a free yoga class from yogadownload.com (thanks to Libby for the heads up), then played around putting it and some music onto my new phone. Put Billy to bed during this time - listened to his stories of what he'd been up to at the regional show last night.

I went off to my room and did my yoga download - good thing I downloaded the gentle beginner's one - it's been a long time since I've done a proper yoga routine!!

Went to bed where I tossed and turned for quite a while - I'm not sure if it was doing the yoga straight before bed, or that my mind just wouldn't turn off.

For more "Day in my Life" stories check out Jenny's blog.

A Day in My Life - Dec 14th

I had a rather restless night's sleep - not sure why, but the strong winds probably didn't help.

I heard Billy getting up about 7:45 and woke up enough to join him about 8am. Turned computer on, checked emails, made breakfast & some jelly for morning tea, ate breakfast while reading blogs.

9am - realised it was the 14th when I read Jenny's reminder post! Pete pointed out that our server's anti-virus was out-of-date so I ran around confirming that. Decided I couldn't cope with that until I'd had a shower, so went off for that. Made the beds, gathered washing baskets and put the first load of washing on.

Cut out and sewed 3 pirate scarves - 2 for gifts & 1 for Billy. Rang the reseller about the anti-virus, but it was too hard for the weekend staff.. *sigh*


This is my wonderful sewing machine - a hand-me-down from my Mum. I think it's as old as me! Since she got it going properly for me, it hasn't missed a beat. I'm even playing with some of the 'fancy' stitches it does!

10:30 Put the first load of washing out, 2nd load in. Made a kid's apron - in between served Billy jelly for morning tea.

12pm. 2nd load of washing out - rescued the clothes that had blown off the line! Stopped for lunch.

1pm Back into it. 3rd load of clothes out. Made a kid's cape (ie superhero / princess / whatever they want) - it took me over an hour just to make the straps and get them turned in the right way! Next time I'll buy bias binding or something!!

3ish Stopped for a break and read some more of my book. Made Billy a pair of Xmas shorts using the same pattern I used before (it only took me about an hour this time!). Got the clothes off the line. Put chicken in the oven for tea.



5pm. Tidied up my sewing & took some photos of my handiwork! Folded the washing I'd brought in, then made myself a cup of chai tea and sat down to work out the menu plan for the week.

6pm. Finished cooking tea - made Yorkshire Pudding for the first time in ages - MMM! I use the recipe from my Mum's old Commonsense Cookbook, which is in imperial measurements, so I have to also use my grandmother's old measuring jug. I love the way cooking brings the generations together! Ate tea.





7pm. Wrote out & addressed the Xmas cards we want to send. They're ready to post now - one more thing off the list. Started chasing Billy to tidy up and get ready for bed.

8pm. Started putting this post together. Pete is on the phone to his mum, and Billy is waiting his turn on the phone so it will be a late night getting him to bed! Ironed the work clothes while B finished talking and then he & Pete read together. Started planning what I need to do this week. Finally my turn for kiss & cuddles with Billy, and a chapter of Treasure Island.

9pm. Caught up with stuff on the computer, paid some bills, answered emails, read some blogs. Looked for a simple pincushion Billy can make - he wants me to teach him to hand sew tomorrow, so I thought he could make me a pincushion for Xmas :)

9:45pm. I'm about to go and get ready for bed. I hope you've enjoyed this peek at my Sunday!

A Day in my Life - Oct 14th

It was Tuesday today, and quite frankly, not one of my better days as shown by this morning's post. I'm feeling much better tonight though.

The day started with a bit of a sleep-in - Pete's away for work so no need to wake up to an alarm. I think my "Billy alarm" got up about 6:50am and I followed not long after.

Read some emails & blogs, loaded the dishwasher, had breakfast & showered.

About 9am I rang the dr to make an appointment to get Billy seen - his eyes have been bloodshot & sore for about a week. The closest appointment I could get was Saturday morning - or if I thought it was really urgent I could go and sit in the waiting room about closing time and he'd squeeze me in - eventually... Actually that's pretty good in terms of timing - it's a husband and wife team, Billy & Pete go to Dr Bob and I go to his wife. She only works a couple of days a week, so you usually wait at least 4 weeks for an appt with her!

In typical style, his eyes appear to have been ok today - he only said they were sore when I asked him about them (he's a hypochondriac!), he wasn't rubbing them and they look a lot clearer. I'll take him in for a check-up anyway, it's been a while.

I also made an appointment for him for a dental check-up. I have a dentist phobia so have been putting that one off for - um - 6 years :(

I got the rest of the dishes washed & a load of washing on, and that's pretty much when the fog descended and I collapsed in a heap. It wasn't a pretty morning (hopefully the neighbours won't call DOCS due to the amount of screaming I was doing!). It had been building for about a week for lots of reasons that I won't go into here.

Anyway, trying to keep upbeat, I eventually wrote the to-do list post, and got all bar one thing done before we left. Reading about Lisa's sister in law really put my pity party into perspective.

We left for Newcastle just before 1pm. I was still in a snappy, snarly, 'don't even look at me' mood when we got to the chiropractors. I'm still amazed, but I came out of there in a completely different mood. My chiro has magic hands - obviously he gives attitude adjustments along with the spinal adjustments!! It was literally like the fog lifted from walking in there to walking back out. I could think clearly again and I felt much more positive. Aren't our bodies amazing things?!

After the chiro we ducked into Coles and bought a few things we needed, then headed into the CBD. We only had time for a quick trip to the library and the small art gallery above the library today - we usually do the big art gallery next door as well on a Tuesday.

I walked Billy to drama, and then went back to the car and read a book - in wonderful peace & quiet - while I waited for his lesson to finish.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig... Nice comfort food (chips, eggs & toast soldiers) for tea. Billy watched some tv while I caught up on some emails.

I put him to bed about 8pm with stories & snuggles, and headed off to bed myself with the laptop. I got some paid work finished and sent off to the client for testing, and wrote this post. It's 10:38 now - time for me to finish up and go to bed as well.

For more "Day in my Life" stories check out Jenny's blog.

A Day in My Life - Sept 14th

Ah, Sunday - always nice after a busy Saturday. It's also Pete's b'day today.

Even though I could sleep in, my internal alarm woke me at 6am - I tried to go back to sleep but ended up lying there thinking and planning. I got up at 7:15 when Billy came in "whispering" something about making a card - thought I'd best get up and see what he was doing..

I supervised the card making, read some email and then wrapped Pete's present once he woke up (the present was in the bedroom).

We had present opening and then a lazy breakfast (toast).

General morning stuff - washed the dishes, had a shower, made beds, put a load of washing on...

Each couple of months, Billy makes a poster of things we've done in that time period. He likes to look back and see what he's done, and it helps to reinforce anything that he's learnt. So I printed the photos out for Billy's poster and organised him starting that.

Put the load of washing in the dryer because a storm blew up while it was washing.

While Pete & I caught up on some shows we'd taped to watch, I worked on Billy's portfolio for homeschool registration (our appointment with the Board of Studies inspector is on Thursday). In between that was lunch (toasted sandwiches), more washing up, another load of washing, cooking tea and making a birthday cake..

We had tea (baked dinner with pork, potatoes, carrots & - from our garden - silverbeet, peas & snow peas) and then celebrated with mud cake (still warm from the oven - mmmm!) & candles.

After tea I quickly caught up on some blogs - I had over 70 unread posts to get through, so don't feel slighted if I didn't leave a comment on yours!

Bed-time for Billy about 8pm and the usual stories & hugs & kisses. We've just met the Oompa-Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!

I did the ironing and we started planning our trip away in November.

Went to bed about 10:30.. It was a quiet day, not overly exciting but productive.

For more "Day in my Life" stories check out Jenny's blog.

A Day in My Life - August 14th

Up about 6:20 (chilly with another light frost), made Pete's lunch and saw him off to work.

Checked emails & blogs.

Cooked Billy & I some breakfast (bacon, scrambled eggs & toast). Out in the kitchen we were being serenaded by both magpies & kookaburras!

Showered then usual morning routine of making beds, turning off lights, opening curtains, airing rooms etc.

Got snacks & drinks ready for swimming.

Went through some maths problems with Billy - we bought a whiteboard recently and he thinks it's so much fun to do problems on the board (weirdo!!)

Answered a couple of work emails.

Off to Billy's swimming lesson. I sat & chatted to one of the other mums while he had his lesson and then had some free play with the other kids.

Stopped to buy some tomatoes at a roadside stall on the way home.

Boiled some eggs up for lunch. While they were cooking I mixed some bread up in the Kitchen Aid, put it on the windowsill to rise and did the breakfast dishes.

Time Saving Tip - I prefer to make my own bread but sometimes the thought of measuring everything out and putting it together is too overwhelming (awww, poor diddums lol), so I reach for the 'cardboard bread'. Yesterday I got 5 big ziplock bags, measured the dry ingredients (flour, powdered milk, salt, sugar, yeast) for a loaf into each bag and stored them in the fridge. Today I just had to dump the bag of ingredients into the bowl, add oil & water and mix. Much easier!! (even if it is all in my mind!)

Had lunch - I sat in the sun & read a book for a while.

Checked emails & blogs. Printed out some Australian currency "play money" for Billy to learn with.



Cooked the bread, and mixed up a lemon cake while that was in the oven (the recipe was from an old CWA Esk Valley cookbook) - Pete got given some lemons at work the other day. While that was cooling, we went outside and watered the garden, then I did some weeding - I've saved one more hedge bush from the kikuyu that is threatening to engulf it!

We have berries on a few of our strawberry plants!

Fruit trees waiting to be planted

Came inside and had some very yummy lemon cake for a late afternoon tea. Pete came home from work in time to share it (must've smelt it!). Answered a couple of work emails.

Cooked tea (pork chops, mashed potato, carrots & peas). While that was cooking I washed the dishes that had accumulated since lunch (I swear they grow!)

Ate tea, with lemon cake for dessert (there is now only 1 tiny piece left!!)

Did some paid work searching for stock photos for a website.

Billy's bedtime routine - lots of stories & cuddles.

More paid work until about 10 when I've updated this post and now am about to head for bed.


For more "Day in my Life" stories check out Jenny's blog.

A Day in My Life - July 14th

Up at 7, made Pete's lunch, saw him off to work.

Checked emails & favourite blogs, did freecycle moderatoring.

Made breakfast (rice bubbles for Billy, porridge for me). Put some yoghurt on to set while I was cooking the porridge.

Billy claimed his tummy was hurting again (he was sick the other night) so spent a while sitting in the toilet with him. Held off having a shower until I could gauge how he was.

9ish Phonecall from a friend inviting us out to the library today - Billy chose that moment to be sick so had to tell her I'd ring back! Another phone call inviting us for lunch - also had to ring back & decline. We're popular today!! Sat watching kid's TV while cuddling Billy.

10:15ish Judged Billy ok enough to leave him while I had a quick shower, make the beds and get meat out for tea.

Typed up a recipe for my blog.

Billy seemed ok. We read about Bastille Day (the abridged kid's version) and talked about it. We watched a couple of video snippets about it on the computer- including a Lego re-enactment of Bastille day lol.




Helped Billy set up & do some painting. I dried up the dishes from last night and cooked lunch (noodles for Billy and toast for me) while he was finishing the painting.

Had lunch & read my book. Did some work on my section of our home ed newsletter and sent it off to the editor while Billy played some games on the computer.

We took advantage of the rain stopping and a brief bit of sun to get out and take photos in the garden.

I did the washing up (I swear it breeds in our house!), swept the kitchen floor and wiped down the cupboard fronts (well overdue). Tidied up a bit. Remade Billy's bed with his winter sheets - finally dry after their midnight wash on Saturday night. The above was interspersed with "Mummy, come and have a look at this" or "Mummy, can you help me with this".

I set up an ebay auction for some things Pete wants to sell.

5pm Pete home.

Dried the dishes. Cooked sausages for Pete's lunch tomorrow and for Billy's tea. Cooked tea for us (chilli con carne), and watched the news while we ate.

Read some more blogs, wrote a post for mine about the garden.

Finished & uploaded ebay listing.

Did Billy's bedtime routine and got him to bed.

8:30ish Started paid work... It's so hard to get motivated at this time of night but I don't have a lot of choice..

10:30ish Finished work for the night. Updated my blog with this post and now I'm off to bed.

For more "Day in my Life" stories check out Jenny's blog.

A Day in My Life - June 14th

After a big day yesterday, we took it easy today - plus it was cold, so curled up on the floor in a blanket watching TV was as good a place as any :)

I woke up about 5:30 to Billy coughing in his sleep and then was only able to doze lightly until he came and snuggled with us about 7:30. He & I got up nearer to 8, snuggled on the lounge and read Green Eggs & Ham together.

I checked emails, made breakfast and then read some blogs. Jenny's post reminded me that it's the 14th so I quickly started logging what I've done.

Billy rang my BIL to wish him a happy birthday and chatted a while (thank goodness for local call rates, I'd never be able to pay the bill the way Billy likes the phone!). I loaded the washing machine with towels to soak for a while.

There wasn't much I could do inside because DH was having a sleep-in, so I wandered outside to check the garden and ended up doing a couple of hours weeding! I planted chamomile, and 2 lots of thyme where I'd weeded, from the herbs I bought the other day. I'm hoping to gradually plant enough groundcover under the hedges to keep the weeds at bay. Billy came outside for a while, alternated helping me & playing (mainly playing!), chattered all of the time, showed me his dancing, then he went back inside, and popped back out every now and then - to bring me a drink & apple for morning tea (sometimes he's so sweet!) and to tell jokes ("Why did the rubber chicken cross the road? Because he wanted to stretch his legs!").

I finshed weeding about 11:30 and came inside. Ate the apple that had been given to me "with love" and moderated some Freecycle messages. I started the washing machine going to finish the load that was soaking.

DH finally emerged from his sleep-in and started packing ready to go down to watch the Swans play (AFL). Helped him get organised and hung the towels out. He left - I *finally* got to have a shower, clean my teeth and make the beds!!

We had a late lunch of toasted sandwiches. I did another load of washing and hung it up inside because it was looking quite drab and overcast.

While I was eating my lunch, I was looking at the hydrangeas that need pruning, so afterwards I went outside to do that. I pruned a couple of them but it was too cold to stay out there - they were in the deep shade. I potted some cuttings - I'm very new to taking cuttings, so it's a case of trial and error. Nothing ventured, nothing gained though, as they say!

So I cozied up in a blanket and read my book for a while, then did some work on the computer - answered work emails, made a few quick site changes for clients. Billy was watching TV and doing drawings on his computer.

I went back outside and got the washing off the line - brrr! - quickly came back inside and snuggled under the blanket again :) I caught up on some forums and answered some more work emails.

Just Billy and me for tea, so nice & easy - we just had fettucine with cheese melted on top. I read my book, Billy watched TV curled up in his blanket. We read Green Eggs & Ham yet again!

Bedtime snuggles - another story (Magic Beach by Alison Lester) and a chat. Pete rang from the Swans game to say goodnight to Billy - he's staying at a mate's place tonight so won't be back until the morning.

I updated Billy's reading log (he's doing the Premier's Reading Challenge) and hopped into the nice warm bed with the laptop to write this. It's 9pm - I *should* be doing some work but I am really struggling to keep my eyes open. I think I'll read for a while and then go to bed.

For more "Day in my Life" stories check out Jenny's blog.

A (Very tired) Day in my life - May 14th

This is part of Jenny Wren's "A Day in My Life" carnival where you document your day each 14th.

5:45 alarm goes off. Half-listen to the radio, half-doze. I'm very tired - didn't get home from working with a client until 11 last night. Up at 6:15, make Pete's lunch (soup in thermos, bread roll, fruit) & coffee to take to work, while he showers and gets ready, and then gets Billy up.
Pete leaves about 6:40 - wave goodbye from the front door. Can hear the magpies in the tree across the road. Very foggy today.

Turn computer on. Check email.

Make B & I toast for breakfsat, and a cup of tea for me.

Back to reading blogs etc. Shower, make beds, tidy up kitchen. Folded the 'chinese laundry' hanging around the house.

8:30 Sat down at computer to make some lists. Went outside to water the garden while Billy jumped on the trampoline. Worked on the computer some more.

11:30ish Had lunch. Sat in the sun with a book for a while as I was feeling very tired and fragile! Put steak & gravy in the slow cooker to make a shepherd's pie for tea.

Did some maths with Billy. We're just about finished the kindergarten maths book and are ready to move on the Grade 1.

Make some spreadable butter (beat butter with olive oil).

Clean out a shelf in a cupboard to rearrange the pantry a bit.

Peeled potatoes for tea - trying out cooking them in the thermos to see how it goes.

Washed the day's accumulated dishes.

4:30ish Pete came home - find out he had squash tonight instead of tomorrow night so had to get a wriggle on with cooking tea! So much for my thermos experiment!

Helped Billy make fruit salad for dessert.

Had tea - Billy of course didn't like it (*sigh*) so he had to have a taste and then I cooked him some noodles.

6:30pm Pete left for squash. Billy & I had dessert.

Put B's folded clothes away, dried the dishes I washed earlier, read stories with Billy and tucked him in. Washed the dishes from tea, they can drain until the morning.

9pm Wrote this post, not sure it makes sense - I'm so tired I'm seeing triple so I'm off to bed.

A Day in My Life - April 14th

Yesterday I took part in Jenny's "A Day in My Life" where you document your day each 14th. It was a lot of fun!

5:45am Alarm goes off. Listen to our local ABC radio while waking up - answer quiz questions in my head. Did you know a "spat" is a baby oyster? I didn't!

6am. Up & dressed. Make Pete's lunch - roll out of a saved pork chop, spanish onion and cucumber. No fruit so have to open a tin of apricots & spoon into a container. Really must go shopping!

6:20 Turn computer on. Realise it's the 14th so grab a piece of paper & start jotting down what's happened, while chatting to Pete.

6:30 Check email - read a few that look important and / or interesting. Moderate Freecycle group. Pete gets B up.

6:35 Pete leaves - kisses & wave goodbye. Snuggle with Billy on the lounge and watch Bob the Builder. "Can we fix it??" One episode is enough, grab laptop and go back to snuggle. check a couple of boards, print list of books due back at the library this week, renew some books that I know haven't been read yet. Make a mental note to start reading more books with Billy through the day.

7am. Make breakfast - dippy (poached) eggs & toast for us both, water for Billy, cup of tea for me. (I drink water constantly through the day so I won't be writing down every glass I have!) While doing that water the seedlings & cuttings, help Billy write an email to his Ma (Pete's mum), clean off kitchen counter, dry dishes and deal with tired, grumpy, whinging, over-partied 5yo..

7:30. Have breakfast while reading emails, blogs.

7:45 Clean up breakfast dishes. Give fridge a cursory clean out, empty scrap bin to worms, wash dishes, fold basket of clean clothes that I dumped on the lounge yesterday while frantically looking for a pair of socks to wear out. Interrupted several times by Billy "watch me do this one" or "can you help me with this" as he plays on the Curious George website. Realise how much needs to be ironed because I didn't deal with it straight away. :(

8:15 Finally get to have a shower. Make beds, quick tidy of bedrooms. Load of sheets on to wash. Start making grocery list. Billy chasing one of those bouncy superballs around the kitchen.

9am Ring Smash Repairs to find out procecedure (damage from bingle earlier in the year). I've been putting off getting it fixed because a) it's going to be a pain to have the car out of action and b) I was trying to save up the money first without dipping in to emergency fund. But Pete got a phone call from the insurance company on Friday to say they can't settle the other guy's repairs until we get our car fixed. Sounds ludicrous to me but there you go!

Take a quick break to check emails, answer a couple of work ones and type up day so far otherwise I'm going to be typing for hours tonight!

Read an email from a client that basically contradicts everything he told me on the phone earlier so I'll need to go out and see him. Flag it to get back to him once I know what's happening with the car.

9:30 Hang load of sheets out. Put load of towels in. Billy now making something (?) out of boxes. I'm afraid to ask what it is! Make a note as I walk past the vege garden that there are spinach & snow peas ready to pick so will have to add that to the menu plan. Get back to making the grocery list.

Watch "The Billy Show". He's dressed up with a clown's wig, blue gloves, headphones and singing & dancing! Oh and jumping out of aforementioned box creation. I'm still not sure what it is - maybe a jack in the box??

Dry dishes, get drink bottles filled and have a couple of vita weats with plastic (sliced) cheese for morning tea because that's all that's left in the house!

10:15 Give Billy a hurry up to get dressed. He stomps off to his room in a huff because I won't play the game on his computer. Hang load of towels out while looking anxiously at the clouds in the sky. Radar still looks clear though.

10:30 off to the smash repairers. He took photos etc etc - they need it for 3 days! It's a tiny scrape but he claims they need it for that long for the paint to dry. They're taking bookings from 28th April, so have to ring back and organise a time that's less incovenient than any other!

Off to Bilo. Was distracted by the fact that it was freezing in there - even in the normal aisles so standing in the meat aisle searching intently for decent looking meat at a reasonable price was torture!! It ended up being an expensive shop with needing things like washing powder, plus I bought nuts and some nice fetta cheese.

Came in just under budget. Had to put up with a tantrum on the way out by a very hungry boy (well I'm excusing him for that reason) because *he* wanted to press the OK button on the EFTPOS machine. (I used a prepaid Visa that I'd purchased with points from Homescan).

12:45 home to dripping clothes on the line (so much for the radar!), a parcel at the front door that I tried to distract Billy from (a b'day present for him) and a message on the answering machine. I brought the groceries inside, put the cold stuff in the fridge / freezer, got changed, and started making us some lunch. Macaroni with grated cheese and a strawberry milkshake for Master B and a toasted cheese sandwich for me (oh and a nice warm cup of tea). Went back for some rice crackers and a banana. Checked email, moderated freecycle groups and read a few blogs.

2pm Scanned groceries & put away. I'm part of an AC Nielsen project called HomeScan where they provide you with a scanner, and you scan all grocery items that you buy so they can see shopping trends. You earn points by doing it regularly - that's where my prepaid Visa came from. It gets to be a pain sometimes but luckily I don't shop very often!

2:30 Checked & answered emails. Booked car into smash repairers. Tested Billy's invention that dispensed afternoon tea.

3pm Foot's hurting so sat down with a book. Was interrupted several times to help Billy do stuff. Put roast on to cook for tea. Billy watched Backyard Science and then tried to duplicate a couple of the experiments. Did the ironing and put clothes away.

5:15pm Pete home. Peeled some veges to go with the roast. Parboiled potatoes and put on to roast. Picked spinach and snow peas, and steamed them along with a carrot. Washed up the dishes, containers & cooking utensils that had magically grown on the bench since this morning!

7pm. Pete watching football, so jumped back on the computer. Answered a couple of emails, updated Money with new transactions.

7:30pm Start Billy's shower, help him dry & dress afterwards. Pete goes in to practice reading with Billy and say goodnight. I tidy bathroom & choose a book to read to him. My turn. I read a book to him, he reads one to me, then we snuggle, talk about the good things that happened today and what we'll be doing tomorrow.

8:30pm Out to the kitchen to wash the dishes from tea, fill water bottles for tomorrow and sweep the floor.

Back in to turn Billy's light out.

9pm. I was supposed to be doing An Hour for the Planet tonight but Pete didn't go to squash, so will postpone it til Wednesday night. Review a document for a client and send her feedback.

9:30 Off to bed to read for a while and then lights out.