The party is over!!!

Well the party is over! I am never, ever doing finger food ever again :)

It wasn't without it's dramas though. The way Saturday went, I was wondering if the party was even going to go ahead - everything seemed to go wrong. On Saturday morning I pulled the chicken wings out of the fridge to marinate. I bought them on Thursday afternoon at the deli at Woolies - they went straight into a cool bag with a couple of freezer bricks, it took me about 30 minutes to get home and they went straight in the fridge - I pulled them out Saturday morning and they were off. The smell almost knocked me over - I was not impressed! So a quick trip down to Bilo to buy some more.

The cake I made last week & froze was too dry, so I made another one on Saturday. When I pulled it out of the tin, it split :( So it went from a slab cake to a magic hat cake :) A few other minor things went went wrong as well, like the battery in the lawn-mower being dead when Pete went to use it...

We had to go out to dinner on Saturday night - Pete had his squash presentation and since he'd won his grade, I figured we'd better go! Mum & Dad looked after Billy - and he freaked them out by coming down with a temperature which wasn't coming down with Panadol. We got home about 10:30 as they were starting to panic - I gave him some Nurofen as well to try and get it down. He was wide awake again by that point, and clingy, so I was trying to ice the cake & attend to him at the same time! At midnight I gave up on decorating the cake, and just left it iced. His temp was starting to come down, but was still high, so I got the sleeping bag & doona and curled up on his floor for the night to keep an eye on him. (Not as much of a sacrifice as it sounds - the alternative was sleeping next to a beer-y, snoring husband lol). So needless to say I didn't get a lot of sleep that night - his temp was down to a reasonable level by about 2:30am but I was wide awake at that point with everything I had to do racing through my mind.

Anyway he seemed ok the next morning, a bit whingy but his temp was ok, so we didn't have to cancel.

On to the party... Hot finger food is a LOT of work - not just beforehand, but on the day. We had 3 ovens going (we have a double oven and Mum brought a little portable one down), and spent probably an hour reheating it & cooking the pizza.

The pizza & quiches probably went over the best. I forgot to put sauce out for the meatballs so they were a bit dry, as were the pies, but they were all still nice. The sausage rolls & chicken weren't rejected either. We had heaps left over though - I really over-catered (and we didn't even heat some of it up!), so we'll be eating leftovers all week!! Luckily some of it was still frozen so we can save it for another day.

I'd hired a magician through LETS - she did a good show, the kids loved her, especially the grand finale with a real rabbit which they then got to pat & cuddle! Unfortunately she couldn't make it til 2pm, so it made it a long afternoon for some of the littlies and some had to leave early.

I had some wonderful help from family & friends with putting out the food, and cleaning up - it was so nice to come in to the kitchen and find piles of clean dishes!! Thank you everyone!

A selection of photos..

Party in full swing..

The infamous finger food..

Billy's cake - decorated by himself..

Blowing out the candles..

A very rare shot of me :)

Billy with magician JoJo..

I don't like to put photos of other people's kids on my blog (for privacy reasons), so have only put a few photos up here. I'll be putting more online later - if anyone wants to see more, email me at kezp99 @ hotmail.com, let me know who you are, and I'll share the link.

Overall it was a good day though I think. Billy enjoyed it, so that was the main thing after all!

Now to do it all over again in 3 weeks for Pete's 40th! I'm not sure what we're doing for food - but I know it won't be finger food lol!!

Blog Comments

How do you handle it when you leave a comment on someone's blog that you want to later check back to see if they've replied? Do you just add the URL to your favorites? Try to remember what you wrote where? Or ???

What's your technique?

Dress-up box

The dress-up box certainly got a workout today..

Magician Billy - the foil is a magic wand (use your imagination!)




Builder Billy - complete with Bob the Builder toolbelt :)

I hope everyone had a nice day today - we spent the day up at Mum & Dads & Billy had a ball playing with his cousins. I had a great time chatting with my Mum & sister - and occasionally Dad as he wandered in and out. It's so good to have them home!!!

"In Praise of Slow"

I reviewed this book earlier in the year - http://kezs-blog.blogspot.com/2007/01/in-praise-of-slow-book-review.html - and part of this came back into my mind tonight as I was trying to hurry Billy's bedtime story because I had "stuff to do". It's well worth a read - discussing things like the Slow Food Movement, alternative medicines, not loading our kids up with activities etc. I'll have to borrow it from the library again and see what I get out of it on a 2nd read.

I finished all of the shopping today for the party - just some stuff I'd left until I went down to Newcastle with time to get it. I had to go down to the chiro - he was very pleased to hear I am cutting down work - he blames my working for my back & neck problems (not surprisingly!!)

Tomorrow we're going up to Mum & Dads to see them - they got home yesterday - it'll be fantastic to see them.

Finger food recipes..

Mini Quiche Recipe

This was the recipe I used for the mini quiches - it's great! http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2006/07/mini-quiche-recipe.html

Party Pie Recipe

Um, I didn't really have one as such. I boiled the mince (2kg), threw in some onion flakes (because I was out of onion), I think a bit of minced garlic, beef stock, tomato paste, salt & pepper. I think that was it - I just kept adding stuff til it tasted ok :) Then I reduced it down and thickened it with some flour.

The cases - I cut the bottom out of the frozen shortcrust pastry sheets, and the top out of puff pastry sheets. I used a muffin pan that wasn't very deep. Cooked at about 190 for 15 mins.

Meatballs

Ditto to above - 2 kg of mince, mixed with a bit of minced garlic, breadcrumbs, an egg, dried basil, salt & pepper. Mixed it all up in a BIG bowl lol, and shaped little cocktail size meatballs out of it. I cooked them on a tray I think for about 10-15 mins. I got away with a baking tray because they weren't very fatty, but if your mince was a bit fattier a baking dish would be better.

Sausage Rolls

Yes a real recipe lol. I think this was a Women's Weekly one originally.

6 sheets puff pastry
4 slices soft bread, crusts removed
3/4 cup hot water
1kg sausage meat
1 med onion, grated
1 med carrot, grated
mixed herbs to taste - I use about 1-2 tsp because I'm not a big fan of the taste
salet & pepper to taste
milk for glazing

1. Preheat oven to 220C. Soak bread in hot water for 5 minutes, squeeze out excess water & combine with meat, onion, carrot, herbs, salt & pepper. (This is a really messy part - you really need to get your hands in to mix properly!)
2. Cut pastry in half and sppon sausage mix down centre. Fold pastry over filling and seal edges firmly. Cut to size & glaze with milk. Bake 25 mins or until golden.

I cut each roll into 4 to make party size ones - you get 48 out of the recipe that way.

Enjoy :)

I think I'm turning into a finger food!

I've been busy cooking over the last 2 days ready for Billy's party on Sunday (it's a family lunch rather than just a kid's party - I don't do kid's parties lol). We decided to do finger food rather than a BBQ or meat & salads like we usually do - please smack me around the head if I decide that again!!

I started off yesterday by mincing 4kg of meat (it was cheaper than buying mince), then made the following:

* 54 mini quiches
* 80 party sausage rolls
* 132 cocktail meatballs
* 36 party pies

oh, and cooked a baked dinner as well!!

I was so exhausted last night - I couldn't even blog :)

I finished it off today by cooking:

* another 43 party pies
* B's birthday cake
* and made up some breadcrumbs - well actually my little helper did under supervision.

Our freezer is stuffed to the gills now! The thing that took the most time was the fact that I only had for eg 3 x 6-muffin trays for the quiches, so that took 3 batches, and 1 tray for the party pies, so that took 7 gos!!

On Saturday I'll be cooking up some chicken drummettes (once I find somewhere to sell them raw), making dough for a few pizzas, and decorating the cake, as well as cleaning the house (Did I mention that we're going out to dinner for Pete's squash presentation on Saturday night as well??!!). Sunday morning I'll make up the pizzas, cook some 'little boys' (cheerios / cocktails frankfurts / whatever they're called in your neck of the woods), make up some bruschetta and do lots of reheating.

Hopefully that will be enough food - as well as chips & lollies to start, plus slices for dessert that my MIL is in charge of.... I'm notorious for over-catering!

And yes, several times during all that cooking I was wondering why I couldn't just do what 'normal' people do and go and buy it all lol. Glad I'm not normal - at least this way I know exactly what's in all of the stuff - unlike the overpriced cr*p from the freezer section!

Cup of tea anyone?

There's a funny story behind this teapot. For the last few years, we've had Xmas Day with my BIL's grandparents & family, so participate in the gift-giving as well. Last Xmas, his grandmother gave me this wonderful teapot which I duly admired - except at that time, I didn't drink tea :) I just assumed since she didn't know me that well that she didn't know I didn't drink tea. She rang me a few weeks after Xmas very embarrassed - she had actually bought me something else for Xmas and got my gift and the gift for her next-door neighbour mixed up. She was most apologetic and I assured her it didn't matter, offered to give it back to her if she wanted etc etc but she didn't want it back.

In the last few months I've actually started drinking tea (both black tea and green tea), and have started using the teapot. It's coming in very handy now - thanks Gran :)

Aftermath of the Floods

It's been over 2 months since the storms & floods of June, and the aftermath continues. I know several people who are still displaced while their houses are being repaired, or who have moved back in even though they are still waiting on repairs. Many businesses are still closed, some permanently, especially in Wallsend which was worst hit. Maitland's New Year's Eve fireworks have been cancelled as the river bank is still too unstable.


I take a back road to drop Billy at preschool normally - it goes over a wonderful little ricketty bridge - it's only been re-opened for a few weeks, it took that long for the water to subside. I took my new camera and risked life & limb taking some photos on Thursday :) It breaks my heart every time I go over the bridge to see all of the debris and destruction of such a pretty area.

You can click on any of the photos for a larger view.

This sign is at least 10m above the bridge - the debris that has collected against the road sign shows how high the river got.


Looking downstream - the "clumps" in the tree are more debris washed downstream.

Yet more debris :) Looking upstream.

The far side of the river - the road was all silted up and still has sand piled up along the sides.

A cute pelican who decided to pose so I could play with the zoom lens :)

Saturday Ramblings

I'm tired and stressed.. (so what else is new?! lol)

We had a dreadful night last night - all 3 of us are coughing our lungs up (sorry, hope no-one was eating lol) so we were all waking each other up through the night. Once I'm awake I keep lying in bed thinking of all of the things that I have to do - my heart races, I can feel my body tense, and my mind won't shut off.

I'm only capable of thinking about things one day at a time - my life consists of ticking things off a list atm, and if it's not on the list, it doesn't happen. I'm even treating Billy's party that way which is sad - rather than the happy event it should be..

10 weeks to go until work & uni are finished.. I've done out a timeline in the task section of Microsoft Outlook of the paid work I have on, which also stretches until the end of Oct. I've blocked November off as R&R - it may not happen but it makes me feel good!

On the upside, the electricity bill came yesterday. We used 42 kWh / day which is more than last qtr ( 36 kWh ), but way down on the same quarter last year (72 kWh - ouch, yeah I know!!). The main change has been in heating. I haven't pulled the heater out at all this year - I've been putting a cuddly blanket over my legs instead when I've been sitting in the loungeroom. I'm only using Billy's heater for maybe 30 mins to take the chill off his room before bed. Other than that there's a little fan heater in the bathroom that's only on when he has a bath, and our IXL-tastic heater lights in the ensuite - I'd hate to see what they use though. The dryer has only been used a couple of times all winter as well. I'm pretty pleased with it for a winter bill - will try to do better next year.


Kin & Lightening have both awarded me the "schmooze" award! I'm not sure I like the name of this one - schmooze implies "sleazy" to me, but the sentiment is good!

This award was created by Danielle at Pink Reviews with the help of Mike at Things by Mike.

The award was created to:

"recognize those people that were exceptionally adept at creating relationships with other bloggers by making an effort to be part of a conversation, as opposed to a monologue".

I duly award it to:

Susan
Lisa

Thanks to you both for the regular comments you leave on my blog!

I taught my last Saturday course for this term today - Getting started on eBay. I had 6 students so not a bad number. After work I did the shopping for Billy's party - tonight I work on my assignment, and tomorrow I'll be cooking for the party.. What a wild life I lead :)

Well, best get to it - the assignment isn't going to write itself unfortunately..

Nice Matters Award!

I got all warm and fuzzy this morning when I woke up to find Susan over at Simply Living had awarded me the 'Nice Matters Award'. Awwwww thanks :)

The award was started by Bella-Enchanted

"This award will be awarded to those that are just nice people, good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!"

How nice is that!

So I in turn award it to:

A couple of 'old' internet friends: (as in I've known you guys for a while, not that you're old!!!)

Lightening

Libby

Kin

And some new internet friends:

Susan (yes I know you gave it to me - you get it back again!)

Lisa

Kris

I enjoy reading all of your blogs and the comments that you leave on mine. It's amazing how you can feel you know someone just from their blog!

Poll closed

Thanks to everyone who voted. The majority of you either don't care if I put homeschooling stuff in the same or separate blog, or want it in the same blog, so I'll keep it in this blog. Thanks :)

Wednesday

My camera arrived yesterday! My darling hubby picked it up from the post office for me as I was working late, and I got to play with it a bit last night. I think I'll be using it on Auto for a long time, but I'd love to play with all of the settings one day!!! I'll take some proper photos tomorrow.

I also turned down work yesterday. I was asked to run some courses in Term 4 - it was up to me what courses, what days & times etc, and it was really hard to turn it down.. I knew I had to say no for my own sanity, but I had a few mental arguments with myself "maybe I could just do a few days" etc.. But I finally sent the email off to say no. I'm proud of me!!!

Yesterday was my day tutoring at the uni (4 down, 8 to go lol), then today was my Cert IV course (as student not teacher). So I'm a bit brain dead and have a slight headache, early night for me tonight.

List: Things to do after I finish work...

When I left school in 1988, I got a traineeship which meant I worked for the company full-time and they paid for me to go to uni part-time. I finished my degree in 93 and then for some reason that sounded like a good idea at the time, went back for Honours - still studying part-time & working full-time. I finished studying in 95. Pete & I also started our business in 94 or 95 - still working full-time and doing casual programming part-time. We kept that up until I went on maternity leave in 2002. I remember the "new millenium" ticking over - as we were both up programming at midnight 1999.... I also started teaching part-time at an adult community college in 2001 after I had my mid-life crisis. (First? I think I may now be having my 2nd lol)

Once Billy was about 3 months old, I started working from home again and the business has gradually built up to the extent it is now, where I have more work than time to do it, plus the teaching. This year I added in doing my Cert IV Training & Assessment (just in case I got bored lol).

Anyway my point is that for almost 20 years (eek!), there's always been something to do - either work or study. Taking time out to relax has meant putting other stuff off. I don't really have any hobbies other than reading and the internet. I'm going to find it really hard to not have work to do - but I'm really looking forward to it!

So I've come up with a list of things that I've been wanting to find time for to give myself some direction. Some of these things have been on my list for at least 10 years! In no particular order they are:

* organise digital photos on my computer
* organise printed photos (currently just in a big box)
* do jigsaws / puzzles
* re-organise office (tidy up books, set up ready for home-schooling)
* get a household cleaning routine (I don't want to be one of those people who are obsessed with housework - not that I can see that happening lol - but it needs more than the lick & a promise that it currently gets! Billy actually asked me who was coming to visit when I was sweeping the verandahs yesterday :S )
* make pasta
* research family history
* gardening
* learn Italian
* play with photography
* yoga

That should keep me occupied, and hopefully I'll learn to relax while I'm doing it!

Pleasant day

Great news - my mummy will be home soon lol. They rang tonight ("they" being my parents, sister & nieces) - they're leaving Perth tomorrow and will be taking their time coming home, so will probably be home in about 10 days. However knowing their usual form, they'll probably get a whiff of home and get here much quicker! It'll be good to see them - they left in April :(

So today - Billy woke me up with breakfast in bed - a big bowl of dry cereal lol. It was a beautiful day weather-wise - I even got into shorts! (Luckily no-one was here to see :) ) This morning I tidied up & swept the front & back verandahs and did a little bit of paid work. I ducked into Bilo & Woolies this afternoon to pick up some drinks & chips that were on special for Billy's party and then did some cooking (3 cakes - chopped up & in the freezer already or they'd be gone!). Tea was a roast chicken dinner. Nice & relaxing..

Farmer's Markets

We went to the Kurri Farmer's Markets yesterday morning. It was a bit smaller than I was expecting with only 2 or 3 fruit & vege stalls. There were lots of other stalls with jams, pickles, sauces, soaps etc so had a pleasant time wandering around anyway.

Prices for the fruit & vege were quite reasonable - I picked up 2 kg Pink Lady apples for $6, a lettuce, tomatoes, a cucumber, capsicum, snow peas & a toffee apple for Billy for $12.50. As nice as the jams, pickles etc looked, I kept thinking "I can make it for much less than that".. I have to admit to being suckered into a packet of guide biscuits from the Girl Guide's stall though - I was involved in Guides for so long that I have a soft spot for them (not to mention the biscuits lol).

I'm hoping the fruit & veges were local - I've been a bit cynical since I saw a roadside seller (who I always assumed sold stuff from his garden) pull up early one morning with a trailer load of fruit & vege from the nearby markets!!

I just bought a new camera!

I'm so excited! I was holding out to replace our 8 year old 1 Megapixel non-zoom camera until after we'd paid all the money we have owing, but as I've mentioned recently, it's gone all blurry. Not sure if the lens is damaged or if it's been dropped once too many times :( I've tried cleaning it to no avail - my phone now takes better photos than our camera!! So I bit the bullet and just ordered a Fuji Finepix S5700 digital camera. I was just going to get another 'point & shoot' cheapie, but for a little bit more money this one seemed a heaps better deal with lots of extras. I'll use some of the money I'm earning with the uni work.

I can't wait for it to arrive so I can play with it! Billy is NOT getting his hands on this one - he can have the old one to play with :)

Just for Kris..

Here's a summary of my day off - not very exciting but bliss :)

I dropped Billy at preschool, got home about 9:45 & put a load of washing on. Sat down on the lounge in the sun and read a book (Birthright by Nora Roberts) til about 11am (with a quick trip to the clothes line to hang the clothes out). I started to get a bit sleepy so I went to bed and slept til about 1:30!!! It was great apart from that really groggy feeling you get after a daytime sleep! Had some lunch, read more of my book until 4 when I got the clothes back in, packed Billy a snack and went to pick him up from preschool.

Ahhhh I needed that!! I've kept up the theme tonight - I cooked tea, made Billy's b'day party invitations and haven't even thought about work..

I still have about 70 pages of my book left to finish though, so I think I'll rectify that now :)

Poll

I've just created a poll on the side over there ---->

I'm 99% certain we're going ahead with homeschooling, but I want to talk to my mum & sister first. (Yep almost 37 and still need my mum's approval! lol) If I'm blogging about homeschooling stuff (what we get up to etc maybe on a day-to-day basis), would you prefer that to be in a separate blog so that if you're not interested you don't have to read it?

It makes no difference to me, just interested in "my readers" (lol) want..

I'm so excited!

I'm having a day off! Once I drop Billy at preschool, I'm coming home and going to lay on the lounge in the sunshine with a book, and probably nap as well :) I just read Lightening's post about Your Money or Your Life so I think I'll intersperse Nora Roberts with that lol. I'll probably still check emails (since I'm addicted!) but won't even read any work related ones - well, I'll try anyway :)

Catchya! (I'm feeling giddy like a kid with a day off school!)

Frugal Subversive Award

Wow, I'm humbled. Susan has nominated me for the Frugal Subversive Award. I'm not sure I deserve it but it sure gives me something to live up to!

The award was started by Rhonda to recognise "bloggers who consistently turn their backs on consumerism to live frugally in a creative and authentic way. These bloggers have made me think in innovative ways about my own life and how I can make a difference making, reusing, and just saying "no" to mindless spending."

I may double-up on nominations as we all seem to be inspired by the same blogs! Just goes to show the wonder of blogs that like-minded people can share their lives.



Firstly I'd like to nominate Sharyn Munro, the "Woman on the Mountain". Sharyn has really turned her back on consurism - she lives alone (apart from the animals) in a remote wildlife mountain refuge. She's written an incredible book (called The Woman on the Mountain) and her blog is a joy to read.



Secondly Busy Woman at A Vision Splendid for her blog on living simply & frugally.



Thirdly Kris at Garden Varieties who shares her garden & her life with us.







If you are given an award and want to take part in this meme, you can in turn select three other bloggers who have inspired you to be a frugal subversive. Passing the rules on with the award will make it easier for everyone to participate. Congratulations on the award. I hope it helps you spread awareness near and far.



MEME RULES



1. When you are tagged, write a post with links to three blogs who have inspired you with their frugal creativity or innovation.

2. In your post, please link back to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme and save the award graphic.

3. Leave a comment or message for the bloggers you’re tagging, so they they know they're received the award.

4. Display the Frugal Subversive Award badge to identify your blog as part of the movement that is turning its back on consumerism at any cost.

One more down!

I finally finished an assignment today that was about 6 weeks overdue - talk about a load off my mind! It was really long & time-consuming so I've been procrastinating dreadfully on it. I made myself sit down & finish it today - it took me about 4 hours but it's done. Now I'm up-to-date - well, just the current one to finish, but that's close enough :)

A good day

This morning I taught my "Getting Your Business Online" course for the first time. I only had 3 students - a 4th rang in sick - so we finished slightly early but it seemed to go really well anyway. Like always, I found some improvements that could be made and have noted those on my lesson plan. Hopefully it will run again next term.

By the time I got home, Pete had taken Billy off with him while he played squash, so I had a couple of hours of quiet to do some design work for a client, and mop the kitchen floor (that one in particular was long overdue!) Unfortunately he came home early because something went "pop" in his foot - he's hobbling around in a fair bit of pain atm and sitting with ice-packs on it. I suspect we might have a trip up to emergency tomorrow..

I have a little ritual with Billy at bedtime, I ask him what's been good about his day and to tell me x things that he's enjoyed. (I vary the number to keep him on his toes lol). I started it earlier this year to try & build his self-esteem and get him into a habit of reflecting on the happy things in his day. He loves it and won't let me get away with skipping it :) It's so funny some of the things that he comes up with at times - "I got to stay up late" or "I got to eat take-away" etc. Today was "I got to see the groovy lights at squash" - it's fun to see things through the eyes of a child :)

Book Review: The White Masai

Yesterday I finished reading "The White Masai" by Corinne Hofmann. It's an amazing book - the story of the first part of her life. While a young woman, she went to Kenya for a holiday with her boyfriend, and fell in love with a Masai warrior. She ditched the boyfriend, moved to Kenya and moved in with the Masai - in his little hut. The story follows their life through illness, red tape, family problems, starting a couple of businesses, the birth of their young daughter and more, and ends when the daughter is a young toddler (not wanting to spoil the ending lol).

While I wasn't totally impressed with the writing style (being translated from the German may have contributed to that), the story itself really makes you appreciate how easy we have life here and is quite hard to put down. It's one that will stick in my mind for a long time I think - I'm already keeping an eye out for the 2nd & 3rd books in the series.

Starting to simplify..

I'm slowly starting to simplify my life.

A small step - but I just did a mass delete of emails from several email groups I'm a member of. I was behind a few days and had hundreds of emails - from a glance most of them appeared to be general chat or whinging so I'm not missing anything by deleting!

Yesterday I cancelled swimming lessons for the term. We'd already missed 2 weeks with illness and likely this week as well as he still has a cold. The lessons were Friday morning 9am, and it always seemed to end up in arguments getting there on time as we were both tired & grumpy after a long week. Billy is at preschool for longer hours while I'm working, so I decided to just cancel them. I was prepared to lose the deposit I'd paid, but was pleasantly surprised when she asked if I wanted to transfer it to next term! Bonus :)

Speaking of which, did anyone catch the ACA episode on child burnout the other night? I don't normally watch that show (or any of those!) but that one caught my eye. Very scary..

I've decided to cut Billy's preschool days down to 1 or 2 once I finish work at the end of Oct. I haven't told preschool yet but have told Billy so he won't let me forget :) The director comes back from maternity leave next week, and the acting director (who is also one of Billy's teachers) is going off to another preschool - we'll miss her.

I'm not going to think about work today - it's just making me stressed so will do a Scarlett O'Hara and think about it tomorrow :)

Got the irrits..

Stressed over a couple of things to do with work, just put B to bed in tears after fights about eating his tea, still don't have a login for uni after 2 weeks so I can't put my timesheet in (ie can't get paid), got the confirmation yesterday that B didn't get into the school we wanted due to space restrictions, more work related stuff..

Off to have a bubble bath & hopefully wash the irrits away :)

*Yawn*

We had a lovely time up at my SILs yesterday - good food, good company - it was great to see all of the nephews & niece. It was a late night home though as we stayed for tea as well. I was wide-awake about 1:30am - too much caffeine - and DH was snoring like a steam train, so rather than smother him lol, I got up and did some course work, answered a few emails etc. I was just heading back to bed at 3am when Billy called out - his eyes were stuck together with conjunctivitis again. By the time I got back to bed it was closer to 3:30 - then he woke up again at 7am with the same problem..

So I've been dead tired today but we got a lot done regardless.

* trips to 2 libraries to return books and get more out
* trip to the chicken outlet shop - quite disappointing, they didn't have a lot of stock. I got 2 chickens for $4.50 each - will cut them up for breasts & pieces.
* monthly grocery shop at Aldi & Bilo - probably not a great idea to do on 5 hours sleep with a whiny, overtired child but we're both still intact!!! He did lose TV privileges for the afternoon though!
* prep work for uni tutoring tomorrow

Still on the urgent list is to finish the lesson I have to do for my course on Tuesday - I knocked over a fair bit of it last night but I still need to do the lesson plan etc. I'll try to do an hour on that tonight and that should just leave tidying it up when I get home tomorrow night. It's a toss up whether I'll be more tired tomorrow night or tonight so I'll spread the load lol.

I also still need to finalise the notes for a new course I'm teaching on Saturday. The powerpoint presentation is done, just needs polishing, and then write the lesson plan etc. I'll take that with me to work on if I get a chance between classes tomorrow, otherwise that will be Wednesday night.. By Thursday I should be able to come up for breath - I've got a day working at home. It's still paid work but I can intersperse programming with loads of washing lol.

Catch you all in a few days I'd say..

Conjunctivitis update & plans for the next few days

Billy woke in the middle of the night with his eye all gunked together - we'd warned him it may happen, so the actual occurrence didn't phase him, but when I tried to wipe it clean, he screamed & screamed - I'm sure the neighbours thought we were murdering him! Remarkably it was all gone when he woke up later in the morning - yay!!

I played with the budget a bit today to see how we'd go if I wasn't working at all next year. Some belt-tightening but mostly good news :) Did some more thinking which I won't bore you with :)

I got most of my "Getting your business online" course written - I'm teaching that next Saturday so it was pretty high priority. I just need to get a lesson plan together and some timings, and maybe come up with some more activities if it runs short, but at least I have some notes to send through to the course co-ordinator now.

I still need to get my 40 min lesson done for my Cert IV course on Wednesday. It has to be taught twice targeting each individual's preferred learning styles, so I'm still thinking about what I can teach in about 20-30 mins that could be adapted to different styles. Once I decide on a topic it shouldn't take me long to write - I hope!

Monday I need to prepare for uni tutoring the next day - ie go through the lecture & tutorials for the 2 subjects and make sure I've got a handle on them. I also need to get the grocery shopping done, and go to the library on Monday morning.

We have a family "Xmas in July" lunch at my SIL's tomorrow. We may be staying up at my parent's house tomorrow night - not sure what the plans are yet.

I've taken some advice from a few of you and blocked out a day in the week after next for ME! It's marked on the calendar and not to be changed!! Not sure what I'll do but it will probably involve reading & sleeping :)

Pete's down at the football tonight so the bed is lonely... Night all..

Some good news though!

To end on a positive note, we've had a win today - the development approval for our micro-brewery has finally been granted, so we can go ahead with getting the plans drawn up etc. Very exciting! (www.tolhousebrewing.com.au - check the blog for the slooooow progress)

And I found out yesterday that one of my clients (www.joliv.com.au) has been featured in Better Homes & Gardens magazine this issue! I think I'm as excited for them as they are :) Well done Korina and Darnell!!

More minor health dramas..

Billy seems to have had the same cold for 2 weeks, it just doesn't seem to clear up. Then yesterday we got a call from preschool to say he'd been sick - he wasn't running a temperature or anything though, was just a bit quiet. He was sick again just before bedtime, and has been fine ever since. I slept on the floor in his room last night to keep an eye on him, so I'm stiff & sore - I'm too old for camping :)

Then today he seems to have come down with conjunctivitis as well - only in 1 eye at the moment, but trying to stop him rubbing it is almost impossible, so I wouldn't be surprised if it spreads to the other by morning. It's our first bout of conjunctivitis in almost 5 years so not a bad run I guess!! I've given him a couple of homeopathic tablets, but not sure if I've picked the right ones or not, and have just been wiping the eye with a warm wet cotton ball. I've also put a couple of saline drops in his eye. If it's no better tomorrow we'll see what the chemist has to say. Typically, we've got a family lunch on Sunday :(

I'm just a girl who can't say no..

to work that is :) I have dreadful trouble turning down work - it seems to stem from 1) the fear that if I turn down work it won't be offered again, and 2) I'm a pleaser - I don't like to disappoint people. I'm going to have to start though. Working, particularly working outside the home, is putting excessive pressure on me and the family. It makes me tired & therefore grumpy, and the stress of getting out of the house at a particular time makes for a very unhappy morning - often ending in yelling & tears (and that's just from me lol). It means Billy is in preschool / daycare for long hours which makes him tired (& grumpy) particularly by the end of the week, and I don't have time to do as many things like cooking & gardening. And we won't talk about the state of the house..

Part of the reason I do it is for the money - I always think "I'll just do it to get the money for x", but then "y" comes along. You know what I've realised? Something new will always come along to "need" money for. We live on Pete's wage ok - not fantastically as we are one of those many "mortgage stressed" families they've been talking about lately - but at the moment my wage is mainly used for preschool (ending in December) and anything extra we want - trips away, purchases etc. Currently it's being used to save for the brewery.

I intend to start trying to cut down all work but particularly the work outside the house - I'm already committed with uni tutoring & some teaching until about Oct. I can start saying "no" to new people, it's hard with existing clients though. How do I say no to someone I've always said "yes" to? Like this week - I'd been asked by a client a couple of weeks ago for a few dates to do some training - I gave him 3 possible dates. He booked me in for 2 of those, so I planned some work at home (BAS etc) for the 3rd date - he then decided he wanted to spread the training across the 3 dates. As weak as I am, I grumbled privately but told him I'd do it. So that's 3 days I'm out this week now, 3 trips down to Newcastle and less time for other things.

Any advice? If I go down the homeschooling route I'll have no choice but to say no, but at least I'll have a reason to give them. But I don't want to use that as a reason to homeschool - even subconsciously.

On a related note, the uni tutoring is unlike what I was expecting. I know it's only been 1 week, but I don't find it very satisfying so far. What I like about training is seeing people light up & get excited when they learn something and I get a kick out of the feedback when I'm teaching. The tutoring is virtually supervising not teaching - I answer questions, and I take them through the exercise, but I'm not connecting with them. I wasn't even sure if they were all alive in some of the classes :) I'm sure I'll connect with some students by the end of the semester, but I have to admit that I'm doing it for the (rather good!) money rather than any satisfaction.

Sorry for such a heavy post!

Blog Posts I've liked lately

I've just set up a bit over on the side to share some of the blog posts I've liked recently. It should automatically update as I tag posts I come across - I like checking out new blogs, so hopefully you will too. Enjoy! Let me know if you like it :)

Menu plan

Here's my monthly menu plan - just for Lisa :) I usually plan for a "fake takeaway" on Friday nights, and Monday nights are something quick & reasonably light as Pete plays squash. Sun night is baked dinner night! This usually gives us meat for lunches for the week as well. The rest just fits in around our schedule.

Menu is for 2 adults (1 big eater, 1 medium eater), 1 almost 5 year old (small - medium eater). He generally eats what we do - if we're having something too spicy he'll often have noodles, or just a variation of what we eat.

All are cooked from scratch. We usually have some sort of veges with the main, but I make that up as I go along :)

This week:
Mon - meatball subs
Tue - chicken chow mein
Wed - blade steak & veges
Thu - pork & veges
Fri - home made pizza
Sat - (Pete away so B & I just have pasta or scrambled eggs etc)
Sun - (lunch at SILs so nothing planned - will depend on when we get home & how stuffed we still are!)

Week starting 30th July:
Mon - ham & cheese omelettes
Tue - pork chops with balsamic glaze
Wed - spag bol
Thu - chili con carne
Fri - fish & chips
Sat - BBQ Thai spiced chicken
Sun - roast beef & baked veges

Week starting 6th Aug:
Mon - homemade pies
Tue - steak & veges or chips
Wed - rosemary chicken with orange-maple glaze
Thu - hungarian goulash
Fri - pork stir fry
Sat - (Pete away again)
Sun - roast chicken & baked veges

Week starting 13th Aug:
Mon - bacon & tomato pasta
Tue - chicken curry (thai)
Wed - pork chops
Thu - gnocchi
Fri - chicken enchiladas
Sat - t-bone steak
Sun - roast pork & baked veges

There you go - a glimpse into our dinner table! I hope it's provided some inspiration or at least some entertainment :)

Lovely afternoon..

It was a beautiful warm afternoon today, so we spent a few hours outside. I've been thinking about a few friend's blog posts lately - Libby talking about having fun (http://libby.withnall.com/2007/07/07/what-is-fun/) and Lightening talking about being in the moment (http://lightening74.blogspot.com/2007/07/in-moment.html) - so tried to make the most of it. Billy had some fun jumping on the trampoline, and then I popped some popcorn, cut up some veges & we had a picnic sitting on the trampoline - I haven't done that since I was a kid!! We also spent some time watching the clouds (Billy spent about 2 minutes before he was off onto something else! but I spent a bit of time - almost fell asleep lol), watching the bees on the grevilleas & listening to the birds. It was quite peaceful - especially the brief moments when he wasn't talking :)

Wake me up in November..

This week starts a bit of a horror run - for the next 3 months..

I'm starting tutoring at the uni for 8 hours each Tuesday - that's until the end of October. The tutoring itself shouldn't be that difficult, but there will be some prep work each week. The major problem is leaving at 7am to drop Billy off at preschool, then drive to uni and get there by 8:30 so I can get a park. Parking at the uni is a nightmare - I had to go to a meeting there a few months ago and drove around and around for an HOUR before I fluked a park :( I won't get home til about 7pm, so that's Tuesdays pretty much wiped out!

I'm still doing my Cert IV Training and Assessment which involves a full day face-to-face each 2nd Wednesday, plus heaps of assignments in between. That finishes in October as well.

In between I have to fit in a few other courses I'm teaching (including writing a new course), and all of the programming & websites I've got in the pipeline. On the family side, it's Billy's 5th birthday in August and he wants a party, and Pete's 40th birthday in September, and he also wants a party! Neither of which will organise themselves.. Not to mention all the usual cooking, cleaning, washing etc etc..

Can I just hibernate until November please?!

Monthly shopping update

Forgive me retailers, for I have sinned -It's been 4 weeks since my last grocery shop :)

I'm going to be able to stretch it out for another week without too much hardship. We'll be near a chicken outlet tomorrow so I'll do a spend up on chicken since we're there, but other than that will just buy fruit & vege, & eggs for the next week. It'll mean powdered milk for the week, and we'll have to be sparing with the butter but we should survive. I'll make sure I have porridge for breakfast rather than toast to spare the butter.

I've just done the menu plan for another 4 weeks - will do the grocery list next week.

Amazing what can be achieved with a little organisation & forethought!

Macca's party..

Billy had a McDonald's party tonight for a class-mate at preschool. I was caught at a weak moment when I agreed he could go... :) I have to say - if nothing else, a McDonald's party gives me a new appreciation for how well-behaved and well-mannered my child is lol.

So we'll be scraping him off the ceilings as he bounces around for the next few days. I was quite appalled by the number of kids who ordered coke with their meal (these are 5 year old kids!) and quite proud of Billy who asked for water.

Yet another point in favour of home-schooling??!

Am I mad???!!

We were discussing the options re schooling last night including Grammar (worked out we could afford it if we wanted to, but what on earth can a kindy teach that costs $4000 pa??!), the local Steiner school (I like a lot of their philosophies but with both of us being computer people, the non-use of computers & technology at any early age doesn't sit well - he already sends family emails unassisted!), local public schools etc. Then Pete completely broadsided me by suggesting homeschooling. We've both had a lot of exposure to homeschooling as my sister homeschools her 2 girls, but I thought he was very much against it. Turns out he thinks it would work well for Billy.

The more we discussed it and thought about it, the more appealing it sounded to me in many ways (my sister will be laughing hysterically by now as I have always said I'd never do it). However the big stopping point for me is (cue bad 80s soundtrack) - "What about me??" Can I do it? I know I'd be able to do from an academic etc standpoint, but what about the fact of being with him 24/7? What about my need for peace & quiet? Would I have the patience to teach him & correct him? What about my business that I've been building up ready for him to go to school? Would I still be able to continue that? They sound incredibly selfish written down like that but that's what I'm feeling. It looks like I'll have lots of soul searching to do (as well as lots of research) before I make a commitment.

I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts about it.

Kindy interview

We had our interview today at the Catholic primary school we were hoping to get Billy into next year for kindergarten. We knew places were limited but it wasn't until we got there that we found out just *how* limited they are.. After they take siblings of existing students, they only have a few places left. One of the few questions they asked us in the 10 minute interview was "are you involved in the parish?" and as we had to answer no, I don't like our chances of us being one of the "chosen few".. Our next choice school we were told in the interview was also in the same situation, and we were advised to look at 2 other schools. One quite frankly isn't in a good area & doesn't have a good reputation (and yes, I fully acknowledge that I am a snob lol), and the other is 30 mins away which is an hour's round trip twice a day.. Other than that we may have to look at public or non-Catholic schools. There is a very good Grammar school but there is no way we can afford that kind of money. I'm not sure what the public schools are like as we've always assumed we'd send him to a Catholic school like we attended.. Some hard thinking ahead...

Working Mum's guilt

I'm sure there's not a working mum out there who hasn't packed their kid off to daycare / preschool / school etc knowing they weren't quite 100% well but not able to do much about it. (And if there are, I don't think I want to know, as I feel badly enough already lol). I faced that today - Billy still had a cold & was a bit whingy but I had to go and train - it's very hard to call in sick when you're the teacher!

And sure enough at 3pm I got the call from preschool - "Billy's just woken up with a temperature of 38, do we have your permission to give him Panadol?"... Luckily I'd finished for the day and was on the way home, so was able to pick him up quite soon after and bring him home. BTW he seems fine apart from running a temp - eating, running around etc, so who knows! Pete has arranged to stay home with him tomorrow though, just in case.

Cold!!!

It's cold this morning - got down to -1 overnight (yeah I know many of you are probably thinking "that's not cold" lol, but it is for us!) Luckily I didn't find that out until after I'd dragged myself out of my warm bed to make Pete's lunch. I must say the walkers all looked miserable this morning in the pre-sun-up trip to the station!

Speaking of cold - Billy's cold seems to be on the improve, but now he's reacting (behaviour-wise) to the panadol I used to get his temp down, and he is not a nice child to be around atm! Tantrums, crying, cheekiness - could be a long day! Plus, he's given his cold to me - I wonder if lying around looking pathetic all day will work for me??! Somehow I doubt it :)

Yesterday we went to the Gresford Markets to check them out. Gresford is a little village about 25mins drive from here. I love the drive around that area, it's so pretty. When I was younger, we used to go on guide camps in that area and I have some wonderful memories of it. We hadn't been to the Gresford Markets before and I was expecting (or rather hoping) for a farmer's markets, but it was mainly a craft & handiwork markets. Lots of lovely handmade items - soaps, cards, angora scarfs, clothing etc. There were a few stalls with food, but mainly the pickles & jam variety. It was quite a pleasant time wandering around anyway.

We ended up buying the ubiquitous sausage sandwich as we left and called in to Paterson Park for a picnic lunch and play.

When we got home I did a bit in the garden (hopefully the strawberries I planted went ok in the cold!).

We're staying home for a "pyjama day" today - a day where we don't have any plans and can just lounge around in our pyjamas if we want. I'm starting to stress about the amount of work I have to do again, so I need to write some lists and get some times organised.

Right, now time for some breakfast I think!

Baking binge!

I've been on a baking binge this afternoon as the sweet treats in the freezer were dangerously low :)


I'm running out of oil & butter so have been searching for alternatives. I've made:


* coconut choc-chip slice - a yummy 'cakey' type slice with no butter or oil. I substituted sultanas for the choc-chips. (I've made this before - it's very more-ish!)

* low-fat orange muffins - used up the rest of the vanilla yoghurt in the fridge. (new recipe - a bit dry because it's low fat but not bad. Would go well with poppyseeds if I had any!)

* muesli bars - with oats, weetbix, rice-bubbles, sultanas and condensed milk.


I also made up some 'magic cordial', cooked a baked dinner for tonight and a loaf of sourdough. I took some photos but the camera is still playing up and they're all blurry :(


This was the first time I think that I kept the sink filled with hot water & washed up as I went - it made a huge difference.



Billy woke up at 5am this morning coughing and was then sick (*sigh* sheets to wash), and was then sick again about 6am - he's been ok ever since so I think it was due to his cold & gunk down his throat while he was sleeping. He slept on my lap much of the morning so not much got achieved then (other than making my baby feel secure & loved of course!)

Sick boy..

Yep I was right - he was coming down with something. I think it's *just* a cold, but he's running a temp as well, so pretty miserable with it. And he's male, so it's FAR worse than it would normally be lol. It was a shocking night last night - I was up to him every couple of hours, so I'm tired!

We ended up going to watch the juggler at the library ($5 school holiday activity) as he was so devastated that he might miss it. Billy's really into magic and juggling etc atm - the guy was great, fantastic juggler, magician, unicyclist, balloon animal maker etc etc, really good with the kids, and a few adult asides as well. I even enjoyed it. (Yes Libby - I actually had FUN watching it!). We ended up cancelling lunch & the play date though so JH didn't catch his germs as well. They can catch up another time. (The good news is I cleaned the house in anticipation of them coming anyway lol).

So the afternoon was pretty much spent with him watching a DVD and sleeping on my arm. I didn't get much done - I managed to finish the book I was reading though and bawled my way through the last chapters.

It was "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. The basic premise is a "normal" family - daughter Kate is diagnosed with leukaemia as a toddler, so the parents decide to have a child "engineered" to be a match for her. Anna is born and the cord blood is used for Kate. Fast forward 13 years and many relapses for Kate with Anna being the donor each time - first blood, then bone marrow. Kate is now suffering kidney failure and her only possible chance is Anna donating a kidney. But Anna decides to seek "medical emancipation" from her parents so that she's not forced to do it. I didn't know how I'd go reading it, knowing the basic story line, but it's "un-put-down-able". The ending is just so unexpected that I'm still reeling from it. A definite thumbs-up, and you can't help but give your own kid(s) an extra cuddle...

I've got my sourdough starter out of the fridge making the "sponge" ready to do my first test loaf tomorrow.. If it turns out, I'll take some photos!

A rather unsuccessful day..

Not the best day today..

I had to go and see a client and install some changes I'd made for them. Drove to Newcastle, found someone who knew the password to get onto their machine, and installed the changes. Due to their data being different to the test data I had, I found one change wasn't quite right so had to do an 'on-the-fly' change. Then found one report that just doesn't work on their machine although it works fine on my machine. So I played around with that for a while, but wasn't able to solve it. So I've had to take a copy of their data and will try to solve it here. Which means another trip down to Newcastle.

So I was late leaving there, and had to rush and go and see another client. I'm trying to get their network working for them - I now have 3 of the 4 computers talking to each other, but just couldn't get the 4th talking :( I had to leave there (running late again) and go and pick up Billy from preschool and Pete from the train.

That was 2 jobs I was hoping to have marked as completed today, but have to go back and finish off... Then to top things off, Billy came home from preschool, was really lethargic and fell asleep on the lounge. He's a bit warm, not too hot, but I've given him a homeopathic cold lollipop in the hope that it will ward off any lurgies.. Hopefully he's just tired and not coming down with something. We're supposed to be meeting friends at the library & for lunch tomorrow..

There is some hope though..

Well I used the timer today (after I figured out which buttons to push!) and had a short shower - I can't say I *enjoyed* the experience but I have to admit there was a certain adrenaline rush in beating the timer lol.

Just so you don't think I'm a complete slacker, here are some things that I *do* do:

* clean our teeth with a mug of water

* have a bucket in the shower and collect the water while waiting for the shower to heat - this is then used to flush the toilet (most of the time)

* collect the kitchen tap water in a jug when waiting for it to heat - this is used in the water filter

* use any "dregs" of water left in glasses & drink bottles on the garden

* use Billy's bathwater to flush toilets (most of the time)

* only run the dishwasher & washing machine when full

I'm sure there's more - but most of these are starting to be habits by now which is good.

I'm also quite proud of myself for not getting the heater out for the loungeroom yet this winter - I am a real "cold frog". I use a small fan heater in the bathroom while Billy is having his bath, and turn an oil heater on in his room for about 30 mins before bed to take the chill out, but that's it. My aunt gave me a wonderful lightweight polar fleece blanket (with cute cats on it) for my b'day last year which is keeping me wonderfully toasty warm in the loungeroom, along with my uggies of course!

True confessions

Well I have to admit it - I LOVE a nice, long, hot shower... Especially in winter! It's my thinking time, my 'alone-as-possible-with-a-4-yo-coming-in-talking-to-me' time.. I've tried several times to cut them down - I had my kitchen timer in the bathroom for a while until it disappeared, I tried setting the alarm on my mobile phone and leaving it just outside the bathroom but I had to remember to do it, I've tried a clock in the bathroom (but being blind as a bat without my glasses that didn't work well lol).

So today I lashed out and bought a waterproof shower timer. It's a clock as well so will be useful for hubby getting ready for work in the morning. It was more than I wanted to spend but I only had a choice of 2 where I was - the $3 one was a 4 minute sand-timer which had 2 problems - once again, I'm as blind as a bat so seeing sand going through a timer without my glasses would probably be an issue!, and secondly even if I could see it, it would be too easy to ignore :) A persistant 'beep beep beep' should help!

Will let you know how I go..

(I did take some photos of it, but they have both come out really blurry. I suspect someone has been playing with the camera and stuck their fingers all over the lens again and quite frankly I don't have time to clean it atm..)

Finally took the photos..

Here is the bokchoy (and spring onions):

and peas, snow peas & carrots:

Don't adjust your screen..

I was sick of the pink so have gone with another template..

I need to buy tomatoes :(

I started getting tomatoes off our tomato plant in early April and haven't had to buy tomatoes since! Unfortunately we're nearing the end of them so I think I'll have to actually *buy* some this weekend :(

I pulled the plant up about 6 weeks ago and stored the tomatoes in a styrofoam box in the shed / under the house. They've lasted really well - I've just been grabbing about 1/2 kg out at a time. We've gotten 3kg off since I stored them!

I wish I'd kept track of how much we were getting off it prior to them but I only started keeping a garden diary about 6 weeks ago. I posted on 15th April that we'd had 1kg off at that point, and we were getting roughly 1/2 kg every week, so a rough guess would be 6 or 7 kg of beautiful fresh Roma tomatoes from 1 bush! Not bad at all I don't think! What's the current price for Roma tomatoes in the shop??!

Pretty soon we'll be able to start eating from the garden again - I have some peas fattening up on the pea plant, and the bok choy is growing well. Another couple of weeks I think. I'll take a photo later today if I don't get blown away :)

Weekend away

We had a nice weekend away in Sydney this weekend. We left Billy with his aunt & uncle who don't get to see much of him - they looked exhausted by the time we picked him up 24 hours later :)

We headed in to Sydney, booked in to the hotel at Kings Cross and then caught the train into the CBD. Meandered down to Circular Quay via a great little pie shop (Jesters) we found last time we were in the city. It was absolutely freezing - a cold wind and the sun was only out sometimes, but it was nice if you could get out of the wind and have the sun at the same time :) We had time to kill before the matinee performance of Othello so sat outside the Opera House and tried to keep warm until they opened up the Drama Theatre. Othello was quite good - it was the first time Bell Shakespeare has done it, but much to my disappointment, Marcus Graham (who was supposed to play Iago) was off sick. Rather than cancel, they went ahead with the understudy, Mitchell Butel, who did a surprisingly good job for someone who had 1 hours notice :) It was quite amusing though - he carried the book of the play with him the whole time but only had to refer to it fleetingly - mainly to trigger his memory. The audience did get a chuckle at him straining to see the book while being "strangled" though :) It would've been a lot more enjoyable if it wasn't for the old woman sitting in front of me in the 1st row who spent the first 10 minutes coughing her lungs out (to the extent that one of the actors threw her a throat lozenge lol), then the rest of the time talking or complaining that Mitchell should've known the lines.. Grrrr! Possibly because we were sitting so close to the front and straining to look up, but I found the guy who played Othello moved rather strangely and deliberately and it was rather offputting - I felt he was moving like a Thuderbird lol. All in all, not one of their best, but not one of their worst either - they have a LONG way to go to surpass the sheer dreadfulness of King Lear a few years ago when half the audience walked out!!

We had tea at a little Czech restaurant in Kings Cross (Prague restaurant) - beautiful food, monster plate sizes and a wonderful atmosphere. I'd say we'll go back to that one for sure!

A bit of a sleep in this morning (8:30) then off to pick Billy up from Brad & Riss. I'm sure they collapsed exhausted on the lounge after we left!

It was a nice relaxing weekend, and in good timing too. I've had a very full-on month or so with work, and was getting quite frustrated with a couple of clients. Hopefully I can approach them with a better attitude now!

Stockpiling

The recent floods made me start thinking about the fact that our cupboards were pretty much bare and it made me pretty uncomfortable. So I've decided to start stockpiling again - just building it up a bit at a time. I have to admit though I purchased a "freezer filler" bulk meat pack - 1/2 cow and 1/2 pig (actually I think it was really a whole pig because I didn't want the 1/2 lamb that was supposed to be there as well). So that wasn't exactly slow :) I picked up a few extra things when I did the grocery shopping - an extra couple of bags of flour, tin of tomatoes etc.

Speaking of shopping, I've started trying to shop monthly - did my first shop last week. It was doing my head in a bit deciding what we needed, but fingers crossed I didn't do too badly. I'll keep my shopping list as a bit of a master list and see how I go.

Just leave me alone..

The hardest part I find about having a child is the lack of alone time. I'm a very solitary person - I need time to myself to be able to function properly. My favourite times are when I'm by myself - many days when I work at home I don't even have the radio or music on - just blissful silence. Even when I'm with close friends or family I need to wander off by myself for a little while to regroup. That's one reason I couldn't do teaching full-time - as much as I love it, it's very draining for me to be around people so much. I prefer my own company, and that of my online friends, as I can choose when I want to be sociable.

Unfortunately I've been 'blessed' with a child who doesn't like to be on his own for any longer than 10 minutes, who needs constant stimulation and loves noise. I have 3 days/week where he's at preschool which is my sanity saver - unfortunately this term I've been so flat out on those 3 days with training, my course or meeting with clients that I haven't had much alone time lately. And I'm really starting to suffer from it.

I'm so hard to explain how I feel to people - I think only people who share my 'affliction' will understand. My grandfather was a bit of a hermit - I think I've inherited it from him :)

Traffic chaos

One thing you really don't think about when something like the floods happen is the effect on traffic as people try to get back to "normal", ie off to work etc. At the moment, there is one way through Maitland that remains open - all of the little back roads that I take regularly to avoid the highway are cut due to floodwaters. So the New England H'way is it. A small section of that got closed on Monday night due to water over the road, and is still closed. That means rather than a 2-lane-each-way-80kmh highway, traffic is being diverted through the main CBD - a 60kmh-single-lane-each-way-with-traffic-lights nightmare! Add to that the extra cars on the road due to no trains running, and of course the ever present sight-see-ers coming for a look, and you have gridlock.

It took Pete over 3 hours to get home from work in Newcastle last night (normally a 60min trip) - he left at 3:30ish so he could avoid the rush! More than 2 hours of that was spent travelling between Greenhills and Maitland - a 10 min trip normally.

He's working from home today - I have to go in to Newcastle for an assessment today so I'm leaving early and will see if I can come home early too.

Flood Photos and life goes on

Here are a couple of photos I took of the Hunter River at Belmore Bridge, Maitland yesterday (Monday) afternoon about 2pm. This was almost 12 hours after the river peaked. The line of trees in the middle of the river (which almost looks like the far side of the river) is where the bank usually is...

These are the water views from our back deck - I haven't seen that much water in the dams and paddocks there in the 7 years we've lived here.

It's good to see the veges continue unabated - we have the first flower on the pea plant, and the bok choy and snow pea seeds have just started to stick their little green heads above the soil!

The levees held!

We woke up to the wonderful news this morning that the river had peaked at 10.7, below the 11.4 predicted which would have seen it spill over the levee banks into Lorn and the CBD. They're still advising people to stay away though. A lot of the water seems to have been diverted into the spillways which means we couldn't go in there even if we wanted to!

Here are some photos (courtesy of the ABC) of the flooding all around the area -

http://www.abc.net.au/newcastle/stories/s1946209.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/newcastle/stories/s1947168.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/newcastle/stories/s1947247.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/newcastle/stories/s1947270.htm
http://www.abc.net.au/newcastle/stories/s1947316.htm

Living through history - 2007 Maitland Floods

Just after 10pm I heard on ABC Newcastle radio that the water has breached the floodgates at Maitland (Oakhampton). Potentially Lorn and the Maitland CBD will be flooded within the next couple of hours. We're safe where we are but will be cut off for a while. We've filled a couple of 50L drums with water in case the water gets cut off, have enough food for a while, torches, candles, batteries, gas etc.

It started with huge storms for several days since Thursday. By Friday Newcastle was absolutely devastated - the CBD and many other suburbs were under waist-deep water, cars have floated away or been swamped. Looking at the photos is very surreal. Pete was lucky to get home from work since the trains were no longer running. He was lucky to get home when he did - I'd say half an hour after he left the main deluge occurred.

The flooding has come down from Singleton, Branxton, Greta and now it's Maitland's turn. All we can do is sit and wait..

We have worms :)

Composting ones, that is :)

I picked up some worms this morning from a local LETS lady so our worm farm is back in operation! I also planted some more seeds - snow peas, brown & red onions, spring onions and bok choy. Hopefully in 6 or 7 weeks we'll at least be eating bok choy :) I pulled up the tomato bush last week and stored all of the green tomatoes in the area under the house - hopefully we'll have a few more weeks eating home-grown tomatoes. It's just a shame I have nothing to pick when I go out to the garden atm :( The peas are coming along slowly and the other seeds (lettuce, carrots & herbs) have started to germinate.

Happy Mother's Day!

What a day! I got some great presents this morning - a cookbook and a pasta maker! Can't wait to try it out.

Billy and I made some Mother's Day cards this morning - I thought they came up great for a 4 year old :)

We then headed up to my SILs for lunch with them, my parents-in-law, my SILs parents-in-law, BIL and grandparents-in-law! All the cooking was done by my SIL & BIL and her BIL and it was fantastic - we ate, and ate, and then ate some more! The menu:

• Bruscetta & Garlic bread
• Creamy Garlic prawns and rice
• Pizzas (sweet chili, BBQ & tomato-based) and a spinach, pumpkin & ricotta pasta loaf
• Chicken cacciatore, baked tortellini and penne pollo
• Pannacotta & red-wine poached pears
• Coffee and cheesecake

As you can imagine, we are stuffed! We haven't needed tea at all..

It was great to spend some time with the triplets - the boys are walking now, Miss Mack won't be far behind.

Are you lonesome tonight?

I had quite a productive day today. I was doing a task on the computer (including a few overdue ones that I've been procrastinating over) then a task up and about (washing, folding, cleaning etc etc). Apart from being constantly interrupted by Billy, I achieved quite a lot.

I'm feeling rather lonesome atm. Mum & Dad, Janelle & the kids left on holidays on Friday, and Pete is away for work - he left yesterday and will be back on Saturday. So far Billy and I haven't killed each other being stuck at home together over the weekend, so we may make it through the week! I thought it was just him but discussions over on Real Mums seem to indicate that arguing about every little thing is a 4 year old trait!

Nothing major to report here - we've had some rain which was nice - even better that some fell where it was needed. I've hopefully got a new website contract - I've done the initial design so fingers crossed they like it. I'm in the midst of setting up offering hosting packages as well - hopefully that will work out ok. I still haven't heard back about a big contract that I did a quote for - the client is waiting on the funding ok. Other than that there is another website in the pipeline, but that's about it. It's very quiet atm - I'm probably averaging 3-4 hrs/wk when my aim is 15 hrs/wk, so finances are pretty tight :(

Friends of ours got married last weekend - Billy had a 'sleepover' at Mum & Dads, so we got to sleep in on Sunday morning - yay! I was talking to a lady at the reception and she mentioned that kindy enrolments for next year were opening this week, she thought. So I rang up on Monday - sure enough they did, so Billy's application is now lodged for kindergarten 2008! We have to have an interview in a couple of months, and they select the ones they want. Tough process! I thought I'd be over the moon putting his enrolment form in, but I have to admit to a touch of sadness that he's growing up. (Still can't wait for him to be in school 5 days/wk though :))

I'm really struggling with some things atm - growing the business to get more income vs working less and cutting spending, specialising vs diversifying. My trouble is that I always compare myself to where others are and come up short (in my mind at least) - I really need to stop doing it! (way easier said than done!) I wonder if everyone feels this way sometimes?

Lady has no steps..

Billy loves to answer the phone and races for it every time. The phone rang earlier today and he answered it, listened for a bit, told the lady "I think you need to speak to my mummy" and then handed me the phone saying "it's a lady who doesn't have steps and she wants to buy yours" - it was the House with no Steps for a fundraiser!!!! The lady was giggling so much on the other end of the phone - I think it made her day!

Container gardening

I admit it - I'm a lazy gardener! If I have to do something with a plant on a regular basis, it has to be right in front of me and in my face, otherwise I forget. My vege patch down in the backyard languished because it was 'out of sight, out of mind'. So I've started container gardening - growing plants in a styrofoam box (free from Aldi of course!) right at the back door. They're nice and close, I walk past them on the way to the clothes line so I don't forget about them and I can easily use waste water from the kitchen to water them. Plus they should be a bit more protected from the frost and get the heat from the bricks. I'll use the back vege garden for things I don't have to spend a lot of time on, like potatoes and pumpkin.

So far I have tomatoes doing really well - we've gotten close to 1kg of Roma tomatoes from 1 plant, and have just planted some peas as well. I've also just ordered some 'year round' lettuce, some basil & oregano (have already planted parsley), plus cucumbers, passionfruit and watermelon.

There's only 1 tomato plant in there!

Pea plant just poking it's head up.

Yummy homegrown Roma tomatoes!

40 hour drought

I "unofficially" took part in the ABC local radio's 40 Hour Drought on Wed & Thursday this week - http://www.abc.net.au/water/40hourdrought/. (Unofficially because I couldn't sign on to the website!) The challange was to only use 40L of water per person for a 40 hour period (starting from 7am Wed).

We made it, but it was tough! I "showered in a bucket", used greywater to flush the toilets when they needed it, let it "mellow" when they didn't need flushing, I cleaned my teeth with a couple of inches of water in the bottom of a cup, and was conscious of the amount of water used in other applications.

By measuring the water I was using, it really made me conscious about the water I normally waste. It would obviously be harder long term to forgo showers, and I didn't do any clothes washing over that 40 hour period. It really made me think about each bit of water I was using which I guess is the aim, and I identified a few more ways to save and re-use water.

By next goal is to set up grey water diversion for the washing machine.

The little things..

I have no idea where the last month has gone! I was quite busy with work for a few weeks, plus I've started my Cert IV in Training and Assessment so that has been taking up a fair amount of time. And I needn't mention that I'm on WAAAAY too many forums and have trouble keeping up with them! They all help me keep my focus on various aspects of my life though - frugal Aussies, Simple Savings and No More Debt keep me focused on saving & paying down debt, as well as being more organised, Business Mums keeps me focused on the business and sites like our private Due Date forum from when I was pregnant with Billy, and Real Mums keep my sanity intact :)

I've been focusing on saving power & water this month and have so far found out:

* My washing machine has a "spin hold" button so you can reuse the rinse water. Amazing what you find out when you read the manual - I mean I've only had the washing machine for 11 years lol.

* You don't need to use the maximum setting for everything :) The washing machine cleans just as well on the shortest cycle. Stuff cooks just as well on the low setting! Talk about lightbulb moments lol.

* The washing machine uses a scary amount of water.

That is my main goal this month - to really look at the power and water we use and try to cut down or identify ways we can reuse it eg grey water diversion from the washing machine to the fruit trees.

Weekend away

We had a lovely weekend away. We were supposed to be going to a friend's 1 year old's b'day party on Saturday down in Sydney, so we decided to make a weekend of it and take the van down. We got up early on Fri morning to put the van on before we had to go to swimming and then met Gem & Ewan at the park. After lunch we headed down to the Central Coast. We decided to stop at a caravan park at Bateau Bay - it was not a good choice as it turned out! We were right next to the road, and it was noisy :( We did have a nice swim on Shelley's Beach on Friday afternoon though.

That afternoon, we also got a text from the people having the party to say they were all sick, so the party was cancelled. So we just changed our plans a bit and headed a couple of kms up the road to Toowoon Bay in the Entrance. Lovely spot, lovely van park - we quite enjoyed it. Billy had a couple of plays on the playground, we had a swim and play on the beach (my legs are a bit sore from playing catch on the sand lol - I have to remember I'm not as young as I was!!!), and generally just relaxed.

We will definitely have to do it more often. I'd plan better next time though and take more food - it cost a fortune in eating out!

BMN Challenge 2

Challenge 2 of the Business Mum's Network Blogging challenge is to recommend a site I like.

While not directly related to my business, my favourite site is www.simplesavings.com.au/a.php?a=231616. It's a site all about saving money, frugal hints and tips etc. The membership section has a "vault" with lots of hints submitted by members, but the best thing about it is the forum. Just like the Business Mum's Network, it has an extremely active forum with the most wonderful members. It's such a supportive place. It is indirectly related to my business, because without the savings I've made by implementing tips from the SS site, I wouldn't be able to have my own business and would be back at a full-time job I hated.

A really cool site I love that *is* related to my business is www.csszengarden.com - it's a showcase for what you can do with Cascading Stylesheets and I find it so cool!

Blah..

I've been feeling blah and down all weekend. It hasn't been helped by the extreme heat we've had - high 30s on Sat and then 40 yesterday. It hasn't been cooling down much overnight either so sleep has been fitful. It's "only" going to be 34 today!

Firstly we went up to the Farmers Markets that were apparently on at Cessnock on Saturday - got there and no sign of the markets, just a "clearance house" auction of junk. We'd gone up to check Mum's house as well, and we ended visiting Pete's parents, but I was still really disappointed about the markets. Then my sister rang - they're on holidays in Tassie and she'd been in a car accident - they're all ok thankfully but the car is going to take a month to fix, so they may be back later than planned. I'm so thankful they're ok, but it really shook me up and I couldn't go and give them a big hug and see for myself that they're ok.

Then there was just a heap of little things - the birds have eaten all of the apples we had on our apple tree and I can't remember what else - one of those weekends where everything I touched seemed to go wrong.

Here's hoping for a better week this week!

Business Mums Network Blogging Challenge

In December I found and joined the Business Mum's Network run by Melissa Khalinsky. It's a wonderful resource for Australian mums of all ages who run a business - many of us have young kids and work from home and thus face all of the same challenges despite having so many different businesses! I've learnt so much already from the group and it's completely changing the way I approach my business.

Anyway Melissa has given us the first of many Blogging challenges to kickstart our blogs. The 1st challenge is to announce the challenge, so a tick for me :)

Some of the other mums taking part are:

Melissa Khalinksy - http://www.melissakhalinsky.com/blog/
Anne Maybus - http://thetallpoppy.blogspot.com/
Gina Rahmel - http://moshimoshibaby.blogspot.com/
Michele Elmas - http://www.mumsbusiness.wordpress.com/ and http://www.michelee.wordpress.com/
Justine Barsley - http://olibdesigns.blogspot.com/
Michelle Sweeney - http://tonicgifts.typepad.com/
Amy Herman - http://afaithfulwomanbookclub.blogspot.com/
Shelli Crane - http://rusticluxury.blogspot.com/
Kylie Short - http://www.tildavirtual.com.au/blog/
Amanda Cox - www.realmums.com.au/diaryofamadcow
Sarah - http://quiltfabricdelights.blogspot.com/

Why not check out their blogs too?

Reading

We've been reading The Magic Pudding as Billy's bedtime story for the last week. What a wonderful story! I don't think I've read it before (although knew the vague storyline of the pudding who is never empty). I'd seen the illustrations at Norman Lindsay's house in the Blue Mountains, but somehow missed reading the book. Billy has really enjoyed it.

His reading is coming along so well. He's been learning by picking small words out as Pete or I read to him, but tonight I pulled out an old Ladybird early reader, and he can read sentences like "The dog is in the shop"! He's pretty good at sounding out words if he can't remember them. I'll have to dig out the rest of the readers now - he's more than ready for them. I pity his teachers by the time he starts school next year!! I was told recently "don't teach him to read before he goes to school, his teacher will hate you" - but how can you stop someone who is so avid about it??! He picks words out wherever we go or whatever we're reading and wants to know what they are, and then memorises them. It's not like we're teaching him to read - he's basically teaching himself! He did the same with numbers - everywhere we'd go he'd see numbers and say "oh look we're in aisle 11" or "that sign says 8" etc. His latest obsession is the calendar. He knows exactly what month we're in, and now needs to know what date it is - he has a calendar in his room and marks the days off!

Back from holidays

We're back from Stuart's Pt - we had a wonderful week, lovely and relaxing. Photos to come when I get them off the camera. Pete took Billy to golf with him one morning and he walked around really well apparently (just 9 holes), and had a putt on each. He even got the ball in the hole a few times! We had lunch out a few times - spent more than I anticipated but it *was* holidays! I got to spend some quality time with the triplets - helping feed, bath, change etc - which was great to get to know their personalities more. I spent all day today doing washing and cleaning though so it doesn't seem so worth it now!

Back to reality tomorrow - Pete is back to work, we'll be doing grocery shopping. Billy starts preschool on Tuesday - I can't wait lol.

We've decided to start with Billy earning pocket money by doing simple chores. He still has to tidy up after himself and make his bed - they aren't paid for but have to be done to get the rest of his money. He gets extra money by doing stuff like fold and put away his clothes after I've washed them (10c) and set & clear the table (10c). At the moment we're giving him the money after he completes the task and he has to put it in his money box, but probably mid way through the year we'll move to giving it to him weekly. It's not a lot of money but enough to get him used to handling money - he can buy a chupa chup for 50c :) Once he gets a bit more responsible we'll add more like make sure the cat always has biscuits etc.

We only started today and boy is he keen - he kept wanting to do stuff for more money!

Oh and it's now been 15 days without Diet Coke!

Day 3

I've just finished my 3rd full day of being Diet Coke free! I had a headache most of today, but the aching in the joints has subsided a bit and I'm feeling far less fuzzy. Hopefully I'm over the worst of it..

In Praise of Slow: Book Review

I've recently read a fantastic book that is worth checking out, particularly if you're looking to simplify your life. It's called "In Praise of Slow: How a worldwide movement is challenging the cult of speed" by Carl Honore.

It's a non-fiction book - the author has a bit of an epiphany when he finds himself contemplating buying "The One Minute Bedtime Story" to save time reading to his son at night. He realises that he's obsessed with doing everything faster and starts to investigate how we got to this point in time and what can be done about it. He "uncovers" a world-wide movement of people trying to slow various aspects of life down and appreciate it more. He investigates things such as the Slow Food movement, alternative medicines, "slow sex", part-time work, leisure, raising unhurried kids etc. The main point I took from it though was that it's "not about doing things at a snail's pace - it's about living better ... by striking a balance between fast and slow". I really enjoyed it, and found it quite thought provoking.

We wish you a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

Xmas disappeared in a haze and now it's 2007 already!

We had Xmas at the inlaws the day before Xmas. It was fun with the triplets - both of the boys are crawling, Mackenzie gets around a bit on her back, so you really had to watch where you were walking! Then we opened presents (ours and Santa) Xmas morning and went down to Linc's grandparents for lunch.

Very exhausting! So we have spent the last week doing very little trying to recover.

I'm on Day 2 of trying to give up Diet Coke - it's tough going but I'm getting there. It's so bad for me and makes me feel dreadful, plus I hate the fact that I'm addicted to it. There's a group of us on the Simple Savings site that are all trying to do it together, so hopefully with some peer support I'll kick it :)

Evil, evil stomach bug and busy weekend

Billy has had a rather nasty stomach bug this week. On Saturday we went to the Wiggles concert (more to come on that) where he developed a slight case of diarrhea and then vomited at McDonalds afterwards (and no, he hadn't even had a chance to eat the food lol). He was sick a couple of times on Sunday then seemed fine on Monday & Tuesday - just not eating a great deal. Tuesday night he was sick again a couple of times and yesterday was sick on average every 1hr - 1.5hrs.. *sigh* We ended up taking him up to the after hours clinic last night as I was starting to get worried about dehydration. The dr all but patted me on the head, told me he wasn't too dehydrated and to go home and watch him - duh! Anyway he seems a bit better today - hasn't been sick since last night (fingers crossed!) and has had a piece of bread to eat. It's only supposed to be a 48 hr bug - it's running rampant right through the valley..

Anyway, on Saturday we went to the Wiggles concert - we had great seats side on to the stage and got to see everything really well. Billy took a flower to give to Dorothy so he was pretty excited about that!

Sunday we had Xmas day up at my Mum & Dads - they go away this week so we had to have it early. We had lunch out at the club, and then half of us went to Christie's speech presentation (she was excellent of course!). While we were gone Billy developed a really high temperature and we had to stick him in a cold bath when we got home to get it down. He wasn't happy about that at all! Then we opened presents, had pizza for tea and opened lots more presents!

We put the Xmas tree up last Saturday. It was really special this year - we're starting to get lots of "homemade" decorations that you can look at and get nostalgic as to who made it and when..

We just dressed up Mum's life-size doll "Jenny" as Santa - she's sitting on the front verandah waving to the neighbours now! Thanks for the idea Jodi!! The Santa suit was only $5 from The Reject Shop, the shoes & belt were old ones of mine - she's a pretty cheap decoration and we'll be able to position her in a different spot each day just to amuse ourselves :)