Feeling blah..

I'm taking it easy today - I'm just feeling blah. Physically ok, a bit tired, but mentally blah. No motivation, a bit stressed, don't feel like doing anything. I've spent far too much time online as well, so have caught up with outstanding blogs, but hasn't helped me get anything done. We had a big day yesterday which may have contributed. I'm going with "unschooling" today - Billy's been playing an educational computer game, is currently making a mobile phone out of cardboard, and we'll make a planet mobile later if I get the energy. We need to go grocery shopping sometime this afternoon as well.

I have a few posts overdue but while they're in my head they won't come out..

Maybe some lunch & a cup of tea will help make things better..

Bush Art Walk

We went on a short Bush Art walk today organised by the NSW National Parks as part of their school holiday program. It was in the beautiful Glenrock Lagoon State Conservation Area - Ranger Gary took us on a short, very easy walk (wheelchair accessible so very nice path!) through the bush to the creek, and then talked about Aborginal bush art, what it meant, how they made it etc. Then we got to paint our own boomerang using matchsticks! He talked some more while they dried, telling us the signifigance of some of the Dreamtime stories.



After the walk, Billy & I had a picnic lunch in a nearby park, an ice-cream for dessert and a play with the boomerangs and on the playground. What more could you want for a nice day :)



We'll definitely be doing more of their activities in the next school holidays - I'm on their mailing list now hopefully so I should get to hear about them a lot sooner!

Glenrock Lagoon State Conservation Area

Ranger Gary

Painting the boomerangs

The finished product

And while I've got the memory card in the computer, here's a photo from the Claymation workshop earlier in the week. Looks like messy fun, doesn't it?!

Silly gardening questions

Another hour weeding and another 2 fruit trees weeded and mulched. 4 to go!

I have a young guy coming over shortly to do some weeding for me - he's from LETS and trying to earn "mollies" (the LETS currency) in the school holidays for some driving lessons. I'll put him to work on the path - we have 4-5 ft weeds growing in it, it's like a jungle!!

Some silly questions -

* Does blood & bone lose it's goodness? I found some stored under the house from who-knows-when, I'm assuming it will be no good any more? What can I do with it?

* I want to grow strawberries under the fruit trees (a la Jackie French's suggestion). Looking through the Digger's catalog they have bare-rooted strawberry plants. I guess that's the same as when you buy a bare rooted fruit tree, but is there anything special you have to do to plant it?

* Any suggestions for dealing with ants in the garden? We have green-head ants all through it - and they STING when they bite (and throb for hours after). It makes gardening a real hassle...

I'm sure I'll have more silly questions later!

Update

I've been rather sporadic with updates since I'm not spending much time on here, so here's an update of what's happening in our household..

House: The house is starting to look great - if I do say so myself lol. I've been trying to tackle an area every day and declutter / tidy / clean - even if it's one shelf. It's gradually making a difference. Last week (I think it was), I tackled the spare room - it'd been used as a junk repository since about Nov last year. You couldn't even walk in there :( It took me a couple of days of working on it but it looks fantastic now. On Sunday night I got Pete to move the dead microwave out of the kitchen - I've decided not to replace it, so that left me with a spare shelf. I reorganised the kitchen a bit and inspired by Joyful Keeper's post, I took everything off the main part of the bench. It looks great and makes that area so much more useful.

Garden: Seeing me poring over the Digger's club catalog & Jackie French's book, Pete commented that I was "back into the gardening stuff".. :) I have a list of seeds I want to buy - I'll order them after this. I don't have a gardening category in the budget as yet - I'll have to take it out of the household stuff, but I want to keep track of what it's costing and see if I can recoup it out of the grocery budget once it starts producing.

Our fruit trees are really overgrown with grass so I spent a couple of hours yesterday out weeding (and being eaten alive by ants :( ) - I got 2 trees weeded and mulched with the lucerne hay I got the other day. 7 to go! (or possibly 6, I think one citrus is dead and it's just the tree that it was grafted onto that's still growing - not sure what it is but it's dreadfully spiky!!). I'll try to get some more done tomorrow if the weather co-operates. Billy built a flower garden while I was doing that - not sure if anything will grow but he enjoyed it :)

Finance: Our building society just raised mortgage interest rates again - I'm going to have to squeeze the budget a bit more to find the money.. We're not about to lose the house or anything, but it will start meaning some more sacrifices if it keeps up. I'm really hoping this ends soon - I just cannot imagine how some people are coping. I was pleased to see the govt is talking about introducing measures to reward people for saving and to cut their own spending - about time!

School: We started school back last week. We spend a little bit of time in the morning on "formal" stuff, and then the afternoon is free play, cooking, computer time etc. The great thing about this time of year is the school holiday activities that are on everywhere. So far he's been to a hands-on science show run by the CSIRO, a fantastic storyteller named Bronwyn Vaughan who dressed up and told multi-cultural stories and a claymation workshop run by the Art Gallery. I was really nervous about how he'd go with that - it's the first activity that I've actually dropped him at and left (I felt like the first day of school!) . It went from 10-2, he was the youngest student - they worked in groups and he was in one with 3 pre-teen boys (and an instructor), but he lasted the day (I left my mobile no just in case). They'll be sending out the results of their animation on CD - I can't wait to see it. I know the story their group was doing was something to do with Pinocchio not cleaning his room, so I can see my child had a hand in the script-writing lol.

On Friday we're going on an Aboriginal Bush Art walk run by the National Parks to see some aborginal art and learn how they do it. It'll tie in well with our theme atm - we're doing Australia. His drama class starts next week - he's really looking forward to it!

Me: I'm trying to have some quiet time for me each day - I'm being anti-social and going into a room where there is no tv going and having a quick break. I'm breaking a lifetime of conditioning and sitting down with a book! (My mother is simply incapable of just sitting - she *has* to be doing something. I think that's why I got into the habit of using the computer as a break - it was "working"..)

I think that's all that's been the main things going on. I'm sure I'll think of something more as soon as I hit Publish Post though :)

B'day party meltdowns & general ramble..

I'm really starting to dislike taking Billy to kid's b'day parties. He's fine with family ones because he knows everyone but friend's ones where there are lots of kids, he doesn't know many of them and there is no structure - he just melts down every time.. We went to one today for one of his homeschooling friends, Johno. This was a combined party with Johno's cousin as well - so probably about 20 kids of varying ages. It was noisy, they were exuberant, he only knew the b'day family and they were busy with their other friends & cousins. He was fine to start with, just stayed fairly close to me, but then wanted to go on the 'tractor ride' - they were pulling kids around on the trailer of a ride-on mower. Part way around he fell off - and came bawling to me. He wasn't hurt, maybe a little shocked, but he was mainly upset that they didn't stop for him to get back on so he missed the rest of the ride! He couldn't find the lolly bag with his name on it (even though it was there), so more tears.. And so on for quite a while - missed out on finding a prize at the treasure hunt etc etc.. He ended up playing quite happily by himself having a tea party in the cubby and was fine! By the time we left he was ok and wanted to stay, but it breaks your heart to hear your kid sobbing "this is the worst b'day party ever".. (he is also a drama queen lol) I have to admit that I also worry what people will think, are the other kids calling him a crybaby etc.. Maybe he has more of my introversion than I give him credit for.

Hopefully he'll be ok on Monday - he's booked in for a claymation workshop at the art gallery and I don't have to stay. I think he'll be ok - the teachers will keep an eye on him and there's structure so fingers crossed - but I'll leave my mobile number just in case.

Other than that, life is going really well - I feel so much more relaxed with my new routine. I'm sleeping better, not clock watching all of the time and getting sooo much more done. I'm still only checking email 3 or 4 times a day, and if I get on the computer to do something I (generally) have a set purpose, do that and get off. I'm not perfect - I have strayed a bit lol - but on the whole I've even lost the urge to get online all of the time. I've unsubbed from some yahoo groups & gone no mail on others, or daily digest so I can skim the post headings. And you know what - life hasn't come to an end!

I'm coping with no microwave - the main thing is that I have to be more organised! I can't just zap something to defrost it, so I have to plan ahead a bit more. I bought myself a small vege steamer to go in the saucepan and have used that most nights. So far I can't see any reason to replace it.

I've been reading Jackie French's Backyard Self-Sufficiency again (I love that book) - got myself some hay mulch from a lady on LETS to mulch the fruit trees - and it's rained ever since, so it still hasn't been done! I bit the bullet and joined the Digger's Club - I've been sitting here drooling over the catalogues :)

I've even had time for Me - I've been reading a fair bit (when I would've normally be wasting time mindlessly surfing the net), been doing some logic problems (the brain has atrophied a lot since I used to do them!) and I even bought myself a cheap jigsaw today.

Apologies if this doesn't make sense - I'm ready for bed..

Dehydrator results

My husband cleverly bought me a dehydrator for Xmas (after I told him exactly what I wanted, the model, how much & where to buy it from lol). I tried it out yesterday and today. Yesterday, for it's inaugral dry, I made potato chips (typical of me!) - cook potato, mash with milk, salt & pepper (I also added a small amount of Massel chicken stock), and spread on the drying tray. 12 hours later - voila :) They're not too bad actually - not a bad substitute for the real thing. I think the Gobbledok would approve (ok, who remembers the ad??! Chippy-chippy-chippy lol).

Chips before being broken up (or a big chip doughnut!)

Chippy chippy chippy!

At the fruit shop yesterday I picked up a bag of bruised apples for $1 - today I made dried apples. They taste delicious!

Not a bad haul for $1 worth of apples!

Fighting my addiction!

I'm finding it quite hard to stay off the computer, but I'm managing on the whole. It's really made me realise how much I use it when I start to feel "bored", and how much is habit. Whenever I have time to spare I have to fight the urge to go and blindly surf the internet. What's helping is having a list of things I want to do (and need to do) that doesn't involve the computer. Yesterday I was having a real "I want to stay in bed with the covers over my head" day - wasn't feeling 100% and just wanted to hibernate. It was hard not to just go and spend the time online, but I did manage to get some stuff done, and read a book instead. An improvement? Not sure! I have managed to get heaps done on the other days though - maybe my body was in shock lol.

I really need to get more of a routine going to make use of the time I used to spend online. Early mornings are falling into place - get up, get Pete's lunch ready, drive him to the train (this week anyway since we were down to 1 car), come home, breakfast, do 'essential' housework (eg washing dishes, put load of washing on, make beds, sweep kitchen floor), check email (15 mins) and then shower. That seems to be going ok. It makes a big change from get up, turn the computer on, get Pete's lunch ready, check emails while yelling at Billy to get ready to go in the car, train & back, come home, eat breakfast in front of the computer and stay there for hours with a brief break for the shower!!

Through the day I check emails just before lunch and then again about 4 - I have done the odd check in between times but have been quick about it!

Nights are going ok - I don't let myself onto the computer until Billy is in bed, and then it's a quick check of email / blogs / yahoogroups etc, then into the paid work. I'm officially off holidays on Monday so will have to make sure I don't get into the trap of working every night again. I've even unsubscribed to some blogs!

From Monday we'll be back to doing school work - so once I've showered I'll get the lessons ready and we'll do some work in the morning. I'll have to adapt it over the next few weeks - once we start back into the activities (Pete squash twice / week, Billy drama Tue afternoon) it will change again. I'm contemplating some sort of Flylady routine (eek! lol) to keep me focused - a paper version though not all those emails!! I need to come up with something like that for the garden too - I want to start growing a lot of our veges but something's holding me back from doing it. I think I'm a bit overwhelmed with the thought and need to break it down a bit.

I've started reading Esther Dean's No Dig Gardening and an American book called Lasagna gardening - very similar concept. That's got me inspired - if only it was so #$%@ hot today!!

Guess what I found?!

I finally got a round tuit :) I cannot believe how much extra time I had today - I knew I wasted a lot of time online, but wow!

I made strawberry jam (without it going all over the microwave this time lol!) & multigrain bread rolls, cleaned up the kitchen & hallway which both still had stuff all over the place from our holiday, took down & packed away the Xmas tree & decorations and even did a bit of weeding! And I still found time to sit down and read my book a few times while I had a break!

Speaking of the microwave, I think ours is on it's last legs. It was getting hot on the outside & kept stopping like it was overheating while I was making the jam - I'm feeling that it might be dangerous to keep using.. Now I have to decide if I really want to replace it. I use it mainly for defrosting (mostly bread), melting stuff like butter, & cooking veges (and the jam now). I'll see how I go without it for a few weeks and then decide. Any thoughts? Is there another cost-effective way to cook veges? I steamed them tonight using the saucepan & colander - will keep my eyes open in the op shops for a metal steamer.

We've started on the CSIRO diet / eating plan again - we did it 2 years ago and Pete lost heaps then, he's added it back on so wants to lose it again. I only have a couple of kg to lose but could bid farewell to the muffin top :) We've had 2 meals from the book so far - both have been yummy! Last night was beef kebabs with couscous and harissa, tonight was roast lemon chicken with onion and pumpkin. I'm not doing it to the letter - I am physically unable to eat the amount of meat that it requires!!

I've been looking for a drama class that will take 5 year olds since Master B just loves to act - before Xmas I finally found a brochure of one in Newcastle that's just starting a class for 5-8 year olds. I left a message with them yesterday - they got back to me today and he's booked in. It sounds really good - they apparently will do a lot of playing, movement etc to increase their self-confidence. I think he'll love it! It starts at the end of Jan when Term starts.

Billy is booked into a Junior Scientist workshop run by the libraries tomorrow afternoon - it sounds fun!

Clawing my life back..

A lot of stress dropped away while I was on holidays - I slept a lot better & didn't need to take a headache tablet the whole time I was away which was amazing. I put a lot of it down to the fact that I was virtually unreachable by people. Our society is increasingly instant - we "need" to be contactable immediately no matter where we are - no wonder we can't "turn off". I'm resolving to stop being so instantly available, to stop being online so much, to hopefully reduce stress, and create a lot more time to carry out my other goals for the year.

Some ways I'm going to try to achieve it:

Clocks / watches: A couple of nights before we went away I turned the clock off on my bedside table - we didn't need the alarm so there was no point having it on. It's amazing how much better I slept - if I did wake up I didn't look at the clock and then toss & turn because it was x o'clock and I couldn't get back to sleep. Obviously I won't be able to do this through the week (or Pete would never get to work lol), but I'm going to continue doing it where possible on the weekend. I also stopped wearing my watch while on holidays - how freeing does it feel! Again, I'm going to not wear it unless I need to be somewhere at a particular time.

Mobile: When mobiles first became popular I refused to have one because I didn't want to be able to be contacted if I was out. Once you get your first one though it's hard to go back. How often are the calls & messages I get urgent? Not often I don't think. I've been leaving it on silent and just checking every now & then - if I don't hear it I don't rush to the phone. If it's important, they'll leave a message (downside - paying for the extra message retrieval calls..) Will try it anyway - it worked well on holidays.

Computer: My BIG addiction! I'm going to limit my time on the computer - I tried a few things today and it worked well. I ran the laptop on battery - it goes into hibernate mode pretty quickly and takes a few minutes to come back out of it so it stops me ducking back to look something else up. I'm keeping a notebook beside the computer so I can jot down things I want to do / look up / write (like I did with this blog post!). I've moved my computer from next to the lounge (which is lovely & comfortable) to a desk (which is probably more ergonomically sound but not as comfortable lol) - this will hopefully stop me sitting down and staying there! Don't use the computer while I'm eaiting breakfast / lunch - a very bad habit I've gotten into!!!

* Yahoogroups - I moderate / own a few Yahoogroups (LETS, Freecycle and related ones). They survived for a week without me - if I'm only checking every few hours they *will* survive! I have other moderators - rely on them more.
* Email - email does not have to be instant communication!!! If I get a message through, it does *not* need to be answered straight away!! Limit my time on the email, and also the frequency I'm checking. Can some of the emails be done by snail mail? (eg personal greetings)
* Work email - I used to have my work email go through Outlook because it's a pain to check via webmail. I've had to remove it while I'm on holidays because clients are still sending me work to do (despite knowing I'm on holidays!) - if I saw that there was an unread message I just didn't have the willpower to *not* read it, and then I'd either stress about it or have to answer it. By having it on webmail it's a hassle so I don't check it. So while I'm working I'll connect it to Outlook, while I'm not I'll remove it (or maybe I just won't have the send / receive check it - will see what works best). This will hopefully remove a *lot* of stress and eliminate one of the huge problems about working from home - separating work & home time.
* Blogs / groups - Use folders more to organise my mail. May need to cull?? (eeek!)

General:
* Make a list of jobs to do each day - NOT on the computer or it will just give me another excuse to be on it lol
* Stick to dedicated work time for paid work.
* Read books / write when I sit down at night.

Hopefully all of this will give me time to DO instead of just reading about doing. It'll be a good time to start now while I'm not back in the habit of using the PC - turning on my computer used to be the first thing I'd do of a morning :( Hopefully it will also rub off on the rest of the family - Pete is as bad with the computer and Billy uses the TV when he's bored..

This is a great blog post I skimmed yesterday on a similar topic - http://zenhabits.net/2008/01/3-ways-to-claim-your-life-back-how-to-step-away-from-your-computer/. I just read it in more depth and realised how good it really was!

And now it's time to turn off and go to bed!!!

We're back!!!

We had a good time away at Stuart's Point - great weather until the last couple of days when we were getting the tail end of the bad weather on the north coast. The main problem with that was that we were in a slide-on van which we'd taken off the back of the ute for the week - to get it back on, you have to wind the legs up manually so that it's high enough to back the (very high 4WD) ute under - NOT a great idea in high winds!! Pete & I spent 1.5 - 2 hrs in the driving rain & gale force winds last night getting it back on - we were soooo soaked & freezing - not to mention stressed! (Luckily we were able to send Billy to his aunt's van to stay dry and occupied while we put it on). Plus we developed a couple of leaks in the van - we ended up just leaving last night at 9pm and driving home rather than waiting until this morning when we were due to leave. We got home at 1:30 this morning *yawn*. So I've been spending today doing loads of wet washing and cleaning the van out.. Oh, and researching what we can buy instead of our slide-on, it's not working for how we use it! Now to rob a bank or win lotto!!


The week was relatively relaxing - I got heaps of books read - it's amazing how long a day is with no internet to surf, no chores to do etc! We spent some time with the family, and some by ourselves - a nice mix. Billy did a bit of swimming, Pete took him to play golf one morning (while I had a sleep in!!!!), we ate out far too much, watched the fireworks on New Years Eve and visited the old gaol at South West Rocks. The older Billy gets the easier it is to holiday with him - he can entertain himself more now (the lego got a great workout!), and I can trust him to cross the small road at the caravan park between our site and his aunts, so he spent time going between the two (he doesn't wander away). It gave me a bit more time to relax, and also to spend more time helping Cher & Linc with the kids - a delicate balancing act between helping them out and getting in the way lol, and between spending time with them but not ignoring Billy. Someone recently commented to Cher that 3 kids of different ages is harder than 3 of the same age - all I can say is that that person has never spent time with very active 20 month old triplets!!!! They're good kids, but it's so hard in a "non-controlled" environment - they're just so quick. I love it that they'll go to me with no dramas what so ever though and we got to have some "quality time" together.

It's going to be hard to get back into routine now!

That says it all really - summer holidays!


View from our van



NYE Fireworks at Scott's Head


Trial Bay Gaol


Locking up the dangerous criminals :)

We're all going on a summer holiday...

No more working for a week or two...

Fun and laughter on a summer holiday...

No more worries for me and you...

For a week or two.

Sorry if you now have that stuck in your head - I do as well :)

The van is packed and we're off on holidays up to Stuart's Point on the mid-north coast of NSW. We go up with Pete's sister Cheryl & her husband Lincoln (and the 20 month old triplets!) - Linc has been going up to the same caravan park since he was a kid - in fact *his* father went there as a kid, and they still go up there too, so it's a big family gathering. We feel like part of the family as well - this is our 4th year of going up.

I'm hoping for a relaxing holiday but unfortunately it won't be feet-up, read-a-book type relaxing - what with triplet wrangling *and* 5 yo wrangling.. It's good to get away anyway.

I just realised I haven't updated since before Xmas. Billy was spoilt (but not too much) by Santa, we had a great Xmas Day up at my mum & dads where we were all spoilt again, Boxing Day we kicked back & did very little! The last couple of days have been busy packing. That's it in a nutshell..

Well, an early start in the morning, so I'm off to bed. See you all in a week or so!

The stockings were hung..

Just got an excited boy into bed at 9pm - it could be a late night!

Yesterday we had our Xmas celebration with Pete's family at my SIL & BILs. 10 adults & 8 kids; luckily we rotate hosting between the 4 siblings and Pete's parents, and all put in for the food. We have another few years before it's our turn again :) A pleasant day - I got to cuddle all of my nieces & nephews (esp the new baby Cassie), there were no arguments (well maybe a couple amongst the kids!), the sun was shining, and we got to celebrate with family...

I spent today tidying up the house so that Santa could get in without tripping over and breaking a leg :) We did some baking (more shortbread - this time with chocolate on top!, and gingerbread to leave out for Santa) and Billy played with all of the toys he got yesterday. A pottering kind of day.. We opened family presents tonight (I got a dehydrator!!!), the newly created Santa sacks are laid out, Santa's snack is prepared - all is in readiness for the fat man.

Tomorrow we go up to my parent's house for lunch with my side of the family.

To me, Xmas is all about family & friends. To all of my blogging friends, I wish you a wonderful, happy Xmas Day filled with laughter and love. If you're travelling anywhere, travel safely.

Fun with fabric paint!

I'm not in the least bit crafty, but it's amazing what can be achieved with inspiration from blogs, some old t-shirts, pillowcases, fabric paint & lots of bits of fabric rescued from the "rag bag".. Voila, Xmas t-shirts and Santa sacks!! Like Kris said about her Xmas decorations (which look great btw Kris!), it may need to be seen through a filter of pride, but we're pretty proud of our efforts! (I may need to dig out the hair-drier to make sure Billy's efforts dry - he was rather heavy handed with the fabric paint lol).

2008 - Time to work smarter, not harder!

For the past few weeks I've had thoughts running around in my head about next year. My motto for the year will be to "work smarter, not harder". I tried working harder this year - all that happened was that I wore myself out & disrupted the family - and I don't know that we're much better off.

Here I sit at the end of another year and I am literally exhausted. Mostly mentally, although physically as well as I'm not sleeping well due to stress. Financially we are doing ok, but there is certainly room for improvement. I've been too busy to watch the pennies and they've been getting up to all sorts of mischief :)

My plan at the start of this year was to start ramping up the business so that when Billy went to school in 2008, I'd be able to work full-time at home, finish paying off our debt and start saving for a new car - how things change in a year! Instead my income will be reduced significantly due both to homeschooling and not wanting to be on the treadmill anymore. So I need to be smarter with what we have rather than trying to earn more money.

These are some of the goals I've come up with so far:

Financial

* finance hubby's microbrewery from savings/earnings only - no debt - hopefully we have enough saved for this now. Even more hopefully it will get underway and start earning some money next year!
* get down to $10,000 non-mortgage debt ($6,000+ to pay off)
* look at non-stress alternative income sources that can work around homeschooling - does such a beast really exist??! lol
* save at least $1,000 in appliance repair fund (washing machine is on it's last legs) by June
* reduce present/gift spending - more homemade? LETS? We had a shocking year this year with the present budget - several weddings, births, 40th b'days - all out of the ordinary. Hopefully next year will be better but need to be vigilant.
* Go back to tracking expenses!
* Actual envelopes aren't working too well for medical / misc household - try virtual envelopes.

Work

* only take on one large project per month (max) - that will leave time for other one-offs / fixes. I'm booked up until May already!!
* Try to work no more than a couple of nights / week
* start monthly newsletter back up
* Keep weekends free

School

* Enjoy it!!
* try to get into some sort of routine
* don't overcommit with activities

Me

* me time each week

Steps to achieve above goals:

* Utilise LETS more
* Concentrate on grocery budget - more from scratch, bulk buying
* Stop buying lunch every time we go out
* Get garden productive
* Track expenses
* Take time to do things rather than just spending money

I'm sure I'll add to this over the next week or so!

All sorts of dough!

After a session with my wonderfully talented chiropractor today, I had so much energy when we got home! I felt better than I had for weeks. I expended my energy in the kitchen - made some more of Little Jenny Wren's Melt & Mix shortbread, a batch of tortillas to go in the freezer and tried out a new recipe for hot dog buns - http://frugalliving.about.com/od/breadsbakedgoods/r/Hot_Dog_Buns.htm?p=1. I made the buns with all white flour (since that's all I had), and on some of them, I sprinkled the top with garlic powder, dried basil & oregano - oh wow, it smelt like Subway while it was rising & baking. And the taste was sensational - will definitely be keeping this recipe!!! I felt very industrious!!







I had a bit of a re-org of money matters today too - closed my bank account with ANZ (I'd been using it for ebay sales but I'm not using it atm and it was costing me money), and opened another one at my building society for the TL sales. I also opened & counted the money jar that I'd been feeding sporadically (and occasionally raiding for parking money!) over the year - $81.65 - which will come in handy on holidays! It should buy a meal out at the club and lots of ice-creams at the shop :) I want to open a new ING account too, but have run into a bit of a stumbling block with that one as they need a bank statement which I don't have.

5 sleeps til Xmas!

And now for the photos..

Preschool concert

Preschool 'graduation'

'Mess' journal

Looking around at the mess in our house at the moment, it's like a journal of our activities from the last few hectic days..

The Wiggles paraphenalia from the concert on Friday afternoon, the lollies & jackets from the Xmas party on Friday night, the water pistol prize from the b'day party on Saturday, the McDonald's junk (um I mean toys) from Saturday afternoon (yeah I fed my child that crap and am regretting it!), the pile of presents waiting to be wrapped from Sunday's shopping trip, the unpacked esky from the street party on Sunday night, the craft supplies unpacked from the trip to Spotlight yesterday, the ironing board still up from the urgent ironing job before the preschool concert last night, the unpacked backpack from the train trip we took with friends this morning.. We won't talk about the piles of dirty dishes, and the dishwasher that needs emptying, the piles of washing to be done, and folding to be put away.. We certainly won't talk about the state of the car - it's a little mess journal of it's own!

*sigh* - I think the clean-up fairies are on strike, guess I'd better go and make a start!!

Closed for Xmas

I hung out my virtual shingle today to say that I'm now closed for Xmas. I still have one website that I'll keep working on (in between Xmas stuff), but the rest will all have to wait until next year. What a relief!!

Yum - I made some of Jenny Wren's Melt & Mix Shortbread today - if that's what she "throws together" for her family, I'd love to try her special stuff lol!

I got all of the non-immediate family Xmas presents wrapped today - gee it takes a long time with a 5 year old helping! I still have a few things to buy and maybe some more stocking fillers - will see what the "pile" looks like once it's all in one spot. It's secreted all around the house (and at my parent's house!) atm :) I have to go hunting for one present - I know we bought it, but I have no idea where we hid it!!! (That sounds like I've bought heaps, but I haven't really - honest!)

This morning we went grocery shopping (Aldi & then Bilo), posted the Xmas cards, and bought a pair of swimmers for Billy (30% off at Best & Less - does anyone remember that really horrendous Best & Less ad from years ago with the old lady??? - what a shocker!). Aldi wasn't too busy and is outside of the shopping centres so it was easy to get a park, but Bilo is in town and was shocking - had to park miles away and walk - luckily I didn't need much there.

Best things about today:
* Got heaps done

Currently Reading:
The Grass Memorial by Sarah Harrison - still! Having trouble with the sections on the Crimean war - reading about men dying of cholera while you're eating or just before bed is a little hard to take!
Jane Eyre via Daily Lit

To do tomorrow:
Home - well not really at home!
* Swimming
* Wiggles concert
* drop assignments into WEA - they want to keep of copy of the work I did for the Cert IV!
* work Xmas party

Work

Baker's Clay / Salt Dough

I made up a batch of "baker's clay" (I've also heard it called salt dough) this morning and Billy had a ball making Xmas decorations out of it.

****

This is the recipe I used:

1 and 1/2 cups hot water
1 cup salt
4 cups flour

Mix the salt & hot water in a large bowl. Add the flour and mix until sticky. Knead the dough for about 7-10 mins until smooth (I did it in the mixer). Bake your clay creations at 180 deg C for about 90 mins, turning once. The clay should be hard all the way through so leave it in longer if necessary.

Clay may be stored in the refrigerator in a plastic bag for later use.

***

I'm not sure if the recipe is wrong or if I lost count while measuring - not outside the realms of possibility lol, but I "think" I only used 3 cups flour, and we only baked for about 40 mins Let me know if anyone makes it!

I guess you could add food colouring while you're making it to make different colours - we stuck with plain and plan on painting it tomorrow - or another tomorrow!

****

On another note, Billy's preschool concert & "graduation" was postponed tonight due to inclement weather which was disappointing. It will probably be held next week - let's hope we can squeeze it in lol. Personally I would've thought that given the fact that it's been raining on and off for the last few weeks, they would've had a back-up plan in place, but hey, that's just me!!

It did mean that I was able to get a bit more work done. I'm very, very slowly reducing the list.

Billy was quite sooky today - wanted lots of cuddles - and took himself off for a sleep this afternoon (which was rudely interrupted by the delivery man). Most unusual... Pete came home from work with a headache & aching, and has gone to bed early.. Could be something going around. I don't have time to be sick, so I'll have to be ok!!

Best things about today:
* Lots of cuddles
* Nice, peaceful day on the whole
* Realising that I don't have to frantically rearrange my life if B isn't well tomorrow.

Currently Reading:
The Grass Memorial by Sarah Harrison.
Jane Eyre via Daily Lit

To do tomorrow:
Home (in addition to the usual washing, cooking, tidying etc)
* grocery shopping
* make biscuits
* post Xmas cards
* comment on a few outstanding blog posts / memes
* wrap / finish making Xmas presents that I need to take on Friday

Work
* create & post install CD for H
* send CD to K
* work on K's website
* answer M's email

Xmas cards..

all done..



I like to write one of those ubiquitous Xmas letters to send to people we like to keep in touch with but don't get to see much of. It was quite interesting looking back at all of the stuff we've done this year - not to mention pulling up last year's letter to use as a template and seeing the photo of Billy from 12 months ago! I personally don't like to send Xmas cards - I send a couple but am not into the whole "oh they sent me one, I'd better send one back" deal. Most of the ones I send are to distant (in terms of location) aunts and great-aunts.

I also wrote in a couple of cards that I've been putting off. One was a thinking of you card for someone I used to work with that I've recently heard has breast cancer. I'm not very good at writing cards like that - I agonise over whether what I write is appropriate, but I would be far worse in person so it's better for me to write than ring!

While getting the Xmas cards out I found 2 very organised Xmas lists from 2005 & 2004 - present list, budget, Xmas card list - very neatly written, stapled together & filed! 2006 was scrawled on a piece of scrap paper, and this year hasn't even made it to that lol.

Best thing about yesterday:

Having some time to browse in the library in peace while Billy was listening to the story at storytime!

Currently Reading:

The Grass Memorial by Sarah Harrison.
Jane Eyre via Daily Lit

To do today:

Home
* Ring customer re TL order and then finish placing order
* Finish gifts for preschool teachers
* Decide what we can have for tea that's quick & easy
* Preschool concert / graduation
* Maybe go grocery shopping - it's raining and I don't think I'll find the motivation :)

Work
* Return H's call
* create install CD for H
* work on K's website

Edited because I started the post yesterday and it kept the same date & time!

Homeschooling: Spain

A couple of weeks ago we finished our unit on Spain, but I've only just been organised enough to take a photo of the end result!

Billy painted the flag as the background of the poster, and we looked at things like the geography, culture (bull-fighting, flamenco dance, football), famous people (Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali), agriculture, and currency.

We also created castanets out of bottle-tops and learnt some Spanish words. The memory cards have been used a couple of times as various games in learning 1-10 and basic greetings.

To do list - trying to get organised!

Well, the microwave is clean, but I'm still scraping hardened jam off the pyrex jug :) It's slowly coming off with the soak & scrape method!

I really need to get organised - 14 days til Xmas!! So I'm going to post my to-do list on here - feel free to ignore :)

Currently Reading:
The Grass Memorial by Sarah Harrison - getting into it more now.
Jane Eyre via Daily Lit

To do:
Work
* continue working on K's website
* create install disk for H
* put 1st TL order in

Home
* storytime at the library
* write Xmas letter, start on Xmas cards
* write on other cards that I've been putting off

How NOT to make jam....

When you try to make strawberry jam in the microwave - remember to READ the recipe to see what size container you need, and not just rely on a rather faulty memory of what you used last time!

Do you think this will fit Lightening's Smiley Saturday criteria??! lol I'm sure someone out there is laughing :)

*yawn*

Oh what I'd give for a sleep-in! I can't wait for a teenager that sleeps all morning rather than a child that wakes at the crack of dawn!

It's been a busy week - we were only home for 1 day so the house is a bit of a mess from stuff being dumped, dishes not washed etc. (actually that's probably an understatement!)

Monday we met up with friends for storytime at the library and then back to their house for a papier mache making day! In hindsight, it's probably not the best activity for a 4 and 5 year old - needs too much of an attention span - but Kate & I found it strangely therapeutic lol. We didn't leave there until late afternoon. The box of craft stuff is still sitting on the table :(

Tue was an early start as we had to drop the car in for a service at 8am. A long day hanging around in town waiting for it to be ready. There's not a lot open at that time of morning so we walked to a "cheap shop" that was open, looked around in there for a while & picked up a b'day present. Did a bit more shopping once the rest of the shops were open, then went to a nearby play cafe. I think after 5 years I was able to achieve nirvana - Billy went off to play quite happily with the other kids that were there, and I sat and read a book! It's an enclosed playground so I only had to look up every now & then to check he was ok. It only cost a couple of $ entry, but then I bought myself a cup of tea, and got Billy a biscuit - probably didn't get a lot of change out of $10. Could've been far worse!! (Like the lunch that we then bought at another cafe.. *sigh* Yes I could've packed a lunch to take but then I would've had to carry it around town, and quite frankly I couldn't be bothered...).

We visited the art gallery after lunch which was fun - the paintings in the current exhibition weren't really my cup of tea (too floral lol). They had a great kid's activity though - a worksheet with 3 different activities on it - firstly that had small sections replicated of 9 paintings on the sheet that the kids had to find on the big paintings and tick off their sheet. It really made us look closely at the paintings. One of the paintings was called Postcard from Port Fairy (or something like that), so the 2nd activity was to think about what kind of place would be called Port Fairy (thinking mythical creatures), and draw a postcard. The 3rd activity was to colour in a painting like the ones in the exhibition. This is the 2nd time we've been there while they've had kid's activities, and I was so impressed with them I decided to email the co-ordinator and tell (and thank) her and her staff. I got an email back on Thursday to say I'd made her & her assistant's day!

Wednesday we were at home - but other than a bit of baking I don't think we did much but recovered! We had road works right outside our house which was rather annoying (and very unusual since we live in a no through road!) Oh and my "T ot al Lea rning" start-up order arrived (I'm not allowed to advertise on the web at all even to say I sell it apparently in case I usurp their google ranking!) so that's why the split up letters - from henceforth it will be known as TL :) That was fun unpacking the boxes - Billy jumped on everything and declared it his! There's some wonderful books there - I love books :)

Thursday was Billy's last day at preschool! He was very excited! It also meant it was my last day of uninterrupted working :( I did 3 hours of work and then had to go and see a client to install some changes for them. On the way back from that I picked up a Xmas present (and looked in vain for a couple more).

Friday we had the ute in for a service - yes it's been an expensive week! (translation for the non-Aussies - a ute is a utility vehicle / pickup / vehicle than you can use to haul stuff around). Again an early start to drop it off - walk to swimming, then Mum & Dad picked us up and drove us back to their house. Mum offered me their car to go and do some Xmas shopping while they looked after Billy which was fantastic - I managed to get about 90% of it done, most importantly I got the stuff done that I couldn't do with said child in tow! That stuff is still hiding up at their house! (and the rest is spread out on the kitchen floor :( ) It was a late night by the time we got the ute back and then Pete was late getting home from work, so we had to hang around for quite a while before his train arrived.

Borrowing unashamedly from Crazy Mumma's layout :)

Currently Reading: The Grass Memorial by Sarah Harrison. "A sweeping story of love and loss over continents and generations" - only 88 pages in to it so far of 600, and it hasn't gripped me yet but will persevere.

To do this weekend:
Work
* finish report for H
* continue working on K's website
* get photos together for J's website

Home
* B'day party tomorrow - wrap present & write in card
* WASHING!
* CLEAN KITCHEN!
* Decide what to make for preschool teachers & do it / help Billy do it

Right - best go and throw a load in the machine, and empty the dishwasher as a start.

Memes - The Big 8 and 7 random things

I've been tagged for a couple of memes recently and have just had a chance to look at them!

This one was hard!

8 Things I Am Passionate About
1. Family
2. Education choices
3. Frugal living
4. Being careful with the earth's resources
5. Friendships
6. Homecooking
7. Additives in food (see 6!)
8. Reading

8 Things I Want to Do Before I Die
1. Visit Egypt
2. Travel Europe again
3. Meet Helen (hi Helen!!)
4. Have grandchildren to spoil!
5. See more of Australia
6. Become more self-sufficient
7. Be debt-free!
8. Write a book

8 Things I Say Often
1. Billy, please stop talking!
2. Who left the light on???!
3. Quick, hurry up and ... (get dressed, get in the car, eat your tea.. ad infinitum)
4. I love you!
5. Are you listening to me?!
6. What was the best thing about today?
7. Argghhhh! I have so much to do!
8. There's no blood - you'll live :)

8 Books I've Read Recently
1. Lots of light trashy romance crap that don't need the brain turned on when I'm reading :)
2. Nurture by Nature by Paul Tieger
3. Blockade by Derek Hansen
4. Jane Eyre (currently reading it online via DailyLit)
5. Sole Survivor by Derek Hansen
6. Gardens of delight by Erica James
7. Secrets & Shadows by Mary Nickson
8. Getting started with homeschooling by Beverly Paine

8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over
1. Summer of 69 - Bryan Adams
2. Khe Sahn - Cold Chisel
3. Don't dream it's over - Crowded House
4. I don't like Mondays - Boomtown Rats
5. Daniel - Elton John
6. You're the one that I want - John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John (Grease soundtrack)
7. Constant craving - k.d.lang
8. To her door - Paul Kelly

8 Things that Attract Me to My Best Friends
1. Sense of humour
2. Similar interests - frugal living, vege gardening, homeschooling (not necessarily all in the same person!)
3. Non-aggressive
4. Honest
5. Similar philosophy in life
6. Positive
7. Make you feel good when you're with them - not constantly "taking"
8. Love of books

8 People Who Should Totally Do This Meme
1. Anyone who wants to! But beware - it's hard!

7 random or weird things

I was tagged by Lightening to do this one too.

Here are the meme rules:
Rules:
1- Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
2- Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.
3- Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
4- Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here goes with 7 things about ME:

1. I have vitiligo so I have blotchy white patches all over my body.

2. I am addicted to flavoured chips, particularly chicken & 'cheese & onion' - put them down in front of me and I will keep eating until they are gone!

3. I get obsessed with learning all I can about a particular topic - then once I've done it I move on to the next without doing anything about it!

4. I used to read the encyclopedia as a kid (see no 3 lol)

5. I used to own a copy of every book written by Jack Higgins (of "The Eagle Has Landed" fame) - including his pseudonyms.. I still own them but I'm sure he's written more by now!

6. I could live quite happily without a TV - but have a husband & child both addicted to it..

7. I had cravings for Hungry Jacks (like Burger King) when I was pregnant.

I'll tag:

Kin
Libby
Emma
Mrs P
Julie
Kate
Lisa

It's beginning to look a lot like Xmas!

Our Advent tree

Christmas is coming...

.. I've got no idea if the geese are getting fat, but I do know it's time for this ostrich to take her head out of the sand about Xmas!! What is it about turning the page over to December that makes me go arrrrggghhhh??!! I still have a few people to buy for - which unfortunately means braving the shops - and a few things to make (still undecided as to actually what though!) Every year I vow to be more organised, but it certainly hasn't happened this year! Next year maybe? :)

I'm glad I wasn't taking part in NaPoBloMo or whatever it was called! I think I blogged less in November than I have for months. I've been head-down, tail-up trying to get work completed - I haven't made my self-imposed end-of-November deadline. Billy has one more day of preschool left, so that gives me one day left of child-free work (and I have to see a client in that so that cuts out several hours). I can see a lot more late nights in my future for the next couple of weeks if I want to get done anytime soon.

Everytime I blog lately I seem to be stressing over all of the stuff I have to do. Sorry everyone :( This is my outlet valve - if I don't stress on here, I might explode (which would just mean more mess for me to clean up lol).

So some positive notes - we've had a fairly social week - had a playdate with homeschool friends on Wednesday afternoon, and met a friend from the Simple Savings site & her son for a swim and play yesterday. Learning-wise, I can now count to 10 in Spanish lol, and more importantly so can Billy :) He's been learning "skip-counting" eg counting by 10s and 2s, knows lots about Spain now and has been busy being a kid.

Today we're dropping Pete at a cricket reunion day (ie they'll stand around, drink lots and swap tall tales!), while we go to Mum & Dads for lunch and the afternoon. Then we're all meeting back at my parents-in-law's house for tea. We've just made some Cornflake Nutties to take up with us. I seem to have done nothing but cook this week - 'we' made banana muffins (12), and a batch of Anzac biscuits on Monday (?) - there is now 1 banana muffin and about 3 anzac biscuits left! We made a carrot cake to take over on Wednesday - there is a smidgen left! I'm sure the Cornflake Nutties won't last past today either!

I was very thankful for a freezer meal yesterday - I hadn't gotten the fish that we'd planned to have out of the freezer and just couldn't be bothered cooking anything. I was *this* close to reaching for the emergency bag of chicken nuggets I have stashed in there when I remembered a meal of chili con carne lurking in the bottom of the freezer. It was a bit cooler last night, so perfect for it! I took it out of the freezer, dumped it in the saucepan and threw in an extra can of tomatoes. I took the meal-size portion of rice out of the freezer and nuked it - tada, dinner with no effort!!

Time to get ready to go.

What a weekend!

Yesterday was a significant day - my cousin got married, it was my parent's 45th wedding anniversary and of course, we started a new chapter in our country's history. My cousin's wedding went really well - she looked lovely dressed in a medieval style wedding dress. Her husband is from Chile so the reception included some Chilean traditions as well, like a Spanish wedding dance. The ceremony itself was in a park - luckily the weather stayed clear!!

It was late when we got home, Billy was way over-tired so it took ages to settle him down to go to sleep. Then I sat up to watch the election, so it was 11:30 by the time I went to bed. This morning Billy crawled into bed with us at 6:30 and promptly went back to sleep until 9! Unheard of for him!

Today Billy & I went to the local LETS picnic / trading day. It was the first time I've made it to one, and really enjoyed it. I bought a few Xmas presents, lots of herbs and another tomato plant (I'm going to have them coming out of my ears if they all take off!), and Billy got to buy lots of stuff that he claimed were necessities!

So all in all, it's been a busy but fairly relaxing weekend.

Ugh! I hate hemming!

In fact I hate sewing full stop, but being 5 ft 1, I seem to have to take up a lot of hems lol. I've just been sitting here trying to take up a pair of black pants under not great light - I've got one leg done and my eyes are just about crossing, so will do the other one tomorrow morning. They're to wear to my cousin's wedding tomorrow afternoon!

I had a big "splurge" yesterday at the op-shop - a pair of jeans, a pair of trousers, a pair of shorts, and 2 blouses - for the grand total of $27. I hate clothes shopping with a passion, so this was a big spend up for me!

Today I went to see a lady about becoming a Total Learning consultant - they sell educational books like DK. I'm going to do it, there's no minimum sell, you don't have to have parties etc, so I'll just be handing catalogues around to friends & family. Of course, the more you sell, the better the % you receive, but I'm happy just using it to bring in a bit of extra money and buy some great books at discounted rates with no pressure. I just need to send the form away, so if anyone wants any books you can order through me in a couple of weeks lol. I'm a bit like a kid in a candy shop though - how will I stop myself buying all of the books!!

Hmm, I'm sure I had something else I wanted to add, but my brain has shut down so I can't remember what it was!

Balancing the books

A very quick update before I fall asleep! I forced myself to sit down and get my bank account balanced today (I use M/S Money) - I haven't done it in about 2 months :( I'm usually religious in keeping it up-to-date but having the tax money go in there gave me a very healthy buffer, and I got slack about doing it. It meant Billy ran riot while I was concentrating on that (or at least that's how the house looks!) but it's done! I also redid my budget to reflect the change in lifestyle - no more preschool (in 3 weeks) and me really not working. My challenge now is to start logging all expenses again. I did it for years and then got out of the habit - it's been very difficult to start again.

We're about to get a storm here - I just lost my wireless network connection when the power flickered, so I'm off to give it a reboot, hopefully post this and go to bed.

Book Review: Nurture by Nature

Over the last few weeks I've been reading a book called "Nurture by Nature" by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger. It's about finding out your child's Myer-Briggs personality type. Most of the tests you find are aimed at adults, but this book looks at how your child plays with others, thinks, talks etc to determine their type. The reason is not to "label" your child but to help understand them and parent them better (and in my case teach him better).

What an eye-opener! No wonder I tend to regard my child as from a different planet!! From reading the book and doing a couple of on-line tests, I come out as an ISTJ (Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, Judging) but also very close to an ISFJ (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging) - I was 55% T and 45% F on one test I did. (This is one site that shows an overview of the types that I've copied below - http://www.capt.org/mbti-assessment/type-descriptions.htm). I am recharged by being by myself, like to get things finished, likes to be organised & follow a schedule.

ISTJ
For ISTJs the dominant quality in their lives is an abiding sense of responsibility for doing what needs to be done in the here-and-now. Their realism, organizing abilities, and command of the facts lead to their completing tasks thoroughly and with great attention to detail. Logical pragmatists at heart, ISTJs make decisions based on their experience and with an eye to efficiency in all things. ISTJs are intensely committed to people and to the organizations of which they are a part; they take their work seriously and believe others should do so as well.

ISFJ
For ISFJs the dominant quality in their lives is an abiding respect and sense of personal responsibility for doing what needs to be done in the here-and-now. Actions that are of practical help to others are of particular importance to ISFJs. Their realism, organizing abilities, and command of the facts lead to their thorough attention in completing tasks. ISFJs bring an aura of quiet warmth, caring, and dependability to all that they do; they take their work seriously and believe others should do so as well.

The diametrically opposite type to an ISFJ is an ENTP (Extroverted, Intuitive, Thinking, Perceiving). Guess what type Billy seems to suit?!!! Yep :) Recharged by being around people, likes to start things but not finish them, likes to make a mess lol.

ENTP
For ENTPs the driving quality in their lives is their attention to the outer world of possibilities; they are excited by continuous involvement in anything new, whether it be new ideas, new people, or new activities. They look for patterns and meaning in the world, and they often have a deep need to analyze, to understand, and to know the nature of things. ENTPs are typically energetic, enthusiastic people who lead spontaneous and adaptable lives.

It helps in some ways to know that he's not deliberately trying to drive me mad by talking to me all the time and needing to be in the same room. It lets me compensate a bit more and work to his strengths. It also emphasises to me that I really do need time to myself regularly.

It's really given me something to think about as we spend more time together.

End of week 3 - homeschooling update..

We were out all day yesterday with 2 b'day parties to go to (7th & 40th!) so I don't think we'll get much school work done today - we need a pyjama day I think!!

For those that aren't aware, there really aren't any hard and fast rules about how to home educate - I'm speaking as someone based in NSW, Australia - it's probably different in other states & countries. Families choices range from "school at home" - eg sit down with school books and work through them, right through to "natural learning" - eg let the kids learn what they want, when they want by participating in "life". We're sitting somewhere in the middle - nicely called "eclectic" - in other words taking a bit of everything! There are set curriculums (curriculi?) you can purchase to work through if you want, or there are plenty of resources on the internet. I've decided to work in "integrated units" - think of a topic and then create activities around that to cover aspects of English, Maths, Science etc. I'm working towards covering the NSW Board of Studies outcomes for each subject over the year. We'll supplement with worksheets where necessary, and also just embrace any other opportunity that comes along even if it doesn't fit into the current unit. That's the plan at this stage, anyway - I'm sure it will change as we go!

We're just about finished the first unit we're working on - "About Me and My Family". Some of the activities we've done are:

* take a big sheet of butcher's paper, get Billy to lie down on it and trace around his outline. He then drew his face on and wrote words around the outside to represent himself & things he liked. He also did a hand & foot-print painting to go with it.

* Family tree - another big sheet of paper. Create a family tree by writing all of the family names on it (starting with my grandmother - the only living great-grandparent) in a typical family tree format - Billy did the writing. I printed out photos of everyone and he cut the faces out and glued them on next to the appropriate people. It was a really good exercise in helping him understand relationships. This was quite time-consuming - we did it in a few goes over several days - first the writing, then the cutting, then pasting.

* Cousin's timeline - I wrote the years from 1992 - 2007 on a sheet of paper. We then went through all of the cousins - circled when they were born, and he wrote their names. We talked about things like who was the oldest, youngest, no of years between him & various other cousins. A great way to teach some maths concepts in a relevant way.

* Poetry - we read a few poems on the subject of "me" and then he created an acrostic poem (a word about himself for each letter starting with a letter in his name) - the final poem was:

Billy buys

Ice-creams and

Likes

Lollipops and

Yellow.

* Family drawing and story - he still needs to complete this one.

* Stories - we read a few books together on families.

As well as that, he's also done a lot of art & craft - created a puppet theatre out a box, a bird craft at storytime, a Xmas tree picture using scrunched up crepe paper bits, lots of painting etc; some maths & english worksheets; we've played board & card games eg old maid, scrabble; lots of play-acting play, lego etc; done some cooking; played lots of educational computer games and had lots of discussions that we've followed up with a bit of research. Eg "do ants have eyes?" - we caught some and looked in the microscope he borrowed from the library, and then looked at pictures in the encylopedia; and - "where did people come from before there were any people?" - discussed evolution and looked up an evolution of man chart.

There's also been a fair bit of social interaction - storytime, swimming, visits with friends etc.

Our next unit is on Spain, since there was an interest because Pete was over there. We haven't done any formal activities for it yet, but we've done some informal stuff - he knows where Spain is on the map, what the flag looks like and we've read a bit about Spain.

Written down like that it actually looks like we've done a lot but we don't spend that long each day on "formal" stuff - maybe an hour or so.

One of the great things is the flexibility. I had a few activities planned for one day that would need a fair bit of concentration but he was in a really hyper mood. It wasn't worth the angst of making him do it that day, so we did some other more active stuff and got back to the concentration stuff another day!

Noisy Day..

Firstly thanks to all who enquired how I was doing and whether Pete got back ok. Yes he did, and we're all fine, just busy! He seemed to enjoy his trip, but is suffering pretty badly from jetlag.. I'll put some photos up when I get a chance.

Today was a very noisy day, and my ears are still hurting :( Firstly we went to swimming which is at an indoor pool. Several younger kids who have just started lessons protested loudly at the indignity (ie they screamed the whole way through the lesson!), and then after Billy's lesson, the aqua aerobics starts in the other pool . So there were kids screaming & yelling, plus loud music, all echoing in an enclosed space.. Not great!

After the lesson and a play, we went out to lunch at a local club with some ladies I know online from our Freecycle group. I struggle in a group - I find it hard to hear everyone especially with multiple conversations happening in a noisy restaurant. I don't think I have a hearing problem, I think it's just that I'm not used to being in groups much any more.

Then after we left there we went over to the local shopping centre to get some socks & thongs for Billy (I swear I don't know how he goes through socks like he does!). It was loud, crowded and was about the final straw for me!! It's good to be back home!!

Yesterday was a busy day with a trip to Newcastle - chiro visit (my back wasn't as bad as it usually is so staying off the computer is having a positive effect!), meeting with a client, meeting with my course teacher and a bit of shopping. The meeting with my course teacher went well - she marked me off as competent for the whole Cert IV which means I've really finished!!!! It's not official I guess until I get the piece of paper but it means I don't need to worry about it anymore.

I had a positive experience with a salesman which restored my faith in human nature! I forgot to charge my phone the night before and it was starting to beep with a low battery warning. I went into the Telstra shop to see if I could buy a car charger - he didn't have one for my model, but when he found out why I wanted it, he offered to charge the phone for me with a normal charger while I went to the chiro. Very nice of him. It was particularly timely since we've been having a bit of trouble with a new Freecycle member for a couple of days, with yet another abusive message that morning. It was good to remember that not everyone is like that!

The shopping was a bit of a worry - I seem to be in a spending mood atm. Letting me loose in Officeworks in that mood is a bit dangerous :) I was buying bits & pieces for "school" - scissors, sticky tape, cardboard etc... $100 later :(

Speaking of which - homeschool is going well - will update in a separate post.

Routines and other ramblings..

I've been slowly settling into a new routine over the last week (and now Pete's on his way home I'll have to start again!). The most important thing has been to limit my time on the computer through the day.

I haven't been setting the alarm of a morning, so it's been wonderful to wake up whenever Billy comes and gets into bed with me - usually too early for my liking, but I love our early-morning snuggles! I check the e-mail after we get up to see if there's anything urgent, moderate any freecycle messages that are outstanding and while I'm having breakfast try to reply to any emails that I can and read some blogs. After that I've been trying to limit the computer usage to checking email & freecycle every now & then through the day, and the times I need to use it for Billy's schoolwork. I might read some more blogs at lunch or afterwards if I get a chance.

After he goes to bed, I get to start on my paid work - which sadly means I'm limited to an hour or two each night if I want to get a decent night's sleep. Not ideal & I have to admit I'm not at my best by then, but it means I can focus on Billy through the day. (I do still have Thursdays when he's at preschool, so I'm saving anything too hard for then!) It's been quite freeing actually - by giving myself permission NOT to be working through the day if there is a spare minute, I've been able to not only play more with Billy (not that that's the highlight of my day, but he loves it!), or be with him while he works, but I've also done more around the house while he's busy with other stuff - and even taken a bit of time for myself to read or do a jigsaw. (I have to be careful not to let this get too much either!!)

Speaking of cleaning around the house - I cleaned the dishwasher filters out today - ewwwww! I have no idea how it got to be so bad since we rinse the dishes before we put them in, but let me say again - ewwwwwww! :)

I had a brainwave this morning of a way that I might remember to water the garden! Flylady suggests adding the routine on to something you already have as a habit which makes sense and has worked for me in the past. As I was hanging the clothes out this morning, I realised that it made sense to tack it on to that task. I usually wash every day or two, and after I'm finished, I can just make a quick detour via the garden and give it a water. Well, it worked today anyway!!!

Oh btw, the jam I made the other day worked perfectly! I don't know that I'd go and buy strawberry, apple & pineapple jam lol, but it tastes pretty good to me! Yet another thing on the list of items I no longer *have* to buy - yes I can if I want but I'm now capable of making it myself :)

Pete should be home soon, so time for this little duck to sign off! Night all.