Swansea Heads Rockpool walk

We had a great afternoon today. One of the local homeschool dads and his daughter organised a "rock walk" - a walk along the rock platform at Swansea Heads looking into the rockpools.


Apart from the organisers and us, there were 4 other families - for a change I knew 2 of them already! Obviously it was carefully organised for low tide so we could do it safely.

We saw lots of blue & zebra periwinkles, black nerites and limpets.


as well as Neptune's Necklace algae (the beady type ones above) and Dead Man's Fingers sponge (below).


We also found this Chiton - an ancient mollusc with eight shell plates that curls itself up into a ball like a slater.


I think the coolest find was this crab shell (because we found it lol) - the crab had obviously moulted and moved out to grow a new one. Cool hey?! He does have other legs, they were just folded up underneath. We know it's a boy crab because he had one front claw bigger than the other. The things you learn!


Some braved it to make their way out to the end of the rocks - apparently they saw an octopus in the pools out there. I decided that we'd stay dry and watch the others!


Billy practised his diving stance while we were waiting! (Yes I know he's odd - gets it from his father!)


They had to make a bit of a scurry to get back to dry land though once the tide started coming back in. We were able to watch from our dry vantage spot.


It was a really great day - beautiful weather, very relaxing wandering along peering into rockpools, and we learnt lots too. What more could you want?!

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

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

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

Turn computer on. Check email.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Washed the day's accumulated dishes.

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

Helped Billy make fruit salad for dessert.

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

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

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

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

More on stockpiling

In the last post I wrote on stockpiling for emergencies, I said that governments were suggesting a 10 week stockpile, but then couldn't find a link to back that up. Sara over the Simple Savings site has just found something everyone should read.

Here's an excerpt from an article in The Medical Journal of Australia - full article here

"Abstract

• Influenza pandemics are a real risk and are best managed by self-isolation and social distancing to reduce the risk of infection and spread.

• Such isolation depends on availability of food of adequate quantity and quality.

• Australia has one of the most concentrated food supplies of any country, making rapid food depletion more likely in a crisis.

• Food stockpiling by both authorities and citizens is an important safety precaution that should be given greater media coverage.

• Food and nutrition guidelines are provided for survival rations in the event of a pandemic or other catastrophe."

"The Australian Government and the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) have been planning for such a scenario for several years and have advanced plans in place (Russell Neal, AFGC, Canberra, ACT, personal communication). Nonetheless, the logistics and practicalities of household food stockpiling should be given greater media coverage. Australia has one of the most concentrated food supplies of any country, being dominated by two large supermarket chains. These organisations operate with such efficiency that their logistic chains hold only a few weeks’ supplies (Russell Neal, AFGC, personal communication). If the supply chain shuts down, or if there is no delivery from central stores, supermarkets’ stocks will be depleted within 2–4 weeks (Clare Buchanan, Public Relations Officer, Woolworths Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW, personal communication). If domestic stockpiling begins at this late stage, then depletion will be accelerated.

Food supplies in the home will need to last as long as it takes for vaccine development and production. For ordinary seasonal influenza vaccines, there is a lag of 6 months or more after a new virus strain has first been discovered until a new vaccine is available for distribution. For weather-related catastrophes, food stockpiles might be required for much longer. A destabilised global climate, where small changes in atmospheric and ocean circulations have major consequences for temperature, rainfall, wind and storm patterns, may precipitate food stockpile dependence for several years.4 While long-term food stockpiling could be considered a governmental responsibility, we suggest that home stockpiling of food to last about 3 months might be done by individual households. This would allow a window of time for governments to put emergency action plans and food deliveries in place."

Dare I say - food for thought??!

Menu Plan Monday - 12th April

I've had a bit of a shopping spree over the last couple of weeks - a couple of food thermos, and a coffee one, shoes for Billy, underwear for Pete. None of the expeditures were over the top but it still needs to be paid for. So I'm trying to eat out of my freezer this week.

Review of Last week's menu -

* The quesadillas were a hit, they'll be added to the menu plan again.
* The pork burgers using minced leftover cooked pork roast were very successful. You wouldn't know the pork had already been cooked once, and they were very light and tasty. I think this would work well with turkey as well.
* Apricot chicken was ok, but I probably should've only added half the tin of apricots - they were a bit overwhelming. Will give it another try anyway.
* Friday night's fish turned into bacon and eggs as we didn't get home until late and I hadn't thawed the fish out.
* Saturday night's pork chops turned into a roast chicken dinner so we'd have chicken for lunches.

To use up this week:
* pumpkin
* a couple of leftover sausages (lunches)
* leftover roast veges
* rest of roast chicken


Menu Plan this week:

Monday - Pork chops with bubble and squeak (leftover veges) - from LoveFoodHateWaste site
Tuesday - Nasi goreng (leftover roast chicken - minus the prawns) - from LoveFoodHateWaste site
Wednesday - Steak pie & pumpkin, spinach, carrots (cook steak & gravy in slow cooker + cook extra steak for lunches)
Thursday - Jamaican Chicken thighs & veges on BBQ & couscous
Friday - Homemade pizza
Saturday - Panfried fish, mashed potato & veges
Sunday - Something easy - Leftovers / Pasta & cheese / Eggs (Pete home late)

I did it! I should just need to buy fruit & vege and maybe eggs for the week.

For more menu plan ideas, see Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.



Eating from the garden:
* spinach
* basil

The pakchoy should be ready next week.

Seedlings underway (on the windowsill):
* Lettuce
* Cauliflower
* Silverbeet
* Parsley
* Broccoli
* Pakchoy

Planting this week:
* Garlic
* More peas / snow peas

Three Remarkable Women

Some time ago I read a wonderful book called The Woman on the Mountain - the author, Sharyn Munro, lives alone on a remote property in the Upper Hunter Valley, NSW. She's completely self-sufficient in her mudbrick cottage, has turned her property into a wildlife refuge and is regenerating native species in the bush. It really is a fantastic read - I'm actually quite surprised that I didn't blog about it when I read it. Once I read the book, I wanted more lol, so I searched for her blog and found it. I leave the odd comment on there, as you do :)

Our library regularly presents a "Look who's talking" series of talks by authors, so when I found out that Sharyn was going to be one of them, I booked in! I've never been to one of the talks before - I always look at them and think "wow, that looks interesting", but arranging babysitting etc is just always too much hassle to bother. Not this time, I didn't want to miss it!

So off I went today for "High Tea" at our library, to listen to Sharyn and 2 other authors talk. The talks were all wonderful.

It was called "Three Remarkable Women" and I think it was put on to tie-in with Mother's Day. As well as Sharyn, the other 2 authors were Jane Mundy, author of Cholas in Bowlers and Cheryl Keonig, author of Paper Cranes.

Jane Mundy's book is about her journey to the other side of the world - in her late fifties, she met a man who asked her to go to Bolivia with him, so off they went for an adventure! It was a really interesting and amusing talk - I can't wait to read her book now.

Cheryl's talk was quite heart-wrenching - I'm positive I wasn't the only one wiping away tears as she spoke. At the age of 12, her son was hit by a car and was severely brain damaged - she was told he would never walk, talk or eat again. They took him home and cared for him, gave him intensive therapy, and now at the age of 22, he can walk, snow ski, is learning to drive, and is doing a course at TAFE (tech college). It's a remarkable story and I've added it to my library list too!

I purchased Sharyn's book, chatted to her afterwards and asked her to sign it. She recognised my name from the comments I've left on her blog which I thought was very cool!

It was such a great morning!

Tocal Field Days

Last Friday we went to the Tocal Field Days - it's a big weekend Agricultural Exhibition and the Friday is the day for schools to go. One of the homeschool mums in our area organised for us to go as a school group, so off we went for a fun day.

We were split into two groups, and booked into two educational sessions for the day, the rest of the time was free to wander.

Our first talk was called Web2Spider - it was all about classifying the types of spider webs you see around the place, and identifying what type of spider built it. Sue from the Australian Museum had some cool spider exhibits set up for everyone to look at first of all, and then she gave us a brief talk on how to classify the webs. We were only looking at orb webs in the brief time we had.


Then for the real fun! The kids split into small groups, and armed with spray bottles of water & a classifying chart, off they went to find spider webs. The spray was to be able to see them more clearly - as you can see we found some great ones!! I think there was more finding & spraying than classifying going on, as most of the kids were young, but hey, they had fun, and I'm sure they all learnt something. I know I did!

Our 2nd talk after lunch was Amy from the Newcastle Markets. Annoyingly called 'Apples ain't apples', she spoke about the differences between fruits & vegetables, identified the different parts on a flower (eg flower, stem, root, leaf) and how you can classify vegetables by that method. It was another good talk - I know Billy learnt heaps from that one as he has been lecturing me on it all week! We were with a school class for that one, and gee there were a couple of kids that needed a good .. um .. talking to?!


The fun bit of that talk was the kids then got to taste 3 different types of apples and were asked which ones were sweeter, crunchier etc.


The rest of the time we wandered around, sometimes by ourselves, sometimes with others from the home school group. Billy went on the jumping castle, we looked at and patted various farm animals, ate lunch and looked at loads of displays.

We also sat and watched a show put on by local performers "Ship of Fools" - I've seen them before in various disguises! - it was all about saving water.


This was demonstrating how the water cycle works - Supa Squirt, the man on the unicycle, was holding a cloud to catch the water droplets that Bubbles was juggling!

All in all a good day, but very exhausting!

Menu Plan Monday - 5th May

Review of Last week's menu - The Honey mustard pork kebabs & the balsamic steak were both very yummy - they've been added to the recipe book. I couldn't be bothered making the tortillas for Wednesday night's tea, so I ended up crumbing the steak and serving it with mashed potato and gravy - mmm, comfort food!. Friday night I was completely exhausted after a day out walking around, so once we picked Pete up from the train station, I suggested Thai for tea - we ended up eating in. Expensive but very yummy, and we don't do it very often at all. So the steak for Friday night ended up as Saturday night's tea - I did the pork roast last night.

This week -

Monday - baked ham & cheese quesadillas (happy Cinco de Mayo!)
Tuesday - Pork burgers with leftover pork roast & salad (from www.lovefoodhatewaste.com)
Wednesday - Apricot Chicken in Slow cooker & rice
Thursday - Steak with caramelised onion, & steamed veges
Friday - Panfried fish, mashed potato & veges
Saturday - Pork chops & veges
Sunday - Mother's Day so will probably be out & about visiting.

For more menu plan ideas, see Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.




It seems logical to add in what's in the garden in this post so I've edited to add.

Currently the only things we're eating out of the garden are spinach and basil.

Last week I planted out the seedlings that I was growing on the window sill - so far so good, even though the few days after I planted them out we had extreme heat for this time of year, followed by extreme winds! Hopefully in a few weeks we'll be eating pak choy, lettuce, silverbeet, followed by cauliflower and broccoli. The snow peas & peas are starting to grow in the back garden as well.

Prepare for the worst but then hope for the best

My quest to live a frugal, simple life has been fuelled partly by wanting to live a slower life, partly to afford our life on one income, and partly because it feels right to take care of the resources we have. I have to admit though that the consequences of how we've been squandering the earth's resources hadn't really hit home to me. I guess I've always just felt that we haven't gone too far yet and that we can turn it around without it affecting me personally. I've read about Peak Oil, rising prices, looming food shortages but it hasn't really sunk in.

Until this week.

I have no idea what changed. There must've been some trigger but I can't pinpoint it. It must've started by Monday because I bought a few extra things in the grocery shop and stashed them away. I started reading a long series of posts on the Simple Savings site about the subject that I've been avoiding since December. I've been reading stuff that has shaken me out of my naivety and shouted in my face "this could happen - wake up!". We could have food rationing, we could have regular power outages. Is it possible? Absolutely. Is it likely? I have no idea, and I think very few people could put their hand up and say for certain one way or the other.

I'm sure by now I have 2 distinct groups of readers - those that are nodding their heads and saying "Finally! What took you so long?!" and those that are looking at me like I've just stepped out of the loony bin. (Actually maybe 3 - the ones that have just stopped reading, but I'm not sure you can class them as readers anymore!!)

So my mind has been in a spin for the last few days taking it all in. I've felt rather disconnected from what else is going on in the world, but strangely enough it hasn't frightened or depressed me. Maybe I'm basically an optimistic realist - I'm going to prepare for the worst but hope like hell for the best. I'm going to start actively working on building a stockpile - just building it up slowly. I'm not panicking, but I *am* thinking about alternatives far more carefully. At the moment, we'd have enough food to last for a couple of weeks - providing we didn't lose power. Cooking would be a real issue if we didn't have power - everything in our house is electric. We have a gas BBQ but not much gas left at this current moment in time. We grow so used to just flicking a switch and having power, or turning on the tap to have water.

I also found out that Governments are warning people that they should have a 10 week stockpile at home in case of a pandemic. To me, that's like saying "Run for the hills, we're scared but we can't tell you why! Consider this your warning."

This article - The Waking up Syndrome - talks about the stages of realisation. I've been at Stage 2 (Semi-consciousness) for quite a while and have just hit Stage 3 (The moment of realization) and Stage 4 (The Point of No Return).

And let's face it - even if the worst never happens, as long as the stockpile is rotated properly, the stuff isn't wasted - it's there if a job loss occurs, in case power is lost for a couple of days after a big storm (not so far fetched!), in case of illness or even if unexpected people drop around for dinner!

I'd be interested in your thoughts - as long as they're politely put. But whatever you do - please do not bring up the fact that people prepared for Y2K and it "never" happened. I was one of the huge number of IT workers who slaved away testing, replacing and fixing to make sure Y2K "didn't happen"!! (Yes, it's a sore point lol!)

Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed - it's how my mind feels atm.

Some days I don't know whether to strangle him or laugh!

We were running late with bedtime and I told Billy to go and get into bed. When I went in to tuck him in, he was *under* the bed.

"Billy, I told you to get *into* bed, not under it.. "

"But I was in bed - I was in the basement!"

I couldn't help but crack up :)

Menu Plan Monday - 28th April

I did the fortnight's shopping today and was organised enough to mince, chop & divide meat when we got home - so it's all in the freezer ready to go. I'm going to try and focus on not wasting food this month - it was a disgrace how much I threw out when I cleaned the fridge out this morning :(

I'm checking out a few new recipes this week since I have time to think about it now rather than wondering what to do with the meat at 5pm!

Monday - tacos
Tuesday - pork kebabs - pork in honey mustard marinade, pineapple, spanish onion & anything else that looks good threaded onto skewers, cooked on the BBQ and served with couscous
Wednesday - steak & BBQed veges wrapped in warm tortillas (homemade of course!)
Thursday - cashew chicken & rice
Friday - balsamic steak with tomato, basil & fetta
Saturday - Roast pork and baked veges
Sunday - will depend what time Pete gets home from AFL - probably something easy like bacon & eggs or toasted sandwiches.

For more menu plan ideas, see Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday.

Look at this!!

Sunshine!!! We've had almost 2 weeks of rain, so it was wonderful to see some sunshine this weekend - and get some clothes washed & dried!

Mum & Dad came over on Friday afternoon, so Mum could look at my sewing machine. It's one I 'inherited' from her - it's at least 35 years old, bright orange and as heavy as a small car - and needless to say, hasn't had a lot of use from me! Last time I tried to use it, it caused me all sorts of angst, so I wanted her to see if she could fix it, if not, I'd put my order in for a new one for Mother's Day.

She tested, tweaked, and twiddled with things I didn't even know were on the machine, and finally got it working.

So Saturday I got creative -

What is it, you ask?! A hanging toy organiser for some of Billy's little toys and stuff he uses at bedtime.

Here it is in situ - in hangs on the side of the bookcase next to his bed.

And here he is practising to be a 'Sale of the Century' model... (Don't ask me - I think he was a mix-up at the hospital!)

Sunday I got creative again - I picked up a bolt end of curtain material at Spotlight for $3 - it worked out to be $1/m!

Billy has pigeon holes in our school / craft / play room to hold craft stuff, and it always looks really messy..

Ta da - curtains to hide the mess!

I'm really impressed with myself - as long as no-one looks too closely lol.

Sewing has always been one of those things I thought I couldn't do - well, I think I've proven that I *can* do it. It may not be pretty, and I won't be dressmaking any time soon, but I can sew straight(ish) lines!

I'm finally realising that no, it's not as good as my mum could do, but then she's been sewing for 40+ years!

Speaking of stuff I never thought I could do, while at Spotlight on Friday I bought a set of those knitting looms that Lightening has been having so much success with, and some wool on special.

Let's just say a) there is a reason there is no photo of my 1st project lol, b) Billy liked it though and snapped it up as a 'blanket' for his stuffed animals and c) I really, really enjoyed it!

Does anyone have any easy patterns for them?

Stay tuned!!

Awwww...

Billy drew this for me this morning - the hearts are kisses :)

I think this qualifies for Lightening's Smiley Saturday! (even if it's a day late!)

Lest We Forget

Today was ANZAC Day in Australia and New Zealand. It marks the day the ANZACs (Australian & New Zealand Army Corps) landed at Gallipoli (Turkey) in 1915. It also commemorates all who have been lost in war.

They shall grow not old,
As we that are left grow old,
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning
We will remember them.
Lest we Forget

While Australian soldiers were fighting overseas, parcels of biscuits were sent across and became known as ANZAC biscuits. (Or so the story goes anyway!)

We made some today to mark the day.

Flat Travellers

We're just about to join in with homeschoolers around the world as part of the Flat Travellers project.

It's based on a book called "Flat Stanley" written by Jeff Brown about a boy who is squashed flat by a bulletin board and is able to travel the world in an envelope.

You make your own "flat traveller" (or multiple) either as a photo, drawing or picture, laminate it and then swap with other homeschool families around the world. While your traveller is away, the host family fills in a journal of things they do, and shares information about their family and area.

It looks like a great way of learning about other countries and how people live. We're learning already - our first swap is with a family from Minnesota - and apologies to my US readers, but until today I had no idea where Minnesota was!

I'm really looking forward to participating in this!

Wordless Wednesday - Big Ben & Little Ben

Menu Plan Monday - 21st April

Finally joining in with Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday - to see what everyone else is eating this week, check out her post.

Not very exciting this week in our household.

Monday - Quiche (ham, roast pumpkin, spinach & corn) with salad
Tuesday - Pork chops with balsamic glaze & steamed veges
Wednesday - Beef stir-fry & brown rice
Thursday - Panfried Fish, mashed potato and steamed veges
Friday - Thai chicken curry & rice
Saturday - Spaghetti bolognaise
Sunday - Steak & veges

'My imaginary friend'

On Friday we went to the Theatre! The play was called 'My Imaginary Friend' and is one of a series of kid's play on at the Civic Theatre in Newcastle throughout the year. It was absolutely delightful - about a 5 year old girl called Tori (played by Giverny Lewis) who is supposed to be playing inside quietly while Mum is cleaning the house ready for visitors, but instead has wonderful adventures with her imaginary friend 'Charlie Dog' (Tim Shearman) - and creates lots of mess! They become pirates, astronauts, jungle explorers - all sorts of things with the help of the dress up box.

Billy loved it. It was the first actual play that he'd seen and he thought it was great. It was interactive enough for the kids not to get bored (and contained the ubiquitous gross snot jokes lol), but clever enough for the adults to enjoy as well. (There were a couple of references to movies like Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey and one of the old ones like Casablanca). I thought it was wonderful too!

And to make the day even more special, we caught the train down to Newcastle. There is a station right opposite the theatre, and since that was the only reason we were going down, it was an ideal time to do it.

Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

We saw this little fellow sitting up a tree in the uni car park yesterday. He was quite unconcerned by the people walking underneath him!

We were at the uni to see my niece dance in the Classical Ballet Eisteddfod - she came 2nd in her section which was wonderful!

And to amuse the 5yo while taking a break from watching a couple of hours of ballet routines, here he is in the teepee / shelter we built. (taken on my phone so not great quality!)



** Apologies if you're singing that song or variations all day :)

If only you could smell this...

Mmmm chicken cacciatore..

I'm really loving my herb pot on the windowsill. The fresh basil just smelt divine!

A Day in My Life - April 14th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back in to turn Billy's light out.

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

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

Exploring our local area: Maitland Gaol

Isn't it amazing how we visit tourist attractions and explore an area while travelling, but don't explore our local area. I'm trying to rectify that!

Today a friend and I took our kids to visit a local attraction - Maitland Gaol. The gaol was built in 1848 and closed in 1998 after 150 years - it was the longest continuously operating prison in Australia. It's now been turned into a tourist attraction. During it's time it housed some of the country's most notorious prisoners, including serial killer Ivan Milat.

We took a self-guided audio tour - it was absolutely fascinating. The tour took us almost 2 hours, just going at our own pace (like a snack stop mid-way). The kids seemed to enjoy it - luckily some of the commentary went over their heads - I wasn't looking forward to answering questions about some of it! It wasn't gruesome, just factual, but terms I'd rather not be explaining at this age.

I'd like to go back one day and hear the bits that I missed while kid-wrangling, but I really enjoyed what I heard!!

The Adventures of Spiderman and Ninja Turtle

Almost every night Billy likes to make up adventures with his toys. I'm often "privileged" to watch them. The heroes are always Spiderman and Ninja Turtle - with a supporting cast. When this photo was taken (by Billy - he was making a movie!) the supporting cast were Mr Tickle, Buzzy Bee and Dinosaur - the bee and dinosaur have now been usurped by a rocket.

The adventures almost always include harm befalling one of the characters (falling off a cliff / down a hole - ie off the bed; getting lost in a cave - ie under the covers etc) - tonight Ninja Turtle fell off the cliff. He uses a variety of tissue boxes as props - stage, vehicle, buildings - whatever the situation calls for - I even get used as a prop at times (eg ramp!).

Ninja Turtle's backpack (aka Rescue Pack) transforms into a variety of useful tools ('Ahhh rescue pack, coming to the rescue' for those familiar with 'Go Diego Go'). And what adventure wouldn't be complete without a song and / or song and dance routine.

Ah the fun of having an imaginative child!!

(Oh and seriously - despite the fact that I think most of those things in the photo above are McDonald's plastic crap - we really don't eat it that often. Honest!!!)

Impressions of "An Hour for the Planet" challenge

This was written last night:

"I'm sitting here in bed taking part in my first An Hour for the Planet challenge. It's 9:19pm, I started at 8:30pm. The only light left on in the house is Billy's toilet light - he doesn't like to go to sleep without it. I must find an alternative.

I've been sitting here by candlelight jotting down impressions - it's hard to find a comfortable spot where I can actually see what I'm writing so I've finally given up and turned the torch on so I can write. I feel like I'm cheating!

My strongest impression is how tired I feel. You don't realise how strongly electric lights interfere with our body clocks and internal rhythms. I feel like I'm camping when you're ready for bed by 7:30!

The air is quite chilly tonight. My arms are feeling the nip of autumn while my legs are toasty warm under the doona.

It's quiet now. Earlier the gentle sounds of night were all but drowned out by the CD Billy was listening to as he went to sleep. I've just been in to turn it off and cover him up again.

Now I can hear the tick of the clock, and the occasional "creak" of the frogs in the pond. Before there was the calling of a bird flying overhead - I can't identify what it was but it brought back memories of sleeping in the van outside Gram & Pop's house at Bonnell's Bay.

I have a single tealight candle burning in my oil burner. The oil I used last was a "relaxing" blend - I can smell it subtly on the air. There's also a hint of eucalyptus - I was burning it this afternoon to help Billy's cold.

I feel very relaxed - the hour seems to have lasted much longer. I've learnt that it's impossible to do anything by the light of one candle!

I'm about to chase away the mysterious shadows and the warm yellow glow of candlelight and return to the world of electric lighting - but only long enough to turn a light on to welcome Pete home. Then I'm tucking myself back into bed to sleep."

An hour for the planet

Melinda at Elements in Time is running a new challenge to extend Earth Hour (I saw in mentioned over at Crazy Mumma's blog). Melinda's challenge is to continue turning our lights etc off for an hour each week until the end of May (and by then it will hopefully be a habit).

I've put my hand up for it. My chosen hour is Monday nights - about 8:30 - 9:30pm. By then Billy will be in bed - he's scared of the dark so it wouldn't be pleasant trying to do it while he's awake! Pete is out at squash on Monday nights - I can't see him being keen on it.

My challenges will be:
* I leave the toilet light on for Billy at night because he's scared of the dark. Maybe there's some kind of solar light that would work instead?
* Instead of leaving the loungeroom light on for Pete to come home to, I'll switch it off until just before I go to bed.
* I'll try reading & writing by candlelight. Computer will be switched off.

I'm looking forward to it!

Wonderful Morning Coffee

On a recent post by Leo at Zen Habits ("12 powerful ways to keep your online life simple and peaceful"), I came across a wonderful add-on for Firefox called Morning Coffee. I wasn't much of a Firefox user, but the add-on sounded so good I had to give it a go.

In a nutshell, Morning Coffee lets you say what web sites you want to open automatically every day or on particular days.

It's been very handy - there are a couple of forums that I like to keep up with but they don't warrant remembering to go to them every day. I tell Morning Coffee I want them to open on Sundays, and lo and behold, when you open your browser and press the morning coffee button, up it comes. No more remembering to go to websites!

There are other sites I like to visit daily, so I mark them as Daily and with the touch of one button, all the sites are loaded. If you use Firefox, go and check it out.

Bush walk - The Pines, Watagan State Forest

Some photos from our homeschool bush walk yesterday at The Pines, in the Watagan State Forest. About 7 families came - I'd only met one of them before so lots of new faces to meet. Once we all eventually found the place, we had a short bush walk and saw some lovely baby waterfalls. I'm a sucker for creeks & waterfalls - I find them so restful.





We didn't see a lot of wildlife - with about a dozen kids tramping through the bush it wasn't really surprising! We did see these Crimson Rosellas just before we left though.


Our picnic lunch was followed by toasted marshmallows and a chance to play with fire :)



Finished with a couple of ball games for the younger ones and lots of free play.


It was a lovely day. Mr Collector filled a bag with pine cones so we'll be adding some to the nature shelf, and I'm sure the rest will be used in craft or something!

A productive window-sill

Rising bread, raising seeds & growing herbs - gotta love the power of the sun :)

Are we a more selfish generation?

I don't remember my mum ever moaning that she needed "me time". I don't remember her ever taking time out for herself. (Then again my sister and I were probably such angels that she didn't need it!)

Did that generation (I'm 37) just put up with it, or were they more content with what they had?

How do you learn to be content and to appreciate what you have? Or is it a case of having opened the Pandora's box of discontent that it can't be contained?

I'd love to hear any thoughts.

ETA Twilight zone music - I just read the latest post from Zen Habits. I've skimmed it and will have a proper read in the morning..

General Round-up

A few little things to update on.

Garden: Well, I successfully killed my seedlings :( They died a few weeks away when we got that hot weather (not quite as hot as Adelaide but I couldn't keep the moisture up to them). Since then I have successfully grown some herbs in a pot on my windowsill, so I'm starting again and seeing if the seeds will grow there too. I've just planted some more lettuce seeds, pak choy (since it doesn't seem to get started by direct sowing), silverbeet, cauliflower & broccoli.

Hopefully I'll be able to update in a week or so with good news!


In better news, I picked a 2nd watermelon today (another 6 kg one) and it was ripe! Yay! And yummy. I used my FIL's recommended technique of telling ripeness by pressing on it - if you hear it crack inside, then it's ripe. It was even more pleasing to be able to give half away to family - I love blessing others with home grown produce.


Work: I have 2 new projects for this month, a couple of old ones that I'm finishing off and a small handful that are on my list but stalled waiting for the client to be ready. That's enough to keep me going this month. I just wish clients would pay in a more timely manner - I'm owed over $5000 from various sources. Most of that is owed by 2 clients :( It certainly doesn't help with cash flow..


Me: I've decided to start walking of an afternoon once Pete gets home from work - by myself. It will give me some exercise *and* some time to myself. Now to actually get started! I was going to go yesterday but we got home late. I can't go tonight because Pete has squash. I *may* be able to go on Thursday depending on when we get home.

I've started writing and am currently caught up in researching the setting. Some of the things I'm discovering are absolutely fascinating!