Look - I have a Goat in My Bedroom!

Not a real one though :)


Miserly Mum kindly passed this book on to me - it looks great and I can't wait to have a read! Thanks MM! I'll pass it on to the next person when I'm done.

A Day in my Life - Oct 14th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To do list - Tue 14th

I have so much to do that I'm paralyzed and can't do any of it. I'm feeling very overwhelmed atm - I feel like there are hands surrounding me and they're all grabbing pieces of me until there is none left. House looks disgusting, work piling up, can't even think about the garden, child constantly arguing with everything I say, and I can't make myself do anything.

Thought I'd try some public accountability.

Before we go out this afternoon I need to:

• get books together for library
• get B to tidy his stuff in the loungeroom
  
• clean kitchen
• tidy hallway
• have lunch
  

Tonight:

• ring nephew for his b'day
• put garbages out
  
• change reports for NBS and send back to them

Bugger - just realised it's the 14th & I should be doing A Day in my life..

ETA - I got everything done except for tidying the hallway. Am feeling a lot better tonight.

Menu Plan Monday - 13th October

Notes on last week's menu:

I proved with the Plymouth Pie that last time wasn't a fluke - it really is yummy! A few minor changes to the menu as we went but nothing worth noting. Also made a mulberry & apple crumble which went over very well.

To use up this week:
* silverbeet & bokchoy in the garden
* beetroot
* roast pork

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - Pete away - leftovers & chips
Tuesday - Pete away - leftovers or pasta
Wednesday - Pete away - leftovers or pasta
Thursday - roast pork rolls & salad
Friday - grilled fish & salad
Saturday - pork ribs & chips
Sunday - roast beef dinner

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



Eating from the garden:
* lettuce
* bok choy
* silverbeet

Planting this week:
* haven't had a chance to do anything

See my "Quick Updates" over on the side to see what I've been up to in the garden lately.

Attack of the pantry moths!

I spent the better part of today cleaning out the pantry. It's a fun life I tell you! We were invaded by pantry moths so I had to take everything out, transfer everything from plastic bags or cardboard packaging into glass or plastic containers, wipe all of the shelves and put everything back in..

I had to invest in some more plastic containers through the week as a lack of sufficient containers was the reason the stuff was just stuffed in there in the first place.

It was a job well & truly overdue - and boy, was it a big job! While I was doing it I decided to label my jars, rearrange a few of the shelves to be easier to use, and re-home some of the stuff that was in there. I had to throw out some out-of-date stuff, and a few things the moths had got into, some empty packets (?) and clean up a few messy containers. I'm still perplexed as to why there was plastic mug filled with rocks in there though!!


I was quite pleased with how the spice 'corner' worked out - I made a few 'steps' out of different size boxes so that I could see what I had a lot easier.


So that was my fun Sunday - how was yours?

Our week of Learning - 12 Oct

Picture of Chimidyue & the monkeys from the rainforest story

English: Finished reading Charlie & the Chocolate Factory together. Billy drew a picture & wrote what his favourite scene from the book was (Mike TeaVee flying through the air in little pieces!), and also designed his own chocolate bar - "it tickles your throat when you eat it"!

Lots of smaller books read - both him reading & us reading to him - and Pete & Billy are still reading The Hobbit together.

Maths: Leap into Maths Yr 1 workbook - Units 9 & 10. Lots of impromptu telling time and working out how long things take.

Science & Technology: Weather unit - Made a comparison chart of how many sunny, rainy & mixed days we had through September. Learnt about the forms of precipitation - rain, hail, snow & sleet.

He made a "torch" out of a battery, light globe and wires - hopefully we don't have any power outages in the near future as he dismantled the real torch to do it!

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): Hunter Wetlands trip that I blogged about earlier. Read a North American folk tale about Paul Bunyan, and a South American folk tale called "The Wings of the Butterfly". It was set in the Amazonian rainforest which tied in quite well as he'd been watching something earlier in the day on Animal Planet about Amazonian snakes. (Notice I said *he'd* been watching it - snakes give me the heeby-jeebs!)

In history, we learnt about "The Crowded Seas" and "The First Fish" in the Ordovician Period.

Creative & Practical Arts: Made snowflakes by folding paper & cutting. Took part in a print-making workshop. Lots of drawing.

He also made a 'supercomputer' out of boxes & junk. (Don't ask me why!)

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Canoeing, playgrounds, swimming at neighbours, playing some ball game with his cousins.

****

No TV through the day is working out quite well, even though he still whinges about it every morning. I did let him watch TV on Monday at lunchtime though as it was a public holiday and Pete & I were watching Midsomer Murder on tape. It's been close to 5pm each afternoon before it's gone back on - he has to have tidied up everything he's been working on before it's allowed on, so that stretches the time out further! I've noticed that he's also choosing different things to watch (ie Animal Planet channel) rather than just staring at the same stuff every day. So far so good anyway..

Print-making workshop

Billy took part in a print-making workshop today with local artist Bernie Meyers (who is also a homeschooling mum). I was expecting they'd make prints in a typical kid's way - slap some paint on a leaf and press it down onto paper, but this was full-on with an etching press!

What a fantastic experience for them - they weren't treated as kids, but rather as people who could be trusted using proper (expensive) equipment! To be honest, I'd never even seen an etching press before, let alone used one - I now have a new appreciation for the work (and patience!) involved in making prints!

They were using leaves for their prints, so firstly they had to come up with a design, then ink each individual leaf with the roller. They put their design back together on the press, put the paper on top, the myriad of blankets and protection on top of that, and then turned the wheel on the press. Uncover it all to discover the unique print they'd made!

Exploring our local area: Hunter Wetlands

We spent the day with friends today at the Hunter Wetlands - a 45 hectare wetlands site in Newcastle. A great day - but I am exhausted!

We hired a couple of canoes and paddled around the 2km canoe trail to the Rainforest shelter - and then had to paddle the 2kms back! They were 2 man canoes, with single blade paddles - which is great when you have 2 equally strong people paddling - but not so great with one adult paddling and a 6 year old "helping"! So I'd have to paddle 2 strokes on one side, swap over to the other side and correct our course, and then repeat! We basically 'tacked' our way up the trail lol. Luckily there weren't many other people around :)

Fortunately we managed to stay in the canoe - I was worried enough about falling out before the canoe guy told us there were snakes in the water! (And yes there were - we saw them!!)

When we got back we had lunch, the kids had a play on the excellent playground and then we went for a walk along one of the trails - seeing lots of bird life, and hearing lots of rustling in the reeds..

There was lots we didn't get around to seeing, but we ran out of time. I'm considering buying an annual membership so we can call in anytime.

Menu Plan Monday - 6th October

Notes on last week's menu:

Quesadillas were great for a quick, light meal. Will definitely do them again. A few changes to some of the other meals - I forgot we didn't have honey so just had the pork chops plain, the fried rice turned into 'cardboard fish' and chips, and we had dinner at my parents place on Saturday night.

To use up this week:
* silverbeet & bokchoy in the garden
* beetroot
* mulberries from our neighbour

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - sausages with caramelised onions
Tuesday - bacon & egg quiche
Wednesday - plymouth pie
Thursday - blade steak & grilled veges with coucous
Friday - fried rice
Saturday - Pete not home - probably eggs
Sunday - roast pork

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



Eating from the garden:
* various herbs
* lettuce
* bok choy
* silverbeet
* beetroot

Planting this week:
* planted out lots of seedlings

See my "Quick Updates" over on the side to see what I've been up to in the garden lately.

Encouragement from Roald Dahl

We finally finished reading "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and in light of my tv ban, I thought this was a particularly apt song from the Oompa Loompas! (about Mike Teavee)

"The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set–
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all the shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink–
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSES IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK–HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY...USED...TO...READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic takes
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy–Winkle and–
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How The Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rat and Mr. Mole–
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks–
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something good to read.
And once they start–oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hears. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.
P.S. Regarding Mike Teavee,
We very much regret that we
Shall simply have to wait and see
If we can get him back his height.
But if we can't–it serves him right."

Our week of Learning - 5 Oct

It was an interesting week this week - it's school holidays so our normal activities are stopped. We continued 'lessons' though as we're taking time off in November. We got through some of what we had planned, but I had a migraine most of the week, so I was at a slower pace - I got through Tuesday & Wednesday with the help of Nurofen, spent most of Thursday curled up whimpering on the lounge (my friend Nurofen was not helping!), and got through Friday with more Nurofen.. Better now though.

English: Almost finished Charlie & the Chocolate Factory together, interspersed with other smaller books from the library. Pete & Billy are still reading The Hobbit together once a week.

Maths: Leap into Maths Yr 1 workbook - Unit 8

Science & Technology: Weather unit - Finished filling out a daily weather chart (just the basics - ie sunny, rainy, cloudy). Created a poster of what clothes to wear when it is hot, cold & rainy. Watched 'Scope' about poisons and toxins.

He has been creating pictures using KidPix, updating his blog and sending emails.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): Read a European folk story (the Bremen Town musicians) and made a picture about it using KidPix. Read about the "The Beginning of Life" (early blue-green algae & pre-cambrian creatures) and the "Shells & Skeletons" (Cambrian creatures such as arthropods).

Creative & Practical Arts: We watched a play at the Civic Theatre called 'Emily loves to bounce' - excellent! We also visited the art gallery.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Swimming for fun with friends.

On Friday I implemented a 'no-tv through the weekday' ban.. This is one of those decisions that will be as hard on me as it is on Billy - not because I watch TV but because I use it as a babysitter too much :(

I've never really had a problem with how much TV he watched as he mainly watched Nick Jr and Playhouse Disney. All of the shows on those channels are either educational or morally 'nice' so I didn't have a problem with it. Now though, he's declared himself too old for most of the shows on there, and has discovered Nickolodeon and Disney channel. I consider the majority of the shows on there to be utter cr@p! It amazes me how it goes from nice educational shows for preschoolers, and then suddenly once they go to school, the shows are just rubbish. Not only do I think the shows are too old for him in the main, they are pure 'entertainment' with very little redeeming values! Anyway rant over..

He's really addicted to the TV to the point that it's interfering with normal life - he's constantly watching the clock to see when the next show is on, wanting to hurry up and finish school work so he can watch something, wants to plan his activities around the TV schedule :( No more! I've decided the TV goes off at 9am on weekdays and is not to come back on until at least 3pm - unless I give him special permission. I was going to say he can watch educational DVDs, documentaries etc, but I've decided he just has to go cold-turkey.

We have friends who put the TV away on Sunday night and don't get it out again until the next Friday - but the other male in the house couldn't handle that either!! I'd be happy to never watch it again!

Gardening HELP!

I planted one lots of seeds in toilet rolls in the mini-greenhouse - and they're all covered in a white mold and have fungi growing in with them!!

Do I ditch the lot and start again or will they be ok to plant out?? What did I do wrong? Not enough drainage holes in the bottom of the container maybe?

Remember the Milk - organising tool

I have to admit, I love a good organising tool! I've tried lots of different methods over the years - diaries, paper lists, Outlook tasks, Flylady, specialised organising software - and usually end up chopping and changing. Diaries and paper lists usually win out though!

For the last couple of weeks, I've been trying a tool I heard about called Remember the Milk - it's essentially a 'to-do' website. You can enter tasks - split them into your own categories (eg work, personal, garden etc), add your own tags, give them due dates, repeat tasks etc etc etc. It stores them on their server, so they can be accessed anywhere from a web browser, but there is also an off-line version that synchronises automatically for when you're not online.

All that is pretty standard with other software but the best thing I've found about RTM is the integration. You can integrate it with iGoogle, Twitter, GMail, Google Calendar, iPhone and heaps more. So it's working for me because I use iGoogle as my home page and all my tasks show up on the iGoogle RTM widget - right there on my home page. That's where most other things have fallen down for me - if I have to remember to load up separate software, it just doesn't happen!

You can also add tasks via email (and by phone too apparently) - so when I get an email from a client, I can just forward it to my special RTM address with some keywords up the top to say what list I want it to go in, and the due date, and it's added straight away.

I haven't tried all of the features - like getting reminders via email or SMS - but it's really working for me so far. Oh and even better - it's Australian!!

Kid Pix

Earlier in the week, we were in Officeworks and I spotted a bargain bin of computer games - $5 each. I picked out a couple for Billy (Arthur's Maths Games & Arthur's Thinking Games) and then spotted another one called Kid Pix. It's a kid's drawing program, and since he likes using Paint so much I thought he might enjoy it.

He's been playing around with it for the last few days and it's great. It comes with heaps of different backgrounds, "stickers" you can use to put on the screen, resize & rotate etc, plus the usual drawing tools. You can also create a slideshow using your created pictures, so we were able to make a "movie" of people running around an athletics track (thus investigating perspective ie people appearing smaller as they got further away). Some of the backgrounds include country & world maps, and stickers include world flags so we'll be able to use it for some geographical lessons.

The version we got is Kid Pix Deluxe 3 - there is a newer version available now (which is why this one was in the bargain bin I guess!) - I'm not sure how much difference there is in the versions, but 3 seems good enough for us.

It seems like it's used by a lot of schools world-wide - you can find heaps of examples of how to integrate it into your curriculum - but more than that, it's just fun!

Menu Plan Monday - 29 September

Notes on last week's menu:

Thai fish cakes were quite nice for a change - I'd probably mince the fish up more next time. Devilled sausages were pretty good - added to the list to have again.

To use up this week:
* silverbeet & bokchoy in the garden

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - ham & cheese quesadillas
Tuesday - honey mustard pork chops, mashed potatoes & veges
Wednesday - beef stir fry & rice
Thursday - hamburgers & chips
Friday - fried rice
Saturday - home made fettucine
Sunday - roast beef

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



Eating from the garden:
* various herbs
* lettuce
* bok choy
* silverbeet

Planting this week:
* potatoes went in - yay!
* cucumber, pumpkin & zucchini seeds

See my "Quick Updates" over on the side to see what I've been up to in the garden lately.

The potatoes are in!

Finally!! I spent some time Saturday morning pulling the major weeds out and getting the watering system working again. It was quite a hot day so I waited until the afternoon when it was a bit cooler to swing the mattock and put the taters in. I'll do some major mulching once the plants appear.

And Pete has made a start on the 'fruit grove' - we're moving some of our existing citrus around and adding some more citrus & blueberries into more of a 'grove' type area (a la Jackie French)

Our week at school

Prior to registration I made a plan of what we're going to do in school for the rest of this year and next. Since then, I've been strangely dedicated about carrying it out! I've been much more inclined to have set lessons each day - only for about 30-60 mins / day. And so far, it's working well.

So while I'm being so "formal" with our lessons, I thought I'd use the blog to record what we're doing each week ... however long it lasts!

English: Still reading Charlie & the Chocolate Factory together, interspersed with other smaller books from the library. Pete & Billy are still reading The Hobbit together once a week. We haven't done any formal writing but Billy is forever writing notes & stories.

Maths: Leap into Maths Yr 1 workbook - Unit 7, watched Count Us In

Science & Technology: Weather unit - experiments on making fog & clouds - they kind of worked - but seemed to make condensation more than anything! Also filling out a daily weather chart (just the basics - ie sunny, rainy, cloudy). Watched 'Scope' about animation. Has been posting on his blog & creating pictures for it using Paint.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): Read a Japanese folk story and drew a picture about it. Read about the "Birth of the Earth" (big bang, volcanoes, what the inside of the earth is made of) and the "Changing World" (continental drift).

Creative & Practical Arts: No drama this week, but he made a movie using the digital camera and his lego pieces! http://www.kidvideos.com/?watch=CnGYuZLCP

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Swimming lessons.

Informally, he has been building (with his grandfather's help), set up a drinks stall to sell water & milk to the neighbours (unfortunately we live in a no-through road and no-one walks past so it didn't really work!!), playing with lots of lego, a trip to the library, lots of inventing.. I'm sure there was more but nothing springs to mind..

Bringing back memories

Now that Billy is starting to watch some of the morning educational shows on ABC (eg BTN, Count Us In), it brings back memories of primary school for me.

I remember it being so exciting to be able to watch TV *at school*!! We'd all gather in the classroom beforehand, sitting cross-legged on the floor, waiting while the TV was wheeled in to the classroom, and the inevitable adjusting of the rabbit-ears would begin! I remember being able to watch the end of Play School before the shows came on. Then we'd get to watch the 30 min show like Behind The News (BTN) before returning back to our desks.

I'm sure kids today don't have that experience at school - they probably just watch them on DVD when it's convenient! As Billy is doing atm - watching Count Us In that I taped earlier because we were having too much fun outside...

I need another garden bed!

This is the main garden bed that was looking quite pitiful not that long ago - with the warmer weather everything has just gone wild! The main things in there are bokchoy, silverbeet, lettuce & a few beetroots. There are still some radish but I think they are so big now that they'll be quite unpalatable. There are also some self-seeded tomatoes in there.

I managed to squeeze a couple of mesclun lettuce seedlings into that bed today. I cleared out two of the styrofoam boxes - the one that had peas in it now has spring onion seedlings and carrot seeds, the one that had broccoli & cauliflower now has bloomsdale spinach.

I also potted up a tomato seedling and planted some more snow peas, planted the rhubarb that arrived in the mail the other day (hopefully it didn't dry out too much), potted up the comfrey and a bay tree cutting that my neighbour gave me.

I *really* need to start a new garden bed though because I also sowed the following seeds:

* capsicum
* eggplant
* chilli
* basil - thai & sweet
* oregano
* mini cauliflowers
* broccoli de cicco
* mini cabbage
* jaune de poitou leeks
* rosemary
* climbing malabar spinach

I have no idea where I'm going to put them all!

Menu Plan Monday - 22nd Sept

Notes on last week's menu:

Yakitori chicken was really nice & moist, and went well in wraps for lunch as well.

The devilled meatballs were nice but I was expecting something a bit spicier by the name - maybe it depends on what type of chutney you use?

To use up this week:
* silverbeet & bokchoy in the garden

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - steak & grilled vegetable wraps
Tuesday - caramel apple pork chops & steamed veges
Wednesday - thai fish cakes, bokchoy & rice (ss recipe) * New *
Thursday - devilled sausages with mashed potato & veges (ss recipe) *New*
Friday - pizza
Saturday - spaghetti bolognaise
Sunday - roast chicken

Only a couple of new recipes this week for Bel's challenge. I've also embraced Mrs P's idea to create a master meal list so have added a few favourites in that we haven't had for a while.

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



Eating from the garden:
* various herbs
* radish
* lettuce
* bok choy
* silverbeet

Planting this week:
* potatoes - I MUST get them in the ground!

See my "Quick Updates" over on the side to see what I've been up to in the garden lately - which hasn't been a lot.

Rural Fire Service open day

The NSW Rural Fire Service opened its doors today so that people could come along and see what they do. We went along to our local one and Billy was able to sit in the fire truck and operate the lights & sirens, use the fire hose to knock down a target, watch demonstrations of putting out grass & oil fires and learn a bit about fire safety.

The RFS is staffed primarily by volunteers with a few paid staff. While their main role is fire-fighting and helping in emergencies, they also have a role in bushfire management in NSW.

History Curriculum

Now that I can breathe again, be prepared for a barrage of posts :)

One thing I've been meaning to blog about for ages is a world history curriculum I found. I can't remember whose blog I read it on, but a while ago I saw a link to this free world history study - http://bringinguplearners.com/mosaic-myths-maps-and-marvels/

I was (and still am) totally blown away by it! There are a couple of versions available - one based on creationism, one on evolution. It uses books that are easily available as the "spine" - I've purchased 2 books as the texts and will more than likely get the rest from the library as needed. The main book we're using is the The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia Of World History - at the rate we're planning on going it will last many, many years!

The curriculum covers from pre-history through to the Roman Empire and Aztecs - the author is now working on the next one. It has lesson plans for 5 days /week for 36 weeks but is designed to be done however you want - we're working at roughly 1 lesson / week, so we'll be doing it for a while! My rough plan is to cover prehistory to the end of the dinosaurs this term, Mammals through to First Civilizations in Term 1, our own unit on Australian Aboriginals in Term 2, and Ancient Egypt in Terms 3 & 4. As I said - my rough plan! It may not work out that way!!

We're adding some of our own activities in as we go - beacuse I can never follow anything to the letter! - a couple of things we've done have been to make fossils, and to make our own volcano.

Fossils: Mix plaster of paris

Place feathers, shells etc into a container and cover with plaster of paris

Let dry, tip out, remove the items and voila - fossils!

Then when one doesn't want to come out, re-read the instructions and realise you forgot the layer of sand! Oh well, fossil in progress..

And then since the plaster is out, make a hand-cast!

Volcano: mix the dough with some friends

Mould dough around a small plastic bottle.
3/4 fill with warm water, 2 tbsp bicarb, a few drops of food colouring and some dishwashing detergent.

Add vinegar

Stand back and watch the lava flow!

The only thing I've found odd about the curriculum is that it adds in literature & poetry that don't seem to relate to the history in any way. The first one is "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" - Billy had just finished watching the original Willy Wonka for about the 10th time when we started so we're currently reading through that anyway. We may or may not do the others but there are some good choices there.

We're Official!

We had our visit for the board of studies inspector today to register us for homeschooling - and we succeeded! We've been given 2 years registration - the most they can give - so I'm pretty stoked!

I think he was impressed with what we've done and the plan I've put together for next year. On my part, I was really impressed with the inspector - he was very pro-homeschooling, seemed to really know a lot about it and was extremely helpful.

No more to say - just yay!! Such a relief!!

Menu Plan "Monday" - 15th Sept 2008

Yeah yeah, I know I'm running late!

Notes on last week's menu:
The matriciana was nice (a bit spicy for me though - I'll go easier on the pepperoni next time!). I wasn't fussed on the texture of the mountain bread in it though. We had shell pasta with it as well which was nicer.

The sausage risotto was edible but I don't think we'll be having it again. It was nothing spectacular.

The burritos were nice - will be making this again. It was a good way to use up left-over meat.

The thai curry was nice - I put a bit of chicken in as well. Pete's opinion - nice for a change..

To use up this week:
* silverbeet & bokchoy in the garden
* roast pork

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - ham & cheese omelettes
Tuesday - pies / sausage rolls (I'm at work so boys have to fend for themselves)
Wednesday - yakitori chicken with steamed bok choy, capsicum & carrot (cook extra for lunches) * New *
Thursday - devilled meatballs from "Destitute Gourmet - stunning food from small change" *New*
Friday - pork burgers using leftover pork
Saturday - T-bone steak & chips
Sunday - roast beef & veges

Only a couple of new recipes this week for Bel's challenge.

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



Eating from the garden:
* various herbs
* radish
* lettuce
* bok choy
* silverbeet

Planting this week:
* potatoes - I MUST get them in the ground!

See my "Quick Updates" over on the side to see what I've been up to in the garden lately.

Recipe: Mud Cake

This is the mud cake recipe I used (I don't think I've made this one before Bel, so I'm claiming this one in the challenge..) . It's from an old book called Eat GST-free by Sophie Ruggles.

Mud Cake

250g unsalted butter
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup cocoa
pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 190 deg C. Grease a large round cake tin well and fully line with greaseproof paper.
2. Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat together well until creamy.
3. Add eggs and vanilla essence to butter mixture and mix together.
4. Sift flour, cocoa and salt into separate bowl, make a well in the middle, pour in butter mixture and beat together until smooth.
5. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes.

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo, but it's a fudgey type chocolate cake - mmmm!

A Day in My Life - Sept 14th

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Soon back to regular braodcasting..

My blogging has been very sporadic lately. Hopefully life will return for what passes as normal around here shortly.

The last few weeks in particular have been very busy. As well as having to finish off a couple of big projects for work, I squeezed in a couple of urgent jobs to do with our local government elections, and lots of little "emergencies" that pop up with clients. Plus this is the 7th week in a row I've worked Tuesday nights - I've been teaching a computer class each week - one more week to go! That's been interesting - Billy finishes drama at after 5pm, we drive back to our town (45 mins), meet Pete along the road and swap Billy over then he goes home, and I go off to work until 8:30.. It throws routine out a bit and I'm glad we usually don't have too much planned for Wednesdays!

Of course we had Billy's party which took a lot of preparation (and recovery lol), plus I've been trying to get everything organised to register him for homeschooling now that he's turned 6. My paperwork is in, now the race is on to get his portfolio up-to-date before the inspector comes for a visit!

Add to that all of the usual stuff we do at home, with school, trying to sell the ute etc etc and blogging has been very low down on my list of things to do! Hopefully that will change in a couple of weeks, so please be patient :)

Menu Plan Monday - 8th September

Notes on last week's menu:
Last week was using up party leftovers so no menu plan!

To use up this week:
* silverbeet & bokchoy in the garden
* roast beef

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - mountain matriciana (mountain bread recipe) *New*
Tuesday - pies / sausage rolls (I'm at work so boys have to fend for themselves)
Wednesday - sausage risotto *New*
Thursday - burritos with leftover roast beef - based on this recipe *New*
Friday - Vegetable thai curry *New*
Saturday - fish & chips
Sunday - roast pork dinner

Lots of new recipes this week as I take on Bel's challenge.

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



Eating from the garden:
* various herbs
* radish
* lettuce
* bok choy
* odd handfuls of snow peas / peas
* silverbeet

Planting this week:
* potatoes

See my "Quick Updates" over on the side to see what I've been up to in the garden lately.

We were in the paper!

Great excitement here! Our local paper ran an article on homeschooling and we were interviewed for it. The reporter chatted to me over the phone last Friday and on Monday the photographer came out. You can imagine the state the house was in the day after Billy's party! I was still stuffing things in the dishwasher and cupboards when he arrived!

The photographer took about 300 photos while he was here - and *one* was in the paper! It *is* a good one though :) I'd love to get hold of some of the others he took, he showed us a couple on the viewfinder and they were great too.

Anyway it was a good article, very positive to homeschooling, so I was pleased. Billy was very blase about being in the paper - as he said to me "but Mummy, it's the fourth time I've had my photo in the paper!".. All at the tender age of 6!!

Party review

I am still in the land of the living!

The party went well - it rained in the morning and for the start of the party, but it stopped just after lunch which meant the kids could go outside - much nicer!

I delegated my niece to take photos for the day so I only have one to share at this stage that I took before it all started. The theme of the party (as set by Billy) was an "Inventor's party" so here's our robot cake - I cooked, shaped and iced it and he decorated it.


As people started arriving, we had paper lunch bags for them to decorate with markers & stickers as their "party bags". Then we had various "inventing" activities set up for the older kids - making lolly creatures (joining together lollies with toothpicks to create creatures), decorating arrowroot biscuits with icing & lolly faces, making a catapult out of skewers, masking tape, rubber bands and a plastic spoon to fire a ping pong ball (this went over particularly well with the older boys - and their dads lol) and make anything they wanted out of the junk box.

Closer to lunch they also got to "make their own pizza" - mountain bread with whatever toppings they wanted on top. That seemed to go down well!

Once again, we had way too much food. Once again, I am swearing not to do finger food as it is too hard to try and heat up enough for everyone and keep it warm. I did better this time though - I preheated the meatballs & marinated chicken and kept it warm in the dreampot & slow cooker.

Overall though, the party went well. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and Billy declared it "the best day of his whole life" :) That makes it all worthwhile!!

I'm still slightly brain dead from tiredness though so not making a lot of sense!!