A Day in My Life - Dec 14th

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

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

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 Pete pointed out that our server's anti-virus was out-of-date so I ran around confirming that.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

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


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

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

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

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

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



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

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





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

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

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

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

Scheme 3785 in teaching Billy personal responsibility...

Wait, I don't think he's been alive that many days :) Oh well, it seems like it!

I've had enough of the pig sty that passes as his bedroom.

I've had enough of buying him stuff every time we go out (usually craft stuff that then gets shoved into a cupboard - or onto the floor) - because I'm weak and can't say no.

Because he has so much stuff, he doesn't take care of any of it. While we were away he lost a (cheapish) hand-held video game that my mum gave him - we remember last seeing it when he took it into a cafe for lunch, so presumably the next customer got a good treat! He begged us for another one but we told him he has to buy it himself.

I've tried confiscating - but he has so much that it doesn't seem to affect him; with-holding treats - but he doesn't seem to care etc etc etc but I don't follow through with them so of course they fail.

I always had the belief that he should do things like keep his room tidy just because he's part of the family, without expecting a reward - well, that obviously doesn't work..

So... pocket money begins... with a star chart above his bed to mark off each day. At this stage the only thing I have on there is to keep his room tidy. Once he masters that (ha ha) I'll try adding other things one at a time.

Putting it above his bed will force me to see it every night, so hopefully I'll keep enforcing it.

He'll have his own money so I won't keep feeling obliged to buy him stuff.

$2/week pocket money is probably less than I spend on stuff for him anyway!

Maybe if he buys stuff himself he'll start to learn to take care of it - especially if he's had to save up for it.

It all sounds good in theory - right??! Please tell me it will work!

Our trip - Part 4

After we got the van set up on Graeme's front lawn (a colleague of Pete's) in Melbourne, we jumped in their car and headed down with he and his wife to the Mornington Peninsula. (How's that for a run-on sentence?!)

We stopped at a brewery at Red Hill for lunch - the food was delicious. Apparently the beer was too! By the time we left there, it was too late to visit Fort Nepean which had been our original plan, so we drove around to Cape Schank to look at the lighthouse. We didn't get to tour it, but had a lovely walk around the area.

Just out of the car park, we saw this little fellow - an echidna. He was right next to the path, digging away for ants, and was quite unconcerned about us watching him and taking photos! That's the first time I think I've seen an echidna in the wild, so I was impressed!


This was one of the views around Cape Schank - the rock in the middle is known as Pulpit Rock. Look familiar to anyone from a previous post??! :)


And here's the lighthouse.


We had dinner with Graeme & his family back at their house, and left early the next morning to negotiate our way through Melbourne traffic to Ballarat.

We checked into a van park in Ballarat, then headed out to get some lunch and have a look around. We took it easy that afternoon with a round of mini-golf - there was an 18 hole mini-golf course at the caravan park. That's the first time I've played it and by the 18th hole I was starting to figure out what I was doing lol.


Billy had a play on the playground and the giant jumping pillows. These were so cool - we came across them in a few caravan parks. No idea what they were inflated with, but they inflate them up every morning and deflate them every night. They were massive - at one park there were probably 30 kids jumping at one time!


Ballarat came to prominence in the 1850s when gold was discovered in the area. The city has absolutely beautiful buildings from the wealth of the time. One of the biggest tourist attractions in the area is Sovereign Hill - a recreation of how Ballarat would have been at the height of the gold rush. The employees all wear period costumes and act in character. You can watch demonstrations of things like lolly making, candle making, gold pouring & musket firing. You can go underground in an old mine and see how they used to mine. They teach you to pan for gold and you get to keep what you find (they seed the creek every morning with gold shavings lol).

I went there probably 30 years ago and loved it! I was really looking forward to going again, and luckily it lived up to my expectations. Some of it was a bit more 'disney-fied' than I remember, but that seems to be necessary for the youth of today! We spent the entire day there (about 9 til 4) - the weather was great and it wasn't too crowded.

Underground

Soldiers parading down the street

A bit of steam machinery - I think it crushed the excavated rock.

Posing with a soldier with the pit head in the background.

Panning for gold - Billy likes to tell everyone he's rich now :)

And the invention of the year goes to - the seam ripper!

I'm exhausted! I spent this weekend sewing - and since I'm not much of a sewer it was hard work! Most of the things I made are presents for various nieces & nephews for Xmas - and since I know a couple of my SILs read this blog at times - I'll save unveiling them until after we have our Xmas celebrations. I got 4 presents made, and while I can see the flaws, on the whole I'm pretty happy with them. How "homemade" will be received is another matter though..

While I was in the sewing spirit, I also replaced the too small elastic in a pair of Billy's pj pants, and made him a pair of shorts using Stefani's Bandanna pants tutorial using some cute pirate fabric I picked up at Spotlight. Due to failing to understand a vital part of the instructions in one of the first steps, I made them up, all the time thinking "these just don't look right"... Tried them on him, nope they didn't fit right.. Went back and studied the instructions again, realised what I'd done wrong - and then had to completely dismantle the pants and sew them up again - the *right* way!

In the end they looked pretty good though and I am stoked with myself! That's the first item of clothing I've sewn *all by myself*! B is still wearing them around several hours later, so they can't be too bad!! (Note to self - next time make them a bit longer from top to crotch, these ones sit about the hips)

Our trip - Part 3

I developed a theory while we were away that the state of the person who booked you in at the van park tended to mirror the state of the park itself. The one we stayed at in Lakes Entrance was a good example of this - the owner was tired, and so was the van park..

Anyway, we left the next morning and headed inland through Sale & Traralgon where we ran into rain! Good heavy rain - great for the farmers, not so good for us lol. We were going to spend a day looking around Wilson's Prom, but with the rain decided to give it a miss and headed straight for Phillip Island. The rain was starting to clear by then so we booked in to watch the Penguin Parade that night.

Phillip Island is home to a colony of Little Penguins (they used to be known as Fairy Penguins) and every night you can go and watch them come home after a hard day's fishing! They are just so cute to watch waddle up the beach. Having been there before and sat with the crowds in the main viewing platforms, we opted to pay a bit extra and go for the Penguins Plus viewing. This meant we watched from a different set of platforms - closer to the penguins (and to the hill so it was warmer lol), limited to a set number of people (150 I think) and with our own ranger in the area to talk to. It was a well worth paying the extra.

I don't have any photos of the penguins as you're not allowed to take any, but here is one from their website:



The following day we had a look around the rest of Phillip Island. We couldn't resist going to the Phillip Island Chocolate Factory where they handmake chocolates - and give out samples - mmmmm! We watched them making some of the chocolates in the viewing room, and then of course, had to buy some to take with us!


Then we headed off to a place called Amaze'n Things - a place of puzzles, mazes and optical illusions. It was quite expensive, but we did spend a couple of hours there.

There was an optical illusions room where the floor was tilted but everything else was perpendicular to the floor, so you had water "flowing up hill", you could "lean right out" without falling and other things. Honestly I couldn't stay in there for long enough to appreciate it - it was really making me feel sick! I retreated to the safety of the other side of the room to take photos :)


They also had optical illusions like this one where it appeared that Billy's head was on a platter, and rooms full of giant games.


Outside was a giant 3D timber maze with 4 different coloured flags. You had to find your way to each flag. Luckily Pete has a great sense of direction, otherwise, I'd still be in there!




After lunch we went out to "The Nobbies" - another nature reserve on Phillip Island - you can walk out on boardwalks to a blowhole. The scenery was gorgeous but it was COLD and windy!!


The walk takes you through a seagull nesting area - the number of gulls was just incredible - as was the noise! I don't think I'd ever seen a baby seagull before - they are so cute and so unlike their parent!


We spent a cold night in the van (next time I visit Victoria a few weeks before summer starts, I'll remember to pack a heater lol) - and headed off for the outskirts of Melbourne the next morning. We'd been invited to park the van in the front yard of a guy Pete knew through work, so we took him up on the offer.

Coming up next - Mornington Peninsula, Ballarat

BBQ Pizza

No, not BBQ flavoured pizza - pizza cooked on the BBQ!

It was hot today (about 33 C) and pizza was on the menu plan - I didn't feel like firing up the oven but I DID feel like pizza!

Enter a bit of thinking outside the box, the BBQ and this site.

No photos - as it got scarfed down too quickly - but result: success! Great crispy base. The only problem is there's only room to cook one pizza at a time and it takes 2 to feed our (small) family. It just meant a bit of a delay between courses!

Our trip - Part 2

After leaving Kiama, we stopped in at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at the Navy base HMAS Albatross in Nowra. It's a Naval aviation museum full of old planes, helicopters and other related models and paraphernalia.. To be honest, I found it slightly interesting but not overly riveting - but that's probably just me! The 'boys' seemed to enjoy it - Billy particularly enjoyed the couple of cockpits they had that you could climb in and play with the controls..


We were there for about an hour and then continued to Batemans Bay where we were staying for the night. Other than introducing Billy to the delight of second-hand bookshops (he's now started a Dr Seuss collection), and having fish & chips on the waterfront for tea, we just took it easy for the afternoon.

(For those that know the area, we certainly weren't travelling very far each day but it was enough!)
Day 5 (?) saw us continue south - we stopped in at Bega at the Cheese Factory Heritage Centre. Unfortunately we arrived there at the same time as a busload of school kids and a busload of pensioners - you couldn't get near the tasting area without risking physical harm :) We did manage to buy some vintage cheese and have a quick look at the display of old cheese-making equipment before we gave up!

We stopped at Eden for the night. Eden is an old whaling town, so a visit to the Killer Whale Museum was a must. This was when the trip started to get quite surreal as I visited places that I'd visited as a kid 30+ years ago!


This is a photo of Pete, Billy & "Old Tom" - a full killer whale skeleton. Somewhere my mum has a photo of me & old Tom from when I was about Billy's age!

They had lots of other stuff in the museum as well, including an exhibit about Ned Kelly - Australia's most famous bushranger and to some, folk hero. Even though it wasn't planned, Ned Kelly ended up as a running theme through our holiday.

In the afternoon, Pete & Billy went for a swim in the park pool while I sat in the shade and tried to read my book.

Our next day was a long one compared to what we had been doing. We drove from Eden to Lakes Entrance - the biggest fishing port in Victoria. It was HOT - about 35 deg C (95 F) - and with little escape from the heat, we jumped back in the car, put the air conditioning on, and drove out to visit a nearby winery! Did some grocery shopping on the way home, went for a swim in the pool and waited for it to cool down.

(Photo courtesy of Billy)

More later - off to cook tea.

I really didn't need this..

As if I didn't have enough to do... The webhost I use to host most of my client's websites seems to have vanished into thin air. I only have an email or fax no for them (they're a small 2 man business) - I'm not receiving replies from any emails to them, including ones I sent before we went away. I even sent them one on Sunday asking if they were still in business and received no reply...

SOOOOO...

That means that I have to assume they're defunct and transfer all of the existing sites across to a new webhost, test them, make sure everything works the way it used to & wrestle with any issues that arise. And I need to do it ASAP - their servers are up and running now, but I'm scared that if they go down there will be no one there to turn them back on.

And if they're not defunct, they soon will be by not answering their support emails!

(And did I mention I have to fit this in around other scheduled work - and of course I don't get paid for it...)

Our trip - Part 1

To give a brief synopsis of our trip - have a look at this map of Australia - find Sydney, then follow the road down the coast until the bottom, go across to Melbourne, up to Ballarat & Bendigo, then cross through Albury to Canberra, then back home (near Newcastle). That was roughly our trip.

We finally left after several hectic days of packing - Pete got home from work early, we threw the last few things in and set off - a whole half an hour away to my Mum & Dad's house in Cessnock! It was my Mum's b'day so we wanted to spend some time with her before we left. We had dinner with them and stayed the night in their yard.

Up early the next morning, and then we left Billy behind while we started on our holiday - on purpose! Pete & I drove down to Sydney, got the van set up in the caravan park and then went to the Opera House to see a Bell Shakespeare performance of "Anatomy Titus Fall of Rome". I'm still not sure if I liked it or not - it was very gory & confronting, but better than I was expecting!

Meanwhile, Mum, Dad & Billy caught the train down to Sydney where we met up with them after the performance. We took Billy, and Mum & Dad caught the train back home. (Thanks again to Mum & Dad!)

We left the van park pretty early the next morning so we could head from Sydney down to Wollongong. The traffic was pretty light fortunately and we made it without incident. We settled in at the van park and then headed off to the Nan Tien Buddhist Temple - it's the largest Buddhist temple in the Southern Hemisphere. It was built not just as a place of worship but also as a place to educate people about the Buddhist faith.

We booked in for the guided tour - $4 each for an excellent tour that lasted about 1.5 hours! We were shown through the 2 temples, the pagoda and the museum, as well as around the outside, and had a lot of the symbolism explained to us. I thought it was one of the highlights of the trip - I really enjoyed it, learnt heaps and was left wanting to learn a lot more.



The next day we drove to Kiama after a fairly late start, booked in to the van park & headed off to Minnamurra Falls. The rainforest walk took about 1.5 hours - it was all on paved tracks or boardwalks but it was quite steep in places! It was really pretty but like most places was suffering due to lack of water.

On the way back, Billy & Pete were slightly ahead and I heard a chattering in the bush alongside the track. I stopped to investigate - and was really excited to see a lyrebird! I didn't get a very good picture of him though as he was hiding (as they do!), but I was still really stoked..


We did go for a look at the blowhole in Kiama - but it was such a nice day, it wasn't blowing! It's very pretty around there anyway.

More later..

Menu Plan Monday - 1st Dec

Notes on last week's menu:

To use up this week:
* roast pork

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - meatball subs
Tuesday - sausages, mash & veges
Wednesday - pizza
Thursday - pork burgers
Friday - steak & veges
Saturday - leftovers
Sunday - roast beef

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



Eating from the garden:
* Tomatoes - mmmm!

Planting this week:
* I need to get out there today and see what the garden is up to. I know I need to plant some seedlings before they escape the greenhouse - it's a bit like Day of the Triffids atm :)

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

We're back!

We're back! Did anyone miss me?!

We had a great time, nice & relaxing & saw some wonderful things - I'm hoping to write a more detailed update of our trip over the next week or so. We were going to stop somewhere tonight and get home tomorrow but once we thought about home, we just kept driving!

The van went extremely well - no problems at all - although we have a few things to do to make life easier for the next trip.

I'm still not thinking about work, Xmas or other responsibilities yet - tomorrow I'll concentrate on cleaning out the van, doing a heap of washing and getting the house back in order. Monday will be soon enough to come back down to earth :)

Here's a sneak peek of our holidays:

Packing..

Ah packing to go on holidays.. The activity that guarantees you will *need* a holiday by the time you leave!

This one has been more exciting than most - it's the first long trip away in our new van, so I have to decide where to put everything. We seem to have heaps of storage space (although I can't stop the niggle that says if we have so much space then I've obviously forgotten to pack something!), it's just trying to use it most efficiently so the most used things are easily accessible.

I took some photos of the van today - I've now managed to put it up *by myself* - TWICE! It's fairly easy to put up - except when you're 5ft & a smidge and need a chair to stand on :)

This is how it looks folded down flat - it sits a bit flatter than this, but I'd already undone the clips that hold it down.

First step is to push the roof up - you push one side up and the other slides up too and pops into place.

Second step is to jump inside and push the walls up into place. They clip in place from inside.

View from the other side (with the chair I need lol)

View from inside looking towards the front. The table (currently propped up against the seat) folds down to form the single bed. There is storage underneath each seat, as well as at the front.

View towards the back. The double bed lifts up for heaps more storage, plus the drawers on the side.

The packing is pretty much done - or at least the major things. We had our old van fairly well equipped, so most of it has just come across, but some things needed to be replaced. I still need to pack clothes, last minute food & more activity stuff for us (particularly for Master B), but we're getting there!

I'm actually starting to get quite excited about the trip now!

Our week of Learning - 2nd Nov

English: Lots of smaller books read plus more from The Hobbit. Visit to Maitland library. Did some reading on the Starfall site.

Maths: Leap into Maths Yr 1 workbook - Unit 13. Watched 'Count Us In'.

Science & Technology: Finished off the clouds poster & talked about it at 'news' at the homeschool meeting. Updating his blog - and has worked out how to change colours and font size..

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): We did lots of history reading this week as we were getting close to dinosaurs and Billy wanted to keep reading - did the first reptiles through to the first dinosaurs. We also read an Aboriginal tale and Billy watched a video of some animated Aboriginal dreamtime stories.

We had a visit from the fire brigade at the homeschool meeting - they showed the kids around the fire engine, and talked to them about fire safety.

Creative & Practical Arts: Drama lessons and art gallery. Using the video camera.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Swimming lessons plus swimming with friends. Lots of running around at the homeschool meeting.

****

At the end of this week, we're heading off down south (Melbourne / Canberra) for a few weeks in the van. We won't be doing formal lessons while we're away, but are planning on doing lots of educational things like Sovereign Hill, Questacon, dinosaur museum, Tidbinbilla Tracking Station etc.

Menu Plan Monday - 3rd Nov

Notes on last week's menu:

I didn't put a menu up last week as I didn't get to write it until later in the week. Nothing outstanding though.

To use up this week:
* roast chicken
* thai curry sauce
* tin pineapple

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - meatball subs
Tuesday - chilli con carne & rice
Wednesday - bahama-mama pork chops with veges
Thursday - thai chicken patties with salad / veges
Friday - Mum & Dads?
Saturday - in van - we're off on holidays!
Sunday - in van

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



Eating from the garden:
* Everything has pretty much gone to seed except for the tomatoes which are still green. Getting the odd couple of strawberries but only enough for a snack

Planting this week:
* plant out malabar spinach
* plant cucumber seeds - leave til we get back

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

How to be consistent?

I know life would be much easier and I would be so much more productive - if only I were more consistent..

If only I was more consistent with picking up after myself, then the house wouldn't get into such a state (and maybe Billy could learn to pick up after himself too..)

If only I were more consistent with my parenting rules, then I mightn't have to deal with as much arguing and manipulation..

If only I were more consistent about writing down what I spend, then I'd stop wasting as much money...

If only I were more consistent about using up the leftovers, then I wouldn't waste as much food...

If only I were more consistent about doing exercise and / or yoga, then I wouldn't be as stressed..

You get the idea!

I know it works - but I get all gung-ho on something and go great guns for a couple of weeks, only to have it all fall away again. Especially when I get busy.

So tell me - what are your tips for staying consistent? How do you stick to a new habit? Help!!!

In the meantime, I'm dusting off an old blog that a friend and I used to use to keep each other on track (want to join in again HRH?) - http://5min-challenge.blogspot.com/ - feel free to come on over and give me some motivation!

In the garden

A few recent changes to the garden:

Pete & a mate put up a trellis for the hops - they are straight, it's just that we're on a hill :)

So the hops have now been transplanted to their new home and hopefully they'll like it.

The 'tater patch is looking good and has had a serious mulch.

Much of the vege garden has gone or is going to seed, apart from some tomato plants that have fruited - I'm stuck in a bit of a dilemma at the moment though. We're going away for 3 weeks - I don't really want to start too much now and leave it for someone else to have to look after, but on the other hand I don't want to miss the planting boat... Hmmm...

Our week of Learning - 26 Oct

Last week -

English: Reading Dinosaur Cove (Attack of the Lizard King). A few smaller books read and Pete & Billy are still reading The Hobbit together.

Visit to Newcastle library.

Maths: Leap into Maths Yr 1 workbook - Unit 12.

Science & Technology: We've been taking photos of clouds for the last few weeks, so Billy made a cloud poster with the photos sorted into cumulus, stratus and cirrus clouds.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): Learnt about "Life on Land" (the first plants) and "Fish out of Water" (the first amphibians).

Creative & Practical Arts: Drama lessons and art gallery. He's also been using the video camera to film absolutely everything - but mainly himself :)

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

****

Well I was able to get some paid work in 3 mornings last week with "minimal" interruptions. That's really helped me get on top of things, work-wise anyway.

I've started up the Flylady emails again to try and get the house under control. It just depends how long I can put up with the "please buy our wonderful products" emails...

Spoilt!

It was my 38th b'day yesterday and I've been feeling quite spoilt.

It started earlier in the week when I received 2 parcels in the mail - the first was a b'day present from my aunt of a cookbook by Lady Flo Bjelke-Peterson (a former Queensland politician famous for her pumpkin scones) called Classic Collection, and a Grass Roots magazine.

The second was a parcel from the wonderful Tin House Lisa as part of the "Pay it Forward" exchange. I know it wasn't for my b'day, but it felt just as special! She sent me 2 handknitted dishcloths (I've already used one and it's great!), a tea-towel, pot-holder, some seeds and a lavender neck heat bag. Plus my Billy she sent a book bag she'd made with a B on it, plus a book, CD & a cloth lizard! We both felt very spoilt!!! Thank you so much Lisa - I love them all! (I will pay it forward when I get some time). (The photo doesn't show Billy's stuff - it disappeared before I could take a photo of it!)



Saturday morning started way too early with Billy having a bad dream at 4am - he did wish me a happy b'day at that time though :) Got him to back to sleep, went back to bed myself, only to be woken again at 7am when he got up for the morning! Pete & Billy gave me a set of DVD lectures on Shakespeare's plays which looks really interesting. Billy then proceeded to make me breakfast in bed - of choc chips & sugar!!

In the afternoon, we went up to visit Pete's mum, and then over to my parents for a BBQ with my family. I got some more gorgeous presents - my mum & dad gave me an Organic Gardening book & a pair of purple gardening gloves!, my sister & nieces gave me a beautiful pendant made from antique porcelain smashed during the Chinese Cultural revolution, a book and some chocolates, and my grandmother gave me an old Allan Seale gardening book and a box of chocolates.

(A rare photo of me - complete with all of my chins lol)

Tonight I continued to get spoilt - my parents looked after Billy while Pete & I went out for dinner at a local restaurant Treehops - by ourselves! Ahhh, peace & quiet! Bliss! I'm sitting here digesting though - I ate too much :)

Menu Plan Monday - 20th October

Notes on last week's menu:

A bit of 'swapsies' with the menu last week as I didn't feel like what was on offer a couple of times!

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

Menu Plan this week:

Monday - marinated beef & salad wraps
Tuesday - pasta with sausage & tomato sauce
Wednesday - pork stir fry with rice
Thursday - T-bone steak & veges
Friday - pan friend fish with veges or chips
Saturday - out to dinner for my b'day!
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:
* need to mulch the potatoes
* plant out malabar spinach
* plant cucumber seeds

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

Our week of Learning - 19 Oct

Billy's Cafe bag design - cookie, teapot & cafe sign

School term started back this week, so all of our external activities commenced again. I knew this week would be fairly exhausting so we throttled back on formal schoolwork.

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

Visit to both local libraries.

Maths: Leap into Maths Yr 1 workbook - Unit 11. We did weighing using kitchen scales & a balance that he borrowed from the library. He paid for his own purchase at the pool canteen.

Science & Technology: Nothing formal. Watched Animal Planet a couple of times and is reading a fair bit about dinosaurs atm.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): Nothing formal. He set up a 'coffee shop' to sell bottled water & choc-chip biscuits - made his own menus (and laminated them!), receipts,and bags with his design on them.

Creative & Practical Arts: Back to drama lessons. Visit to the small art gallery above the library.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Back to swimming lessons, plus swimming with friends. Lots of running around at our homeschool meeting (him, not me!).

****

I'm going to try rearranging our schedule this week and see if it works. I'm struggling fitting paid work in - I do it at night after Billy has gone to bed, but that's about my most unproductive time in the day. It's hard to be motivated at that hour... So I'm going to try and do an hour's work in the morning - after I have a shower, and before we start school work. I'll send Billy outside to play and run around for an hour - hopefully I can get an hour uninterrupted - although I'm not counting on it! Surely a 6 year old can amuse himself for an hour??! Surely??!

I'm baaaaack....

I was just in the middle of publishing a post on Wednesday afternoon - and our internet went down... A LOOOOOOONG 48 hours later - we got it back!

While it was down I got a lot done - it's amazing (well probably not really) how much you get done without the distraction of the internet!

It gave me time to work on the backlog of work I have without being hammered by new stuff. And you know what - I'm not a doctor - the work that had to wait a couple of days was not life and death when it comes down to it!

I was also offline for some fights that erupted in a couple of online groups I'm part of - by the time I got online again it was, not resolved as such, but quashed; so I'm glad I missed the stress of that!

I also got things done around the house that I'd been putting off.

So now I'm turning my email off, and going back to doing my tax :(