Weekend away

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

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

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

BMN Challenge 2

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

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

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

Blah..

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

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

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

Here's hoping for a better week this week!

Business Mums Network Blogging Challenge

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

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

Some of the other mums taking part are:

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

Why not check out their blogs too?

Reading

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

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

Back from holidays

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

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

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

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

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

Day 3

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

In Praise of Slow: Book Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Evil, evil stomach bug and busy weekend

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

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

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

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

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

Photos of our garden

Our front garden is looking great atm - it's an odd combination of protea, kangaroo paw, oyster plants and hydrangeas, but it looks very colourful!

Family reunion

We had the 3rd annual family reunion of my Mum's side on Sunday - my grandmother, mum's siblings, their kids and their kids (and partners of all of the above!). It's a good day - it started off 3 years ago for my grandmother's b'day and has turned into an annual get-together at Norah Head. We take over the park above Hargraves Beach for a BYO picnic lunch, and then the adventurous climb down the hundred-odd steps (not sure if there's that many but it feels like it!) to the beach. My cousins rented the lighthouse cottage for the week as well, so we went back there for afternoon tea. It's a nice relaxing day and great to catch up with everyone. However my calves are sooooo sore from the steps - I had to climb up and down twice as we forgot to take Billy's bucket & spade down the first time!!

I won a book today - it's the 1st prize I've won for myself after the ballet tickets for my nieces and 4 tubes of men's facial cleanser for Pete :) I won Tara Moss's new one, Hit, from a New Idea competition. It was a 25 word or less competition too so I'm doubly stoked with it!

The Use-it-up challenge continues - so far I've removed from the list:

• fish fingers
• sweet rice
• bread ends (now in the freezer as breadcrumbs)

Slowly getting there!

'Use-it-up' update..

I've managed to use up a couple of bits & pieces:

* the tuna & pasta from the freezer were lunch for Billy & I the other day
* I toasted some of the pine nuts and added them to a stirfry
* I made a loaf of pumpkin & sunflower bread using 1 lot of gramma and some of the sunflower seeds - not bad, a bit heavy on the cumin though

I'll dry the bread ends out in the oven tomorrow night while I'm cooking tea, so they're ready to make into breadcrumbs.

I've heard of a 'flea in the ear'..

I can't believe I forgot to write this about Monday morning - I woke up at 2:30 with a bug flying into my ear! Trying to get it out just lodged it deeper until I had to go up to emergency to get it out! The worst of it was it was still alive and flying around inside my ear canal - it was the worst feeling. I felt like ripping my ear off to stop it. I ended up tipping water in to try and dislodge it - at least that drowned it and stopped it moving in my ear! Anyway 2 hours up at Emergency of our local hospital and they couldn't get it out - it was lodged too deeply (it was right next to the ear drum). So I had to get a referral to the Newcastle hospital for yesterday, where they suctioned it out! My ear is sore atm, not sure if it's just where they were poking and prodding - hopefully it won't get infected on top of everything!

'Use it up' challenge

I'm following on from a friend's challenge - she's made a list of everything that needs to be 'used up' in the pantry etc. (http://lightening74.blogspot.com/2006/11/use-it-up-challenge.html) I'm very guilty of buying stuff for a 'gourmet' recipe and then never using it again. So here's my list - I'll report on how much I've managed to use up as I go over the next few weeks.

Pantry

• garlic lime chicken rub
• berry flakes / banana bits
• sunflower seeds
• pine nuts
• paw paw & tomato chutney
• dragonfruit and chili sauce
• dragonfruit dessert sauce
• polenta
• apple cider vinegar
• white wine vinegar
• red wine vinegar (see a trend here?!)
• arborio rice

Fridge

• salsa x 2
• capers
• 1/2 block copha
• hoisin sauce
• tandoori curry paste

Freezer

• bread ends (make breadcrumbs)
• puff pastry
• capsicum
• chilis
• zucchini
• pineapple slices
• thai curry paste
• soup x 5
• frankfurts
• sweet rice
• pasta spirals
• tuna
• fish fingers
• mashed gramma

Any suggestions gratefully accepted!

Billy's sunflower

Baking day & assorted bits..

We made 4 lots of biccies yesterday using a bulk recipe from the Savings Vault - 1 lot of jam biscuits, 1 lot of cocoa & peppermint, 1 lot of hundreds & thousands, and 1 lot of sultana & cinnamon. I even found out how to make your own condensed milk! The biscuits are very yummy - I've frozen most of them so that will do us for treats for a while.

I have some tiny shoots coming up in the vege garden - not sure what yet, but I'm pretty excited :) My herbs bit the dust - the pots blew down and broke in the strong winds the other day. Bummer..

I finally listed some more stuff on Oztion in the hope of making a bit extra before Xmas. No nibbles yet but still 5 days to go. Hopefully I'll find some more time to list this week too.

My teaching has finished for the year - I'm quite relieved about that. I don't think I'll be doing any teaching next year for the main college I've worked at for the past few years - the timetable doesn't look like it will work out for me. I'm not sure if that's by design or not, but I'm not really worried. I'm planning on doing the Cert IV of Workplace Training and Assessment qualification next year which is on Wednesdays - I'd told the guy who was doing the timetabling that I couldn't do Wednesdays anymore and that's when my courses ended up... C'est la vie..

Home Scan

I just got a phone call from AC Nielsen inviting me to join their "Home Scan" program where you get a little gadget and scan everything you buy - groceries, fruit & veg etc - for market research. I'm not 100% certain how the rewards bits works yet but you earn points for doing it that you can redeem for vouchers, gifts etc. I'm strangely excited by it :) It should tie in well with me wanting to get back to keeping track of what I'm buying.

Veges

I finally got motivated enough to do some planting today. I have a big garden down the back but I have to admit to letting it get over-run. I get keen, clear it out, plant and then because it's either too hot or too cold and too far away, I don't get back to it. I'm not a very consistent gardener :(

So I got a foam box from Aldi (discarded fruit box), and have planted some salad vegetables at the back door. Tomatoes (cherry & Roma), carrots and spring onions. It may or may not work but it's worth a try! I'll get some lettuce seedlings once I see how these go. I also replanted the parsley and oregano in my hanging baskets, and Billy planted some flower seeds in another pot - I'm pretty sure the seeds were waaaay out of date so I'd be very surprised if anything came up but at least he felt useful!

Time to get serious again

We've just been coasting along financially lately, not really getting into more debt, but not really getting too much ahead with paying it off either. So plan of attack:

* redo the budget for the latest interest rate rise
* update price book with Aldi prices
* stop frittering little bits of money away - it's "only" $2 here, $2 there but it adds up
- start taking snacks again when we go out rather than buying,
- empty purse of money each day - only take what we will need for the day,
- go back to recording what we're spending

I only have one more week of teaching - when that's over I will have reduced income, but it will also give me more time to be organised and is the major cause of the little extras - buying a can of coke and/or packet of chips, tea on the nights I work etc.