Need some navel-contemplating time!

We have had a very busy week and I'm sorely in need of some time to sit and re-gather. The week has involved drama class, storytime, catching up with friends, another planning meeting about the short film Billy's in, swimming carnival, as well as work every night for me. Then we decided to christen our van with a trip down to Sydney this weekend to watch the Swans play in a (free!) trial match (AFL or Aussie Rules for the uninitiated). No major hiccups with the van - a big sigh of relief to get down there and back - I hate driving in Sydney at the best of times! Despite harping to go and see the Swannies play, Billy was bored after about 5 minutes lol, so we ended up leaving at 3/4 time - they were in front by 60-odd points at that stage anyway. Obviously my jinx doesn't extend to unimportant matches!



And for a change of pace, photos from the guesthouse we stayed at last weekend (sans Billy):

View from the balcony & our room

Sydney Harbour from the Ferry Terminal

Space and a race..

Catching up on a couple of school things:

We found a great craft kit you could buy to create a solar system model (by Shamrock Craft Products - we bought it at Eckersleys but I've heard Spotlight has it as well). It has all of the planets (including the maligned Pluto who has lost it's planet status!) as relative sized styrofoam balls, and a roll of wire to be cut into the appropriate lengths (stated on the instructions!) We pulled the Space book out and painted the planets in something resembling correct colours, and then stuck & glued it all together. Heaps of fun!

Friday was our district Home Ed swimming carnival. There was a great turnout - I think over 100 kids were there which was fantastic. Billy's not a confident swimmer and it was his first experience of any sort of competition, so we had tears, but he also had a great time once the trauma of his races were out of the way! He was very pleased with himself for getting to the end of The Scrambler though (a long inflatable thing with hills & dales - they had to crawl on from one end to the other). Finally some co-operation from the weather too!

We have a pair!

I thought we only had one blue tongue but I just looked outside a few minutes ago and had a pleasant surprise - apparently we have a pair! How exciting!

Time for an update

I haven't posted a decent update in weeks. For some of that time I've been busy, for some of it I've been quite down so I just couldn't post. I'm not sure why - maybe it's SAD from all of the wet weather.

We picked our A-Van up a couple of weekends ago (photos to come) and drove it home successfully (in the rain!). We've had it up once and had a good look through it all but haven't done much more than that with it yet. We need to save some money to go away somewhere!

We had a wonderful weekend away in Sydney for the weekend just gone. Billy stayed with his aunt & cousins for the day and his grandparents overnight. We stayed at an old guesthouse in Cremorne - a northern suburb of Sydney - a RICH northern suburb of Sydney! I decided I could quite happily live in Sydney if I could live there - I'd have to win a very big lotto first though!! The guesthouse (http://www.cremornepointmanor.com.au/) was lovely - the room was small but very comfortable. It was a 2-3 minute walk to the ferry, and then a 10 min ferry ride across to Circular Quay. We caught the ferry across, walked to the Opera House and watched Bell Shakespeare's "As you like it". I thoroughly enjoyed it. Then we caught the ferry back and walked around the point to the Mosman Rowing Club for a relaxing dinner. It was a great walk - the point has a reserve the entire way around with a walking track - beautiful gardens along the edge. We even felt safe walking back along at night.

Garden: I have a watermelon vine going rampant atm (at least I think that's what I planted there lol!) - lots of flowers but no fruit yet, and a pumpkin vine just starting. Oh and some potatoes that must have been left in the garden from a previous season - I noticed a couple of plants flowering the other day. That's about it atm :( I planted some snow peas, greenfeast peas and pak choy last week, and I'm trying to get up the courage to try and raise the rest of the seeds I bought as seedlings - I currently either buy seedlings or plant direct - if planting direct doesn't work then tough! So my challenge is to try raising seedlings. I've set myself an even bigger challenge as well - by this time next year I want to be growing the majority of our fruit & veges. The fruit & vege portion of most of our meals will come from the garden - either fresh or stored in some way. It's a big challenge but I want to aim high!

Work: I got a website finally sent live - still a bit of tidy up stuff to do but at least it's live! I'm trying to wrap up a few other projects that have been dragging on - one I started in May last year and for various reasons it's dragged on. I'm really looking forward to getting paid for that one!! My plan to only work a couple of nights / week isn't working atm - too many people needing things "ASAP" :( I have to stop being so nice!

School: I've been posting our special projects as we go but other than that we've been working through the maths workbook and lots of reading, as well as drama class, library visits, art gallery visits etc. We went to the regional show with some homeschooling friends on Friday which was good. We've been taking part in planning for the short film he's going to be in and he has a Home Ed Swimming Carnival on Friday. It looks like the school shows are back on ABC starting today - I have to remember to tape them.

The house is a bit of a mess so I guess that's my job for this morning!

Happy (Belated) Chinese New Year

This has taken us a few sessions but here he is - finally! The dragon's head is made from cardboard, boxes & toilet rolls, taped together and then papier mached over. After it dried (ie a couple of days later when we got back to it!), we painted him up, and then glued an old sheet to the back which Billy then decorated.

I think he's pretty cool personally!!!

We had a meeting with some other homeschoolers today - the local Art Gallery is putting on a short film and asked for kids to be involved in it. Naturally Billy wanted to be involved - they'll be doing a battle scene - we'll be making the costumes & sets over the next couple of weeks as a group. It should be fun!

Calendar of Events

Whether you homeschool or not, this calendar is really interesting. My sister found it and sent me the link - http://www.teachervision.fen.com/holidays-and-seasonal-events/printable/55993.html?detoured=1 It shows significant events & holidays for each day of the year - it's fairly American-centric but still useful for the rest of us :)

It fits in well with how I'm planning that we'll work this year - we're working on 3 major themes throughout the year - Australia (history, Aboriginal culture, animals etc), Space & Law & Order, and filling in the rest of the time with other activities (as well as worksheets etc). So this week we'll finish off our dragon for Chinese New Year, make some stuff for Valentines Day, and make a solar system model for Galileo's b'day.

Happy Waitangi Day!

Kia Ora! Happy Waitangi Day!

According to Wikipedia, Waitangi Day "is the national day of New Zealand. It is a public holiday held each year on February 6 to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document, on that date in 1840". I imagine it's similar to our Australia Day.

So today we learnt a bit about Waitangi Day and made a Maori doll in "traditional" clothes. Billy knows where New Zealand is and can show you on the map as we have friends that live in Auckland. He also has a friend who is part Maori so we've discussed the Maori race before - in his words "they're the aborigines that live in New Zealand".

We went on a nature walk around the neighbourhood first to find feathers to use for the cape, and gathered up some hay (from the mulch) to use for the skirt (both stuck on fabric to make life easier for us!). A cardboard tube provided the body, ice-cream sticks for the arms and black fabric for the hair. I think he looks more American Indian than Maori, but anyway :)

Bugger :(

I'd just left from picking Billy up from his drama class this afternoon, went down the road a bit, went to change lanes - ooops, where did that car come from?! :( My fault entirely - luckily just a minor bingle & no-one was hurt. My driver's front panel is slightly scraped, the other car's passenger side back door & back panel is scraped. Nothing serious but still an incovenience for us both in getting them repaired - not to mention $500 excess down the drain.. Geez it shook me up though. I've only had 4 car accidents in 20+ years of driving - and this was the first one that was my fault - and also the one with the least amount of damage. My first accident someone stopped on a wet slippery road a few cars ahead of me, which caused a pile-up behind them - I managed to avoid that by steering off the road - only to get walloped by the (uninsured) ute behind me. The 2nd was a stupid woman who suddenly turned right across 2 lanes of oncoming traffic (of which I was one) and I slammed into her (I can say she was stupid - she got out of her car all distraught "my husband will kill me, this is the 3rd accident this week" or something as scary!) The 3rd was only in the last couple of years - a guy in a 4WD did exactly what I did today and changed lanes on top of me - only he caused considerably more damage!

Oh well, cest la vie and all that. I'm still shaky though - was fine until I was on the phone to Pete (he's in Sydney for work) and then my mum - and I fell to pieces. 37 years old and still need my mum! Billy was cute though - he went and put a couple of his stuffed toys in my bed in case I think about the accident & get frightened through the night, I can cuddle them.. Such a sweetie at times.

So no work for me tonight (sorry Korina if you're reading!) - I'm having a restorative cuppa, maybe even break out some chocolate from the kid-proof hiding place, a read of my book and an early night - or as early as it can be given that it's now 9:45pm!

Edited because I can't count!

Happy Shrove Tuesday!

Well if you weren't at our house this morning, you would have missed an explanation of Pancake Tuesday, including a quick discussion of Jesus & how old he was when he died, and sidetracking into a discussion on how Daddy Pig got his pancake stuck to the ceiling when he flipped his (for the uninitiated, Daddy Pig is the daddy of Peppa Pig!)

You would have also missed making playdough pancakes and the general hilarity of trying to flip those from a plastic plate and catching them again. Followed of course by a yummy lunch of pikelets (sue me, I prefer pikelets to pancakes lol), with lashings of butter (real) and maple syrup (fake)... Mmmmm!

Not to mention the kindergarten maths lesson prior to all that (so if you need to bone up on straight vs curved lines, matching related objects and an exercise in more / enough, then I suggest you'd best go and do it before next lesson!)

So there you have a morning's work - maths (worksheets & measuring), movement (hand-eye co-ordination), culture, religion, art/craft & cooking :) Now we'd better go & get ready to go to drama.. (with a stop at the bank to sign the loan papers that were *supposed* to be ready yesterday but weren't - but that's another post!)

Book Review: The Taste of Memory

"Tastes and smells transport us, they carry our minds back, we do not so much remember their moments as relive them"..

This is a memoir by Australian author Marion Halligan (who I'm ashamed to say I'd never heard of before I read this book). It's a series of reminiscences about food, particularly food eaten with friends, most often fresh food from the garden. Reading it is a bit like eavesdropping on someone's conversation at times, as she'll suddenly start talking about someone she hasn't mentioned before, and it wanders from subject to subject, but in a quite delightful way. It's a real "stream of consciousness" type story, and she intersperses recipes with the stories throughout the book.

I loved the book - I didn't want it to end, and actually put it aside for a while before I finished to reflect on it, and put off the moment of completion. It had added interest for me as she grew up in Newcastle, a place I know well, so with a lot of her memories I could picture where she was talking about.

(If you search for it on Amazon, you can read a few pages as an excerpt - I have no affiliation with them!!)

Australian animals excursion & 1st drama class

Patting Suzy the koala

Koalas just hanging out staying cool

Curious Emu

Yesterday we visited Blackbutt Reserve for the first time (I'd been when I was a kid but we haven't taken Billy there) - it's a nature reserve that's free to the public, with wonderful walks and lots of Australian animals. We spent about 3 hours there - had a picnic lunch next to the duck pond (on a frugal note, I'm doing really well packing a picnic lunch when we go out rather than buying it!), and then walked around looking at the animals & filling in an "animal habitat" worksheet that we'd gotten from the rangers. They have emus, kangaroos, koalas, wombats & heaps of native birds - Billy loved it and we had a really good time. In the afternoon they have a Koala encounter - for $3 you can go into a private area and get to pat a koala - Billy was very keen on doing it!

Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera so had to use my phone camera - the photos aren't great quality.

After we left there we went back into town where he had his 1st drama class! I can't tell you much about it because they asked parents to leave, but he enjoyed it! It sounds like they played lots of getting to know you, and movement games. There were 7 in the class - 7 precocious 5-8 year olds lol. They all made a beeline for the stage at the back and were strutting around like seasoned performers :)

Spending spree

On Saturday we went down to have another look at a van we looked at a couple of weeks ago - we met my parents down there to get a 2nd opinion. It's a display model from 2007 with very slight hail damage (you have to look very carefully and at the right angle to see it) & with added extras because it's the display model. It's roughly $6000 off the price of the equivalent new model. For better or for worse - we put a deposit down! It's an A'van Cruiseliner - this is a photo of an old one. (The Teepee part folds down to a flat roof for travelling.)

I'm torn in two - my heart says it was the right decision, my head isn't so pleased because of the financial impact - most of the money will come from money we had set aside for other things, but we need to get a loan for the rest of it. We have an appointment with our building society tomorrow afternoon, so fingers crossed. The loan isn't really in keeping with my desire to slow down and work less, but being able to get away with little preparation for the weekend is!

Speaking of mixed feelings - this time 6 months ago, my plans for 2008 were to be working for myself on an almost full-time basis while Billy was at school, bringing in the money, paying off our debts & saving up for a trip overseas. Tomorrow, the first day of kindy, should have been the start of "life after full-time motherhood". Instead we've decided to homeschool... As much as I really want to do it, and enjoy doing it, I'm a bit torn that I won't be having that time to myself, being a "real person" again rather than just Mummy. As if he'd read my mind, Billy came up to me today, gave me a hug and said "I really like having you around all the time Mummy".. Puts it into perspective really...

Feeling blah..

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

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

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

Bush Art Walk

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



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



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

Glenrock Lagoon State Conservation Area

Ranger Gary

Painting the boomerangs

The finished product

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

Silly gardening questions

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

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

Some silly questions -

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

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

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

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

Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

B'day party meltdowns & general ramble..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dehydrator results

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

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

Chippy chippy chippy!

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

Not a bad haul for $1 worth of apples!

Fighting my addiction!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Guess what I found?!

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

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

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

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

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

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