Our week of learning - 30 May - writing, airport, space & musicals!

Billy had a very varied week this week.

English:

Current Readaloud: Robin Hood (abridged), and "How the aliens from Alpha Centauri invaded my maths class and turned me into a writer and how you can be one too" by Jackie French.

   

Pete finished "The Voyage of the Basset" as his read-aloud with Billy - its a  fantasy novel that incorporates all sorts of mythical creatures like Medusa, trolls, unicorns, dwarfs etc.

Audio books: Various Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton stories

Independent Reading: - "The Bugalugs Bum Thief" by Tim Winton

Other: - Another word ladder puzzle on the board (funny how he'll do them if they're on the white board, but not if I print it out!)


He attended the 2nd 1hr writing workshop put on by the local library as part of their Writing Challenge competition.  They learnt how to find books in the library (which he already knew) and made good progress on writing his story.

Maths: We watched an episode of Cyberchase about dew point.  He played a few games of chess against the computer.  He also worked through a number puzzle I found at Risa's site.

Science & Technology: His chosen subject for the writing challenge is global warming, so he's done some research on global warming and we've had lots of interesting discussions.  (I got into trouble from him for the length of my showers!)

He took a quiz on space and looked at the space photos on the George's Secret Key site.


HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): Over 40 homeschool kids from the area went on a behind the scenes tour of Newcastle Airport.  They only accepted a few parents to go along as well, so I made the big sacrifice and stayed behind and had a yummy hot chocolate with marshmallows while he went on the tour!  (Hey, someone had to do it!)  The tour lasted an hour, they took them through the security systems and showed them how they scan luggage, put it on the plane, showed them in the hanger etc.  The highlight seemed to be when they went into the security control room and got to control the cameras to spy on the parents left behind :)

Creative & Practical Arts: Drama class.

He made a shell necklace for a b'day present.

We headed off to Maitland Art Gallery for a look at their latest exhibits.

We also went to a musical production of "The Wizard of Oz" complete with live orchestra!  He really enjoyed it.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Martial arts, archery and 10 pin bowling for his cousin's b'day.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): He's working on his cooking badge for cubs, so he's made his own breakfast (scrambled eggs on toast) and a favourite recipe (pizza).

Other fun stuff: He remade his promise at Cubs, so now he's a fully invested Cub Scout. 

It was his cousin's 13th b'day on Saturday so we went along to a party for her (10 pin bowling and then pizza!)

He was pretending to be a ventriloquist one day so I showed him some YouTube videos of Dave Strassman, possibly the world's best ventriloquist.  He's hooked!

His friend has introduced him to a new computer site called Moshi Monsters which he's been having some fun with (along with Webkinz and Club Penguin!).    

Happy blogiversary to me :)

Today marks 4 years since I started my blog.  My posting level waxes & wanes, but its now an integral part of my life.  Thanks to everyone who reads - especially those who comment.  The commenting keeps me going.. 

"you like me, you really like me..." :)

Its also my niece's 13th b'day today - she's very excited!  We're off to go 10 pin bowling and eat pizza in a little while to celebrate!

Our week of learning - 23 May - busy times again!

I was expecting this week would be more active than last, but I underestimated just how much he wanted to soak up!  Vanessa, I think you were right in saying he was entering a new phase of learning.

English:

Current Readaloud: Robin Hood (abridged), and "Three Cheers Secret Seven" by Enid Blyton.

Audio books: Various Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton stories

Independent Reading: - "The Bugalugs Bum Thief" by Tim Winton, "Grand Final Fever" by Michael Wagner

Other: - I put some word ladder puzzles up on the board which he enjoyed.

He spent some time on Spellodrome and earnt a weekly certificate.

He attended a 1hr writing workshop put on by the local library as part of their Writing Challenge competition.  He learnt about the structure of an exposition and how to mind map some ideas for it.

Maths: I taught him about square numbers using unit square manipulatives that I made by printing out a grid, laminating it and cutting them up :)

He earnt a weekly certificate on Mathletics. He hasn't used the site for months, so I'm not sure what started him on it again. 

Science & Technology: He had a C# programming lesson with Pete where he created a program that opened up web pages.

We did a couple of experiments about erosion - using 2 trays of dirt, one plain and one with moss covering parts of it.  For wind erosion, we pulled out the hair dryer to see the difference in the "planted" and "unplanted" soil.  For water erosion, we tilted the trays and used a water bottle to simulate a heavy shower :) 

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): We did our monthly waterwatch testing of the Hunter River this week.

Creative & Practical Arts: Drama.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): Martial arts, Auskick training and he has been practising his circus skills again.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): 

Other fun stuff: Playing with friends.

Hello??? Is anybody still around???!

I am still here, promise..

Its been a combination of being busy with work, and I've also been in my own head space a fair bit and haven't been in the mood for blogging, commenting on other people's blogs, facebook or much else.  I guess being busy with my own life has meant I haven't needed to know every detail of everyone elses!  In fact I went on a bit of a cull of blogs that no longer resonated with me, and also of Facebook friends - I had some 'friends' that I'd added because they were on other groups I'd joined, but I personally had no idea who they were.  At least I can look at my friends list now and know that I've had some dealing with each person on there, either in real life or via blogs / forums. 

So what's been happening?  I've been back to the gym this week after missing last week - both my BodyBalance and Punch Fitness class.  It was good to be back, but boy it made me regret I'd missed a week!  I extended my gym membership by 12 months when they had a b'day special on last week. 

I've almost decided to get another microwave - ours died a bit over 2 years ago and I haven't bothered to replace it.  Now that our life is getting busier, I'm seriously contemplating one again.  Currently I'm out at the gym 2 nights / week, Pete has squash 2 nights / week, and Billy has cubs 1 night.  Sometimes they overlap, but on crazy weeks it means someone is out every week-night.  It will get worse in a couple of months as well as Billy moves up to the next martial arts lesson which is an hour later than his current lesson. A microwave would make it easier and more cost effective to reheat dinner or zap something from the freezer.  I'm thinking it would mean leftovers would be used up more too - sometimes its just too hard to contemplate heating them up on the stove or oven :)  And I have to admit I'm also hoping that a young boy might enjoy cooking things in it - he likes cooking but can be a bit hesitant with pans & ovens.  I've pretty much decided which one to get, I hope to go and check it out tomorrow.

I've had a fair bit of paid work on (I just wish the "paid" part of that was actually happening a bit quicker lol), and taught last week at one of the community colleges.  I only had 4 students so it was a fairly easy day compared to others. 

Other than that, I've just been reading, catching up with friends, thinking and just living life.  I figured it was time I posted something other than just another 'school' update :)

Our week of learning - 17 May - photo free edition

The last few weeks have been very low tide.  We've all been busy with our own interests - I've had a fair bit of work on and Billy has been immersed in conquering all of the missions on Club Penguin.  Life has just happened.  I can see that its naturally coming back out of that phase now and we're both ready for some more directed learning.

English:

Current Readaloud: Robin Hood

Audio books: Bumface by Morris Gleitzman  (** Disclaimer - probably more suited to older kids as it deals with the facts of life & contraception **)

Independent Reading: -

Other: - I've been putting word puzzles & riddles up on the whiteboard and he's been loving them!  I'm getting a lot of them from sites on this page, in particular this site.  Sometimes he'll want to then make up his own to challenge me (which can be interesting!)

Maths: He's really getting a good understanding of fractions from real life usage.  I noticed when we were cooking that he was able to work out things like "I need 2 teaspoons of salt, but I can only find the 1/2 teaspoon measure, so I need to put in 4 of them" etc.  He's also getting confident with reading 4 digit numbers like 1,206. 

He asked me to give him some test questions last night, even though he declared them a bit "schooly" :)  I gave him this one and he was able to work it out in his head - it took him quite a while but he got there!  (I was about to resort to the calculator for myself lol).
"Harry buys a drink for $2.80 and a Subway sandwich for $8.30. He goes to a different store and buys a T-Shirt for $15.50 and a new pair of jeans for $69.99. If he started with $100 how much money would he have left? (rounded)"

He's also been working out codes and making up his own for me to solve.


Science & Technology: While I was busy with work, he pulled out a couple of science kits we had.  He made a periscope by himself and an electromagnetic playground with a bit of help.


HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): There's been a bit of a medieval theme happening - we're reading Robin Hood and there was a medieval theme on Club Penguin.  So lots of discussions about that era.  This interest has stemmed as well from him doing archery - we started reading Robin Hood last year and he wasn't interested - now that he's doing archery he's suddenly interested!

Creative & Practical Arts: Drama.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): He earnt another tip at martial arts, had Auskick training and archery.  We also went on an hour long walk!

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): He's been asserting his independence with cooking again - he cooked pizza on his own (dough from scratch) and chocolate muffins.  Now to work on the cleaning up side of things :)

Other fun stuff: He's been busy (obsessed?) with completing the missions on Club Penguin.  He had success!

Our week of learning - 9th May - the casual version

I didn't keep any notes last week on what Billy did so this is the casual version from what I can remember:

1. Magazines - Both his National Geographic Kids and Scientriffic magazines arrived over the last couple of weeks, so he spent some time reading those.
2. Websites - He's spent a lot of time on Club Penguin and Webkinz.  Club Penguin has been good for maths - he has to earn points to get to different levels in parts of it, so he'll come wandering out to me saying things like "I need 1000 points and I have 499, so I need another 501 before I get to the next level".  We've never actually sat down and done formal multi-digit subtraction - obviously I don't need to bother with that one :)
3. Sport - archery, martial arts, Auskick & rock-climbing
4. Mother's Day -  Mother's day present shopping, present making at cubs, card making
5. Family history - I've started researching Pete's side of the family again, and he's been involved in discussions about the family tree and looking over my shoulder while I research.  It's a great way to make Australian history more personal - he can now say that he has a great-great-uncle that was killed in action in France during WWI.  That makes it far more 'real' for a kid - and actually, for me too.
6. Jobs - He's been busy doing jobs to earn money for Scout Job Week - he washed his Pop's car (with help), did some watering & sweeping for my dad, and helped cook tea for my mum.  

So he's had a busy week even if I wasn't recording it!

Embrace Life #2

Last night I nervously turned up to the gym for a new (to me) class - a Punch Fitness class.  It's a non-contact class using boxing & kick-boxing drills.  The instructor paired me up with a lovely lady who was a regular, wrapped my hands with handwraps, told me to take a break whenever I needed it and wished me luck :)

I had to collect a set of focus pads and boxing gloves (pink for the ladies!) when we went into the room.  We started out doing some aerobic warm ups like skipping (with an invisible skipping rope - at least I don't trip on those!), and other footwork, and then got into our pairs.  We spent the next 45-50 mins taking it in turns with the pads and gloves - doing punching and kicking drills.  It was a lot of fun, tough at times and being completely unco didn't help with drills like "cross punch right, left, uppercut right, hook left, then duck"...( and that was one of the easier ones lol).  I had a lovely partner though and she took things nice and slowly for me.  We had to swap partners a few times and once I ended up with one of the big, tough looking men - he was way too fast for me!

We finished up with sit ups, push ups and stretches.  I was expecting to be really sore today, but the hot shower I had last night must've helped as I don't feel too bad.

I'm planning to give it another go next week - hopefully that can replace my irregular gym session.  I've discovered I just don't see the point in walking on a treadmill or riding a bike that doesn't go anywhere, so I haven't been doing the gym sessions as often as I feel I should.  I like this because there's a point to it - learning self-defence moves as well as getting fit.  And it should be a nice supplement to the BodyBalance class!

Auskick, Auskick and more Auskick - and some injuries..

Given that its now Thursday, I've given up the idea of posting a wrap up of last week's learning :)  So I'll just touch on the highlights.

It was basically a week of Auskick.  We'd initially put Billy's name down to go to the Auskick season launch (skills training and game) on the Friday night in Newcastle (1 hr's drive away), and then found out he'd been accepted to go down to Sydney on the Saturday night to play as well.  That's 2 hrs drive away.  And also meant an extra training on Wednesday night.

So it turned out, he played Auskick 3 times last week! 

Unfortunately (coughing a bit here!), I had to stay home on the Wednesday night and get dinner ready, so I missed standing in the cold watching him train (awwww lol).

We drove down (in the rain) on Friday night for the launch - luckily the rain held off while they played, and then started again once we were leaving.  They spent some time practising ball skills under the guidance of the Auskick coaches from Sydney, and then played a quick game.  Followed by a sausage sandwich and poppa (drink) :)

On Saturday we drove down to Sydney, picking up one of Billy's team-mates and his mum along the way.  Pete had been asked to be the team co-ordinator for the night, so he had to find all the kids from our team amongst all of the other Auskick kids waiting around (amongst the almost 31,000 people that were there to watch!).  They got to run onto the SCG at half time in the Sydney Swans vs Brisbane Lions match, and play their game.  Pete got to run on too and be one of the goal umpires, but I've been threatened that any photos with him in it are not for publication :)

Billy's #9 in the red & white jersey below.

They played at the far end of the field from our seats, so I didn't see a lot of the game, but I did get some photos of the action.

It was about 10pm by the time the game finished and we left Sydney.  We dropped the other family off about midnight and then got to my Mum & Dad's house about 12:30.  Billy was so proud that he'd stayed awake the entire time!  *sigh*  You can imagine how much fun he was the next day lol.  We stayed in Mum & Dad's van so we didn't have to wake them up and then spent the day with them on the Sunday while Pete went to a home brew day.

In other highlights of the week (according to the camera's memory card, anyway) - this was what I was greeted with when I picked him up from cubs on Thursday night.

 Luckily, I knew they'd been doing 1st aid training for the night and were going to make fake wounds - otherwise it would've fooled me like it did some of the mums I could hear freaking out :)

There's life in this old body yet!

A few weeks ago I made a vow to stop experiencing life from the sidelines.  To stop being the mum sitting watching my son do fun things, and to join in where possible. 

I put it to the test today - Billy went indoor rock-climbing as an organised homeschool activity, and I joined in!  And I'm quite chuffed to say I made it to the top of the wall 3 times on the easiest paths, and made it about 3/4 of the way on a harder overhang section.  It was tough but fun!! 

I'll probably feel it tomorrow though - the muscles are starting to tighten up :)

Friends

Bear with a musing post please :)

Billy remarked to me the other day "I keep losing friends".  I asked him what he meant and he said "like I used to be friends with x but I'm not anymore, and now I don't see y and z either".  He was referring partly to how he's recently changed from Joeys to Cubs and left some of the younger kids behind, and how some kids that played Auskick last year aren't playing this year, but also to how as his interests have changed, he no longer finds things in common with some kids that he used to.

It started me musing on my friendships.  I read a quote years ago that has stuck with me - "People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime".  I just googled it and found out is part of a poem - you can read the entire thing here.

Are you a person who has lots of friends, or just a select few?  Pete is likely to class anyone as a friend that he's known for a small period of time - especially if they have a beer together!  I'm more particular - I only have a few people that I class as close friends; in fact I can count them on one hand.  Two of them I've never met in real life but I'm just as close to them as my real life friends.  Possibly even closer, because I tend to share more in email than face to face.  My close friends are ones that I feel like I can share anything with - it might be months before we catch up but when we do its just like we were never apart.  They are from all aspects of my life but with all of them there was a connection as soon as we started talking.  These are my lifetime friends.

I also have about half-a-dozen people that I would class as friends, but not close friends - they're mainly other homeschooling mums because that's my social circle these days :) They're ones that I seek out when we're in the same group because I enjoy their company, we might send the odd email or have the occasional get-together outside of those activities, but there's not the same level of intimacy as with my close friends.  If they moved on or we moved on, the friendship would more than likely peter out.  These are my season friends, and in some cases, my reason friends. 

Outside of that I have a lot of people I class as acquaintances.  People I know casually, chat with when we see each other, or even people I just know by sight to smile and say hi to. 

What about you?  A few or lots?

How Low Can You Go Challenge: Day 21-25

Yay, we've finally been paid!  Very exciting!!  Had a bad few days on the takeaway though - I should buy a packet of frozen pies or something to keep in the freezer for the times when its too tempting to get junk fod.

Wednesday - stayed home, no spending!

Thursday - we had a scheduled trip to the chiropractor, then used some vouchers to have lunch at Hungry Jacks ($10).  Called into the fish markets while we were down there ($38), and then Aldi on the way home for butter, milk, bread & rolls ($10)

Friday - we had our homeschool excursion to the macadamia farm - the tour was free, but we spent $10 on goodies at the shop (it was only fair lol!)

Saturday - stayed home, veged out all day - but still managed to spend!  Ordered takeaway pizza for tea because I had the lazies. ($23)

Sunday - Billy & I were out in the rain for the ANZAC Day march, and bought takeaway for lunch to take home to warm us up :(  ($25)

Monday - stayed home so no spending

Running total - Food - $321.29, extras - $212.95.


The cupboard is looking very bare atm and we have a very busy week coming up.  I'm planning on doing a full shop tomorrow using next month's grocery money or we'll just end up getting more takeaway. 

Our week of learning - 25th April - ANZAC Day

We had a really busy week this week with lots of fun activities.

English:

Current Readaloud: Goosebumps: Say Cheese and Die!

Audio books: Give Peas a Chance by Morris Gleitzman

Independent Reading: -

Other: -

Maths: Number Rings game plus heaps of time spent on Timez Attack.

Science & Technology: He used Publisher to create a brochure for Scout Job Week to hand out to the neighbours.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): We watched James May's 20th Century about instruments of war (tanks, aircraft, camouflage techniques etc).

He marched in the Anzac Day march with the Cubs.

On Friday, we went on a homeschool excursion to a local macadamia nut farm. They gave the kids buckets and let them loose under the trees to harvest any that were left on the ground. They made it a contest and awarded a prize to the group that collected the most - so you can imagine how enthusiastic they were!

After about 30 mins of collecting, they showed the kids the factory and explained the sorting process. Then we made a beeline for the cafe and enjoyed macadamia ice-cream! It was a really lovely day.


Creative & Practical Arts: Drama started back this week.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): He started Archery this week and really enjoyed it. He's come along in leaps & bounds in just one week. Also Martial Arts was on.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): We made Anzac biscuits together.

School shows: -

Other fun stuff: They did some basic first aid at Cubs.

How Low Can You Go Challenge: Day 15-20

A very brief summary as I've forgotten most of the details..

Friday - stayed home, no spend

Saturday - Steamfest $20 in entry fees & lunch (could have avoided buying lunch - but it smelt so good lol)

Sunday - We arrived home from Billy's cousin's b'day party about dinner time, and I did not feel like cooking. Could have been avoided but it was me or the money :) $20

Monday - $10 martial arts

Tuesday - $35.50 fruit, vege & eggs, $6 archery

Running total - Food - $215.29, extras (budgeted) - $202.95.

Still no payment from our client so have had to dip into savings... :(

Always look on the bright side of life...

Come on, admit it - who else is now whistling the next bit??! :) (Or am I the only Monty Python fan??!)..

My last post about how busy I was sounded way too negative.. Rephrasing it to say this week is chock full of a variety of exciting activities :)

Our week of learning - 18th April

A busy week despite it being "school holidays" and not having normal activities on. I'm a bit light on photos though due to my poor camera being rather difficult to use atm!

English:

Current Readaloud: George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt by Lucy & Stephen Hawking.

Audio books: Jack Russell: Pet Detective by Darrel & Sally Odgers; Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

Independent Reading: Boyz Rule: Race Car Dreamers; Boyz Rule: On the Farm

Other: Playing scrabble and learning about spoonerisms.. (eg a lazy dog = a dazy log)

Maths: Whiteboard puzzles, watching an episode of cyberchase and playing the Cyberchase Quest on the computer.

Science & Technology: He went to a Science day with the CSIRO for kids aged 7-12. They made an environmental flycatcher, carried out food testing experiments with iodine etc, and made (and ate!) dry ice slushees!

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): We watched James May's 20th Century about body parts, artificial limbs etc.

We attended Steamfest - a celebration of steam engines. We looked at steam trains, steam farm machinery, steam engines of various types. He had a ride on a miniature steam train!



Creative & Practical Arts: We went to see a play at the Civic Playhouse called Grubble - about a mischievous goblin in an Enchanted Forest. It was very cute and well done.

While in Newcastle we also checked out 2 of the art galleries - one of which is currently exhibiting drawings by my very talented cousin!

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): He (and the rest of his class) were awarded with a white tip for their belt at martial arts - a step towards his next level belt. He was very excited!

Also Auskick (Jnr AFL) training started back with lots of basic skills practice.



Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): We weren't really home enough to do much!

School shows: -

Other fun stuff: His triplet cousins had their 4th b'day party!

If you're wondering why things have been quiet around here...

Last week was insanely busy.. Next week doesn't look much better... This week looks like the week from hell...

*deep breath*

Crime Investigations Unit

For those who expressed an interest in the Crime Investigations Unit we did...

I've managed to scan the printed sheets I had back into a PDF so if anyone wants a copy of it, email me through my profile and I'll send it to you. The PDF is about 25Mb.

We used the worksheets that were in the middle of the document, but there are copies at the back, so that's why there are page nos missing.

How Low Can You Go Challenge: Day 11-14

It's been an expensive few days! but generally all budgeted for.

Monday - $35.55 Cubs uniform, $35.50 fruit, vege & eggs and $10 martial arts

Tuesday - the Home ice-cream van did its rounds, so we couldn't resist the lure of the bell :) $6.90

Wednesday was an expensive day! We caught the train to Newcastle ($10.40), went to a kid's play, bought a programme & magic wand ($8), ate lunch out ($9) and then caught the train back.

The play was excellent though and it was all budgeted for.

On the way home, we called into KMart and bought Billy a new pair of footy boots and some socks ($33). Then into Foodworks for butter, ham & soft drink ($31.39) - not all budgeted for, but we resisted pretty well!

Thursday wasn't much better! Billy had a science workshop in Newcastle ($70), and while he was there, I had to go shopping for b'day presents. They come out of the gift budget account so I won't count them - they came in on budget though. I bought lunch out of my spending money - I should've been good and taken lunch with me, but I didn't.... The spending challenge did stop me buying a few things that I looked at and would've bought, but didn't need.

Running total - Food - $139.79, extras (budgeted) - $186.95.

I can't really remember what we've been eating each night, but we did make a very nice upside apple cake (adapted from an upside pineapple cake recipe Billy found on taste.com.au). Oh and I pulled some sweet & sour sauce out of the freezer that I made a while ago and made sweet & sour pork one night.

Head on over and give my friends who are also attempting the challenge some encouragement too - Korina and Renelle.

Our week of learning - 11th April - Crime Investigation

Most of this week has been focused around the crime investigation unit I blogged about earlier.

English:

Current Readaloud: George's Cosmic Treasure Hunt by Lucy & Stephen Hawking.

Audio books: "Specky Magee and the battle of the young guns" by Felice Arena and Garry Lyon.

Independent Reading: Jack Stalwart: Australia by Elizabeth Singer Hunt.

Other:

Maths: Measuring tracks in the Crime Investigation Unit, magic squares and word puzzles on the white board.

Science & Technology: Crime Investigation Unit - tire tracks, fabric analysis, fingerprints, chromatography, powder & drink analysis.

He also watched an episode of The Happy Scientist about measuring volume of air.

HSIE (Human Society and it's environment): We watched James May's 20th Century about the history of space flight.

Creative & Practical Arts: He made up a story based around the 'crime investigation' and videoed it.

He's been making up songs and playing them on the keyboard.

PDHPE (Personal Development, Health & Physical Education): He went to Martial arts twice this week. Jumping on the trampoline at friend's house.

Life skills (cooking, gardening, housekeeping): Lots of cooking & food prep this week - making fresh pasta, gingerbread men, breadcrumbs.

School shows:

Other fun stuff: We went to visit friends and he played Twister for the first time (as well as lots of other things).

How Low Can You Go Challenge: Day 8, 9 and 10

Spending over the last couple of days:

$4 bread
$10 martial arts
$5 soft drink for Pete

Running total - Food - $57, extras (budgeted) - $20.

For Friday's dinner I made the most delicious bolognaise sauce and Billy & I made fresh pasta to go along with it. Yummy! With the sauce, I used beef stock instead of the red wine, and also added a rasher of bacon and a couple of sliced mushrooms. It was really rich and tomatoey. Even better, the recipe made enough for half of it to go in the freezer for another night.

Saturday night Pete had a mate over to watch the football, so for dinner we made a couple of homemade pizzas (ham & pineapple, and a meatlovers style with ham, bacon, frankfurt, mushroom & tomato, plus a small garlic pizza). For dessert we made golden syrup dumplings and homemade ice-cream. The ice-cream didn't set properly, but it was nice with the dumplings anyway. There were not a lot of leftovers from the meal!!

Tonight was pork chops, mashed potatoes, squash, zucchini and carrots.

Lunches have been toasted sandwiches or leftovers.

Oh and someone asked about Mountain Bread - it's a flatbread that can be used for wraps etc. Quite versatile!