Happenings in Chez Lizzie today? Well, it’s Saturday, which would ordinarily mean kicking back and pottering about the house doing the laundry and whatnot but this morning we have a cinema birthday party for one of Boofah’s classmates to attend. I usually don’t go to those but it so happened that I was going to take the other two Piglets to the same cinema session anyway and mentioning this to the birthday child’s mother somehow managed to score me tickets/birthday invites for them as well. I promise I didn’t plan that! I’ll slip the mum some cash to cover the extra.
So to recap: Birthday party at cinema during a specially-set-aside session specifically for birthday parties (meaning, we will NOT be the only group of screaming children there…sigh), watching a movie I’m not sure they will completely get (Get Smart…you have to book weeks in advance for these parties and it was originally going to be Narnia until they bumped the raiting of that to M down here….Get Smart was the only thing they could put up at short notice apparently). They stop the movie halfway through for a burger and a drink and then afterward, there’s cake in the foyer. For anywhere up to five different birthday parties.
My day doesn’t stop there. Talented Hubby is dropping us all off this morning but then has to go to work so I thought I’d take the opportunity after the party to drag the kids shoe shopping. I know. Hopped up on sugar. It’s going to be SUPER FUN. Then I wrangle them onto the bus and home. Where they’ll proceed to fight to the death over who has the next turn on the computer. And all this before I’ve even fit in a morsel of housework. Joy.
I’m thinking tonight is going to be Chick Flick Central. I bought a copy of Cold Mountain on sale a couple of weeks back and that seems just about perfect to me. With a hot cup of tea or hot chocolate and something covered in chocolate. Who’s with me? LOL.
Oh, and just to top my day off, I have a cold. 5-6 weeks of a cough-with-no-other-symptoms and not one week after finally kicking that to the curb here’s something else - ‘cept this time, there’s PHLEGM people. I can follow the illness’ progression through the Stages of Mucous. I can’t tell you how pleased I am with that. It’s also forcing me to reschedule my next blood donation which was meant to be on Thursday - you’re not meant to have a cold or anything else within a week either side of giving blood. Drats.
And with that, I’m off to round up the children. Sure you don’t want to come help?
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
It's A Laundry Room Miracle!
(photo of bucket over drainpipe)
Here’s what I’ve had to step over every day (who am I kidding - like three times a week, tops) since we moved in three years ago. Tonight, I decided to run a little experiment. Duly documented and photographed, of course. I’ll spare you the worst parts, LOL. I used the Aware Eco Choice washing powder as described in the previous post, in the amount suggested (three tablespoons).
This is the drain. We’ve tried to pry this little baby open innumerable times. I took this picture as a ‘control’, fully expecting to be knee deep in water by the second rinse.
(photo of drain in floor)
I watched it like a hawk. Not a single trace of a bubble appeared…for the entire cycle! I took some pictures of the inside of the washing machine but once you’ve seen one of those, you’ve seen them all really, LOL. There were hardly any noticeable suds in the water and I was beginning to wonder if it was doing anything to the clothes at all. I wasn’t so concerned after I saw the drain water:
(dark water)
YUK. I timed the different parts of the wash cycle so that I would know when to collect the final rinse water if I ever decided to use it for grey watering. The sink is too small to collect it all and we’re not ready to put in any kind of permanent grey water system so it would be hand-collection for starters. See the little hole in the top right hand corner? That black hose hanging down usually fits in there and drains directly into the pipes under the house, leaving the sink (usually) empty. I’d set the timer (now that I know at what point in the cycle the water begins to drain) and drain it into some sort of really big container outside the door you see in the top picture, then fill the watering cans from that.
At first, I thought the black icky water can’t have been good for even the garden…until I realised that was just the first rinse. This is much better:
(light water)
Question - this is the last rinse cycle, so is this okay for general garden use (it did have a small amount of suds, as you can see) and more specifically, for vegetables? I’m yet to research this fully but I was hoping I could do a little container gardening when spring hits down here in a few months but I don’t know how grey water affects things you’d later eat. Being an eco powder the ingredients are biodegradeable, but I don’t know.
Bottom line, I’m very happy the suds issue seems to have disappeared with this particular powder. Clearly the dirt was lifting even without the suds, although one item I threw in with this load as a ‘tester’ didn’t fare so well. It was slightly-more-than-average dirty including a tough stain so perhaps I was a little excited - next time I’d pre-soak. I’ll try another load using ‘regular-dirty’ clothes (spilt food, etc). On the fragrance side of things, I was quite used to the strong ’softener’ smell with the BioZet so it was quite refreshing not having that smell about. Tomorrow I’ll run a similar load with a similar amount of BioZet to confirm the differences but I liked what I saw tonight :)
And thus ends another scintillating Monday in Lizzie’s Home, LOL.
Later that evening…
I ran a load using our regular BioZet washing powder but I used exactly the recommended amount (ie, the same as the Aware Eco). There was the merest slip of a bubble just visible under the drain guard but none made it to the surface. Hmmm, confusing. I can’t help but think this was partly due to the very cold breeze coming in through the laundry room door…I could see some of the bubbles popping as if someone had blown on them. And yes, I’m aware that I’m probably developing a reputation as the Crazy Bubble Lady, LOL. Signing out.
Here’s what I’ve had to step over every day (who am I kidding - like three times a week, tops) since we moved in three years ago. Tonight, I decided to run a little experiment. Duly documented and photographed, of course. I’ll spare you the worst parts, LOL. I used the Aware Eco Choice washing powder as described in the previous post, in the amount suggested (three tablespoons).
This is the drain. We’ve tried to pry this little baby open innumerable times. I took this picture as a ‘control’, fully expecting to be knee deep in water by the second rinse.
(photo of drain in floor)
I watched it like a hawk. Not a single trace of a bubble appeared…for the entire cycle! I took some pictures of the inside of the washing machine but once you’ve seen one of those, you’ve seen them all really, LOL. There were hardly any noticeable suds in the water and I was beginning to wonder if it was doing anything to the clothes at all. I wasn’t so concerned after I saw the drain water:
(dark water)
YUK. I timed the different parts of the wash cycle so that I would know when to collect the final rinse water if I ever decided to use it for grey watering. The sink is too small to collect it all and we’re not ready to put in any kind of permanent grey water system so it would be hand-collection for starters. See the little hole in the top right hand corner? That black hose hanging down usually fits in there and drains directly into the pipes under the house, leaving the sink (usually) empty. I’d set the timer (now that I know at what point in the cycle the water begins to drain) and drain it into some sort of really big container outside the door you see in the top picture, then fill the watering cans from that.
At first, I thought the black icky water can’t have been good for even the garden…until I realised that was just the first rinse. This is much better:
(light water)
Question - this is the last rinse cycle, so is this okay for general garden use (it did have a small amount of suds, as you can see) and more specifically, for vegetables? I’m yet to research this fully but I was hoping I could do a little container gardening when spring hits down here in a few months but I don’t know how grey water affects things you’d later eat. Being an eco powder the ingredients are biodegradeable, but I don’t know.
Bottom line, I’m very happy the suds issue seems to have disappeared with this particular powder. Clearly the dirt was lifting even without the suds, although one item I threw in with this load as a ‘tester’ didn’t fare so well. It was slightly-more-than-average dirty including a tough stain so perhaps I was a little excited - next time I’d pre-soak. I’ll try another load using ‘regular-dirty’ clothes (spilt food, etc). On the fragrance side of things, I was quite used to the strong ’softener’ smell with the BioZet so it was quite refreshing not having that smell about. Tomorrow I’ll run a similar load with a similar amount of BioZet to confirm the differences but I liked what I saw tonight :)
And thus ends another scintillating Monday in Lizzie’s Home, LOL.
Later that evening…
I ran a load using our regular BioZet washing powder but I used exactly the recommended amount (ie, the same as the Aware Eco). There was the merest slip of a bubble just visible under the drain guard but none made it to the surface. Hmmm, confusing. I can’t help but think this was partly due to the very cold breeze coming in through the laundry room door…I could see some of the bubbles popping as if someone had blown on them. And yes, I’m aware that I’m probably developing a reputation as the Crazy Bubble Lady, LOL. Signing out.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Decluttering Decisions
I bought a book on decluttering this week. I’ll let that sink in for a moment.
(photo of decluttering book)
This is the one I bought. Yes, it’s a ‘Complete Idiot’s Guide’ because, clearly, this is the level that best sinks in for me :P It’s actually an interesting read. A bit thin on practical applications (the one review of it on Amazon basically canned it for that reason), but a good catalyst for further thought, which I have been doing much of today. One of the things it discusses setting up to clarify what needs to be done in each room is a Declutter Notebook. Don’t worry, this isn’t the same thing as the Home Management Binder, LOL. I just grabbed whatever leftover exercise book I clamped eyes on first, or you could make notes on scrap paper then transfer it to a Word document later. On one page I wrote the name of the room or area. On the facing page I wrote ‘Shopping List’. I’ve started making notes on what organizing and decluttering tasks need doing in each area and if I work out I need a particular product to get the job done, then I include that on the shopping list. It’s not a ‘must get everything on this list’ kind of deal, it’s more of a jumping off point. The first step (after I begin tackling the problems room by room) is to see if something else in the house will do the job. Then shopping around for the best deal on what’s left, if I simply must have it. Like extra pegs for the clothesline so I can line-dry more than two loads of washing at a time, or a new clothes rack so I can ‘line-dry’ inside during the coming wet, wintery months. Just little things.
As an example - my kitchen isn’t very big and bench space is limited. I have canisters, a mug tree, a knife block, usually the toaster, sometimes the food processor, the current loaf of bread and a few other things in permanent residence in a kind of haphazard collection up one end of my counter. Even if I straighten these things, they’re still visible, and it distracts me from the cleanliness elsewhere in the kitchen (did that make sense? Sometimes ‘barer’ is better). So I’m looking to invest in a counter-top bread bin to hide the brightly-coloured plastic bread bags, the rarely-used processor gets put in the cupboard, we’re thinking of installing a magnetic knife-strip up next to the stove on the other side of the kitchen so that we can ditch the wooden block thingamy, and the ugly old pottery utensils holder will be Goodwilled and its former residents included in the ‘kitchen tools drawer’ along with things like the pizza cutter and can opener. If I can match the colour of the bread bin to either the blondish wooden bench edging or any of the pastel colours up there (my coffee mugs on that tree thing are of the same style but each is a different pretty colour, and my canisters are similar), everything will look far more ‘collected’ and neat. In the meantime, there’s the decluttering, saving of pennies and waiting until the next incredible sale to buy whatever makes the grade. Being the heart of the home, the kitchen gets to experience the royal treatment first.
It’s it lucky?
I bought a couple of pretty lined baskets the other day from a discount store and I’ll be going back again to pick up a few more as I discovered (when I got home) that they are the perfect size for my linen closet, two to a shelf. I thought I was being rather clever by labelling each shelf like this…
(photo of label on linen cupboard shelf)
…and it worked really well for a while until the stacks got so high they toppled over onto each other and nobody could figure out which sheets were for the single beds without first unfolding twelve queen sheets (sigh). The baskets are much cuter and keep everything separated nicely. I even managed to find some that were reasonably priced ($10 ea, but they’re pretty big) and didn’t have that really strong ‘new cane basket’ smell. I’m not the only one who gets put off by my sheets smelling like dead trees, right?
I have loads and loads of other decluttering/organizing ideas which I hope won’t bore you to tears as I share them over the next few weeks, LOL. Stay tuned.
(photo of decluttering book)
This is the one I bought. Yes, it’s a ‘Complete Idiot’s Guide’ because, clearly, this is the level that best sinks in for me :P It’s actually an interesting read. A bit thin on practical applications (the one review of it on Amazon basically canned it for that reason), but a good catalyst for further thought, which I have been doing much of today. One of the things it discusses setting up to clarify what needs to be done in each room is a Declutter Notebook. Don’t worry, this isn’t the same thing as the Home Management Binder, LOL. I just grabbed whatever leftover exercise book I clamped eyes on first, or you could make notes on scrap paper then transfer it to a Word document later. On one page I wrote the name of the room or area. On the facing page I wrote ‘Shopping List’. I’ve started making notes on what organizing and decluttering tasks need doing in each area and if I work out I need a particular product to get the job done, then I include that on the shopping list. It’s not a ‘must get everything on this list’ kind of deal, it’s more of a jumping off point. The first step (after I begin tackling the problems room by room) is to see if something else in the house will do the job. Then shopping around for the best deal on what’s left, if I simply must have it. Like extra pegs for the clothesline so I can line-dry more than two loads of washing at a time, or a new clothes rack so I can ‘line-dry’ inside during the coming wet, wintery months. Just little things.
As an example - my kitchen isn’t very big and bench space is limited. I have canisters, a mug tree, a knife block, usually the toaster, sometimes the food processor, the current loaf of bread and a few other things in permanent residence in a kind of haphazard collection up one end of my counter. Even if I straighten these things, they’re still visible, and it distracts me from the cleanliness elsewhere in the kitchen (did that make sense? Sometimes ‘barer’ is better). So I’m looking to invest in a counter-top bread bin to hide the brightly-coloured plastic bread bags, the rarely-used processor gets put in the cupboard, we’re thinking of installing a magnetic knife-strip up next to the stove on the other side of the kitchen so that we can ditch the wooden block thingamy, and the ugly old pottery utensils holder will be Goodwilled and its former residents included in the ‘kitchen tools drawer’ along with things like the pizza cutter and can opener. If I can match the colour of the bread bin to either the blondish wooden bench edging or any of the pastel colours up there (my coffee mugs on that tree thing are of the same style but each is a different pretty colour, and my canisters are similar), everything will look far more ‘collected’ and neat. In the meantime, there’s the decluttering, saving of pennies and waiting until the next incredible sale to buy whatever makes the grade. Being the heart of the home, the kitchen gets to experience the royal treatment first.
It’s it lucky?
I bought a couple of pretty lined baskets the other day from a discount store and I’ll be going back again to pick up a few more as I discovered (when I got home) that they are the perfect size for my linen closet, two to a shelf. I thought I was being rather clever by labelling each shelf like this…
(photo of label on linen cupboard shelf)
…and it worked really well for a while until the stacks got so high they toppled over onto each other and nobody could figure out which sheets were for the single beds without first unfolding twelve queen sheets (sigh). The baskets are much cuter and keep everything separated nicely. I even managed to find some that were reasonably priced ($10 ea, but they’re pretty big) and didn’t have that really strong ‘new cane basket’ smell. I’m not the only one who gets put off by my sheets smelling like dead trees, right?
I have loads and loads of other decluttering/organizing ideas which I hope won’t bore you to tears as I share them over the next few weeks, LOL. Stay tuned.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Money Monster - Part 1
The ickies are gone! The ickies are gone! Let’s just all maintain a minute’s silence for the dearly departed germs.
Amen.
I don’t think I could adequately express just how joyous it feels to be rid of the bug that ambled it’s way into our lives last week. Suffice it to say, it feels pretty darn good. Miss Moo returned to school Tuesday, nary a memory of that 3-4 day period except for a new-found hatred for mint chocolate chip icecream. I guess I’ll pay that.
Today, however, I want to get serious.
Money. We spend our whole lives in pursuit of it. Even those who recognize it’s evil world dominance still kind of need to earn some of it to survive. Self-sustainability is a wonderful thing but despite the obvious benefits only a select few of us have the time or the werewithall to go the whole-hog and grow some steaks in our suburban backyards, so in a roundabout way, we’re all ruled by the Money Monster ;P
Talented Hubby and I were having a conversation in the car this afternoon about money. We seem to be treading water at the moment - not falling behind, but not really getting ahead either. This bothers TH some. Then you take me. I understand the practical implications of money, but I don’t tend to dwell on how much we have vs how much we need vs how much we want. We pay our bills, we have a little behind us, and that’s pretty much the extent of it. But TH’s comments got me thinking. If we took a nosedive fast, where would we stand financially?
Thankfully, job loss isn’t much of an issue. Talented Hubby’s work is solid, includes room for promotion and is in an industry which will always be there. We earn a decent salary, enough so that until now, I have not needed to work. He has a generous life insurance/permanent disability package and we have enough saved that a minor to moderate injury requiring some time off work wouldn’t send us to the cleaners.
But. BUT…
Daily living prices in Australia - and I suspect the world over - are skyrocketing. Fuel - my goodness. It makes me thankful I don’t drive and we don’t have to maintain (or fill!) a second car. Interest rates have gone up more than 2% in three years, just about obliterating our ‘buffer’ between minimum payment required and what we are actually paying (we thought we were so smart then…and we were…but we were also cocky and never dreamed rates would be nearing 10% in such a short timeframe). Eggs used to be the cheap option and now a dozen (to feed five of us scrambled eggs or omelettes, we come close to using the full carton) is comparable to a half-kilo (about a meal-for-five’s worth for us) of ‘premium’/'4 star’ beef mince! It continually shocks me every time I need to pick up produce at the supermarket rather than the stand-alone greengrocer. Dairy? We certainly won’t be having fondue anytime soon! And it goes on and on…
I did not grow up with much financial security in the home. Many, many times my folks had no money to see out the week and I remember one time my sister and I having to go and stay with an older brother for a couple of days because of the scarcity of edibles at home. That same trip, my brother had to buy me a pair of shoes because Mum and Dad weren’t in a position that week to buy them. Dad was (still is) a brilliant shot and would often shoot rabbits on our property which Mum then cooked up and served ‘Kentucky Fried Rabbit’ style (it is suprisingly delicious and rabbit is actually extremely lean and therefore good for you). For years, each time my older brother’s girlfriend came over for dinner, we would have spaghetti. Every time without fail. It stretched further and Mum could hide bulky vegetables in the sauce. We survived. And we’re better people for it, I think, but I also remember several occasions where money would come into the home, perhaps a little extra than we were expecting, and I would feel guilty for ordering an extra piece of fish with our (rare) takeout dinner. Or how a $2 coin from my parents (even rarer) seemed like I was taking money I didn’t deserve, that the money could be spent on more pressing matters. My parents only owned one house while I was still at home and that wasn’t for very long - it was lost to the market crash in ‘88 (we all laughed at their stories of 17% interest - we’re not laughing so much these days) That’s the undercurrent I grew up with.
When I got older, there were things I was determined to do differently. For starters, owning a home was really important to me. It meant roots, a solid grounding. It meant work was steady and we would not be living week to week (or even day to day) like periods I remembered from my childhood. I did not want to have to move my children about the country as I was moved. Second, I found the most level-headed-about-finances guy I could and then I married him, LOL. Financial services run in his family and he was raised markedly different to me. His parents saved when mine spent. They were not frivolous (neither were my parents, but they weren’t exactly Dave Ramseys either). Being careful with money is my husband’s blood, and I am surpremely grateful for that. He has been my voice of reason - and, yes, at times my tedious one! - over the last decade. He is a selfless provider and I’m very thankful for the ability to have stayed at home all these years. There is still a little wriggle-room in our budget and a small amount of money for incidental spending. We don’t have to freak out each day at the sound of the mailman’s motorbike, thinking there’s another bill on the way. Don’t get me wrong. It bites. We hate paying bills! But at the moment, the money is there.
And yet…I’m beginning to worry in a way that I have not needed to worry before. I’m still inclined to be more ‘glass half full’ to TH’s ‘glass half empty’ but I’m starting to think very seriously about our financial future and what this money business will mean one, two, five years from now. Will I need to go to work? I always counted myself so darn lucky that we were surviving quite well on one income. But with each pay increase, expenses have risen. It is getting increasingly harder.
Isn’t it interesting how ‘frugality’ is moving from the realm of the ‘working poor’ and is now popping up as a ‘lifestyle choice’ cleverly wrapped up with an environmental tag? It’s no longer a three minute shower to save money and risk being considered a little kooky. No, now it’s shorter showers to save the planet. A worthwhile cause, of course, LOL - but with a trendier side effect, frugality has become more socially acceptable. Hmmm. What do you all think?
Heck, I’m not sitting here scratching myself a bald spot or anything, but our financial stuff remains concerning. TH is more apt to fret over such matters so to see his brow furrow a little more often these days is a bit disconcerting. But I know I’m in good hands and I have faith that we’ll be just fine, with a little hard work and a deeper dive into frugality.
Amen.
I don’t think I could adequately express just how joyous it feels to be rid of the bug that ambled it’s way into our lives last week. Suffice it to say, it feels pretty darn good. Miss Moo returned to school Tuesday, nary a memory of that 3-4 day period except for a new-found hatred for mint chocolate chip icecream. I guess I’ll pay that.
Today, however, I want to get serious.
Money. We spend our whole lives in pursuit of it. Even those who recognize it’s evil world dominance still kind of need to earn some of it to survive. Self-sustainability is a wonderful thing but despite the obvious benefits only a select few of us have the time or the werewithall to go the whole-hog and grow some steaks in our suburban backyards, so in a roundabout way, we’re all ruled by the Money Monster ;P
Talented Hubby and I were having a conversation in the car this afternoon about money. We seem to be treading water at the moment - not falling behind, but not really getting ahead either. This bothers TH some. Then you take me. I understand the practical implications of money, but I don’t tend to dwell on how much we have vs how much we need vs how much we want. We pay our bills, we have a little behind us, and that’s pretty much the extent of it. But TH’s comments got me thinking. If we took a nosedive fast, where would we stand financially?
Thankfully, job loss isn’t much of an issue. Talented Hubby’s work is solid, includes room for promotion and is in an industry which will always be there. We earn a decent salary, enough so that until now, I have not needed to work. He has a generous life insurance/permanent disability package and we have enough saved that a minor to moderate injury requiring some time off work wouldn’t send us to the cleaners.
But. BUT…
Daily living prices in Australia - and I suspect the world over - are skyrocketing. Fuel - my goodness. It makes me thankful I don’t drive and we don’t have to maintain (or fill!) a second car. Interest rates have gone up more than 2% in three years, just about obliterating our ‘buffer’ between minimum payment required and what we are actually paying (we thought we were so smart then…and we were…but we were also cocky and never dreamed rates would be nearing 10% in such a short timeframe). Eggs used to be the cheap option and now a dozen (to feed five of us scrambled eggs or omelettes, we come close to using the full carton) is comparable to a half-kilo (about a meal-for-five’s worth for us) of ‘premium’/'4 star’ beef mince! It continually shocks me every time I need to pick up produce at the supermarket rather than the stand-alone greengrocer. Dairy? We certainly won’t be having fondue anytime soon! And it goes on and on…
I did not grow up with much financial security in the home. Many, many times my folks had no money to see out the week and I remember one time my sister and I having to go and stay with an older brother for a couple of days because of the scarcity of edibles at home. That same trip, my brother had to buy me a pair of shoes because Mum and Dad weren’t in a position that week to buy them. Dad was (still is) a brilliant shot and would often shoot rabbits on our property which Mum then cooked up and served ‘Kentucky Fried Rabbit’ style (it is suprisingly delicious and rabbit is actually extremely lean and therefore good for you). For years, each time my older brother’s girlfriend came over for dinner, we would have spaghetti. Every time without fail. It stretched further and Mum could hide bulky vegetables in the sauce. We survived. And we’re better people for it, I think, but I also remember several occasions where money would come into the home, perhaps a little extra than we were expecting, and I would feel guilty for ordering an extra piece of fish with our (rare) takeout dinner. Or how a $2 coin from my parents (even rarer) seemed like I was taking money I didn’t deserve, that the money could be spent on more pressing matters. My parents only owned one house while I was still at home and that wasn’t for very long - it was lost to the market crash in ‘88 (we all laughed at their stories of 17% interest - we’re not laughing so much these days) That’s the undercurrent I grew up with.
When I got older, there were things I was determined to do differently. For starters, owning a home was really important to me. It meant roots, a solid grounding. It meant work was steady and we would not be living week to week (or even day to day) like periods I remembered from my childhood. I did not want to have to move my children about the country as I was moved. Second, I found the most level-headed-about-finances guy I could and then I married him, LOL. Financial services run in his family and he was raised markedly different to me. His parents saved when mine spent. They were not frivolous (neither were my parents, but they weren’t exactly Dave Ramseys either). Being careful with money is my husband’s blood, and I am surpremely grateful for that. He has been my voice of reason - and, yes, at times my tedious one! - over the last decade. He is a selfless provider and I’m very thankful for the ability to have stayed at home all these years. There is still a little wriggle-room in our budget and a small amount of money for incidental spending. We don’t have to freak out each day at the sound of the mailman’s motorbike, thinking there’s another bill on the way. Don’t get me wrong. It bites. We hate paying bills! But at the moment, the money is there.
And yet…I’m beginning to worry in a way that I have not needed to worry before. I’m still inclined to be more ‘glass half full’ to TH’s ‘glass half empty’ but I’m starting to think very seriously about our financial future and what this money business will mean one, two, five years from now. Will I need to go to work? I always counted myself so darn lucky that we were surviving quite well on one income. But with each pay increase, expenses have risen. It is getting increasingly harder.
Isn’t it interesting how ‘frugality’ is moving from the realm of the ‘working poor’ and is now popping up as a ‘lifestyle choice’ cleverly wrapped up with an environmental tag? It’s no longer a three minute shower to save money and risk being considered a little kooky. No, now it’s shorter showers to save the planet. A worthwhile cause, of course, LOL - but with a trendier side effect, frugality has become more socially acceptable. Hmmm. What do you all think?
Heck, I’m not sitting here scratching myself a bald spot or anything, but our financial stuff remains concerning. TH is more apt to fret over such matters so to see his brow furrow a little more often these days is a bit disconcerting. But I know I’m in good hands and I have faith that we’ll be just fine, with a little hard work and a deeper dive into frugality.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
To Warm The Cockles Of Your Heart
Okay, so I’m not sure what ‘cockles’ are exactly, but whatever they are, mine are definitely warm after reading this, LOL:
My Very Own Loaves And Fishes Miracle (Call Me Blessed)
Seriously. It will totally change your perceptions. Love this story.
My Very Own Loaves And Fishes Miracle (Call Me Blessed)
Seriously. It will totally change your perceptions. Love this story.
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Good Grief!
Further to yesterday’s post:
Miss Moo has thrown up no less than eleventy-four times but is now so adept at it she barely whimpers. Who would have thought that my stoic nature in the face of the morning sickness she gave me would be genetic?
How To Scam A Whole Week Off School, by Miss Moo
Catch a ’slightly more interesting’ strain of gastro.
Throw up intermittently for 38 hours (and counting).
Refuse to eat, or if you do nibble something, immediately throw it back up again.
Make sure you throw up the fluids too. Freak your parents out.
Move from ‘chunks’ (sorry!) to ‘green bile’. Cause your poor mother to retch every time she rinses the Spew Bucket.
Score a second day off from school after ‘pretending’ that you’re on the mend (no vomiting overnight) and then starting back up again with gusto twelve seconds after waking up.
Visit a doctor who gives your parents the choice of two medications - Maxalon (I totally love that stuff, btw) and an obsure liquid anti-vomit medication you’ve never heard of but which the doctor assures you is the far superior choice because Maxalon only comes in injection and tablet form and a 6yo child can’t possibly be expected to take either option particularly well.
Have a quiet word to the doctor and score at least a third day off school for tomorrow because even if the medication works, you’ll need another day to rest.
Travel 20 minutes to a chemist (pharmacy) to discover the liquid version has been discontinued and they only have the adult version. Contemplate going back to the doctor for a second prescription for the Maxalon but in the end discover child can have the adult version but only ¼ tablet at a time.
Buy iceblocks (popsicles) because Mummy tells you they are the BEST thing for the after-spew ‘ickies’.
Have your parents realise when they get home that the medication is anti-travel sickness. I know it probably works the same, but geez.
Rest for a while.
Let your mother do the same. Mummy is, at this stage, quite ill herself.
Scoot up to the school to pick up Boofah, both of us like the walking wounded and carrying the same ice-cream bucket as yesterday, just in case.
Vomit two seconds after stepping foot inside the house again (least it wasn’t at school, right?)
So, Miss Moo has tomorrow off as well. Then Friday is a student-free day at her school. Then the weekend. Then a public holiday on Monday. The earliest she’ll be back at school will be Tuesday! *Sob*
I do hate to see her sick though. This is the sickest any of the kids have been for some time and even when one of them gets gastro it rarely lasts longer than about 12 hours. Doc said if she hasn’t stopped vomiting by this evening then it’s a trip to the hospital, poor mite. She’s been sick once since her first bout of medication - which was SUCH a pleasure to administer, let me tell you - but we’re hoping the second dose (very shortly) will lick it before we end up in the emergency room :( The house is an absolute mess and I have no energy at all. I’m stealing naps two or three times a day which makes for a very interesting meal-making and cleaning schedule, sigh. Poor Talented Hubby may have to leave work early tonight.
Miss Moo has thrown up no less than eleventy-four times but is now so adept at it she barely whimpers. Who would have thought that my stoic nature in the face of the morning sickness she gave me would be genetic?
How To Scam A Whole Week Off School, by Miss Moo
Catch a ’slightly more interesting’ strain of gastro.
Throw up intermittently for 38 hours (and counting).
Refuse to eat, or if you do nibble something, immediately throw it back up again.
Make sure you throw up the fluids too. Freak your parents out.
Move from ‘chunks’ (sorry!) to ‘green bile’. Cause your poor mother to retch every time she rinses the Spew Bucket.
Score a second day off from school after ‘pretending’ that you’re on the mend (no vomiting overnight) and then starting back up again with gusto twelve seconds after waking up.
Visit a doctor who gives your parents the choice of two medications - Maxalon (I totally love that stuff, btw) and an obsure liquid anti-vomit medication you’ve never heard of but which the doctor assures you is the far superior choice because Maxalon only comes in injection and tablet form and a 6yo child can’t possibly be expected to take either option particularly well.
Have a quiet word to the doctor and score at least a third day off school for tomorrow because even if the medication works, you’ll need another day to rest.
Travel 20 minutes to a chemist (pharmacy) to discover the liquid version has been discontinued and they only have the adult version. Contemplate going back to the doctor for a second prescription for the Maxalon but in the end discover child can have the adult version but only ¼ tablet at a time.
Buy iceblocks (popsicles) because Mummy tells you they are the BEST thing for the after-spew ‘ickies’.
Have your parents realise when they get home that the medication is anti-travel sickness. I know it probably works the same, but geez.
Rest for a while.
Let your mother do the same. Mummy is, at this stage, quite ill herself.
Scoot up to the school to pick up Boofah, both of us like the walking wounded and carrying the same ice-cream bucket as yesterday, just in case.
Vomit two seconds after stepping foot inside the house again (least it wasn’t at school, right?)
So, Miss Moo has tomorrow off as well. Then Friday is a student-free day at her school. Then the weekend. Then a public holiday on Monday. The earliest she’ll be back at school will be Tuesday! *Sob*
I do hate to see her sick though. This is the sickest any of the kids have been for some time and even when one of them gets gastro it rarely lasts longer than about 12 hours. Doc said if she hasn’t stopped vomiting by this evening then it’s a trip to the hospital, poor mite. She’s been sick once since her first bout of medication - which was SUCH a pleasure to administer, let me tell you - but we’re hoping the second dose (very shortly) will lick it before we end up in the emergency room :( The house is an absolute mess and I have no energy at all. I’m stealing naps two or three times a day which makes for a very interesting meal-making and cleaning schedule, sigh. Poor Talented Hubby may have to leave work early tonight.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
I Give Up
Here’s how I know the God of Freezer Cooking is out to get me (and remember, today was meant to be the first of the ‘cooking’ days in my three week plan):
Miss Moo vomited in her sleep last night, necessitating a 2am bed change. Joy. Is it wrong that I simply set her up on the couch and dumped her sheets on top of the washer then went back to bed?
Miss Moo woke up at 3am because the blankets had slipped slightly off the couch exposing half a pinkie to the elements.
Miss Moo woke at 6:30 am for a hug. That’s it. Just a hug. Duly given by her father who was shoved kicking and screaming gently and lovingly coaxed from the marriage bed because hello? This little red hen had already been up twice and that ‘night waking’ nonsense was meant to have finished sometime around the age of three, right?
To add to my elation, the alarm went off at 6:45.
Miss Moo seemed fine (as kids tend to do once they get the ‘grossies’ out of their systems) and hadn’t been sick for hours so I was totally intending to send her to school (honestly, she looked and said she felt completely normal, nothing to indicate she couldn’t handle it and we live 4 mins walk from the school so I could collect her anytime) but then she bile-vomited (gosh I hope nobody’s eating while reading this) right before we left which reminded me once again that I never want to be ‘that mum’ who sends their ‘apparently well but clearly on death’s door’ child to school. Ahem.
Ashen-faced child has three nibbles of a piece of bread and later, some apple. One viewing of Barbie Fairytopia later, up came the apple. I don’t know how kids do it, but she retched her poor little guts up and when she was done, calmly looked into the bowl, saw the red apple chunks and very matter-of-factly exclaimed “Wow. That’s my apple in there!” I really hope we don’t have to have the Why Corn Doesn’t Digest discussion anytime soon. Seriously. After today I don’t think I could take it.
Mummy, by the way, was feeling not-so-flash myself at this point (you know that ‘very inner core of my BONES hurts’ kind of ickness that sometimes heralds - ahem - ‘women’s issues’? Plus a headache? Plus I’m into my fourth or fifth - I’ve lost count - week of The Wracking Cough That Produces No Phlegm). I took one look at the Spew Bucket and tried to palm the rinsing job off to Talented Hubby. He declined amidst stern scowls and threats. Who ended up doing it? Mummy of course (although I do have a nice little package of revenge worked out for the next time I’m vomity-ill, tee hee)
Many hours are spent lazing around. TH goes into work for a spell, then comes home for lunch. I try to convince him to bring home KFC but methinks he’s a bit against KFC at the moment. Drat.
We spent a couple of hours lying in the sun on the trampoline, semi-napping. I’m waiting until tomorrow to see if I sunburned although I do remember lying there thinking ‘Hmmm, I’m a wee bit warm about the face. Perhaps a splosh of sunscreen would be appropriate?’ and then I lifted a leg to shimmy off the trampoline and it just all became too hard so I lay back down again. It’s that kind of day folks.
Miss Moo carried an ice-cream bucket to school when we went there to pick up her brother at the bell. Many strange looks as to why Ashen Child and I Don’t Care If I Didn’t Brush My Hair Today So Why Should You? Mama were particularly attached to Peters Mint Chocolate Chip.
And now we are home again. Miss Moo is (once again) installed on the couch watching cartoons and I’m here wishing I was curled up next to her. I would like to think the world stops when I decide to hop off but alas, it generally decides to keep rotating regardless (the nerve!) so meals still need to be made, shirts still call out for ironing and fights still need to be broken up. Sigh. About the only thing that doesn’t give me pain at the moment is blogging and even now my fingers are cramping up.
Oh, and did I mention I have a handmade quilt to handwash, sheets to shove in the dryer (machine drying? I know, I know. But today I just don’t care) a mattress to flip (I at least had the presence of mind to get into it with the upholstery cleaner/disinfectant last night) and a bed to remake. Not to mention dinner to make.
I have done absolutely ZERO freezer prep/cooking today. Zilch. Plan down the gurgler because the way I know I will feel for the next couple days, I just won’t have the energy. Darn you post-children, cyclically-altered body! Why can’t you be predictable for a change! Ingredients can of course be salvaged and for the most part just made up on the night rather than in advance, and I’ll continue to track expenses for the three weeks but freezer cooking? My nemesis strikes again!
Miss Moo vomited in her sleep last night, necessitating a 2am bed change. Joy. Is it wrong that I simply set her up on the couch and dumped her sheets on top of the washer then went back to bed?
Miss Moo woke up at 3am because the blankets had slipped slightly off the couch exposing half a pinkie to the elements.
Miss Moo woke at 6:30 am for a hug. That’s it. Just a hug. Duly given by her father who was shoved kicking and screaming gently and lovingly coaxed from the marriage bed because hello? This little red hen had already been up twice and that ‘night waking’ nonsense was meant to have finished sometime around the age of three, right?
To add to my elation, the alarm went off at 6:45.
Miss Moo seemed fine (as kids tend to do once they get the ‘grossies’ out of their systems) and hadn’t been sick for hours so I was totally intending to send her to school (honestly, she looked and said she felt completely normal, nothing to indicate she couldn’t handle it and we live 4 mins walk from the school so I could collect her anytime) but then she bile-vomited (gosh I hope nobody’s eating while reading this) right before we left which reminded me once again that I never want to be ‘that mum’ who sends their ‘apparently well but clearly on death’s door’ child to school. Ahem.
Ashen-faced child has three nibbles of a piece of bread and later, some apple. One viewing of Barbie Fairytopia later, up came the apple. I don’t know how kids do it, but she retched her poor little guts up and when she was done, calmly looked into the bowl, saw the red apple chunks and very matter-of-factly exclaimed “Wow. That’s my apple in there!” I really hope we don’t have to have the Why Corn Doesn’t Digest discussion anytime soon. Seriously. After today I don’t think I could take it.
Mummy, by the way, was feeling not-so-flash myself at this point (you know that ‘very inner core of my BONES hurts’ kind of ickness that sometimes heralds - ahem - ‘women’s issues’? Plus a headache? Plus I’m into my fourth or fifth - I’ve lost count - week of The Wracking Cough That Produces No Phlegm). I took one look at the Spew Bucket and tried to palm the rinsing job off to Talented Hubby. He declined amidst stern scowls and threats. Who ended up doing it? Mummy of course (although I do have a nice little package of revenge worked out for the next time I’m vomity-ill, tee hee)
Many hours are spent lazing around. TH goes into work for a spell, then comes home for lunch. I try to convince him to bring home KFC but methinks he’s a bit against KFC at the moment. Drat.
We spent a couple of hours lying in the sun on the trampoline, semi-napping. I’m waiting until tomorrow to see if I sunburned although I do remember lying there thinking ‘Hmmm, I’m a wee bit warm about the face. Perhaps a splosh of sunscreen would be appropriate?’ and then I lifted a leg to shimmy off the trampoline and it just all became too hard so I lay back down again. It’s that kind of day folks.
Miss Moo carried an ice-cream bucket to school when we went there to pick up her brother at the bell. Many strange looks as to why Ashen Child and I Don’t Care If I Didn’t Brush My Hair Today So Why Should You? Mama were particularly attached to Peters Mint Chocolate Chip.
And now we are home again. Miss Moo is (once again) installed on the couch watching cartoons and I’m here wishing I was curled up next to her. I would like to think the world stops when I decide to hop off but alas, it generally decides to keep rotating regardless (the nerve!) so meals still need to be made, shirts still call out for ironing and fights still need to be broken up. Sigh. About the only thing that doesn’t give me pain at the moment is blogging and even now my fingers are cramping up.
Oh, and did I mention I have a handmade quilt to handwash, sheets to shove in the dryer (machine drying? I know, I know. But today I just don’t care) a mattress to flip (I at least had the presence of mind to get into it with the upholstery cleaner/disinfectant last night) and a bed to remake. Not to mention dinner to make.
I have done absolutely ZERO freezer prep/cooking today. Zilch. Plan down the gurgler because the way I know I will feel for the next couple days, I just won’t have the energy. Darn you post-children, cyclically-altered body! Why can’t you be predictable for a change! Ingredients can of course be salvaged and for the most part just made up on the night rather than in advance, and I’ll continue to track expenses for the three weeks but freezer cooking? My nemesis strikes again!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Shopping Day
People that shop and then cook for the freezer all in one day? Nutters. Every last one of them!
Today was the first Shopping Day in my new Three Week Cook For The Freezer Experiment. Good grief. And I only went to three stores! I think trying to fit it all in after calling into our mobile phone company’s nearest store was probably pushing things. But guess what? I got me a new phone! And it’s shiny! And better than the last one! All is well with the world again.
Here’s how today broke down:
Chicken butcher - $28.29
Fruit & Veg Shop - $33.85
Supermarket - $243.01
For a total of: $305.15
I do still have a few things to pick up at a different supermarket tomorrow morning - we already crammed so much into this morning (Talented Hubby came with me and had to be home right after lunch to get ready for work) that some had to be put off until tomorrow. I might spend another $50 or so.
I’m continually surprised at how cheap shopping for produce at the fruit and veg shop is compared to the supermarket. I should do a bit of a comparison shop one day. With my $33.85 today I completely filled one of those ‘toy’ shopping carts - you know, the ones that are identical to regular shopping trolleys except half the size? That’s a LOT of food. I got lots and lots of carrots, a massive bag of broccoli, butternut pumpkin, 5kg (11 lbs) potatoes, sweet potato, onions, green capsicums (peppers), big bag of red capsicum, cabbage, tomatoes, celery and spring onions. I roughly allocated $75 toward produce for this three week period and I can’t imagine even coming close. Love it. See all those bananas? Those weren’t purchased today but they were picked up extremely cheaply in this last week. I see many, many banana muffins in my future. Any other ideas?
My total also included these:
(photo of plastic containers)
Those are heavy-duty reusable freezer/microwave/dishwasher safe containers in sizes appropriate for Hubs’ work lunches. I also bit the bullet and bought the mammoth cling wrap roll.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have seventy kilograms of vegetables to chop up :)
Today was the first Shopping Day in my new Three Week Cook For The Freezer Experiment. Good grief. And I only went to three stores! I think trying to fit it all in after calling into our mobile phone company’s nearest store was probably pushing things. But guess what? I got me a new phone! And it’s shiny! And better than the last one! All is well with the world again.
Here’s how today broke down:
Chicken butcher - $28.29
Fruit & Veg Shop - $33.85
Supermarket - $243.01
For a total of: $305.15
I do still have a few things to pick up at a different supermarket tomorrow morning - we already crammed so much into this morning (Talented Hubby came with me and had to be home right after lunch to get ready for work) that some had to be put off until tomorrow. I might spend another $50 or so.
I’m continually surprised at how cheap shopping for produce at the fruit and veg shop is compared to the supermarket. I should do a bit of a comparison shop one day. With my $33.85 today I completely filled one of those ‘toy’ shopping carts - you know, the ones that are identical to regular shopping trolleys except half the size? That’s a LOT of food. I got lots and lots of carrots, a massive bag of broccoli, butternut pumpkin, 5kg (11 lbs) potatoes, sweet potato, onions, green capsicums (peppers), big bag of red capsicum, cabbage, tomatoes, celery and spring onions. I roughly allocated $75 toward produce for this three week period and I can’t imagine even coming close. Love it. See all those bananas? Those weren’t purchased today but they were picked up extremely cheaply in this last week. I see many, many banana muffins in my future. Any other ideas?
My total also included these:
(photo of plastic containers)
Those are heavy-duty reusable freezer/microwave/dishwasher safe containers in sizes appropriate for Hubs’ work lunches. I also bit the bullet and bought the mammoth cling wrap roll.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have seventy kilograms of vegetables to chop up :)
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Cookies - Clearly In Their Own Food Group
(cookie photo)
Kate and I are officially on strained terms. Yesterday she posted this recipe which immediately made my little ears prick up because they’re cheap to make and hello? They have a whole tin of condensed milk in them. What’s not to love about that? I had to make those cookies straight away. Which made it very bad indeed to have to wait until this morning when the shops opened to pick up the necessary ingredients. Yes, I made a special trip to the store for chocolate chips. I am crazy like that. Originally I’d tacked these onto the end of my ‘Baking Day’ as part of this week’s ’stock the freezer’ hoopla but thought I’d get a head start today to try out the recipe.
In the end I divided the mixture into three portions. Chopped up Snickers were put on the tops of one batch, a bag of white chocolate chips was added to the second run and the third portion got milk chocolate chips and coconut. I baked batches 1 and 2 and rolled the latter into logs for the freezer. Here they are all packaged up:
(photo of dough logs)
If they don’t slice well on the flip side I’ll just rip chunks off and roll into balls.
The kids thought I was brilliant (”You’re putting Snickers bars on a COOKIE?!!”) which of course almost made up for the whining at Auskick (beginner level Australian Rules football training) this morning. Evidence that children like ‘em?
(Jay eating cookies)
The Cookie Monster ain’t got nothin’ on Master J…
Kate and I are officially on strained terms. Yesterday she posted this recipe which immediately made my little ears prick up because they’re cheap to make and hello? They have a whole tin of condensed milk in them. What’s not to love about that? I had to make those cookies straight away. Which made it very bad indeed to have to wait until this morning when the shops opened to pick up the necessary ingredients. Yes, I made a special trip to the store for chocolate chips. I am crazy like that. Originally I’d tacked these onto the end of my ‘Baking Day’ as part of this week’s ’stock the freezer’ hoopla but thought I’d get a head start today to try out the recipe.
In the end I divided the mixture into three portions. Chopped up Snickers were put on the tops of one batch, a bag of white chocolate chips was added to the second run and the third portion got milk chocolate chips and coconut. I baked batches 1 and 2 and rolled the latter into logs for the freezer. Here they are all packaged up:
(photo of dough logs)
If they don’t slice well on the flip side I’ll just rip chunks off and roll into balls.
The kids thought I was brilliant (”You’re putting Snickers bars on a COOKIE?!!”) which of course almost made up for the whining at Auskick (beginner level Australian Rules football training) this morning. Evidence that children like ‘em?
(Jay eating cookies)
The Cookie Monster ain’t got nothin’ on Master J…
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