I Might Never Leave Ikea At This Rate

I've got just a few minutes before I have to rush off to drop the kids at school. Okay, that's a lie, I don't really have the time, but I'm slurping down my morning cup of tea and what goes better with a cup of tea than early-morning sleep-deprived blogging? I thought so.

In related news, I almost ran out of teabags last night. I know. Shocking. Happy to report a mercy dash was made to the store and the tea canister replenished before any further damage was done to family or home.

This is one of my favourite weeks. Every three weeks, Talented Hubby has four days in a row off from work, and those days fall during the school week, so we have the house to ourselves from 9-3 or so. It's not as suggestive as it sounds. No, really. Well maybe sometimes, but.....

We need some new furniture, but we have a set budget and need the furniture to both fit the budget and achieve our main objectives. Much of which centres around reducing the entrance hall clutter and/or creating some sort of useable office-y space in our loungeroom. Our home is open-plan, with our kitchen, dining 'room', existing computer desk, and TV viewing area (couches etc) occupying four 'corners' of a larger square. But we also have a separate L-shaped loungeroom, currently 98% devoid of furniture, where junk and paperwork kind of gets stacked against walls and left to die a slow death. In short, the entire room is basically useless to us right now. And though we certainly won't be buying another television to replace the one that broke in there a few months back, or probably even a sofa, I've had it in my head for a while now to 'properly' set it up as an office/craft/playroom kind of deal. But again, limited budget. And I don't have separate storage for my (albeit smallish) craft supplies so that'll have to be factored in as well.

The Ikea catalogue has taken pride of place on our kitchen bench this last week, that's for sure.

So that's what we're off to do today - furniture window-shopping-with-possible-chance-of-purchase-if-we-find-the-right-piece. We have Option A (outfitting the entrance hall) or Option B (the loungeroom office-y conversion) but the funds probably won't stretch to both, so we'll have to make a decision about which way to go. Making it easier, the entrance hall has an awkward shape - we walk straight ahead but turn two tight-ish corners to get into our open plan main living area - and any pieces of furniture would have to be exactly the right size and shape in order not to restrict traffic flow through to the back of the house. Ikea has been a bit depressing in this regard. And my number one choice - a hall table not at Ikea - turned out to be too long for the space. Darn it, because it was beautiful. Sigh.

Looks like it's the office conversion!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

And the winner of the "House Detox"/recipe card file giveaway hosted as part of Ultimate Blog Party '09 is....

Kate at Shoot Me Now!

Kate was commenter no. 51 out of 59 wonderful entries. A huge thanks to everyone who participated and I look forward to going over the list and visiting everyone's sites this week :)

Will The Mystery Blog Host Please Stand Up?

After the blog dramas early in March, I'm presented with a new mystery.

Who on earth is hosting my old blog?

When I was locked out of lizzieshome.com two days before the end of my (paid) hosting plan toward the end of February, I was beside myself. I bombarded my old blog host with emails until they mercifully restored my access and I was able to skim everything and repost it here. I assumed I would have my rightful two days and thereafter access would be cut again - after all, I was no longer paying them any money to host.

Now here it is, nearly a month later, and I still - strangely - have access to lizzieshome.com.

I can't work it out. Are they giving me free hosting? Deciding to go overboard in granting me access again? None of my emails were ever answered when I sent them early this month so it was only by chance I realised I was back online again. I'd feel stupid emailing them again asking them why they're giving me something extra this time instead of taking things away.

Still, I'd love to know what's going on!

A Little Exercise In Shopping Around

I don't know about you, but I luuuuurve me an Amazon buying spree. There's just something about receiving a parcel filled with brand new, fresh-ink smellin' books. Not that I 'spree' much - I think my record is two books in the one shipment - but you get the idea. I'm a book person. I would add cool new finds to my WishList and then when my birthday or Mother's Day rolled around, 'money to spend on Amazon' was always in the list of suggestions. And Amazon is the default site to which we go, don't we? Everyone knows its there.

Then a while back, a friend put me on to this site: The Book Depository. It's British-run, akin to the book side of Amazon. You can choose to have the prices displayed in British pounds or US dollars and they offer FREE worldwide delivery. So I thought I'd do a little comparison shopping, using three of the books currently on my WishList

(Note: Amazon shipping prices given below are for Australian delivery and based on a 'one book at a time' principle, ie, not combining items in the same shipment. To ship one book to Australia we pay $4.99 (USD) per shipment and another $4.99 (USD) per item):

Sew Pretty Homestyle by Tone Finnanger
Amazon's Price (in US dollars): $15.63 plus $9.98 (USD) standard shipping - Total $25.61
Book Depository's price (in British pounds) £11.69 plus NO shipping - Total £11.69

The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn
Amazon's Price (in US dollars): $15.61 plus $9.98 (USD) standard shipping - Total $25.59
Book Depository's price (in British pounds): £16.39 plus NO shipping - Total £16.39

Bend The Rules Sewing by Amy Karol
Amazon's price (in US dollars): $14.93 plus $9.98 (USD) standard shipping - Total $24.91
Book Depository's price (in British pounds): £13.95 plus NO shipping - Total £13.95

Now, of course this means nothing to me until I convert them to Australian dollars using this simple currency converter:

Sew Pretty Homestyle (cost in Australian dollars, including shipping charges):
Amazon - $36.74
Book Depository - $24.15

Complete Tightwad Gazette (cost in Australian dollars, including shipping charges):
Amazon - $36.71
Book Depository - $33.86

Bend The Rules Sewing (cost in Australian dollars, including shipping charges):
Amazon - $35.73
Book Depository - $28.82

If a book is listed on Amazon, it's rare that I can't also find it on Book Depository and I am yet to find an example of Amazon being cheaper once you factor in the free shipping component to us southerners.

Then I started thinking. The free shipping is a total bonus when you're way down here in the boondocks like I am - but what about US residents for whom Amazon's shipping charges would be much less? (For the purposes of the argument, I'm using Amazon's US standard shipping chart and putting aside for a moment things like Super Saver Shipping - we're not eligible for that down here so I'm trying to compare apples with apples etc. Again, this is based on a 'one item at a time' shipment)

As far as I understand it, standard-shipping a single book via Amazon to a US address costs $3.99 USD. Book Depository will ship free, so lets compare both sites. I'll set Book Depository's website to reflect USD for ease.

Sew Pretty Homestyle (US dollars)
Amazon - $15.63 plus $3.99 shipping - Total $19.62
Book Depository - $16.87

Complete Tightwad Gazette (US dollars)
Amazon - $15.61 plus $3.99 shipping - Total $19.60
Book Depository - $23.66

Bend The Rules Sewing (US dollars)
Amazon - $14.93 plus $3.99 shipping - Total $18.92
Book Depository - $20.14

Interesting! Clearly the Book Depository somewhat builds their shipping costs into their prices, making them more than Amazon. The most obvious example is The Complete Tightwad Gazette, which, if I remember rightly, is an enormous tome of information - so it stands to reason their 'regular' price would be comparitively higher if shipping on the heavy book is included in the price. But it's not always the case - Sew Pretty Homestyle is cheaper at the Book Depository, even for US shipping addresses.

Obviously, being in Australia makes the Book Depository cheapest in nearly every circumstance (Amazon's $9.98 international shipping vs zero shipping at Book Depository will do that, LOL) but there are still great bargains to be had with them for US residents as well.

And we know it always pays to shop around, don't we?

It's Friday? Really? I've Needed A Friday Since Last Tuesday

Bullety! (I'm tired. It's totally warranted.)

• I am such a doofus. I've just read back over my Ultimate Blog Party post and realised I haven't given a draw time/date to the House Detox/recipe card file giveaway. Duh. So let's make that Sunday around noon my time okay? That'd put it sometime in the late evening on Saturday for most of the USA. The winner will be chosen by random generator and contacted via email.
  
  
• Two of the Piglets had their school sports day today. Eight hundred screaming children let loose on an oval and encouraged to run. Ears still bleeding. Also slightly sunburned, darn it (me, not the kids - no, I slathered them up good). Used sunscreen but was only just hitting the reapply time when I was due to leave so didn't bother. Least I'm not beet-red, I guess.
  
  
• Talented Hubby on afternoon shift this week. This week leaves me solo-parenting from Sunday night through till the next Saturday morning - TH goes to work before they get home from school, returns while they're sleeping, and is still sleeping himself when they leave for school the next day. This happens every third week. Of course, this time around it would have to be the Week O' Crazy. Back-talkin', limit-pushin' offspring included at no extra cost. Mummy's nerves are FRAYED.
  
  
• The Dog (I refuse to use his real name this week, the little gremlin) has totally ruined at least fifty percent of my socks. While they are still on my feet. He waits until I am engrossed in something (ie, totally ignoring him) then he stealth-crawls under the dining table (where I usually blog) and bites my toes. Sometimes he doesn't let go when I yelp so my involuntary reaction is to jerk my foot away, while he stays stationary. Several torn socks later, I have learned to just go 'with' the attack, swallow the pain and hope he loses interest, which, since he's a puppy, tends to be about twelve seconds later. Oh, and he has bitten a hole through the mesh security screen door. My dog bites through metal. Which makes him totally hardcore. No wonder my toes hurt.
  
  
• I would give my left kidney for a straight 8 hour stretch of sleep. 7 hours and I'd shave my head bald. It would be worth it.
  
  
• I saw my Lovely Lady Doctor recently for my Not So Lovely Lady Parts Visit. If there was such a thing a professional BFF, she would be it. The day I knew she'd be my doctor as long as humanly possible? She swore at me. Over the out of pocket cost for an MRI she thought might be useful for determining why I was (then) having so many headaches (for those not aware, Aussies are all covered by Medicare whether they also hold private health insurance or not. Though most 'extra' procedures require some out of pocket costs, it appears to be nothing like the scary stories I hear out of the US. Here, an MRI might cost you $150 with a $50 Medicare rebate. A trip to the doctor is 'free' if they bulk-bill Medicare or you pay your bill - my clinic charges $45 up front - and then you present your paid bill to a Medicare office for a $25 or so rebate). Anyhow, she expressed disgust at how much I was being asked to pay and told me that was ridiculous for an 'exploratory' procedure and not to worry about it (had the headaches not later been found to be hormonally-triggered, of course she would have re-pushed for the MRI). What impressed me most about Lady Doctor wasn't that she swore, but that she obviously had no 'doctor is the authority' barrier that so many health professionals have - and in the years since, she has expressed such genuine caring toward my family and I that I can't imagine having anyone else looking out for us. HOWEVER - she is insanely popular within the medical practice she works at for this very reason - it is impossible to get an appointment with her with less than 3 weeks notice. Clearly this puts her outside of the realm of most illnesses likely to befall the family. Lady scrapin', however, comes with its own little reminder letter in the mail, LOL - plenty of time to schedule an appointment!
  
  
• On a whim this week, I dropped into this local store. Now the website really doesn't do it justice, but the store itself is filled with french and romantic inspired recycled timber furniture, all really classic solid pieces, as well as country homewares and knick knacks and it is all totally my style. It has been an uphill battle to replace our outdated furniture over the years - we're currently decorated in a mismatched collection of Early Australian Bachelor and High School Woodshop - but we suddenly find ourselves with a small amount of cash to spend this month. I was looking over the Ikea catalogue, mentally adding up components to create the entrance/hall storage combo I need, and really only went into Favourite Store On Earth to drool over pieces I couldn't afford. BUT - I discovered a few pieces in there that (once you take into consideration drawer and cupboard inserts, baskets etc) are on par with Ikea prices so now we're looking more closely at updating to Grown Up Furniture. I spied a hall table that would be awesome but is too long for the space we have. I haven't totally exhausted my options though - and I'll be dragging poor Talented Hubby along with me for another visit this coming week :)

I really, really hope I get a sleep in tomorrow...

Beast To Beauty?

I'm deep in the middle of a serious case of the "I wants" today. And the funny thing is, I have the money to make some - but not all - of those wants come to pass. The trouble is deciding what to do!


Meet my old sewing machine. Well okay, this isn't exactly mine. I nabbed the picture from the ebay listing where I found one almost identical to mine - and it had sold for $83. Eighty-three bucks! I'm seriously considering listing mine - if I even get half that amount, I'd be thrilled.


This is the one I'm considering buying, a Janome MC3500. It's retailing for $900 AUD (though, like any good frugalite, there's no way I'm paying retail, LOL). I have nearly that much cash in the play money fund and could probably swing the rest if I'm extra sweet to Talented Hubby. But...

How much do I really need a new sewing machine? The old one worked and was plenty fine for my sporadic sewing attempts, but I'm feeling like I want to branch out and experiment a bit more and the old machine couldn't do a whole lot. I'm excited to think that I could be having fun on a new machine. I don't sew every day though, and therein lies the sticking point. I go through fits and spurts of interest, sometimes ignoring the machine for months at a time. The way I'm thinking this week though, a good, solid sewing machine will always be a good investment - perhaps seeing me (and Miss Moo) through for a good many years to come - unlike an Amazon shopping spree (not that I'd spend $900 on that, but you get the idea).

The other thing I've been considering these past couple of months - even before we knew we'd be getting a little cash bonus from the government - was TiVo, which is worth roughly the same amount. As I pointed out to TH, what would he prefer? A whole bunch of hours wasted in front of the box, or the same number of hours put into mucking about with sewing projects (which, potentially, could enhance the home)?

So what do you think? Buy the new sewing machine (remember, this isn't money I'm sucking out of the household budget, it's money of my own) or sit on the money and make do with the old machine? Is it worth the investment?

Ultimate Blog Party '09! Plus Giveaway!

Hi there! Welcome to The House of Vomit! Let's party like it's 2009!

Just joking, LOL. But it feels like it this morning, after being up until 4am wiping the feverish brow of one very, very sick little boy. My alarm went off at 7, so I take no responsibility for my words and actions hereafter - there's only so much brain power a tired mama can expend at once and right now, my priorities are centering around this delicious cup of tea propping me up. Followed by several of her heavily caffeinated friends, I'm sure.

(And the yellow peanut M&Ms, but we won't mention those, 'kay? Awesome, thanks, LOL).

For those who are new to Lizzie's Home, allow me to share the basics: I'm an Australian stay-at-home mum of three (one of whom is autistic), married to a devilishly handsome and hard-workin' man, sort of/kind of/maybe freelance writer (my enthusiasm for this wavers!) in my 'spare' time and - of course - blogger extraordinaire! Talented Hubby takes the most gorgeous photos in his spare time outside of his 'day job' in a community services role.

A little about me and what I find important in life:

• I'm in the middle of a series I'm calling Binder Basics at the moment - look in the sidebar and you'll see the first two installments, with more to come soon. I'm a huge fan of the Home Management Binder (there are also some tours to others' binders lurking in the sidebar, so be sure to check them out) and at the moment I'm working on a 'bare basics' mini binder with just routines and cleaning lists. When that's done, I'll pop it up here.
  
• Miracles In The Flaws. This was published on Blog Nosh Magazine recently and details a little of the time surrounding our autism diagnosis with Jay. You might also like to check out The Gift of Autism.


• I also have this insatiable need to make printables. I know, it's weird. But whenever I need a form for this task or that event about the house, and can't find one that looks the way I want it to, I make my own. I then make them available in PDF format. See sidebar (list will be updated this week)!


• I'm determined to complete my "Thirty By Thirty" list by October 3rd of this year. I'm halfway through the year already and I've barely crossed anything off!


• I'm Not Usually This Deep (my thoughts on weight loss - wish I could say I was further ahead in the game than I was back in Sept of '07, but alas...)


• Freezer Cooking For The Rest Of Us (includes recipes! Lizzie's Fried Rice, Lizzie's Homemade Pizza and Hearty Braised Beef & Vegetables).
  

Thanks for stopping by! You can subscribe or follow me on Twitter by following the links in the sidebar. I shall give you candy and flowers.

Lots and lots of them. Mwah!

And now for the fun part!

I'm hosting a giveaway! Anyone who leaves a comment on this post or sends me a direct message on Twitter about this post will go into a random draw to win the following:

• "House Detox - 200 Ideas To Declutter Your Home, Room By Room" (Sara Burford, 2008). This is a neat little book packed with helpful tips on decluttering your kitchen, dining room, bedroom, living room, garage...you name it. It's spiral-bound and arranged like a small binder, with tabs for each section (I have had a hard time finding a source to link to, but trust me, it's a useful little book)
• A recipe file (which includes one set of 40 recipe cards), plus one extra set of cards, as mentioned in this post.

Entry is open to everyone, international or not! (This giveaway is not included in the UBP official prize list - so the only way you'll be in the running is to DM (Twitter) or comment here!).

I love these parties!

Linky Fabulousness

Time for a little Linky Love!

Touch It Once (I hate it when the answer is this simple!)
Is Your Definition Of Clean A Mystery? (I'm so doing this...)
Cleaning By Zone (ahhh, so that's why I had kids! Wait! I have 11 rooms and only 3 children! Oh Talented Hubbeeeee........LOL)
A Laundry Routine (I have a ten year old. Mwah ha ha!)

...all from Pretty Organized Palace. I just discovered this blog this morning, and I love it. Six kids' worth of laundry would probably kill me, however :P

All's Fair In Love And War (June Cleaver After A Six-Pack). Love this blog with a passion but I must say, if I tried this one on Talented Hubby he'd go seventeen shades of white and there'd probably be some sort of vomit incident. He already knows I'm clucky like 98.7% of the time, LOL.

On Reducing Clutter, Again (HappyMama). Be still my perpetually disorganized heart...

Climbing Out Of The Mess - Day 1 (Laurel Plum Online). How did I not know about this blog until this week? It's a lot like Small Notebook and Simple Mom, two of my very favourite blogs. This post also reminds me of this article.

Dear Ally (6 Year Med). This gal always makes me feel, I don't know - human.

Poor David...I Feel Ya (Whatever). I'm sorry, but every time I watch this, I crack up! Boof once 'scalped' himself on the edge of a metal mailbox and required stitches in his head. They gave him some 'loopy' medicine which saw him carry on in much the same fashion most of that afternoon and as worried as we had been earlier in the day (head wounds bleed like crazy), his spaced-out behaviour had us rolling on the floor. Fun-eee (not funny of course, is the information included in this post on Cora Paige and the wonderful work being done in her honour - check out the links).

Breaking Up With Facebook Is Hard To Do (OC Register). Something I'm struggling with lately.

Why I Stockpile (Moms Need To Know). I'm moving toward this approach myself.

Happy clickin'!

If The Magical Money Fairy Showed Up Unexpectedly, What Would You Buy?

Now let me preface this all by saying, I am married to a very, very careful spender. Apparently this is genetic because my father-in-law shows similar restraint in his finances as does Talented Hubby's brother. It comes as no surprise to find that my FIL made a career in finance.

I adore the quality in men (better a frugalite than a spendthrift!) - most of the time. Then something like receiving a very nice sum of unexpected money from the government happens and what follows is several weeks worth of heated respectful debate over how to best use the money, LOL. Call it fun money and spend the lot (for the record - we realise this is a bad, bad idea!)? Fix up some things around the house? Put money aside now for Christmas? What about a weekend away? What about my thirtieth birthday? Talented Hubby may have been happy enough with a cake for his but I intend farewelling my twenties properly!

To understand this dilemma, you first have to understand what kind of people TH and I are. We are most definitely not frivolous spenders. TH had perhaps a better financial grounding than I did growing up but the bottom line is, we don't have expensive hobbies and our leisure activities tend to run more toward the 'DVD and popcorn' variety. We have already decided the portion of money we are getting this month will be spent on the house (the specifics of which is another debate for another day! LOL) but we are also due a smaller portion of money in April. Talented Hubby surprised me by suggesting we might be able to split this money down the middle for our own personal spending.

Without going into specifics, it equates to a comfy amount. TH recently bought his 'dream' camera, paid for in cash with the earnings from his previous exhibition and online image sales, so his Extra Special Thing just got crossed off his list. I, on the other hand, don't readily get so much money in one lump sum and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it. It would be enough for a good general sewing machine or a clothes-buying spree. I could do some real damage on Amazon or Etsy with it too, LOL. But I don't have that many personal 'wants/needs' at the moment. About the only thing that springs to mind is that I've wanted a decent desk for a while now (I currently blog at the dining table).

If we decide that yes, we will split this smaller payment in April and each have some spending money, I want to be wise about it. My initial thought was that a sewing machine would be beneficial to the household as a whole, and not just me, so its priority goes up a few notches - but it's a want, not a need - and I already have a sewing machine. It was third or fourth hand and I never worked out how to do anything more basic than straight and triple-stitch (thank God this didn't have any curves!) but it's in working order and probably totally fine for my sporadic craft attempts. It would be lovely to have a new machine though, and I would gift the old one to someone who needs it. We bought a large-screen TV last year with money we'd saved specifically for that purpose, so that was another Extra Special Thing ticked off. TiVo is something I've been considering - TH could care less, LOL - and this amount of personal spending money would get me three-quarters of the way there (by the way, sell me on TiVo. We've only just had it come to Australia in the last few months. Good idea? Bad idea? Best features?)

Our other sum of money - including our furniture fund - will cover things like a utility cupboard and a couple of small pieces to help organize the entryway, so 'my' money doesn't have to get put aside for that, which is nice. Brand new books in the mail is a delight I'm sure you're all able to understand, LOL, and I might still indulge in one or two, but certainly not the entire amount.

As for my thirtieth birthday (which isn't until October) - Talented Hubby and I have already considered including a weekend away using some of March's money, and we could kill two birds with one stone and do this in October, making it a 'big deal' birthday thing. I quite like that idea. I could also save this spending money for that weekend (though that will be decidely more difficult, LOL).

Auuugh - what would you do, or buy, if you suddenly had several hundred dollars to spend? For the purposes of this exercise you are not allowed to pay off extra on the mortgage (which we're also doing with the larger sum of money) or put it toward bills. What personal wants have you been hankering over lately?

A Basic Weekly Plan, Not A Weak Basic Plan

(image via Google)

Howdy! Glad you could join me again! Today we're talking about the Basic Weekly Plan, one of the most useful tools at a homemaker's disposal. It took me several years of marriage to cotton on to this method - what can I say? I was - ahem - 'perfecting my technique', LOL. Let's dive straight in...

The Basic Weekly Plan

In the old days, homemakers kept things simple and orderly by assigning different tasks to each day of the week. The concept was so common it became the acceptable way to clean house for decades, and for good reason - it works. Some of the benefits of this kind of plan include:

1. It effectively puts homemaking on autopilot. Can't remember how long it has been since you last scrubbed the bathtub? Use a Basic Weekly Plan and you'll never have to tax your brain again.
   
   
2. Homekeeping tasks, when scheduled in this way, become second nature. You know you'll (for example) never go more than a week between sheet changes, and as time goes on frequent 'practice' will produce an efficiency that sporadic homekeeping just can't match.
   
   
3. It keeps homekeeping down to manageable portions. If you don't pick up the iron for a month, the end result is scary. But an hour or two each Saturday afternoon is doable.
   
   
4. If you consistently complete what is on your plan, your home never really gets dirty. Messy and a bit dusty, sure (um...that's a given if you have kids!) but never more than 'the basics' away from company-ready.
   
   
5. If you are unable to keep up with homemaking due to illness or absence, your loved ones know exactly what is required. That's not to say it will be done perfectly, LOL, but it sure does help for Hubby to know when you do the wash, or shop for groceries, or tackle the bathroom.

The first thing you'll need is a blank sheet of paper and a pencil. Don't even go near the computer yet. On the left hand side of the paper, write the days of the week. Next, you'll want to start assigning the major tasks to a particular day, depending on what fits best for your family. These are the 'boulders' of your week - the big, non-moveable tasks. Here are some suggestions:


Errands Day

You may like to pick one day of the week specifically for errands. Some people can get away with an afternoon, but I'm so not one of those people! As I often travel by bus to a large shopping centre in my area, by the time I have dropped the kids off at school, jumped on the bus, completed my errands, factored in lunch, returned on the bus and picked the kids up at school, that's a whole day gone. Over time, I've worked out an approach that works best for me, and schedule special errands for this day, Friday. It cuts down on 'just popping out to --' trips for the rest of the week (I keep a running list of what I need to find, return and shop for during my next Friday trip and add to it as the week progresses - then I just grab the list as I head out the door on Friday morning) and lunch out on that day is my reward for getting through another week! I often meet friends and hang out, or call in at supermarkets not in my usual area to pick up their loss leaders. Reducing these little side trips also saves money. If I didn't schedule an Errands Day, I'd be going to and from constantly all week, wasting time, money and energy. Restricting my errands to one day per week (unless it is for something urgent or special, that is) forces me to think about a purchase well in advance, and helps me determine if I really need it or if I couldn't find it cheaper elsewhere. As it is, I savour my Fridays!


Grocery Shopping

I don't usually include my regular weekly shopping trip on Errands Day. This is mostly because our area starts their sales on a Monday and I'd already determined Friday works best for Errands Day for other reasons. Groceries are bought more locally than my Friday trips generally are and only require about an hour of my time, so I build it into the existing homekeeping duties of that day (more about that in future posts).

When working out the best time for your main shopping trip, factor in things like your husband's work schedule (does he like you to complete this while he's at work, or does he prefer to come with you? Don't laugh, it happens!), the day your grocery stores begin their sales, the day your main store has additional sales (some stores in my area bring out unadvertised sales on Thursday and Friday) and where your kids, if you have them, will be. You may prefer to slot in shopping for groceries on Errands Day - if you do, you'll be one up on me!


Day of Rest

In your week, there should be at least one day of rest. If you're a church-goer, naturally this would be Sunday or sometimes Saturday if you observe the Sabbath. Try not to schedule any major homekeeping tasks on this day. Your own definition of 'no work' will come into play, of course. You'll see from my own example below that I avoid most homekeeping but I do allow some 'wriggle-room' for things I consider to be 'interests' or 'fun things' - baking for the week ahead, for example, is tackled on Sundays. For some, this would be work, but for me, its more of a chance to goof off with my kids :)


Wash Day

I've toyed with the best way to do laundry for, oh, about a bazillion years. The system I've finally settled on is 100% flexible and will likely not fit with everyone's idea of perfection, but it works pretty well for us.

Our Wash Day is Saturday. This does NOT mean all laundry is left until Saturday. Not only would that be completely impossible to finish, but its also horrendously impractical. During winter when sunlight is at a premium (we're heading into the cooler months now down here), I need to be on the ball if I want to dry the clothes on the outside line. We don't have an inside clothes rack at the moment, and we try not to use the dryer, but life happens and sometimes the weather can't be helped. A full week's worth of laundry in one day? Good grief! No, Wash Day is reserved for things like towels, sheets, and work and school uniforms. Towels are done first and hung early to take advantage of a full day of sunlight (they take longer to dry), sheets next (because they're big and need lots of line space), and other bedding (things like throw rugs or the odd quilt) and school and work gear bring up the rear. Sometimes, if the last load doesn't go out on the line until the afternoon, I have to finish things off in the dryer (still far, far cheaper) and yes, this is several loads worth, but the only other homekeeping tasks I schedule on this day are the ironing (I rarely iron regular clothes until we need them, so this is set aside for Hubby's work shirts, which are ironed straight from the washing machine - and this can easily be slotted in while waiting for the next load to run through) and some minor yard work (also thrown in between loads).

So what about the rest of the laundry? Its incorporated into my Basic Daily Plan (more soon) and takes care of our everyday clothing and, depending on how industrious I am on any given day, some of what I might have otherwise left until Saturday. One load is started when I wake (generally the clothing) and then I reboot the wash during my morning housework block, hanging, folding and putting away as needed. If I start a second load, it means we've all been incredibly messy the day before, certain things (like jeans or brand new items) need a load of their own, or I'm getting a kick start on the weekend wash. Sometimes I miss days - and that's fine too. I just catch up over the next day or two. Laundry is just one of those things that never quits, unfortunately, LOL.

By my calculations, that leaves me four complete days in which to finish up the rest of the housework, with one day each taken out for Errands Day, Wash Day and Rest Day. This is where it gets interesting!

Take a walk around your home, noting each of the rooms/areas. Here's my list, to get you started:

• Main Bedroom & Robe
• Bedroom 2
• Bedroom 3
• Bedroom 4
• Bathroom
• Laundry Room
• Ensuite
• Kitchen
• Family Room
• Loungeroom & Office Area
• Entrance & Hall

You can see from this list that I have combined some rooms/areas. This comes into play later, when deciding which days to schedule each room or area on - and some areas are small or don't require much work. We have 11 main rooms/areas in our home, not including outside. Here's how I've spread them out in my Basic Weekly Plan:

(click to enlarge)

When deciding when to schedule all these tasks, you'll probably need to consider things like:

• Do you homeschool? (If you do, your Basic Weekly Plan will look entirely different to mine as I don't have my kids at home during the day)
• Does anyone in your family play sport? On which day? (Perhaps a Saturday morning game?)
• Do you volunteer or otherwise work outside of the home?
• Do you undertake middle-of-the-week church activities such as a lunchtime bible study or a ladies' group?
• Are there any other commitments during your week which could create a daytime scheduling conflict?
• Does your husband prefer certain things to be done on certain days? (For example, does he host a men's group on Thursday nights and would a spruce-up of the living room be better scheduled for that morning? Does he enjoy a full cooked breakfast on Saturdays and could you make batter etc the night before?)
• Do you entertain friends regularly? On which day?
  

...and so on. For my own example above, I thought about what our week normally looks like. Grocery shopping on Monday means a clean out of the fridge is appropriate on Sunday (though the bulk of my menu planning takes place reading the Saturday morning circulars, I usually take all weekend to finalise meals for the week ahead, and a Sunday clean-out gives me a 'heads-up' on leftovers that can be incorporated into the menu). The 'wet areas' are all scheduled for the same day (Tuesday) when I will already have the mop and similar cleaning gear out. Bedrooms 2, 3 and 4 (the kids' rooms) are all lumped in on the same day because (in theory!) the kids are responsible enough to clean their own rooms now - all I really have to do is dust, vacuum and change sheets, and three rooms' worth of that can easily be done in my housework block. Our kitchen and family room is an open-plan layout so tackling them on the same day makes sense. You get the idea!

When you've completed the first draft of your Basic Weekly Plan, post it somewhere obvious, like the fridge. Don't bother prettying it up on the computer - it's a waste of time. You'll be changing things around anyway, as you work your way through the first couple of weeks - some tasks will fit better on different days and you won't know which until you jump in and get your feet wet. You do NOT need this to be perfect straight up (I've fallen into that trap more often than I can count!) When you've settled into a nice rhythm, then you can print out a cute copy with graphics for your Home Management Binder or, as I like to do, laminate a copy to stick to the pantry or fridge door - where its harder to ignore, LOL.

In my Basic Daily Plan (coming soon!) I'll cover just how I make this all work day to day. Please don't misunderstand though - things get changed ALL THE TIME. Several weeks ago, for example, we dropped to an even more basic version of 'the bare basics' as I recovered (slowly!) from pneumonia. That's the nature of homemaking. There are other days when I'll have the time to slip in a short walk to a nearly small shopping centre (strip mall?) to return books to the library, pick up some loss leaders at the supermarket there, or visit the chicken butcher. Any of these plans are examples only.

Happy homemaking!

The Five Homekeeping Tools Every Woman Should Use

(image via Google)

Remember the feeling you had when, as a small girl, you would wander into Grandma's immaculate, vintage kitchen and wonder at her ability to keep things neat and shiny while still serving up a full roast dinner - for lunch no less! - without breaking a sweat? How did she do it? How did any depression or wartime bride manage?

It's really quite simple. Homekeepers of the past planned. Everything from managing the household finances to calculating how many jars of preserves could be put away that year based on different crop yields was carefully considered before lifting a single finger. In our own times, things have changed dramatically. Just take a walk through your local grocery store's freezer aisle and marvel at the amount of pre-prepared, packaged 'convenience' food on offer. We've grown busy - too busy to whip up our own chicken nuggets so we rely on chemical-laden and expensive alternatives.

Now, not every modern convenience is a bad thing. The invention of the Internet and dishwashers rank pretty highly in my book, LOL. But in our busy lives we are losing our grip on the pleasures of a well run, organized home. A certain degree of mess is acceptable now. Women work. Children are demanding. Marriages dissolve. Things happen. Different problems, perhaps, than our grandmothers had to face, but all things that take our time and energy.

The trick is to work smarter, not harder.

In this chaotic little home of mine, there are five homekeeping 'building blocks' I use which save my bacon every time. If nothing else gets done, if the kids are having a particularly horrid day, if Talented Hubby needs some extra help with a project or an ear after a long day - these are the basics I aim for.

• Basic Weekly Plan
• Basic Daily Plan
• Morning Routine
• Afternoon Routine
• Evening Routine

The actual contents of these five lists change frequently in this house - but that's the beauty of the 'system'. It's what works for YOU, at THIS SEASON in YOUR life in YOUR home. Not your mother in law's home. Not the homes of the 'totally together' Proverbs 31 ladies at church. Just yours.

A tip - never, ever wait until your Plans are 'perfect' before jumping in. The fact is, they'll never be perfect and you'll still be living in a messy home a year from now. Even if you don't do your Detailed Cleaning for a week or two, your home should still be pretty presentable if you've kept up with the five tools above.

Some of you die-hard Binder fans will recognize the basic format as harking from FlyLady. I love Marla, I honestly do, but when I was a FlyBaby, I often felt smothered - the emails were never in the correct timezone for me down here in Australia and my computer wasn't on all day to hear the 'ping' of a new email coming in anyway. Her Zones never worked for me. And - gasp! - while I loved receiving decluttering testimonials, I began to get annoyed with the frequent product advertisements (um...you don't really need a FlyLady branded calendar or timer, *smile*). One day, I 'decluttered' her emails, and it felt great. I still acknowledge her influence on much of my approach to homemaking now, but I don't feel the need to 'dress to my shoes' every morning either. As with any organizing approach, a good attitude to keep in mind is this: take what you need, and leave behind everything else without guilt - don't sweat it! (That goes for anything you read here too!)

Over the next few days, I'll be detailing my Daily and Weekly Plan, and my Routines. Probably most of the individual entries won't work for you, but use them as a jumping off point and devise your own. Do NOT worry about setting up a pretty binder yet - concentrate on the execution, not the beautification.

Do I follow my Magic Five every single day or week? Heck no. But they form the framework over which our daily life is stretched and basically, the whole family would collapse without them, so they must be important, right? LOL.

Stay tuned!

Strangely Enough, I Am Not Missing Wordpress, And Other Random Thoughts

Sure, I lost half my subscribers and ALL the comments made on any of the posts for that year (the manual transferring of posts back here worked well - but didn't extend to comments) but it really has made life simpler.

Still, for some unfathomable reason, lizzieshome.com is still viewable and has been for the last week or two since I finally got access again to finish bringing all the content back here. I have no idea why - I didn't renew hosting (obviously) for another year so are they hosting it for free? I'm lost - but I think I'll give it another month and then delete the old blog altogether.

I'm such a dork - you know how I blathered on about my recipe card file hack in this post? Well almost immediately after posting I decided I didn't like the photo storage box idea. The width was right, but the length was a little impractical - I mean, I'd have to be one serious cook to fill an entire photo storage box with recipes! If I removed the spare cards sitting in the back, everything fell over. Not so good. So I went out today and bought this:

It's as ugly as all get-up, but it will do. It's not very long (deep?), so everything stays standing up nicely. You can see I've also re-labelled all the tabs to fit in with my own recipe categories.

Told you - dork, LOL.

I'm really in the mood to do a little op-shopping (thrift store browsing). It's frustraing, because there aren't any near me and though I can reach at least five with a short bus ride, now that we have Charlie, it's a lot harder to leave the house for any length of time. I think I might have to snaffle a day the week after next, when Talented Hubby moves to his week of afternoons...that way Charlie will only be alone for an hour. Right, pencilling that in. I'm going to be looking for older cookbooks (but not the seventies!) and household books in general. I find op-shopping a little easier to do than garage-sale browsing - for starters, there's less of a 'yard sale culture' where I am in summer. Secondly, I find it a little weird to be poring over people's old stuff while they're right there staring at you. Then I feel guilty for not buying anything, so inevitably I'll pick up some ugly item. There are two major stores on my usual 'day out' jaunt (both Salvation Army), a Goodwill, a Save The Children and a St Vinnies. The nicer stores have the higher prices, which is a bit maddening, but its the real treasures in the little stores I'm after :)

Well, that's it from me tonight - I have an shirt to iron for TH to wear to work tomorrow, and the kitchen to clear up. One of these days I'll get organized enough to post before 11pm at night, LOL.

Maybe.

Thankyou Government People!

So the world economy is in total shambles. The US is talking stimulus packages and so are we. The Household Stimulus Package recently announced by Australia's government equates to quite a nice little sum of money, depending on which social security payments you are already getting. For those that don't know, our social security system is a bit different down here - most families get some money from the government to help with the cost of raising children, increasing with the number of children and lessening as personal income increases.

When they announce these special bonus payments - which are happening at the rate of two or three times per year for the last several years - it can equate to quite a bit of money, even for those on a fair salary. Without going into specifics on Talented Hubby's income, we've been able to live comfortably on one income since we started our family. And we still qualified for a $950 per child payment and an extra $900 per family payment this week. Add it up. It's a big chunk o' cash which a week ago we didn't know we were getting.

Unexpected income. Dangerous territory.

We're trying to work out a good balance between satisfying some household repair issues, buying a few minor pieces of furniture (couple of cabinets, Ikea-style) and putting a little extra on the mortgage. The possibility of spending actual, real money in Ikea fills me with glee. But we'll do our homework. Trust me, being married to Talented Hubby keeps a firm rein on impulse spending, LOL. We'll be spending a lot of time poring over the Ikea catalogue this week, configuring pieces to fit our specific needs and space. Should we actually get close to spending money (it usually takes Talented Hubby a long time to get comfortable with the idea of spending money, even unexpected windfalls!) I'll take some before and after pics and post them here.

I also spent a bit of time sorting and shredding documents today. There's a whole wall in our loungeroom filled with miscellaneous piles of papers, plastic containers, books, sewing gear, shoeboxes - oh, it's a nightmare. I finally got sick of staring at the stack of papers and dumped them all out on the floor and began sorting. I found an accordian file somewhere in the pile and labelled all the sections. In the end, I kept only the paid bills from 2008 and so far in 2009. This meant two-thirds of the paper stack disappeared. I also created sections for basic identifying documents such as birth certificates, marriage certificate, immunisation records and passports, and one for social security papers. We've kept these things in our main filing cabinet until now, so this makes it a lot easier to 'grab and run' should something disasterous happen. I'll keep working at the pile o' mess over the next week. It's an awkward kind of room arrangement - we have our main TV and sofa set in the family (open plan) room so the closed-off loungeroom doesn't get used near as often - it doesn't even have any sofas in there and there are the parts of the gym stacked in a corner - very redneck, LOL. I keep my sewing stuff here, stacked in a corner but the whole L-shaped room is an absolute magnet for clutter. It will be good to set it up in a functional way again :)

Talented Hubby has ducked out for late night shopping tonight (you Americans might find this rather quaint, but generally speaking, the shops close at 5-6pm here except one night a week (usually Thursday) designated 'late night shopping', where most things are open until 9pm). He finally made the decision about what camera to buy. We're talking hardcore photographic equipment here - very expensive. But he has been saving money from his photo sales (online and exhibition) and he so rarely buys anything for himself that I really have no reservations about how much this new camera will cost. It's his 'out', this photography gig - mine is blogging, his is taking awesome pictures. Our walls are covered with his art - I love it!

But this new toy of his? I won't hear a whisper from him for days - weeks even! - while he learns how to use it!

Are You A Member Of The Club?

I love Bloggityville, I really do. But there's definitely a 'class system' in place. Big name blogs get all the readers, the book deals, and loads and loads of comments. And that's so cool. I love them for it. But I have counted many, many times when a blogger has missed the mark. I've gotten quite good at averting my eyes (permanently - no subscription, no following on Twitter). Everything continues on just ducky.

And then every now and then, a Big Name Blogger gets is SO DARNED RIGHT that you just want to cry because it's like they've crawled into your head and picked your brain of all its most awesome thoughts. The language is real. The sentiment is real. And suddenly THEY are real.

Tanis over at Attack of the Redneck Mommy just switched over from 'awesome, but untouchable' to 'I love this woman and want to send her gifts'. This is the post that did it:

Dear Internet: I'm Placing You On Notice

Now, clearly Tanis doesn't need the traffic from my teeny blog. I doubt I'll raise a blip in her blog stats and you know, that's totally fine :) She has no idea who I am, and I love her anyway. But being the mother of a special needs child, I don't think it's going too far to say we share a connection. We're part of a club, that really only the other members of the club can understand fully.

Tanis shared a couple of joke ads on her site and expressed her disgust. I am with her 100% on this. I couldn't even face watching Tropic Thunder recently, despite loving (in general) the stupid comedy of Ben Stiller, because of the barbed jokes steered toward disabled people (Stiller's character, an actor, had previously starred in a movie called Simple Jack, and some of the 'gems' the marketing people came up with for Tropic Thunder referenced this, with the phrase "Never Go Full Retard". Teenage boys watching the movie adopted it as a catchphrase. I've heard it at least three times since, in conversations picked up in public. Can I just say - teenagers these days are, in general, really, really intolerant).

I'm not a confrontational person. In fact, I'm a wimp. I'm the person who hears an insult, stands there with her mouth open and only after the perpetrator has left the scene do I come up with the perfect retaliatory remark. Although, perhaps that's a bit of divine intervention at work, LOL.

Only once have I ever been in a situation in public where I failed to emotionally restrain myself. The rage was radiating out of me as sure as sweat pours off a marathon runner. In that situation, I let fly. I verbally beat that poor person into submission - or at least, I like to think I did. They probably walked off with their friends, chortling at the psycho woman and the weird kid who flapped his arms and still wore a nappy at 5 years of age. Then forgot about me.

But I didn't forget.
Mamas never forget.

You mess with our kids - even in a general sense - and we bite. It's a law of nature. We protect our young. And failing a direct attack on our own children, we will go into bat for any (and all) special needs kids we see who need it. It's what The Club does. It's unspoken, but it goes way down into the very depths of ourselves, our core.

Do you think it is easy, you ignorant idiots (that's the mean people, not you Bloggityville), to walk around each day, living with our hearts outside of our chests? We ache every single day.

Please, take a moment to click on the below links. It might just afford a small window of understanding :)

Shay (Mountain Wings)
Don't Mourn For Us (Jim Sinclair - autism related but interchangeable with other disabilities)
39 Cents Of Understanding (Mountain Wings)

Works For Me Wednesday ~ Everyone Else Is Doing It, I Might As Well

I had such big plans today. The kids are at school, Talented Hubby is off on a DDO (Dad's Day Off - I had my MDO yesterday) and even the dog is snoring away next to me. I was going to clean up my corner of cyberspace a little, schedule a few posts, do a little housecleaning. And then I got onto one of my weird Pet Project tangents.

It all started when I went to the supermarket this morning. After I've picked up what's on my list, I like to cruise my favourite two aisles - stationery and homewares. Bearing in mind, this is a small suburban supermarket so there's not much range of either, but I like to poke at glass jars and Tupperware and laundry baskets and brand new pads of paper so I can usually find something useful. This is where I bought my trusty laminator - I paid $24 and use it all the time.

So anyway, I was perusing the stationery section and found the cutest little recipe boxes and pre-printed recipe cards. I've been using a small binder for my keeper recipes but haven't updated it for a long time and hello? This was much prettier, so I bought two. Why two? You'll see. I also bought several refill packs of the cards.


When I got home, I immediately set about hand-copying onto these cards. Then I started to wonder about spills and how I could protect the cardboard. I dragged out my clear contact paper to cover them and after fudging four or five (arrghh! the dreaded wrinkles!) I gave up on that idea. Then I realised the cards were about photo-size, and after a bit of a dig around the pit that is our home office area, I found my 6x4 (standard size photo) laminating sheets. Eureka!

I ran the first card - Fudge Brownies, of course! - through the laminator. Perfect. Much stronger and protected than contact paper would have been. Then I tried to put it back in the recipe box and it wouldn't fit. The box is designed to only just fit the width of the cards and the added few millimetres the laminating added meant they no longer fit. Darn it.


So, new plan. The file box will be kept for a different use, but I was left with nowhere to put these shiny new recipe cards. What to do? I'm frantically scouring the house looking for a suitable container, and then it dawned on me. Didn't I just buy a couple of flat-pack photo storage boxes a couple of weeks ago? Why yes, yes I did. Quick sticks, they were snapped together and the recipe cards (which are photo sized anyway) have found a new home.


Of course, I could have just bought the refil packs (currently propping up the scant finished cards) and saved myself $10 by not having to buy the original boxes which I won't use anyway, but you live and learn, LOL.

The thing I really like about these cards is that they have space for the ingredients on the front, but don't have the directions until you flip them over, so it makes it really, really easy when you're menu planning. You simply copy down everything on the front and ignore the back until cooking day. And I also intend writing out the ingredients lists for my really basic meals (the ones I know by heart) - won't need the directions section of course, but again, when I'm compiling my shopping list, I'll still have a ready-reckoner of what goes into our favourite meals.

The cards are easier to handle than binder sheet protector pages, and easier for little hands to hold. If they get wet, they get wiped off. Simple!

(Aussies, these are Woolworths new "Essentials" range if you want to go see for yourself)

Works for me!

Snap Back To Reality

I suppose its about time I tap back into this blogging thing. To be honest, the nearly-70 posts I copy-pasted between Wednesday and Friday last week kind of sucked all my blogging energy out of me. Twitter was about all I could manage.

I don't have anything terribly exciting to add to the mix tonight (it's 12:38am - who writes anything coherant in the middle of the night anyway?) but I do have posts lined up for the coming week that have been on the backburner for a few days, so keep an eye out for those.

Plans for tomorrow include hitting the supermarket as it opens to get milk because Talented Hubby either ignored or forgot to check his mobile for text messages as he was leaving work. Consequently he missed my last-minute request to pick up milk on the way home, which means toast for all for breakfast and let me tell you, that's going to go down a treat in our family of cereal-lovers. We have exactly one tablespoon of milk left and I have claimed it for my morning cup of tea. A pox on anyone who tries to drink it. Mama needs her happy juice.

Then I have three children to round up and make clean their rooms (this is always a lot of fun to force on an autistic child - what can I say? I treat 'em all equally horribly!) Then there's four or five baskets of laundry to cycle through - most of which won't get done tomorrow - because I'm ashamed to admit I didn't get back into the clothes side of things when I started feeling better a couple of weeks ago. I refuse to wash anything until those rooms are clean though, because I have a particular problem with putting clothes away and knowing I have somewhere to actually put them definitely helps. Then, because I'll have lots of clean sheets and towels I'll need to clean out the linen cupboard - that's always a barrel of laughs. The dreaded Housework Snowball. Soon as you do one job, it feeds on to another, then another and then - gasp! - before you know it the entire house is clean and honestly, where's the fun in having a clean house when the doorbell rings unexpectedly? Everybody knows people only visit when the house is messy. I would lose my social contact, and we can't have that.

I have a blood donation appointment Tuesday. So far, I am happy to report, I have not lost a limb, had a crane fall on my house, or contracted Ebola virus. All of which I fully expected to happen given my track record with having to cancel my appointments - I haven't been since last September due to chicken pox, a distinct and unique medical issue and pneumonia. I donate plasma, so I can go every 2 weeks but I have chosen to comply with Talented Hubby's work schedule so that means every three weeks on a Tuesday. I make a day of it. It's awesome, I love it. And I've missed it.

MUST GET ORGANIZED. Have been treading water for so many weeks now and can't seem to get myself out of this rut. Sleep. Need sleep.

Snore.

Lizzie's Thirty By Thirty List

Watch me try to accomplish everything on this list before my 30th birthday on October 3rd, 2009!

(These are in no particular order :)

Lizzie’s “Thirty by Thirty”

1. Get my driver’s licence (believe it or not, I have never held a fully-fledged licence).
2. Visit the art gallery - alone - and really study the paintings (completed 10-Mar-09...and it was so much fun!)
3. Have three articles published (in print).
4. Walk 500 deliberate kilometres (311 miles - its not an ultra-ambitious goal, but it is an achievable one).
5. Taste three entirely new foods or meals (not just minor changes to, say, the sauce or something - it has to be something I’ve never tasted before).
6. Wear more skirts (first port of call - see no. 12 and no. 20!)
7. Walk the City to Bay ‘09 (12 kms/7.5 miles, next September) in under 2 hours. (The City to Bay is a local fun run/walk. I’ve done 2:10 and 2:04 in previous years but missed ‘07 and ‘08 due to family commitments and a less-than-stellar fitness level).
8. Spend a weekend in Sydney or Melbourne with Talented Hubby ‘just because’ (even if we never see the outside of the hotel room - tee hee! In the works for October as a 30th birthday trip - taking poetic licence on the 'by thirty' part on this one as it might be after the 3rd!)
9. Re-read the Anne of Green Gables series.
10. Attend an all-night movie marathon (for some reason, this intrigues me. And I’m just about nerdy enough to try it).
11. Ride a rollercoaster (I’m deathly afraid of them!)
12. Get down to my goal weight.
13. 'Pay it foward’ to someone really deserving.
14. Try a new sport (I’m not a sporty person).
15. Watch all of the Best Picture Oscar winners, 1979-2009 (it's a bit confusing, but that’s the listed winners - 31 in total - between 1978 and 2008, with the actual ceremony dates being 1979 (year of my birth) to 2009 (year of my 30th). For progress on this list, see this post.
16. Re-read Austen’s best (Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park).
17. Do one totally crazy thing - something nobody would ever think I’d do (completed - attended Easter Sunday service, 12-Apr-09!)
18. Post on the blog for thirty days straight (completed - NaBloPoMo '08!)
19. Host a dinner party (I’m not a natural entertainer).
20. Go an entire month without chocolate (gulp!)
21. Sit for professional photos of myself (I’m normally camera-shy - thankfully with TH’s camera skills this won’t cost the earth!)
22. Start a vegetable garden - and actually grow something to ‘edible stage’.
23. Make household routines habit.
24. Work my way through Janette Oke’s entire back catalogue.
25. Go on a real camping trip with the family (the last time I was in a tent, we were without children).
26. Attend a birthday party as the guest of honour (I haven’t had a proper party for myself since high school - I reckon a thirtieth is a good place to start again. TH? Are you taking notes? LOL)
27. Cook and bake more; rely on packaged snackfood less.
28. Re-acquaint myself with the sewing machine and redwork embroidery (even a doofus like me can’t muck up redwork!)
29. Spend a weekend entirely alone (no kids, no husband - no noise!)
30. Master Lynn Nelson’s ‘Busy Cooks’ Pyramid‘ method of menu planning (by far one of the simplest and most cohesive approaches I’ve seen!)

Bonus Credit ~ Actually witnessing an unscripted, unsolicited comment by Talented Hubby here on Lizzie’s Home. I think I would keel over, LOL.

Updates marked in red.

*originally posted on lizzieshome.com and transplanted here

Motivate Me Monday ~ Funnily Enough, It's Not All About Me

You may have noticed that I've been a bit preoccupied this last month or so. If you skim over my February posts it reads like a tragic medical journal interspersed with equal parts whining and stories about dog pee. The fact is, I have spent most of the past four weeks feeling totally rotten. I can say this with complete honesty - I can't remember ever being so sick. You know how you get nauseous, or eat something bad, or find yourself with your, uh, 'other end' stuck to the toilet and you're utterly miserable for a day or two but then you spring back to life just as soon as the 'ick' leaves the system? It wasn't like that at all. I'm Boss Mama. I don't get sick. And if I happen to have the audacity to do so, I tend to 'suck out the (metaphorical) poison' myself and just get on with it.

Oh, how I've been humbled! After weeks of misery - which in the grand scheme of things (like world hunger and the global financial meltdown) really doesn't rate at all - I am finally on the 'other side'. And it feels fantastic. But I learned a whole bunch of interesting stuff along the way, which I present to you now:

It's Okay To Be Still

If you're a homemaker like me, you have your finger on the pulse of everything that goes on around you. You know what's for dinner, who forgot to hand their homework in and how many days you can last on the last two rolls of toilet paper (answer: not many!) You're used to being in control. When illness enters into the picture, you realise quite suddenly that you are, in fact, not in ultimate control. Some illnesses can be eased by medications or home remedies, but others just involve a waiting game. It's a horrible, miserable time, but you get through it and ultimately, you come to the understanding that you are not the centre of the universe and your loved ones won't starve or go to school naked. Relax your standards. Or, if you're like me, ignore them altogether!

Allow Others To Shine

My husband was a lifesaver during my worst week. He was still working (though he didn't want to), so I still had to leave the house twice a day for the school run, and that short half-hour trip would send me into fits of coughing and sobbing for an hour and a half. He would call to see if he could pick up something on his way home, he helped with the housekeeping, he came home early from work one day (and his job is not one that he can readily do this) and then took the next day off to care for me, he even wielded a frypan once or twice (I would get sick more often if I thought I could reliably tap into this!). In short, he became Mr Mom, and it was lovely to witness, both from my perspective but also the kids'. He didn't bring me flowers or chocolates, but that's not what I needed - I couldn't taste or smell anyway. Men hate it when we say this, but it really is the little things that stick in our memories - I'll remember the dishwasher-unloading for a long, long time.

Stay Humble

I certainly wasn't in any position to think about this while in the throes of sickness myself, but now that I'm on the flip side, I totally get it. Stay humble. I had pneumonia, but I had access to excellent, low-cost medical care (remind me to talk about Australia's system one day), more doctors than I could point a stick at (and when I didn't get my Magic Bullet pill, I really, really wanted to poke them with a stick!), x-rays and a plethora of medications designed, pretty much, with my sole comfort in mind. While I suffered on my couch, millions of people the world over were without access to medical care of any type. In the time I've taken to write this post, thousands of people in under-developed countries will have died from diseases we in the West would find a walk in the park with our shelves full of antibiotics, or our operating theatres. Pneumonia? May as well have been a mosquito bite.

Keep Things In Perspective

On February 7th and 8th, the state of Victoria was the scene of Australia's worst ever bushfires. The death toll from this tragedy stands at 210 (with around 30 people still unaccounted for) - many killed trying to defend their homes from furious fires that surrounded them without warning. The news has been littered with images of burnt out cars on the sides of roads. People died in cars trying to get to safety, the thought of which clutches at my heart. People had car accidents trying to flee and lost their only means of escape - there was one iconic image in the media of a cluster of cars which had been involved in an accident, reduced to a mere pile of metal and ash. It's an emotional time for Australia at the moment and something that would have been utterly incomprehensible just one month ago. Amazingly, fires continue to burn in parts of the state. What was I doing on February 7th? Whining about the fact my antibiotics weren't working. The most wonderful thing to come out of this horrible situation? The Red Cross Bushfire Appeal has raised more than $100 million, some of which has come from overseas sources. This is money from the pockets of ordinary, everyday people with (in plenty of cases) tight household budgets. Two days after the initial firefront passed through, donation centres were having to turn people bringing clothes and household equipment away because they had too much. There is such nobility in the world today, even with the various financial, political and religious crisis. We keep looking for the big things, the grand gestures - Pink, for example, donated a quarter of a million dollars to the bushfire appeal - but on the news each night I kept seeing children handing over their favourite teddy bear at a donation centre, or emptying their piggy bank, or organizing fundraisers at school.

What a wonderful legacy amongst such tragedy :)

For more Motivate Me Monday goodies, say hi over at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee - Sarah Mae is hosting a giveaway for MMM participants!

I Have Lost My Faith In (Webby) Humanity

So, my web host fell off the face of the earth and isn't returning my emails. I hope they followed the included link back here and saw my last post. I also hope they see this one: I will continue to email your sorry behinds daily until I get a response. Your customer service STINKS.

I'm feeling quite well today. Not too much coughing and boy, does that feel good. What a clear, non-phlegmy chest you have Grandma! All the better to send scathing letters of discontent to horrible web hosts, my dear!

I'm also annoyed at the web in general (with the exception of Bloggityville, of course) because I keep hearing about cool personal budgeting sites like Mint.com and then finding out they're useless for me down here in Australia because they link up automatically to your bank accounts and hello? They are not looking beyond their own borders for that. And also, I actually have a problem with budgeting websites that even require that. Does anyone know if there's a good, clean-interfaced site (oh, be still my beating, aesthetically-pleased heart, Mint) that is a straight out 'plug in your own figures manually' kind of deal? I've tried a few and thought I'd hit a good one with Expensr, but for some reason I haven't been able to log in today and it's rather annoying. No scratch that, I just tried again and it is working. But chime in with your suggestions anyway. I love the whole 'this is how much you have left in this category' part. And Expensr is more of a record keeper and 'at a glance' budgeting system - nothing too complicated. Which is perfect for me because I need to save my energy for all the quick email retorts.

It is looking increasingly likely that I have lost June 2008 - December 2008 content, nearly 100 posts. This has gotten right under my skin. I don't think there'll be any resolution.

Meh.