As I have sat here listing things to sell on auction sites, it has made me realise the need to own less. Lately I have listed cookbooks and knitting patterns, some of which belonged to my mum. My mum had a smallish collection of Australian Womens Weekly Menu Planners and a larger collection of knitting patterns, many of which had been torn from magazines over the years. When I lived at home I cooked many meals from the little Menu Planners and she gave me a few of them which contained my favourite recipes when I left home. When Mum had to move into a nursing home almost 3 years ago, 2 of my brothers and I were left to clear out her unit. My sister in law got in on the act too. I arrived there that morning after taking my kids to school to find a trailer half filled with "rubbish" (or so it was deemed by my sister in law and one of my brothers). I was shocked. Perfectly good woolen blankets were in that trailer. I got angry and hauled them back out,,,,honestly who would just toss out woolen blankets??? I told them that with 6 kids, I would certainly make use of them! I headed to the bookcase, knowing that my Mum's old encyclopeadias would be hitting the bin too. I piled them up to bring home with me, knowing that the kids would enjoy looking through them (and they have!). At the time I forgot about these little Menu Planners. It was only when I went to visit my brother the other week that I noticed sitting on top of a box at their front door, a large bundle of Menu Planners. I said to my Sis in Law "I didn't know you collected those too" and she said "oh I don't they were just some from your Mum's house that I'm giving to the Salvos cuz I don't want them". I took them out of the box and placed them in my car - she wasn't impressed - even though I said to her how sentimental they were and how much I had used them when I lived at home and how my kids have enjoyed cooking from them too. She muttered under her breath "you probably got the good ones at your house" lol. Upon getting them home I realised there were about a dozen that were double ups, I have no idea where those ones came from but I decided to list them and as with anything of mum's that I sell, I put the money aside to buy her some new clothes as the need arises. (My sister in law doesn't see the point in this either, but Mum gets the pension and by the time nursing home fees chew up that, there isn't much left for any luxuries for her, so to me, every little bit helps)
I guess the moral to my story here is that so many of us have so much "stuff" lying around our houses. When we get old and if the worst should happen and we have to suddenly go into a nursing home or we die unexpectedly, it is our children who get left to go through all that "stuff". I am a sentimental person and I have "inherited" boxes of mum's ornaments, suitcases of clothes and shelves of books. Naturally the clothing she has used, as I rotate clothes around for her taking up new clothes each change of season and bringing home the other stuff she has at the nursing home. As for the ornaments though, 99% of them are stored in boxes in my carport. I have taken out a few of the more sentimental items and have displayed them in my house but the rest sits in boxes. So much stuff did get either tossed out or given to the Salvos as there is only so much that you can keep. Her furniture had to get sold. It was a lot to deal with when we were all feeling so stressed out about the whole situation. Doing this made me decide to get rid of stuff in our house. I have so much to list and try to sell. So much stuff has been donated to the Salvos etc it is truly unbelievable.
While we are striving to live a simpler life and get rid of stuff we don't use, thinking back to my Mum's house makes me just want to get rid of it all NOW. I don't want my children having to go through our things and feeling guilty at having to get rid of it. My husband is right when he says we should try and sell stuff first and then if it doesn't sell either Freecycle it or give it to charity. We have always looked after our things and our kids have mostly done the same. Very little goes into the bin here, it is pretty much all worthy of earning a place in someone else's home to be given a second chance. My husband and I have decided this week that any money we make from selling our bits and pieces will go towards a holiday with the kids. Hopefully a trip to the Gold Coast again. Since so much of the things we have to sell are actually kids toys, we figure that they too, should benefit from their sale.
So for the time being, I will be striving to list as many things as I can. I sure could use that holiday and I know that emptying this house out a bit will make me feel much better too.
Showing posts with label Simple Living. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simple Living. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Do you remember when........
I may be showing my age a little here lol but.......
When 10 cents used to buy you a little bag of lollies at the corner shop;
When petrol used to be around 19 cents a litre;
When 40 cents would buy you a serve of hot chips at the local fish and chip shop;
When shops used to close at 12pm on a Saturday and Sundays the shops were shut completely;
When weekends used to be a time when majority of people didn't work and you could plan a family get-together with ease;
When going outside and making mud pies could entertain you for the whole afternoon;
When parents used to let the kids go bike riding alone and the kids would be gone for hours and the parents wouldn't worry;
When we used to go and spend the whole afternoon at the local rollerskating rink, skating to the Ghostbusters song and songs from Wham etc;
When there was no such thing as Playstation, Xbox and Wii and your time used to be spent reading books or colouring in and the like;
When songs on the radio didn't have to be censored and there were no songs like "Dirty Talk" that 8 and 9 year old children are singing along to;
When you didn't hear the "F" word coming out of young kids mouths and kids just out of nappies talking about things that kids have no place knowing about;
When times were simpler..............
Sitting here today I was thinking of my childhood and how simple and easy it was. Sure I used to complain that I was bored and had nothing to do sometimes but I would happily spend hours colouring in, making mud pies in the garden or my favourite,,,,absorbing myself in books. I remember as a teenager catching the bus to the library and coming home with a bag full of books on a Saturday afternoon and often sitting outside on a Sunday totally absorbed in my books. I remember when I was 10 or so and my next door neighbours and I would go bike riding down the local creek and catch tadpoles. We would be gone for hours but as long as were home for dinner our parents never worried where we were. How can the world have gotten so out of control in the last 30 years or so?
Times used to be so simple and kids used to be kids. Today life is just so complicated. I often think it is just me adding more stress than there needs to be, but today thinking about my childhood I realise how little I actually had but how satisfied I was. I often think that I would love to have brought my children up a little differently. Don't get me wrong they are fantastic kids and I think they all have good morals and values in them. None of them are troublesome kids. Sure we struggle with school but none are little terrors and get into trouble with the law. They know right from wrong. I would just like to prise them away from technology and show them a simpler way.
When we went camping for New Years, they had a great time. 3 days without an Xbox or computer etc in sight. To me it was perfect, to them not quite the same. When we arrived home after they helped us unpack, they all made beelines for their Xbox and others were straight to the computer to check their Facebook.
We have been watching the show "Worlds Apart" which is on Foxtel. This show takes an average American family and puts them with families in Africa, Mongolia, India, Malaysia etc. They are plunged into areas that have no running water, no electricity etc. They all struggle initially but at the end they have all been sad to leave. So many have commented that they have enjoyed the simple living, even the kids. I would love to do something like that with my children, to show them how little you need to live and to make them realise just how much they have.
While I am desperately trying to declutter, the whole thing overwhelms me. Before my divorce I lived a fairly simple existence. We never had much money (still don't lol) and we made do. My new Hubby is a little different and loves his technology. Of course my boys have just adapted to that without a problem. I am the one that feels "out" of it. I can survive quite nicely without technology and in fact prefer it. Hubby says that in today's world you can't live like that, you have to move with the times. I tell him to read some blogs and find just how many women are trying to do the same as I am and turning away to so some extent from the materialistic technology driven world of today.
To me the Amish people and the people living in remotes parts of the world are in some ways so much more fortunate than we are. They may no know about luxuries and they basically work just to survive but they are all so happy, they don't seem to have anger issues, their children are happy with very little. What is our western society teaching our children, when will our society say "Stop, enough is enough, lets get back to basics and work together to make this world a better place".
OK that is off my chest now, if you have made it this far you have done well. Lol my mind lately just seems to be in overdrive and constantly thinking,,,,this has been my morning thoughts of today. If you have got this far, I would also like to share with you a piccie. This bag is made with acrylic wool and cost me a whole $3. I love the way it has turned out. I am supposed to line it but my sewing skills kinda suck so I haven't lined it has yet. I figure it will be used mainly for evenings so it won't have much in it so I could probably get away without lining it. I can't wait to start using "real wool". At the moment I can't justify the extra money and my crochet work is still in the early "learning" stage so the cheaper wool will have to suffice for a little longer lol.
When 10 cents used to buy you a little bag of lollies at the corner shop;
When petrol used to be around 19 cents a litre;
When 40 cents would buy you a serve of hot chips at the local fish and chip shop;
When shops used to close at 12pm on a Saturday and Sundays the shops were shut completely;
When weekends used to be a time when majority of people didn't work and you could plan a family get-together with ease;
When going outside and making mud pies could entertain you for the whole afternoon;
When parents used to let the kids go bike riding alone and the kids would be gone for hours and the parents wouldn't worry;
When we used to go and spend the whole afternoon at the local rollerskating rink, skating to the Ghostbusters song and songs from Wham etc;
When there was no such thing as Playstation, Xbox and Wii and your time used to be spent reading books or colouring in and the like;
When songs on the radio didn't have to be censored and there were no songs like "Dirty Talk" that 8 and 9 year old children are singing along to;
When you didn't hear the "F" word coming out of young kids mouths and kids just out of nappies talking about things that kids have no place knowing about;
When times were simpler..............
Sitting here today I was thinking of my childhood and how simple and easy it was. Sure I used to complain that I was bored and had nothing to do sometimes but I would happily spend hours colouring in, making mud pies in the garden or my favourite,,,,absorbing myself in books. I remember as a teenager catching the bus to the library and coming home with a bag full of books on a Saturday afternoon and often sitting outside on a Sunday totally absorbed in my books. I remember when I was 10 or so and my next door neighbours and I would go bike riding down the local creek and catch tadpoles. We would be gone for hours but as long as were home for dinner our parents never worried where we were. How can the world have gotten so out of control in the last 30 years or so?
Times used to be so simple and kids used to be kids. Today life is just so complicated. I often think it is just me adding more stress than there needs to be, but today thinking about my childhood I realise how little I actually had but how satisfied I was. I often think that I would love to have brought my children up a little differently. Don't get me wrong they are fantastic kids and I think they all have good morals and values in them. None of them are troublesome kids. Sure we struggle with school but none are little terrors and get into trouble with the law. They know right from wrong. I would just like to prise them away from technology and show them a simpler way.
When we went camping for New Years, they had a great time. 3 days without an Xbox or computer etc in sight. To me it was perfect, to them not quite the same. When we arrived home after they helped us unpack, they all made beelines for their Xbox and others were straight to the computer to check their Facebook.
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Website for this imageSimple Living in Oregon unperson.com |
While I am desperately trying to declutter, the whole thing overwhelms me. Before my divorce I lived a fairly simple existence. We never had much money (still don't lol) and we made do. My new Hubby is a little different and loves his technology. Of course my boys have just adapted to that without a problem. I am the one that feels "out" of it. I can survive quite nicely without technology and in fact prefer it. Hubby says that in today's world you can't live like that, you have to move with the times. I tell him to read some blogs and find just how many women are trying to do the same as I am and turning away to so some extent from the materialistic technology driven world of today.
To me the Amish people and the people living in remotes parts of the world are in some ways so much more fortunate than we are. They may no know about luxuries and they basically work just to survive but they are all so happy, they don't seem to have anger issues, their children are happy with very little. What is our western society teaching our children, when will our society say "Stop, enough is enough, lets get back to basics and work together to make this world a better place".
OK that is off my chest now, if you have made it this far you have done well. Lol my mind lately just seems to be in overdrive and constantly thinking,,,,this has been my morning thoughts of today. If you have got this far, I would also like to share with you a piccie. This bag is made with acrylic wool and cost me a whole $3. I love the way it has turned out. I am supposed to line it but my sewing skills kinda suck so I haven't lined it has yet. I figure it will be used mainly for evenings so it won't have much in it so I could probably get away without lining it. I can't wait to start using "real wool". At the moment I can't justify the extra money and my crochet work is still in the early "learning" stage so the cheaper wool will have to suffice for a little longer lol.
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| Sorry for the pic, not that great. |
Friday, January 20, 2012
Our Garden Produce
Well here we are nearing the end of January already! I can't believe the school holidays have gone so fast. In that time I feel that I really haven't done alot with the kids and that always makes me a little sad. Out of the 6 weeks of school holidays we have 3 kids with birthdays, Christmas, New Year and two full weeks where we have Mr11 with autism which sadly for us means being confined to the house while Hubby is at work because I am unable to take him out by myself due to his behaviour when he is with me. This time with him also means that I have to stay within viewing distance of him at all times, also due to his behaviour. The kids decided they didn't want to play board games or do any crafty things with me in the kitchen/dine where I can keep an eye on Mr11 this time so that has meant that they have been spending alot of time on their Xbox or watching TV as it has also been too hot to spend alot of time outdoors. Having had my whinge though, none of the kids seem to mind, they have all seemed to enjoy the indoor relaxed time and I am the only one that seems to be bothered by it (Must be a "Mum" thing lol)
Looking ahead to the weather forecast for next week, the final week of school holidays, the forecast is for high 30's all week :(, way too hot to do too much yet again. I think a trip to the movies may be in order and maybe a night time trip to the beach, out of the heat of the day. Maybe we can get some baking done ready for school lunchboxes....oh yes and we have to do the dreaded school supplies shopping expedition! YUCK!!
When we went away for New Year, the weather here was around 40 degrees and our poor veggie garden suffered majorly! We were only away for 2 days but sadly my beloved tomatoes are yet to recover. I am picking the tomatoes off them that were growing at that time but no new ones are coming forth at all.
Also we had a bad wind gust not long before Christmas which broke a huge branch (The main branch) off of our nectarine tree. My Hubby hasn't yet had the time to chop it up and I am so glad that he hasn't. We have been able to get a few kilos of nectarines off the tree. I couldn't believe it when the nectarines which at the time of the tree getting destroyed, were lucky to be ping pong ball size, actually grew into normal sized nectarines. They taste beautiful too!! Sadly for the tree, it looks like the whole thing will now have to be removed as what is left just isn't worth having.
Here is a sample of our produce......
The nectarines you see are probably just 1/4 of what I ended up picking, with probably about another dozen or so still left on the tree. Our strawberry supply has been pretty constant this year, even if it generally is only 3-4 a day. The tomatoes aren't too bad, although not as nice as they should have been. The two large melon like things on either side are our mystery items. Believe it or not they grew from a Queensland Blue pumpkin plant. I have others growing which look like they are supposed to but these two grew like this and the flesh inside was very pale yellow and the only way I even knew it was pumpkin was because of a vague pumpkin smell lol. I cooked it up for the dogs and even they didn't like it. I don't have a clue what happened but somehow we grew a couple of freaky Queensland Blues lol.
Looking ahead to the weather forecast for next week, the final week of school holidays, the forecast is for high 30's all week :(, way too hot to do too much yet again. I think a trip to the movies may be in order and maybe a night time trip to the beach, out of the heat of the day. Maybe we can get some baking done ready for school lunchboxes....oh yes and we have to do the dreaded school supplies shopping expedition! YUCK!!
When we went away for New Year, the weather here was around 40 degrees and our poor veggie garden suffered majorly! We were only away for 2 days but sadly my beloved tomatoes are yet to recover. I am picking the tomatoes off them that were growing at that time but no new ones are coming forth at all.
Also we had a bad wind gust not long before Christmas which broke a huge branch (The main branch) off of our nectarine tree. My Hubby hasn't yet had the time to chop it up and I am so glad that he hasn't. We have been able to get a few kilos of nectarines off the tree. I couldn't believe it when the nectarines which at the time of the tree getting destroyed, were lucky to be ping pong ball size, actually grew into normal sized nectarines. They taste beautiful too!! Sadly for the tree, it looks like the whole thing will now have to be removed as what is left just isn't worth having.
Here is a sample of our produce......
The nectarines you see are probably just 1/4 of what I ended up picking, with probably about another dozen or so still left on the tree. Our strawberry supply has been pretty constant this year, even if it generally is only 3-4 a day. The tomatoes aren't too bad, although not as nice as they should have been. The two large melon like things on either side are our mystery items. Believe it or not they grew from a Queensland Blue pumpkin plant. I have others growing which look like they are supposed to but these two grew like this and the flesh inside was very pale yellow and the only way I even knew it was pumpkin was because of a vague pumpkin smell lol. I cooked it up for the dogs and even they didn't like it. I don't have a clue what happened but somehow we grew a couple of freaky Queensland Blues lol.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The joy of getting it right with Veggie Gardening
As many of you know, I haven't been that successful lately with my veggie gardening, with my greenhouse blowing over and destroying many of my seedlings. Well I do believe,,,,,touch wood lol,,,, that my luck has turned. I replanted seeds and I have had a huge amount of success, I quite honestly can't believe it! So much success in fact that I now have over 50 tomato seedlings growing, just waiting for their turn to grow a little bigger and to be planted into the garden (I may have to give some away lol, I don't have room for that many!!). We planted out some cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, tomatos, and various other seedlings last weekend and they are all doing really well too. This weekend I have some capsicums and some other melons waiting to go in. Hubby wants to keep all the tomato seedlings and try growing them in buckets. His plan is to preserve tomatos, lots of tomatos so that we won't need to buy sauce for pizza, pasta, or for that matter anything for the next year.....I know who he is thinking will do all the preserving lol and I don't think it is him.
When my little greenhouse toppled over, I did as a few of you suggested and I just threw the soil which contained the seeds, onto the veggie patch. Well we now have nasturtiums, a couple of tomatos, and few other things that have popped up which I'm not sure what they are lol. It has done quite well considering.
This year is the first year that we seem to be succeeding and it is amazing how you feel so inspired when you actually get a few successes under your belt. I bought a raspberry plant last year and we put that in the ground a few months ago,,,,,I now have a few raspberry plants! I can't wait to be able to make my own raspberry jam,,,yummy! Our strawberries are producing, not huge amounts but enough for me to go and pick a few each day and not to have to share them lol (sshhhh don't tell anyone!!)
Just a few months ago our selection of 10 fruit trees arrived from an order we put in with Diggers. They arrived as little sticks and we planted them out into large pots so that they could form a fence of sorts around our new veggie patch to keep the dogs out. Well they are all now very healthy looking young trees. There is only one apple that seems to be lagging behind the rest but that one thankfully is showing signs of growth this week. We wanted to pot them up also because we are in the limbo land about whether or not to move and I know that if those trees get put in the ground then we will stay here because I won't want to leave them behind lol. This block isn't really big enough for ten fruit trees, although half of them are dwarf varieties, I must admit. If we plant them all our yard will truly become just a large vegetable plot, although with the world the way it is, that may not be such a bad thing!! If we decide to stay here, then they will be planted out and our entire yard will become productive, that is my plan. I figure if we are staying here then who cares what anyone else thinks lol. At least we will be feeding our children healthy organic fruit and veggies and saving quite a bit of money in the process.
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| Yes I know its not a fruiting plant but I just love my Fuschia!! This was one I rescued from the sad table at Bunnings,,,it cost me $1.00. 1 year on and just look at the flowers! |
When my little greenhouse toppled over, I did as a few of you suggested and I just threw the soil which contained the seeds, onto the veggie patch. Well we now have nasturtiums, a couple of tomatos, and few other things that have popped up which I'm not sure what they are lol. It has done quite well considering.
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| Recent rains have made the weeds go mad but here you can just see the nasturtiums that popped up after our greenhouse incident. Surrounding the veggie patch are our fruit trees which we have potted up. They are all doing so well!!!! |
This year is the first year that we seem to be succeeding and it is amazing how you feel so inspired when you actually get a few successes under your belt. I bought a raspberry plant last year and we put that in the ground a few months ago,,,,,I now have a few raspberry plants! I can't wait to be able to make my own raspberry jam,,,yummy! Our strawberries are producing, not huge amounts but enough for me to go and pick a few each day and not to have to share them lol (sshhhh don't tell anyone!!)
Just a few months ago our selection of 10 fruit trees arrived from an order we put in with Diggers. They arrived as little sticks and we planted them out into large pots so that they could form a fence of sorts around our new veggie patch to keep the dogs out. Well they are all now very healthy looking young trees. There is only one apple that seems to be lagging behind the rest but that one thankfully is showing signs of growth this week. We wanted to pot them up also because we are in the limbo land about whether or not to move and I know that if those trees get put in the ground then we will stay here because I won't want to leave them behind lol. This block isn't really big enough for ten fruit trees, although half of them are dwarf varieties, I must admit. If we plant them all our yard will truly become just a large vegetable plot, although with the world the way it is, that may not be such a bad thing!! If we decide to stay here, then they will be planted out and our entire yard will become productive, that is my plan. I figure if we are staying here then who cares what anyone else thinks lol. At least we will be feeding our children healthy organic fruit and veggies and saving quite a bit of money in the process.
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| This is an old clam shell pool that now grows our Rocket and some lettuce. We just planted a few cherry tomatos in here too. |
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| Sorry for the sideways photo - Some recent purchases - Blueberry, Lemon Myrtle, Spanish Licorice and a couple of flowering plants |
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| Our old veggie patch which has our rhubarb plant and two tomatoes left over from last year which are beginning to fruit again! |
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| Mr14's Peacharine tree - hopefully next year it may get more fruit!! |
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| Strawberries, Tomatoes and Passionfruit waiting to be planted out |
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| Sorry lol,,,,,I just love washing on a Hills Hoist drying in the breeze! This also shows how mad the grass and weeds have gone,,,,,this was mowed just over a week ago! |
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| Our new veggie patch with Mr9's sunflowers growing bigger each day |
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| My seedling table,,,,,,I just separated many of the seedlings yesterday,,,,as you can see we have many, many, many tomatos lol |
Monday, July 4, 2011
Blogs are so addictive but can be helpful in deciding what you want to do with your life!
This week has been a very quiet week. I have been pondering life and the choices that must be made and the impact our choices will make on the future of our children and of course us. Also while pondering I have been exploring many new (to me) blogs and becoming absorbed into the lives of the people who write them. Now of course blogging is only a tiny picture of someone's life. People choose the parts of their lives they are willing to share and keep private those that they feel unable to share. For me, this blog has been my little place where I can have a moan and groan about life on several occasions but also to share the fun bits. I have mentioned before that Hubby and I would ideally like to move to a place which has more land.
For a long time now, Hubby and I have dreamt of being able to grow more vegetables and fruits. We would also love to have angora goats. Hubby would love to have a dairy farm but finances just won't allow that kind of thing to happen. I would love to have a cow that we could milk though, just for ourselves. I dream of having a decent size chicken coop, being able to produce our own eggs each day would be wonderful.
Naturally though, we worry about being able to support ourselves. To live our dream we would also like to move interstate. Doing this of course would force the kids to move schools and restart their lives and their social circles, not to mention their part time jobs etc. It would also create issues with our ex partners when it comes to visitation for the kids.
We have a lot of work to do to this house to get it up to scratch for selling, this will take time. I have been working at listing things on Ebay/Quicksales in order to declutter and also making lots of donations to the local op shops but there is still so much clutter to conquer. Add to that painting inside and out and floor coverings that need replacing and we sure do have our work cut out for us. We are thinking of giving ourselves 2 years to get everything sorted and then make a move.
We have a lot of decisions to make. Reading blogs keeps my dream firmly planted in my mind as I read blogs about large families making decent lives for themselves in country areas. I desperately want to lead a more simple life as I truly feel suffocated here. Suffocated by not only our clutter, but also the constant pressures imposed on the kids to have bigger, better, more of everything. I want to scream and say "You just don't need it". As I have mentioned before, our house contains the usual array of gadgets and I don't mind to an extent. I just want to prove to the kids that this life in suburbia isn't all there is. There is another way to live, one which doesn't revolve around screens. All their friends are the same though, the world revolves around their Xbox or computer and it makes me really sad. I try to limit this but it is always an uphill battle for me as I am trying to go against the "norm" of society and their friends. I drag these kids out for walks and bike rides. They enjoy these things once they are out but these days it isn't something that they choose to do willingly.
Yesterday Mr14 was at soccer and Mr16 was at his part time job. Hubby and I dragged the younger two out for a bike ride. I had a sore back so Hubby and I walked and we went down along the Little Para River trail. It was lovely with many rainbow lorikeets flying amongst the gum trees and the river had a gentle flow to it (the river is more like a stream or creek than a river at the part where we live). It was beautiful and if you can block out the sight of the houses on either side and just absorb yourself into the 50-100 metre wide wilderness setting in the middle it is really nice. The kids enjoyed not having to watch carefully for cars reversing out of driveways and stopping at each corner to wait for us to catch up. Hubby and I have decided that this will be our regular weekend bike ride now maybe even taking a picnic lunch to have along the way. This area is only a 15 minute walk from our house but is one that we don't get to very often,,,,yet another thing that makes me sad. Our lives are just so full on that we have to remember to stop and make the time to just chill out and relax.
I apologise for yet another ramble of a post but there is so much going on in my little brain right now, it is kind of fried lol. I'm sure though, that I am not the only one to feel this way so I know that there are many people who will nod their heads and agree with at least snippets of what I have said above.
Here are a couple of the blogs that I have been reading which have reinforced my desire to strive for a simpler life:
Gooseberry Jam
Killiecrankie Farm
Farm Mama
Hazeltree Farm
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
For a long time now, Hubby and I have dreamt of being able to grow more vegetables and fruits. We would also love to have angora goats. Hubby would love to have a dairy farm but finances just won't allow that kind of thing to happen. I would love to have a cow that we could milk though, just for ourselves. I dream of having a decent size chicken coop, being able to produce our own eggs each day would be wonderful.
Naturally though, we worry about being able to support ourselves. To live our dream we would also like to move interstate. Doing this of course would force the kids to move schools and restart their lives and their social circles, not to mention their part time jobs etc. It would also create issues with our ex partners when it comes to visitation for the kids.
We have a lot of work to do to this house to get it up to scratch for selling, this will take time. I have been working at listing things on Ebay/Quicksales in order to declutter and also making lots of donations to the local op shops but there is still so much clutter to conquer. Add to that painting inside and out and floor coverings that need replacing and we sure do have our work cut out for us. We are thinking of giving ourselves 2 years to get everything sorted and then make a move.
We have a lot of decisions to make. Reading blogs keeps my dream firmly planted in my mind as I read blogs about large families making decent lives for themselves in country areas. I desperately want to lead a more simple life as I truly feel suffocated here. Suffocated by not only our clutter, but also the constant pressures imposed on the kids to have bigger, better, more of everything. I want to scream and say "You just don't need it". As I have mentioned before, our house contains the usual array of gadgets and I don't mind to an extent. I just want to prove to the kids that this life in suburbia isn't all there is. There is another way to live, one which doesn't revolve around screens. All their friends are the same though, the world revolves around their Xbox or computer and it makes me really sad. I try to limit this but it is always an uphill battle for me as I am trying to go against the "norm" of society and their friends. I drag these kids out for walks and bike rides. They enjoy these things once they are out but these days it isn't something that they choose to do willingly.
Yesterday Mr14 was at soccer and Mr16 was at his part time job. Hubby and I dragged the younger two out for a bike ride. I had a sore back so Hubby and I walked and we went down along the Little Para River trail. It was lovely with many rainbow lorikeets flying amongst the gum trees and the river had a gentle flow to it (the river is more like a stream or creek than a river at the part where we live). It was beautiful and if you can block out the sight of the houses on either side and just absorb yourself into the 50-100 metre wide wilderness setting in the middle it is really nice. The kids enjoyed not having to watch carefully for cars reversing out of driveways and stopping at each corner to wait for us to catch up. Hubby and I have decided that this will be our regular weekend bike ride now maybe even taking a picnic lunch to have along the way. This area is only a 15 minute walk from our house but is one that we don't get to very often,,,,yet another thing that makes me sad. Our lives are just so full on that we have to remember to stop and make the time to just chill out and relax.
I apologise for yet another ramble of a post but there is so much going on in my little brain right now, it is kind of fried lol. I'm sure though, that I am not the only one to feel this way so I know that there are many people who will nod their heads and agree with at least snippets of what I have said above.
Here are a couple of the blogs that I have been reading which have reinforced my desire to strive for a simpler life:
Gooseberry Jam
Killiecrankie Farm
Farm Mama
Hazeltree Farm
I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!
Thursday, April 14, 2011
The Art of Crochet - Square Number 2
Well here we are with Square number 2 in The Art of Crochet rug. This one for some reason I found a little tricky to get right and I feel even now that I have finished it that something isn't quite right, but it is done lol. There will be others similar to this to do so hopefully I can refine my skills in the Scallop Lace Square at some point further on. The rug, for me at least, is a kind of practice piece. For me, it will be the piece of work I can look back on and say "I started my crochet skills with this rug".
I love to learn new skills and for my family, we are just starting out really on the "Simple Life" style of living. We have so far to go, but we have already come so far too. Yes, my house still holds way too much clutter, but little by little we are getting rid of it. I am trying to sell as much as I can but at the same time I am being realistic and only holding on to things for a limited amount of time. If it doesn't sell online it goes to a charity shop. Some things are just too bulky to warrant paying out large amounts for postage so logically the charities get those items. Everything we buy gets scrutinised carefully, "do we really need it", "how much use will it get", and the myriad of questions that those living the simple life ask. We certainly still have our wants but those wants are becoming less as we strive to live a more self sufficient lifestyle.
Yesterday I saw the front page of The Advertiser and it worried me. It was talking about the power plant our near Port Augusta and how it would likely be closing down by about 2015 and how it supplies 40% or our State's power and now we would have to get power from Victoria etc. Part of me sees this as possibly being time for us to make a move interstate. We have talked about moving interstate and getting a country property, that is our dream, or maybe move back to Hubby's homeland of New Zealand. One thing that causes us a problem is the fact that we are a blended family and we have two ex-partners and 6 kids between us that still need to see those ex-partners. I do believe it may be time to seriously start to consider our options, I just don't know that SA will be the place to be in years to come, then again the world is changing, so where is the place to be in ten, twenty or thirty years time????
Friday, October 22, 2010
It's the simple things in life......
I love spring. It breathes new life into everyone and everything. Even the worst garden springs forth with beauty even if it is just soursobs showing off their small yellow heads in the morning breeze.
My garden is hardly a masterpiece, I definitely don't have a green thumb but my rose bushes are full of buds. I went outside this morning to find these two little beauties, just begging to come inside. The bush next to this one is an orange-yellow colour with a red rim and I can't wait to see it show off it's beauty too.
But for now on this warm spring morning, please enjoy a little bit of my garden with me.....
Thursday, September 16, 2010
What to do when the Simple Life becomes hard to Accomplish???
Well finally after years,,,,yes thats right YEARS of procrastination and excuses, we are finally making a start on the "lets make this house a home" thing. When my Ex Husband and I bought this place almost 9 years ago, I hated the walls and the carpet in the loungeroom. The walls were all a grotty beige colour and the carpet in the lounge was pretty grotty but no amount of carpet cleaning really ever made it look better. Now finally after my new Hubby and I being married for almost 3 years already we are finally making a start. We have come to the decision that this house is where we will be staying for probably the next 10 years at least and we want to make it more "us".
Of course in doing this though, our "simple life" ambition of spending less and recycling as much as possible and trying to become more self sufficient has kind of gone AWOL. We have so many things that we want to do that we just can't find the time to get any of them achieved lol,,,,and as for spending less....geez that goes out the window when we make a list of all the things that need fixing!!!
I plan on decorating on a shoestring and only replacing what is in need of replacement, but even so the price of paint and floor coverings can be pretty horrendous by themselves!!
The following is my To Do List in no particular order (these are the main big things that I want to get done)
Paint the house room by room (this applies to ceilings as well as walls, doors and door frames and skirting boards)
Decorate room by room as we paint
Declutter yet again
Get our boxes and boxes of items for Ebay/Oztion listed and out of the house
Get our gardens (front and back) looking presentable
Get our veggie gardens growing productively (at the moment we are mainly growing in pots)
Paint the outside of the house
Get our outdoor area turned into an entertainment area rather than just a doggie haven
Finish making my stepson's quilt
Finish my knitting (I have about 6 things waiting to be knitted up that are meant to be towards kids xmas gifts)
Get better at crocheting and make a rug (am currently learning)
Paper Scrapbook the 1000 or so photos I got printed out of my hubby and I's trip to NZ back in 2007
Digital scrapbook the 1000s of photos that I have stored on my computer of photos going back to the 1050s and all of my children's photos from birth to now.
Finish collating my recipes into files on my computer
Work through my recipe file, making each individual recipe, starting at the beginning of the file and working my way through.....currently I have approx 800 savoury meals and approx 1000 sweet dishes with a lot more still to add.
Well that is just a quick run down of the most important things I want to get done.........looking at it written down I can see why I feel stressed about it lol.
Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to tackle my to do list????? I am normally a pretty systematic type of person, but lately I feel constantly overwhelmed by my list, there just aren't enough hours in the day to get to any of the things listed above as well as keep the house in some kind of clean and tidy order and care for the 6 kids and hubby and the pets. I think I need to clone myself!!!!! AAAGGHHHHHHHHH
PICTURES found in domesticali.typepad.com and The Simple Dollar
Monday, September 6, 2010
Homemade Liquid Hand Soap - So easy and best of all its really cheap
After reading Cluttercut's blog the other day, I found her recipe for Liquid Soap and I decided I just had to give it a try. You can read about it here and get this brilliant recipe which will definitely help you to save and also supply your family with a nice basic soap that is very gentle to skin and is great when you have family members with sensitive skin.
http://cluttercut.blogspot.com/2010/08/really-really-easy-liquid-soap-recipe.html
I had a little bit of trouble finding the Glycerine but finally tracked it down in a Woolworths supermarket!! It is only a 200ml bottle but it will last a while considering you only need to use 1T of it per batch.
Here is my first attempt at making the soap. I produced this full jar plus approx 250ml which is happily sitting on my kitchen bench being used now.
I really like it. It doesn't leave you with a scent on your hands, so if you like to have that fresh just washed hands smell you may like to add a little essential oil, but I find that it is fine without it. I have one boy who gets dermatitis and he has found it great to use, it doesn't aggravate him at all and another boy who tends to sneeze at any strong scents so once again it is perfect just as it is for our household.
I have noticed that it has solidified a bit in this glass jar but that will be solved with a quick jab with the stick mixer when it is time to use it. The bit that is sitting in our soap dispenser is fine, it hasn't solidified at all. I think if it did, I would just add a little water and give it a shake and it would be back to perfection again lol.
I figure that it will save me quite a bit. I was only buying the homebrand liquid soap which was costing me approx $1.40 for a 500ml bottle. Even at that cheap price it would still have cost me approx $4.80 for the same amount I have just made for less than $2.00. So this to me is a bargain. It took very little time to make and very little effort on my part. We are trying to save money wherever we can so this will be a great help, it may not seem like alot but it all adds up.
On the subject of saving money, we were amazed when we counted our spare change that we have been accumulating in our piggy money box. All year we have been putting our spare change into our pig to save up for a trip to the Royal Adelaide Show. This always costs a considerable amount when you have 4 children in tow especially when the rides are $10 a pop (we take my boys one year and then Hubby's two children the next year). This year upon counting our Piggy we were amazed that we had managed to save $457.65. Add that to the $82.00 worth of empty bottles we took to the recyclers and there is the show paid for and hopefully change at the end to put back in the jar!!
Okay I am off to enjoy the sunshine while we have it,,,,it has been a wild weekend and apparently more bad weather is on the way.
http://cluttercut.blogspot.com/2010/08/really-really-easy-liquid-soap-recipe.html
I had a little bit of trouble finding the Glycerine but finally tracked it down in a Woolworths supermarket!! It is only a 200ml bottle but it will last a while considering you only need to use 1T of it per batch.
Here is my first attempt at making the soap. I produced this full jar plus approx 250ml which is happily sitting on my kitchen bench being used now.
I really like it. It doesn't leave you with a scent on your hands, so if you like to have that fresh just washed hands smell you may like to add a little essential oil, but I find that it is fine without it. I have one boy who gets dermatitis and he has found it great to use, it doesn't aggravate him at all and another boy who tends to sneeze at any strong scents so once again it is perfect just as it is for our household.
I have noticed that it has solidified a bit in this glass jar but that will be solved with a quick jab with the stick mixer when it is time to use it. The bit that is sitting in our soap dispenser is fine, it hasn't solidified at all. I think if it did, I would just add a little water and give it a shake and it would be back to perfection again lol.
I figure that it will save me quite a bit. I was only buying the homebrand liquid soap which was costing me approx $1.40 for a 500ml bottle. Even at that cheap price it would still have cost me approx $4.80 for the same amount I have just made for less than $2.00. So this to me is a bargain. It took very little time to make and very little effort on my part. We are trying to save money wherever we can so this will be a great help, it may not seem like alot but it all adds up.
On the subject of saving money, we were amazed when we counted our spare change that we have been accumulating in our piggy money box. All year we have been putting our spare change into our pig to save up for a trip to the Royal Adelaide Show. This always costs a considerable amount when you have 4 children in tow especially when the rides are $10 a pop (we take my boys one year and then Hubby's two children the next year). This year upon counting our Piggy we were amazed that we had managed to save $457.65. Add that to the $82.00 worth of empty bottles we took to the recyclers and there is the show paid for and hopefully change at the end to put back in the jar!!
Okay I am off to enjoy the sunshine while we have it,,,,it has been a wild weekend and apparently more bad weather is on the way.
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