Gorge Wildlife Park - what a beautiful day!! WARNING PICTURE HEAVY!

On the Monday of the last week of school holiday (Jan 24) we took the boys up to the Gorge Wildlife Park which is about 40 minutes away from our house.  It is a beautiful drive up there winding through the foot hills and around the reservoir.  It was certainly nice to see at this time of the year a healthy water level, so very different from this time last year, that is for sure!!

The Gorge Wildlife Park has been operating for many years, I remember going there many times when I was a kid and I have always loved it.  It is a privately run park and one that hasn't really changed much over the years.  We all adored the monkeys.  If you are brave you can actually hand them peanuts or a biscuit to eat.  One of them was so funny, Mr8 was dancing around and the monkey was copying his swaying movement, going the same way as Mr8.  When Mr8 stopped dancing the monkey got stroppy and through a "monkey tantrum" as Mr8 called it lol.  He ran screeched and ran down to the bottom of the cage to grab an apple out of the dish.  Then he ran back up and tried to throw it through the bars, when it wouldn't fit he grabbed it with both hands and started banging it on the bars so that apple flew everywhere, straight for Mr8.  I said to Mr8 that he had best start dancing again, so he did and the monkey was happy and started swaying again.  I so wish I had taken the video camera (silly me forgot about the video function on the camera duhhhhh).  Needless to say we spent quite a while at the monkeys and the monkey through a tantrum each time Mr8 stopped dancing lol.

Here are a few photos of our day.....

  meerkat

Mr10 

 Mr 8

 Mr 16

 Mr14

 Hubby (looks really thrilled doesn't he,,,,,,he is a kiwi and this was the first time he has held a koala and thats the best smile he could give me lol geeeeeeeeez!!)

 Me....I love koalas, I so wanted to take this one home (excuse the bad hair day lol)

 A little duckie friend

 THE monkey!!

 Albino wallaby and baby

 Kangaroo

 These camels were so cheeky (the one closest to the front even reached out and licked Mr16 right up the side of his face lol)

 I love eagles!!

 Isn't this dingo beautiful - he was a real poser........on the last Sunday of each month they get some animals out and walk around the park with them, the dingos are one of them......will have to go back again!!

Mr 8 also made good friends with a few of the kangaroos in the park lol  This one kept following him and was letting him hug him.....I haven't seen a kangaroo that was quite so affectionate before.

Back to School and Unbearable Heat

Why does the beginning of the school year always start off so darn hot!!!!  I have to admit that here in Adelaide we have had a pretty mild start to summer but geez why did it have to hit us all in one hit this weekend and today when the kids are having their first day back at school!!!!

The kids went off without too many dramas this morning, I have to say compared to previous years this one was bliss, although I am a little scared of what the afterschool pickup may bring.  The eldest two Mr16 and Mr14 went off no problems (I just can't believe they are in Year 11 and Year 9 this year!!!,,,,,my babies are growing up wayyyyyyy too fast, I'm so not ready for this!!).  The younger two Mr10 and Mr8 are in Years 5 and 3 this year.  These are the two I am worried about.  Mr10 wasn't concerned until he got to school and then said he was pretty nervous, but he went in with just a kiss and a hug so I will see what happens (he is my main concern though).  His teacher is a real no nonsense type of woman who doesn't smile much.  The older two both had her in year 5 as well so I know how hard she can be......I'm nervous too on this one!!!  Mr8 should be fine, he is in the same room, with the same teacher who he adores and half the kids he had last year so very little change.  He was the one who had me concerned last night though as he cried for 2 hours when he went to bed.  He kept saying he didn't know why he was crying and my patience was running out.  Finally he told us that the kids at school keep calling him fat.  Why do kids have to be so cruel?????  He was always a tiny little thing but then over the last 18 months he has put on quite a bit of weight and yes he is on the chubby side but then his older two brothers both went through a chubby stage too and then got to about the age of 12 and thinned right down.  But he is insisting that he start walking/running on the treadmill to lose weight anyway.  I will keep an eye on how this goes and talk to the teacher if he comes home upset again tonight.


OK off I go to the shops,,,,,have put it off long enough lol and it is only getting hotter out there!!!

CORIANDER, PARSLEY AND LEMON COUS COUS SALAD

All I seem to post about in the recipe section is sweets it seems (lol probably the reason why I am currently dieting!!!).

So today I decided to share a recipe I discovered at christmas time last year.  This salad is just divine and so simple to make.  I got this recipe from the Coles Christmas Magazine of 2010.  That free little magazine has so many recipes that I want to try!!

Coriander Parsley and Lemon Cous Cous Salad

COUS COUS

3 cups Chicken Stock

3 cups uncooked Cous Cous

zest of 1 lemon

2 lebanese cucumbers peeled seeded and diced finely (I used a continental cucumber and left the peel on)

1 cup sultanas

1 bunch of shallots

1 cup parsley leaves, roughly chopped

1 cup fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped

4 spring onions, cut into 4mm pieces on an angle

VINAIGRETTE

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp Italian Red Wine Vinegar

3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In a large saucepan, heat stock over medium heat and bring to simmer

Add cous cous and lemon zest, and stir.

Turn off heat, cover pan and let sit for 5 minutes.

Remove cous cous from the pot and fluff with a fork, then put on a baking tray to cool.

To make the vinaigrette:  Place lemon juice and vinegar in a mixing bowl and slowly add the oil while whisking.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

In a separate large mixing bowl combine cooled cous cous, cucumber, sultanas, shallots, herbs and half the spring onions and mix well.

Add enough vinaigrette to lightly coat salad, toss once more and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Spoon salad into large bowl and garnish with remaining spring onions and serve.

This salad really is simple to make and sooooo yummy.  The best thing is it keeps for days in the fridge without losing its taste or look, unlike so many salads.  You can easily make this a day before a party knowing it will keep well.

CHOCOLATE CAKE FOR A CROWD!

Mr10 and I were feeling a little bored yesterday so we made his favourite chocolate cake.  This cake is fantastic for large families as it makes a huge, and I mean huge cake.  You can either cook it in 4 loaf tins or as I did yesterday in a baking tray.  My baking tray is a bay moree tray (that ain't the right spelling lol but right now I have a total brain malfunction and cannot for life of me remember how to spell it correctly lol,,,,I am referring to the trays they uses in the warmers at a smorgasbord/buffet lol).

I got the recipe for this one from my sister-in-law a few months ago and it has been a regular on my baking list since then.  Every time it has come out light, moist and fluffy.  In this picture we sprinkled it with caster sugar just to add a slight crispness to the top....my son was a little heavy handed lol, but once I cut it up to freeze some, the excess sugar came off.

 Here is the recipe.  Originally it was taken from a little newsletter or recipe book printed by the Renmark Marching Girls Club way back in 1985.

CHOCOLATE CAKE

4oz margarine

2 eggs

2-3 dessertspoons cocoa

1 cup milk

2 cups sugar

2 dessertspoons golden syrup

3 cups of SR Flour

Mix all ingredients together.  

Once thoroughly mixed add 1 cup of boiling water to which has been added 1 teaspoon of bicarb soda.

Bake in a moderate oven for 45 minutes  (my oven takes more like an hour).

Makes 4 log tins or 1 large tin

How easy is that!!!  Very little effort for such a large cake which will feed the family for quite a while.

The things you do when boredom hits..... and it ain't even the kids that are bored lol

Yesterday I was bored beyond belief.  The kids were all entranced on various computer/tv games.....not great I know but yesterday I really couldn't deal with any complaining other than that of my autistic stepson so I let them go for it on their chosen activities.  You see, my stepson has not liked me much lately.  He can't express this verbally as he cannot talk so he does it in ways that make me feel like utter crap.  I can honestly say that the way he carries on when his dad goes to work, is like a child who is terrified of being beaten.  That is how it feels to me as he only carries on like this when his dad leaves and I have to care for him myself.  If I have one of the other kids with me it isn't so bad, he is reasonable but the second they walk away he is literally screaming.  I have exhausted all avenues.  I have tried to console and be extra nice and gentle.....he just screams louder.  I have tried the firm way of talking to him, once again screaming....I have now resorted to traditional "time out" type punishment.  I turn off his beloved dvd/tv, if he continues screaming the computer which has his music on it gets turned off, if he still continues he sits on the couch and if after all that he still continues he is sitting on a chair in the middle of the kitchen.  Yesterday it was just a continual cycle.  I would allow his things back again and within 5 minutes he would start up again, crying, yelling, screaming, throwing himself on the floor, hitting things, tearing the curtains (yes he did that).  Today is no better but I am determined that this child will not beat me.  I cannot let a 10 year old rule my life and that of the other 5 kids in the house to such an extent.

So yesterday, since I was chained to the kitchen/dining area (this is everyday occurrence when said child is here because if I disappear from view he will ransack the computer desk trying to find discs, I decided to get a little creative and made this little guy....(I know the sewing sucks, my machine decided it would not longer do zigzag stitch and also refused to reverse) and I should have just hand sewn the eyes and nose because I am hopeless at sewing circles lol but oh well he got made nevertheless.  He was a pattern I made ages ago for some little "alien men" as my son called them then.

Ok here goes, I cringe at sharing this but hey I did say I would share everything I try didn't I lol.

Gone at the speed of light

Here I sit wondering how the time as flown since my last post.  We have seen Christmas and the New Year fly by so fast!!  The kids only have another couple of weeks of school holidays and I really, really don't want them to go back to school (did I say that??? lol).  Now normally school holidays seem to drag on and I have way to many "I'm Bored" whines coming from the kids.  Well these school holidays they have been different.  Maybe they are just older and more content to stay home varying between Xbox, Wii, Board games, bike riding and general mucking around I don't know.  For me these holidays have been one of guilt and frustration at not being able to afford to really do anything with them.  So far in the 4.5 weeks they have been home we have gone out for dinner for Mr14's birthday, taken a trip down to Horseshoe Bay near Victor Harbor for a day and that is about it.  The rest of the time they have been home "just filling in time".  I feel terrible about that.  To make matters worse, I have been absolutely clueless as to what to do with them.  The weather has been warm, a little too warm to do much outside (doesn't help that I hate the heat!!).


This year I really want to stop procrastinating and JUST DO stuff.  There is so much we want to achieve and I have been feeling overwhelmed and swamped by it all for almost two years now.  I think I try to do everything and be everything for everyone and somewhere I have lost sight of the true meaning of life and how to just get on with the things that make life enjoyable (I know I probably don't make sense do I lol).

The kids are growing up way too fast and I feel like I'm somehow not making the most of their childhoods.  I have no I idea what I am really trying to say today so think I will just end it there and hope that someone, somewhere can make some sense of it all.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Can you believe it is December 23 already!!!!

Gee this year has just flown by and with all the craziness of the festive season, I thought I had better get my Christmas wishes done before time escaped me altogether lol.

It is crazy in this house. Excited kids, frazzled parents and animal mayhem, put all this together and you can get some idea of what my house is like right now lol.

I have resigned myself to the fact that although I am still very disorganised this year time is going to pass whether I like it or not so I should just keep plodding and at the end of the day it will all come together somehow.....may be not quite the way I would have liked but I know the kids will have fun anyway!!

My eldest boy turns 16 tomorrow (yes Christmas Eve!) and I can't believe where the time has gone.  He has gone from this cute little bundle.....

to this gorgeous teenager with a heart of gold.

Time goes by too darn fast, it truly does.  In the blink of an eye they are all grown up and beginning to make decisions for their future lives.

So to everyone, from my family to yours, we hope you have a wonderful and safe Christmas and a fantastic new year!!!

Here are some wishes from our hopes for next year (we are hoping to become Greyhound Foster carers to help save and give forever homes to some very special greyhounds.  We will let you all know how that goes.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Ho Ho Ho...lets find the christmas cheer shall we.......

Well school holidays are here and this year finds me in a very, shall we say, unfestive mood.  I am feeling very tense and stressed and not at all like I normally do this close to christmas.  This year just feel like everything is happening and I don't have time to stop and smell the roses.

3 weeks ago our cat had his tail amputated,,,,,,he is fine but our bank balance took a real hammering.  Yesterday our older dog needed surgery to remove grass seeds from his ear and his paw, once again the bank balance got hammered and very nearly emptied.  On top of all this school holidays have started and my eldest son turns 16 on Christmas Eve and is having a birthday party next Tuesday night.  He isn't having anything flash, just a few friends over for a pizza dinner, followed by a trip to the movies and then a sleepover back here, but sadly all the expenses add up.

We are also hosting christmas lunch for my brother this year, so it will be 12 here for lunch and then of course since we have a blended family I have my kids for the morning until about 4pm and then we have hubby's kids for the night.  I feel that I will miss out on spending quality time with my guys during the day because we have so much to get ready for lunch and we also need to fit in a visit to my mum who is in a nursing home before lunch.


Does anyone else feel intense pressure to have christmas day just perfect for everyone and you always feel like you haven't achieved that?????

Hump Day Musings........

Can you believe it.......only 2 days left of the school year!!!!!

I am SOOOOOOO NOT ORGANISED this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  AAAGGGGGHHHHHHHH

I'm not ready for the kids to be home for 7 weeks straight and I'm certainly no where near organised for Christmas day.

Seriously I have never in my life been so disorganised as this year and it is stressing me out.

I haven't even started wrapping and laybys are still at the shops.  Normally everything is wrapped and stashed away by now and I have all the food for the day and my son's birthday on christmas eve,,,,this year nothing.

I had better pull my finger out and start moving!

More scrapbooking......

 

These were a few of the older photos I have in my albums which I kept from my Mum's collection when she went into a nursing home last year.  I scanned most of her family pictures before dividing them up between my brothers and I.

I had a little trouble scanning these old black and white photos successfully but thank fully the actual printed version which I have printed up for my albums are much clearer than they appear on here.

I love digital scrapbooking but get very little time lately to get to my crafting.  Still, I guess I should be grateful for the little bits I do achieve lol.

 

The end of another school year

Here we are with just under three weeks left of the school term!  Where has this year gone????  I truly thought it was just me getting older but even the kids are commenting at how fast this year has gone by.

With Christmas Pageants done and the christmas tree put up, we are now faced with our traditional hanging of the christmas lights.  I have boxes of lights sitting here waiting for the weather to cool a little for us to hang our outside lights.  It seems like such a lot of hard work each year but to me it is a little piece of happiness that we can give to our community.  We don't have lots of lights but I think our house looks quite pretty each christmas with what we do have.  This year my hubby has just bought a 3 metre tall inflatable santa with lights inside which will take up our driveway (I think this one was a bit of overkill on his part but I guess at least people will be able to find our house lol).

Christmas is a magical time and I won't let anyone destroy that.  I think we all need a little bit of magic in our lives the way the world is now.  Just to see a smile on a person's face is worth all the effort we go to.

As the end of the year draws to a close, I feel sad also that there are kids at school that have been reading to me every week of the school year that I won't see much of any more.  I have volunteered to hear reading for both my primary school boys so have had 50 year 2, 3 and 4 students chatting to me each week.  It has been wonderful getting to know each of them and watching them get more chatty with me as the year has gone by as they have grown more comfortable around me.  Some of them, sadly, it is obvious that they don't get to read at home, so have been their parent figure in a way and they have flourished with just that little bit of attention.  I love getting to know the kids and it is so nice to be able to know exactly who it is my children are talking about at the end of the day.  It is so much nicer than the high school kids coming home and telling me all about such and such at school and this multitude of names spring up and I have no idea of who they are.

I am so grateful to be a stay at home mum and be able to take part in these areas of my children's lives.  I get to attend their school christmas parties and help out on excursions and listen to them read.  I wouldn't change that for anything.

I urge all of you to stay connected with your children as much as you can.  If you can volunteer a little of your time to help at the school, please do it.  It not only makes your children feel loved and special, but it also makes other children, who may not receive much love and attention at home, to feel special too.

More scrapbooking to show off :-)

These are some of my earlier creations......

This one is my hubby's school photo from 1978,,,,,he is the one in the beige jumper second row up on the left hand side.  (He will hate that I have posted this one lol!!)

These two are my eldest boy when he was aged about 20 months,,,,,,,I used to love those little overalls!!!

This one is my stepdaughter's 5th birthday......before I knew her but I love the little hat she is wearing.

These last two show all the kids.  All these were taken just before/after hubby and I got together.  His kids are in the top one and my boys are the bottom one.  Some days its hard to remember when they were so small, they are growing up way to fast!!

Digital Scrapbooking - No Mess No Fuss Scrapbooking

Because my stepson is autistic, I try as hard as I can to limit the amount of things that are left laying around the house.  I desperately wanted to start scrapbooking but knew that it is a hobby that tends to take over quite a bit of money and space if you let it.  I love all the little embellishments that you can buy and I knew that I would be forever buying cute little bits and pieces for my creations.  I also knew that I would like to display my works and not keep them hidden away, but knowing my boy as I do I knew that he would be pulling my pages apart very quickly if he got a chance to.  I didn't want to be forever having to put my works away out of sight every time he came over, so I decided that digital scrapbooking would be the way to go for me.

This way I can create everything and store them on the computer.  I get them printed up just as a 5x7 photo and put them in an album.  This way everyone can still see my creations but at least there is nothing for him to pick off the pictures and if he does destroy them, I can at least just get another one printed off.  It seemed the perfect solution for my life at least.  I do miss out on the cutting and gluing and general creativeness but I think you will agree that you can achieve decent results digitally :-)

COCONUT CAKE......YUMMO!!

This cake is so easy and it is just so moist it will disappear very fast!!  I love nice simple recipes and this one really fits the bill!!!

COCONUT CAKE

Ingredients

1C Self Raising Flour
1C Dessicated Coconut
1C Sugar
1/2 C Milk
2 eggs
3T butter or margarine, melted
1t Vanilla Essence

Mix together the Flour, Coconut and Sugar.
Beat the eggs and Vanilla Essence into the Milk then add to the dry ingredients and mix.
Add the melted butter and beat well.
Pour into a greased and lined cake tin and bake in a moderate oven for approx 30-35 minutes until golden and cooked in the centre.
Ice with plain icing and top with sprinkles of coconut.

I'm sure it won't last long but gee it is so good while it lasts!!!!

Drowning in "STUFF"....the disease of the present time

I live in Australia, the so called "Lucky Country".  Yes, we are lucky in so many ways compared to many countries in the world, yet so many of us struggle with our day to day lives, just etching out a living along the path of life, forgetting to take a step back and appreciate the little things in life.

I'm guilty of this too.  Some days I feel like I forget to breathe, forget that there is a whole world out there full of beauty and simple pleasures.

My Hubby is going through a rough patch with work right now.  Trying to deal with a boss who likes to play God and is a constant lyer.  My hubby has been lied to so many times from this Bossman it is just ridiculous.  Unless you get something in writing from the guy you honestly don't have a leg to stand on as he will change his mind in the space of 10 minutes or even less and then say that he never said whatever it is that he did in fact say.  He is cunning and manipulative, the sort of person that I cannot stand.  The sort of person who just uses everyone to better himself and then lays the blame on everyone else when things don't go right, even though it was he himself who stuffed up!!

I have done a lot of thinking over the last couple of days.  Taking a long hard look at our lives, our home and our future.  I know I have talked about my clutter before but it is now that I am feeling it.  As I sit here and look around the room I am in (my kitchen/dine/computer nook) I see way too much clutter.  Sure alot of it can be easily cleaned up but lately it feel like I clean and when I turn around again the clutter has just grown up out of the cupboards to poke its tongue out at me again as if to tease me that I can't get rid of it.

On the weekend we went through the bedrooms of the youngest four kids.  This is something we do every year at this time in the lead up to Christmas.  We tossed alot of broken bits and damaged toys and general rubbish.  Then we also went through their clothes and handed down and boxed up the stuff that is suitable for selling online.  The problem with this is that I already have boxes and boxes of stuff waiting to be sold online.  Now after the weekend cull, I have another 4 boxes and 2 large bags of stuff to list and hopefully sell.  Part of me says that I should just get rid of it to the Op Shop and that way it is just gone.  But then I think that we paid good money for this stuff and I should at least try to recoup some of it especially since it is stuff that has only been lightly used.

That therein lies the problem of this Century.  The problem of so many of us who live in the "Lucky Country".  WE ARE DROWNING IN STUFF!!!  Stuff that doesn't get appreciated or used to its full capacity before being tossed aside.  Why do we keep buying our kids those much longed for toys that they then play with for five minutes and then shove under their beds and don't look at again until you do the big clean out and they say "I don't want that any more".

This year for Christmas I have enforced the "I'm not buying anything for the kids that won't definitely get used".  They will all receive Xbox and/or Wii games as they are items that definitely get used and they also get shared around amongst all the kids.  These things are worth the outlay because they get used by the whole family.  But I will not be buying Bakugan balls, Hannah Montana toys, remote control ants or any of those type of things.  The kids will get their much needed lamps for their rooms, a couple will get a new quilt cover as they have now outgrown their present ones.  They will get clothing and generally things that will be used continually.  They won't miss out, in any way, but they will receive things that they will appreciate the gifts they do get as they will be using them daily.

I will be listing continually until I get to the bottom of our mountain of boxes.  Once our house is really decluttered we will be able to breathe again, and never again will things come into our lives and our home that will not be appreciated by the whole family.

I'm pretty sure if everyone in Australia took a long hard look at their homes, the majority of us would all be in the same boat.  We are a country of consumers, of materialistic people who need to change for our own good and the good of the planet.  Lets all declutter our lives, give the frugal life a go and spend time with our children out in the fresh air planting veggies and fruit and teach them life skills that will enable them to leave home when the time is right, knowing how to be more self sufficient.

Lets all take that first step towards self sustainability.  It doesn't matter where you start as long as you start!!


So where ever you are in the world, lets all purge our lives of clutter and chaos and maybe then we can all begin to breathe easier and smile a little more......IT'S A BEAUTIFUL WORLD OUT THERE YOU KNOW AND WE ALL DESERVE TO ENJOY IT!!!!

Roses in bloom.....my other beautiful blooms

Well over the weekend these little beauties decided to open up their buds and bloom beautifully.  THe photos don't do them justice!

With a gloomy grey sky above me on Saturday morning I thought that to truly enjoy these little beauties I had better bring them inside or else they would be rain and wind damage.....as it turned out we didn't get strong wind or even rain lol, but at least my house smells really nice and I get to enjoy my flowers while doing my daily chores!!

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.....

WHEATGERM MUFFINS..........YUMMY!!!

My Mr8 and I were bored yesterday afternoon so I decided we would whip up a batch of muffins.  I didn't feel like cooking but Mr8 was eager so I dragged out one of my trusty old recipes that I haven't made in a few years and whipped them up.  The result.....Mr8 was happy as it was a nice simple recipe that he could do mostly himself and all the family enjoyed them even the ones that don't like sultanas since I only had a handful of sultanas left to add lol.

These muffins come in at approx 1974 calories for the entire batch.  We got 12 decent sized muffins out of the batch which makes them approx 162 calories each (this was calculated minues the sultanas as I didn't measure the amount I put in lol).

This was the result......

They are really soft and moist in the middle while having a delightful little crust on the outside.  These truly are foolproof.  I used to make them all the time when I worked and took them as part of my lunch every couple of days.  Going by the way they disappeared, it looks like they will become a regular feature on my baking list from now on!!

Here is the recipe:

WHEATGERM MUFFINS

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup Plain Flour

3 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/3 teaspoon Bicarb Soda

1 1/4 cups Wheatgerm

1/2 cup Raw Sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup Milk

1/4 cup oil

Dried Fruit (whatever you have on hand or like)

METHOD

Simply mix in order given

Bake in moderate oven for approx 15 minutes

ENJOY!!

Garden planting, escaping children and dying cars.......what a week!!!

Well I think the good news is the best to start with in this line of events lol.  I am basically working backwards in the chain of events, but geez after the other two events, garden planting is major good news in this house!!!

This weekend we planted out our veggies in our new little veggie patch, to discover that our "little" veggie patch is a tad too small!!  So we now have pots and pots of seedlings and also we have pumpkins planted in the front garden because they had no where else to go.

In our garden we now have......
Pumpkin
Celery
Broccoli
Zucchini
Silverbeet
Cucumber - 2 varieties
Lettuce
Tomato - 3 varieties
Cherry Tomato
Blueberry
Raspberry
Strawberry

as well as
Feijoa trees
Mulberry tree
Necartine tree
Peacharine tree
Plum tree
Orange tree and
Tangello tree

As this is our first real year at planting a decent amount of "food" plants, I'm not expecting miracles but I do hope for a reasonable amount of produce at least to help with our budget.  A few of these things won't fruit this year but heres hoping we do succeed with the lettuce, tomato and cucumbers at least because we sure do eat alot to those lol.

 

Escaping children......oh boy this one scared the bejeezers out of me I tell you!!!  As regular readers would know my stepson, is autistic.  Well last week we had him and his sister for the first week of school holidays.  Now this child is very bright, although he isn't toilet trained and cannot talk.  He is 10 years old and one of the most cunning kids I have ever met.  He waits until we are distracted even slightly to get into the things he know he isn't allowed to have.

Last Friday morning our alarm went off at 7am and as usual we couldn't be bothered moving as we had had yet another late night and MrAutism had woken us at about 4am.  (He wakes up at ridiciulous hours of the morning and then refuses to go back to sleep and we are up and down continuously because he will get out of bed and get into things in the house).  Anyway we didn't here him moving and thought "yay, finally he is sleeping in past 6am".  We dozed off again and then the alarm went off again ten minutes later and we also heard a crashing noise from the front of the house.  We thought "great, what has he gotten into this time?", Hubby jumped out of bed and headed towards the front of the house.  I lay there and was surprised when I didn't here him telling MrAustism off.  I decided to get up and investigate only to bump into Hubby just outside our bedroom saying "MrAutism has got out of the house and I can't find him".  I raced out the front while Hubby quickly got dressed.  I looked up and down the street but couldn't see him.  Hubby came back out and told me to get the car keys while he walked up the road.

I got the keys and jumped in the car, prepared to go patrolling the local area to see if we could find him.  As I pulled out the driveway Hubby (accompanied by MrAutism) cam walking up the street.  He had gotten 5 doors down (which is just around a slight bend in the road, hence the reason we hadn't spotted him).  Hubby found him standing next to a car which was fitted with a dvd player.  He had also taken my son's "This Is It" dvd which he keeps trying to steal.  Obviously he decided that since we block all chances of him being able to play DVDs in the middle of the night that he would leave and go elsewhere to find a dvd player.  Our house is locked up securely but now we are going to have to hide keys as well.  He managed to get through a deadlocked door and had moved a chair to remove the screen door key from the hook where it sits which is up high on the door frame out of his reach.

I just don't know what to do at this point.  He is back with us on Friday and I already know that I won't be able to sleep because I will just be listening out for him all the time.  Every time he comes we are having to hide or disconnect just about everything in the house to prevent it from being destroyed by him.  It is just getting near impossible to keep both the other children's possessions safe and even more worrying is the fact that even keeping him safe is becoming impossible it seems.  Does our home need to turn into a prison cell even more than it already is just to keep him safe?????  I just don't know right now.

The Dying Car.......last week my Hubby's work car was in for a factory recall.  I took him and dropped him off to pick it up only to have my car (tarago) begin to bubble and overheat as soon as I pulled up.  We cooled it down and drove it to the mechanic as it had done this before a couple of months ago and we had the thermostat changed and the radiator flushed as they said this was the problem.  The mechanic has now found that it is getting water into the cylinder and we will need a new head gasket or possibly the whole motor reconditioned.........coming up to a grand total bill of up to approx $3000!!!!  We don't have the money and I refuse to pull it back out of the mortgage.  The mortgage has been ransacked enough over the last couple of years with other disasters that have occurred.  We dont' know what to do.  This will mean that we can't go anywhere as a family unless we either walk or take the bus etc.  As far as getting the kids to school goes, it looks like we will be walking or bike riding, not ideal when it is a 2.5km one way trip when the weather is about to start heating up.  On a good note I guess I will at least get fit and lose some weight if I am walking 10kms a day lol.  I went and picked it up from the mechanic's today and it ran fine until I got to the other end of my street and it began overheating really fast.  I pulled into my driveway just as it started bubbling and boiling.

Why is it just as we are about to start a new attempt at a budget and savings plan, everything is going to go wrong and the money will be wiped out before it barely has had a chance to accrue????

This post is now way too long, I'm so sorry!!!!

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

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.

Another weekend bites the dust....

Well here we are, its Monday again.  Today I have my poor little Mr10 home from school sick.  He isn't full on sick but was up last night feeling ill and then vomited just the once.  Today he is keeping down toast and water so I think he is going to be fine.  He has packed himself off to bed now for a little nap.

This weekend wasn't as productive as I had hoped it would be but I did get the toilet ceiling painted,,,,,YAY!!!  Now I know to most people that doesn't sound all that impressive, after all it is only a tiny little room, but for me it is a real achievement.  I have lived in this house for almost 9 years and from the day I moved in I wanted to start painting.  That freshly painted white ceiling spells new beginnings and a brighter future to me.  I am now itching to get started on the walls, but hubby wants to redo the roof first lol.  Our roller wasn't in very good condition so I had to use a paintbrush instead hence the reason hubby wants to redo it lol.  But hey at least it looks a heck of a lot nicer than it did!!

We also got a stack of photographing done of the kids old PS2 games that they want me to sell online for them.  They all saved up and bought themselves their own xbox so I now have a mountain of games that no one wants.  They have just kept their absolute favourites to play on the PS2 in the lounge and the rest I will list on Oztion to make them a little bit of money.

Best I start listing them then!!!