Followers gadget not working....

Just a real quick one for today......is anyone else having problems with their followers gadget.  Mine isn't working on either of my blogs.  I have taken them out and put them back in again time after time but they are only working sporadically if at all.  I look at other people's blogs and they have theirs working so does that mean its just me???? lol

What will summer be like with days like this in August????

Adelaide has apparently had its warmest August on record (or at least for a long time I can't remember which).  I wonder what Summer has in store for us...........................................I HATE SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!

Just the thought of the possibilities makes me want to move country or at the very least to move to Tasmania!!

I think we had best make the most of the beautiful weather while we have it, before it turns into unbearable heat instead.

Have a great weekend everyone.

All back to school

Do you ever have moments where you wonder if you have done the right thing?  I have sent my two littlest soldiers off to school today.  Both were eager to return.  Mr9 just has a cold, he is over the runny nose stage and just has a chesty sounding cough which I have had checked by the doc who said its okay its an innocent cough.  So I know that he will be fine.

Mr11 with Pneumonia though, the doc said he could return to school when he felt up to it.  He was adamant that he was okay to return today.  He had his puffer and antibiotics before he left and so he should be fine but I am just hoping he doesn't over do it.  I told him to take it easy.

I hate this part of parenting,,,,the worry, it can drive you mad if you let it, I am sure of that!!

Today after having sickies home for the better part of the last 2 weeks, I should be getting stuck into some housework but I really don't feel like it.  I have stuff that I really need to go out and do, shopping for example but I really don't want to.  I just honestly don't feel like doing anything....lol do you think anyone would notice if I spent the day in front of the TV with coffee and chocolate and any other junk food I can lay my hands on????????

Well it is confirmed....Pneumonia is what he has

Finally, yesterday afternoon, it was confirmed that Mr11 has Pneumonia.  Now it is a waiting game for the Antibiotics to hopefully kick in and help him recover.

I am thankful that he is relatively well and happy.  It is frustrating him that he is sick and yet for the most part doesn't feel sick, lol he just doesn't really get that bit.  I told him to just be happy that it is that way and not making him feel totally miserable.

He is handling swallowing his capsules really well.  One mouthful of water and the capsule is are gone.....I am amazed at that lol - it takes me a whole glass of water to swallow just one capsule (I picture myself in my old age having 5-6 tablets to take each morning and night and needing 5-6 glasses of water to get them down lol....and then the subsequent million trips to the toilet that would follow...my days would be full just taking tablets and going to the loo lol).

He is handling the ventolin puffer, he is still getting the hang of it but he is managing okay with it.  I think at least some of it is going where it is meant to go.  Lol he is having a bit of trouble coordinating his breath in with his pushing of the puffer but we are getting there!!

As far as blogging goes, I actually had stuff to talk about this week but between Mr11's illness and my Mr9 being home with a bad cold as well I didn't get to photograph the things I wanted to talk about so I will just put them on hold for the moment.

Okay I'm off to puffer and capsule up my boy - Take care everyone!!

Unexpected diagnosis

I took my Mr11 to our regular doctor today and we got a most unexpected diagnosis from him.  I sent my son to school today as he only had cold like symptoms and hadn't been sick since last Thursday.  He looked a little flat but nothing more than when you have a cold so I decided he would be fine,,,,no runny nose, just a cough every so often. 

Well I received a phone call from the school about half an hour before the end of school asking me to pick him up as he said he felt sick again.  I went in there and as usual he was bright enough but just a bit pale and said he was feeling sick.  Since we were going to the doctor's in about an hour I just took him home for a little sit down.  Off we went to the doctor who proceeded to do the usual feel of  his stomach and listen to his chest.  He said he believed it was either pneumonia or some kind of bronchial infection. I just about fell over when he said possible pneumonia.  We had to go off for a chest xray and then to the chemist to get some antibiotics and a ventolin puffer.  We get the results tomorrow.

I have Mr9 home as well with a very similar sort of cold like symptoms so have made him an appointment for tomorrow,,,,just in case!

Keep your fingers crossed for my boy!!

One of those weeks.....

The worst bit about being a parent would have to be the worry that comes with the job. 

Last week my Mr11 went off to his friend's house for the weekend.  His friend lives about 40 minutes away and therefore they only really get to catch up in the school holidays.  But the other weekend was the other boy's birthday and so they had organised a 2 night sleepover up at their house.  The first weekend it was planned for we had to cancel as Mr11 was sick at school on the Friday.  I wasn't sure if it was the start of gastro or something so I thought it best to cancel......needless to say he was only sick the one time!

We re-organised it for the weekend just gone.  Mr11 went up there Friday after school and then I get a phone call from the other boy's mum on Saturday afternoon saying that Mr11 had been sick twice and wanted to come home.  We got him home and he was sick a couple more times and I thought "Okay, he has a bug".  On Sunday morning he was brighter and we decided we would all go to Mr14's soccer game.  He started to look a little pale but said he was hungry, silly me had meant to pack some dry crackers for him to nibble but I forgot....the only thing available was plain potato chips so he had a few of those.....silly move!  We made it back home before he was sick again.  The strange part was that he was really bright in between the times he was sick, it was odd.  Monday he stayed home from school and I fed him bland types of food and just small amounts, he was sick a couple of times but only tiny little bits, he was keeping down most of his intake and was drinking well.  Tuesday saw him only sick twice, both times really small amounts and his food intake was up on the previous day.  Wednesday he was okay and bright as a button so Thursday he headed off to school.  At about 1.15 I got a phone call from the school saying that he had been sick.  I headed in to pick him up an he waltzed out of the sick room bright as a button.   He said he had felt sick as he had walked in to school that morning but felt fine after a few minutes.  Lunchtime came around and he felt off and didn't have more than 2 bites of his lunch.  He went out to play with a friend and was sick on the oval. 

I have an appointment for him on Monday with our family doctor (of course he isn't working between now and then!).  Mr11 doesn't want to see anyone else, but I did pop in and talk to a doctor this morning who advised me that is most likely a virus and since he is keeping most of his food down he will be okay.  My main concern is he has now missed basically a week of school and will now miss Monday as well as his appointment is in the middle of the day.

When he was 5 he had a very similar thing.  He was sick on and off for 4 months.  It was just so random the doctors kept putting it down to a virus, but then I noticed that he was losing weight.  It was gradual and I didn't notice it for quite a while.  In total he ended up losing 6kgs.  When I realised just how much he had lost I took him into the Children's Hospital who admitted him and put him in isolation as they were convinced that he was contagious.......this was after me explaining that this had been on and off for 4 months and no one else at home, in a house with 6 other kids (at the time) was sick.  So we were confined to a little room while they did blood tests, urine tests, you name it he had it.  They then decided that it wasn't contagious and he could venture into the play area.  He stopped throwing up for a full 24 hour period and they allowed him home.....I still didn't have any answers.  We went back for a follow up appointment and they decided to put a tube thing (sorry I can't recall exactly what it was) up his nose and down into his stomach which would attach to a box on the outside that would record what his stomach was up to for 24 hours.  This showed up nothing unusual and they then passed it off as "just one of those freaky things" and nothing more got done.  He never had another bout like this for 6 years,,,,until now.

I will hold off going to any other doctor now until Monday unless he gets worse.  I will just keep and eye on him and monitor his intake.  On Monday though I will be demanding to find an answer, we cannot go through 4 months of this again!  One time can be put down to a freak thing but twice???  Looking at him now you wouldn't think there was anything wrong, he is laughing and drinking and eating just like normal.

Aaagghhhhhhhhhhh weeks like this I just hate being a parent and hate the worry that goes with it.  My brain is just running overtime thinking about everything he has eaten wondering if there is a trigger or something.  I just don't know!!!!!

On a lighter note, I decided to make up some more Christmas decorations for this year....this had been my plan for this week originally lol.....so far I have made just 1 and I couldn't put his Christmas ribbon on as I can't seem to find the red and green ribbons I know I have somewhere in this house lol.  Here he is....

Hyacinth in a Bowl - Forcing Bulbs......my first attempt!

Earlier this year we went to a Gardening Expo that was held here in Adelaide.  I love going to these things, I love the feeling of hope and inspiration you gain from the shows.  I always come away from them dreaming of how my garden could look.......if only I had a green thumb lol.

Anyway, this year I saw these small boxes which were called Hyacinth in a Bowl.  They came in white, pink or blue.  These flowers were so pretty that I just had to buy one to give it a try.  I purchased the pink one.  It came with a glass bowl, gravel and 3 bulbs. The idea is that you place the gravel in the bottom, partly fill with water and simply nestle the bulbs into the gravel and place in the fridge for about 3 months.

Now as I have never done anything like this before I was very cynical that it would actually work.  My kids thought I had gone mad when they opened the fridge to find these things that they thought were purple onions sitting in a bowl of gravel.  I warned them all to stay away, well away, from this bowl if they valued their lives lol.

I watched, I waited.  I watched the bulbs turn a weird kind of colour in places, kinda black and yes, mouldy looking.  I was tempted to toss them out but decided that since I had paid good money for these darn things I would keep them going.  Slowly I saw little roots digging down into the gravel, slowly little green shoots began to stick out the top of one of them, followed shortly after by the other two.  I was pretty excited and wanted to share my excitement with my Hubby.  He was a little less thrilled than I had wanted him to be, so I gathered around the kids, showing them my little babies.  They all said words similar to "Great Mum, the onions are sprouting,,,,,but can't they do that just sitting in the cupboard??".  Okay I would in future just keep my excitement to myself.  Each day I peeked into the deepest darkest recess of my fridge, watching my little bulbs get a little bigger.  The instruction book said to wait until they are about 8cms tall before removing them from the fridge.

Finally about 10 days ago, I deemed them big enough, strong enough to stand the test of life beyond the fridge!  I placed them on my family room windowsill.  Here they would get plenty of light but no real heat, exactly what the instructions said.

Each day, you could see them growing.  Each night they were that little bit bigger.  You could see the flower buds swelling up from the middle of the leaves.  Then this weekend, those little buds were up above the leaves, slowly beginning to open.  Two days ago there was just one little flower bud opened, this morning, look what I have........aren't they beautiful!!!

Sadly you can only "force"bulbs once apparently, so I will need to toss these out when they are finished, but gee, they are just so pretty that I definitely think it is worth it.  Next year I will try to plant some of these in the garden and see if I have any luck.

Now if only I could get my seeds to have the same kind of luck as the bulbs, we may actually grow something edible lol.

PS....the kids and hubby were at least a little more impressed when they saw the flowers, not doing a jig like I was but at least they said "oh they are pretty" Lol

The Stress of Having Parents in Another Country

Yesterday my Hubby rang his parents in New Zealand.  They live in South Auckland and Hubby's youngest sister also lives with them, along with her 12 year old son.  When he called, his sister picked up the phone and said that it was great that he called as she was about to send him a message on Facebook.  Apparently she is moving down to Napier at the bottom end of the North Island of New Zealand.  This would be roughly a 5 maybe 6 hour drive from where they currently live.  She is engaged to a guy and he has recently got a job down there and she will be moving down there too.  Now, she asked her parents if they would like to move down there, initially they said no, but apparently yesterday they said that they would have to move with her too because they couldn't afford to live stay where they are currently.

This wasn't what she wanted to hear.  She has decided that she has done her time and needs to be out on her own with her son and her new man.  Fair enough I say, she is 40 years old and has only lived away from home for a short time in her life.  Her mother has just about raised her son for her!  Now of course she wants my Hubby and their older sister who also lives in Australia to try to help her to convince Mum and Dad that they shouldn't follow her.  The older sister was straight on the phone to Hubby yesterday, as she saw the Facebook message straight away and was ranting and raving about how selfish their younger sister is being.  I explained to Hubby how that is not true as I had been in a similar position a couple of years ago, I was the main person that helped my mum out and then when it came time for her to have to live in a nursing home I subsequently got stuck with all the hard stuff.  Well his younger sister has been dealing with her parents ill health for the last couple of years and I can only imagine how it hasn't been easy on her, not having other siblings to turn to for a hand at all.  Hubby sees my point and also understands where his baby sister is coming from.  The older sister on the other hand, just thinks she is being a total **tch about it all (mind you, this is the sister that in the past, has been the Queen of Selfishness so really she needs to just shut up lol).

I suggested to hubby that he call them again next weekend and just say "I hear you may be moving soon" (when he spoke to his Dad last night, nothing was mentioned about moving).  I thought maybe we could suggest that they  move over here.  I'm not expecting them to say yes, as I know they don't want to, but I feel that it is only right to offer.  We couldn't have them living here as naturally with 6 kids our house is full to the brim already and I don't think I could deal with living with them full time lol.  I thought that maybe they could move into a retirement village where they can mix with others but still have their independence, but also with their health issues we would know they would be safe.  The thought of them staying where they are, if that is what were to happen, worries me.  Mum doesn't drive and Dad now can't drive due to health issues.  His younger sister said that Mum has gone a little strange lately and is refusing to cook.  This worries me instantly as I wonder if the stress of "losing" her grandson whom she has virtually raised will be too much for her.  I feel that she is shutting down in a way.  Not having any family support nearby may all be too much for them.

I truly believe that somehow we need to get them over here.  I don't know if it is a decision I may live to regret as not having seen them for 4 years, we don't know just what is going on exactly.  I know Hubby's older sister won't offer any real assistance, she lives in NSW and we haven't seen her in 4 years either.  She never even mentioned getting them over here.  The main problem is that his parents have no money.  They rent, they own nothing of any real value.  We don't have the money to enable us to fly backwards and forwards if something goes wrong.  I know that Hubby will be worried sick about them if they stay where they are.

Right now I just don't know what to do.  I want to persuade them to come over there as I think at least that way it would ease the worry for hubby.  I have no idea how we would afford to bring them here as I know that straight away it would involve Hubby going over there to help them pack up etc then we would also have to pay for them to get here, which will involve passports etc as they have never left NZ before.  If they do come here, it will mean that we can't move to the country or interstate either (an idea we are tossing up, one which is/was sounding very appealling).  I wouldn't feel right moving them here and then we move away as well, that just wouldn't be fair.  So to do this would also put our dreams on hold,,,,,,but now I am being selfish aren't I????? lol.

Aaaagh

I don't know what to do or not to do as the case is.  I'm the outsider and I should just keep my nose out of it to an extent but I also know that Hubby will be left playing "Piggy in the Middle" between his sisters.  Crap, Crap CRAPPPPPPPP!!!!  Life sure does suck sometimes!

Bringing Cheer into a winter's day.....I literally did a little dance with excitement!!!

Oh Boy, you won't believe what I just found, you just won't believe it!!!

I struggle growing things in the garden.  I didn't inherit my mother's green thumb,,,I think mine are kinda black instead, but I try!!

This year I desperately wanted to grow daffodils.  Hubby bought me this huge bag of bulbs to plant and in amongst the Ranunculis and the Snowbells were, you guessed it,,,,,,DAFFODILS!!  Now there were only about 7 daffodils, but thats okay, I was ecstatic I had my daffodils.

Now I am a pretty useless gardener in the sense that if I plant something from bulb or seed, the poor little things can shoot and unless they are precisely labelled, I will have no idea what the heck it is until it flowers or produces something lol.  I am trying to improve on this but hey these things take time right????

Anyway, I planted out a stack of bulbs into some nice round planters I had sitting here.  I put a mixture of bulbs into each one and miraculously I have had a lot of them shoot.  I have been sitting here for the last week or so watching a couple in particular which seemed to be ready to bloom.

Today it is pouring with rain so I  hadn't been outside till just now.  It is still pouring with rain but I braved it and stuck my head out the front door,,,,and what did I see,,,,I saw a couple of little bits of white and a rather large patch of yellow in amongst the green of the weedy patch in the garden.  To show you just how gloomy today is, here is a picture of the sky,,,,,within a couple of minutes of this photo being taken, the rain started pelting down again......

But this, this is what I wanted to show you,,,,first of all my little Snowbells (I think that is what they are lol)

Aren't they just so precious!!

And now my little beauty, my most favourite flower of all,,,,,My little buttercup, My one and only (to this point) Daffodil!!!!

Bear with me I'm a little excited, this poor things was photographed from all angles....

Sorry for the quality of the pics,,,,,my macro setting just wasn't cooperating at that point!!

But isn't this little guy just adorable.  He is now sitting in a vase bringing cheer into my kitchen.  I did take a pic of him in his vase but for some reason the picture won't turn (grrrrr).

Daffodils always remind me of the Brady Bunch in one of their shows (I know I am showing my age lol), you remember the one where they sing "Sunshiney Day", I used to sing that song alot when I was a kid :-)

Ok, back to my housework (centred around my kitchen of course!), now that I have had a little sunshine brought into my otherwise gloomy kind of day :-D

When you send a text, please a LOL to show its a joke..........

As the title suggests, or rather hints at, you can see what happened to me last night.

Yes my ex husband send me a text regarding having the boys this weekend.  He has the boys 1 night each weekend depending on his work schedule.  Last week he had said that for this weekend he could do either Friday or Saturday as he wasn't working on the weekend.  I told him that as were having the step kids on Friday night, it would be great for him to have the boys on Saturday night allowing us to have all the kids together for Saturday (we were supposed to have the stepkids last weekend but they were sick so we are playing catchup by having them one night this weekend and then probably extra nights next weekend).

Anyway,,,,,the Ex had tried to call me just before 8pm, my mobile was in the bedroom and I was having a shower.  The kids obviously didn't hear it ring and neither did I.  He then sent me a text at about 10.15pm, which I also didn't hear.  Then at 11.45 he sent me another text, this read "Hi u can stick your phone ? Boys Fri Nite would be best ? Have a good 1".  Now reading this, I assumed he was having a go at me and as I had already discussed him having them on Saturday night last week I thought he was just trying to be difficult.  I naturally bit back and told him not to take an attitude with me and if he was going to be like that he should just not bother to have the kids this weekend (I know I cringe when I read that back to myself too).  He texted me straight back with "I was only joking".  Sheesh this man doesn't know about the "LOL" that he really should have added to his text then.

He called me this morning and I apologised for flying off the handle but begged him to please add an LOL next time he says something like that if he is meaning it to come across as a "Joke".

MEN!!!!

The Things Kids Ask You For lol!!!

As you might remember a little while ago my Mr14 asked me to blog the recipes I make so that when he/all the kids leave home they have a place they can find all their favourite recipes in one spot without having to ring me all the time for them.  I contemplated this for a little while and decided that it wasn't a bad idea and so my new cooking blog was born.

This has been coming along slowly.  I always forget to take photos so many things go undocumented and I have to wait until the following time I make them before being able to blog about it.  The boys wanted step by step photos, well they don't quite have that.  They also wanted a picture of the ingredients at the very top, well they haven't got that either....I'm more of a "grab it from the cupboard and put it straight back kind of girl" lol.  What they do have though is their recipe ingredients, with a couple of photos of the "making" part and a photo of the end result with hopefully, what are easy to follow directions thrown in.

I finally got around to showing Mr14 last night, how his much anticipated blog was coming along.  Of course he went on about how so many of his favourites aren't there yet and I suggested maybe he would like to become photographer while I am cooking and then it may grow quicker, but nope that is just too hard.  His reply was "oh I guess thats okay, you still have years until I leave  home, you have plenty of time to remember to take photos and to add to it", LOL KIDS!!!

The next words out of his mouth really made me laugh though,,,,,his suggeestion was that as well as the blog that I should make up a large folder for each of the kids.  (I have two large folders full of recipes, one savoury, one sweet and a mountain of cookbooks which I am working my way through "Julie & Julia" style lol  ). 

He suggested that I should print out the recipes from my blog as I type them up and put them in the appropriate child's folder if it is something that that child particularly likes,,,,,,this kid has great ideas but sheesh, I don't think so!!!  My suggestion to him was that he could print and make his own folder when he leaves home but, yep you guessed it,,,,,that is too much effort, he said "Nah I'll just use the blog then, it was just an idea I thought you might like to do, you could always do it scrapbooking style and make them look nice and then its a project for you as well"  (honestly don't I have enough projects on my "To Do List" without adding more!!!).

So I will continue to do this my way.  I will blog each new recipe that I make, adding to my blog little by little.  Some recipes will be super easy and probably ones that no one other than my children will want but they are who the blog is for mainly anyway.  I do hope the blog will grow as I expand my recipe selection.  The movie "Julie & Julia" struck a chord with me because I basically am doing the same thing.  I have books and folders full of recipes that I am itching to try.  So many recipes, so little time lol.  This is a great way to expand the kids tastebuds I think too.  My kids have tried, and subsequently enjoyed so many things that they would have just screwed their noses up at a year or two ago, and all because I have decided to just give it a go instead of stressing about whether or not they will eat it.
 
Do you have cookbooks sitting on your shelf waiting to be explored,,,,,give it a go, its actually quite fun :-)

I need a kick up the butt today,,,,,,

Today I feel like just sitting on the couch in front of the TV with a packet of Tim Tams lol.  I don't know why I just feel really flat.

I have so much I want to achieve today.  You know the usual Monday clean up of the house after the weekend.  The floors that need sweeping/vacuuming/mopping.  The toilets that need cleaning.  The kitchen that needs wiping down.  The clutter that needs to be cleared.  The ironing waiting to be put away......you know all that STUFF.  And I just can't be bothered!

Today is just one of those days where I just look at all the mess and think "who cares, I'm the only one that seems to notice in this house" and that is true.  No one else in the house is going to make comment or even care that the house isn't clean or tidy.  Hubby doesn't care, and the kids sure as hell don't.  Heck I think I could leave this place for a month and none of them would comment.

But it is time to stop my pity party and get my butt moving.

OK end of complaining, end of ranting, lets move this butt!!!

Cutting down requires tough love,,,,,even for Hubby lol

Now that all my little cherubs are back at school (yes even Mr9 who went back yesterday :-)  he is feeling much better, still has a little pain but he wanted to go to school and see his friends and managed quite well), I finally can get back into my routine.  The word routine is very loose in my life lol but I try!!

Like so many people around the world, money is tight and we are needing to cut back as much as we can in order to get by.  On the home front I do what I can and for the most part my family haven't even noticed.

I make my own laundry powder, which saves us alot considering the amount of washing I do.

I have made my own spray and wipe by using vinegar and citrus peelings.  I can't remember where I first read about this but I know that yesterday Tania over at Outback wrote about it (Thanks Tania :-)  ) and it is great stuff.  You can find it here: 
Easy Peasy Citrus Cleaner

I have, much to my boys horror, cut down on the amount of meat that we eat.  Most of us in the family could do with losing a few kgs so meal sizes in general have been cut and for the most part I no longer make enough for left overs.  While leftovers are great to have, I did find the boys would often sneak a second helping of the meat rather than leaving it to create my leftovers lol.

I have started cooking from scratch more.  I always have when it comes to main meals, but cakes and biscuits I would often get lazy and buy them when they were on special.  While sometimes this works out pretty cost effective, most of the time it doesn't and I know that cooking these treats from scratch is so much healthier for us anyway.  (Besides lol, I have a cooking blog to fill up and I certainly have the recipes to do it with!)

I am starting to shop at op shops more regularly.  It seems to very hit and miss in my area, particularly with kids clothes but I plan to expand my op shop list and make sure that I explore more op shops when I go to areas I don't normally frequent.

We are watching our water and power usage and I aim to cut this back as much as I can too.

I have been making sure to do my errands in groups rather than flitting in and out during the week, thus saving on gas.

Decluttering our house has become a regular thing and listing things online to sell has become my job of sorts.  As I have mentioned before we have heaps of stuff that we can get rid of and we won't even notice it gone.

Now we also have a computer overload in our house.  Yes we have a large family but I hate the fact that we have/had 3 computers plus my eldest got a laptop for school for his birthday, hubby has his work computer and we also have an old laptop that is just purely for the internet as it can't handle much else  lol.  Our original plan was to get rid of the 3 desk top computers and just use the laptops to help save on power.  This was a good idea in theory but I have to admit I tend to love the desk top as I just find it easier. 

Now getting to my point lol,,,,,,,Hubby's precious laptop that he plays Call of Duty on (the only computer in the house that will run that game, don't ask me why lol) has died.  My idea was to just get rid of that computer, but hubby refuses lol.  He has spent $25 trying to fix it, didn't succeed.  Now he is waiting for some guy he vaguely knows to get back from holidays to give him a hand to try to fix it.  I have had endless conversations putting my point across that this computer has now been out of action for 2 months and seriously, no one has really missed it.  Yes it was the computer that the younger kids had their games on, I know this, but hey, they haven't complained yet.  The only person to truly complain has been Hubby.  The kids can use this computer provided they stay away from my folders lol.  I keep pushing the power usage it takes and how it will cost more money to fix it and we will survive without it.  His response is, "well I will only turn it on when I play my Call of Duty, so that will be fine"  (Can you tell he isn't the one that has to dust and clean in this house???)

So the stand off continues.  Right now this is the main computer.  The other desk top is a dinosaur that is very slow but it is fine for my second eldest to do homework on.  I would be happy to cut back to just this computer but I guess in this house, that will never happen.  I told hubby that once the kids have all left home I will expect us to be a 1 computer house, he laughed and said "yep one desk top.......and a laptop for me, its all about portability u know hun" lol Sheeeeeesh MEN!!!

When your child needs surgery.....

On Friday my baby, Mr9, needed surgery. 

Now don't worry it wasn't anything serious or life threatening but just something that he had to have done to ensure his future health.  It was something that was brought to my attention a few months ago and after having it seen to by our family doctor, he agreed that it needed specialist attention.  So off to the specialist we went and as we don't have private health cover we thought we would be waiting 6-12 months for the actual surgery.  Amazingly I had a phone call just a few days after our appointment with the specialist saying we could have the surgery done in 2 weeks time.....well that was a little soon for my liking, especially after reassuring my little boy that it would be at least Christmas time before he had to worry about it!  So I put it off for a further four weeks.  This date was July 22.

I was astonished when my little trooper wasn't at all nervous about the surgery.  We had to be at the hospital at 7am and he got up at 6am without complaining.  No breakfast could be had, but he didn't complain.  After checking in at the hospital they showed him to his bed.  He played video games for a while  and then it was time to go to theatre.  He said he was getting nervous and I thought "Here we go, I can see the tears coming" but nope, he remained calm.  He decided that he didn't need me to go with him while they put him to sleep, he wanted to do it by himself.  I just about fell over at this point lol, my little boy was acting so grown up! I went and sat in the waiting room just outside theatre.  I tell you it was the longest hour and a half of my life.   I hate to think how I would have felt if it was something serious he was having surgery for!!

Finally I got to go to him in recovery where he had been sick.  10 minutes later they moved him back to the ward and he started to return to normal,,,,,until he got up to go to the toilet.  He was sick again, then a couple of hours later when they said he could get ready to go home, sick again.  They ended up keeping him for 8 hours instead of the usual 4 hours after surgery.  When he had dinner and kept it down for about an hour they decided he could leave.

He said that he wanted to stay because he had more games he wanted to play lol.  That was when I was able to breathe again properly, I knew my little boy was back!!

I hate it when my babies are sick in any way, I'm sure there isn't a mother in the world who doesn't agree with me on that one.

Today is the first day back at school for the kids, Mr9 has scored an extra couple of days at home with me so I will try to get this house back into shape around him, while still taking time out for our DVD watching and snuggle time.

Enjoy your day everyone!

The Tween Years - Issues with Lying

It is school holidays and this is the first week.  This week I have my step kids here as well as my 4 boys and the "floaters" that seem to come and go.  We have had sleepovers and generally just bummed around the house.  Pretty boring but pretty standard when Mr Autism is in the house and hubby has to work.  Due to the way Mr Autism is for me I cannot take him out which means we are housebound.  During this week the kids play way too much Xbox and watch way too much TV interspersed with bike riding and some baking etc.  But it is only for 5 days out of the holidays so I am okay with that.

Yesterday was a bad day, I had one of those moments where I was totally unsure of what to do and I exploded because Miss12 pushed my buttons in a major way. I don't like liars and I particularly don't like my own children blatantly lying.  Its not something I generally have to deal with, my kids have never been a problem in that area.  Miss12 on the other hand has been having issues at her mum's house in the same kind of way.  I had been happy that we hadn't had to deal with it here so far,,,,,,,,until yesterday.  I won't go in to all the boring details but it ended with her crying,,,,,alot,, and sneaking down to call her mum on her mobile phone.  I ranted and raved, not knowing that she was on her mobile phone to her mum so her mum heard all of my rant.  Not only did I catch her out lying to me, but then I also caught her as I found out, telling her mum that she was scared and she wanted her mum to pick her up because she was scared that I was going to tell her dad about what she did and he would hit her!!!  That is what pushed my buttons majorly.  How dare she accuse my Hubby of that!!!  Once she got off the phone, after I had spoken to her mum (speaking to her mum isn't something that I generally do! so that was interesting lol) I really let her have it and asked her if she knew what lies of that type could do.  She sat there crying and it broke my heart to see it but at the same time I was so incredibly angry at her.   I had told her mum that there was no hitting going on in the house and she said "don't worry I know I have been having issues with her lies too".

At the end of the day I told her dad the whole story and her mum called last night to talk to her to check she was okay and to talk to hubby.  She said she had told her that the lines of communication were now open and she would not be getting away with things like this any more.  Apparently at her mum's house she has been using the "I don't have to live here, I'm going to Dad's".  Now, we have never had a phone call (her mum would never allow that to happen,,,,but that is a whole other story lol) but I told hubby that he needs to say to her mum that that is precisely what should happen.  She wouldn't want to live here full time, she gets away with a lot more at her mum's.  Here, apparently, she has to do too much (her chores are to pick up her dirty clothes and to keep her part of the room tidy!).

After it starting out as such a small incident, it certainly blew up into massive proportions yesterday.  I was shocked at how easily she was could put it on and accuse Hubby of, well basically, abuse.  I find this incredibly disturbing and it makes me wonder how far this girl will go.  It is one thing saying things like this to another parent, but what if she says it to her friend's parents or a teacher at school.  These kids just don't realise how serious these lies can be.  It truly scares me.  I feel like I am watching a train wreck with this girl at the moment and as she is her mum's golden child her mum won't put her foot firmly down with her.  She needs discipline that she isn't getting from her mum.  At mum's house there aren't actually consequences for her behaviour.  Yesterday she lost her bike for the day and the promised trip to the shop for an icecream didn't happen, she didn't like that at all.  As hubby said yesterday, he thinks she is out of control at mum's house and mum is doing nothing about it.  All we can do at the moment is to sit back and see just how "open" these lines of communication are and keep close tabs on her while she is with us.

KIDS!!  I have never had a problem like this and was hoping to never have one but I guess with 6 kids it had to happen eventually right?

How can things like this happen?????

On the radio this morning I heard that an elderly lady who lived in Sydney I think it was, was found dead in her home.  Now while that is nothing rare to hear, the part that shocked me was the fact that they think she died up to 8 years ago!!!!  Apparently no one had reported her missing and the last time people apparently saw her was in 2003!

This just saddens me to my core.  How on earth can someone not be missed for 8 years!  I feel so sad for her.  Obviously she had no family or friends that cared and no neighbours found it strange that she just seemingly disappeared.

Is this a sign of how society is turning out these days???   Do we honestly not care for anyone anymore?

I hope this poor lady can finally rest in peace.  Words are escaping me right now so I will end with this beautiful picture that I found online.....

My Stats Tell Me.....

.....that I have had visitors from far and wide over the last week.

Some times it still amazes me how the internet links people together.  To think that my little ramblings have been read in all these far off countries is quite astounding in a way lol.

My little Stats counter thingie (geez I'm just so technical aren't I lol), shows that this week I have had visitors from:

Australia

USA

New Zealand

Malaysia

Russia

United Kingdom

Iran

France

Germany and 

India

 

I want to say  a friendly aussie "Hi" to all the people that have popped in.  Because I am a naturally inquisitive (aka "nosey") person lol, please say hi to me in a comment and share your blog with me if you have one.  I love finding new blogs to read.  You see, in my house I have kids that are Xbox addicts and a hubby that loves his fair share of computer games.  While I don't mind playing the occasional game, I would much rather read blogs and learn new things in the process.  I love to find different ways of doing things, new recipes, craft ideas, all sorts of things.

So if you pop in, please take an extra minute and just say a little hello.  I promise to return the favour :-)

I thought I would share with you a few songs from an Australian Aboriginal band which made it big a number of years ago.  The band is "Yothu Yindi".  Their music spoke volumes to me and inspired me to learn more about Aboriginal culture.  While today, I have to admit I still don't know all that much, I feel that this band made Australia in particular, stand up and take notice of what had happened to the indigenous people of this country.  The first song is called Treaty and while it holds a strong political message, it is a song which has a fantastic beat and I have listened to many, many times. 

This next song is World Turning Right.  This would have to be my favourite song from Yothu Yindi.  It always made me feel happy.

And finally, here is "Tribal Voice", this one talks about indigenous people all over the world.  Fantastic Song.

I hope you enjoy the music.

And please don't forget to say hi if you can :-) I would love to "meet" you.

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!

Crochet Granny Squares - a burst of colour for my room

Some of you may remember my attempts at the "Art of Crochet" rug that I started.  I think I have made 17 squares so far.  Well I became disheartened because my squares were ending up all different sizes.  While I love learning new stitches etc I just got to the point where I wanted something I could do that would look "right" and I could make real progress rather than waiting for the next issue to come out.  So I have sidelined the "Art of Crochet" rug for the moment and have begun my own "Granny Square Blanket".

Granny Squares are quick and easy to make.  The pattern is super easy to follow even for a beginner like me.  I will continue to get the "Art of Crochet" magazines as I love the patterns that it provides.  I have so many of them flagged as potential items to make (too many in fact).  But for now, I will keep progressing with my blanket.  I find that I can get 2 squares done while watching a programme on TV with the kids each night before they go to bed.  While this will still take a long time to progress to a decent size blanket, it is progress that I can see grow a little each day.

The great part about Crochet, I am finding, is the portability of it.  I often take it in the car with me.  I went for a ride with Hubby last week up into the Adelaide Hills as he had to go and see a couple of customers.  I took along my pink wool and managed to finish 4 more squares.  Someone with more experience probably would have finished off about 10 in that time, but I felt pretty proud of myself with 4 little squares added to my pile.  Hubby is starting to call me Granny, taking my crochet everywhere but he has already stated that this blanket when finished will be his blanket......who's the Granpa now??? huh????? lol.  He has decided that my first attempt at doing things will become his, fair enough, I think, but I will wait to see his reaction when I try my hand at a lingerie bag or a scarf or beanie crocheted in pink purple and white or something like that lol.

Ebay, Paypal and the fees they charge

I like online selling and buying.  I like op shops.  The whole reduce, reuse, recycle phenomenon is great and takes us all back to times when this was the "normal" way of life.  The world has come full circle with families everywhere doing it tough right now. 

My family is like most in today's world I think.  We have the gadgets like mobile phones, Xbox, Wii, Nintendo DS, LCD TV and all the paraphenalia that comes with it.  This has grown over the years.  As the kids have gotten older they have received a mobile phone to keep them safe (naturally not all of them have one yet lol).  We originally had a Playstation 2, this got swapped for a Wii.  They all received a Nintendo DS for Christmas a couple of years ago when we were planning our trip to Queensland as a means to keep them entertained on the travel there and back (worked a gem I must admit and still does on long car trips!).  Mr14 then bought himself an Xbox as that is what all his friends had.  Well that then started a trend as my 3 other boys then all saved up their pocket money and birthday money for a whole year to buy themselves one too.  So yep our house has all the trappings of this century, along with a couple of laptops and 2 desk top computers.  And you know what......I hate it all lol, I truly do.  Hubby is right into the electronic age with the kids but I yearn for the simpler life, life before computers and gaming consoles.  Don't get me wrong, I love reading blogs, I love shopping on Ebay and Quicksales and I love playing computer games occasionally, but I hate all the electronic equipment that litters the house, the tangled mess of cords everywhere which make it very hard to clean behind cupboards etc etc etc.  It goes against my "simple living" philosophies.  Makes me wish I had just put my foot down and said no to the multitude of Xbox consoles our house now contains.  Yes it has given each child a possession that they had to learn to save up for and yes they all share their games around but personally, I hate it.

This brings me to the point I am trying to make (I know this is so longwinded lol).  I think I am like most people and feeling the overwhelming need to declutter our lives.  We are a "step family" with two families becoming one due to divorce etc.  Therefore we have the two houses becoming one scenario happening which as you can imagine brings alot of clutter, along with 6 children and all their clothes they outgrow, toys they outgrow and just life in general.

I have boxes and boxes of items waiting to be sold online.  This all takes time of course.  I list a few bits and pieces on Ebay and the rest goes on Quicksales because it is so much cheaper to sell there.  I used to love Ebay but for selling I don't any more.  I will tell you why in an example.

A couple of weeks ago I listed some women's clothing which I had brought from an op shop (I know I actually paid for more clutter to bring into the house lol but I fell in love with these things).  They were nice items which I saw potential for selling on Ebay and I thought "why not".  One was a designer denim jacket, a pure linen skirt and another name brand skirt.  I listed these 3 items at 99 cents as per Ebay's free listing offer.  They got lots of lookers but sadly the two skirts sold for just 99 cents each and the jacket sold for $1.04.  Naturally, as they were sold on Ebay Paypal was used to pay for them.  Now at the end of these 3 transactions, between the Ebay and Paypal fees and the cost of the items, I am left with....wait for it......NOTHING!  I have actually ended up 47 cents out of pocket.  Yes I know I should have put a bit extra on the postage cost to help cover the fees, but at the end of the day I am an honest person and I hate postage costs as it is.  I like to give my customers a good deal.  Sadly when using Ebay a good deal comes at a price.  I don't go out here to make a fortune, I'm not trying to become the next Ebay Millionaire (although that would be nice lol), but I really don't think that there is such a thing anyway.  Think about the fees I paid to Paypal and Ebay and think if you were selling $1,000,000 worth of stock each year, think how much money you would pay to these two companies in fees, it is just down right scarey!!

I know Ebay is a company and companies make money but I truly think their pricing needs to be made fairer.  There is a point where it becomes a rip off and I think for the small time seller, it has reached that point.  Ebay has the monopoly on online selling businesses.  That along with their Paypal company makes them millions of dollars each year.  The denim jacket I mentioned may have only cost me about 10 cents in Ebay fees but it cost me 68 cents in Paypal fees.  Fees which come off the total cost of the combined sale and postage!  It is just beyond a joke.  It isn't so noticeable when you are selling things for $15-20 each but when you are selling at $1 it just isn't fair.

I truly believe that Ebay has become a place for the big boys of online selling and us little stay at home mums just trying to make a few extra dollars towards our families budgets are getting pushed out.

What do you think?

I apologise that this was so long and I probably really should go back and make it all make sense but today I am just a little disheartened with my whole "lets make a bit of money to help out the family budget".  Today I feel like just sticking all my boxes out the front with a big "FREE" sticker on them just to get rid of the clutter once and for all!!!!

Sad Goodbyes and Birthday Surprise.....what a busy Saturday it was!

Saturday was a real whirlwind of a day in our house.  First of all we made the trek up to my brother's house which is out in the country about an hour or so drive away.  He lives in a very dry part of SA that sees very little rain.  Thankfully over the last few weeks they have received some rain and over the next few weeks it will turn into a nice lush green on the hills his house overlooks.  Sadly for us and for him he won't be here to see it as he is moving interstate next week.  He is swapping his beautiful views for some more equally beautiful views apparently.  I can't wait to go and visit him when they have settled in to their new house (not that it is actually built yet lol).  It will be a 14 hour drive for us though so it will be a very rare treat.  I sure will miss being able to go and visit his place though, it is so relaxing up there, so peaceful.

Here are some views from his house, it is perched on a small hill so overlooks the surrounding area and as you can see, there aren't many neighbours around.....

 

The kids will miss the dogs...

and Jimmy the Galah

and not to mention the numerous cats,,,here is one, her name is Jess and she is part Ragdoll part Birman and we are hoping she is pregnant.  The daddy is a purebred Ragdoll, also owned by my brother.  We have been promised one of the kittens if she is pregnant, yippee!!!

While we were surrounded by beautiful views, we decided to get a group photo of the kids.......anyone with kids knows how hard that can be,,,,here are our attempts with some very unwilling participants lol....

Take 1 Hubby forgot to zoom in

Take 2 looks like we have 3 separate groups of kids

Take 3 a slight improvement (honestly you would think the words "stand closer" meant touching something that would cause instant death!!)

Take 4....

Take 5....a reshuffle but now Miss12 doesn't want to get boy germs, sheesh

Take 6...the comedian comes to life lol

Take 7...family togetherness it isn't today!

Take 8...ahhhh just forget it...this went on for another 8 or so shots and the ones I have shown you are the best of the bunch.  I guess this photo will have to do for my frame on the wall lol, at least the background view is happy looking.

 

This photo and some individual ones we also took are to go in a huge frame I am revamping at the moment (I will show you my little art project once it is complete, I think I know what I am doing lol)

Once we came home I had two birthday cakes to create.  Getting home at almost 3pm didn't leave me feeling very inspired but it was our birthday night for the two Mr10's so I had to get the promised cakes made.  I think they turned out not too bad.  Here they are, they Thomas cake for Mr10 with Autism as he loves Thomas the Tank and the Scary House for Mr10.  Not as scary as I had originally planned but I couldn't find the original lollies I wanted to use so crocodiles, snakes and alien windows had to do lol.

The little legs sticking up in the air in the pool is meant to be a person getting eaten by a crocodile, it just didn't come out very well in the picture lol, but my son loved that bit.

All in all it was a great day.  It was sad to have to say goodbye to my brother and his wife, but they are following their dreams and you can't deny them that.  I wish them all the best and I can't wait to go and visit them in the not too distant future.

As for my birthday boys, well, I love them to bits and I can't believe they are both now 11 years old, where has that time gone?????  Today is in fact my Mr10's birthday, he actually seems older today in a mature kind of way lol, where has my little boy gone, the 2 year old that used to screw up his nose and say "that's disgusting" lol.

Geez this week has flown by!!!!

I'm not sure if it is because we had a public holiday on Monday or what it is this week, but it has simply flown by.  I can't believe it is the weekend again tomorrow.

This weekend, or at least tonight and tomorrow are going to be jam packed for me and I am feeling a little stressed about how I am going to fit things in.

Tonight is soccer night and also the night that my stepkids come over for the weekend.  Tonight also sees my eldest boy going to work and then to a work function which we will have to take him to and pick him up from, no doubt it will be a late pick up :-(  Tonight I also have to bake cakes for the birthday dinner we are having for the two Mr10's of the house.  It is our family tradition to celebrate with their "fancy" birthday cake and have a pizza/party pie etc dinner on the weekend closest to the kids birthdays when we have the entire gang here.  This weekend is the "chosen" weekend, with both of the Mr10's of the house having birthdays either last week or next week.

So tonight I will be baking the cakes ready for the decorating stage tomorrow.  Normally I would just bake them tomorrow morning and then spend the afternoon decorating but tomorrow morning we are driving up to see my brother who is moving interstate next week.  He lives about 90 minutes from here up in the Adelaide Hills.  A beautiful spot at this time of the year when all the rolling hills around are so nice and green.  It will be sad to see them go.  Although I don't see him often it is nice to know that he is there if I need him, now he won't be so convenient as it will now be a 14 hour drive to see him.  But he is following his dream so I am happy for them.

So tomorrow morning we will head off at about 9.00, go up and spend a couple of hours visiting them and then head back home, probably grabbing some take away for lunch and then home to decorate the cakes.  Normally I only decorate one cake as separate the birthday celebrations but this year due to illness we have had to celebrate both boy's birthday's together. 

I will be making a haunted house cake for my Mr10 and a Thomas the Tank cake for Mr10with Autism (he loves Thomas the Tank!).  I will share with you next week the results of my "creating" lol.



And here is a little music to kick off the weekend with....

OK I know its old but I have always had  a "thing" for John Travolta lol.

My second blog - A dedicated cooking blog

I finally gave in to the requests of my son and have created a totally separate cooking blog.  It will be slow growing as I continually make things and forget to take the much needed photos lol.  But is is alive and it has started.

I decided to keep it totally separate from this blog so as to give the kids their little place to go without having to listen to me ranting and raving and having to sort through all my other stuff to find the recipes they are wanting.

If you would like to take a peek, here is the link for it

CookingfortheGang



I hope you like it.  I am having a bit of fun doing it so far and I hope I can keep it up long term.  But hey, so far it is inspiring me to get my recipes out and try out some new things and if I can broaden the kid's tastebuds in the process it can only be a good thing right????

So I probably won't post recipes here any more I will keep them just for my new blog.  This will become more of my organising, gardening, crafting, home reno, and yes, ranting and raving type of blog lol.

Some weekend music again.......Our Wedding Song - Ronan Keating - This I Promise You

It's Friday and once again I'd like to share one of my favourite songs.  I adore this song, Hubby and I had it as our wedding waltz and it is very special to me.  I think it speaks volumes.  Enjoy!!!

Reusing leftovers - Reducing waste in our kitchen

We have had a very bolognaise sauce type of week this week.  Now, usually I wouldn't have more than 1 bolognaise sauce type of meal in a week but this week it has just panned out this way.

Tuesday  night I finally gave in to Mr9 and made his beloved burritos/nachos meal (yes some like burritos and some like nachos lol so I find it easier to just make a bit of each!).  Then Wednesday was soccer/karate night so I decided I would just do up a quick Spaghetti Bolognaise.  It was only while I was cooking it that I realised we had two very similar meals on consecutive nights, oh well too bad lol.

Anyway today I went to the fridge and was looking to make sure there was nothing that had to be thrown out (you know the science experiments that seem to lurk in dark corners at the back of fridges!).  Science experiments there weren't, thankfully, but there was a bowl of bolognaise sauce and another of spaghetti bolognaise.  I decided I would make up a small lasagne to stick in the freezer for those nights when there are only 4 of us (namely when the boys go to Dad's house and we have my stepchildren here).

So this rather congealed looking speciment of bolognaise sauce.....

would turn into lasagne which looked like this as I built the layers.....

...a lasagne just the right size for 4 serves.

As I built layer upon layer though I realised that I had too much sauce for just one lasagne but not enough for two.  I stood there pondering my dilemma for a moment, considered deconstructing my almost finished lasagne to put it into a bigger casserole dish when I remembered the Spaghetti Bolognaise sitting in the fridge.  So, they may not look overly elegant but we now have.....

2 Spag Bog Lasagnes wrapped up in the freezer.  I wrapped them securely in alfoil and all I have to do on a cold winter day is grab them, grate some cheese on top and throw them in the oven.  I love leftovers!!!

This is great for being economical too.  I used 2kgs of beef mince all up.  Out of this I got a Burrito/Nacho meal which fed 6 people, a Spag Bog Meal which fed 9(we had 1 extra child in the house) (with 2 of them having seconds) and 2 lasagnes which will give at least 8 servings too (I allow for fairly large serves with a predominantly male household lol).  So all up 2kgs of mince created 25 servings of meals.  That is pretty good economics I'd say.

So now after that I am off to wrap presents for Mr 10(with Autism)'s birthday tomorrow.  We only have him before school in the morning so presents will be partly opened tonight along with a simple birthday cake and then when he comes back next weekend, we will have a combined party night for him and my Mr10 who's birthday is the 21st and they will each have their "big" cake which I will make earlier that day.

***  I hate labelling Mr10(with Austism) this way but it is the only way to differentiate between the two Mr10's in my house lol.  I may have to start using their nicknames instead, I will ponder this thought! ***

Come Join the Blog Hop........this is new to me and I love it!!!

Like I need another excuse to spend time cruising blogs lol!  Only problem is I can't seem to get the little piccie part to work :-(, I shall keep trying!

I was taking a peek at  Melissa's blog  today and decided to join in on the fun. Today I needed cheering up. I have been on my second course of antibiotics to clear up an infection. The first AB's didn't have any effect so the doc prescribed a second one. The second, while doing a fantastic job at making me feel better, sadly has had very unpleasant side effects so I am going back to the doc today to see what else he can suggest because I sure can't put up with the discomfort those AB's dished out to me for another 5 days!!

Okay I am off to explore the blogging world, come join me.......