One of those days...

...of the gorgeous, relaxed, simple and down to earth kind.

The kids and I started off reading a chapter of Heidi and then Nathan wanted to re-read our book on early man.

Then out to the garden to give it a good watering (we haven't had rain for quite a few weeks and it's been getting warmer and a LOT of wind to dry out the soil). The new seedlings we popped in the ground over the last week have all settled in nicely. We noticed the other seedlings are beginning to take off, potatoes needed a bit more mounding, the strawberry plants are loaded with fruit and the plums are beginning to turn red. I moved my pumpkin seedlings into a redundant compost pile but had to cover it with netting as the chickens jumped on and kicked them all out again.

Meanwhile Nathan was inspired to build a lean-to hut like he'd seen in our prehistory book.

The chickens moved in right away lol.

The kids moved into the sandpit and Nathan retrieved the baking soda and vinegar to make volcanoes. He showed me something he discovered if he made a paste of baking soda and water and how it would glob off his fingers but keep it's shape.

While reading Heidi earlier on, we read of Heidi running in the meadows with her apron on and collecting flowers. It made me think of Danielle and her love of collecting flowers and things from nature whenever she's outside. So I decided to make her a wee half-apron with pockets on the front to store her treasures and remain hands free. We popped out mid afternoon and went to the local charity shop and found some pillow cases to refashion into the apron. I had the flowery fabric in my stash set aside for her to make another Lazy Days Skirt at some stage (hopefully there'll be enough left) - she's still wearing those two skirts as well so I won't need to make up the other fabrics till next summer. This is where I'm at (just roughly pinned on to check the layout). I will use the floral for the waistband and ties and have a ribbon to put along the tops of both sets of pockets to firm them up.

Here are the flower oils infusing on the windowsill.

I've been doing less of this during the day (sitting at the computer - it's funny what you find on your camera when you weren't expecting it)...and for the past few weeks the kids have been doing zero TV after 9am and haven't missed it a bit.

And the rain has finally arrived to give the ground a decent soak and refill the water tank which is solely used to water the garden.

Ahhhh, a satisfying day...

They seem to be few and far between at the moment, but today just felt like one of those lovely home days where plenty was done, people were busy, happy and content. I felt motivated (the key here I suspect!) to cook and provide food, get into the garden*, potter around the house, get on top of the dishes, laundry and general mess.

Just after 9am, the kids and I got out into the garden (Simon works Saturday). I wanted to dig over the 2nd vege bed to prepare it for tomorrow's afternoon planting (meant to be in line with the moon). I dug it, sprinkled some seaweed fertilizer on it and tomorrow will spread it with compost to be lightly dug through.

The kids got busy bouncing on the tramp, climbing trees, collecting tomatoes, gathering cicada skins, and Nathan built another teepee and collected some water from the trough and watched the baby mozzies swimming around - I sat down with a cup of herbal tea and my book on a blanket and enjoyed the fresh air.




I cooked lunch and provided snacks all day BEFORE the kids were saying they were hungry and catching me out in a moment of feeling a need for a rest - hmmm, I think this is what I need to be a bit more prepared with. It makes my life easier in the long run if I am prepared rather than getting things in the moment when the kids are already hungry. The only foods I really have to offer them as ready-to-eat is fruit, nuts and carrot sticks with peanut butter which only cut it for so long. I suspect what happened today if I now have a few options to work with that will become my "regulars" and it's just taken a week to collect together a few easy ideas without having to put in too much mental energy into it.

This afternoon we read stories, the kids coloured and I got to read for a bit with a cup of tea, I put on to cook a chicken broth from our roast the night before, we were going to make playdough and I decided to use up some of the gluten free flours in the pantry and ended up with this strange gloop instead. Was a pleasant surprise that kept us all busy for about an hour. It was fun!



(and yes, the clean up was a challenge lol)
Danielle's picture with positioned cicada skins and kidney beans.

I had made a mental plan earlier on what I was going to make for dinner, so half the job was done lol. While cooking dinner I provided snacks to the kids who were watching a DVD of Alice in Wonderland and this bought me time until dinner was made.

I used to do all this stuff, but suspect with the changes in routine, changes in food and general blahness within myself has just meant these things have slid a bit (and perhaps those vitamins and minerals I've been taking for the past 3wks have stared to kick in too). Yay for having energy instead of wanting to sleep all day.

* Wahhhh! I went looking for my bag of seeds to get ready to sow tomorrow but can't find them! I had them a couple of weeks ago when I went through and pulled out some packets (which I have sitting on my side table - phew) but can't find the bag which usually lives outside on the porch on my seed raising table. Unfortunately (gulp), my recycling bin sits right next to it and I wonder if by mistake when I put the seed bag away whether it fell into the bin and got put out...so hope I'm wrong there. But this house is quite small and limited places for things to be put that it's looking kinda bad. I probably had several hundred $$ of seeds in there. Boo hoo.

OK, so GAPS food Days 5 and 6...

Day 5:

Breakfast: carrot sticks with peanut butter and pumpkin/vegetable soup from the freezer

Snack: apple and pear with honey, brazil nut, almond milk (oops, had illegal ingredients, but will start to make my own), dried banana (a yummy treat I found for the kids to satisfy an urge for some sweetness), 1/2 peach. Banana pancakes, apple slices with peanut butter.

Lunch: tinned salmon, tomato, fruit strap

Dinner: Roast chicken with carrots, pumpkin, onion and broccoli. Watermelon.

A bit overloaded with fruit but it was shopping day and new fruit/veg box had arrived the day before...

Day 6:

Breakfast: Banana pancakes, dried banana, 1/2 peach

Lunch: Patties made with mashed pumpkin and silverbeet, egg, LSA nut mix to thicken, chunks of chicken from last nights dinner cooked in olive oil. Watermelon.

Snack: carrot sticks with peanut butter, brazil nut, cashew nuts

Dinner: Dahl - split green peas cooked in chicken stock, tomato, courgette, spices, garlic. Meat patties - mince, onion, garlic, carrot, courgette with egg. Watermelon.

Simple Fun

The last few days we've pretty much just hung out at home. Yesterday was rainy and Nathan was claiming to be bored at home, but as soon as the words left his lips his mind was creating the next activity. Toys rarely featured in the creations and they filled their time quite nicely and quite differently to usual.

They had heaps of fun squirting each other and then moving liquid around with the plastic syringe the hospital gave Nathan to play with.

Nathan's "rocket ship" that I had to do a countdown about 10 times over!

And then would crash off onto the cushions...

Nathan then wanted to play pass-the-parcel with Danielle. So he wrapped up a bunch of their crayons and stones and the prize in the middle was a wrapped up apricot! That game took up about an hour coz one game was not enough lol!

They have rediscovered a CD of kids songs and I'm sure it was played at least about 6 times!

Then today, Nathan and I were sitting in the sun chatting (he'd stopped to check out the sunflower that was now losing it's petals) and I showed him some dried pea-pods on the dead plants which are at the base of the sunflowers. So we started cracking them open. He then pulled up the rest of the dead plants and we extracted the peas. They won't be kept because the peas on several of the plants were very bitter and awful tasting, so we just opened them for fun. Danielle then came to investigate what we were up to.

Refocusing, reassessing, re-energizing...

So here I am, cruising along, doing what I do, living my life in the moment, day by day. Occasionally getting bogged down with the doom and gloom but mostly feeling the amazement and wonder at the simple pleasures in my life.

But for whatever reason, I get a jolt, a reality check - it'll throw me, it'll stop me in my tracks, it'll immobilise me.

Then I move into the analytical stage - I think, I wonder, I rationalise, I reassess.

Then I begin to take action again - I research, I re-energize and find motivational articles or quotes, I move on and look onwards and upwards. I once again know I am on the right track for our family and fully embrace it.

Being one who has tended to make alternative choices in so many parts of life (in particular since I've become a parent), I'm used to going against the current, sometimes defending my choices and other times putting my head down to avoid the attention.

I recently came across an old post of mine right back from my early days of blogging entitled Voluntary Simplicity. It's an interesting and such a diverse topic that means so many different things to everyone. I also wonder about how I get to make that privileged choice when so many in the world don't.

I wanted to re-post an excerpt from the book called The Lilypad: 7 steps to the simple life I linked to in the post as it summed up what Simple Living means to me. But I've just noticed that it's no longer available. From what I recall though - the author's idea of living simply is not driven from a place of fear, nor all about penny-pinching but from finding enjoyment and satisfaction in being free from consumerism, treading lightly on the earth, enjoying the moment and making your home and environment your sanctuary.

I still also really like and identify with The Worsted Witch's post and the definition she writes about.

So, a post made up of random ponderings, but I find it quite empowering to go through this sort of process periodically and come out the other side stronger.

Rituals

I guess we all have them. They may not be all that obvious, but I think for most of us, it's just a little something special that makes us all unique and brings joy to our day or helps things run smoother.

For me it's the ritual of drinking tea.

I've been thinking about my tea drinking over the past few weeks. Several bloggers have had posts that have got me thinking, and on those occasions the answer is in a cup of tea.

First up, Sharonnz post a week or so back spoke of being a mindful parent, slowing down and just being in the moment. I shared with her that one way for me to be able to do that is to grab a cup of tea and sit down - whether that is with the kids to play or just hang out with them while they play (sometimes it makes playing the same tedious (to me) game over and over bearable if I can have a cuppa beside me) but mostly it's just nice to grab that chance to sit down and enjoy the moment with the kids and have some headspace where I'm not constantly thinking about what else I could be doing.

Then there was Chile's Quit Now challenge a few days back where she asked us what addictions we were going to look at giving up in a world where we may not have time to continue as we were, or have the money or the availability of items. Once again I was drawn to thinking about tea. Initially I pledged to reduce my black tea drinking habits right back from 5 cups a day down to 1 and then if things got to the point of not having black tea available then I'd just give it up, but it would no longer be cold turkey and I would not go through the horribleness of suffering migraines as my body weans off it. So while the challenge was just for a month, I found good reason to take it seriously and make this a long term commitment. But, I'm going slow and just cutting back gradually because as I delved further into this I realised there was more to the Tea Drinking than just being addicted to it.

The fact is I enjoy it. It's not so much about the taste or "needing" it, but it's the ritual attached to everything about sitting down for a cup of tea. And I'm sure it is the ritual that led to the addiction.

I realised that every time I decide to make a cup of tea (yes, I do actually go through a conscious thought process when I decide to have a cup of tea) I choose my place to drink it - I might grab a book, spend it with the kids depending on what they're doing, I might decide to share my tea with the internet, I might sit in front of the fire, sit on my sunny porch or lie down on my bed in the sun and read a novel. I will rarely make a cup of tea when I am busy because I don't like drinking on the run when I have to come back for a sip and carry on. So, I get out my teapot and the kids love to sit down with me and enjoy a cup too. They enjoy mint tea and one of my fruit infusions.

So for me to successfully cut back the actual addiction to my cup of tea, I need to maintain the lovely ritual attached to it and I know I will handle it fine (having found some good tasting replacements).

The addiction can go, but the ritual can stay!

Streamlining my processes

We've been living in this home for 5 years. Prior to moving in we did a complete paint job on the place - I was 7mths pregnant with Nathan. I was fortunate to have my parents come and help out - I was chief lunch and cup of tea maker, sewed curtains, swept and did a bit of pre-cleaning.

The place has pretty much stayed as it was when we moved in. I had recently completed a diploma in Interior Design and put my new skills to use. I had it all planned out, cute little to-scale room plans with mini to-scale cut outs for the furniture placements etc. On the whole, it's all worked out great and I love the feel of our home. Over the years I've implemented new ways of doing things, rearranged occasionally, and have become more "green" which has brought with it new routines and things to take into consideration.

However, over the past few days I've been reassessing some of my processes in the ways I do things. Our house is reasonably small - not tiny, but not large - just over 100 sq metres. We have minimal storage space - or so I thought. The only cupboards we have are in the kitchen, a linen cupboard in the laundry and a wardrobe in our room and Danielle's (Nathan's now has a small stand alone wardrobe). We've relied on other storage ideas to help out, such as shelving, cabinets and storage chests.

Here is the list of things that have always annoyed me but I thought were beyond doing anything about...

The vacuum cleaner being stuffed into the laundry cupboard which is behind the door into the laundry - so a clutter of doors and vacuum cleaner bits would drive me nuts having a wrestle with them to get them out. I found vacuuming a big hassle because of this and was lucky if I vacuumed once a week despite needing to be done more frequently. I also have a 3-drawer plastic storage unit in here for my stationery and elctronic cables/software etc which was also difficult to access.

There was the loss of cupboard space under the kitchen sink due to recycling tins and platics and the large bag of plastic bags jammed in there.

There was the compost scraps container cluttering up the kitchen bench, there for convenience but too small to even hold a days worth (and flicked scraps ending up on my wall).

The large wicker laundry hamper in the laundry was jammed into a space that was a bit inconvenient to access, so I rarely used it and dirty clothes would just be piled up in our bedroom and transferred daily when I do the washing.

Storage space in our bedroom wardrobe was crammed with all sorts.

So..it only took moving the first thing and the rest just fell into place.

~ I moved the laundry hamper into our bedroom
~ The vacuum cleaner has come out of the cupboard and is now in the spot where the hamper was
~ The plastic bags are now out from under the sink and hung in the laundry
~ I found an unused small flip top rubbish bin poked into a corner in the laundry that I have placed under the sink where the plastic bags were and that now holds my compost scraps. It's much bigger than the previous container and more practical and gets the container off my benchtop.
~ I cleared out our wardrobe shelving, had Simon buy a large lidded plastic bin to store the surplus in down in the garage (the bin is large enough to be useful for other things if required). The bin mostly consists of clothing that is made from useful fabrics that can be refashioned at some stage.

I have come up with new solutions and they seem so...simple, and I ask myself why I didn't think of them earlier. I guess life just became comfortable and it was easy to just pass the house off as small and lacking space for things. Now I have a heap of spaces that can be filled if ever needed - but I'm such a declutter that I can't imagine that happening.

My problem wasn't lack of space - I just wasn't using what I had wisely.

Slow food was the winner

This evening Simon and I were totally not in the mood for cooking a meal. The kids had a quickie meal cooked for them and we were going to pop out later for fast food.

Well, I was down in the garden doing a bit of watering and realised there was plenty of food ready for picking and I just couldn't resist putting a meal together in my mind and looked forward to it. In the end, the thought of a fresh garden salad, corn on the cobb with melted butter, roasted potatoes with grated cheese on top and a couple of our own free range eggs just couldn't be beat.

A Wonder-Full day

Well, Rach has inspired me again. It spurred me into action to do what we do anyway, but be a little more intentional about it rather than just falling into the trap/routine/humdrum (??) of just having another home-filled day. So although we enjoy those home days, and do things in the weekends with dadda, it gave me the oompf to actually get out and have our own adventures during the week too!

So, I remembered hearing about some rock pools down the coast a little way. I had never been there but have always been meaning to take the kids there. So after a few morning chores including giving the garden a quick weed (and discovering our rainbow coloured carrots are growing after all - a lovely Wonder to start the day with) while the chickens were out for a run around, a quick top up cuppa tea for me, bag packed with food, water, hats, spare clothes, our latest chapter book and us all sunscreened up - we were off at 10.30am.

Fifteen minutes down the road and we were at our destination.


We discovered:

Rock pools
Dead crabs x 3 (they were bought home to show dad, 2 fleshy (non-smelling) have disappeared - hmmm, me thinks the dog snaffled them up!)
A sea anemone
Various seaweeds
Wild goats wandering on the rocks x 2

The kids had heaps of relaxing fun throwing stones into the water, climbing up the rocks (Little Miss D surprised me with her keenness and agility at this, playgrounds don't really do it for her, so I've just assumed she's not into or not confident at this type of thing), running through the water and general busy-ness.

Once back at the car for a sitdown on the grass with some food, I wandered back across to collect up some seaweed to take home for the chickens and the compost.

Back with the kids and I read a chapter from their book before heading home.

(Just a shame that EVERY time (I'm not exaggerating) we drive down that stretch of highway there is a car accident blocking at least one lane of road if not an accident happening right IN FRONT or NEXT to me - no wonder I only do that trip every few months).

Don't know about the kids...

...but today is the kind of day that I love to think back on. I sometimes wonder what things the kids will have memories of when they are adults and hope that these sorts of days make it into them.

Today was a family day and full of...

- Blue sky, sun and just a gentle breeze

- Me digging up the next vege patch while Simon cut up more of the firewood for next winter and the kids pottered around keeping the chickens out of the vege patches and playing in a pile of sand

- Taking a break and deciding on an impromptu picnic lunch in our garden which we haven't done before (well not down in amongst the vege's anyway); so out came the picnic mat, plates of fresh food, mugs of water and sitting under the pear tree in the shade watching the chickens and hoping we'd see them laying their eggs (no such luck, think they knew they were being watched even from a bit of a distance)

- Collecting the eggs later on with Danielle and just sitting down on the grass and chatting about them for a good 10 minutes while picking buttercups and putting them in our hair

- A bike ride down to the beach

Roll on more sunny days...

Nathan's living the good life

Nathan enjoys looking at the pictures of "Caleb" in my Living the Good Life Book - guess he sees the fun photos of things that he's up to. So today he wanted to have his photo taken holding *our* chicky eggs just like Caleb!

We're up to 2 a day now, so I feel the girls are getting the right amount of protein needed.

A spot of op-shopping

After feeling inspired to make Christmas gifts, I went off to the hospice shop this afternoon. Scored some really good things too. But boy, I might avoid shops in general coz of the frenzied feeling to spend, spend, spend that comes on - but I found today, it was even stronger in a 2nd hand shop! What is with that? Maybe because I feel OK about buying things that are already out there, buying clothes that have already been washed of all the pesticides and nasty chemicals and finding unique finds that you really wouldn't in most regular shops. Just as well I don't frequent them too often!

So, I came away with 2 large glass jars with clamp lids for my pantry (I'm slowly building up my supply whenever I go down there and buy up what's there), 8 lovely linen serviettes with 2 textured type ones in contrasting colours to make my hot rice bags, a woven nana bag (haha) with bamboo handles - quite funky actually and great for shopping and popping things into (like library books), some clothes for Nathan (short and longsleeve t-shirts, pj's, fleece top for next winter), a woollen jumper for myself and a cool patterned jar to put the bath salts into.

Turning more vegan every day...

I'm approaching this from a strange angle I know! Does one just go from being a meat/dairy eater to a vegan without coming at it from an ethical-kill-no-animals angle? Sure there are many reasons to become vegetarian, but vegan just seems like that little bit more of a "freak" thing to do (and no offense to any vegans reading this!).

However, as I understand and grasp more about a range of issues (for the main part I'm thinking peak oil and climate change) it just seems to be the next logical step. I've been thinking how we can be self sufficient food-wise while living in a town on a standard 1/4 acre section. There is no way of owning a house-cow or goat where I live, so unless dairy products and meat are still able to be supplied somehow if TSHTF and food is suddenly very expensive or unavailable, it makes sense to scale back our dependency on these products now.

Way back when I started blogging I made a commitment to reduce our meat intake from daily to every second day. And we've done that. Even when I've been tempted to do meat two nights in a row. And we enjoy it.

So! I discussed with Simon tonight about adding a few more vegetarian meals into the weekly cooking (afterall, I am the cook around here generally) and he wasn't phased by it. After poring through my cookbooks this evening and taking into account that we are on a tight budget (well, I really want to save $$ to pay off a large chunk of mortgage when it comes of the fixed term in a years' time), it seemed to rule out a lot of vegetarian meals that are loaded with dairy in them and in fact often hike the total meal price beyond a basic meat meal. Because at least half of the vegetarian meals I cook over a month would be vegan anyhow, I figured it wouldn't be too much to add a few more into the mix. From now, the aim is to eat no more than 2 meat meals a week (we have already cut back the meat portion sizes too for the nights when we do eat meat).

I do struggle with being hungry after eating a vegan meal occasionally, and know I need to include a bit more protein to that longer lasting energy, so have been more mindful of adding rice or quinoa to our vegetable soups. I have just purchased a few second hand vegetarian cookbooks which I am still waiting on to glean new ideas. I do wonder (if TSHTF) how we would get B12 on a fully vegan diet if there were no processed/enriched foods to rely on since it is not naturally available (aside from not washing our hands after using the toilet and reabsorbing our own stores of B12 or adding human manure to vege gardens and leaving the unwashed - blech). Of course, if my chickens start (!) laying eggs then that will be a source of B12 for us.

Back to the menu planning - and maybe we'll even be able to stretch grocery shopping day from once fortnightly out to once monthly with the reduced dairy/meat (since our little freezer can't cope with larger amounts and we switched off our large freezer a few weeks back after Simon left it open one night and defrosted it's contents!).

Further simplification...

Crap plastic toys...

Made in china...

Imported food...

The list goes on...

I randomly and sporadically yet frequently (is that even possible?) think about these *issues*. I might ponder for a few fleeting seconds or mull it over for a few minutes before finding it all too difficult to focus on for a length of time and move on until next time. Reading Sharon's blog tonight gave me more focus, even though I'd already spent time mulling over these very issues about 3 times today already!

I'm thinking it's time to come up with a plan! That little thing called guilt is creeping in as I learn more, and I see this guilt as the positive kind that then kicks me into action.

I have been gradually dropping food items off the grocery list that are coming from afar. We have completely done away with bananas, the kids haven't even asked about them - we were buying 6 bunches a fortnight! Quite large $$ savings to the bill too. I am still stuck with quite a few items from Australia (particularly gluten free), but I'm ok with that and have a few other items I need to work on.

This week I have bought less organic milk (very spendy as well) in a bid to cut our dairy consumption down, so will see how that goes.

As for the crap plastic toys - I see no point in ditching what is already in the house if the kids are playing with them still, but out goes the junk that is broken and no more is to enter! And to think that today, Nathan played with a length of wool and Danielle's tricycle for about an hour - tying it up, making knots, attaching things...

Made in China...this is SO hard! I was discussing with Simon about a few things we would like to get for the kids - ie a soccer/basketball. I wonder if there are any NZ manufacturers who make these? I am going to need to be patient in my search, instead of whipping down to the big red shed to grab the nearest ball I see. I recently bought some little positionable wooden dolls for Danielle and some wooden cuisenaire rods from the Playcentre shop without thinking, and yep! both made in China. So frustrating and so many habits of a lifetime that need challenging.

Unfortunately $$ do talk for us in this household when making purchases. But I am now going to be looking at the cuttings we are making in dairy products, meat and bananas as being an increase to our income and therefore gives us the ability to be more mindful in other areas as well - so it may well balance out!

How very domestic of me...haha

After reading my new library book on food storage before bed last night, I suddenly (at about 3am!) remembered (dreamed?) that I had a bag of plums in my freezer for doing *something* with.

Recipe #1 - Spicy plum sauce

So, today I made my first real sauce/chutney for storage. For some reason, until now, the thought of gathering old jars, cleaning, sterilising etc etc has *really* put me off wanting to do something like this. But, after a bit of reading of recipes it really was not all that hard!

I found two recipes that seemed to be what I wanted, but I had barely any of the ingredients to make either one. So I ended up making a compromise between the two recipes and came up with my own. It was very tasty.

1-1.5 kg plums
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 large onion finely chopped
2 tsp chilli powder
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp fresh ginger
1 T garam masala
1 tsp salt
1.5 cups soft brown sugar

Wash and put whole plums into a large pot and cover with the vinegar. Heat on low while the rest of the ingredients are being prepared. Chop up onion and add to the plums along with the garam masala, chilli, garlic and ginger. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30mins until the plums disintegrate. Add the salt and brown sugar, bring back to the boil. Turn off and let sit for 15mins. Strain through a large seive. Boil up clean jars and their lids and set to drain. Fill the hot jars with the sauce right up to the top, immediately put lid on.

Recipe #2 - Chicken Stock

We had a roast chicken for dinner, so decided to make some chicken stock using the left over carcass. I popped the carcass, chopped onion, carrot, celery, parsley into the crockpot, covered with water and will leave it on high for 5hrs. Strain and put into containers for freezing.

And while I'm still thinking frugal...

It was haircutting time again!

So far I have been able to give their hair a tidy up myself. I wonder how long they will let me do that for!?

A frugal dinner...or is it??

Back before we started to remove meat from our diet, before we started buying organic produce, and before embarking on a gluten free diet - this *was* my answer to a tasty frugal dinner!

I made it for dinner tonight, we haven't eaten it for a while (bar a few weeks back when I had my parents over for dinner) and I remembered how this used to be a staple number once a week. I actually stopped making it because Danielle isn't so keen on curry flavoured food - and she's still not, but the mash goes down well...

Curried Sausages!

But now...
The sausages cost twice the price gluten free
The produce is no longer cheap spuds, carrots and onions from the supermarket

And of course, having meat in the meal fullstop increases it's overall cost compared to some other protein/iron options out there (although if you bought the *really* cheap sausages as we did it would have been pretty close).

So, it's all relative really!

I find it interesting when reading message boards and the question "how much is your grocery budget?" is asked to get a frugal comparison. While it may be vaguely useful, it's not helpful when you have some who are vegetarian, others who only buy organic produce and others have specialty diets which require expensive alternatives. So while we shop frugally, sticking to the above changes, we still spend a lot more than other families of four who truely do/can stick to buying the cheapest. But I still consider us frugal buyers.

Also, because we buy a box of organic vegetables every week, I don't think of individual veges and their individual price per kilo - I just work it out as a daily $$ value we consume because we get the same volume every week and it costs the same regardless.

So anyone want a recipe for frugal *meat* meal?

6 sausages sliced (precooked are easily to handle)
1 onion chopped
1 carrot grated

Gravy
2 cups boiling water
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
1-2 tablespoons curry powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 tablespoon butter

Place meat and vegetables into a casserole dish. Mix up gravy and pour over and stir through. Cook in oven at 180 degrees for 45mins.

I like to serve this with a large serving of mashed vegetables. Tonights was a real medley of whatever was available (potato, kumura, cauli, kale, silverbeet, pumpkin, pumpkin), but just plain old potato is pretty good! I like to serve it in a pasta bowl with sausages at the bottom and the mash on top - it saves the mash from instantly turning to liquid.

A perfectly ordinary, yet perfect day!

So why is it some days seem such a struggle and others are just a breeze??

Today was one of the breezy days. It wasn't even action packed or full of things that usually keep them well entertained, but it just had such a nice even flow. I like what I read at a friends blog "we aim for a simple life, not a boring life". That rings so true for our family as well. Days do not need to constantly be full of action, or scheduled, or a constant stream of visitors. It's certainly nice to have a little of that and often it is in the form of visitors which we love. So while today perhaps had a bit more "media" than usual, it was nicely broken up.

It started off with a bit of TV for the kids as usual while I caught up on emails and ate breakfast. We all got dressed, then I cleaned and tidied the kitchen and put a load of washing on.

I asked Nathan if he wanted to write a letter to another wee boy who wanted to receive a letter and he'd get one in return - so we worked on his letter, popped it in an envelope for posting tomorrow.

By then the kids were ready for something more to do so we decided - since it's heading towards Thursday and "new vege box day" - to juice up some excess vegetables for a bit of an energy boost.

I realised the day was not going to get beyond 8 degrees, so we lit the fire, grabbed some books and spent some time reading. We all tidied up before Nathan wanted to watch a video while Danielle went off and played with her bubba while I prepared dinner with the odd visit from each of them now and again, then they played a bit together roughing around on the couch cushions which were piled up on the floor.

Since the fire was on, I cooked lunch on the cooktop. The kids decided to eat theirs as a picnic on the floor.

While Danielle was napping, Nathan and I set up a train track and added bridges made out of blocks. We then went and mixed up some bread for dinner and set it in front of the fire to rise. Nathan then wanted to have a little computer time which saw me deciding to start planning out what plants were going to go where in the garden when. So off to make a pot of fruit tea, settled on the floor in front of the fire and out came the permaculture book with LW's suggestions (Australian, and not entirely appropriate for my climate) and my trusty Yates book to get the best planting times for my environment. I think I have a pretty workable plan - hopefully! The lounge then got a good tidying up by us all, before more stories came out for reading in front of the fire.

Finally our nice hot leafy green (was going to be spinach, but there was also silverbeet and leek in there for using up) and potato soup and homemade bread was ready for consuming! We lit some candles for a bit of mid-winter feel-good.

Simon made it home early tonight by 5.30pm which is certainly a nice end to the day for me and means the kids get a good play session with him while he baths them.

Of course, we have perfect days which can be full on action packed, or any other combination. Yet, other days those same activities can also mean the end of the world...lol.

Back into life outside of our house tomorrow...

Outdoor adventures...

So...my kids have been conditioned to not having their own backyard to roam in until now. We've noticed that it's taken a couple of weekends for both of them to realise that this wonderful outdoors is *theirs* to do as they wish in. Instead of the first weekend saying "dad, come and watch me climb the tree", "dad, come and watch me as I ride my bike down the drive", "mum, come and throw the ball to me". It was relentless. Then I realised that they didn't really know how to relax in that sort of environment, nor play, explore, have adventures, use the space...

However, it's been interesting to note that the past few weeks, both kids have found their own little niche within our backyard and what it has to offer - last weekend we provided suggestions, this weekend they had their own and the fun and adventure just happened.

Danielle is still keen as on playing in the wheelbarrow (throw and blanket over the top and she's loving her little playhouse with nothing inside except herself) = 1 hour of fun!

Nathan was trying out all sorts of skills today. There is a hole in the backyard where the dog used to dig which had a bunch of bamboo positioned across it waiting to be used - he decided it made quite a cool bridge, so took a bit of experimenting to get across without falling into the hole and between the slats = 20 mins of fun (and no, the bike didn't seem to cross over despite trying); Simon discovered a huge worm in a hole he was digging, so the kids checked out the worm = 10 mins of fun; Nathan found an old ball in the bushes = 5 mins of fun till it fell to bit coz the plastic was brittle; Nathan standing up on the deck seeing how far he could throw his gumboots off = 10 mins of fun until they landed in the dogs run (again!) and I refused to retrieve them one more time; Nathan helping me attach the cable ties onto the chook coop = 5 mins of fun; Nathan climbing a tree - 2 mins of fun; going for a wee at the top of the retaining wall and seeing how far he can make his wee go = 20 secs of fun.

Now, to see how long it will take them to venture off down to the garden by themselves without us being there right beside them!

Seasonal changes...

...and time to review the kids drawers (and wardrobes).

The weather has cooled down enough where I have finally conceded that there is no point having all the summer clothes clogging up the drawers any longer. So today, away went the summer PJ's, shorts and summer dresses. I did need to keep all of Nathan's shorts and T-shirts out though - this kid seems to run hot and doesn't like warm layers (well, with the energy he has, he rarely has a chance to get cold) until it's mid-winter.

It was quite exciting going through Danielle's bags of clothes in her wardrobe that have all been given to us and sorting through them all. She has masses of clothes and I don't need to fear things not drying on wet winter days (especially if my lovely fire is roaring to help dry them!). Fortunately we are all set without any additions required.

We don't own a dryer (never have), so in winter my house does invariably look like a laundry room with things draped over the fireguard and the drying racks - ah well, if visitors come over I just plonk them out on my covered over porch and hope the wind direction doesn't change and force the rain in under the verandah.

Other simple living ideas as we move into winter...I have been inspired to source an old fashioned kettle to keep on my fire stovetop to keep some water boiling (minus a whistle me thinks!) - I love hot cups of tea! I also plan on trying out casserole type meals on the firetop if I get myself a decent dish that is efficient on retaining heat. With an aim of not whipping down to the local shops to pick these things up brand new, I will have a regular scour of the op shops or auction sites to see how I go.

I love winter.

It's all coming together

The other day I was woken with Danielle calling out at 5.30am - after a quick retuck, I went back to bed - but being that time of morning, I find it difficult to go back to sleep. So it became thinking time.

It's weird, so many random thoughts were going through my head, but also, everything just felt so clear and trouble free.

I just felt really at peace with where my life is at. I have always seen myself as a positive person who sees the bright side of things, I don't often feel dragged down by issues in life, I'm not a worrier when I can't do anything to change that at the time (if I have a worry, I immediately like to work to eliminate it by taking whatever action I can). So, what made life feel so good on that particular morning?

It's really been building over the past few weeks, mostly through my interactions on several message boards and my growing confidence in myself and perhaps a slightly reckless sense of not worrying about what others think of me when I disclose a bit more of myself or my true thoughts - even blogging here has been quite liberating for me, for someone who is very guarded about exposing the real me to all. I think, until the past 3-4mths, not one person (bar Simon) knew the me that I am *now*.

BUT, there have been changes!

I have had so many meaningful conversations with friends and family in the past week it's been amazing and feels...so good! Wow, to actually be myself and not feel afraid, or hesitant, or weird, or whatever. It's not even about *not caring* what others think, but just having a knowing that I am OK as I am.

Then, a few days back, Rach (Hi!) blogged about community and it *really* spoke to me and provided the piece in the puzzle that has been missing for me. For me to be feel authentic and close to someone there needs to be a transparent humility. Wow, such a simple concept, but so so true going on the few conversations I've been leaping into without defensiveness or hiding parts of myself or my thoughts. (I witnessed and understood humility for the first time about 15yrs ago between two women friends and was struck with the honesty and oneness that that brought them),

So why does my life feel like it's all of a sudden come together? Well, I've actually made the decision to homeschool the children as blogged a week or so back, I've realised my role of SAHM is perfect for me (no nagging question of "what will I do when the kids are older"), that the simple life really *is* the way forward for our family and I feel on the right path.