Move

2012 is going to be an interesting year. I've chosen my word for this year to reflect some of the happenings.
- I'm going to be moving house at least once, maybe twice in the next twelve months;
- I'm going to move back to studying at  TAFE part-time (Accounting);
- I'm going to move more (i.e. exercise) at least 3 times a week
- I've already moved into 2 days per week in a different role with my current employer for 6 months;
- I've going to move (re-arrange) my routines to make more time for family & friends;

You've probably got the idea by now.
I'm going to be watching my dollars very closely this year while I move, sub-divide, sell one lot then build.
For a portion of the year I'll be paying a mortgage and rent so things will be tight, but I have allowed for rent in my new home budget. Unfortunately my current house is crumbling around me and the cost to renovate it to a comfortable standard is more than I have or am able to borrow. Hence the path I am taking means I will have a new, low maintenance house with no extra debt.
I hope it all falls into place now.
Step one has been finding a rental property that is affordable and not too far from everything that we do as a family. It seemed like a false economy to move too far away for cheaper rent but then spend more money on petrol. I'll know this week hopefully if i get the property I've put in for. In the meantime I'm packing boxes and trying to look at my budget. Thank you to Frogdancer for sharing her food budget spreadsheet with me.
Off to clean up the kitchen and then bed. Tomorrow is a busy day and more boxes will be packed!

take care of you
Lis
xx

Food for thought...finding time

I think we all need to find time to do the things we love...scrapbooking is my time for my Self.

"I’ve heard it said that every day you need half an hour of quiet time for yourself, or your Self, unless you’re incredibly busy and stressed, in which case you need an hour. I promise you, it is there. Fight tooth and nail to find time, to make it. It is our true wealth, this moment, this hour, this day. "

Read the rest of the article here. http://www.sunset.com/travel/anne-lamott-how-to-find-time-00418000067331/
..thanks to Ali Edwards for the link.

So much for my new years resolution to blog more!
Seems I am blogging less this year.
I'm going to start adding a few more of my favourite recipes on here to share with you all.
I've even been working with a few gluten free recipes!

My blog of the day is hanigan family recipes - loving those cute easter eggs!! YUM!

I'm back!!!

Yes, I'll admit I haven't been around for a while...life has been moving a long at a cracking pace and right now I am finding it hard to keep up some days!
Nothing exceptional to report - just spending more time hanging out with friends and family.
I'll post some new recipes below - at least that is one thing I am doing lots of ...cooking and trying new recipes.
Enjoy and take care of you all!

Thank you

I just wanted to say a belated thank you to all the people who have visited me in the past week, both the new visitors and also my regular ones (You know who you are - most of your blogs are in my sidebar). All that positive feedback makes it all worth it. Some days I think it is all too hard, but then I remember why I try to live that way I do.
Because it makes me happy and as Rhonda said today I am part of the kitchen sink revolution! Go read her great post here and join us on our frugal and sustainable journey.
I value each and every comment I receive and read them all, even if I don't get time to comment on all of them!
Please keep visiting and leave a comment if you like :)
If you'd like me to add your blog to my favourites list then leave me a comment :) I know there are a lot out there that I read and then forget to add them to my list. Plus if you have any favourites why not share then with us.
I've also got some new recipes to share this coming week so I hope you like them.
Thanks again.
-hugs-
Lis

My life, simply

Rhonda Jean of http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com/ asked all her readers to write about our versions of living a simple life. Here is mine.

I guess I was always brought up in a frugal way, I remember always eating home baked biscuits and my Mum making all our clothes. My Mum only ever worked part time and my Dad was always able to fix things. I can remember many of our bikes being made from parts salvaged from the local tip. We used to joke that Dad would bring home more from the tip than he dropped off!

In my early 20's I fell for all the advertising and keeping up with the Jones'. We had a mortgage and the interest rates peaked at 17%. We had friends over for dinner parties and rarely went out for meals as we couldn't afford it! We commuted over an hour each day to work. We decided to cut our losses and eventually we bought the worst house in a really nice street.
From that point on I started to remember the old ways. We did most of the renovating ourselves and learned lots along that way!
I have always enjoyed cooking and always owned a slow cooker. When I became pregnant with my first child that I really started to look at ways to cut costs. I knew I didn't want to go back to work immediately. My children both had cloth nappies and home made clothes.
Years later following my divorce I spent six months back under my parents roof. They still live the same frugal, gentle life I remember from my childhood.
Being a single parent with 2 children and a mortgage I try to lead a frugal but happy life. We also discovered that my son reacts to a lot of food preservatives and additives (the numbers as he calls them).
I work about 30 hours a week so have learned to be very organised. I have a wonderful boyfriend who helps a lot with meal preparation and planning. My children also spend 50% of their time with their Dad, so I work longer hours the week they are with him and shorter hours when they are in my care. Here is a list of things that come to mind, the everyday of our simple, frugal lives:
I cook from scratch and bake at least once a week, our own biscuits and cakes.
I recycle, I have started growing our own herbs.
This year I started a compost heap.
We collect water when it rains in our old rainwater tank.
I dry my washing outside on the line and have only ever owned one dryer (it came with a house) I always think before I buy something new.
My daughter loves going op shopping with me.
I clean with bicarb and vinegar mostly, using old clothes/towels as cleaning cloths.
I menu plan and stockpile when I see good specials.
I use a cash budget for most items.
I preserve excess fruit to use throughout the year.
I freeze excess veggies as well.
I shop at local markets in order to buy in bulk and then share with family & friends.
I try to buy only Australian foods, but this is not always possible with my budget.
I catch public transport when I can.
My children ride or catch the bus to school most days.
I don't use plastic bags for my shopping - I have green bags and mesh bags for my fruit & veg.
I make my own laundry liquid.
I cook freezable meals in bulk (like bolognaise sauce).
I don't have a dishwasher in my kitchen.
My children attend the local public schools and I try to stay involved in their education.

My favourite thing right now is that I have managed to save enough to take my children overseas this year. I still have my mortgage to pay off, but I figure the memories are worth more than I can put a price on. In a few years my children will miss too much school, so it is now or never.
I hope you enjoyed reading this. Thanks for stopping by.

Has it really been that long?

Wow, when I finally logged in here this morning my blogger tells me that my last post was on 10th February 2008 - 6 weeks ago. So where have I been, what have I been doing...nothing special of note. Celebrated a few birthdays - mine, my dear friend Jo and my son T who turned 12 yesterday. I can still remember the day he was born. I worked full time for a week or two which really threw my life inot chaos! I also helped another friend say goodbye to a very special Lady in her life. She puts it way more eloquently than I ever could...here.
Apart from these things I have basically been living my life, doing things with my family and friends and remembering what is really important to me. Along the way I have still been trying to be frugal and mindful of what resources I am consuming.
I've still been reading all my favourite blogs, but I think I most likely need to update my blog roll a little...anyone want me to add them?
Thank you to those who noticed my absence and left me messages to ask me if I was okay. I appreciate that you all care.
I have some great new recipes to share and I'll try to do that in the next few weeks, unless my life gets all crazy again!
Hoping you all had a safe and Happy Easter. Take care of you all :)

Decluttering & Smiley Saturday

Weight loss is a form of decluttering...It won't happen overnight, but it will happen. After all in reality it didn't appear overnight so it won't disappear overnight either. Life would be so much simpler if we could lose weight as easily as we put it on, but that is not the case. It takes hard work, discipline, commitment and a great support network. Can I just say I have a fantastic group of family, friends and workmates, who are supporting me and some are joining me in my weight loss journey! One of my best friends & I are both following the Kate Morgan Plan, she has already lost quite a few kg so I am hoping to also do the same. I have been doing a little bit of exercise, but I have to say the excessively hot weather we are having right now has not really given me the enthusiasm to want to do too much.
In the mean time I have also been working on decluttering and cleaning up various parts of my house. Yesterday I totally cleaned my bathrooms (yes, I have two!) following mostly Rhonda's instructions for Green cleaning over at her blog Down to Earth. If you are not already a huge fan like I am, after one visit and reading her beautiful words you will be .
Yesterdays other mission was my dressing table/dresser top.
I started by taking everything off and giving it a good wipe over to remove allt he bust bunnies and everything else on it. I also changed the cover I have on it from a Thai woven purple and gold one with cute fringing to a white batternberg (sp?) lace one. Then I looked at all the items I had taken off and decided which ones I wanted to remain. The criteria was, is it something I either:
(a) use regularly
(b) love to look at or
(c) belongs with its friends who are on of the above.
My camera seems to have gone AWOL, but I will add a picture to this post of the finished product when I figure out where it is! Suffice to say it makes me smile each time I walk into my room, as does my semi-sparkling and decluttered bathroom. Hence I have linked to Lightening's Smiley Saturdays. Go here to see more!
Today list of things to do:
(a) declutter and re-organise my scrapbooking supplies
(b) make ice-cream using excess cream from Christmas
(c) make more beetroot relish - this is seriously good stuff if you haven't tried it you should! The recipe I used last time is here, but this time I am going to omit the cinnamon.
Okay enough blogging for today, off to have my breakfast and tackle the above list!
If anyone needs a bit of weight loss motivation I am happy to email support, just leave ma comment :)
Any other questions, thoughts etc...I love reading them :)
Take care of you.

New Years Resolutions

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, will post about how mine all turned out with photos in a few days!
It seems like everyone else in blogland I too have been thinking and reflecting on 2007, as well as thinking ahead to 2008. Rather than make a resolution as such I tend to pick a word to remind me of my direction for the coming year. I think i originally got this idea form a scrapbooker I admire...possibly Heidi Swapp?
In 2007 my word was "ENOUGH"
in 2008 I am going with
"LESS"
To me it means:
- less petrol consumption (use public transport at least twice a fortnight, maybe more)
- less weight (I have a friend for us to keep each other motivated)
- less shopping
- less stuff (decluttering)
- less food (consume less, grow a little of my own starting with spring onions, herbs and salad leaves)
- less chocolate/cheese (two of my greatest weaknesses - not going to give them up, just limit the amounts I consume to being a "treat")

I'm sure other things will come to me throughout the year and I hope to blog at least twice a week to keep you informed of my progress on all these goals. My friend and I photographed each other in our bathers and no I definitely won't be posting that photo on here! Just one more tool to keep us motivated.
I value everyone's feedback and comments. So please feel free to comment.
What resolutions have you made for 2008?
Anyone else going on the weight loss path with me?
What would you like to see on my blog this year?

Christmas Preparation

How is yours going?

I got the children to decorate the tree this year. I told my workmates that it looks a bit like someone vomited the decorations onto it. this had them all rolling on the floor laughing a lot. Will photograph it when I move it tomorrow.

My to do list looks like this for Sunday (working today, scrapbooking tonight):

- Bake biscuits for Dad's birthday cookie jar (yes, I'll photograph it)
- Help boyfriend move more of his stuff to his new unit
- mow lawn/weeds? (only if I get time)
- go to afternoon tea with my Dad for his birthday
- start to clean up back verandah in preparation for Christmas eve dinner here
- finish sewing my new apron to wear when I do all my Christmas preparation recipes.
- sew mesh bags for fruit and veg (yes, I still have not managed this)
- collapse in a heap.
- hunt down Christmas present for my parents

Maybe some of this will not get done? Do you think I am being a tad ambitious?
What have you got to do this weekend?

Shoestring Sunday

Things don't really seem to have slowed down since my weekend in Melbourne. The shopping was great at the DFO @ Essendon although getting there was a bit of nightmare - the closest public transport was a twenty minute walk away! I must thank Sue & Frank for putting up with me for the 3 nights/4 days and Henrietta for her hospitality and helping me get reacquainted with the Melbourne Tram network. A big thank you to Zoe's mum (Cathy) for taking me with her! It went all too quickly but it was nice to get away.

Now as the school year grows to a close I am madly doing the following:

WRAPPING Christmas presents in newspaper with cute red ribbons (not my original idea saw it under a tree on a Christmas TV special last weekend) - thought it was a nice green alternative as it will all get recycled -plus I couldn't find any recycled wrapping paper this year in the stores.

BAKING various recipes to make sure they are okay in my Christmas hampers. This past week I have made refrigerator biscuits, cookies in a jar mix and some chocolate biscuits that my family have christened "Uncle Ronnie biscuits". (Will post recipe separately).

MENU planning; again something I will post separately.

FREEZING excess cookie dough, already rolled in balls. I read this on someone Else's blog, but sorry to say I can't remember where, but it is a good way to have a nice mix of cookies; by freezing some dough from each batch you make, as well as have some on hand when you need to bake in a hurry.

READING magazines and books from the library. Mainly at this time of year Christmas themed articles. Still haven't finalised the Christmas Eve/Christmas Day menus.

OP-SHOPPING for some baskets to put my Christmas hampers in.

A few links that I thought might help over the holidays when you run out of things or have more time to make it yourself.

Make your own brown sugar by thrifty mummy.


Yummy beetroot relish courtesy of the ABC website. (This will also be going into my Christmas hampers).

Homemade pancake mix - cook breakfast in a flash or whip up a batch when visitors appear on your doorstep from the Family CEO.

Home-made crackers and cheese ball would make a great snack anytime you are entertaining over the holiday season courtesy of the Common room.

What has everyone else been up to the last few weeks? Why not share in the comments (haven't got Mr Linky working tonight) or are there some great holiday idea links you want to share on your blog?
Have a great week
-hugs-
Lis

Time Poor

I can hardly believe it has already been a week since my trip to Melbourne, this time last week I was zipping up my bag and heading off to the airport. The weekend seems to go so quickly when you only have one full day off. Yesterday wasn't very productive, but was just a fun day. I spent a bit of it laying around reading a few of my overdue library items! In the afternoon we rode our bikes to the library to return my overdue items, as well as borrow some new ones. We also went into the local supermarket to pick a few items that I needed for dinner. I haven't menu planned or shopped for the week but I decided to try and use mostly what I had on hand to make dinner. I ended up making Lentil and chickpea burgers, I had frozen pre-cooked chickpea in the freezer and all the other ingredients on hand. At the supermarket I purchased a few mushrooms, an avocado and a bag of capsicums to make up a side salad/dish to have with the burgers. Given the prices of groceries keep going up I am going to try and cook at least one meat free meal per week.
Back to work this morning and I am not taking my car today or tomorrow. Bus to work and then train + a ten minute walk home. Must scoot as I have washing to hang out and need to put together some lunch!
Have a great day :)

Holidays

I'm off to Melbourne very early tomorrow morning and as I am working late tonight I won't have time to post. Once I get back on Monday night I hope to be able to update you on my travels and my shopping. I'm hoping to pick up a few items of clothing for my children as part of their Christmas presents. Not planning to spend a lot of money although I think I might be drinking a few cups of coffee at lovely seaside locations and just enjoying my mini break. I'll try not to get caught up in the buy, buy, buy mentality.
Take care of all of you and if you want to participate in shoestring Sunday - Mr Linky is still open on last weeks post.
Thank you all for your lovely comments and ideas - I love reading all your blogs and thoughts.

I'll leave you with this quote from Rhonda at down to earth which is my thought for the coming week.
"Simplicity is not a tea bag, it's a pot of tea and it needs time to develop it's full flavour."

Go read the rest of her blog, if you are not already a visitor there, she is a very inspiring lady!

Muffins!

The problem every mother faces every school day morning, what to put in the children's lunchboxes. This morning I realised I had exhausted my supply of home baked goods (with are supplemented with a few failsafe store bought items). We are in the middle of a heatwave right now so the prospect of a full on baking session was not appealing! Also next week the temperatures are soaring again.
My solution was to mix up two batches of muffins, putting them both in the oven at the same time - one sweet and one savory.
I went for a hunt on my computers hard drive to see what I could come up with - hope you like them :)

Savoury zucchini muffins

Degree of difficulty: Medium

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 15 - 25 minutes

Ingredients for muffins
150 g bacon (chopped) - I used ham as I had no bacon
1 small onion (chopped) - could also use chopped leeks
1 cup of self-raising flour
1/2 cup oil
4 eggs
1 teaspoon mustard (optional)
1/2 teaspoon paprika (optional)
2 cups grated zucchini (approx two small ones)
1 cup grated tasty cheese

Method:
1) Pre-heat a hot oven to 200C.
2) Saute bacon and onion in a non-stick fry pan.
3) Place flour, oil, eggs, mustard and paprika in bowl and mix.
4) Add grated cheese and zucchini to flour/oil mix and stir well.
5) Add slightly cooled bacon/onion mix to the rest of the muffin batter and stir well.
6) Spoon into non-stick muffin pans (of any size) but do not over-fill muffin pans.
7) Place in oven for 15 minutes (mini muffins), 20 minutes (cup-cake size muffins) or 25 minutes (large muffins).


My BF was my taste tester he rated them well and likened them to zucchini slice in a muffin :)

The second batch were sweet ones and I decided on this recipe as I had 3 aged bananas in my freezer :)

Banana and Choc Chip Muffins
Making muffins means days of quick snacks with no unnecessary packaging. Steph (our other resident Domestic Goddess) reckons these are fantastic. They can be frozen too, so you can make double and relax for a week or two.

2 ½ cups (375gm) self raising flour
½ cup (110gm) firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup (95gm) dark choc chips
1 ½ cups mashed bananas (3 large, very ripe bananas)
2/3 cup (160ml) buttermilk ( can use regular with a squeeze of lemon to thicken it)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
½ cup (125 ml) extra light olive oil
1)Preheat oven to 200 C or 180 C fan forced.
2)Sift flour and sugar into a large bowl.
3)Stir in chocolate chips and banana, then combined milk, eggs, essence and oil.
4)Mix till just combined.Do not over stir the mixture or your muffins will be tough and will not rise sufficiently.
5)Stir gently until barely combined.
6)Spoon into large muffin pans and bake for about 20 mins.

My children taste tested these and wanted more - I have no idea who Steph is , but i thank her anyway for her great recipe :)
Both lots were baked together in the oven in about 20 mins, so the kitchen didn't get too overheated after all.
The photo above shows them all ready to be frozen (well technically not all , what the "taste testers" didn't consume!)
Notice they they are all encased in pieces of baking paper, I prefer to do this instead of greasing the tins or buying the premade muffin cases. I just cut/tear baking paper into small squares to line my muffin tins. I found the cases were expensive and some of the muffin gets stuck to them unless you also grease them. Also I don't enjoy scrubbing burnt muffin tins (the bits that always spill when you fill them). This way I have minimal clean up, plus I just remove one from the freezer as is and insert into lunchbox paper and all (instant wrapping)!
Enjoy :)

"Picture Me" meme

Ali from Our Patch tagged me for the "Picture Me" MeMe.

Kate at Our Red House began this MeMe and said the following;

"The rules are simple: post a picture of yourself on your blog. As some may feel uncomfortable posting a current photo, a baby or childhood picture is fine. Post the picture, tell us the story behind it, copy the logo, and tag three others (without forgetting to tell them that they have been tagged!)"

I too, like a lot of people I know, dislike my photo being taken. This has gotten easier sometimes as I grow older - or maybe not. I chose this photo which was taken on my birthday this year (in March). I am at home in my lounge room, surrounded by my family. The birthday cake was home made by me (so my son could eat it!). It is my favourite boiled chocolate cake recipe. The photo is so typically me, always laughing on the outside - my glass is always half-full...at least!

I tag the following people:

Mandy @ Made by Mandy

Kez @ Kez's Blog

Busy woman @ A Vision Splendid

I'll try and post the cake recipe too...soon!

All the small things...

If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito - Anita Roddick

It seems time has gotten away from me again and here it is two weeks without blogging! Thank you Jo for reminding me it has been a a while - I know you will be reading this :)

Life seems to be so many small things that seem to take up so much time. Sometimes I long to return to a simpler life where things passed more slowly.

Is it that we have less time or that we just try to pack too much in?

At the moment I have a few friends who are pregnant and I have been invited to two baby showers on the same day, at opposite ends of town. Fortunately the times overlap so I will be able to attend both. Common sense would have me attend only one, or none. In fact strangely I have never attended a baby shower before and now I get invited to two on the one day. Go figure?

Two of the girls having babies are people I have worked with so one of the projects a workmate and I tried was a nappy (diaper) wreath. Yes, it is basically a ring of disposable nappies(diapers) decorated with ribbons, toys and items for the baby. Unfortunately none of the girls were keen on the idea of cloth nappies (diapers), but you can make these items with the cloth versions if you know the receiver will use them!

We loved the first one so much we then made another. I still have a third gift to make so I am unsure whether to make another one or a nappy(diaper) cake. I still have a week to get my act together on that one :)

My apologies for the picture quality as they were taken with a mobile phone! Can you guess the sexes of the babies?

If you want to try this at home try this link for a diaper cake or this for the wreath.

Take care of you.

Ironing...

Ironing would have to be my least favourite task but today I tackled it. Two hours later my ironing area looked like this (sorry I forgot tot ake the before shot!). I loaded up my ipod with some boppy dance type music and danced my way through the piles! Try it yourself, it certainly made the time pass faster and I also got to listen to a few of my favourite tunes! I keep smiling as I walk past the empty space! Do you have a task that you really don't enjoy?

Busy week...

Well it seems it has been a few days since I have managed to put any thoughts down here. My sister was visiting earlier this week form Darwin so that meant I spent most of my free time with her. We also had soccer presentations, Dinner with baby Zoe and her family (Friday night), work all day followed by another fabulous Scrap and Salad at Mandy's on Saturday night. Today on Sunday i had a far too leisurely morning (meaning I got nothing done - apart from folding and putting away some washing). Lunch today was a social club function at a seaside all-you-can-eat restaurant. It was a pleasant afternoon with good food and good company. The problem of course with all-you-can-eat establishments is that you always eat too much. The up side i guess is I won't be cooking or eating dinner tonight! The other problem is since I have3 done very little for most of the day I really don't feel like starting anything now! How does everyone else keep themselves motivated at the end of a long day, when there are still chores to be done?

Apricot and Ginger Muffins - Feedback

Well in my travesl today a number of people taste tested the muffins. I got good reaction when they were still warm, but once they had cooled they were a bit on the dry side. My verdict is that I will make them again and maybe add some sultanas or other dried fruit. I would also chop the fruit up a little. As I used my home preserved apricots (which are softer than the tinned ones) they did still tend to clump a bit.

Greener Living

Thank you to Rhonda and all the ladies who post on her blog, for reminding me of all the things we can do/are doing to help make our lives greener. In response to her post of what will you do here is my list:
- using fabric shopping bags @ the supermarket
- having a bucket in the shower to catch the water before it heats up (about 4l per shower)
- having empty cordial bottles in my kitchen that I fill with the 3-4l before the hot water comes through - this is used for drinking, rinsing and filling the kettle - if all 6 bottles are full it is used in the washing machine or to water plants.
- bucketing the rinse water from the washing machine onto the garden (today I purchased a diverter hose to make it easier)
- not owning a clothes dryer - I have a fold down line under my verandah that most of the washing gets hung on. In winter if it is too damp I hang it inside in the lounge room where there is a heater.
- from a young age I have "nagged" my children into turning off lights and appliances (tv, vcr, dvd) when they are not being used - and to not leave those little standby lights on either!
-replacing ordinary globes with energy efficient globes when they stop working.
- removing the diffusers from most of said lights so I can get more light from said bulbs, has also meant I can use lower wattage.
- recycling as much as I can.
- buying goods with the least amount of packaging.
- making my own liquid laundry detergent (see post here)

I'm sure there are a lot of other things I do which will come to me later. I'm posting this quote directly from Rhonda's blog...
"So today my friends, I want you to commit to your change. I want you step up today and decide that even if you haven't done anything yet for your planet, and especially if you have, today I want you to tell me in the comments box what small step will start or continue you along the road to a greener life. I want you to tell me about your change and how it will affect your life. Please don't close this blog down now and walk away. Today is the day when instead of just knowing that something needs to be done, you start doing it.
I want every one of you to email this post to a friend so we can get a million small steps happening. I want you to help me tell as many people as possible that we are doing this. And, most of all, I want to know what you will do."
My commitment this month is to make some re-usable mesh bags for my fruit and veggies to be weighed in and no longer take home the plastic bags. I am also going to try and use my new diverter hose as much as possible, which might mean I have to spend a bit more time in the laundry, but so be it.
So what will you do? Leave me a comment and send the message to all your friends!